Tag: Timber!

Under the influence of the Wicker Man

itemprop="discussionURL"0

Preface

Having a Premium Annual Pass and not being able to get to the Midlands… Well, in my defence, I live in Southsea at the southern end of the island of Portland, on the Solent, and from there it’s a long way to Alton. Although not really, as there’ s an Alton just around the corner. Well, you know what I mean, it’s supposed to go to Alton in beautiful Staffordshire. Alton Towers is coming up with a new secret weapon: The Wicker Man.

The past five years

It’s been five years since I’ve been to Alton Towers and the last time I sat in the third train of The Smiler roller coaster on its first official opening day, which was announced by the BBC at extremely short notice. For that I just stood around for three hours in an area where you probably don’t even wait on Halloween and was supplied with baked goods by an English mother. However, it was actually worth it, which is why I had to undergo the procedure one more time just before the park closed for the day.

In the past five years, a lot has happened and unfortunately a lot has happened. But the beginning was very positive, because the Storybook Land and Old MacDonalds Farmyard sections were merged into one section and immediately licensed. The toddler area, now called CBeebies Land, revitalized the previously rather orphaned corner of the park and offers a very nice atmosphere. No wonder that the children’s land was expanded the following year. With the Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure another children’s roller coaster finally moved into the park; while only a few meters away a tragedy happened: a car of the roller coaster The Smiler stopped on open track.

The accident of The Smiler and its impact on the park

Actually not too bad – after all, it already happened in the past – but stupidly enough, they send a second car loaded with passengers right after it. However, nothing would have happend, if not all warnings of the ride have been ignored and the system has been overwritten without further ado. It came, as it had to come, and the moving car banged with a good swing against the standing one. Engineers always wonder at this point whether there were any fatalities. Fortunately, there weren’t, and apart from the fate of the passengers in the front row of the car, the accident ended surprisingly well. However, what had to follow followed. A shitstorm of the English press broke in over Alton Towers, according to which the park is still considered unsafe nowadays. No wonder that the number of visitors decreased drastically and since then Merlin Entertainments has been struggling in their own country.

Yet, there is also something very comical about it, when the technical director of the park is dragged in front of the camera, just because a roller coaster has just had a safety shutdown and The Sun is already raging against the park. Unfortunately, it also has negative effects for the normal park guest, as the park has closed for the first time this year within the season and also has extremely crappy opening hours. Supposedly, they are quite flexible; but in summary, one can say that most of the time, the park is open from 10 to 16 o’clock. A cheeky thing for a park of this size, especially as most of the rides can’t be used until 11 am anyway. Until then, one has to be patient within the park and can ride Nemesis almost continuously, thanks to the absence of operation of the park’s cable car – apparently it was too hot –. Prior to that, there is still the possibility for an early morning ERT at selected attractions, but for that, too, the rides would have to start operating first.

It would be easy for me to talk Alton Towers into the ground, but I do not. The park is still great. Even the fact that a lot of rides have left the park in the past years does not change that. Actually, you are much more focused on just getting all the roller coasters done somehow, especially if you are guiding a theme park newcomer through the park. Despite (with the exception of the roller coaster The Smiler) moderate waiting times, you hardly manage to do that in the end and still have a great day – that even speaks for the park. You should simply take your time for Alton Towers, preferably two days, maybe even including a visit to the water park and a booking for the roller coaster restaurant in the evening.

Wicker Man

First Impressions

But first we sanctify the Wicker Man. On the site of the old squeaky duck log ride The Flume, England’s first roller coaster from the manufacturer Great Coaster International was built during the last year and thus, after a very long time, a new wooden roller coaster. The theme of the ride is based on the cult of the Wicker Man, a sacrificial figure made of wicker – which in the past may have included people (be it only as a Roman fantasy or nowadays by dramaturgical means in movies and television) – and which was supposed to bring a rich harvest to the Celts by burning them. It is therefore quasi an analogy to Alton Towers itself, which hope for new streams of visitors by alienating visitors.

The ride itself seems a bit strange, only up close it can really convince. The Wicker Man itself is an impressive structure and looks surprisingly good with the artificial fires. The real fires on the shoulders of the sculpture on the other hand were stopped shortly after the premiere – you can guess why. The queue leads you next to the Wicker Man on a hill from which you have a wonderful view of the hustle and bustle underneath you. In a very fast rhythm, train after train is climbing the two-stage lift hill, which reminds a little bit of old Rct times, because it is first steep and then a bit flatter. In reverse order, the way leads us down the hill. I really appreciate the ingenious solution of the lift, as this solution provides an ideally accessible engine house. I also found the guidance of the chain for the first part of the lift personally quite exciting. Anyway, after some stairs we can hand in our bag. Actually Merlin-typical, but here in the park it is a return to old traditions. It was somehow silly that this system was removed everywhere else in the park. After a short holding room, a pre-show room follows, in which it is revealed to us in a very effective way, that we should be sacrificed right away. Of course, we are not averse to all this and soon we take a seat in the provided train.

The Ride

We leave the station of Wicker Man in a right turn, which promptly becomes steeper and steeper. In the perpendicular to the station line we change direction and throw ourselves into our fellow passenger or into the side wall of the car. Parallel to the station, we then reach the lift hill of the complex that first takes us up a little steeper and then a little less steep. At the top we turn immediately into a tunnel. In a left helix we gain a little bit of speed before a sudden descent skillfully lifts us out of our seats. Back in the daytime, we thresh through a valley, only to dive into another tunnel shortly afterwards. During this dive we board over an unmatched airtime hill, whereupon all contact with the seat is interrupted at first.  This is followed by a very steep drop that leads to the right and to the valley to the left. With 70 km/h we cross the Wicker Man for the first time and immediately climb a hill. In the following turn we race around a part of the queue before we approach the detonator with small airtime hops. Following the valley after the second passage, we climb another hill in two stages, where we could at least theoretically take a short breather. But instead of a neatly inclined right turn, another highlight of the layout awaits us, after which we mercilessly snuggle up to the left side of the train. Oh, lateral forces are something nice. Just before we know it we drop down the last big hill of the layout into the valley. Here we cross the Wicker Man a third time and get moistened with steam. In another right/left turn combination we climb the hill once more, whereupon we find ourselves immediately in the braking section of the layout after a short straight line. This is followed by the maintenance house of the ride, where many park guests now prepare for the free fall. Th13teen probably disturbs a lot of people.if you asked yourself “What’s in the shed?” the answer is quite simple: Nothing.

Conclusion

The Wicker Man is a really awesome wooden roller coaster that fits perfectly into the park’s secret weapon line-up. The ride doesn’t reinvent a wooden roller coaster, but it defines an overall experience that has never been seen before in the park’s roller coasters. Furthermore, the ride lives through its literal interplay of valley and hills including the triple interaction with the wicker man. Since Alton Towers – like many parks in Great Britain – is subject to strict height restrictions, the layout is always very close to the ground, which is very beneficial for the up and downhill ride. I also like the length of the ride, as it feels just right, which makes the layout in contrast to many of the newer European wooden coasters, like Heidi-The Ride from Plopsaland De Panne and Timber! from Walibi Rhône-Alpes, which are far too short for my personal taste. To sum up, I was surprised and still am blown away by the ride, which I think is on top of the GCI roller coasters.

Miscellaneous

After five years, the queue of The Smiler roller coaster looks quite battered, which of course doesn’t affect the quality of the ride. I just love the coaster. The VR update of the roller coaster Air and the name Galactica on the other hand just don’t please me. Without the glasses, the ride is still my favourite Flying Coaster, but with the glasses, the pacing or the feeling of speed during the ride is missing. Furthermore the picture was so strangely shifted to the left when the ride started, which makes the VR experience rather limp. Anyway, the movie doesn’t look that cheap, just a bit unimaginative. Theoretically, there is also sound, but that was missing completely.

Pictures

 

What is your opinion about Wicker Man?  Just write it in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

 

          

Alton Towers

WAA!!! Walibi à la française

itemprop="discussionURL"1

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.

What are your thoughts about the French theme park Walibi Rhône-Alpes? Just write it here in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

          

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

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