Rachel
Coaster MILF
I've been saying i'll go to Madrid for the past few years, so seeing as this year as I didn't have any new creds planned until the summer, I decided to organise a short trip for March. Everything was fairly cheap and my non goon friend Zara asked if she could come along with me so it was the perfect chance to introduce her to my hobby and have a bit of a girly weekend!
Our flight was early on the Saturday morning. There was loads of faff once we actually got to Madrid. First off the metro line that runs to the airport was closed. We stupidly hadn’t thought of a backup plan and after getting lost in the airport ended up just going outside and getting a taxi. Then we had a row with the taxi driver over how much it cost, he gave in but when he got our bags out of the boot literally threw them at the floor. Then we found the building where our hostel was but no one was there so we had to ring them up, the manager couldn’t speak English so we spent like 5 minutes on the phone trying to communicate, before someone staying in another room kindly offered to translate for us. Anyway finally checked in, dumped our bags and headed onward to the first park.
Sorry the photos are a bit rubbish but whilst the UK basked in glorious sunshine, Madrid was cold, drizzly and grey!
Parque de Attraciones
The park was 3 metro stops away which was very convenient. The place was dead! We headed to the first coaster which was the Mine Train. The theming was pretty cool, with a medieval castle effect. It was a decent enough family coaster. Went to ride one of the kiddie creds but it was closed.
Next was the Wild Mouse where the loading procedure was bloody stupid. I think there were 4 trains in total and the ride op would load them all at once and then send round one by one instead of on a continuous loop. It was one of the more gentle wild mice I’ve ridden, the turns weren’t too painful and the drops were fun.
We were starving so we grabbed some lunch. There was major disappointment when we thought our meals came with chips but they were actually crisps. And not even proper crisps but the ****ty crumbs you get at the bottom of a packet. This left us unsatisfied so we got Nutella crepes straight after.
For some stupid reason we thought Abismo was a good idea after lunch. I hate prolonged hang time and so found this really unpleasant, along with the crushing restraints I did not enjoy it at all. Zara loved it and declared it the best ride at the park. Next up was Tarantula which was actually really good, although slightly rough at points and I banged my head really hard on one of the turns.
I wasn’t sure if Tornado was running or not but headed up to the entrance to have a look. Turns out it needs a full train to run so we waited for another 22 people to join us. There was barely 22 people in the park! I think we waited about 15 minutes before there was enough people. It was my first and only Intamin invert. It was a bit juddery but fortunately we were front row so it wasn’t that bad, I got some head banging only once.
With most of the coasters ticked off we did some of the spinny, sickly flat rides. They were all vile but Zara wanted to ride them. I did the drop tower alone and it was actually really good. Also rode the star flyer which had the longest cycle ever when it was freezing!
In the same area as the starflyer they had a Walking Dead horror walkthrough. It was 5 euros but I decided to give it a go since I’m a big fan of the TV show. Unfortunately it was a bit of a let-down. There were lots of references to the show which was pretty cool but the style of maze was a bit generic – walk through in a group, dark with flashing lights, zombies jump out at you etc. There was even a chainsaw man at the end. Sigh. Definitely not worth the up-charge but I guess the fans will pay for it (as I did).
Anyway we finished off with the kiddie cred that was open and then decided we’d had enough. Overall thoughts on the park then - not great if i'm honest. I've loved all of the city parks that i've been to, and this one just seemed really lacking in any sort of atmosphere or charm. The weather wasn't great but i'm not gonna let that excuse the fact that I thought the place was just a bit crap. None of the coasters are particularly good and it just felt like a tick in a box kind of visit. Somewhere to go once to get the creds, but nothing would warrant a return visit.
We headed back to the city centre where we looked around some of the shops, including the world’s second largest Primark (I mistakenly said this was the largest on insta – oops!). That night we went out to a cocktail bar but they were 10 euros each so we thought f**k that and went to O’Neils where we got hammered on £2 glasses of wine in the basement where they had a DJ. It was such a good night but I knew I’d regret it in the morning!
Parque Warner
So the next day, with 3 hours sleep and a massive hangover, we made our way to Parque Warner. It was really easy to get there, I followed the instructions from the trip report that @Smithy did so thank you for that!
Just like the day before, the park was empty! We started off in the Cartoon Network area where the theming was really cool, I actually loved this whole area.
The first coaster was Correcaminos Bip, Bip. This is where I taught Zara that on family coasters, you must spite children out of the front row wherever possible.
We spent the entire ride laughing at this
Went over to the Tom & Jerry Coaster, plus 1 and done! I could see Coaster Express in the distance although hadn’t seen a train running yet. We headed in that direction but unfortunately it was closed. I say unfortunately, I’ve only ever heard bad reviews of this coaster but it’s still annoying.
Although the sun made a bit of an appearance that day, it was still chilly and so we skipped all of the water rides. Walked onwards to the DC area, where we had a photo with Batman and the Green Lantern.
So first of the two rides that I’d been looking forward to most on this trip – Batman. We walked straight through the queue and onto the front row. I’ve seen some people describe this as really intense but to be honest I didn’t think it was too bad. It is fast and relentless though and I really enjoyed it.
Next up was Superman. There was some impressive theming in the queueline, but again we walked straight through and onto the ride. Over the course of the day we rode Superman 5 times, at one point doing 2 consecutive rides on the back row. I just wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did, it was f**king incredible! I didn’t think a B&M Sit down would have so much airtime, the first drop is lovely and floaty, it flies through the inversions without being rough and there’s a fab airtime hill after the cobra roll. Even Zara was raving on about how good it was.
There's no where in the park to get good photos of it which is really annoying because when you're on the lift hill it looks amazing!
Next we made our way over to stunt fall which I was dreading!! Got on, got pulled up the first lift…..and then it did nothing. For about 2 minutes. So we got lowered back into the station and then got told it would be down for a while so we should go and do something else.
Grabbed a quick lunch at one of the self-service places, BBQ pizza which took ages and tasted disgusting. Being dissatisfied again, we got crepes! Did a circle of the park to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. Rode the Scooby Doo shooter ride and the Madhouse- Both were a case of “You’ve rode one, you’ve rode them all”. Saw Stunt Fall was up and running again so walked back in that direction. I Will Always Love You was being played on the speaker system throughout the park which I thought was an odd song choice. If a sad love song won’t get you in the mood for some adrenaline filled coasters then what will?
So stunt fall. Yea it was crap. I did not enjoy the vertical aspect of the lift hills at all and at each end when the train catches there’s a horrible jolt. All this plus general Vekoma roughness and the backwards section just made it a horrible ride experience. But I got the cred.
And I think that’s it. We had one last go on Superman because I didn’t want to end the trip on a ****ty Vekoma and then we were done.
Thoughts on the park then - it seems like a weird thing to complain about, but again i don't think the lack of crowds really helped on my opinion of the place. I don't think it was a bad park at all, just that we got it all done really quickly and so after a while we just got a bit...bored I guess. I do really like the movie park vibe and it's got a good coaster selection including 2 fantastic B&M's. I don't think i'd go back though unless they got something spectacular which seems unlikely.
And so that was Madrid. Didn't really see much of the city because we only had a short time there, but to be honest from what I did see I wasn't really missing out on much. But it was a brilliant trip and it was really cool to go to some parks with one of my best friends and give her a little insight into why I love it so much.
Thanks for reading!
Our flight was early on the Saturday morning. There was loads of faff once we actually got to Madrid. First off the metro line that runs to the airport was closed. We stupidly hadn’t thought of a backup plan and after getting lost in the airport ended up just going outside and getting a taxi. Then we had a row with the taxi driver over how much it cost, he gave in but when he got our bags out of the boot literally threw them at the floor. Then we found the building where our hostel was but no one was there so we had to ring them up, the manager couldn’t speak English so we spent like 5 minutes on the phone trying to communicate, before someone staying in another room kindly offered to translate for us. Anyway finally checked in, dumped our bags and headed onward to the first park.
Sorry the photos are a bit rubbish but whilst the UK basked in glorious sunshine, Madrid was cold, drizzly and grey!
Parque de Attraciones
The park was 3 metro stops away which was very convenient. The place was dead! We headed to the first coaster which was the Mine Train. The theming was pretty cool, with a medieval castle effect. It was a decent enough family coaster. Went to ride one of the kiddie creds but it was closed.
Next was the Wild Mouse where the loading procedure was bloody stupid. I think there were 4 trains in total and the ride op would load them all at once and then send round one by one instead of on a continuous loop. It was one of the more gentle wild mice I’ve ridden, the turns weren’t too painful and the drops were fun.
We were starving so we grabbed some lunch. There was major disappointment when we thought our meals came with chips but they were actually crisps. And not even proper crisps but the ****ty crumbs you get at the bottom of a packet. This left us unsatisfied so we got Nutella crepes straight after.
For some stupid reason we thought Abismo was a good idea after lunch. I hate prolonged hang time and so found this really unpleasant, along with the crushing restraints I did not enjoy it at all. Zara loved it and declared it the best ride at the park. Next up was Tarantula which was actually really good, although slightly rough at points and I banged my head really hard on one of the turns.
I wasn’t sure if Tornado was running or not but headed up to the entrance to have a look. Turns out it needs a full train to run so we waited for another 22 people to join us. There was barely 22 people in the park! I think we waited about 15 minutes before there was enough people. It was my first and only Intamin invert. It was a bit juddery but fortunately we were front row so it wasn’t that bad, I got some head banging only once.
With most of the coasters ticked off we did some of the spinny, sickly flat rides. They were all vile but Zara wanted to ride them. I did the drop tower alone and it was actually really good. Also rode the star flyer which had the longest cycle ever when it was freezing!
In the same area as the starflyer they had a Walking Dead horror walkthrough. It was 5 euros but I decided to give it a go since I’m a big fan of the TV show. Unfortunately it was a bit of a let-down. There were lots of references to the show which was pretty cool but the style of maze was a bit generic – walk through in a group, dark with flashing lights, zombies jump out at you etc. There was even a chainsaw man at the end. Sigh. Definitely not worth the up-charge but I guess the fans will pay for it (as I did).
Anyway we finished off with the kiddie cred that was open and then decided we’d had enough. Overall thoughts on the park then - not great if i'm honest. I've loved all of the city parks that i've been to, and this one just seemed really lacking in any sort of atmosphere or charm. The weather wasn't great but i'm not gonna let that excuse the fact that I thought the place was just a bit crap. None of the coasters are particularly good and it just felt like a tick in a box kind of visit. Somewhere to go once to get the creds, but nothing would warrant a return visit.
We headed back to the city centre where we looked around some of the shops, including the world’s second largest Primark (I mistakenly said this was the largest on insta – oops!). That night we went out to a cocktail bar but they were 10 euros each so we thought f**k that and went to O’Neils where we got hammered on £2 glasses of wine in the basement where they had a DJ. It was such a good night but I knew I’d regret it in the morning!
Parque Warner
So the next day, with 3 hours sleep and a massive hangover, we made our way to Parque Warner. It was really easy to get there, I followed the instructions from the trip report that @Smithy did so thank you for that!
Just like the day before, the park was empty! We started off in the Cartoon Network area where the theming was really cool, I actually loved this whole area.
The first coaster was Correcaminos Bip, Bip. This is where I taught Zara that on family coasters, you must spite children out of the front row wherever possible.
We spent the entire ride laughing at this
Went over to the Tom & Jerry Coaster, plus 1 and done! I could see Coaster Express in the distance although hadn’t seen a train running yet. We headed in that direction but unfortunately it was closed. I say unfortunately, I’ve only ever heard bad reviews of this coaster but it’s still annoying.
Although the sun made a bit of an appearance that day, it was still chilly and so we skipped all of the water rides. Walked onwards to the DC area, where we had a photo with Batman and the Green Lantern.
So first of the two rides that I’d been looking forward to most on this trip – Batman. We walked straight through the queue and onto the front row. I’ve seen some people describe this as really intense but to be honest I didn’t think it was too bad. It is fast and relentless though and I really enjoyed it.
Next up was Superman. There was some impressive theming in the queueline, but again we walked straight through and onto the ride. Over the course of the day we rode Superman 5 times, at one point doing 2 consecutive rides on the back row. I just wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did, it was f**king incredible! I didn’t think a B&M Sit down would have so much airtime, the first drop is lovely and floaty, it flies through the inversions without being rough and there’s a fab airtime hill after the cobra roll. Even Zara was raving on about how good it was.
There's no where in the park to get good photos of it which is really annoying because when you're on the lift hill it looks amazing!
Next we made our way over to stunt fall which I was dreading!! Got on, got pulled up the first lift…..and then it did nothing. For about 2 minutes. So we got lowered back into the station and then got told it would be down for a while so we should go and do something else.
Grabbed a quick lunch at one of the self-service places, BBQ pizza which took ages and tasted disgusting. Being dissatisfied again, we got crepes! Did a circle of the park to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. Rode the Scooby Doo shooter ride and the Madhouse- Both were a case of “You’ve rode one, you’ve rode them all”. Saw Stunt Fall was up and running again so walked back in that direction. I Will Always Love You was being played on the speaker system throughout the park which I thought was an odd song choice. If a sad love song won’t get you in the mood for some adrenaline filled coasters then what will?
So stunt fall. Yea it was crap. I did not enjoy the vertical aspect of the lift hills at all and at each end when the train catches there’s a horrible jolt. All this plus general Vekoma roughness and the backwards section just made it a horrible ride experience. But I got the cred.
And I think that’s it. We had one last go on Superman because I didn’t want to end the trip on a ****ty Vekoma and then we were done.
Thoughts on the park then - it seems like a weird thing to complain about, but again i don't think the lack of crowds really helped on my opinion of the place. I don't think it was a bad park at all, just that we got it all done really quickly and so after a while we just got a bit...bored I guess. I do really like the movie park vibe and it's got a good coaster selection including 2 fantastic B&M's. I don't think i'd go back though unless they got something spectacular which seems unlikely.
And so that was Madrid. Didn't really see much of the city because we only had a short time there, but to be honest from what I did see I wasn't really missing out on much. But it was a brilliant trip and it was really cool to go to some parks with one of my best friends and give her a little insight into why I love it so much.
Thanks for reading!
