Intamin

Magnus Colossus and other accidents

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Doubtful changes in Terra Mítica

When the Benidorm-based Aqualandia-Mundomar Group released the Terra Mitica theme park from its transitional society in 2012, hopes were high that the actually solid and rather less visited theme park with its wooden roller coaster Magnus Colossus, visible from afar, would be filled with new life. One year later the park’s offer was reduced to a minimum by combining some of the theme areas to form the brand new theme park Iberia Park. For the time being you could visit the park for free and pay for the rides via token, but this strategy was changed the following year, so that besides Terra Mitica you could visit a second full-price amusement park, without a roller coaster, but with a bigger spa area than the park next door.

While the amusement park was always well maintained by the transitional society and shone like no other Spanish amusement park because of all the new paint, the park is now quite run down and the paint has actually worn off in many places. The maintenance on the roller coasters in general leaves a lot to be desired, so a ride on Magnus Colossus with missing side padding for the knees is pretty brute, so it’s no wonder for me that the restraint of the Intamin ZacSpins Inferno failed in July this year.

A hint that the roller coaster is not in operation at the moment is missing on the park’s website, of course. Only from the final brake of the wooden roller coaster Magnus Colossus you can see the three cars in the station. Of course there are no signs of any work around the ride.

Magnus Colossus

During my last visit in 2011 I could only test the rearmost car for Magnus Colossus, one ride was enough for the rest of the accompanying group, and so I was only able to experience the strange phenomenon of the constant and quite painful interplay between bar and backrest. Admittedly it was also the reason for a second visit, because I was missing a final opinion about this wooden roller coaster. As it turned out, a ride in the last car is still not recommendable, but further to the front you at least saved yourself the swinging, but not the permanent hitting of the knees against the existing or not existing side paddings. With a length of more than 1100m this is by far not comfortable and even Lightwater Valleys Ultimate is a soft ride. If you still think that Bandit from Movie Park Germany is a horrible, even unrideable wooden roller coaster, you are welcome to experience your holiday including a visit to the park at the Costa Blanca.

Apart from the general disintegration of the rides and the elimination of several thematic areas, there are actually no major changes. In general, however, the Terra Mitica amusement park is only a shadow of its former self, so a visit is not advisable.

Pictures Terra Mítica

Closing Words

Fortunately, since my report in 2014, things have changed again. The Iberia Park only existed until 2016, after that the park was once again complete. It was a crazy idea from the beginning, which didn’t really work for anyone and probably cost a lot of visitors. With the opening of the Grand Luxor Hotel, from which you have a wonderful view down to the city of Benidorm, a resort was also created, so that one should not yet give up hope and actually pay the park a visit one more time.

 

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Terra Mítica

On the trail of the discogods on Chiapas

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Preface

If you are not a student from Lower Saxony, it is actually a crazy idea to work for a well-known car manufacturer in Wolfsburg during the semester break and move into your accommodation in Hanover. Accordingly, I had to buy a ticket and since the Deutschlandpass was cheaper than the regular commuter ticket, I was able to travel quite a lot through Germany, even though Brühl turned out to be the longest distance at the end. Since the opening of this year’s novelty at Movie Park Germany was still in the dark and the wooden roller coaster Bandit is mostly operated with only one train on Sundays, for the first time I took the ICE to Cologne and then the RE to Brühl. Due to delays of the train I reached Phantasialand around noon. I paid the high admission price without resistance, as the new modern log flume Chiapas attracted all my attention and the admission price to the Wintertraum event at the end of the year was included. The general changes within the park were once again of a positive nature, which somehow justified the admission price beyond these points.

Phantasialand – Chiapas

Since the demolition of the two rather mediocre or bizarrely barren log flumes Stonewash Creek and Wildwash Creek the park lacked a possibility to take a shower outside the rafting ride River Quest or at least to get a little humidification during the hot summer days. Contrary to the general trend, the decision was made to build a new water attraction of the same type of ride. Of course, Phantasialand did aimed for a sufficient number of new records and a decoration that is second to none.

This alone does not of course speak for the quality of the ride, but Chiapas is a genuine eye-catcher, even if the infrastructure around the ride is a bit suboptimal. The entrance to the queue is a bit hidden, as long as you don’t know that most of it is below the ubiquitous bridge. While the waiting area of the normal queue was already full, the single rider queue led one to the division point, where unfortunately the handling of single drivers turned out to be unsuitable for re-runs.

Finally divided to one of the boats you have to sit down on your place in some way – an admittedly rather difficult undertaking, which was always easier on other log flumes in spite of the narrowness of the boats. However, the general riding comfort turned out to be higher, at least if not a Dutch idiot with his mobile phone camera creates a POV and leans backwards. I would have liked to do without the resulting headache during the first descent.

The ride on Chiapas

The ride starts after some bustle through the canal with the first lifthill, which is much faster than the friction wheel lift of the roller coaster next door due to the technology used. By interacting with Colorado Adventure, this short passage can be quite remarkable. Shortly afterwards, you are already on the excavation site. Immediately the first shot follows and with some luck the first wave sweeps over the occupants of the boat. Shortly thereafter, the first switch follows, whereby the backward journey starts relatively rough. Now, we bob a little through the vivid scenery of the ride until we reach the real highlight of the ride and pay homage to the disco gods, as it is the case with the Feng Ju Palace; the following slope is then quite humane. Rather quickly, we are transported by another switch to a parallel route, whereby the direction of travel is again directed to the front. After another lift, our way continues under the open sky until, after some time, we reach the next lift hill and approach the (from the outside) sensational looking shot. Arrived at the highest point of the ride, we now go down fairly steep and fast. Under the bridge, we continue our way to the ground until, as a Germany-wide novelty, a small hill follows. After a last splash the way back towards the station follows.

Conclusion Chiapas

Chiapas is indeed Phantasialand’s greatest log flume and definitely the most advanced of its kind, but is it the best of its kind? The answer to this question is relatively simple, as it is not, but it is by no means at the average level of its predecessors and can compete throughout Germany. Valhalla from the Blackpool Pleasure Beach and the Rio Bravo in Parque Warner Madrid, however dominate the competition in Europe. Chiapas scores with its original design and the very enjoyable ride, which definitely makes repeat rides worthwhile, as long as it’s not that crowded and River Quest has more people in the queue.

Colorado Adventure

But not only Chiapas can convince with its high quality construction, Colorado Adventure also profited from it at the highest level. Not only does all the new wood have a wonderful effect on the roller coaster, the new paintwork is also highly convincing. Compared to Temple of the Nigh Hawk, the ride is now the better enclosed roller coaster on some sections of the track and invites to many, many, very many rides throughout the day at Phantasialand.

 

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Phantasialand

When the sky screamed for the first time

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Preface

If the day begins suboptimally it can only be good, at least that’s what I thought when I woke up early in the morning at Jan’s home in Weiterstadt, saw my glasses in pieces and spontaneously had to plan a visit to Fielmann in Haßloch. On the way we picked up Martin, so we got there on time and after about ten minutes of waiting we could take the way to the neighbouring Holiday Park. Despite these circumstances we waited super punctual on the forecourt for the others and then awaited the opening of the roller coaster Sky Scream together with them.

As I myself was not in possession of a valid season ticket, I joined the queue and waited surprisingly long. Since Julian now also joined the group and made significantly faster progress in the line next to mine, I joined him in order to extend the queue with a funny action by using our Fort Fun season tickets. Since the group was still not complete we decided to repeat the whole game with Jan’s annual ticket at another ticket office, after all, a ticket was still missing. Last but not least Martin surprised us with an expired season ticket, which blocked his entrance and led to some nice hours in the season ticket queue, while we enjoyed ourselves in the park.

Holiday Park

Majas Blütensplash

Meanwhile it was already clearly after 10 o’clock and thus our lively troop with the urge to ride something moved into the Majaland to pay a visit to the Blütensplash. Well entertained, a little wet and with a kitschy children’s song in our ears, we were now attracted to the actual reason for the visit, as a high structure surrounded by a lot of naked concrete radiated a certain end-time mood from which we did not want to resist.

Sky Scream

An old, dirty Vekoma track showed us the way to the roller coaster Sky Scream and shortly after we made ourselves comfortable between the concrete walls. Up and down a short steel staircase we waited now with a little more people on the way up to the station. Certainly most of the people willing to ride waited there and due to the narrowness of the station there was also a little chaos, because although the first row obviously had the most people, some of the other rows had a much longer wait. Especially when the station is a bit narrower, it would have been useful to set up a turnstile and let a maximum of 2-3 car loads into it. Certainly the Holiday Park is seldom as full as on the day of the visit, but a little more order could lead to more rides, which I actually regretted by a small mistake towards the end of the day, when all the others rode three laps in a row.

Finally taken a seat in the, at least in the last rows very narrowly laid out, cars of the roller coaster Sky Scream and pushed down the unfavourably shaped bar, the ride could begin. The first launch resembles in large parts the initial acceleration of a boat swing. After the change of the running direction the ride is much more powerful and so you almost reach the apex of the Non-Inverted Looping, from there you have a wonderful view to the Wild Mouse roller coaster and other areas of the park. With a lot of momentum you accelerate a third time and after a 180° turn around the axis of the track you reach the uppermost level without any effort, where you are torn out of your seat. After a very short breather, the immense airtime is followed by a strong hangtime in a roll that could not be placed better. Now follows the immersion into the Non-Inverted Loop, where you are physically stressed, especially in the rear part of the train. The rotation around the axis of the rail is so brutal that you hardly notice the following valley. Another reunion with the apex of the element initiates the final of the ride, whereupon you come to a precise stop in the station after another ride through it.

The Sky Scream is a truly outstanding ride – it does what the Superwirbel hasn’t been able to do for years, if the ride was running at all, and that is to be a noteworthy internal competition to the Expedition GeForce. It draws people away from the park’s everlasting main attraction. Although the ride built by Premier Rides is not the best German roller coaster novelty this year, which is without question the Flug der Dämonen in the Lueneburg Heath due to its rounder overall package, it is definitely one of the better roller coasters in the country. Holiday Park has done everything right by its risky choice.

Lighthouse Tower and Expedition GeForce

An attempt to get a backwards ride on the Palatine Lighthouse Tower by intensive rocking later our group increased to its full bloom. Martin’s request to get something to eat was skillfully ignored and accordingly the Expedition GeForce was given its long-awaited tribute. Since the ride has always been going well, another ride followed later in the day, but this time in the first row of the train. Interestingly enough, we then rode in the same trains as the group members who had broken away since the water ski show and had been waiting much longer for the last row of the train.

In the Pfalzgraf we tried out the entire range of products on offer, in my case it was a well cooked, but unfortunately quite sweet goulash of inferior quality. For the high costs one can actually expect something better, especially since the drinks were unfortunately not included, but it was still better than the iterative approach to a goulash meal of the Studierendenwerk in Hamburg, so you were able to eat it.

Burg Falkenstein

Well filled we decided to go to Burg Falkenstein, where apparently frighteners were waiting inside from 13 o’clock on. The park was really trying to upgrade its dark ride, inside the dark ride you were sprayed with water and got caught by the only active actor.

Wickie Splash

While one novelty this year is of a consistently positive nature, the disfigurement of the great Mack log flume Teufelsfässer with the now trivial name Wickie Splash is definitely not. The ride is now designed in the style of the new animated edition of the series Vicky the Viking and features a colourful look, which is not yet matching with the overall style of the ride. In addition, the lighting of the newly equipped turntables is completely missing, which makes the ride much worse. The degree of wetness of the ride would have remained the same, had it not been for the constant efforts of the other passengers to shovel water into the back of the boat.

Pictures Holiday Park

Closing Words

The meeting in the Holiday Park turned out to be absolutely great, especially since the group created a proper atmosphere here, which somehow couldn’t really be heard from the small splinter groups of the other forums visiting the park at the same day. Although we didn’t really manage to ride much during the visit, except for some permanent riders at Sky Scream at the end of the day, we visited every relevant ride that was on the way. At least I didn’t regret the long way to Palatinate at all and would not be averse to other meetings of this kind in the future.

 

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