A short visit to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

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Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a pretty cool amusement park. Located directly on the Pacific Ocean, the park exudes a lot of charm, which is mainly due to its 99-year-old wooden rollercoaster, which takes up almost the entire park. The individual rides are located to the right and left of the boardwalk.

Undertow

The Zamperla Disk’o Shockwave and the Maurer Spinning Coaster Untertow are located on the roof of a larger arcade. As always, it’s worth getting on the SC2000 backwards, which means you actually experience the first drop backwards before the spinning function is released after a climb and a short curve. Thanks to the subsequent hairpin bend, you’ll be well set in rotation so that you can usually experience the Immelmann Turn with a view of the sky or the ground. The subsequent track consists mainly of smaller bends and a fun straight with lots of swerves before you hurtle down a helix for the grand finale. All in all, a really great rollercoaster, especially if the waiting time is kept to a minimum.

Double Shot, Pirate Ship, Sky Glider und Typhoon

A ramp and stairs take you down to the boardwalk. Here you will find access to the Sky Glider chairlift – which was unfortunately not in operation on the day I visited – and three larger rides. In addition to the Typhoon looping ride, you can also take a ride on the classic Pirate Ship boat swing, before the more daring can take a ride on the S&S Double Shot, which is a great way to shoot yourself in the shoulder restraints.

Giant Dipper

Passing the fantastic façade of the Haunted Castle ghost train, we now move on to the park’s 99-year-old wooden rollercoaster, for which I had to adapt the tour over and over again, as the park unfortunately only rarely opens its rides in September; the Giant Dipper.

The ride on the Giant Dipper begins immediately with the entrance to a slightly longer tunnel, after which the ride’s lift is reached. After the first descent, which is around 20 metres high, we head straight into a large turning curve, which, however, offers a fairly steep entry and exit. Immediately afterwards, we race over a large hill and straight away over a double up. With the best view of the Beach Boardwalk, we now ride over a straight just above the braking section before gaining momentum again in an increasingly steep bend. Parallel to the track we have already experienced, we now race over a series of the finest airtime hills before changing direction again. At a constantly high speed, we race through the beams again and over a number of excellent airtime hills before coming to a halt in the braking section.

Even though I had already heard beforehand that the Giant Dipper is a really first-class wooden roller coaster, I didn’t expect it to mercilessly steal the show from my favourite 100-year-old wooden roller coaster to date – the Big Dipper from the English amusement park Blackpool Pleasure Beach. This ride is simply a class of its own and my favourite wooden roller coaster in the United States to date.

Rock-O-Plane

Passing the Afterburner Fireball, the path now leads us to a gem of American engineering: the Eyerly Rock-O-Plane from 1954. This ride is very reminiscent of a classic American Ferris wheel; however, thanks to the locking brake, you can hold your gondolas in position here, which also makes looping rides possible, or you can use the brake and shift your body a little to rock the gondola further and further, whereupon it is also possible to perform several successive somersaults. Great fun, which unfortunately cannot be experienced like this in Europe.

Logger’s Revenge

The second major attraction on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the large Arrow log flume Logger’s Revenge, which acts as a kind of backdrop for the rear area of the park and plays a key role in shaping it. There are several rides below the elevated track, including the Moby Dick and the Round-Up Cyclone. The entrance to the Sea Serpent children’s roller coaster is also located directly below the log flume ride.

Sea Serpent

The small Sea Serpent roller coaster is a real thrill ride, mainly due to its sloping location and the ride being adapted to the terrain. Typical of American children’s roller coasters, the track mainly consists of tight bends and pretty crazy hills.

Cave Train, Ghost Blasters und WipeOut

Interestingly, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is home to many dark rides, two of which are located one level below the boardwalk. In addition to the classic Cave Train, the interactive dark ride Ghost Blasters can also be found here. Access to the indoor Break Dance WipeOut is also located on this level.

Pictures Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Conclusion Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was a pretty cool start to my rollercoaster tour through California and Nevada this year. The park has a similar vibe to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and a pretty cool atmosphere, which made me really like the park. While I unfortunately only used a few tickets on this visit, I would love to come back for a day at the beach with a wristband for the theme park.

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Click here for the next report of the California Adventure Tour

TKathke September 17, 2023 March 25, 2024 California Adventure Day 1 and 2 / Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

The water park for the daredevil

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Caneva Aquapark

Caneva Aquapark located right next to the brilliant movie-based theme park Movieland Park, is the water park of the CanevaWorld Resort – a family destination at the southern shore of Lake Garda. The water park is famous for its daredevil and one-of-a-kind water slides.

TriSplash and Super Splash

Located right next to the entrance are the TriSplash and Super Splash water slides. While on the TriSplash slide you slide down a group of three bodyslides that race down a gentle slope with lots of tight bends, on the Super Splash you slide headfirst down a steep slope on a mat and then jump a few meters through the air on a ski jump. Therefore, Super Splash is a great way to start your visit to this insane water park.

Water Jump

Passing the windy lagoon water play area, we make our way to another famous slide: the Water Jump. The slide starts as a classic bodyslide, which soon releases you onto a ski jump feature, which you may or may not slide down rather elegantly. It’s a very fun slide and worth the wait.

Volcan Kamika

When you enter the queue for Volcan Kamika, it’s not very clear what the slide actually is, before you reach the top. The slide down the volcan is a very classic kamikaze style slide with a nice dip before you take the finale chute, leading to a very nice airtime on your way down.

Black Hole 2 and Mini Black

Black Hole 2 and Mini Black are the two Black Hole style slides in the park. While Mini Black are two short bodyslides aimed for younger park guests, Black Hole 2 are tube slides featuring of a series of turns, jumps and different light effects on your way down.

Typhoon

Typhoon is the name of the classic family racing slide located at the back of the park. After the initial steep drop, you hurtle down a series of waves where you can barely control your position as you compete against your friends and family members. Seriously speaking, this style of water slides are always great fun.

Miss Betty and Crazy River

The Zamperla Rockin’ Tug Miss Betty is the only dry ride within the park. The gentle swinging boat sits brilliantly on top of a cliff, giving it a very eye pleasing experience. Right next to it you can find the entrance to the Crazy River. This slide consists of a series of chutes and small pools and is arguably the park’s most popular slide if judged by the rather long waiting time.

Frozen Bob

The Frozen Bob conglomerate of water slides feature three racing mat slides, at which end you are stopped on a half-pipe element and four regular mat slides featuring a bunch of fast turns. Unfortunately, during my visit, the three-lane mat racer was closed and the other slides all had a rather long queue.

Stukas Boom

Throning on top of the water park, and interestingly over the Diabolik Invertigo roller coaster of the theme park next door, is Stukas Boom. This kamikaze-style slide is one of the earliest examples of a door trap water slide and therefore quite a challenge to take. The drop is insane and gives you a very good view onto the surroundings while going down a height of 32 meters.

Twin Peaks

The highlight of Caneva Aquapark is the Twin Peaks water slide. Here you go down a very steep chute gaining a lot of velocity to may or may not be able to take the large hill directly in front of you. Here, you either crawl over the crest or you fly over it (and out of the two-seater tubes). This slide is the definition of insanity and the main reason to come back to this beautiful water park.

Pictures Caneva Aquapark

Conclusion Caneva Aquapark

Caneva Aquapark is one of the best water parks, I’ve visited so far. Everything is well themed throughout the park and the water slides range from good to absolutely brilliant. Together with a visit to the neighbouring theme park, you will have a splendid and overall quite adventurous day at Lake Garda.

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TKathke June 18, 2022 January 8, 2024 Caneva Aquapark

Raging through the Helices

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Preface

It’s the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic and things are getting a bit back to normal as the numbers are currently dropping in Germany and more and more people are getting their vaccinations. Previously excisting restrictions are dropped and a visit to a theme park feels great once more – even though we are all wearing masks once we cannot avoid getting too close to people and of course on the rides.

Serengeti-Park and its Serengeti Safari

Since my last year’s visit was not the best, as Serengeti Park was crowded and the capacity of the rides was restricted to a minimum, I took a day off and visited the park on a very quiet Friday. This of course had the advantage of experiencing the awesome Serengeti Safari – one of the few drive-through safaris you can experience in an animal park – at my own pace and without being too restricted by the other cars. I was also right in time for the feeding of the lions, which led to some awesome pictures.

Splash Safari and the Black Mamba

After driving through the Serengeti Safari it was time to experience the theme park. Here, I mainly focused on the other “safari” experiences, which are mainly rather unique attractions and for the most part don’t feature any animals. I especially enjoyed the Splash Safari and Black Mamba Jetboat experiences, as both of them were extraordinary good in keeping you cool on a very hot summers day. While the Splash Safari offers a nice RIB speedboat ride on the park’s central lake, the Black Mamba jetboat safari just got you drenched the second the ride started – not to any surprise: It was the most popular ride on the day of visit.

Batukai Racer

The most recent addition to Serengeti Park is the roller coaster Batukai Racer by Technical Park which replaced the aging Chura Racer – a large Tivoli coaster made by Zierer. The layout of the 13m high family coaster basically only consists of a steep drop followed by three helices one after the other. The first of them is of special interest, as its curvature gets smaller when approaching the ground, which results in some very high G-forces and a rather awkward inclination. The second one acts like a small break in between as you get some more altitude before the final helix hits the ground. The ride itself is a bit jerky, yet not uncomfortable and a rather thrilling experience.

A story of a lost phone

So thrilling, that shortly after my first round, I wanted to do a second. I was a bit distracted taking photos with my camera so that I did not realised that I let my phone on one of the benches nearby before queuing up for the second ride. After the ride, my phone was gone and I started to panic a bit. I asked the ride operator if he saw anything, but that did not help. He gave me the information that it might end up at the service centre nearby the park’s main ticket booths at the end of the day. I waited some time and decided to give it a try and walked all the way to service centre, but they did not yet got anything. They asked me to come back shortly before their closure or write an email after my visit. So I went back around 5pm and to my own surprise they actually found it!

Even though I had to worry a bit about the phone, I had an extraordinary day at the park and enjoyed it quite a lot. The drive through the empty Serengeti Safari, the rides on the park’s roller coaster Safari Blitz and Batukai Racer, as well as the refreshing and drenching boat experiences on the Splash Safari and Black Mamba made my day.