Tag: Powered Coaster

Boats ahead on the Japanese highland plateau

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The History of Kijima Kogen Park

On a high plateau (Japanese Kogen) far above the Japanese spa town of Beppu – which attracts several million visitors every year, mainly due to its large number of hot springs and the associated public baths, the so-called onsen – lies the Kijima Kogen Park (城島高原パーク).

Starting out as a small go-kart track, Kijima Motopia Land was created in 1967. With the longest go-kart track in Japan at that time, new visitors were quickly attracted to the plateau. After a change of ownership in 1971, a swimming pool and a bowling alley were added to the resort. In 1982 the park name was changed to Kijima Kogen Family Park and the following year the looping coaster Super LS Coaster was opened.

In 1987, West Japan Nippon Korakuen Co, Ltd. (operator of the former Kōrakuen stadium and today’s Tokyo Dome) took over the park. In the course of this, the park was renamed in 1992 to Kijima Korakuen Yūenchi (engl. Amusement Park), in connection with a large expansion of the amusement park area and the opening of Japan’s first wooden roller coaster. In 2007, the resort was sold to Morgan Stanley, after which it was operated under the resort brand Centleisure for several years. In 2012, Kijima Kogen Operations Co, Ltd. was established as part of a restructuring process and renamed Kijima Kogen Park.

Tour of the park

If you enter the park, you will find yourself right on the beautiful Main Street of the park. To the left is the indoor playground Toy Kingdom and to the right the souvenir shop of the park, where you can buy mainly the most popular souvenir of the Japanese: cookies from the region.

Super LS Coaster

Of special interest, however, is the big roller coaster directly in front of us: The Super LS Coaster (actually L&S, for Loop & Screw) by Meisho. Wonderfully embedded in the landscape, the train takes you through a loop and two corkscrews.

But before I tell you too much about the route in the introduction I would suggest that we climb the stairs to the station and get on the train. After leaving the station we spend some time on the lift hill. At the top we leave the hill on a ramp with a minimal gradient and make a short right bend. High above the arcades we cross the first valley and start the big shot. In a wide right bend we increase more and more speed, whereupon the train disappears in a pit. Continuing with the same gradient, we now rush through a short straight section with our eyes now always on the next element. Mercilessly powerful we cross the following valley before we find ourselves headfirst in a loop. This is also passed with a lot of pressure. Afterwards the train shoots up a steep slope of a camelback. This camelback brings us with light airtime into the right sitting position for the next inversion figure. In a wide left turn along the minigolf course we slowly increase in cross slope before we are in the starting position for the two corkscrews. Two headstands later we are slowly pulled towards the station in a left turn. We cross the loop and dive down on a longer straight for the last time. Between the two corkscrews we are pulled up to the station level and shortly after into the final brake of the ride.

The Super LS Coaster keeps what its name promises and surprises you all the more with the excellent transfer of its built up speed. In addition, there are three overhead elements that are beautiful to ride and the generally very good ride characteristics of the layout, which ultimately invite you to ride it continuously.

Jupiter

But before we dedicate ourselves to this activity, we first go on an exploration tour to the lower levels of the Kijima Kogen Park. Passing a beautifully designed children’s driving school and the neighbouring footbath (one of the typical Japanese onsen, just for feet) we are drawn to the wooden roller coaster Jupiter. We were told right at the entrance that the ride would not run today – but we didn’t know the reason for that yet. In fact, we thought that the freshly renovated trains were the reason for this and not the death of an employee (during routine work) only a few days before. Of course, such an accident should not happen and the outcome is tragic – so it’s perfectly understandable that the ride was not in operation until it was approved by the local authorities. On site, of course, it was necessary to overlook the loss of a ride – very difficult especially if one person wanted to ride all wooden coasters in the country. In general, however, one thing can be said about Jupiter: The ride looks (if you see it at all) extremely delicious; the first drop seems absolutely wild and in general the track with its 1600m seems to be extremely dynamic.

Mars

I will certainly stand in front of the roller coaster again at some point in the near future. In the meantime, however, we are drawn into the labyrinth Mars, which is actually subject to an extra charge. On two missions – one rather sporty, the other one for thinkers – it goes over several levels, peppered with various tasks through the wooden building. There are three stamps to find for the stamp booklet and if you have passed both missions, you even get a golden sticker. Indeed a fun for the whole family, which might be a great idea to be introduces into serveral western countries.

Poseidon 30

The same applies to the covered water ride Poseidon 30 – whereby the roof of the boats should only be offered as an option for the water-shy park guests. Built by the manufacturer O.D. Hopkins, the Spillwater stands out above all for its impressive wave, while at the same time the passengers and spectators are not getting wet at all. For a water ride this does not sound very impressive, but who am I kidding? It’s about boats. The boat, which at that time fulfilled an involuntary abort criterion of the onride veteran Stilbruch on his Japan trip.

Actually, it’s quite simple: Put your foot on the roller in the floor space and push your harness when the boat hits the wave and you will survive without any insury; promised ;-). We were patiently taught how to do it and after we survived it we were happy to get back on board again and again during the day. However, if something would have happened, it would have been the conceivably most unfavourable tour course. But as it is already said Tidal Wave in the English theme park Thorpe Park: “What is the worst that could happen? Well, it is advertising for Dr. Pepper, but still – this is the only way to start a Japan tour.

Ice World

Survived, but with the best will in the world hardly or not at all refreshed, we were now drawn to a very special attraction: the nicely designed cold store Ice World. With a temperature difference of more than 60°C, we walked in very small steps through the cold chamber cooled down to -30°C and past all kinds of beautifully designed scenery.

Sky Pallet

The next special feature of Kijima Kogen Park was the nearby Giant Ferris Wheel Sky Pallet, where, in addition to the normal gondolas, you can also experience the ride in a kind of open-air gondola at right angles to the direction of travel. Secured by a shoulder restraint, the ride experience intensifies almost automatically, but the field of vision is limited to only one side. Thus, it is a pity that such gondolas are much too rare.

Newton

More often, also in Japan, you can find free fall towers. The local example is called Newton and like an apple, it drops you from a tall height to the ground. The Japanese have an interesting understanding of safety, and although they put additional padding everywhere, they do not use it in free fall towers; even the belts known from Europe to secure the safety bar are simply missing. This results in an even more intensified overall experience that can only be topped by the extremely creative gondola design.

A similarly creative design can be found on the nearby observation tower, which has a stork design and works like a Flying Island ride. From up here you have a wonderful view of the plateau with all its rides, which we will now take a closer look at.

Dragon

Through a small children’s area, including a dragon roller coaster by the manufacturer Zamperla (a small oval with a central downward helix) and past the large paddling pool, which is used as a skating rink in winter, we were drawn to the upper level. Here you can find all kinds of classic flat rides, such as a teacup ride, a horse carousel and a wave swinger, but also rides such as a sea storm ride, a flying carpet and a large swing boat.

360° 3D cinema

Of particular interest was the 360° 3D cinema, where a typical Japanese horror film was shown in the afternoon. Accompanied by all kinds of effects, the film worked extremely well and the 3D effect was also great – which is why we were drawn back to this kind of cinema again and again during the rest of the tour.

Flash Battle K and Shooting Pirates

The same is true for interactive games, like Flash Battle K, where you had to hit buttons – which are spread all over the room – like crazy to score as many points as possible. With the same premise, but conceived as a classic interactive theme ride, Shooting Pirates presents itself to park guests. Similar to the dark ride Capitán Balas of the Spanish amusement park Isla Magica, the ride goes through an elaborately designed pirate theme in small round chaises. The ride is very impressive, but it is also incredibly short and the end comes very fast.

Roller Skate Coaster

Right next door you will find the laser labyrinth (extra charge) and the children’s roller coaster Roller Skate Coaster in the classic roller skater layout of the manufacturer Vekoma. Accordingly, the ride offers some racy curves and helices, perfectly tailored to the young park guests who like to get on and off.

Moon Parade

At first sight, the Monorail Moon Parade looks similarly familiar, at least until you get into the car. Instead of using electricity, you drive along the track with a combustion engine, and the best part is that we can steer. We can only control the speed, but for everything else there is a very long go-kart track directly under the layout.

Gold Rush

Now let’s get to the last attraction of Kijima Kogen Park and my 450th roller coaster: Gold Rush. Nestled in an artificial rock massif, the ride is, at least in the front part of the train, incredibly brute and wild. After the lift ascent, you curve through the layout level by level, starting with a tight left turn, which immediately leads into the first, very flat drop. Interestingly, the ascent is much steeper and the hilltop is very narrow, so you get in contact with the bar and experience some airtime. After a left bend, the game is repeated again on a small scale. After a wide right bend a short dip follows, after which we gain a lot of momentum on a shot. During this we dive into the rock massif, always with our eyes on the coming evil. As if we did not deserve it any other way, we climb a small ascent, the crest of which is once again very narrow and then leads into a curve. Absolutely surprised by the enormous interplay of all forces, we leave the cave under loud laughter and devote ourselves to the rest of the course. Over a powerless camelback we reach another turn-around curve, on which we are now forwarded parallel to the station. In a left-hand bend we cross under the hill we just passed, and with a constant lateral inclination we now cross a short straight line, as well as the last bends in the direction of the station.

I did not expect much from the Gold Rush roller coaster, but it is truly a rush of the senses. Rather rusted than covered with gold dust, the ride convinces with its slick ride characteristics and its, at least in the front part of the train, absolutely terrific transitions. All in all, the Gold Rush roller coaster is a great family roller coaster, which fits perfectly into this amusement park.

Pictures Kijima Kogen Park

Conclusion Kijima Kogen Park

The Kijima Kogen Park was a very special amusement park for me, as it was not only the first one I visited in Japan, but also my 100th visited amusement park! Therefore, it is even better that I really liked the park very much. The atmosphere of the park reminds in large parts of the Danish amusement park Tivoli Gardens, which is also due to its absolutely great gardens. The rides all know how to entertain, which is why I would like to come back sooner than later, definitely not because I miss a ride on the wooden roller coaster Jupiter but rather because I would like to explore the area around Beppu. The hot springs are really appealing to me.

 

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Click here for the next report of the Titanic Max Tour

Kijima Kogen Park / Titanic Max Day 1

A great Afternoon in De Panne

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Preface

Years have passed since I first visited Plopsaland De Panne on a very busy Maundy Thursday. The catapult start roller coaster Anubis – The Ride was just four days old, but the amusement park could not convince me at all. With the derailment of their park railway, which back in the days was running through a large animal enclosure, my mood was down and I left the park early.

My memories of Plopsaland have been negatively influenced since then, but the constant development in De Panne was always of interest. Theme areas have been restructured or pounded out of the ground, a theatre has been built, as well as a very interesting swimming pool. With the construction of the wooden roller coaster Heidi – The Ride and the planned opening a visit was unavoidable, which is why I bought a Plopsa Funcard with parking pass (very worthwhile, especially regarding the Benelux parking fees) in the Holiday Park at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, the wooden roller coaster would not open this year due to noise problems.

After a short visit to the Plopsa Indoor Coevorden I reached the parking lot around 3pm. From there, under the incredibly well-positioned wooden roller coaster, a path leads to the park’s entrance. Such a crock, not being able to ride this beauty.

History of the Theme Park

The Plopsaland De Panne was opened in 2000, but the origins of the park date back to 1935. The Florizoone family opened Meli Park, the country’s first amusement park right next to their honey empire Meli. Constantly declining visitor numbers in the 90s led to the sale of the amusement park.. The (still quite fresh) Studio 100 brought the park back on the road to success with its own (children’s series) licenses.

Tour of the park

Mayaland

If you enter the park you find yourself on a covered Main Street and shortly thereafter on a huge square with some fountains. There are many paths to choose, but you can also find the entrance to the park’s theatre as well as the entrance to the indoor theme area Mayaland. This is a smaller version of Holiday Park’s children area and offers fun for the whole family with the Kontiki De Swingboom, the Flying Fish De Bloemenmolen, the Demolition Derby De Waterlelies and the Family Freefall Tower De Valtoren. Like the theatre and the adjacent swimming pool, the Mayaland is also used outside the regular parking opening times.

De Vleermuis

If you follows the course of the park’s railway, which incidentally passes through the hitherto unfinished theme area based around the children’s series Heidi, you quickly encounter the roller coaster De Vleermuis. This is a small coaster with free-swinging gondolas made by the company Caripro, in which both tracks deliver a race on the steadily sloping and rather simple layout in the form of an eight. Basically, only the quite fast vertical lift is notably. But you should hold on tight to prevent nasty surprises. The hard to enter ride vehicles and the rather small capacity do not speak for the ride. The ride is ok for the audience it serves, so mainly small children have some fun.

De Boomstammetjes

A few meters further on you will come across the beautifully designed medieval theme area, where De Boomstammetjes the park’s log flume and the powered roller coaster De Draak await their passengers. As one of the first of its kind, the log flume opened in 1989 with a double down. The ride is quite long and features two shoots. Unfortunately, the ride was not flooded.

De Draak

Above the log flume, the Draak was on its track. Through the long and beautiful queue you reach the station. The ride starts with a right-hander with some up and down features. A longer straight with some hills is following, but the speed is still missing. In a downhill helix the train takes some speed, but also the upcoming near-ground directional changes above the log flume can not really increase the tension. A right-hand helix leads the train back to lofty heights. In another downward helix you build up some speed again, whereupon the station is quickly passed through and another lap follows.

The ride on the roller coaster De Draak is unfortunately not very exciting nor fast. The course of the coaster is not really bad, it just lacks the speed for the existing elements. Without, the roller coaster is one of the most boring representatives of its kind, which does not bother the existing target group in the park.

Rollerskater

Arriving at the central lake, you immediately meet a Zierer Jet Ski and a magic bike by Zamperla, as well as the first earworm of the park, as both attractions are located in the Mega Mindy Universe and the series’ title song is played over and over again. You can find some peace at the neighbouring Rollerskater, a family coaster of the manufacturer Vekoma, which comes here in a beautiful and somehow oversized design.

Kaatje zoekt Eendje and Viktor’s Race

Next to the boat ride Kaatje zoekt Eendje you can find the family coaster Viktor’s Race. With the introduction of the children’s series “Kaatje van Ketnet”, the roller coaster Dongo’s Race was redesigned and features a new train and new rails; after all, the ride built in 1976 is the park’s oldest roller coaster and one of the most popular within the park. The transformation has a very positive effect on the ride and fits seamlessly into the general concept.

Rox Flyer and Prinssesia

Meanwhile, the Funtime Starflyer Rox Flyer looks like a foreign object in the park. Right next door you can find the park’s upscale restaurant Prinssesia housed in a fairy tale castle. The park’s tea cup is also included in the newly created complex and now features a roof above the ride.

Piratenboot, Storm op Zee and Super Splash

We complete the tour around the lake with the pirate theme area of Piet Piraat. In addition to the HUSS Pirate Piratenboot, which was elegantly placed on the lake, and the Koggenfahrt ride Storm op Zee, this area is dominated by the Mack Rides Super Splash of the same name. From a height of 18m you dive in spacious boats 20m to the ground, passes over a short hill and shortly after splashes into the lake. After that you are on a leisure cruise back to the station. The peculiarity of this ride is the reduction to the essentials, e.g. there is no unnecessary backward part at dizzy heights. The necessary rotation of the boats happens during the climb in the vertical lift. As always, you don’t get soaked on a Super Splash, but you will get wet.

Anubis – The Ride

In 2009, Anubis – The Ride – a roller coaster based around the TV series “Het Huis Anubis”, which was followed by its own German-language production on Nickelodeon shortly after – opened. The Anubis House is a boarding school in which a group of students experience numerous mystical adventures and intrigues; Accordingly, the presentation inside is extremely impressive, especially compared to Holiday Park’s Freefall Tower. The images of the cast were reduced and the soundtrack is not played in a continuous loop anymore.

Once seated in the six-seater car, one immediately leaves the station modelled after the Anubis house and takes some momentum in a short right turn. Shortly thereafter, the actuator located on the car dives into the stators located on the track accelerating the train to a speed of 90 km/h. Now you climb a very steep hill, similar to a half-sided Top Hat element. On the top, you quickly rotates sideways and dive down to the ground. Confronted with very high G-Forces you quickly rise up again to dive down within a dive loop. On a hill you experience some air time whilst changing the direction. In an Immelmann you see the world upside down for another time. A steep curve then leads you into the ride’s block brake section. Barely reduced in speed, a left turn leads you to the ground level. After that you run over a small hill and make the final change of direction, before you are swept up in a crisp and beautiful heartlineroll.. Shortly thereafter, you reach the station.

Anubis – The Ride is still pretty damn good. The ride offers some amazing G-Forces, the airtime is pronounced and the inversions are all passed through very quickly. The design of the ride is also done very well and creates a very unique ambience. As a standalone attraction, the ride is fully embedded in the overall concept of the park.

De Grote Golf and Wickie – The Battle

The visually most impressive theme area is the Wickieland built in 2013, where Vicky the Viking and the other vikings found their new home. With the nicely designed Zamperla Disk’o Coaster De Grote Golf and the picturesque Splash Battle Wickie – The Battle by Mack Rides you can find two great rides in a great atmosphere. Unfortunately, it is very noticeable that figures or groups of figures were used more often, so that sometimes the variety is missing. Since these figures can be found in all of the Plopsa Parks, this is very noticeable.

Kirmesplein

Equally well done is the newly arranged theme area Kirmesplein, which no longer looks like a collection of old rides. The wave swinger Wienerwalz was replaced by a newer copy. Likewise, a number of figures from the Samson & Gert universe can now be found in this area.

Het Bos van Plop

Next to the toddler area themed around the clown Bumba – which you should never show your children, unless they are fans of the teletubbies –, which is very popular in the Benelux countries, you can find the Kabouter Plop, after which Plopsaland De Panne was named, the park’s last remaining area. In addition to a small farm and a tractor ride – of course with free-range livestock – this area particularly captivates by the dark ride Het Bos van Plop, in which one can discover the world of the gnomes on a rather long journey. This is beautifully staged and has (most likely) a very large reference to the television series, which is why usually very long waiting times can be found here.

Pictures Plopsaland De Panne

Conclusion Plopsaland De Panne

Plopsaland De Panne has rapidly and steadily grown over the past seven years, giving the park a very Efteling-like charm. Everything is well done, which is why you feel really comfortable within the park. The additions and enhancements of the past years show impressively how a park can further develop existing concepts in order to offer an overall better experience. Plopsaland De Panne just became one of the best theme parks to visit in Europe.

 

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Plopsaland De Panne

A not so great visit

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Preface

After our day’s start in Fiabilandia we reached the car park of the amusement park Mirabilandia at late noon. Although our visiting day fell on Easter Sunday, the general rush of visitors was limited, but not the waiting times and the eagerness of the tourists/residents to jump the queue. Yes, it was not a pleasant visit to Mirabilandia, although the attractions are first class, but more about that later.

The History of Mirabilandia

We start the review with a look at the history of the amusement park, which opened in 1992. The park was founded as a project of a group of investors consisting of Situr-Finbrescia (46%), San Paolo Finance (44%) and Publitalia 80 (10%) who, with the simple formula “tourist resort + amusement park = cash cow”, completely failed in their exaggerated expectations and were unable to attract even a third of the two million visitors they had hoped for. As the operating company was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1996, they sold the park in late autumn of the year to the Löffelhardt-Casoli Group, a joint venture between Phantasialand co-founder Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Giancarlo Casoli, one of the owners of the former Italian amusement ride manufacturer S.D.C., who massively expanded the park in the following years. As a result, the number of visitors also grew to over 1.5 million. After a few years Löffelhardt withdrew from the business and Casoli took over the patronage, before Mirabilandia was sold to the Spanish group Parques Reunidos in 2006.

Tour of the park

After leaving the ticket offices behind, you enter the park over a bridge, similar to the English amusement park Thorpe Park near London. The skyline here is discreetly restrained, but with the perfectly placed Cobra Roll of the inverter Katun to the right of the bridge it is already very impressive. From here there is a path leading into the Far West Valley, which was still largely under construction, and the actual entrance area of Mirabilandia. This turns out to be a pirate’s nest full of details and accommodates some shops, where you can get fast passes, which were almost a necessary treat to be able to ride anything in this park.

To my own confusion, Mirabilandia had arbitrary opening and closing times of the rides, which meant that many attractions didn’t open until noon or even later, or closed much earlier. This in turn resulted in long waiting times throughout the park. On the one hand, I can understand that some smaller parks only gradually put their rides into operation or sometimes even open certain themed areas after a certain time, but I have never seen such a measure in a large amusement park before. It also explains why Gardaland, in return, advertises to close the queue of rides at the end of its opening hours.

Divertical

Passing the Pepsi Theatre, where, how could it be otherwise, a magic show is shown, and the musical stage in front of it, we head towards the Divertical water coaster, which already looks very striking from afar. By now at the latest, one becomes aware of how high the ride is and how wasteful it is with the space it has been placed on; however, this does not make the ride look aesthetic at all, which is mainly due to the sparingly placed decoration. On the other hand, the rear part of the ride adorns the insanely long access path to the completely out of place interactive dark ride Reset, which is quite positive and probably attracts more people than ever before to this corner of Mirabilandia.

After you have been asked to come up to the station and get into the speedboat, the trip on Divertical can start immediately. As the vertical lift of the ride is still a long way off, you bob a bit through the canal, which interestingly enough creates a good whitewater feeling. After all, the waves almost hit the boat again and again and make you jump away by the whirled up water drops. As soon as the lift is reached, you quickly rise to the starting height of 60m, whereby the curvature of the lift is interestingly hardly noticeable at all. As the view from up here is not very interesting, you are soon pushed over the top of the hill. On the following 45° slope you have enough time to notice how fast this ride actually is. The spray refreshes you and soon after you race through the first pool only to drive over a hill without slowing down. Here you take off a little bit before you throw yourself into a brisk curve. Hoping to slow down a little bit by the following block area, you drive through it without any braking effect and are then released into a right turn. A quick downward helix follows. However, it then goes over into a hill, which initiates the final shot of the ride. Well soaked, you are released back into the channel and reach the station shortly afterwards.

Contrary to my expectations, Divertical is a really awesome water coaster, which gives a feeling of speed like no other ride before. The ride is just fast, which I personally only noticed while crossing the first pool. Considering the starting height of the world’s largest water roller coaster, this is actually in the nature of the ride; at least I have rarely experienced such a speed rush. Moreover, the ride is made with a perfect finish, which means that the friction losses are not really significant, which in turn benefits the speed.

iSpeed

Also addressing the central theme of speed is the Blitz Coaster iSpeed from Intamin, a catapult launch coaster with LSM modules, which replaces the aging wooden coaster Sierra Tonante. The Spanish company’s first project was the self-titled “Il Rollercoaster #1”, a thoroughly fast roller coaster with a more than modest capacity.

Whilst at Divertical we had to queue for a short time, our less wasteful and self-horny lifestyle took revenge by not buying a fast pass. Now we were allowed to wait here for more than an hour in the desolate waiting area of the roller coaster, only to be constantly passed over by some brats of the thoroughly anti-social tourists of the Italian Adriatic. While in the other Italian parks nobody pushed in front of us and even let one of us pass by voluntarily to keep groups together, here it was simply a plague without equal. If you want to be reasonable in Mirabilandia, you better practice becoming a narcissist in advance by creating selfies en masse and treat yourself to a fast pass! In theory it’s not that expensive anyway, especially if you have bought an annual ticket for one of the other Parques Reunidos parks (e.g. Movie Park Germany, Attractiepark Slagharen, …) and didn’t pay any entrance fee anyway; at least you save yourself the wait with the disgustingly anti-social tourists, while in other parks you become a disgustingly anti-social tourist just by buying a fast pass.

But now let’s get to the ride description of the LSM roller coaster iSpeed, because as soon as you finally reach the stairs to the station it’s going quite fast. Once you sit down in the train and close the safety bars, the train is pushed forward slightly before the impulse is taken up and the train accelerates more and more. Now the train climbs up the top hat vertically before you cross it with a great view of the log flume Autosplash. Now you plunge vertically towards the ground, make a short turn to the right and pass the first valley with a lot of pressure. Parallel to the station you cross a hill, where you are lifted out of your seat. Another S-curve is now made with a lot of momentum, which merges into a tight right turn. On the following hill a leisurely turn follows, which releases you into a slight left turn above the station. All of a sudden a corkscrew is introduced, which throws you around with an incredible intensity. On a further hill you cross the launch track, whereupon you can take a deep breath again in the following steep turn. Rather leisurely the train shoots through a wide right turn, which shortly afterwards changes into the heartline roll, which can be seen from the outside. After another steep turn follows a short block brake. You leave it in an equally steep left turn, followed by a small hill and the final left turn towards the station.

Even though the initial acceleration of the launch is rather lax and hardly comparable to the manufacturer’s hydraulic and friction wheel drives, the ride offers a hodgepodge of exciting elements paired with really high pressure and speed. Especially the corkscrew, which can hardly be seen from the outside, simply surprised me during the ride and also the part of the track after the block brake, which always seemed insignificant on videos, has its moments and fits perfectly into the overall experience of the ride. The roller coaster itself, on the other hand, is unfortunately not as convincing as the actual ride itself, thanks to its lean design and low capacity.

Leprotto Express

Directly opposite, in the children’s land of Bimbopoli, you will find Mirabilandia’s next roller coaster, the Leprotto Express. This is a simple children’s roller coaster by the manufacturer L&T Systems, whose layout describes a simple figure eight in a constant alternation of up and down movements. Due to the crowd, the ride only went one lap.

Rexplorer

Via the island with the Acapulco cliff divers show you reach the Dinoland area, which was redesigned in 2014. Apart from the transformation of existing rides, e.g. the telecombat ride featuring an inclined ride or the popular children’s monorail, a money printing machine, I meaning a children’s driving school, and a Magic Bike by Zamperla also found their way into the themed area. But the most important destination for us was the oldest roller coaster of Mirabilandia, the Powered Coaster Rexplorer.

The journey begins with a wide bend to the left, followed by a leisurely climb past some artificial rocks. At the top, the train goes through a downward helix through the rock formation before climbing up a steeper straight. Now the train goes through a wide downward right-hand bend, passes under the track it has just passed and surrounds the first downward helix in a left-hand bend. With much more momentum you cross the station and complete another lap through the course.

Theoretically, the ride on the Rexplorer would have been quickly dealt with, because unlike many other rides at Mirabilandia, this ride has a slightly higher capacity by nature and the queue itself was manageable. However, Mirabilandia would not be Mirabilandia if they did not mess up this ride as well. The dispatching was a mess and was further protracted by the lack of numerical knowledge of the staff. After waiting until all passengers of the newly arrived train had left the station area, about half of the train was filled with Fast Pass people, but they all had to be counted and checked individually. Of course, the staff constantly miscounted, which was particularly noticeable after a change of staff. Only after each of the Fast Pass owners had taken their seat the normal waiting people were let in. The checking of the restraints and the ride itself, on the other hand, was quickly completed. However, the one-man operation at the ride almost always took 5 or more minutes during loading for one cycle.

El Dorado Falls and Gold Digger

As the construction work in Mirabilandia’s new themed area Far West Valley was still in full swing during the visit, the only remaining attractions in operation were the Spillwater El Dorado Falls of the water rides pioneer O.D. Hopkins – which, however, struggled with constant failures and did not make good form due to the one-boat operation – and the Wild Mouse Gold Digger, formerly known as Pakal. Since 50% of the cars were also equipped with Fast Passers, we unfortunately had enough time to experience every corner of the small, quite desolate, queue and thus invested almost an hour for the Italian-style Wild Mouse.

The ride is actually quite entertaining, because after you have made the hairpin bends in the upper level, seven in all, you go down one level, where a big drop is followed by another serpentine curve. This is also followed by a steeper gradient and a hairpin bend. As is well known, the two successive slopes are the most fun for wild mice and therefore we will not do without them here either. A last narrow bend and a small dip follow before you are led back to the station.

Katun

Through a spacious temple complex you can reach the Inverted Coaster Katun, which has been turning its passengers upside down several times since the millennium. With a height of 50m and a length of 1200m Katun has always been the largest ride of its kind in Europe and is fortunately scary enough to keep the waiting time low despite the one-train operation. Interestingly enough, the second train was actually sent on its way towards the end of the day, but probably only to finish on time.

The ride begins with a short left turn out of the station and into the ride’s lift. As soon as the train has reached its initial height, it turns to the left and at the same time makes a rather steep descent. You cross the first valley with a lot of pressure before you are turned upside down for the first time in the huge loop. Once back on ground level, the train shoots up again and turns on its own axis in a zero-g roll. To enable the ingenious placement of the Cobra Roll at the lake on the right side of the entrance, there are now a few meters of track missing, which were solved by a steep curve close to the ground and leading to the right. In the following inversion figure you shoot up half a loop, then turn to the side and do the same again in reverse order. Of course with extremely positive centrifugal forces, which should not be underestimated in the following valley. Also with a lot of pressure one turns a round in a wide upward helix at the end of which the block brake of the ride is reached. This is passed without any reduction of the momentary speed, which leads to an immediate plunge into the abyss. Almost straight ahead the first corkscrew is introduced, which whirls you with full force to the right into a tunnel. You then leave this tunnel into another corkscrew, but this time in the opposite direction. A short hill releases you into the final downward helix of the ride, whereupon the station is reached immediately.

Katun is a great Inverted Coaster of the bigger type, which plays many huge and well coordinated inversion figures in a layout worth experiencing, at a decent speed. The play of forces should not be underestimated yet it is still quite smooth compared to the smaller European versions of this roller coaster type.

Max Adventures Master Thai, Eurowheel and Hot Wheels Stunt Show

While waiting in the queue of the Katun roller coaster we could already observe that the neighbouring Max Adventures Master Thai roller coaster had a technical defect and was evacuated accordingly. Even one hour later there was no sign of a reopening of the ride, so we headed towards the prominent landmark of Mirabilandia. Also at the 90m high Eurowheel a long and tough queue was waiting for us. But we didn’t want to miss a ride on what used to be the highest Ferris wheel in Europe because we were so tired of waiting somewhere else. As expected, only half of the gondolas of the Ferris Wheel were equipped, which gave us plenty of time to take a closer look at the unconventional supporting structure of the Ferris Wheel. During the ride we could watch the Hot Wheels Stunt Show from above, the finale of which was the passage of a huge looping.

Pictures Mirabilandia

Closing Words

Also from above we could watch some test rides on Max Adventures Master Thai, so we immediately walked back to the ride, only to find the doors closed again. We still had half an hour left, so we decided to go on another ride on Katun. We couldn’t foresee that we wouldn’t be able to go on another ride after that, so we could only ride six of the seven roller coasters and the Ferris wheel. A disgrace beyond compare, which made the actually brilliant amusement park Mirabilandia the last flop. It is obvious why Gardaland is the most successful amusement park in Italy and why Parques Reunidos should reconsider their strategy.

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

Il Viaggio dei due Runner Day 4 / Mirabilandia