Zierer

French lobby work at Europa Park

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Preface

It’s interesting to see that in a year when every major theme park in Germany has a new attraction, Europa-Park has been left out of the media hype. Fortunately, the situation was different for the park in France, so at least there is some interest in Arthur. In France, Luc Besson’s animated film series has always been very successful, whereas in Germany, Arthur and the Kingdom of the Minimoys has only been successful in the media thanks to the voice of Tokyo Hotel singer Bill Kaulitz.

Since nobody in Germany actually knows the films, it’s hard to understand why they decided to apply for these licences, because even without the film reference and the rather modest name of the actual ride, the ride could work. On the other hand, a lot of French people visit the park, and as has been shown all too often in English theme parks, you need themed areas licensed from popular children’s series to successfully attract the masses these days.

The new ride at Europa Park

Arthur

French Lobby – The ride is located in the Kingdom of the Minimoys themed area, a very compact hall similar to the Wuze Town themed area at Phantasialand, with some slides, a beautifully designed Zamperla Jump Around and a Zierer Family Freefall Tower. The coaster’s ride along the ceiling of the hall is the highlight of the public area.

As the ride is still ‘new’ this year, be sure to get on at the start of the day, although technical difficulties can delay the opening by a few minutes. You won’t have to wait that long during the day and you can queue for Arthur straight away. As the single rider queue is not visible until you pass through the entrance portal to the ride, it can be worth at least stopping there and not being distracted by the regular queue.

The Ride

Once you have passed through the well-designed waiting area, you take your seat in the appropriately designed vehicle, which is transported on a conveyor belt. One turn and a simultaneous film sequence later, you find yourself in the realm of the Minimoys and at the same time confronted with a new addition to Europa Park, but more about that later.

Surprisingly fast, the track climbs up the hill before passing some dark ride scenes at the right speed. Shortly after, the first real roller coaster section follows, where you leave the hall for a moment. One turn later and you are back in the hall, where ‘Paradise Alley’ shows its best side – an admittedly very original set. A few metres of track later, you escape from a rat and find yourself under the roof of the hall, whereupon the next scene involves a boss fight. The Mack company are demonstrating all sorts of features on their car, and the button on the bar, which seemed pointless at first, is used. This is followed by the second rollercoaster section of the ride, where a short combination of downhill and uphill curves provides some speed, but the following uphill helix slows things down massively, and the ride comes to an end.

The farewell of the protagonists, known and unknown from the film, shows a certain consistency that is lacking in many other themed rides at Europa Park, and Arthur also lacks the typical overloaded scenes. So it’s no wonder that Arthur – the Ride, which I had previously, and not jokingly, described as French lobbying work, is a very convincing dark ride. The ride is well made and has a certain symbiosis of well-designed scenes and almost old-fashioned animatronics, while modern design and a certain, but fortunately subtle, interaction is not missing.

Conclusion Arthur

However, as a coaster, Arthur is only a prototype and there is still a lot to be improved, such as the general smoothness of the ride, which is not very satisfying, and the way the gondolas turn. Still, there is a lot of potential in this system, so we will probably see more units in the coming years.

More important than the attraction itself, however, is its location. The Fairytale Forest, which has been less visited, will benefit greatly.

What is your opinion of the Suspended Powered Coaster Arthur? Just write them in the comment field below the report or in our social media channels:

 

       

Click here for the overview page of Europa Park

Europa Park

About truly small roller coasters in Steinau

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Erlebnispark Steinau

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

Erlis Seifenkiste

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

Sommerrodelbahn

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

Butterfly and Kometenschaukel

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

Wegebahn

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

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

Pictures Erlebnispark Steinau

Conclusion Erlebnispark Steinau

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

 

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Erlebnispark Steinau

Wild eagles and fog-shrouded tracks

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Preface

It was crazy to go back home one day after driving 500km to the south, only to drift off towards the Netherlands. On the other hand, the trip to the Fort Fun Abenteuerland in Sauerland to test the new attractions, including the Top Spin Yukan Raft, was a necessary part of our plan, which no minefield in Hesse could stop us from doing. Our trip was unforeseenly made more expensive by the community of Wetter and their hilarious and unfortunately very modern photo equipment by 25€. Therefore, it is no wonder that the more beautiful part of the Sauerland makes fun of the neighboring Hesse by a mercilessly oversized number of speed cameras, namely a single one (even with a warning when entering the state).

Arrived at the cash desk of the Fort Fun Abenteurland we first got ourselves the annual passes which are very important for us to mercilessly and honestly raid the service station. On the question if we are only here for the vouchers we got the tip that you don’t even have to come to Fort Fun, after all the annual tickets including the vouchers can be sent by mail. A great offer for the coming years, of course, but on the other hand, the park under the guidance of the Companie des Alpes is definitely worth a visit.

Tour of the park

Wild Eagle

At the time of the visit, not too many people saw this, so that the rush was very limited and apart from a company meeting, hardly any other guests got lost in the foggy abysses of the park. For this reason Jan, Julian and I dared to take a ride on the Wild Eagle, which is an upcharge attraction for only 1€ p.p. and really doesn’t matter to anyone. The Wild Eagle is a suspended ride. Lying on your stomach, it is pulled backwards up the mountain to reach its maximum flying height about halfway down the Alpine Coaster Trapper Slider. Shortly after that it goes flying downhill, whereby the actual ride pleasure is very limited in order to be braked very early. All in all, the whole thing was an action you should do once if there is a reasonable waiting time at the ride, but you can also do without it.

Speed Snake

So early in the morning there was a wonderful atmosphere at the Vekoma roller coaster Speed Snake. The undeniable photogenicity of the Arrow’s rail profile and the all around existing infrastructure made for countless photos, even though most of them could be taken without a train. In order to make this possible for Jan and Julian, I decided to take a ride in the second car, which strangely enough just hopped over the rail, while all the other cars offered a smooth and rock solid ride.

Rocky Mountain Rallye

Further down in the valley and past the still closed Marienkäferbahn (ladybird coaster), which was still closed due to the cold, and the luckily removed children’s parking area, we made our way to the Rocky Mountain Rallye, the newly designed Monza track. Although the changes were really only made on a small scale, the ride now appears coherent in the overall concept of the park.

Yukan Raft

The second innovation this year, Yukan Raft, is similarly coherent. As with the Indoor Round Up Dark Raver, Fort Fun has proven that they have a knack for designing used rides appropriately and making them interesting. The fact that the ride on the Yukan Raft turns out to be outstanding is something you can be very happy about with a permanently installed Top Spins, because such an exciting ride as well as an intensive ride has rarely been offered by the showman Plaenert, who previously owned this ride, although he could be taken as a benchmark for a good ride.

Secret Stage of Horror

On the top level of the park, the last novelty since my last visit is revealed to the visitors. This is the newly designed and highly praised ghost train Secret Stage of Horror, which did not really surprise us. Where the ride was a very bizarre but good ghost train before, it is now a good ghost train with really good ideas, but somehow nothing more. The video projections are all good, the house in general is really well darkened, but during the ride nothing happens and the rest of the ride is not enough to really get you into the story line.

Pictures Fort Fun Abenteuerland

Conclusion Fort Fun Abenteuerland

Although I considered Fort Fun a good park on my last visit, this visit helped me to see it as one of the better parks in Germany. The Companie des Alpes is doing a lot of work here, although they wanted to sell the park. The existing territory leaves room for more and so one can only hope that in the future more people will make their way to Fort Fun Abenteuerland to make room for further investments.

 

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Fort Fun Abenteuerland