Vekoma

Some hours in the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark

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Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark

Since most other amusement parks in the surrounding area had a day of rest on the program, today I went to the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark in Stukenbrock. Since one could only read very little about this amusement park in the various forums, I was all the more excited to visit the second largest safari park in Germany.

Arrived at the park, I was very positively surprised by the reduced entrance fee on this rather quiet day. As one of the first guests I went on safari. In contrast to the Serengeti-Park in Hodenhagen, the route is much smaller, but you could observe many animals and was undisturbed by the clear view in the morning. The highlights of the tour are certainly the lions and tigers.

Flying Tiger

After the safari follows first of all an excursion through the park to get to the parking lot. The parking place catches one’s eye negatively due to the high concrete walls, but this hardly reduces the overall picture of the park. After a short exploration walk I went to the Super Tornado, alias Flying Tiger. The good condition of the somersault roller coaster with its classic Arrow-HUSS coaster trains catches the eye in a very positive way – the ride itself was ok, but there was some weight missing in the train (after all, the ride was started just for me), so compared to the sister ride Speed Snake at Fort Fun Abenteuerland, the ride was a bit too slow.

Flying Oil Pump

Like many other attractions, the second roller coaster of the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark was not supposed to open until later. That’s why I was next drawn to the Flying Oil Pump, a Fabbri Cataclysm. The looping carousel with the imaginative name was my highlight in the park. The ride is exciting, fast and fun. Although you are secured with shoulder restraints during the ride, the big game makes for a very pleasant and extremely exciting ride. The many rollovers and the interaction with the second gondola make the ride to something very special and should be tried by each visitor of the park.

Giraffe Tower and Black Fly

The other Fabbri offer of the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark is somewhat more borderline. At the Giraffe Tower freefall tower, for example, you hang at the top for just under a minute and the Frisbee Black Fly unfortunately hardly swings out at all. Nevertheless Fabbri could convince me of the ride comfort of her rides. Besides Zamperla the second Italian manufacturer who could score points with me.

Teetassen-Karussell

Speaking of Zamperla, there are also some rides from this manufacturer in the Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark. They are a lot more family-friendly, but this should not be missing in such a park. Thereby, the tea cup carousel Teetassen-Karussell is specially worth mentioning with its extremely smooth-running gondolas that can quickly give you a real turning worm.

Kongo River

Also worth a special mention is the log flume Kongo River by the Dutch manufacturer Van Edgom. The Kongo River is not convincing because of its extremely slow lift speed, but it can certainly knock the socks off any passenger because of its descents, the rapids and the enormous airtime in the double drop. A big praise is due to the personnel at the ride, who did not feel too bad to rescue my cap that flew off during the double drop.

Affenzug

Behind the water ride there is a place with some enclosures. Beside a large enclosure with mostly lazy white lions, one could observe extremely active white tigers during my visit. The station of the Affenzug with which one drives over the monkey island is also located here. During the trip, the monkeys climb around the train and can come very close to the visitor – if it were not for the grids on the train. You can also find the frisbee and a water roundabout.

Marienkäferbahn

Close to the Flying Oil Pump there are several Heege motor swings, which have a nice portion of airtime, as well as a water playground, several children’s attractions and hardly slippery slides by Metalbau Emmeln. The park’s second roller coaster, the so-called Marienkäferbahn, is also located here. In a small wooded area, the big Tivoli Coaster by the manufacturer Zierer takes you through the ground level curves of this classic family roller coaster.

Pictures Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark

Closing Words

The Zoo Safari- und Hollywoodpark has a great price/performance ratio. 24€ is quite affordable for what is offered and if you go on a day without shows, like I did, you only have to pay a reduced price (17€50). The rides are (almost) all in a good and well-kept condition and can convince. The park is definitely worth a visit.

 

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Safariland Stukenbrock

A (half) day in Rasti-Land

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Rasti-Land

Not far from Hanover, Hildesheim and Hameln is the Rasti-Land amusement park, which has been in existence since 1973. The park is easy to reach via the main roads and the park fees do not empty your wallet as they are completely waived. After having passed the small tunnel at the entrance to the parking place, one drives once around the park to the park entrance. The first impression that one gets during this drive catches one’s eye in a positive way.

Monorail

Once one has paid the 19€ entrance fee, one finds oneself on the highest level of the park. The park railway (with a total of three stations) and the Mack Monorail await you here. Like the Tour de Fleurs in the Holidaypark, this ride is quite long and has several levels. Here, one also drives through a small dark ride section. The gondolas of the railway partly have a very nice painting.

Märchenfahrt

If you follow the paths to the left past some children’s attractions, you will find yourself on the Mack round boat trip Märchenfahrt. This one goes through the middle of the forest, past some statues. The design of the ride is quite impressive for such a park.

Gokarts

In the immediate vicinity you will find the go-kart tracks, which are mastered here either in single or two-seater. The track is basically an oval with some swings in it. Here one clearly notices that the park embeds its tracks into the terrain.

Koggenfahrt

Since the dinosaur theme area of the park opens at noon, the flat ride Koggenfahrt was tested. The forward ride was rather lame, but not the backward part. The ride is slightly elevated at the level of the surrounding curves of the tube slide next door. The ride also looks good from a design point of view.

Boots-Wasserrutschen

After you have climbed another mountain, you can grab a rubber dinghy and make your way down by either using the tube slides or the wave slides of the Boots-Wasserrutschen. These have a wide choice and are in better condition from the inside than they look from the outside. The disadvantage of the slide is the hill that has to be climbed again after the ride. Unfortunately, the neighbouring steep slides were out of order and it does not seem as if this will be changed in the near future.

Riesenschiffschaukel Santa Maria and Abenteuerfahrt durch die Piratenstadt

Other rides on the mountain are the giant Santa Maria ship swing from the manufacturer Metallbau Emmeln, as well as the dark ride Abenteuerfahrt durch die Piratenstadt, which are extremely convincing. On the dark ride you will not only meet the pirates but also numerous interesting effects and beautiful scenery.

Reifenrutschpiste

To make the descent easier you can use a slide to help you. Once you reach the bottom, you can go up the mountain again armed with a tire and then race down the tire slide track. If the synchronisation of the starting aids is right, you can have an exciting race. All in all we spent most of the time in the park right here – a great fun!

Wildwasserbahn

For the water enthusiasts among us there is a special kind of log flume in Rasti-Land. Most of the Wildwasserbahn was built in-house and only the boats come from the manufacturer Intamin. The course was perfectly integrated into the terrain like almost everything else in the park and can also soak you nicely.

Blizzard

The Blizzard bobkart track makes its way in places above the log flume. The track of the manufacturer Wiegand offers an extremely fast ride with a beautiful curve due to its high speed. However, you have to be able to drive at full throttle during the ride, because you can control the cars yourself.

Achterbahn

The pink painted roller coaster Achterbahn in Rasti-Land is clearly visible from far away. The ride was built by Dutch roller coaster manufacturer Vekoma and is one of the first Junior Coaster rides. The colour scheme takes some getting used to, but the ride is still incredibly photogenic, especially because of its placement.

Im Reich des T-Rex and Wasserschlacht

As it was now far after noon, we could visit the Hafema rafting ride Im Reich des T-Rex, as well as the Mack Roundboatblaster Wasserschlacht. The rafting ride is typical for Hafema and not too short, but the degree of wetness is limited (one does not get out completely soaked). The Wasserschlacht can be a good remedy for this. The round boats provide for an all-round wetness and for defencelessness, should the boat turn at the wrong moment. There is also the possibility to meet the guests of the rafting in some places.

Pictures Rasti-Land

Conclusion Rasti-Land

After a few hours we left the Rasti-Land, which we will remember with mixed feelings. In some places the park is really good, but in other places there is an urgent need for renewal. The staff should be better trained, if you wait for the right moment you can help yourself to drinks for free or go to the park. The waiting times are balanced everywhere, as the visitors are very well distributed.

 

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Rasti-Land

In Honour of O.D. Hopkins

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Preface

After Stefan unfortunately couldn’t come with us to England last year due to a small fracture and we received a ticket for this season through the Guest Relations, we went to the English island once again, where we not only encountered minimal waiting times at Pentecost, but also the best weather to celebrate O.D. Hopkins masterpiece Tidal Wave extensively.

Tour of the park

X:\No Way Out

The beginning of the visit was the magnificent and completely screwed up indoor roller coaster X:\No Way Out made by Vekoma. For many roller coaster fans of the world this ride is wrongly considered one of the worst steel roller coasters par excellence, but the ride only does what it was designed for. The strange lifthill passages, the reversing train, as well as the computer virus that the ride reflects story-wise, make the ride something very special.

Tidal Wave

In the immediate vicinity is Tidal Wave, a masterpiece of a spillwater from O.D. Hopkins. Tidal Wave scores with its enormous wave and the resulting high – but pleasant – degree of wetness. Unfortunately, the founder of the spillwater manufacturer O.D. Hopkins died shortly before our visit, so some laps on Tidal Wave were made in his memory.

Nemesis Inferno

Because Stealth was not running for a while the nearby Inverter of the park was visited. Nemesis Inferno is the bigger brother of its sister ride Nemesis from Alton Towers and has an equally good and fun layout.

Of particular importance is the start of this layout, where after a downhill bend you pass through a fog-filled tunnel before the train enters the lift. After having climbed it, a curvy descent follows in order to be released in a powerful loop. Typical for the manufacturer now follows a wonderfully intense Zero-G Roll, which then releases you into the interlocking corkscrews. After the last curves are completed, the short ride is unfortunately over again.

Detonator

Thematically, Nemesis Inferno forms a fiery unit with the Fabbri Freefall Tower Detonator. While the inverter is completely dedicated to the volcano, Detonator is already a little bit aside at the foot of it. The fall from the only 40m high tower lets nearly every other tower look old, because here you are not only dropped, but shot down by a preloaded spring.

Saw Alive

As Saw – The ride was out of service and there were high queues at the Maze Saw Alive, as well as at the neighboring multi-inversion coaster Colossus, the Canadian area was examined more closely. Unfortunately there seemed to be a lot of downtimes in general, so it was no surprise that the huge S&S Power Sky Swat Slammer didn’t ride.

Logger’s Leap

However, the neighbouring log flume Logger’s Leap sent one boat after the other down its double slope, so a ride on the ride was targeted. The small boat tour starts quite nasty with a shot in the dark before it gets quite strangely closer and closer to the big shot. Once up it goes immediately downhill and this luckily with a pronounced airtime on the second gradient. Unfortunately the level of wetness is limited, but the ride on the log flume is always a pleasure. Besides there is also Tidal Wave to get you wet.

Stealth

Since Stealth was back on the road again, we went to the Amity Cove area again to be transported to the sky with the appropriate music playing. Stealth offers quite a short ride time, but you can rarely be faster in 60m height and back again, especially since the launch just rocks. Unfortunately, the ride doesn’t end after the Top Hat, rather on a hill where you get to know the shoulder restraints in an unpleasant way. At least the whole package is convincing, especially since the trains here are a bit bigger than on Desert Race and Rita.

Flying Fish

A little bit hidden and since the Swarm probably also more popular, you can enjoy the probably coolest powered coaster by Mack Rides. The Flying Fish does not only greet its passengers with the word Dude but can also show a quite interesting train. Unfortunately, another train rarely seems to be a good choice for a powered coaster of this model, especially since the whole thing can turn out quite painful like in the travelling version Feuer und Eis (fire and ice); over here, the train seems a bit too wide. This is evident in the ride, but the unharmonious transitions are hardly disturbing, as the train itself is equipped with the latest generation of seats and restraints.

Saw – The Ride

Because Saw – The Ride finally started to run again, we had to dare a ride there as well. Unfortunately, the course already showed significant losses in the second year, which was mainly due to the additional queue for the fast pass owners.

After finally being cleared, the car is starting to move. The first part can still be seen as brilliant, but unfortunately the outer part of the ride seems to have taken a turn for the worse. The first change you notice is the lower speed, as there is no longer the almost indescribable rush and the resulting forces. The second change is the rather ungentle approach with its passengers; the ride was suprisingly rough.

Samurai

More or less next door and unfortunately a little bit inappropriately designed for this area is the Top Scan Samurai by Mondial. This ride, that is very popular especially in the United Kingdom, is very convincing – at least if the rotation of the gondola also allows some rollovers. But the constant shifting of the legs to the right is not very pleasant in the long run.

Colossus

Also the world’s first 10 inversions roller coaster Colossus wanted to be ridden. The very photogenic ride, which by the way has the same epic soundtrack as its namesake from Heide-Park in Lower Saxony, continues to convince, provided you have completed the first three inversions. What the looping and the following cobra roll do to you isn’t that nice, but what follows is basically just great. The two corkscrews are passed with a wonderful speed before the four Heartlinerolls are started. These are slightly monotonous but are – at least in Europe – a unique experience and the prelude to the best inversion of a roller coaster par excellence, the final fifth Heartlineroll in the opposite direction. The roll is something special and rides wonderfully harmonious; a basically unique feeling.

Rush, Quantum, Vortex and Zodiac

In the same area there are still some rides, like the boring S&S swing Rush, where with a bit of luck a giant dragonfly is slapped in your face, which can be considered a highlight during the short ride program. The flying carpet Quantum and also the neighboring Afterburner Vortex show hardly any ride characteristics worth mentioning except for their manufacturers. The HUSS Enterprise Zodiac is a very interesting ride, not only because of its short ride program, like all rides in this area, but also because of its safety belt to attach the grid to the nacelle.

Rumba Rapids

The park’s Intamin Rafting ride is not really worth mentioning, because Rumba Rapids clearly gives away a lot of potential. The course itself features a wonderful wave pool that could flood the boats nicely. As always on European rapid rides, one remains dust-dry.

Pictures Thorpe Park

 

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Thorpe Park