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Italy, Mirabilandia and Katun <3

andrus

Giga Poster
The off-season is a boring time of year so I might as well take the time to post some of my vacation pics from last summer! It might be extra interesting for some of you since the euro-live will go to Italy this year :)

So me and my gf went to Italy in august last year. Among other highlights, like visiting San Marino and Venezia, we also made a visit to the lovely theme park of Mirabilandia :--D We travelled to the nearby train station and then took the shuttle bus, the park is also available with coaches from the nearby towns altough only on weekdays.

The first thing that hits you when reach the parkinglot/entrance area of the park is the cobra roll of Katun. Quite a stunning view I must say! But I'll come back with the review later on ;)

katun1.jpg


When you enter the park you get to a fairytale/pirate themed area. There's an overall great amount of detail put to the theming in the park and this is no exception. But as the thrillseekers we are we headed straight for the big red shiney thing :P

This sexy Intamin accelerator coaster was our first ride of the day! We visited the park on two consecutive days whereof we didn't get a V-pass the first day but the second. This resulted in a 1 hour+ queue for the ride. It's a boring line and it was very hot, not pleasant at all. I would definitely recomend you all to buy V-passes! They weren't very expensive and we much enjoyed it the second they we got it :)

ispeed1.jpg


So, let's get on with the ride! iSpeed starts of with a rather weak launch, in fact the weakest Intamin launch I've experienced (have also ridden Baco, Stealth, Kanonen, Rita, ect). The following top hat lacks airtime at the top but is great nonetheless, especially the twisty section at the bottom of the drop that goes under the launch track! Next up is a hill that yet again does not provide any airtime. Then the ride continues with several high speed turns and a couple of inversions. This part is good. You get a great sensation of speed and the inversions are exciting, especially the corkscrew over the station roof!

Overall iSpeed is fast and thrilling. It does not provide any noticeable airtime but I don't think it's meant to do that either. I believe the ride is currently just outside my top 10, it is below Desert Race though solely because of the less powerful launch and because I'm an airtime junkie! :P

ispeed2.jpg


Next we hit up the water rides to cool down in the heat cool) First out was Blue River, a nice slide with some unexpected airtime where the boats actually bump of the slide and into the air! Next up was Rio Bravo and autosplash, a rapids and a flume ride both of them pretty standard (except the fact that autosplash is a flume themed to cars!!). Finally the real cool down ride; Niagara! An Intamin shoot-the-chutes ride but with the interesting twist that the slope goes under the lift hill. Quite big, very wet, I must say a good ride! Very popular among the gp as well!

niagara.jpg


We decided to save the best (Katun) for last so we continued with some flats and a dark ride. First up was the S&S towers, one turbo drop and one space shot. The spaceshot was forceless and not worth reriding. Although the turbo drop was far from it's Intamin counterparts it still provided the best airtime in the park so it's worth checking out! Then we got on the scary ferris wheel of doom! :P The "Eurowheel" is gigantic! The fact that it's a little bit rusty too and that the wind made it wobble really frightened me.. But I was glad to prived me gf with some laughs :lol: Definitely the scariest ride in the park imo!

eurowheel.jpg


Next we went to ride the dark shooter Reset. What a stunning ride! The ride is themed to a future apocalypse New York and Mirabilandia has truely made a great work with the ride! Everything from the statue of liberty arm in front of the ride to the extremely detailed theming inside the ride is awesome. The interactive moving cars are even cooler. Definitely my favourite dark ride shooter so far!

katun2.jpg


Finally in the late afternoon we went to ride the #8 coaster in the world; Katun! If the theming is good on Reset it's beyond phenomenal on Katun :-D The ride got an entire mayan city built around it. The station is really beautiful with mayan paintings in the ceiling and even the retractable floor is themed with marble.

katun3.jpg


The ride starts of by passing through a stargate and then entering the big lift hill. The drop is very steep and takes you straight into the vertical loop. So far so good but then the train enters the fairly lame zero-g roll, the worst element of the coaster imo. But then it enters the best :) After the zero-g there's a twisty turn diving into a trench, great feeling of speed and you even get some airtime in the dive. Then we have the very strong pull up into the cobra roll which I adored! But it doesn't end there, the helix leading from the cobra roll to the mid-course brakes is also very powerful and great!

katun4.jpg


After the mid-course you dive straight into a corkscrew which eventually leads into a dark tunnel. Then you exit the tunnel via yet another corkscrew. Last up is a powerful helix to end up the awesomeness! :) Stunning! Currently my #4 coaster and my second favourite B&M invert after Black Mamba. BM is still better imo because of the smoother ride, more helixes and the better zero-g :)

schola.jpg


That pretty much sums up the first day at the park for us. As I wrote earlier on we got ourselves a V-pass the second day which resulted in many rerides on Katun and iSpeed! With the V-pass we also got time to visit the shows. Most of them pretty lame but one not to miss out is the "Scuola di polizia" stunt show! High octane entertainment, some really impressive stunts and some hard to get italian humor! :P

Mirabilandia is a nice little park with great theming. It's also home to two of Europes best coasters so I can really recomend a visit there! Hope you enjoyed the reading :)
 
Great Ptr. Love how In-Depth it was in places.

I'd love to go to Mirabilandia. Sadly I'm not going on the Euro Live. Which makes me cry inside. But still, I am planning a trip there later on in the year, or beginning of next year. One ride I really want to go on is RESERT: Year Zero. I love the look of it and by your review, it seems you did too. Is the ride actually good inside with some decent effects?
 
The bit about iSpeed has made me feel much better. As I am terrified of launches, and top hats. I have chickened out of Stealth for those 2 reasons.

Good PTR. Really enjoyable to read :)
 
Thanks guys, it's nice to see you enjoyed the trip review!

-lofty- said:
One ride I really want to go on is RESERT: Year Zero. I love the look of it and by your review, it seems you did too. Is the ride actually good inside with some decent effects?
Yes I loved that ride! I don't know what you're reffering to as effects, but there are some mist, a moving robotic arm etc. The manually turning cars are a cool feature too and the overall detail of the theming on the ride is stunning! You could easily just sit an entire lap without shooting and still enjoy the ride :)
 
Nice trip report.

This is a park that I haven't heard much about at all so it's really nice to read stuff about it.

Do you have any more images, possibly of some of the nice themeing you were talking about?
 
Ispeed does not use a cable launch it uses LSM which is why it feels different from the other ones you have mentioned.
 
marc said:
Ispeed does not use a cable launch it uses LSM which is why it feels different from the other ones you have mentioned.
I'm aware that iSpeed uses magnets rather than hydraulics. I've only ridden two magnetic launched coasters (Blue Fire and iSpeed) but both of them were quite a bit weaker than the hydraulic counterparts I've ridden. So I'll assume I prefer hydraulic launched coasters! :)

bezzzzzer said:
Nice trip report.

This is a park that I haven't heard much about at all so it's really nice to read stuff about it.

Do you have any more images, possibly of some of the nice themeing you were talking about?
Here ya go! :wink:

I'll start of with a couple of pictures outside the park:
park1.jpg

Beautiful view of Katun from outside the park.


park2e.jpg

You get a good look at the turbo drop and space shot towers as well!


park3p.jpg

One last stunning view of Katun from outside the gates.


entrance1z.jpg

Inside the gates you get to a pirate area with great theming!


entrance2z.jpg

A view over the main lake with the giant Euro Wheel in the background.


ispeed11.jpg

iSpeed isn't very well themed. Tha walking path is made like a race track and there's a bunch of flags but nothing more. The coaster itself is really good looking though!


ispeed22.jpg

Top hat view.


dropk.jpg

Turbo drop, space shot, a radar and a fighter airplane.


reset11.jpg

The path leading to Reset (failed picture though :P)


reset22.jpg

Some theming outside of Reset. The most impressive part is of course the ride itself, but I don't got any pictures from it.. :(


reset33.jpg

The statue of liberty!


And some more pics of Katun..
katun11.jpg

Entrance to the Mayan city of "Sian Ka'an"


katun55.jpg

Not very high quality on this photo. But as you walk into the Mayan city you pass right under the first drop!


katun22.jpg

I believe it's a café on the right and some Mayan ruins by the entrance to the area on the left.


katun33.jpg

A view of the ride from the ferris wheel.


katun44.jpg

Impressive station with nice paintings in the ceiling and marble on the retractable floor!


katun66.jpg

One last picture of Katun! First drop, loop, stargate and souvenir shop. Amazing coaster :--D
 
Great stuff andrus!
Makes me look forward to this summer even more.
 
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