ABC Rides

The mountain coaster at Steinwasen Park

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Since my last visit to Steinwasen Park, not much has happened in the park itself. In 2014, an Alpine Coaster from the Wiegand company opened in the park. In the meantime, the Schwarzwaldpark was acquired and converted into Tatzmania Löffingen.  

Coasterbahn

Parallel to the chairlift, we climb the lift of the coaster. At the top, we slowly pick up speed over a few waves and curves before we enter the first helix. After a few bends, the second helix awaits us. Now much faster, we can have a race with the two luge tracks for a while. But even this is only short-lived, as we immediately turn off to the left. Far above an animal enclosure, we make our way to another helix. This is followed by a fairly straight path with only one wave, which leads us to the finale of the ride. This also takes place through a helix.  

The Coasterbahn is a very gentle alpine coaster with a pleasant length. The ride basically offers no real highlight; with the exception of a few waves, there are only helices and a few leisurely curves, but that’s about it. As a starter ride before the nearby Hasenhorncoaster in Todtnau, the ride is certainly not a bad choice.

Pictures Steinwasen Park

 

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Steinwasen Park

Having a blast on Dynamite

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Preface

The last time, I have visited Freizeitpark Plohn, I was not at all impressed by its missing professionalism in some points. I had never issues paying with my Girocard (a German Debit Card) before and since there was not an ATM nearby, I had to drive to the nearby town of Lengenfeld just to get some cash and stand one more time in the queue before finally being able to pay my entrance ticket. This time, I tried to pay online and due to the system in use, it was not at all easy to do so on the phone. It took me several attempts – yet at the end, it worked.

Freizeitpark Plohn

With a good mood, I started my day at the new entrance area to the park, which is now situated right next to the water ride Fluch des Teutates. The Rafting by abc rides gets a good crowd during the first hours of operation, while the area close to the original entrance stays deserted for the most part of the day.

Drachenwirbel

Here we find the small SBF Visa spinning coaster Drachenwirbel. Like most of the installations in Germany, this also comes in the three-loop design, whereby upwards leading righthand curves always change into a downwards leading lefthand curve. Due to the change of direction, the cars quickly get into a rotation. After several laps the ride on the Drachenwirbel comes to an stop and we can exit the ride.

Dynamite

The second and largest addition to the park Freizeitpark Plohn in recent years is the Mack Rides Big Dipper Coaster Dynamite. The ride is situated for most part on the land of the former Silver Mine roller coaster and reuses parts of the queue. The coaster itself is a lot bigger and offers an interesting layout.

After climbing the ride’s lift, the coaster starts with a Dive Drop, whereby the car is slowly rotated around its own axis before it plunges to the ground. At full speed we now pass through a building which gives a great near miss and race over a bunny hop shortly thereafter. A steep curve now leads us upwards. After a more conventional drop, we then enter a righthand curve close to the ground. On a small hill we rapidly change direction before entering Dynamite’s loop. We then pass the ride’s entrance in a Zero-G Roll. Finally, we now circle around the HUSS Break Dance Westernrodeo before hitting the brakes.

Dynamite is a nice addition to the park. The Big Dipper offers a great, albeit short layout which offers a well-defined play of forces. There is only one issue: It does not have a good capacity. With a total of just two cars for up to eight people, the queue can get quite long. Especially, when only one of them is in operation and can only be loaded by a maximum of 4 people due to the Covid-19 regulations. Therefore, I only rode this Mack product once.

Pictures Freizeitpark Plohn

Closing Words

As the Saxonians did not really care about Covid and only a few respected the rules, I left the park early. Overall, I had a good visit to Freizeitpark Plohn. Yet, I was not overly impressed on how El Toro developed in recent years. This coaster is by far one of the roughest wooden coasters, I have been on and to my luck, I had to ride it twice in a row as the ride operation gave an encore. Apart of that, the park’s operations were good, and I am willing to come back once everything is back to normal.

 

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Freizeitpark Plohn

We have to talk about Karl

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Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal

We normally don’t speak about landlords, but we have to make an exception for the Dahl family, as they started to run small amusement parks along the German coast line of the Baltic Sea. As they are also prominently represented in many areas of Brandenburg, you also have a Karls Erlebnis-Dorf (named after the grandfather Karl Dahl) located nearby Berlin in Elstal.

The Dahl family are farmers specialised on strawberries. Similar to the Staveley family of Lightwater Valley, Robert Dahl searched for ways to attract more and more people onto their property in Rövershagen, as their farm shop was running surprisingly well even after the harvest. Overall, the mixture of farm shop, gastronomy and playground was very well received. With time new ideas were added and at one point, the amusement rides were built by abc rides.

K2

The good cooperation between Karls and the manufacturer then lead into the installation of the roller coaster K2 at Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal. Due to the success of the roller coaster, other rides then were installed at the other Erlebnis-Dorf locations and its just a matter of time till every one of them will be a go to location for amusement park enthusiast, as the location in Elstal certainly is due to its highly immersive experience.

The roller coaster K2 for example takes account for the history of the family and gives it a modern twist. In cooperation with the design team of the Filmpark Babelsberg, Karls created a roller coaster based on potatoes and it’s actually pretty good. The theming is done by perfection, but is the hardware worth the wait?

The ride starts with a descent into the cellar, where some smaller scenes were passed by. Through a small tunnel, in which you can see an underground view of the potato plant itself, we reach the lift hill of the ride. Shortly after we climbing to the top, we plunge down the first drop in a steep right-hand curve. A camelback with a nice pinch of airtime follows directly. After a small inclining curve, we quickly enter a small double-down element. In a left-hand helix and a double-up element we gain some height, before entering a small storehouse on top of the building where the block brake section of the ride is located. The speed if throttled in a relatively rough way, before we drop down once more in a right-hand curve. A large downward helix follows. After a short s-curve manoeuvre and a bend to the left, we reach the final brake of the ride. Hereupon, the train enters a second lift before reaching the exit position of the ride.

K2 is a fantastic roller coaster for families. The ride is fun and offers many exiting ride elements, which makes the roller coaster to stand out of the crowd. The only downfall is the capacity of the ride, which is basically too low for a well visited park like the Erlebnis-Dorf.

Pictures Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal

Conclusion Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal

Overall, I was very impressed by the concept of the Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal. If you are in Berlin and have some spare time, please visit this park. Just make sure you have enough money with you, as there is a high chance that you will buy a lot of things in their farm shop or have a nice meal in one of their restaurants.

 

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Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal