Tag: Mack Rides

A few hours on the unmagical island

itemprop="discussionURL"1

Isla Mágica

Located in the centre of the city of Seville, on a large part of the former 1992 World Exposition site, is the Isla Mágica theme park. This park, existing since 1997, offers a few rides, but a lot of shows, food stalls and a lot of vegetation combined with many thematic elements.

The first impression you get in this park is quite positive, but this changes relatively quickly when you take a closer look at the park’s manageable rides portfolio.

The park itself is built around a lake, on which there are two attractions, a boat ride and a self-built splash battle, probably one of the newer rides in the park. Similarly cheap is the boat swing, which was apparently lovelessly smacked onto the lake.

Anaconda

The first big attraction you will come across is the log flume Anaconda from Mack Rides. It has three shots of not exactly low altitude and has been wonderfully integrated with the park area and the waiting areas of the log flume. The wetness level seemed to be quite dry from the outside, we unfortunately did without a ride at the beginning of the day, a few hours later we stood here for half an eternity.

Tren de Potosi

A few metres further on you will find the park’s first roller coaster, the Tren de Potosi. This roller coaster of the company C&S is quite close to a Big Apple, but has a downward helix after the, here at least, funny hills. The ride itself is a lot of fun and is not only an enrichment for the small kids.

Llamas

It takes quite a long walk until you reach the next attraction, the more disappointed you are that the Llamas are only allowed to be ridden by children, after all, this ride is quite original for an electronic horse track.

Iguazú

Right next to it, you will find Iguazú, a spillwater of Intamin, which makes very good use of its surroundings, but does absolutely nothing at all. From the water, which the boat (by the way the same construction as already known from the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid) diverts to the side, you will only get drops inside the boat.

Jaguar

Located in a dead-end street you can ride the second roller coaster of the park. The ride, named Jaguar, has not only a surprisingly open area below the roller coaster, but also the latest generation of trains by Vekoma. Although the ride is absolutely no good and the bonus helix just deserves the label “nice”, the train is simply ingenious. It is not only absolutely comfortable, but can also keep its head from all side blows thanks to the new brackets. The waistcoats themselves are a little more comfortable than on the MK1200 trains, as used for example in Gardaland and Walibi Holland. At least the trains are a worthwhile investment for any reasonable park, only here in Isla Mágica they are a complete waste.

Capitán Balas

Passing the tea cups, we go to some ugly concrete buildings that date back to 1992. In the basement of one of the buildings is the pirate darkride Capitán Balas. This is an interactive ride by Mack, which can also be found in a similar form in the Avonturenpark Hellendoorn. The scenes themselves are beautiful and detailed, moreover, you can get your inmates wet at the right moment, unfortunately only yourself at the wrong moment.

Rapidos del Orinoco

Back out of this concrete complex, where there are also two cinemas, we now enter an area where the vegetation seems to have taken over. Here you will find the Rapidos del Orinoco, the last major attraction of the park and one of the most beautiful rapid rides in Europe. The beauty of the park is not necessarily wet, as is often the case in Europe, despite the waterfalls that are still sticking out into the boat. The curve around the wave flyer is particularly worth mentioning.

El Desafío and Ciklón

Apart from a children’s land, a merry-go-round and the Power Tower El Desafío by Maurer Söhne – which has different programmes running at different times, but even in the most intensive version can do less than the prototype in Hansa-Park -, as well as the beautiful Giant Disk’o Ciklón by Zamperla, there is basically nothing left here. The only, more or less, traditional dark ride of the park has been replaced by a Maze that costs 5€ entrance fee and is probably not worth the extra charge, even if you get a voucher at the park entrance.

Pictures Isla Mágica

Conclusion Isla Mágica

For those who love a theme park for its shows and theming, Isla Mágica is certainly a really good and successful park. For all the other park guests the offer of the park is simply too low and the price compared to the other Spanish parks is simply too high, even though you don’t even have to pay the full entrance fee until the age of 25. In my ranking of the worst amusement parks Jaderpark was knocked from its throne, because I don’t want to go here a second time voluntarily.

 

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

 

          

Isla Mágica

A day in Madrid’s amusement park

itemprop="discussionURL"0

Parque de Atracciones de Madrid

Located in the heart of Casa de Campo, the largest public park in Madrid, next to Madrid Zoo is the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid, the city’s amusement park. Since 1969, it has attracted crowds of visitors to the site of the group of shares now known as Parques Reunidos. Where the Tivoli principle used to apply in the past, today there is a one-off entrance fee to pay. Annual ticket holders of several Parques Reunidos parks can go directly to the entrance. Once in the park you now have the choice of three routes: Turn left into the area called Maquinismo with the roller coaster Abismo, straight on to Gran Avenida or turn right into the area called Naturaleza.

La Lanzadera

As the Maurer Söhne roller coaster Abismo was already attracting us from far away, we turned left for the time being. Passing a very nice and elaborately designed, but broken Top Spin we went straight into the first attraction we came across, the Intamin Giant Drop La Lanzadera. This rather small tower pulls quite neatly and is very convincing compared to larger European rides.

Abismo

The urge for a certain roller coaster of German manufacture became stronger and stronger, but for that an abyss must be conquered – the Abismo. The XT 450 ride manufactured by Maurer Söhne is characterised by the fact that the SkyLoop is followed by a few more metres of track. From the outside, the ride looks quite impressive and the added elements look quite promising, but that’ s not the way Abismo wanted to ride. After a good first part, there were some rough descents and – thanks to unfavourably closed bars – no airtime at all. The braking, however, was surprisingly gentle, which has caused me some concern since the SkyWheel of Skyline Park. Thanks to the higher intensity and the fun backwards part, the SkyWheel convinces me much more than its extended version.

Tarantula

Practically speaking, the entrance of one of the rides is located directly at the exit of the other, at least in the case of Tarantula and Abismo. Unfortunately this roller coaster had a small defect at the beginning of the day, but luckily it was still running. Here you may invest some minutes in the queue, but it moved quite fast. After taking a seat in the single chaises we went up the fast, but very loud and well audible lift. Some downhill runs and curves in airy heights follow until you enter the funny second part of the ride. Here the course is very intensive and the car spins very fast. Compared to Dragons Fury from the English Chessington World of Adventures, the Spanish Spider definitely gets the short end of the stick, but nevertheless it stays high up in the ranking.

El Aserradero

Right next to it and Abismo runs the Zamperla log flume El Aserradero through the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid. The steep lifts are very hard to get used to, as you can hardly hold on to them, at least at the front of the boat. After the tunnel at the end of the ride you might get a good shower through the waterfall, which either turns off in time or simply turns on above the heads of the passengers or even stays on from the beginning.

Tyfon

Where once a HUSS Enterprise and a swing boat used to stand, there is now a Zamperla Disk’O called Tyfon. Unfortunately, the placement of the ride was not really thought out, so there is a lot of open space around the ride and it seems that something is missing here.

Rotor

A few meters further on you will find a HUSS Condor called Rotor. The clearance took what felt like an eternity and before you could enjoy the view in the air you first had to overcome the treetops in the upper third of the flight altitude. This unfortunately causes the ride to lose some of its charisma.

Tornado

A bit off the beaten track, in a dead end street, is the Intamin Suspended Looping Coaster Tornado. The layout is unusually long for an inverted coaster of this height and occupies much of the area around it. The ride in the rather long train turns out to be slightly rough and not really exciting, only the corkscrew may be mentioned as the highlight of the ride. From the outside the ride is a forest of pillars without equal, especially the loops deserve special recognition.

Sillas Voladoras and La Cueva de las Tarantulas

If you climb the way out of the cul-de-sac, you can take a lap on the wave swinger Sillas Voladoras, and if the crowd is too big, you can even queue for a single seat. Beneath the spinning coaster Tarantula is La Cueva de las Tarantulas, an interactive dark ride through a mine filled with spiders. The ride itself is well designed and the one or other effect is quite frightening. The ride system itself seems to be a bit older and so the ride has a certain nostalgic charm.

La Maquina

The last attraction in this area is the HUSS Frisbee La Maquina, which not only catches the eye with its outstanding design, but also offers one of the most intense and balanced riding programs. Rarely is a park version better than the traveling specimens of the same type, and so La Maquina can be seen as the showpiece of a HUSS Frisbee.

Los Rapidos

As the weather made cooling off a reasonable option, Los Rapidos was considered in the Naturaleza area. This ride, built by O.D Hopkins, is something different, since in Europe you will usually only find rides by Intamin. The level of wetness of the ride in the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid is given, at least if the big fountain really gets you, otherwise there are still some water jets towards the end which protrude directly into the boat. The cave in the middle of the ride looks a bit bare, otherwise this rafting ride is definitely one of the more beautiful and wetter ones in Europe.

Vértigo

You can ride an old famous one from the Bobbejaanland in a much more beautiful design. However, if you think of the gap left by the left side in the Belgian amusement park with a rather critical look. Vértigo’s greatest weakness is in its dispatching, where all four cars are loaded at the same time, instead of the more fluid loading of other mice. Thanks to this, there were unnecessarily long breaks and very long queues. The journey itself is no longer as brute as it was in Lichtaart at the time – a pity for the great braking.

Los Fiordos

The second water attraction in this area is the Spillwater Los Fiordos, which offers a slightly longer route compared to other spillwater installations. The reason for this is that the park boundary of the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid is virtually next door. After you have taken a seat in the boats and the bars have been closed, you are ready to go. After a bend, one climbs up the lift, whereupon, after a 90° bend, one gets closer and closer to the water pool. Unfortunately the boat itself only displaces the water to the side and not to the front as in the Spillwater Cataratas Salvajes in Parque Warner, which is why you get out here relatively dry (about the same degree of wetness as a good log flume) and even on the bridge you don’t get wet at all.

Vagones Locos and Turbulencia

In the children’s area you will find two children’s roller coasters. To our great amazement we could get on both roller coasters straightaway. While the Vagones Locos beat you up wonderfully, the small suspended coaster Turbulencia could convince with its high swing and was even a lot of fun.

Zeppelin

Remarkable in this area is the park railway, which was built in an unusual way just above the heads of the park guests. Apart from that, the area also offers a lot for the very young guests. In the last area of the park, called Tranquilidad, you can find the Zeppelin Monorail with which you can get a good impression of the park, the old and rather ugly Ferris wheel, as well as an ugly and broken swing boat. The dark ride Fantasia, a copy of Disney’s It’s a small world, was unfortunately closed, there was a waiting time of one hour for the star flyer and the Maze El Viejo Caseron, established since 1989, charged 5€ admission.

La Jungla

The boat trip La Jungla can score with its ancient animatronics, which are all known from various other rides and even the sound effects of well-known German rides can be found here. The ride itself is quite long, passes through some African scenes until you drive through Asia and is all in all quite trashy, but quite nice.

Pictures Parque de Atracciones des Madrid

Closing Words

Through the Gran Avenida, where there is only one motion simulator, we went down to the park exit. The Parque de Atracciones de Madrid itself has its own charm, but also some unattractive or just empty corners. The roller coasters are, except for Tarantula, all middle class and only a few of them can really convince, e.g. Abismo or Tornado.  Nevertheless you should definitely plan a visit.

 

What is your opinion about the Abismo roller coaster at the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid theme park? Just write it here below the report in the comment field or visit our social media channels:

 

          

Parque de Atracciones de Madrid

Climbing mountains in Fort Fun Abenteuerland

itemprop="discussionURL"0

Preface

After the Sternrodler was tested, we went past the actual highlight of the trip, the Bruchhausen Stones, towards the village of Wasserfall to visit the local amusement park. The Fort Fun Abenteuerland was founded from the western city Fort Fun City and can still show this leading theme today, but also the ski lift and the two former summer toboggan runs led to the success of the park at that time.

After I informed the cashier about the 50% discount of the Movie Park Germany annual ticket, we went into the park. David was luckier than me concerning the staff, so that his first impression about the customer friendliness and motivation of the staff was still positive.

Tour of the park

Devil’s Mine

This should not change even at the first attraction visited, the Vekoma roller coaster Devil’s Mine. But first you have to pass the much too long, but worth seeing queue, even if it’s too dark in the first part. The ride itself is surprising and very fun due to the two airtime moments after the hills with the friction wheels. Unfortunately we could not make another ride in the afternoon because the ride had a defect.

Crazy Washhouse and Mystery Warehouse

Other attractions on the really beautiful top level of the amusement park Fort Fun Abenteuerland include a wave swinger, the Funhouse Crazy Washhouse, which lost all its charm due to empty rooms and offering just some mirrors, a Nauta Bussink Ferris wheel and the ghost train Mystery Warehouse. The latter ride was quite amusing and even thematically convincing due to individually placed theming elements.

Rio Grande

Probably the best themeing can be found at the small rafting ride Rio Grande from Bear Rides, which can score with its original cacti. Even if you look at the age of the ride and how wet it is, the ride is still one of the better rapid rivers.

Dark Raver

The path now led us further and further downhill and so directly to the next highlight in the Fort Fun Abenteuerland, the Indoor Round-Up Dark Raver. Even though the building is rather strange from the outside, the ride was really successful. The light effects and the music give the old Fähtz ride another live.

The show stage and the climbing structure next door don’t look very nice, even though the idea was not bad. We didn’t watch the show itself, because it seemed to be over by the time we arrived. Furthermore there is plenty of space for attractions on this level of the park, but the use of this area is rather sparse. Considering how many top-class rides have left the park in the course of time, I wonder why they did not find their place here, as attractions are generally missing in this park.

Trapper Slider

Our way leads us to the highlight par excellence of the amusement park Fort Fun Abenteuerland with a ride that changed my world view on alpine coasters in general, the Trapper Slider. The slogan “Feel the thrill – Rock the hill” basically says it all, because what the ride offers is outstanding. After a little longer time in the lift you reach the top of the lifthill and after a small 270° downhill helix the ride starts. After a very short time you reach your cruising speed of about 50 km/h and you are sent over elements that would virtually pull you out of your seat if the seatbelt was not so tight. The centrifugal brake has to work quite hard in the curves, provided there is no lurker in front of you. After a good 1300 m the ride is over and the only thing you can think of is the word brilliant.

Wildwasserbahn

Those who need something leisurely after the ride can get into the chair lift next door or go downhill for a few metres and take the Wildwasserbahn. This early log flume, from the cooperation of the manufacturers Mack and Arrow, has a considerable track length and a great setting. As with the log flume in Thorpe Park, England, there is a mixture of different styles, which unfortunately is not really convincing here. The degree of wetness of the ride was quite high, because the two passengers got really soaked.

Tomahawk

Next to a ship swing from the manufacturer Huss you can admire an exotic in the park: a Shake R5 from Mondial. The ride was long and balanced, but there were no rollovers. If you know the Commander von Hanstein or if you have done a round in Schäfer’s Shake & Roll, you will be a bit disappointed here, but if you know how awful sometimes the rides on Vorlops Shaker are, you will find the ride good. For a medium sized park the Tomahawk is a good investment.

Speed Snake

The roller coaster Speed Snake, a Vekoma Whirlind, was formerly known as the whirlwind. Since the original Arrow chaises unfortunately became too old, as in Heide-Park, a new train had to be brought in. This one is a first generation Vekoma train from the Prater in Vienna. If you have any bad suspicions now you will be disappointed, as it is usually the case with the Dutch manufacturer, because the train offers the same seating comfort as the old Arrow trains and this even with legroom in the second row. The ride itself is surprisingly intense in the corkscrews, as I previously only knew the identical specimen in the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark Stukenbrock with an empty train, I was a bit surprised, and will pass through without any significant jerking or even hitting. The theming does not enhance the ride, but it is nicely placed and easy to look at, and the successful train does its best to do so.

Marienkäferbahn

Where the Fort Fun Abenteuerland on the top level could still create a harmonious picture, the design decreased more and more, which at first sight is not really disturbing, because the gardeners do a good job here. But there is a place in the park that really belongs to the worst what you can see in a park. The whole thing is declared as a children’s land and can be seen next to some cheap rides of Italian origin, the Zierer dragon train, which has been unused for some years, with an ugly blue facade and a Tivoli large. The Marienkäferbahn scores with its location in the middle of a forest, and the ride also offers a decent amount of speed – which is not always the case on such a roller coaster ride.

Beverly Hills Drive

At the lowest point of the park you will again find a well-designed attraction. The Monza track, known as Beverly Hills Drive, offers a long driving distance and a design that can be found in a similar form at Disney.  In any case, the ride is a ray of hope for the rather weak lowest part of the park.

Fun Xpress

Because we missed the Fun Xpress we went back up the mountain by foot. As the gastronomy in the lowest area of the park was more busy with itself than with the customers, we went to the gastronomy at the log flume. The offer here is decent, but also a bit expensive. After a while the staff noticed me and I ordered a portion of Pommes Spezial. The taste was great and I was satisfied.

Pictures Fort Fun Abenteuerland

 

What is your opinion about the theme park Fort Fun Abenteuerland? Just write it in the comment field below the report or in our social media channels:

 

          

Fort Fun Abenteuerland