MackMan
Mega Poster
Gardaland was not a park i honestly was planning on travelling to anytime soon. I happened to have a spare day on my trip to Milan/Venice, so decided i would try and squeeze in a Merlin park and give them my money. Honestly i had wanted to visit Gardaland, but it never had that lineup to really entice me.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT**
As someone who cannot drive due to medical reasons, this is an important thing to me. Trains to nearby Peschiera del Garda are frequent, and Merlin operates a shuttle bus between the station and the park. I found it generally pretty easygoing, and refreshing compared to the car-centric UK and US (Alton Towers by public transport is comical).
IMPRESSIONS:
The park comes across as well kept, pretty at points, and generally presented well. It looks like it receives a fair amount of love from Merlin, but being a Merlin property, you do realize some cracks. Why is there a Buddha statue in this aztec themed rapids ride? Why is there an Egyptian Temple queueline for Jumanji, is it in the movie? There's not a fu**ng rainforest in the middle of The Sahara Merlin. Other than that, the park has some nice theming, some nice landscaping, and came across as clean. Anyway, i'm gonna review the stuff that stood out to me.
RAPTOR: This was a very fun wing. I really enjoyed the straight drop, the near misses, and the final inversion. Like the other wing coasters, i honestly do not really rate it that much to be fair. It is kinda forceless, and borderline a family coaster IMO. But it is a very fun coaster, and something i am glad they added.
Oblivion- The Black Hole: People have been hyping this up for me, saying its like this underated gem. And yeah, it certainly is a great Dive. It has a great drop, not original oblivion great, but great. It has a great airtime hill, and a good finale. I really enjoyed the airtime hill, though honestly expect some mild floater at best. Honestly though- its the best coaster here, but not really anything too much to shout about. Its miles ahead of Valravn anyway. Oblivion, controversially, is still my favourite of the three i have ridden. I just find the drop so intense and crazy on that ride.
SHAMAN:
"it looks terrible, i am not going to ride it".
"wait, it looks retracked, with vest restraints?"
"I better give it a ride- how bad can it be?"
IT was that bad. The second corkscrew gave me such a big jolt it launched me into the padding- a headache throbbed for half a hour that even some morphine wouldn't fix.
Blue Tornado:
I didn't bother. If you would, do better, want more for yourself.
JUMANJI: Not the one at Chessington:
What a cool dark ride. I really liked the mixture of screens and practical effects, the fast pace, and the fair length. I found the experience bar the queueline a very good showing off Merlin. It provides the park a solid dark ride, which in the italian summer- being indoors is a godsend!
Pirates In Batavia? No, wrong one? The pirate one
This dark ride was a surprise. I had no idea going in, absolute no clue it even existed. I found it was really underated! It had great large true sets, effects, and it was very long too! It sits quite quiet in the corner of the park, but it is a total killer attraction.
Jumanji: The Labyrinth:
I think, if i had lets say 10K and a fair space. I could happily do this this attraction but better. It has some cool ideas, like a mirror maze. But pathways with black walls with a rope is just hilarious. Who asked for this? This attraction sums up exactly why Merlin need to take their antipsychotic meds more. Black Mirror, Sub Terra, IAC, and stuff like this. U OK Hun?
PARK REVIEW:
Gardaland has great staff, operations, charm, and beauty. It just lacks, a spark. It lacks something, something wow. I found the park just a little eh. The coaster lineup is just a lot of fat tbf, you could demolish half the lineup, and you'd be saving so many italians from suffering injuries. With a new standout coaster, i would revisit. But for what it is, its a mid tier Merlin Park. To be positive though- it was a fairly quiet day and everything ran two trains, had fast ops, and staff were all very friendly and speedy. So, the people working there made the experience a lot more enjoyable.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT**
As someone who cannot drive due to medical reasons, this is an important thing to me. Trains to nearby Peschiera del Garda are frequent, and Merlin operates a shuttle bus between the station and the park. I found it generally pretty easygoing, and refreshing compared to the car-centric UK and US (Alton Towers by public transport is comical).
IMPRESSIONS:
The park comes across as well kept, pretty at points, and generally presented well. It looks like it receives a fair amount of love from Merlin, but being a Merlin property, you do realize some cracks. Why is there a Buddha statue in this aztec themed rapids ride? Why is there an Egyptian Temple queueline for Jumanji, is it in the movie? There's not a fu**ng rainforest in the middle of The Sahara Merlin. Other than that, the park has some nice theming, some nice landscaping, and came across as clean. Anyway, i'm gonna review the stuff that stood out to me.
RAPTOR: This was a very fun wing. I really enjoyed the straight drop, the near misses, and the final inversion. Like the other wing coasters, i honestly do not really rate it that much to be fair. It is kinda forceless, and borderline a family coaster IMO. But it is a very fun coaster, and something i am glad they added.
Oblivion- The Black Hole: People have been hyping this up for me, saying its like this underated gem. And yeah, it certainly is a great Dive. It has a great drop, not original oblivion great, but great. It has a great airtime hill, and a good finale. I really enjoyed the airtime hill, though honestly expect some mild floater at best. Honestly though- its the best coaster here, but not really anything too much to shout about. Its miles ahead of Valravn anyway. Oblivion, controversially, is still my favourite of the three i have ridden. I just find the drop so intense and crazy on that ride.
SHAMAN:
"it looks terrible, i am not going to ride it".
"wait, it looks retracked, with vest restraints?"
"I better give it a ride- how bad can it be?"
IT was that bad. The second corkscrew gave me such a big jolt it launched me into the padding- a headache throbbed for half a hour that even some morphine wouldn't fix.
Blue Tornado:
I didn't bother. If you would, do better, want more for yourself.
JUMANJI: Not the one at Chessington:
What a cool dark ride. I really liked the mixture of screens and practical effects, the fast pace, and the fair length. I found the experience bar the queueline a very good showing off Merlin. It provides the park a solid dark ride, which in the italian summer- being indoors is a godsend!
This dark ride was a surprise. I had no idea going in, absolute no clue it even existed. I found it was really underated! It had great large true sets, effects, and it was very long too! It sits quite quiet in the corner of the park, but it is a total killer attraction.
Jumanji: The Labyrinth:
I think, if i had lets say 10K and a fair space. I could happily do this this attraction but better. It has some cool ideas, like a mirror maze. But pathways with black walls with a rope is just hilarious. Who asked for this? This attraction sums up exactly why Merlin need to take their antipsychotic meds more. Black Mirror, Sub Terra, IAC, and stuff like this. U OK Hun?
PARK REVIEW:
Gardaland has great staff, operations, charm, and beauty. It just lacks, a spark. It lacks something, something wow. I found the park just a little eh. The coaster lineup is just a lot of fat tbf, you could demolish half the lineup, and you'd be saving so many italians from suffering injuries. With a new standout coaster, i would revisit. But for what it is, its a mid tier Merlin Park. To be positive though- it was a fairly quiet day and everything ran two trains, had fast ops, and staff were all very friendly and speedy. So, the people working there made the experience a lot more enjoyable.
