Family Coaster

A few hours on the unmagical island

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Isla Mágica

Located in the centre of the city of Seville, on a large part of the former 1992 World Exposition site, is the Isla Mágica theme park. This park, existing since 1997, offers a few rides, but a lot of shows, food stalls and a lot of vegetation combined with many thematic elements.

The first impression you get in this park is quite positive, but this changes relatively quickly when you take a closer look at the park’s manageable rides portfolio.

The park itself is built around a lake, on which there are two attractions, a boat ride and a self-built splash battle, probably one of the newer rides in the park. Similarly cheap is the boat swing, which was apparently lovelessly smacked onto the lake.

Anaconda

The first big attraction you will come across is the log flume Anaconda from Mack Rides. It has three shots of not exactly low altitude and has been wonderfully integrated with the park area and the waiting areas of the log flume. The wetness level seemed to be quite dry from the outside, we unfortunately did without a ride at the beginning of the day, a few hours later we stood here for half an eternity.

Tren de Potosi

A few metres further on you will find the park’s first roller coaster, the Tren de Potosi. This roller coaster of the company C&S is quite close to a Big Apple, but has a downward helix after the, here at least, funny hills. The ride itself is a lot of fun and is not only an enrichment for the small kids.

Llamas

It takes quite a long walk until you reach the next attraction, the more disappointed you are that the Llamas are only allowed to be ridden by children, after all, this ride is quite original for an electronic horse track.

Iguazú

Right next to it, you will find Iguazú, a spillwater of Intamin, which makes very good use of its surroundings, but does absolutely nothing at all. From the water, which the boat (by the way the same construction as already known from the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid) diverts to the side, you will only get drops inside the boat.

Jaguar

Located in a dead-end street you can ride the second roller coaster of the park. The ride, named Jaguar, has not only a surprisingly open area below the roller coaster, but also the latest generation of trains by Vekoma. Although the ride is absolutely no good and the bonus helix just deserves the label “nice”, the train is simply ingenious. It is not only absolutely comfortable, but can also keep its head from all side blows thanks to the new brackets. The waistcoats themselves are a little more comfortable than on the MK1200 trains, as used for example in Gardaland and Walibi Holland. At least the trains are a worthwhile investment for any reasonable park, only here in Isla Mágica they are a complete waste.

Capitán Balas

Passing the tea cups, we go to some ugly concrete buildings that date back to 1992. In the basement of one of the buildings is the pirate darkride Capitán Balas. This is an interactive ride by Mack, which can also be found in a similar form in the Avonturenpark Hellendoorn. The scenes themselves are beautiful and detailed, moreover, you can get your inmates wet at the right moment, unfortunately only yourself at the wrong moment.

Rapidos del Orinoco

Back out of this concrete complex, where there are also two cinemas, we now enter an area where the vegetation seems to have taken over. Here you will find the Rapidos del Orinoco, the last major attraction of the park and one of the most beautiful rapid rides in Europe. The beauty of the park is not necessarily wet, as is often the case in Europe, despite the waterfalls that are still sticking out into the boat. The curve around the wave flyer is particularly worth mentioning.

El Desafío and Ciklón

Apart from a children’s land, a merry-go-round and the Power Tower El Desafío by Maurer Söhne – which has different programmes running at different times, but even in the most intensive version can do less than the prototype in Hansa-Park -, as well as the beautiful Giant Disk’o Ciklón by Zamperla, there is basically nothing left here. The only, more or less, traditional dark ride of the park has been replaced by a Maze that costs 5€ entrance fee and is probably not worth the extra charge, even if you get a voucher at the park entrance.

Pictures Isla Mágica

Conclusion Isla Mágica

For those who love a theme park for its shows and theming, Isla Mágica is certainly a really good and successful park. For all the other park guests the offer of the park is simply too low and the price compared to the other Spanish parks is simply too high, even though you don’t even have to pay the full entrance fee until the age of 25. In my ranking of the worst amusement parks Jaderpark was knocked from its throne, because I don’t want to go here a second time voluntarily.

 

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Isla Mágica

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

An afternoon in Thale

Preface

Since my father wanted to be picked up from the Magdeburg airport, about 30 km away from the state capital, in Cochstedt, I was drawn to the east of the republic, of course with a little stopover. On the access road to the city of Thale I had some doubts if the whole thing was such a good idea, but the closer I came to the cable cars, the better I felt. Arrived at the Seilbahnen Thale Erlebniswelt, I immediately went on a discovery tour through the park that is divided into four areas. The fun park 1 with chair lift and a quite attractive high ropes course, the cable car with miniature golf under the first support, the witches’ dance square with theatre, animal park and Alpine Coaster, as well as a little aside the fun park 2.

A tour through the Seilbahnen Thale Erlebniswelt

Hexenbesen

The latter area contains the only flying coaster in Germany, a trampoline and a few bumper boats and is rather small. The Hexenbesen is only permitted up to a weight of 65kg, which is why I was a bit worried about getting stuck during my ride. The ride itself is not very fast and is like a wacky worm except for the different riding postion. Only the accelerator shortly before the end of the ride is quite funny. The degree of freedom in the tube is, as soon as you manage to crawl in it, quite big.

Harzbob

With a combi-ticket in hand, the gondola lift took us up high. But don’t worry, for people with fear of heights there is the possibility to come by car to the witches’ dance square. After a few meters of walking I already took a seat in the Harzbob, the Alpine Coaster of the Seilbahnen Thale Erlebniswelt. Unfortunately, the ride was a bit slow and the track needed time to get up to speed, so despite the very friendly staff, the Harzbob doesn’t finish far up. The Harzbob is roughly comparable to the Weserberglandbob in Bodenwerder.

Funpark 1

Back in the valley I was drawn to the last roller coaster of the Seilbahnen Thale Erlebniswelt. It is located in Funpark 1 and is a genuine butterfly made by Heege. The ride was very quiet and luckily not as short as the one in the Tierpark Nadermann. Also here I had to invest one Euro.

Before I left the city, I went up to the chairlift for one last ride. There is a fairy tale pavilion at the top, but as it costs money and the last ride of the day was getting closer and closer, I decided to go back down and walk through Thale instead.

 

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Seilbahnen Thale Erlebniswelt