Tag: Zierer

Some hours in Erse Park Uetze

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Preface

After a few days in the city triangle of Bremen, Hamburg and Hannover, I went to the city triangle of Celle, Braunschweig and Hannover to visit the Erse Park in Abbeile, a small town just behind Uetze.

Originally I had planned to go to Potts Park near Minden, but I couldn’t get into the park because the highway A2 was closed due to a bomb clearance. After half an hour of traffic jam I decided to change my mind and make a small detour with a short stop on the way to Hamburg. Because my Navi did not save the park as a special destination (which surprised me very much, after all it knew the Magic Park in Verden), I finally found the right way after a little detour through Uetze.

Erse Park

When I arrived at Erse Park, I realized for the first time at a park of this size that they wanted my money after all. Here there was not only staff, moreover, they were very nice. The first impression promised a lot, which among other things was due to the beautiful park.

Reise in die Urzeit

A somewhat longer walk followed, past some exhibits of the primeval era, until you reach the first rides of the park. Here you will find with the Reise in die Urzeit a guided motorboat ride through primeval times, which was staged absolutely great, as well as an older Mack’s monorail, which you often find in amusement parks of the 70’s.

If you follow the path, you will soon find yourself in front of some fairy tale scenes that are more or less well done. You can clearly see the age of the scenes, and the same is true for the historical rides that are located in the immediate vicinity, which give a lovely impression.

Wackeltaxis

Meanwhile, things are getting really strange with the shaky Wackeltaxis from Metallbau Emmeln, whose course of travel is extremely wacky due to the eccentrically arranged wheels. As soon as you leave the station, the shaking starts immediately. It is a pity that there are not more installations of this kind. Thus, a ride on the unique piece of equipment is a duty of each visitor of the park.

Heege and the Looping Star

Fans of the interactive rides from Heege, which are often found in wildlife parks and smaller amusement parks, will get their money’s worth at Erse Park. Apart from wonderful airtime in the comet swing, the proven roller coaster fun on the Butterfly, two skydives, a Nautic Jet, a Luna Loop and a water roundabout, you will also find a very rare ride from the manufacturer: a Looping Star. This is a small, interactive ferris wheel, where you can make the gondolas roll over.

Just as well represented is the company Metallbau Emmeln, which, in addition to the above-mentioned wacky ride, offers a self-service boat swing (as you can also find in Magic Park Verden), a carpet slide and an electronic horse riding track, with which you can gallop through a dino landscape.

Bobkartbahn

Close to the horse-riding track there is a summer toboggan run from Wiegand, which does not have any mountains. Although the Bobkartbahn can only offer a very compact layout with a travel length of 300m, it convinces more than many other considerably larger facilities of its kind due to its well thought-out track layout.

Furthermore, in the rear part of the park, one finds some devices that require a sportive participation. Beside the water tricycles which are rather difficult to handle as a single person, the canoe ride is especially recommendable, because here you can get some insights into the very well presented dinosaurs.

Lost World Rafting

The ABC Rides Spinning Raft Prototype Lost World presents a similar picture. Besides the prehistoric exhibits, the prototype can impress with its built-in lift technology. The ride itself has little in common with a real rafting, but it is fun due to the winding descent. The return to the station is unfortunately very slow, as there is only a minimal current.

Wasserrutsche

Since the level of wetness was unfortunately limited, the nearby rubber dinghy slides from Dutch production had to be tested. As they obviously missed to install the boat return in the middle of the layout, you have to carry your boat to the starting position yourself. Similar to the Schloss Beck you are allowed to press the button to start the slide yourself. Especially worth mentioning is the variety of slides, which besides the usual wave slide, had one steep slide and one with a curve.

Familien-Achterbahn

The park also has a roller coaster with the so-called Familien-Achterbahn. The Force One ride built by Zierer is of course perfect for the target audience of the park and was wonderfully integrated into the park landscape. The train is much more comfortable than on newer installations, only the mechanical brake is a bit unexpected.

Pictures Erse Park

Conclusion Erse Park

The Erse Park is one of the small parks that you should definitely visit if you find yourself in this area. The staff members were all more than friendly and you never had the feeling to be unwanted. The park itself has a wonderful portfolio of rides, which you should definitely have experienced once. The continuously present primeval theme may be a bit strange at first, but can show some very well presented, although sometimes violent scenes. Fortunately, this does not belong to the image of an average small park. Erse Park is simply above avarage.

 

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Erse Park

A roller coaster ride in Phantasialand

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Phantasialand

Due to a competition with a low participation for the attraction Maus au Chocolat, which had not been opened yet, Phantasialand gave away several tickets for this year’s season. Since the time of my last visit in 2009 a lot has changed, for example the old Schwarzkopf dark ride Gondelbahn has been demolished. In addition, many new children’s rides from Zamperla have moved into the park, the neighbours have found a reason to complain – about the whisper-quiet water attraction Wakobato – and an extension is still far in the stars because of some environmental activists.

The first impression from the old entrance, which now only serves the shuttle guests, is quite nice, even though Main Street used to look nicer. The now present space looks quite strange at Phantasialand and the construction sites don’t fit into the ambience. A similar situation exists with the huge passage from Berlin to the fantasy area.

Fröhliche Bienenjagd

As one of the newer attractions, the Fröhliche Bienenjagd (Happy Bee Hunting) in particular was a good investment. From the outside, the ride can be quite inconspicuous, but this perception changes during the ride at a stroke when the car first dashes over the small hill. The corners of the mouth distort and a wide grin appears.

Hollywood Tour

The off-the beaten track located dark ride Hollywood Tour should separate itself from the old-fashioned theme, which is hardly recognisable during the ride. However, the ride is still more exciting than Pirates in Batavia at Europa-Park, where you can take a nap for 2/3 of the 20 mins journey. Still, there is so much more potential in this ride that can be used; a look at the current state of the ride is too much of an effort and should be avoided by any means.

Temple of the Nighthawk

One floor above the Hollywood Tour you will find the Vekoma roller coaster Temple of the Nighthawk. Unfortunately this roller coaster could hardly reproduce its once fast past ride. If you ride through the pitch dark with its constant changes of right and left curves at a snail’s pace, you can definitely do without the ride despite its outstanding length. Efteling’s Vogel Rok shows how intense comparable rides can be.

Winja’s Fear and Winja’s Force

Next door you have the choice between two mediocre spinning coasters, one of which is rather bad and the other simply better in almost every respect. Of course we are talking about Winja’s Fear and Winja’s Force. If you have to queue here for more than 30 minutes, only a ride on Winja’s Fear is worthwhile, as the layout tends to approach the top-class spinning coasters Dragon’s Fury and Crush’s Coaster due to its choice of elements. Only the special elements make the rides on both tracks an experience that you should – if still unknown – experience.

Race for Atlantis

If you walk up the hill, the first thing you encounter is the simulator Race for Atlantis, the highlight of which is the safety rap of the preshow if you are guided into one of the cabins at all, as the staff often forget the passengers. The simulation itself isn’t very worth mentioning, which is a shame, as the way the movie is shown has a lot of potential.

Talocan

The HUSS Suspended Top Spin Talocan is quite stylish from the outside, but always has the problem that more people watch than ride and therefore stand gawping in your way. The ride itself is balanced, intense and can score with its rollover series, which fortunately are longer than with an older Top Spin. You get the better – and also more stomach-friendly – ride on the spectator-directed side, as the wall doesn’t constantly rob you of your orientation.

Stonewash Creek and Wildwash Creek

If you enjoy the water, you can use two water playgrounds, the multi-storey rafting ride River Quest, as well as the two log flumes Stonewash Creek and Wildwash Creek. The left side of both rides has a much too short outlet, while the other side can be surprisingly wet. However, both rides are very in need of restoration and thus it wouldn’t be really surprising to see both rides soon levelled to the ground.

River Quest

With a little luck, the Hafema raft ride can make you more wet than the two log flumes together. However, if you are really lucky it can happen that you get soaked down to your underpants. But if you are damn very lucky, it can also happen that you are temporarily flooded with so much water that the other passengers in the boat cannot even see you for a short time. Amazingly, the shoes stayed dry, so there was no danger of catching blisters or other unfavourable stuff.

Mystery Castle

In order to get dry again, a trip on the nearby freefall tower can be taken. Unfortunately, the ride which is located in a high masonry does not offer, what it should offer. Basically, Mystery Castle is just a very loud elevator in a building. There is a lack of forces which prevents the ride of being as awesome as other Intamin installations worldwide.

Silbermine and Geisterrikscha

The Silbermine and Geisterrikscha dark rides were unfortunately not worth mentioning this time, although the Silvermine had no reputation to defend, as the ride is generally considered to be boring and, above all, lengthy. In the case of the Geisterrikscha, some of the scenes were literally made worse. If you don’t want to renew the entire ride, you should make sure that the charm of the ride is not damaged by your actions.

Feng Ju Palace

In the Feng Ju Palace – the Vekoma Mad House from Phantasialand – nothing wanted to run as it should. The projection towards the end of the ride missed the intended surface and was shown on the still spinning drum. At the end of the actual ride, this mistake caused the doors to be in a rather awkward position. After some time the drum was brought back to its starting position and the doors opened.

Black Mamba

It remains a mystery how the newspaper Bild titled the roller coaster Black Mamba as a crash-coaster, as the death of the person last Saturday was not caused by an accident, but by the carelessness of the victim. Despite all attempts to experience a crash by ourselves, the Black Mamba offered the solid ride for which it is well known. Since remaining seated in spite of empty seats is still not allowed and the queue is simply too long for such undertakings, we did not make many rides.

Colorado Adventure

One or two rounds – this time with remaining seated – were instead taken on the park’s showpiece roller coaster, the Colorado Adventure. The right side of the train became compulsory for friends of water sports, as it was not spared by the waterfall of the third lift. The strangely banked curves and the generally high speed make the ride one of the best of its kind, even though the back cushion is still not very comfortable.

Tikal

This year, in addition to a good and, above all, fast wave swinger made by Zierer, which also offers a wonderfully refreshing ride, two children’s free-fall towers from the same house were able to move into Phantasialand. Even if the size is deceptive, both towers of Tikal, as well as almost all children’s rides in Phantasialand, are very convincing. The ride is very surprising and unlike elsewhere it is very dynamic.

Conclusion Phantasialand

Phantasialand is a recommendable amusement park if you either have too much money or just won a card somewhere. Unfortunately, most rides are not worth mentioning anymore. It is also astonishing that several construction sites exist until the high season. Thus, there is unfortunately the hint that there are also other amusement parks in the vicinity of the city of Cologne that do a lot better than the park in Brühl. Phantasialand currently invests a lot, so the future remains open.

 

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Phantasialand

The Skunx sign X

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Walibi Holland

Since my last visit in 2009 a lot has been done within the park which is now known as Walibi Holland. The whole Walibi group got a makeover and offers a new leitmotiv theme. Also, the park’s boomerang roller coaster was reactivated.

If you enter Walibi Holland before 10 am you will not be entertained by the ingenious opening ceremony anymore. On the main stage in front of the giant wheel there is a small welcoming by Walibi and Co, where they made a small advertisement for their new show Rockstars: The Battle.

Enterprise

Since the crowd made their way to Speed ​​of Sound right from the start, we were drawn to the SLC prototype El Condor. However, the ride had some start-up problems, which is why we moved on to Goliath. We didn’t know that our first ride of the day would take place in a HUSS Enterprise, which was clearly seeking for passagers. An interesting feature of the ride is that the gondolas are from the former Walibi Belgium version and the rest of the ride is still original.

Space Shot

After the ride we went to the S&S Space Shot nearby, which now have a suitable background music since last season. Experience has shown that these towers break down very quickly. Later in the day there was a ride with an unintentionally long ride program, where the car rose a few feet up and then came back gently to the ground and then stood still for 15 minutes in total.

Goliath

After referring to Goliath in the last report from the park, I have to change my mind in this report. The ride is just fun and offers the strangest kind of airtime  I could experience so far on a roller coaster. Back in 2009 only Stengel Dive could me, as the train was only able to creep along the track. This year  however even the curves could push one into the seat. A big compliment goes to the probably most batty operator of the world, who not only wishes you a good trip, but also wishes you a nice trip during the departure of the train.

Robin Hood

Another highlight in my opinion is the wooden roller coaster Robin Hood, which convinced me right away two years ago. In terms of wooden roller coasters Vekoma has actually done everything right, it’s quite a wonder that there are only three ever build. Riding a wooden roller coaster over and over again at the end of the visit is always a wonderful activity to end a nice day properly.

Merlin’s Magic Castle

In Merlin’s Magic Castle – one of the most beautiful Mad houses by Vekoma – everything was great. In addition to the wonderful preshow, as well as the atmospheric music, one of the best main rooms of this ride type awaits you in here. Be sure to try!

Crazy River and Rattlesnake

In the western area of Walibi Holland you will find with Crazy River one of the best log flume courses in the world, which however was slightly to dry. Next to the VISA SBF Frisbee with a really bad ride program you can find the roller coaster, which was formerly known as Woks Waanzin: The Zierer Tivoli Medium named Rattlesnake. The ride uses the old waiting area of ​​the Flying Dutchman Gold Mine roller coaster, which is now based in the french amusement park Mer de Sable (nearby Paris).. The train with a new front and new tail adapt well in its new place.

Splash Battle

Of course a rafting and log flume are not enough for water soakers, so the park offers a splash battle battle. Typically for a Preston & Barbieri Splash Battle Ride most of the water canons in the boats are not working. But, the ride itself even gets you wetter if you can’t defend yourself and that’s actually a good thing.

Spinning Vibe

Just like two years ago, the HUSS Magic did not lift its arms on the day of visit. Strangely enough, this feature worked wonderfully at the start of the season. The ride was long and quite intense, as the ride was manually controlled.

Speed ​​of Sound

Now we come to the former Italian theme area of ​​Walibi Holland, where we find next to a wave swinger with tight clearance profile (the trees are pretty close), a talking well – which also likes to get the visitors wet –, the Boomerang roller coaster Speed ​​of Sound. The roller coaster was completely re-branded this year and fitted with a new train. The result is overwhelming. Although the ride is not the smoothest of its kind – this is still the Cobra in Walibi Belgium – the new restraining system completely prevents you from any slaps of any kind. However,  you have to get used to the tight-fitting vest.

The sound system of the Boomerang initially struggled with some difficulties and so not all segments of the song were played. But this was fixed after some time and so you could enjoy the whole song. In addition to the onboard sound you are confronted in the station with a earworm producing sound. The Compagnie des Alpes has done everything right with this ride and so we can only hope that other parks will follow soon after.

El Rio Grande

Since the rapid ride El Rio Grande was still being prepared for the season in April 2009, I was looking forward to my first trip on one of the only two Vekoma rapid rides ever produced. From all rapid rides ever build, this one offers the more accurate sensation of a truly white water rafting. With a bit of luck, you can even get wet.

El Condor

Let’s move on to Mexico, where you can ride the prototype of all suspended looping coasters from Vekoma in addition to a bumper car and a rather weak flat ride with sombrero hats. The techno sound has left the station and so you are sonicated with a soundtrack suitable for the area. The ride itself is good, though not necessarily meant for tender minds.

Rockstars: The Battle

Now we come to the show Rockstars: The Battle, which was dominated by Themepark.nl, as the Dutch forum had a meeting in Walibi Holland. Unfortunately the show was not that good, even though the Skunx performed well. In general, you have to say that the costumes give the wearers a large degree of freedom., they even could break-dance. After all these changes, I foresee a very bright future for Walibi and his brother Squad.

Pictures Walibi Holland

 

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Walibi Holland