Massive Europe Trip Report

by **nander** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 9:51 am

One thing: robin hood is a rollercoaster that really goes faster during the day.. At the end of my visit last year I was even thinking about placing it on par with Balder.. But, as it groes faster it groes wilder and rougher.. It really is a mean monster near closing time..

The Xpress had corroded launch magnets by the way (those white blocks in the middle of the track).. That wasn't supposed to be possible, but appearantly it is and it takes a factory 9 months to make new ones.. So that's what Xpress has been doing last year.

by **larrygator** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 10:18 am

nander wrote:One thing: robin hood is a rollercoaster that really goes faster during the day.. At the end of my visit last year I was even thinking about placing it on par with Balder.

Not even close.

by **guifol** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 11:29 am

I'm appreciating this reports a lot. Keep on the great work!

by **Mrenata** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:09 pm

dusky wrote:
Mrenata wrote:
Next it was time for some credit whoring: Rattlesnake, a zierer tivoli coaster themed after a giant snake on the desert. The whole wild west area of the park was really nice, with a Huss frisbee that was not open that day (I read somewhere that Tomahawk struggles with a lot of technical problems, but the park still keeps the ride because it is very popular). By the way, the one at Walibi Belgium was working just fine on the day of my visit.

That I would find pretty strange as Walibi Belgium does not have a Frisbee. The only Frisbee in Belgium (Sledge Hammer) resides in Bobbejaanland. Maybe that's the one you meant?

Sorry, I meant Movie Park Germany!

Facebook · by **cookie-monster** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:30 pm

Thanks for your tripreport, it is really good.
Looking forward to the rest of it!

JK

by **Mrenata** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:09 pm

Day 6: Toverland and Bobbejaanland

That was my least favourite park combo of the whole trip. Many, many people say that Troy is the best wooden coaster in Europe, so after having a blast riding Joris, I was expecting a lot from Troy.

I arrived at Toverland around 10:15 (the park opened at 10:00), so I was among the first to enter the park. Troy was already running, so I went directly to that wooden beauty. There was just a few people ridding Troy again and again, so I joined them on this non-expected ERT.

Troy was... well... not good. It was bumpy and I couldn't feel the air times at all. The entirely ride was rough. I changed seats, from the back to the front of the train, but it didn't get better. I tried the back seat once more, but it still felt the same. I must say, it was freezing cold that day, maybe that was the problem. I hope that was the problem and that Troy is amazing during warm days. But for now, it is the worst GCI I've ever ridden.

The Booster Bike was my second credit that day. I've only ridden one motocoaster before, Pony Express at Knotts, and it is one of my favourite attractions there. The Booster Bike was a little bit rougher than Pony Express, althought it has a better layout. If I had to choose one, I would stick with the one at Knotts.

I didn't try the water ride, it was really, really cold, specially for someone from Brazil. But I did try the alpine slide and even though the course is a lit bit short, I had a lot of fun. That was the first powered alpine slide I've ever seen.

Boomerang was my last credit of the day and it really surprised me, in a good way. What a nice junior coaster!

I tried to spot some construction signs of the new coaster, but couldn't find anything relevant. I must return to Toverland in the summer of 2013 to give Troy another chance, and to ride the new coaster.

: Toverland!; Viewed 1113 times

: Too cold for that!; Viewed 1113 times

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: Troy!; Viewed 1113 times

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: It might not be amazing, but at least is pretty!; Viewed 1113 times

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: Pretty, indeed!; Viewed 1113 times

: ERT on Troy!; Viewed 1113 times

: Booster Bike; Viewed 1113 times

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: powered alpine slide; Viewed 1113 times

: Boomerang!; Viewed 1113 times

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Bobbejaanland

Bobbejaanland was an 1 hour drive from Toverland, and I got there by lunch time. I was a little bit surprised to see that the park is located on an urban area, since all the big parks were located more on the countryside. It reminded me of Kennywood and Waldameer.

I entered the park for free, using my Movie Park Season Pass. I asked for a park map, and they told me it would cost 2 Euros! That's right! 2 Euros, or 2.6 Us Dollars, or 4.9 Reais for a park map! That really pissed me off! I bought one, for souvernir purposes, but never opened it. It was raining, and if the map got wet, I would have to spend another 2 Euros.

The first ride was Typhoon, my first Eurofighter! It was nice, nothing amazing. Fluch (Hansa) was waaaaaay better.

Right next to Typhoon was Sledge Hammer, Huss' Giant Frisbee. I'm a HUGE MaxAir fan, so I was very disapointed with the cycle chosen for Sledge Hammer. It was short and not even close to MaxAir's.

Bob Express, on the other way, was AMAZING, The best powered coaster I've ever ridden. Really fast, nice turns, nice view.

Oki Doki is cute, and The Dream Catcher is just wrong. I think it should have remained as The Air Race. Speedy Bob and Dizz were just average.

Evolution is something really different, starting by it's train. I've never seen anything that big. It was so big that I couldn't spot where it beggins, where it ends. They play an eletronic music, while you go up on a neverending spiral lift, and then you enter a bulding full of psicodelic effects. Something you don't see very often, for sure!

I don't know if I would ever return to Bobbejaanland. It was just an average park with a 2 Euro park map. Thank God the next day was Phantasialand day! Bobbejaanland put me in a very bad mood!

: Bobbejaanland; Viewed 1113 times

: Typhoon; Viewed 1113 times

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: Not MaxAir; Viewed 1113 times

: Bob Express: Best powered coaster ever!; Viewed 1113 times

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: Dizz; Viewed 1113 times

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: Dream Catcher; Viewed 1113 times

: Oki Doki; Viewed 1113 times

: Indoor kid's area; Viewed 1113 times

: Dream Catcher; Viewed 1113 times

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: Speedy Bob; Viewed 1113 times

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by **niiicolaaah** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:58 pm

This is awesome!! I wish I had the balls to do a trip like this by myself.

by **GeorgeT** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 6:27 pm

I love to follow you on this trip...many thanks for sharing !

by **TDR62** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:45 am

Great report so far.

What is the 'King Kong' holding a train carriage? Looks like a really nicely themed ride.

by **Mrenata** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:36 am

Day 7: Phantasialand and Aachen Ocher Bend

Before visiting Phantasialand, I knew just a few things about this park: That they have the best well themed B&M in the world, two spinning coasters that Elissa liked a lot, even thought she's not found of spinning coasters, something Michael Jackson related, a 65m tall frog hopper and that they have one ride where you get to shoot some mice in a bakery store. Shame on me! Phantasialand is sooo much more than that!

I parked my car in the Mystery Castle parking lot, but since drop towers scare the hell out of me, I decided to visit the park in a counter-clockwise direction, so Mystery Castle would be my last ride of the day.

I didn't ride the River Quest,it was really cold that day. Now I regret it. I would probably freeze to death, but after reading some reviews here at TPR, It was a ride I couldn't have missed. Well, I'll have to go back during the summer!

So I went directly to the end of the park to ride Temple of The Night Hawk. Again, it was... dark. A moving chair in the dark. Not Space Mountain, for sure.

The next ride was Winjas! I loved the "Winjas building", where you can see the cars spinning throught the track, but you can't tell if they are on the Fear side or the Force side. Winjas Fear is AMAZING, specially if you go backwards in the first two drops. It is something very unique, different from all the spinning coasters I've ever ridden. It was a very pleasant surprise! Winjas Force is not that good, it is a little bit rougher, but the track "stop-incline-go" at the end is soooo funny. Two thumbs up for Winjas!

Race for Atlantis is an Imax Ride very similar to Simpsons, the Ride at both Universal Studios. And I thought it was very, very good. Almost as good as The Simpsons. Place third on my list (1- Simpsons, the ride, 2- Back To The Future and 4- Spiderman).

My next ride was Maus au Chocolat, the best shooting ride EVER. It is a little bit too long, at some point I couldn't feel my arms anymore, but it was worthed. I scored 140.000 points, witch I thought was an amazing score until I was told that the best score was something like 710.000. Asians, probably.

After a brief lunch, Black Mamba! Before riding it, I thought "ok, it is just another B&M with a nice theme. I was wrong. Black Mamba is incredible! I had no idea that an inverted coaster could have so much air time! At one point my body was floating 2, 3 seconds in the air without touching the seat. I wanna say Black Mamba is the best inverted coaster ever built, but I have to ride Alpengheist once more before I make my final decision. And they say Nemesis is supposed to be even better (never ridden it). Anyway, Black Mamba makes the top 3 inverted coasters in the world, for sure!

After riding what could be the best inverted coaster ever, I rode the best mine train ever! Colorado Adventure! OMG, amazing. I just didn't understand what Michael Jackson has to do with this ride.

Phantasialand has a "Haunted Mansion" type of ride, but it is really bad.

So, time to face Mystery Castle. I asked one good friend of mine what was inside Mystery Castle before visiting Phantasialand. His exact words were: "it's a giant frog hopper". "But it is Intamin's?" "Yes, but it's not just a drop tower". Well, drop towers scare the hell out of me, and I'm really not found of Intamin rides (chubby people + Intamin rides never got along with each other), but I decided to give it a try. Mystery Castle is very different, very unique, and I'm very inclined to say that it's better than Disney's Tower of Terror. The layout is very interesting, with 48 people sitting around a "crazy scientist's office". Then, they shoot you up, down, up again, down again - at some point I had no idea if my body was going up or down - and then it pulls you all the way to the top, and drops. AMAZING. I rode it again, and again, and again.

Phantasialand is not a park with a lot of rides, but man, they really know how the make the best out of each one!

So far in my trip I found:

The Best Powered Coaster ever: Bob Express
The Best Shooting Ride Ever: Maus au Chocolat
The Best Spinning Coaster Ever: Winjas - Fear
The Best Mine Train Ever: Colorado Adventure
The Best GCI Ever: Joris en de Draak
The Best Drop Tower Ever: Mystery Castle
The Second Best Imax ride: Race to Atlantis
Top 3 inverted Coaster: Black Mamba

: River Quest; Viewed 852 times

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: Winjas!; Viewed 852 times

: Fear! Fear! Fear!; Viewed 852 times

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: Black Mamba!; Viewed 852 times

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: 5 minutes! That means: Ride again, and again, and again!; Viewed 852 times

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: Colorado Adventure!; Viewed 852 times

: Seriously, why does it carries Michal Jackson's name?; Viewed 852 times

: Their not-so-haunted mansion; Viewed 852 times

: Mystery Castle!; Viewed 852 times

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: 6 x 8 people cars; Viewed 852 times

: Amazing, just amazing!; Viewed 852 times

Aachen Ocher Bend:

Aachen is located 71km (44miles) away from Phantasialand, and lucky me, there was a fairly sized kermis (Ocher Bend) in Aachen that week, with a special extra something: It was Artistico's premiere!

Artistico is a 46m tall Mondial pendulum ride that looks like KMG's XXL, but with the seats facing outside. It is the first of it's king in the world, and it is very impressive. It's almost as good as MaxAir. Really. It is that good!

Ocher Bend also had the Booster Maxx (55m tall booster) ride. I must say, european boosters and american boosters are very, very different. American boosters are a fun, enjoy the view, ride, and Booster Maxx is more like "I'm gonna die here" type of ride. At some point it speeds so much that the seats don't even spin anymore.

I also rode a regular spinning coaster from Maurer, but after riding Winjas on the same day, it was just bleh.

That ended the first half of my trip. It was time to travel to Frankfurt for a few days.