Chessington World of Adventures

Hooray, I’m in the movie

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Movieland Park

The Movieland Park, founded in 2003, is the latest project of the Amicabile family, who already laid the foundation stone for today’s Canevaworld Resort in 1965 with a dance club. The resort now consists of the water park Caneva Aquapark, the Disko Night Festival, the dinner show Medieval Times and the Rock Star Restaurant, as well as the theme park.

After having bought the tickets at the central ticket offices at the water park, we follow the path along the high street in order to get to the actual forecourt of the film park. Until the previous season you entered the park through the big studio gate, now two buses serve as the new entrance portal of the Movieland Park.

Tomb Raider Machine

As a result, there is now a separate entrance to the Tomb Raider Machine, a Windshear by Zamperla, which is generously staged with water, fire, fog effects and some drama. Basically five different ride programs can be driven here, which are randomly determined by a selection disk, as long as the Ride-Op does not brake the disk before and then adjusts it to a mission. Depending on the selected mission, the duration, intensity and effects vary. The show of the system is more exciting than the ride itself, which is a bit jerky.

Horror House

By walking through the old entrance portal, you find yourself right on the Main Street of the park, in whose corner house there is something gloomy or better said in whose cellar there is something pitch dark hidden. Since its opening, the Horror House offers the park guests a year-round scare haunt, thus a non-temporary cabinet of horrors with actors, similar to the Krüeger Hotel in the Spanish theme park Parc d’atraccions Tibidabo in Barcelona. The queue line sets the mood of the attraction, which gains momentum in the completely bloodstained lift.

Released directly into the darkness you follow the red lights of the surveillance cameras through absolutely dark corridors until you slowly but surely get used to the darkness. From time to time we now pass through larger scenes, all of which have a reference to horror film classics and have been elaborately designed. I especially liked the cold room scene with the body bags, which first blocked the way through movement and then showed their full effect through the use of a stroboscope and Freddy Krüeger from the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Fortunately a group of two people caught up with us in the last room in front of the stairs leading up. They took their way with the camera light of their smartphone and thus took away the atmosphere. At the end, Michael Myers from the Halloween movies waited with a chainsaw for us. Worried that it will continue as long up here as it did in the basement, we found the exit to the attraction.

The Horror House is a very atmospheric and beautifully designed haunt with an amazingly long lead time. The 600 seconds given by Movieland Park itself can only be reached if you are guided through the corridors with your hands on the shoulder of the person in front. It took two of us a little longer to find our way in the pitch dark corridors. The actors do their job very well, even though you can almost always guess what will happen right away. Compared to the similar Krüeger Hotel I like the staging and the story line in the Parc d’atraccions Tibidabo a little bit better, yet here you have a truly outstanding attraction that you definitely shouldn’t miss.

Addams House

However, it should be clearly pointed out that a visit under the age of 14 is not permitted. But also that is not a problem, as there is at least another access down to the cellar in the Addams House. Here, you pass through some rooms and corridors of the big horror haunt and get brilliant entertainment by Zombie-Hitler. Alone this moment is so delightfully abstruse that you inevitably have to love the park. After a short time, but with a really wide grin on your face, you leave the attraction. Understandably, the access to the Horror House is closed during the Addams House playtime.

Overdrive

On the back of Studio 1 a live set is currently located, on which the film Overdrive, generously advertised in the park, is recorded. In principle, this is a small stunt show disguised as a film recording, in which some park visitors are also involved. Some stunts will be shown, then the footage will be cut and at the end the film will end up on YouTube or the park’s website. Two takes per day are recorded, but the times were not advertised, so we both missed them.

The Illusionist

But we were able to watch the magic show The Illusionist, which is roughly based on the film Prestige. The show shows some well known magic tricks, which are accompanied by all kinds of effects. Unfortunately, I couldn’t follow the story very well, as we were a bit late for the show. Nevertheless, the staging is quite well done and the theatre itself is impressive.

Terminator 2 – 5D

Right next door you will find Terminator 2 – 5D, an Interactive Theatre, where you shoot with pistols at a screen, but also at plastic figures. The terminator animatronics are convincing, as well as the numerous additional effects. Unfortunately, you can’t see much of the screen from the side. The game is fun and certainly worth playing, even though the game is hard to beat and therefore ends with Game Over before you reach the end.

U-571

Passing the Fazenda di Zorro or the remaining entrances of the Rodeo Grill Restaurant (which was decoupled from the park in 2012 and was supposed to entertain visitors after the opening hours of the two parks (and during lunchtime in the Movieland Park), however after two years of operation it was sold and finally renamed to Ristoburger Zero21), our way heads towards the submarine simulator U-571.

In a submarine bunker we first wait for more recruits to be allowed to enter some time later by our commanding officer. He informs us, while a staggering sailor is joking with a bottle full of rum behind him. During this show the Allies suddenly attack and several bombs fall into the harbour basin. We have to flee, but all roads are blocked and so we approach the submarine of the model U-571 at a rapid pace, climb down, hurry through the underwater vessel and take a seat in a chamber while the boat is submerging.

Our drunken comrade now tries to save us both and the submarine and tells me to open and close some valves in it; meanwhile we dive further down, but something is leaking. Full of haste I now try to comply to the specifications and getting loaded with water every now and then, while the rest of the recruits are shaken a little during our dive. At one point, one of the valves is gone and the amount of water can hardly be stopped. However, like a miracle, we manage to surface without being discovered by the Allies.

The U-571 is a spectacular attraction with a breathtaking pre-show and outstanding actors who really put a lot of effort into staging this attraction. Unfortunately, there is not much to see of the replica of the submarine in scale 1:1, as you run through the boat rather quickly. The actual simulator is just an old movie rocket without a movie, shaky benches and a brilliant, yet extremely oppressive atmosphere. If you are sitting in the front left of the boat, you have absolutely no chance to avoid the water, so that you get drenched on a similar level as jumping into the neighbouring Lake Garda.

Troncosaurus

If your clothes are still dry, take a ride on the Troncosaurus log flume, which looked more like a multi-storey car park than a splashy tree trunk ride down two drops before the redesign of the dinosaur area at the bottom of the park. Nowadays, the ride looks just as good as the rest of the area, which is now an ideal children’s area with matching sound.

After leaving the station, you head towards the first lift hill in a wide right turn. When arriving at the top, the track turns around below a later section of the track, whereby the entrance and exit run almost next to each other. Thereafter, the first descent of the log flume follows, whereby the transition into the lower canal is quite abrupt and makes for very good splash. After that you find yourself in another long right-hand turn, which leads parallel to the first lift hill into the second ascent. At the top, you follow the same route as on the lower floor. Instead of taking the second drop, you head straight on to the other side of the lift, where you cross a left-hand bend and slowly but surely approach the second drop. The run-out section is not quite as wet as at the small slope earlier on. A further left turn is then taken before approaching the station.

Troncosaurus is a very special log flume made by L&T Systems, which not only accommodates as much water as possible in as little space as possible, but also makes good use of the applied technology and is as energy-saving as possible, e.g. by using only one water circuit. The ride itself is quite nice and the wetness level is quite respectable, especially since water is constantly dripping into the boat even beyond the two shooting runs.

BC-10 Airlines

Next door, the BC-10 Airlines boat swing is swinging upwards, though the original swing of the former Looping Starship Aerovarvet in the Swedish leisure park Liseberg was significantly higher. When the looping madness of the 80s started to subside, Liseberg rebuilt the Looping Starship by removing the counter weight and the shoulder harnesses. Later, it disappeared from the landscape for several years before Movieland Park took pity on it and bought and redesigned the ride. In its current form, the boat swing entertains passengers in three different cruising programmes, although there is no clear difference. Unfortunately, the ship always brakes a little as soon as it has reached the maximum swing. The tight lap bars and the ride circle are reducing the fun slightly.

Brontojet

Also rescued from disappearance was the Schwarzkopf City Jet Brontojet, which had previously entertained its passengers for several years in the English amusement park Lightwater Valley and was briefly operated by the Bemboom family in Loudoun Castle and then stored. In 2010, Brontojet was opened as the second roller coaster of Movieland Park.

After taking a seat in the comfortable train, a short track section leads us straight to the spiral lift of the ride, which supplies the driving motors of the two cars with power by a conductor rail and thus continuously transports us upwards. At the top, we can enjoy the view of Lake Garda for a short time before we head towards the ground. With full power we cross the first valley, where after we rise again. Just below the first descent, we now drive around the spiral lift in a gentle left turn, before we throw ourselves back into a steep turn towards the ground. Following a turn near the ground, the trail continues several metres upwards and descends as quickly as possible in an oval downhill helix, carried out in the finest Bavarian curve style. Right after a very abrupt transition from an inclined curve into a straight line, which is certainly not laid out according to the heart line, you immediately stop at the powerful brake of the course.

The Brontojet is a truly intense roller coaster with, aside from the transition to the brake, absolutely great ride characteristics. For me it was the second City Jet ride after Nigloland’s great Bobsleigh coaster. Here, the ride was also very convincing, even though the design of the ride is far more minimalistic. The Brontojet was my 400th roller coaster in Europe.

Bront-o-Ring and Octopus

Not quite as spectacular is the Bront-o-Ring, a small powered children’s roller coaster with a triangular layout, whose train is supplied with power via a cable in the middle of the ride. Here you turn round after round for a longer time interval, until you are happy to get off again. Opposite is Octopus, a stylish polyp ride by Soriani & Moser, which offered a long and joyful ride.

Back to the Back Stage

With Back to the Back Stage you will find a rather unusual monorail where you can take a look behind the scenes of the amusement park. For this reason you should only visit the ride after visiting all the main attractions. The monorail stops at several stations with some displays, where Doc Brown gives some insights into the individual attractions in short movies, before he is shocked by the catastrophes of Magma 2.1 and wants to travel back into the future. As a result – at least from the story’s point of view – at the end of the ride, we actually travelled one day into the future.

Kitt Super Jet

From the monorail you get a good insight into the wild action of the Kitt Super Jet boat drivers. Inspired by the still popular series Knight Rider (Supercar in Italian), the Foundation for Law and Constitution has commissioned a manhunt. However, not in Kitt, as that would be a catastrophe in terms of capacity, but in Super Jet, the equivalent on water.

After Michael Knight has personally prepared us for the mission in perfect Italian, the boat is lowered and leaves its harbour in reverse. The 600 hp engines start soon after and the boat accelerates in an incredible way. With full throttle we now turn lap by lap over the basin area of the neighbouring stunt show while avoiding some targets that have been lowered in the meantime. Occasionally the driver brakes spontaneously, turns a pirouette and accelerates at the same rate. Then, the boat disappears into a shed, which turns out to be an ambush. Under fire we leave the building shortly before it collapses and speed over the water surface once more, triggering some additional water effects. Shortly afterwards, the boat returns to its parking bay in the safe harbour of the Foundation.

Kitt Super Jet is probably the most breathtaking water attraction in Europe and definitely one of the attractions you should have experienced in your life. The integration of the series Knight Rider fits somehow perfectly, which is further underlined by the appearance of the original German superhero David Hasselhoff as a somewhat aged Michael Knight in the short pre-show. The ride offers a lot of speed, action and adrenaline and yet something for everyone. Therefore, you inevitably have to take your hat off to Movieland Park, which proved with Kitt Super Jet that Canevaworld Resort is the better choice for a successful theme park day at Lake Garda.

John Rambo Stunt Show

Shortly after 5 pm the gates to the John Rambo Stunt Show opened and the remaining guests could fill about half of the huge show arena. Shortly afterwards an old comrade of John Rambo and some visitors were captured by terrorists. John Rambo hurries to free his colleague, but is discovered quite fast. It begins an action sequence with motorcycles and quads, at the end of which Rambo has to take a good beating. In the meantime his comrade has freed himself and together they establish some order. A female soldier working undercover joins him, only to be caught in an ambush shortly afterwards. Meanwhile the hostages (the captured visitors) are brought to the main stage and can experience the spectacle up close. As the only person not captured, Rambo tries to free everyone in a one-man army sequence. He first frees his colleague and opens the escape routes, whereupon an action-packed show on the water takes place, in which also the remaining visitors gets quite wet. After most of the enemy forces have been defeated and the hostages have been brought to the front stage by motorboat, there is a little love story between Rambo and the soldier, who is fatally wounded by the only remaining adversary. Rambo then pulls out his bow, fires an arrow at the oil barrels on the opposite side and triggers an explosion that sets the enemy on fire.

Even though the story is a bit lengthy at times, the John Rambo Stunt Show is a show absolutely worth seeing. The show is fortunately does not use any slapstick, like its boring car stunt show counterparts often found in amusement parks around the world. Beside the well choreographed fighting performances there are also some surprises, which are well staged. The big cast does its job very well, which is why you shouldn’t miss out on the show.

Magma 2.1

Another highlight follows with Magma 2.1, a ride similar to the Studio Tram Tour from the Walt Disney Studios Park near Paris, only with spectacular special effects, motivated drivers and lots of action.

After the car has left the station, a short turn follows at the rear end of the Hollywood Action Tower, then the truck mercilessly plunges down a steep embankment, lifting the passengers neatly out of their seats. Passing the back of the stunt show, we now enter an obstacle course with several delightful mechanical gimmicks. First, we cross a small water basin above which a tanker truck empties itself, which in theory can be very wet. After that, we cross an oversized seesaw and in the next moment we are dried a little by cold air blowers. With a decent speed we drive around a small building, into which we enter shortly afterwards. Inside there is a small laboratory, which is now destroyed due to some earthquakes. The truck is shaken and there are some fire and light effects. A siren sounds and we leave the building as soon as possible. Outside it is burning everywhere and the landscape is mostly destroyed, to all misfortune the road breaks under us and we land quite surprisingly in water. By forced measures, we drive through another water basin where there is a water effect directed at the passengers. Likewise, the truck drives a little in reverse until it can drive up the embankment in another attempt. Once again at full throttle we pass the same road along the stunt show as at the beginning of the ride and arrive shortly after at the station, where the driver is usually bid farewell with some applause.

Magma 2.1 is a genuinely funny and effect overloaded attraction that unfortunately cannot be found elsewhere in Europe, even though in the English Chessington World of Adventure on Zufari you can at least guess the potential behind such an attraction. The drivers on Magma are merciless and the built-in mechanical effects are totally amazing, which is why you have to get a ride or two when you are at Movieland Park.

Hollywood Action Tower

You should also get a ride on the Hollywood Action Tower, a first generation free fall from Intamin. It was built in the 80s, before you could establish space-saving free fall towers with magnetic brake systems in amusement parks in the mid 90s. Before the system moved to Movieland Park in 2006, it stood until 2001 as Drop of Doom in the Galaxyland Amusement Park of the Canadian West Edmonton Mall, before it was replaced by a double shot of about the same height made by S&S.

After taking a seat in the car and closing the over-the-shoulder harness, the car sets itself in motion and first moves a few meters backwards into the elevator shaft. The nacelle couples into the shaft at the back and is immediately transported up the tower. When it reaches the top, the car is pushed forward a little to the sound of the Twilight Zone soundtrack and couples into the free fall shaft. Under a fog effect the letters of the Hollywood Tower logo break in and we fall into the depth. The first meters of it we approach the ground in a straight line, but then the falling distance bends in a quarter circle, consequently we find ourselves lying on our backs rather fast and continue to move before the mechanical brakes stops us noticeably. A dog grabs us and transports us over a turnout one level down, where we return to our starting position and are immediately brought to the station.

The Hollywood Action Tower is the only one of its kind in Europe and one of the few remaining rides of its kind in the world. For this reason alone, the trip to Movieland Park is worthwhile. The freefall experience is just an awesome experience – althrough, also a wacky one as well, which is why we joined the queue quite often.

Police Academy

As you could expect by the Police Academy, which has its own simulators for the driver training of the new recruits, also features a quite bizarre ride experience. The film shown here is quite good and, compared to other simulations, fortunately doesn’t use cheap computer generated animations instead of real film material.

Our driving doesn’t seem to be that great, which is why Lieutenant Harris interrupts the ride. Through a trick he is lured out of the room, whereby Mahoney and his clique take over the simulators and let us dance the duck dance first. After the return of Lieutenant Harris the original film is continued and brought to an end. All in all, this results in a really extraordinary ride that stands out from the crowd and thus offers a refreshingly different experience that you should not miss.

Diabolik Invertigo

Past the small Monza track Route 66 our way leads through the entrance portal to the forecourt of the Movieland Park, from where two bridges lead us to our next destination, the Diabolik Invertigo by Vekoma, which previously was Two-Face: The flip side at Six Flags America from 1999 – 2007. Even though the dismantling was handled rather carelessly at that time, the ride looks like new today and has been given an onboard sound and a continuous storyline by the Italian cartoonists A.M. Ricci and M. Ricci, as well as the lyricist Mario Gomboli based on the original comic Diabolik by the sisters Angela and Luciana Guissani.

The course of the ride is similar to that of a boomerang built by the same manufacturer; i.e. after the lift, the station is passed through, whereupon, in a Cobra Roll, you are turned upside down twice before seeing the world upside down for a third time in a simple loop, before you are taken up to the second lift, in order to experience the whole game again in the opposite direction. Nevertheless, there are some minor differences between an Invertigo and the standard Boomerang, e.g. the train is located underneath the rail and has a completely different seating arrangement, where you can even face each other, and the used technology is a bit different.

Like the Tornado of the former Danish theme park Sommerland Syd – now Triops in the French theme park Bagatelle – the ride comfort of the Diabolik Invertigo is extremely good. The ride is smooth! Due to this, I enjoyed the ride very much and could have done it over and over again. Of course, the excellent comic design of the ride contributes to this and the onboard sound was also a welcome surprise.

Pictures Movieland Park

Conclusion Movieland Park

But actually the whole Movieland Park was a big surprise, as such a park is hard to find. Beside its terrific main attractions and the rather negligible flat rides, the park offers a lot of entertainment at every corner, so you can spend a whole day at the park with only a few repetitions. As soon as you leave the Movieland Park, you are permitted to walk over the red carpet, applauded by all the actors that you had the chance to see during the day. Although it’s incredibly kitschy, it’s the kitsch that finally made Movieland Park my new favorite among all European theme parks.

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Il Viaggio dei due Runner Day 3 / Movieland Park

Oh, oh, oh Gardaland

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Gardaland

After a visit to Disneyland in Anaheim, California in the early 70s, businessman Livio Furini decided to create his own park. At that time no place seemed more suitable than an area within sight of Lake Garda, after all this is the first lake of its size that tourists, coming from the Brenner motorway, have been occupying since the late fifties and have not given it away since then; finest Mediterranean feeling without the Mediterranean Sea, of course. With the help of some local entrepreneurs, Gardaland opened its doors for the first time in 1975 and has been growing steadily ever since. In 2006 the British Merlin Entertainments Group bought the park for 550 million euros. Two hotels a few kilometres away complete the offer.

Arriving at the car park, the crowd of people promised a pleasant day’s visit, but this was not necessarily reflected at the cash desks and at the entrance. Really stupid German park guests in their teens, who had probably never been to an international amusement park before, also delayed the ticket purchase immensely by explicitly asking for two Eintrittskarten. It’s very easy to do so, if you order the tickets in English, put down your Merlin 2:1 voucher and pay the money. Afterwards they wish you a wonderful day in finest German. With the tickets in hand, we went straight into the park, where I had to wait for Dominik, as he hadn’t been able to close the gap behind an Italian family. In general, the access area to Gardaland is somewhat disadvantageously built.

Fantasy Kingdom

Right at the beginning you are spoilt for choice by walking through two children’s areas. You can choose between the medieval area of Gardaland, where there is a horse carousel and several playground equipment, and the Fantasy Kingdom, where you can find Prezzemolo and his friends, the park mascots. They are cult in Italy and in 2002 they even got their own TV series, incidentally one of the early projects of the Rainbow studio (Winx Club, Huntik and some more, whose licence is now used in Rainbow Magicland close to Rome), with 26 episodes in total. Prezzemolo, which translates as parsley in English, is a shy dragon who, while eating pizza topped with strawberries, becomes He-Man and helps his friends. The series is actually not bad, although I don’t understand a word of Italian, and it shapes the style of the theme area immensely.

The centrepiece of this is an artificial tree, which, similar to the Cabane des Robinson of the Disneyland Park in Paris, is accessible. Inside there are some rooms inhabited by Prezzemolo and his friends, which are very nicely decorated. Continuing upwards you climb a staircase until you reach the balcony in the artificial treetop. Up here you can have your picture taken with Prezzemolo or simply enjoy the view of Gardaland and nearby Lake Garda. A staircase around the tree leads you down again. It gets quite interesting in the cellar of the tree, where the Magic House is located.

Magic House

After entering the entrance hall to Prezzemolo’s happy home, a magician appears and speaks to the visitors. The room in which you are currently located is extended. Prezzemolo is greeted with great excitement in his living room and explains that the strange voice that is heard from time to time means that there are hardly any visitors left. Suddenly strange things happen and the magician speaks again to the guests of the house. Now the restless ghost explains that this was once his laboratory and he has got used to living in the same house with Prezzemolo a little bit, but now he declares it to be his own. He then invites the visitors to a small illustration of his powers, in which he turns the house upside down. On the way out, Prezzemolo tells his visitors about a strange dream in which his house and a magician played an important role.

It’s kind of cool to stand in front of a huge building and take a lift a few meters down to the basement to visit a completely underground Mad House. Unfortunately the comic look of the drum robs the illusion a little bit, here you could have achieved even more with additional effects. The music is coherent and the Italians listen attentively to the story, which makes it easy to follow the story, at least in theory.

The rest of Fantasy Kingdom looks like the prototype of all the more modern children’s kingdoms. Similar to the younger Sesamo Aventura from the Spanish Port Aventura near Salou, there are other rides, e.g. a quite neatly designed tractor ride, a small monorail and other smaller carousels in an elaborate design.

Raptor

A little above this area is the entrance to Raptor, the prototype of the Wing Coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard. Similar to the notorious roller coaster Nemesis of the English amusement park Alton Towers, this ride presents itself as an alien, which was found by chance during construction work in the park. While Nemesis was tamed into a steel-like structure and has been used as a ride for the towers’ guests ever since, the Genetix Initiative, a paramilitary organisation, tried to tame the found creature in the specially built X-Labs in Gardaland. But all attempts failed and Raptor succeeded in breaking out.

In a short left-hand bend, the train leaves the station and immediately climbs the lift hill. While the newer versions of the ride slowly turn their passengers by 180°, the Raptor plunges into the depth, which leads to unexpected airtime, especially in the back rows. Powerfully the train crosses the first valley and then makes a steep turn to the left. Without any rest, the alien falls to the ground again and doesn’t hesitate to use its power. In a zero-g roll you are now turned upside down for the first time, leaving it in a left turn. Now you cross the entrance portal of the ride on a hill, whereupon the train throws itself into a curve close to the ground, which serves as an introduction into a somewhat elongated corkscrew. A right-hand bend close to the ground, passing the lift hill of the ride, follows, but is immediately replaced by another left-hand bend. This leads into a very long in-line twist, a straight roll, which is equipped with some Near Miss elements. Shortly afterwards we land in the braking section of the track, where we can spend some time in the now tightly fitting restraint waistcoats. Another left turn brings us down to the hangar level again.

Although Raptor is the smallest representative of its kind with a height of 33m and a length of just 770m, the ride is one of the better ones, as long inversions are accompanied by tight curves and forceful valleys. Although the Near Miss elements are negligible, the ride in Gardaland surprises all the more with its rather unconventional first drop (it’s strange that through the whole hipster movement with its unconventional mainstream, something absolutely classic can now be called unconventional, as nobody uses it anymore). Compared to the other European rides, Raptor is clearly ahead due to its more dynamic ride, especially since The Swarm from Thorpe Park, England, has lost all of its driving sophistication again due to the renewed rotation of the two rear cars.

4D-Adventure Cinema

A few meters further on you will find the Spectacular 4D-Adventure Cinema, which contains a simulator with quite long rows made by Intamin. The ride was opened in 1990 under the name Cinema Dinamico as the first of its kind in Europe and showed up to 6 different films per day, including a film showing the wooden roller coaster Colossus from the amusement park Six Flags Magic Mountain. In 2001 the theatre was rebuilt, whereupon 3D films were shown, which were lifted into the fourth dimension by the additional movements. As always with such attractions the quality of the films varies immensely, mostly the movements of the passenger carrier are jerky and moreover asynchronous to the image, which makes them a guarantee for whiplash injuries of any kind and motion sickness.

I Consari

A little quieter, but by no means less spectacular, is the dark ride I Corsari. In defiance of the imminent opening of the Euro Disney Resort in Paris in 1992, Gardaland created the most expensive attraction in the world at the time. And so it is hardly surprising that the already very limited space of Gardaland was optimally utilised by an additional underground hall. Access to the dark ride is on the deck of a huge galleon, in whose hull the queue including the station is located.

Hired as sailors of a huge galleon we immediately try to escape the cruel captain Jason Montague in two nutshells. Our way leads us directly into the jungle, where dangerous animals and dead pirates make us understand the cruel reality of our business. A parrot tries to keep us from our goings-on, but we know that returning to the captain will be no less harmless. In a cave we meet a rotten ship whose restless crew is still among us. We narrowly escape and end up in a supposedly safe environment. The pirates here seem to be nice and friendly, but above all, they like to drink. We are advised to turn left and through a sewer system we end up in a swamp. If this environment was not deadly enough, we are attacked by a sea snake with human appearance in the next moment. But even here we manage to escape and are immediately rewarded with a legendary treasure. Freshly hanged pirates do not bode well and so we are not surprised when a huge galleon sounds the order to attack. It is our old team leader Captain Montague, who not only destroys the fort next to us, but also guides us into the depths of the sea.

I Consari can easily be called the best pirate theme cruise in Europe without devaluating the Disneyland classic Pirates of the Caribbean too much. The ride itself is extremely harmonious and the animatronics used are impressive, as is the entire set design.

Sequoia Adventure

Next to the log flume Colorado Boat, which was built in 1984 and is a rather classic ride with two shots, is the entrance to Sequoia Adventure, a truly special roller coaster made by S&S. The layout of the Screaming Squirrel promises a very exciting ride with three, slightly longer, overhead passages.

Once the manufacturer’s typical airy brackets have been set and locked, the car starts to move and immediately rolls towards the curve, which grips the car over two raised rails under the arms and lets it slide onto the actual track. Here, the trolley couples back to its original rail profile and is immediately transported upwards in the lift. Once at the top, the car completes a short straight line before it is braked and transported very slowly over the hilltop. In the so-called saxophone element, which actually looks a bit like the musical instrument, you drive back the straight line upside down before you are slowly turned around in a turn. The whole game is repeated two more times, whereby after the second saxophone it goes up a little bit to get to the correct starting height for the third saxophone. Towards the end another turn leads the car back to the station.

Sequoia Adventure is a wonderfully wacky roller coaster that celebrates its longer overhead passages virtually by itself. All these passages are quite pleasant, but the turns are unfortunately not without jerks, which is especially noticeable after the second saxophone with its free cut. But the ride itself is fun and with its wonderful different layout it is a real eye-catcher.

Magic Mountain

In 1981 the Dutch amusement park Efteling presented Python, the largest and most exciting roller coaster in Europe. Two years later, Heide Park Soltau introduced Big Loop, a similarly exciting but higher ride, which attracted a lot of attention. Gardaland also recognised this trend and in 1985 offered Magic Mountain, the most exhilarating roller coaster in Italy at the time, also modelled on the Carolina Cyclone of the American amusement park Carowinds.

As with Python, the train leaves the station in Gardaland on a small gradient, followed by a left turn. Shortly afterwards the train hooks up to the lift chain, which takes it to a starting height of 29m. This is followed by a small gradient and another 180° left turn before the train races down the track. The colourful train advertising for Coca Cola now passes through a very powerful valley and immediately passes the first loop and then the second loop of the ride. On a straight line the train gains a bit of height and shortly after that it takes a curve. This brings the train up to the starting height of the corkscrews, which you enter at a remarkable slant. While the wagons are screwed through this, the world is turned upside down two more times. After a small hill, you now complete an upward helix around a fountain, after which the braking section is waiting.

Magic Mountain is a great older type of roller coaster, which doesn’t have to hide from newer rides due to its truly intense dynamics, even though both trains were only half occupied. (One train with three cars, the other with four). The ride itself runs faster than its Dutch counterpart and therefore has a lot of pressure from the beginning, which is transferred to the passengers as well as to the track. Vekoma’s new trains generally enhance the ride, but the strange Coca Cola branding and the even stranger clearance on the day of the visit detracts from it.

Kung Fu Panda Academy

Behind the big looping roller coaster, the Kung Fu Panda Academy in Gardaland is currently under construction, which will feature the Fabbri Spinning Coaster Kung Fu Panda Master, the redesigned tea cup carousel Mr. Ping’s Noodle Suprise and the Kung Fu Panda Chi School.

Ortobruco Tour

In the farthest corner, still behind the entrance to the monorail, the cog ride and the toddler carousel is the entrance to the Ortobruco Tour, probably the world’s largest Big Apple. The ride opened in 1990 with a much shorter layout, but this was extended to its current length in 1993, probably also for capacity reasons. From a technical point of view, the Pinfari roller coaster is quite impressive due to the number of friction wheel lifts, as well as the fully automated trains.

After a right-hand bend, the train goes through a longer straight line, whereupon the first lift hill follows after another right-hand bend. At the top, the train passes a left turn and slowly picks up speed. Over hill and dale or the typical waves of every Big Apple the way to the next curve is now overcome. After the turn, the second lift follows, whereupon a downward right helix is added. This is followed by the third lift above the queue, which merges into a right-hand bend. In its original version, this lift led the train into the station, but in the current version it leads the train into the fourth lift. Now one circles the building of the toddler carousel by about 90°, completing a straight drop and a straight gradient after a slightly bent valley. Immediately you go downhill again in another right helix. You leave this one in a slight incline, which here also merges into a lift. In a helix to the left the train makes the subsequent descent. Here too, the speed of the train is kept alive by additional friction wheels in the following ascent. Now the train goes through a right-hand bend, which is then transferred to a left-hand bend after a slight bend; shortly after that the station appears.

The Ortobruco Tour is a nice children’s roller coaster, which always gives the feeling of sitting in a bigger Zierer Tivoli than in a Big Apple, because the speed and the track length suggest it. The ride is at least good and the decoration, which interestingly comes from the former Gardaland Waterpark near Milan, is quite impressive.

Ramses Il Risveglio

The first major dark ride in Gardaland opened in 1987 with Valle dei Rei, which, due to the seemingly endless popularity of interactive dark rides, was redesigned into Ramses Il Risveglio in 2009. The ride suffered the same fate as Duel from Alton Towers and Tomb Blaster from Chessington World of Adventures.

The story is now about strange phenomena that occurred during restoration work and an evil that wants to subjugate the world. We already had a similar storyline with Raptor, but in contrast there are robot mummies and finest metal sounds. If the typical sound of the guns would not be there, as for example in this year’s redesign of Tomb Blaster, I would really enjoy the ride. All in all, the ride is of course well worth seeing and the ride system by Pinfari is well worth experiencing. The general design is outstanding and the futuristic metal mummies are a pretty cool idea.

Below the Gardaland Theatre is the 4D cinema of Gardaland, where an Ice Age film is currently being shown. Normally this is reason enough to stay away from the cinema, after all the first Ice Age 4D film was a poorly edited version of the otherwise brilliant third cinema adventure around Manny, Sid, Diego and Co., but now the Blue Sky Studios have released a 4D film especially tailored for Scrat and it is really good. Scrat finds a time machine and travels through several eras, of course always in search of his hazelnut. The effects were well used, but the few Italian text passages were not subtitled and are not necessary for the overall understanding of the film.

Space Vertigo

Space – the final frontier. The year is 1998, and these are the voyages of the starship Space Vertigo. Its crew of 16 is on its way for about 30s to investigate basic physical equations. In not quite as many vertical meters as comparable towers, Space Vertigo boldly go where no one has gone before on a freefall tower. Aha hahahaha ha (3x).

Somehow this convoluted nature of the Star Trek intro text fits in well with Gardaland and Space Vertigo, after all the space theme has its origins in the opening year of Gardaland and thus on the European wave of popularity of the series, which was discontinued at the end of the 1960s. The queuing area consists mainly of octagonal corridors in which monitors with outdated visual material are embedded. The station is no less purist, but apart from bulky lamps it has hardly any decorative elements; but that is not what really matters here either. The tower shows, similar to the Funland drop ride on Hayling Island, that height is an extremely negligible parameter for a free-fall tower. This tower rocks tremendously, but the waiting time here was a bit long.

Oblivion – The Black Hole

Just as high as the tower next door, Oblivion – The Black Hole, a dive coaster by Bolliger & Mabillard, freely inspired by Oblivion from its sister park Alton Towers, stretches up into the sky. While Oblivion’s story revolves around the ride itself and the hole to be passed through, the story of Oblivion – The Black Hole concentrates on the black hole in its name, which is to be investigated.

After passing the stylish, partly interactive, queue and boarding the train, the journey begins after a short countdown. Following a small bend, you immediately climb the lift hill, which takes you up to the starting height of 42.5 m. At the top you approach the position of the black hole through a left turn. The track bends downwards, the train follows this movement but is still prevented from falling vertically by a holding brake. A few seconds pass by and the train approaches the black hole at a rapid pace, with the surrounding objects which have been attracted by the hole showing their near miss character more closely than on the Wing Coaster in the same park. The train now makes its way through the adjoining tunnel, which attracts attention through fog and integrated lighting effects. In an Immelmann you skilfully change direction and then approach the ground level. Through a small building you pass another valley before you climb up the camelback, which skillfully takes you out of your seat. This is followed by a 270° downward helix, which releases you into a heartline roll rotating in the same direction. A short climb later you reach the braking section and soon after the station.

Oblivion – The Black Hole is a good roller coaster with an excellent layout, but a little identity problem. In theory, the ride covers almost the same story as Oblivion, only that the whole layout at Alton Towers is simply better. It looks like a half-hearted remake of an indisputably brilliant movie, yet the hardware of the ride is not responsible for this feeling. This and the general layout of the ride ultimately ensure that Baron 1898 from the Dutch amusement park Efteling is the better of the two Dive Coasters that opened in 2015.

Mammut

Passing the Flying Island with the same name and an overall successful design that fits the theme area, the way leads us towards the roller coaster Mammut, which uses the basic layout of the Vekoma Mine Trains and adds a total of 245m track length. The design of the ride is supposed to be an expedition to the North Pole and can convince with its general theming and the presence of a giant mammoth, but things look a bit different when it comes to the ride.

It starts off immediately with a right-hand bend, followed by the first lift hill, which unfortunately takes you up in a very straight line. Once there, you leave the hill in a left helix, where you pick up some speed. Three 180° curves with implied valleys and hills follow each other like in a slalom, the first of these curves running to the right. After a drop below the lifts, and a subsequent uphill left turn, you reach the first brake. This is followed by a left turn and the second lift hill, which again runs in an unorthodox straight line. So far the mother of all Vekoma mine train coasters Calamity Mine from the Belgian amusement park Walibi Belgium is already a lot more entertaining due to its sloping lifts, but there are still some more meters to go to generate a completely different opinion. Slightly higher than after the first lift hill you see daylight again and shortly after that you descend a long righthand helix and get a little closer to the ground. A wide left turn brings you a little bit up the hill again, but this is also followed by a downward helix to the right. Normally a left turn follows into the braking section and straight into the station, but in Gardaland the train now takes you into a left turn and up the third lift hill, because we haven’t discovered the mammoth that gives the ride its name yet. We leave the highest point of the ride, how else could it be, in another helix, this time leading us down to the ground. Passing the mammoth, we make a small turn in lofty heights and immediately make a right turn. After a steeper descent we pass under the first two lifts and make a last 180° turn, whereupon the final braking section awaits us.

Mammut could be a really good Mine Train, if it weren’t for the rather miserable ride characteristics. Compared to almost all other Mine Trains of the same manufacturer, the ride vibrates unpleasantly, so you can’t really talk about having fun after the first two parts of the ride. Only the third part of the ride brings something unexpected out of the standard layout, but unfortunately this does not improve the ride characteristics.

Jungle Rapids and Fuga da Atlantide

Behind the very neatly designed rapid river Jungle Rapids with a good degree of wetness lies the Intamin Super Splash Fuga da Atlantide. With a rather classic spillwater layout, the ride humidifies the passengers with bravura, even though much less than a Shoot the Chute normally does; this may also be due to the (at least for sun-drenched Italians) rather wintry temperature of about 18°C. Interestingly, the descents here run on roller coaster tracks and the lifts were solved by cable lifts. Apart from that, the wonderful design of the ride is inevitable, but the ride itself could be better.

Blue Tornado

As the only attraction visible from afar, mainly due to its elevated position in Gardaland, the suspended looping coaster Blue Tornado stretches upwards. Due to its open design, this toy jet coaster is an unparalleled eye-catcher, which is mainly due to the extraordinary photogenicity of the track profile. The ride is always in motion due to the three-train operation, which theoretically results in lots of photos, if you are not distracted by dancing robots.

As in every standard SLC, the ride begins with the gain of potential energy by a chain lift on a straight line leading upwards. Once there, you cross or rather undercross a hilltop, which immediately releases you into a steep curve. At a decent speed you now cross the following valley before you are turned upside down twice in a roll over. Back at ground level, the train shoots up a sloping hill. Parallel to the station you now reach the lowest point of the ride, which is also flooded with fog. In a sidewinder you now change direction, whereupon a helix is added. You leave the station with two in-line twists. A right turn lets you cross the first slope, but instead of approaching the end in a staggering manner, the train shoots down one last time and passes a helix close to the ground, which is often called bonus helix in the (roller coaster) vernacular. This is followed by the braking section and the return to the station. Surprisingly, the ride is fun and the ride characteristics are good. We even rode it more than once.

Pictures Gardaland

Conclusion Gardaland

Gardaland is a nice and above all good amusement park, which can be relatively easily described as the Italian Alton Towers. The theme areas are mixed and only rarely have a clear line, but the park scores with its exceptionally good rides, especially the dark ride I Consari. In general, there is a visible effort to make the guests have a pleasant day, which is also reflected in the guests of the park. In spite of the popular holiday region, the park guests behave in an exemplary manner, there is no queue jumping at all, groups even let you in and you can easily hang your luggage on the appropriate storage facilities, usually far away from the actual attraction, without the risk of something being stolen. In addition, the park is filled with songs composed especially for the park, so that at the end you have to rave to Oh, Oh, Oh Gardaland in the disco tunnel leading to the car park.

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Gardaland / Il Viaggio dei due Runner Day 2

A lot of TNT for small (joy) explosions

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Parque de Atracciones de Madrid

Not far from the Batán metro station, the Puerta Batán is a side entrance to the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid, the Spanish capital’s inner-city theme park. In contrast to other urban theme parks, such as the Copenhagen amusement park Tivoli Gardens or the Parque de Atracciones de Zaragoza, the Tivoli principle, where you only pay a small entrance fee and pay for the rides in addition, is not applied, so that the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid functions as a theme park in the classical sense.

Nickelodeon Land

If you enter the park via the side entrance you will find yourself at the top of the Nickelodeon Land, a theme area that can be found in a similar form in the English Pleasure Beach Blackpool or the German sister park Movie Park Germany. Here too, existing rides were redesigned using licences from the well-known Viacom children’s channel Nickelodeon, and supplemented with a children’s driving school and additional artwork. What previously seemed to be a bit too much of a jumbled up children’s land now shows a consistently colourful mix, which is also very well done.

Padrinos Voladores

Especially the small roller coaster Turbulencia shows its full potential as Padrinos Voladores designed after the children’s series Fairly Oddparents. The layout features a few hairpin bends without any major difference in height; however, this makes the swing of the vehicles during the ride much more pronounced and thus also the riding pleasure. The Padrinos Voladores therefore offer a really great ride for smaller children, but can also be enjoyed by adults.

Vagones Locos

The Vagones Locos, on the other hand, are in the Naturaleza themed area, although the squeaky-coloured design makes the ride should be part of the Nickelodeon Land. This is the standard model of the Family Gravity Coaster of the Italian manufacturer Zamperla. Using a chain lift, you can reach the starting point for the winding descent relatively quickly. This is followed by a short ascent, whereupon a downward right helix and the return to the station takes place in a slightly Bavarian style.

Naturaleza

Telesaurio and Tiovivo

The Naturaleza theme area is by far the most beautiful area in the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid and, in addition to the larger attractions, is home to Telesaurio, a fully functional telecombat by Zamperla with lateral rotation, and Tiovivo, an old horse carousel as well as a 4D cinema.

TNT Tren de la Mina

However, the actual main attraction of the area is likely to be the family roller coaster TNT Tren de la Mina, which opened in 2012. As I had not followed the construction I did not know where exactly the German interpretation of a mine train should be located within the park and was therefore very surprised to find it perfectly integrated between the children’s area Nickelodeon Land and the Spillwater Los Fiordos. I was all the more surprised to find that a large part of the ride uses a large portion of the water ride’s queue, which had hardly been used previously.

As soon as the train is finally cleared, it leaves the station and immediately goes through a left turn on the way to the lift hill. In the beginning it is still moving up quite fast and loses speed very quickly and crawls slowly over the top of the lift. After a short curvy ride the train picks up speed again before it heads towards the abyss just below the hilltop of the lift. Still far away from the ground the train shoots up again and turns in a horseshoe element, similar to the Youngstar Coaster of Mack Rides, whereupon an upward-moving swivel adds up. In a steep curve below the first helix the train seeks contact with the ground level for the first time, but the stay is only short, because an upward helix leading to the left is entered immediately. This is followed by a small drop with a subsequent camelback through a grotesquely shaped environment. In a right-hand bend, contact with the ground level is re-established, followed by some increasingly tighter curve changes, whereupon the brake section is reached immediately and shortly thereafter the station.

Gerstlauer has created a very neat family roller coaster with TNT Tren de la Mina, which gets a little lost in the fast-moving part of the layout. The strength of the roller coaster lies in its beginning and middle part, which is surprisingly close to the competing product from Mack Rides, only the end spoils the general ride pleasure, as well as the general handling of the ride – which is why TNT Tren de la Mina is not the kind of roller coaster I would go for if I had to wait longer. But for in between, this ride is more than perfect.

Los Fiordos

Formerly passing lush greenery that covered an entire show stage, the boat of the Spillwaters Los Fiordos chugged through the canal until the lift was climbed parallel to the park’s border. The aforementioned stage of the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid fell victim to the construction of the family roller coaster TNT Tren de la Mina, as well as the vegetation, which is why you can now ride below the roller coaster through a rather bare landscape, but with good views. After climbing up the rocky mountain, after a short bend to the right, the only downhill run of the ride follows. Once you reach the bottom, you will immediately come into contact with the water, whereupon, after a short 180° turn and a wide left turn, you will start your return journey towards the station. To my own surprise, the degree of wetness did not correspond to that of a normal log flume, as I had experienced on my last trip four years ago, but to that of the passage through a wall of water, which resulted from the direct reflection of the water at the bridge. Soaking wet and quite satisfied we left the ride, which I would like to describe as the wettest ride of this kind in Spain.

Vértigo

The dispatch of the Wild Mouse Vértigo is an outrage! Actually, there would be nothing, absolutely nothing to complain about with this stylish mouse featuring the well-known layout and absolutely great handling characteristics, if only instead of 10-15 minutes you wouldn’t have to invest a good hour of your valuable time for a ride. Due to the lack of separation between the boarding and deboarding areas, all cars are loaded simultaneously and then sent on their way one by one. The new passengers are only allowed into the station after all the cars have returned and been unloaded – a total of 16 people. This procedure reduces the capacity of the ride immensely, so that one always longs for a normally operated Wild Mouse, such as the other half of this former double ride, which is still located in the Belgian amusement park Bobbejaanland.

Los Rápidos

Los Rápidos is a truly special rafting ride in the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid, as it is the only ride of its kind in Europe by O.D. Hopkins. With it the Naturaleza area was founded in 1996, which can be seen in the consistent and beautiful design of the ride. The level of wetness is still elevated due to the rather wild end of the ride, unfortunately during our visit we did not see the metre-high fountain, which regularly rained down on the passing boats.

Maquinismo

Top Spin, La Maquina and La Lanzadera

In the Maquinismo themed area, three cream cakes are waiting to be taken right in the entrance area, because here the crème de la crème of the Spanish flat rides are gathered together, all of them of course beautifully designed. We start off with the Top Spin from HUSS, which has a similar ride programme as the Aqua Spin ride from the German amusement park Heide Park, but which turns into a totally wild swing at the end of the ride. Right next door, the Frisbee La Maquina, also from HUSS, is making its rounds. Thanks to the great ride programme, you should take a ride or two on this outstanding attraction. Last but not least, the Intamin Freefall La Lanzadera offers a great view over the Casa de Campo and Madrid and a quite intense fall with good airtime at a comparably low altitude.

Abismo

The access to the roller coaster Abismo – so far the only XT 450 ride by the manufacturer Maurer – is slightly elevated. The roller coaster can be described relatively simply as a 300 meter extended Sky Wheel ride from the German amusement park Skyline Park. The start of the layout is identical, as well as the length of the cars, so even with a manageable crowd there are always long waiting times. However, this is always the case even on empty days, because the roller coaster only runs as soon as the train is fully loaded.

After the unfortunately somewhat time-consuming clearance, the train starts moving and is immediately transported upwards in a vertical position. A special feature of the Humpty Bump Lift is that the train is turned upside down at the top of the lift, creating an extremely queasy feeling at a height of about 46m, which is briefly interrupted by the subsequent roll at a lofty height. Now, one races towards the abyss in the true sense of the name of the ride. With a little more than 100km/h the train shoots past the station and passes a valley full of pressure before the lift is surrounded in a steep curve. The following drop is initiated with a strong cross slope, which leads you far above the waiting area. This is followed by a classic camelback, which, at least in theory, lifts the passengers out of their seats. Still far above the heads of the passers-by, another valley follows before a 127° steep Immelmann Turn introduces another turn in the layout. On a straight line the speed for the following finale is adjusted, because instead of the classic transition to the brakes, you now shoot through the station and up the vertical tower once more. Relatively high up and thus without great energy loss the train is stopped and hooked into the chain, whereupon it is quickly driven back to the station.

I do not like Abismo. Actually, this should be enough to sum it up, because I simply don’t enjoy riding this roller coaster very much. The ride characteristics are profound, it rattles like crazy. During my last visit, I’ve searched for the airtime of the ride and now I’ll give it up for good. The ride could be very good, as Daniel, who was sitting to my left, had experienced during the same ride, but for that the restraint system would have to be upgraded a lot.

Tarántula

Practically speaking, the entrance of the Tarántula spinning coaster is located directly opposite the exit of the Abismo Sky Loop. Despite single cars, the ride offers the highest capacity of the whole park, probably because of the separate entrance and exit areas. At least the queue is moving pleasantly fast, which makes the waiting time fly by compared to all the other rides at Parque de Atracciones de Madrid.

Shortly after you have taken a seat in one of the four seated chaises, the ride starts with a left turn towards the rather large lift hill. At a height of more than 25m, the gondola begins to rotate, so that the first slightly twisty descent can be made with a slight turning motion. This is followed by a generously designed turn, which slightly resembles an Immelmann Turn. Now the rotation of the gondola can hardly be stopped, which is also due to the rather steep and winding ascent into the first block brake. You pass this brake quite fast, whereupon you are torn into the depth by another curve. This leads into a generously designed bend with up and down movements until the second block brake is reached at an airy height. This releases you into an incline, which immediately leads into an Immelmann Turn, similar to the one from Dragons Fury at the English amusement park Chessington World of Adventures. A steep curve follows, which after a change of direction leads into the third block brake. A rapid zigzag course determines the course to the next block brake.This is followed by a left and a right turn before reaching the end of the ride.

Tarántula is a really good spinning coaster with a fantastic layout, although unfortunately the track is not as outstanding as the two English representatives of this type. However, the spin on the ride in the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid is pronounced and therefore almost automatically provides a great overall experience. Furthermore, the design of the ride is excellent, even if it is only very minimalistic, especially as it forms a unit with the dark ride La Cueva de las Tarántulas below the roller coaster. Unfortunately, this interactive dark ride is only a shadow of its former self, because apart from darkness you can hardly see anything.

El Aserradero, Tifon, Rotor and Sillas Voladores

Besides the rather long log flume El Aserradero by the manufacturer Zamperla featuring two shots and a tunnel at the end of which a waterfall awaits you that only switches off at the right moment from time to time, the Maquinismo themed area also features a Disk’o called Tifon, the wave swinger Sillas Voladores and the HUSS Condor Rotor, from which you have a wonderful view on the roller coaster Tornado below.

Tornado

Since 1999 the Intamin Suspended Looping Coaster Tornado is located in a dead-end street without equal. The ride, which used to be painted in lemon yellow and lemon green, has been completely painted in black for several years now. The layout of the ride is generally quite wide and free of any special features, but these can be found in the supporting structure of the ride, especially the supports of the two loops.

After climbing up the access ramp to the station and clearing the station, the long train can finally be loaded. After the employees have checked it off, it leaves the station in a slight right turn and shortly after climbs up the lift hill. After reaching the starting height of 30m, the train goes over a small straight line for a few meters and then turns left with full effort. With 80 km/h the train shoots through the valley into the first loop, which is passed quite forcefully. In a wide upright right turn the train takes momentum again to pass the second loop. This is also followed by a right-hand bend in the valley, but this time a classic corkscrew is waiting for you, which you pass through with a lot of momentum. In the following left-hand bend you take up some altitude again, which is immediately reduced in a downward helix after a change of direction. Below the lift the last change of direction into the bend before the brakes follows.

Tornado lives up to its SLC name, although the manufacturer is different from the often spurned Vekoma rides. The layout of Tornado is simply boring and doesn’t offer much on too much space except for the three inversions. Although the contact with the restraint is minimal, the vibrations of this ride can be felt up to the last meter, which is partly due to the too bulky trains. In addition there is a relatively lengthy dispatching process, where one wonders how the Spaniards intend to operate the ride with two trains at all, and whether the second train is even available. Especially if you want to take pictures from outside you should take a lot of time into account, especially on quieter days when hardly any guests enters this cul-de-sac.

Tranquilidad

Zeppelin, La Jungla and The Walking Dead Experience

Almost as quiet as the area around Tornado is the theme area Tranquilidad, although admittedly the bear tends to tap-dance over here. This area is mainly home to quieter rides such as the Zeppelin monorail or the raft ride La Jungla, which is particularly impressive because of its old charm. But also a simulator or the Star Flyer can be found here. Friends of good horror mazes got their money’s worth with El Viejo Caserón, which was replaced this year by The Walking Dead Experience, whereby the jumbled up scenes fell victim to a consistent leitmotif and thus the charm of the building, which has existed since 1989, was somewhat affected.

Fantasia

With Fantasia, however, this theme area offers a really nicely designed dark ride based on the model of Disney’s It’s a small World. The boat trip through our oh so happy and small world starts here in space, because it shows the view of extraterrestrials on this planet. Past small scenes, which are equipped with really cute puppets, you will go through the different countries of our world, accompanied by a kitschy soundtrack, which you will hardly notice. This is also the biggest criticism of the otherwise very popular ride, because apart from the rather low capacity, the ride is simply not kitschy enough. You only have to adjust the music and the lighting of the scenes a little bit and you would have one of the best dark rides ever. In its current state, however, the ravages of time seem to have taken their toll on the ride.

Pictures Parque de Atracciones de Madrid

Conclusion Parque de Atracciones de Madrid

The Parque de Atracciones de Madrid is a good park with a charm all of its own, which was certainly much more pronounced in the days of the Tivoli principle, i.e. until 2011. The park offers many beautiful corners, but also unfortunately many unattractive and unused areas, especially in the theme area Tranquilidad. Despite this, the park seems to be following the right strategy, as the Nickelodeon Land and Naturaleza themed areas are truly impressive since the last update. The Parque de Atracciones de Madrid itself offers a nice portfolio of rides, but it doesn’t invite me to stay there for long. At least I would not say no to another visit in the late afternoon until the evening hours during the next visit of the city of Madrid.

 

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Parque de Atracciones de Madrid