Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Brilliant, glad you liked it and thank you for the updates... But the big question on everybody's lips... Team PL or team Europa?
Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium
- Thread starter MestnyiGeroi
- Start date
MestnyiGeroi
Giga Poster
Ugh. Been asking myself that and I don’t know. They’re so different, yet they have some obvious similarities. I suppose if I’m forced to answer this second, I’d say PL, but even just typing that and i regret not giving it to EP. Think I’m just going to have to let it marinate for a bit. I was thinking I’d attempt a trip park rankings at the end, and maybe even a top ten coasters of the trip.
zazobo
Hyper Poster
I have the exact same opinion, EP or PL... both so EPIC. Maybe PL has the sliiiiiight edge because of Taron? BUT I adore the evening offerings/bars etc... at EP.
MestnyiGeroi
Giga Poster
SKYLINE PARK — My plan was to drive from Europa Park to Skyline, do all the park, and finish by early afternoon, so that I could drive to meet a friend in the early evening in Regensburg (which, btw, is a city I can’t recommend enough). But it was as if all the traffic problems from my entire three weeks of driving waited for this one day of driving. Between Europa and Skyline I encountered three separate accident aftermaths and dozens of workzone slowdown areas. It was such slow going that I kept wondering if I should give up on Skyline entirely and drive straight to Regensburg. But I gave myself a latest time to possibly arrive at Skyline and still attempt it, and that’s exactly what I hit.
All of that is to explain why I treated Skyline as a speed cred run. And the frustration of the slow drive continued in the park, as it was extremely hot, the rides were spread out, the local kids were not too scrupulous about line etiquette, and the operations were very, very slow on several of the coasters.
That said, I’m glad I managed to squeeze in the park, which was just about what I imagined it would be: a rural park unimpressive in atmosphere, with rides that impressed not as great rides, but as pure weirdness.
The uniqueness of Sky Dragster, Sky Rider, and Butterfly made me happy I made the stop. And if there is a coaster from my youth that I am most nostalgic about, it is the Schwarzkopf Wildcat at Magic Mountain that was known as Mountain Express. So I was excited to ride a Wildcat at this park — probably the first I’ve ridden in decades. And appropriately Skyline seemed to name their coaster for me: Nostalgische Achterbahn.
Again, no great rides here — even the headliner coaster, the Maurer SkyLoop Sky Wheel, felt more like a novelty coaster to me than a good ride — but plenty of good weirdness.
All of that is to explain why I treated Skyline as a speed cred run. And the frustration of the slow drive continued in the park, as it was extremely hot, the rides were spread out, the local kids were not too scrupulous about line etiquette, and the operations were very, very slow on several of the coasters.
That said, I’m glad I managed to squeeze in the park, which was just about what I imagined it would be: a rural park unimpressive in atmosphere, with rides that impressed not as great rides, but as pure weirdness.
The uniqueness of Sky Dragster, Sky Rider, and Butterfly made me happy I made the stop. And if there is a coaster from my youth that I am most nostalgic about, it is the Schwarzkopf Wildcat at Magic Mountain that was known as Mountain Express. So I was excited to ride a Wildcat at this park — probably the first I’ve ridden in decades. And appropriately Skyline seemed to name their coaster for me: Nostalgische Achterbahn.
Again, no great rides here — even the headliner coaster, the Maurer SkyLoop Sky Wheel, felt more like a novelty coaster to me than a good ride — but plenty of good weirdness.
MestnyiGeroi
Giga Poster
FREIZEITPARK PLOHN —
I visited this fun little park yesterday, the last park of my trip.
The first impression of this park once one is past the kassa is extremely dreary, but that’s because the path there is narrow, one water ride was SBNO, and there was some construction. But once one gets to the various areas of the park, it is relatively charming in atmosphere.
About half the park is themed to the Wild West. There’s a lot of theming here, and even all the approximations of the Western theme that were just a little off (Wanted posters that read “Dead or Live” and a blacksmith stable labeled “Forger” and I won’t even try to remember the long weird title over the livery stable) — even the little errors added to the charm of an East German Wild West.
Skyline is the land of the extremely— and I mean extremely — slow boat and train rides.
Here is my ranking of the six coasters:
6. Raupe — wacky worm
5. Drachenwirbel — SBF Spinner
4. Plohseidon — junior coaster with a bit of force
3. Miniwah — Heavily themed indoor powered coaster — a dark ride that decided to become a coaster. It goes around twice without returning to the station until the end, and the second lap is faster than the first. It also has a little show that takes place within the helix. So, if you enter the building through a different door, you can watch a Wild West show of animatronic figures and projections and the like, and every once in a while a train comes whipping through the show, in a way that’s not incorporated into the show’s story.
2. Dynamite — Really fun ride. Great opening barrel roll/dive loop drop, comical amount of hang time, and fun little airtime bumps. The latter was my favorite part. This ride exceeded my expectations.
1. El Toro — Small and less wild and out-of-control feeling than most GCIs, but it features a LOT of good airtime moments. Front row is clearly the best ride.
All in all, I really enjoyed this park. I bought an El Toro t-shirt — figured I might wear it to the next SFGAdv Riding of the Bull just to be a prick.
And so ends an amazing trip.
As I’ve said, I’ll try to post here a park rankings and a top ten coaster list from the trip.
I visited this fun little park yesterday, the last park of my trip.
The first impression of this park once one is past the kassa is extremely dreary, but that’s because the path there is narrow, one water ride was SBNO, and there was some construction. But once one gets to the various areas of the park, it is relatively charming in atmosphere.
About half the park is themed to the Wild West. There’s a lot of theming here, and even all the approximations of the Western theme that were just a little off (Wanted posters that read “Dead or Live” and a blacksmith stable labeled “Forger” and I won’t even try to remember the long weird title over the livery stable) — even the little errors added to the charm of an East German Wild West.
Skyline is the land of the extremely— and I mean extremely — slow boat and train rides.
Here is my ranking of the six coasters:
6. Raupe — wacky worm
5. Drachenwirbel — SBF Spinner
4. Plohseidon — junior coaster with a bit of force
3. Miniwah — Heavily themed indoor powered coaster — a dark ride that decided to become a coaster. It goes around twice without returning to the station until the end, and the second lap is faster than the first. It also has a little show that takes place within the helix. So, if you enter the building through a different door, you can watch a Wild West show of animatronic figures and projections and the like, and every once in a while a train comes whipping through the show, in a way that’s not incorporated into the show’s story.
2. Dynamite — Really fun ride. Great opening barrel roll/dive loop drop, comical amount of hang time, and fun little airtime bumps. The latter was my favorite part. This ride exceeded my expectations.
1. El Toro — Small and less wild and out-of-control feeling than most GCIs, but it features a LOT of good airtime moments. Front row is clearly the best ride.
All in all, I really enjoyed this park. I bought an El Toro t-shirt — figured I might wear it to the next SFGAdv Riding of the Bull just to be a prick.
And so ends an amazing trip.
As I’ve said, I’ll try to post here a park rankings and a top ten coaster list from the trip.
MestnyiGeroi
Giga Poster
PARK RANKINGS
It’s very difficult to rate such disparate parks against each other, but here’s a stab at ranking the parks of my trip. I’m rating the parks by the general feel of each park, and not necessarily by the greatness of the coaster collection.
That said, Holiday Park took a hit because of the unnecessarily terrible operations of their headliner coaster.
Spaces indicate tiers.
1. Phantasialand
2. Europa Park
3. Efteling
4. Hansa
5. Djurs
6. Tivoli
7. Fårup
8. Toverland
9. Bakken
10. Tripsdrill
11. Plohn
12. Heide
13. Walibi Holland
14. Holiday Park
15. Bobbejaanland
16. BonBon-Land
17. Skyline
It’s very difficult to rate such disparate parks against each other, but here’s a stab at ranking the parks of my trip. I’m rating the parks by the general feel of each park, and not necessarily by the greatness of the coaster collection.
That said, Holiday Park took a hit because of the unnecessarily terrible operations of their headliner coaster.
Spaces indicate tiers.
1. Phantasialand
2. Europa Park
3. Efteling
4. Hansa
5. Djurs
6. Tivoli
7. Fårup
8. Toverland
9. Bakken
10. Tripsdrill
11. Plohn
12. Heide
13. Walibi Holland
14. Holiday Park
15. Bobbejaanland
16. BonBon-Land
17. Skyline