Europe

Choose your own fury

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Preface

My last visit to Bobbejaanland was ages ago. During that time, many things changed. Some of them were small things, like the name change of the roller coaster Dizz to Naga Bay in 2017 to better fit the theme of the immersive tunnel Forbidden Caves next door. An interesting choice when considering that Forbidden Caves already became obsolete shortly after its opening in 2015 – with this years novelty Fury and its theme area Land of Legends, Naga Bay serves as a connection between the two areas, which is just fine. In the meantime Bobbejaanland sold their HUSS Fly Away to a small french theme park, teamed up with Samsung VR to offer with Mount Mara a new and exiting ride on the roller coaster Revolution – which apart of the low resolution does a fantastic job to the old ride – and the wind energy turbine next to Bobbejaanland was removed.

Land of Legends

The Land of Legends truly sounds more legendary as it is. The theme area consist of an unappealing long queue line for the roller coaster Typhoon – which got a new paint job –, a new queue line for the HUSS Giant Frisbee Slegdehammer – whose ride has been significantly enhanced by the sight of a novelty suddenly appearing underneath –, a water playground and the roller coaster Fury. Apart of Fury, which has a never seen before feature on a roller coaster, nothing stands out. In my opinion, the Land of Legends looks cheap and plastic. Of course we have the obligatory music by IMAsore, like all the other European theme parks.

Fury

Fury itself is a reasonably large ride with some exiting and interesting elements, which can be ridden forwards or backwards. The ride gives you a choice if you want so. If you really need to ride Fury forwards, you also have the choice to wait slightly longer in line and use the queue to the left in the station. If you want to be surprised by the choice of all the other people in the train and want to take part in a small poll, keep to the right. After boarding feel free to push whichever button you like and enjoy the turntable of destiny shortly after leaving the station.

Turned into position, the ride starts with its first launch in direction of the Top Hat. It then passes the same launch track in reverse, whereupon the Scorpion Tail Jr. element follows. This is basically a slightly overbanked vertical slope, where the train loses momentum whilst the riders hang upside down for a moment. After the third launch the train passes over the Top Hat with a very small pinch of airtime and suddenly drops down in a twisty motion. At full speed, the train climbs up a giant corkscrew, where the exit of the element ressembles a Banana Roll. You basically leave the element with a change in direction. Over a hill, the train then plunges down into the entrance of a very forceful loop. After the looping, the train enters the final valley. Similar to the beginning of the ride, the train changes speed in three stages. In the first one, we climb the second Scorpion Tail Jr. element and change direction. With reduced speed we now travel across the braking track and climb the exit of the loop for some meters. When entering the braking track for the third time, the train stops on the adjacent turntable. Back in position, the train enters the station and the ride comes to a finish.

Fury is definitely a nice Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster. It fits well into the ride portfolio of Bobbejaanland and complements it. The ride itself is very family-friendly, although it features a rather intense loop at the end of the ride. The backwards option is well received and offers an exiting ride for the thrill seekers out there. For everybody else, the forward option is a permanently available one, which is a good thing for all those who are not sure (or willing) to ride a roller coaster backwards. Although Fury is not the most exiting coaster in Europe, it is a nice one to give it a try when nearby.

Pictures

 

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Bobbejaanland

Nessie and the Highlander

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Hansa Park’s Beautiful Britain

Nessie

The Superrollercoaster Nessie is one of the most famous roller coasters in Germany. This Schwarzkopf looping coaster was the first stationary roller coaster featuring a vertical loop and is more or less a product of its time. Once the definition of a thrill coaster, it later became a beloved family coaster and the first roller coaster to go upside down for many growing up nearby the Baltic sea. It has been a very fine roller coaster for the past 38 years, but starting from this year it just got better.

During the past decade Hansa Park was working hard to get rid of its late 70s look and became a very Hanseatic theme park. After most of the facades were finally transformed, the park decided to expand its overall theme and added Britain as the first trade partner to the park. Hence, Nessie got a theme and moved back to its home in Scotland. The new station building looks amazing and due to the location of the new entrance, the ride regained a lot of its former popularity. Well done, Hansa Park!

Highlander

Another addition for this year is the drop tower Highlander, the tallest one of its kind. Built by the Austrian company Funtime, the ride offers a new way to enjoy the view onto the Baltic Sea and the surroundings, as well as the already proven drop experiences known from various German funfairs and other theme parks worldwide – currently, there are two options: a non-tilting one in the morning and a tilting one in the afternoon. I don’t particularly understand why they wanted to introduce two options, as the drop in the tilted position just enhances the overall experience without increasing the fear factor. Many visitors would not even notice it when looking at the ride. Needless to say, the Highlander became a hit among visitors during its first year of operation.

Personally, I don’t rank the Highlander as high as others. Compared to other installations of the manufacturer, it has some flaws. Yes, it might be the tallest one of its kind, but it lacks the thrills and the capacity of Donjon de l’Extrême at Nigloland. At least, the ride is far better than the Power Tower Montezuma, which used to stand at the park till the year 2012.

Pictures Hansa Park

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Hansa Park

Alpsee Coaster (2019)

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The Alpsee Coaster is a very exotic alpine coaster of the manufacturer Wiegand for me as a north German roller coaster fan, as it is located quite far away from any (relevant) tourists destinations; that means: It is located at the end of the world or as the south Germans like to say in Buxtehude. Without another reason, I would not have been able to pass near Kempten (Allgäu) so quickly, which is why the visit came into being after a refreshing session of whitewater rafting on the Iller river by the provider MAP-Erlebnis. My English buddy William was with me on the trip down south. On the way there – triggered by the end of the school holidays in Bavaria – we had to go through 5-6 hours of traffic jam and countless construction sites.

After a night in a hotel we went to the Alpine Coaster, which impresses with its location – directly at the Alpsee. It was a cold, rainy day and except for a few brave hikers there were no visitors; at least nobody was to be seen on the 2700m long track of the Alpsee Coaster. The temperature became lower and lower with every meter of the ascent. At the top, the rain started to fall. Thus, instead of a ride we first visited the cabin Bärenfalle, where we had a warm meal.

Well strengthened, we started the journey downhill, which was well lubricated by the rain. Since it is difficult to put the madness of the ride into words, I recorded a POV for you:

 
 

Directly after the first three serpentines we race over the first bigger jump, which brings the sled quickly to its maximum speed. A short time later we fly over another jump. After an extremely fast passage through the forest we pass several waves, which skillfully pull you out of your seat and shake you around a bit. With a fat grin on the face, several steeper curve passages follow, which are interrupted in between by waves and some jumps. After some calmer passages (which would be a highlight at other installations), it’s back to business at 1:01 am. A jump is followed by some very tight and steep curves in quick alternation. After you have recovered from this, a six-second airtime orgy starts at 1:25. After a number of serpentines, another wave passage follows after 2:15. After this, the ride continues to go down the mountain in serpentines, before a helix waits for the riders towards the end of the ride.

The Alpsee Coaster of the Alpsee Bergwelt offers an absolutely wild and breathtaking ride that hardly any other roller coaster in Germany can match. It is without a doubt superior to any other Alpine Coaster in Germany; especially since newer rides are nowadays equipped with magnetic brakes that usually interfere too much with the action (even older rides, like the Hasenhorn Coaster in Todtnau, were unfortunately made worse by an upgrade to this system). As always, however, there is still the risk of a sneak in front of you on your ride and by then the 2700m ride can become quite a test of patience. Without any brakes it is a real fun ride and should be ridden by every roller coaster fan (at least until a new safety system is installed here, too).

 

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Bavaria