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Madrid March 2017

Rachel

Coaster MILF
I've been saying i'll go to Madrid for the past few years, so seeing as this year as I didn't have any new creds planned until the summer, I decided to organise a short trip for March. Everything was fairly cheap and my non goon friend Zara asked if she could come along with me so it was the perfect chance to introduce her to my hobby and have a bit of a girly weekend!

Our flight was early on the Saturday morning. There was loads of faff once we actually got to Madrid. First off the metro line that runs to the airport was closed. We stupidly hadn’t thought of a backup plan and after getting lost in the airport ended up just going outside and getting a taxi. Then we had a row with the taxi driver over how much it cost, he gave in but when he got our bags out of the boot literally threw them at the floor. Then we found the building where our hostel was but no one was there so we had to ring them up, the manager couldn’t speak English so we spent like 5 minutes on the phone trying to communicate, before someone staying in another room kindly offered to translate for us. Anyway finally checked in, dumped our bags and headed onward to the first park.
Sorry the photos are a bit rubbish but whilst the UK basked in glorious sunshine, Madrid was cold, drizzly and grey!

Parque de Attraciones
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The park was 3 metro stops away which was very convenient. The place was dead! We headed to the first coaster which was the Mine Train. The theming was pretty cool, with a medieval castle effect. It was a decent enough family coaster. Went to ride one of the kiddie creds but it was closed.
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Next was the Wild Mouse where the loading procedure was bloody stupid. I think there were 4 trains in total and the ride op would load them all at once and then send round one by one instead of on a continuous loop. It was one of the more gentle wild mice I’ve ridden, the turns weren’t too painful and the drops were fun.
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We were starving so we grabbed some lunch. There was major disappointment when we thought our meals came with chips but they were actually crisps. And not even proper crisps but the ****ty crumbs you get at the bottom of a packet. This left us unsatisfied so we got Nutella crepes straight after.
For some stupid reason we thought Abismo was a good idea after lunch. I hate prolonged hang time and so found this really unpleasant, along with the crushing restraints I did not enjoy it at all. Zara loved it and declared it the best ride at the park. Next up was Tarantula which was actually really good, although slightly rough at points and I banged my head really hard on one of the turns.
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I wasn’t sure if Tornado was running or not but headed up to the entrance to have a look. Turns out it needs a full train to run so we waited for another 22 people to join us. There was barely 22 people in the park! I think we waited about 15 minutes before there was enough people. It was my first and only Intamin invert. It was a bit juddery but fortunately we were front row so it wasn’t that bad, I got some head banging only once.
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With most of the coasters ticked off we did some of the spinny, sickly flat rides. They were all vile but Zara wanted to ride them. I did the drop tower alone and it was actually really good. Also rode the star flyer which had the longest cycle ever when it was freezing!
In the same area as the starflyer they had a Walking Dead horror walkthrough. It was 5 euros but I decided to give it a go since I’m a big fan of the TV show. Unfortunately it was a bit of a let-down. There were lots of references to the show which was pretty cool but the style of maze was a bit generic – walk through in a group, dark with flashing lights, zombies jump out at you etc. There was even a chainsaw man at the end. Sigh. Definitely not worth the up-charge but I guess the fans will pay for it (as I did).
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Anyway we finished off with the kiddie cred that was open and then decided we’d had enough. Overall thoughts on the park then - not great if i'm honest. I've loved all of the city parks that i've been to, and this one just seemed really lacking in any sort of atmosphere or charm. The weather wasn't great but i'm not gonna let that excuse the fact that I thought the place was just a bit crap. None of the coasters are particularly good and it just felt like a tick in a box kind of visit. Somewhere to go once to get the creds, but nothing would warrant a return visit.

We headed back to the city centre where we looked around some of the shops, including the world’s second largest Primark (I mistakenly said this was the largest on insta – oops!). That night we went out to a cocktail bar but they were 10 euros each so we thought f**k that and went to O’Neils where we got hammered on £2 glasses of wine in the basement where they had a DJ. It was such a good night but I knew I’d regret it in the morning!

Parque Warner
So the next day, with 3 hours sleep and a massive hangover, we made our way to Parque Warner. It was really easy to get there, I followed the instructions from the trip report that @Smithy did so thank you for that! :) Just like the day before, the park was empty! We started off in the Cartoon Network area where the theming was really cool, I actually loved this whole area.
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The first coaster was Correcaminos Bip, Bip. This is where I taught Zara that on family coasters, you must spite children out of the front row wherever possible.
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We spent the entire ride laughing at this :p

Went over to the Tom & Jerry Coaster, plus 1 and done! I could see Coaster Express in the distance although hadn’t seen a train running yet. We headed in that direction but unfortunately it was closed. I say unfortunately, I’ve only ever heard bad reviews of this coaster but it’s still annoying.
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Although the sun made a bit of an appearance that day, it was still chilly and so we skipped all of the water rides. Walked onwards to the DC area, where we had a photo with Batman and the Green Lantern.
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So first of the two rides that I’d been looking forward to most on this trip – Batman. We walked straight through the queue and onto the front row. I’ve seen some people describe this as really intense but to be honest I didn’t think it was too bad. It is fast and relentless though and I really enjoyed it.
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Next up was Superman. There was some impressive theming in the queueline, but again we walked straight through and onto the ride. Over the course of the day we rode Superman 5 times, at one point doing 2 consecutive rides on the back row. I just wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did, it was f**king incredible! I didn’t think a B&M Sit down would have so much airtime, the first drop is lovely and floaty, it flies through the inversions without being rough and there’s a fab airtime hill after the cobra roll. Even Zara was raving on about how good it was.
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There's no where in the park to get good photos of it which is really annoying because when you're on the lift hill it looks amazing!

Next we made our way over to stunt fall which I was dreading!! Got on, got pulled up the first lift…..and then it did nothing. For about 2 minutes. So we got lowered back into the station and then got told it would be down for a while so we should go and do something else.
Grabbed a quick lunch at one of the self-service places, BBQ pizza which took ages and tasted disgusting. Being dissatisfied again, we got crepes! Did a circle of the park to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. Rode the Scooby Doo shooter ride and the Madhouse- Both were a case of “You’ve rode one, you’ve rode them all”. Saw Stunt Fall was up and running again so walked back in that direction. I Will Always Love You was being played on the speaker system throughout the park which I thought was an odd song choice. If a sad love song won’t get you in the mood for some adrenaline filled coasters then what will?

So stunt fall. Yea it was crap. I did not enjoy the vertical aspect of the lift hills at all and at each end when the train catches there’s a horrible jolt. All this plus general Vekoma roughness and the backwards section just made it a horrible ride experience. But I got the cred.
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And I think that’s it. We had one last go on Superman because I didn’t want to end the trip on a ****ty Vekoma and then we were done.
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Thoughts on the park then - it seems like a weird thing to complain about, but again i don't think the lack of crowds really helped on my opinion of the place. I don't think it was a bad park at all, just that we got it all done really quickly and so after a while we just got a bit...bored I guess. I do really like the movie park vibe and it's got a good coaster selection including 2 fantastic B&M's. I don't think i'd go back though unless they got something spectacular which seems unlikely.

And so that was Madrid. Didn't really see much of the city because we only had a short time there, but to be honest from what I did see I wasn't really missing out on much. But it was a brilliant trip and it was really cool to go to some parks with one of my best friends and give her a little insight into why I love it so much.
Thanks for reading!
 

davidm

Strata Poster
Cool report - sounds like a grand mini-trip. :)

Impressive work to even contemplate Coaster Express on top of a 3hr sleep/hangover though - ugggghhhh.
Its been >10 years since I did these parks ; Warner has barely changed (+1 kiddy ride) but Parque d'Attracts has almost a whole new lineup!
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Agreed, good report!

I did these two parks, and a bit of general sightseeing (as you say, not loads to see), about this time last year. Unfortunately I got spited by Tornado AND Abismo, which sucked, but thankfully got all of the other creds.

You really didn't miss much with Coaster Express. I know it's a cred and all, but it's so awful!

Sounds like a good trip - do you think you'll be able to convince your friend into more coaster trips in the future?
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Superman is fab, by far my favourite floorless.

I'm still FEWMIN about not getting a single cred at Attracciones because of the weather. F**king s**thole.

Now that you've posted a picture of Zara, you should probably warn her about the influx of Facebook friend requests she's about to get from some of the sadder elements of CF.
 

Chris Brown

Mr CoasterForce 2016
Great report, seems a shame that these parks have just decided to stop building anything. The ex six flags one looks like a good be really good if they RMC'd that woodie.

Also does this mean Frank was actually serious with his no more themepark trips?! Like having him on the CF lives!
 

Will

Strata Poster
Nice report :)
I did the same trip a couple of years back, and agree on most points - aside from the inevitable hangover, my lasting impression was that the unfriendliness of Madrid spoiled the trip somewhat. I also remember unexpected Whitney Houston at Parque Warner and thinking it was a little inappropriate. The food, as you've mentioned, is very poor in both parks, as is the service.

Shame about the cred spite, but as has been said, you're missing nothing with Coaster Express - it's my least favourite coaster and it does nothing. It's not the roughness - it's the boredom that bothered me. In fact, Parque Warner has two of the worst coasters on the continent; it also has two that have the potential to be among the best, but I found this was spoiled by the park's unashamedly terrible operations. I've ridden two Batman clones and could tell that Vampire in Canada has been looked after, while Batman... hasn't - it's amazing how two identical rides can be so different. Superman was dispatching one train every five minutes or so when I went, so I quickly lost patience - I can't actually remember if it was any good or not!

Parque Warner also has a really good range of water rides, but I'm guessing you probably didn't get to enjoy these as the weather was a bit meh - it was 30-odd degrees when I went, so I had to alternate coasters and water rides to stay cool, even riding a splash battle for the first time in years. I'd probably go back there, with the right group - but would be unlikely to bother with Parque d'Atractiones; it tries, and has a few unusual rides, but ultimately ends up being a cred run park.
 

Smithy

Strata Poster
Glad my report proved useful, it's the sort of thing I've found extremely helpful in the past to have.

Can agree with you about the parks both seeming a bit flat when empty too. Oh and they had that weird operating procedure when I was there and it wasn't long after the Smiler crash, sure I commented on it at the time. Wonder if Coaster Express has even run since last March. It's a shame PW is such a pain in the arse to get to now there's no direc train link because it's such a nice park with the potential to be great, it just doesn't seem busy enough.

Oh, and if you didn't' get back on Stunt Fall, how would you class that as a cred?
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Sounds like a good trip - do you think you'll be able to convince your friend into more coaster trips in the future?
I think so yea. She had a really good time at the parks - she finds the whole coaster obsession quite fascinating and is always asking me questions about it. I don't think she'll be keeping a count or signing up to a forum any time soon but I think she'd definitely be up for another trip.

Did you miss the sketchy spider shooting dark ride next to Tarantula?
Probably the best thing at that dire place.
I guess so. I didn't even see it to be honest!

Oh, and if you didn't' get back on Stunt Fall, how would you class that as a cred?
We did - it was back up running later in the day and we rode the whole thing. I think it went down once again not long after so we got quite lucky!
 

Pink Cadillac

Giga Poster
As an avid Maurer Sohne spinning coaster enthusiast I really should visit PDAM even though it hasn't inspired me from pictures I've seen. PWM looks a lot better - did you do the S&S towers there, they look huge!
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
As an avid Maurer Sohne spinning coaster enthusiast I really should visit PDAM even though it hasn't inspired me from pictures I've seen. PWM looks a lot better - did you do the S&S towers there, they look huge!
The spinner as PDAM is really good. One of the better ones, actually. It's got a great "surprise" drop, and had plenty of spinning. You're right though, objectively PWM is a better park, but if you're going to do one you might as well do both! :p
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
As an avid Maurer Sohne spinning coaster enthusiast I really should visit PDAM even though it hasn't inspired me from pictures I've seen. PWM looks a lot better - did you do the S&S towers there, they look huge!
They are huge, but no I didn't do them, they had a bit of a queue and I couldn't be arsed when i'd been spoilt with walk ons all day aha.

I still need to get my ass to Madrid, nice report Rachel.
Thankss, it's such an easy trip, do it!
 

peep

CF Legend
A shame you didn't enjoy Stunt Fall, I love Vekoma GIBs.

Agree on the whole with both parks though, I think with a bit of care Warner Brothers could be amazing so it's a shame it feels like it's being left to rot a little bit. Nice read though :)
 

sandgrown

Mega Poster
I went to PAD the other day. Abismo is a thrilling but all too brief experience, and it has a serious problem with queueing times. It lasts about a minute and you'll be waiting from an hour to an hour and a half to get on it.
Tarantula is loads and loads of fun and you're on it in 20 to 40 minutes. It's long, gives you a bit of a kick and a fright, but isn't too intense. One of those rides that has you giggling all the way through it. The spinning element to the cars means that each ride is a different experience with different forces every time. I'm quite a fan.
Tornado starts off well but dies a bit at the end.

Food was so bad I've complained. As others have stated here, it's **** at both parks. There is actually loads to do in Madrid, but because we don't have a Sagrada Familia, Colosseum, or Eiffel Tower type monument, it's not always obvious to people passing through city. It's not a bad thing though, as it stops the city being rammed to the point of ruin like Barcelona, Rome etc. and stops our rent being ****ed through the roof. Madrileños are neither friendly or unfriendly in general (although for a big European city they are okay - much nicer than Londoners or Parisians for example) but customer service in shops and restaurants is pretty bad, leading visitors to get a bad impression of them.

I'm going back to Parque Warner in April. Stuntfall is pretty terrifying (the screams that emanate from it border on the blood-curdling and can be heard around most of the park.) but maybe I'll find it less intense a second time. Superman is great - it lasts a fair while and gets the balance between scary and thrilling spot on. Batman is good too, and the VR is actually great. Coaster Express - well - it's absolute toilet and many of you have said so on here.
 

sandgrown

Mega Poster
By the way - if you want to get to Warner, since the train station shut the best way is a bus from Madrid - just a few euros and drops you there. If anyone ever wants advice about getting around the city, drop me a line.
 
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