Peppa Pig

Heide Park (2020)

itemprop="discussionURL"1

Heide Park and the Corona measures

You can see that Merlin Entertainments is a little more professional than the medium-sized company nearby. It is therefore less surprising that the Heide Park Resort is also making exemplary progress in its implementation of the Corona measures. The entrance including instructions on how to wear your mask in the park simply works smoothly. In the park itself this is a different game, as many visitors do not want to follow the rules. Masks can be worn at will, often they only cover the mouth and not the nose. Also keeping distance is often an unsolvable task during the course of the day despite existing and clearly visible ground markings. Only in the attractions themselves the rules are respected. This is a pity and only ensures a large number of announcements.

Despite maximum capacity, the Corona measures taken result in longer queues at each attraction. The staff is visibly trying to keep the operation running at its best despite the measures taken. In this respect I would like to thank all the ride ops in the park; you guys are really great!

But as the queues were partly too exhausting for myself, I enjoyed the day with only a few rides. Especially because of that it was a quite relaxed day all in all, where a lot of videos but also some photos were taken.

Pictures Heide Park

 
 

Videos Heide Park

 

Big Loop • Vekoma Looping Coaster • Offride

 

 

 

Limit • Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster • Offride

 

 

 

Krake • B&M Dive Coaster • Offride

 

 

 

Flug der Dämonen • B&M Wing Coaster • Offride

 

 

 

Desert Race • Intamin Accelerator Coaster • Offride

 

 

 

Indy-Blitz • Zierer Force One • Offride

 

 

 

Panoramabahn • Mack Rides Monorail • Onride

 

 

 

Käptn’s Törn Onride • Mack Rides Round Boat Ride • Onride

 

 

What is your opinion about the Corona measures at Heide Park?  Just write it in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

 

          

Heide Park

On a dinosaur hunt in the Peppa Pig World

itemprop="discussionURL"0

History of Paultons Park

Known nationally as Peppa Pig World, Paultons Park is located on the land of the former Paulton’s Estate near Southampton. In 1979, the Mancey family bought the land, cleared it of scrub and debris and built the gardens we see today, including a small bird park and adventure playground. In 1983 the park opened its doors to visitors for the first time as Paultons Park and Bird Gardens.

Three years later the first rides moved into the park. In 1993 the first roller coaster was added. Since the millennium the park has been growing steadily. But its most important investment was made in 2011 with the opening of the first Peppa Pig Land, the Peppa Pig World. Within a year, Paultons Park doubled its visitor numbers. An unparalleled success that has attracted a host of other toddler theme areas at various theme parks both within and outside the UK. However, it remains to be seen whether such brand loyalty outside the UK works at all.

Tour of the park

Upon entering the park, one immediately finds oneself in the beautiful gardens of the park. From here you can either turn right to the Peppa Pig World or left to the Lost Kingdom theme area. Basically a decision against or with the stream of visitors. As a roller coaster fan the choice is even easier, but for narrative reasons I start with the visitor booster.

Peppa Pig World

Passing a 3D cinema, where the film Sammy’s Great Adventure was shown, as well as an adventure golf course included in the admission price, the park railway, an rubber dinghy slide, a beautifully laid out tractor ride and a carousel, we head towards the Peppa Pig World theme area. Here you will find a number of rides from Metallbau Emmeln and Zamperla, including an electric horse-riding track in a toy dino design, a duck carousel in a boat design and a Flying Wheel (a kind of teacup ferris wheel). All this is complemented by figures familiar from the series, matching playgrounds and the house of the Pig family. In 2018, the themed area will also be expanded with a round boat trip and a sightseeing tour.

There is not really anything more to tell there. While the rest of the park was partly deserted, there was a lot of activity in this area. All this speaks for the series produced since 2004. I myself consider such branding to be questionable, as it has a major impact on small children. Unfortunately, it must be said that the time of generally designed toddler areas (e.g. a farm area) seems to be over.

Cat-o-pillar

Interestingly, Paultons Park itself offers the exception to the rule. Instead of just relying on Peppa Pig, the park does its own thing in the Critter Creek theme area. Besides the roller coaster Cat-o-pillar, a Zierer Tivoli in the medium sized version, the themed area convinces with its wacky design and the integration of an insect and amphibian house.

Little Africa

There are also several animal enclosures along the river, which were expanded in 2018 with the Little Africa theme area. There is also a large penguin enclosure where show feeding takes place several times a day.  Directly adjacent to it there are several smaller rides, including a boat swing, a teacup lift, a Kontiki, and two family free-fall towers of different heights, which were placed directly next to each other.

Lost Kingdom

On the other side of the gardens is the Lost Kingdom themed area, which has created a very special flair by cleverly expanding the portfolio and incorporating rides that were once only loosely themed. Here you can see how you can create an all-round coherent themed area with well-considered actions.

Flight of the Pterosaur

In order to get a better overview of the area we immediately board the roller coaster Flight of the Pterosaur. After a short curve out of the station we climb the 20m high lift hill. At the top we immediately fall down in a wide left turn towards the ground. Far above the adjacent Demolition Derby we climb up again in the same way. A straight hilltop follows. With momentum, we now pass through a short dip, whereupon a labyrinth of narrow helices follows. Alternating right and left helices, we pass a cave and get faster and faster before we shoot into the station at top speed. There we are gently slowed down and then come to a stop.

Flight of the Pterosaur is a top class ride. The layout is fun and can satisfy especially the young park guests. As the first big roller coaster I can hardly imagine a better ride, although Paultons Park can offer two similar calibres. The pacing and the ride characteristics of this modern family roller coaster classic are very convincing.

Velociraptor

Right next door is the small shuttle roller coaster Velociraptor. As the first rebound version of the Family Boomerang by Vekoma, the ride impresses with its curves close to the ground and the small hill above the station. The layout itself resembles an eight, with both ends running over the loops.

After you have been driven backwards up the lift hill, you immediately descend rapidly and then pass through the station at full speed. This is followed by a left-hand bend close to the ground, as well as the already mentioned hill above the station, where light airtime sets in. After a right-hand bend under the lift hill, a hill follows over the first bend, which has a small hump in the middle. Here one comes to a standstill, whereupon the backwards journey begins. A little more leisurely than before, you now make your way back to the station.

Compared to the standard model, this system is particularly impressive due to its distinctive speed profile. The curves close to the ground are convincing all along the line and even the hill in the middle of the track knows to please on the forward drive. Thanks to the generally lower visitor demands, it is possible to remain seated on the ride and thus dare one ride after the other. For the coaster fan this is an optimal roller coaster which really is a lot of fun, but probably keeps many children away from the ride because of its backward ride.

Temple Heigths, The Dinosaur Tour Co. and Dino Chase

The situation is different for the remaining rides in this area. The small flying carpet Temple Heights and the Jeep Safari The Dinosaur Tour Co. know how to please just as well as the children’s roller coaster Dino Chase, a Zierer Tivoli in the smallest version with an extremely cute train design and an all around successful appearance.

Magma

Passing a dragon carousel of the manufacturer Zierer, which offered both a forward and a backward ride, and a go-kart track, we now head towards the last roller coaster of the park. But first we queue up at the interesting free fall tower Magma and enjoy the elaborately designed queue, before we ride up and down the SBF Visa tower over and over again. If the park would offer a different hardware, the tower would probably be a good one.

Cobra

Arrived at the Cobra, the first thing to do is to leave the depressing and extremely sterile waiting area behind you. Once this is done, you have to get into the well-known Gerstlauer sleds, whereupon the journey is about to start. After the lift hill has brought you up to the initial height of 16.5 m, the sledge immediately plunges down in a very steep right turn, whereupon an upward helix is performed in the same direction. After a short block area, four hairpin bends follow in best wild mouse manner. In a racy combination of two helices, the descent becomes extremely fast before ascending again a few metres. Over several camelbacks you make your way to the other side of the course, but unfortunately there is no generous lift-off at all. After a further downward helix the brake run of the layout is reached.

Cobra is a good roller coaster, but it lags a little behind its sister coasters. The ride seems to be a little bit more powerless, at least in general, which is especially apparent in the very lax camelbacks. The layout itself differs only a little from the G’stengte Sau from the amusement park Tripsdrill or the great roller coaster Thor’s Hammer from the Danish amusement park Djurs Sommerland, but the fun doesn’t really come across during the ride. Maybe the ride is just missing an appealing design, I couldn’t really explain it to myself.

The Edge

Right behind the roller coaster Cobra is the disk’o coaster The Edge, which offered a rock solid ride. Due to the successful theming of the nearby Lost Kingdom theme area, however, the ride, just like the Cobra roller coaster, seems to have been put in place without any love. The area around the park’s Reverchon log flume has a similar effect. There is a need for action in this area, but it is only a matter of time until the park creates another great theme area. At least it is not unlikely.

Pictures Paultons Park

Conclusion Paultons Park

Paultons Park is an exceptionally pleasant amusement park, which rightly calls itself the UK’s number one family park. The park offers a wide range of family rides, including five family roller coasters, as well as numerous playgrounds. It also offers a truly beautiful garden landscape, as well as numerous animal enclosures and a miniature golf course included in the admission price. If there would be a water park available you could think you were in a Scandinavian sommerland theme park. This is quite appealing, if the common visitor would not only come because of Peppa Pig. The park offers more and might even be able to add even more to it. In this respect, one should look forward to the future.

 

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

 

          

Paultons Park

Italian Miniatures and Rollercoasters

itemprop="discussionURL"1

Leolandia

The history of Leolandia starts 45 years ago, when the entrepreneur Guido Pendezzini presented his miniature park under construction, modelled on the Dutch miniature park Madurodam near The Hague, to the public. However, the park was not officially opened as Minitalia until three years later. The centrepiece of the park, which has also been a prominent feature of the park’s official name for a very long time, is the Italian-style miniature village Minitalia with its replicas of striking Italian buildings and towns. In addition, the country was presented with smaller regional stands and even back then some rides were offered.

In 1997 Pendezzini sold his park to the Triberti and Fabbri families, who, as showmen and manufacturers of amusement park equipment, had considerable experience in this field. They developed the park into an amusement park and operated it as Fantasy World Minitalia until 2007, when the Zamperla family, also an amusement ride manufacturer, took over the park. Since then Leolandia has been regularly expanded and supplemented with products from the company’s own catalogue.

Twister Mountain

A prominent example of this is the Twister Mountain spinning coaster, which is perfectly placed directly at the exit to the park, next to the already oversized park sign, to attract customers of the hypermarket opposite to Leolandia. However, this is only the small version of the well-known funfair model based on the layout of the French manufacturer Reverchon.

After leaving the station you climb the 10m high lift hill. At the top, you pass through two hairpin bends at a rapid pace, whereupon the first descent is already waiting. Above the station you pass through a block brake and shortly after that, halfway parallel to the lift hill, the second major shot of the ride. Without any strange bumps in the ascent you reach the other side of the roller coaster. In the next brake the rotation of the car is released, whereupon the next four hairpin bends are passed with surprisingly much momentum. Without a bump, the return to the other side of the ride follows and finally, after another hairpin bend, the brake track.

Although the Spinning Coaster variants by Zamperla are not considered to be very spin-friendly thanks to their optimised carriages and therefore usually miss their target, the Twister Mountain offered us a solid, albeit quite short, ride. The comfort in the gondola is unfortunately not quite as high as with Reverchon, but in theory the ride offers better restraint, especially for smaller children, thanks to the single bars.

Electro Spin and Donna Cannone

Just as solidly we were entertained by the Mega Disk’o Electro Spin and the Flash Tower Donna Cannone. While the Disk’o offered intensive spinning action, the pulley tower could convince with surprising airtime at the upper turning point. Unfortunately a launch from the cannon is not simulated.

Leo Coaster

The other attractions of the rather sparse Expo 1906 area are a cogs ride with a king kong look, a fire fighting carousel, a wave swinger and the small children’s roller coaster Leo Coaster. This roller coaster comes in the standard version of the manufacturer, i.e. oval-shaped with a helix in the middle, but has comparatively good riding characteristics.

Mondo di Peppa Pig

With the Mondo di Peppa Pig, an attempt was made last year to establish a toddler area in the park based on the English model. However, what in England ensures that Paultons Park is only known as Peppa Pig World and provides it with masses of visitors, seems a little unlovingly put up here. Although there is the possibility to look at the original house of the main protagonists of the series and to take a photo with the actors, the merchandising sales seem to be the only basis for this area.

Il Trenino

The whole thing continues with the Masha e Orso (Mascha and the Bear) show and the train ride Il Trenino by Thomas & Friends. Admittedly, a train ride with Thomas and his friends is always a good idea, as you can see at Drayton Manor in England, but outside of the shape of the train there is no reference to the series.

Minitalia

In the rear part of the Leolandia park, right next to the miniature village Minitalia, there are several animal enclosures, most of which show indigenous farm animal species. The enclosures are sufficiently large and resemble a farm. Unfortunately there are some smaller aviaries with parrots next to them, which is a great contrast to the newer looking farm area.

The Cowboy Town forms the western part of the Leolandia, where the combination of log flume and powered coaster, well-known from the Wunderland Kalkar, is presented. In addition, there are several round and high rides in this area, including the very uncomfortable kite flyer Wild Avvoltoi, as well as a larger show stage.

Gold River

After leaving the station of the log flume Gold River, the boat bobs a little through the channel and after a longer S-curve and a short left turn you reach the first steep lift hill, which takes you into the equally steep shoot. After a good moistening you are released into the channel again and cross a larger right-hand bend to climb the second lift hill at a 90° angle to the first shot. Typically Zamperla, the second downhill run is no less steep than the first one, so that one is led quite abruptly into the second run; here too, the wetness of the downhill run is within a pleasant range. The return journey to the station follows.

Mine Train

Above the log flume is the access to the Mine Train roller coaster, whose course runs mostly over the fairway of the Wild River. After a somewhat longer ascent with a slight left bend, which is climbed quite leisurely, a rather long right turn follows. The first increase in speed is in the downward helix to the left. Immediately afterwards, the waterway’s channel is crossed at a dizzy height in a right-hand bend. In a slightly larger downward helix you now circle the second shot of the log flume, followed by a rather wide right turn, which immediately closes the course. The train then races through the station and completes another, rather leisurely round.

Although the track of the roller coaster from the Wunderland Kalkar was built much more compact it is clearly the better roller coaster of this quite special combo. The Mine Train from the Leolandia, however, crosses the track a little bit too slowly and unfortunately also very jerky, so there is no fun to ride on.

Rapide di Leonardo

Opposite it is the round boat slide Rapide di Leonardo, an Italian interpretation of the popular River Splash rides by the manufacturer ABC Rides with a very special twist. After leaving the station, you immediately make a small right turn and enter the vertical lift, which brings the boat into position, holds it and lifts it up without any technical control frills. After you have been quickly transported upwards, the basket tilts forward and the boat rolls out of the lift. You are now thrown into the first helix at full pelt, whereupon the boat is immediately set in rotation. After a few meters you make an S-curve combination around the tower, which makes the boat turn at a breathtaking speed. This speed increases in the following downward helix and lets you play Russian Roulette during the following shot. After the soaking, the boat goes through a 180° turn, where a round and spinning cannon apparatus fires water at the passengers at regular intervals. The return to the station now features some elements of a rapid river, such as a waterfall that turns off and various rapids. It is the much quieter part of the ride, which allows you to put what you have just experienced into words and makes you wonder why Zamperla has not been able to sell another ride of this kind. The Hydro Lift at least is an unparalleled fun machine and wins every prize for the best dizz with ease.

Riva dei Pirati

The visually most convincing theme area at the Leolandia is the pirate area Riva dei Pirati, which consists mainly of children’s rides, but which is presented in a great design. Besides the good ship swing Galeone and the beautiful Splash Battle Mediterranea, you will find the prototype of the Stand-Up Disk’os Surf’s Up Scilla e Cariddi. Although the ride through the long gondola is a bit rough in parts, the Floating Airtime is worth an experience, so it is a pity to find only a small version of this ride. Unfortunately, the restraint system charges you a little bit statically, so you can get a little shock at the exit.

Pictures Leolandia

Conclusion Leolandia

Leolandia is a really nice theme park with a pretty good idea right from the beginning of its existence. The Minitalia is quite nicely realised and can keep you busy for a few hours, compared to the Legoland parks around the world. At the same time this miniature outdoor wonderland offers a wonderful view of the corners of this charming country, which you would like to see in real life. The quality of the theme park is, with the exception of the Expo 1906 area, very high and is further underlined by the matching workers’ uniforms, divided according to the theme areas of the park.

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

          

Click here for the next report of the Il Viaggio dei due Runner Tour

Il Viaggio dei due Runner Day 1 / Leolandia