Photo TR: Holiday Park and Germany (5/16/07)

Olsor · May 21, 2007

When my wife and I booked a flight to Germany back in January, my specific goals for the trip included: 1) drink a tasty dark beer, 2) eat a huge pretzel, and 3) ride Expedition GeForce. Luckily, one of our friends lives in Kaiserslautern, not too far away from Holiday Park, so we were able to cram two hours of Achterbahn-riding into an excellent week-long trip.

The weather, unfortunately, didn't cooperate. We went to Holiday Park on Wednesday, and it was cold, rainy, and I was wearing shorts. Of course the bright side of this was that there were probably 50 people in the park that day. No lines, re-rides... an enthusiast's dream, except for the lack of gravy (in Europe, they drown everything in mayonnaise instead).

Anyway, down to business. EGF was a walk-on. About 75% of the riders were just re-riding in the same seats. A few of the same people keep popping up in all of my pictures of the ride. The first drop is fantastic, but I really wish it were longer. And, man, does that train haul through the first half of the ride. It didn't end up converting me... S:ROS at SFNE is still my top steel. But I'd definitely put it in my top 5 or 6.

Super Wirbel is worth mentioning only because I managed to bang not my head on the ride, but rather my knee... on the front of the car. It actually was pretty smooth for a Vekoma. Except for the knee-banging. And the clearances on that ride are ridiculous. That's a lot of track in not a lot of space.

We also went on the new Lighthouse Tower Star Flyer. It took a lot of effort to convince my wife to ride. I kept telling her it was just a regular swing ride, just much taller. When she saw little kids sitting in the seats, she finally agreed to ride. And then the ride started. Yikes. Yeah, no one would ever label a regular swing ride as "thrilling," but this one comes close. When you rise above the treetops - way above the treetops - and then your seats start to swing out... yeah, it's unnerving. A very fun ride. More parks need these.

And that was pretty much it for the day. The weather kept deteriorating, and I was probably halfway to catching pneumonia, so we bailed out after only a few hours. I did get four rides on EGF, as well as a pretty sweet on-ride photo for the ol' office cubicle.

Presented for your pleasure are some pictures of the park, as well as some pictures from the rest of our trip to Germany. Auf wiedersehen!

The end.

I am an idiot.

Yes, they actually cite Mitch Hawker's poll to label EGF as the best coaster in the world. I got the mug to prove it.

A postcard-picture view overlooking the Mosel River, near Herschwiesen.

Statue of Kaiser Wilhelm at Deutsches Eck, the point where the Rhein [Rhine] and Mosel rivers meet, in Koblenz.

A street in Rhens. Or Busch Gardens Europe. I can't tell.

Close-up of Marksburg Castle

Marksburg Castle overlooking the Rhine River

The newly refurbished home of FC Kaiserslautern in western Germany, one of the sites of the 2006 World Cup.

Statue of a Soviet soldier in Treptower Park

Another view of Treptower Park

The memorial to Soviet soldiers at the very awesome Treptower Park in Berlin

A small section of the Berlin Wall still standing at the Topography of Terror exhibit

Brandenburg Gate

Inside the dome

The dome at the Reichstag

Kaiser Wilhelm Church in Berlin

A few other pics from our trip. Here's a few skyscrapers in downtown Frankfurt (we happened to be there during an architectural conference on skyscrapers).