S&S

Spooky Thorpe Park Hell Dream

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The changes of the past five years

What has Merlin made of the Island like no other in the last five years? The last two rows of the Swarm roller coaster are going forward again, the Disco roller coaster X has been redesigned into The Walking Dead – The Ride, parts of Amity Cove have fallen victim to the birds of Angry Birds, the Logger’s Leap log flume is rotting away, as is the Slammer Sky Swat – which is now officially awaiting its demolition – and Saw: Alive is at least operated from time to time (the same goes for the relatively new Maze I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!). In addition, there are a lot of closing days during the season and also the distinctive soundtrack of the island was exchanged.

There are many reasons for many things, but there are some things I don’t understand completely. Officially, Merlin have now taken a much more family-oriented course, which means they’ve moved away from the thrill-ride fetishists and the associated grubby image (# Hard Gaan) – strangely enough, they’ve been selling tickets to students ever since, thus attracting the preferred former clientele in much larger crowds. Can be done, but by now I’m too old for this shit. Just like I can’t approve of employees at the entrance of an attraction encouraging you to buy Fast Passes, even though the corresponding queue is almost non-existent.

Derren Brown’s Ghost Train

But there are also rays of hope. Derren Brown’s Ghost Train is such a one. The reinvention of the classic ghost train is, in terms of storytelling, a huge hit. It’s just a shame that all visitors of the park are aware of this, so long waiting times are often a common issue. But that shouldn’t stop you from queuing here, after all the mixture of ride, Maze and VR experience is unique and about as scary as a Japanese horror movie in a 360° cinema.

The reinvention of the Ghost Train

After you have stood your legs in the queue, Derren Brown personally welcomes you in a short pre-show. It is thematically about the reinvention of the ghost train and why we love to get spooked. This all sounds promising and so we leave the showroom expectantly and climb a short staircase. Here we are held back for a short time, but it doesn’t take long until we enter the hall with the ghost train. Hanging from the ceiling, an old Victorian carriage appears, but its interior resembles that of the London Underground. Now, the VR-glasses have to be put on and when both trains are ready, the trip in the ghost train can start.

The tube ride

Actually, there are three trains, but only two of them have passengers at this stage. Thus we leave the station and ride a little bit with the tube. A man with a dog gets on and tells us a story that the scientists of the BGR in Hannover may not be able to agree with. Fracking is evil and something went bloody wrong. It doesn’t take long and a contaminated person tries to gain access to our compartment. It gets creepy and thanks to the VR-glasses we can’t help but always look directly in the direction of the action. In the meantime it is getting dark and a staff member has to stroke the passengers’ knees once through the rows. There is an accident and we have to leave the train as soon as possible.

By means of merlinary drills we are sent through a short and very nicely designed maze. This is less creepy, but somehow we have to get to the second platform of this dead-end station, where another subway is already waiting for us. But this time we are not the only passengers and each of the others has VR glasses on. The train starts to move, but this time the true story is revealed to the visitors; it’s not the fracking per se that contaminated the people, no demons did. Individually, they now get rid of passenger after passenger, before we turn to our fate in a magnificently staged transfer track scene and fall into the abyss. 3,2,1, we are back again.

Conclusion Derren Brown’s Ghost Train

So that was the reinvention of the classic ghost train and boy, that was good. The VR staging works, after all the graphics are high-resolution and don’t need real-time rendering. You just feel like you’re in a movie and not in a computer game of the early 90s. As already mentioned in the beginning, the ride on Derren Brown’s Ghost Train is not really scary and more of a suspense horror. However, this is what makes it good, which is why the ride, like any other proper ghost train, is very entertaining.

The Walking Dead – The Ride

Right next to Derren Brown’s Ghost Train is the entrance to the roller coaster The Walking Dead – The Ride, formerly known as X and X:\ No Way Out. Designed around the series The Walking Dead, the ride now shows a clear thematic reference. Zombies are simply better to convey than a computer virus or a discotheque. Basically, the same naked queue inside the building awaits you, but instead of fabulous light effects and a great music you only find desolate brown walls. The ride itself is partly nicely arranged and for fans of the series it’s definitely a great deal. At least I couldn’t do anything with it. On the equally long way back you only find naked brown walls once more, which is why you’re just glad to be back in the open air again.

Well, that was hardly worth it. You can implement well-known licenses, but then you have to exploit their potential. In fact, I wish nothing else than the lively computer virus-infested reverse roller coaster back. At least it was consistently weird and yet absolutely fun. The conversion to X was quite cool and quite optimal for the younger audience, but now as Walking Dead – The Ride it’s not even worth a ride in between. That’s a pity and for me a symbol for the developments of the last years.

Pictures Thorpe Park

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Conclusion Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park, you used to be cooler. But actually, that’s true for the entire Merlin Group. Something’s gone terribly wrong with you. Why do you want to get rid of the Tussauds image so badly lately? The island used to be coherent, now there’s only an IMAscore mash left, which isn’t good for some attractions. In addition, on both days of my visit many attractions were not running at all or only with problems. Well, breakdowns have always been the order of the day at Thorpe Park, but at least one can try to keep this kind of thing within the limits. Actually, the only thing missing now is the failure of a bigger roller coaster for a period of 2 years (Colossos at Heide Park) and the typical image of the Merlin Group would be perfect here, too.

 

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Thorpe Park

WAA!!! Walibi à la française

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History of Walibi Rhône-Alpes

À chacun son WAA!! While I’m looking for the book by Dominique Fallon to entertain you with some lively facts about the entry of Avenirland in France, you can already be amused about the great phonetic cry from Walibi Rhône-Alpes. Eddy Meeùs, founder of the Belgian amusement park Walibi and exclusive distributor of waterskiing facilities in Belgium, was offered a share in the French amusement park Avenirland near Les Avenières in 1981. This rather small amusement park near Lyon offered since 1979 a small collection of rides from Mack and Soquet in a – not necessarily matching the name – western setting. Meeùs and a French amusement ride manufacturer first took over 40% of the shares, before they each owned 50% just two years later.  Differences of opinion between the two parties led to Meeùs holding all the shares by the end of 1985.

1986 saw the opening of Aqualibi, the first water park in the group. Although there were already plans to build a swimming pool in Wavre in 1975, these were never realised due to a lack of funds. Ten years later Dominique Fallon visited the Duinrell amusement park with its brand new Tikibad, and the idea for the Aqualibi water park was born in Belgium. Eddy Meeùs himself could only be convinced of the idea in January 1986. After that, everything actually happened very quickly. Both Aqualibis opened in a tight time frame, although the French water park would only be open during the summer months due to its location and therefore was rather sparse compared to the Belgian Aqualibi – which at the time was the status quo for water parks in Belgium.

Two years later the park received its first large roller coaster, the Boomerang.  However, the lack of visitors almost meant the end for the amusement park. The park had an image problem and Dominique Fallon had the solution. The Walibi brand was known throughout France through extensive advertising on the Luxembourg radio station RTL – although the advertising was always aimed at the Francophone Belgians – and the new rapid river, the Radja River, was on everyone’s lips. So Avenirland was to get its own Radja River, and the park was to be renamed Walibi Rhône-Alpes. Within one year the number of visitors increased from 250000 to 450000.

The 1990s were characterised by the rapid growth of the Walibi Group, while Walibi Rhône-Alpes stagnated somewhat in terms of visitor numbers. In 1997, a large part of the group was sold to Premier Parks (with the exception of the two Brussels attractions Mini Europe and Océade which were henceforth managed by Thierry Meeùs). During the Six Flags era, the number of visitors stabilised again at 400,000. This was followed in 2004 by the takeover by Star Parks, a chain of theme parks created by Palamon Capital Partners. In 2006, it was sold to Grévin & Cie, the current theme park division of Compagnie des Alpes.

From then on, Paris had the say and the first action was the massive expansion of the Aqualibi water park. It also received a new name with L’île aux Pirates. In 2011, the park’s biggest innovation followed, when the cuddly kangaroo was given its own universe and was then given a much more modern appearance. As a result, the water park also regained its original name. Large parts of Walibi Rhône-Alpes were redesigned and were now based on the leitmotif around the two fictional bands WAB and The SkunX. Even if the overall reorientation was only short-lived, it was groundbreaking.

Nowadays, the decision-making power on the orientation of the amusement park is no longer exclusively in Paris, which allows the individual parks to develop according to their own needs. The fact that a new attraction has been offered every year in Rhône-Alpes for the past seven years is a very interesting development. Not every park is able to perfectly adapt its novelties to the themed area in question.

Tour of the park

Dock n Roll and Hurricane

So it is hardly surprising that I was absolutely thrilled by the park right after entering the newly created entrance area. Walibi Rhône-Alpes is downright stylish, which is also due to the newly created Festival City themed area with its Rockin’ Tug Dock n Roll and Vertical Swing Hurricane, as well as the park’s 4D cinema. Unfortunately, the chain flyer was still under construction at the time of the visit; I liked the design idea with the multitude of fans very much.

Bamba

For dramaturgical reasons, we are now moving counter-clockwise through Walibi Rhône-Alpes. We will soon come across the original principal area of the park, the actual western town. Nowadays, this area is of course very colourful to match the look of Morvan’s, L’Hermenier’s and Wuyes’ comic strip. The area boasts a wide variety of restaurants and family rides, including a merry-go-round, a vintage car ride and a bumper car, as well as two faster rides. The first of these is the Mack Rides Calypso Bamba, which offered a solid, albeit monotonous, ride and, at almost 40 years of age, is still able to thrill the family crowd.

Skunx Tower

The main attraction in this area is the Skunx Tower, which at the time was placed in the park by Premier Parks as the Totem Infernal. This 57m high launch freefall tower from S&S Power does what a freefall tower from the company in the Space Shot programme does and takes you to the top of the park with a good dose of speed. Once there, however, something happens that you would never expect and you are transported to the shoulder restraints. Airtime olé! Needless to say that you get out of the ride with a big grin on your face and if the queue at such a tower wasn’t always so long, you’d get back on board in no time. A great tower that you should not miss!

Aqualibi

Following the paths, we cross the tracks of the park railway and have a look at the water park Aqualibi from the outside. It was not in operation at that time of the year and also the interesting looking slide Coursaire was located on a site next to the water park. Actually I always wanted to go to Walibi Rhône-Alpes to test the park and the water park, but now I was a bit too early. But that doesn’t matter, because the water park will be massively extended in the near future in order to entertain the guests as an independent water park just like in Wavre. I am very interested in the tube slide with the constantly narrowing curve diameter.

Bambooz River

Directly opposite the entrance to the pool is the modern log flume Bambooz River by Interlink and Soquet. Built in 2012, this ride was the first new attraction since the rebranding. The ride stands around relatively naked in the area, but is impressively adorned by larger steel sculptures. The ride features two shots of different heights, with the smaller one also featuring a double downhill run. Both are wet. In fact, the Bambooz River can really soak you, which is great and desirable. Unfortunately, however, you are not allowed to do any of the water rides in the French CDA parks on your own, which is why I only left it at one ride, which seems strange, especially on the next ride on our park tour.

Tam Tam Aventure

We are now embarking on a French classic, the Tam Tam Tour or Tam Tam Aventure, as the eternally long boat trip is called after its transformation. As I know the ride from Walibi Aquitaine – today’s Walibi Sud-Ouest – I was very curious to see whether the ride would drive you crazy with the monotonous croaking of countless frogs. It turned out differently. Very much so, in fact.

Since I was not allowed to go alone in the boat, but was the only one far and wide at visiting time, I was allowed to wait a little bit for other passengers. It was a good thing that within a few minutes a big crowd of girls passed by at a bachelor party. There was singing, trumpeting and of course drumming, after all there are drums built into the boats especially for that purpose. Actually, you are supposed to drum in the appropriate rhythm to the built-in film scenes – but nobody really does that. The trip itself has a great visual impact, the scenes are really creative and funny. The narrator is also highly ironic. This is really a lot of fun and gives the old boat trip a right to exist.

Coccinelle

Speaking of the right to exist, let’s now move on to the Coccinelle. Since 1992, this classic ladybird coaster in its largest version has been entertaining park guests from Walibi Rhône-Alpes. As always, the roller coaster with the layout of a side-by-side double eight knew how to convince, but unfortunately the track was only used for a single lap. This is of course a bit of a pity, after all these rides are predestined for a multiple lap operation.

Mini Ferme and Les plongeurs de l’extrême

I spent an unexpectedly long time at the Mini Ferme, a small domestic animal zoo. It is vividly designed and yet surprisingly spacious. It’s amazing how many French family parks have such an area, the Mini Ferme here in Walibi Rhône-Alpes is one of the most beautiful examples and is especially suitable for families with small children to spend the time or at least to use the time until the next wet side story. Les plongeurs de l’extrême offer a great and absolutely worth seeing Acapulco Cliff Diver Show.

Gold River

Let’s now turn to the Radja River rapid river, which has belonged to the Explorer Adventure theme area since the construction of the MonORrail – at least parts of which run above it – and has been called Gold River ever since. In contrast to the original from Belgium, the Radja River is a Soquet product with eight seats per boat. However, the trip through the rapids is quite leisurely and without a major highlight.

On the other hand, I was quite taken with the monorail running above it. This monorail, also made by Soquet, scores with unusual insights into the park’s Vekoma Boomerang, as well as with a terrific smoothness. A truly great ride.

Le Galion

Past the park’s large amphitheatre, which is only used in the summer months, the attraction now moves more and more towards the Timber wooden roller coaster! But before that, we dedicate ourselves to Le Galion, after all we are in France. This HUSS swing ship would not be worth mentioning if the seats were not separated by seat dividers, so that even small children can ride on each seat absolutely safely. As these seat dividers were never used on a Pirat, I was quite astonished.

Timber!

“It’s going down, I’m yelling timber! You better move, you better dance”. Someone must have liked the song by Pitbull quite a bit, because the exclamation Timber! was certainly not known to any Frenchman before. So it’s all the nicer to have a Montagne russe en bois with lots of timbres in the park. The manufacturer of this beauty is the American Gravity Group, the founders of which were previously responsible for numerous works by Custom Coaster International, or CCI for short. For some time now, the company has been building mainly smaller wooden roller coasters, which makes them especially interesting for small to medium-sized amusement parks. So it’s no wonder that Walibi Rhône-Alpes took up the business back then.

The wild ride in the short trains starts quite quickly with the ascent of the only 17m high lift hill. After a tight turning curve, the train rushes down mercilessly over the far too narrow hilltop, accompanied by appropriate music. With plenty of airtime we complete the first drop of the ride as well as the following hill, which is quite close to the ground. After a short bend to the left we wind our way up over three tops, once in one direction and then inclined in the other direction, and are torn out of our seats every time. In a right-hand bend close to the ground we approach the park boundary, shoot over a very flat hill once more and turn around. Below the third hilltop we now perform a wild and airy turning manoeuvre. Just after that we make another turn and fly over a hill shortly after. A series of smaller hills follows immediately after a right turn, whereby the speed is reduced a little in a trim brake. Before you know it you reach the braking distance of the ride and the short and wild ride comes to an end.

Timber! is an extraordinarily great roller coaster, which has been fantastically staged and scores with its extremely powerful ride. If you compare the ride of the roller coaster with the wooden roller coasters of the manufacturer GCI which are better known in this country, Gravity Group’s ride here is quite a statement. Unfortunately there is one small detail on the ride that spoils the fun a bit and that are the trains! Timberliners may be justified, especially since they allow smaller children to ride safely. But what on earth are the blinkers on the sides of the train for? I’ll let the manufacturer get away with the stupid construction of the stirrups, because they are actually only clumsy, but the blinkers are very restrictive. You just don’t sit comfortably. Nevertheless, a good ride – but not my highlight because of the trains used.

Woodstock Express

Passing the Zamperla Barnyard Volt-O-Vent we are now heading for the Wild Mouse Woodstock Express. This Italian mouse coaster construction from the house of Zamperla offers a similar ride pleasure as the rides from L&T Systems, but with a small, but extremely fine difference right at the beginning of the ride. While the other mice escort their passengers in a right-hand bend into the lift hill of the ride, the Zamperla Mouse shoots out of the station on a short gradient before the lift makes a big noise. As I already knew this behaviour from Walibi Sud-Ouest, I was accordingly riding by and supported myself from the backrest until the moment in question. This was followed by an absolutely butter-soft ride, for which I was always happy to get in line.

EqWalizer

Passing the boat slide Surf Music, we now go to the last roller coaster of the park and my personal favourite: the Vekoma Boomerang EqWalizer. Now you might ask yourself, why of all things a Boomerang should be better than a crazy and extremely powerful wooden roller coaster. The answer is simple: The train.

Vekoma Boomerangs are per se extremely funny roller coasters, which can easily convince on both forward and reverse ride through cobra roll and looping; as long as they ride well and at least that is what they are good for in Europe. Of course there are better roller coasters, but when a Boomerang suddenly comes along without shoulder restraints, you have to be in a pretty good position to compete against such a ride. The unusually high level of freedom on the Sunkid trains is a great benefit for the ride and makes you hungry for repeat rides. And here in the park you don’t have to pay 5€ every time like on the Vienna Prater.  However, I also have some minor points of criticism regarding the EqWalizer, which at least partly concern the ride, but do not diminish its quality. For example, getting into the second row of seats in a car is an extremely tight procedure, which could certainly be optimised with a slightly different lap bar shape. Altogether a great coaster!

Pictures Walibi Rhône-Alpes

Conclusion Walibi Rhône-Alpes

Walibi Rhône-Alpes was – as the last remaining Walibi Park – on my bucket list for quite some time now and fortunately, thanks to the upcoming novelties, it has been back on the list for quite some time. The park has a great charm and convinces with its really coherent overall concept. The park also has a very pleasant audience, which further strengthens the family park character. It was also nice to meet the bachelor party troop again and again, who really thanked me every time for the ride with them on Tam Tam Aventure. In any case, I couldn’t have imagined a better start for my roller coaster trip, although the Yukon Quad roller coaster celebrated its premiere in Le Pal on the same day, but we’ll look at it in the next review.

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Click here for the next report of the Tron-Tron-Trône Tour

Tron-Tron-Trône Day 1 / Walibi Rhône-Alpes

Good Job at the Theme Park

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Yomiuriland

Basically, Yomiuriland can be described as a classic trolley park; after all, the amusement park, which opened in 1964, resembles many other Japanese amusement parks of that era and is thus located not far from a railway station. However, the park was not founded by a railway company, but by the influential Yomiuri Group, Japan’s largest newspaper publisher and owner of the Yomiuri Giants, among other things.

There is not much more to tell about the history of Yomiuriland. Many players of the timeless theme park development game Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic will have already noticed the name of the park in one of the loading screen messages, because Yomiruiland is home to the world’s first stand-up coaster, the Momonga standing and loop coaster. If you’re now thinking “Uiiiii, a stand-up, how great!”, you can also look forward to the former record holder Bandit. You are welcome to leave out the sarcastic undertone while reading, because this is about historically interesting rides that have also left their mark on other important roller coasters. So let’s stay objective and focus on Yomiuriland in its entirety.

At least that’s what we thought, until we noticed at the valley station of the cable car leading up to Yomiuriland that it was not running. Directly at the train station, a staff member pointed out that there was a bus service up to the park all day long. But do you want to take the bus in muggy, foggy weather? Of course not, and so we dared to make the ascent, which in the end turned out to be very short notice.

When we arrived at the ticket office, we showed our passports and promptly received a hefty discount. Meanwhile, in the entrance area of the park, the park mascots were playing football. It’s the little things that make a park likeable, and this was one of them. In general, I had a positive first impression, which was also due to the day-care centre at the bottom station of the cable car and other social facilities provided by Yomiuriland. One could almost think that an amusement park is a social employer. Of course, this statement is somewhat different in Japan than in Europe, because thanks to year-round openings, at least the financial basis of the employees is guaranteed. In contrast, the trend here is towards minimum wages and more and more closing days during the season. This certainly makes sense from the point of view of many business graduates; from my point of view, however, it is the wrong way.

Bandit

I also find it stupid when you always try to tick off the highlight first. Where is the arc of suspense, where is the urge to discover something new for oneself in peace? So, fast, fast, fast in the direction of the Bandit roller coaster. Left and right of the path doesn’t matter for the time being. The steel colossus from Togo at least offers a feature that I would like to try out. The splashy dive through the greenery, as my good friend Daniel (Lacront at onride.de) very nicely describes it, offers some tingling water effects during the ride that are not to be missed. Unsure which of the two queues would lead us into the wet and happy adventure, we first queued at the one on the right (at the stairs).

Excited and also a little tense, we forced ourselves and our belongings into the narrow cars, closed the shoulder restraints and waited for the train to be dispatched. A member of staff operated a wheel of fortune on which the words High and Low alternated. The pointer then landed on Low and the train started moving. A short time later, a water fountain shot up and the falling water pelted the front part of the train, where we were of course sitting. Shortly after, we reached the lift hill of the ride and began the ascent to the starting height of 51m. In 1988, the ride in Yomiuriland was quite a calibre, which shortly thereafter ushered in the era of hyper coasters.

Once at the top, we complete a short straight before the train now turns towards the green hell below. During the descent, we hear the ignition of another water fountain in the distance, which reaches an estimated height of 40m. What goes up, must come down and so we race through the falling water at breakneck speed. In a high 180° bend just above the cable car leading to Yomiuriland, we quickly change direction before venturing into the greenery once more. Without mercy, we now approach an extremely crisp uphill helix, in which we power our way upwards within one and a half laps. A short descent at the top plateau of the ride follows before we plunge into the thicket once more in another high banked curve. Interestingly, we pass a lower point than on the first drop. But the true height difference of the ride only becomes apparent shortly.

With beautiful pacing, we complete a short airtime hill and immediately plunge into a deep valley. We reach the ground level of the ride for the first time. By exploiting the terrain, this results in a height difference of an incredible 78m. We climb steadily up a long ramp and then, at the end of the ascent, take a completely unexpected turn to the right. A few years ago, we could have seen the sister ride of the German Bandit from Movie Park Germany in all its glory. After the short right-hand bend, we make our way through the large valley once more. We then leave this valley via a short airtime hill, whereupon a left turn initiates the return to the station. After a short straight we whiz up a final climb and soon reach the braking section of the ride.

Go, go, Bandit! The fast-paced ride through the greenery impresses with its elongated layout and wide descents, but also with its Japanese peculiarities. For example, such a compact upward helix is unfortunately rarely found in roller coasters of this size even today. The most important gimmick, however, is the upgrade of the ride experience by the water effects used. Once wet, there is hardly any reason to swap the wet and happy ride for a dry one.

Laser Atlethic – Temple of the Sun

Opposite the Bandit roller coaster station is the interactive walkthrough Laser Atlethic – Temple of the Sun, where you can play tomb raider in the best Indiana Jones style on several missions of varying difficulty. As the name suggests, each course offers a mix of different skill games and a laser maze. In the teamwork variant, for example, you first have to pull yourself over a gorge with a roller board, then cross a laser maze and solve an oversized version of a ball maze in the last room. Of course, the whole thing takes place under time pressure and there are penalties for interrupting the light barrier. It’ s a wonderful fun experience that could also be implemented in various smaller amusement parks in Europe.

Animal Rescue – The Invasion of the Mekanchura

Directly below the Maze is the interactive dark ride Animal Rescue – The Invasion of the Mekanchura, which had to be pointed out to us first; after all, who would have the idea of simply following a rather renegade-looking path? Well, the station of the SL Coaster used to stand down here, but otherwise this corner of the park in Yomiuriland has been deserted. Thematically, you chase down poachers during the ride and capture them with nets before you are attacked by spiders yourself at some point and have to shoot your way out. The ride is quite entertaining and enjoyable.

Animal Coaster

If you follow the paths uphill again, you will end up in the family area around the park’s big Ferris Wheel. Here you will find several themed rides, including the snazzy Wanpaku Railway Oliver and the Animal Coaster. The latter is a variant of the historic Tumble Bug ride, which can still be experienced in a similar way in Kennywood Park.

Giant Ferris Wheel

In addition to a theoretically great view of Yomiuriland and the surrounding area, the Ferris wheel has foil-covered themed gondolas in addition to the normal gondolas, complete with matching background music. So you might think that the ubiquitous theme of “High & Low” in Yomiuriland would be about various Japanese metal groups. But in fact, according to the podcast Die Achterbahnreisenden, it is about Japanese gangster groups from various films. The whole thing culminates in High & Low Land, including a museum on an event area in the park.

Flag Street

Passing a children’s train and a carousel, we are now drawn to Midway Flag Street, a somewhat aging area with a variety of iconic rides, walkthroughs and restaurants.

To the left is a double feature consisting of a vintage car ride with a dinosaur theme and a bicycle pedal track running above it. Directly behind it and leading once around the entire area is the first go-kart track of Yomiuriland, which in turn consists of two tracks of different lengths.

Wan Wan Coaster Wandit

On the right side of Flag Street, the children’s roller coaster Wan Wan Coaster Wandit by the manufacturer Hoei Sangyo awaits us. The ride on the small roller coaster begins with a right turn out of the station. This is immediately followed by the lift hill that takes the train to a height of 5.5m. In a steep turn to the left, you quickly approach the bottom and then pass under the lift. In a 180° helix you then gain height metres again and cross the first curve of the ride. On a straight with integrated hills, you now make your way across the ride for a few metres before the return to the station is initiated via another turn. After another lap, the nice ride comes to an end.

Right next door is a Japanese compressed air jet ride with additional water effects, similar to a very primitive version of the Flying Fish from Zierer, where the park guests can aim water cannons at the passengers. Somehow, the Japanese are even crazier than the English when it comes to water, but interestingly enough, they are said to be somewhat afraid of it.

Hero Training Center Mission 8

There are also two walkthroughs directly opposite each other on the Midway. In addition to a classic Japanese house of horrors, there is also the Hero Training Centre Mission 8, which is quite something. You have to master task after task in several stages and rooms. These vary between games of skill, endurance games and puzzles. It’s just a shame that there are milestones in between that you have to pass. Although we seem to have figured out the card game, we probably did it completely the other way round and therefore got kicked out. It’s a real pity, because this attraction is also absolutely outstanding and could be established in an European amusement park. Since the fan scene has suddenly been overwhelmed by Karls Erlebnisdorf theme parks anyway, how about this? Another idea they announced in numerous interviews has already been implemented here in Yomiuriland by a German company, but more on that later.

Looping Starship

For now, it’s time to indulge in the looping craze of the late 70s and early 80s, and what could be better than a Looping Starship from Intamin. Just like in Nagashima Spa Land, the queen of the overhead ship swings convinces with its fast acceleration cycles and the terrific hangtime at the highest point of the ride.

Standing & Loop Coaster Momonga

One level higher, we experience the same game on a roller coaster. The Standing & Loop Coaster Momonga has a special feature, as the ride is able to accommodate two different types of vehicles. For this purpose, the station was divided in two, with both sides parallel to each other. A transfer element then pushes the respective side onto the central lane, whereupon the fun can begin.

After leaving the station, we immediately climb the lift hill of the ride. Having reached a height of 25m, we briefly enjoy the view before the right-hand bend we are currently in becomes more and more of a descent. In no time at all we find ourselves in the valley and are loaded with wonderful G-forces. Immediately we enter the loop and circle the lift hill once in the vertical plane, which has a nice visual effect, especially in the stand-up version. This is followed by a wide horizontal loop. After a short valley, there is an almost equally wide left turn, which represents the turn back to the station. Soon the brake of the roller coaster is reached and the ride is over. Now you are quickly pushed back to your loading side so that the other side can be sent on its way.

The Standing & Loop Coaster Momonga is not the most exciting roller coaster and especially compared to later rides of the manufacturer it is absolutely harmless. Nevertheless, it manages to perfectly embody the zeitgeist of the era. In short: It is simply cult and, especially because of the alternating operation between stand-up and sit-down cars, it is a very interesting ride. If you can live with that, you can switch back and forth between the two variants; it was definitely fun.

Crazy Hyuuu and Crazy Stooon

Passing the wave swinger Milky Way and the water park Water Amusement Island (WAI for short), which for a small entrance fee offers a Lazy River, two children’s landscapes, a diving tower, a large wave pool and a total of three sliders (although only the Spiral and the Straight Line Slider, a kamikaze slide, are included in the entrance fee; the large rafting slide, however, is covered by the free pass), you head towards the Lan Lan area with its sea lion show and the two S&S towers. While the Crazy Hyuuu tower shoots you to a height of 60m, Crazy Stooon drops you down with a supposed -2G; however, it was nothing compared to the force of Flamingo Land’s Cliff Hanger tower.

Hashibiro-Go

Directly opposite, another product of the manufacturer S&S was once supposed to open. Unfortunately, it only took a short time for the Robin Twist Coaster to have its first accident. After this, the ride was immediately shut down and dismantled a short time later. Thus, El Loco shares the dubious record of the shortest operating time of an S&S roller coaster with the Ring°Racer at the Nürburgring. In the meantime, a round ride, the Mega Disk’o Hashibiro-Go, has been built in its place.

Good Job Attractions

Those who have always wanted to jump down with a bungee cord can do so from a 22m-high platform for a relatively low price. We, on the other hand, now turn our attention to the Good Job Attractions industrial theme area, which can be reached from here via an entrance across the water park. In fact, we had to look for quite a long time here and finally took the entrance near the main entrance.

Here, Yomiuriland suddenly presents itself to its park guests as highly modern, clean and absolutely imaginative. Especially in comparison to the really run-down Flag Street, this is a very, very, very big contrast, which is also reflected in the doublets of rides. In addition to a modern bicycle pedal track, where you go on a crime spree in a video game, there is also a modern go-kart track, which bizarrely still partly runs along the old go-kart track. In addition to some nice children’s rides, there is also a very interesting game of skill in the outdoor area, where you have to influence the course of oversized marbles. Lovely!

The remaining rides are integrated into themed industrial halls. These are divided into the Fashion, Bungu, Food and Car Factories. Similar to an expo, you are immediately drawn into the respective theme when you enter the respective hall. The industrial charm is more like a child’s idea of an industrial plant, which is very good for the whole area.

In the Bungu Factory, for example, another game of skill awaits park guests in Yomiuriland, while Fashion World can boast the Spin Runway roller coaster, a spinning coaster from the manufacturer Gerstlauer. Things get really crazy on the Splash U.F.O. round boat ride, which is themed around the protection of the Nissin Yakisoba U.F.O. factory, which produces ready-made ramen. You can also accompany your own dinner during production. Last but not least, the Car Factory offers the opportunity to design your own car and then test-drive it on an interesting track.

Splash U.F.O.

Let’s now take a closer look at the two large-scale rides in this area. In the Food Factory we will board one of the boats of the compact Hafema mini raft ride Splash U.F.O. As in the Fuji-Q Highland, only boats for a total of four people are used in the ride. In retrospect, we should have realised by now at the latest what was coming up. But since the people in front of us had not got out particularly wet, we dared to take a ride without a rain poncho on the last day of our trip to Japan. In fact, the ride became tremendously entertaining due to the resulting tirades of escape from Nicolas’ side.

But back to the beginning. As soon as you have boarded the boats and been secured by the staff, the ride can begin. The station conveyor belt pushes us onto a small rotating platform that turns 90° in succession. A small film is shown on a ceiling projection, to which we can react with the buttons in the boat before we are pushed into the ride’s lift.  We follow the production chain of ramen noodles up a few metres before the villain with the teapot on his head wants to eat us. We escape and slide down a 180° helix in the process. Shortly after, a crisp descent follows. In a short block area after the run-out we are stopped and another story segment is projected on the ceiling. A 570° downward spiral follows, with additional water cannons on the side of the channel sending the boat into an extremely violent spin. After a leisurely descent, we find ourselves in the classic rafting channel of the ride. Accompanied by several rapids, we leave the building and make a short turn around the outside of the ride. Back in the hall, a few more metres of rafting follow before we stop again in another block area. Now, with the help of the U.F.O. Ramen Man, we have to defeat the villain once and for all. Shortly afterwards, the ride ends and the ramen dish is saved.

So, dear team of the Karls Erlebnis-Dorf parks, please build something exactly like this. You don’t necessarily have to take over the interactive component, but I’m sure you could find a use for it somehow. These mini raft rides from Hafema are already a class of their own and are unfortunately far too rare outside Japan.

Spin Runway

However, you don’t necessarily need a rapid river for a successful factory tour, a spinning coaster will do. At least that’s how you can describe the Spin Runway roller coaster. After a really beautifully designed and partly interactive cue, we lock our valuables in a locker and immediately take a seat in the familiar Gerstlauer chaises. The ride begins immediately, very similar to the roller coaster Maskerade from the Wiener Prater, with a darkride part through some serpentine curves. After this, we reach the ride’s lift. In this case, however, it is a drum lift. During the ascent, we can play a little mini-game in which we have to collect as many items of clothing as possible for our chosen mascot. Wildly pushing around does not help at all, everything has to be coordinated with the other occupants of the car.

Once at the top, we complete a hairpin turn and slowly pick up speed. After the countdown 3,2,1 Speed Runway we throw ourselves into the first downhill helix under numerous light effects. After a short valley, we gain a little bit of altitude again before we skilfully reduce it in another downhill helix. This is followed by a somewhat longer stretch above the station, which is skilfully exploited by the car’s spin.

A block brake is followed by a brisk combination of a downward helix in a clockwise direction followed by an upward helix in an anticlockwise direction. Shortly afterwards we find ourselves on the runway of the fashion show and the braking section of the ride. Only a few moments later, the station is reached and we can get off.

Spin Runway is not a really long spinning coaster, but it is an insanely well staged one. Before the ride, I was already afraid that it would be a direct sister ride to the extremely weak roller coaster Maskerade from the Wiener Prater and accordingly approached the ride with very low expectations. But I was wrong; the ride was great. Although the chosen elements were also used in the ride in question, the ride on the Spin Runway offers a much more immersive experience. The rotation of the car itself could be a little faster, but that is the only real criticism of the ride. I would definitely have liked to go on one or two more rounds here.

Back in the daylight, Nicolas was suddenly recognised by one of the Achterbahnreisenden, who themselves were discovering the country for themselves with a large group of enthusiasts. While we just had our last day in Japan, it was still one of the first for them. It was nice to talk a bit, although none of us expected to meet other German roller coaster tourists in Japan.

Pictures Yomiuriland

Conclusion Yomiuriland

Yomiuriland is an amusement park that looks really run-down in places, but it always stands out positively with its selected novelties. They do their best and it shows. In general, I liked Yomiuriland a lot, but I can also understand if you don’t really like this park. The selection of rides is good and the interactive walkthroughs are quite something. The amusement park also finally had some halfway usable merchandise to offer and so I left the park with a plush of Detective Conan in my luggage.

 

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Titanic Max Day 13 / Yomiuriland