Metallbau Emmeln

Some hours in Erse Park Uetze

itemprop="discussionURL"0

Preface

After a few days in the city triangle of Bremen, Hamburg and Hannover, I went to the city triangle of Celle, Braunschweig and Hannover to visit the Erse Park in Abbeile, a small town just behind Uetze.

Originally I had planned to go to Potts Park near Minden, but I couldn’t get into the park because the highway A2 was closed due to a bomb clearance. After half an hour of traffic jam I decided to change my mind and make a small detour with a short stop on the way to Hamburg. Because my Navi did not save the park as a special destination (which surprised me very much, after all it knew the Magic Park in Verden), I finally found the right way after a little detour through Uetze.

Erse Park

When I arrived at Erse Park, I realized for the first time at a park of this size that they wanted my money after all. Here there was not only staff, moreover, they were very nice. The first impression promised a lot, which among other things was due to the beautiful park.

Reise in die Urzeit

A somewhat longer walk followed, past some exhibits of the primeval era, until you reach the first rides of the park. Here you will find with the Reise in die Urzeit a guided motorboat ride through primeval times, which was staged absolutely great, as well as an older Mack’s monorail, which you often find in amusement parks of the 70’s.

If you follow the path, you will soon find yourself in front of some fairy tale scenes that are more or less well done. You can clearly see the age of the scenes, and the same is true for the historical rides that are located in the immediate vicinity, which give a lovely impression.

Wackeltaxis

Meanwhile, things are getting really strange with the shaky Wackeltaxis from Metallbau Emmeln, whose course of travel is extremely wacky due to the eccentrically arranged wheels. As soon as you leave the station, the shaking starts immediately. It is a pity that there are not more installations of this kind. Thus, a ride on the unique piece of equipment is a duty of each visitor of the park.

Heege and the Looping Star

Fans of the interactive rides from Heege, which are often found in wildlife parks and smaller amusement parks, will get their money’s worth at Erse Park. Apart from wonderful airtime in the comet swing, the proven roller coaster fun on the Butterfly, two skydives, a Nautic Jet, a Luna Loop and a water roundabout, you will also find a very rare ride from the manufacturer: a Looping Star. This is a small, interactive ferris wheel, where you can make the gondolas roll over.

Just as well represented is the company Metallbau Emmeln, which, in addition to the above-mentioned wacky ride, offers a self-service boat swing (as you can also find in Magic Park Verden), a carpet slide and an electronic horse riding track, with which you can gallop through a dino landscape.

Bobkartbahn

Close to the horse-riding track there is a summer toboggan run from Wiegand, which does not have any mountains. Although the Bobkartbahn can only offer a very compact layout with a travel length of 300m, it convinces more than many other considerably larger facilities of its kind due to its well thought-out track layout.

Furthermore, in the rear part of the park, one finds some devices that require a sportive participation. Beside the water tricycles which are rather difficult to handle as a single person, the canoe ride is especially recommendable, because here you can get some insights into the very well presented dinosaurs.

Lost World Rafting

The ABC Rides Spinning Raft Prototype Lost World presents a similar picture. Besides the prehistoric exhibits, the prototype can impress with its built-in lift technology. The ride itself has little in common with a real rafting, but it is fun due to the winding descent. The return to the station is unfortunately very slow, as there is only a minimal current.

Wasserrutsche

Since the level of wetness was unfortunately limited, the nearby rubber dinghy slides from Dutch production had to be tested. As they obviously missed to install the boat return in the middle of the layout, you have to carry your boat to the starting position yourself. Similar to the Schloss Beck you are allowed to press the button to start the slide yourself. Especially worth mentioning is the variety of slides, which besides the usual wave slide, had one steep slide and one with a curve.

Familien-Achterbahn

The park also has a roller coaster with the so-called Familien-Achterbahn. The Force One ride built by Zierer is of course perfect for the target audience of the park and was wonderfully integrated into the park landscape. The train is much more comfortable than on newer installations, only the mechanical brake is a bit unexpected.

Pictures Erse Park

Conclusion Erse Park

The Erse Park is one of the small parks that you should definitely visit if you find yourself in this area. The staff members were all more than friendly and you never had the feeling to be unwanted. The park itself has a wonderful portfolio of rides, which you should definitely have experienced once. The continuously present primeval theme may be a bit strange at first, but can show some very well presented, although sometimes violent scenes. Fortunately, this does not belong to the image of an average small park. Erse Park is simply above avarage.

 

What is your opinion about the Erse Park amusement park? Just write it in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

 

          

Erse Park

A magical land in February

Toverland

On my way back from France towards the most beautiful Hanseatic city in the world, after a short sightseeing tour of the city of Cologne with obligatory (once and never again) ascent of the Cologne Cathedral, I went with David and his little brother towards the Dutch theme park Toverland in Sevenum.

Thanks to the Korting voucher there was a lot going on in Toverland, but not so much that one had to wait somewhere, except for the Woudracer. Most of the attractions were running since the beginning of the park, only a few of them changed every half an hour this time. The area around Troy was supposed to open between 12 and 17 o’clock.

Since it was a first for David’s brother in the park we left him the agony of choosing the attractions. At the end of the day Toverland was able to convince him, as he was still haunted by a Schloss Dankern Dejavu when entering the park.

Woudracer

Starting in the second hall, the Wiegand Bobkart Woudracer, which had no queue in the early opening hours, was the first to be given a ride. Irritated by the yodeling sound of the other passengers (even if they were coming from the tape), David’s brother, too, was racing down the track at full throttle.

Booster Bike

In order to keep up the speed rush, a motorbike ride on rails was targeted. Contrary to the copies of Intamin and Zamperla, Vekoma has set value on a relatively true body posture for its Booster Bike. The ride is great fun for a family roller coaster with a launch as powerful as the one of Europa Park’s roller coaster Bluefire and can convince with its combinations of curves. The only thing that minimally reduces the fun is the lack of airtime on the last hill.

Backstroke

As the temperature outside was approaching freezing point, the log flume Backstroke was visited. Extreme soaking if you like, because no matter where I sat I was the only one who got wet. The ride through the metal channel is not the most beautiful of its kind, but due to its special features it is quite convincing.

Villa Fiasco

After a round of Zierer Kontiki we headed towards the first hall, but before that we stopped at the Villa Fiasco. This Fun House is one of the best of its kind and no matter when we came the Ride-Op was happy. He was also a bit surprised when David walked through the house in a speed run.

Boomerang

Once again in the first hall, the children’s roller coaster Boomerang was visited. The way too steep curves still ride themselves a bit strange, but the coaster is still in a class of its own and always worth a lap.

Theekopjes

The rides of the Zamperla company in this hall had a long cycle, but when you ride the wave swinger you wish that this one would finally come to an end. The tea cups spun very well, contrary to David’s opinion (very similar to the tea cups from the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark Stukenbrock, as well as the tea cups from the Movie Park Germany and Hansa-Park).

Aqua Snake

The rubber dinghy slides can still get you soaking wet, even if it’s only me who’s been hit. I feel a little sorry for the staff at this ride, after all, they have to lift the boats themselves into the starting boxes all the time, which was solved better at other rides of this manufacturer.

Toverhuis

In addition to the many amusement options for small children, there is also an interactive house in this area where you can trigger some effects armed with a magic wand. After a while, the salami spell gets on your nerves, but it is still an attraction worth trying out.

I think the redesign of the first hall is a very laudable project, especially since it still looks like a cheap children’s play hall at first glance. In comparison to the second, much more open hall, as well as to the outside area, there is a clear difference in quality.

Ithaka

Speaking of outdoor areas, here you will find the log flume Backstroke, the above mentioned Vekoma Motorbike Launch Coaster, a horse carousel, a boat swing, an electric horse track, a high ropes course and the wooden roller coaster Troy.

Survival Parcours

If you are used to high ropes courses from Hansa-Park and think the shorter high ropes course from Toverland is easier, you are mistaken. Here you can spend half an eternity until you have climbed the course. For David himself the whole project was finished quickly, but his brother and I did the whole route. We had to do this one, as you can’t just turn around after the first exercise.

Scorpios

In contrast, the electric horse race track was a piece of cake. In the latest extension of Toverland, you can see a certain preference for products from Metallbau Emmeln, who were already present in the park with their teacup/giant wheel/lookout tower combo Twist ‘n’ Shout. The Scorpios boat swing from the same company may be a bit narrow, but it offers funny water effects, a good onboard sound and lots of airtime. The fact that this is only achieved with a wheel as drive is a masterpiece.

Troy

The real highlight in Toverland, however, is the wooden roller coaster Troy, which came to a halt in the meantime because of a lost cap and the resulting failure of the lift. Without this ride you would leave the park quite fast, because you would lose the desire for further rides quite fast. However, since Troy allows you to easily stay seated for 40 laps at a time without suffering a blackout or other physical damage, you spend a few more hours in the park.

The ride turns out to be wild, sometimes a bit aimless and at the beginning quite intense (especially the first curve). However, it is always very smooth. The music in the station can drive you crazy after a few laps, but it fits perfectly to express the mood of this ride and luckily there are several tracks.

 

What is your opinion about Theme Park Toverland? Just write it in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

 

          

Toverland

Some hours in the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark

itemprop="discussionURL"0

Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark

Since most other amusement parks in the surrounding area had a day of rest on the program, today I went to the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark in Stukenbrock. Since one could only read very little about this amusement park in the various forums, I was all the more excited to visit the second largest safari park in Germany.

Arrived at the park, I was very positively surprised by the reduced entrance fee on this rather quiet day. As one of the first guests I went on safari. In contrast to the Serengeti-Park in Hodenhagen, the route is much smaller, but you could observe many animals and was undisturbed by the clear view in the morning. The highlights of the tour are certainly the lions and tigers.

Flying Tiger

After the safari follows first of all an excursion through the park to get to the parking lot. The parking place catches one’s eye negatively due to the high concrete walls, but this hardly reduces the overall picture of the park. After a short exploration walk I went to the Super Tornado, alias Flying Tiger. The good condition of the somersault roller coaster with its classic Arrow-HUSS coaster trains catches the eye in a very positive way – the ride itself was ok, but there was some weight missing in the train (after all, the ride was started just for me), so compared to the sister ride Speed Snake at Fort Fun Abenteuerland, the ride was a bit too slow.

Flying Oil Pump

Like many other attractions, the second roller coaster of the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark was not supposed to open until later. That’s why I was next drawn to the Flying Oil Pump, a Fabbri Cataclysm. The looping carousel with the imaginative name was my highlight in the park. The ride is exciting, fast and fun. Although you are secured with shoulder restraints during the ride, the big game makes for a very pleasant and extremely exciting ride. The many rollovers and the interaction with the second gondola make the ride to something very special and should be tried by each visitor of the park.

Giraffe Tower and Black Fly

The other Fabbri offer of the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark is somewhat more borderline. At the Giraffe Tower freefall tower, for example, you hang at the top for just under a minute and the Frisbee Black Fly unfortunately hardly swings out at all. Nevertheless Fabbri could convince me of the ride comfort of her rides. Besides Zamperla the second Italian manufacturer who could score points with me.

Teetassen-Karussell

Speaking of Zamperla, there are also some rides from this manufacturer in the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark. They are a lot more family-friendly, but this should not be missing in such a park. Thereby, the tea cup carousel Teetassen-Karussell is specially worth mentioning with its extremely smooth-running gondolas that can quickly give you a real turning worm.

Kongo River

Also worth a special mention is the log flume Kongo River by the Dutch manufacturer Van Edgom. The Kongo River is not convincing because of its extremely slow lift speed, but it can certainly knock the socks off any passenger because of its descents, the rapids and the enormous airtime in the double drop. A big praise is due to the personnel at the ride, who did not feel too bad to rescue my cap that flew off during the double drop.

Affenzug

Behind the water ride there is a place with some enclosures. Beside a large enclosure with mostly lazy white lions, one could observe extremely active white tigers during my visit. The station of the Affenzug with which one drives over the monkey island is also located here. During the trip, the monkeys climb around the train and can come very close to the visitor – if it were not for the grids on the train. You can also find the frisbee and a water roundabout.

Marienkäferbahn

Close to the Flying Oil Pump there are several Heege motor swings, which have a nice portion of airtime, as well as a water playground, several children’s attractions and hardly slippery slides by Metalbau Emmeln. The park’s second roller coaster, the so-called Marienkäferbahn, is also located here. In a small wooded area, the big Tivoli Coaster by the manufacturer Zierer takes you through the ground level curves of this classic family roller coaster.

Pictures Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark

Closing Words

The Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark has a great price/performance ratio. 24€ is quite affordable for what is offered and if you go on a day without shows, like I did, you only have to pay a reduced price (17€50). The rides are (almost) all in a good and well-kept condition and can convince. The park is definitely worth a visit.

 

What is your opinion about the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark Stukenbrock amusement park and zoo? Just write it in the comment field here below the report or on our social media channels:

 

          

Safariland Stukenbrock