Magic Mountain

Off to Jumanji

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My last visit to Gardaland was a few years ago. At that time, the Kung Fu Panda Academy themed area was still under construction. Apart from numerous smaller changes, the opening of the Legoland Water Park, which was built in the middle of Gardaland for whatever reason, and the Peppa Pig World toddler area right at the entrance to the amusement park, the Jumanji the Adventure dark ride is the most important innovation of the past few years. 

Kung Fu Panda Academy

In the small themed area Kung Fu Panda Academy, everything revolves around the popular Dreamworks IP about the dragon warrior Po. As the area is very limited, apart from some gastronomy and a redesigned tea cup carousel, you will only find the small spinning coaster Kung Fu Panda Master, which takes up most of the space.

Kung Fu Panda Master

The Kung Fu Panda Master is a power mouse from the Italian manufacturer Fabbri. The small roller coaster offers several tight curves that put the car into a rather leisurely spin. In between, this is loosened up a little by smaller drops. But all in all, that’s about it. The ultra-compact installation fits perfectly into the available space, but not at all into the amusement park. Apart from the design of the gondolas, which looks more like a fun fair than an amusement park, the ride lacks capacity. Those who like to queue for up to two hours at an attraction, while the crowds at the large attractions in the park are rather small, are welcome to take a ride. The rest either queue up right at the opening of the ride or forego a ride.

Jumanji The Adventure

The Jumanji The Adventure dark ride replaces Ramses: Il risveglio. The large façade of the ride still reminds us in parts of the old Pinfari classic, but inside everything is new. The ride is based on the new Jumanji trilogy and thus not on the book and the associated board game. After a short pre-show, it becomes clear: we have to save Jumanji by putting the heart of Jumanji in its rightful place. 

Accompanied by Nigel Billingsley, we set off on a dangerous mission. After we have taken a seat in the 6-person jeep, the journey begins. A mandrill immediately steals the jewel from us, so we follow the animal. Nigel, however, loses his first life in the action. On our chase we come across a hippo and a snake, whereupon we almost have a crash. Shortly afterwards we meet Nigel again. At the gorge with the hanging bridges the mandrill awakens a stone giant and loses the jewel. Of course we jump right after it, secure the jewel and lose our first life. Our path then leads us through a stone cave where we meet the stone giant once more. But we lose our second life in a huge spider’s web. Finally arriving at the temple we manage to give the jewel to Nigel. Despite the attack of the stone giant, he manages to put it in its rightful place, whereupon the spell is broken and our journey ends.

Jumanji The Adventure is an extremely solid dark ride. The large sets and the skilful integration of the media content speak for themselves. The ride is extremely dynamic and has a few successful surprises. However, the clearly visible ceiling of the hall is slightly annoying, as is the seemingly reduced capacity at the moment, which always results in long waiting times. 

Pictures Gardaland

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Gardaland

The Six Flags of Texas

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The History of Six Flags

If we want to talk about the big chains in the amusement park industry, we have to talk about Six Flags and there is no better place to start than Six Flags Over Texas. The park in Arlington nearby Dallas opened its doors in 1961 after a short planning phase of just two years. The real estate developer Angus G. Wynne, Jr. wanted a park like the just opened Californian amusement park Disneyland in his home state of Texas.  The initial idea of the park was to show Texas under six flags – the title quickly changed to Six Flags Over Texas, as Texas can’t be under anything. The six flags represent the six nations that have governed Texas during its history: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States of America, and the Confederate States of America.

Interestingly, the park was never intended to last for long. With more than 8000 visitors on the first day of operation, Six Flags Over Texas was an initial success and was set to stay. With the investment of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad two more parks (Six Flags Over Georgia (1967) and Six Flags Over Mid-America (1971)) were constructed. In the following years Six Flags continued to grow by acquiring independent parks such as AstroWorld (1975), Great Adventure (1977) and Magic Mountain (1979). With the acquisition of Marriott’s Great America in Gurnee (1984), Six Flags obtained the rights to use the Looney Tunes characters by Time Warner.

In 1982 the Oklahoma based real estate company Tierco Group bought the theme park Frontier City. Plans for converting the park into a shopping centre quickly dropped due to an oil bust in Oklahoma City. By investing into the park and new family-friendly rides, the popularity increased. In 1992 Tierco acquired the Maryland based Wild World (now Six Flags America) and changed its name to Premier Parks. In 1995 Premier Parks acquired Funtime, Inc and their properties Geauga Lake, Wyandot Lake, Darien Lake and Lake Compounce. A year after, Elitch Gardens, Great Escape, River Side Park (now Six Flags New England) and the Waterworld USA parks were bought, while Lake Compounce was sold to Kennywood. In 1997, Premier purchased Kentucky Kingdom and Marine World (now Six Flags Discovery Kingdom). During the same time, Premier Parks agreed to buy 94% of the European Walibi Group, adding six more parks to the portfolio.

Six Flags being perfectly stable was sold to Premier Parks in 1998. Premier Parks continued its rapid growth by acquiring the German theme park Warner Bros. Movie World (now Movie Park Germany), the Mexican Reino Aventura (now Six Flags Mexico) and taking over a small share in the upcoming major theme park project Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid (now Parque Warner Madrid). It’s no surprise, that the European Division didn’t last for long. The increasing depts lead to the parks being sold to Palamon Capital Partners in 2004. Six Flags Worlds of Adventure (Geauga Lake) was sold to Cedar Fair, which led to its closure some years later. Six Flags Astro World was sold and cleared due to its real estate value but did not even made half of it and Six Flags New Orleans was destroyed by hurricane Katrina. Six Flags now fighting was hardly stroked by the financial crisis of 2007/08, which led to the reconstruction of the company.

Nowadays, Six Flags doesn’t grow as rapidly. Since this year the theme parks Frontier City and Darien Lake are back under Six Flags. A park in China will be licenced with the Six Flags name and the project of Six Flags Dubai has been finally cancelled.

Six Flags Over Texas

After this small history lesson, it is time to move on. I think you can understand the importance of this true giant in the amusement park industry. Although, I already visited all of the former Six Flags parks in Europe, my first visit to an actual Six Flags park was always intentioned to be at Six Flags Over Texas. Therefore, I looked forward to my visit for quite a long time.

After a short night in Wichita Falls, I drove all the way to Arlington and ended up spending quite some time in a traffic jam because of a giant interstate/turnpike road work. With best views of the Shock Wave roller coaster and the observation tower Oil Derrick, the anticipation of the visit changed to steadily into despair. It didn’t help that all the other roads towards the park were congested as well. With a fantastic view on Judge Roy Scream, I finally arrived at the parking. Due to my Six Flags membership, I did not have to pay for parking, which is a good thing regarding the parking fees at most of the American theme parks. After a while, I found a parking spot at the rear part of the parking lot.

When walking towards the entrance, I admired the view on Titan, the biggest roller coaster of the park, and their cool bobsled coaster La Vibora. After standing in line for the security control for quite a while, I realised that I’ve left my wallet in my car. After a ten-minute walk back and forth, I was finally ready for my visit at Six Flags Over Texas. By scanning my voucher at the entrance and after a picture has been taken, I quickly had my membership card in my hands. The included member bottle for unlimited soft drinks could be picked up at the membership office, but the line was way to long to even consider it.

Stepping into the park you find yourself on a small plaza. From here you could begin your journey clockwise and counter-clockwise. You could also take a ride on the Silver Star Carousel which is located slightly above the plaza.

Conquisador and El Aserradero

We start our journey in the clockwise direction, where we immediately find the Spanish theme area. The signature coaster of this area showed a rather long line and the beautiful swing boat ride Conquisador was down due to the construction on the Larson Giant Loop El Diablo Looping Coaster. Therefore, we moved on to the parks log flume El Aserradero.

El Asseradero was the first log flume ever build. Back in 1963 Arrow Development has created a new kind of ride, which quickly became the most desired attraction in every theme park around the globe. In Germany, the manufacturer Mack licenced the patent of Arrow to build the log flumes for the European market. Log flumes were everywhere. Some years after the first installation, the capacity of the ride was enhanced by building another one right next to the first one. Nowadays, the second flume is the one being in operation. Till 2019, the first log flume was used on crowded days. The remaining ride features a lot of curves and just one drop at the end of the ride. Unluckily, the ride was not in operation during my visit.

Oil Derrick

Following the pathways through the older section of the park, we quickly encounter the almighty Oil Derrick. This observation tower is one of the first projects of the ride manufacturer Intamin and features a great view at Six Flags Over Texas, the water park Hurricane Harbour in the distance and the surrounding area. Unluckily, due to strong winds the tower did not operated most of the day of my visit. It opened in the late evening and I had to rush to get a ride on the bobsleigh coaster La Vibora before the park’s closure.

Shock Wave

Just behind the shiny tower, which just got a new coat of paint last year, you can find the entrance to the legendary roller coaster Shock Wave. This Schwarzkopf classic was the first roller coaster being constructed in regard of the heart line. This all new concept allowed for smoother ride for the ride passengers as their hearts would not experience any abrupt motion nor high lateral G-Forces. Due to this change, steeper curves and other manoeuvres were possible.

Nowadays, Shock Wave does look quite tame from the outside. The rides significant loops were placed right next to the interstate and feature a nice advertisement to the park, but apart from that the layout does not offer anything special. To be honest, this is true for most of the rides being build in the 70’s – but Shock Wave is indeed the perfect coaster.

After climbing the lift hill the train quickly gathers some speed before the big drop. Without any merci we quickly run over the hilltop and shoot down to gather some speed for the two inversions. Forcefully as always, the world keeps on turning upside down till we climb the next hill. Up here, we take another turn before we drop down once again. With a significant amount of negative G-Forces we are pulled out of our seats immediately. Back in the valley we experience very high positive G-forces. This delta of forces speaks for the ride. With a big smile on the face, we quickly pass through another curve above the station, before the game of G-Forces repeats itself several times. After a short lefthand curve, a descending straight and a very long righthand curve, we quickly approach the brake run of the ride. Shortly thereafter, the ride is done.

Shock Wave is a great coaster full of speed, powerful inversions, great ejector airtime and high positive G-Forces. The ride is just perfect, which should not come by surprise as this ride has been built by the famous ride manufacturer Schwarzkopf based in Münsterhausen, Germany (nowadays the site of Gerstlauer Amusement Rides). Although we basically invented the modern vertical loop, we always thought of an American invention. The world is rather strange.

Roaring Rapids, Caddo Lake Barge and Superman Tower of Power

After the brilliant ride of the Shock Wave and the great weather I wanted to cool down a little bit. Unfortunately, the big Intamin rapid ride Roaring Rapids just had a break down when I passed by. The ride itself does not offer anything special, apart of the loading system which uses two parallel stations and therefore requires two lift hills right next to each other.

Passing by the beautiful looking Zamperla Rockin’ Tug Caddo Lake Barge, I quickly hopped on a ride of the Superman Tower of Power, which offered a great view at the park and a hint of airtime. Apart of the massive tower, the ride does not fit in greatly. The theme is negligible and looks rather off. Especially since the DC universe part of the park is located at a different corner of the park.

Runaway Mine Train

The roller coaster Runaway Mine Train certainly looks better. The second oldest roller coaster based on tubular steel pipes does a great job. It is the first true mine train roller coaster and defined every element still being popular on modern roller coasters of this type of ride.

After boarding the ride, the operator wishes us fun on a mine train of one of the Six Flags parks before releasing the train. This is kind of geeky, but I had my fun. The ride starts with a small lefthand curve out of the station. After passing the transfer track, the first lift hill is reached. Arrived at the top, the ride builds up some speed during a descent of alternating left- and righthand curves. When passing by the roller coaster Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast the train crosses a hill and dives into a helix. This is followed by a wild ride over hill and dale, which also passes through a tunnel. After another curve, the second lift hill is reached.

After a short hill climb, the track starts its very flat descent. It basically takes a while passing some right and left turns and lots of straight track until the train gets some speed. After passing a building and a righthand curve, the third lift hill is reached.  Things reach their climax when we pass through a saloon and dive directly into a tunnel. This is were we hit the last curve before we reach the brake run of the ride.

The Runaway Mine Train is a fantastic family coaster. The ride is not fast nor high, but it delivers many great moments of pure fun. The wacky and way to narrow curves, the small hills and the tunnels all come together for a complete roller coaster package, which somehow looks kind of odd when seeing onride footages of the ride. For me, the ride was a complete surprise and one of the best roller coasters of the park.

Mini Mine Train

Therefore, it doesn’t surprise me that the Runaway Mine Train was a complete hit among the park visitors. Many similar rides where build in a similar fashion in parks all around America in the following years. Due to its popularity, Six Flags Over Texas even built a smaller version of the ride right next door: The Mini Mine Train.

While the name of the roller coaster is not really creative, the ride certainly is. Even though it looks kind of unremarkable from the outside. After climbing the lift hill, the ride starts with a small and flat descent into a left turn. After a short straight the train then enters a tunnel followed by a small righthand curve. When leaving the tunnel, the ride surprises by one of the best views onto the roller coaster Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast you could ever imagine. This moment is simply amazing, especially at night. After a small drop and another tunnel and passing through another curve the train quickly crosses over a hill and dives into the final curve of the ride before it reaches the brake run. Although, the ride is a rather short one, it is a fun one as well and should not be missed.

The Gunslinger and Mr. Freeze

Passing by the wave swinger The Gunslinger, we quickly change the theme when entering Gotham City. Here we find a lot of rides allocated to the dark knight and his villains. This area was expended in the last years, but it surprisingly started by the launch of the LIM Shuttle Loop Coaster Mr. Freeze in 1998 by Premier Rides.

Initially the trains were launched with the riders facing forward. Interestingly, the ride featured over the shoulder restrains for the first years until they got removed on all the Premier Rides installations in all the Six Flags parks back in 2002. The second big change happened during the year 2012 when the trains got rotated to face the first half of the ride backwards. A change that was set to stay, as it enhances the ride experience like nothing else.

Being launched backwards is kind of an amazing feeling, as there is only the lap bar to be pushed in rather the whole back of your seat. After reaching full speed the train quickly climbs the inside Top Hat element, where the riders experience an intense upside-down moment before falling to the ground. With full speed a large steep turn is being taken before the train climbs the vertical spike at the end of the ride. The train is now pushed upwards by linear induction motors in order to have enough energy to be able to finish the cycle. At the same time, the riders are experience a great moment of pure weightlessness by facing ground forward. Back on the ground the train takes the large turn once again and climbs back into the Top Hat, where it just passes it without getting stuck upside down. Soon after, the train slows down on the launch track. When entering the station, the train then get transferred to the loading position.

Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast is a heck of a ride. The ride is extremely intense and features many great moments. The inside Top Hat is simply amazing and the vertical Spike at the end of the ride is just awesome when facing to the ground. Unfortunately, the ride is also kind of shaky. I’m glad to not have experienced this ride with over the shoulder harnesses, as it is simply not a smooth ride. The whole experience is great, but it also could be better at the same time. Nevertheless, Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast is one of the most intense roller coasters I’ve been on.

Batman: The Ride

Seven years after the first Batman: The ride was built in Six Flags Great America and another copy was already established in Texas, the dark knight finally found its place in Six Flags Over Texas in 1999.

After climbing the lift hill, a pre-drop awaits its passengers before the train finally plunges down the first drop in a steep turn. When passing the valley high G-Forces awaits the passengers before entering the first loop. In the twinkling of an eye the second inversion, a Zero-G Roll, is taken. Another loop follows. The blood pressure in your feet suddenly increases when passing through an upward helix and a straight section of the ride. Without merci, we drop down toward the ground level, whereupon the first corkscrew awaits. This element is just pure madness when riding in the back of the train, as the acceleration suddenly changes. After a short righthand turn, the second corkscrew is taken. This is followed by a left turn into the brake run.

Batman: The ride is still one of the best inverted roller coasters out there. The ride offers an intense ride layout with a lot of positive G-Forces on a rather small footprint. Apart of the theming, the ride experience does not vary between the different installations, which is a good sign. Due to the more immersive experience I prefer Batman: Arkham Asylum in Parque Warner Madrid but this is just personal taste.

The flat rides of Gotham City

Passing by the Telecombat Batflyer, we quickly enter the new part of Gotham City where most of the other villains found their home and got some great amusement rides. Personally, I don’t like this area as all the rides were just placed on a big concrete filled place with no theme at all. The rides themselves are solid. Catwoman Whip is a Zamperla Endeavor and therefore a fancy enterprise style ride, which HUSS would like to sell to somebody someday. Riddler Revenge is a Giant Discovery – also by Zamperla – and therefore automatically a good ride, which at some day was the biggest one of its kind. Harley Quinn Spinsanity however was once a HUSS Troika and is now an ABC Rides Tourbillion (the name is great, so why not keep it) which I would like to have tested. This new kind of multiaxial Top Spin ride was down on the day of my visit.

The Joker

The last ride being left in this area is the S&S Free Spin roller coaster The Joker. After riding the similar roller coaster Arashi at the Japanese theme park Nagashima Spa Land I was not looking forward for a ride on The Joker, as the ride was uncomfortable and rather boring. I nearly skipped it. As I’m also a curious person, I wanted to make sure that my feelings regarding this type of ride were right.

As a single rider, I met a nice woman and had a great chat with her before boarding. Whilst on the ride, our vehicle flipped itself over a dozen of times offering a ride of a lifetime. At the end of the ride, we were rushed by all the adrenalin pumped into our body and left the ride with a big smile on our faces. It is hard to say that the marble run roller coaster The Joker could not convince me. The ride is epic!

Aquaman Splash Down, Texas Sky Screamer and Judge Roy Scream

Do you remember the roller coaster we saw just when entering the parking lot? Well, I nearly missed it as I couldn’t find the entrance to it. Even a look on the map does not really help you out, as there is only a small sign above a small tunnel which gives you a hint where the roller coaster is located. If you are coming from Gotham City and passes by the now demolished Shoot the Chutes Aquaman Splash Down you already missed it. It is easier if you just want to take a ride on the giant Funtime Star Flyer Texas Sky Screamer, as the entrance to Judge Roy Scream is right next to it.

The roller coaster with the unusual name is named after Phantly Roy Bean, Jr. better known as the justice of the peace (Judge) Roy Bean. Back in the days, Judge Roy Bean used his saloon as a court and officially sentences two man to death by hanging, one of them escaped. In Western movies he is usually referred as the hanging judge; what a pleasant theme for a family roller coaster, isn’t it?

Nevertheless, the name is creative and original. The layout of the ride on the other hand is quite normal for an Out & Back Woody. After the climb and the first drop, the train runs over a series of airtime hills before turning in a large curve at the other end of the ride. The return itself also features a bunch of smaller hills, which indeed makes it a perfect family roller coaster.

After I finally found the entrance to the ride, I really enjoyed my rides on Judge Roy Scream. It is not the perfect airtime machine, but it is a classical wooden roller coaster offering a lot of great moments. During my last rides on the Judge, I was sitting next to a small boy who could otherwise not ride alone. He reported me everything about his visit and his family in just around 3 minutes in a deep southern accent. This pretty much made my day 😊.

Pandemonium

Another interesting encounter happened at the Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster Pandemonium, where an employee immediately identified by Dragon Khan shirt and asked me some questions about Port Aventura, as he planned a coaster trip during the summer. I ended up recommending him the fast pass of the park, as Port Aventura truly isn’t any fun without.

After climbing to the top of the lift, the ride immediately starts with a curvy drop which sets the cars into rotation. Two small hairpin curves then enhance the spin before two helices in style of a figure eight are taken along. After a small drop, a large Bayernkurve follows. With a good spin, a larger drop follows with a funny camelback hill right after. A final upward helix joins in, before the brakes are being hit and the funny ride comes to its end.

Justice League: Battle for Metropolis and Looney Tunes Boom Town

Passing by the extraordinary dark ride Justice League: Battle for Metropolis and the rather ugly kids area Looney Tunes Boom Town with its coaster Wile E. Coyote’s Grand Canyon Blaster – which I have not tested – we quickly make our way to the other side of the park where La Vibora still needs to be tested.

La Vibora

As a big fan of the now demolished Bobbaan of the dutch theme park Efteling, I was looking forward for my ride on La Vibora. Even in Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, the ride was one of my favourites to be placed in every scenario where possible due to its beautiful looking alternating colour scheme resembling the German flag.

After reaching the top of the lift hill, the train rapidly descent in a right bend. The valley is driven through with an absurd force with the first change of direction directly following. A helix then leads you up into the first brake run. Another curvy drop follows and leads you into another powerful valley. A swinging S-curve combination adds itself and leads you into the second block brake run. This game now repeats itself in the same brilliant manner. After the third and final block brake, the train swipes down a lefthand curve and into the final upward helix. Shortly thereafter, the brake run of the ride is reached.

La Vibora is an extraordinary coaster. Due to its train design (it features the trains used on the Bob in Efteling before its change to the two-seater rows) the ride is even wilder than I could ever imagine. This train design adds a lot to the thrills, as you are always in fear to fall over. The rest of the ride is quite forceful and offers a great and fun experience. Thanks, Six Flags Over Texas for keeping this ride alive.

Runaway Mountain

In search of the roller coaster Runaway Mountain we pass by basically every corner of the old section of the park. At our way we meet the HUSS break dance Rodeo and the Chance Trabant El Sombrero, but don’t bother a ride. Finally, we stand in front of a giant and impressively decorated rock face covering the hall of the park’s only indoor roller coaster.

Runaway Mountain is basically a copycat of the Italian coaster model Hurricane by S.D.C. build by Premier Rides in 1996. It therefore features a rather compact layout with a very interesting element in the middle of the ride. As the hall is not perfectly dark and no theming elements can be found within the cave, let’s focus on the ride’s layout.

Right after climbing the lift hill, the train takes a gentle descent in a left turn and runs over a small hill. On the other side of the ride the train gains some height before plunging down the big drop. After an uphill curve, a very steep drop follows quite surprisingly. In the same motion an even steeper ascent adheres twisting the riders like crazy. After a small even section, the train takes a downhill helix into a small drop. Another helix at the other side of the rides acts like the grand finale of the ride before the brake run is reached and the fun ride comes to an end.

New Texas Giant

As everything is bigger in Texas, it doesn’t come by surprise that the park featured once the biggest wooden roller coaster on earth. The ride was massive and although it had a brilliant reputation during the first seasons, the ride’s comfort got worse with time. The construction company Rocky Mountain Construction just provided a new solution for typical wooden roller coaster problems and Six Flags Over Texas was pleased to try it out. The rest of the story is coaster history and led to one of the biggest success stories in the amusement park industry. RMC was set to stay and to become a market leader.

Due to technical difficulties, the New Texas Giant was the only ride in the park running with one train only which led to a waiting time of around two hours. It did not help, that the team working on the roller coaster was not in their best mood and worked rather slow. Overall, the New Texas Giant was the only roller coaster in the park with dispatching times of up to six minutes. Apart of the many downtimes on the day of my visit, every other ride did very well.

After finally taken my place at the back of the train, the ride is about to start. After a small turnover at the end of the transfer track we reach the ride’s lift hill. At a height of 153 ft (~47m) we suddenly fall down a fantastic 79° drop. With full speed we jump over a hill and continue our way upwards in a long and heavily banked curve. At the peak of the hill we take another drop down. In the same manner as the first hill, we bank ourselves sideways in the upcoming hill before falling back to the ground. Once again with full speed we climb a slightly overbanked turn before flying over a small hill after which we hit the first brake run.

Without losing any speed, we drop back into the action by flying over a series of airtime hills towards the other side of the ride. Next to the final brake run and the station, we surpass the rides support structure in a curve at ground level after which we continue our way through out another series of airtime hills. Suddenly we enter three tunnels in a row, each having their own dips and turns. Back into sunlight, we pass over another two airtime hills before we reach the final brake run of the ride.

The roller coaster New Texas Giant is a surprisingly tame RMC coaster providing a pleasant re-rideability to the overall madness experience. All the hills offer an excellent floating airtime, which lets you fly over each of the countless camelbacks and bumps. The first drop is brilliant, and the large curves provides a good feeling of pacing. You simply can’t do anything wrong when boarding this great ride.

Titan

Passing by the Scrambler Sidewinder, we quickly encounter the last ride of Six Flags Over Texas we need to talk about: the almighty Titan. One year after Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain was being build, a bigger roller coaster had to come to Six Flags Over Texas. It is the second hyper coaster ever built by Giovanola (former subcontractor of Intamin and B&M) and the last out of the three coasters built by the company before going bankrupt.

After riding the New Texas Giant, I was kind of worried about the dispatch of the biggest roller coaster of Six Flags Over Texas, but I was wrong. Apart of a small down time, the line moved surprisingly quick. Every now and then, a train left the station and it didn’t take long until I could ride it in the back of the train.

Leaving the station, the train takes a right turn whereupon we hit the lift hill of the ride. When reaching a height of 245ft (~ 75m) the train starts its long and amazing descent into a tunnel leading to an overall height difference of 255ft (~78m). With a speed of 85 mph (~137kph) the train head upwards into an impressive looking overbanked turn. After completing the turn, the train heads down another drop which is followed by a fantastic airtime hill. A long ascent then leads into a forceful upward helix. At the end of the helix, the train hits the mid-course brake run and got slowed down to near standstill.

The train continues its journey in a slow pace, before it finally gets some speed in a hard left turn. In a fluent motion, the train changes its direction and we drop down towards the ground level. This is followed by a powerful and insane 585° helix. Then, the track turns upwards and banks to the left. After another powerful valley, the train takes an ascending right turn which leads us into the final brake run of the ride.

What a ride! Titan is a beast of a roller coaster. It is forceful, fast and perfectly paced. I cannot even describe how much I admire this roller coaster, as it jumped directly into the Top 10 of my favourite roller coasters. It is by far the best hyper coaster, I’ve ever ridden. Man, I love this ride. Unluckily, I could only ride it twice in a row. But there will be a next time in Six Flags Over Texas and I’m already looking forward for some more rides on the Titan.

Pictures Six Flags Over Texas

Conclusion Six Flags Over Texas

Although my first impressions of Six Flags Over Texas were flawed by the many down times during the first half of my visit, I managed to get all the rides I wanted to ride. Especially in the late evening, I could ride a lot of rides without any big waiting times. Overall, I really enjoyed the park. It has a lot of charming places and a bunch of great rides. While Six Flags Over Texas is not a flawless park, it tries its best to be one. Therefore, I’m looking forward to my next visit. Your new for 2020 roller coaster could be a reason, as Pulsar of Walibi Belgium (ex Six Flags Belgium) is a blast of a ride.

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Click here for the next report of the Texas Round-Up Tour

Six Flags Over Texas / Texas Round-Up Day 2

Oh, oh, oh Gardaland

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Gardaland

After a visit to Disneyland in Anaheim, California in the early 70s, businessman Livio Furini decided to create his own park. At that time no place seemed more suitable than an area within sight of Lake Garda, after all this is the first lake of its size that tourists, coming from the Brenner motorway, have been occupying since the late fifties and have not given it away since then; finest Mediterranean feeling without the Mediterranean Sea, of course. With the help of some local entrepreneurs, Gardaland opened its doors for the first time in 1975 and has been growing steadily ever since. In 2006 the British Merlin Entertainments Group bought the park for 550 million euros. Two hotels a few kilometres away complete the offer.

Arriving at the car park, the crowd of people promised a pleasant day’s visit, but this was not necessarily reflected at the cash desks and at the entrance. Really stupid German park guests in their teens, who had probably never been to an international amusement park before, also delayed the ticket purchase immensely by explicitly asking for two Eintrittskarten. It’s very easy to do so, if you order the tickets in English, put down your Merlin 2:1 voucher and pay the money. Afterwards they wish you a wonderful day in finest German. With the tickets in hand, we went straight into the park, where I had to wait for Dominik, as he hadn’t been able to close the gap behind an Italian family. In general, the access area to Gardaland is somewhat disadvantageously built.

Fantasy Kingdom

Right at the beginning you are spoilt for choice by walking through two children’s areas. You can choose between the medieval area of Gardaland, where there is a horse carousel and several playground equipment, and the Fantasy Kingdom, where you can find Prezzemolo and his friends, the park mascots. They are cult in Italy and in 2002 they even got their own TV series, incidentally one of the early projects of the Rainbow studio (Winx Club, Huntik and some more, whose licence is now used in Rainbow Magicland close to Rome), with 26 episodes in total. Prezzemolo, which translates as parsley in English, is a shy dragon who, while eating pizza topped with strawberries, becomes He-Man and helps his friends. The series is actually not bad, although I don’t understand a word of Italian, and it shapes the style of the theme area immensely.

The centrepiece of this is an artificial tree, which, similar to the Cabane des Robinson of the Disneyland Park in Paris, is accessible. Inside there are some rooms inhabited by Prezzemolo and his friends, which are very nicely decorated. Continuing upwards you climb a staircase until you reach the balcony in the artificial treetop. Up here you can have your picture taken with Prezzemolo or simply enjoy the view of Gardaland and nearby Lake Garda. A staircase around the tree leads you down again. It gets quite interesting in the cellar of the tree, where the Magic House is located.

Magic House

After entering the entrance hall to Prezzemolo’s happy home, a magician appears and speaks to the visitors. The room in which you are currently located is extended. Prezzemolo is greeted with great excitement in his living room and explains that the strange voice that is heard from time to time means that there are hardly any visitors left. Suddenly strange things happen and the magician speaks again to the guests of the house. Now the restless ghost explains that this was once his laboratory and he has got used to living in the same house with Prezzemolo a little bit, but now he declares it to be his own. He then invites the visitors to a small illustration of his powers, in which he turns the house upside down. On the way out, Prezzemolo tells his visitors about a strange dream in which his house and a magician played an important role.

It’s kind of cool to stand in front of a huge building and take a lift a few meters down to the basement to visit a completely underground Mad House. Unfortunately the comic look of the drum robs the illusion a little bit, here you could have achieved even more with additional effects. The music is coherent and the Italians listen attentively to the story, which makes it easy to follow the story, at least in theory.

The rest of Fantasy Kingdom looks like the prototype of all the more modern children’s kingdoms. Similar to the younger Sesamo Aventura from the Spanish Port Aventura near Salou, there are other rides, e.g. a quite neatly designed tractor ride, a small monorail and other smaller carousels in an elaborate design.

Raptor

A little above this area is the entrance to Raptor, the prototype of the Wing Coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard. Similar to the notorious roller coaster Nemesis of the English amusement park Alton Towers, this ride presents itself as an alien, which was found by chance during construction work in the park. While Nemesis was tamed into a steel-like structure and has been used as a ride for the towers’ guests ever since, the Genetix Initiative, a paramilitary organisation, tried to tame the found creature in the specially built X-Labs in Gardaland. But all attempts failed and Raptor succeeded in breaking out.

In a short left-hand bend, the train leaves the station and immediately climbs the lift hill. While the newer versions of the ride slowly turn their passengers by 180°, the Raptor plunges into the depth, which leads to unexpected airtime, especially in the back rows. Powerfully the train crosses the first valley and then makes a steep turn to the left. Without any rest, the alien falls to the ground again and doesn’t hesitate to use its power. In a zero-g roll you are now turned upside down for the first time, leaving it in a left turn. Now you cross the entrance portal of the ride on a hill, whereupon the train throws itself into a curve close to the ground, which serves as an introduction into a somewhat elongated corkscrew. A right-hand bend close to the ground, passing the lift hill of the ride, follows, but is immediately replaced by another left-hand bend. This leads into a very long in-line twist, a straight roll, which is equipped with some Near Miss elements. Shortly afterwards we land in the braking section of the track, where we can spend some time in the now tightly fitting restraint waistcoats. Another left turn brings us down to the hangar level again.

Although Raptor is the smallest representative of its kind with a height of 33m and a length of just 770m, the ride is one of the better ones, as long inversions are accompanied by tight curves and forceful valleys. Although the Near Miss elements are negligible, the ride in Gardaland surprises all the more with its rather unconventional first drop (it’s strange that through the whole hipster movement with its unconventional mainstream, something absolutely classic can now be called unconventional, as nobody uses it anymore). Compared to the other European rides, Raptor is clearly ahead due to its more dynamic ride, especially since The Swarm from Thorpe Park, England, has lost all of its driving sophistication again due to the renewed rotation of the two rear cars.

4D-Adventure Cinema

A few meters further on you will find the Spectacular 4D-Adventure Cinema, which contains a simulator with quite long rows made by Intamin. The ride was opened in 1990 under the name Cinema Dinamico as the first of its kind in Europe and showed up to 6 different films per day, including a film showing the wooden roller coaster Colossus from the amusement park Six Flags Magic Mountain. In 2001 the theatre was rebuilt, whereupon 3D films were shown, which were lifted into the fourth dimension by the additional movements. As always with such attractions the quality of the films varies immensely, mostly the movements of the passenger carrier are jerky and moreover asynchronous to the image, which makes them a guarantee for whiplash injuries of any kind and motion sickness.

I Consari

A little quieter, but by no means less spectacular, is the dark ride I Corsari. In defiance of the imminent opening of the Euro Disney Resort in Paris in 1992, Gardaland created the most expensive attraction in the world at the time. And so it is hardly surprising that the already very limited space of Gardaland was optimally utilised by an additional underground hall. Access to the dark ride is on the deck of a huge galleon, in whose hull the queue including the station is located.

Hired as sailors of a huge galleon we immediately try to escape the cruel captain Jason Montague in two nutshells. Our way leads us directly into the jungle, where dangerous animals and dead pirates make us understand the cruel reality of our business. A parrot tries to keep us from our goings-on, but we know that returning to the captain will be no less harmless. In a cave we meet a rotten ship whose restless crew is still among us. We narrowly escape and end up in a supposedly safe environment. The pirates here seem to be nice and friendly, but above all, they like to drink. We are advised to turn left and through a sewer system we end up in a swamp. If this environment was not deadly enough, we are attacked by a sea snake with human appearance in the next moment. But even here we manage to escape and are immediately rewarded with a legendary treasure. Freshly hanged pirates do not bode well and so we are not surprised when a huge galleon sounds the order to attack. It is our old team leader Captain Montague, who not only destroys the fort next to us, but also guides us into the depths of the sea.

I Consari can easily be called the best pirate theme cruise in Europe without devaluating the Disneyland classic Pirates of the Caribbean too much. The ride itself is extremely harmonious and the animatronics used are impressive, as is the entire set design.

Sequoia Adventure

Next to the log flume Colorado Boat, which was built in 1984 and is a rather classic ride with two shots, is the entrance to Sequoia Adventure, a truly special roller coaster made by S&S. The layout of the Screaming Squirrel promises a very exciting ride with three, slightly longer, overhead passages.

Once the manufacturer’s typical airy brackets have been set and locked, the car starts to move and immediately rolls towards the curve, which grips the car over two raised rails under the arms and lets it slide onto the actual track. Here, the trolley couples back to its original rail profile and is immediately transported upwards in the lift. Once at the top, the car completes a short straight line before it is braked and transported very slowly over the hilltop. In the so-called saxophone element, which actually looks a bit like the musical instrument, you drive back the straight line upside down before you are slowly turned around in a turn. The whole game is repeated two more times, whereby after the second saxophone it goes up a little bit to get to the correct starting height for the third saxophone. Towards the end another turn leads the car back to the station.

Sequoia Adventure is a wonderfully wacky roller coaster that celebrates its longer overhead passages virtually by itself. All these passages are quite pleasant, but the turns are unfortunately not without jerks, which is especially noticeable after the second saxophone with its free cut. But the ride itself is fun and with its wonderful different layout it is a real eye-catcher.

Magic Mountain

In 1981 the Dutch amusement park Efteling presented Python, the largest and most exciting roller coaster in Europe. Two years later, Heide Park Soltau introduced Big Loop, a similarly exciting but higher ride, which attracted a lot of attention. Gardaland also recognised this trend and in 1985 offered Magic Mountain, the most exhilarating roller coaster in Italy at the time, also modelled on the Carolina Cyclone of the American amusement park Carowinds.

As with Python, the train leaves the station in Gardaland on a small gradient, followed by a left turn. Shortly afterwards the train hooks up to the lift chain, which takes it to a starting height of 29m. This is followed by a small gradient and another 180° left turn before the train races down the track. The colourful train advertising for Coca Cola now passes through a very powerful valley and immediately passes the first loop and then the second loop of the ride. On a straight line the train gains a bit of height and shortly after that it takes a curve. This brings the train up to the starting height of the corkscrews, which you enter at a remarkable slant. While the wagons are screwed through this, the world is turned upside down two more times. After a small hill, you now complete an upward helix around a fountain, after which the braking section is waiting.

Magic Mountain is a great older type of roller coaster, which doesn’t have to hide from newer rides due to its truly intense dynamics, even though both trains were only half occupied. (One train with three cars, the other with four). The ride itself runs faster than its Dutch counterpart and therefore has a lot of pressure from the beginning, which is transferred to the passengers as well as to the track. Vekoma’s new trains generally enhance the ride, but the strange Coca Cola branding and the even stranger clearance on the day of the visit detracts from it.

Kung Fu Panda Academy

Behind the big looping roller coaster, the Kung Fu Panda Academy in Gardaland is currently under construction, which will feature the Fabbri Spinning Coaster Kung Fu Panda Master, the redesigned tea cup carousel Mr. Ping’s Noodle Suprise and the Kung Fu Panda Chi School.

Ortobruco Tour

In the farthest corner, still behind the entrance to the monorail, the cog ride and the toddler carousel is the entrance to the Ortobruco Tour, probably the world’s largest Big Apple. The ride opened in 1990 with a much shorter layout, but this was extended to its current length in 1993, probably also for capacity reasons. From a technical point of view, the Pinfari roller coaster is quite impressive due to the number of friction wheel lifts, as well as the fully automated trains.

After a right-hand bend, the train goes through a longer straight line, whereupon the first lift hill follows after another right-hand bend. At the top, the train passes a left turn and slowly picks up speed. Over hill and dale or the typical waves of every Big Apple the way to the next curve is now overcome. After the turn, the second lift follows, whereupon a downward right helix is added. This is followed by the third lift above the queue, which merges into a right-hand bend. In its original version, this lift led the train into the station, but in the current version it leads the train into the fourth lift. Now one circles the building of the toddler carousel by about 90°, completing a straight drop and a straight gradient after a slightly bent valley. Immediately you go downhill again in another right helix. You leave this one in a slight incline, which here also merges into a lift. In a helix to the left the train makes the subsequent descent. Here too, the speed of the train is kept alive by additional friction wheels in the following ascent. Now the train goes through a right-hand bend, which is then transferred to a left-hand bend after a slight bend; shortly after that the station appears.

The Ortobruco Tour is a nice children’s roller coaster, which always gives the feeling of sitting in a bigger Zierer Tivoli than in a Big Apple, because the speed and the track length suggest it. The ride is at least good and the decoration, which interestingly comes from the former Gardaland Waterpark near Milan, is quite impressive.

Ramses Il Risveglio

The first major dark ride in Gardaland opened in 1987 with Valle dei Rei, which, due to the seemingly endless popularity of interactive dark rides, was redesigned into Ramses Il Risveglio in 2009. The ride suffered the same fate as Duel from Alton Towers and Tomb Blaster from Chessington World of Adventures.

The story is now about strange phenomena that occurred during restoration work and an evil that wants to subjugate the world. We already had a similar storyline with Raptor, but in contrast there are robot mummies and finest metal sounds. If the typical sound of the guns would not be there, as for example in this year’s redesign of Tomb Blaster, I would really enjoy the ride. All in all, the ride is of course well worth seeing and the ride system by Pinfari is well worth experiencing. The general design is outstanding and the futuristic metal mummies are a pretty cool idea.

Below the Gardaland Theatre is the 4D cinema of Gardaland, where an Ice Age film is currently being shown. Normally this is reason enough to stay away from the cinema, after all the first Ice Age 4D film was a poorly edited version of the otherwise brilliant third cinema adventure around Manny, Sid, Diego and Co., but now the Blue Sky Studios have released a 4D film especially tailored for Scrat and it is really good. Scrat finds a time machine and travels through several eras, of course always in search of his hazelnut. The effects were well used, but the few Italian text passages were not subtitled and are not necessary for the overall understanding of the film.

Space Vertigo

Space – the final frontier. The year is 1998, and these are the voyages of the starship Space Vertigo. Its crew of 16 is on its way for about 30s to investigate basic physical equations. In not quite as many vertical meters as comparable towers, Space Vertigo boldly go where no one has gone before on a freefall tower. Aha hahahaha ha (3x).

Somehow this convoluted nature of the Star Trek intro text fits in well with Gardaland and Space Vertigo, after all the space theme has its origins in the opening year of Gardaland and thus on the European wave of popularity of the series, which was discontinued at the end of the 1960s. The queuing area consists mainly of octagonal corridors in which monitors with outdated visual material are embedded. The station is no less purist, but apart from bulky lamps it has hardly any decorative elements; but that is not what really matters here either. The tower shows, similar to the Funland drop ride on Hayling Island, that height is an extremely negligible parameter for a free-fall tower. This tower rocks tremendously, but the waiting time here was a bit long.

Oblivion – The Black Hole

Just as high as the tower next door, Oblivion – The Black Hole, a dive coaster by Bolliger & Mabillard, freely inspired by Oblivion from its sister park Alton Towers, stretches up into the sky. While Oblivion’s story revolves around the ride itself and the hole to be passed through, the story of Oblivion – The Black Hole concentrates on the black hole in its name, which is to be investigated.

After passing the stylish, partly interactive, queue and boarding the train, the journey begins after a short countdown. Following a small bend, you immediately climb the lift hill, which takes you up to the starting height of 42.5 m. At the top you approach the position of the black hole through a left turn. The track bends downwards, the train follows this movement but is still prevented from falling vertically by a holding brake. A few seconds pass by and the train approaches the black hole at a rapid pace, with the surrounding objects which have been attracted by the hole showing their near miss character more closely than on the Wing Coaster in the same park. The train now makes its way through the adjoining tunnel, which attracts attention through fog and integrated lighting effects. In an Immelmann you skilfully change direction and then approach the ground level. Through a small building you pass another valley before you climb up the camelback, which skillfully takes you out of your seat. This is followed by a 270° downward helix, which releases you into a heartline roll rotating in the same direction. A short climb later you reach the braking section and soon after the station.

Oblivion – The Black Hole is a good roller coaster with an excellent layout, but a little identity problem. In theory, the ride covers almost the same story as Oblivion, only that the whole layout at Alton Towers is simply better. It looks like a half-hearted remake of an indisputably brilliant movie, yet the hardware of the ride is not responsible for this feeling. This and the general layout of the ride ultimately ensure that Baron 1898 from the Dutch amusement park Efteling is the better of the two Dive Coasters that opened in 2015.

Mammut

Passing the Flying Island with the same name and an overall successful design that fits the theme area, the way leads us towards the roller coaster Mammut, which uses the basic layout of the Vekoma Mine Trains and adds a total of 245m track length. The design of the ride is supposed to be an expedition to the North Pole and can convince with its general theming and the presence of a giant mammoth, but things look a bit different when it comes to the ride.

It starts off immediately with a right-hand bend, followed by the first lift hill, which unfortunately takes you up in a very straight line. Once there, you leave the hill in a left helix, where you pick up some speed. Three 180° curves with implied valleys and hills follow each other like in a slalom, the first of these curves running to the right. After a drop below the lifts, and a subsequent uphill left turn, you reach the first brake. This is followed by a left turn and the second lift hill, which again runs in an unorthodox straight line. So far the mother of all Vekoma mine train coasters Calamity Mine from the Belgian amusement park Walibi Belgium is already a lot more entertaining due to its sloping lifts, but there are still some more meters to go to generate a completely different opinion. Slightly higher than after the first lift hill you see daylight again and shortly after that you descend a long righthand helix and get a little closer to the ground. A wide left turn brings you a little bit up the hill again, but this is also followed by a downward helix to the right. Normally a left turn follows into the braking section and straight into the station, but in Gardaland the train now takes you into a left turn and up the third lift hill, because we haven’t discovered the mammoth that gives the ride its name yet. We leave the highest point of the ride, how else could it be, in another helix, this time leading us down to the ground. Passing the mammoth, we make a small turn in lofty heights and immediately make a right turn. After a steeper descent we pass under the first two lifts and make a last 180° turn, whereupon the final braking section awaits us.

Mammut could be a really good Mine Train, if it weren’t for the rather miserable ride characteristics. Compared to almost all other Mine Trains of the same manufacturer, the ride vibrates unpleasantly, so you can’t really talk about having fun after the first two parts of the ride. Only the third part of the ride brings something unexpected out of the standard layout, but unfortunately this does not improve the ride characteristics.

Jungle Rapids and Fuga da Atlantide

Behind the very neatly designed rapid river Jungle Rapids with a good degree of wetness lies the Intamin Super Splash Fuga da Atlantide. With a rather classic spillwater layout, the ride humidifies the passengers with bravura, even though much less than a Shoot the Chute normally does; this may also be due to the (at least for sun-drenched Italians) rather wintry temperature of about 18°C. Interestingly, the descents here run on roller coaster tracks and the lifts were solved by cable lifts. Apart from that, the wonderful design of the ride is inevitable, but the ride itself could be better.

Blue Tornado

As the only attraction visible from afar, mainly due to its elevated position in Gardaland, the suspended looping coaster Blue Tornado stretches upwards. Due to its open design, this toy jet coaster is an unparalleled eye-catcher, which is mainly due to the extraordinary photogenicity of the track profile. The ride is always in motion due to the three-train operation, which theoretically results in lots of photos, if you are not distracted by dancing robots.

As in every standard SLC, the ride begins with the gain of potential energy by a chain lift on a straight line leading upwards. Once there, you cross or rather undercross a hilltop, which immediately releases you into a steep curve. At a decent speed you now cross the following valley before you are turned upside down twice in a roll over. Back at ground level, the train shoots up a sloping hill. Parallel to the station you now reach the lowest point of the ride, which is also flooded with fog. In a sidewinder you now change direction, whereupon a helix is added. You leave the station with two in-line twists. A right turn lets you cross the first slope, but instead of approaching the end in a staggering manner, the train shoots down one last time and passes a helix close to the ground, which is often called bonus helix in the (roller coaster) vernacular. This is followed by the braking section and the return to the station. Surprisingly, the ride is fun and the ride characteristics are good. We even rode it more than once.

Pictures Gardaland

Conclusion Gardaland

Gardaland is a nice and above all good amusement park, which can be relatively easily described as the Italian Alton Towers. The theme areas are mixed and only rarely have a clear line, but the park scores with its exceptionally good rides, especially the dark ride I Consari. In general, there is a visible effort to make the guests have a pleasant day, which is also reflected in the guests of the park. In spite of the popular holiday region, the park guests behave in an exemplary manner, there is no queue jumping at all, groups even let you in and you can easily hang your luggage on the appropriate storage facilities, usually far away from the actual attraction, without the risk of something being stolen. In addition, the park is filled with songs composed especially for the park, so that at the end you have to rave to Oh, Oh, Oh Gardaland in the disco tunnel leading to the car park.

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Gardaland / Il Viaggio dei due Runner Day 2