Rob Coasters
Rob Poster
In the course of a month I went to both Madrid parks twice - once at the start of November versus one at the end, due to conflicting availabilities with friends. So instead of going once, I went twice. The first one, we decided to get everywhere by public transport, which was obviously longer but more adventurous. Leaving Madrid Airport to the overpowering stench of cigarettes, I was on my way to my first coasters in Spain. I'd visited Spain a couple times before for holidays in 2015 and 2018, but never rode any coasters. Ironically they could have - in 2015, our holiday to Malaga took us on a cable car over Tivoli World which was closed for the winter at the time, and in 2018 I had the option to visit Loro Parque but turned that down in favour of a second day at the incredible Siam Park. Anyway, here are parks.
Parque de Atracciones has three standout coasters, the first being #368 Tarántula. Being told this was one of the strongest non-inverting spinning coasters in the world, I went into this with high hopes that it would be incredible, but left a little disappointed. I had no specific qualms with the layout per se, simply the ride wasn't quite worth the immense hype that surrounded it.
#369 Abismo was a ride I was immensely excited for, these "X Car" type models always intrigued me heavily with the lift hill that slowly transitioned into an inversion, and the whole thing was a terrifying yet bizarrely awesome experience. The rolls at the top were wild, and the large drop that followed it provided an incredible yet brief sense of speed before progressing through the rest of the layout, which had nothing as noteworthy but was a neat proof of concept of an extension of this ride type's typical layout (which only involves the roll at the top before a return to the station).
The main issue I had was that I wasn't a fan of how tight the lap bar got, with it getting uncomfortably restrictive as it continued to lower further and further as the ride progressed, leaving me begging to leave the train once the ride finished. It was an unfortunate con to an otherwise really good albeit short ride.
#370 Tornado was a very "different" inverted coaster, with a layout far less inversion-focused than I'm used to. My favourite part of the ride was how both loops were exactly the same size, meaning that you traverse the second loop notably slower than the first. It's an otherwise un-noteworthy roller coaster, being very top-heavy with a couple good moments in the first half and then a second half where the train loses so much speed you're crawling through the rest of it.
Cred runs now, #371 Padrinos Voladores stands as one of the worst kid's roller coasters I've ridden, achieving literally nothing of note other than my friend struggling to get into the seat and causing them to sit almost sideways in order to ride! #372 Vértigo provided similar inconvenience to them, with them almost hitting their head on a sheet of metal coming up the lift - the sheet was there to stop taller people from reaching their hand up and touching the above track, but the sheet itself provides even more danger! The layout hurt, a lot, with sharp brakes and it was comfortably my least favourite ride in the park. #373 TNT Tren de la Mina had too long a queue for us to want to deal with, so we purchased a single-use fast track. A fairly standard family coaster. As I would return in a month and my friend did not want to bother with Paw Patrol, we declined to ride that.
Top Spin followed, which was one of my favourite examples of one of my favourite flat rides, providing a strong array of flips & inversions with plenty of hangtime and showing off very well what the ride model is capable of. The Lanzadera drop tower didn't convince me enough, with a fairly weak drop, but the views of Abismo and the rest of the park were amazing.
We ended our day at the park by looping indefinitely between Tarántula, Abismo and Tornado. I gradually saw the light with Tarántula with its incredible and sudden "f**k you" drop down a huge hill, and its general sense of chaos I began to really really like. Abismo continued to do its thing as an excellent ride let down severely by its restraint, and my second ride on Tornado further back gave it a rise up my rankings.
Parque de Atracciones was pretty good for what it was, I was happy with the fact I was returning in three weeks' time. The night was spent eating at a tapas bar, who gave you a mixed plate of exceptionally good food whenever you ordered a beer/wine/cider. I wish I enjoyed it more, but the overpowering crowds mixed with the standing room only mixed with my lack of sleep led to me crashing into my capsule hotel earlier than anticipated.
Tomorrow - Pinto
Parque de Atracciones has three standout coasters, the first being #368 Tarántula. Being told this was one of the strongest non-inverting spinning coasters in the world, I went into this with high hopes that it would be incredible, but left a little disappointed. I had no specific qualms with the layout per se, simply the ride wasn't quite worth the immense hype that surrounded it.
#369 Abismo was a ride I was immensely excited for, these "X Car" type models always intrigued me heavily with the lift hill that slowly transitioned into an inversion, and the whole thing was a terrifying yet bizarrely awesome experience. The rolls at the top were wild, and the large drop that followed it provided an incredible yet brief sense of speed before progressing through the rest of the layout, which had nothing as noteworthy but was a neat proof of concept of an extension of this ride type's typical layout (which only involves the roll at the top before a return to the station).
The main issue I had was that I wasn't a fan of how tight the lap bar got, with it getting uncomfortably restrictive as it continued to lower further and further as the ride progressed, leaving me begging to leave the train once the ride finished. It was an unfortunate con to an otherwise really good albeit short ride.
#370 Tornado was a very "different" inverted coaster, with a layout far less inversion-focused than I'm used to. My favourite part of the ride was how both loops were exactly the same size, meaning that you traverse the second loop notably slower than the first. It's an otherwise un-noteworthy roller coaster, being very top-heavy with a couple good moments in the first half and then a second half where the train loses so much speed you're crawling through the rest of it.
Cred runs now, #371 Padrinos Voladores stands as one of the worst kid's roller coasters I've ridden, achieving literally nothing of note other than my friend struggling to get into the seat and causing them to sit almost sideways in order to ride! #372 Vértigo provided similar inconvenience to them, with them almost hitting their head on a sheet of metal coming up the lift - the sheet was there to stop taller people from reaching their hand up and touching the above track, but the sheet itself provides even more danger! The layout hurt, a lot, with sharp brakes and it was comfortably my least favourite ride in the park. #373 TNT Tren de la Mina had too long a queue for us to want to deal with, so we purchased a single-use fast track. A fairly standard family coaster. As I would return in a month and my friend did not want to bother with Paw Patrol, we declined to ride that.
Top Spin followed, which was one of my favourite examples of one of my favourite flat rides, providing a strong array of flips & inversions with plenty of hangtime and showing off very well what the ride model is capable of. The Lanzadera drop tower didn't convince me enough, with a fairly weak drop, but the views of Abismo and the rest of the park were amazing.
We ended our day at the park by looping indefinitely between Tarántula, Abismo and Tornado. I gradually saw the light with Tarántula with its incredible and sudden "f**k you" drop down a huge hill, and its general sense of chaos I began to really really like. Abismo continued to do its thing as an excellent ride let down severely by its restraint, and my second ride on Tornado further back gave it a rise up my rankings.
Parque de Atracciones was pretty good for what it was, I was happy with the fact I was returning in three weeks' time. The night was spent eating at a tapas bar, who gave you a mixed plate of exceptionally good food whenever you ordered a beer/wine/cider. I wish I enjoyed it more, but the overpowering crowds mixed with the standing room only mixed with my lack of sleep led to me crashing into my capsule hotel earlier than anticipated.
Tomorrow - Pinto
