Tag: Heide Park

A lot of bling about Shambhala

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Port Aventura

After the Spanish resort Port Aventura, consisting of four hotels, the water park Port Aventura Caribe Aquatic Park and the theme park Port Aventura Park, was bought by the Italian Investindustrial from the Bank la Caixa, a lot has happened on the outskirts of the tourist city of Salou. Long overdue investments in the area of amusement park maintenance, as well as the expansion of the water park, bear witness to this, as do new investments in the coming years.

Compared to the last visit the amusement park Port Aventura Park was in a much better condition, which was mainly due to the only slightly scribbled trains and queues, as well as a much higher level of cleanliness in the park. But the view of the queue was clouded, after all the express entrance was used most of the time.

Although the purchase of the Express Premium wristbands was not profitable at all on the first day, after all there was a waiting time of 0 minutes at most of the attractions, it proved to be a necessary investment on the second day to avoid waiting for an average of 90 minutes. The advantage, with a few exceptions, to always pass the queue without waiting and to get your turn right away was actually worth the money, even though the 15 minutes waiting time at Dragon Khan seemed like half an eternity.

It would be wrong to say that the system is fair for everyone, but at least it is affordable for everyone. The situation is different for the food, which is simply not affordable. By not selling single tickets, you save yourself too much of a crowd at the express queues, and in addition, as a normal day passenger, if not too many people pay the extra cost of a one-way trip in the first row, you have an increased chance of a seat in that very row.

Stampida

If you stay at the Hotel Gold River, you can enter the spacious western area through its own entrance and enjoy the slightly different view of the dueling wooden coaster Stampida. Although the two tracks usually run parallel to each other, the middle part, introduced by a tunnel each, is completely different. In this part the two tracks meet each other, which is a great effect, which is sometimes enhanced by the small wooden coaster Tomahawk. The racing effect is quite distinct, which is mainly due to the well calculated track. However, the two trains should have about the same weight.

As the tracks of the ride are almost continuously bent in the wrong direction, the ride is quite special and mostly of the rougher kind, which is what a wooden roller coaster should be. The used trains are not disturbing at all, even if the bar sometimes closes quite tight.

Silver River Flume

Passing a merry-go-round, a bumper car and a beautifully designed break dance, we immediately arrive at the entrance of the Silver River Flume log flume, one of the best and strangest rides of its kind. Since you can wait here for half an eternity in a full queue, despite the very large capacity, it was always a pleasure for us to take a seat in one of the boats through the Express Pass entrance and without any waiting.

After leaving the station, the first lift hill is reached within a few metres. The following shot brings you up to the plateau on which a large part of the track leads and where the El Diablo mine train shows up from time to time. After the front side of the boat has been well moistened, a short time later a second lift takes you up to the top of the trees. Through the second slope, which now prefers to soak the rear part of the boat, you get back down to the plateau only to cover some more metres. Here you are float around for a longer time and even start to wonder how long the track actually is. Then you climb another lift and after a short turn you can start the impressive, but not wet, final. Back at ground level the track leads to the exit where you get out more or less drenched.

Furios Baco

Over a bridge with artificially attached rivet heads and along the Grand Canyon Rapids ride, which is unfortunately hardly worth mentioning although it is rather stylish, the path takes us towards the entrance area of the Port Aventura Park, where, apart from some transport rides, the catapult launch coaster Furios Baco is located. The prototype of the Wing Rider Coaster, which is definitely worth seeing, is a real wonder bag in terms of theming, but also in terms of ride characteristics. Notoriously and quite rightly the ride is considered to be a shaking machine of the more extreme kind, which at the time of our visit also cost Martin his mobile phone.

However, Furios Baco is quite rideable, as long as it is in the first row on the left inner seat, where the vibrations of the train vanish into thin air in an interesting way and the best launched coaster from Intamin shows up. It looks different on almost every other seat, where the pleasure is on a rather medium level or is only felt by people with a sadomasochistic disposition. But what is always in common is that the straight sections of the track are absolutely brilliant and the direct gradient after the launch creates a lot of airtime. No matter how much you are shaken in the curves, the Inlinetwist always provides a short moment of joy, even if another curve is passed immediately afterwards. After all, the train then goes into the final brakes and the rapid ride comes to an end.

Furios Baco is without equal a very brute roller coaster, but a very interesting and fun at the same time. The launch and inversion are rarely found in this form and should be tested during one or more rides. The storyline at the attraction is original and just as bizarre as the range of the too experienced ride characteristics. The rear part of the train on the right hand side is indeed the worst possible seat, which makes the ride oscillate strangely between “absolutely brilliant” and “absolute nuts”.

Sea Odyssea

The Sea Odyssea simulator shows similar behaviour, whereby a strong distinction must be made between the theme and the film currently running. The hardware in Port Aventura Park, as well as the general design of the ride, is on the highest possible level, but the software, i.e. the film, is no good here. Why of all places in an amusement park with a multitude of roller coasters a 4D film with a roller coaster is shown, although a water roller coaster is still missing, remains a big mystery, just as why the film, whose preshow is still shown before loading, was stopped a few years ago.

Tutuki Splash

In addition to the Kon-Tiki Wave ship’s swing, as can be found in Flamingoland, and a small children’s train, the Spillwater Tutuki Splash also shares the area known as Polynesia.

If this ride is not running at its best capacity, there is a real chance of getting wet, and this in a rather nasty way. If, however, the best possible capacity should be run, due to the high rush, then on the one hand you get a cold while waiting for the return to the station and, apart from a few drops, you hardly get wet due to the two slopes, but with a little luck the water cannons are occupied in this case.

After you have been assigned to a row in the double loading station and have boarded your boat, your journey starts quickly. After a few meters of distance you find yourself inside a volcano, whose ceiling is covered with chewing gum. After passing a second, interestingly less glued tunnel, the first shot follows. Unfortunately you hardly get wet, but this can change very quickly when you climb the first lift hill. If at the same moment, when the boat reached the beginning of the lift, a boat shows up on the slope of the second descent, you can assume that you will be showered properly from the side in the next moment. But the level of wetness is less than when the same thing happens at the spillwater La furia de Triton in Terra Mitica, Spain, where you actually get soaked down to your pants. Either you continue to climb the lift hill dry or now refreshed and moistened. Afterwards you will race towards the double drop in a turn. The double drop, however, is not quite as smooth and basically only ensures that no big waves are formed during the subsequent splashdown which could cool down the spectators on the bridge from the exit of the ride. During this drop you get at least a little wet, so that the trip can be worthwhile even without the wave from the falling boat. The subsequent shower from the cannons will then make for smiling faces on both sides.

Dragon Khan

Since last year, you can reach the two big coasters of the Port Aventura Park much faster than before through the children’s area Sesamo Aventura. At the same time the way allows completely new perspectives on the roller coaster Dragon Khan, which is now incredibly photogenic and brings movement into the picture due to the short handling time.

Although Dragon Khan was long considered to be the worst steel roller coaster for me, a lot has happened to the ride since my visit. Not only does it shine in a beautiful new colour scheme, but the ride has also not been affected by the neighbouring construction site. Without sand on the tracks, the ride still runs very brute, but this is due to the continuously high forces, which are generated by the clearly too high speed. Dragon Khan just races down the track and is not really regulated, which doesn’t really help when the block brake is released, but makes for an interesting driving experience.

After the train has climbed up the lift, after a short bend, the way goes downhill. Meanwhile the train experiences positive forces for the first time, which it doesn’t really want to give up until the block brake. Shortly before the valley you get a little bit wiped from the right and left side, which affects the ride a little bit, but supports the overall picture of the ride. Full speed ahead you go up the loop, the top of which is not at all reminiscent of a hangtime. Shortly afterwards you pass a diveloop, whereupon the hardest element of the ride awaits you with the Zero-G Roll, whose name should have a much higher number. It is easy to get in contact with the restraint during this inversion. By means of a Cobra Roll you make a turn above the final brake only to take the drive up into the block brake with full speed, which of course does not brake you, but releases you rapidly into the next curve. The following loop is much more powerful than its big counterpart within the track. Through a turn you screw yourself to a higher level and then you are turned upside down by two interlocking corkscrews. Shortly afterwards you reach the final brake and can finally take a deep breath.

Dragon Khan is one of the few rides that really demands a lot from its passengers without harming them, as long as you’re not that crazy and try to ride it permanently. Although the inversions elsewhere are even more powerful, it is the length of the track that makes the ride very stressful.

Shambhala

In the background, and unfortunately not so photogenic, the latest roller coaster Shambhala towers up. The Hyper Coaster from Bollinger & Mabillard is only the second ride of its kind in Europe, but it mercilessly lets the first, and previously highest roller coaster in Europe, sink into oblivion. Silver Star had never been a real danger to other comparable roller coasters, but Shambhala is.

The experience does not have to start positively in order to end positively. Therefore, it is advisable not to be served by certain persons when the train is being handled and to close the hanger properly from the beginning. After a short bend, the train climbs up quickly, with a much better view on the right side of the train, unless you want to look down on ugly hotel complexes and a construction site. Shortly afterwards the train descends rapidly down the 78m slope, where you have lost most of your contact with your seat, and then descend into a tunnel underneath a magnificent head chopper. This is followed by a high but hardly eventful hill, on whose descent, however, airtime appears again. The turning point is the highlight of the ride, even if the banking could be more pronounced at the top. The supports offer great head chopper effects, but these are more pronounced in the right part of the train. Back in the valley you pass a much too low speed bump and are lifted out of your seat with unusual force. Another, quite high, hill follows, whereupon you pass the most impressive element for the passers-by, the splashdown. After this, basically unspectacular straight, where you get a few drops of water in the back of the train, another hill follows over the lifthill of the neighbouring roller coaster Dragon Khan to enter a block brake. This block brake is passed again without any braking before you feel negative G-forces for the last time after a downhill turn. During the subsequent braking the rear part of the train gets its money’s worth, on the other hand it takes place quite smoothly.

Shambhala is one of the few roller coasters that actually gets better on every ride, yet Shambhala is not the best roller coaster in Europe, nor the best ride of its kind. I personally like rides like the Big One at Pleasure Beach and the GeForce Expedition at Holiday Parks more, because they not only have an insane first drop in common, but also a fun ride from the beginning. But what is interesting about the big roller coaster from Port Aventura is that it entertains you very well on every seat. Where the forces at the back are a bit rounder, the ride at the front more or less voluntarily takes your shirt off.

El Diablo

Coming from Dragon Khan, you can walk directly into the arms of El Diablo, the mine train of the park. This roller coaster from Arrow Dynamics is the last ride of its kind and one of the strangest. The track basically consists of only three lift hills, where you spend most of the ride time, and a bit of distance between them. However, these parts are quite fast, except for the second major part, which is only used to pass the maintenance buildings of the ride. The resulting views of Port Aventura Park, the two big coasters from the Chinese themed area, and the log flume further enhance the family-friendly roller coaster.

Hurakan Condor

The second supposed highlight in this area is the Giant Drop Hurakan Condor, a freefall tower with a sloped roof and several different “fall pleasures”. Whatever could go wrong with such a ride has been realised in perfection, because the tower does not only look wrong from far away, but also from close up when you see how exactly the gondolas fall. It’s strange that such a simple principle is ruined by lateral displacements, these produce a clearly noticeable bump or a little wobble in the lower part of the tower, depending on which track you have caught. Interestingly, the fall experience is accompanied by very long waiting times, which also apply to Express Pass holders, so that it was quite easy to do without several rides. The manufacturer Intamin has proven many times that size is not everything and with Hurakan Condor has created its worst tower.

El Secreto de los Mayas

Very close by is the glass labyrinth El Secreto de los Mayas, the novelty of the current season, which, like the Templo del Fuego, was not visited. While the first ride kept us from going on due to long queues, the brilliant fire show was already closed for the season.

Yucatan and Serpiente Emplumada

Not far from there, the Musik Express Yucatan is making its rounds, which made for a good squeezing session at unfortunately only medium speed, of course to the delight of the other onlookers. The Schwarzkopf Sombrero Serpiente Emplumada, whose ride is not only ideal for a dry spin, is a completely different pleasure. This ride, which can best be described as a mixture of a polyp and take off, is always worth a ride, if you are not unlucky and have queued up at the beginning of the boarding.

VolPaiute

However, the loading procedure is still halfway reasonable, a feature that Flipper VolPaiute cannot offer. Although there are two people working here, it is hardly possible to board the gondola on your own, because here the loading of each individual gondola is called to the gondola after some waiting time so that it can be dispatched. The whole spectacle lasts for several minutes, a period of time when one could have ridden at least three times the Flipper of Heide Park. Of course, there might have been a risk in closing the HUSS bars on their own, but then it could have been solved like the HUSS Magic at Walibi Holland. The ride itself is boring and as soon as you think the ride is going to accelerate, it ends.

Tomahawk

Opposite the still best animatronics of all times is the entrance to the wooden roller coaster Tomahawk. This children’s roller coaster is used by the small PTC trains, which unfortunately leads to a low capacity, as only one adult fits in one row of seats. The ride is quite wild and has some daring curves, but it runs on the best level, making the ride an ideal entry-level roller coaster.

Conclusion Port Aventura

Port Aventura is, to my own surprise, a much better park than I remember. Although the attractions themselves may not always be 100% convincing, the overall offer is coherent. Totally adapted to the Spanish preferences the park presents a large number of shows that you can watch as you like and without regretting it afterwards. Nevertheless Port Aventura is not the park you should visit every year, because there is still a lot of room for improvement and the offer is not yet mature enough, although this year increased amounts of money were invested in the resort.

 

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Port Aventura

A visit to Legoland Windsor

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Legoland Windsor

After Alton Towers, Legoland Windsor is the most popular amusement park of the Merlin Entertainments Group in Great Britain, so you should always expect longer queues at this park. Its location on a hill overlooking Windsor Castle in the distance gives the park a remarkable appeal.

From up here several paths wind their way down, which, similar to the Tolk-Schau theme park, even offer slides down. The most interesting way to descend or rather to conquer the mountain without any effort is to take the funicular Hill Train, from where you have a good view onto the Vikings River Splash rafting ride.

Vikings River Splash

Due to its canal, this ride is certainly not a beauty, but the view from the lower levels of the park is something very special, as rafting boats that float many metres above one are usually not an every day sight. The ride also seemed to be very wet, a thing that even in England is a miracle on a ride of this kind.

Jolly Rocker

If you follow the way down from the rafting, you will pass a labyrinth and Zierer Kontiki and reach the pirate theme area of the park, where an old acquaintance from the German Heide-Park is making his swings. In addition to the HUSS Pirate Jolly Rocker, you can ride a teacup ride, the log flume Pirate Falls Dynamite Drench. Furthermore, there are generously designed play facilities for the younger guests.

Knight’s Quest and Dragon’s Apprentice

If you’re looking for Adrealin, at least a little bit, you’ll find it in Knight’s Kingdom, as here you’ll find the two roller coasters Dragon and Dragon’s Apprentice next to the quite popular torture machine Knight’s Quest, – a rather uncomfortable Old Train by the company Mack Rides. While the second one is a nice children’s roller coaster with a downward helix and slight turns, the Dragon is a rather strange and interesting family roller coaster. Like many other rides of this Legoland Windsor, both coasters were built by the English company WGH Transportation.

Dragon

The Dragon reminds a little bit of Lightwater Valley’s legendary roller coaster The Ultimate, but without wanting to reach the height or the length of the ride. The Dragon starts with a dark ride section, which is well-known from the other Dragon coasters by Legoland. Towards the end of the ride, the ride goes without a rapid fall or launch towards the lifthill. The lifthill is not very quiet because of the metal plates at the catwalk and offers unnecessarily a curvy course. The first drop is followed by a figure of eight until you cross under the first lifthill in a second curvy lift and gain some more height. With the collected energy you now pass through a tunnel and complete another course of a figure of eight. The brake section consists of friction wheels, which were installed once again on a curvy hill.

While the Dragon from Billund can convince with its fast course and the strong acceleration after the dark ride part, which reminds of a launch, and the Dragon from Legoland Germany can convince with its comparatively large dimensions and the rather abrupt first descent, the Dragon from Windsor does hardly show anything special. Although the ride is suitable for children and is quite funny because of the more sudden curve transitions, the Dragon offers a more or less uneventful ride, which is often interrupted by lift hills.

Laser Raiders

If you follow the paths, the Egyptian themed area Kingdom of the Pharaohs will offer you another highlight with the Laser Raiders, for which you are welcome to queue a little longer. As much as I would have liked to test the ride from Sally, the time I had left in the park went by very fast. Due to the general traffic around London that day, as well as the big rush at Legoland Windsor, I could only visit the two roller coasters, the Miniland, the Hill Train and the new 4D movie.

The unique rides of Legoland Windsor

Apart from the usual Legoland repertoire, you can discover some special features at Legoland Windsor. In the Digger Challenge, for example, you can steer a real earthmover, move or turn your helicopter up and down on a stick at Duplo Valley Airport, slide down a winding track with the Raft River Racer in a rubber dinghy, drive past well-animated Lego models in the Fairytale Brook fairytale ride or ride through a Sealife Center in Atlantis Submarine Voyage in small submarines.

Miniland

While the children can get soaked in the Duplo water area, the adults can have a look at Lego models in Miniland. This is quite nice and has models from the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. Star Wars models will not be found in this part of the park, fortunately they have their own exhibition near the entrance.

Legends of Chima 4D

In the park’s 4-D cinema, in addition to an agent film, a film exclusively new product series The Legends of Chima by the Lego company is shown. Since Lego has already shown how to animate correctly with their series, I was quite curious about this film, even though I didn’t know much about the subject matter and a Ninjago film would have been more appealing. The animations were very clean and the 3D effect was actually as clear as I have never seen it in any other cinema before. The other effects were all well adapted to the movie, so that you should definitely watch it, as long as you can get along with larger amounts of water and are not necessarily averse to the animated film as a genre.

Conclusion Legoland Windsor

The Legoland Windsor is a park, which surprised me very much. Due to its location in a valley, this park offers unusual views and still knows how to use it for you. Everything seems to be harmoniously coordinated, even if a little more densely built than in other comparable parks. Smaller children up to a certain minimum age have all kinds of opportunities to let off steam here, which is also generously accepted.

 

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Legoland Windsor

Revolution in the vertical reality of the Pleasure Beach Blackpool

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Preface

If one imagines the most filthy place in Britain, it is definitely Blackpool. However, this place at the Irish Sea is also very charming and offers with its Pleasure Beach a real pearl of entertainment culture. It was my second visit to this city, which I actually wanted to avoid. Nevertheless, the call for a revolutionary roller coaster, which was being refurbished on my first visit, drew me here. Back then, the town itself was also a bit busier and more tolerable due to some French tourists. Blackpool will surely show its real charm during the main season or the illuminations in autumn.

Visiting the Pleasure Beach

Thrill-o-Matic

Another reason for visiting was Thrill-o-Matic, the redesigned dark ride from Arrow Dynamics, which previously operated as Gold Mine. The main protagonists of the ride are the characters Wallace & Gromit, who are very well known in England and whose short films are also popular in Germany, but the spin-off series Shaun the Sheep is much more popular.

The ride is quite interesting, especially as the layout is rather unusual. In keeping with the title, you’ll go up and downhill past scenes from the films. The design of these is exceptionally original and the effects are all well tuned, so that one can definitely call the ride one of the best dark rides out there – if one would know a little bit about the movies in advance. This is the only real shortcoming of the theme ride, as if you are not familiar with the Wallace & Gromit universe, you can’t actually understand the ride itself.

Revolution

The second novelty for me was the only shuttle coaster by Arrow Dynamics on European soil. While listening to a revolutionary soundtrack, I went up the stairs to the station of the Launched Loop to find an open station with an empty four-car train. Since the station is no longer sponsored by the Scottish national drink Irn Bru, the structure shines in a noble grey-white colour scheme, on which a dark red train makes its way.

The ride on Revolution begins quite bizarrely, as the launch feels like being pushed a little faster in a shopping cart. Nevertheless, what happens afterwards can hardly be described in words. On the hilltop down to the valley, one is pulled into the harness in such a strong way that it cannot be more extreme. A slight lift-off, as it was said in old reviews of the park, is strongly understated. Arrived in the valley and with his butt back in the car, the looping follows directly. With a lot of pressure, we see the world upside down for the first time. After that the train shots up towards the second hilltop, which also throws you back into the shoulder restraints. What comes now is nothing unusual for a shuttle coaster, but if you recall the experience in your mind, you might get a little bit awestruck. For this thought process you even have a lot of time until the inevitable happens and the launch kicks off the game in reverse.

The Revolution at Pleasure Beach Blackpool is not only interesting because of its incomparable support structure, but also because of its ride, which even shows a shuttle loop from Schwarzkopf where it’s going to go. Although the launch is not as strong as with Schwarzkopf’s installations, the ride has one attribute that clearly stands out, namely airtime. Such a distinctive form of airtime is rarely found and is usually only present in the back rows of a train, as it is the case with Nessie at Hansa-Park. Here, however, you inevitably experience it everywhere in the train, whereby the first car is preferably affected. Revolution is therefore a roller coaster rarely found, which is why you should experience it while it’ s still present. The extensive revisions of the layout give hope for a truly long lifetime.

Infusion

But not only the Revolution is equipped with more powerful forces than one would expect, but also the Suspended Looping Coaster Infusion, which, like the Big One, invites to a ride in the vertical reality. Compared to other installations of this type, the ride feels 20 km/h too fast. The inversions are therefore all passed through quickly, which mainly affects the successive inline twists towards the end of the ride, as they drag you along quite nicely.

If every Vekoma SLC would ride the same way, the difference to various Batman roller coasters of the manufacturer Bollinger and Mabillard would only be marginal. The water effects, as well as the general ride comfort are arguments that – together with the stunning roll overs – invite you to one or more rides in the vertical reality.

Grand National

The Möbius Roller Coaster Grand National, which in theory offers a great and action packed ride due its out- & back layout, as well as the always given racing feeling on both tracks enjoys special appreciation by many fans. In fact, the nasty doubledowns and the numerous camelbacks are crucial to experience really interesting airtime, once the ride warmed up. On the days of my visits, a take-off was hardly possible. Furthermore, the bar always closed so modestly that every of the following metres seemed like a flogging.

No friendship has developed between me and the ride. As sorry as I am to have to put myself against the opinions of my friends, I prefer another wooden roller coaster within the park even if their voices cry out over and over again that Grand National is the one that shows a lot of airtime and therefore should be regarded as the best wooden roller coaster out there. This classic wooden roller coaster, which should still be considered cute in its size, really surprised me during this visit. Even though I still think, that the trains were hardly made for roller coasters, especially since they all drift off in the curves quite alarmingly. The general smoothness of the ride is a lot better than what I remember. On each of the hills a distinctive lift-off was given, the curves rode well and the strange rocking of last year’s rides didn’t happen. I stick to the Big Dipper!

Big Dipper

This classic wooden roller coaster, which should still be considered cute in its size, really surprised me during this visit. Even though I still think, that the trains were hardly made for roller coasters, especially since they all drift off in the curves quite alarmingly. The general smoothness of the ride is a lot better than what I remember. On each of the hills a distinctive lift-off was given, the curves rode well and the strange rocking of last year’s rides didn’t happen.

Steeplechase

As the Steeplechase coaster was fitted with new brakes during the visit, it was not possible to ride on any of the tracks. The quite unique roller coaster by Arrow Dynamics is always worth a ride, especially since I was not allowed to ride on either the green or the yellow tracks during my last visit.

Big One

Even at the Big One you stood in front of a closed entry during the first hours of operation. Fortunately, in the later course of the day, the entry was opened as advertised. As it is often the case in rides that open later, the crowds of visitors went all at one to the ride and actually filled up the queues in the station, which meant that the last two cars had to be opened. After the first rush was driven away, everybody that came to the station was allowed to walk through and had a theoretically free choice of seats.

Unfortunately, the Big One doesn’t have a very good status in the fan community of roller coaster lovers, often there is talk of bodily harm and other inconsistencies. However, the Big One isn’t bad at all, even if it’s not necessarily a good experience when riding it in the last row. The front rows on the other hand all offer an exciting and fun ride.

Compared to other taller roller coasters, rarely seen in Europe, the highest, fastest, steepest and longest roller coaster in the vertical reality provides a very strong sense of speed. The first drop is hard to put into words, the following hill is airtimeless but nice, the turnaround is fast and the hills in front of the block brake are interesting to ride. This is followed by the aforementioned brake and a curvy part until the final brake is reached.

The Big One is a roller coaster that can’t and shouldn’t be compared to the big rides of Bollinger and Mabillard, as a boring up and down ride like Silverstar at Europa Park is not offered here. Instead, the Hyper Coaster from the American company Arrow provides a very fast and above all long roller coaster ride, which – if you don’t have prejudices against exactly this manufacturer can surprise and please you very much.

Nickelodeon Land

The Nickelodeon Land was very busy during the visit due to some primary school classes, which were present in all the Blackpool attractions that day. Most of them spent running from the exit of the amusing children’s coaster Blue Flyer to the entrance of what the supervisor, of course, had to endure.

Nickelodeon Streak

The same pattern could be seen at the Nickelodeon Streak, the orange wooden roller coaster of Pleasure Beach, where you are lifted out of your seat a few times. Here the longest wooden roller coaster trains of the park make their rounds and the feeling of the train drifting away is most pronounced.

Splash Bash

The Twist & Splash ride Splash Bash from Mack Rides, which was broken down on the last visit, was actually open on the day of the visit, but was not very popular. It was interesting to see the system in motion and to let the very slow rotations have their effect. Should this ride be busy at some point, it is certainly fun to get into the water battle, but with only 2-3 passengers it is not easy to get wet at all.

Valhalla

On the other hand, there is an ease of getting really, really, really wet on the white water dark ride Valhalla. You could make it easy and buy a rain poncho, in order to protect yourself somehow or just lock your valuables in a locker, in order to experience the ride as unprotected as possible.

The boat trip begins quite harmlessly. From the outside, one enters a hall in a very relaxed way, where even the waterfall at the beginning is senselessly switched off during the passage. A lift follows, after which the actual trip to Valhalla begins. The ride up to the turntable is accompanied by epic music, fog and mythological creatures. Backwards you go down a drop, which will moisten you a little bit. This is followed by a ride through a cold chamber. Fortunately, the ride through this impressive room doesn’t last forever, as the second and immediately wettest shot ride is waiting for you. Reasonably wet, almost soaked, we pass through a water tunnel, which of course reaches right into the boat. This effect was not known to me during my last visit and thus I was also a little surprised about it. Shortly after that, a water cannon is shot that releases a good amount of water on one.

Of course, Valhalla would not be Valhalla if the journey was already over after this; in fact, it is just starting. After passing the second lifthill things are more or less overturning. The scenes are getting more and more action and the water effects are getting meaner and meaner. As an example we have to mention a swinging axe or even a hammer in front of the rolling tree trunk, which simply throws a complete bath tub load, probably even more, onto the passengers from above. No later than here you are 100% soaking wet. A little later, a double drop follows as the last shot, whereby one is drenched once more. But this is hardly due to the descent itself, but due to the water effect that is waiting for you at the end. Luckily, the Pleasure Beach knows that the riders of Valhalla might be slightly more wet, as “You will get wet! You may get soaked!” is indeed the warning for the ride. The impact of the ride is similar to a jump into the Irish Sea, whereupon one is warmed up from the side by some fire effects. However, the Pleasure Beach don’t want to dry the riders under any circumstances, which is why there is still a water effect waiting for you.

The water ride Valhalla is basically way to wet for me; at least for a typical british day in spring. It was indeed a quite sunny day, but the clothes would surely not have dried during the opening hours, which is why I rode the ride at the end of my stay. Valhalla itself is a very impressive ride and should never be missed during a visit to the Pleasure Beach.

Flying Machines

After you have conquered Valhalla you should not make the mistake of visiting the Flying Machines nearby. This ride is long, fast and the wind is cold. A ride on the classic Derby Racer is more advisable in this case. The three older dark rides of the Pleasure Beach Alice in Wonderland, River Caves and Ghost Train should not be ignored during your try to get dry.

Avalanche

If the ice room from Valhalla was not yet icy enough for you, you can throw yourself into the ice channel of the Avalanche roller coaster. Where previously the Swiss bobsleigh run of Heide Park was always in my favour, the fast and at the same time intense ride from Blackpool could convince a little more. Since the bobsleigh run only operated one train, I had to wait in a long queue of 3 trains.

Wild Mouse

The best roller coaster at Pleasure Beach is the wooden roller coaster Wild Mouse, which is much wilder than the steel mice, which can be found at any German fun fair or several theme parks. Secured only by a seatbelt you can experience wonderful airtime and very abrupt curves, which you drive through at full throttle, as the speed is only regulated towards the end of the ride. Those who complain about steel wild mice that are supposedly too brute should rather avoid this ride, but those who love Wild Mouse roller coasters are best served with this wooden masterpiece.

Conclusion Pleasure Beach

The Pleasure Beach is a great amusement park with a charm all of its own, where you can easily spend a whole day. However, I still doubt whether one should tackle a second one at all. Nevertheless, there is a lot to experience and/or re-experience here, so that a visit is always worthwhile.

 

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Blackpool Pleasure Beach