In search of Dr. Carter

Preface

Due to long queues in and especially in front of the Wunderland Kalkar I had to drop an intended trip to some Dutch parks at short notice, but since the Lost Temple, the last untested German novelty of this year, was waiting within a radius of about 70 km, it was quite bearable. To my own surprise, I got a free ticket instead of the 50% discount I had hoped for with my Fort Fun annual ticket, so that the way to the Movie Park Germany was already worthwhile at that time, although it was unexpectedly full thanks to the first sunny weekend in weeks (but unfortunately Kalkar was also).

Movie Park Germany – The lost Temple

The Queue

Arriving at Movie Park Germany, I first concentrated on the compulsory program, so that the way led directly to this year’s novelty, the Simworx Immersive Tunnel Lost Temple. Fortunately, the waiting time was limited, so that I only had to wait a few minutes for the elevator. The safety instructions, held in three languages, were very annoying, especially since they were sufficient for every second load. Finally arriving in the elevator, after another speech, the descent is relatively slow and with rather simple effects, even the elevator at the traveling haunted house Psycho with the asynchronously running rollers seems more convincing. To my own astonishment, the elevator actually was a real one, and thus, after leaving the gondola, one got out in a different environment that is thematically very outstanding. Relatively quickly, one went through the empty queue that could show a hot surprise right in the first room until one was stopped by a chain. Now for minutes absolutely nothing happened, which is to be called negative, after all there were not even signs of a co-worker. By means of simple possibilities, one could make the waiting time in this part of the queue more pleasant, even if it was only due to an expiring timer. After the now already longer waiting time, one got some 3D glasses in one’ s hand, whereupon one could listen to a safety instruction in three languages again. In the following room one was finally divided into the rows of seats and a preshow was held. When you could finally board into the train, the departure was delayed only by the slow handling.

The ride

Shortly after the sides of the car were folded down, the car started to move and so we drove into the Lost Temple. Shortly after that the film was started and despite the static position it always felt like accelerating forward. This is where the strength of the system becomes apparent, because there is absolutely nothing to criticise about the actual technology of this large capacity simulator. The movements are all smooth and well coordinated, so fortunately you don’t get sick as quickly as with the simpler 4D simulators in various theme parks. The film is partly sharp, but mostly very spongy, the 3D effect can hardly score any points, it rather worsens the picture massively. The actual story is free of meaning and can be compared to the story of the computer game classic Tomb Raider II, after all, they had a temple-like environment with dinos in it.

Conclusion

Although dinosaurs have become extinct since the end of the 1990s, at the latest shortly after the third Jurassic Park film, some small parks, such as Erse Park or the Tolk-Schau, have kept the dinosaurs alive. That a big park like Movie Park Germany is trying to jump on the dinosaur direction is strange, but it makes sense considering a fourth part of the Jurassic Park series. At least you can still revise the film quality of your own attraction until the movie release next year, so that you can enthuse some visitors for the topic as a pioneer and at the same time as a free rider.

At least from a technical point of view the Lost Temple is a very interesting ride, which only suffers from the lack of quality of its movie. But since this is a problem that is quite easy to handle, I’m sure that the attraction will be able to make a significant quality leap in a few years (if not already next year). Most visitors already leave the ride satisfied, only one little boy was disappointed, after all the dinosaurs were not real. Beside all the bigger novelties this year, the Lost Temple can at least hold its own against Arthur – the Ride from Europa Park, the competition this year was also very strong with Flug der Dämonen, Chiapas and Sky Scream.

Pictures Movie Park Germany 2008 – 2016

 


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About truly small roller coasters in Steinau

Erlebnispark Steinau

Above the Brothers Grimm town of Steinau an der Straße is the small but fine Erlebnispark Steinau. The park has a rustic charm and consists mainly of barbecue huts, spacious playgrounds, some animal enclosures – in which many domestic breeds of farm animals can be found – and some rides; most of them of course from Heege.

Erlis Seifenkiste

This year the park was in the media more than ever, as the park features a new roller coaster by the manufacturer Gerstlauer. The Kiddy Racer Erlis Seifenkiste is for small kids only, as an adult person will hardly fit into the ride. For the target group of the park, the coaster is of course a useful addition, for everyone else a nice facility for the little ones.

Sommerrodelbahn

Next door is the Sommerrodelbahn, the main attraction of the park, which cleverly makes its way down through the other rides. Theoretically, it could also be a really good luge if there were no children riding alone, who think they have to hold on to the upright lever instead of pushing it down a little. Consequently, thanks to the low or even non-existent speed, one is afraid of falling over due to the bobsleigh’s lateral inclination. Significantly faster, the bobsled climbed back up the mountain. A second run sadly seems to have been a waste of time.

Butterfly and Kometenschaukel

Fortunately, there are some interactive play options and the entire Heege product catalogue at the top of the park. One of the rides that can only be operated by several people is the Butterfly, which can usually be operated by yourself, so I had to ask a family that was lucky enough to be nearby if they could push the button. The ride feeling is well proven, but by far not as exciting and ingenious as the strongly pronounced airtime of the park’s comet swing Kometenschaukel.

Wegebahn

With the extremely professional and informative railway Wegebahn, whose quality of the announcement can easily keep up with larger parks – the only difference is that highlights such as the Nautic Jet are mentioned during the ride, you can explore the lower part of the park without having to climb the mountain again and learn a lot about the special features of the park, which is now 20 years old.

You really have to give the park credit for being very creative in places, where some other parks should take a leaf out of their book, for example the park offers a water playground where you can play water plumber with pipes just waiting to be laid. But the park can also offer nicely arranged and bigger rides, thus one finds a cycling track, a small flat tide and a wave swinger by Zierer, which all ride themselves neatly.

Pictures Erlebnispark Steinau

Conclusion Erlebnispark Steinau

The Erlebnispark Steinau surprised me alot, as it is very similar to the Tolk-Schau in Schleswig-Holstein, only without the dinosaurs and a little more professional, although a little bit smaller. Here you can spend some time without getting bored and if you have something to barbecue, you can stay much longer. At least East Hesse’s biggest amusement park is definitely worth a visit, despite the strange-looking title.

 

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A visit to Legoland Windsor

Legoland Windsor

After Alton Towers, Legoland Windsor is the most popular Merlin Entertainments Group theme park in the UK, so expect long queues. Its location on a hill overlooking Windsor Castle in the distance gives the park a remarkable appeal.

From the top of the hill, several paths wind their way down, with slides similar to those at Tolk Show. The most interesting way to descend, or rather conquer, the hill is to take the Hill Train funicular railway, from where you have a great view of the Vikings River Splash rafting ride.

Vikings River Splash

Due to the canal, this ride is certainly not a beauty, but the view from the lower levels of the park is something special, as rafting boats floating many metres above you is not an everyday sight. The ride also seemed to be very wet, which even in England is a miracle on a ride like this.

Jolly Rocker

If you follow the path down from the rafting, you will pass a maze and Zierer Kontiki to reach the park’s pirate themed area, where an old acquaintance from Germany’s Heide-Park makes his swings. In addition to the HUSS Pirate Jolly Rocker, there is a teacup ride, a log flume and the Pirate Falls Dynamite Drench. There are also plenty of play areas for the little ones.

Knight’s Quest and Dragon’s Apprentice

If you’re looking for Adrealin, at least a little bit, you’ll find it in Knight’s Kingdom, where you’ll find the two coasters Dragon and Dragon’s Apprentice next to the rather popular torture machine Knight’s Quest, a rather uncomfortable Old Train by Mack Rides. While the latter is a nice children’s coaster with a downward helix and slight turns, the Dragon is a rather strange and interesting family coaster. Like many other rides at Legoland Windsor, both coasters were built by the English company WGH Transportation.

Dragon

The Dragon is a little reminiscent of Lightwater Valley’s legendary coaster The Ultimate, but without the height or length of the ride. The Dragon starts with a dark section, similar to the other Dragon coasters at Legoland. Towards the end of the ride, the Dragon heads towards the lift hill without a steep drop or launch. The lift hill is not very quiet due to the metal plates on the catwalk and the track is unnecessarily twisty. The first drop is followed by a figure of eight until you pass under the first lifthill on a second curvy lift and gain some more height. With the collected energy, you now pass through a tunnel and complete another figure of eight. The braking section consists of friction wheels, which have been installed on another curvy hill.

While the Billund Dragon has a fast course and a strong acceleration after the dark ride part, which is reminiscent of a launch, and the Legoland Germany Dragon has a comparatively large size and a rather abrupt first descent, the Windsor Dragon has nothing special to offer. Although the ride is suitable for children and is quite fun because of the sudden turns, the Dragon offers a more or less uneventful ride, often interrupted by lift hills.

Laser Raiders

If you follow the paths, the Egyptian themed area Kingdom of the Pharaohs offers another highlight in the form of the Laser Raiders, for which you are welcome to queue a little longer. As much as I would have liked to test the ride from Sally, the time I had left in the park went by very quickly. Due to the general traffic in London that day, as well as the big rush at Legoland Windsor, I was only able to visit the two roller coasters, Miniland, the Hill Train and the new 4D film.

The unique rides of Legoland Windsor

In addition to the usual Legoland repertoire, Legoland Windsor has a number of special features. For example, you can drive a real excavator in the Digger Challenge, move or turn your helicopter up and down on a stick at Duplo Valley Airport, slide down a twisting track in a dinghy on the Raft River Racer, pass by well-animated Lego models on the Fairytale Brook fairytale ride or take a ride in small submarines through a Sealife Centre in Atlantis Submarine Voyage.

Miniland

While the kids get wet in the Duplo water area, the adults can check out the Lego models in Miniland. This is quite nice and has models from the UK, France and the Netherlands. Star Wars models are not to be found in this part of the park, but fortunately they have their own display near the entrance.

Legends of Chima 4D

The park’s 4-D cinema is showing an agent film as well as a film exclusively about Lego’s new product series The Legends of Chima. As Lego have already shown how to animate properly with their series, I was quite curious to see this film, even though I didn’t know much about the subject matter and a Ninjago film would have been more appealing. The animation was very clean and the 3D effect was actually as clear as I have ever seen it in any other cinema. The other effects were all well adapted to the film, so it is definitely worth seeing, as long as you can cope with large amounts of water and are not necessarily averse to the animation genre.

Conclusion Legoland Windsor

Legoland Windsor is a park that really surprised me. Due to its location in a valley, the park offers unusual views and still knows how to make use of them. Everything seems to be in harmony, even if it is a bit more densely built than other comparable parks. Smaller children up to a certain age have plenty of opportunities to let off steam, which is generously accepted.

 

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