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Energylandia 23/09/2022

Furiustobaco

Mega Poster
My thoughts on Energylandia: 23/09/2022


I never thought I’d reach a park this year- I had been travelling a plenty, but never had a theme park related trip. After a bunch of time in the US, Austria, Iceland, and Balkan region during the spring I finally settled myself back in good old Crawley. I had taken a year off- I saved a bunch of money to travel before I was 20, it was a dream of mine. In April In between trips I had met my current boyfriend, and we booked a trip of our own in July- Krakow in September.


We picked Krakow because it was cooler, and my partner is not very good with the heat 🤣 I honestly didn’t care, another fun week and a stamp on my passport. We had planned a tour of auschwitz- I had a knack for history and wanted to pay my respects. We also had a day at the zoo there as well because my partner is very into animals. He knows I like a good theme park and asked if there was any parks nearby- i at first did not quite know what was nearby but then i looked it up.. Energylandia!
First off I would like to just mention I cannot drive- so to get to Energylandia I used public transport, and for those who think about doing the same i would like to give some word of adivce.


It’s a strange configuration, there is like one train a day going out at like 8:20, leaving you there in Zator for about 9:00 and one train leaving from Zator at 6:40. It is so strange, so inconvenient. There is no alternative routes via train, and it is basically get that train or dont go at all. There is coaches I believe too, so maybe that’s better. Also I certainly recommend trying to use maybe a private transport to and from there- the train is incredibly cramped and honestly sketchy. But yeah i hope they give more options in the future- if you want to leave earlier/later you’re basically fu**ed. Zator train station by the way is a graffitied abandoned building with a platform next to it- I wonder if that’ll be solved in the future, it looks beyond terrible. It’s sad really that all EU finding built rollercoasters but no local infrastructure. Luckily there is a shuttle between the station though, which was beyond useful. It really feels a little like an oversight not investing in the local train links and their systems to support such a large theme park, i think going forward the transport links needs investments. Poland is a VERY well linked country by public transport with great trains, trams, buses and a culture that encourages it. Having a few more trains and investing in Zator station would be a great idea. The train was packed and it was a very quiet day at the park, i dare to wonder what it is like in the summer!



When I arrived I was impressed by the overall dominance that Hyperion has over this entire theme park. It is beyond cool looking and even my boyfriend seemed impressed by the monster that towered over us. I found the park overall very well landscaped to what i expected, i thought it would be a little bit of a concrete jungle to which it was VERY not. Once inside the park has a very kind of midway style, with a kiddie area at the very front and behind a big kind of alley of big rides- it is noticeable that a lot of this was built first. Mayan, Formula, Dragon- you even have some fun support via that wacky ghost train and some fun looking flats. Anyway that leads me to..



Formula: This was a pocket rocket- it is not exceptionally fast, intense, or long. But it packs in some great pops of airtime, hangtime, and a fun launch. It is very much amazing for what it is. For its stature Vekoma basically made every element pop, I really hope smaller parks build these- even if it was not a candle to the bigger Hyperion or Zadra, to my non enthusiast somewhat scaredy cat boyfriend, he adored Formula. And so did I. It’s just so much fun. The queue on this was also reasonable, so it is a great reride machine (it does not force you to run a marathon to get to it)


Mayan: It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t good. My boyfriend dubbed it “janky” and honestly he has never summed up a ride so good. It made Infusion look TERRIBEL though, so i guess it is good it is not overtly offensive.

Dragon: This was lowkey kinda fun- it had a nice water setting, some nice interactions- and overall a very solid family coaster. The throughput sure is bad, but like Formula for what it is, it’s very enjoyable. I really enjoyed some of the forces on here, Will seemed a little shocked by that first drop!

Viking coaster: Me and Will were laughing at this one- the ride op was having a conversation on his iPhone while checking our restraint, and the ride felt jank on the lift hill- what a piece of crap 🤣 it is so janky it is hilarious. It should be removed really, but in many ways it is like a Adam sandler movie- so janky it was lowkey enjoyable.

Vampire/Water Boomerang-thing,y

These nearly broke Will being a 6’3 guy. But he still enjoyed them. Overall nothing special but fun family coasters for sure. The one near abyssus was a LOT better- it had interactions with the boat ride and water below it, and overall I believe the ride was quite cute for that reason. Both though are very mild fun family rides- having two though seems a bit overkill.


Speed: Will had a fear of heights, this took some convincing. Overall despite its height even Will commented how mild it was- it’s a fun water ride, but honestly nothing thrilling, I think Intamin perhaps got confused with this. It scares away families with its height but underwhelms with actually being intense or thrilling whatsoever, the drop is so shallow, and the turns are so drawn out. Still a bit of fun though, and it was a sunny day so the cooling down was heavily appreciated.

Freida: CREDIT

The Family coaster near Hyperion that i cannot be arsed to look up: CREDIT

I could not be arsed with the kiddie coasters Tbf or the SBF Spinner, i had one day here and i wanted an extra reride on the good stuff.

Zadra:

This ride honestly was a very bucket list ride for me- and overall I would say it delivered what I expected. It is a great layout- mixed with a face pace, sparkled with diverse elements and forces. It’s brilliant, and intense. The airtime hills that it has are pure perfection- though, it did not break the bar for me. Steel Vengeance has spoilt me, I really like airtime more than anything, and I’d say Zadras layout is more balanced than SV, it tries to mix forces up and focuses on lot more on variety- this may be peoples thing, but the constant savage airtime on Steel Vengeance honestly blows Zadra out of the water for me.

Zadra still is a top 5 for me do not get me wrong, but it does not provide some of the extreme airtime that a RMC like SV does. Though I don’t believe it was intended to, and for variety it blows SV out of the water. It also has an KICKASS stall.

Just do not expect re rides as the queue is designed to be long as possible to piss you off. I tried peeking through the lockers for easier rerides but was told it was not allowed- the queue was barely even a station wait.

Hyperion:

I’m surprised I managed to get to this ride after walking three miles through the queue. Man, what an amazing first drop though. The best drop maybe I’ve experienced. Sustained airtime is the name of the game, and it’s a long one as well. The hill after is the best element of any coaster I swear. It’s taken at a stupid speed, and it gives like seconds of sustained aggressive floatjector. The inversion and turnaround after is shockingly intense as well, delivering twisted ejector airtime. The ride has a few more twisted ejector moments and one little pop or two, but generally that first sequence is the peak. I do believe the ride feels like it could of done with a stronger second half, honestly I think it would be my #2 if it did. But for now I would give it my #5? I did not experience any roughness despite reports on this ride, but Intamin and winged seats I guess are not the best combination- anyone who has been in the Catalonia region of Spain would know..

So yeah, smooth and intense, and a world class first half. But i believe the ride is a little short, and after a few elements the ride kind of peters out. That first hill after the drop though absolutely world class and so is the twisted ejector you get on the inversion, which again is taken at a crazy pace.

Abyssuss:
This is generally like a much more beefed up Formula- it is a long coaster with some great air pops, fun inversions, and a great pace. The ride generally rode to me similar-ish to Formula, but on a much taller, faster, longer scale as well as having great theming. The airtime moments are plentiful and fun, the ride has a high level of good mixed forces with its inversions.
I only got one ride, due to it being the only ride in the park with a queue. But it was a complete class act of an roller coaster, and it was easily top 10 for me. I found this was a perfect display from Vekoma to their potential- i might even like this more than Maverick! That is my #2
I really found the area around it beautiful but annoying to get to- with the current construction of Sweet Sweet Valley it completely turns this area of the park into a dead end right at the back of the park- which is a pain. Though i guess this will soon change.

+2 points for not having a completely overkill and stupid queueline

RANT:
One thing that kinda annoyed me with this park was its pathway system- it is illogical, full of dead ends, and some pathways seem pointless. The amount of dead ends we walked into was dumb, or maybe we were. The queuelines are also so obnoxious, good luck reriding Hyperion or Zadra, it takes like a kilometre to even get through their own bloody damn queues- it seemed beyond stupid in Zadra to have the queueline be 20 minutes walking minimum. When it is walk-on, it is frustrating you cannot just grab free rerides.

Conclusion:
I did love this park- despite some little gripes. The landscaping, theming, and the overall park vibe did impress me. Me and Will did have an awesome day here- he commented to how it was the most well done park he had been too. The amount of fun family stuff also made good variety, and the park i think easily could be a multi day park, we just happened to only have 1 to cram in the best. I would say i prefer it over Phantasialand- mostly due to just having a better lineup of coasters. But i rank it behind Europa (that park is beloved to me) and Cedar Point. It's future is bright though- the newer areas are really well themed, and even the orginal areas of the park are well decorated and the park as a whole is well kept and looks great.

The only gripe i had was the pathway system, queuelines, and i believe Zator and Energylandia should work together to try and get the train station looking a little less like a derelict haunted house. Also maybe work with the rail companies to provide more frequent and less tiny trains.

(Taken from reddit, but just to give context on HOW bad Zator Station looks..)

1664296794155.png

Anyway i shall post some pictures via my phone below, thanks for reading! How did you guys find Energylandia?
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
“How did you guys find Energylandia” 😂 I’m perhaps not the best person to ask, I’m in love with the place haha.

The long queueline and reride thing is usually solved by going in October or early season, as they shorten the queue lines and open the ‘go around again’ gates near the lockers. :) But if the queue fills the batching area on Hyperion or Zadra, then they close these sadly. It’s best to get there early to enjoy these, and head straight to zadra, as they’re most often open first thing almost any day.

I know the park layout pretty well, (unsurprisingly) there’s a couple of prominent dead ends. Up the side near the drop tower, which is just odd, and always has been. Then of course in Aqualantis, which is caused by the construction, and should complete a circular route in the newer areas once sweet valley is open.

Glad you enjoyed the park, and it’s landscaping, it really is getting prettier every year.
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
Great trip report, in particular these comments:
I could not be arsed with the kiddie coasters Tbf or the SBF Spinner, i had one day here and i wanted an extra reride on the good stuff.
This I applaud wildly. 👏 👏


the constant savage airtime on Steel Vengeance honestly blows Zadra out of the water for me.
This too. 👏👏


So yeah, smooth and intense, and a world class first half. But i believe the ride is a little short, and after a few elements the ride kind of peters out.
And this comment about Hyperion is also bang on the money.

Top job. 👍
 
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