Preface

Where the REWE Family Days took place last year, this year it should be a little more exclusive, at least for the annual ticket holders of Heide Park. Thanks to an action of the radio station FFN where their listeners could come to the park for only 25€, a Shitstorm was ignited by the fans, whereby an ERT of 3 hours at the Krake and the maze Krake lebt! was initiated to keep the fans happy.

First of all, this ERT would not have been necessary and so it turned out that the two attractions were comparatively full between 10 – 13 o’clock, while the rest of the park was as if extinct. As there were only annual ticket holders in the park, the queues for renewal or (re)application were the longest during the day, especially after closing time.

Heide park and its kraken

The fully themed Krake roller coaster

After the gate was opened shortly before 10 o’clock, most fans ran to the object they had missed so longingly the previous year, the Kraken’s Mouth. A few minutes later Hauke and I were able to take a closer look at it, after all we wanted to profit from the ERT, which as mentioned above turned out to be unnecessary. After a ride in the third row, where we didn’t really notice the octopus mouth, we planned to ride in the first row. The experience in the first row is now massively clouded by the visible. Where last year there was a clear view and you could develop a certain feeling of height, today you stare at an ugly mouth.

Also from the outside the mouth looks completely out of place and so it would have been better if it had never been attached. However, one must admit that Heide Park has managed to get rid of all its critics during the winter break. In the various forums it was quite a funny picture to suddenly hear even the biggest critics saying how great it is that Heide park has created something so fast and so good. The shipwreck on the other hand is well done and equipped with all kinds of details, also the tentacles that try to pull it into the depths look very good. Unfortunately the ship is not flooded by the water fountains, also the clearance gauge is much too generous, so that no head chopper effect could be created.

Krake lebt!

The follow-up story of the Krake is told at Krake lebt!, the first all-year-round maze in Germany. In a relatively large group you are taken to the chamber of horrors and are allowed to be scanned to prove your “deep vision”. The data recorded during the process can be viewed later, if you don’t just walk past it. In the following pre-show room you will be well prepared for the story, after which you should take a closer look at the wreck of the sunken ship. The fact that the crew went a little bit crazy during the process serves as an ideal model for what follows.

After leaving the dive capsule, you will find yourself in a room that should look familiar to every dungeon visitor, the Labyrinth of the Forgotten. Depending on how much buffer you need for the opening act you can spend some time here, but the effect is better than in the dungeons in Hamburg, London or other cities. Shortly afterwards you are picked up and basically feel like in a mini dungeon, which would have been quite original, but no, you are in a Maze. In the following rooms the actors try to be somehow creepy, but banging on pots and giving you a nasty look is not enough. There was only one person who was halfway convincing and brought the mania of the crew closer. It would have been better if the people would have said more, would have portrayed their roles and their fate better and would have described the fate of the group as relatively hopeless.

The rooms in Krake lebt! are quite neat, but in total a bit too darkly lit, or as in the case of the second queue room (room consisting of simple zigzags) simply not lit at all. So it doesn’t help much if you are told that you can orientate yourself at the left wall. Especially worth mentioning and to be positively emphasized is the room in which one is confronted with the octopus and is well humidified. You can also marvel at what the Maze has made of you. In contrast to other Mazes you are not chased out with a chain saw, which is quite appropriate.

The way the Maze Krake lebt! is currently operated in Soltau is absolutely ridiculous, just like in the Italian Gardaland or the English Thorpe Park. The potential of stringing together confusing corridors is not exploited and it would be better to really make a kind of mini dungeon out of it and thus at least increase the entertainment value considerably, even if the creepy factor, which is currently not available anyway, would probably suffer. Since it was basically the first day for the crew, things can still change for the better, but I advise everyone to visit the Maze, if at all, only when the queue is relatively empty. I myself will give the Maze another chance towards the end of the season with the hope that things have changed a bit.

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