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Energylandia | Choco Chip Creek | Vekoma Minetrain | 2024

Christian

Hyper Poster
Zadra
Hyperion
Abyssus
Formula
Speed
Mayan (This one is bad)
Choco Chip Creek (don't know how this rides, maybe it's good)
+ Dragon


Honestly, just those 6 coasters makes this one of the best parks in the world. It could go up against any top park in coaster quality except for Cedar Point. If they also add a proper invert (new Vekoma, B&M or maybe Intamin?) and a woodie they will have a complete coaster line up. Something even Cedar Point lacks as they don't have a water coaster.
 

Sandman

Giga Poster
Zadra
Hyperion
Abyssus
Formula
Speed
Mayan (This one is bad)
Choco Chip Creek (don't know how this rides, maybe it's good)
+ Dragon


Honestly, just those 6 coasters makes this one of the best parks in the world. It could go up against any top park in coaster quality except for Cedar Point. If they also add a proper invert (new Vekoma, B&M or maybe Intamin?) and a woodie they will have a complete coaster line up. Something even Cedar Point lacks as they don't have a water coaster.

Abyssus and Formula look like good fun but nothing special. Reviews seem to suggest that anyway. Speed isn't really competition in terms of a world's best coaster line-up either. But hey, who am I to say?

Zadra and Hyperion are definitely the big boys and arguably the best coaster duo in Europe, but outside of that I really couldn't fathom Energylandia being anywhere near one of the best line-ups in the entire world. I'm glad to see the park expand at such a rate though. Just throw in another Zadra/Hyperion scale investment and I'll be blown away.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Honestly, just those 6 coasters makes this one of the best parks in the world. It could go up against any top park in coaster quality except for Cedar Point. If they also add a proper invert (new Vekoma, B&M or maybe Intamin?) and a woodie they will have a complete coaster line up. Something even Cedar Point lacks as they don't have a water coaster.
Ha, tell another one!

Formula is better than Abyssus, and they're only solid mid-tier. Yes Zadra and Hyperion are stunning, but to pretend the line-up at Energylandia compares is laughable. The filler at Energylandia? Family Boomerang #3. The filler at Cedar Point? Gatekeeper. Please.

Also Cedar Point doesn't need a water coaster, 'cos they're ****e. ;)
 

Christian

Hyper Poster
Never said it's the best line up or the best park. But it indeed could become a complete line up. Judging purely by coaster quality the line up is among the best in the world. They have a great airtime hyper and and incredible RMC. These two are world class coasters and one of the best 1-2 punches in the world. Fight me on that one.

Then they arguably have the best water coaster in the world, it's not close to being the best coaster but it's an incredible water coaster.

Regarding the launch coasters, they are pretty good. Not close to the top Intamins but because there are two off them I still think they generally fit in the park.

They will soon have a very good mine train and they already have arguably the best family invert in the world. Together with 2 good family boomerangs and 2 more great kiddie coasters. I'm not counting all the SBFs and we completely forget about the SLC and Wild Mouse. Those could be blown up.

If we compare other European line ups suggested in that topic to EL:

In my eyes only PortAventura is in the same league.

My home park Liseberg has 1 world class coaster, one really good woodie but not world class, one really good drop coaster and one really good mine train, maybe the best mine train in the world.

Phantasialand has 2 world class coasters and a couple decent supporting coasters.

Alton Towers has Nemesis and a bunch of supporting rides. Smiler is unique but everything else can be found in much better versions at other parks. I don't give Oblivion and Galactica any excuses for being the first in the world. The same as NTG doesn't get any excuses for being the first RMC.

Walibi Holland has one great RMC, though I prefer Zadra but this one is almost up there. They also have a great mega coaster but it's nowhere close to Hyperion. Lost Gravity feels like a big El Loco (also looks like it) but I love El Loco so I also love Lost Gravity. The other coasters at Walibi Holland are rubbish.

Haven't been to Plopsaland since The Ride to Happiness opened. Can therefore not rank that park. I love Anubis and Heidi but just those two don't feel like a world class line up considering that everything else is kiddie coasters.

Hope I haven't thoroughly insulted anyone now. Sure the US offers some more coaster quality at the expense of theming. But, by just looking at coaster quality I think EL is one of the best parks in the world. With a world class invert and woodie they might very well be the best park in the world in terms of coaster quality.

By looking at the whole experience then EL is not the best park in the world, far from it. But in terms of the coasters that they have I firmly believe it to be one of the best line-ups in the world. Together with maybe 10 other parks.
 
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Trax

Hyper Poster
Damn, I want to write a real long answer, but am currently on my phone - lucky you :)

Abyssus got quite a bit of speed over the season, it ran as good in the winter as it did in the (late) summer, and should speed up a little bit more during this year as well.
Formula is great for its size, I just want to defend Abyssus a bit. Btw: Abyssus has actually the strongest airtime of all coasters in the park.
 

DarekD2004

Roller Poster

Projektion

Mega Poster
It surely says something about Abyssus and Formula when I think this looks like the 3rd best coaster in the park.
 

Christian

Hyper Poster
The lack of theming on this coaster breaks my EL fanboy heart 💔

It's such an incredible and unique theme. Instead of the standard western mine train they could truly have done a Willy Wonka style candy and cookie paradise. Really a magical choco chip creek. Big choco chip dough mountains that the coaster runs around, flowing chocolate and candy effects, indoor sections with tons of glowing candy. It could have been incredible.
 

cocoa

Mega Poster
why does vekoma use the old-style track for this? wouldn't everyone be happier if they just used either the junior track or their more serious wheels-outside-whatever-its-called track?

I guess, I know that the answer will be that they can't be bothered making new plans/trains for the ride, but still.
 

Christian

Hyper Poster
why does vekoma use the old-style track for this? wouldn't everyone be happier if they just used either the junior track or their more serious wheels-outside-whatever-its-called track?

I guess, I know that the answer will be that they can't be bothered making new plans/trains for the ride, but still.

It looks cool and it wasn't broken. Unlike other Vekomas with similar track that usually were painfully rough I don't think the same has been the case with mine trains. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Ha, tell another one!

Formula is better than Abyssus, and they're only solid mid-tier. Yes Zadra and Hyperion are stunning, but to pretend the line-up at Energylandia compares is laughable. The filler at Energylandia? Family Boomerang #3. The filler at Cedar Point? Gatekeeper. Please.

Also Cedar Point doesn't need a water coaster, 'cos they're ****e. ;)
🙈 🙈 🙈 I wouldn't go that far... Whilst disappointing at first, (inflated expectations,) I actually grew to love it on my last few visits. Not HypAdra love it, but it is great. And definitely, 100%, without a doubt, better than Formula for me. It also got a lot quicker and snappier towards the end of the season and more so on the later evenings. It absolutely does need the pools filling, and theming finishing, but I hear that's been / being done over winter?

On my more recent rides, I cannot think of many parks in Europe with a better number 3... The only contenders for me are Valkyria, Black Mamba, Blue Fire and Goliath (WH) and given the options for numbers 1 and 2 above those numbers 3's, I am going to carry on being an insufferable EL fanboy! :p
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
We're on a tangent here, but I'm happy to let it roll on. As nice as the POV is to have, it's hardly going to set the world alight.

On my more recent rides, I cannot think of many parks in Europe with a better number 3... The only contenders for me are Valkyria, Black Mamba, Blue Fire and Goliath (WH) and given the options for numbers 1 and 2 above those numbers 3's, I am going to carry on being an insufferable EL fanboy! :p
Let me be clear - Zadra and Hyperion are, for sure, the best one-two combo in Europe. Abyssus and Formula are great (better than most UK **** in the last decade), and they have a few other decent mid-tier coasters around. The problem with Energylandia for me (and before you all remind me, I know that they're a new park and have grown rapidly and all that) is that there is just so much crap in amongst that. The park is clean, but the layout, theming and variety is slim pickings.

I've got no problem at all with Energylandia being considered one of the best parks in Europe - you're probably right overall, and definitely right from a hardware perspective - but personally I'd rather have another trip to Europa, or a tour round Phantasialand, Efteling, Walibi, etc. They're better overall park experiences, for me.

But seriously, comparing the ride line up at Energylandia to Cedar Point and thinking they're in any way equal is madness to me. Sure, Hyperion is better than Millennium Force (although I do quite like MF), and SteVe beats Zadra (just), and I suppose you could interchange Maverick with Abyssus (although I'd pick that red machine all day long), but what else does Energylandia offer that competes with Dragster, Gatekeeper, Valravn, Raptor, Magnum or Gemini? You have to head to the "one-and-done" tier of Cedar Point coasters to find comparable coasters after that.

What I will say, is that I'm excited to have a park like Energylandia in Europe. I think it's probably one of the few parks that could maybe compete eventually, and I truly think it's spurring investment/bravery/something in other parks around Europe showing that sometimes bigger does equal better. It's just not quite there yet.

But hey, that's just my opinion.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
.But seriously, comparing the ride line up at Energylandia to Cedar Point and thinking they're in any way equal is madness to me. Sure, Hyperion is better than Millennium Force (although I do quite like MF), and SteVe beats Zadra (just), and I suppose you could interchange Maverick with Abyssus (although I'd pick that red machine all day long), but what else does Energylandia offer that competes with Dragster, Gatekeeper, Valravn, Raptor, Magnum or Gemini? You have to head to the "one-and-done" tier of Cedar Point coasters to find comparable coasters after that.

I haven’t been to the USA, hence why I only make comparisons to Europe, but surely CP is coaster Mecca? Especially for a hardware goon like me! Making comparisons like that, at least on paper, is a huge stretch, even to an EL fanboy.

I would even say that there are a few other parks in the US that, whilst they may not have a better 1-2, look to have a better lineup overall, in terms of diversity and quality of supporting coasters.

Yep, whilst they have Europe wrapped up in terms of hardware, they will need to build more than one more ‘big boy’ before they can be competitive globally, and probably need to make friends with a certain little swiss manufacturer too.
 

Trax

Hyper Poster
It all depends how you look at the lineups. Just looking at the things, GP would look at, Energylandia has 5 amazing rides which are Hyperion, Zadra, Abyssus, Formula and Speed (allthough this is a little bit of a cheat, as Speed is only a great water ride, but not a good coaster).
If Formula is the worst of your big rollercoasters, you are able to compete with a lot of parks, even worldwide.
However, if you compare the average quality of the attractions, they will easily loose against parks like Phantasialand or Europa. Whilst Energylandias top 5 are at least really good rides, the drop in quality is pretty severe afterwards. SLC, 2 Vekoma Boomerangs, 2 Vekoma Kiddies and a lot of really small scale stuff. Compare that to a Phantasialand where the worst coaster is Crazy Bats, which is still kind of fun for me. Europas worst coaster is Ba-a-a-a-a express, but it still looks pretty and is a great starter coaster for the smallest. Energylandia has half a dozen of small scale kiddie rides without any, or at least any quality theming.

Abyssus really sped up a lot in2021. My rides in September on a ~18°C day with a full train were about as fast as the rides during winter, with an empty train at 5°C. It felt like it needed more speed towards the end during my rides, but I think with that speed-up it got, it will be a great coaster as well.
Even in it's slower state, it easily beats Formula for me. While the latter one is a fun, smaller scale coaster which I always enjoy, Abyssus has a few moments which are really good. The first valley after the second launch is really intense and brings me close to a grey-out, the airtime pop below the station is crazy and even the first part has suprisingly good airtime.
Allthough I have to admit that it feels like Energylandia got a little bit over their head with the theming ideas, and let many bare walls slip through. Still got some hopes for this year.

Their 1-2 punch is arguably one of the best around, but the "B-tier" rides are still a little bit lacking. Energylandia consists of some A-tier rides (ignoring S for that matter), but has little to no B-tier ones to fill C and D tier to the brim. Choco Chip Creek looks like a really solid B-tier coaster and fills a gap in the lineup. But I have to admit, the theming doesn't look impressive. Lets hope they'll add something more.
 
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