Europa Park | Voltron | Mack Rides Stryker Coaster | 2024

[TheTalbotHound]

Right now voltron is a bit of a testbed for mack. They haven't fitted the stabilisers on all the bogies yet. Wouldn't be surprised if they keep on testing new parts on voltron like they do on blue fire right now. I think i got lucky with my rides though, because i did not feel any rattle any of the times i rode it.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

One of the best parts of the ride and area is the queuline and locker building... I won't inadvertently reveal any spoilers don't worry. I didn't think I'd captured it with my phone very well, but turns out I had, so here's my favourite part of that building... (Amongst MANY highlights.)

Spoiler: *Spoiler* Queue line effect / theming *Spoiler*

 

[bratcurry]

In addition to having a low tolerance, I do admit that I find it annoying… Intamin and RMC have been putting out some impossibly smooth rides

Yeah, no. RMC is in a league of its own because they use shock absorbers. As for Intamin, Velocicoaster has quite the Mack-level rattle. It's definitely not impossibly smooth.

Don't forget about the newer Vekomas. I haven't ridden many of them, but those I have are as smooth as anything else out there.

Actually, no, they're not. They're equally rattly like Mack's newer coasters. Fenix not as much as Big Bear Mountain but both definitely feature vibrations. The only truely incredibly smooth Vekoma is Guardians, which I think features shock absorbers, too.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Yeah, no. RMC is in a league of its own because they use shock absorbers. As for Intamin, Velocicoaster has quite the Mack-level rattle. It's definitely not impossibly smooth.

Actually, no, they're not. They're equally rattly like Mack's newer coasters. Fenix not as much as Big Bear Mountain but both definitely feature vibrations. The only truely incredibly smooth Vekoma is Guardians, which I think features shock absorbers, too.

Completely disagree.. Formula, Abyssus and Lech are the vekomas that stand out as smooth to me, sure they're not 'RMC Smooth' but certainly much less rattly than Macks latest offerings. Voltron is more rattly than Taron, which does have a bit of a rattle itself. Velocicoaster and Kondaa were both just glassy smooth for me.

Thing is, none of the rides mentioned have a rattle like a gerst, that affects the ride enjoyment and can give you headaches. Even Voltron's wing seats, on a 'good' train, whilst having noticeably more rattle, are much smoother than anything we all grew up with, and as such, are really great fun.

Haven't got that far in my trip report yet, but Walibi Belgium was the perfect park to remind me of the difference between old school rough rides, and new smoother and enjoyable, but still rattly, rides. At this point Smiler has crossed the line between rattle and rough, it's really quite janky now, but even that is way more re-ridable than a lot of the old Vekomas etc, (and that's from somebody who grew up clocking 30+ rides a day on an old boomerang every Saturday and Sunday!)

 

[Nitefly]

As for Intamin, Velocicoaster has quite the Mack-level rattle. It's definitely not impossibly smooth.

Yes - VC was a bit shonky for me on some rides. I was more thinking of the likes of Toutatis and Pantheon which were very smooth in my experience.

 

[Thrillseeker2024]

Why is voltron rattly????

 

[Thrillseeker2024]

Why is voltron rattly????

I found it to be a bit like mandrill mayhem bounciness, but with a but more rattle

 

[VonRolland]

Why is voltron rattly????

How about read the last 2 pages where its been discussed why it has been rattly and how its being solved without just blindly typing into the void

 

[VonRolland]

The final veejoy episode has been released and at the end of it they appear to be teasing fencing off Euromir as I'm sure by now its all but confirmed its gonna be refurbed

 

[Nicky Borrill]

The final veejoy episode has been released and at the end of it they appear to be teasing fencing off Euromir as I'm sure by now its all but confirmed its gonna be refurbed

Is Russia going to be annexed by Croatia?

Is that where the space for these '2 additional attractions' is coming from?

 

[CSLKennyNI]

It’s been long discussed and concepts already exist in Mack NeXT’s offices for EuroMir 2.0 - it will basically be getting the EuroSat treatment. All that hasn’t been clear is when that will happen. Teaser seems to suggest it is the next project soon then!

 

[bratcurry]

Is Russia going to be annexed by Croatia?

Is that where the space for these '2 additional attractions' is coming from?

No, it's gonna become Ukraine.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

No, it's gonna become Ukraine.

That would be perfect.

 

[witchfinder]

Had my first visit to Europa on May 6-7th and managed to ride Voltron 3 times over the 2 days. The park was much busier than we expected it to be and the main queue was 60+ minutes all day, but my wife didn't want to ride so I used the SRQ each time. It took about 30 mins on average to get on the ride, no matter how long the queue was when I joined it

The theming and look of the area is fantastic and the trains look fab. Loads of great things to look at in the queue building and the more rides you have, the more you'll see. Operations were superb with the batching people doing a great job filling the trains and keeping every queue moving.

As a single rider, all three of my rides were on the wing seat on the left side of the train (as you're sitting on it). My first ride was on row 2 and was one of the roughest coaster rides I have ever had, and I'm including SLCs in that I was jackhammered the entire ride and felt like every bone in my body had been rearranged by the end. It gave me a headache for a good 30 minutes afterwards.

My second ride was on row 3 and was almost as bad, and some technical issue occurred when we reached the turntable so we were stopped there for a couple of minutes. The final ride was much better, though there was still a small rattle and the wheels were very squeaky on that train. I did enjoy that one a lot more though.

This should have been the elite ride Europa needed, and the layout is great with some fantastic elements and the launches are much punchier than the other Macks I've ridden, but none of that matters if you're being bounced around on what feels like triangular wheels. My wife said she saw many people coming off the ride holding their neck or head, so there is clearly an issue with some trains and that's not good for a ride that has only been open a couple of weeks. Maybe it's better on the middle seats but I never had the chance to find out.

Overall, very disappointed. That's Helix, RTH and Voltron that have all failed to wow me like they seem to do for other people. Maybe I just don't like Macks

 

[witchfinder]

BTW, I got a rough train on Voltron tonight, train 1 last ride of the night, in the dark… And the difference is night day. It was very very rough, headache inducing almost. With a very audible squeak coming from the wheel assembly. The difference was that noticeable that I reported it to a ride host, who said “Yes, we know, train 1 we need to change some parts.”

I guess we’ve been lucky to get decent trains up until now, because the difference really is night and day. They’ll fix it in no time too, they’re aware, know what it is, and they’re Europa Park… All trains will be running well within days, I’m sure.

Sorry to double post but just noticed this. My second ride was on train 1 and it was still how you described it above (though it was still not the worst one!) so they haven't fixed it that quickly as this was May 7th

 

[Peter Immelmann]

I heard in several reviews that the right side of the train is significantly better. What a pity that the single rider line will almost always result in the outermost left seats.

It's also unfortunate that all this is most likely not at all clear to the GP, so some may not enjoy the ride and never get back on it, just because they got a bad seat/train on their first ride. (Just imagine a situation were my GP friends would say 'never ever again ' and I had to explain them that they would just need to go to the right side of the train and avoid train numbers xy... They will probably raise an eyebrow and pass.)

 

[witchfinder]

Honestly, even as an enthusiast I was seriously considering whether to bother queuing again after my first ride, and even more so when the second was almost as bad

 

[Jamesss]

I'm surprised the park haven't sorted out the rough trains yet.

For me it's such a big drawback that I'd put off visiting until it's resolved.

 

[j-cat5]

I'm surprised the park haven't sorted out the rough trains yet.

For me it's such a big drawback that I'd put off visiting until it's resolved.

I actually pretty much have for this exact reason. Swapping out Europa trip for an Energylandia revisit I reckon. Just hope they don't introduce a single rider for Hyperion soon where I'm forced into the outside seats (although they're nowhere near as rough as that sounds tbf )

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Sorry to double post but just noticed this. My second ride was on train 1 and it was still how you described it above (though it was still not the worst one!) so they haven't fixed it that quickly as this was May 7th

It's very weird, that night train 1 felt like one of the worst rides I've ever had for vibration / roughness on a steel coaster. But, it was definitely silky smooth for our ride on the same train the next day... Maybe they're still trying out different configurations, as we know this to be fact during opening week, because they were openly telling everybody.

Or maybe there's a much more serious underlying problem leading the trains to become rough very quickly after being repaired / serviced.

Either way, my two rides on train 1, across 2 different days, were very very different. Same row too, row 2, except on the 'rough' night I was on a middle seat, and on the smooth ride I was on the left wing seat (single rider seat.)

Funnily enough, on the 'rough' night, they absolutely would not allow people to sit in the left seats on the front 2 rows... They were even splitting up groups as per the picture. (There was 8 of us wanting to ride together, they split us across 3 rows!) But the next day, when it was smooth, these seats were open and being used again, and I sat there.