A few hours in the great miniature world

Legoland Deutschland

If you leave the motorway in the direction of Legoland Deutschland in the Bavarian town of Günzburg, you are immediately confronted with Lego on a large scale. Here you don’t spill, but rather make bricks and blocks, and that in the most figurative sense of all. Legoland Deutschland, which opened in 2002, is already the second Legoland on German soil, after Legoland Sierksdorf, today’s Hansa Park, was not necessarily blessed with success in the mid-1970s due to its proximity to the original Legoland in Billund.

Power Builder

Located directly in the entrance area, the Lego City, a special experience awaits the visitors on the Power Builder. Several robots from the Augsburg company Kuka, equipped with a passenger carrier, are standing around in a hall. The ride is more or less exciting depending on the intensity level (level 1 – 5) and can be either roll-over or non-roll-over depending on the age of the passengers. There is also a possibility to program the ride, but I doubt if the extrapolated sum of the different possibilities is true.

Feuerdrache

Shaken, you can now continue your tour in the direction of the local knights’ area. In the central castle lives a dragon, which now and then strays into the kitchen to eat something. The partly funny, but very simply knitted story belongs to the Feuerdrache (fire dragon), a big Force Coaster from Zierer with a nice dark ride section, which has a rather nasty drop at the end, especially in the back rows. The actual roller coaster part is driven through quite fast and can be a real test of courage for the little visitors.

Drachenjagd

Next door is the Drachenjagd (dragon hunt), a roller coaster from the nearby manufacturer Gerstlauer for the very young guests of the park, which has a very surprising first gradient, as the passengers are simply pulled to the right. But don’t worry, children are only allowed to sit on the left side of the train. The ride itself is small, but it’s fast and beautifully designed. Especially the little dragon on the roof, which is haunted by fire from time to time, is very well done.

Raupenritt

Pure evil awaits you on the mountain and valley railway Raupenritt, an Old Train from the Mack company. The ride itself would be rock solid, especially since it does not only turn forwards but also backwards, in combination with design elements of the company Lego however an almost merciless torture machine is created – at least for the adults. Children enjoy even such a ride without limits.

Dschungel X-Pedition

To relax a bit I went on the log flume Dschungel X-Pedition, a Reverse Boat Ride made by Intamin. The ride is designed as an expedition and consists of two shots, the first of which is done backwards, passing dinosaurs and threatening plants. The general degree of wetness is quite manageable, so that a ride for somewhat larger children is certainly as much fun as for the water-shy parents.

Captain Nick’s Piratenschlacht

Almost next door is the pirate area of Legoland Deutschland, where young pirates can go to the Piratenschule (pirate school) on a Rockin’ Tug and then compete in Captain Nick’s Piratenschlacht. This is the prototype of the popular Splash Battle by Mack, which has a layout that is too far stretched in some places, which is why you unfortunately don’t meet your opponents that often and the degree of wetness is accordingly limited.

Sea Life Atlantis

Relatively new at the time of the visit was the Sea Life Atlantis, an aquarium with design elements of the sunken city of Atlantis. After watching a well animated Lego short film in German and English the gates to the lost city open. Unfortunately you are out as fast as you came in, which is typical for all Sea Life aquariums of the Merlin Entertainments Group.

Project X – Teststrecke

Close to the 4D cinema, where a larger selection of worth seeing Lego style animation films is shown, you will find the two water rondel Wellenreiter, the somewhat odd-looking cup ride with the inventive name Techno Schleuder, and the Wild Mouse roller coaster Project X – Teststrecke. Like the Matterhornblitz at Europa Park, this one has a slightly different layout, with the emphasis on the shots rather than the hairpin bends.

Miniland

The other attractions of the park, which are mostly suitable for children, have all been wonderfully staged, but the highlight of every Legoland is, as is well known, the Miniland, which is beautifully laid out in the middle of Legoland Germany. It is quite big and can show a lot of European motives besides numerous German buildings.

Pictures Legoland Deutschland

Conclusion Legoland Deutschland

Legoland Deutschland is an extremely harmonious amusement park, which is well worth a visit, especially with younger children. Although adult visitors also get their money’s worth, one would have to ask oneself if the high prices still justify a visit. In connection with one or the other offer, one can visit the park without having to worry.

 

What is your opinion about the theme park Legoland Deutschland?  Just write it in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

 

          


Welcome to the Ghetto

Preface

Unfortunately, the Compagnie des Alpes decided to not operate their Shuttle Loop roller coaster model (Turbine) just some days towards our visit to Walibi Belgium. Fortunately, I had the honor to ride the ride back in 2008.

Lot has changed in the park since my last visit to the worse. Although this time the Flashback ran without any problems, there was a great potential for improvement on almost everything. Positively, the remains of the roller coaster Vertigo could not be found everywhere in the park.

Tour of the park

Cobra and Palais du Génie

Since the crowds in the morning are always go in the anti-clockwise direction around the lake, it is recommended to start the round tour with the most gentle of all Vekoma Boomerangs, called Cobra. If you follow this path you can ride the really beautiful Vekoma Mad House Palais du Génie without any queues. Unluckily, the music was quiet, so that we could hear the drum doing some cracking noises.

Radja River and Flashback

Radja River was as drenching as always. When it started to rain, we rode this ride and flashback alternately. There is only one point in the ride where you could get soaked, but it is a quite efficient one.

The log flume Flashback is one of the best, albeit also one of the strangest, log flumes out there. The tunnel after the first descent can get you very wet, especially the people who are sitting in the front of the boat. While the people in the back of the boat should worry about their clothes on the last drop. The industry look of the ride is just brilliant and very well harmonised with the nearby roller coaster turbine. This theme is truly different and special.

Challenge of Tutankhamon

The dark ride Challenge of Tutankhamon is a very great ride by the American company Sally. The different paths of the cars make this rides to one of the best of its kind. Especially the end is just awesome, as long as you are able to defeat the boss. However, the building is a bit out of the way and can easily be overlooked, especially if you are not allowed to ride the small Tivoli Coaster on the forecourt.

Calamity Mine, Dalton Terror and Buzzsaw

If you follow the round tour past some broken rides you reach the western area of Walibi Belgium, where you can find the mine train roller coaster Calamity Mine. The ride itself is gentle, but the overall theming is just great. The adjacent Intamin Drop Tower Dalton Terror can be skipped, especially since some tracks are always broken. The Top Spin Buzzsaw is among the worst rides ever build, but celebrated by the anti-social public within the park. The screeching French gits make it quite an amusing one to watch.

Loup Garou and Vampire

The two remaining roller coasters Loup Garou (werewolf) and Vampire were a lot worse than in 2008. It may have been due to the lack of care. The suspended looping coaster was operated extremely slow. You spend quite a long time in the lifthill and went through the track so slowly, that you could have been happy to arrive back into the station at the end of the ride.

Closing Words

Later in the day, we only switched between Flashback, the Darkride Challenge of Tutankhamon and Radja River. Walibi Belgium itself clearly has a bigger problem with its guests than the Movie Park Germany, and incidentally has got into a disastrous condition. Let’s see how the future for the park will be like.

 

What is your opinion about the Intamin Rapid River Radja River of Walibi Belgium?  Just write it in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

 

          


A day in Walibi Aquitaine

Walibi Aquitaine

After I spent a year in France in the years 2005/06 and did not come to count except for a trade fair for agriculture, where among other things a Reverchon spinning mouse, a Mondial TopScan and some other funny rides could be found. I had to make up for this during my visit in the lower Saxonian easter holidays in 2007. The destination of the excursion was the Walibi Aquitaine amusement park.

As the season always starts late in France, we were able to visit the season start of the largest regional amusement park in the southwest of France shortly before my departure. Walibi Aquitaine is well known to everyone but this does not automatically mean that there is something going on in the park during the low season.

Coccinelle and Boomerang

The park itself is only medium in size, but has some good rides for the whole family. In the front part of Walibi Aquitaine you will find, besides a children’s area with the Coccinelle roller coaster, the biggest roller coaster of the park: Boomerang. This Vekoma Boomerang was the first one I saw and I was thrilled from the beginning. The ride through the three inversions is incredibly fun in the forward direction, but in the backward direction the whole thing is skilfully topped once again. The original HUSS-Arrow trains did their best, especially when it came to repeat runs.

Bateau Pirate

Not far from the Boomerang you can carry your dinghy up the steps of the dinghy slide yourself or slide down the carpet slide on a scratchy carpet. This only depressed the mood a little, the southern French could make up for it in the nearby boat swing Bateau Pirate. The slogans during the ride were simply too divine.

Radja River

Also the Intamin rapid ride Radja River enjoyed a visit. The ride through the beautifully designed course could offer a good moistening, which we gladly took up more often thanks to the short waiting time.

Splash Battle

The situation was somewhat different in the rather young Splash Battle. The Preston & Barbieri ride, built in 2006, was able to soak without any resistance (after all, almost all water cannons were broken), but most of the effects were switched off, which really spoiled the fun.

Drakkar and Zig-Zag

However, if you want to get wet, you can go on the Soquet log flume Drakkar in the northern area of Walibi Aquitaine. The boats had no outlet for the water, which was therefore accumulated in the back of the boat during the lift ride. Also the splash was so big that even with only two lightweight people in the boat you got completely soaked. Luckily there is an Italo mouse from Zamperla right next door, which could blow you dry again in a very short time. The layout of the Zig-Zag doesn’t come close to a Wild Mouse of German manufacturers, but convinces with its smaller drops on the lower levels of the ride.

Tam Tam Tour

The sea lion show is definitely worth a visit for many French people, as the park suddenly became deserted during the show times. Also worth a look is the boat trip Tam Tam Tour, which was taken over by frogs during spring. The otherwise quite nice African themed ride becomes quite eerie due to the loud frog croaking, especially since you cannot even see the frogs so quickly.

Apart from a water fountain show, Walibi Aquitaine also offers some good flatrides, such as a tea cup ride, a wave swinger and Chance Chaos, which unfortunately was broken on my visiting day. The park also has a long ride in a vintage car, which is nicely situated in front of the old building in the middle of the park.

 

Have you ever visited Walibi Aquitaine? Just write it here in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels: