Inverted Coaster

A weekend in England’s best theme park

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Alton Towers

Situated in the middle of a quite hilly and at the same time beautiful region, out in the middle of nowhere, you will find the most significant theme park in England: Alton Towers. Around the ruins of the old castle and its gardens, an amusement park has been developed over the last three decades, which you simply have to see.

In contrast to comparable amusement parks like the Efteling or the Europa-Park, Alton Towers unfortunately does not show its splendour at the entrance, which simply does not want to fit into the overall concept due to its simple design. Even the upgrading of the forecourt by the corkscrews of the former Vekoma roller coaster Corkscrew doesn’t manage to increase the visitors’ anticipation.

Tour of the park

By entering the park, one is relatively soon confronted with the question in which direction one should go. This is further intensified by the early entry, since there are only a handful of attractions that are ready to ride at this time of day.

Following the way to the left, it is possible to get to the Forbidden Valley and/or to visit the Cloud Cuckoo Land in a very fast way, provided that the SkyRide – thus the gondola lift in Alton Towers – is running. If one has the pleasure to stand in front of a closed station, it is recommendable to follow the way further to the area Mutiny Bay.

Battle Galleons

The Battle Galleons can also be found in a slightly modified form at the German amusement park Heide-Park in Soltau. Even the music is the same. The level of wetness is quite high even though the weather was rather cold.

Sharkbait Reef

The other rides in this area are very family-friendly. In addition to a Zierer Kontiki, you can also ride a teacup train with cups in the form of powder kegs. But also the pirate show and the Sea Life Centre Sharkbait Reef can be found here. Luckily the aquarium is not as small as the versions from the Legoland theme parks or some German centres. The choice and number of species can be compared to the version from Chessington World of Adventures, but luckily it doesn’t share the tent look with it.

The Flume

Alton Towers has managed to create one of the most original themes for a water attraction with The Flume. It is all about bathing, which is very much in keeping with the wetness of the ride. Squeaking ducks and a more than brilliant soundtrack complete the installation, which unfortunately is in need of a lot of renovation. The ride itself starts relatively unspectacular, considering the fact that after the first drop down you curve around in a forest for a few meters. After climbing up the second lift hill you find yourself in the middle of a house, where the second shot is taken in complete darkness. After having met the huge duckling, one leaves the house wonderfully soaked. A further lift hill brings you to the height of the final shot, which fills the bathtub again with the intended amount of water. If one is still dehydrated, the showers at the end of the ride will help.

Congo River Rapids

In contrast to The Flume, the Congo River Rapids are much drier. Unlike Drayton Manor’s Splash Canyon, there is not even the slightest chance of getting wet. The layout was also designed more for capacity, after all there is no possibility to overtake the boats. Creatively the rafting offers a nice station, but unfortunately that’ s it. However, the interaction with the small roller coaster Runaway Mine Train is absolutely worth mentioning.

Runaway Mine Train

The Powered Coaster Runaway Mine Train is a very special ride from Mack. After the first helix the train gains not only height but also speed and after a few hills it goes down a steep curve. Two helices follow and the tunnel where you interact with the rapid ride before you speed through the station after a small curve and start the second round. The atmosphere created by the staff and the mutual cheering between the passengers of the passing rafts and the train passengers is just wonderful.

Duel

Just as atmospheric, but a lot darker is the ghost train Duel. An interactive dark ride in which zombies have taken over the house of a scientist who has experimented a little too much with death. The ride itself is based on the Haunted House dark ride, which has been spiced up with some changes.  Especially worth mentioning is the ride system that helps you to make your way through the quite large show building, because it is especially the single cars that create an eerily beautiful and most of all creepy atmosphere. The effects that are triggered during the ride are ingenious and even manage to scare you out of your wits, which is even intensified by the focus on the targets. Duel offers a ghost train experience of the special kind, which doesn’t take itself too serious and can convince without looking cheesy. The accompanying music underlines this aspect excellently. The only weak point of the layout are the guns themselves, which are not easy to hold in the long run and distract from the great atmosphere with their noises, but otherwise this ride is definitely one of the best of its kind.

Nemesis

Passing last year’s novelty Nemesis Sub-Terra, an indoor freefall from ABC-Rides, which was only running sporadically or not at all due to work during the visiting days, we now head to the roller coaster which every student from Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein knows from their English textbook since many years, namely the B&M Inverted Coaster Nemesis.

The journey begins with a comparably rather small lifthill, from which one is released in a lively manner. Quite untypically, a corkscrew inversion follows, which you would expect towards the end of the ride. The exit from this element leads into a helix, which can be described as bloody intense, as it pumps the blood into your feet like no other coaster. Thereupon you are turned upside down for the second time in a zero-g roll, only to make a rather boring turn towards the looping afterwards. This loop is luckily done the way a loop should be done and ends in the last inversion after another turn. Shortly after that the brake run is reached. Overall, Nemesis is a good and above all smooth ride, which is very entertaining.

Air

Only a few meters away from Nemesis, Alton Towers can call a prototype its own, which is quite airy. It should be noted that Air is not the first Flying Coaster out there but the manufacturer’s first installation.

As soon as you have left the fluffy waiting time, in a rather bare and boring waiting area behind you, you are introduced to your row of seats and the airy experience can begin. After one is dazzled by a light on the floor in front of the lift, it already goes upwards, but with a little stop in the lift, so that one can still wave to some people who have placed themselves curiously under it. The first descent brings you a little closer to the ground before you are turned on your back and stay that way for quite a long passage. The feeling is very surreal and therefore simply ingenious, especially if you think you are quite close to the trees during your first ride. One turn further on you do a complete roll before you get quite close to the stones in the last curves and turns. Overall, Air is a wonderfully intensive ride with little floating airtime moments, great close calls and a fantastic setting. If you have the pleasure to fly in the first row you will surely appreciate the ride, but also the other rows will offer the same airy riding pleasure, even if the visibility is a bit limited.

Blade and Ripsaw

The Blade and Ripsaw attractions complete the Forbidden Valley named area. Where the Blade swing ship, apart from its appearance and location in the valley of the former Thunder Looper roller coaster, a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop, offers few special features, Ripsaw can use its full potential. The Top Spin by HUSS is probably one of the best known representatives of its kind, but this is not due to its ride programs. Ripsaw usually makes you wet and this even outshines the Rameses Revenge from Chessington World of Adventures. Unfortunately, on the day of our visit there was hardly any playing with the water fountains, so that we went out of the ride wet, but not soaking wet.

The Gardens

If one has the pleasure to do without the cable car, one can now either walk around the gardens or through them in order to get to the other side of the park. From many sources one hears that a crossing of the gardens is time consuming and that one can get easily lost if one does not follow the signpostings anymore. That these sources are wrong can be clearly seen, as long as one has done the rather short distance by cable car. The gardens themselves are arranged in a valley and can be crossed in a short time, as long as one does not shy away from the descent and ascent. Even if one has a closer look to the gardens, one does not need much time to see everything, getting lost is quite impossible.

Hex the Legend of the Towers

Another interesting attraction is located in one of the side wings of the Towers, the old castle ruins of the Alton Towers theme park. With Hex the Legend of the Towers Vekoma has delivered a masterpiece of a witches’ swing which fascinates visitors with its storyline. The story isn’t far-fetched, after all it’s basically just a spiced-up version of a local legend. The curse that led to Chained Oak is in the center of the story, only the end, where the Earl of Shrewsbury experimented on the first fallen branch of the oak tree in a well hidden laboratory, is new. The musical background, which is the leitmotif of the attraction, is simply brilliant, as is the atmosphere created by the high-quality pre-shows.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

After leaving Hex you will find yourself in the courtyard of the old building. A few meters further on you can visit Cloud Cuckoo Land, probably the weakest area in Alton Towers. Here you will find the park’s 4D cinema, the wave swinger Twirling Toadstool and the dark ride Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as some attractions for younger children.

The dark ride brings the modern fairy tale of Roald Dahl closer to the visitors and is divided into two ride sections. On the first section, you accompany Charlie and the children on their boat trip through the chocolate factory, which gradually falls victim to their spoiled behaviour. When only Charlie is left, the journey continues in an elevator, which is one of the best simulations you can experience despite the animated characters and landscape. The experience itself corresponds to the original and is quite convincing.

Ice Age 4D

This year, the 4D cinema will be showing the film Ice Age 4D, where you can watch a bad recording of the probably best Ice Age (Ice Age 3 – Dawn of the Dinosaurs) film to date. The story has been shortened to the basics – where a few effects could be added – which unfortunately fell victim to the cheap jokes that make up this movie. The recording itself is therefore a bad joke. For Alton Towers itself, the movie might be an enrichment, but one could have done without it.

Th13teen

Located in the Dark Forest, Th13teen is the newest roller coaster of the park. Marketed as the ultimate, yet most terrifying roller coaster, the ride, built by Intamin, is an ideal family roller coaster, which manages to scare even the youngest passengers.

The ride itself starts relatively fast before it goes up the lift. The following descent manages to build up a good amount of speed, but the integrated trim brake is a little bit annoying, as the deceleration is noticeable and the turns are only passed somewhat faster instead of having a very pronounced airtime. As soon as you have conquered the second lift you enter the crypt only to crash through the floor. This is the first time that a freefall element has been installed in a roller coaster, which is quite convincing despite the low height. After the fall the ride continues backwards in form of an oversized, but at the same time simply ingenious Bayernkurve back out of the crypt. In the end, friction wheels accelerate you towards the station in a suprisingly fast fashion.

Rita Queen of Speed

The neighboring roller coaster Rita Queen of Speed was renamed Rita as a result of the reorganization of the area and now features a distinctly gloomy look. An aura like the one of Stephen King’s Christine now surrounds the trains of the ride, which now serve as escape cars. But what you are fleeing from is completely irrelevant, but de facto you should flee.

The layout itself serves as a model for the catapult launch coaster Desert Race from Heide-Park Soltau, but differs in some details. The launch track is not only longer, but also leads into the first turn a bit more leisurely. The following hills offer wonderful airtime before the brakes are reached. Compared to the sister coaster Rita seems a bit more leisurely, but due to the paths underneath the layout it is at least more convincing in terms of design. As the queues at the ride fill up very fast, it is recommended to ride the ride as early as possible or to get a fast pass instead.

Oblivion

On the other side of the towers is the X-Sector, a themed area around the Oblivion roller coaster. The world’s first Dive Coaster offers a very special kind of free fall experience, after all, the hole is waiting for you. The rest of the track is relatively irrelevant, even though the turnaround with a 90° bank is a nice one to ride. Oblivion is basically all about the fall, and despite the comparatively short stop, it is extremely convincing and also quite refreshing. Unfortunately, the appearance of the ride is massively clouded by the exit, as you first have to make your way through an arcade.

Enterprise and Submission

The other attractions in this area are a HUSS Enterprise and a Chance Double Inverter. The Enterprise has been placed really ingeniously and can actually have a 90° inclination, which is not noticeable from a technical point of view, but visually unusual. The inverter named Submission is a very special ride for Europe, after all, there is only a second other installation in Walibi Rhône-Alpes in France. Technically, the ride is quite curious, but it is a nice ride. The further inside you sit, the more distinctive is the feeling of the ride with its strange ride cycle.

Riverbank Eye Spy

Close to the entrance are the three themed areas Adventure Land, Storybook Land and Old MacDonald’s Farmyard. These three areas can be described as the better children’s areas in Alton Towers, after all you can find some interesting and beautifully designed attractions. Besides a merry-go-round and a tractor ride, you can also try out Mack’s canal ride Riverbank Eye Spy at Old MacDonald’s Farm. This ride offers an unusual feature and can therefore be seen as an interactive dark ride, although unfortunately not every button actually works. The Squirrel Nutty Ride in Storybookland is a beautiful high-level ride with a rather strange layout in places. As with Air, you should pay attention on your head when entering the ride.

Sonic Spinball

The last roller coaster in Alton Towers is dedicated to the Knight of the Wind. Originally opened as Spinball Whizzer, the ride is now entirely devoted to Sega’s video game hero Sonic the Hedgehog, which is very popular in England. Also thematically the choice is quite reasonable and understandable, after all many Sonic titles have a connection to the pinball theme. Unfortunately, the design of Sonic Spinball is kept very minimalistic and the music can only be heard in the entrance area of the ride. It’s a pity, after all, the titles of Crush40 and Co. are simply brilliant.

The ride on the huge pinball machine keeps its promise and offers a ride that can only be trumped by Dragon’s Fury of Chessington World of Adventures. The part in front of the lifthill is to be seen as relatively bizarre, as it brings the cars into an unconservative starting position in front of the lift. The rest of the ride is fast and sometimes quite abrupt, which is especially good for the part after the big Immelman Turn. Surprisingly, the clearance of the ride is very fast, which invites one to several rides in a row.

Pictures Alton Towers

Conclusion Alton Towers

Alton Towers is one of the best European amusement parks and can convince by its beautiful location. The distances you cover during your day in Alton Towers are not as long as a visit to the Efteling theme park in the Netherlands, but this might be an advantage. Next year, SW7 will fortunately upgrade the X-Sector and another visit to the park is a must do.

 

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Alton Towers

There’s a monster in Maizières-lès-Metz

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Walygator Park

A year ago, during Easter, Thomas, Marcel, David and I went to Maizière-lès-Metz to visit the Walygator Parc. The weather was beautiful. The queues were well filled, basically a perfect day for a visit to the park, but unfortunately the reason for our visit – the B&M Inverted Coaster Monster – decided to stop working at that time. Since the park itself really wasn’t bad, our journey was worth it.

A year later, in the worst weather conditions of April, another attempt was made to get a ride on the former Expoland ride Orochi. We had a restful sleep and left the hotel slightly too early; we arrived at the parking lot an hour before the ticket booths were even opened. We had to wait for a while, but during this time the parking lot stayed more or less empty.

Monster

Just before the opening of the park, tests were carried out so that we could expect the park to eventually open. From experience we headed directly towards the roller coaster Monster, even if one or two rides on Anaconda would have made sense, as we first had to wait for 12 passengers in the station.

Gradually our co-passengers started to arrive and as we were the first ones, the first ride of the day took place in the front row on the sister ride of Cedar Points Raptor.

The ride in the first row is rather smooth, the forces in the looping, the quite high located Zero-G Roll and the Cobra Roll are hardly noticeable. Also the highly praised second part of the ride after leaving the former block area is comparatively harmless, as neither the corkscrews nor the helices at the end of the ride manage to build up enough pressure. In the back row the forces are way more pronounced. Where the first part of Monster can clearly convince, one is now pulled in the corkscrews and the helices at the end of the ride.

The monster itself is a good ride, but the layout is unfortunately not Batman La Fuga or as Jan would say it is not Nemesis. It doesn’t matter where the ride has been built, or how it is painted, as the ride itself is fun, it just lacks extremes. The forces themselves make the ride family-friendly, which is why it is a great addition to the park’s portfolio.

Südseewellen

After a round on Family Coaster, the park’s Wacky Worm, Jan went on to discover the park. Passing the former Smurf Village we went to the space area of the park, where the S&S Space Shot Dark Tower is still not completed this year, the Schwarzkopf Orbiter Südseewellen performed a decent, albeit quite monotonous and not too fast ride, and the Vekoma Hurricane Walycoaster waited for passengers.

Walycoaster

The Vekoma ride, which has been in the park since 1989, is one of the best Vekoma rides still running with an Arrow train. Although the latest generation of Vekoma trains can be regarded as truly ingenious, they simply cannot match the timeless design of Arrow. The ride is not bad at all and free of any rattles, but for time reasons we only did one ride.

Terror House

One of the park’s flagship attractions is the Terror House, a maze. Usually a long queue is formed relatively quickly at this ride, if there are other people in the area. However, the really creepy one is not the Maze that shines through some brilliant butcher’s rooms at the beginning of the arrangement of confusing corridors, but the Fun House that has to be completed before. The Terror House itself is quite big, the interior consists mostly of plain rooms with animatronics, there is also a frightener that tries harder than the lost pirate crew from the Lüneburger Heide.

Rafting

The park’s rapid river Rafting is located in the direct proximity of the maze. Built in 1989 by Soquet, this rafting ride is dedicated to the journey of Odysseus and has been superbly staged. Remarkably strange, as well as capacity reducing, is the handling of the boats, which are practically operated in a train system. A further curiosity are, similar to the log flume of the park, the different boats in use.

Tang’Or and Polyp

Passing the always broken HUSS Topple Tower Tang’Or and one of the children’s areas of the park, we reach the lake, where a very strange Schwarzkopf monster is located. Normally the excenter lifts after some time and creates the wave movement of the ride, but as this feature is currently broken you circle more or less fast at ground level. Luckily it’s not difficult to get a good spin on the ride, but the fun is reduced.

Riviére Sauvage

Passing the teacup, the wave swinger and the way too long and way too slow boat ride, you reach the log flume Riviére Sauvage. This ride, built by Soquet, is simplistic and features only a few bends and just one drop. Enough to get you perfectly soaked.

Anaconda

Located at the edge of the park is the wooden roller coaster Anaconda, which was once again voted the worst wooden roller coaster in the world. The coaster doesn’t offer airtime, crosses the tops quite slowly and needs extra weight on the Morgan-built trains, but it’s definitely not the worst wooden coaster in the world. As a wooden coaster, Anaconda delivers a solid ride. The speed, the height, as well as the out & back layout are actually pretty good and worth a ride.

Pictures Walygator Parc

Conclusion Walygator Parc

The Walygator Parc is not a bad amusement park, but also not a very good one. This year the expansion madness of the French showman brothers Claude & Didier Le Douarin continued and so they now present a new children’s land with rides bought by the fairground and simply put up. However, what became of the planned Wild Mouse is hard to say, also it is very likely that the park will not paint its Inverted Coaster for the time being.
 

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Walygator Grand Est

A roller coaster ride in Phantasialand

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Phantasialand

Due to a competition with a low participation for the attraction Maus au Chocolat, which had not been opened yet, Phantasialand gave away several tickets for this year’s season. Since the time of my last visit in 2009 a lot has changed, for example the old Schwarzkopf dark ride Gondelbahn has been demolished. In addition, many new children’s rides from Zamperla have moved into the park, the neighbours have found a reason to complain – about the whisper-quiet water attraction Wakobato – and an extension is still far in the stars because of some environmental activists.

The first impression from the old entrance, which now only serves the shuttle guests, is quite nice, even though Main Street used to look nicer. The now present space looks quite strange at Phantasialand and the construction sites don’t fit into the ambience. A similar situation exists with the huge passage from Berlin to the fantasy area.

Fröhliche Bienenjagd

As one of the newer attractions, the Fröhliche Bienenjagd (Happy Bee Hunting) in particular was a good investment. From the outside, the ride can be quite inconspicuous, but this perception changes during the ride at a stroke when the car first dashes over the small hill. The corners of the mouth distort and a wide grin appears.

Hollywood Tour

The off-the beaten track located dark ride Hollywood Tour should separate itself from the old-fashioned theme, which is hardly recognisable during the ride. However, the ride is still more exciting than Pirates in Batavia at Europa-Park, where you can take a nap for 2/3 of the 20 mins journey. Still, there is so much more potential in this ride that can be used; a look at the current state of the ride is too much of an effort and should be avoided by any means.

Temple of the Nighthawk

One floor above the Hollywood Tour you will find the Vekoma roller coaster Temple of the Nighthawk. Unfortunately this roller coaster could hardly reproduce its once fast past ride. If you ride through the pitch dark with its constant changes of right and left curves at a snail’s pace, you can definitely do without the ride despite its outstanding length. Efteling’s Vogel Rok shows how intense comparable rides can be.

Winja’s Fear and Winja’s Force

Next door you have the choice between two mediocre spinning coasters, one of which is rather bad and the other simply better in almost every respect. Of course we are talking about Winja’s Fear and Winja’s Force. If you have to queue here for more than 30 minutes, only a ride on Winja’s Fear is worthwhile, as the layout tends to approach the top-class spinning coasters Dragon’s Fury and Crush’s Coaster due to its choice of elements. Only the special elements make the rides on both tracks an experience that you should – if still unknown – experience.

Race for Atlantis

If you walk up the hill, the first thing you encounter is the simulator Race for Atlantis, the highlight of which is the safety rap of the preshow if you are guided into one of the cabins at all, as the staff often forget the passengers. The simulation itself isn’t very worth mentioning, which is a shame, as the way the movie is shown has a lot of potential.

Talocan

The HUSS Suspended Top Spin Talocan is quite stylish from the outside, but always has the problem that more people watch than ride and therefore stand gawping in your way. The ride itself is balanced, intense and can score with its rollover series, which fortunately are longer than with an older Top Spin. You get the better – and also more stomach-friendly – ride on the spectator-directed side, as the wall doesn’t constantly rob you of your orientation.

Stonewash Creek and Wildwash Creek

If you enjoy the water, you can use two water playgrounds, the multi-storey rafting ride River Quest, as well as the two log flumes Stonewash Creek and Wildwash Creek. The left side of both rides has a much too short outlet, while the other side can be surprisingly wet. However, both rides are very in need of restoration and thus it wouldn’t be really surprising to see both rides soon levelled to the ground.

River Quest

With a little luck, the Hafema raft ride can make you more wet than the two log flumes together. However, if you are really lucky it can happen that you get soaked down to your underpants. But if you are damn very lucky, it can also happen that you are temporarily flooded with so much water that the other passengers in the boat cannot even see you for a short time. Amazingly, the shoes stayed dry, so there was no danger of catching blisters or other unfavourable stuff.

Mystery Castle

In order to get dry again, a trip on the nearby freefall tower can be taken. Unfortunately, the ride which is located in a high masonry does not offer, what it should offer. Basically, Mystery Castle is just a very loud elevator in a building. There is a lack of forces which prevents the ride of being as awesome as other Intamin installations worldwide.

Silbermine and Geisterrikscha

The Silbermine and Geisterrikscha dark rides were unfortunately not worth mentioning this time, although the Silvermine had no reputation to defend, as the ride is generally considered to be boring and, above all, lengthy. In the case of the Geisterrikscha, some of the scenes were literally made worse. If you don’t want to renew the entire ride, you should make sure that the charm of the ride is not damaged by your actions.

Feng Ju Palace

In the Feng Ju Palace – the Vekoma Mad House from Phantasialand – nothing wanted to run as it should. The projection towards the end of the ride missed the intended surface and was shown on the still spinning drum. At the end of the actual ride, this mistake caused the doors to be in a rather awkward position. After some time the drum was brought back to its starting position and the doors opened.

Black Mamba

It remains a mystery how the newspaper Bild titled the roller coaster Black Mamba as a crash-coaster, as the death of the person last Saturday was not caused by an accident, but by the carelessness of the victim. Despite all attempts to experience a crash by ourselves, the Black Mamba offered the solid ride for which it is well known. Since remaining seated in spite of empty seats is still not allowed and the queue is simply too long for such undertakings, we did not make many rides.

Colorado Adventure

One or two rounds – this time with remaining seated – were instead taken on the park’s showpiece roller coaster, the Colorado Adventure. The right side of the train became compulsory for friends of water sports, as it was not spared by the waterfall of the third lift. The strangely banked curves and the generally high speed make the ride one of the best of its kind, even though the back cushion is still not very comfortable.

Tikal

This year, in addition to a good and, above all, fast wave swinger made by Zierer, which also offers a wonderfully refreshing ride, two children’s free-fall towers from the same house were able to move into Phantasialand. Even if the size is deceptive, both towers of Tikal, as well as almost all children’s rides in Phantasialand, are very convincing. The ride is very surprising and unlike elsewhere it is very dynamic.

Conclusion Phantasialand

Phantasialand is a recommendable amusement park if you either have too much money or just won a card somewhere. Unfortunately, most rides are not worth mentioning anymore. It is also astonishing that several construction sites exist until the high season. Thus, there is unfortunately the hint that there are also other amusement parks in the vicinity of the city of Cologne that do a lot better than the park in Brühl. Phantasialand currently invests a lot, so the future remains open.

 

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Phantasialand