Went on a trip to Belgium, Netherlands and Germany (with CoasterBreaks) and managed to collect up some incredible credits along the way. Thought I'd give the best ones some reviews.
Background: used to be a thorpe park fan about 20 years ago, and was fairly active on coasterforce then, aged 12-13. Since then stopped being an enthusiast but have been to Port Aventura and SF GAdv about 10 years ago. This year, Hyperia has re-ignited the spark.
In order that I rode them:
1) Kondaa
Think we did this 4 or 5 times total, minimal queues despite being a summer Saturday, which was very nice.
Theming and landscaping around the queue and station is pretty awesome, with some cave art and things like that. There's a cool wobbly bridge across water which is quite fun just outside the entrance too. I'm not too bothered with theming generally, so I won't be talking about it too much in my reviews.
Onto the ride itself. Got back row first time and several other back-half cars in my later rides. Lift hill is fast. Personally I like a slow lift hill... but also I like being thrown over the top of a steep first drop, which this does well. So can't really complain. I hadn't really looked much into the coasters on this trip and I was a bit disappointed with Kondaa's height (164 ft), especially when I was told it was the tallest coaster on the trip. If Kondaa was 200+ feet it'd be a whole lot better.
The first drop took me by surprise with it's laterals. Having recently ridden Hyperia, the drop felt a lot more tame in comparison, but the lats are pretty powerful as it twists, which is quite nice. From there the next two big airtime hills/outer-bank are fairly awesome, but again, felt kinda tame compared to Hyperia imo. Both in airtime intensity and duration. Still, pretty awesome though.
Airtime is a bit like chasing the dragon. Initially the small hit of floater on Colossus (Thorpe Park) used to blow my mind. Now I describe an ejector outer-bank as 'kinda tame'. Damn.
Going back to Kondaa, after the hills it does this non inverting Cobra roll. Its alright.
Then Kondaa drops lower and does a bunch of turns and smaller airtime hills before hitting the brakes pretty fast. These are quite fun, nothing crazy but a nice finish to a nice coaster.
Overall: 8.5/10
2) Star Trek: Operation Enterprise
2 rides on this. Failed to take any good pics.
Extensively themed queue line, with some kind of German language pre-show that happened during my second time queueing for this ride. Kinda just wanted to get on the ride. Not really for me tbh. On to the ride...
I like how there's a closed door to the switch track section before the launch, it's kinda a nice touch. As is the smooth slide over to the launch track. It's nice. As the door opened to let the train before mine through, I saw a brief glimpse of outside. It was pouring with rain. Big heavy summer storm. Raining stair rods, cats and dogs, pissing it down. Whatever superlative or idiom you want for the heaviest rain imaginable, it was that.
So on my ride, while waiting for the launch into this heavy rain, everyone on my train was furiously putting hoods up and looking a bit concerned about our imminent painful drenching. Launched forwards. It really is weak lol. Backwards - in back row - quite fun. The spike is pretty good at the back. Got front row on my second ride and it wasn't much to speak of there. From there on the third launch is ok, and the ride is short and fairly sweet with some aggressive hangtime and a good airtime pop at the back, coming off the top hat. Riding in the heavy rain was interesting. I actually quite enjoy it tbh. Was quite painful, absolutely drenched getting off. Second ride at the front and dry was less good, as it lacks the airtime off the tophat.
Another very good, but not insanely good ride. 8/10
3) F.L.Y.
2 rides, once front and once a few rows further back.
Waited for this one to open for about 45 mins, then went straight for the front seat queue. Very, very nicely themed area and queue. Really high effort. Quite impressed.
Get to the station. Was NOT expecting the train to come in sideways like that. That's cool. Pre-launch section is quite cool as is the transition to flying position.
I've only been on one flying coaster before and it really impressed me. Superman at Six Flags Great Adventure. I just really enjoy the flying position. So I was looking forward to this.
And it impressed me a lot! Really fun layout with lots of close interactions with scenery and quite good launches, and some airtime. Felt quite intense.
Second ride didn't do quite as much for me and didn't feel so intense, maybe due to position or maybe just desensitied myself to it a little.
Amusingly on the second ride I was readjusting my restraint a bit in the station and I managed to get the seatbelt straps that control the vest tightness to lock in their loosest possible position. I'm quite skinny so there was a LOT of space. I was a little bit concerned about safety. I think the person I was riding with was also a little perturbed by how loose it was. Lol. Oh well. Hanging into the restraint (99% of the ride) it felt normal but during the airtime I really was just floating there in midair for a bit. Pretty cool.
9/10 awesome ride
4) Taron
2 rides, front and middle
The noise this coaster makes as it launches is awesome. Very different from most LSMs.
Very cool ride area and integrated into the excellent landscaping very very well. Queued for about 40 mins.
Awesome ride, excellent duration, some awesome ejector-transitions and really fun layout. Second launch is a banger. Layout feels fast. Excellent laterals and just a whole lot of intenseness. Feels wild. Got a tip off from the tourguide you could touch the waterfall on the second launch and managed to touch a drop of water which was a fun thing to do. Absolutely slams into the brakes: other riders on the train are laughing, whooping. You can tell this ride reliably exhilarates people from the reactions at the end.
Really good. Could ride this forever. Sad I only got 2 rides tbh.
9.5/10
4) Fenix
3 rides, 1 in rain, 2 in dry.
B&M wings don't do much for me. Pretty good though. Was better in the rain imo, made it feel a bit more wild. 7/10
5) Troy
3 or 4 rides
Ooh baby this is what a woodie should be. For those who aren't familiar, the station for Troy is a entirely wooden structure. There is also a bit of track mid-ride that comes through the station just above the loading platform. The train comes absolutely thundering along this straight of track through the station and there's an enormous roar and the whole building shakes.
I hadn't actually realised how well Troy was rated. I think I had mixed it up with Joris en Draak in terms of ratings from my pre-trip research and was expecting something pretty good but not great. Well I was wrong!
I just love, love, love a woodie that has just the right amount of roughness and shake. Not violent, but enough to make it feel absolutely wild. The layout was great with loads of airtime and laterals and it feels really fast. Coming through the station was fun. Good duration.
Excellent ride. 9.5/10.
6) Lost Gravity
2 rides.
Pretty awesome. Something about Mack restraints just makes me feel unsafe even though they're insanely comfortable and I know they're safe. Hangtime and ejector airtime in Mack restraints just seems to make something in me panic. And I love it. This adds a little bit to the experience for pretty much all Mack rides for me. More on this later. Some nice modern Mack vibes on this ride. Vibes akin to if Hyperia had a baby with a Wild Mouse.
7.5/10
7) Untamed
5 rides
I was very very excited for this. Most hyped I had been all trip. Sat near the back for first ride. Hmm...
Not going to lie, my first ride was slightly disappointing. Like, it was awesome but I was expecting a little more. Maybe too smooth for my tastes? The ejector wasn't quite as powerful as Hyperia and I felt much more secure. Coming off, the tour guide mentioned that it had been a relatively tame ride of Untamed, and that it would warm up a bit. Fair enough, I'll withhold my judgement.
Did another ride later and then I think 3 more towards the end of the day around 8-9pm. Got front row a couple times and towards the back a couple times.
Definitely did warm up a bit. Got pretty awesome. Good ejector throughout, RMC madness. Trying to throw you off. Y'all know the drill. Still though... Something felt kinda lacking. No moments quite as crazy as Hyperia's first drop + outerbank and not quite as fast and wild feeling as Troy. But still, awesome, awesome ride.
9.5/10
8) Joris en Draak
2 rides. Love how seriously this ride takes the race with flags for the winner and ride ops celebrating the winning train. Awesome soundtrack. Won on both sides. Pretty sure it was because of my elite racing tactics. Pretty awesome coaster(s).
Decided along with another of the trip-goers that I'm a GCI fan.
8/10
9) Ride to Happiness
5 rides, 1 front car and 4 back cars
Interesting theming to this ride. Interesting vibe in the station, quite calming. "You are just moments away from happiness". For some reason I wasn't as hyped for this as I was for Untamed, despite me knowing it's rated highly. I hadn't read any reviews or watched any POVs of this, so I didn't really know what to expect beyond the basics.
The roll out of the station... Already can't keep my hands off the restraint handles. A sign of things to come. Launch, while spinning. Awesome. Top hat feature... Jeez the airtime off this
. The most intense ejector I've ever experienced. Felt like twice as intense as anything else I've ever experienced. I thought this trip was perhaps making me become jaded with airtime and roller coaster sensations. That must be why Untamed felt slightly tamed... But no, I certainly still am capable of having airtime blow my mind. Especially when coupled with Mack restraints that my brain just can't accept as safe for some reason. Wtf.
Then it does some kind of cool turny element and a loop. The turn is pretty awesome and intense while spinning and the loop is a nice predictable breather. Some more stuff happens then you hit the second launch featuring an ejector hill. Banger. Then into some kind of mad roll featuring some more insane hangjector which made me fear for me life. At this point on one of the rides, I accidentally sorta slapped the arm of the person next to me as my brain absolutely aborted on my desire to have my hands up. On most coasters I let out woops of excitement. Ride to Happiness had me genuinely screaming with a mixture of fear and exhilaration. After the roll there's a turn, some mini ejector hills, which are cool in different directions and then the brakes. It's not huge, not fast. But it's long enough and fast enough. And it's just insane. Bravo Mack and Plopsaland. This absolutely blew my mind and was still doing so on my fifth ride. On my front-car ride the ejector going into the top hat was even more intense than the back row ejector coming down from it. I must have taken it backwards or sideways also because I didn't see it coming. Another moment that made me genuinely scream.
10/10 Mind-blowing
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and I'm so glad I did. 10/10.
The one thing I was trying to look past whilst riding this. I knew they weren't going to be good, and I knew that the launches weren't really what Helix was about but I just couldn't help myself but feel a slight moment of disappointment every time they hit 
. I'd honestly say that I might have preferred Helix without the launches at all (I know, it wouldn't work without them!) but both of them felt like complete "dead spots" that seemed to take away from the intensity a little. Nevertheless, this coaster is still absolutely amazing and definitely a world class ride. Could someone tell me if the newer Mack launches (Voltron) are punchier? 
9.5/10.
You'd think you'd get bored of 'em by now but nope, Goliath is another good one. What's interesting to me is how different it was to Intimidator which we had ridden the day before at Carowinds. While Intimidator is glassy smooth, refined and filled with lots of lovely floater, Goliath felt more aggressive, a bit rough around the edges, more 'primal'. The result being a more intense ride with powerful positives and stronger, borderline ejector airtime (airtime that was strong enough to remove both crocs off some guy's feet a couple of rows in front of us and send them sailing over our heads and into a lake 
hopefully next time i got in another thirteen years it will be open.
