Tag: Dark Ride

A visit to Legoland Windsor

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Legoland Windsor

After Alton Towers, Legoland Windsor is the most popular amusement park of the Merlin Entertainments Group in Great Britain, so you should always expect longer queues at this park. Its location on a hill overlooking Windsor Castle in the distance gives the park a remarkable appeal.

From up here several paths wind their way down, which, similar to the Tolk-Schau theme park, even offer slides down. The most interesting way to descend or rather to conquer the mountain without any effort is to take the funicular Hill Train, from where you have a good view onto the Vikings River Splash rafting ride.

Vikings River Splash

Due to its canal, this ride is certainly not a beauty, but the view from the lower levels of the park is something very special, as rafting boats that float many metres above one are usually not an every day sight. The ride also seemed to be very wet, a thing that even in England is a miracle on a ride of this kind.

Jolly Rocker

If you follow the way down from the rafting, you will pass a labyrinth and Zierer Kontiki and reach the pirate theme area of the park, where an old acquaintance from the German Heide-Park is making his swings. In addition to the HUSS Pirate Jolly Rocker, you can ride a teacup ride, the log flume Pirate Falls Dynamite Drench. Furthermore, there are generously designed play facilities for the younger guests.

Knight’s Quest and Dragon’s Apprentice

If you’re looking for Adrealin, at least a little bit, you’ll find it in Knight’s Kingdom, as here you’ll find the two roller coasters Dragon and Dragon’s Apprentice next to the quite popular torture machine Knight’s Quest, – a rather uncomfortable Old Train by the company Mack Rides. While the second one is a nice children’s roller coaster with a downward helix and slight turns, the Dragon is a rather strange and interesting family roller coaster. Like many other rides of this Legoland Windsor, both coasters were built by the English company WGH Transportation.

Dragon

The Dragon reminds a little bit of Lightwater Valley’s legendary roller coaster The Ultimate, but without wanting to reach the height or the length of the ride. The Dragon starts with a dark ride section, which is well-known from the other Dragon coasters by Legoland. Towards the end of the ride, the ride goes without a rapid fall or launch towards the lifthill. The lifthill is not very quiet because of the metal plates at the catwalk and offers unnecessarily a curvy course. The first drop is followed by a figure of eight until you cross under the first lifthill in a second curvy lift and gain some more height. With the collected energy you now pass through a tunnel and complete another course of a figure of eight. The brake section consists of friction wheels, which were installed once again on a curvy hill.

While the Dragon from Billund can convince with its fast course and the strong acceleration after the dark ride part, which reminds of a launch, and the Dragon from Legoland Germany can convince with its comparatively large dimensions and the rather abrupt first descent, the Dragon from Windsor does hardly show anything special. Although the ride is suitable for children and is quite funny because of the more sudden curve transitions, the Dragon offers a more or less uneventful ride, which is often interrupted by lift hills.

Laser Raiders

If you follow the paths, the Egyptian themed area Kingdom of the Pharaohs will offer you another highlight with the Laser Raiders, for which you are welcome to queue a little longer. As much as I would have liked to test the ride from Sally, the time I had left in the park went by very fast. Due to the general traffic around London that day, as well as the big rush at Legoland Windsor, I could only visit the two roller coasters, the Miniland, the Hill Train and the new 4D movie.

The unique rides of Legoland Windsor

Apart from the usual Legoland repertoire, you can discover some special features at Legoland Windsor. In the Digger Challenge, for example, you can steer a real earthmover, move or turn your helicopter up and down on a stick at Duplo Valley Airport, slide down a winding track with the Raft River Racer in a rubber dinghy, drive past well-animated Lego models in the Fairytale Brook fairytale ride or ride through a Sealife Center in Atlantis Submarine Voyage in small submarines.

Miniland

While the children can get soaked in the Duplo water area, the adults can have a look at Lego models in Miniland. This is quite nice and has models from the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. Star Wars models will not be found in this part of the park, fortunately they have their own exhibition near the entrance.

Legends of Chima 4D

In the park’s 4-D cinema, in addition to an agent film, a film exclusively new product series The Legends of Chima by the Lego company is shown. Since Lego has already shown how to animate correctly with their series, I was quite curious about this film, even though I didn’t know much about the subject matter and a Ninjago film would have been more appealing. The animations were very clean and the 3D effect was actually as clear as I have never seen it in any other cinema before. The other effects were all well adapted to the movie, so that you should definitely watch it, as long as you can get along with larger amounts of water and are not necessarily averse to the animated film as a genre.

Conclusion Legoland Windsor

The Legoland Windsor is a park, which surprised me very much. Due to its location in a valley, this park offers unusual views and still knows how to use it for you. Everything seems to be harmoniously coordinated, even if a little more densely built than in other comparable parks. Smaller children up to a certain minimum age have all kinds of opportunities to let off steam here, which is also generously accepted.

 

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On an expedition in Bellewaerde

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Bellewaerde Park

The Bellewaerde Park is located in the Belgian province of West-Vlaanderen, which can certainly be declared by the city of Bruges as the most beautiful part of Belgium. Also, the roads are not as modest as in the rest of the country and the proximity to the French region Nord-Pas-de-Calais gives the park a more pleasant audience than for example at Walibi.

Tour of the park

Bengal Rapid River

If you enter Bellewaerde Park through the entrance A and go immediately to the left you will find the entrance to the Vekoma rafting ride Bengal Rapid River, which is located in the Indian themed area. The ride in the rafting boats, which most of you already have tested in the sister park Walibi Holland, is quite nice to look at. Unfortunately, due to the warm weather, it was very well visited. In the morning the queue just barely moved. Later the day, I had to get the ferry in the nearby Dunkirk…

Bengal Express

The second attraction in this area is the Bengal Express, a train ride in closed wagons in which you drive through the spacious tiger and lion enclosures. At the second turnaround the water treatment plant of the park is a highlight to admire – after all, this is even advertised via speakers. Overall a great ride, which should not be missed. Due to the nature of the ride, I would only recommend a ride if the train is still waiting in the station, as the ride duration is quite long. The generously-sized waiting area highlights the popularity of the ride.

Screaming Eagle

Located on the shores of a large lake is the theme area of Canada, which is home of the only visible attraction from outside of Bellewaerde Park: the Shot ‘n’ Drop Screaming Eagle, one of HUSS’ rare park versions. In contrast to the Space Shot towers of the manufacturer S&S Worldwide, which can be found quite frequently around the world, the system can shoot you upwards from a standstill position. In contrast to the rides, which could be found ages ago on the German fair circuit, the acceleration was very surprising as there was no hint whatsoever by the ride operator. Located in the Belgian wilds – without any houses surrounding – the ride’s noise level is quite low. Even through you can be of a different opinion as one of the riders. Overall the ride is rather tame compared with the S&S Towers, as there are basically no negative forces. The only big plus of the ride is its high capacity and the better launch.

Niagara

Next door, the Shoot the Chutes Niagara by the manufacturer Interlink shines in all its glory. This type of flume is characterised mainly by its large boats and the resulting wave at the end of the shoot. This one however has only a limited effect on the riders, as it does not get you as wet as Cataratas Salvajes from the Spanish theme park Parque Warner or as Tidal Wave from the English Thorpe Park. At least, it did not disappoint as Isla Magicas Iguazu. On the bridge, which strangely does not lead from the exit of the ride to the other side of the lake, many school kids had their fun by letting the boats soak them on a regular basis.

The other attractions in this area are a Mack rides cog ride, a wet-looking dinghy slide, and the somewhat strange pirate boat from Huss. From 1 pm to 4 pm, you could visit the squirrel monkeys located on a small island, as a path runs right through their enclosures.

On the right side of the park entrance A is the Kidspark theme area, which consists of a medieval designed area, some traditional rides and a mysterious mansion, as well as a large climbing and slide complex.

Maison Magique d’Houdini

I don’t know why this mansion belongs to the children’s area, as as the preshow is not necessarily made for anxious persons even through the actual topic is not scary. After entering the Maison Magique d’Houdini you can find some exhibits. A film about his youth is shown, which burns away after a short while accompanied by a nasty laugh. After some effects and some tricks were shown, you will be invited to attend the biggest tricks of them all.

Where the preshow room is designed in great detail, the main room is surprisingly empty. Compared to other mad houses of the same manufacturer, there is actually nothing located in the middle of the room. This of course makes it easier for the ride operators, but it is not as beautiful to look at. On the sides of the room there are some fixed mirrors, which later reveal another function.

The actual ride takes a while until the fake rollover happens. The music does not remain in your memory for a long time after the trip. However, Houdini is well remembered, as his trick was not yet finished even after begging for a liberation. Despite the statement that we are in our worst nightmare, Houdini recalls himself and after the words “Ce que vous pensez que vous voyez n’est pas ce qu’il semblait. “C’est ce qu’on appelle l’ illusion” you finally get freed. The mirrors show an animated key.

Jungle Mission

Passing by some very generous animal enclosures, which mainly showed African species, we are entering the jungle section of the park. The main attraction of this area and one of the main attractions of Bellewaerde Park is the Towboat Safari Cruise Jungle Mission, where you cruise past some animal enclosures (quite similar to boat ride at the Erlebnis-Zoo Hannover). Not long ago, the ride system was completely renewed, which is why the Jungle Missions looks quite new for such an old ride. While driving, some water effects are activated, only a few of them refresh visitors directly. The African theme features some vintage animatronics, which alone does makes this attractions quite exotic and as nice as La Jungla of the Spanish amusement park Parque de Atracciones de Madrid.

Coccinelle

The coaster with the longest queue on this day was the classic Zierer tivoli coaster Coccinelle, or Keverbaan in Dutch. Interestingly, the ride did not sounded like a starting jet, nor was it as slow that it needed additional friction wheels on the track as some other rides of this kind do. In fact, you could neither hear this ride, nor the air launched free fall tower tower from far. The design of the ride as the wildest ride of the wilderness is a rather strange choice for such a roller coaster, but it somehow works out perfectly. The surrounding walls and the roof over the lifthill are a nice feature.

River Splash, El Toro and El Volador

Next to the log flume River Splash and a bison enclosure there is the entrance to the Mexican section of the Bellewaerde Park. Here you can watch the movie Sammy’s great adventure in Dutch or French in the park’s 4D cinema or do a spin on the El Toro Break Dance. You can also find the only working HUSS Topple Tower outside of Scandinavia, named El Volador.

A Topple Tower of the manufacturer HUSS is a strange device, as it seems to be spectacular from the outside and the technology seems elaborate but the ride itself is rather boring. At least, the ride is not such a flop as the King Kong ride of Bobbejaanland, where neither the ride nor the appearance are particularly interesting.  The ride with El Volador resembles somehow a wave swinger when you drive it sideways, just way slower and with less degrees of freedom. You are secured by over the shoulder restraints as you tilt forwards. The best part of the ride are the synchronised water fountains, which unfortunately do not even wet your shoes.

Boomerang

A few meters from the ride, you can pay tribute to the first Boomerang ever opened. It’s actually a really good one and a worthy representative of this funny shuttle roller coaster build by the Dutch company Vekoma. Everything at this ride is build more suitable, as the ride station is not just a tent, it’s a Mexican temple. The ride in the 2nd generation Vekoma trains was surprisingly good, even through the sister ride in Walibi Belgium even runs a little bit smoother.

Huracan

This year’s novelty is the indoor coaster Huracan, which has replaced the old pirate themed dark ride within the same building. From the outside you can see a small part of the coaster and you wonder why they did not added some more track to actually come down to the ground. After all, the ride is quite high above the ground. If you enter the waiting area, it does not take long until you arrive in the beautifully designed station.

The journey begins with a small dark ride section, guided by the elements of fire, water and wind. Afterwards, the lift helps to reach the maximum height of the course and after a short straight, the curvy first drop follows. After a small climb the curve leads you back into the building. Now follows a surprisingly wild and at the same time very smooth ride. One turn is followed by the next one. After a handful of curvy goodness, you slam into the brakes where a laser show is being held.

Huracan is a great indoor roller coaster. The pace as well as the forces during the ride a just awesome. The dark ride part at the beginning of the ride is well done and features some great music and light effects.

Pictures Bellewaerde Park

Conclusion Bellewaerde Park

The Bellewaerde Park is one of the most beautiful parks in Europe. Since I could only stay for 3.5 hours, I could not admire the whole package, but I’m sure I’ll come back someday.

 

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Bellewaerde

Unusual perspectives in a strange park

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Flamingo Land

The Flamingo Land Zoo and Amusement Park in Yorkshire, England is one of the most interesting amusement parks in the United Kingdom. It has long been on the must-do list of many amusement park enthusiasts with its main attractions, most notably the suspended looping coaster Kumali, but is the amusement park the most interesting part of the park?

In fact, Flamingo Land is a very strange park with a really bizarre charm. Its choice of attractions in the past has always been interesting, among others there were rides like the infamous Flight Trainer by Intamin, a Waikiki Wave by Vekoma or the transportable Shuttle Loop by Schwarzkopf. Since then, the rides have always changed, but the atmosphere of Flamingo Land has always remained the same.

Dino Stone Park

Now, however, it seems to have been recognized that this approach was not always the best one, so they have now started to expand their theme areas and make them more compact. The newly built Dino Stone Park, which was still under construction at the time of the visit, is definitely a step in the right direction. Here you can find two of this year’s three novelties, of which the Magic Bikes by Zamperla have already opened. The Junior Twister Coaster Twistosaurus, made by the same manufacturer, was not yet built. However, it was intended to extend the range of children’s coasters in the park in a logical way.

Splash Battle

In the neighbouring Splosh! theme area, the focus is entirely on the wet element and the theme of flying. The main attraction in this area is the Splash Battle from Preston & Barbieri, which can also be found in the Dutch theme park Walibi Holland and the French park Walibi Sud Ouest. As always, the cannons are more or less useless as they don’t work. If you didn’t get wet enough by all the water effects, the huge water playground right next door can help.

Flip Flop

If you are looking for a way to dry out, the best place to do so is definitely the Fabbri Top Swing Flip Flop. Even though it hardly differs externally from similar installations from various other manufacturers, the ride is definitely something special. With an incredible acceleration the gondola swings up and tries to catapult its passengers out of their seats in the best possible way. You won’t find so much airtime anywhere else, which is why one or two rides are absolutely inevitable for every amusement park enthusiast!

Zooom

Dry spun you can now board three flying machines, of which the blue painted Zooom stands out the most, because it blocks the view of the truly beautiful Sky Flyer. The ride characteristics of this roller coaster are certainly not good and unfortunately reflect the competence of the manufacturer Zamperla in the manufacture of children’s roller coasters. The swing during the ride is not worth mentioning, which is why the ride is not convincing compared to Turbulencia of the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid. The rather ugly appearance of this layout is not a benefit for the whole thing and a ride duration of 4 laps is even less.

Sky Flyer

On the other hand, the trip on the Sky Flyer could actually take a little longer, as the former ride from the Drayton Manor Theme Park in Tamworth is definitely worth it. The ride itself is great fun and offers a really balanced ride sequence.

The Lost Kingdom themed area in Flamingo Land can be considered the most interesting theme area of the park, as it leads over to the zoo and features two roller coasters, Mumbo Jumbo and Kumali, as well as the Lost River Ride.

Kumali

Since the construction of Kumali at the latest, the eyes are directed towards Yorkshire, because this Suspended Looping Coaster by Vekoma was only the second installation of this type with a different layout within Europe, apart from the two installations located in Isla Magica in Spain and Gardaland in Italy featuring a bonus helix to the otherwise standard layout.

The ride on Kumali begins with the climbing of the lifthill, whereupon a downward sloping curve initiates the first descent of the ride. Where this part of the track is still quite close to a standard SLC, everything following is different. After a longer curve, the first ascent follows immediately and at the same time the first inversion of the layout, a loop. This loop is then run through in exactly the way it should be, i.e. with a good amount of pressure and at high speed. After its curvy exit a Cobra Roll follows, which is quite nice to ride. Shortly thereafter you are thrown around in a ZeroG roll in a very interesting way, whereupon a steep turn follows, which leads you into the braking section of the layout.

Kumali is an interesting roller coaster whose ride comfort leaves little room for complaints. So, it rides quite well, but to be honest the ride is not very exciting. Due to the rather rare rides on the day of visit, the ride might not have shown its full potential, which is why even the standard layout is more convincing to me, as long as the ride performs as good as for example Infusion at Pleasure Beach Blackpool.

Mumbo Jumbo

The neighboring roller coaster Mumbo Jumbo is literally a bit strange. Climbing the steep and fast lift, it goes much too fast into a curve combination without any cross slope. Shortly after that, it changes into a rather steep 112° drop, which set a world record until the 1° steeper El Loco Coaster from Fraispertuis City opened. This drop, as impressive as the facts may sound, is disappointing all along the line. As soon as the drop is initiated, it is already over. The sensation it gives is not comparable to that of a Gerstlauer Eurofighter, all of which show more pronounced forces and come out much higher. With a small sideways turn the ride continues immediately up to the first block brake.

A curve follows, which should be used in many roller coasters, as the outwardly sloping track section is quite impressive on wooden coasters made by GCI as well as on this one. Unfortunately, this part of the track is quickly over and a seemingly conventional curve follows which gets more and more sloped towards the end and turns into an upside-down section. The hangtime feeling is very distinct and you are more than happy to fall towards the ground in a half loop shortly after, where you reach the lowest point of the ride for the first time. However, the ride is not over yet and a further ascent with a hardly regulating block brake follows. This is followed by the last traditional curve, which ends in a downhill heartlineroll – actually the most interesting element of the ride. A trivial U-turn in the form of an Immelmann turn follows, whereupon the ride soon ends.

Although the ride looks interesting from the outside and is undoubtedly interesting from the inside, this type of coaster is not what many people praise it for. Compared to its predecessor, the Screaming Squirrels, the El Loco series by S&S is hitting the nerve of the time and has been established quite a few times, but in my opinion the ride itself could be a little crazier or wilder. There were no repeat rides worth mentioning – but this was also due to the long waiting time thanks to the single car operation.

Lost River Ride

With warm temperatures, which were really not available on the day of the visit, the Lost River Ride is certainly one of the most interesting rides of the Flamingo Land theme park. Like the Zambezi boat ride at the Erlebnis-Zoo Hannover or the Jungle Mission in the Belgian Bellewaerde Park, the ride passes some enclosures, yet offers a longer stop in the block brake at the very generous savannah, where you might even see a giraffe running after an ostrich.

Shortly after that the boat climbs up by cable lift, which is quite unusual. After a rather boring straight line in a building – where I was actually surprised not to drive through an aviary – the big drop follows, which is quite striking from the outside. Although I have ridden every spillwater – or Shoot the Chutes – that I have come across, it has never happened to me to get completely soaked on one side and then again on the other side shortly afterwards.

The Zoo

Dripping wet it is now time to go to the zoo area of the amusement park, which I can really recommend to everybody. All animals have a lot of space here, also the visibility of the enclosures is mostly only possible from above or by passing them in a boat, for example the lions’ enclosure within the Lost River Ride. Days before I thought the enclosures in Bellewaerde Park were bigger than all the ones I had seen so far, but I was taught better. If a friend of the amusement park culture would not always be drawn to the other areas, one could easily spend the whole day here. On the other hand, a cable car and the Peoplemoover, a monorail with a cow train, connect the two ends of the park.

Mischief Mansion

The Muddy Duck Farm, like the Children’s Planet area, are two smaller areas in Flamingo Land that are dedicated primarily to younger children. They are the only ones who can have fun on the Go Gator, or enjoy the original and beautifully designed theme ride Mischief Mansion, and the accompanying interactive walkthrough Little Monsters Exploratorium.

Cliff Hanger

In the beautifully designed Seaside Adventure themed area, on the other side of Flamingo Land theme park, you can take a ride on the S&S Combo Tower Cliff Hanger in addition to several children’s rides. Since I only had the honour to ride some space shots, which were rather meagre, my expectations for the ride on the Cliff Hanger were really low; the abnormally pronounced airtime at the shot up as well as at the shot down could convince me of the opposite pretty fast. An absolutely ingenious tower!

The last themed area of the park and the area around the entrance is called Metropolis. The area around the Launched Coaster Velocity is quite uniformly designed, but there is still enough demand for one or two makeovers in the rest of the area. So the area with the bicycle track, the baloon race and the small children’s roller coaster Runaway Train is really not a beauty.

Hero

In order to upgrade the rear area Metropolis a little bit, the Volare Hero has been chosen as the third novelty this year. It remains to be seen whether it was the right decision to trade in the mouse from Maurer Söhne. In England the planned system is at least a novelty, which may well cause a stir.

Velocity

The last roller coaster and at the same time the best of the Flamingo Land amusement park is the motorcycle roller coaster Velocity by Vekoma, which outshines the prototype from the Dutch theme park Toverland in fact every point with ease. The ride characteristics of this ride are simply outstanding. The launch pulls neatly and the following curves are ridden with just the right amount of speed, resulting in quite pronounced forces, which are also noticeable on the hill towards the end of the ride even in the negative range.

Whoever has ridden Velocity must actually be surprised that there are still very few motorbike coasters out there. The riding characteristics of the English model are sublime in every respect, and the ride through the winding track is rather nice, so that one could only wish to find a copy of this design more often in Europe.

Pictures Flamingo Land

Conclusion Flamingo Land

The Flamingo Land is a great animal and leisure park. Unfortunately the park tends to not present its numerous and actually good rides very well. One can only hope that in the future a good presentation will be part of the amusement park’s standard – in some places the park is already surprisingly well presented. With the park’s spacious zoo you have at least one good reason to visit the park, which is greatly rounded off by the amusement park visit.

 

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Flamingo Land