Water Ride

Playing all kinds of games in Spieleland

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Ravensburger Spieleland

The Ravensburger Spieleland is one of the youngest amusement parks in Germany. The park was founded by the famous Ravensburger AG – manufacturer of parlour games, puzzles and various other products – between its headquarters in Ravensburg and nearby Lake Constance near Meckenbeuren. Since 1998, the park has mainly offered play fun for families with small children; since 2016, there is also the possibility to stay overnight in the park’s own resort.

In general, the Ravensburger Spieleland does its own thing; one should not assume that it is a conventional amusement park with roller coaster and various carousels. It is rather the independent playground equipment that characterises the park to a large extent and thus makes it a special destination for excursions. But the fun also has its price, as the Ravensburger Spieleland is one of the most expensive amusement parks of the country.

Grüne Oase

By entering the park, one immediately finds oneself in the green oasis, a kind of farm theme area. Here you will find an electric horse-riding track, a tractor ride and an animal carousel, but also numerous smaller play facilities, the main station of the Swabian railway, a petting zoo, as well as an electric rodeo, where on several mechanical bulls the children are shaken around and this even free of charge. A show stage and several outlet stores can also be found here.

Mitmachland

If you follow the paths in a clockwise direction, you will immediately come across the Mitmachland. In addition to three show tents, in which the children are always involved in some way, you will find the park’s large children’s driving school, the Bienenflug, as well as the interactive play equipment Max Mäuseschreck and the Bosch Car Service Mini-Werkstatt. While you shoot softballs into the holes of the oversized cheese at Max Mäuseschreck, you actually change tires at the mini-workshop with the questionable branding by Bosch Car Service; which is of course extremely practical if there is actually a flat tire on the way back. Also located in this area is the Bunte Schokohaus of Ritter Sport, where, in contrast to the absolutely great Bunte Schokowelt in Berlin, they unfortunately have no café of their own and sell their own products far above the shop value. If you feel like it, you can take a workshop here, which of course requires additional fees.

Käpt’n Blaubärs Wunderland

This is followed by Käpt’n Blaubärs Wunderland, a theme area based around the stories of author Walter Moers; known from the programme “Sendung mit der Maus”, which also has its own theme area. Here you can explore the big lake on Käpt’n Blaubärs Spaßboote, experience a splashing water ride on the Gummikutter or go on a dark ride with the well-known characters on the Abenteuerfahrt, telling several smaller sailor’s yarn stories of the blue bear. A canoe trip for the little ones, as well as the new animation studio – which can be experienced for a fee and by prior arrangement – round off the area. The second station of the Swabian railway is also located here.

Maus und Elefant Erlebniswelt

The Maus und Elefant Erlebniswelt form a dead end within the park. Next to a 3D cinema, where a purchased film is shown at regular intervals, as well as the well known Lach- und Sachgeschichten of Sendung mit der Maus (these however in 2D), you can experience a low ropes course, as well as an interesting basketball game. You can rest and relax on the sunny meadow, while the children have fun on the Moser free-fall tower Hier kommt die Maus.

Future World

In order to explain Lufthansa’s understanding of service to children in detail, it is worthwhile visiting Future World, where there is a new playground with exactly that questionable branding. The biggest attraction in this theme area is the observation tower Aussichtsturm. The most interesting one is the Galaxy-Racer, where you are not allowed to race, but you can actually drive a real (albeit very slow) car. You can also let yourself be shaken by a 4D cinema, but unfortunately the film is only a purchased standard product. Meanwhile, puzzle lovers can puzzle on an open-air stage at will.

Spielewelt

Passing a duck carousel and a water roundabout, you will get down the mountain into the Spielewelt. Here you will find the largest game equipment, above all the Memory-Flug, in which you will be transported to different levels in small helicopters, one after the other, to uncover the fields of the game field. No less interesting is the firefighting game Feuerwehrspiel, which you can experience in a similar (and physically less strenuous) variant in the Legoland theme parks of Billund and Windsor, and which invites you to a very funny competition. The bumper car Tempo, kleine Schnecke and the very successful crazy labyrinth complete the attractions of the area.

Fix & Foxi Abenteuerland

The best known area of the park is probably the Fix & Foxi Abenteuerland, where the characters of Ralf Kauka from the comic strip that has been discontinued since 2010 have found a home and otherwise only live on in private television. Nobody has to regret the death of Fix & Foxi, according to the newspaper Die Welt eight years ago, and so I doubt very much that children nowadays have any connection to the characters at all. Well, the area is already older and in 2004 this development was not yet foreseeable; nevertheless, one should possibly think about a rebranding, after all there are certainly still some companies who would like to have their own area in the Ravensburger Spieleland.

Prof. Knox Turbo-Boote

Next to the Fix & Foxi Baggergrube, where you are allowed to dig a little in the gravel in your own excavators, there is the rubber dinghy slide Prof. Knox Turbo-Boote with a total of only two lanes and thus an almost non existing capacity, which unfortunately leads to very long waiting times, as well as the bobkart track Fix & Foxi Raketen-Blitz of the manufacturer Wiegand.

Fix & Foxi Raketen-Blitz

This powered summer toboggan run starts off with a left-hand bend, where the top speed is reached immediately. Over three jumps you race along a straight line, which is immediately followed by an upward helix to the right.  Now follows a short left-hand bend, which leads very quickly into a wide right-hand bend. A short upward helix leads you to the necessary altitude meters to start the fast finale. Basically you just make another right turn and after a short change of direction a wide left turn. After a final jump and a last left turn you reach the starting platform.

The Fix & Foxi Raketenblitz was the first faster ride of the Ravenburger Spieleland and proves in an impressive way how funny such a bobkart track can be, if it weren’t for the low capacity of the ride and the possibly occurring crawlers. The track itself is good and makes a lot of fun at full throttle, so a ride is definitely worthwhile.

Alpin-Rafting

The last theme area of the Ravensburger Spieleland is the Entdeckerland, where children can let off steam on small soccer fields of the VfB Stuttgart or queue up for minutes in the slide world Rutschenspaß; quite honestly, I have never seen it like this even with comparable slides in other amusement parks when there is a bigger crowd. The main attraction in this area, the Alpin-Rafting, comes from Intamin and is a truly special rapids ride.

After boarding the boat and securing the children with a life jacket, after passing the round of questions about the technically irrelevant minimum age, the trip can begin immediately. After a short left turn, you will now bob through the canal for a few metres before you reach the vertical lift of the ride. Here, one has to wait for some time before it takes one to the starting height of 12m. This is followed by what has to come, and thus, a short time later, one shoots down the 8m high shot. In the following run-out section, some water is transported into the boat and the boat is slowed down to a low speed; thus, the wetness factor is definitely there and should not be underestimated at all! A right turn and a long zigzag stretch follow before the second highlight of the course, the world’s only whirlpool built by Intamin, follows.  Bit by bit you pick up more and more speed, just before the round boat dives into a tunnel. While the ride itself is a lively pleasure, there is no moment of surprise shortly afterwards. This is the biggest weak point compared to the similar rides of the producer Hafema, where most of the times, there is a rapids waiting for you that can easily soak you. A bit disappointed, the return to the station follows, which is quite uneventful. First a wide right turn, then another zigzag stretch and finally a short left turn.

All in all, the Alpin-Rafting is of course an extremely well done major attraction, which impresses above all by the big shot ride. Unfortunately, the whirlpool is then only a nice element that falls short of the expectations. The rest of the route is also relatively uneventful, but admittedly, one should not expect a conventional ride like the one in the nearby Europa-Park.

Pictures Ravensburger Spieleland

Conclusion Ravensburger Spieleland

The Ravensburger Spieleland is an extremely nice amusement park for families with small children, who are mercilessly confronted with all kinds of advertising here. Although sponsoring is the order of the day in some amusement parks, I find it really alarming here (apart from the self-advertising for the products from our own production) because of the younger target group. The whole thing is paired with a comparably high entrance fee, which is at least 10€ above the entrance fee of comparable amusement parks in Germany and the near vicinity. There are also a lot of upcharge offers available, which is not really necessary. Thus, the Ravensburger Spieleland is only recommended if you don’t want to experience a theme park in the true sense of the word, but a charming park with numerous interactive games equipment, which, as I said, characterise the Spieleland and make it special.

 

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Ravensburger Spieleland

A great Afternoon in De Panne

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Preface

Years have passed since I first visited Plopsaland De Panne on a very busy Maundy Thursday. The catapult start roller coaster Anubis – The Ride was just four days old, but the amusement park could not convince me at all. With the derailment of their park railway, which back in the days was running through a large animal enclosure, my mood was down and I left the park early.

My memories of Plopsaland have been negatively influenced since then, but the constant development in De Panne was always of interest. Theme areas have been restructured or pounded out of the ground, a theatre has been built, as well as a very interesting swimming pool. With the construction of the wooden roller coaster Heidi – The Ride and the planned opening a visit was unavoidable, which is why I bought a Plopsa Funcard with parking pass (very worthwhile, especially regarding the Benelux parking fees) in the Holiday Park at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, the wooden roller coaster would not open this year due to noise problems.

After a short visit to the Plopsa Indoor Coevorden I reached the parking lot around 3pm. From there, under the incredibly well-positioned wooden roller coaster, a path leads to the park’s entrance. Such a crock, not being able to ride this beauty.

History of the Theme Park

The Plopsaland De Panne was opened in 2000, but the origins of the park date back to 1935. The Florizoone family opened Meli Park, the country’s first amusement park right next to their honey empire Meli. Constantly declining visitor numbers in the 90s led to the sale of the amusement park.. The (still quite fresh) Studio 100 brought the park back on the road to success with its own (children’s series) licenses.

Tour of the park

Mayaland

If you enter the park you find yourself on a covered Main Street and shortly thereafter on a huge square with some fountains. There are many paths to choose, but you can also find the entrance to the park’s theatre as well as the entrance to the indoor theme area Mayaland. This is a smaller version of Holiday Park’s children area and offers fun for the whole family with the Kontiki De Swingboom, the Flying Fish De Bloemenmolen, the Demolition Derby De Waterlelies and the Family Freefall Tower De Valtoren. Like the theatre and the adjacent swimming pool, the Mayaland is also used outside the regular parking opening times.

De Vleermuis

If you follows the course of the park’s railway, which incidentally passes through the hitherto unfinished theme area based around the children’s series Heidi, you quickly encounter the roller coaster De Vleermuis. This is a small coaster with free-swinging gondolas made by the company Caripro, in which both tracks deliver a race on the steadily sloping and rather simple layout in the form of an eight. Basically, only the quite fast vertical lift is notably. But you should hold on tight to prevent nasty surprises. The hard to enter ride vehicles and the rather small capacity do not speak for the ride. The ride is ok for the audience it serves, so mainly small children have some fun.

De Boomstammetjes

A few meters further on you will come across the beautifully designed medieval theme area, where De Boomstammetjes the park’s log flume and the powered roller coaster De Draak await their passengers. As one of the first of its kind, the log flume opened in 1989 with a double down. The ride is quite long and features two shoots. Unfortunately, the ride was not flooded.

De Draak

Above the log flume, the Draak was on its track. Through the long and beautiful queue you reach the station. The ride starts with a right-hander with some up and down features. A longer straight with some hills is following, but the speed is still missing. In a downhill helix the train takes some speed, but also the upcoming near-ground directional changes above the log flume can not really increase the tension. A right-hand helix leads the train back to lofty heights. In another downward helix you build up some speed again, whereupon the station is quickly passed through and another lap follows.

The ride on the roller coaster De Draak is unfortunately not very exciting nor fast. The course of the coaster is not really bad, it just lacks the speed for the existing elements. Without, the roller coaster is one of the most boring representatives of its kind, which does not bother the existing target group in the park.

Rollerskater

Arriving at the central lake, you immediately meet a Zierer Jet Ski and a magic bike by Zamperla, as well as the first earworm of the park, as both attractions are located in the Mega Mindy Universe and the series’ title song is played over and over again. You can find some peace at the neighbouring Rollerskater, a family coaster of the manufacturer Vekoma, which comes here in a beautiful and somehow oversized design.

Kaatje zoekt Eendje and Viktor’s Race

Next to the boat ride Kaatje zoekt Eendje you can find the family coaster Viktor’s Race. With the introduction of the children’s series “Kaatje van Ketnet”, the roller coaster Dongo’s Race was redesigned and features a new train and new rails; after all, the ride built in 1976 is the park’s oldest roller coaster and one of the most popular within the park. The transformation has a very positive effect on the ride and fits seamlessly into the general concept.

Rox Flyer and Prinssesia

Meanwhile, the Funtime Starflyer Rox Flyer looks like a foreign object in the park. Right next door you can find the park’s upscale restaurant Prinssesia housed in a fairy tale castle. The park’s tea cup is also included in the newly created complex and now features a roof above the ride.

Piratenboot, Storm op Zee and Super Splash

We complete the tour around the lake with the pirate theme area of Piet Piraat. In addition to the HUSS Pirate Piratenboot, which was elegantly placed on the lake, and the Koggenfahrt ride Storm op Zee, this area is dominated by the Mack Rides Super Splash of the same name. From a height of 18m you dive in spacious boats 20m to the ground, passes over a short hill and shortly after splashes into the lake. After that you are on a leisure cruise back to the station. The peculiarity of this ride is the reduction to the essentials, e.g. there is no unnecessary backward part at dizzy heights. The necessary rotation of the boats happens during the climb in the vertical lift. As always, you don’t get soaked on a Super Splash, but you will get wet.

Anubis – The Ride

In 2009, Anubis – The Ride – a roller coaster based around the TV series “Het Huis Anubis”, which was followed by its own German-language production on Nickelodeon shortly after – opened. The Anubis House is a boarding school in which a group of students experience numerous mystical adventures and intrigues; Accordingly, the presentation inside is extremely impressive, especially compared to Holiday Park’s Freefall Tower. The images of the cast were reduced and the soundtrack is not played in a continuous loop anymore.

Once seated in the six-seater car, one immediately leaves the station modelled after the Anubis house and takes some momentum in a short right turn. Shortly thereafter, the actuator located on the car dives into the stators located on the track accelerating the train to a speed of 90 km/h. Now you climb a very steep hill, similar to a half-sided Top Hat element. On the top, you quickly rotates sideways and dive down to the ground. Confronted with very high G-Forces you quickly rise up again to dive down within a dive loop. On a hill you experience some air time whilst changing the direction. In an Immelmann you see the world upside down for another time. A steep curve then leads you into the ride’s block brake section. Barely reduced in speed, a left turn leads you to the ground level. After that you run over a small hill and make the final change of direction, before you are swept up in a crisp and beautiful heartlineroll.. Shortly thereafter, you reach the station.

Anubis – The Ride is still pretty damn good. The ride offers some amazing G-Forces, the airtime is pronounced and the inversions are all passed through very quickly. The design of the ride is also done very well and creates a very unique ambience. As a standalone attraction, the ride is fully embedded in the overall concept of the park.

De Grote Golf and Wickie – The Battle

The visually most impressive theme area is the Wickieland built in 2013, where Vicky the Viking and the other vikings found their new home. With the nicely designed Zamperla Disk’o Coaster De Grote Golf and the picturesque Splash Battle Wickie – The Battle by Mack Rides you can find two great rides in a great atmosphere. Unfortunately, it is very noticeable that figures or groups of figures were used more often, so that sometimes the variety is missing. Since these figures can be found in all of the Plopsa Parks, this is very noticeable.

Kirmesplein

Equally well done is the newly arranged theme area Kirmesplein, which no longer looks like a collection of old rides. The wave swinger Wienerwalz was replaced by a newer copy. Likewise, a number of figures from the Samson & Gert universe can now be found in this area.

Het Bos van Plop

Next to the toddler area themed around the clown Bumba – which you should never show your children, unless they are fans of the teletubbies –, which is very popular in the Benelux countries, you can find the Kabouter Plop, after which Plopsaland De Panne was named, the park’s last remaining area. In addition to a small farm and a tractor ride – of course with free-range livestock – this area particularly captivates by the dark ride Het Bos van Plop, in which one can discover the world of the gnomes on a rather long journey. This is beautifully staged and has (most likely) a very large reference to the television series, which is why usually very long waiting times can be found here.

Pictures Plopsaland De Panne

Conclusion Plopsaland De Panne

Plopsaland De Panne has rapidly and steadily grown over the past seven years, giving the park a very Efteling-like charm. Everything is well done, which is why you feel really comfortable within the park. The additions and enhancements of the past years show impressively how a park can further develop existing concepts in order to offer an overall better experience. Plopsaland De Panne just became one of the best theme parks to visit in Europe.

 

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Plopsaland Belgium

Full speed ahead on Karacho

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Preface

Erlebnispark Tripsdrill is not a good theme park. Although my reports always reflect a very differentiated and well-considered opinion, it makes sense for once to anticipate a judgement and play with open cards. I don’t like this park and I will probably never like it. The fact that I visited the park for a second time after 2009 was only because of the rather new launch coaster Karacho and even for this one I would never want to visit the park again, but more about that later. In general, the Erlebnispark Tripsdrill is overpriced, has an inferior gastronomy and demands a small contribution at every corner to be able to use the full offer. The wildlife park that belongs to the park is, as also the parking, included in the entrance fee, but is probably not really visited by many visitors; after all, the only reasonable connection to it is your own car.

History of the Theme Park

It all began in 1929 with the construction of the Altweibermühle zu Tripsdrill. Eugen Fischer, the owner of an inn in Treffentrill, took the idea of building the Weibermühle von Tripsdrill from the singspiel by Georg Anton Bredelin after some hikers in the region had explicitly asked for the mill. The allegedly rejuvenating cure of the wild slide was soon on everyone’s lips and thus Tripsdrill steadily developed into a popular excursion destination in the region. In 1957 the first zoo in the immediate vicinity of the mill followed and from the 1960s on the first rides.

Tour of the park

The rides of the front area

When you enter the park, you will immediately find yourself on the nicely designed village street, where you will find the pleasant panoramic Maibaum ride next to the Gaudi quarter, a covered children’s playground featuring a free fall. Here you can also buy the tickets for the crossing to the Wildparadies.

The Mühlental with the famous Altweibermühle is located next to it. To prevent the men from idly assisting the women’s rejuvenation there is also the Altmännermühle, a mechanical open-air obstacle course of an older construction. The Doppelte Donnerbalken, a more than modest vertical ride with a strange inclination effect, the leisurely boat ride Spirtztour der Seefahrer, the children’s log flume Mühlbach-Fahrt, as well as the unique Seifenkistenrennen round off this area.

Friends of overlong leisurely rides will find what they are looking for at the wedding market. Here you will find three of these attractions: the vintage car and horse-drawn Hochzeitsreise, the Schmetterlingsflug and the Wiegen-Hochbahn. Since marriages nowadays tend to be of shorter duration, a trip on the wine bucket ride Weinkübelfahrt is recommendable, before you try your hand at the soup bowl ride Suppenschüsselfahrt through the individual soups in a similar way. With the coffee cup ride, the spinning game could continue, but unfortunately the park runs all flat rides on a low flame, so that even the prototype of this popular classic is not convincing. But this only really gets worse with the Gugelhupf-Gaudi-Tour, the first and only modern waltz ride from Münsterhausen, which, with the best will in the world, has nothing in common with its predecessor. The three other rides, Wäschekorb-Rundflug, Schlappen-Tour and the Wellenflieger Wirbelpilz, are, outside of their design, accordingly worth no mention. After all, the big Tivoli roller coaster Rasender Tausendfüßler by the manufacturer Zierer still manages to entertain the passengers well.

Up to the present time of the report, the front theme areas of the theme park have been covered because they more or less form a unit and are connected to the rear area only by a rather narrow path along the outer park boundary. So there is no direct connection to the quite dominant roller coaster Karacho, which means that you can get lost mercilessly if you don’t know the place.  The peeps of the notorious computer game Roller Coaster Tycoon would have complained loudly about not being able to find attraction XY, especially since the signage is not optimal. In fact, I don’t know of any other amusement park in Europe that is as badly constructed as Tripsdrill, although it can’t be that difficult to build an overpass or underpass and create a second access route, which should also benefit the general distribution of guests.

Waschzuber-Rafting

But if one should have made it to the back area, one immediately comes across to the first big attraction of the park, the Waschzuber-Rafting. This stylish Hafema ride is completely dedicated to the topic of doing the laundry and has some interesting exhibits in its queue that reminds of a museum. The ride through the winding road is not particularly wet, nor fast, but nice and really well embedded into the landscape.

Badewannen-Fahrt zum Jungbrunnen

Behind the round boat rafting, the facade of the Rauhe Klinge Castle attracts all eyes, after all, this beautifully designed concrete block on one side houses two larger rides, which complement each other extremely well. The log flume Badewannen-Fahrt zum Jungbrunnen (Bathtub Ride to the Fountain of Youth) is quite unusual, its name says it all and surprises some, let’s say rather prudish, passengers a little bit.

After one has left the, once again museum-like, queue behind him and got into his tub, the trip can start immediately. As soon as the boat swims freely in the canal, one dumbles a little towards the castle Rauhe Klinge. Parallel to the walls, the first lift takes the boat up for a short time before it goes down a short shot. In a right bend the canal leads you into the building, whereupon you have found the fountain of youth and indeed the old women seem to taper off into young, crisp and well-built women. But the view is only short and so the second lift leads up quickly. This is also where the first turntable is waiting for you, whereupon you take the second, medium sized downhill run backwards. At the back of the castle you now make a turn including the second turntable. Thereupon another lift hill leads you up one last time. At the top you can have a last look at the surrounding landscape before you turn left and enter the upper floor of the castle. After a shorter straight section the big and final shot of the lift takes place, whereupon contact with the wet element is inevitable. The spray is refreshing, so after returning to the station you will be very happy to get out of the tub.

G’sengte Sau

The second ride of the Rauhe Klinge Castle is the 1998 built bobsled coaster G’sengte Sau by the Münsterhausen manufacturer Gerstlauer and its sign the first new roller coaster from the former factories of the legendary roller coaster smithy Schwarzkopf. After the brisk lift hill, the ride starts with a very steep right-hand downward curve, whereupon an outward helix is completed in the same direction of rotation. This is followed by four powerful, contiguous serpentines, which are perfect for exerting some pressure on the person sitting next to you, before the ride, still introduced by the “Wetten, Dass…?”-sign of the famous bet of extreme sportsman Dirk Auer in 2001, goes into a rapid helix combination. The following camelbacks are quickly driven through and can lift you a little bit out of the car before it goes into a final helix-combination. After that the final braking section is reached immediately and shortly after that the station.

The G’sengte Sau offers all kinds of riding fun on the wild ride through the naked concrete world of the Rauhe Klinge castle. Beautiful is certainly different, which is shown above all by the identical Thor’s Hammer ride from the Danish amusement park Djurs Sommerland, but the ride is also incredibly cult, especially because of the banner of the family show “Wetten, Dass…?”, which was cancelled almost two years ago.

Mammut

If you follow the circular route, the next big attraction of the park is the wooden roller coaster Mammut. The roller coaster opened in 2008 and was designed and built by the company Holzbau Cordes, but the trains used are from Gerstlauer. The perfectly joined track and the trains with their sprung axles made for a much too smooth ride, especially in the first years, so that a wooden roller coaster feeling did not exist. A circumstance that made me call Mammut a rather bad wooden roller coaster, but the ride has aged nicely!

The journey begins with a short left turn out of the station and into an unsuitably designed disco sawmill. A small dip and the train hooks into the chain, whereupon it is brought to a starting height of 30m. The first descent is a steep left turn down to ground level. Here one passes a powerful valley before it immediately goes along a high turn with a good speed. A high camelback follows, where you are lifted out of your seat. This is again followed by a turning curve, but this one leads into a steep curve to the left, whereupon the train dives into a small ditch. A clearly low camelback now repeats the game of weightlessness of the passengers, whereupon a fast Bavarian curve is made. Now the track leads through the framework of the lift hill and along the back of the layout. Over a short zigzag track some shake & roll – attributes of a really great wooden roller coaster – takes place, before the train dives into a tunnel after a left turn and a short change of direction. Here, the wonderfully dynamic zigzag course is repeated one more time, whereupon the braking section is already reached.

Mammut is fun! In fact, so much so that, with the best will in the world, you wouldn’t expect it if you’d only seen it in 2009. It’s the best roller coaster of the park, which is why it’s even more a shame that it was on n one train operation during the visit, although there was quite a rush.

Karacho

Let’s get to the last and newest roller coaster of the park, the launch roller coaster Karacho. The expectations were quite high, because if there’s one thing Gerstlauer can do, it’s to launch a roller coaster onto a ride offering a very funny track, and indeed Karacho has both. But the layout couldn’t convince after getting on the train, as these trains are really uncomfortable and the operating personnel additionally pushes the bars down so far that the legs are literally squeezed between the bars and the edge of the seat. Ouch! Kärnan from Hansa Park, a theme park in northern Germany, shows how it’s done differently, but until the trains were delivered two years later there were certainly some changes to them.

The ride on Karacho begins with a slow right turn out of the station. After a short and relatively steep dip, a heartline roll is initiated on a straight line. This happens rather clumsy in my opinion, as the dynamics seem to be missing during this roll; an example how to do it better can be found at the English amusement park Thorpe Park on Saw – The Ride, where the roll is passed after a short bend. Then you pass the first block brake and shortly after that another, in my opinion much too small, dip. With Karacho you are now accelerated to a speed of 90 km/h, whereupon you shoot up a top hat element. Without taking a breather, the car crashes towards the ground, passes the following valley with full force and daringly shoots an oversized corkscrew towards it. Here you are turned upside down for a second time before the train is longing for the ground again. Very restless and quick-witted, the car now takes you over a hill that is strongly inclined to the side, just before you screw up to the block brake in a steep curve. Here you are slowed down to walking speed, whereupon the following part of Karacho is driven through very leisurely. A short gradient changes into a short and uneventful camelback, whereupon you stay in a right turn for a very long time. But then the car takes momentum again and turns the passengers upside down once more while going down in a diveloop. Another corkscrew joins in and at the same time leads into the braking section, whereupon the station of the roller coaster Karacho is reached soon.

Karacho is not only uncomfortable, it also lacks the bite. The ride would be just ok if you could ride it without pain, i.e. with the classic roller coaster trains of the manufacturer, but it wouldn’t be anymore either. Especially the part with the dive loop is done without the insane force of earlier coasters and therefore hardly gives an impression; not to mention the absolutely nonsensical ride part before. Karacho certainly does justice to the target audience.

Pictures Erlebnispark Tripsdrill

Conclusion Erlebnispark Tripsdrill

The Hansa Park of the South is not a good park; it is a nice park, but simply not a good one.  I have tried to understand and comprehend the whole adulation of various roller coaster and amusement park fans in different forums, but I just can’t. It’s a fact that even among Swabians (at least the one I met during my time in Stuttgart) it’s more of a toddler park. There’s simply nothing here that justifies the high entrance fee. Let’s see if the novelties after Karacho can change my opinion…

 

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Erlebnispark Tripsdrill