Roller Coaster

The perfect family park

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Familypark

At Lake Neusiedl, the largest lake in Austria – about 40 km from the capital Vienna –, you will find the Familypark, the largest amusement park in Austria. In the past few years the Familypark surprised everybody over and over again by its well-chosen novelties. With the new for 2015 ride Leonardos Flugmaschine a visit became obligatory.

Erlebnisburg

In the theme area “Erlebnisburg”, the entrance area of the Familypark, one already notices the high-quality design of the park. A large number of rides for the smaller park guests are located here, such as the children’s train Hans und die Bohnenranke, the monorail Drachenbahn or the carousel Entenparade, as well as the Heege Sunkid portfolio of the park. This includes a comet swing and a tower as well as a brand new Butterfly featuring an eagle design, but unfortunately the equipment here has to be paid for with a token and some Austrian children think that they have to ride continuously despite the queue in front of them.

Verrückte Vogelscheuche and Apfelflug

Following the paths to the right, you reach the most beautiful area of the park, which is dedicated entirely to a farm theme. Those who already appreciate the Mullewapp area in Hannover Erlebnis-Zoo will have their true pleasure here, as such a love of detail can rarely be found. Every ride seems to be perfectly integrated into the overall concept of the area, such as the abc Rides Tilt Tower Verrückte Vogelscheuche, which ran a very entertaining program, the Zierer Wave Swinger Apfelflug, which can also be found in this design in the French amusement park Nigloland, or the large tractor ride. In addition, there are some rides and play areas for the smaller park guests, as well as some animal enclosures.

Rattenmühle

In addition, the Rattenmühle is one of the park’s roller coasters to be found in this theme area. Opened in 2013, the Gerstlauer roller coaster shines above all through its successful adaptation to the terrain and the area itself, but also due to its photogenicity. The queue of the ride is neatly designed and even features a shortcut between the exit of the ride and its station, which nevertheless requires too much time for adults due to its narrow climbs.

After we boarded the car, the journey starts immediately. After a small descent we take a left turn towards the lift hill. As usual, we pass this hill in a fast way before we take a steep turn towards the ground. After a turnaround, we go ascent a hill in a left turn. At its highest point we pass a short distance without any inclination of the track, similar to a top hat element, before we rush towards the valley. In an oversized Bavarian curve, the track leads us up to the top where, after passing the first block brake, we take the only hairpin turn of the track. Going down a straight slope, we take another turn into a slightly steeper curve, which is followed by two smaller bends. After another turn, the second block brake is waitin’ for us. On the following meters two sweeping hills and a helix are on the way until the final brake is reached.

The Rattenmühle is a very satisfying roller coaster, even though it is very atypical compared to the other coasters of this type, as Gerstlauer Bobsled Coasters are usually characterised by their variety of helices, hairpin curves and camelbacks. At least this doesn’t detract from the fun of the ride and especially the audience of the Familypark likes the layout.

Fliegende Fische

Through the worth seeing fairytale forest we head towards the adventure island, the biggest theme area of the park, which seems to be a little mixed up. The area itself is quite coherent, but the Zierer Flying Fish Fliegende Fische – which unfortunately comes without a kitschy children’s song – created an area with a separate design. This wouldn’t be particularly awful, if this year’s novelty wouldn’t take up the theme of the rest of the section with it. Since there is still a lot of space available and the maritime design was also implemented beautifully, an independent area with a few smaller rides would be desirable.

Sumpfburg

Passing the Sumpfburg, where one would have spent some hours as a child, and the equally wet water playground, our way leads to the Mediterranean area, where on one hand the dinghy slide Tempelrutsche gets on one’s nerves because of its constant announcement, and on the other hand some other attractions are extremely satisfying.

Krokobahn

A very nerve-racking ride is the small abc Rides log flume Krokobahn, which does not seem to offer much except for a small double shot ride seen from the outside. As the channel was more than sufficiently filled with water, the boat tipped from one side to the other, despite desperate attempts to remain somehow in a straight position. Although a capsizing was not possible, the ride to the lift hill was more than adventurous, moreover we sat quite cramped and very uncomfortable in the boat. After climbing the aqueduct we went down the 4m high shot after a short left turn. The promise of the employee, according to which we will be properly soaked, is more than fulfilled.

Götterblitz

Within sight of the log flume there’ s the Götterblitz, a youngster coaster from Mack, similar to the roller coaster Pegasus at Europa Park. The ride begins, this time without music, with the ascent of the lift hill. After a small gradient we quickly take a turn before descending the big drop. With full speed we enter a horseshoe, which is rapidly passed through. In a right bend we go uphill again, whereupon a leftside helix with an adjacent slope is added. This is followed by an alternating uphill and downwards helix, which are carried out close to the ground. Another right turn leads up to the brake section before heading towards the station.

The Götterblitz, like its identical counterpart Correcaminos Bip, Bip from the Spanish Parque Warner, offers a wonderful ride that made you want to stay seated. The biggest roller coaster of the park fits perfectly into the general picture and perfectly matches the target group.

Herkules

Not quite as perfect, as it is no longer rideable for people who are halfway grown up, is the small soapbox roller coaster Herkules, the second novelty this year, which has been added to the Familypark portfolio. Like the Heege products, the Kiddy Racer has to be paid for with a token.

Leonardos Flugmaschine

The main reason for our visit this year is definitely the Gerstlauer SkyFly Leonardos Flugmaschine. Although the first laps surprisingly were without any rollovers, we were fascinated by the SkyFly after the third ride at the latest. As veterans of the interactive Gerstlauer rollover carousels we spent countless laps on the ride thanks to an average of 40 – 100 rollovers per ride – according to the RideOps counting even a little bit more – at the burden of both our shoulders. Unfortunately we were the only visitors who rolled over on this day, although some guests at least tried, but at the end they didn’t find out about how to change the position of the wings properly.

Pictures Familypark

Conclusion Familypark

The Familypark is, despite its trivial name, a really great amusement park. The overall design of the park is outstanding and the portfolio of rides has been very well aligned. It would be nice to see another water attraction coming into the park in the next few years, as the small crocodile ride alone does not do justice to the size of the park. A bigger white-water ride would be just as praiseworthy as a splash battle or even a roller coaster. Nevertheless, the Familypark is the best amusement park in the country.

 

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Familypark

Organ Music and a Small Roller Coaster

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Böhmischer Prater

In addition to the large Wiener Prater, there is a second inner-city amusement park, the Böhmischer Prater, in the Favoriten district of Vienna on the edge of the Laaer Berg recreation area. In addition to more modern facilities, the park offers a number of historical treasures, such as the 125-year-old horse carousel, the 86-year-old caterpillar track and the somewhat hidden flight carousel.

The park is mostly aimed at children, who appreciate the park very much, even though the most visited attraction on this day was the mini golf course. In general the park was well visited this Sunday, probably due to numerous communion celebrations, so that even the search for a parking spot was a bit exhausting.

Shark Trip

As a roller coaster, the park can feature a ride by SBF Visa, which interestingly, like all other rides on this parcel, was controlled from a central place. The never-ending ride on the Shark Trip turned out to be much faster ride than the classical wacky worms of the same company.

Pictures Böhmischer Prater

Conclusion Böhmischer Prater

The Böhmischer Prater is a park which families with small children will definately enjoy. In comparission with the more famous Vienna Prater, the park will not empty your wallet. The gastronomic establishments are well attended, rides and other amusement facilities are numerous and street entertainment is also offered by numerous barrel organ players. You simply cannot do anything wrong by visiting this small amusement park.

 

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Böhmischer Prater

About the Freischütz and other roller coasters

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Bayern Park

Bayern Park is one of the more highly praised amusement parks in Germany, and has attracted the attention of roller coaster enthusiasts since the construction of the Freischütz. We arrived at the park just in time for the opening, after all we only had about 6km to drive that day, and the first impressions were quite positive, although the weather wasn’t quite as good as the day before.

As most of the rides hadn’t opened by this time, we enjoyed the Heege Comet Swings, which offered plenty of airtime. Unfortunately we missed the whole upper part of the park where the wave swinger, an arcade with a butterfly in space optics and the second butterfly were located. So we did not visit this part of the park until the end of our visit.

Froschbahn

The main part of Bayern Park is located further down the hill anyway and can offer the first coaster ride of the day in the form of the Froschbahn. This small coaster from Zierer opened a little late, as it had to do some test rides. Thanks to a small group of young people, the train was packed and took a few laps around the small oval layout in a great atmosphere.

Achterbahn

Lovers of extra-long coasters trains will find something to their liking on Zierer’s New Tivoli roller coaster, with the incredibly original name of Achterbahn. This coaster is identical in construction to the Green Scream at Adventure Island in Southend-on-Sea.

After the train has left the station, it climbs the lift hill after a left turn and the train shows its full glory for the first time. The first descent is very flat, but quickly gains speed in a right turn. This is followed by a left helix, so that the layout becomes a figure of eight. Above the station building, the ride picks up speed again and the next valley is a powerful one. Another helix follows, this time clockwise, and circles the lift just before it takes the shortest route to the end of the ride.

The coaster has a very neat layout and makes a good impression due to the strong forces, if it weren’t for the totally incompetent staff. It’s a big mystery to me why, despite the covered station that the train was completely wet. The staff standing at the other end of the station did not even think to clean the train before the first guests arrived. Funnily enough, even Karlo’s taxi in Denmark’s Djurs Sommerland was cleaned by an elderly gentleman before our ride. But as the day went on, it became clear that this competence was lacking everywhere in the park.

Schmetterlingstanz and the luge of the game park

After a meandering ride on the HUSS Airboat Schmetterlingstanz, we crossed a bridge to a part of the park with little significance. Not every park can afford a completely filthy lake with a steamboat ride and an artificial Bavarian castle at its edge. A small boat ride through its visually appealing garden takes you to a grotto where a fountain of youth awaits – the hottest temptation for Americans since the dawn of Europe.

In this corner you will also find the entrance to Bayern Park’s game park, which is probably the only reason why it is worth making the long way round. Lovers of luges may disagree, but charging extra for compulsory rides in a theme park where even the Heege rides are free seems a bit cheeky. There is also another luge in the upper part of the park doing the same. 

Thalon

Back in civilisation, we were able to watch the first test runs of the Freischütz, but it didn’t look like the ride was going to open any time soon. So we climbed up the mountain parallel to the track, because at the top of this way is the indoor drop ride Thalon.

The ride inside the former observation tower is a Zierer Family Freefall Tower, the best examples of which are Tikal at Phantasialand or Majas Blumenturm at Holiday Park. In contrast to these ingenious rides, however, Bayern-Park has tried to enhance the ride with an irrelevant backstory and illuminated scenes at different heights without any animatronics. The concept itself could be good, but the ride should be more dynamic and not run in toddler mode. The interior scenes make no sense at all and could be omitted, which would make the ride even better and also improve the look of the tower, as the extensions for the interior scenes do not make the tower very attractive, even if the ugly colour scheme has already retouched some of it.

Next to the tower is a Zierer Kontiki with a stone-like appearance, which doesn’t really have much to offer apart from the queue, where you’d better watch your head if you’re an adult. But admittedly, it fits in nicely with the Thalonia theme.

Wildwasser-Rafting

Below these attractions is one of the highlights of Bayern Park: the abc rides Rapid River Splash Wildwasser-Rafting. At first glance, this beautifully designed ride does not look much different from the smaller rides from the same manufacturer, but the ride features a longer section before the lift hill and even a waterfall. Once you reach the top of the lift, the boat slowly but surely picks up speed and after the first combination of turns you will be spinning like crazy. The boats also have a very pronounced upswing, which makes the descent very entertaining. At the end of the slide, the obligatory splash awaits the passengers and, depending on the load of the boat, at least one person will get wet.

Freischütz

The second highlight of the park is right next to the rafting ride, but unfortunately the entrance is on the other side, so you have to walk a long way up and down again. Beautifully designed waiting areas have their charms, and the opera rollercoaster Der Freischütz certainly has one. A path under the inside tophat leads through two buildings with zigzagging paths to an open square before entering a maze. This is followed by a larger square before a series of smaller paths with various obstacles, but here only one path was open. At the end, visitors find themselves in a very modern station.

As soon as we board the train, the ride begins. After leaving the station we are launched into the first inversion. In the following valley we are pushed into the car with a lot of force, but we are also shaken quite a bit. The looping that follows is as intense as a looping can get. This is followed by an insanely intense bavarian curve with an equally intense heartline roll. This is followed by a more leisurely steep turn before the final inversion. Another right-hander later, we head through the station and, with a bit of luck, are sent on a second lap of the track. Most of the time the train is braked and brought back to its starting position.

The Freischütz is a very good roller coaster by the Munich coaster manufacturer Maurer Söhne, but it is notorious for its pronounced rocking of the cars, which is more pronounced at the front of the train than at the rear.

Pictures Bayern Park

Conclusion Bayern Park

Bayern Park is a well-kept amusement park with some good rides and good value for money, both in terms of admission and food. However, a park loses a lot of sympathy points if the staff turn out to be incompetent, unfriendly and, above all, unenthusiastic. Apparently this is quite normal in this area, as the staff at the premium partner hotel Schlappinger Hof were the same. Sure, Bayern-Park attracts tourists and you don’t have to like them, but elsewhere you’d at least get a smile or two on your face while serving your guests professionally and without grumbling – why they don’t do that here is highly questionable, even though it was only one day in the off-season.

 

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Bayern Park