Tag: HUSS

A day in the world of adventure

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Chessington World of Adventures

The day after Whit Monday we took the train to Chessington South and from there about 1km walk to the amusement park Chessington World of Adventures – a theme park of Merlin Entertainments.  There we immediately came across a wonderfully empty animal and amusement park. On our day of visit, all rides did two laps in a row, which was quite astonishing, especially with the roller coasters.

Dragon’s Fury

Passing tigers and lions, which were still moderately active in the early morning, we went to the first object of desire, the spinning coaster Dragon’s Fury. This ride, built by Maurer Söhne, is relatively easy to describe, as it is simply ingenious. The first drop ends in a crazy S-curve combo, which leads into an Immelmann turn. Some turns and helices follow which then change into another weirdness, namely the second quite flat lifthill which gives you the necessary potential energy to complete the rest of the rather bizarre layout.

Dragon’s Fury is by far the best spinning coaster in the world, which is no easy feat with rides like Sonic Spinball from Alton Towers or Tarantula from the Spanish Parque de Atracciones de Madrid. The ride itself usually has a very good gondola rotation, which further enhances the great ride layout.

Wild Asia

Right next door, the newly designed Wild Asia theme area lured us straight into Asia. The former Beanoland, which was dedicated to an English comic series, was redesigned for the 2010 season and now presents itself to visitors with two new features.

Monkey Swinger

In addition to a bumper car, a playhouse and a crazy bus from Zamperla, the area also boasts a very remarkable installation: A wave swinger made by Zierer. Normally to be found in almost every amusement park, Chessington World of Adventure manages to make the Monkey Swinger something very special by using water fountains. In contrast to the installation at Phantasialand, the fountains at the Monkey Swinger are not only an impressive decoration but also serve as an ice cold refreshment. Here at the latest, one becomes aware that the English are not really averse to water. Thus, it is not surprising that one rushes through the water fountains a dozen times during the ride. Thereby, the outer seats where one already gets soaking wet are still the driest seats.

Kobra

To get dry again you can go to the body dryer or sit in the new Kobra ride, a Zamperla Disk’o Coaster. The ride itself unfortunately looks much more imposing from the outside than it is from the inside. Nevertheless a ride on the Kobra is still a nice one for in between.

Lorikeet Lagoon

The second novelty in this area is the Lorikeet Lagoon, an attraction that can now be found more and more often in zoological gardens, such as Erlebnis-Zoo Hannover or Weltvogelpark Walsrode. It is a walk-in aviary where lorikeets make their rounds and you can buy food for these birds for little money.  Thanks to the nature of this parrot species it is possible to get into quite funny situations, at least as long as you have some nectar left to attract them.

Dragon Falls

In the Chinese themed area Mystic East you can find the log flume ride Dragon Falls next to the Ferris wheel Peeking Heights, from which you can theoretically see as far as Thorpe Park. This ride is wonderfully designed but offers only a very slight level of wetness and a rather bizarre layout.

Rameses Revenge

To the joyful surprise of the staff we went for a ride on the Top Spin Rameses Revenge. As the first guests of the day we were not only surprised by the fountains of the ride, but also by the good German language skills of the staff, who appropriately called the machine a Waschmaschine.

Tomb Blaster

In the same themed area there is the interactive dark ride Tomb Blaster, an attraction from Sally that is well worth seeing. Here, a long train takes you through numerous breathtaking backdrops. Due to the yawning emptiness in the park and the resulting longer breaks in the block areas, one could accumulate a bunch of points, but the ride also lacked some momentum.

Rattlesnake

Somewhat hidden and lying in a pit like the Top Spin, the wagons of the Rattlesnake – a Wild Mouse from Maurer Söhne – do their rounds. The waiting area in the middle of the layout alone deserves some attention, but this is even more trumped by the ride. In contrast to the Crazy Mine at the German theme park Hansa Park, the original ambience has so far been maintained and not enhanced by functional extensions.

Runaway Train

Somewhat offside you can find the Powered Coaster Runaway Train – a Blauer Enzian modell of Mack Rides. This standard model has been perfectly suited for Chessington World of Adventures, which you can already notice when passing through the queue that has somehow been put into the ride. The coaster itself is also much more harmonious than the sister ride Flying Fish from Thorpe Park, which is barely 15 miles away. The nice staff provides a great atmosphere as well.

Hocus Pocus Hall and Sea Life Centre

An interesting attraction is the passage through the Hocus Pocus Hall, where you can see some effects with special glasses. Another interesting walkthrough is the Sea Life Centre, which unfortunately has an ugly tent look from the outside. But in the interior, the aquarium is very convincing. The big variety of species and the elaborate design provide a high entertainment value. Thanks to the very low number of visitors it was finally possible to have a closer look at the fish.

BubbleWorks

In the Transylvanian themed area Transylvania you will find the probably most beautiful Burger King in the world as well as a very individual dark ride around the topic squeaking ducks. The tour through the bubble factory BubbleWorks turns out to be quite amusing and can show one of the most impressive finales, because here you literally go for a bath. You won’t get wet, but the water jets you drive through are very impressive.

Vampire

The last roller coaster of the park is from Arrow Dynamics and is a true suspended coaster. This rare type of roller coaster can be found mainly in America and unfortunately the very few examples are getting rarer and rarer with time. In this respect it’s good to know that there is also a ride of this kind in Europe. The still quite new trains made by Vekoma at least give hope for a long future.

The ride on Vampire starts quite amusing with some curve combinations where you already swing a bit to the side. Shortly after that you will go up the second lift hill, after which you complete the part of the ride that can be seen from the outside. Passing the row of houses at the Burger King you quickly get into the treetops where you continue swinging a little to and fro. The highlight of the ride follows shortly afterwards, when one swings out quite intensively after a big drop while leaving a tunnel. Unfortunately, one lands in the braking section shortly thereafter, where one swings out a little before returning to the station.

Vampire is a very surprising roller coaster whose ride comfort increases noticeably for those who wear glasses as soon as you take them off. Although Vampire is not the highest or even the fastest roller coaster – which is mainly due to the local conditions at the park – Arrow Dynamics managed to put an extremely amusing ride into the park, which is definitely unparalleled at least in Europe.

Black Buccaneer

Right next to it, in a quite interesting location, one can admire the ship swing of the park, which, as all the other bigger rides, was put into a pit. Bizarrely, the entrance to Black Buccaneer is in a quite illogical position, so you can invest some time before you find it. After one completes the impressive way back down to the ship swing one is rewarded with a great ride with a quite large swing-out.

Pictures Chessington World of Adventures

Conclusion about our first ever visit

Chessington World of Adventures is one of the most interesting animal and theme parks in Europe and can boast first-class rides, beautifully designed themed areas and a really good zoo area. If you are close to London and are spoilt for choice between the three theme parks Chessington World of Adventures, Legoland Windsor or the practically neighbouring Thorpe Park, the park in Chessington should definitely be paid attention to – it is worth it.

 

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Chessington - World of Adventures

In Honour of O.D. Hopkins

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Preface

After Stefan unfortunately couldn’t come with us to England last year due to a small fracture and we received a ticket for this season through the Guest Relations, we went to the English island once again, where we not only encountered minimal waiting times at Pentecost, but also the best weather to celebrate O.D. Hopkins masterpiece Tidal Wave extensively.

Tour of the park

X:\No Way Out

The beginning of the visit was the magnificent and completely screwed up indoor roller coaster X:\No Way Out made by Vekoma. For many roller coaster fans of the world this ride is wrongly considered one of the worst steel roller coasters par excellence, but the ride only does what it was designed for. The strange lifthill passages, the reversing train, as well as the computer virus that the ride reflects story-wise, make the ride something very special.

Tidal Wave

In the immediate vicinity is Tidal Wave, a masterpiece of a spillwater from O.D. Hopkins. Tidal Wave scores with its enormous wave and the resulting high – but pleasant – degree of wetness. Unfortunately, the founder of the spillwater manufacturer O.D. Hopkins died shortly before our visit, so some laps on Tidal Wave were made in his memory.

Nemesis Inferno

Because Stealth was not running for a while the nearby Inverter of the park was visited. Nemesis Inferno is the bigger brother of its sister ride Nemesis from Alton Towers and has an equally good and fun layout.

Of particular importance is the start of this layout, where after a downhill bend you pass through a fog-filled tunnel before the train enters the lift. After having climbed it, a curvy descent follows in order to be released in a powerful loop. Typical for the manufacturer now follows a wonderfully intense Zero-G Roll, which then releases you into the interlocking corkscrews. After the last curves are completed, the short ride is unfortunately over again.

Detonator

Thematically, Nemesis Inferno forms a fiery unit with the Fabbri Freefall Tower Detonator. While the inverter is completely dedicated to the volcano, Detonator is already a little bit aside at the foot of it. The fall from the only 40m high tower lets nearly every other tower look old, because here you are not only dropped, but shot down by a preloaded spring.

Saw Alive

As Saw – The ride was out of service and there were high queues at the Maze Saw Alive, as well as at the neighboring multi-inversion coaster Colossus, the Canadian area was examined more closely. Unfortunately there seemed to be a lot of downtimes in general, so it was no surprise that the huge S&S Power Sky Swat Slammer didn’t ride.

Logger’s Leap

However, the neighbouring log flume Logger’s Leap sent one boat after the other down its double slope, so a ride on the ride was targeted. The small boat tour starts quite nasty with a shot in the dark before it gets quite strangely closer and closer to the big shot. Once up it goes immediately downhill and this luckily with a pronounced airtime on the second gradient. Unfortunately the level of wetness is limited, but the ride on the log flume is always a pleasure. Besides there is also Tidal Wave to get you wet.

Stealth

Since Stealth was back on the road again, we went to the Amity Cove area again to be transported to the sky with the appropriate music playing. Stealth offers quite a short ride time, but you can rarely be faster in 60m height and back again, especially since the launch just rocks. Unfortunately, the ride doesn’t end after the Top Hat, rather on a hill where you get to know the shoulder restraints in an unpleasant way. At least the whole package is convincing, especially since the trains here are a bit bigger than on Desert Race and Rita.

Flying Fish

A little bit hidden and since the Swarm probably also more popular, you can enjoy the probably coolest powered coaster by Mack Rides. The Flying Fish does not only greet its passengers with the word Dude but can also show a quite interesting train. Unfortunately, another train rarely seems to be a good choice for a powered coaster of this model, especially since the whole thing can turn out quite painful like in the travelling version Feuer und Eis (fire and ice); over here, the train seems a bit too wide. This is evident in the ride, but the unharmonious transitions are hardly disturbing, as the train itself is equipped with the latest generation of seats and restraints.

Saw – The Ride

Because Saw – The Ride finally started to run again, we had to dare a ride there as well. Unfortunately, the course already showed significant losses in the second year, which was mainly due to the additional queue for the fast pass owners.

After finally being cleared, the car is starting to move. The first part can still be seen as brilliant, but unfortunately the outer part of the ride seems to have taken a turn for the worse. The first change you notice is the lower speed, as there is no longer the almost indescribable rush and the resulting forces. The second change is the rather ungentle approach with its passengers; the ride was suprisingly rough.

Samurai

More or less next door and unfortunately a little bit inappropriately designed for this area is the Top Scan Samurai by Mondial. This ride, that is very popular especially in the United Kingdom, is very convincing – at least if the rotation of the gondola also allows some rollovers. But the constant shifting of the legs to the right is not very pleasant in the long run.

Colossus

Also the world’s first 10 inversions roller coaster Colossus wanted to be ridden. The very photogenic ride, which by the way has the same epic soundtrack as its namesake from Heide-Park in Lower Saxony, continues to convince, provided you have completed the first three inversions. What the looping and the following cobra roll do to you isn’t that nice, but what follows is basically just great. The two corkscrews are passed with a wonderful speed before the four Heartlinerolls are started. These are slightly monotonous but are – at least in Europe – a unique experience and the prelude to the best inversion of a roller coaster par excellence, the final fifth Heartlineroll in the opposite direction. The roll is something special and rides wonderfully harmonious; a basically unique feeling.

Rush, Quantum, Vortex and Zodiac

In the same area there are still some rides, like the boring S&S swing Rush, where with a bit of luck a giant dragonfly is slapped in your face, which can be considered a highlight during the short ride program. The flying carpet Quantum and also the neighboring Afterburner Vortex show hardly any ride characteristics worth mentioning except for their manufacturers. The HUSS Enterprise Zodiac is a very interesting ride, not only because of its short ride program, like all rides in this area, but also because of its safety belt to attach the grid to the nacelle.

Rumba Rapids

The park’s Intamin Rafting ride is not really worth mentioning, because Rumba Rapids clearly gives away a lot of potential. The course itself features a wonderful wave pool that could flood the boats nicely. As always on European rapid rides, one remains dust-dry.

Pictures Thorpe Park

 

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Thorpe Park

Hamburger Sommerdom (2009)

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Who would have ever believed to attend the grand opening of a Schwarzkopf looping coaster in Hamburg, but here I am. Known as Laser in the American theme park Dorney Park for nearly half an eternity, it was now bought back by the showman Steiger. After a large overhaul, whereby the original trains got to be replaced by new ones from SAT, it now presents itself in all of its glory at the Hamburger Sommerdom.

 

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Hamburg