Category: Germany

Alpine Coaster on the Wasserkuppe

Ski- und Rodelarena Wasserkuppe

The Ski- und Rodelarena Wasserkuppe near Gersfeld is owned by the Wiegand family and, in addition to the prototype of the Alpine Coaster, offers two summer toboggan runs, a high ropes course and the Wie-Li transport cableway as well as another variant of the Wie-Hex, in which the course is not done in a lying position as in the Erlebniswelt Seilbahnen Thale, but rather resembles a small suspended coaster.

Hexenbesen

The ride on the Hexenbesen begins right after you have inserted the 2€ for the ride or scanned your card, with a small predrop into the lifthill. The first curves follow in which one swings out a little before it goes up a further lift hill, whereby the gondola swings a little strangely up and down. After two further curves the third lift hill is reached before the gondola goes up a small curve combination towards the end of the ride.

Rhönbob

After the obligatory programme has been completed, the highlight of the Ski- und Rodelarena Wasserkuppe follows, which can at best be described as Lightwater Valleys The Ultimate among the Alpine Coasters: The Rhönbob. Although its age and the status of the prototype, this is also due to trees falling onto the track from time to time, so that a consistent rattling could develop and a wildness that one looks for in vain on new-fangled Alpine Coasters. Despite its length of almost one kilometre, the track is driven through quite fast, which cannot be reduced so quickly even by the interesting braking system of the bobsleds. At the latest after crossing the Wie-Lis the wild part of the ride follows and thus one tight curve after the other until you leave the forest and enter the jumps. Shortly before the end of the ride there is a small jump, followed by a big jump and a tight right turn after which you descend at insane speed. Afterwards the unsuspecting passenger is released with a big grin in the direction of the lift.

The Rhönbob of the Ski- und Rodelarena Wasserkuppe surprised me very much, whereupon I immediately had to take a second ride to make sure what I had just experienced. It is definitely one of the better and wilder rides and should be ridden without question despite its sometimes unusual and quite brute riding style.

 

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Ski- und Rodelarena Wasserkuppe

Demonic flights through the Lüneburg Heath

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Flug der Dämonen

Preface

When Heide Park decided to close its second log flume, which suffered more and more from various failures, in favour of a big novelty two years later, the cry of regular park visitors was big, because the senseless bumbling around on the higher level of the ride was considered by many as a thematic highlight in the park. The only thing that will be missed is the final shot and the wave that might hit the boat towards the end of the ride, as well as the miners and Saxon card players. The discontinuation of the Wildwasser II, however, created an unfavourable scenario for the attractions that were on the mountain, because there was no reason to climb it at all, or rather hardly any reason to do so. This circumstance has now been compensated for by the Flug der Dämonen (Flight of the Demons) and improved by using the lower entrance of the former water ride, so that you no longer have to climb the mountain completely just to descend it again entirely. By using the old queue it was also possible to establish the first real English style queue in the Heide Park. Just like in the amusement parks of the same group on the island it takes a while until you have left it behind and have to decide between the two sides of the wing coaster.

This choice does not tend to be easy, but it becomes unnecessary once both sides have been tested. The spacious station has room for quite a lot of people, but is only entered by counted groups, so that there is hardly any free choice of seats. This is also the first interesting novelty of the ride, as the luggage rack is quite well solved and works better than any other kind of storage.

The Ride

Flug der Dämonen begins with a slight right turn, after which the steep lifthill is quickly completed. Now follows the meanwhile for this type of roller coaster proven way to start the descent, whereupon you plunge headfirst into the abyss. At some places you are accelerated in a very interesting way, which creates a thrilling ride feeling. As a result, in the valley, there is a lot of pressure in the seat. Then, the west-like and very tight restraining system prevents the rider from enjoying any negative forces on the following hill. After passing under the cleverly placed shop at the exit of the ride, one passes through an element that was already used for the Krake, but which is more interesting to ride through here, although the riding position, at least at the outer places of the trains, is similar to the Krake. Another powerful valley later, one is turned upside down with revolutionary thoughts, because the role, possibly known from the Eurostar roller coaster, is hit here. A little more leisurely, the car now makes a turn along the station of the bobsleigh run to send the passenger carrier back down to the abyss. With higher speed one approaches the next inversions of the ride, which optically resemble a pretzel at an angle. Here you are turned around your own axis relatively quickly and then in a steeper curve you have to fight your way up again to explore the Heide Park upside down again. After another valley the train makes an almost too steep bavarian curve to transition into the brakes, where you can enjoy the view of the station and the gyro drop Scream for a while.

Conclusion Flug der Dämonen

Unlike The Swarm, the Flug der Dämonen is a roller coaster that you can ride on both sides without worrying about too much difference in quality of the ride, although in my opinion the right side of the train is better. Also, you won’t need to ride backwards for the next few years to make the ride more exciting, because The Flight of the Demons is an extremely solid and great steel roller coaster. Of course, you won’t notice any of the advertised close calls, but this shouldn’t really surprise anyone, because also at Thorpe Park this only happened after the installation of the billboard, which really enhanced the ride. Despite this background, the new roller coaster of the Lueneburg Heath doesn’t really need this, as the ride convinced all along the line.

Pictures Heide Park 2008-2014

 

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Heide Park

Wild eagles and fog-shrouded tracks

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Preface

It was crazy to go back home one day after driving 500km to the south, only to drift off towards the Netherlands. On the other hand, the trip to the Fort Fun Abenteuerland in Sauerland to test the new attractions, including the Top Spin Yukan Raft, was a necessary part of our plan, which no minefield in Hesse could stop us from doing. Our trip was unforeseenly made more expensive by the community of Wetter and their hilarious and unfortunately very modern photo equipment by 25€. Therefore, it is no wonder that the more beautiful part of the Sauerland makes fun of the neighboring Hesse by a mercilessly oversized number of speed cameras, namely a single one (even with a warning when entering the state).

Arrived at the cash desk of the Fort Fun Abenteurland we first got ourselves the annual passes which are very important for us to mercilessly and honestly raid the service station. On the question if we are only here for the vouchers we got the tip that you don’t even have to come to Fort Fun, after all the annual tickets including the vouchers can be sent by mail. A great offer for the coming years, of course, but on the other hand, the park under the guidance of the Companie des Alpes is definitely worth a visit.

Tour of the park

Wild Eagle

At the time of the visit, not too many people saw this, so that the rush was very limited and apart from a company meeting, hardly any other guests got lost in the foggy abysses of the park. For this reason Jan, Julian and I dared to take a ride on the Wild Eagle, which is an upcharge attraction for only 1€ p.p. and really doesn’t matter to anyone. The Wild Eagle is a suspended ride. Lying on your stomach, it is pulled backwards up the mountain to reach its maximum flying height about halfway down the Alpine Coaster Trapper Slider. Shortly after that it goes flying downhill, whereby the actual ride pleasure is very limited in order to be braked very early. All in all, the whole thing was an action you should do once if there is a reasonable waiting time at the ride, but you can also do without it.

Speed Snake

So early in the morning there was a wonderful atmosphere at the Vekoma roller coaster Speed Snake. The undeniable photogenicity of the Arrow’s rail profile and the all around existing infrastructure made for countless photos, even though most of them could be taken without a train. In order to make this possible for Jan and Julian, I decided to take a ride in the second car, which strangely enough just hopped over the rail, while all the other cars offered a smooth and rock solid ride.

Rocky Mountain Rallye

Further down in the valley and past the still closed Marienkäferbahn (ladybird coaster), which was still closed due to the cold, and the luckily removed children’s parking area, we made our way to the Rocky Mountain Rallye, the newly designed Monza track. Although the changes were really only made on a small scale, the ride now appears coherent in the overall concept of the park.

Yukan Raft

The second innovation this year, Yukan Raft, is similarly coherent. As with the Indoor Round Up Dark Raver, Fort Fun has proven that they have a knack for designing used rides appropriately and making them interesting. The fact that the ride on the Yukan Raft turns out to be outstanding is something you can be very happy about with a permanently installed Top Spins, because such an exciting ride as well as an intensive ride has rarely been offered by the showman Plaenert, who previously owned this ride, although he could be taken as a benchmark for a good ride.

Secret Stage of Horror

On the top level of the park, the last novelty since my last visit is revealed to the visitors. This is the newly designed and highly praised ghost train Secret Stage of Horror, which did not really surprise us. Where the ride was a very bizarre but good ghost train before, it is now a good ghost train with really good ideas, but somehow nothing more. The video projections are all good, the house in general is really well darkened, but during the ride nothing happens and the rest of the ride is not enough to really get you into the story line.

Pictures Fort Fun Abenteuerland

Conclusion Fort Fun Abenteuerland

Although I considered Fort Fun a good park on my last visit, this visit helped me to see it as one of the better parks in Germany. The Companie des Alpes is doing a lot of work here, although they wanted to sell the park. The existing territory leaves room for more and so one can only hope that in the future more people will make their way to Fort Fun Abenteuerland to make room for further investments.

 

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Fort Fun Abenteuerland