ThomVD
Giga Poster
I doubt many people will read this since it's Christmas, but I'm going to write it anyway 
.
More and more parks in the Netherlands are getting winter/christmas events. Efteling started in 1999, and now Slagharen, Toverland and Duinrell have followed. I love the atmosphere in parks during winter so these are the parks I'm visiting these weeks:
-Duinrell on 24 December.
-Toverland on 29 or 30 December (depends on the weather, and this is not 100% official yet).
-Efteling on 2 January.
First up is Duinrell, which I've actually visited today. Only about half of the rides are open in the christmas holidays, because the park has a lot of water rides. The most important thing for me was that all the creds, which I actually haven't gotten yet, were open. Impatient as I am, I thought this would be the perfect chance to get the creds, see the christmas event and get some rides on the coasters in the dark.
The great thing about living in Utrecht, which is in the middle of the country, is that I'm relatively close to every park in the Netherlands. I pretty much have seven home parks that I can get to within 2 hours of travel time with public transport. It also helps that I have a student pass which lets me travel for free on weekdays. This has been a very cheap day as far as theme park days go. After 1,5 hour of traveling I arrived at the park. It's immediately noticable that Duinrell is a very unique park. Once you go through the entrance, you'll still see roads where cars drive. Then you walk through some playgrounds and camping grounds. After that you'll have to decide if you will go for the waterpark called Tikibad, or if you want to visit the actual attraction park. You actually need to show your ticket twice before you get to the rides. I arrived at 13:00 and planned to stay until 17:45.
It's magic :wink:
Next time...
The park is really lovely. I feel that winter doesn't fit the park though. It really feels more summer-y with many water rides, and located in the middle of a forest. They did put a lot of effort into the event though. Pretty christmas trees and lights everywhere, christmas songs playing all around the park, campfires and a lot of decoration. I've never been to Duinrell before, but it must be so different than the rest of the year because literally everything was in christmas style. There was a lovely castle with some well themed buildings but it was closed off sadly. Not sure if it opens at all during the winter, but it did have a sign for a winter show so I have no idea...
Onwards to the rides then. The first ride I came across was the park's chairswing but I didn't see any other people nor ride operators, so I decided to skip it for now. One of the first things I noticed is how deserted the park was. I felt really sorry for Duinrell. It's the first year they try an event like this, put a lot of effort into it, and then nobody visits. They can't have made profit today. Not sure if the other days were any more crowded. Doubt it, because the weather has been awful until today.
All of the park's major rides are built right next to each other at the very back of the park. This is because Duinrell is right next to a village called Wassenaar, so all the rides that make a lot of noise must be as far away as possible.
First cred of the day was Kikkerachtbaan, which is a Zierer Tivoli. This was the first time I rode a large model. Not gonna lie, I do get a bit embarrased to ride a kiddie coaster when I'm visiting a park alone . Thankfully the staff in the park were all very friendly and didn't make a fuss about it. I went straight for the back seat. Not a big fan of these tivoli coasters. They are very shakey and I hate the seats. I always feel unsafe when I slide from one side to the other, and I get way too little leg space (which is kind of understandable considering it is supposed to be for kids). What I don't get though is, why can't they make kiddie coasters more comfortable? Why do the safety bars have to be so annoying? At least their Zierer Force II models have individual lap bars which is an improvement, but they could all still do with softer seats. Anyway, +1 and never felt the need to ride it again. The train was cute though, as it was themed to the park's mascot, Rick de Kikker (Rick the Frog). 3,5/10.
Right next to the frog coaster was the park's Gerstlauer family coaster Dragon Fly. It was beautifully intertwined with the trees and like the other coasters in the park, they were brown so that they blend in well with the environments. I really love that. Awesome coloured supports as well. I have a soft spot for family coasters so I was secretly really looking forward to this one. Went for the back seat again, and unlike Kikkerachtbaan, these trains are fab and comfortable. Really love them! They look great as well. As for the ride, it was (for me not so) surprisingly good! The first drop had a bit of airtime in the back, and while the first couple of turns never really do much, it does pick up a lot of speed towards the end. It was incredibly smooth, comfortable and re-ridable. Exactly how a family coaster should be. Reminds me a lot of Pegasus. An interesting fact about Duinrell is that they very rarely remove trees for rides. This is very noticable as I'm pretty sure that you can touch a handful of trees while riding Dragon Fly. It gives the rides even more of a forest-y vibe. 7/10.
Not my pic, but it shows well how the trains look.
The last and biggest coaster in Duinrell is Falcon, my very first Gerstlauer Eurofighter. Falcon is basically a clone of Rage in Adventure Island, but then located in a forest. It had some lovely theming around the entrance. Like every other ride there was no queue so I could board the front seat immediately. The seats were initially pretty comfortable. The vertical lifthill was a very unique experience for me. It was quite exciting! The beyond vertical drop was also unique for me. It provides some great airtime. The loop that follows had just the right amount of hangtime to still be comfortable. The overbanked turn was a bit bumpy but nothing painful. The heartline roll had about the same amount of hangtime as the loop. Lovely twist and helix to finish off the ride. One of the pieces of theming was a plane and one of the wings provides a great headchopper if you sit on the right side of the car once you hit the brakes. I know this coaster is not representative for (most) other Eurofighters, but I really liked it. It was quite smooth actually. The only downside is that while the seats and restraints are comfortable, they do get pretty tight in the end due to the forces. And like Formule X in the nearby Drievliet, it is too short to really be a great coaster. All in all, Falcon is a very good family thrill coaster and perfect for the "big coaster" status in a park like Duinrell. The variety in the coaster selection is as good as it gets for a small family park. They have a little kiddie coaster, a medium sized family coaster and a (relatively) big family thrill coaster. Good job Duinrell! As for the coaster, I give it a 7,5/10.
First I got some re-rides on Dragon Fly and Falcon. After ten rides on each I did the remaining two "big" rides that were open. First up was the park's HUSS Frisbee called Mad Mill (it is themed after a Dutch windmill <3). I quite liked the other frisbees I rode so I had high expectations of this one. It was so quiet that I was the only one on the ride. It was the only disappointment of the day though. I didn't like it. It did swing kind of high for a frisbee but I still got very little airtime. It spun very fast in a way that it gave me a headache and hurt my neck. I tried to hold my head against the headrest but the headrest was weird. The fact that it rattles and shakes like crazy doesn't help either. It wasn't awful, but I didn't feel the need to re-ride it either. Give me an afterburner over this frisbee any day. 5/10.
After Mad Mill, I went back to the chairswing and rode that a couple of times. They're always nice and relaxing rides in my opinion. This one wasn't special in any way though. A sign said "Uitkijktoren" which means "Watch Tower", so I had to check that out. After a very long and tiring walk up the hill, which is the same hill the summer toboggan thingies are on, I reached the top. I tried to climb the tower but I actually got scared as I'm afraid of heights, and there was very little to hold on to. On top of that it was incredibly windy up there, in a way that I actually had to hold on for dear life. I caught a quick glimpse of the view and it was lovely, with a beautiful sunset. Then I rushed back down the hill. In the end I really got a lot of exercise which is good I guess . I noticed some volleyball fields as well here. Duinrell is so much more than just a theme park. The toboggans were closed sadly. The top spin was also down the entire winter, but that probably has to do with the technical issues Duinrell has had with it this season.
I had done the entire park and it was only 15:30. I wanted to do the night rides so I had to entertain myself for about two more hours. Time for re-rides then! I started with Falcon. One of the cool things about going to a park alone is that you can have some conversations with other people sitting next to you. I met this young but fab enthusiast (he was probably around 13/14 years old) and we pretty much spent the rest of the day together. We had a great time re-riding Falcon and Dragon Fly over and over until the end of the day. In the end I rode Falcon 30 times and Dragon Fly 28 times. A personal record, as the previous most rides on a coaster in a single day was 20 times on Joris en de Draak (I love my rounded numbers :wink: ). When it got dark, the two coasters got excellent. The forestness makes it really atmospheric and the coasters had a lot of different coloured lights. The entire park looked pretty. We actually got stuck on Falcon though, which stressed me out because it was at 17:30 and my bus left at 17:50, and I would have to wait for an hour for the next bus. Fortunately they released us and I made a run for the bus.
I had a nice day despite the lack of variety in attractions. Duinrell is a unique and lovely park. I just feel I haven't gotten the full experience because a lot of the park was closed off. I will definitely be returning here next year summer to do the remaining rides and the waterpark (If I'm not mistaken it's the biggest one in the country). It is hard to judge the park as it is now because obviously it was lacking in quantity of rides. However, I would assume with the summer toboggans, shoot the chutes, top spin, waterfall slide thing and other rides that were closed, there would be a whole lot more to do. There is nothing wrong with the coaster selection though, and I would love to see them expanding with a woodie. It would fit the park perfectly. Maybe a small GG airtime machine that would stay under the tree height (which is a requirement in Duinrell).
Park score: 6,5/10
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it and I wish everybody wonderful holidays and a merry christmas!
Next part: Hopefully Toverland, and otherwise Efteling.
.More and more parks in the Netherlands are getting winter/christmas events. Efteling started in 1999, and now Slagharen, Toverland and Duinrell have followed. I love the atmosphere in parks during winter so these are the parks I'm visiting these weeks:
-Duinrell on 24 December.
-Toverland on 29 or 30 December (depends on the weather, and this is not 100% official yet).
-Efteling on 2 January.
First up is Duinrell, which I've actually visited today. Only about half of the rides are open in the christmas holidays, because the park has a lot of water rides. The most important thing for me was that all the creds, which I actually haven't gotten yet, were open. Impatient as I am, I thought this would be the perfect chance to get the creds, see the christmas event and get some rides on the coasters in the dark.
The great thing about living in Utrecht, which is in the middle of the country, is that I'm relatively close to every park in the Netherlands. I pretty much have seven home parks that I can get to within 2 hours of travel time with public transport. It also helps that I have a student pass which lets me travel for free on weekdays. This has been a very cheap day as far as theme park days go. After 1,5 hour of traveling I arrived at the park. It's immediately noticable that Duinrell is a very unique park. Once you go through the entrance, you'll still see roads where cars drive. Then you walk through some playgrounds and camping grounds. After that you'll have to decide if you will go for the waterpark called Tikibad, or if you want to visit the actual attraction park. You actually need to show your ticket twice before you get to the rides. I arrived at 13:00 and planned to stay until 17:45.
It's magic :wink:
Next time...
The park is really lovely. I feel that winter doesn't fit the park though. It really feels more summer-y with many water rides, and located in the middle of a forest. They did put a lot of effort into the event though. Pretty christmas trees and lights everywhere, christmas songs playing all around the park, campfires and a lot of decoration. I've never been to Duinrell before, but it must be so different than the rest of the year because literally everything was in christmas style. There was a lovely castle with some well themed buildings but it was closed off sadly. Not sure if it opens at all during the winter, but it did have a sign for a winter show so I have no idea...
Onwards to the rides then. The first ride I came across was the park's chairswing but I didn't see any other people nor ride operators, so I decided to skip it for now. One of the first things I noticed is how deserted the park was. I felt really sorry for Duinrell. It's the first year they try an event like this, put a lot of effort into it, and then nobody visits. They can't have made profit today. Not sure if the other days were any more crowded. Doubt it, because the weather has been awful until today.
All of the park's major rides are built right next to each other at the very back of the park. This is because Duinrell is right next to a village called Wassenaar, so all the rides that make a lot of noise must be as far away as possible.
First cred of the day was Kikkerachtbaan, which is a Zierer Tivoli. This was the first time I rode a large model. Not gonna lie, I do get a bit embarrased to ride a kiddie coaster when I'm visiting a park alone
. Thankfully the staff in the park were all very friendly and didn't make a fuss about it. I went straight for the back seat. Not a big fan of these tivoli coasters. They are very shakey and I hate the seats. I always feel unsafe when I slide from one side to the other, and I get way too little leg space (which is kind of understandable considering it is supposed to be for kids). What I don't get though is, why can't they make kiddie coasters more comfortable? Why do the safety bars have to be so annoying? At least their Zierer Force II models have individual lap bars which is an improvement, but they could all still do with softer seats. Anyway, +1 and never felt the need to ride it again. The train was cute though, as it was themed to the park's mascot, Rick de Kikker (Rick the Frog). 3,5/10.
Right next to the frog coaster was the park's Gerstlauer family coaster Dragon Fly. It was beautifully intertwined with the trees and like the other coasters in the park, they were brown so that they blend in well with the environments. I really love that. Awesome coloured supports as well. I have a soft spot for family coasters so I was secretly really looking forward to this one. Went for the back seat again, and unlike Kikkerachtbaan, these trains are fab and comfortable. Really love them! They look great as well. As for the ride, it was (for me not so) surprisingly good! The first drop had a bit of airtime in the back, and while the first couple of turns never really do much, it does pick up a lot of speed towards the end. It was incredibly smooth, comfortable and re-ridable. Exactly how a family coaster should be. Reminds me a lot of Pegasus. An interesting fact about Duinrell is that they very rarely remove trees for rides. This is very noticable as I'm pretty sure that you can touch a handful of trees while riding Dragon Fly. It gives the rides even more of a forest-y vibe. 7/10.
Not my pic, but it shows well how the trains look.
The last and biggest coaster in Duinrell is Falcon, my very first Gerstlauer Eurofighter. Falcon is basically a clone of Rage in Adventure Island, but then located in a forest. It had some lovely theming around the entrance. Like every other ride there was no queue so I could board the front seat immediately. The seats were initially pretty comfortable. The vertical lifthill was a very unique experience for me. It was quite exciting! The beyond vertical drop was also unique for me. It provides some great airtime. The loop that follows had just the right amount of hangtime to still be comfortable. The overbanked turn was a bit bumpy but nothing painful. The heartline roll had about the same amount of hangtime as the loop. Lovely twist and helix to finish off the ride. One of the pieces of theming was a plane and one of the wings provides a great headchopper if you sit on the right side of the car once you hit the brakes. I know this coaster is not representative for (most) other Eurofighters, but I really liked it. It was quite smooth actually. The only downside is that while the seats and restraints are comfortable, they do get pretty tight in the end due to the forces. And like Formule X in the nearby Drievliet, it is too short to really be a great coaster. All in all, Falcon is a very good family thrill coaster and perfect for the "big coaster" status in a park like Duinrell. The variety in the coaster selection is as good as it gets for a small family park. They have a little kiddie coaster, a medium sized family coaster and a (relatively) big family thrill coaster. Good job Duinrell! As for the coaster, I give it a 7,5/10.
First I got some re-rides on Dragon Fly and Falcon. After ten rides on each I did the remaining two "big" rides that were open. First up was the park's HUSS Frisbee called Mad Mill (it is themed after a Dutch windmill <3). I quite liked the other frisbees I rode so I had high expectations of this one. It was so quiet that I was the only one on the ride. It was the only disappointment of the day though. I didn't like it. It did swing kind of high for a frisbee but I still got very little airtime. It spun very fast in a way that it gave me a headache and hurt my neck. I tried to hold my head against the headrest but the headrest was weird. The fact that it rattles and shakes like crazy doesn't help either. It wasn't awful, but I didn't feel the need to re-ride it either. Give me an afterburner over this frisbee any day. 5/10.
After Mad Mill, I went back to the chairswing and rode that a couple of times. They're always nice and relaxing rides in my opinion. This one wasn't special in any way though. A sign said "Uitkijktoren" which means "Watch Tower", so I had to check that out. After a very long and tiring walk up the hill, which is the same hill the summer toboggan thingies are on, I reached the top. I tried to climb the tower but I actually got scared as I'm afraid of heights, and there was very little to hold on to. On top of that it was incredibly windy up there, in a way that I actually had to hold on for dear life. I caught a quick glimpse of the view and it was lovely, with a beautiful sunset. Then I rushed back down the hill. In the end I really got a lot of exercise which is good I guess
. I noticed some volleyball fields as well here. Duinrell is so much more than just a theme park. The toboggans were closed sadly. The top spin was also down the entire winter, but that probably has to do with the technical issues Duinrell has had with it this season.
I had done the entire park and it was only 15:30. I wanted to do the night rides so I had to entertain myself for about two more hours. Time for re-rides then! I started with Falcon. One of the cool things about going to a park alone is that you can have some conversations with other people sitting next to you. I met this young but fab enthusiast (he was probably around 13/14 years old) and we pretty much spent the rest of the day together. We had a great time re-riding Falcon and Dragon Fly over and over until the end of the day. In the end I rode Falcon 30 times and Dragon Fly 28 times. A personal record, as the previous most rides on a coaster in a single day was 20 times on Joris en de Draak (I love my rounded numbers :wink: ). When it got dark, the two coasters got excellent. The forestness makes it really atmospheric and the coasters had a lot of different coloured lights. The entire park looked pretty. We actually got stuck on Falcon though, which stressed me out because it was at 17:30 and my bus left at 17:50, and I would have to wait for an hour for the next bus. Fortunately they released us and I made a run for the bus.
I had a nice day despite the lack of variety in attractions. Duinrell is a unique and lovely park. I just feel I haven't gotten the full experience because a lot of the park was closed off. I will definitely be returning here next year summer to do the remaining rides and the waterpark (If I'm not mistaken it's the biggest one in the country). It is hard to judge the park as it is now because obviously it was lacking in quantity of rides. However, I would assume with the summer toboggans, shoot the chutes, top spin, waterfall slide thing and other rides that were closed, there would be a whole lot more to do. There is nothing wrong with the coaster selection though, and I would love to see them expanding with a woodie. It would fit the park perfectly. Maybe a small GG airtime machine that would stay under the tree height (which is a requirement in Duinrell).
Park score: 6,5/10
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it and I wish everybody wonderful holidays and a merry christmas!
Next part: Hopefully Toverland, and otherwise Efteling.
