JoshC.
Strata Poster
Mirroring my Road to 300 TRs, I'm going to put in a bunch of TRs I've got for the rest of the year, as I aim to reach 400 creds by the end of the year.
After bagging #370 in the form of Hyperia, 30 in 7 months should be achievable, right? Let's see...
Emerald Park
A couple of weeks back, I visited some friends who recently moved to Belfast. Naturally this meant doing to 2 hour-ish drive towards Dublin for Emerald Park.
We arrived a little after park opening and the main thing was that there TONNES of school trips. Late-May seems to be school trip season, I guess.
![1718047892439.png 1718047892439.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31880-e110d75df791fa64cd410a6e39ee054a.jpg)
A bee line was made to the park's new area, Tir na N'Og. The big headliner, Fianna Force, had seemingly just opened for the day, so I joined a short looking queue. Unfortunately, looks deceive, and inside the station building is a hidden cattlepen queue, which is noisy and smells of teenagers. And a good 20-30 minutes wait too. Bleurgh. Also, Irish school trips jump straight to the top of my ranking as the worst to queue with (taking the crown from Dutch school kids). Just noisy, rude and vaping.
![1718047921397.png 1718047921397.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31881-486d23679b57adfe9788617a732e12f6.jpg)
![1718047963157.png 1718047963157.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31882-c47cf12a27cc6f86d10cb949c8a8e1be.jpg)
There is a nice projection in the indoor queue though, with a bit of a story
Anyways, the coaster. I was sat near the back. It's good fun - smooth and forceful, and as with all new Vekomas, it is graceful in its transitions between elements. And again, like with new Vekoma, it can feel a bit over-engineered and a bit too controlled. The final third features a couple of pops of airtime, which are still a novelty for me on an invert. But it does also peter out a bit towards the end, and maybe could end a few seconds earlier.
![1718048010475.png 1718048010475.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31883-5d1d2701f7f11a0c1330bfa262d5968f.jpg)
![1718048030407.png 1718048030407.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31884-77b64765d3405ffa56921a0e2d36f192.jpg)
Next up was The Quest, the interlinked Vekoma boomerang. Short queue, and almost identical to Saven at Farup, and Light Explorers at Energylandia. The 'stretched out' boomerangs have grown on me, and this is quite nice. The theming for this is very much unfinished though, and it is currently closing early on midweeks.
As well as Quest's theming being unfinished, the area around the ride is very much unfinished. A restaurant is still to be built. It is very sparse and dead. It's a real shame it's had to open like this, but I guess these things happen. Not a good look all the same, mind.
![1718048054379.png 1718048054379.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31885-f1a50ebc220b1d2a9144716ebd75e471.jpg)
![1718048076080.png 1718048076080.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31886-92309a483d115ed1b75ad9a0ddd3b2f2.jpg)
Not finished theming your ride? Just stick up advertising posters instead!
![1718048122542.png 1718048122542.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31887-765ec1799a16b4b4c87bfe2bef887886.jpg)
Now time for the pettiest complaint you'll ever hear from me. This tower theming for Quest's spike is cool. Really cool. But they couldn't have designed it so it encapsulates all the supports too? I don't know, it just really annoyed me.
With Tir na N'Og completed, it was time for the park's other headliner, Cú Chulainn, or CuChu, as I'll refer to it as. The queue for this is ugly - a huge outdoor cattlepen in the middle of the ride. Security were patrolling around and looking out for queue jumpers, and in fairness were effectively dealing with them. I queued 40 minutes, although it was reasonably quick-moving which was nice.
![1718048235448.png 1718048235448.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31889-91d0283ea52386f4a27590fbdbdc43c1.jpg)
Now I'd heard some bad things about CuChu, and I'm not a big fan of Gravity Group woodies. However, I was really surprised with this. The ride was smooth, with some classic woodie charm to it. It had cool laterals, pops of airtime and was a really good length. It doesn't outstay its welcome, although could perhaps end a bit stronger. The only downside to the ride was the awkward overbank turn (which at one point was marketed as an inversion?). That was clunky and unnecessary, and did take away from the ride a bit.
![1718048208652.png 1718048208652.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31888-5ba6dd1e0f894b84ace4b7693977403c.jpg)
Wood is good.
With the Big 3 out of the way, I sped through the 3 family creds (which fortunately had short queues) whilst my friends did the Zoo (they couldn't bring themselves to do kiddie rides). We then reconvened for the park's water ride: Viking Voyage. It's good fun, with some cool big pieces of theming. It lets itself down by being a bit rough around the edges, but for what was/is a small local park really, it is actually alright.
And that brings an end to a few hours at Emerald Park. It's a nice little park, perhaps a bit overpriced for what it offers (43 euros when booked online, 52 on the gate). I'm obviously not their target audience, and their selection of spinny flat rides does not appeal to me at all. But I guess if they can offer and build big investments like CuChu, Viking Voyage and Tir na N'Og, that's something at least?
---
Round Up
Cred Count before trip: 370
Cred Count after trip: 376
Favourite cred: CuChu
Least favourite cred: The family creds were all +1s tbh
After bagging #370 in the form of Hyperia, 30 in 7 months should be achievable, right? Let's see...
Emerald Park
A couple of weeks back, I visited some friends who recently moved to Belfast. Naturally this meant doing to 2 hour-ish drive towards Dublin for Emerald Park.
We arrived a little after park opening and the main thing was that there TONNES of school trips. Late-May seems to be school trip season, I guess.
![1718047892439.png 1718047892439.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31880-e110d75df791fa64cd410a6e39ee054a.jpg)
A bee line was made to the park's new area, Tir na N'Og. The big headliner, Fianna Force, had seemingly just opened for the day, so I joined a short looking queue. Unfortunately, looks deceive, and inside the station building is a hidden cattlepen queue, which is noisy and smells of teenagers. And a good 20-30 minutes wait too. Bleurgh. Also, Irish school trips jump straight to the top of my ranking as the worst to queue with (taking the crown from Dutch school kids). Just noisy, rude and vaping.
![1718047921397.png 1718047921397.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31881-486d23679b57adfe9788617a732e12f6.jpg)
![1718047963157.png 1718047963157.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31882-c47cf12a27cc6f86d10cb949c8a8e1be.jpg)
There is a nice projection in the indoor queue though, with a bit of a story
Anyways, the coaster. I was sat near the back. It's good fun - smooth and forceful, and as with all new Vekomas, it is graceful in its transitions between elements. And again, like with new Vekoma, it can feel a bit over-engineered and a bit too controlled. The final third features a couple of pops of airtime, which are still a novelty for me on an invert. But it does also peter out a bit towards the end, and maybe could end a few seconds earlier.
![1718048010475.png 1718048010475.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31883-5d1d2701f7f11a0c1330bfa262d5968f.jpg)
![1718048030407.png 1718048030407.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31884-77b64765d3405ffa56921a0e2d36f192.jpg)
Next up was The Quest, the interlinked Vekoma boomerang. Short queue, and almost identical to Saven at Farup, and Light Explorers at Energylandia. The 'stretched out' boomerangs have grown on me, and this is quite nice. The theming for this is very much unfinished though, and it is currently closing early on midweeks.
As well as Quest's theming being unfinished, the area around the ride is very much unfinished. A restaurant is still to be built. It is very sparse and dead. It's a real shame it's had to open like this, but I guess these things happen. Not a good look all the same, mind.
![1718048054379.png 1718048054379.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31885-f1a50ebc220b1d2a9144716ebd75e471.jpg)
![1718048076080.png 1718048076080.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31886-92309a483d115ed1b75ad9a0ddd3b2f2.jpg)
Not finished theming your ride? Just stick up advertising posters instead!
![1718048122542.png 1718048122542.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31887-765ec1799a16b4b4c87bfe2bef887886.jpg)
Now time for the pettiest complaint you'll ever hear from me. This tower theming for Quest's spike is cool. Really cool. But they couldn't have designed it so it encapsulates all the supports too? I don't know, it just really annoyed me.
With Tir na N'Og completed, it was time for the park's other headliner, Cú Chulainn, or CuChu, as I'll refer to it as. The queue for this is ugly - a huge outdoor cattlepen in the middle of the ride. Security were patrolling around and looking out for queue jumpers, and in fairness were effectively dealing with them. I queued 40 minutes, although it was reasonably quick-moving which was nice.
![1718048235448.png 1718048235448.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31889-91d0283ea52386f4a27590fbdbdc43c1.jpg)
Now I'd heard some bad things about CuChu, and I'm not a big fan of Gravity Group woodies. However, I was really surprised with this. The ride was smooth, with some classic woodie charm to it. It had cool laterals, pops of airtime and was a really good length. It doesn't outstay its welcome, although could perhaps end a bit stronger. The only downside to the ride was the awkward overbank turn (which at one point was marketed as an inversion?). That was clunky and unnecessary, and did take away from the ride a bit.
![1718048208652.png 1718048208652.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/31/31888-5ba6dd1e0f894b84ace4b7693977403c.jpg)
Wood is good.
With the Big 3 out of the way, I sped through the 3 family creds (which fortunately had short queues) whilst my friends did the Zoo (they couldn't bring themselves to do kiddie rides). We then reconvened for the park's water ride: Viking Voyage. It's good fun, with some cool big pieces of theming. It lets itself down by being a bit rough around the edges, but for what was/is a small local park really, it is actually alright.
And that brings an end to a few hours at Emerald Park. It's a nice little park, perhaps a bit overpriced for what it offers (43 euros when booked online, 52 on the gate). I'm obviously not their target audience, and their selection of spinny flat rides does not appeal to me at all. But I guess if they can offer and build big investments like CuChu, Viking Voyage and Tir na N'Og, that's something at least?
---
Round Up
Cred Count before trip: 370
Cred Count after trip: 376
Favourite cred: CuChu
Least favourite cred: The family creds were all +1s tbh
Last edited: