Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
This is not going to be a hugely detailed trip report, just me quickly sharing my thoughts on some of the parks and coasters we visited last week. We caught the overnight ferry from Hull on Sun 23rd June. I can highly reccomend the P&O ferry, like a mini cruise ship, plenty to do, casino, bars, restaurants, shops, cinema etc. The cabins are lovely, decent enough beds and a good shower. Works out much cheaper for the 4 of us to take our own car on the ferry than catching a flight and renting. We were off the ferry in Rotterdam for 8am, and inside Efteling for 10am
I will mostly focus on coasters, and talk very little about very few ‘other’ rides and attractions, because let’s face it, we travelled for the coasters!
Mon 24th June - Efteling
I’m not going to beat around the bush here, we were dissapointed with Efteling, it was one of our most anticipated parks, and one of our least enjoyable ones. Yes the crowds and near 40 degree weather didn’t help, but the ride lineup, in particular the coasters, left us a little dissapointed too.
First ride Python, didn’t expect much, so actually this was probably better than expected. Joris en de draak was by far my favourite coaster at the park, and at the time of riding I would say it became my 2nd favourite of the limited number of woodies I’ve ridden, behind Balder. Vliegende was another good one, the dark section inside really surprised us, and along with Joris, was the only other coaster we wanted to re-ride. Vogel Rok was a boring layout, but the theming elements made up for that, and actually overall is good fun. Bob was not too bad, I would take it over something like avalanche any day. Baron... This was really the main dissapointment. Slow throughputs, on a B&M dive, how do they manage such slow throughputs? Aside from that it was just not very good. The main trick of a dive is the dive, Baron’s was forceless, not nearly as good as Oblivion’s. And the rest of the layout was lacklustre too, in comparison to Valkyria.
The place was packed, we visited during an extreme heat wave that was making international news coverage, so our judgement may be cloudy, however Efteling is the ONLY park we visited that we do not want to go back to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, and anybody can appreciate that. But we’re coaster enthusiasts, and I don’t really think this park is for us.
Anyway, time to check into our first hotel, GuestHouse Hotel Kaatsheuvel. Short walk from the park, great hotel, but most importantly AIRCON.
Tue 25th June - Walabi Holland
Wake up early, drive to Walabi. Now this place was my favourite ‘new’ park of the trip. And that is without riding untamed! Great atmosphere, let’s pretend the Vekomas don’t exist... That SLC is rotten, tear it down, now, you can visibly see the trains shuffling backwards and forwards, it’s horrible. I was looking forward to getting back onto a bearable boomerang. My love of coasters basically started in 1994, with Nemesis, and The Missile, a Vekoma boomerang. But even with new style restraints, Speed of sound was only just bearable. Lost gravity was brilliant, easily a top 10 coaster for me. Loved every part of it, a nice blend of inversions and air time. Xpress surprised me, the launch was stronger than expected, and the layout was good fun too. Goliath was another brilliant coaster, air and intensity, wanted to re ride this over and over.
All in all, Walabi is a great park with a great atmosphere. With Untamed now open, I have booked to go back this coming Monday already, can’t wait.
Time to drive over to Sevenum to check into the GR8 hotel, with a name like that you’d be forgiven for wondering if it lived up to it’s name. It did, stunning hotel, 2 minutes drive from Toverland.
Weds 26th June - Toverland and Phantasialand
OK so Toverland was a real shame. We got to the park, all of the coasters were closed. Eventually Fenix opened up, so we took a few rides on that, which was only my second wing coaster (B&M) and is my favourite. Much more force than Swarm. We then decided to go and see if Troy was open. It wasn’t but whilst there I got talking to the ride host on the gate, a fellow enthusiast. He explained that some of the coasters in the park were undergoing their external safety tests on this day, hence the down time, and that troy was almost done, if it passed it wouldn’t be too long before it opened. So we waited, about 15 minutes. It opened, he took us up and made sure we got first choice of seats on the first train for waiting. He advised front, I ignored him, like an idiot, went back, and loved the coaster. I then decided to try front, and wow, he was right, this is a front row coaster, and instantly became one of my favourite woodies. We decided not to wait for the other coasters to pass their tests, and that we’d chalk this visit up to bad luck and return another time. We rode Troy a couple more times, then made our way to Phantasialand, the check in to Matamba.
Phantasialand is a park I’ve visited a few times before, It’s my favourite park abroad and nothing has changed. I’m an annual pass holder, so get great prices on hotels, which in itself pays for the pass. And the Taron ERT is incredible.
Thurs 27th June - Phantasialand
Taron, Taron, and More Taron... River Quest, Chiapas, Talocon, Black Mamba, Winjas, Mystery Castle... That’s all that really needs saying. These attractions are all first class rides.
Friday 28th June - Movie Park Germany
We were not expecting a lot from this park, but we were pleasantly surprised. Bandit does not deserve the stick it gets, yes it’s rough, but only rough in a ‘woodie rough’ sense of the word, and still good fun. Van Helsing’s Factory was brilliant, best indoor coaster of the trip by far, really took us by surprise. And Star Trek was a good ride too. The spike was fun on the back, and there were some decent pops of airtime.
That’s it, ferry back to Hull that evening. And on to one more thing...
Saturday 29th June - Alton Towers, Club PBE event
We were very late arriving at a packed towers, and really weren’t in the mood for too many coasters in yet more heat, which seems to have followed us from the continent! So we did a couple of rides, then went to the car, grabbed our Nintendo Switches, and sat playing Minecraft together in the shade, waiting for the Nemesis ERT. And what an ERT it was. What a ride Nemesis is. Thank you to Scott and the PBE team for putting this on.
For all of it’s faults, and all of the stick it’s had in recent times. We’re so lucky to have a park like Alton Towers on our doorstep. So many decent quality coasters in one park, some of the them genuinely good coasters. This is home, and there’s no place like home!
I will mostly focus on coasters, and talk very little about very few ‘other’ rides and attractions, because let’s face it, we travelled for the coasters!
Mon 24th June - Efteling
I’m not going to beat around the bush here, we were dissapointed with Efteling, it was one of our most anticipated parks, and one of our least enjoyable ones. Yes the crowds and near 40 degree weather didn’t help, but the ride lineup, in particular the coasters, left us a little dissapointed too.
First ride Python, didn’t expect much, so actually this was probably better than expected. Joris en de draak was by far my favourite coaster at the park, and at the time of riding I would say it became my 2nd favourite of the limited number of woodies I’ve ridden, behind Balder. Vliegende was another good one, the dark section inside really surprised us, and along with Joris, was the only other coaster we wanted to re-ride. Vogel Rok was a boring layout, but the theming elements made up for that, and actually overall is good fun. Bob was not too bad, I would take it over something like avalanche any day. Baron... This was really the main dissapointment. Slow throughputs, on a B&M dive, how do they manage such slow throughputs? Aside from that it was just not very good. The main trick of a dive is the dive, Baron’s was forceless, not nearly as good as Oblivion’s. And the rest of the layout was lacklustre too, in comparison to Valkyria.
The place was packed, we visited during an extreme heat wave that was making international news coverage, so our judgement may be cloudy, however Efteling is the ONLY park we visited that we do not want to go back to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, and anybody can appreciate that. But we’re coaster enthusiasts, and I don’t really think this park is for us.
Anyway, time to check into our first hotel, GuestHouse Hotel Kaatsheuvel. Short walk from the park, great hotel, but most importantly AIRCON.
Tue 25th June - Walabi Holland
Wake up early, drive to Walabi. Now this place was my favourite ‘new’ park of the trip. And that is without riding untamed! Great atmosphere, let’s pretend the Vekomas don’t exist... That SLC is rotten, tear it down, now, you can visibly see the trains shuffling backwards and forwards, it’s horrible. I was looking forward to getting back onto a bearable boomerang. My love of coasters basically started in 1994, with Nemesis, and The Missile, a Vekoma boomerang. But even with new style restraints, Speed of sound was only just bearable. Lost gravity was brilliant, easily a top 10 coaster for me. Loved every part of it, a nice blend of inversions and air time. Xpress surprised me, the launch was stronger than expected, and the layout was good fun too. Goliath was another brilliant coaster, air and intensity, wanted to re ride this over and over.
All in all, Walabi is a great park with a great atmosphere. With Untamed now open, I have booked to go back this coming Monday already, can’t wait.
Time to drive over to Sevenum to check into the GR8 hotel, with a name like that you’d be forgiven for wondering if it lived up to it’s name. It did, stunning hotel, 2 minutes drive from Toverland.
Weds 26th June - Toverland and Phantasialand
OK so Toverland was a real shame. We got to the park, all of the coasters were closed. Eventually Fenix opened up, so we took a few rides on that, which was only my second wing coaster (B&M) and is my favourite. Much more force than Swarm. We then decided to go and see if Troy was open. It wasn’t but whilst there I got talking to the ride host on the gate, a fellow enthusiast. He explained that some of the coasters in the park were undergoing their external safety tests on this day, hence the down time, and that troy was almost done, if it passed it wouldn’t be too long before it opened. So we waited, about 15 minutes. It opened, he took us up and made sure we got first choice of seats on the first train for waiting. He advised front, I ignored him, like an idiot, went back, and loved the coaster. I then decided to try front, and wow, he was right, this is a front row coaster, and instantly became one of my favourite woodies. We decided not to wait for the other coasters to pass their tests, and that we’d chalk this visit up to bad luck and return another time. We rode Troy a couple more times, then made our way to Phantasialand, the check in to Matamba.
Phantasialand is a park I’ve visited a few times before, It’s my favourite park abroad and nothing has changed. I’m an annual pass holder, so get great prices on hotels, which in itself pays for the pass. And the Taron ERT is incredible.
Thurs 27th June - Phantasialand
Taron, Taron, and More Taron... River Quest, Chiapas, Talocon, Black Mamba, Winjas, Mystery Castle... That’s all that really needs saying. These attractions are all first class rides.
Friday 28th June - Movie Park Germany
We were not expecting a lot from this park, but we were pleasantly surprised. Bandit does not deserve the stick it gets, yes it’s rough, but only rough in a ‘woodie rough’ sense of the word, and still good fun. Van Helsing’s Factory was brilliant, best indoor coaster of the trip by far, really took us by surprise. And Star Trek was a good ride too. The spike was fun on the back, and there were some decent pops of airtime.
That’s it, ferry back to Hull that evening. And on to one more thing...
Saturday 29th June - Alton Towers, Club PBE event
We were very late arriving at a packed towers, and really weren’t in the mood for too many coasters in yet more heat, which seems to have followed us from the continent! So we did a couple of rides, then went to the car, grabbed our Nintendo Switches, and sat playing Minecraft together in the shade, waiting for the Nemesis ERT. And what an ERT it was. What a ride Nemesis is. Thank you to Scott and the PBE team for putting this on.
For all of it’s faults, and all of the stick it’s had in recent times. We’re so lucky to have a park like Alton Towers on our doorstep. So many decent quality coasters in one park, some of the them genuinely good coasters. This is home, and there’s no place like home!
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