SKYLINE PARK — My plan was to drive from Europa Park to Skyline, do all the park, and finish by early afternoon, so that I could drive to meet a friend in the early evening in Regensburg (which, btw, is a city I can’t recommend enough). But it was as if all the traffic problems from my entire three weeks of driving waited for this one day of driving. Between Europa and Skyline I encountered three separate accident aftermaths and dozens of workzone slowdown areas. It was such slow going that I kept wondering if I should give up on Skyline entirely and drive straight to Regensburg. But I gave myself a latest time to possibly arrive at Skyline and still attempt it, and that’s exactly what I hit.
All of that is to explain why I treated Skyline as a speed cred run. And the frustration of the slow drive continued in the park, as it was extremely hot, the rides were spread out, the local kids were not too scrupulous about line etiquette, and the operations were very, very slow on several of the coasters.
That said, I’m glad I managed to squeeze in the park, which was just about what I imagined it would be: a rural park unimpressive in atmosphere, with rides that impressed not as great rides, but as pure weirdness.
The uniqueness of Sky Dragster, Sky Rider, and Butterfly made me happy I made the stop. And if there is a coaster from my youth that I am most nostalgic about, it is the Schwarzkopf Wildcat at Magic Mountain that was known as Mountain Express. So I was excited to ride a Wildcat at this park — probably the first I’ve ridden in decades. And appropriately Skyline seemed to name their coaster for me: Nostalgische Achterbahn.
Again, no great rides here — even the headliner coaster, the Maurer SkyLoop Sky Wheel, felt more like a novelty coaster to me than a good ride — but plenty of good weirdness.