Europe

Following Snorri to Rulantica

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Rulantica

It is very refreshing to see a stand-alone water park in Germany as well. Water slides are by no means a rare sight in Germany and some slide towers are a wet dream for water slide fetishists; but there hasn’t been a real water park in this country yet. Instead, we have a lot of thermal spas, i.e. wellness oases with mostly quite expensive entrance fees. Interestingly, the Europa Park with its water park Rulantica is already positioning itself above the long-established competition close to the border due to its very high entrance fee, and is also clearly outdoing the nearby Schwarzwaldtherme with its slide paradise Galaxy Schwarzwald. Yes, the park is a Mack product, but that really doesn’t justify everything.

Passing the new bed stronghold of Krønasår, we reach the Rulantica water park, where we pick up our wristbands at the ticket office. Shortly afterwards we enter the hansgrohe world of experience.

Snorri’s Saga

We start our discovery tour through Rulantica with Snorri’s Saga. The 250m long Lazy River winds once through the water park and tries to tell a story to the floating visitors by means of several projections. The whole thing is quite respectable, which definitely benefits the – in the nature of things – lazy flow channel.

Hugin, Mugin, Dugdrop und Vildvål

Directly opposite is the entrance to the tube slides Hugin and Mugin, as well as the drop duo Dugdrop and Vildvål. While Hugin and Mugin offer an exceptionally wild race characterised by numerous jumps and tight curves, visitors can expect a breathtaking tour de force on Dugdrop and Vildvål. The two AquaRockets from Aquarena are among the most intense water slides far and wide. The rather long slide also requires a lot of endurance, because there is no time to breathe until you reach the landing area of the turbo slides.

Vildstrøm

Fortunately, the entrance to the wild river Vildstrøm is right next door. The long slide through the wild river by the manufacturer API Waterfun is characterised by numerous faster slide sections, rapids and only a few intermediate pools. Thanks to the wider cross-section of the canal, you rarely bump into the canal wall, which gives visitors a very pleasant slide over a total of two lanes.

The bars of Rulantica

After so much sliding, you’re almost dying of thirst. Luckily, there are three bars in Rulantica, and you don’t even have to leave the pool at two of them. Above the hustle and bustle, you can relax a little in the sports bar Skål Bar, while the kids have a good romp in nearby Trølldal. The Skogbar, on the other hand, is a bit busier, and after buying a drink, you have to be careful that it doesn’t become one with the water around it. In the outdoor area of the water park, meanwhile, the Tempel Krog offers a pleasant ambience for a drink or two, especially in the evening.

Isbrekker

A little tipsy and passing the three children’s slides Översnurra, Överstor and Översnabb, we now move on to the larger slides of the Vinterhal theme area. The icebreaker for us is the short, but quite crisp Isbrekker slide, where you plop down into the water from a height of several metres after a short slide. Splendid fun!

Två Fall and Stormwind

We continue with the tube slides Två Fall and Stormwind. While Två Fall stands out positively due to its swinging course and the quick jumps, Stormwind is convincing due to its extremely fast ride into the large funnel.

Svalgur Rytt and Vinter Rytt

Things get really interesting on Svalgur Rytt and Vinter Rytt, both of which start from the highest point in the bath. While Svalgur Rytt is a surprisingly fast family raft slide that offers some really fun jumps on its 200m long track, Vinter Rytt is particularly convincing with its Tornado Wave, which you slide up in the usual Proslide manner. But even before the defining element, the Vinter Rytt convinces with its surprisingly strong airtime during the transition into the shooting ride of the water slide. Without question, both slides are the highlight of the Rulantica water park.

Pictures Rulantica

Conclusion Rulantica

A visit to Rulantica is a very expensive one. However, if you see the park not as a water park but as a kind of night club, which interestingly has some of the best water slides in Europe, then the visit is quite something. In a cocktail mood, the slides are twice as much fun, and if you haven’t brought your own car, you can get drunk here at reasonable prices. I like it.

 
 

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Rulantica

Flying through Rookburgh

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A new themed area at Phantasialand

Phantasialand has once again built something new and of all things it was completed during the Covid 19 pandemic. Whereas elsewhere the opening of the new attraction, the new themed area and the new hotel would have been postponed until next year, the park in Brühl has once again taken the initiative to completely turn the theme park world upside down.

After the closure of the huge IMAX Simulator Race for Atlantis at the end of the winter season 2015/16, rumours about the future use of the area started. At the same time, the new themed area Klugheim was in its final preparations. Shortly thereafter, Taron became Europe’s most signature ride and Klugheim one of the most immersive areas in a European theme park.

A teaser of the new themed area appeared to the start of the 2017 season and in June of the same year, the roller coaster F.L.Y. was announced to the public. The first track was installed soon after. Yet, due to the location at the edge of the park and between the areas Berlin and Fantasy, there was not much to look at. Indeed, no visitor would know what Rookburgh and its flying machine would look like until the opening of the area.

The Pre-Opening of Rookburgh

With time, the anticipation grew immensely and all the sudden – and in a time when nobody would have thought about it – Rookburgh opened its gates for a preopening. Due to Covid-19, the number of visitors to the area was restricted and only the front entrance to the area was opened, which led to a long queue right from the start expanding over a large part of the Kaiserplatz and into the Fantasy area.

I joined the queue around noon and enjoyed the time in the open-air queue on the Kaiserplatz for quite a while. Once Rookburgh was in sight – all the sudden – a queue jumper thought it was a good idea to be a group member of mine. Apparently, he was an employee of the park on a day off and was just interested in the area. As I do not accept queue jumping, I informed the staff about his behaviour and he was denied entrance to the area for the day of visit. He called me – rather thankful, I guess – an asshole.

From the moment, he forced himself into my life, I was angry. But all the anger was forgotten once I stepped into the immersive world of Rookburgh. This steam punk paradise is just incredible. The way the roller coaster F.L.Y. is passing through the area and the nearby Hotel Charles Lindbergh is awesome. There is so much going on, yet everything is reduced to the new sensation of flying and clear in its visuals.

Apart of the main attraction, Rookburgh offers some delicious treats. In Emilie‘s Chocoladen & Candy‑Werkstatt you can buy high quality chocolate and candies, whereas Zum Kohleschipper offers a range of delicious sandwiches and the restaurant Uhrwerk fully concentrates itself on exclusive hamburgers, craft beer and Gin. This all comes for a price and covers a segment, which was not yet been covered by the park. Phantasialand therefore offers a large range of fantastic food options for a very reasonable price.

F.L.Y. – a flying sensation

The signature attraction of Rookburgh is the Vekoma flying coaster F.L.Y. Albeit Vekoma was the pioneer of this kind of coaster, their Flying Dutchman model can only be found in a handful of parks. The complicated loading mechanism and the lowered capacity in regard to the competitor’s product never led to another installation since 2001. In 2009 a first iteration of the train’s mechanic got presented with the short-lived Stingray coaster at the Giant Wheel Park of Suzhou. For F.L.Y. the Flying Dutchman design received a completely new development. Now the trains are featuring the vest design to be found at other modern coasters of the company and the shin clamps are fixed to the train and not to the restraints and can be entered while sliding into them. But the most important novelty is that you are entering the train whilst the track is in a 90° rotated position – a swivel turned the car to a horizontal position.  The station is therefore highly unusual, as it needs to be rather long.

The ride on F.L.Y.

Once the train is boarded, the ride can begin. In a dark ride section, we climb a ramp while still sitting in an upright position. In a curve, we then change into the flying position in probably the most elegant way so far. Shortly thereafter, we are accelerated in the first launch section of the ride and into a wide and upwards leading curve. Along and above facades of Rookburgh, we now twist ourselves around in a corkscrew. After a left-hand bend, we cross the first launch section in an airtime hill. Accompanied with a lot of pressure, we fly through the back section of Rookburgh before gaining a bit of height in a curve to the left. We then make our way through the centre of the area before we descent in a very wide left-hand curve. A tight bend to the right then leads us towards the area front right corner of the area, where we descend to the ground level in a tight helix. Here we hit the second launch track and accelerate once more towards the Hotel Charles Lindbergh.

As the launch track is leading upwards, we soon have a view onto the upper levels of the hotel. A steep curve then takes us down. With a lot of momentum, we now fly over the restaurant Uhrwerk, before we make our way through the centre of the area once more. In a left-hand bend we then surprise the visitors of the Chocoladen & Candy-Werkstatt, while continuing our journey towards the front right section of the area. Here, we descent in a left-hand helix, before we plunge down towards the ground. In an intensive left-hand bend, we now head towards the second inversion of the ride, whereupon we continue in a wide curve close to the ground. A short swivel to the right later, we then hit the brakes. Like the start of the ride, we are then turned back to the horizontal seating position while passing through a short turn. We are now waiting for debarkation in a very comfy position. Shortly after, we reach the exit station.

Conclusion F.L.Y.

Rookburgh is without a doubt one of the most immersive areas in any theme park and F.L.Y. is its masterpiece of a roller coaster. It became my favourite flying coaster somewhere in the middle of the ride, as I could not stop laughing. As most of the flying coasters out there, F.L.Y. is a very intense experience, yet a very enjoyable one. The trains are a lot comfier than the standard ones to be found on a B&M coaster of the same type and guarantee a very safe journey through the air. The high capacity, the long ride time, the technology of the ride and its location certainly enhance the overall experience on F.L.Y.: a ride which got with ease the next big signature ride of Europe.

Pictures Phantasialand

 

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Phantasialand

Flying with Fēnix: Exploring Toverland’s Wing Coaster

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The changes of Toverland

I haven’t been to Toverland for a long time. A lot has changed in the time since my last visit. There is now a new themed area with roller coaster and boat ride, and a brand new entrance area called Port Laguna. This connects the themed areas to each other and serves as a sympathetic hub to return to in the afternoon for the cliff diving show. It’s a very quiet area, which is very much in keeping with all the hustle and bustle in the rest of Toverland.

This also eases the situation in the first hall – the former entrance area – which a full-grown amusement park fan doesn’t really get to see any more, unless he or she really wants to ride the Toos Express (formerly Boomerang) or the dinghy slide. So this is an opportunity for Toverland to transform the hall even more into a toddler’s paradise in the future.

Meanwhile, the second hall also saw some thematic changes. The log flume became Expedition Zork (although nothing has really changed here) and the Woudracer Bobkart ride was redesigned as the new Maximus-Blitz-Bahn and made weatherproof by adding a roof over the outdoor track. In addition, the ride has been given a new queue, which is now themed after an Austrian inventor. Fittingly, there is now also a beer garden, which, however, mainly serves local beers.

In the outdoor area, the new roller coaster Fēnix is hard to miss. Together with the quiet (yet impressive due to its indoor part) water ride Merlin’s Quest, it forms the Celtic-like themed area Avalon.

Fēnix

Once you have left the queue, which is well worth seeing, behind you and decided which side to take, the ride on the Fēnix wing coaster can start straight away. In a right-hand bend, the Firebird first leads us through a dark hall, which also houses the roller coaster’s maintenance track. Above this, an ice dragon gives us a nasty look and fogs us up a bit. Shortly afterwards we climb the ride’s lift.

Having reached a height of 40m, we can enjoy the view for a while, because unlike other wing coasters, we don’t immediately turn around our own axis, but first ride through a wide right turn. However, it happens here too, as it does on most wing coasters, and we tackle the dive drop. Here we first turn upside down before we plunge to the ground. We now pass the first valley with full force and immediately fly over an airtime hill. After a second valley with a lot of pressure we turn direction in a quite high Immelmann, whereupon we make a right turn and enter a curve close to the ground. We then remain there for a few seconds, with a fair amount of blood pumping into our legs. But far before we reach the critical values, we already climb a zero-G roll and are turned very smoothly around our own axis. Back on the ground, we quickly pass under a footpath before gaining some height in a left turn. We immediately lose this height in a right turn before we reach the starting height for the braking section in a gentle bend. Shortly afterwards, we enter the large station hall again.

Fēnix is an extremely entertaining wing coaster that knows how to surprise with its close-to-the-ground manoeuvres. It is a little different from other roller coasters of its kind, but that is by no means a mistake. Instead of long, drawn-out inversions, you mainly go through curves close to the ground, which leads to a lot of pressure in your feet. However, you are still far away from grey out and other discomforts, which is one of the main criticisms of the ride.

Another point of criticism – and here I agree with each of the critics – are the incredibly steep stairs on the ride, which is especially evident in the exit area of the ride. For sure they were designed according to the current standard, but it turns out that Dutch stairs are basically ladders deep down. Apart from that, Fēnix is of course a great addition to Toverland.

Pictures Toverland

 

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Toverland