Black snakes can also be found in Sauerland

Preface

I didn’t intend to drive back to the Fort Fun Abenteuerland via Hesse so soon, but the revised roller coaster Speed Snake was a good reason to do so. In order to avoid the expensive 25€ ride photo this time, I drove through the village Niederwetter out of protest always well below the posted speed limit; to be honest, one doesn’t deserve anything other than artificially caused traffic jams, thanks to the unclear signposting, alleged traffic safety or not. Shortly after surviving the Hessian part of the Sauerland, one passes through the much more beautiful North Rhine-Westphalia, passing a single speed camera at a place where it actually makes sense. Funnily enough, the state on its border with Hesse makes fun of its neighbour, because you could be flashed.

Fort Fun Abenteuerland

Arrived at the park, Sheriff Fuzzy showed us the way to the parking lot and welcomed us shortly after with even more flattering sayings in the park. For some people a little bit annoying, but for most of us quite entertaining. Later in the day he draws the visitors into the shows and performs in them, where he gained cult status some years ago.

Retracking Speed Snake

Beside him, the new Mascot and the unfortunately still closed Funny Fux Bau there is another novelty this year, as the Vekoma Whirlwind Speed Snake has undergone a retracking. It would be wrong to say that the ride would have needed such a treatment, after all it still performed quite well, but it makes sense if you want to use the ride for the next 20 years. The money used for this could have been saved outside of the unfinished repainting of the ride. The ride has definitely changed for the worse, what used to go round and round is now driving strangely angular. This gives a oddly interesting and exciting ride in the corkscrews, but during the course of the ride you get to know the restraints, although quite gently.

Closing Words

Although the visit at Fort Fun was only a rather trivial meeting compared to the previous day at the Holiday Park, it saved me a few hours of travel time back to Hamburg. The novelties of the Fort Fun Abenteuerland are at least pointing quite consistently in the right direction and so a test of the Funny Fux Bau would have been certainly interesting.

 

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Wild eagles and fog-shrouded tracks

Preface

It was crazy to go back home one day after driving 500km to the south, only to drift off towards the Netherlands. On the other hand, the trip to the Fort Fun Abenteuerland in Sauerland to test the new attractions, including the Top Spin Yukan Raft, was a necessary part of our plan, which no minefield in Hesse could stop us from doing. Our trip was unforeseenly made more expensive by the community of Wetter and their hilarious and unfortunately very modern photo equipment by 25€. Therefore, it is no wonder that the more beautiful part of the Sauerland makes fun of the neighboring Hesse by a mercilessly oversized number of speed cameras, namely a single one (even with a warning when entering the state).

Arrived at the cash desk of the Fort Fun Abenteurland we first got ourselves the annual passes which are very important for us to mercilessly and honestly raid the service station. On the question if we are only here for the vouchers we got the tip that you don’t even have to come to Fort Fun, after all the annual tickets including the vouchers can be sent by mail. A great offer for the coming years, of course, but on the other hand, the park under the guidance of the Companie des Alpes is definitely worth a visit.

Tour of the park

Wild Eagle

At the time of the visit, not too many people saw this, so that the rush was very limited and apart from a company meeting, hardly any other guests got lost in the foggy abysses of the park. For this reason Jan, Julian and I dared to take a ride on the Wild Eagle, which is an upcharge attraction for only 1€ p.p. and really doesn’t matter to anyone. The Wild Eagle is a suspended ride. Lying on your stomach, it is pulled backwards up the mountain to reach its maximum flying height about halfway down the Alpine Coaster Trapper Slider. Shortly after that it goes flying downhill, whereby the actual ride pleasure is very limited in order to be braked very early. All in all, the whole thing was an action you should do once if there is a reasonable waiting time at the ride, but you can also do without it.

Speed Snake

So early in the morning there was a wonderful atmosphere at the Vekoma roller coaster Speed Snake. The undeniable photogenicity of the Arrow’s rail profile and the all around existing infrastructure made for countless photos, even though most of them could be taken without a train. In order to make this possible for Jan and Julian, I decided to take a ride in the second car, which strangely enough just hopped over the rail, while all the other cars offered a smooth and rock solid ride.

Rocky Mountain Rallye

Further down in the valley and past the still closed Marienkäferbahn (ladybird coaster), which was still closed due to the cold, and the luckily removed children’s parking area, we made our way to the Rocky Mountain Rallye, the newly designed Monza track. Although the changes were really only made on a small scale, the ride now appears coherent in the overall concept of the park.

Yukan Raft

The second innovation this year, Yukan Raft, is similarly coherent. As with the Indoor Round Up Dark Raver, Fort Fun has proven that they have a knack for designing used rides appropriately and making them interesting. The fact that the ride on the Yukan Raft turns out to be outstanding is something you can be very happy about with a permanently installed Top Spins, because such an exciting ride as well as an intensive ride has rarely been offered by the showman Plaenert, who previously owned this ride, although he could be taken as a benchmark for a good ride.

Secret Stage of Horror

On the top level of the park, the last novelty since my last visit is revealed to the visitors. This is the newly designed and highly praised ghost train Secret Stage of Horror, which did not really surprise us. Where the ride was a very bizarre but good ghost train before, it is now a good ghost train with really good ideas, but somehow nothing more. The video projections are all good, the house in general is really well darkened, but during the ride nothing happens and the rest of the ride is not enough to really get you into the story line.

Pictures Fort Fun Abenteuerland

Conclusion Fort Fun Abenteuerland

Although I considered Fort Fun a good park on my last visit, this visit helped me to see it as one of the better parks in Germany. The Companie des Alpes is doing a lot of work here, although they wanted to sell the park. The existing territory leaves room for more and so one can only hope that in the future more people will make their way to Fort Fun Abenteuerland to make room for further investments.

 

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Climbing mountains in Fort Fun Abenteuerland

Preface

After the Sternrodler was tested, we went past the actual highlight of the trip, the Bruchhausen Stones, towards the village of Wasserfall to visit the local amusement park. The Fort Fun Abenteuerland was founded from the western city Fort Fun City and can still show this leading theme today, but also the ski lift and the two former summer toboggan runs led to the success of the park at that time.

After I informed the cashier about the 50% discount of the Movie Park Germany annual ticket, we went into the park. David was luckier than me concerning the staff, so that his first impression about the customer friendliness and motivation of the staff was still positive.

Tour of the park

Devil’s Mine

This should not change even at the first attraction visited, the Vekoma roller coaster Devil’s Mine. But first you have to pass the much too long, but worth seeing queue, even if it’s too dark in the first part. The ride itself is surprising and very fun due to the two airtime moments after the hills with the friction wheels. Unfortunately we could not make another ride in the afternoon because the ride had a defect.

Crazy Washhouse and Mystery Warehouse

Other attractions on the really beautiful top level of the amusement park Fort Fun Abenteuerland include a wave swinger, the Funhouse Crazy Washhouse, which lost all its charm due to empty rooms and offering just some mirrors, a Nauta Bussink Ferris wheel and the ghost train Mystery Warehouse. The latter ride was quite amusing and even thematically convincing due to individually placed theming elements.

Rio Grande

Probably the best themeing can be found at the small rafting ride Rio Grande from Bear Rides, which can score with its original cacti. Even if you look at the age of the ride and how wet it is, the ride is still one of the better rapid rivers.

Dark Raver

The path now led us further and further downhill and so directly to the next highlight in the Fort Fun Abenteuerland, the Indoor Round-Up Dark Raver. Even though the building is rather strange from the outside, the ride was really successful. The light effects and the music give the old Fähtz ride another live.

The show stage and the climbing structure next door don’t look very nice, even though the idea was not bad. We didn’t watch the show itself, because it seemed to be over by the time we arrived. Furthermore there is plenty of space for attractions on this level of the park, but the use of this area is rather sparse. Considering how many top-class rides have left the park in the course of time, I wonder why they did not find their place here, as attractions are generally missing in this park.

Trapper Slider

Our way leads us to the highlight par excellence of the amusement park Fort Fun Abenteuerland with a ride that changed my world view on alpine coasters in general, the Trapper Slider. The slogan “Feel the thrill – Rock the hill” basically says it all, because what the ride offers is outstanding. After a little longer time in the lift you reach the top of the lifthill and after a small 270° downhill helix the ride starts. After a very short time you reach your cruising speed of about 50 km/h and you are sent over elements that would virtually pull you out of your seat if the seatbelt was not so tight. The centrifugal brake has to work quite hard in the curves, provided there is no lurker in front of you. After a good 1300 m the ride is over and the only thing you can think of is the word brilliant.

Wildwasserbahn

Those who need something leisurely after the ride can get into the chair lift next door or go downhill for a few metres and take the Wildwasserbahn. This early log flume, from the cooperation of the manufacturers Mack and Arrow, has a considerable track length and a great setting. As with the log flume in Thorpe Park, England, there is a mixture of different styles, which unfortunately is not really convincing here. The degree of wetness of the ride was quite high, because the two passengers got really soaked.

Tomahawk

Next to a ship swing from the manufacturer Huss you can admire an exotic in the park: a Shake R5 from Mondial. The ride was long and balanced, but there were no rollovers. If you know the Commander von Hanstein or if you have done a round in Schäfer’s Shake & Roll, you will be a bit disappointed here, but if you know how awful sometimes the rides on Vorlops Shaker are, you will find the ride good. For a medium sized park the Tomahawk is a good investment.

Speed Snake

The roller coaster Speed Snake, a Vekoma Whirlind, was formerly known as the whirlwind. Since the original Arrow chaises unfortunately became too old, as in Heide-Park, a new train had to be brought in. This one is a first generation Vekoma train from the Prater in Vienna. If you have any bad suspicions now you will be disappointed, as it is usually the case with the Dutch manufacturer, because the train offers the same seating comfort as the old Arrow trains and this even with legroom in the second row. The ride itself is surprisingly intense in the corkscrews, as I previously only knew the identical specimen in the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark Stukenbrock with an empty train, I was a bit surprised, and will pass through without any significant jerking or even hitting. The theming does not enhance the ride, but it is nicely placed and easy to look at, and the successful train does its best to do so.

Marienkäferbahn

Where the Fort Fun Abenteuerland on the top level could still create a harmonious picture, the design decreased more and more, which at first sight is not really disturbing, because the gardeners do a good job here. But there is a place in the park that really belongs to the worst what you can see in a park. The whole thing is declared as a children’s land and can be seen next to some cheap rides of Italian origin, the Zierer dragon train, which has been unused for some years, with an ugly blue facade and a Tivoli large. The Marienkäferbahn scores with its location in the middle of a forest, and the ride also offers a decent amount of speed – which is not always the case on such a roller coaster ride.

Beverly Hills Drive

At the lowest point of the park you will again find a well-designed attraction. The Monza track, known as Beverly Hills Drive, offers a long driving distance and a design that can be found in a similar form at Disney.  In any case, the ride is a ray of hope for the rather weak lowest part of the park.

Fun Xpress

Because we missed the Fun Xpress we went back up the mountain by foot. As the gastronomy in the lowest area of the park was more busy with itself than with the customers, we went to the gastronomy at the log flume. The offer here is decent, but also a bit expensive. After a while the staff noticed me and I ordered a portion of Pommes Spezial. The taste was great and I was satisfied.

Pictures Fort Fun Abenteuerland

 


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