Kings Island



Theme Park:Kings Island (since 1972)
Address:6300 Kings Island Dr.
45040 Mason
https://www.visitkingsisland.com
Operated by:Cedar Fair

Kings Island in Mason, Ohio is one of the largest amusement parks in the US. Founded in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting, the amusement park was the starting point for some of the most influential theme parks in the world, which later became the Paramount theme parks. Nowadays, the park is part of the Cedar Fair group. The amusement park is not only historically significant from an economic point of view. Kings Island led to a renaissance of the roller coaster with the wooden coaster The Racer and paved the way for modern day launch coaster with Flight of Fear.

The park itself offers a large variety of family-friendly rides and roller coasters. The park also offers plenty of street entertainment and a variety of shows in the park’s own theatres and the huge amphitheatre.

Fun Fact #1: The original Suspended Coaster The Bat was only short lived. Its station and foundations was reused for the looping coaster Vortex.

Fun Fact #2: The wooden coaster The Beast was built completely inhouse. Up to now, it is still the world’s longest wooden roller coaster.

Fun Fact #3: The park’s huge Eiffel Tower was originally planned for Cincinnati’s Coney Island amusement park.

 
 
 

Highlights of the Theme Park

 




 

Adventure Express

A mine train adventure awaits you

 


 

Backlot Stunt Coaster

Special Effects on a roller coaster

 


 

Banshee

The largest Inverted Coaster

 


 

Diamondback

Airtime Galore

 


 

Drop Tower

Gyro Drops are awesome

 


 

Flight of Fear

Indoor Launch Coaster

 


 

Invertigo

Face to Face and upside down

 


 

Mystic Timbers

GCI at its best

 


 

Race for your Life Charlie Brown

Oldschool Log Flume

 


 

The Bat

Kings Island loves Suspended Coaster

 


 

The Beast

The legendary wooden coaster

 


 

The Racer

The first of an era

 


 
 

Past Highlights of the Theme Park

 





 

Vortex

Giant Looping Coaster

 



Tatzmania Löffingen



Theme Park:Tatzmania Löffingen (since 2017)
Schwarzwald Park (1968 - 2017)
Address:Wildpark 1
79843 Löffingen
https://www.tatzmania.com/
Operated by:Fam. Braun

Tatzmania Löffingen located on the edge of the community of Löffingen near Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg is a medium-sized, family-run zoo and leisure park. With its game park, two roller coasters, as well as a large selection of rides for smaller kids, the park offers an enjoyable mix of animal park and family-friendly rides.

 
 
 

Highlights of the Animal and Theme Park

 




 

African Spin

A Family Spinning Coaster

 

 

Gold Rusher

The wild family roller coaster

 

 

Papageienflug

The self-piloting flying machine

 

Having a blast on Dynamite

Preface

The last time, I have visited Freizeitpark Plohn, I was not at all impressed by its missing professionalism in some points. I had never issues paying with my Girocard (a German Debit Card) before and since there was not an ATM nearby, I had to drive to the nearby town of Lengenfeld just to get some cash and stand one more time in the queue before finally being able to pay my entrance ticket. This time, I tried to pay online and due to the system in use, it was not at all easy to do so on the phone. It took me several attempts – yet at the end, it worked.

Freizeitpark Plohn

With a good mood, I started my day at the new entrance area to the park, which is now situated right next to the water ride Fluch des Teutates. The Rafting by abc rides gets a good crowd during the first hours of operation, while the area close to the original entrance stays deserted for the most part of the day.

Drachenwirbel

Here we find the small SBF Visa spinning coaster Drachenwirbel. Like most of the installations in Germany, this also comes in the three-loop design, whereby upwards leading righthand curves always change into a downwards leading lefthand curve. Due to the change of direction, the cars quickly get into a rotation. After several laps the ride on the Drachenwirbel comes to an stop and we can exit the ride.

Dynamite

The second and largest addition to the park Freizeitpark Plohn in recent years is the Mack Rides Big Dipper Coaster Dynamite. The ride is situated for most part on the land of the former Silver Mine roller coaster and reuses parts of the queue. The coaster itself is a lot bigger and offers an interesting layout.

After climbing the ride’s lift, the coaster starts with a Dive Drop, whereby the car is slowly rotated around its own axis before it plunges to the ground. At full speed we now pass through a building which gives a great near miss and race over a bunny hop shortly thereafter. A steep curve now leads us upwards. After a more conventional drop, we then enter a righthand curve close to the ground. On a small hill we rapidly change direction before entering Dynamite’s loop. We then pass the ride’s entrance in a Zero-G Roll. Finally, we now circle around the HUSS Break Dance Westernrodeo before hitting the brakes.

Dynamite is a nice addition to the park. The Big Dipper offers a great, albeit short layout which offers a well-defined play of forces. There is only one issue: It does not have a good capacity. With a total of just two cars for up to eight people, the queue can get quite long. Especially, when only one of them is in operation and can only be loaded by a maximum of 4 people due to the Covid-19 regulations. Therefore, I only rode this Mack product once.

Pictures Freizeitpark Plohn

Closing Words

As the Saxonians did not really care about Covid and only a few respected the rules, I left the park early. Overall, I had a good visit to Freizeitpark Plohn. Yet, I was not overly impressed on how El Toro developed in recent years. This coaster is by far one of the roughest wooden coasters, I have been on and to my luck, I had to ride it twice in a row as the ride operation gave an encore. Apart of that, the park’s operations were good, and I am willing to come back once everything is back to normal.

 

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