A tale of a very wild Train

Fantasiana Erlebnispark Strasswalchen

The Fantasiana Erlebnispark Strasswalchen is a small amusement park on the outskirts of Strasswalchen close to the city of Salzburg. Founded in 1996, the park mainly focuses on fairy tales, but also has some special rides, such as the Wild Train roller coaster, which is very popular with many amusement park enthusiasts.

If you enter the Fantasiana Erlebnispark Strasswalchen you will immediately be greeted by an animatronic. In the same room there is a lovingly designed exhibition that recreates the story of Snow White with soft toys.

Schloß Drakula

Through a door the visitors get to the forecourt of Drakula’s Castle, one of the main attractions of the park, where a guided tour takes place at regular intervals. Due to the lack of abundance within the park and the alternating opening hours of the rides, we unfortunately had to miss out on a visit.

Sindbad’s Abenteuerreise

Starting from here, you can either go directly to the western section of the park or take the big tour around the lake. Within the fairy tale forest you can find some children’s rides, an antique car train, as well as a monorail pedalway without its pedal function. Following the ways through the forest we end up in a generously sized oriental theme area. The dark ride Sindbad’s Abenteuerreise and a 4D cinema are located here. Despite the advertised opening hours of the dark ride, there was no employee to be found nearby.

Mami Wata

If you continue along the path you will come across the pirate boat swing and the construction site of the Hafema log flume Mami Wata, which is this year’s novelty of the amusement park. On a small area you will soon find a splash ride with two drops, where the starting height of the bigger descent will be reached by a vertical lift.

Knights Ride Tower

Along the picturesque western section of the Fantasiana Erlebnispark Strasswalchen, the path leads us straight to a building that seems rather inconspicuous from the outside. Inside there is the Knights Ride Tower, a small free-fall tower built by abc Rides. The queue of this tower is nicely designed and raises the expectations, as we already know comparable installations of the Merlin Entertainments Group Dungeons and amusement parks.

Strangely enough, you have to strap yourself to the ride before the ride can finally begin, which was not at all an easy task in a darkened room without my glasses. Now, we move up slowly and stop at different levels with different video projections and animatronics. On the first floor you can see a sleeping dragon and a knight galloping through the cave, on the second floor a mythical creature playing a musical instrument in front of a fire, on the third floor several awakened dragons in attacking mood, and on the final floor a fight between a horseman and a dragon. The free fall follows and a detached hand embedded in the ground is illuminated.

The Knights Ride Tower is what Thalon at Bayern Park would like to be, which is a rideable vertical ride with a good background story. Although the ride is a bit lengthy due to the many stopovers, the potential of the ride type is never missed and the scenes and projections are of the highest quality. The drop itself, similar to all the other abc towers, is very pleasing and shows once again that the height of a free Dfall tower is not the decisive argument.

Dino Adventure

In the back corner of the park – next to the park railway Dino Adventure, which leads along several prehistoric scenery pictures – you can find a ferris wheel, a wave slide, another bumper car and a racetrack, which is not included in the entrance fee.

Wild Train

Above the race track you find the highlight of the Fantasiana Erlebnispark Strasswalchen: the roller coaster Wild Train. The roller coaster is highly exotic not only because of its support construction but also because of its Russian manufacturer called Pax. From the outside the layout seems to be quite normal for such a small ride and even the train seems to be only wild because of its design, but if you know the predominant opinions about the ride you already know that the roller coaster is much wilder than it seems.

When the train is ready to move, the wild ride can start. Slowly but steadily we climb the friction wheel lift. A small hill follows after the first steep turn, which lets the passengers fly off their seats immediately. This is followed by an uphill helix. Regardless of any losses, it is followed by a drop with immensely pronounced ejector airtime, similar to Piraten from the Danish amusement park Djurs Sommerland. A camelback repeats the previously experienced change between pressure and weightlessness. On a Bavarian curve you now circle around a small castle before it reaches the most insane point in the whole layout. With full force you are now being shot into your lap bar, only to be shaken through the next bend due to the missing ground contact. Another hill and yet another bavarian curve lead you back to the station.

The Wild Train is a crazy roller coaster and also one of the few roller coasters that leaves something lasting behind for its passengers. Be it the bruise on both thighs or the memory of a truly incomparable intensive family roller coaster. Unfortunately the ride closes immediately after the first raindrop, maybe it wasn’t the worst for our health.

Pictures Fantasiana Erlebnispark Strasswalchen

Conclusion Fantasiana Erlebnispark Strasswalchen

Fantasiana Erlebnispark Strasswalchen is a small, friendly family park, which always distinguishes itself from similarly small parks by well-considered investments. The park is a great one and offers many surprises during your visit.

 

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Where the Franks luge

Sommerrodelbahnen Pottenstein

On the way to a job interview in Munich, Vienna is somehow on the way from Hamburg. Actually, it is not even close. I just don’t like to miss a good opportunity to plan a road trip through Bavaria and Austria.

After a seven-hour drive, the trip was supposed to start at the Greuther Keller around noon, but the facility doesn’t open until late afternoon within the week. The amusement park Schloss Thurn also preferred not to open at all on this day, so that the first tour stop was at the Sommerrodelbahnen Pottenstein – a Wiegand Erlebnisberg.

Frankenbob

Blinded by the impressive view of the runs, Jan and I immediately pulled out our purse and bought a ticket for three departures each. Since the Alpine Coaster Frankenbob had priority for us and nobody was standing in line here, the first ride was on this course. The view from the lift to the luge Frankenrodel and the upcoming meters of the Alpine Coaster are very good, but after a few meters on the downhill chute you notice very clearly that the speed is missing. After some turns and a fantastic view of the surroundings, the highlight of the ride is approaching, a section with several jumps. Thereupon, some curves will follow but this time in interaction with the luge Frankenrodel until a roundabout finally appears at the end of the ride.

The track itself is very neat from the view and in theory also because of the built in elements, but unfortunately lots of riding fun may not come up here.

Frankenrodel

Practically you can start your next ride immediately after the ride via a path in the station of the Sommerrodelbahnen Pottenstein. This time, however, the choice fell on the untested luge. Parallel to the lift ride of the Alpine Coaster, we climb up the mountain and shortly afterwards, following a right turn, we descend again. The sled picks up speed much faster, even though the swing tends towards zero during the first curves. Two jumps later this problem is solved and the sled descends the mountain with an appropriate cornering behaviour. After several undercrossings of the lift and some interactions with the Alpine Coaster, the end of the course follows.

Contrary to the ride next door, the speed on the luge track is always perfect. Due to the tighter curve radii and the Jumps the ride seems more dynamic, making it by far the stronger track for us.

Bilder Sommerrodelbahnen Pottenstein

 


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Hamburger Frühlingsdom (2015)

On this years Frühlingsdom, the showman Rasch is presenting a one-of-a-kind Fun House with three different endings. In Fuzzy’s Lachsaloon you can either slide down a winding slide, take the stairs or drop down with a drop tower. This tower is kind of special as you start from the highest point of the ride and just drop down a few meters, therefore the ride also features a floor and quite high railings. It is still a nice one, as it comes quite surprisingly.

 


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