Roller Coaster

Following the gold rush to Slagharen

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Gold Rush at Attractiepark Slagharen

After the rumour that the looping star Thunder Loop would soon be dismantled had persisted for several years, the ride in Slagharen actually came to an end towards the end of last year. But don’t worry about the old lady, who has been turning the world of visitors to the Attractiepark upside down since 1979, as she is now once again owned by the Bemboom family – so a return to one amusement park or another cannot be entirely ruled out. This year, the Gold Rush roller coaster, a compact roller coaster with triple launch and closed circuit by the manufacturer Gerstlauer takes its place.

But can the roller coaster worthily follow in the footsteps of the roller coaster that was the first looping roller coaster for generations of Dutch and border-crossing Germans? I admit that this question is a bit too far-fetched, but nostalgia cannot be replaced so quickly. In fact, Slagharen is now home to an unparalleled gem; a state of affairs that was not so difficult to achieve compared to the previous status quo. However, the perfect integration of the ride, which visually benefits the left-hand side of the park and makes it look quite smooth, does not reveal anything about the ride itself.

It begins with a very shallow launch from a standing position towards the top hat, which is consequently climbed to a rather low level. With the speed now built up, the launch distance is passed backwards once more, but this time with a much more intense acceleration. With a broad smile on your face you shoot the dive loop up at the rear end of the acceleration section, turn there in a slight overhead position and take a third run-up. After reaching the top speed of 90 km/h you dare to climb the top hat once more, which you can now do easily. While the entrance to the element bends to the right, you leave it in a straight downhill run. With a good push you cross the following valley and immediately turn around in a high banked steep turn, whereupon the station is crossed on a camelback. Far above the heads of the future passengers, the train performs another steep curve manoeuvre, which releases you parallel to the station. The train then gains height for a last time before it dives into the dive loop towards the end of the ride and quickly returns to its starting position.

The new Gold Rush roller coaster offers a solid ride for young and old and therefore fits perfectly into the Attractiepark Slagharen. Although it is newer and follows a trend with the triple launch, it offers about the same ride pleasure as its predecessor – so they did everything right.

Pictures Attractiepark Slagharen

 

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Attractiepark Slagharen

In the realm of the little tsar

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Kärnapulten and Der kleine Zar

Der kleine Zar

Actually, one should only be able to tell very little about the history of a newly built roller coaster. With the roller coaster Der kleine Zar it’s different, because apart from the background story assigned to it, there was a background story of its own regarding the production, so the ride could only be built this year and not as planned last year. The standard model of the Italian manufacturer Preston & Barbieri, which already makes its rounds in the Swedish amusement park Liseberg, did not meet the latest standards and could therefore not be approved in Germany. Corresponding adjustments to the small roller coaster took a little longer than expected, so that the construction site, which had already been prepared, was temporarily filled with two children’s rides. At the beginning of the season the ride opened without further problems.

The ride on the Der kleine Zar begins with the exit from the curved station into the lift hill of the ride. Arrived at the top, a little dip follows, whereupon the fast downward helix joins. In the valley, the youngsters then experience wonderfully pronounced forces before a small hill follows. After that the station is reached immediately and three more laps follow.

Der kleine Zar is an utterly nice roller coaster for the youngest guests of Hansa Park and/or for the park guests for whom the other roller coasters are still too scary. The ride can definitely be described as fast, as the acceleration is quite pronounced and offers a great alternation.

Kärnapulten

As a second and originally planned novelty for this year, the Gerstlauer Sky Fly ride Kärnapulten opened shortly after the start of the season. The classic among the semi-automatic carousels is also presented in a stylish outfit, but the ride cannot be compared to the other rides of this kind. While there, with a little practice, a high number of rollovers is possible on selected places, here it is a miracle to get a rotation at all; thus, one does not offer the proven ride pleasure for Sky-Fly veterans, for all other passengers it remains the same, of course. The reason for this is the big tower of the roller coaster Kärnan, which has a noticeable influence on the ride dynamics.

Pictures Hansa Park

 

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Hansa Park

The storks of Cigoland

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Cigoland

The Zoo and Amusement Park Cigoland was founded in 1974 by the Willmann family and has remained in family ownership ever since, although both the zoo and the amusement park have only developed over time. After all, the park began as a small inn around the family’s existing farm, which gradually developed into a tourist destination throughout the region. The stork is of particular importance for the park, which was named after it. Although Alsace has always been known for its great number of storks, this species was threatened in its existence, which is why nature parks and breeding programmes were created in the early 1970s. Today, the park still successfully breeds white storks, but once released, they are happy to return and enrich the park and the region.

Les mondes Extrêmes

When you enter Cigoland, you will find an electric horse-riding track and a circus on the right-hand side. However, there is not much to see in this part of the park, apart from two larger enclosures. If you then follow the path towards the spacious inn, you will suddenly see a much more compact park layout. In addition to several carousels, bumper boats and playgrounds, there is the rotating theatre show Les mondes Extrêmes, during which, accompanied by numerous effects, one travels through the four different climate zones of our world.

Cigopanoramique

This is followed by a larger animal area, where several breeds of domestic animals are presented in their enclosures. Right in the middle of it is the Cigopanoramique ride, a flying wheel made by Metallbau Emmeln, from which you could have an excellent view of Cigoland if you weren’t to go crazy in the giant teacup wheel. As always, this is a magnificent ride, which presents itself excellently in the park and is absolutely tailor-made for the young family audience of Cigoland.

Monorail La Cigogne

Speaking of family audiences, anyone who has always wanted to know how children are conceived in Alsace should get on the Monorail La Cigogne. On the 10 minute tour you will learn all kinds of things about the stork and of course it is the bird itself that brings the children – but only if everything has been prepared for the future child. Accordingly, the Alsace-Frenchman is very well-behaved and can speak three languages without any problems, if only all French guests at nearby Europa Park were like that…

Les vieux Tacots and King Kong

In the rear part of Cigoland there are several aviaries for breeding white storks, and there is also a slightly African-influenced area at the edge of the park. In addition to the spacious vintage car ride Les vieux Tacots, which circles a royal crane enclosure, the King Kong ride is the more exciting model of the modern HUSS ride of the same name. Here a row of seats is lifted by the giant ape King Kong, whereupon you have a wonderful view of the park before the ape takes pity on you and lets you down again. There is no grim face or shaking at all, but unfortunately the rotation around its own axis does not work anymore, so that the ride cannot offer a 360° panoramic view. Nevertheless, the experience is quite special in every respect and therefore even has a certain re-ride factor, which you might wish for in Bremen.

Train de la Mine

Also a big repeat ride factor is the small Soquet roller coaster Train de la Mine, where you can easily get a large number of rides. After all, you should be active when you want to get off the train. After one or two rides in a row you are asked if you want to stay seated, which you always do through motionlessness, especially in the back and front part of the train.

After a short right-hand bend out of the station, you immediately climb up the lift hill. At the top you stay for a while on a short straight line at a lofty height, before you descend in a steep right turn or are pulled down splendidly especially in the rear part of the train. The following valley is passed through with a lot of pressure, just before you shoot up a rather high hill. Up here, at least in the front part of the train, you make an unexpectedly rough change of direction, which throws you around wonderfully and immediately releases you into a downward helix. At a decent speed you cross the next valley and approach another hill. This is followed by a really fast and absolutely magnificent right-hand curve. After the constant up and down a further valley follows, whereupon after a conspicuously inclined curve the station and thus the brake is reached.

The Train de la Mine offers a surprisingly wild roller coaster ride for all ages. The layout leaves nothing to be desired for such a compact track and can really convince especially with the first downhill gradient and the magnificent finale. The ride characteristics are typically Soquet simply outstanding, even though, depending on the choice of seats, sometimes quite surprising, which is why we always like to stay seated.

Pictures Cigoland

Conclusion Cigoland

Cigoland is a friendly animal and leisure park, which is particularly convincing because of the animals that give it its name. Especially during springtime it is very exciting to watch the animals building their nests, especially as it is quite funny where they get their materials from. Although the number of rides is quite small, they are very well balanced, so you can have a lot of fun here with smaller children.

 

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Cigoland