Mack Rides

The Water / Theme Park

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Aquashow Park

The amusement park or better said water park Aquashow Park is located in Quarteira near the city of Faro and is the largest park in the country and at least theoretically divided into the two components that describe it. When you enter the park you first enter the amusement park area of the park, through a separate entrance in the middle of the park you can then enter the water park. At least that was the idea at one time, but more about that later. In addition, the park offers a lot of extra activities, like a space centre, a museum about Portuguese history or a skating rink, which are not included in the entrance fee.

Top Swing

Directly at the entrance the Fabbri Top Swing swings into the air, and my expectations were justifiably high; after all, the identical model at the Flamingo Land zoo and amusement park in England has clearly proven that you can overdo it a bit with airtime. Unfortunately the ride was quite short and not very varied, so that my enthusiasm was limited. Although the desired ride characteristics were offered, the airtime orgy was simply not the same.

Air Race

Directly opposite, the first European Air Race has been running for some years by now. This ride was the one that put the Aquashow Park on my list of amusement parks to visit; even though a much closer ride has been installed at the Copenhagen amusement park Tivoli Gardens last year. Overall, this type of ride is becoming more and more common in amusement parks all over the world.

As soon as the ride has started, the passenger carrier slowly swings up and creates a very bizarre hang time, which you are bound to enjoy a little longer. Once the ride has started, the passenger carriers roll over at a very fast speed and by no means powerless. In the interim, the direction of travel is reversed, so that as time goes by, a few rollovers in both directions add up, making for a very interesting and varied ride.

Aquafly

On the way to the park’s big roller coaster, the Montanha Russa, you inevitably walk along the Aquafly, which at least in theory is supposed to be a splash battle at lofty heights. In order to have enough water in the tank, the cars, which are designed as seaplanes, stop in a water basin and then follow the track at constant speed, similar to a gondola ride. As there was nobody else on the ride, the ride was not very convincing, also the guns were difficult to handle and therefore hardly usable.

Montanha Russa

Let’s now turn to – if you want to believe the park flyer – Europe’s only and largest water coaster: Montanha Russa. Of course, those who know Poseidon from Europa Park and Skatteøen from Djurs Sommerland in Denmark will hardly agree with this, but it reflects the humour of the park and is a clever, albeit mendacious advertisement. The design of the ride is exceptionally minimalist, but that’s not all that makes it stand out.

Once you’ve walked through the whole ride and finally found the entrance area, you’ll be off on the next best boat. The course of the ride is identical with Poseidon and so the boat bobs around the maintenance hall of the ride a little bit. Shortly after that the boat hacks into the chain with a strong jerk and climbs up the lifthill. At the top there is a small 180° turn and shortly after that the notorious highlight of this circuit follows, where normally even raising hands can be a test of courage. It would be wrong to say that the ride is smooth, however, Aquashow Park is the best place to ride this section that all water coasters of this type in Europe have in common; regardless the super modern production on the newest model. The following shot ride is known for its sweeping ride and the degree of wetness is at a surprisingly high level.

Full of anticipation for the next stroke while hacking into the lift, which did not happen, the Portuguese sun dries you a little. A panoramic view from a lofty height follows until the second shot is initiated. Thanks to the shape of the downhill run, you are torn out of your seat a little bit until you are racing over the bunnyhop at full speed to get a good shower shortly afterwards. This is unfortunately not due to the wave generated by the boat, but rather to the conveniently placed bridge over the splash area, where the water is broken and falls down onto the boat, while the passers-by on the bridge, interestingly enough, remain completely dry.

Speed Race

From this bridge starts the ascent to this year’s novelty of Aquashow Park and at the same time the reason why the separation of water and leisure park can no longer be taken seriously. This is a simple, but by no means small, mat slide called Speed Race. The interesting thing about it is that the end of the slide is built on a base and you leave the pool via a steel platform. While the mat slide in Slide & Splash had already proved to be very funny, here you miss the water pool at the end of the ride, which makes the braking not at all pleasant, at least not for men. Nevertheless, the experience is great enough to make the long way back to the starting point.

Piscina Tropical and the Slow Slides

Through a turnstile you enter the water park, where under a peculiar construction there is the large wave pool Piscina Tropical and an immense number of sunbeds, which are free to use. Four of the so-called Slow Slides also end in this area, whose individual names rather reflect what they actually offer. It’s a bit strange to call your much too fast and airtime-rich body slides slow – but it’s no wonder if at some point you realize that the park doesn’t take itself quite so seriously. Here you will find a variety of wonderful slides, all of which not only have a fast course with a good water flow in common, but unfortunately also a rather long way back to the starting position.

Pistas Foam, Lazy River and Wild Snake

Passing the wide slide Pistas Foam, well-known from the Slide & Splash water park nearby, we now head towards the park’s own hotel, where the trivial and not really attractive Lazy River is located. However, as there is a slide featuring an endless helix, which ends in it, the Lazy River was also tested. Visually, the Wildsnake slide takes a lot of getting used to and is also rather boring from the ride in this tyre slide.

White Fall

After what felt like an eternity, we finally reach the end of the flow channel and climb up the mountain with a different tyre towards the biggest slide in the park. White Fall is a fully-grown version of the Tsunami slide from Polin, which, like the ride in Djurs Sommerland, can generate one or the other Adrealin thrust. In contrast to the ride in Denmark, here you don’t just swing back and forth, but towards the end of the halfpipe-like section you are pushed into the next section by two big guiding rolls. There, you go over a few hills towards the pool at the end of the hill.

Pictures Aquashow Park

Conclusion Aquashow Park

Aquashow Park is a decent water park with some attractions that you can find in some theme parks. In general the park offers more than it should and so a space centre for example seems to be completely out of place, also the skating rink is a place to argue about and if you have to offer the shows on top of that. that all other parks in the Algarve seem to offer. Aquashow Park is therefore a bit of everything and does what it does quite well. At least it’s no wonder why the Aquashow Park is Portugal’s most popular theme park.

 

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Aquashow Park

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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Plopsaland Deutschland

Demonic flights through the Lüneburg Heath

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Flug der Dämonen

Preface

When Heide Park decided to close its second log flume, which suffered more and more from various failures, in favour of a big novelty two years later, the cry of regular park visitors was big, because the senseless bumbling around on the higher level of the ride was considered by many as a thematic highlight in the park. The only thing that will be missed is the final shot and the wave that might hit the boat towards the end of the ride, as well as the miners and Saxon card players. The discontinuation of the Wildwasser II, however, created an unfavourable scenario for the attractions that were on the mountain, because there was no reason to climb it at all, or rather hardly any reason to do so. This circumstance has now been compensated for by the Flug der Dämonen (Flight of the Demons) and improved by using the lower entrance of the former water ride, so that you no longer have to climb the mountain completely just to descend it again entirely. By using the old queue it was also possible to establish the first real English style queue in the Heide Park. Just like in the amusement parks of the same group on the island it takes a while until you have left it behind and have to decide between the two sides of the wing coaster.

This choice does not tend to be easy, but it becomes unnecessary once both sides have been tested. The spacious station has room for quite a lot of people, but is only entered by counted groups, so that there is hardly any free choice of seats. This is also the first interesting novelty of the ride, as the luggage rack is quite well solved and works better than any other kind of storage.

The Ride

Flug der Dämonen begins with a slight right turn, after which the steep lifthill is quickly completed. Now follows the meanwhile for this type of roller coaster proven way to start the descent, whereupon you plunge headfirst into the abyss. At some places you are accelerated in a very interesting way, which creates a thrilling ride feeling. As a result, in the valley, there is a lot of pressure in the seat. Then, the west-like and very tight restraining system prevents the rider from enjoying any negative forces on the following hill. After passing under the cleverly placed shop at the exit of the ride, one passes through an element that was already used for the Krake, but which is more interesting to ride through here, although the riding position, at least at the outer places of the trains, is similar to the Krake. Another powerful valley later, one is turned upside down with revolutionary thoughts, because the role, possibly known from the Eurostar roller coaster, is hit here. A little more leisurely, the car now makes a turn along the station of the bobsleigh run to send the passenger carrier back down to the abyss. With higher speed one approaches the next inversions of the ride, which optically resemble a pretzel at an angle. Here you are turned around your own axis relatively quickly and then in a steeper curve you have to fight your way up again to explore the Heide Park upside down again. After another valley the train makes an almost too steep bavarian curve to transition into the brakes, where you can enjoy the view of the station and the gyro drop Scream for a while.

Conclusion Flug der Dämonen

Unlike The Swarm, the Flug der Dämonen is a roller coaster that you can ride on both sides without worrying about too much difference in quality of the ride, although in my opinion the right side of the train is better. Also, you won’t need to ride backwards for the next few years to make the ride more exciting, because The Flight of the Demons is an extremely solid and great steel roller coaster. Of course, you won’t notice any of the advertised close calls, but this shouldn’t really surprise anyone, because also at Thorpe Park this only happened after the installation of the billboard, which really enhanced the ride. Despite this background, the new roller coaster of the Lueneburg Heath doesn’t really need this, as the ride convinced all along the line.

Pictures Heide Park 2008-2014

 

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Heide Park