Tag: Zierer

Of dragons and dinosaurs

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The new additions of Holiday Park

Dino Splash

In 2020, Holiday Park gave its popular rapid river Donnerfluss a new life. The new dinosaur theme fits the ride perfectly and the figures create a quite immersive environment. You feel like going onto an adventure when queueing for the ride. Unfortunately, the old reference to the mighty Thunder River (the first ever installation of a rapids ride, which was located in the long gone Six Flags Astroworld) is gone and replaced by the generic ride name Dino Splash to be in line with other water attractions at the various Plopsa parks. 

Holiday Indoor

Since 2018, Holiday Park is home to a large indoor area of the same size as the Plopsa Indoor theme parks. The area is very well themed and is home to a bunch of rides, play areas, a stage and a restaurant. Its main attractions are a carousel, the flat ride Mias Elfenflug and the roller coaster Tabalugas Achterbahn. The rides are all themed to various TV shows of Studio 100.  

Tabalugas Achterbahn

Tabalugas Achterbahn is the newest roller coaster at Holiday Park. The ride is located at the righthand corner of Holiday Indoor. While the station of the ride is well themed, the indoor section features just a bunch of figures of the popular German TV show in a night sky environment. Nevertheless, the ride is a very solid family coaster. 

Miscellaneous

Holiday Park’s wonderful water ski show sadly is no more. The area to the back of the park is now closed to make room for a future addition. At the same time, the area around the Lighthouse tower improved a lot. The water play area Super Wings Wasserspielplatz is the newest addition next to the Beach Rescue jet ski ride by Zierer and the cute Fischerboote by Metallbau Emmeln.

Pictures Holiday Park

 

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The exotic additions of Walibi Belgium

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Preface

When I visited Walibi Belgium last year, I unfortunately experienced the most crowded day due to an event by the Belgian Red Cross. Walibi themselves did a great job in managing the crowd level, yet as you can imagine, I did not experience many rides. Although I managed to ride most of the new additions, I missed a ride on the Gerstlauer bobsled coaster Tiki Waka, due to its limited capacity and a resulting wait time of more than two hours. This year however, I basically started with a ride on the exotic racer.

Tiki Waka

The ride on Tiki Waka immediately starts with a tight left curve, whereupon we enter the ride’s lift. High above the park’s paths we then take a small dip and dart directly into the first block brake in a slightly winding course. The second drop of the ride is a bit more defined and is followed by a valley at lofty heights. Several turnarounds follow. After passing the second block brake, we finally go down to the ground in a curvy drop. We then pass the boat ride Gold River by a twisty hill. A likewise twisty ascent then leads us into the fourth block brake. A small dip then leads us into a series of airtime hill, which guides us into a very tight helix at which end we hit the final brakes.

Tiki Waka is a very nice addition to the park, yet it is a rather family-friendly ride which lacks a bit of the speed, lateral forces and airtime for which the model is actually known for.

Popcorn Revenge

Right next to the roller coaster Cobra there is the entrance to the interactive dark ride Popcorn Revenge. Located in an old cinema in the Indian-inspired Karma World themed area, the ride tells the story of Popcorn attacking the Cinema goers. The guests themselves are equipped with sirup cannons to calm the corn down. The trackless vehicles make their way through the theatre with brief stops in front of the screens of the highly themed cinemas, where most of the action takes place. Overall, the ride is very enjoyable and extremely entertaining. Well done, Walibi!

Fun Pilot

Located right next to mad house Palais du Genie and adjacent to the large children’s area Fun World, you can find the small family roller coaster Fun Pilot. The ride made by Zierer consists of two back-to-back helices and is a very fine entrance level coaster for all future enthusiasts out there.

Kondaa

Since 2021, the highlight of Walibi Belgium is the roller coaster Kondaa. The ride built by Intamin features an absolutely fantastic layout, as well as some very wacky elements.

The ride on Kondaa starts with a quick ascent to a high of 50 m. Here we take a very twisty drop to the ground, which is directly inspired by the first drop of Holiday Park’s famous Mega Coaster Expedition GeForce. The drop is followed by an airtime hill, which let you fly out of your seat. In the next valley, we drop onto our seats again before climbing a rather crocked hill, which bends to the right and impresses the riders with a unique airtime sensation. This is followed by the world’s only non-inverted Cobra Roll – an interestingly looking ride element, which offers a variety of great twisting sensations. A speed bump then leads us into a series of low to the ground curves and turnarounds followed by multiple twisted airtime hills. With a good smile on our face, we then hit the brakes.

Kondaa is an utterly brilliant roller coaster. The ride quickly became a fan favourite. The fast pacing, the high number of one-of-a-kind ride elements and the low to the ground airtime hills speak for themselves.  

Pictures Walibi Belgium

 

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The Biberburg of Familypark

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Since 2019, Austria’s largest amusement park has been part of the French amusement park group Compagnie des Alpes, which operates the Walibi amusement parks and Parc Astérix, among others. While it is a shame when a family-run amusement park is bought out, on the other hand, this can create completely different opportunities that ultimately benefit the park. Especially with regard to the investment-friendly Compagnie des Alpes, we can look forward to numerous new attractions.

Almjodler

One of the last investments before the takeover was the double family freefall tower Almjodler made by Zierer. The two freefall towers are interestingly located right next to the Verrückte Vogelscheuche, creating a fun little corner of family-friendly vertical rides, with all rides being equally popular.

Der durchgedrehte Wirbelsturm

Also from Zierer, the Kontiki Der durchgedrehte Wirbelsturm moved into the park in 2019. This is a rotating swing on rails that causes a lot of excitement – especially for the smaller guests of the family park.

Stellarium

Like hardly any other ride before it, the Zamperla NebulaZ is taking the theme park world by storm, including the Familypark in 2021. The visually stunning ride offers a wild ride that is, however, very family-friendly.

Biberburg

Intamin’s Biberburg log flume is the biggest ever attraction in the park’s history. Instead of being built somewhere on the edge of the park, the ride is located in the middle of the theme park’s farm area and therefore looks as if the ride, which opened in 2022, had always been there. The log flume is equipped with all kinds of technical gimmicks. For example, there is a clever switch track that allows you to gently enter or exit without a noticeable jolt, and a vertical lift that takes passengers up to a height of 17 metres.

The ride in the spacious boats begins immediately with a short shot into the cool water. Well moistened, we then enter the Biberburg Zentrale, where a small dark ride section awaits us. Back in daylight, we bob along the canal for a while and enjoy the view of the upcoming journey before we enter a sawmill. However, instead of being reduced to rubble, we quickly leave the mill in reverse and immediately descend the second shot.  After a few bends, the path leads us below the last shot, where the vertical lift is waiting for us. Having reached the starting height of 17m, we race down the big drop and immediately over a hill, which leads us into the final water pool. Well soaked, the return to the station follows.

The Biberburg is a really nice log flume ride. The integration into the existing themed area and the clever use of the terrain speak for themselves. Despite the three drops, the ride’s level of wetness is manageable. Unfortunately, the final hill lacks a bit of airtime; a slight lift-off on the hill would have made this really good flume ride an even better one. All in all, the Biberburg is a very successful novelty for the Familypark.

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