So I was desperate to get back out to Phantasialand to ride Chiapas now that it was finally open. Easyjet then went and had a sale so I managed to get some cheap flights. Patrick once again joined me for the little trip abroad. He'd never been before and although it meant some crazy travel plans to do two days of work in between Disney and this trip we were both buzzing for this trip.
The night before we both leave work and organise ourselves to catch the same train to Gatwick airport. We were staying at a brand new hotel that is literally at the airport. It's called the BLOC hotel and was two days away from opening when I booked it up a couple of months back. I was so excited about this hotel because it's really different, looks modern and the location couldn't be more perfect. Also the price was fairly cheap but I feel that could be because it's an introductory price.
The hotel is well sign posted within the airport from the train station. The lady behind the check in desk was lovely and checked us in within minutes. It was then a lift up to the 8th floor for us. To get to any of the hotel rooms you need one of the cards to gain access after exiting a lift. We then arrived at our hotel room...
The hotel room was small but very cleverly designed. I think my only annoyance with the room is the way the bed is positioned, nothing they could change about it but it means that the person that sleeps next to the wall has to climb over the other person to get out. Oh and the bathroom is amusing, it's literally impossible to not soak the entire room (that includes the toilet). However it does explain why the toilet roll has a heavy duty metal casing. The plug hole in the sink confused me for a minute as it's just a huge clickable plug that just always sits there (I was expecting a lever or a button elsewhere). The room lighting etc is controlled by a smart tablet on the wall which is kinda cool but if it breaks you're kinda screwed or if you're technophobic you're better off elsewhere. Still, it's a fun gimmick. There's also a huge 32" TV on the wall with Freesat. The bed was uber comfortable, it would have been better though if it didn't just make the room really hot very quickly, good thing there's a great air con unit installed.
The shape of the soap annoyed me
Always wanted to try one of these shower units
Shortly after trying to sleep (we had a really early start) the bloody fire alarm went off. Good thing there wasn't an actual fire, everyone spent the first 5 minutes just staring at each other in the corridor as if to say "do we really have to go downstairs" - remember we're on the 8th floor. We all just went to reception instead of outside and it was fairly quickly apparent that the staff were on the case and that it was probably a false alarm or that someone tried to smoke in their hotel room. After about 10-15 minutes it was back up to our rooms to finally get some sleep.
Wednesday 21st
We got ourselves ready, went downstairs to check out and then literally turned round and into the security area of the airport (I told you the location was amazing). We breezed through security because we're pros at this travelling lark. After some breakfast we boarded our Easyjet flight to Koln/Bonn airport. The flight was rather uneventful.
Once in Germany it was straight onto a DB train into the centre of Cologne. There we found some very handy luggage drop off lockers (€6 a day - absolutely huge amount of space) before boarding our next train to Bohn train station. Each train journey was about 15 minutes so it's a very easy and quick journey. At Bohn train station we were met with loads of people waiting for the Phantasialand bus. My heart sank a little as I thought this was a sign we wouldn't get a lot done at the park. 3 busses later we were finally on a bus heading to the park (I think the staff were a little shocked at the turn out and even added an extra bus to the schedule). The bus costs €1.50 which is very cheap.
Before we knew it we had arrived at Phantasialand. There were huge crowds trying to access the park via the 2 staff on the turnstiles. There was a lot of faff going on where people were trying to use their free return ticket without filling it in (I would call them idiots but I did the same thing in 2011, then again it's all in German and I don't know the language like they do
). Anyway we were finally in and looking down the awesome Berlin area street.
As it was new to me I took the opportunity to grab Patrick and dive straight into Hotel Tartuff, the park's fun house. It'd been a long time since I'd seen pictures of the interior so it all came to me as a very pleasant shock. The staff member working on batching was playing a crazy bellhop character and he was amazing, like Disney amazing. We entered the lift with a bunch of German teenagers and randomly another member of staff. I have no idea what the audio spiel was saying but what happened next took us a little by surprise. What happened next was room after room of your usual fun house apparatus but in an extremely detailed hotel setting. I felt like we went through way too quickly but the thing is huge and still took us a good 10-15 minutes to complete.
Patrick got a nice spray of water in the ear from this picture
This room blew me away and then I laughed that you had to stand on plates
Spinning disc themed to an old record
PIANO!
It ends with a slide but for some reason the kids didn't go down it, so neither did we.
It was then straight round to Maus au Chocolat. I love this attraction, it takes the Toy Story Mania ride system and makes it so much better. Not only is there a story but it's elaborately themed, fun and the queueline is immense. We both loved it, such good fun. Also turns out Patrick is much better at it than I am.
I think the fun house still held an effect over me
I love that there are actual cake recipes on the walls
Oh yeah, and despite my fears of mass crowds, so far no queues <3
Outside the exit of the attraction they had some people making things out of balloons on a stage, it was random but peep's love balloons.
While Patrick had a fag we admired the Wuzel Town area because it's incredible.
It was then inside for some Winjas action.
As we got over to the entrance I noticed a lack of lockers, there was a sign and it made me smile so much...
It made the news of only one side open seem like nothing. I'm still trying to get over the fact that they're allowing bags on the ride now, no more dying in the queue because you're not allowed your bottle of water. That sort of brings me on to the other sign we saw....
What sort of wizardry is this? They've not only decided you can now have bags but they've also changed the queueline? It felt like the park had completely changed within the few years I hadn't visited.
There's still one thing they need to improve at Winjas though and that's the ridiculous heat in the queueline area. We still had a 15-20 minute queue (which moved quickly) but the heat was insane, they desperately need to add some new air con units in there. Riding the ride though was fun, Patrick had no idea what was going to happen which made the ride experience that more awesome, especially as we got the side where...
Obviously Patrick loved it, how can anyone not love that ride? We then went straight round to Temple of the Nighthawk where we walked straight on. I forgot how long this ride is, it's insane. Just a shame there's no light effects or well, anything. Just darkness and an uber smooth Vekoma which at times is actually quite forceful. I do enjoy the ride it would just be massively improved with some effects.
Time was passing quickly and we opted to grab some lunch. We ended up getting some traditional German sausage from the place at the end of the Berlin street. Moving on we went over to the Michael Jackson coaster, commonly known as Colorado Adventure. I knew lots of work was being done around it due to Chiapas but I didn't quite realise the sheer extent of this work. They have replaced every single plank of wood within the track and painted everything. They've even added some extra theming in some places where Chiapas is. The only thing they haven't touched is the queueline and station but maybe that'll be part of phase 2.
It rides really well and yet again is a very long ride. The new interaction with Chiapas is awesome. Unfortunately one of the under cover areas feels a little unfinished because of the construction of the new project which the park are being very tight-lipped about. I didn't take any photos (mainly because I don't want CF to get in the park's bad books - they are literally keeping an eye on the internet hoping nothing gets out) but I will tell you that the area they've flattened is absolutely huge, I'd be very surprised if they aren't building a rollercoaster, it's the last piece of prime land for that type of attraction that they have left. I just hope that whatever it is does open next year and doesn't suffer like everything else and open a year late.
Next we headed into Geister Rikscha, the park's Chinese themed dark ride which has influences from Phantom Manor and Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a very odd ride, not even sure there's any sort of story element. I don't really understand the ride and I wouldn't be surprised if it disappears in the not so distant future (although the same can be said for the Hollywood ride).
The Chinese acrobatic show was about to begin as we were passing. It was a little slow and the crowd seemed just as bored as we were after a little while.
We then entered Feng Ju Palace. I think they've updated their projection systems because all the effects looked really clear. The story is once again a little weird but overall the attraction looks great.
Afterwards we headed over to Mystery Castle. I asked Patrick if he knew what was inside and he said drop tower. Obviously I just smiled and nodded, because it's so much more than that. I think the queueline alone is quite a testament to that. Turns out the actors are always out and about. There was a group of 3 small German teens in front who were too scared to go down 'that' dark corridor so Patrick and I headed up front so they knew it was alright. This amused me but such is the effect of Mystery Castle.
I love this part of the queue, it catches so many people out
Heading down
As we headed down the stairs we headed left into a room I've never seen before. So you can imagine my shock when in front of me was an animatronic of the doctor that the massively long audio spiel is coming from.
It was then into the ride chamber where everyone loaded really quickly. Then it began, oh my, it's such an incredible ride. The sheer power behind it is ridiculous and when you think it's all over... Obviously we both loved it. Upon exiting the ride we stared at River Quest...
We didn't really want to take our bags on though so we went in search of lockers. The nearest of which (according to the map) were near Chiapas and Colorado. First we go to the spot near Chiapas where we find just a shrubbery (Ni!). Bum sticks, where the hell were these lockers? The ones by Colorado were no luck as they were all in use. Giving up on the idea of lockers we just join the burdenously long queue for Chiapas.
The moment was finally here, I was finally going to get a chance to ride Chiapas, after 2 years of following intense construction topics (translated from German) I was finally in this incredibly themed new area. I felt like I was completely surrounded by an amazing theme park environment, the design of the whole thing is just top notch. The area music was subtle but great, just added an ambience to the area that just works really well. (Totally have the CD of the soundtrack).
DAT DROP
The new Colorado area
So into the queue we go... I absolutely adore that the queueline shares the same bridge as the main path, giving everyone a great glimpse of the steepest drop on a water ride (or is just on log flumes?). The queue then gets really detailed...
Yeah, so it turns out the rest of the park had the same idea as us, everything in the park had a 0-15 minute wait apart from Chiapas which was a horrible 40 minute wait (well, in comparison ). Still, so many details to enjoy in the main cattlepen area. It feels more like a scene in Indiana Jones or something. The only disappointing thing about the queue is that the walls were covered in blueprints and posters adding to the theme but people have made it a habit to tear them off <///3 Such a shame to see such details ruined by cretins.
These rock pieces were so realistic and fab
The queue then splits into 4. Quick pass, single rider, pairs and groups of 3+. This system works extremely well (depending on the staff member organising it). Once you get to the end of your chosen row the ride host then places you in one of 3 lines so they can make up the 6 without having to really rush. Once a group of 6 is ready another ride host will direct you to your boat. The station is also really long, there must be about 12 boats in there at a time, just continuously moving like a conveyor belt. I was uber impressed at this efficient loading system.
Getting into the boats felt awkward and as expected the lap bars create issues. You actually have loads of room either side of you but the seating position is just odd and the lap bar has been designed in a really 'special' way. They've magically designed them so they totally dig into your thighs which can be really uncomfortable like going up a lift hill or going down a drop. I have a real gripe with how they've designed up and surely there was a better way? Still, as it turns out it's a very minor issue....
The ride itself is extremely fun, to the point where I could run around and re-ride all day (considering it was warm enough). I don't think I've ridden such a re-ridable water ride before, from the section through Colorado (so much fun) to the first drop being great, the backwards drop being much steeper and deeper than I thought it would be (the anticipation is amazing), the crazy disco room where EVERYONE seems to start dancing and humming along and then, well, that main drop. The air time is crazy and the speed is awesome and then you get a really refreshing spray at the end. Just thinking about it makes me want to ride it again. I didn't see a single person come off without a huge smile, I've never seen such a consistent crowd pleaser before (well, maybe Tower of Terror). The fact that people that don't want to ride can actually enjoy watching it too from so many viewpoints is just brilliant design. I'm so happy it lived up to my crazy hype.
We decided to chill out by grabbing some gelato from the new stall in the Chiapas area. I was silly and got excited by what the kid in front ordered and just asked for the same. I should have been sensible and just gone for the awesome sorbet I was eyeing up. But nope I had to go and order the big thing with CHILLI on. Patrick was just as dumb and did the same thing. Oh how we regretted that decision. The ice cream was awesome but those chillies was just too much after a while. *hangs head in shame*
While walking around admiring the area we finally discovered the lockers in the Chiapas area. They do exist! They're actually on the opposite side of the building they said they were so go looking for the cave opposite this new tapas bar...
Which is another thing, this area refurb had added like a silly amount of new food and drink services. You have the large restaurant above the Chiapas station, the tapas bar, the gelato stall, the slushy stall, another ice cream/coffee shop, churros stall, pizza slice stall and a hot dog stall. I've never seen so many options in such a small area before. Still each one was getting a fair share of business.
Still we had now discovered the lockers so we dropped our bags off (no photos for a while sadly). We then decided to do the single rider queue for Chiapas (despite the normal queue going down to 10).
The ride was just as amazing. The disco room can't help but put a smile on your face and the interaction with the people in the other boats is fun.
It was then over to River Quest which had a 20 minute queue. I don't remember the queue splitting on the bridge before between pairs and groups of 3+. Has this been added or have I just erased it from my memory? The ride was fun and no one got grossly drenched, Patrick got a decent splash down his back though.
We then headed over to Black Mamba where we pretty much walked on back row. Holy cow it was running amazingly. The train had quite a rattle to it which was a little distracting at first but the speed it picked up and the forces it was throwing at us was immense. It was definitely the best ride I've ever had on it, it was insane. We went back round to ride again. We must have got on the other train as this time it didn't have the rattle and was just as epic. I don't remember it being that forceful, it was just totally relentless right up till the break run in the dark. Yay for B&Ms <3
We decided to run over to Maus au Chocolat for another ride. Patrick won again. As there was no queue we decided to ride the chairswing over the fountains. I love the design of this ride and you get a nice spray from the fountains on your legs. The ride cycle does go on for a little bit too long though. After getting off the ride some shows were going on in the square. One was more gymnastic type stuff and then there was like a fake wedding thing? I didn't quite get it but as soon as it appeared that the show was over some woman just dived in and demanded a group photo, I'm expecting the photo to be submitted for the League of Goons any day now.
We then picked our bags up from the locker. Admired the Chiapas area a bit more before moving on for one more ride on Colorado Adventure.
We then went back over to the Berlin square to take a seat for the end of day show. The paintings on the back wall are pretty cool...
I had kinda forgotten a lot about the show itself, all I could remember was the huge float things with the dragons. I forgot how dull it is, it starts of with loads of faff, like 10 minutes worth. There's a 'fight' sequence which is really uneventful...
At least the float things are cool...
The seat the dragons sit on rises...
Then a whole bunch of gymnastics happens on the blue mat, some of it is pretty cool...
Then three guys with a huge amount of strength swing about on the bars..
They then release a whole bunch of doves because peace is awesome and they all bow.
I do love the scale of the show but it is a little dull at times, they need to change it too, they've been running this show for years now, like, since the first time I visited which must be about 5-6 years ago.
We then spent 10 minutes going round their shop buying tat. The plushes for the characters in one of their newer shows (which we missed) were quite nice...
The architecture in this park makes me happy...
We then waited for the bus back to the train station. I'll leave my report here and then in my second part of the report will tell you about the cultural evening stroll and our time in Cologne (it's awesome)...
Thanks for reading and sorry for the mass of photos, it's only gonna get worse in part 2
The night before we both leave work and organise ourselves to catch the same train to Gatwick airport. We were staying at a brand new hotel that is literally at the airport. It's called the BLOC hotel and was two days away from opening when I booked it up a couple of months back. I was so excited about this hotel because it's really different, looks modern and the location couldn't be more perfect. Also the price was fairly cheap but I feel that could be because it's an introductory price.
The hotel is well sign posted within the airport from the train station. The lady behind the check in desk was lovely and checked us in within minutes. It was then a lift up to the 8th floor for us. To get to any of the hotel rooms you need one of the cards to gain access after exiting a lift. We then arrived at our hotel room...
The hotel room was small but very cleverly designed. I think my only annoyance with the room is the way the bed is positioned, nothing they could change about it but it means that the person that sleeps next to the wall has to climb over the other person to get out. Oh and the bathroom is amusing, it's literally impossible to not soak the entire room (that includes the toilet). However it does explain why the toilet roll has a heavy duty metal casing. The plug hole in the sink confused me for a minute as it's just a huge clickable plug that just always sits there (I was expecting a lever or a button elsewhere). The room lighting etc is controlled by a smart tablet on the wall which is kinda cool but if it breaks you're kinda screwed or if you're technophobic you're better off elsewhere. Still, it's a fun gimmick. There's also a huge 32" TV on the wall with Freesat. The bed was uber comfortable, it would have been better though if it didn't just make the room really hot very quickly, good thing there's a great air con unit installed.
The shape of the soap annoyed me
Always wanted to try one of these shower units
Shortly after trying to sleep (we had a really early start) the bloody fire alarm went off. Good thing there wasn't an actual fire, everyone spent the first 5 minutes just staring at each other in the corridor as if to say "do we really have to go downstairs" - remember we're on the 8th floor. We all just went to reception instead of outside and it was fairly quickly apparent that the staff were on the case and that it was probably a false alarm or that someone tried to smoke in their hotel room. After about 10-15 minutes it was back up to our rooms to finally get some sleep.
Wednesday 21st
We got ourselves ready, went downstairs to check out and then literally turned round and into the security area of the airport (I told you the location was amazing). We breezed through security because we're pros at this travelling lark. After some breakfast we boarded our Easyjet flight to Koln/Bonn airport. The flight was rather uneventful.
Once in Germany it was straight onto a DB train into the centre of Cologne. There we found some very handy luggage drop off lockers (€6 a day - absolutely huge amount of space) before boarding our next train to Bohn train station. Each train journey was about 15 minutes so it's a very easy and quick journey. At Bohn train station we were met with loads of people waiting for the Phantasialand bus. My heart sank a little as I thought this was a sign we wouldn't get a lot done at the park. 3 busses later we were finally on a bus heading to the park (I think the staff were a little shocked at the turn out and even added an extra bus to the schedule). The bus costs €1.50 which is very cheap.
Before we knew it we had arrived at Phantasialand. There were huge crowds trying to access the park via the 2 staff on the turnstiles. There was a lot of faff going on where people were trying to use their free return ticket without filling it in (I would call them idiots but I did the same thing in 2011, then again it's all in German and I don't know the language like they do
). Anyway we were finally in and looking down the awesome Berlin area street.
As it was new to me I took the opportunity to grab Patrick and dive straight into Hotel Tartuff, the park's fun house. It'd been a long time since I'd seen pictures of the interior so it all came to me as a very pleasant shock. The staff member working on batching was playing a crazy bellhop character and he was amazing, like Disney amazing. We entered the lift with a bunch of German teenagers and randomly another member of staff. I have no idea what the audio spiel was saying but what happened next took us a little by surprise. What happened next was room after room of your usual fun house apparatus but in an extremely detailed hotel setting. I felt like we went through way too quickly but the thing is huge and still took us a good 10-15 minutes to complete.
Patrick got a nice spray of water in the ear from this picture
This room blew me away and then I laughed that you had to stand on plates
Spinning disc themed to an old record
PIANO!
It ends with a slide but for some reason the kids didn't go down it, so neither did we.
It was then straight round to Maus au Chocolat. I love this attraction, it takes the Toy Story Mania ride system and makes it so much better. Not only is there a story but it's elaborately themed, fun and the queueline is immense. We both loved it, such good fun. Also turns out Patrick is much better at it than I am.
I think the fun house still held an effect over me
I love that there are actual cake recipes on the walls
Oh yeah, and despite my fears of mass crowds, so far no queues <3
Outside the exit of the attraction they had some people making things out of balloons on a stage, it was random but peep's love balloons.
While Patrick had a fag we admired the Wuzel Town area because it's incredible.
It was then inside for some Winjas action.
As we got over to the entrance I noticed a lack of lockers, there was a sign and it made me smile so much...
It made the news of only one side open seem like nothing. I'm still trying to get over the fact that they're allowing bags on the ride now, no more dying in the queue because you're not allowed your bottle of water. That sort of brings me on to the other sign we saw....
What sort of wizardry is this? They've not only decided you can now have bags but they've also changed the queueline? It felt like the park had completely changed within the few years I hadn't visited.
There's still one thing they need to improve at Winjas though and that's the ridiculous heat in the queueline area. We still had a 15-20 minute queue (which moved quickly) but the heat was insane, they desperately need to add some new air con units in there. Riding the ride though was fun, Patrick had no idea what was going to happen which made the ride experience that more awesome, especially as we got the side where...
...it decides to be Tigger and the track bounces up and down.
Obviously Patrick loved it, how can anyone not love that ride? We then went straight round to Temple of the Nighthawk where we walked straight on. I forgot how long this ride is, it's insane. Just a shame there's no light effects or well, anything. Just darkness and an uber smooth Vekoma which at times is actually quite forceful. I do enjoy the ride it would just be massively improved with some effects.
Time was passing quickly and we opted to grab some lunch. We ended up getting some traditional German sausage from the place at the end of the Berlin street. Moving on we went over to the Michael Jackson coaster, commonly known as Colorado Adventure. I knew lots of work was being done around it due to Chiapas but I didn't quite realise the sheer extent of this work. They have replaced every single plank of wood within the track and painted everything. They've even added some extra theming in some places where Chiapas is. The only thing they haven't touched is the queueline and station but maybe that'll be part of phase 2.
It rides really well and yet again is a very long ride. The new interaction with Chiapas is awesome. Unfortunately one of the under cover areas feels a little unfinished because of the construction of the new project which the park are being very tight-lipped about. I didn't take any photos (mainly because I don't want CF to get in the park's bad books - they are literally keeping an eye on the internet hoping nothing gets out) but I will tell you that the area they've flattened is absolutely huge, I'd be very surprised if they aren't building a rollercoaster, it's the last piece of prime land for that type of attraction that they have left. I just hope that whatever it is does open next year and doesn't suffer like everything else and open a year late.
Next we headed into Geister Rikscha, the park's Chinese themed dark ride which has influences from Phantom Manor and Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a very odd ride, not even sure there's any sort of story element. I don't really understand the ride and I wouldn't be surprised if it disappears in the not so distant future (although the same can be said for the Hollywood ride).
The Chinese acrobatic show was about to begin as we were passing. It was a little slow and the crowd seemed just as bored as we were after a little while.
We then entered Feng Ju Palace. I think they've updated their projection systems because all the effects looked really clear. The story is once again a little weird but overall the attraction looks great.
Afterwards we headed over to Mystery Castle. I asked Patrick if he knew what was inside and he said drop tower. Obviously I just smiled and nodded, because it's so much more than that. I think the queueline alone is quite a testament to that. Turns out the actors are always out and about. There was a group of 3 small German teens in front who were too scared to go down 'that' dark corridor so Patrick and I headed up front so they knew it was alright. This amused me but such is the effect of Mystery Castle.
I love this part of the queue, it catches so many people out
Heading down
As we headed down the stairs we headed left into a room I've never seen before. So you can imagine my shock when in front of me was an animatronic of the doctor that the massively long audio spiel is coming from.
It was then into the ride chamber where everyone loaded really quickly. Then it began, oh my, it's such an incredible ride. The sheer power behind it is ridiculous and when you think it's all over...
Obviously we both loved it. Upon exiting the ride we stared at River Quest...
We didn't really want to take our bags on though so we went in search of lockers. The nearest of which (according to the map) were near Chiapas and Colorado. First we go to the spot near Chiapas where we find just a shrubbery (Ni!). Bum sticks, where the hell were these lockers? The ones by Colorado were no luck as they were all in use. Giving up on the idea of lockers we just join the burdenously long queue for Chiapas.
The moment was finally here, I was finally going to get a chance to ride Chiapas, after 2 years of following intense construction topics (translated from German) I was finally in this incredibly themed new area. I felt like I was completely surrounded by an amazing theme park environment, the design of the whole thing is just top notch. The area music was subtle but great, just added an ambience to the area that just works really well. (Totally have the CD of the soundtrack).
DAT DROP
The new Colorado area
So into the queue we go... I absolutely adore that the queueline shares the same bridge as the main path, giving everyone a great glimpse of the steepest drop on a water ride (or is just on log flumes?). The queue then gets really detailed...
Yeah, so it turns out the rest of the park had the same idea as us, everything in the park had a 0-15 minute wait apart from Chiapas which was a horrible 40 minute wait (well, in comparison
). Still, so many details to enjoy in the main cattlepen area. It feels more like a scene in Indiana Jones or something. The only disappointing thing about the queue is that the walls were covered in blueprints and posters adding to the theme but people have made it a habit to tear them off <///3 Such a shame to see such details ruined by cretins.
These rock pieces were so realistic and fab
The queue then splits into 4. Quick pass, single rider, pairs and groups of 3+. This system works extremely well (depending on the staff member organising it). Once you get to the end of your chosen row the ride host then places you in one of 3 lines so they can make up the 6 without having to really rush. Once a group of 6 is ready another ride host will direct you to your boat. The station is also really long, there must be about 12 boats in there at a time, just continuously moving like a conveyor belt. I was uber impressed at this efficient loading system.
Getting into the boats felt awkward and as expected the lap bars create issues. You actually have loads of room either side of you but the seating position is just odd and the lap bar has been designed in a really 'special' way. They've magically designed them so they totally dig into your thighs which can be really uncomfortable like going up a lift hill or going down a drop. I have a real gripe with how they've designed up and surely there was a better way? Still, as it turns out it's a very minor issue....
The ride itself is extremely fun, to the point where I could run around and re-ride all day (considering it was warm enough). I don't think I've ridden such a re-ridable water ride before, from the section through Colorado (so much fun) to the first drop being great, the backwards drop being much steeper and deeper than I thought it would be (the anticipation is amazing), the crazy disco room where EVERYONE seems to start dancing and humming along and then, well, that main drop. The air time is crazy and the speed is awesome and then you get a really refreshing spray at the end. Just thinking about it makes me want to ride it again. I didn't see a single person come off without a huge smile, I've never seen such a consistent crowd pleaser before (well, maybe Tower of Terror). The fact that people that don't want to ride can actually enjoy watching it too from so many viewpoints is just brilliant design. I'm so happy it lived up to my crazy hype.
We decided to chill out by grabbing some gelato from the new stall in the Chiapas area. I was silly and got excited by what the kid in front ordered and just asked for the same. I should have been sensible and just gone for the awesome sorbet I was eyeing up. But nope I had to go and order the big thing with CHILLI on. Patrick was just as dumb and did the same thing. Oh how we regretted that decision. The ice cream was awesome but those chillies was just too much after a while. *hangs head in shame*
While walking around admiring the area we finally discovered the lockers in the Chiapas area. They do exist! They're actually on the opposite side of the building they said they were so go looking for the cave opposite this new tapas bar...
Which is another thing, this area refurb had added like a silly amount of new food and drink services. You have the large restaurant above the Chiapas station, the tapas bar, the gelato stall, the slushy stall, another ice cream/coffee shop, churros stall, pizza slice stall and a hot dog stall. I've never seen so many options in such a small area before. Still each one was getting a fair share of business.
Still we had now discovered the lockers so we dropped our bags off (no photos for a while sadly). We then decided to do the single rider queue for Chiapas (despite the normal queue going down to 10).
The ride was just as amazing. The disco room can't help but put a smile on your face and the interaction with the people in the other boats is fun.
It was then over to River Quest which had a 20 minute queue. I don't remember the queue splitting on the bridge before between pairs and groups of 3+. Has this been added or have I just erased it from my memory? The ride was fun and no one got grossly drenched, Patrick got a decent splash down his back though.
We then headed over to Black Mamba where we pretty much walked on back row. Holy cow it was running amazingly. The train had quite a rattle to it which was a little distracting at first but the speed it picked up and the forces it was throwing at us was immense. It was definitely the best ride I've ever had on it, it was insane. We went back round to ride again. We must have got on the other train as this time it didn't have the rattle and was just as epic. I don't remember it being that forceful, it was just totally relentless right up till the break run in the dark. Yay for B&Ms <3
We decided to run over to Maus au Chocolat for another ride. Patrick won again. As there was no queue we decided to ride the chairswing over the fountains. I love the design of this ride and you get a nice spray from the fountains on your legs. The ride cycle does go on for a little bit too long though. After getting off the ride some shows were going on in the square. One was more gymnastic type stuff and then there was like a fake wedding thing? I didn't quite get it but as soon as it appeared that the show was over some woman just dived in and demanded a group photo, I'm expecting the photo to be submitted for the League of Goons any day now.
We then picked our bags up from the locker. Admired the Chiapas area a bit more before moving on for one more ride on Colorado Adventure.
We then went back over to the Berlin square to take a seat for the end of day show. The paintings on the back wall are pretty cool...
I had kinda forgotten a lot about the show itself, all I could remember was the huge float things with the dragons. I forgot how dull it is, it starts of with loads of faff, like 10 minutes worth. There's a 'fight' sequence which is really uneventful...
At least the float things are cool...
The seat the dragons sit on rises...
Then a whole bunch of gymnastics happens on the blue mat, some of it is pretty cool...
Then three guys with a huge amount of strength swing about on the bars..
They then release a whole bunch of doves because peace is awesome and they all bow.
I do love the scale of the show but it is a little dull at times, they need to change it too, they've been running this show for years now, like, since the first time I visited which must be about 5-6 years ago.
We then spent 10 minutes going round their shop buying tat. The plushes for the characters in one of their newer shows (which we missed) were quite nice...
The architecture in this park makes me happy...
We then waited for the bus back to the train station. I'll leave my report here and then in my second part of the report will tell you about the cultural evening stroll and our time in Cologne (it's awesome)...
Thanks for reading and sorry for the mass of photos, it's only gonna get worse in part 2
