Tag: Hafema

A visit to Parc Bagatelle

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History of the theme park

The Parc Bagatelle in Merlimont near Berck-sur-Mer is the oldest existing theme park in France. Bit by bit, a small amusement park with wobbly bicycles, playgrounds, animal enclosures and a mini-golf course developed around the Parent family’s inn before the first rides moved into the park in the 1970s. Initially, these were still operated by the individual showmen, but with increasing success, the offer was successively expanded by own acquisitions.

In 1993, the park switched from individual tickets to a single admission price in order to continue to compete with the nearby Belgian theme parks Walibi and Bellewaerde. By the turn of the millennium, the park had reached an average of 400,000 visitors. In 2000, it was sold to the French theme park group Grévin & Cie, which merged into Compagnie des Alpes in 2006. In the same year, the zoo part of the theme park was closed as it was no longer sustainable due to the steady decline in visitor numbers. This was followed by the sale to the newly founded Looping Group in 2010.

Parc Bagatelle

Interestingly, the amusement park is reached via a generously dimensioned underpass. The entrance on the other side of this, however, is less impressive with a covered square and a small ticket office. A small square with a fountain and several colorful children’s rides await us after entering the theme park.

Past the small Kid’z Coaster, a Wacky Worm by SBF Visa, and the Twist’air wave swinger, the path leads us into the original western area of the amusement park. The park railroad station and the monorail station directly above it are located right at the entrance to the area.

River Splash

The River Splash log flume has been one of the theme park’s main attractions since 1976. The ride, built by Reverchon, impresses with its fast ride through the canal, which runs through a forest for a large part of the ride, before climbing up again for the finale, climaxing in a plunge into the cool water.

Le Raft

Past the Bag-a-Bato ride and the Grand Prix car ride, we make our way to the Rapid River Le Raft. Thanks to the nearby airfield, the decoration of the Hafema Raft Ride is kept to a minimum, but the ride itself is a highlight of the theme park thanks to the large whirlpool ride element.

Triops

Located directly on the lake at the back of the park are the Bag Pearl boat swing, the Rapido dinghy slide and the large Triops shuttle roller coaster.

Triops is the suspended version of a timeless roller coaster classic – the Vekoma Boomerang – but Invertigos wouldn’t be Invertigos if they didn’t have even more special features. Firstly, the seating arrangement allows you to reverse the order of the tried-and-tested experience and you can also watch your fellow passengers.

Just like at its former location in Sommerland Syd, the ride is absolutely great. As before, the ride is as intense as ever with great ride characteristics through the loop and the Cobra Roll and back again. It’s just great fun!

Famous Jack

If you follow the Main Street of the western area to its end, you will inevitably come across the Famous Jack spinning coaster, which stands out with its very striking front. Viewed from the side, however, the ride hardly differs from other rides of its kind. As is typical of Reverchon, the ride itself is great fun and, depending on the load of the gondola, can turn into an absolute whirlwind ride.

Les Woodies

Les Woodies, the novelty of the year, is located in the immediate vicinity of the Famous Jack roller coaster. On the Apollo Sidecar from Technical Park, you can control the swing of the small cars yourself, which makes for a very fun ride.

Splash Factory

Splash Factory, the park’s second log flume, is located in the middle of the forest. Since 2000, this small ride from L&T Systems has been impressing visitors with its single shot ride and incredibly high level of wetness.

Spirale Express

The small family roller coaster Spirale Express is somewhat unusual for a Soquet roller coaster. After a steep curve, the ride leads over a curved hill, the exit of which has a distinct kink in its appearance, which is also quite interesting to ride and throws you back and forth in the car. This is followed by a second lift and a long Bavarian bend close to the bottom. Shortly afterwards, you reach the station again, whereupon you set off on a second lap through the generally quite nice layout.

Gaz’Express

Directly opposite the Zamperla Air Race Silver Wings is the entrance to the Gaz’Express roller coaster. From 1987 to 2005, the ride ran through an elaborate mountain massif with several interesting water features to match its Mine Train design. This was removed in 2006, after which the ride operated as Bouzouc and Bag Express and appeared rather bleak overall. This changed in 2019 when the ride reopened as the Gaz Express with an impressive industrial look.

The ride on the Gaz’Express begins with a right-hand turn, which immediately leads us into the ride’s lift. Once at the top, a longer helix awaits us, in which we build up some speed over one and a half laps before entering into the first drop. This takes us through a house and over a lake with quite a bit of momentum. The trail then leads us into another building in a wide right-hand bend. Inside the building, which is reminiscent of a gasometer, we now complete several laps in a descending helix. At full speed, we then make our way over a small hill and into an uphill right-hand bend. Back in daylight, we then enter the water tunnel, although this effect is only visual. After another left-right turn, we reach the station completely dry, whereupon the ride on this extremely interesting Soquet roller coaster unfortunately comes to an end.

Pictures Parc Bagatelle

Conclusion Parc Bagatelle

Parc Bagatelle is a very mixed park. Sometimes it shows its age, sometimes it convinces with really nicely designed corners and rides. At least there doesn’t seem to be a common thread, which means that it has always retained its 70s charm and is therefore very reminiscent of theme parks such as Rasti-Land or Avonturenpark Hellendoorn, which also belongs to the same group. There is definitely potential at Parc Bagatelle, but it should be exploited with clear demarcation of the themed areas and a revision of the older rides. The Looping Group is currently demonstrating quite impressively that it can do this at Drayton Manor Theme Park. In other words, Bagatelle, we may see each other again at some point.

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Parc Bagatelle

Home of the Lech Coaster

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Legendia

Balerina and Tea Cups

As soon as you enter the park and leave the nicely designed Main Street behind you, you immediately find yourself on the banks of the central lake. Following the clockwise direction, you will come across the remains of the Circus Hoppla flat ride and two classic family rides. These include the Hully Gully Balerina and the Tea Cups ride, which still looks the same as it did at Heide Park.

Bazyliszek

The main attraction in the front part of the park is the Bazyliszek interactive dark ride. Interestingly, the ride’s queue is partly used as an expansion of the family restaurant in the entrance area and there is also a bouncy castle. However, the ride itself is definitely great and offers a successful mix of elaborately designed scenes and big screen action.

Dream Flight Airlines

Passing the large Legendia Flower Ferris wheel, we are now drawn to the Flying Machines Dream Flight Airlines. This old flying carousel from 1956 is an incredibly great experience and one of the reasons to visit the theme park. Unfortunately, there is only a ride every 10 minutes as the ride is incredibly inert and takes several minutes to accelerate and decelerate per cycle. However, the actual flying experience is great and should definitely not be missed.

Dream Hunters Society

The Dream Hunters Society is one of the two classic Zyklon / Galaxy roller coasters in the park, whereby the Scary Toys Factory in the front section of the park has not been in operation for years. The 335 metre long roller coaster is particularly impressive with its two longer descents and an endless helix in the middle section of the ride and is ideal as a larger entry level roller coaster for younger park guests. As the only real family coaster in the park, it always has the longest queue in the park.

Phoenix and Dragon Temple

The two rides Phoenix and Dragon Temple already have a very eventful history behind them. The HUSS Enterprise Phoenix and the HUSS Rainbow Dragon Temple first became stationary in Serengeti Park, where they entertained visitors for years before both were moved to the Danish Sommerland Syd, which was closed for good shortly afterwards. The two rides are now entertaining the Polish public and will hopefully continue to do so for a very long time to come.

Diamond River

Also coming from Sommerland Syd is the large Diamond River log flume. The relatively long ride offers two breathtaking descents that will leave you soaking wet when you get off the ride.

Giant Water Pump und Dragon Wresting Tournament

One of the most interesting rides at Legendia is the small Frisbee Giant Water Pump, which throws a handful of people around in a fairly tight radius as it swings comfortably back and forth.

Things were not quite so cosy at the Dragon Wrestling Tournament, of which unfortunately only the remains can still be seen today. This was a HUSS Flic Flac – a merciless and extremely fun upside-down carousel.

Lech Coaster

The most famous roller coaster at Legendia is the Lech Coaster. Built by Vekoma, the ride impresses with its very intense first drop, which is highly twisted on the descent. This is immediately followed by a reverse sidewinder, which at first looks like an Immelmann, but in its exit is more reminiscent of a corkscrew. After an extremely wild turn and an airtime hill, you approach the station building, which you ride through in a roll. A very tight turnaround follows at the back of the station, which then turns sharply into a bend close to the ground. We then make our way over hill and dale to another corkscrew. After a short turnaround, there is a combination of bends close to the ground shaped like an eight before we reach the final brake and the surprisingly dynamic ride comes to an end.

The Lech Coaster is one of the best roller coasters from Vekoma and one of the best roller coasters in Europe. The ride is extremely dynamic and offers a large number of incredibly wild manoeuvres in a very compact space. Chapeau!

Dolina Jagi

The Dolina Jagi water ride is a very modern wild raft ride from the manufacturer Hafema. In addition to all kinds of rapids, the water ride impresses above all with its very fast ride and lovely presentation.

Diabelska Pętla

Once known as the Tic-Tac Tornado, the Diabelska Pętla is a classic French looping roller coaster from Soquet, which you can experience backwards in the rear carriage. The ride itself is mainly characterised by its two loops, but also features several intertwining right-hand bends towards the end of the ride, which immediately leads to the brakes after a final dip.

Sky Flyer

I’m a big fan of Mondial and Vekoma rides. Reason enough to like the Sky Flyer – after all, a ride that was created in co-operation between the two companies. Here at Legendia, however, the ride on the upside-down swing doesn’t stop at all, and after a short time, the bar starts to put a lot of pressure on your stomach. So much so, in fact, that at some point it becomes quite difficult not to vomit. In other words, shorter is sometimes better. Nevertheless, the Sky Flyer is a really neat ride and is a lot of fun to watch.

Pictures Legendia

Conclusion Legendia

Legendia Śląskie Wesołe Miasteczko is a really nice city park with a great feel for rides. If you’re on your way to Energylandia, it’s definitely worth stopping by. Although the park is quite small, it has a lot more history to show for it.

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Legendia

Full Steam ahead on Hals-über-Kopf

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The novelties of Erlebnispark Tripsdrill

Erlebnispark Tripsdrill has once again built something new and presented it to the public half-finished – and thus not made with love at all. In the German amusement park scene, we only know this kind of behaviour from Hansa Park, but there they have to cover up a big tower every time. To be honest, I didn’t really understand why they had to open their two roller coasters, Volldampf and Hals-über-Kopf, during the Covid-19 pandemic; after all, they could have marketed the whole thing all the bigger when the pandemic was coming to an end.

Volldampf

Well, now the two roller coasters are here and can be tested. The smaller of the two Vekoma rides is the Family Boomerang Volldampf, which is already very impressive. Admittedly, the ride is basically finished; the only thing missing is the decoration at the reversal point of the ride.  Apart from the beautiful station, the cute and macabre train design, the foreign visitor gets acquainted with Swabian folk songs and before the ride starts, one sings along with Trulla-trulla-trullala of the song Auf de schwäbsche Eisebahne after the coaster has been designed.

The ride begins with the backward incline of the friction wheel lift. Once you have reached the top of the lift, you are first held in position while the friction wheels are pushed apart, thus clearing the way. Immediately the brakes are released and the descent begins. With momentum we now drive through the station and over a small hill to the right. Here we also avoid the threateningly close rail of Hals-über-Kopf. Close to the ground, we now whiz through a wide left turn before we cross a path on a hill. Now we make our way across the inside of the Suspended Thrill Coaster. After a slight turn to the right, a turn to the left follows. With momentum we then go through another right turn, whereupon we enter the station building of Hals-über-Kopf and change our direction above the station. A little more leisurely than before, we now go backwards through the already completed stretch.

Volldampf is fun! The ride across the big sister ride convinces with its curves close to the ground, the constant changes of direction and the mutual interaction. The long stretch of track also gives the passengers a lot to enjoy.

Hals-über-Kopf

Less is offered to park guests – at least in terms of design – on the Suspended Thrill Coaster Hals-über-Kopf. This is an iteration of the very common suspended looping coaster. The track profile, however, is based on that of the manufacturer’s new looping roller coasters.

The ride on the Hals-über-Kopf begins immediately with a short right turn, which soon leads us into the ride’s lift. Having reached a height of 30m, we immediately plunge straight down to the ground. Just above the roller coaster Volldampf we turn right. With momentum we now go through the first valley and immediately into the first inversion. We cross the station building of the family roller coaster in a long zero-G roll. Shortly afterwards, we turn around in an Immelmann Jr. Far above a pavement we now whiz over an airtime hill. After a short bend to the left, we plunge to the ground once more and immediately turn to the right and, poof, we see the world upside down a second time. Immediately we plunge into a 270° helix close to the ground and full of pressure, before we take off a little on a small hill. Another strongly inclined turn follows. Very close to the ground, there is a short bend to the right before we enter a dip to the left. This is followed by the last and final inversion of the ride. Shortly afterwards, we already hit the final brake.

Hals-über-Kopf is an extremely solid family roller coaster with a beautiful track layout and great pacing. The ride is only slightly stressful, which means that every member of the family should get their money’s worth. For us roller coaster fans, there is now an extremely exciting roller coaster in the Erlebnispark Tripsdrill that you could confidently ride for several hours at a time and that is an extremely nice thing per se.

Pictures Erlebnispark Tripsdrill

Conclusion Erlebnispark Tripsdrill

With the new roller coaster duo, Erlebnispark Tripsdrill has done a lot right. The new coasters enhance the front section of the park and, due to their location alone, ensure a better overall distribution of visitors in the park, who would otherwise mostly romp around in the back part of the park. Now there is something for the whole family in every area of the park and that is a very nice development for a family theme park like Erlebnispark Tripsdrill.

 

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Erlebnispark Tripsdrill