I was very impressed by the Oldenburger Kramermarkt funfair of Oldenburg nearby Bremen. The fair has a very nice vibe and offers a great collection of top of the art flat rides. Unfortunately, my main reason for the visit Tom der Tiger by showman Wegener just got his motor replaced and was therefore not available.
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It was crazy to go back home one day after driving 500km to the south, only to drift off towards the Netherlands. On the other hand, the trip to the Fort Fun Abenteuerland in Sauerland to test the new attractions, including the Top Spin Yukan Raft, was a necessary part of our plan, which no minefield in Hesse could stop us from doing. Our trip was unforeseenly made more expensive by the community of Wetter and their hilarious and unfortunately very modern photo equipment by 25€. Therefore, it is no wonder that the more beautiful part of the Sauerland makes fun of the neighboring Hesse by a mercilessly oversized number of speed cameras, namely a single one (even with a warning when entering the state).
Arrived at the cash desk of the Fort Fun Abenteurland we first got ourselves the annual passes which are very important for us to mercilessly and honestly raid the service station. On the question if we are only here for the vouchers we got the tip that you don’t even have to come to Fort Fun, after all the annual tickets including the vouchers can be sent by mail. A great offer for the coming years, of course, but on the other hand, the park under the guidance of the Companie des Alpes is definitely worth a visit.
At the time of the visit, not too many people saw this, so that the rush was very limited and apart from a company meeting, hardly any other guests got lost in the foggy abysses of the park. For this reason Jan, Julian and I dared to take a ride on the Wild Eagle, which is an upcharge attraction for only 1€ p.p. and really doesn’t matter to anyone. The Wild Eagle is a suspended ride. Lying on your stomach, it is pulled backwards up the mountain to reach its maximum flying height about halfway down the Alpine Coaster Trapper Slider. Shortly after that it goes flying downhill, whereby the actual ride pleasure is very limited in order to be braked very early. All in all, the whole thing was an action you should do once if there is a reasonable waiting time at the ride, but you can also do without it.
So early in the morning there was a wonderful atmosphere at the Vekoma roller coaster Speed Snake. The undeniable photogenicity of the Arrow’s rail profile and the all around existing infrastructure made for countless photos, even though most of them could be taken without a train. In order to make this possible for Jan and Julian, I decided to take a ride in the second car, which strangely enough just hopped over the rail, while all the other cars offered a smooth and rock solid ride.
Further down in the valley and past the still closed Marienkäferbahn (ladybird coaster), which was still closed due to the cold, and the luckily removed children’s parking area, we made our way to the Rocky Mountain Rallye, the newly designed Monza track. Although the changes were really only made on a small scale, the ride now appears coherent in the overall concept of the park.
The second innovation this year, Yukan Raft, is similarly coherent. As with the Indoor Round Up Dark Raver, Fort Fun has proven that they have a knack for designing used rides appropriately and making them interesting. The fact that the ride on the Yukan Raft turns out to be outstanding is something you can be very happy about with a permanently installed Top Spins, because such an exciting ride as well as an intensive ride has rarely been offered by the showman Plaenert, who previously owned this ride, although he could be taken as a benchmark for a good ride.
On the top level of the park, the last novelty since my last visit is revealed to the visitors. This is the newly designed and highly praised ghost train Secret Stage of Horror, which did not really surprise us. Where the ride was a very bizarre but good ghost train before, it is now a good ghost train with really good ideas, but somehow nothing more. The video projections are all good, the house in general is really well darkened, but during the ride nothing happens and the rest of the ride is not enough to really get you into the story line.
Although I considered Fort Fun a good park on my last visit, this visit helped me to see it as one of the better parks in Germany. The Companie des Alpes is doing a lot of work here, although they wanted to sell the park. The existing territory leaves room for more and so one can only hope that in the future more people will make their way to Fort Fun Abenteuerland to make room for further investments.
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From London’s probably smallest terminus station, Fenchurch Street Station – which Douglas Adams fans may well be familiar with, after all Fenny aka Fenchurch was conceived there in the queue in front of the ticket counter – there is the only direct train connection to Southend Central. Arriving in Southend-on-sea, it’s only a few meters to the amusement park Adventure Island, which is located on both sides of the Southend Pier. Contrary to most opinions about Southend, this path is quite nice, at no time does it give you the feeling of being in the filthy gambler’s paradise of Blackpool, to which the city is often compared.
If you previously bought your Adventure Island ticket at one of the ticket counters of the c2c railway company, you can now exchange your travel ticket for a whristband, which means that the train ride to the park is free. However, with some crowds it can take a little longer until it is finally your turn to have your wristband put on. In this case it should be mentioned that there are also cash desks on the left side of the park.
The right and smaller part of the park consists mainly of children’s rides, like the little dark ride Devil’s Mine Train, a Helter-Skelter slide decorated with colorful stars, a Fabbri skateboard, a really crooked Crooked House with a pretty weird interior and much, much more. In addition to a Zamperla Disk’o, a Tivoli Scorpion, a KMG Move It! 24, as well as a Twister in Pharaoh design join the rides in this area as somewhat wilder rides.
A Tivoli Scorpion is basically a HUSS Troika like ride, but it differs in some features. The most obvious feature is the much more compact design, because a HUSS Troika would need at least three times the space needed. Therefore, the forces are much higher, which, in combination with the noticeably higher speed, results in large swings, which of course are transferred unbuffered to the passengers. The gondola bearings are also very smooth-running, which makes a Scorpion an all-round intensive ride pleasure.
If you want to feel really miserable afterwards, you should not miss a trip on The Claw. While a ride in a Move It! 18 can be a lot of fun and the big equivalent of Soriani & Moser brings a big grin to your face, the local Move It! 24 is just unpleasant to ride and quite repetitive. After you have been turned slowly upside down, you are accelerated very fast, which can lead to headaches and discomfort. The fact that a Move It has the biggest potential if the ride doesn’t go full throttle appears to be rather unknown to the park. A strange ride, which somehow doesn’t fit to the actual target group of the park.
However, since last year there is the Kiddi Koasta – a children’s roller coaster made by Zamperla. This compact ride is characterised above all by waves lying on the ground, over which you ride after a sleek downward helix. At least theoretically, as the very unpleasantly run-in lift and the jerky start spoil the experience a bit.
The Mighty Mini Mega Coaster from Pinfari is located on the roof of a game hall built in 2010. This layout shows impressively that you can build a lot of track on as little space as possible, especially since the space used for this is hardly larger than that of the Kiddi Koasta one level below. The ride is also very smooth, which is hard to believe, especially because of the strangely shaped curves and the – for an adult body – much too narrow seats. Just like the braking track of the layout whose braking effect is generated solely by a plate mounted on the track. The friction wheels then torture the train at a snail’s pace back to the station. Afterwards one can say goodbye to the ride operator with a high five; at least if one has found the ride mighty mega.
Only separated from a ferris wheel, which is tightly squeezed into a suitable gap, we immediately find the next roller coaster in the park. Also with the Barnstormer a part of the ride runs over the roofs of the park buildings before it goes rapidly into a helix down to the ground, whereupon the ride ends. The Barnstormer offers a smooth and satisfying ride on a very untypical track. The only thing you can and may argue about is the color scheme of this roller coaster.
In the right part of the park, there are mostly full-grown attractions, at least as far as their ride length is concerned. A good example is the Green Scream – one of the rare New-Tivoli roller coasters made by Zierer. Compared to the one year younger Barnstormer, the ride is rather rugged, but the ride length and the length of the train are quite convincing. Especially positive is the fitting tape announcement, which almost deprives the Flying Fish at Thorpe Park of its coolness.
On the former site of the Dragon ride, and thus in the immediate vicinity of the turtle-looking wave swinger called Archelon, which can also be found at the danish theme part BonBon-Land, stands the Time Machine. Like other rides in the park, this ride is a self-construction. It’s just too bad that this attraction, originally planned for the 2011 season, simply isn’t spared from children’s illnesses even towards the end of the 2012 season, which is why a ride on the Enterprise-like carousel unfortunately couldn’t take place.
The last roller coaster at Adventure Island is called Rage and is a Eurofighter 320+ from Gerstlauer. The highest roller coaster of the park combines all important elements of a Eurofighter and adds a pinch of strange peculiarities. While the start remains the same, you can feel a strange lateral offset during the looping . This is followed by a rather bizarre turn, similar to a cutback, whereupon you see yourself head over heels again in a heartlineroll after an upward curve. A helix then rounds off the offering. While the ride can be compared to Vildsvinet from the Danish BonBon-Land and therefore can’t show any significant unrest, it still doesn’t give a perfect sensation, which is why I refrained from multiple repetitions.
Situated in a strange cul-de-sac is the Zamperla tower Sky Drop. Unfortunately, the system can’t generate any negative forces during the drop, but as soon as it starts to rise again, the positive forces are quite strong and provide a very odd ride experience. Unfortunately the ride becomes monotonous very quickly. The ride experience could be a little bit better with less riding time.
Somewhat squeezed between the Tidal Wave dinghy slides and the dark ride Over the Hill there is another ride from Tivoli. The Orbiter runs in circles until at some point an inclination of 90° is reached. Without shoulder restraints and at a constant high speed, the ride is an exciting experience.
The main attraction of Adventure Island is the ghost train Over the Hill, which comes with an eerie comic style. During the pitch-black ride over the hill animated scenes alternate with animatronics. Funnily enough, the ride is actually quite frightening, as there are a lot of things that are quite different from what you think. Over the hill is one of the most atmospheric ghost trains I’ve seen so far and therefore one of the reasons why you should definitely go to Southend-on-Sea.
Adventure Island is a very remarkable amusement park on the English North Sea coast, which above all has a terrific staff that is absolutely outstanding. The dense development of the amusement park and the numerous self-constructions provide a lot of charm, which you should not miss in connection with a visit to the longest Pleasure Pier – where even a railway line connects both ends of the pier!
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