Tag: Giant Wheel

The many novelties of the Wiener Prater

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Hochschaubahn

During my last visits to the Wiener Prater, the world-famous Hochschaubahn was closed each time. This time, however, I planned my visit much earlier so that I could take a ride on the classic Scenic Railway. The ride, which is still traditionally controlled by a brakeman who rides along with the train, impresses with its gradients and the quite distinctive curves. It is the most family-friendly of all scenic railways, but a ride on this 70-year-old roller coaster is a must for every theme park and roller coaster enthusiast.

Rollerball

Another novelty for me is the Rollerball. This utterly imposing roller coaster from RES is an extremely fun family roller coaster with one small problem: it’s a one-trick pony. The roller coaster, which runs vertically, convinces with its rocking moments initiated by the bizarre drops – but that’s about it. The very family-friendly ride is very enjoyable for a single ride, but the very repetitive course of the track does not awaken the desire to ride it again straight away. In addition, the ride is simply not accepted by the visitors and therefore you never know whether it is running or not.

King Size Turbo Booster

Also new to me is the King Size Turbo Booster – the second iteration of Funtime’s Vomitron, which is very popular in the Prater. However, instead of just doing its flips straight on a circle path, the King Size Turbo Booster takes it up a notch. The seats are now all separate from each other and can each rotate around their own axis. The gondola carrier itself also rotates and is driven by a motor. The superimposition of all the rotational movements creates an extremely fast ride in which you can experience all kinds of crazy moments. Interestingly, the ride is still quite stomach-friendly, although it doesn’t look like it from the outside.  

Gesengte Sau

The biggest novelty of the past years is the roller coaster Die G’gengte Sau. This is a bobsled coaster from Gerstlauer, but here it is primarily built up high and takes an absolutely wild route back to the station.

The start is made by classic hairpin bends, as you would find them on a Wild Mouse.  After a total of three, we race down a big drop. Just past the Black Mamba, the path leads us back up a little and immediately into two more hairpin bends. Straight away we are pulled down a steep bend. After another valley, we climb a small straight section before leaning further and further to the right and plunging towards the ground one more time. After another climb, we race through a block brake and into another hairpin. Once again narrowly missing the Black Mamba, we go down the biggest drop of the ride. On the other side of the ride, the facade of the Funhouse Funball awaits us, which we also narrowly miss. Three tight turns follow, which lead us to the other side of the ride. We then repeat the whole thing in a small steep curve and several bunny hops. For the finale, a downward curve and several swerves to the right and left await us before we find ourselves in the brake and the absolutely brilliant roller coaster comes to an end.

The Gesengte Sau is an outstanding novelty and one of the best bobsled coasters from Gerstlauer. The extremely compact ride convinces with its multitude of drops and breathtaking curves.

Bilder Wiener Prater

 

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Wiener Prater

Raging through the Helices

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Preface

It’s the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic and things are getting a bit back to normal as the numbers are currently dropping in Germany and more and more people are getting their vaccinations. Previously excisting restrictions are dropped and a visit to a theme park feels great once more – even though we are all wearing masks once we cannot avoid getting too close to people and of course on the rides.

Serengeti-Park and its Serengeti Safari

Since my last year’s visit was not the best, as Serengeti Park was crowded and the capacity of the rides was restricted to a minimum, I took a day off and visited the park on a very quiet Friday. This of course had the advantage of experiencing the awesome Serengeti Safari – one of the few drive-through safaris you can experience in an animal park – at my own pace and without being too restricted by the other cars. I was also right in time for the feeding of the lions, which led to some awesome pictures.

Splash Safari and the Black Mamba

After driving through the Serengeti Safari it was time to experience the theme park. Here, I mainly focused on the other “safari” experiences, which are mainly rather unique attractions and for the most part don’t feature any animals. I especially enjoyed the Splash Safari and Black Mamba Jetboat experiences, as both of them were extraordinary good in keeping you cool on a very hot summers day. While the Splash Safari offers a nice RIB speedboat ride on the park’s central lake, the Black Mamba jetboat safari just got you drenched the second the ride started – not to any surprise: It was the most popular ride on the day of visit.

Batukai Racer

The most recent addition to Serengeti Park is the roller coaster Batukai Racer by Technical Park which replaced the aging Chura Racer – a large Tivoli coaster made by Zierer. The layout of the 13m high family coaster basically only consists of a steep drop followed by three helices one after the other. The first of them is of special interest, as its curvature gets smaller when approaching the ground, which results in some very high G-forces and a rather awkward inclination. The second one acts like a small break in between as you get some more altitude before the final helix hits the ground. The ride itself is a bit jerky, yet not uncomfortable and a rather thrilling experience.

A story of a lost phone

So thrilling, that shortly after my first round, I wanted to do a second. I was a bit distracted taking photos with my camera so that I did not realised that I let my phone on one of the benches nearby before queuing up for the second ride. After the ride, my phone was gone and I started to panic a bit. I asked the ride operator if he saw anything, but that did not help. He gave me the information that it might end up at the service centre nearby the park’s main ticket booths at the end of the day. I waited some time and decided to give it a try and walked all the way to service centre, but they did not yet got anything. They asked me to come back shortly before their closure or write an email after my visit. So I went back around 5pm and to my own surprise they actually found it!

Even though I had to worry a bit about the phone, I had an extraordinary day at the park and enjoyed it quite a lot. The drive through the empty Serengeti Safari, the rides on the park’s roller coaster Safari Blitz and Batukai Racer, as well as the refreshing and drenching boat experiences on the Splash Safari and Black Mamba made my day.

Pictures Serengeti-Park

 

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Serengeti Park

One Day in Hong Kong

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We left Brisbane early in the morning. After a good night’s sleep at the hotel, we took the train to the airport with ease. After three weeks in Australia, it was now time to say goodbye to the country as well as the continent. We had a wonderful time.

Our flight to Hong Kong was our first-time using Qantas and we were very impressed by the airline. It was a very relaxing flight, and the service was extra-ordinary. We arrived in Hong Kong around 5pm and shortly thereafter we already passed the integration and searched for the nearby train station. We stayed at the Panda Hotel in Tsuen Wan. From the station, it was just a short walk to the hotel. Yet, we first did the mistake of going down to the street level and not using the available walkways, which connect all buildings together. It is interesting to see that every building you pass has a large offer of shops and small restaurants. When we finally made our way to the hotel, we were told that our check-in desk is at one of the top levels of the hotel as we booked an executive room. The room itself was large, the bed comfy and the access to the lounge was a nice plus to an overall very good deal.

As our flight to Paris CDG would not leave until the very late evening on the next day, we had a full day of exploring Hong Kong. After a good breakfast, we made our way to the Monster Building (consisting of the Fook Cheong Building, the Montane Mansion, the Oceanic Mansion, the Yick Cheong Building, and the Yick Fat Building). This is one of the city’s top Instagram hotspots and one where I can fully understand that the habitants of the composite building don’t really like tourists. We therefore only took some pictures and left shortly thereafter.

With the classic double-decker tram, we made our way on the King’s Road towards the Western Market. After having a short look inside the building, we then moved on to the Central Mid-Levels Escalator, a large number of covered escalators which connects the Central business district with the Mid-Levels residential area.

We then made our way to Victoria Harbour, to enjoy a bit of the seaside view. We also took a ride on the Hong Kong Observation Wheel, which to our surprise was free-of-charge, as the AIA Group celebrated its 100th birthday and provided complimentary tickets for the first 1000 visitors every day for 100 days. We therefore enjoyed the views even more.

Our last stop of the day was – after a short stop at St. John’s cathedral – a trip up to Victoria Peak, by using the Peak Tram funicular. The journey up the mountain is a particularly exciting one, as the funicular is with a maximum incline of 48% a rather steep one. Once you reach the top of the mountain, you are provided with a superb view and all kinds of tourist attractions, whereby Monopoly Dreams might be the most exciting one, as it’s the only one of its kind so far. Victoria Peak is also a great starting point for walks, for which we sadly did not have the time.

Before we headed back to the hotel to collect our belongings and set off for the airport, we enjoyed the light show A Symphony of Lights. The 15-minute show is a stunning experience and the view from Victoria Peak was a great one.

When we arrived at the airport, it did not take long before boarding to Paris started. This time, our flight was with Air France and I have to admit that their long-distance flights are quite enjoyable. However, when we landed in Paris we had to rush a bit through the giant airport, and after the connecting flight to Hamburg, we were exhausted. It took me another two hours to get home, because all southbound trains were once again suspended due to a bomb discovery. While Aris had the chance to take a ride bus home, I called my aunt to collect me. 

Pictures Hong Kong

Conclusion of the roller coaster trip

Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah! was a trip of a lifetime and something I would love to do again. Australia is a great country and there is so much to do, even though a roller coaster trip is not the prime objective.

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Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah Day 21 and 22 / Hong Kong