European Experience

[.Ac.]

First off a few disclaimers

• My memory is not the best, thread is basically just excuse to share a few pictures from my trip around west europe with a a few words added in for good measure.
• My grammar is not the greatest, so don't expect any Shakespear level wordsmanship.
• Culture, or therefore lack of it in this report. I went for the cheapest accommodation i could find, which meant i ended up in some very quite villages in the evenings.

So on with report

I had a few spare days last week, so booked a last minute trip out to Europe to have my first experience of a few theme parks on the main land continent before the main summer season kicked into full gear.

Day 1 - Plopsaland De Panne ( 21/05/19. )

Getting to Plopsaland could not be any simpler if they tried.
From getting off the ferry in Calais at 9am, it took all of about 45 minutes of driving up the A16 to get to De Panne and the park.

As i entered car park i was met with sight of Heide: The Ride and a very empty car park, if there was 40 cars i be surprised.

After parking up and paying to get in i started working my way round park anti clockwise.

First ride i came to was the disko, it is a very generic flat ride so won't say to much about ride experiance but i thought the theming around it and the path interaction was very well done.

Next ride was Anubis: The Ride.
From the offset the station exterior and interior impressed me with the of level detail

As for the actual ride, i felt the LSM launch was forceful up and over the first hill before plunging back down and round rest of the circuit and through inline twist into station. Solid and enjoyable coaster, I ended up going back for various re-rides through out the day.

Following ride i came to was Draak, powered mack coaster.
Station building was yet again well set out with theming, which included animatronic dragon which was cool to see.

Unfortunatly at this point i discovered that some of the ride opening were staggered in the park, and Draak didn't open till 1pm.
Considering it is a off peak day weekday and i reckon there was never any more than 200 people in the park, I can't really complain to much about staggered opening.

Moving on, the main event was next. Heide: The Ride.
Area outside the ride entrance

View of the lift hill, straight out of the station.

View from 2nd Drop

View of the 3rd Drop / Turnaround

I really enjoyed the ride, including bunny hops on the way out and banked and twisty turns on the way back to station.
However the final brake run was defiantly on the sharp end for my liking.

I ended up riding the woody about 18/20 times in all, which included having the coaster to myself for the best part of the last hour at end of the day.

After a few laps on heide i moved on and did both K3 Roller Skater and Victors Race.
No pictures sadly but both were solid family coasters. Ok nothing that thrilling but i am not exactly the target market for either coaster.

After a bit of lunch it was 1pm which meant the rides with Staggered opening times were up and running.

Rox-Flyer, even though it was now officially open there was no chance i was going to get on it due to required people to balance it out it would required near enough ever person in the park to be on the ride at the same time.
I felt sorry for ride operator, having to stand there for hours and literally having nothing to do.

Super splash, The vertical lift hill and turntable were both a cool element and the splash was impressive

However for a water ride it failed miserably for me, I have got wetter in the past from a couple of rain drops than splash on this boat. It defiantly no tidal wave.

Final attraction i ticked off was Draak

I got to say even though theming of the station and front of the carriage was on point, the actual ride was uneventful and borderline boring. By far worse coaster on the park for myself, but hey it still a +1.

Ride of the Day: Heide, The Ride.

Final conclusion of the park
The park is tidy and well presented and looked after, operation were spot on. Without doubt Heide and Anubis are the star of the show.
However at 38 Euro + 10 Euro for parking i thought it was on the expensive side. ( Either that or i am just miserable tight ass! )

Finally the fact that a park in Belgium is closer to me than likes of Alton Towers and Blackpool Pleasure Beach shocked me more to be honest.

Report from Phantasialand, Toverland and Efterling to follow in due course.

 

[Hixee]

Some nice shots in there mate. Look forward to seeing the rest. Especially from Phantasialand, one of the most photogenic parks there is!

 

[James F]

Great report! Look forward to seeing more!

Sent from my G3221 using Tapatalk

 

[Aaron Smith]

Phantasialand, Toverland, and Efteling are the three parks I'm planning to visit for my 40th bday trip in 2021 so I'm really looking forward to reading about your trip to those parks.

 

[Chris Brown]

Nice pictures! Plopsa is a fab little park but could do with a bit more to do as you found out, think a rapids and another big coaster will really complete the line up.

 

[.Ac.]

Day 2 - Phantasialand ( 22/05/19. )

After short drive from accommodation in cologne, i arrived at china car park / entrance for what was my most anticipated park & coaster of the trip.

Once inside the park the first area i stumbled across was Klugheim and what what a wonderful themed area it is.
Even though park opens at 9am and most attractions don't open till 10am, i decided to bite the bullet and join the line that was already forming for Taron. It was only going to get longer closer it got to 10am.

First views of Taron

Soon after joining the queue, the ride started testing, first sending train round empty and then with ride engineers ( what a perk to the job! )

Once ride eventually open just before 10am, with only a dozen or so people in front of me i decided to queue for front row ride and what a ride it was , loved the fact that fact that the lap bars seemed so free and loose. The amount of air time you get over first hill, all the near misses and tight twisting track, not forgetting the second launch that propels you up waterfall face.

First Launch

Coming down off the first sweeping bend

Into Airtime hill over pathway

Some further shots, although not 100% correct sequence

Absolutely amazing ride and if it wasn't for the fact i never been to park the before i could of stayed on all day, as it was i did 3 further goes via single riders line before moving on and planed on coming back later in the day.

Did Raik next, enjoyable enough family boomrang which fits into Klugheim area, although sadly no trains went past at point we interacted with Taron track.

Riverquest was next ride and what a class rapids ride, from the design of the boats ( no chance of avoiding getting wet here, unlike ones in uk ), vertical lift hill and swirl pool track layout at the top before dropping back down to station.

Moving on, and on the grounds i was wet from Riverquest i did Chiapas next and what a wonderful flume ride it is.
Element like the turntable, reverse drop, horizontal transfter make it so unique but they leave the best element to last.
Final drop is just a stunner and a soaker to.

Moving on, next ride was Black Mamba, decided it be good idea to go for a spin dry after the soaking i got on riverquest & chiapas.
Was impressed by the dark station, elevation changes in and out trenches and over bridges, the near misses, the tunnells ....

I would say it probably the best over all B&M invert i have done even though montu is more intense.

Following on from Black Mamba, i went for a walk around Berlin area, which was very picturesque area.

Next ride was Maus Au Chocolat which was fun dark ride, who doesn't like shooting mouses with chocolate ?
Saying that the ride did seem to go on forever....

Following on from Maus au Chocolat i did both Winja Fear and Winja Force, even though i not the biggest fan of the spinning coaster, they defiantly both unique and cool attractions which include some different elements like vertical lift hill, tilt and bounce tracks.

At this point i walked back and mopped up a few rides i had missed which included Mystery Castle & Colorado Adventure.

Former being a interesting take on a indoor shot tower, although it not actually that high the strobe lights help to make the illusion of speed so much more impressive.

As for latter, i didn't expect much from a Mine Train but dam is has got to be one of the best mine trains in world ( common theme for rides at the park ).
Speed, Length, Indoor & Outdoor sections .....
Only gripe was the entrance seemed to be hidden away in section of the park that has no foot fall what so ever.

I finished the day with a couple of rides on Taron, went for a third but sadly the ride broke down with half hour to go and never came back up .

Ride of the day: Taron ... it was never going be anything else was it.

Final Conclusion: Even though the park is on the small side, every small detail is taken into account and done to best of their ability.

I was bit disappointed that i had only a day at the park. Although queues weren't to bad ( 20 - 30 mins ) and i got on near enough everything i wanted tom, I didn't get much chance for re-rides on anything bar Taron.
Also i didn't get a chance to wonder around park and soak up the atmosphere or take time out to look for some cool photo opportunity.
On the plus side i did get complimentary ticket to go back in the low season, so just need find excuse to tie the place in with a trip elsewhere.

 

[Niles]

Nice report, you got some great shots of the park from areas i have have not seen before, also Taron looks amazing as ever.

 

[Hutch]

Enjoying the photos and your thoughts, seems like a solid little trip for a few good looking parks!

The photo of the staff member riding Taron by himself amused me. He doesn't seem very impressed!

 

[Aaron Smith]

These pics of Phantasialand are spectacular. I'm even more excited to go now!

 

[.Ac.]

Day 3 - Toverland - ( 23/05/19.)

Third day and third different country, yet again i drove into yet another empty car park and meet by the wonderful sight of woody that is Troy.

Here i was hoping for a nice quite day indeed, however the quietness was somewhat spoiled a moment later when a convoy of 12 / 15 coaches full of school kids rolled in.

Oh well, on with the day and short walk to the new entrance area.

Decided to start the day at back of the park and headed straight for 2018 B&M Wing Coaster that is Fenix

I got to say i enjoyed the entire layout from top of lift hill all way round into brake run.

Whether it was the Dive Drop, Air Time Hill, Immelmann loop, Zero G Roll, Helixs or Near misses on both bridges.
What a wonderful coaster and impressive piece of machinery indeed.

Here a few more shot of the worthy new addition to the park.

Managed six back to back re-rides before moving on.
I would say out of the rides i did ( Front, Middle and Back ride of each side ), my favourite seat was the front right.
Got to love interrupted views from front and right side being closer to the ground in both of the helix's

As for theming i thought queue line and inside station was interesting enough, however when you re-enter the station from the brake run it just looks like boring metal box!

After Fenix i took short walk around pond and went on Merlin Quest boat ride.

Nice relaxing trip around the underneath of Fenix, which also included a cool dark section with some cool theming.

Next up was Dwervelwind, the joys of a spinning coaster.
Loved the theming on the roof of the station,

As for the actual coaster though, i can't say did anything for me to be honest.

Moving on, next up was Booster Bike

Enjoyable enough coaster, even if launch ain't anything special by today standards, the riding position and twisting turns do make for fun ride experience.
Only thing that lets it down is the theming and somewhat random placing right next to one of the indoor buildings.
However this can be somewhat excused on the grounds it was constructed in the very early years of the park existence.

Following on i did Toos-Express

Not a lot needs to be said part from it a kiddy cred and it was a +1.
Being total indoors was pretty cool mind.

Finally i made it back to front of the park and it was time to ride the glorious Troy

Oh boy what a ride , found the pacing pretty fast, few different pops of air time along course with some cool twisting turns thrown in.
Favorite part has to be the station fly through, what a cool element. Weather you on the coaster or the station.

If i had to find a gripe with the coaster it would be with metal T bar restraints, They not very forgiving on people of "bigger build" and had tendency to dig in after couple of corners / hills. The only other thing that bugged me was the exit and the bottleneck caused by people looking at photos at the bottom of the stairs. How hard is it to keep a door way clear!

Saying that highlight of the day was last hour spent re-riding troy with out having to leave the station.

Ride of the Day: Troy, as much as Fenix was fantastic you can't beat a good woody.

Final conclusion of the park
For a park that has only been around for less than 20 years it has certainly left it mark on the map as well rounded family park with plenty of areas for kids to be kids. If they continue to expand at the same pace i can't wait to see what the next 20 years brings.

Only downer was i missed Maximus Blitz Bahn that is tucked away in one of big indoor buildings, but hey that the risk when you visit a park blind and don't do any research.

 

[Hixee]

Although a shame you missed Blitz Bahn, I'm sure that they're going to be adding plenty more stuff following the roaring success of Fenix, so just another thing to try when you go back!

 

[.Ac.]

Day 4 - Efteling ( 24/05/19. )

Fourth and final day of the trip brought me to Efterling, just north of Tilburg in netherlands.

Once you park up, the first thing you are meet with is the very striking entrance building which set the standard for the day ahead.

Once inside, i again head towards the back of the park and made a beeline for the dive machine that is Baron 1898

What a wonderful dive machine it is to, from the operations, the pre show, steampunk theming, the dive into misted hole ....
Love the fact that is there is more elements to the circuit after the dive, unlike the one trick pony that is Oblivion in UK.
Also unlike Oblivion, you aren't sat on the brake runs for ever and a day.

Sadly at this stage Vliegende Hollander was not open and Joris en de Draak was down for schedule maintenance ,
To be fair i was aware of the later before, i left the Uk.
Efteling do a good job at publishing planned maintenance information on their website.

Which only left Python open in the current area.

From what i seen on this forum ( which could be totally wrong! ), the ride doesn't get much love however i thought it was a cool classic coaster.
Not everything can be Taron, Helix ....
Ok it wasn't fast or intense but still had a some cool inversions going on.
Saying that, my ride impression might be somewhat clouded by the fact they retracked the ride last year.
One thing that did strike me as bid odd though was the bag policy and the fact you had to take bags onto a inverting coaster.....something you defiantly wouldn't see in the like of USA.

Following on from Python i decided to a take a walk around the lake and headed towards Vogel Rok

What a weird ride entrance and still to this day i have no idea what massive bird has to do with the rollercoaster ?
However it defiantly striking and sticks in the memory, so must be doing something right.

As for the actual coaster, it was enjoyable enough but nothing more i would say, the light effects during the circuit being the best part.
Don't get me wrong, taking a what would be very ordinary coaster and putting it into the dark does increases the unpredictable factor but the actual ride wasn't that thrilling or fast at all

With near to no queue and for the fact it was right next door i went for trip on Carnival Festival and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Ok i am not the target market of the ride however who doesn't enjoy a dark rides ?
No two dark rides are ever going be the same, uniqueness of the ride along with the cheerful theme music made for a very enjoyable ride experience.
I liked seeing the creators take on of each country that featured in the displays, plus got free red nose ( sucker for a freebie! )

After coming off carnival i decided to carry on the walk round the lake and came to Pagode

Ok it just a dressed up observation tower with a cool twist to the lift mechanism, but hey the views from top are cool.

Next up was the iconic dark ride that is Symbolica
Even though i don't understand a single bit of dutch! i enjoyed the ride and show effects that were going on.
Saying that i still till can't work out how the rides works though, what appears to be a trackless dark ride with three different routes continuously interacting with each other.....must be Magic!

Moving on and it was time for another Coaster, Bob.

Good fun solid Bobsleigh coaster, Only other coaster i done like this is Avalanche at BPB and go to say i much prefer this.
Single Cars, Longer track and some uphill sections into various break runs make for a great bit of a fun.
Sadly due to layout and fact coaster is set back into the woods there was no chance of getting a decent clear view of the coaster in action for a picture.

After taking brake, having some lunch and taking some advice on what to do next on facebook (@Serena being one from memory) i headed for walk around Fairytale Forest.

It is be fair to say Efteling has lot more to offers than just thrills and spills.
I got totally submerged in the Fairytale Forest, reliving many happy childhood memories..

It be fair to say i got proper lost wondering around the forest, however i had great fun in the progress which surprised me to be honest.

Once i found my way out of the forest i headed towards Droomvlucht (another recommendation).
I had absolutely no idea there was a dark ride hidden in this corner of park but i glad i made the effort to see it.
The size, scale and depth of detail of the dioramas took my breath away.....Sort i wish i took some photos inside however never to sure if it PC to do so or not ??
The final bit of the track as you spiral down round a Tarzan-like scene was pretty cool and fast.

As i was coming out Droomvlucht i heard train pulling into station so decided to grab train to the back of the park and headed back toward to Vliegende Hollander.
Cool little train ride around the park, which included a coupe of parts / views that the footpaths can't offer.

Once off the train i started to head towards Vliegende, only to notice that Joris en de Draak was up and running early from schedule maintenance, so made a beeline for there instead.
Ride had by far the longest queue of the day ( and the whole week for that matter! ) at 45 minutes but i didn't care as it was a cred(s) i thought i was never going to get in first palce. You got to love a woody and a duelling woody is even better , Ok it is no Troy but very very good coaster all the same.

I did the water side first ( first queue i came to ) and then walked round and joined the queue to do fire side straight after. Got all the way round queue and into the station building when a PA announcement was made " Due to technical difficulty this ride has stopped working, it will begin shortly" . As i had waited for a fair bit and day was getting on ( approx half 4 ) i thought it best to stay put and wait out technically difficult, sadly though 5 / 10 minutes later it was announced the ride was to be closed indefiantly and the queue lines were to be emptied....BOOOO!!

As a result i walk across to Vliegende Hollander and joined the queue line instead.
Got to say from the outside, the station building didn't look all that but inside it was impressive sight, as were first few dark section of the ride.

Outdoor sections of the coaster was just as enjoyable, which included a couple of steep drops along with the customary water splash

Cool take on of a water coaster and probably my third favorite at the park after the wooden GCI next door and the Dive Machine.

With bit of time to spare and done every operational coaster on the park i headed back down towards the entrance and another dark ride that efteling has to offer, Fata Morgana.
It was nice and relaxing boat trip around various scenes based on the arabian nights with some good looking animatronics and interesting audio.

After coming out Fata Morgana, it was announced over the PA that Aquanura show was about to start, so decided to hang around and catch the show.

Was a cool show to watch and yet another example of enjoyable experience that proves you don't need a ride to have a good time.
Standing down wind from show may of not been the best idea, but was a good way to cool down all the same.

With time moving on ( less than half hour before park closure ) i decided to try my luck and head back to Wooden coaster to get the only get cred i was missing.
It was back up and testing however the staff were standing by entrance and stated that ride was closed at present time and they didn't know when or if it was going to reopen.

Waited it out 15/20 minutes but sadly nothing had changed, so with 10 minutes to spare and chance of getting last missing cred near enough zero i decided to cut my losses and take my last ride on Baron 1898.
As good as the ride was, i was absolutely gutted to come off just after 6pm to see a train going round the side of wooden coaster that i needed with people on. Dammit i should of stuck it out to the death and not cut my losses with less than 10 mins to go.
Oh well, that life!

On the way out I watched aquanura show again, from a different position this time.

Enjoyable show and defiantly a good way to prevent the bottle necking in the car park exit.

Ride of the Day: Droomvlucht ....as much as Baron 1898 is probably best all round coaster on park, this ride caught me off guard and left by far biggest impression on me

Final conclusion of the park
Well presented and well themed park that proves you don't just need blockbuster rides for a good overall experience. There are many other ways to engage with visitors of all age.

Best Park of Trip: Efteling, only just. I would happily go back to both Efteling and Phantasialand tomorrow if chances arose ( 1 Day is not enough at either! ) however size and magicalness of some of the attractions appealed to me ( E.g Forest, Dark Ride and Fountain Show).

Best Ride of Trip: Taron...was never really in question.

Total Creds: +23
Total Spites: 1 ( Booo! )

 

[Hixee]

Excellent report. Some really good photos in there too - the one of Baron coming out of the Immelmann is awesome!

 

[.Ac.]

Some nice shots in there mate. Look forward to seeing the rest. Especially from Phantasialand, one of the most photogenic parks there is!

Although a shame you missed Blitz Bahn, I'm sure that they're going to be adding plenty more stuff following the roaring success of Fenix, so just another thing to try when you go back!

Excellent report. Some really good photos in there too - the one of Baron coming out of the Immelmann is awesome!

First off, thanks for encouragement to put report together in first place. In hindsight trying write report from memory a week after the event was very bit hit and miss, especially on stuff that only managed to get on once. I should of written stuff down each day, but trying to write stuff on a phone with fat fingers is slower going than M25 on a friday afternoon.

As for the pictures, thank you for feedback. It cool to hear they appreichated.
In ideal world i would want to take various different lens into a park, but keeping backpack to minimum is just as important.
As a result i am quite please with a few of the pictures and can see how other could be improved upon.

Like you said, will no doubt end up back at toverland in a few years, so can give Blitz Bahn a go then.

Great report! Look forward to seeing more!

Sent from my G3221 using Tapatalk

Thanks, will try to do more in future if and when time permits.

Phantasialand, Toverland, and Efteling are the three parks I'm planning to visit for my 40th bday trip in 2021 so I'm really looking forward to reading about your trip to those parks.

These pics of Phantasialand are spectacular. I'm even more excited to go now!

Thanks, hope your enjoy 40th Bday trip, all 3 parks are spectacular, especially Phantasialand and Efteling.

Nice pictures! Plopsa is a fab little park but could do with a bit more to do as you found out, think a rapids and another big coaster will really complete the line up.

Got to agree, if i wasn't so tight and everything in park was opened straight away i could of knocked it out in hour or two at best.
Nice little park for sure but felt like it could do with a bit more to fill out the day. Probably didn't help the log flume was down for maintenance.

Nice report, you got some great shots of the park from areas i have have not seen before, also Taron looks amazing as ever.

Thanks, Taron was amazing as everyone make out .

Enjoying the photos and your thoughts, seems like a solid little trip for a few good looking parks!

The photo of the staff member riding Taron by himself amused me. He doesn't seem very impressed!

Thanks, Staff member going round on his own did make me chuckle. I guess novelty wears off after your been round for 1000th time, saying that i wouldn't mind trying it ...

 

[Howie]

Great reports, enjoyed reading those. Nice pictures too.
Bonus point for rating Efteling above Phantasialand.

 

[zazobo]

Sounds a great trip, always nice to hear others first Impressions of these fab parks!