Valhalla

The Ram-a-Lama Coaster

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Festyland

The last day of my rollercoaster trip through France was to start with a bang. The roller coaster 1066 – not to be confused with the refreshingly charming Lager Kronenbourg 1664 – caught my attention a long time ago, when I saw the first pictures completely by chance on the roller coaster database Rcdb. It was clear, I would have to visit this place sometime. In the meantime, one or the other novelty was added in Festyland, but I didn’t know much about the amusement park, which was founded in 1989, until my visit.

On the outskirts of the small town of Carpiquet near Caen is the access road to Festyland. You can park your car in the car park directly next to the national road 814; the park itself is on the other side of this road and can be reached via a wide tunnel, which however has a simple corrugated iron look instead of the discotheque of Gardaland. The entrance area itself is inviting and immediately transports you back to the time of the Belle Époque. After a pleasant chat with the cashiers and equipped with the latest edition of the Festy Telegraph – the park’s rather elaborate guide to the amusement park – it was time to go exploring.

National 13 and La Tour d’Esnambuc

Past numerous children’s rides – including the National 13, which is unfortunately not named after the Périphérique of Caen, but after the road that leads to it – and the park’s cafeteria, you will immediately head for the park’s larger rides. The first stop is the small family free-fall tower La Tour d’Esnambuc, built by Zamperla. The ride on the Sky Tower offers a great view and numerous mouth changing hops, which should encourage especially younger park guests to ride it continuously.

Drakkar Express

I personally prefer to get my hands on a Soquet rollercoaster. It’s a good thing that the Drakkar Express has been smiling at us for quite some time now. The entrance of the ride is located in the elaborately designed Viking theme area, home of the park mascot and figurehead of the theme park. For this we turn left from the main path at the Chevauchée de Guillaume horse riding track.

The ride on Festyland’s oldest roller coaster begins with a left turn, after which the lift hill is reached after a straight stretch of track. Following the gradient of the terrain, the ride goes straight up. Here we enjoy the view of the surrounding area a little before we plunge into the valley. With momentum we now pass through a valley parallel to the main path, which has been beautifully set in scene with a small waterfall and a pond. Following the bend to the left, we climb a hill and plunge down again rapidly towards the ground. In Close Call with the vegetation on the left side we now pass through another hollow, where we also change direction for the first time. In a 270° helix adapted to the terrain, we gain some altitude, whereupon we cross the just completed route and immediately throw ourselves on the ground in a left turn. Now we race over a small hill at the back of the station, followed by the final helix in a shallow curve leading up and down. After a short climb the station is reached and the train is braked. A second round follows.

The Drakkar Express is a very nice children’s roller coaster of French design, but a little tamer compared to other rides of the manufacturer. The ride is great and can convince by its adaptation to the existing terrain. Unfortunately, the exit of the ride leads back to the main Festyland track, so that you have to walk around the final helix of the ride for possible repeat rides.

Miolnyr

The next attraction on our circuit is the Air Race Miolnyr. This rollover ride made of 30t steel offers an exciting, slightly monotonous and absolutely dizzying ride with rollovers in a continuous loop. A great deal, for which the investment of one million Euro was absolutely worthwhile.

Niorty and Troll Roll

Next door, the children’s area of Festyland captivates in all its splendour. In addition to a small teacup carousel and a jump around featuring a frog design, this area is particularly impressive with its covered ball pool and the two novelties for this season. With the Rockin’Tug Niorty and the Troll Roll children’s railway, a really beautiful rides symbiosis has been created, which can rarely be found in theme parks. A really nice area, which will certainly appeal to the little ones.

Pirat’Ak, Cap’tain Roc and Le Grand Tournoi

Meanwhile, we return to the main trail, where we continue down the hill. Here you will find the Pirat’Ak rubber dinghy slide and the Cap’tain Roc boat swing, two classics that no French amusement park can do without. A little wilder, however, is the Disk’O Le Grand Tournoi. Pressure-packed and extremely fast, the disc takes you over the U-shaped track.

Eretic

One level further up we meet more rides from Italian production. Apart from the chain plane Tourny and the Valhalla mountain and valley railway, the Eretic swing is particularly eye-catching. Typical for Zamperla, it offers a swinging ride with all kinds of airtime moments. Unfortunately, the Discovery type ride turns monotonously in one direction, which makes the ride not very diversified, although we are not on a HUSS swing. A pity!

Kaskade

So for the right shoot we have to go to another ride. Luckily there is a hydro lift from Zamperla in Festyland. Those who know these rides know what to expect here – everyone else will be absolutely surprised by the wild slide of this rafting ride: There are simply no comparable installations that get the hang of it.

The journey on Kaskade begins comparatively harmlessly. After a short bend to the right, the vertical lift of the ride awaits you, which takes you up quickly. Once there, the lift cage tilts forward and we immediately roll onto the water slide. With momentum we are now thrown into the first helix, whereupon we start to rotate constantly in circles. After a wild S-curve manoeuvre along the tower, we spin around in circles at an abnormally high speed, which makes the subsequent splashdown look like a game of Russian Roulette: you never know in advance who might be caught. A fun for the whole family! Now the quieter part of the trip follows, where numerous elements of a classic rapid river await us. In contrast to the prototype from the Italian Leolandia, the return to the station is a little more compact. You pass through a course full of hairpin bends and several zigzag straights before you are allowed to get off at the station, if you want to. Repeat rides are guaranteed.

1066

Let’s get on to the roller coaster 1066, because the short train with the ram head is a truly remarkable ride. Built directly at the slope, this coaster uses it absolutely skilfully for its wild ride. Furthermore, the ride looks simply great due to the half-sided medieval scenery at the lift of it.

The journey begins with a right-hand bend leading into a tunnel. The ride begins with a right turn into a tunnel and is immediately followed by the ride’s lift, which takes us up quickly. Once at the top, we immediately descend the 17m high descent. On a steady slope we now race through the valley in a wide right turn. With momentum we then climb a hill, where a long downward helix awaits us. With full power we go through the following valley before we shoot up another hill. With a little bit of airtime we start the next shot. In a steep turn we make the last manoeuvre of the ride and rush through the deepest part of the ride. With a lot of verve we climb up the slope to the plateau, whereupon the braking distance of the ride already awaits us. Shortly afterwards we reach the exit position of the ride.

1066 is a very short roller coaster, but one with a very grand ride. The track is crossed with a lot of pressure and vigour. The ride characteristics are excellent. Here I would have liked to get on more often. Unfortunately, at some point the ride went into the lunch break and I had another destination on my list.

Pictures Festyland

Conclusion Festyland

Festyland is an extremely beautiful and harmonious amusement park, which looks a bit like a Zamperla Wunderland due to its many rides made in Italy; but as is well known, this is not a bad choice. Coupled with some rides from Soquet, it is an excellent family amusement park that can entertain you for several hours.

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Festyland / Tron-Tron-Trône Day 9

Nagashima-Mania

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The history of Nagashima Spa Land

Nagashima Spa Land came into being as an addition to the resort near the city of Nagashima, which was developed in 1964. Located directly on Ise Bay, Otani Natural Gas Co, Ltd hoped to find a natural gas deposit in 1963 when they came across a hot spring while exploring for natural gas. The temporary bath that was then built quickly proved extremely popular, and Nagashimakankokaihatsu Co, Ltd was established in the same year with the aim of developing the spring, now known as Nagashima Onsen, for tourism. In November 1964, the bath was opened to visitors, followed a month later by the Nagashima Hotel. In 1966, the resort was further expanded with the opening of the second hotel and the Nagashima Spa Land, including a jet coaster.

The Nagashima Resort quickly became more popular, which is why the third hotel followed as early as 1970. The resort now consists of three hotels, the Nagashima Spa Land amusement park, the Nagano-no-Sato gardens, the Anpanman Children’s Museum, the large Mitsui Outlet Jazz Dream Nagashima outlet centre and the Yuami-no-Shima hot spring. Every year, around 5.8 million visitors come to Nagashima Resort.

Tour of the park

If you arrive by bus, you land at the side entrance of Nagashima Spa Land, located between the hotels and the outlet centre. From here, a path leads directly to the spacious children’s area, including a covered playground. In addition to a large number of child-friendly round rides and two small log flumes, there are two children’s roller coasters.

Children Coaster

The oldest of the two children’s roller coasters at Nagashima Spa Land is the very inconspicuously placed, medium-sized ladybird ride by the manufacturer Zierer called Children Coaster. As usual, you ride two laps through the figure-8 layout and enjoy the manual braking towards the end of the ride.

Oh, it’s beautiful here. In addition to the tried and tested fun of the time-honoured children’s roller coaster legend, characters from the classic English children’s book “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” have also found a home here. Peter Rabbit has been the mascot of Nagashima Spa Land for ages, but it was only in 2012 that a roller coaster was dedicated to him.

Peter Rabbit Coaster

The ride on the Peter Rabbit Coaster from Hoei Sangyo begins with a wide left-hand curve in which you gain a few metres in altitude, which you immediately lose again in a somewhat narrower right-hand helix. Once you reach the ground level, you go full steam ahead after a change of direction through a curve that is just as wide as the one at the beginning of the ride. At this point the track leads straight into the station and through it. After another lap through the track course, the very nice ride ends.

Viking

Before we get too far away from Kinderland and its park mascot Peter Rabbit, we are immediately drawn to the double monorail with its two tracks running in opposite directions. Actually, on the way there, we are drawn to a completely different, extremely imposing set of rides, the likes of which cannot be found anywhere else on this planet: the Viking boat swing conglomerate.

When I first came across Nagashima Spa Land, I was immensely impressed by the Japanese people’s love of swings. Whereas in some European amusement parks there are two, at most three, boat-swing-like rides, here there is the full programme in its maximum range, including three boat swings, two rotating swings and an overhead boat swing. From that moment on, one thing was clear to me: I have to go there! And more importantly: I have to ride them all!

Because let’s be honest, who cares about the longest roller coaster in the world when there are two gigantic boat swings far above a third, normal-sized boat swing? That is insane and, above all, simply terrific.

After the success of the small boat swing in 1980 and the success of the large HUSS double ride in the Toshimaen amusement park, Nagashima decided to go one better and built an equally large boat swing in 1986, also in a double ride. Now, it is somewhat difficult to trace how far the three existing large rides in Nagashima Spa Land, Toshimaen and Samsung Everland are related to each other, because although the boats are all built in the same way and are each located above various facilities, two of these rides are considered to be double rides of the HUSS Traumschiff. This is understandable, as the ride looks at first glance as if two somewhat larger ship swings of the Pirate model have been placed directly next to each other and connected to form a boat. However, the double Viking is called Twin Flying Bounty in Intamin’s reference list. The reason for this is probably the bankruptcy of the Arrow-HUSS company towards the end of 1984, after which the company reorganised itself in 1986 as HUSS Maschinenfabrik. In the intervening years, planned rides were built by other manufacturers (e.g. Ninja at Six Flags St. Louis).

But what is a Traumschiff/Twin Flying Bounty like to ride? It’s nice; the ride is actually not earth-shattering, as the basic construction itself is already incredibly inert, but seen as a whole it’s pretty nice. It’s a huge attraction of unbelievable proportions that is accessible to all park guests and doesn’t let anyone get off dissatisfied – a crowd pleaser of the highest order, so to speak. Taken together, the ship’s swing collection has a total capacity of 380 people (160 people per boat in the large swing plus 60 people in the normal-sized ship’s swing) per synchronised ride cycle. All in all, this means an hourly capacity of up to 5,000 people, which is certainly still necessary during the Golden Week and many other days. On emptier days, one of the Flying Bountys sets sail at least every 15 minutes.

Jet Coaster

In the meantime, you can take a nice panoramic ride on the aforementioned double-track monorail that runs in opposite directions. Here you have a wonderful view of the lake and the small forest that you are circling. The park railway, a go-kart track and the oldest roller coaster in Nagashima Spa Land, the Jet Coaster, are located in the forest.

Secured only by a belt, we immediately climb the lift hill of the time-honoured lady. Now far below the treetops, we pass through a long right-hand bend, where we immediately plunge steeply to the ground in a completely untypical manner for a classic jet coaster. We climb the following hill in the same way before we take another right turn. This is followed by a somewhat flatter gradient with an even flatter ascent diagonally through the ride. The ascent then leads into a left-hand bend one level below the first bend, which is consequently ridden at a somewhat more leisurely pace. This is followed by a last exceedingly brisk descent that leads into a slightly longer straight above the lake. A final hop leads us to the station level, whereupon we also reach it after a left turn and the obligatory braking section.

The Jet Coaster is an extremely charming roller coaster that is particularly visually appealing with its framework structure. The ride through the forest is extremely fast and knows how to thrill its passengers with ease. So much so, in fact, that the longest queue was here on the second day of the visit, thanks to the unfortunately existing one-train operation. Apart from that, however, it’s a beautiful old and extremely ride-worthy treasure from the house of Togo.

Space Shot and Flying Carpet

On the other side of the forest, a somewhat rare sight awaits visitors, right next to a more common one. While the S&S free fall tower triumvirate called Space Shot is still a very rare sight, a ride on a suspended flying carpet is the only one outside the Danish amusement park Tivoli Gardens. Both rides are quite convincing.

Shuttle Loop

Just like the ride of the next roller coaster, whose layout can be perfectly described with the words launch, loop and reverse. You’ve probably already guessed, it’s a Shuttle Loop from Schwarzkopf. As with every roller coaster from Münsterhausen, it doesn’t take much to create an all-round satisfying ride experience, and so the ride is unusually puristic compared to the (so far) only European ride (Psyké Underground in Walibi Belgium). That’s enough, because the ride is absolutely perfect as it is, which is why you’ll want to get on again and again, and more than once in a row.

Looping Star

The same applies to the sister ride, which is only three years younger. The Shuttle Loop was apparently a great success, so that another Looping Star was ordered in Münsterhausen and the roller coaster was interestingly placed right next door.

The ride in this classic of German engineering begins quite confidently with the ascent of the lift hill. From a height of around 24m, you immediately plunge towards the ground in a steep curve to approach the only inversion figure, a loop, at full speed. With a lot of power, you then pass the element that gives the ride its name, after which you shoot upwards again to make a turn at a lofty height. But the peace and quiet doesn’t last long, because immediately the wagon group throws itself towards the ground again, which can lead to unexpected airtime, especially in the rear part of the train. In the opposite direction to the first gradient, you gain a little height again and then reduce it efficiently parallel to the lift hill. Since a straight line with a constant lateral inclination is a bit strange to ride, you are straightened out in between, but without taking into account the principle of turning around the heart line; but there are other roller coasters in Nagashima Spa Land for that (like the Ultra Twister). Leaning to the left again, you ride through another curve before you enter a hill and approach the ground again. This is followed by a fast-paced right turn, which then takes you into the braking section of the ride.

Corkscrew

Interestingly, the rival product from Arrow has been situated directly opposite the Looping Star since the year 2012. In 1979, the Corkscrew coaster in Nagashima turned its passengers upside down twice. Interestingly, it is one of four identical rides that started operation in Japan that year – all probably inspired by the first inversion coaster in Asia, the Corkscrew at Yatsu Yuenchi.

The layout is quickly reproduced. After leaving the station via a small incline, you ride through a tight turning curve, which then transfers you to the ride’s lift. Having reached a height of about 21m, you leave the lift in a short dip, whereby the necessary lateral inclination for the following turn is already generated in the same move. Once the turn is completed, the train plunges towards the ground, which leads to a pronounced airtime, especially in the rear part of the train. Now the train roars powerfully through the first valley and shortly afterwards shoots up a hill. This then quickly turns into a longer downhill curve, in whose transverse valley the train enters the corkscrew. Absolutely skilfully, the train now turns over twice. The exit of the second corkscrew then leads into the final turning curve, whereupon the brakes are already waiting.

The ride on the Corkscrew is great. Nowadays the ride is nothing earth-shattering, but in 1979 it was enough to make the masses stand on their heads. Unfortunately, the ride characteristics were below the manufacturer’s average – but that hardly matters. All in all, the ride fits perfectly into its very strong field of competitors, which is why you should definitely take a ride or two; where else would you find so many idols of the late 70s in the same corner of a park?

Past a typical Japanese scary house and an excellent Star Flyer, the path now leads us to the other side of a gigantic steel structure, which we save for later. Here we turn left and follow the wide main path into a dead end, where the Flying Coaster Acrobat is waiting for us.

Acrobat

Attracted by the appearance, we quickly find ourselves in the spacious waiting area below the station and decide to go to one of the two sides of the station. After climbing the stairs, we are immediately assigned to a row, whereupon we stow our personal belongings and valuables in lockers belonging to the rows. Nothing unusual as far as that goes, but at the end a security scan including a metal detector awaits us. After we have proved that all our bags are empty, we are let through to the gates and can immediately board our preferred aircraft.

As soon as the starting position is reached, the ride can begin. We reach the ride’s lift via a switch, which takes us up to a height of 43m. Once at the top, we plunge into a steep curve to the right towards the abyss. In a wide radius we now float through the following valley and immediately climb a hill, which turns out to be the starting position for the now following Pretzel Loop. Without mercy we now plunge down, stand overhead for a short time and then watch the spectacle lying on our backs in reverse order, almost being killed by the G-Forces. Once again at high altitude, there is enough time to take a short breath, because now we cross the element we have just completed in a tame left turn. But before we know it, we are spinning around our own axis in an inline twist and hurtling towards the ground in a right turn. In a corkscrew we cross the Prezel Loop once more and soon have a look at the station of the roller coaster from behind. After a short ascent, we reach the middle block brake section of the ride, which, however, releases us into the second part of this without any major slowdown.

In a right-hand bend, accompanied by synchronised water fountains, we shoot across a lake. Similar to a Bavarian curve, hill follows dale and at the end of the curve there is even another inline twist waiting for the passengers. Still in this great flow, we find ourselves in a left turn, which unfortunately leads us straight into the final brake.

Acrobat is the tamer of the two Japanese flying coasters, but that doesn’t mean that the ride doesn’t try to beat you to death with the forces at its disposal. It just does it a little more subtly. While Universal’s Flying Dinosaur has one element after the other, Acrobat still has enough time to devote itself entirely to flying. This has its advantages and the ride itself seems a little more harmonious. Especially the part after the block brake is quite impressive and offers wonderful insights for the rest of the park guests. In general, the ride is wonderfully open and can be seen from all sides, so that even more guests from the nearby outlet centre will switch to the Nagashima Spa Land amusement park. It’s worth it, at least, because Acrobat is a really ingenious flying coaster in Nagashima.

Bobkart

Right next to it, the Wiegand Bobkart double track has been in place since 2004. On a length of 822 and 797m, both lanes theoretically duel each other. For the time being, the track runs parallel through a very bumpy left-hand bend. The driving comfort increases significantly with the steadily increasing speed, the fun in turn through the numerous waves on the now following straight. After another left-hand bend and just as many waves, the two lanes now separate from each other.

While the right lane now turns into a short right-hand bend, the left lane continues straight ahead. In a wide left-hand bend, the right-hand lane now steadily builds up height, whereupon the left-hand lane is crossed on another undulating straight. The competing lane meanwhile devotes itself to a right-leading upward helix, whereupon both lanes run parallel again for a short moment. This quickly changes and so both tracks separate at an sharp angle. There is a reason for this, because in the following downward helix of the right lane, the left lane comes towards you. The left lane circles the helix, but then runs parallel to the track you have just completed in the right lane. After a wide right-hand bend and a short straight, the left-hand lane meets the right-hand lane again, which in the meantime has only passed through a longer straight, and both enter an upward helix in parallel.

On an elevated part of the track, both tracks now cross the just completed and future track before entering a left turn along the station. Following a downward helix to the right, both tracks then continue on the ground. After a left turn and a 180° turn, both tracks reach their destination.

The double bobsleigh track is quite impressive, but the ride itself is only okay. Admittedly, you get a bit distracted by the rides surrounding you, but the ride over the numerous bumps is unfortunately also a bit repetitive. Although you could also look over them if the bobs ran parallel. Of the total of 28 bobsleds per side, unfortunately only about 5 were running on the first day of the visit – which was perfectly adequate in view of the crowds – and these were sent on their way one after the other per side. Whereas at the beginning both sides were served, shortly afterwards only the right lane was running. That was a pity, but also understandable, after all you can vary the capacity of the rides according to the rush in no time at all. Overall, the left lane was a little better than the right lane, but all in all, both lanes offered a good ride.

Ultra Twister

Directly behind the ride is the station of the Ultra Twister roller coaster. The standard model of the manufacturer Togo also awaits us in Nagashima, but here in a somewhat less colourful paint scheme than in the Greenland amusement park, but with ingenious lighting effects. Since we had already ridden 12 laps of the ride in Greenland, we knew what to expect and got on with pleasure.

After the car has been checked, you approach the transfer element at the rear end of the track. This is then turned by 90° degrees, which is promptly followed by the ascent in the vertical lift. Having reached a height of 30m, the car crosses a very narrow crest and plunges rapidly down a steep 85° gradient. There is intense airtime in every seat, but especially in the last row. The following and quite narrow valley is driven through with extreme pressure, while the following airtime hill skillfully tries to throw you off. With strikingly high speed, you now race through a heartline roll that couldn’t be more beautiful. Shortly afterwards, you climb a small incline, at the end of which you reach the first braking section of the ride.

In a second transfer element you are now brought to the lower lane, which you follow backwards from then on. On a short descent you then steadily increase speed before the car is turned upside down a second time. As soon as the station level is reached, the third and last roll of the ride follows. Shortly afterwards, the second braking section is reached and the ride on the Ultra Twister draws to a close.

Also in Nagashima, the tube roller coaster is completely convincing. The interplay of vertical acceleration is just wonderfully brutal and always worth experiencing. Especially since the end stops are not quite as hard as in Greenland, which makes the ride all the more inviting for repeat rides. Unless you don’t burn your shoulders on a visit to the Joyful Waterpark, which you should definitely plan to do so, and torture yourself accordingly on a night ride through the ride. Nonetheless, this is also totally worth it, because the illuminated ring elements enhance the visually very appealing ride even more.

Steel Dragon 2000

Equally appealing is Steel Dragon 2000. Built at the turn of the millennium, Steel Dragon 2000 is Japan’s largest roller coaster, with a height of 97 m. Even more impressive, however, is its length of about 2.5 km, which still makes it the longest roller coaster in the world. There are rumours that the roller coaster The Ultimate from the English amusement park Lightwater Valley will be extended, but until then there will probably not be a longer roller coaster.

The ride on the Steel Dragon begins with a small dip out of the station, followed by a short right turn. The first lift chain is then waiting to take us up to a height of about 50 m, where we change to the second lift chain, which in turn takes us up to an impressive 97 m. Once there, we descend very quickly. We pass through the first valley at 152.9 km/h, and the train starts to vibrate. Unfortunately, this vibration is transmitted to the passenger, which is why you can only be happy to shoot up a 76.8 m high hill shortly afterwards. After a moment of shallow airtime, another valley of terror awaits you.

The ride through the second valley is also no fun at all and so I was happy to find myself on the third hill of the ride. This hill is only 64 m high and leads the train into a special combination of curves. In a wide steep curve, one approaches the bottom and immediately shoots up an inclined clockwise helix. On the way into the following valley, a change of direction takes place and a second, now counterclockwise, huge helix follows. With steady pressure, the smile on your face slowly comes back and you may slowly forget the crappy start of the ride. In the process, you race through a ground-hugging and bloody long left turn along the large shopping centre. However, you don’t notice much of that, after all, you’re still going at a breakneck pace. It’s just a shame that after a long bend and two small curve swings, the ascent into the block brake awaits.

On the block brake, which is placed very low in relation to the overall height of the ride, the speed of the train is reduced considerably before it descends into a series of continuous camelbacks. Here the train passes two tunnels and six crests, each with valleys at different heights. On each hill you take off in a wonderful floating airtime. Shortly afterwards, however, the braking section is reached and the ride comes to an end.

The Steel Dragon 2000 is not a bad roller coaster, but it doesn’t meet my personal taste. I really enjoy the ride from the entry into the long curves, but the vibrations in the first two valleys are so nasty to my stomach that I only did one more repeat ride during the two days of my visit. I’m interested to know what the ride would have been like in the original trains, as the trains built by Morgan were much more solidly built and therefore shouldn’t have started vibrating so quickly. The trains built by B&M, which were added in the tenth year of operation of the ride, are by no means bad and allow a much freer ride, but they do not correspond to the original.

They must have had their reasons – I don’t have a comparison with the previous state of the ride anyway – so it’s not that bad. It doesn’t stop anyone from doing a marathon on the ride, and if the start of the ride wasn’t so messed up, I would do it too.

Arashi

The Free Spin coaster Arashi on the other hand is simply no fun. The ride is inharmonious and absolutely hard. The rollovers are all generated only by the forced rotation of the gondola carrier, otherwise the ride here would be a leisurely scenic ride very similar to the new concept by the Swiss engineering firm Ride Engineers Switzerland, which will soon be realised at Schwaben Park. Unfortunately, the whole thing is no comparison to the competing product from Intamin, which is less squeamish even in the smallest version and fortunately dispenses entirely with technical aids for rollover – interestingly, although the ride on a Zac Spin is hard on the edge, the harmoniously superimposed movements make it much more pleasant and interesting.

Rock ‘n’ Roll

In fact, the Rock ‘n’ Roll ride shows that even forced somersaults can be ridden in a reasonably harmonious way. A friction wheel causes the individual gondolas to rotate, whereupon the passengers (depending on the load of the gondola) do one somersault after another.

Paratrooper and Telecombat

The Paratrooper next to it is similarly interesting, with its wheel rim tilting horizontally during the ride. Otherwise, the ride is typical for a Twister-like round ride, so it goes up and down in free-swinging gondolas, over and over again. This one was built by Technical Park, as was the Telecombat next door.

Wild Mouse

The ride portfolio in this corner is then complemented by the water ride Jet Rescue of German production. This is fitting, as the Wild Mouse is located right next to it in a double version, just as it could have been at a German funfair. Of course, it’s only real with the matching ticket booth and Schuko sockets. The attraction resembles one of the many Wild Mice from Mack Rides and therefore invites you to take a ride or two; after all, you can ride the ride in a mirror image – at least if both rides are running on the same day. We were lucky and were able to ride one of the two tracks on each of the two days we visited.

Free Fall and Frisbee

Unfortunately, we had no luck with the Free Fall, a first-generation free-fall tower, and therefore had to forego a ride. Fortunately, there is a park version of the HUSS Frisbee directly opposite, which is always a guarantee for a successful ride. In Nagashima, however, things were a bit different – the fast spins were missing – and so the ride was a trivial swing, which not even the showman Robrahn from Bremen could undercut. A pity, because the little Frisbees are usually always a big deal.

Shoot the Chute

When one of your favourite rides bitterly disappoints you, it takes another favourite ride to put you back in a good mood. It’s a good thing that the Shoot the Chute of the Nagashima Spa Land amusement park, designed by O.D. Hopkins, is next door. As one of the first rides in the manufacturer’s Figure-8 design, the 30-metre-high ride is impressive, especially with its merciless wetness. Normally, in a spillwater, you are usually wet, but not soaked, by the time you reach the bridge over the run-out section, but this changes abruptly when you pass under the bridge. Here, however, it is the case that the boat creates such a high wave when it dives into the pool that it absorbs all the energy of the boat and thus decelerates the boat considerably so that the water has enough time to splash down on the passengers. You don’t get out this wet even from Valhalla of the English amusement park Blackpool Pleasure Beach and even there the degree of wetness is known to be like jumping into the Irish Sea. So everything is just right here and the name of the ride really lives up to its type – only why the first rows have to wear life jackets is beyond me, but luckily we were sitting a bit further back.

Something that has never been clear to me personally is the success of the Looping Starships from Intamin. In the looping fever at the beginning of the 1980s, the Bremen company HUSS developed an overhead boat swing in which the axle of the ride was driven, making a large number of rollovers and other rides possible. Only a short time later, the Weber company, also based in Bremen, followed suit with a similar ride. Intamin, on the other hand, planned an overhead boat swing that lives up to its name and uses a classic friction wheel drive to keep the ship moving until at some point it manages to roll over very narrowly.

Space Shuttle

It’s interesting when you realise on your own body during the ride that this is exactly what makes the Looping Starship the best representative of its kind. It’s as if a normal boat swing just keeps accelerating, so you suddenly find yourself at angles you wouldn’t otherwise experience. At some point you manage to do a headstand and are afraid of getting stuck upside down. Shortly afterwards, the next, somewhat quicker somersault follows. A moment later, the long deceleration phase begins and you change direction again in all possible angles of inclination. Wonderful! I am absolutely thrilled with the ride. The design of the Space Shuttle also speaks for itself. It’s just a shame that none of them have survived the test of time in Europe; at least not in their original version. So dear Movieland Park team, please buy a suitable counterweight and the corresponding shoulder restraints. It’s worth it, I promise!

Giant Frisbee

The rest of the ride portfolio consists of a wave swinger, an Italian-made swing up with far too narrow gondolas, and a giant frisbee from HUSS. The latter just does its thing – like every other Giant Frisbee from the same manufacturer. It’s okay.

White Cyclone

A glance at the clock on the 90-metre-high Aurora Wheel tells us: it’s time for wood. We are happy to comply and accordingly head for the entrance to the large white-painted wooden wall with the charismatic name White Cyclone.

The ride in the PTC trains begins with a wide left turn around the waiting area of the ride. We constantly lose height to gain enough momentum to enter the lift hill. This then takes us to a height of 42 m, where we then have a moment to enjoy the magnificent view of Nagashima Spa Land and Ise Bay. After a left turn, however, we rapidly descend to the ground. With the finest shake, rattle and roll we cross the first valley and then climb a high airtime hill. The exit then leads into a gigantic, constantly tapering helix far above ground level. Here you ride a little over hill and dale until you leave it at some point after a rapid dip over a hill.

The hill in question seems to be almost as high as the entrance to the helix, but based on the existing speed, it shouldn’t actually be the case. Visually an interesting trick in any case and so we plunge down again in a wonderful play of forces. Another airtime hill follows, as it is written in the book, before we disappear in the forest of pillars. In a very wide upward spiral, we now steadily increase in altitude metres before we reach the same kind of helix we already experienced a few moments ago. But instead of diving down briefly and then gaining height, we climb metre by metre up the wooden structure before then reaching the block brake of the ride.

After the fast-paced first part of the ride, the train plunges to the ground again. With gusto we pass under the valley of the first descent, conquer another airtime hill and dive into the wooden structure one more time. Inside the first helix we now go through a wide left turn before we are surrounded by wooden beams again. We then cross the ride over two hills and make our way along the outer edge of the roller coaster. Below the lift hill, the train disappears under the wooden construction for the last time in a wide left turn. Shortly afterwards, we reach the braking section of the ride and soon the station.

White Cyclone was a great wooden roller coaster with great pacing, lots of airtime moments and a well-tuned acceleration curve. In addition, the roller coaster lived on the shake, rattle and roll like hardly any other wooden roller coaster in the country, let alone any other wooden roller coaster I have already ridden. While I can understand that the roller coaster is now undergoing a makeover by the company RMC – because the layout offers many possibilities that have not yet been exhausted – on the other hand it is a pity that one of only four wooden roller coasters in Japan will disappear as a result. At least the basic structure of what was once the best roller coaster in Nagashima Spa Land remains and will be used in the future best roller coaster in the park. So we can be curious!

Pictures Nagashima Spa Land

Conclusion Nagashima Spa Land

Nagashima Spa Land is a great amusement park that offers so much in such a large area that you can’t help but be happy. This park simply offers everything possible, which means that every target group is covered – with the exception of dark ride fetishists, of course, because there are simply none of those in the park (outside of the scary walkthrough and a Pokémon attraction). I, at least, was completely thrilled by Nagashima Spa Land, which is why I would gladly return. There are many reasons for this, and the renovation of White Cyclone is yet another. So we’ll see you again sometime, but then with the full programme of onsen, water park, hotel visit and a detour to the nearby gardens.

 

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Nagashima Spa Land / Titanic Max Day 7 to 9

Busy times for Looney Tunes

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Preface

Four years have passed to the day when I last walked through the gate of the Parque Warner Madrid theme park. At that time as part of a comprehensive tour of Spain with the, admittedly quite creative, name Coastern con Carne, now as the main reason to finally take a closer look at the Spanish capital Madrid. Decisive for this was the airline Norwegian Air Shuttle, which offers really low prices to Spain from Hamburg, as well as a meeting with Daniel (@Danieldikay), who is a student of the Spanish language and currently completing his compulsory stay in Zaragoza just 300 km away. The stay was booked through Travel Parks, the travel agency of Parques Reunidos, so we paid about 176€ for two nights in a Holiday Inn Express including breakfast and two entrances each for the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid and Parque Warner Madrid (each for up to 2 persons per ticket, as well as the possibility to go back to Parque Warner Madrid on the next day of the visit). A price that could hardly be lower without an annual ticket to one of the Parques Reunidos parks.

We stayed overnight in Alcorcón with good connections to the Cercanias Renfe, the suburban railway system of Spain, and the metro of Madrid. The journey to the Parque Warner Madrid turned out to be quite easy, only the departure from the park after midnight worried us. Via the central train station, and junction of all Cercanias Renfe, Atocha Cercanias, you can get to Pinto station quite quickly where you can take bus 413, which will take you directly to the park in a quarter of an hour. In the evening the bus takes you back to Pinto, where the last Cercanias Renfe back to Madrid leaves at 23:48. Another alternative had to be found, so we took the bus 412 to Villaverde Bajo-Cruce and got into the metro, which is still running until shortly after 2 o’clock.

Parque Warner Madrid

Theatro Chino 3D

After passing through the entrance gate you will find yourself on Hollywood Boulevard, the main street of the park. Here you will find some shops, some restaurants and the Theatro Chino 3D, a replica of the famous TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Besides the film Coyote y Correcaminos (a compilation of the last Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons), the film Marvin el Marciano en 3D (Marvin the Martian in the third dimension) is also shown here; especially the second film should not be unknown to visitors of the former Warner Bros. Movie World Germany near Bottrop Kirchhellen. It is about Daffy Duck and Marvin the Martian, and is of a surprisingly good quality for its age, especially with regard to the effects used. The film always looks like an old Looney Tunes cartoon and the story of it can entertain you very well.

 Oso Yogui and Cine Tour

If you enter the park at the beginning of the opening hours, it is advisable to start your tour counter-clockwise and visit the Cartoon Village with all its attractions first. However, if you enter the park slightly later, you can expect longer waiting times, so a clockwise tour is the more sensible choice. The Movie World Studios are a wonderful themed area, where the theme of film, as in the entire park, now plays a much less important role than in 2011. While the Splash Battle Oso Yogui in its full splendour is still wetting the passengers down to their pants, the vintage car ride Cine Tour lacks all the figures from the Looney Tunes universe, so that in the end only a modest capacity remains on a somewhat longer ride. Here you also learn for the first time to hate the owners of Pase Correcamino’s Platinium wristbands, as they constantly pass before you.

Stuntfall

It’s only good that during the roller coaster Stunfall, due to an incident in which the train swung out in the first inversion figure and some rows, despite the existing platform, could not be evacuated easily, always runs with some blocked rows in the front and rear part of the train and therefore has a reduced capacity. Like at Shambhala in the Spanish Port Aventura, the train is almost exclusively filled with Pase Correcaminos owners, so that there is always a longer queue at this roller coaster. Stuntfall is a special kind of treat that you don’t want to ride only once.

After the corridor has been lowered, the wagon group is pulled backwards up a vertical tower. As soon as the tower reaches a height of less than 60m, it is released and thus puts its passengers in free fall before the train goes with full force towards the horizontal station passage. With rapid pace you approach the Cobra Roll, the first inversion figure of the track, and do two headstands. After you have left the element, a truly huge loop follows immediately, in which there is hardly any lack of pressure in the forward direction. Without any brakes you race up the second vertical tower, as well as the now synchronously running catch-car, which catches you and carries you up. By engaging the sled, the body is now at the upper end of the shoulder restraint and thus without any contact to the actual seat. The part that inevitably follows could have been the inspiration for the Schwur des Kärnan from the North German amusement park Hansa Park, but it is much more extreme, because on the one hand the incipient free fall is of longer duration and on the other hand it is only ended by the body in the middle of the looping by renewed contact with the seat shell. The loop is now traversed with pronounced pressure, whereas the Cobra Roll is traversed much more slowly. On the way back, you are caught in the tower by a catch-car, which is now also running synchronously, so you inevitably get to know the restraint and hang in it for some time. Shortly afterwards you will be driven back to the station.

The Giant Inverted Boomerangs are a really great invention. During the development process, the responsible engineers of the Dutch manufacturer Vekoma certainly took their breaks in the coffee shops in the area. The synchronously running sleds alone make the ride interesting, at least in terms of control technology. It is also quite complex, which is why it is already a miracle that Stuntfall makes its rounds without any major problems compared to the very error-prone rides of the same series. The ride on the Stuntfall is relatively smooth, but thoroughly intense and peppered with a great pinch of airtime without straining the body too much. All in all a great ride, where the crew has done everything possible to get the ride moving.

Hotel Embrujado

In a side street is the entrance to the Hotel Embrujado, a run-down hotel that seems to be cursed. Here the story of Isabella, henceforth referred to only as the bride, and Rikardo, her groom, is told. During a fire the night before the wedding, Rikardo died in the house’s secret library, access to which was at first not found; the bride, on the other hand, waited and waited and waited. Years later, an access to the library was discovered, whereupon the tragedy of the past days seems to repeat itself. A passageway leads from the library to the richly covered banqueting hall, but it is only a projection of days gone by. It gets dark and the bride awakes from the dead. Her mood sets the room in motion, varying from grief to despair and anger over the fact that Rikardo has left her. In the end she realises her mistake and chases the visitors away.

The Hotel Embrujado is a good Mad House with a well implemented storyline, but also a lot of Spanish visitors, so the atmosphere suffers from the general and quite loud chatter among each other. In addition, the queue inside the building moves very slowly, which is why a visit in the evening with much less crowd creates a much more atmospheric overall picture.

Parque Warner Beach

If you follow the main path, you are in an escape with the lift hill of the supposed main attraction of the park, at least the steel track would be according to our definition. But now we turn left shortly before and stand in front of the entrance of the water park Parque Warner Beach. It was opened in 2014 and offers new perspectives on the two roller coasters Stuntfall and Superman: La Atracción de Acero. Inside it offers a Lazy River and a larger wave pool. Fans of impressive water slides will not always get their money’s worth at Parque Warner Beach, as there are only smaller slide complexes or play structures with integrated slides from the manufacturer Van Edgom, including an interesting body slide with a funnel. The general design of the water park has been consistently implemented in the style of the Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbara (The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Yogi Bear) figures and is worth seeing, even if the figures from the Cine Tour had to give up their place for this. Due to lack of time we were unfortunately not able to visit the water park, so I cannot say if it is worth the additional entrance fee. At least it seemed to be accepted by the population despite the end of the season. An extension with bigger and more appealing attractions would at least be desirable, but then also with an entrance outside the amusement park.

Superman: La atracción de Acero

As already mentioned Superman: La atracción de Acero is the supposed main attraction of the park, at least it is one of the bigger roller coasters of the manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard, so by definition it is already better than good. At Parque Warner Madrid, on the other hand, the steel coaster has an average waiting time of only about 15 minutes, thanks to halfway competent staff and two-train operation, no matter how crowded the park got later in the day. It’s quite funny that many visitors don’t see the roller coaster with all its supports and rails and often clog the entrance of the queue with their pushchairs.

After the floor in the station has tilted to the side, the wagon group leaves the station and immediately completes a small turn in a typical Bayernkurve. Now the lift hill leads to a height of 50m, whereupon a small intermediate slope is passed before the actual first drop. Shortly afterwards, the train disappears towards the ground and the body reacts sluggishly. Almost continuously without any contact to the seat shell you fall down the drop to find your original seat again shortly before entering the loop. This is passed relatively quickly and thus with clearly pronounced forces. The following valley is crossed with full force just before you climb the Immelmann. A Trim Brake in the next valley reduces the train noticeably, which makes the Zero-G Roll, an inversion figure in which one turns around one’s own axis without any acceleration, quite pleasant to ride. This is followed by a generously designed Cobra Roll in whose exit you pass a second reduction brake. This is necessary because on the following hill you are transported out of your seat with extraordinary force.  The first corkscrew is then entered in a straight line and after a short turn the exit of the first corkscrew is crossed by a second corkscrew, thus forming the element of the Interlocking Corkscrews. This is followed by a very intense curve close to the ground, whereupon the train takes another hill and carries the passengers up into the air again. An even more intensive upward helix follows, and shortly afterwards the brakes are reached.

Superman: La Atracción de Acero is simply brilliant. The ride offers everything a really good roller coaster needs, namely a great layout with its specific characteristics, in this case fast inversions and a balanced, although not lax, play of forces. The ride comfort is extremely good, although Superman: La Atracción de Acero is the ride with the most shoulder bar contact in the whole park and the condition of the trains in general is poor, as almost every headrest of this ride is now damaged.

Lex Luthor and Sillas Voladores de Mr. Freeze

Opposite the steel track, Lex Luthor, one of Superman’s opponents, bores his guests to death in a top spin with a lousy ride programme; interestingly, however, the ride is very popular with the park’s visitors. One of Batman’s opponents is much more fast-paced, however, as the Sillas Voladores de Mr. Freeze, a very nice wave swinger with an unusual design, offers a pretty good ride programme.

La Venganza del Enigma

High above the ground is La Venganza del Enigma, where you are transported to a height of 100m due to the Riddler, also a villain from the Batman universe. The 120m high Combo Tower of the company S&S has in theory three different modes. On our visiting day two lanes were operated in Space Shot mode and the third lane, which only functions as a turbo drop, was closed although the waiting area was quite well filled towards the end of the day. While I described the ride in 2011 as a damn high observation tower at best, I have to revise my opinion now, because the ride, perfectly placed in the park, can do more than just look good. The launch in space shot mode pulls surprisingly strong and just as long before you reach the maximum height and are lifted out of your seat a little bit. Up here you have a wonderful view of the underlying Parque Warner Madrid and theoretically of the Spanish capital before commuting at a leisurely pace. At least it is no comparison to other Space Shot rides and so La Venganza del Enigma is quite high in my favour, especially since it is the only tower above 71m height that is still fun to ride.

Batman: La Fuga

On the other side of DC Super Heroes World is Arkham Asylum, Gotham City’s asylum, where a large number of the most famous and dazzling Batman opponents decided to escape at the same time. As Dark Knight, you’ll have to catch them again. On your way up to the station of the Inverted Coaster Batman: La Fuga, you can explore the asylum from the inside. This can, if the ride is operated in the move-in mode, due to the minimal number of employees and surreal-looking processes, sometimes take a little longer.

After you have boarded the train and it has finally been checked in, the journey can start immediately. You don’t spend much time on the lifthill before you make a small predrop and get pulled into a steep curve. With immense force you pass the first valley and are immediately pushed into the first loop. Before you know it, you’ll be upside down again in the following zero-g roll. Without mercy, you now perform another loop, whereupon a left-hand upward helix introduces the supposedly most harmless part of the layout. But as soon as you make the turn at a lofty height, you no longer feel your legs. A steep turn brings you back to ground level, whereupon the first corkscrew is introduced. Especially in the rear part of the turn you pull through the element with quite high acceleration. After a rather tight turn you are again standing upside down in a corkscrew, whereby the play of forces of the first corkscrew is presented here even more intensified. After an upward left turn you reach the brakes and shortly afterwards the station.

Batman: La Fuga is short, not very high, but distributes the G-Forces like no other coaster; at least in Europe. The 11 sister installations, 6 of which have a similar theme, on the other hand, are burdening the passengers in the most positive sense in the rest of the world, but mostly in North America and there from time to time also backwards. Batman: La Fuga is a great roller coaster through and through, even though it is a very intense roller coaster, which is why it wouldn’t be a pity if, besides the current renaissance of the Suspended Looping Coaster by the Dutch company Vekoma, other rides of this kind were built by Bolliger and Mabillard.

Passing through the beautifully designed Gotham area of DC Super Heroes World, the tour will take you past the bumper car Los Coches de Choque de el Joker and the former simulator Batman: la Sombra del Murciélago, which had its last season in 2014 and may be replaced by a Justice League style dark ride, into the Old West Territory. Here you will find the break dance Los Carros de la Mina, as well as the two water rides Cataratas Salvajes and Rio Bravo.

Cataratas Salvajes

The wild waterfalls, i.e. the Cataratas Salvajes, are a very efficient and in my opinion very beautifully staged spillwater from the company Intamin. The efficiency of the ride is simply based on the simplicity of the layout, which is an oval without unnecessary frills. So after the boat has been transported up the lift hill, it makes a turn at lofty heights and immediately plunges down the only shot of the ride. This creates a large wave, which is then showered down on the boat’s occupants or moistens the daring passers-by on the bridge over the lane. The degree of wetness of the ride is relatively high already, but on average it is on a par with other rides of this type.

Coaster Express

The roller coaster Coaster Express is the only roller coaster of the park which can show an eventful history after the American Six Flags group as the operator of the park was discontinued. Like Bandit at Movie Park Germany, the ride started as Wild Wild West, designed to match the movie of the same name from 1999. As this movie was a flop without equal and meanwhile, partly unjustified, is considered as one of the worst movies, it was decided not to use the licence for the roller coaster and the theme area of the same name any longer when the park changed its operator to Parques Reunidos in 2005. The oversized queue underneath the station was shortened to the outside area and the space is now used for other purposes, but you can still have a look at the train with the ejection seat from inside the station.

After leaving the station, you cross the transfer track for a short time, whereupon a left turn follows. The train then hooks into the chain and is transported up the lift hill. Arriving at a height of about 36m the train immediately turns into a wide right turn, which turns out to be a 590° helix. The speed in the valley is about 80 km/h before it starts to rise again. At a higher level, you now wrap around the First Drop until you reach the ground again. A longer straight section is followed by a small right bend at a lofty height, after which a wide straight drop joins. Now you make a higher right turn, which at the same time changes into another drop. Here you make the second and last change of direction of the layout, because shortly after that you cross another transversely inclined helix, but this time leading left and only 520° wide. This is followed by a hill relatively close to the ground, whereupon another left turn follows. This is joined by another hill across the support structure, on whose descent there is a reduction brake. This brake is noticeably effective, which is even useful in the following and quite funny curve; it was exactly this curve which set the maximum size of the passengers to a comparably low 1m85 until a few years ago. Shortly afterwards the brakes engage and the train returns to the station.

While on my last visit in 2011 I had warned against getting on the ride at all and described the ride as a torture, I have to say that the Coaster Express is a pretty funny roller coaster and not to be missed. Although this wooden roller coaster offers absolutely no noticeable negative forces, the feeling of speed in the curves is very strong; at least the ride made me laugh almost all the time. The ride characteristics on Europe’s longest wooden roller coaster are generally good and the ride looks good from the outside.

Rio Bravo

The Reversing Boat Ride Rio Bravo from Intamin is a copy of the Hopkins ride Wild West Falls from the original Warner Bros. Movie World on the Australian Gold Coast, but is based on the original design idea after the movie Rio Bravo. So you can enjoy the ride all the more, because it has been thematised down to the last detail.

After crossing the long queue you can take a seat in one of the boats, at least in the evening. To my astonishment the seat belts have been abolished in the meantime, which at least adds to the capacity of this quite popular attraction. Shortly afterwards the boat bobs past the maintenance hall of the ride towards the first lift hill. At the top you enter the huge mountain range, where the first turntable is waiting for you. The turntable then releases the boat into the first shot, which is done backwards. So far so good and often experienced, but Rio Bravo wouldn’t be an extraordinary log flume if there wasn’t a special feature following it. For many people, it is often very unexpected to see a camelback coming up, which will take you 10-20cm into the air on its crest. Shortly afterwards the descent into the cool water follows, whereby the degree of wetness is still very manageable. After a bend, you reach another turning point, whereupon the boat is on its way forward again. The river now leads you through a canyon, an Indian village and the western town of Dogde City, before you enter the mine again. Arriving at the highest point of the ride, you are brought back into position by a turntable, whereupon the second and final shot ride is initiated with a fantastic view of the wooden roller coaster Coaster Express. Once you arrive at the bottom you will be pleasantly moistened. This is followed by the return trip to the station.

The Rio Bravo log flume is a great ride with a bigger element of surprise at the beginning of the ride. The general design is terrific, but it lacks a bit of effects after leaving the second turning point. Although I don’t ask for buckets of water to be thrown in my face like on the magnificent log flume Valhalla from the English Blackpool Pleasure Beach, a little more would have been possible here, especially since the other water rides of Parque Warner Madrid are all wetter.

Tom y Jerry

You can hear the Tom y Jerry children’s rollercoaster at Parque Warner Madrid from far away, as the ride sounds like a jet plane flying over the park. This is one of the last Zierer Tivoli large coasters produced, which was commissioned by Six Flags at the turn of the millennium and therefore has supports that meet the clearance gauge in comparison to the rides from the 1970s, which are often to be found in Germany. The layout can be described relatively simply as two adjacent eights, in which the rather wide curves are negotiated by a train that is all the longer. Mostly the course will be ridden through several times, but not at Parque Warner Madrid. Otherwise the waiting time at this very solid roller coaster would be hard to control, because Tom & Jerry is one of the most popular rides at Parque Warner Madrid.

Cartoon Village

However, this generally applies to the Cartoon Village theme area with its two children’s lands and the Rápidos Acme rafting. It is true that the situation in Spain is not quite as extreme as in England, where basically only well-known, or for us sometimes completely unknown, children’s series bring the masses into amusement parks. Paultons Park has shot the bird with the Peppa Pig World, so that it is only known to the public as Peppa Pig World and various advertising brochures can already be found in Scotland. In Spain, on the other hand, although the children’s areas are more important, other visitors also come to the park and are spread over the other theme areas of it, although this proportion has increased significantly in recent years.

What is interesting about the Parque Warner Madrid children’s areas, however, is the way they are designed. One area was completed for the opening in 2002 and the other in 2011, with the roller coaster Correcaminos Bip, Bip from 2009 being halfway integrated. While the old children’s area has countless rides in a narrower area, always in the shade of countless trees, the new area has few rides in a larger concrete area without any shade. Although these are all neatly arranged, there is no atmosphere whatsoever in this addition. What is interesting here is that almost every new plan park has these patterns, which in my opinion is a no-go. The Academia de Pilotos, a children’s monorail from SBF Visa from 2013, has at least tried to break up this situation.

Correcaminos Bip, Bip

The roller coaster with the supposedly strange-sounding name Correcaminos Bip, Bip is a Youngstar Coaster by the company Mack, which has the same layout as the one year younger Götterblitz from the Austrian Familypark. Just like at Lake Neusiedl, the ride begins with the ascent of the lifthill. After reaching the top of the lifthill, a small gradient leads into the first curve, followed by the big drop. At full speed you pass the first valley and immediately a horseshoe, an element which is shaped like an elevated horseshoe. In a right-hand bend, you accumulate meters of altitude once again, whereupon these are reduced in a downward left helix with subsequent gradient. Now follows a curve combination of up and down helices, which resembles an eight when viewed from above.  Finally, another right turn leads the train up to the braking section and then back to the station.

Correcaminos Bip, Bip is a very elaborately designed ride, but also a very unlovingly staged roller coaster with a great layout and equally good ride characteristics. It’s a bit of a pity to see that the hunt for the Road Runner, i.e. Correcaminos, is hardly visible from the outside because of the high wooden fences with peepholes. It’s also a pity that the ride is a stand-alone attraction in a dead-end street. But all of this would not be so bad if Correcaminos would not get on the nerves of the waiting people at some point due to his pass for the queue, the Pase Correcaminos. Although the queue is manageable, it takes half an eternity until it is your turn. So somehow you can understand Wile E. Coyote. However, he only caught the Road Runner at Family Guy.

Rápidos Acme

An extraordinary ride for Europe can be found in the park with the Rápidos Acme. Even if you find it hard to believe, you will get wet on this ride. Now you could argue that River Quest from Phantasialand in Brühl often releases its passengers completely soaked from the ride, but not everyone is affected. The secret recipe of the Parque Warner Madrid is as simple as it gets, as the park does without unnecessary gadgets like waterfalls or wave pools and instead concentrates on creating as many rapids as possible on a very curvy route, which constantly splash into the boat, while always directing water jets into the boat from the outside. The whole action is nicely designed by the characters of the Looney Tunes, but to be honest, you can hardly concentrate on them during the ride. Unfortunately the effects had all been switched off towards the end of the ride, which is a pity, but it was probably a bit too cold for the Spanish.

La Aventura de Scooby-Doo

Right at the beginning of the Cartoon Village, coming from Main Street, is the interactive dark ride La Aventura de Scooby-Doo. This was designed in the comic style of the Hanna Barbara series Scooby-Doo Where are you! and features the typical elements of this series. This ride was produced by the Sally Corporation and can also be found in two Six Flags Parks and previously in each of the Paramount Parks, but now under the management of Cedar Fair as Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. The ride itself should be experienced directly after the opening of the ride or with a corresponding Pass Correcaminos, because the handling of this dark ride is more than just a bad joke. In addition, Scooby-Doo itself is very popular with the local children, which is why the crowds at the ride are always relatively high. The ride at least is nicely designed and can be fun, but it is one of the weaker rides made by the manufacturer.

Although the rush at the big roller coasters was always manageable and appropriate, the park was very well visited. In fact, during the visit it seemed as if the park was almost overcrowded, this was mainly due to the general preferences of the Spanish and so it should not surprise anyone that the waiting time before each show was over an hour. This is also the reason why we left the Scooby Doo musical and the Police Academy stunt show. One could think that this was a big mistake, as the shows in Spain are generally not as negligible as those of German amusement parks, but on the other hand we could not have managed the park completely in one day. In fact, the offer of these at Parque Warner Madrid is also significantly lower than at the amusement park Port Aventura near Salou, whose recipe for success is actually due to the big show theatres. Here, the park might add another theatre or at least show the shows more often.

Parque Warner Cinematic

However, this does not work for the evening show Parque Warner Cinematic, as it only really comes into effect after dark. This is a fountain show with projections of well-known Warner Bros. films and commercials for upcoming films of the studio. The show, which takes place on the lake in the Movie World Studios, is supported by fire and laser effects, as well as a quite appealing final fireworks display. The show was already worth seeing on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the park and even now not much has changed. Definitely worth seeing, especially as it is a great ending of a great park day.

Pictures Parque Warner Madrid

Conclusion Parque Warner Madrid

Parque Warner Madrid is still a very great theme park and in my opinion still the best park in Spain. Compared to four years ago, the number of visitors has developed quite well, which unfortunately makes the Pase Correcaminos very annoying, especially since it can be used almost everywhere, unlike Port Aventura. Except for Batman, which features a one train operation, the handling was much quicker than before and in the case of the roller coaster Stuntfall even exemplary. At least for the time being one is on a good way that should be maintained. But if the rush should be as high on the next visit, I will definitely treat myself to a Pase Correcaminos.

 

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Parque Warner