Dragons Fury

A day in Madrid’s amusement park

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Parque de Atracciones de Madrid

Located in the heart of Casa de Campo, the largest public park in Madrid, next to Madrid Zoo is the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid, the city’s amusement park. Since 1969, it has attracted crowds of visitors to the site of the group of shares now known as Parques Reunidos. Where the Tivoli principle used to apply in the past, today there is a one-off entrance fee to pay. Annual ticket holders of several Parques Reunidos parks can go directly to the entrance. Once in the park you now have the choice of three routes: Turn left into the area called Maquinismo with the roller coaster Abismo, straight on to Gran Avenida or turn right into the area called Naturaleza.

La Lanzadera

As the Maurer Söhne roller coaster Abismo was already attracting us from far away, we turned left for the time being. Passing a very nice and elaborately designed, but broken Top Spin we went straight into the first attraction we came across, the Intamin Giant Drop La Lanzadera. This rather small tower pulls quite neatly and is very convincing compared to larger European rides.

Abismo

The urge for a certain roller coaster of German manufacture became stronger and stronger, but for that an abyss must be conquered – the Abismo. The XT 450 ride manufactured by Maurer Söhne is characterised by the fact that the SkyLoop is followed by a few more metres of track. From the outside, the ride looks quite impressive and the added elements look quite promising, but that’ s not the way Abismo wanted to ride. After a good first part, there were some rough descents and – thanks to unfavourably closed bars – no airtime at all. The braking, however, was surprisingly gentle, which has caused me some concern since the SkyWheel of Skyline Park. Thanks to the higher intensity and the fun backwards part, the SkyWheel convinces me much more than its extended version.

Tarantula

Practically speaking, the entrance of one of the rides is located directly at the exit of the other, at least in the case of Tarantula and Abismo. Unfortunately this roller coaster had a small defect at the beginning of the day, but luckily it was still running. Here you may invest some minutes in the queue, but it moved quite fast. After taking a seat in the single chaises we went up the fast, but very loud and well audible lift. Some downhill runs and curves in airy heights follow until you enter the funny second part of the ride. Here the course is very intensive and the car spins very fast. Compared to Dragons Fury from the English Chessington World of Adventures, the Spanish Spider definitely gets the short end of the stick, but nevertheless it stays high up in the ranking.

El Aserradero

Right next to it and Abismo runs the Zamperla log flume El Aserradero through the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid. The steep lifts are very hard to get used to, as you can hardly hold on to them, at least at the front of the boat. After the tunnel at the end of the ride you might get a good shower through the waterfall, which either turns off in time or simply turns on above the heads of the passengers or even stays on from the beginning.

Tyfon

Where once a HUSS Enterprise and a swing boat used to stand, there is now a Zamperla Disk’O called Tyfon. Unfortunately, the placement of the ride was not really thought out, so there is a lot of open space around the ride and it seems that something is missing here.

Rotor

A few meters further on you will find a HUSS Condor called Rotor. The clearance took what felt like an eternity and before you could enjoy the view in the air you first had to overcome the treetops in the upper third of the flight altitude. This unfortunately causes the ride to lose some of its charisma.

Tornado

A bit off the beaten track, in a dead end street, is the Intamin Suspended Looping Coaster Tornado. The layout is unusually long for an inverted coaster of this height and occupies much of the area around it. The ride in the rather long train turns out to be slightly rough and not really exciting, only the corkscrew may be mentioned as the highlight of the ride. From the outside the ride is a forest of pillars without equal, especially the loops deserve special recognition.

Sillas Voladoras and La Cueva de las Tarantulas

If you climb the way out of the cul-de-sac, you can take a lap on the wave swinger Sillas Voladoras, and if the crowd is too big, you can even queue for a single seat. Beneath the spinning coaster Tarantula is La Cueva de las Tarantulas, an interactive dark ride through a mine filled with spiders. The ride itself is well designed and the one or other effect is quite frightening. The ride system itself seems to be a bit older and so the ride has a certain nostalgic charm.

La Maquina

The last attraction in this area is the HUSS Frisbee La Maquina, which not only catches the eye with its outstanding design, but also offers one of the most intense and balanced riding programs. Rarely is a park version better than the traveling specimens of the same type, and so La Maquina can be seen as the showpiece of a HUSS Frisbee.

Los Rapidos

As the weather made cooling off a reasonable option, Los Rapidos was considered in the Naturaleza area. This ride, built by O.D Hopkins, is something different, since in Europe you will usually only find rides by Intamin. The level of wetness of the ride in the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid is given, at least if the big fountain really gets you, otherwise there are still some water jets towards the end which protrude directly into the boat. The cave in the middle of the ride looks a bit bare, otherwise this rafting ride is definitely one of the more beautiful and wetter ones in Europe.

Vértigo

You can ride an old famous one from the Bobbejaanland in a much more beautiful design. However, if you think of the gap left by the left side in the Belgian amusement park with a rather critical look. Vértigo’s greatest weakness is in its dispatching, where all four cars are loaded at the same time, instead of the more fluid loading of other mice. Thanks to this, there were unnecessarily long breaks and very long queues. The journey itself is no longer as brute as it was in Lichtaart at the time – a pity for the great braking.

Los Fiordos

The second water attraction in this area is the Spillwater Los Fiordos, which offers a slightly longer route compared to other spillwater installations. The reason for this is that the park boundary of the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid is virtually next door. After you have taken a seat in the boats and the bars have been closed, you are ready to go. After a bend, one climbs up the lift, whereupon, after a 90° bend, one gets closer and closer to the water pool. Unfortunately the boat itself only displaces the water to the side and not to the front as in the Spillwater Cataratas Salvajes in Parque Warner, which is why you get out here relatively dry (about the same degree of wetness as a good log flume) and even on the bridge you don’t get wet at all.

Vagones Locos and Turbulencia

In the children’s area you will find two children’s roller coasters. To our great amazement we could get on both roller coasters straightaway. While the Vagones Locos beat you up wonderfully, the small suspended coaster Turbulencia could convince with its high swing and was even a lot of fun.

Zeppelin

Remarkable in this area is the park railway, which was built in an unusual way just above the heads of the park guests. Apart from that, the area also offers a lot for the very young guests. In the last area of the park, called Tranquilidad, you can find the Zeppelin Monorail with which you can get a good impression of the park, the old and rather ugly Ferris wheel, as well as an ugly and broken swing boat. The dark ride Fantasia, a copy of Disney’s It’s a small world, was unfortunately closed, there was a waiting time of one hour for the star flyer and the Maze El Viejo Caseron, established since 1989, charged 5€ admission.

La Jungla

The boat trip La Jungla can score with its ancient animatronics, which are all known from various other rides and even the sound effects of well-known German rides can be found here. The ride itself is quite long, passes through some African scenes until you drive through Asia and is all in all quite trashy, but quite nice.

Pictures Parque de Atracciones des Madrid

Closing Words

Through the Gran Avenida, where there is only one motion simulator, we went down to the park exit. The Parque de Atracciones de Madrid itself has its own charm, but also some unattractive or just empty corners. The roller coasters are, except for Tarantula, all middle class and only a few of them can really convince, e.g. Abismo or Tornado.  Nevertheless you should definitely plan a visit.

 

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Parque de Atracciones de Madrid

A roller coaster ride in Phantasialand

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Phantasialand

Due to a competition with a low participation for the attraction Maus au Chocolat, which had not been opened yet, Phantasialand gave away several tickets for this year’s season. Since the time of my last visit in 2009 a lot has changed, for example the old Schwarzkopf dark ride Gondelbahn has been demolished. In addition, many new children’s rides from Zamperla have moved into the park, the neighbours have found a reason to complain – about the whisper-quiet water attraction Wakobato – and an extension is still far in the stars because of some environmental activists.

The first impression from the old entrance, which now only serves the shuttle guests, is quite nice, even though Main Street used to look nicer. The now present space looks quite strange at Phantasialand and the construction sites don’t fit into the ambience. A similar situation exists with the huge passage from Berlin to the fantasy area.

Fröhliche Bienenjagd

As one of the newer attractions, the Fröhliche Bienenjagd (Happy Bee Hunting) in particular was a good investment. From the outside, the ride can be quite inconspicuous, but this perception changes during the ride at a stroke when the car first dashes over the small hill. The corners of the mouth distort and a wide grin appears.

Hollywood Tour

The off-the beaten track located dark ride Hollywood Tour should separate itself from the old-fashioned theme, which is hardly recognisable during the ride. However, the ride is still more exciting than Pirates in Batavia at Europa-Park, where you can take a nap for 2/3 of the 20 mins journey. Still, there is so much more potential in this ride that can be used; a look at the current state of the ride is too much of an effort and should be avoided by any means.

Temple of the Nighthawk

One floor above the Hollywood Tour you will find the Vekoma roller coaster Temple of the Nighthawk. Unfortunately this roller coaster could hardly reproduce its once fast past ride. If you ride through the pitch dark with its constant changes of right and left curves at a snail’s pace, you can definitely do without the ride despite its outstanding length. Efteling’s Vogel Rok shows how intense comparable rides can be.

Winja’s Fear and Winja’s Force

Next door you have the choice between two mediocre spinning coasters, one of which is rather bad and the other simply better in almost every respect. Of course we are talking about Winja’s Fear and Winja’s Force. If you have to queue here for more than 30 minutes, only a ride on Winja’s Fear is worthwhile, as the layout tends to approach the top-class spinning coasters Dragon’s Fury and Crush’s Coaster due to its choice of elements. Only the special elements make the rides on both tracks an experience that you should – if still unknown – experience.

Race for Atlantis

If you walk up the hill, the first thing you encounter is the simulator Race for Atlantis, the highlight of which is the safety rap of the preshow if you are guided into one of the cabins at all, as the staff often forget the passengers. The simulation itself isn’t very worth mentioning, which is a shame, as the way the movie is shown has a lot of potential.

Talocan

The HUSS Suspended Top Spin Talocan is quite stylish from the outside, but always has the problem that more people watch than ride and therefore stand gawping in your way. The ride itself is balanced, intense and can score with its rollover series, which fortunately are longer than with an older Top Spin. You get the better – and also more stomach-friendly – ride on the spectator-directed side, as the wall doesn’t constantly rob you of your orientation.

Stonewash Creek and Wildwash Creek

If you enjoy the water, you can use two water playgrounds, the multi-storey rafting ride River Quest, as well as the two log flumes Stonewash Creek and Wildwash Creek. The left side of both rides has a much too short outlet, while the other side can be surprisingly wet. However, both rides are very in need of restoration and thus it wouldn’t be really surprising to see both rides soon levelled to the ground.

River Quest

With a little luck, the Hafema raft ride can make you more wet than the two log flumes together. However, if you are really lucky it can happen that you get soaked down to your underpants. But if you are damn very lucky, it can also happen that you are temporarily flooded with so much water that the other passengers in the boat cannot even see you for a short time. Amazingly, the shoes stayed dry, so there was no danger of catching blisters or other unfavourable stuff.

Mystery Castle

In order to get dry again, a trip on the nearby freefall tower can be taken. Unfortunately, the ride which is located in a high masonry does not offer, what it should offer. Basically, Mystery Castle is just a very loud elevator in a building. There is a lack of forces which prevents the ride of being as awesome as other Intamin installations worldwide.

Silbermine and Geisterrikscha

The Silbermine and Geisterrikscha dark rides were unfortunately not worth mentioning this time, although the Silvermine had no reputation to defend, as the ride is generally considered to be boring and, above all, lengthy. In the case of the Geisterrikscha, some of the scenes were literally made worse. If you don’t want to renew the entire ride, you should make sure that the charm of the ride is not damaged by your actions.

Feng Ju Palace

In the Feng Ju Palace – the Vekoma Mad House from Phantasialand – nothing wanted to run as it should. The projection towards the end of the ride missed the intended surface and was shown on the still spinning drum. At the end of the actual ride, this mistake caused the doors to be in a rather awkward position. After some time the drum was brought back to its starting position and the doors opened.

Black Mamba

It remains a mystery how the newspaper Bild titled the roller coaster Black Mamba as a crash-coaster, as the death of the person last Saturday was not caused by an accident, but by the carelessness of the victim. Despite all attempts to experience a crash by ourselves, the Black Mamba offered the solid ride for which it is well known. Since remaining seated in spite of empty seats is still not allowed and the queue is simply too long for such undertakings, we did not make many rides.

Colorado Adventure

One or two rounds – this time with remaining seated – were instead taken on the park’s showpiece roller coaster, the Colorado Adventure. The right side of the train became compulsory for friends of water sports, as it was not spared by the waterfall of the third lift. The strangely banked curves and the generally high speed make the ride one of the best of its kind, even though the back cushion is still not very comfortable.

Tikal

This year, in addition to a good and, above all, fast wave swinger made by Zierer, which also offers a wonderfully refreshing ride, two children’s free-fall towers from the same house were able to move into Phantasialand. Even if the size is deceptive, both towers of Tikal, as well as almost all children’s rides in Phantasialand, are very convincing. The ride is very surprising and unlike elsewhere it is very dynamic.

Conclusion Phantasialand

Phantasialand is a recommendable amusement park if you either have too much money or just won a card somewhere. Unfortunately, most rides are not worth mentioning anymore. It is also astonishing that several construction sites exist until the high season. Thus, there is unfortunately the hint that there are also other amusement parks in the vicinity of the city of Cologne that do a lot better than the park in Brühl. Phantasialand currently invests a lot, so the future remains open.

 

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Phantasialand

A day in the world of adventure

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Chessington World of Adventures

The day after Whit Monday we took the train to Chessington South and from there we walked about 1km to Chessington World of Adventures – a Merlin Entertainments theme park. There we immediately came across a wonderfully deserted animal and theme park. On the day we visited, all the rides were doing two laps in a row, which was quite amazing, especially on the roller coasters.

Dragon’s Fury

Passing the tigers and lions, which were still moderately active in the early morning, we made our way to the first object of desire, the Dragon’s Fury spinning coaster. This ride, built by Maurer Söhne, is relatively easy to describe as it is simply brilliant. The first drop ends in a crazy S-curve combo that leads into an Immelmann turn. This is followed by a couple of turns and helices, which then lead into another weirdness, the second fairly flat lift hill, which gives you the potential energy to complete the rest of the rather bizarre layout.

Dragon’s Fury is by far the best spinning coaster in the world, which is no mean feat with rides like Sonic Spinball at Alton Towers or Tarantula at Spain’s Parque de Atracciones de Madrid. The ride itself usually has a very good spin, which adds to the great layout of the ride.

Wild Asia

Next door, the newly designed Wild Asia area took us straight to Asia. The former Beanoland, which was dedicated to an English comic series, has been revamped for the 2010 season and now welcomes visitors with two new features.

Monkey Swinger

As well as a bumper car, a playhouse and a crazy bus by Zamperla, the area also boasts a very remarkable installation: A Zierer Wave Swinger. Normally found in almost every amusement park, Chessington World of Adventure manages to make the Monkey Swinger something very special by using water fountains. In contrast to the installation at Phantasialand, the fountains at the Monkey Swinger are not only an impressive decoration, but also serve as ice-cold refreshment. This is where you realise that the English are not really averse to water. It is not surprising, then, that you will find yourself running through the water fountains at least a dozen times during the ride. The outer seats, where you are already soaking wet, are still the driest seats.

Kobra

To get dry you can go to the body dryer or take a ride on the new Kobra ride, a Zamperla Disk’o Coaster. Unfortunately, the ride itself looks much more impressive from the outside than it is from the inside. Nevertheless, a ride on the Kobra is still a nice in-between ride.

Lorikeet Lagoon

The second new feature is the Lorikeet Lagoon, an attraction that is becoming increasingly common in zoos such as Erlebnis-Zoo Hannover and Weltvogelpark Walsrode. This is a walk-in aviary where lorikeets do their rounds and you can buy food for these birds for a small fee. The nature of these parrots is such that you can get into some pretty funny situations, as long as you have some nectar to attract them.

Dragon Falls

In the Chinese themed area of Mystic East you will find the log flume ride Dragon Falls next to the Peeking Heights Ferris Wheel, from which you can theoretically see all the way to Thorpe Park. This ride is beautifully designed but has a very low water level and a rather bizarre layout.

Rameses Revenge

Much to the surprise of the staff, we took a ride on the Top Spin Rameses Revenge. As the first guests of the day, we were surprised not only by the ride’s fountains, but also by the staff’s knowledge of German, who appropriately referred to the machine as a ‘Waschmaschine’.

Tomb Blaster

In the same themed area is the interactive dark ride Tomb Blaster, an attraction by Sally that is well worth seeing. A long train takes you through a series of breathtaking backdrops. Due to the yawning emptiness of the park and the resulting long pauses in the block areas, you could score a lot of points, but the ride also lacked some momentum.

Rattlesnake

Somewhat hidden in a pit like Top Spin, the cars of Rattlesnake – a Wild Mouse by Maurer Söhne – make their rounds. The waiting area in the middle of the layout alone deserves some attention, but the ride trumps that. Unlike the Crazy Mine at Germany’s Hansa Park, the original ambience has been preserved and not enhanced by functional additions.

Runaway Train

Slightly off to the side is the Powered Coaster Runaway Train – a Blauer Enzian model from Mack Rides. This standard model is perfectly suited to Chessington World of Adventures, as you can see from the queue that has somehow been inserted into the ride. The coaster itself is also much more harmonious than its sister ride Flying Fish at Thorpe Park, which is barely 15 miles away. The friendly staff also contribute to the great atmosphere.

Hocus Pocus Hall and Sea Life Centre

An interesting attraction is the passage through the Hocus Pocus Hall, where you can see some effects with special glasses. Another interesting walk is through the Sea Life Centre, which unfortunately has an ugly tent look from the outside. Inside, however, the aquarium is very impressive. The large variety of species and the elaborate design make for a high entertainment value. Thanks to the very low number of visitors, it was finally possible to take a closer look at the fish.

BubbleWorks

The Transylvanian themed area is home to the world’s most beautiful Burger King and a very special dark ride about squeaky ducks. The tour of the BubbleWorks bubble factory is quite amusing and has one of the most impressive finales as you literally take a bath. You won’t get wet, but the water jets you pass through are impressive.

Vampire

The last roller coaster in the park is an Arrow Dynamics and is a true suspended coaster. This rare type of coaster is mainly found in America and unfortunately the very few examples are getting rarer and rarer with time. So it’s good to know that there is one in Europe. The new Vekoma trains at least give hope for a long future.

The ride on Vampire starts out quite amusing with some combinations of curves where you are already swinging a bit to the side. Shortly after that the ride climbs the second lift hill, which completes the visible part of the ride. Passing the row of houses by the Burger King, you quickly reach the treetops where you continue to swing back and forth. The highlight of the ride comes shortly after when you exit a tunnel and swing out hard after a big drop. Unfortunately, you end up in the brake section, where you swing out a bit before returning to the station.

Vampire is a very surprising coaster, and the ride comfort for those who wear glasses is noticeably improved as soon as you take them off. Although Vampire is neither the tallest nor the fastest roller coaster in the park – mainly due to the local constraints of the park – Arrow Dynamics have managed to give the park an extremely entertaining ride that is definitely unique, at least in Europe.

Black Buccaneer

Next to it, in a very interesting location, you can admire the park’s boat swing, which, like all the other big rides, is located in a pit. Bizarrely, the entrance to Black Buccaneer is in a rather illogical position, so you might need to spend some time looking for it. Once you have made the impressive descent to the ship swing, you will be rewarded with a great ride with a rather large swing out.

Pictures Chessington World of Adventures

Conclusion about our first ever visit

Chessington World of Adventures is one of the most exciting animal and theme parks in Europe, with top quality rides, beautifully designed themed areas and a really good zoo. If you are in the London area and have to choose between Chessington World of Adventures, Legoland Windsor and neighbouring Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures is well worth a visit.

 

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Click here for the overview page of Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington - World of Adventures