Omg. It really happened. We (@Slamming Coastercore @SilverArrow @chainedbanana and @Coop ) actually boarded a plane and flew to another country and travelled around riding roller coasters for a week. What is this...2019?!?!
Look at those smiles. No one smiles like that in 2020. We must have somehow travelled back in time from Heathrow.
I'd like to kick things off with my most controversial takes from this trip, so you can frown at those, then quickly scroll past the rest of the text and hit that angry react button asap. I'm only thinking of you, dear reader.
Okay. Here we go, * deep breath*
1. Hals-uber-Kopf is better than F.L.Y.
2. The animal park at Tripsdrill is significantly better than the theme park
3. Black Mamba is pretty much as good as Taron
4. Collossos isn't even the best coaster in Heide Park
5. The Excalibur rapids at Movie Park was the best ride of the entire trip
6. Halloween events sadly don't seem to work during a pandemic
7. FLY is extremely uncomfortable and a bit boring in places
8. Hansa Park has overtaken Efteling as my favourite theme park in the world
...I'll stop there!
I've decided not to write this trip report in chronological order, instead focussing on order of interest. So without further ado, lets talk about Rookburgh at Phantasialand.
Walking into a new themed area with four fellow goons and hearing us all fall silent in awe is something I'm not going to forget in hurry. Spotted loads of other goons in ride merch, you could say the area was wall to wall with enthusiasts! Rookburgh has somehow managed to live up to the massive hype, and that's a feat in itself! From the steaming vents on the floor to the the locked up penny farthings, the train above the launch train to the deep colour pallet - the area is truly a feast for the eyes. I love that wherever you look you are surrounded by bits of crimson track, yet the abundance of underground sections render it nearly impossible to follow the rides layout just from standing and staring.
But here's the thing. F.L.Y. is more enjoyable to watch than it is to ride. Like Stunt Fall. Like Formula. Like every Rollover on every SLC. Like, well...pretty much all Vekomas. *sigh* It is a great piece of decoration to Rookburgh, but the visual impressiveness of it almost gets you too hyped for what is essentially a slightly above average coaster.
Some criticism:
Despite having spent hours in Rookburgh and riding F.L.Y. twice, I still don't really know what the story of FLY is...or if it even has one? I'm no closer to even discovering what F.L.Y. stands for.
Fairly Long, Yes?
Flying Launch, Yes?
Fascinating Layout, Yes?
Answers on a postcard please.
This leads me to a bone I'm going to pick with Phantasialand in general - as highly themed as the areas are, it feels like the rides are just vehicles to give you a tour of the area. Taron is simply the worlds fastest monorail of Klugheim. Black Mamba is an inverting cable car through Africa. Where is the character for the coaster itself? The backstory? It's all so visually impressive but it doesn't connect to me in the same way that the story of Baron 1898 does. Do you know what I mean? That difference, where a great story with characters elevates theming into a ride that really captures your imagination. Phantasialand is obviously world class and I do love it, but sometimes there appears to be little storytelling depth behind those grandiose walls. Sometimes the areas and rides feel a bit shallow. Merely extremely stylised, if you will.
Anywho. Things I liked about F.L.Y.
- Airtime on a flyer? That's new!
- The water and steam effects that trigger when you ride in the front row
- The preshow
- Always facing down so never breaking the immersion within the Rookburgh area
- The pretty station lights
Things I disliked about F.L.Y.
- Feeling like my chest was being crushed in that uncomfortable riding position
- Lack of exclusive-to-flying-coaster manoeuvres like Fly To Lie or Pretzel Loop
- Weak launch
- Repetitive swooping motion, lack of variation in the track layout
Overall I would give F.L.Y. a 6.5/10. It's not bad, but it's not great either. It has entered at Number 4 on my Phantasialand Coaster Chart:
1. Taron
2. Black Mamba
3. Colorado Adventure
4. F.L.Y.
5. Raik
6. Winjas
7. Temple of the Night Hawk
In terms of the area, you had to queue to get into Rookburgh each time, but we only ever queued for a maximum of 10 minutes to walk beyond the walls. Then we only ever waited a maximum of 30 minutes for F.L.Y. so that was good as the park was surprisingly busy for a chilly Wednesday in October.
So what's next on the exciting new front?
I guess it's the other new Vekoma prototype Hals-uber-Kopf at Tripsdrill! Never have I wanted to eat a coaster so much. The track colour looks like caramel fudge! Delicious! This ride really warms up. In the morning we put it under the 'thrilling fun' category but at the end of the day it was pretty 'wow!' - especially for those incredible floaty inversions with just a lapbar. I found it interesting that we all immediately ran round for a reride Hals-uber-Kopf - something we didn't do with F.L.Y.
But then I guess Tripsdrill doesn't have a fab double launch coaster, brilliant water rides and awesome dark rides to contend with it's new Vekoma. In fact, what does Tripsdrill have, apart from terrible food, barely any music, barely any atmosphere and a bunch of racist and sexist theming (the baby in the well and the fountain of youth log flume
)?
Not gonna lie, I was pretty disappointed with Tripsdrill. It's a park everyone kept saying I would love, but it felt so quiet and dull. Completely lacking in ambience. Why do they not have any music anywhere?! Admittedly, the Halloween theming was cute and I enjoyed the mad drop tower and brushing the goats; but I had a much better time exploring the animal park down the road in the afternoon. Karacho was definitely the Worst Gerst of the trip, and I had so been looking forward to it! It's a bit like an underwhelming version of Anubis with lapbars.
Speaking of Gerstlauer, we started our trip at the amazing Hansa Park on officially the rainiest day in history, ever. Despite being soaked to the bone after 30 minutes in the park, our spirits remained undampened as we rode the 2 Best Gerstlauers in Existence. I am pleased to report that no matter how many times you ride it, Karnan is still terrifying. I love how unique this coaster is, the soundtrack and the theme send a shiver down my spine. I just adore how this coaster is like nothing else. And amazingly, THE EXACT SAME THING CAN BE SAID FOR NOVGOROD!
Of all the Eurofighers, Novgorod is easily the most bonkers. The most interestingly paced. And it features my favourite launch of all time. Not to mention a bunch of amazing animatronics, ghost and fire effects and gorgeous station lighting. There aren't many coasters which I rode back in my early days of Goonery, which still hold up now I have over 600 coasters under my belt - but Novgorod is one of them. I swear it gets better each time I ride it! In fact, I'm starting to think that a rejig of my Top Ten may be in order...
We were super lucky to unintentionally capture Hansa Parks Autumn Magic By The Sea event - meaning the very quiet park stayed open until 8.30pm and we were treated to all kinds of beautiful themeing from projection mapping to lit up pumpkins. Honestly, this event is one of the best in the world and even the Covid restrictions (no parade, no big shows) didn't hinder the electric atmosphere when it got dark. I love it. New fave park. (No, I didn't ride Highlander, I'm not INSANE!)
P.S. Nessie! The old Schwarzkopf! Now that's how to lease life into an old coaster! The new station looks amazing in purple and the flags with the Nessie illustration suit the park perfectly. Rode it in the back and got loads of surprising airtime too! I am still in wonder at what a triple-threat Hansa Park have with these three amazing coasters: Karnan, Novgorod and Nessie. Brilliant stuff.
I guess the fourth most interesting thing would have to be retracked Collossos. WickerCollossos. Collossos avec fire. My god, that theming structure looks amazing. Way cooler than the smug ol' Wickerman. I love how this coaster looks now, and the artwork dotted around in the queue was brilliant too. Heide was our second park of the trip and we headed straight for Collossos. The difference between how this coaster was when I rode it 5 years ago to how it is now is like night and day. I was genuinely shocked. It rides like a B+M hyper now??!! It's so smooth it doesn't even feel like a woodie. The airtime is gentle and floaty. I enjoyed it but it's definitely nowhere near as intense as it used to be.
Krake is still the best coaster at Heide Park for me. Nice airtime on the drop and hill plus impressive theming with the kraken and the splashdown effect. It's pleasing both on and off ride. Definitely one of my Top 3 Dive Machines. Flug Der Daemonen on the other hand, is easily my worst Wing Coaster - it's so shaky it made me feel sick and gave me a headache.
The How To Train Your Dragon ride and the Ghosterbusters ride at Heide were shut, and due to the park being super quiet we ended up doing things like the monorail just to get our moneys worth. We had loads of fun, but I think that was largely us enjoying each others company rather than the park itself. This was my third visit to Heide Park and I still can't figure out what this park is missing, but it really does feel like it's missing something. What could it be?
Well. That's enough rollercoaster nonsense for one evening. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we experience Movie Parks Halloween Horror Fest and get back on EGF at Holiday Park.
Thanks for reading!
Look at those smiles. No one smiles like that in 2020. We must have somehow travelled back in time from Heathrow.
I'd like to kick things off with my most controversial takes from this trip, so you can frown at those, then quickly scroll past the rest of the text and hit that angry react button asap. I'm only thinking of you, dear reader.
Okay. Here we go, * deep breath*
1. Hals-uber-Kopf is better than F.L.Y.
2. The animal park at Tripsdrill is significantly better than the theme park
3. Black Mamba is pretty much as good as Taron
4. Collossos isn't even the best coaster in Heide Park
5. The Excalibur rapids at Movie Park was the best ride of the entire trip
6. Halloween events sadly don't seem to work during a pandemic
7. FLY is extremely uncomfortable and a bit boring in places
8. Hansa Park has overtaken Efteling as my favourite theme park in the world
...I'll stop there!
I've decided not to write this trip report in chronological order, instead focussing on order of interest. So without further ado, lets talk about Rookburgh at Phantasialand.
Walking into a new themed area with four fellow goons and hearing us all fall silent in awe is something I'm not going to forget in hurry. Spotted loads of other goons in ride merch, you could say the area was wall to wall with enthusiasts! Rookburgh has somehow managed to live up to the massive hype, and that's a feat in itself! From the steaming vents on the floor to the the locked up penny farthings, the train above the launch train to the deep colour pallet - the area is truly a feast for the eyes. I love that wherever you look you are surrounded by bits of crimson track, yet the abundance of underground sections render it nearly impossible to follow the rides layout just from standing and staring.
But here's the thing. F.L.Y. is more enjoyable to watch than it is to ride. Like Stunt Fall. Like Formula. Like every Rollover on every SLC. Like, well...pretty much all Vekomas. *sigh* It is a great piece of decoration to Rookburgh, but the visual impressiveness of it almost gets you too hyped for what is essentially a slightly above average coaster.
Some criticism:
Despite having spent hours in Rookburgh and riding F.L.Y. twice, I still don't really know what the story of FLY is...or if it even has one? I'm no closer to even discovering what F.L.Y. stands for.
Fairly Long, Yes?
Flying Launch, Yes?
Fascinating Layout, Yes?
Answers on a postcard please.
This leads me to a bone I'm going to pick with Phantasialand in general - as highly themed as the areas are, it feels like the rides are just vehicles to give you a tour of the area. Taron is simply the worlds fastest monorail of Klugheim. Black Mamba is an inverting cable car through Africa. Where is the character for the coaster itself? The backstory? It's all so visually impressive but it doesn't connect to me in the same way that the story of Baron 1898 does. Do you know what I mean? That difference, where a great story with characters elevates theming into a ride that really captures your imagination. Phantasialand is obviously world class and I do love it, but sometimes there appears to be little storytelling depth behind those grandiose walls. Sometimes the areas and rides feel a bit shallow. Merely extremely stylised, if you will.
Anywho. Things I liked about F.L.Y.
- Airtime on a flyer? That's new!
- The water and steam effects that trigger when you ride in the front row
- The preshow
- Always facing down so never breaking the immersion within the Rookburgh area
- The pretty station lights
Things I disliked about F.L.Y.
- Feeling like my chest was being crushed in that uncomfortable riding position
- Lack of exclusive-to-flying-coaster manoeuvres like Fly To Lie or Pretzel Loop
- Weak launch
- Repetitive swooping motion, lack of variation in the track layout
Overall I would give F.L.Y. a 6.5/10. It's not bad, but it's not great either. It has entered at Number 4 on my Phantasialand Coaster Chart:
1. Taron
2. Black Mamba
3. Colorado Adventure
4. F.L.Y.
5. Raik
6. Winjas
7. Temple of the Night Hawk
In terms of the area, you had to queue to get into Rookburgh each time, but we only ever queued for a maximum of 10 minutes to walk beyond the walls. Then we only ever waited a maximum of 30 minutes for F.L.Y. so that was good as the park was surprisingly busy for a chilly Wednesday in October.
So what's next on the exciting new front?
I guess it's the other new Vekoma prototype Hals-uber-Kopf at Tripsdrill! Never have I wanted to eat a coaster so much. The track colour looks like caramel fudge! Delicious! This ride really warms up. In the morning we put it under the 'thrilling fun' category but at the end of the day it was pretty 'wow!' - especially for those incredible floaty inversions with just a lapbar. I found it interesting that we all immediately ran round for a reride Hals-uber-Kopf - something we didn't do with F.L.Y.
But then I guess Tripsdrill doesn't have a fab double launch coaster, brilliant water rides and awesome dark rides to contend with it's new Vekoma. In fact, what does Tripsdrill have, apart from terrible food, barely any music, barely any atmosphere and a bunch of racist and sexist theming (the baby in the well and the fountain of youth log flume
)?Not gonna lie, I was pretty disappointed with Tripsdrill. It's a park everyone kept saying I would love, but it felt so quiet and dull. Completely lacking in ambience. Why do they not have any music anywhere?! Admittedly, the Halloween theming was cute and I enjoyed the mad drop tower and brushing the goats; but I had a much better time exploring the animal park down the road in the afternoon. Karacho was definitely the Worst Gerst of the trip, and I had so been looking forward to it! It's a bit like an underwhelming version of Anubis with lapbars.
Speaking of Gerstlauer, we started our trip at the amazing Hansa Park on officially the rainiest day in history, ever. Despite being soaked to the bone after 30 minutes in the park, our spirits remained undampened as we rode the 2 Best Gerstlauers in Existence. I am pleased to report that no matter how many times you ride it, Karnan is still terrifying. I love how unique this coaster is, the soundtrack and the theme send a shiver down my spine. I just adore how this coaster is like nothing else. And amazingly, THE EXACT SAME THING CAN BE SAID FOR NOVGOROD!
Of all the Eurofighers, Novgorod is easily the most bonkers. The most interestingly paced. And it features my favourite launch of all time. Not to mention a bunch of amazing animatronics, ghost and fire effects and gorgeous station lighting. There aren't many coasters which I rode back in my early days of Goonery, which still hold up now I have over 600 coasters under my belt - but Novgorod is one of them. I swear it gets better each time I ride it! In fact, I'm starting to think that a rejig of my Top Ten may be in order...
We were super lucky to unintentionally capture Hansa Parks Autumn Magic By The Sea event - meaning the very quiet park stayed open until 8.30pm and we were treated to all kinds of beautiful themeing from projection mapping to lit up pumpkins. Honestly, this event is one of the best in the world and even the Covid restrictions (no parade, no big shows) didn't hinder the electric atmosphere when it got dark. I love it. New fave park. (No, I didn't ride Highlander, I'm not INSANE!)
P.S. Nessie! The old Schwarzkopf! Now that's how to lease life into an old coaster! The new station looks amazing in purple and the flags with the Nessie illustration suit the park perfectly. Rode it in the back and got loads of surprising airtime too! I am still in wonder at what a triple-threat Hansa Park have with these three amazing coasters: Karnan, Novgorod and Nessie. Brilliant stuff.
I guess the fourth most interesting thing would have to be retracked Collossos. WickerCollossos. Collossos avec fire. My god, that theming structure looks amazing. Way cooler than the smug ol' Wickerman. I love how this coaster looks now, and the artwork dotted around in the queue was brilliant too. Heide was our second park of the trip and we headed straight for Collossos. The difference between how this coaster was when I rode it 5 years ago to how it is now is like night and day. I was genuinely shocked. It rides like a B+M hyper now??!! It's so smooth it doesn't even feel like a woodie. The airtime is gentle and floaty. I enjoyed it but it's definitely nowhere near as intense as it used to be.
Krake is still the best coaster at Heide Park for me. Nice airtime on the drop and hill plus impressive theming with the kraken and the splashdown effect. It's pleasing both on and off ride. Definitely one of my Top 3 Dive Machines. Flug Der Daemonen on the other hand, is easily my worst Wing Coaster - it's so shaky it made me feel sick and gave me a headache.
The How To Train Your Dragon ride and the Ghosterbusters ride at Heide were shut, and due to the park being super quiet we ended up doing things like the monorail just to get our moneys worth. We had loads of fun, but I think that was largely us enjoying each others company rather than the park itself. This was my third visit to Heide Park and I still can't figure out what this park is missing, but it really does feel like it's missing something. What could it be?
Well. That's enough rollercoaster nonsense for one evening. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we experience Movie Parks Halloween Horror Fest and get back on EGF at Holiday Park.
Thanks for reading!
Last edited:
