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The New of France and the Old of Germany PTR

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
It's now law in my family, that we must have some sort of European driving holiday in the Summer, which obviously I've got no problem as it means MORE PARKS!!! :--D . It was only a 10 day trip, but a really fab one. Each park we went to had a new gem of a ride, be it at one the 'new to me' French park or the previously visited German parks.

On Wednesday the 6th of August, me and my parents set off on an 7-8 hour drive (not including Euro tunnel time) to Troyes, France which is conveniently only about 40 minutes from...

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A very nice little park in the French Countryside.

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Nigloland's new Mack Mega coaster Alpina Blitz is definitely the main reason to visit this park and makes it more than just a cred stop.

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We arrived at the park just after opening, because the drive turned out to be longer than we thought it would be. Once we got into the park we made our way over to the Switzerland section. Alpina Blitz was looming behind the trees asking to be ridden, but it was eventually won over by...

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The Wild Mouse :) (Schiltt Express). I often try to get these out of the way early for obvious reasons and thankfully it was walk-on first thing. If you've ridden any other mack mice of this model, then you've ridden this one too :wink: .

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We then went over to give Alpina Blitz a bit of attention.

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Station and train pic. I really liked the interior theming and how they made it look like the inside of a chalet. We waited about 15-20 mins for our first ride. It was a one train operation :roll: , but in all fairness there was only one ride op and he was dispatching trains really quickly :) . We got the back row on our first ride.

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First impressions were very good. You get a nice pop of air going over the first drop and then the airtime seems to get stronger throughout the ride. The final three bunny hops deliver some ejector airtime and make for an impressive ending to the ride. It was mostly very smooth apart from a slight rattle on the turnaround after the first drop (which was quite intense to). A very solid coaster and definitely a favourite of mine. A huge win for Nigloland =D>

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The enclosed Mack coaster (yes another one), Spatiale Experience was another coaster I was looking forward to riding. Dark coaster + Space = space mountain knock-off <3

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Blurry station photo. For anyone who's ridden Eurosat at Europa Park, this is very similar but without the amazing soundtrack and it isn't as violent. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of theming in the spiral lift section, but overall the coaster was good fun, but I actually find the roughness that Eurosat has makes this style of coaster more exciting.

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The building that houses the space coaster

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Shockingly, it's not actually a Mack bobsleigh. Thank god!!

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It's a Schwarzkopf Jet Star that many enthusiasts will probably drool over, but there really isn't much to it. There's like two drops :| . It's okay, a bit bumpy, but I don't think I've ridden one since Black Hole was still alive at Alton, so it was interesting in that respect.

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This little dragon ride may look harmless.

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But it preys on innocent riders of the Gerstlauer Sky Fly. You've been warned!!!

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Speaking of which, that was my next ride. Had to wait in 40-45 minute queue for this, being that it was low capacity and quite a popular ride. I'd never ridden one before though, so I was looking forward to experiencing one.

It was okay I suppose, but I think it really depends on whether you get a rhythm going so you can start flipping. I got very close to going over many times, but sadly never quite made it there. Also, the gerstlauer OTSR's were rather uncomfortable when trying to move the wings.

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We then crossed the Pacific into Canada.

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Your trusty Pirate Ship.

I'm not sure whether my pictures do it justice, but Nigloland was actually a really beautiful park. It's kind of like a smaller Europa Park and that's not just because it's full Mack rides :) .

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Oh, there's another one. Has a park ever loved a manufacture so much? Gold Mine Train was sadly very dull, which is a shame because I usually have a soft spot for Mack Powered coasters, but this one was very meh.

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If we start browsing the Mack Rides website, then we can probably predict the park's next installment :p. Anyway, the MACK log flume only had one drop. BOO!!!!!

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We then stopped for Lunch and had a crepe, before we headed back over to Alpina Blitz.

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It was running noticeably faster than in the morning and the dispatching was even speedier due to a second ride op. We ended up having another 4 rides on it.

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It is pretty much the same layout as Piraten, but it was very interesting to see how one made by Mack would feel like. As expected, it's not insane like Piraten, but it's considerably closer than I was expecting. For example, the twisted hills section on Piraten was bonkers, whereas they were just very good on Alpina Blitz :p

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I had another go Spatiale Experience some time between my rides on Alpina Blitz

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Unfortunately, Nigloland does not allow pigs on rides. Overly strict if you ask me.

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So that wraps up my visit to Nigloland. On paper, the park doesn't have much of interest to us enthusiasts which is true when you visit the park, but Alpina Blitz is worth visiting on it's own and the park is very pleasant, not too busy and has very good food by theme park standards.

Thank you for reading my report. The extremely highly regarded and exceptionally clean and well themed Walygator Parc will be next.
 

ThomVD

Giga Poster
I'm actually surprised how nice the park looks. I really love those parks that you have low expectations of, but turn out to be really nice. Alpina Blitz looks awesome. Mack mega coasters <3 Shame the log flume only has one drop, since it does look pretty nice. And I agree on what you said about Eurosat.
 

peep

CF Legend
I love Nigloland, I too went for the first time this year but even if Alpina wasn't there I think I still would have had a great time. It has a fantastic selection of attractions (apart from the ghost house, that was awful). Glad to hear you also had a great time at the park.

Look forward to seeing the rest of your report.
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
Thank you guys :)

So after a great day at Nigloland, we headed on about three hours to Luxembourg for the first time. We stayed for three nights and the half of the first day was spent at...

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I had informed my parents to have no expectations of this park, (especially since we had all been so pleasantly surprised by Nigloland) because I was aware that it wasn't exactly 5 star :)

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Personally I think the colour scheme on the entrance is disgusting, but at least they made a bit of an effort in that it looked fairly fresh.

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There were actually pretty big queues to get into the park and the rides at the front of the park had already worked up pretty decent sized queues.

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The only reason I wanted to come to this park was because of Monster. Obviously because it's a B&M Invert, but also I've always really liked the layout of this and Raptor at CP. I had heard very little about Monster, but sadly Raptor doesn't seem to get the most glowing reviews as an invert so I wasn't expecting an incredible ride.

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Again, colour scheme is gross. It reminds me a bit of Vanilla Ice Cream :p

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The ride is absolutely fantastic though. Although, it is a very long layout, it manages to consistently provide great intense forces and very snappy inversions. The first drop also provides some air at the back and on the whole the coaster is very smooth. There are straight sections leading up to the corkscrews, but I actually thought the placement of them added to the ride as it made the corkscrews stand out more. The ride also ends with a really nice intense helix. Despite the fact it is ugly and is just plonked on a field, it is pretty much the perfect B&M Invert for me and therefore sits comfortable in Top 10 at no.5.

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Monster had basically no queue first thing, so I went on it three times then before moving on.

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I went over to Anaconda next and was annoyed to see a fairly large queue. I waited for a bit, while the operators proceeded to faff around with a train in the station so the line was moving nowhere. There were two groups of school kids taking turns shouting and singing obnoxiously in French and all this coupled with someone beside me blowing smoke into my general vicinity made me just leave the queue, as I was having a bit of a mental tantrum :p

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As we had not had breakfast yet, we went back to the entrance area to have an orange juice, croissant etc, before moving on

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The rapids ride looked really boring so we didn't even bother with that.

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There was a cool little carousel themed to instruments.

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The poor rejected tea pot stuck out like a sour thumb. It was manky! :(

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G-Lock, a Zamperla Air Race was the park's new attraction this year. I ended up waiting about 35 minutes for the ride because I thought the queue looked short, but there was a fair bit of the queue hidden inside. I remember not being massively impressed with the one at Tivoli, but I enjoyed this one more for some reason. Not worth the wait though.

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I didn't ride the S&S shot tower because they're all the same :| Comet, which I believe is a vekoma looper was sadly next on my agenda. Ummm... Nothing to say really. You get what you expect.

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I gave the log flume an inspection and I could only see one drop so like the rapids, I didn't bother with it. I could tell I was in a bit of a mood and really tired because I pretty much never pass up on log flumes or rapids rides.

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I eventually made the effort to get back into the queue to ride Anaconda.

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I was really pissed to find it about twice as long :x :x Didn't this park go bankrupt not that long ago. Why the **** is it suddenly so busy!!!!

I timed how long the queue took and it was just under 50 minutes, although it felt like hours, due to the really crap operations at Walygator. They only run one train on there coasters, which isn't exactly a shocker, but nonetheless they make an effort to make operations even slower. While the train is running round the track, they don't let anybody into the station. Instead, they wait till the train has reached the station, the riders have exited and then after a bit of faffing they finally let riders fill up the air gates. And no! They don't open the air gates straight away to let riders into the train, they wait until all the rows have had two/one person allocated to them before they finally let people onto the train.

All this was really making me rage inside :evil: . I was not happy!

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The only good thing was that they had finally stopped using the sand bags on the front two cars of the train by the time I got in the queue the second time around. In hindsight, I guess this was what they were faffing around with, when I was in the queue earlier.

Anyway to the ride itself. I had heard it was one of the worst wooden coasters in the world, but I had heard the same about Coaster Express at Parque Warner and that was fine, so I wasn't certain that I'd find it to be that bad. It is pretty rough and jerky the whole way round the ride, even when it is going very slow (which is most of the time :) ). I didn't think it really crossed my line in terms of wooden coaster roughness, but I don't think it really added anything to the ride. The main issue is that the ride is very boring and barely makes it over hills. So it probably is my least favourite wooden coaster, but I don't think it is dreadful like many say it is.

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I was definitely in the mood to leave now, but I did want one last go on Monster. The queue wasn't as long as on Anaconda, but the operations came with all the same ****. On a more positive note, this ride really solidified the coaster's position. Monster is an extremely underrated B&M Invert IMO.

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I didn't know what this ride was.

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I'm not a whore today! :)

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Don't give me those eyes Mr Waly. You know your park sucks.

Anyway that's basically it. I really did not like Walygator at all. Monster is obviously brilliant and is not at all deserved by the park, but everything else is either poor or not notable. The park has a crap atmosphere and a lot of the place is a bit grubby. The operations were very irritating and just generally the park was not relaxing or pleasant. The complete opposite of Nigloland.

I may be being slightly harsh and unfair on the park, as I was feeling very tired and a bit sick for most of the day, which may have made me more impatient and critical. I just didn't enjoy it (besides Monster) and is probably my least favourite on the European Mainland.


Thank You for reading my Parc Walygator report. SKY SCREAM AND EGF are on show next at Holiday Park.
 

ThomVD

Giga Poster
Good report!

It honestly looks/sounds like one of the worst parks ever if it wasn't for Monster :p . The fact that you haven't ridden all the creds and water rides is pretty shocking though, but if you didn't feel well, I can understand. Maybe the park being bankrupt wouldn't be such a bad thing, if they'd sell Monster to a park that is actually worth visiting. The ride looks great though, lay-out/ride wise, the coaster itself looks gross. Pretty impressive of Walygator to manage to make a B&M look like ****. The music carousel looks fab.

I'm sure you've had a much better time at Holiday Park, can't wait for that report! :)
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
To be fair, I missed the wacky worm at Nigloland as well. I haven't really ridden any small kiddie coasters as I haven't really been bothered. The smallest coasters I've ridden this year have been Zierer Tivoli-Large models.

I would love Monster to be relocated somewhere where it gets a bit love to, but it is probably unlikely and I'd really like the park to UP ITS **** GAME!! The fact that there were actually a decent amount of people in the place likley means the park is doing better and I really hope they spend some money on making the park a lot more appealing, maybe add a bit more theming and preferably get rid of all the crap rides, but at least invest in some new better quality rides.

Although, it was only a flat ride added this year, I think that could be a sign that they are willing to invest in some actually decent rides with some effort put into them (the queue line surprisingly had some theming and they didn't just call it Air Race :) ). I also thought that there may be a bit of a missed opportunity with Anaconda. It would need to go under some quite major modifications including probably a full re-track, but it actually has potential to be half decent.

Seeing this park to be at least brought up to the standard of the major Walibi parks would definitely be a step in the right direction.
 

Darren B

Giga Poster
Really enjoying the report, you put your thoughts across really well.

But now let me put my point across; YOU TURNED DOWN A BIG APPLE, TWICE. Mate, I've driven 6-8 hours in a day before, just for a big apple, heck, I even queued for 40 minutes this past weekend for one and you're turning them down willy nilly. Have a word mate.

On a serious note - great reports so far and I'm looking forward to your thoughts on the best coaster in the world!
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
Darren B said:
Really enjoying the report, you put your thoughts across really well.

Thank You!! :)

Darren B said:
But now let me put my point across; YOU TURNED DOWN A BIG APPLE, TWICE. Mate, I've driven 6-8 hours in a day before, just for a big apple, heck, I even queued for 40 minutes this past weekend for one and you're turning them down willy nilly. Have a word mate.

I know I have been a really bad coaster enthusiast. I should be going to Rome in October so I'll ride the one at Rainbow Magicland if that will make you happy :wink:


Righty then, after Walygator we spent a couple more nights in Luxembourg before heading off to another 'bourg.' Strasbourg! From here we went to...

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Holiday Park. This would mark my 3rd visit to Holiday Park and I think I like the park a little more each time. Many say that it is bland and inferior to a lot of other German parks, but I would say it is quite an underrated park. It's better than Movie Park and a lot better than **** Hansa Park. It's small and it has a nice forest feel to it.

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I really quite like the main entrance as well.

We got to the park early so waited about 20 minutes at the rope drop. At 10am I made my way straight to Sky Scream. I basically followed what those around me were doing. When they ran, I ran, when they walked, I walked. Except at the end when I jogged past the few people in front of me and got to the entrance first :--D . Yahh!!!

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I waited around for a little while, wondering why it hadn't opened, but eventually I realised it probably didn't open until 10:30. I wasn't going to leave though and miss out on the front seat of the first train of the day!

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As soon as I got into the trains, I found the leg guards on the restraint quite irritating, which worried me a little bit. Thankfully, you didn't really notice them while on the ride. In short, the ride is really good fun. It rides a lot better than you expect it to and was just generally awesome. I really like the launching and rushing through the station.

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You also get a great pop of airtime cresting the top and the heartline roll was insane. With only lap bars and not exactly tight ones on me, you feel quite insecure (in a good way :) ).

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The drop after the roll was also fantastic.

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After I got off Sky Scream, I could see the queue was building up and the rest of the park looked a lot busier than it had done on our last two visit so me and my Dad got the new express passes, which WERE FAB!!!

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We then went straight to Expedition GeForce. With express passes, they don't let you ride in the first car, which is fair enough, so for the first ride we rode in the second car. I couldn't remember the last time I did EGF near the front so I wanted to give it a try.

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Obviously it was still fantastic, but definitely not as good as in the back. Then again, I do tend to favour the back on most coasters because I love being pulled over hills, inversions etc.

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On our second ride we rode in the back. It was incredible. Absolutely *insert a synonym of incredible here*. I remember on my last trip thinking the airtime and pacing wasn't maintained as well throughout the ride, but the pacing excelled this time around. The final four bunny hops provided pretty much just as good airtime as the first two hills and the twisted air hill was snappy. As usual, the first drop was excellent and probably still my favourite ever drop.

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The terrifying Anubis Freefall tower darkened as the sun shined upon it.

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I didn't remember how well it rode in comparison to other intamin towers from my last ride, so I was curious. I have to say, it's a bit lame for an intamin one. The drop seemed to have barely any floater and the combination of the upward journey being fast and there being very little time at the top meant the suspense was mostly lost. It was still fun, but certainly doesn't stand out.

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We then took the tree-filled walk back over to Sky Scream for another two goes.

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I really think it is a fantastic addition. I know it would not be in the top tier of coasters for many and it isn't really for me, but it just seems to work really well in the park.

I took my Dad on this time and we rode in the back. It was mostly the same, except you got stronger airtime when going down the vertical twisting drop after the heartline roll. I made an effort to put my hands up this time, which made the going through the heartline roll even more freaky.

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We then had Lunch in a building that at least looked like this one, but probably wasn't that one.

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After we had recharged our energy supply with Schnitzel and Fries, we had a go on the rapids.

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Its a short ride, but is equipped with quite choppy waters, unlike most European rapids rides which are more like gentle boat rides. We ended up getting fairly wet, which made me feel a bit chilly.

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The entrance area on the park side is also very nice. Unsurprisingly it's very similar to the Plopsa De Panne entrance.

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My Dad wanted another ride on Anubis so that was done. Thankfully I felt more air, so all was not lost :)

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We then had a load of more goes on EGF.

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It is ridiculously good!! And I mean RIDICULOUS. For me, the airtime on the first two hills is on a par with El Toro and IMO better than on Skyrush. It just keeps on delivering the whole way round. Such a beauty of a coaster :--D

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Our journey continued onward to the former Devils Barrels log flume, Wickie Splash.

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I think the new theming looks a lot brighter and suits the Plopsa 'theme' of the park more, but I thought the original devil theming was quite weird and quirky. Other than that, it is a pretty good log flume that leaves you relatively moist.

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I had ago on the Breakdance next and I <3 Breakdances so it was obviously fab!!

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They left a piece of Superwirbel over the walkway into the Sky Scream area. Personally, I think they should have re-painted it like Alton did with Corkscrew because it looked a bit grubby.

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Sky Scream got some more attention in both picture and ride form.

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It is definitely one my favourite coasters in Germany, which speaks volumes considering Germany is arguably the best country in Europe for coasters.

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I assumed the Star Flyer was going to have a fairly long queue, so I didn't bother with it.

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I did chill out on the Condor though. I love how you can basically just lay down and have a little snooze on these rides :p .

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We then had our third helping of EGF rides, before heading back round to Sky Scream the long way so I could take a few more pics.

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I didn't ride Holly's Wilde Autofahrt because it's ****. Seriously, the most bumpy and just generally crap mouse ever.

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One last photo of Sky Scream to commemorate my last ride on it

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My final ride of the day was on EGF and I actually think it was the best singular ride I had on it all day. Airtime coasters don't get any better than this.

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Me on the back row of EGF.

I was very glad to be able to ride Bizarro and EGF only three weeks apart because after my slight disappointment with Bizarro, I was worried that I lost my true love Intamin megas. But riding EGF certainly put that to ease. It is considerably better than Bizarro and its not at all surprising to me that it wins the Mitch Hawker Steel Poll.

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Sadly now it was time to leave, but to be honest today couldn't not have been much better. Practically no queueing and tons of rides on two great coasters. This park may not have much, but it does have some gems and should never be thought less of because of its size and ride count.

Now as much as I love the park and it didn't really affect our visit this time, very much like Walygator, operations aren't exactly fast (with the exception of Sky Scream). In addition to EGF only running one train, even though the queue would have easily taken nearly one hour, they insist on checking all the seat belts first and then checking all the lap bars, which is complete unnecessary faff. This year I've witnessed Bizarro and El Toro being operated with the same seat belts and the operators just tug on the strap whilst checking the lap bar is secure. I'm sure the seat belts were designed with that intention and it annoys me that Holiday Park can't seem to figure that out.

For purely this reason and the fact Sky Screamer is already pretty low capacity, I would definitely reccomend the express pass for busy days.

Thank You for reading my Holiday Park Report. Next time, we go traipsing through Tripsdrill.
 

ThomVD

Giga Poster
Once again a great report.

I really liked Holiday Park. Some great rides and a nice atmosphere. I agree with the operations, so I also got an express pass. It's pretty cheap considering you get unlimited uses.

I'm really glad that the drop tower went up fast, because I used to be really scared of drop towers :p . I agree with you about the coasters. EGF is fantastic, Sky Scream really good (not sure if I would consider it one of the best in Germany though, since I've only been to 3 parks so far and I have 7 coasters that rank higher on my list), and the wild mouse is ****. It actually felt faster than other wild mice I've done, so the laterals were a bit too much for my taste. It didn't help that I was riding alone.

Looking forward to Tripsdrill, a park I would really love to visit.
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
ThomVD said:
Sky Scream really good (not sure if I would consider it one of the best in Germany though, since I've only been to 3 parks so far and I have 7 coasters that rank higher on my list),

Well when thinking about I'd probably place it 6th for me (behind EGF, BMamba, Colossos, BFire and SStar), which I suppose isn't quite one the best, but it's still pretty high. I haven't ridden Flug der Daemonen or El Toro (plohn) yet though.

Thanks very much for your commitment to replying to me reports :) .
 

Hobbes

Mega Poster
Nice report, Cookie. I've always wondered if Holiday Park was really worth going to. Prior to Sky Scream, it really seemed to have EGF and nothing else. But between your report and a couple others I read recently (ThomVD and CoasterCruiser I believe), it seems like a nice little park.

Out of curiosity, does Sky Scream have some kind of transfer track that allows them to load a train while another is running?
 

tomahawk

Strata Poster
Just caught up, and I absolutely love the report so far. Always bee. aa dream of mine to get to Holiday Park, and while I hate how those Premier rides don't have a duel load station, the park looks fantastic.

Can't wait for the rest.
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
Hobbes said:
Out of curiosity, does Sky Scream have some kind of transfer track that allows them to load a train while another is running?

No sadly it doesn't, like Tomahawk said. It does churn through people quicker than you'd expect though.

Thanks for your comments guys. I'm glad your enjoying the reports :)
 

ThomVD

Giga Poster
I have to add that unlike the rest of the park, the operations on Sky Scream are very good. They dispatch the trains in no-time.
 

silenthillXD

Hyper Poster
Brilliant report! Glad to hear Holiday park is worth a visit. Obviously Expedition G force looks amazing, but nice to hear Sky Scream is great too! Out of curiosity how easy is it to get to? And would you say it's worth a trip?
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
silenthillXD said:
Out of curiosity how easy is it to get to? And would you say it's worth a trip?

Well we just drove to it from Strasbourg which is about an 1h 15 mins which was fine, but if you're referring to methods of public transport, than sadly I'm not sure.

It's definitely worth a trip. EGF is (arguably) the best coaster in Europe and Sky Scream is definitely quite a unique experience, unless you've been to SFDK :wink: . It doesn't have a huge number of rides, but between SS, EGF and some other rides, you could definitely spend a whole day there.
 

ThomVD

Giga Poster
And you could combine the trip with Tripsdrill and Europa Park which are both relatively close and worth a visit.
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
After another couple of days in Strasbourg, we set off to Koblenz, Germany and on the way we stopped at...

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We had been to Tripsdrill 3 years ago for the first time and thought it was okay. I remember it being a very quirky park, but definitely family-oriented meaning that it seemed to lack in the ride department, so we only spent about half a day there. I was eager to return though because of the addition of the Gerstlauer infinity coaster, Karacho.

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When we arrived (many of these pics were taken on the way out), it was drizzling slightly, but the clouds made it look like it would definitely get heavier.

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My first order of business was to get the cred I missed out last time, otherwise I may have forgotten again.

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I'm on the second to back row. I was so brave, that I was managing to only hold on with one hand :p

I sort of like these Zierer Tivoli Coasters. They're definitely my favourite kiddy coasters and I liked the environment this one was in.

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I was very keen to get over and ride the main reason for my re-visit. By now it was starting to rain more heavily and as I really don't like riding coasters in the pouring rain (IT HURTS!!) I was a tad worried that it may spoil my first ride.

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Probably the best test seat ever!

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Some indoor queueline theming.

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Riders going off into the darkness. I loved the trains on this ride and the fact each one was a different colour.

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Thankfully, the rain had calmed down quite a bit by the time of my first ride, so it wasn't an issue. Karacho is certainly quite a good all-round coaster. It has quite a powerful launch, a good indoor section, some small pops of airtime and a very snappy inversion. For a Gerstlauer it is pretty smooth, but still has a bit of a violence tendency which I actually quite liked. It does sadly suffer from a bit of a pacing issue from the MCBR until the third inversion. However, the lap bars (although they were quite tight) were a vast improvement on the vile Gerstlauer OTSR's and made you feel a lot more exposed and free. A nice coaster that both Gerstlauer and Tripsdrill should be proud of.

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After another ride on Karacho, we headed over to Mammut

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I actually had fairly large expectations for this last time and remember being very dissapointed.

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I had better feelings about the ride this time. It really proves that expectations are a big part about how you feel about a coaster. It just felt a bit faster and slightly more exciting than last time, but still not a patch on the GCI's woodies.

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We then moved on to what is probably one of my favourite themed ride complexes of any theme park.

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I love the German architecture theme and especially how well G'sengte sau and the Flume were built in around it.

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Speaking of G'sengte Sau, that was our next ride. It had probably the longest wait all day, but it was only about 25 mins.

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When we actually got on the ride the rain was pretty heavy, but thankfully it isn't a particularly fast coaster. It was running very well though. I remember it being quite a good surprise last time, but over the years I'd forgotten how good it was. The turns are wild, the airtime hills are actually quite decent and as the theming really enhances the ride experience. Obviously, it is not anything amazing and definitely isn't as good as Heiße Fahrt at Klotten Park, but it is still a pretty good family coaster.

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We then had some lunch under shelter from the rain. While my Mum and Dad were finishing, I had another go on Karacho

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The inversion pictured above was definitely the highlight of the ride. When sitting on the left side of the train with your hands up, it's insane.

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Our next ride was Tripsdrill's bathtub flume ride, which is arguably their signature attraction :wink:

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Not your everyday log flume theming

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I loved the positioning of this drop

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Despite the fact, most of the wetness was caused by the rain (rain never stops me going on water rides :) ). It's actually a really good log flume, with three decent drops including one backwards. Quirky theming like on this flume is one of the things I love about this park, albeit rather strange at times (naked ladies in the tunnel :shock: :p ).

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Up next was the rapids ride, which I think is themed washing clothes.

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I remember it being a bit better last time, but rapids rides can vary a lot based on individual rides.

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We then ventured back over to Karacho and had another two goes on it.

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I was a bit dissapointed that this hill gave basically no airtime though :(

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We then went to have a second ride on Mammut, which was ruined a little by heavy rain.

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This was followed by a repeat ride on G'sengte sau.

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And the log flume. The showers of rain were on and off constantly, but it didn't really spoil our day as it meant the water rides had no queue :--D and the park still kept running all the rides.

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Afterwards we had a final ride on Karacho, which was consistently good every time.

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The station was sadly quite unorganised though. The sign showed different ways for front row and second row, but to get in queue for front row, people had to push past others, which meant that at many times pretty much everybody was queuing for the second row. This caused one of the ride ops to keep having to instruct people to push past others to get to the front row queue. I guess this wasn't a major issue, but it did stand out as being quite a poorly organised section of the queue-line, that could definitely do with some improvement.

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Some guy who routinely puked was placed on the exit side of the station. Pretty strange theming again, but very Tripsdrill :)

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Riders diving down into the hole. As I've said Karacho is definitely a brilliant addition to Tripsdrill and is probably my favourite Gerstlauer coaster.

We still had one more ride to go on.

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No, not that :)

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The rain had stopped now and the sun was out shining for the first time of the day.

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I didn't ride this rather odd family drop tower last time, but I have since ridden the one at Bon Bon Land, so I knew its little secret. It's obviously nothing mind-blowing, but I won't spoil it for anyone who doesn't know, because it can catch you off guard.

Sadly, it was now time to leave, but I'll leave you with a few more pics before my final comment on Tripsdrill

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<3

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To go along with their unusual theming, Tripsdrill also had some rather unusual customers.

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I don't know exactly why, but I really liked Tripsdrill a lot more this time around. The older and woodland areas of the park are beautiful and well-themed. My new found love for the park was probably mixture of Karacho really improving the coaster selection and me just being able to appreciate the smaller elements of the park more. If I had one criticism about the park it would be that the area that Karacho and Mammut stand on are very bland compared to the rest of the park and lack exterior theming. Being the newer area of the park, it worries me that Tripsdrill will lose some of its charm in the years to come, but hopefully they'll be able to improve the area around those rides to the standard of the rest of the park.

Thank You for reading my Tripsdrill report. Next comes my fourth visit to my favourite park of all time, Phantasialand.
 

ThomVD

Giga Poster
For some reason I missed this. Tripsdrill looks great, and is on my wishlist. It looks like the kind of nice small but pretty park that I'd enjoy. Looking forward to your Phantasialand report, especially because I'm going there this thursday!
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
ThomVD said:
Looking forward to your Phantasialand report, especially because I'm going there this thursday!

I hope you had a good day :) .

I should get the report done tomorrow, but with starting school in the past couple of weeks I've become swamped with work so I may not have time.
 
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