What's new

GhosterForce 2016 Trip Reports

DelPiero

Strata Poster
No pics I'm afraid as I killed my phone on Troy. Troy!

Day 1 - Fright Nights of Awesome

Waking up to catch a Coach at 2am isn't fun on a normal day, but combine it with a full day and night at Walibi and you've a recipe for total exhaustion.
Fortunately I was lucky enough to be on the same flight as Jake, unfortunately I had to sit next to an actual Whale on the plane. Only for a few mins though as he realised he was suffocating me and swapped with a friend, who wasn't the size of a planet. Jake had spotted this Sumo in the airport and prayed that he didn't sit next to him, thanks Jake.
We arrived around 8, so I went to sort the hire car, nice and spacious, plenty of luggage room. This was fortunate as a couple of the group had been given rather small cars.

Eventually goons started trickling into the airport, Sue went to get her burdonous car offsite while we waited for the last few to arrive and we set off to Walibi Holland!

The first stop was Xpress: Platform 13, Lofty was bouncing off the walls excited for the Queue, I had no idea why, until we went through it. It's fab, easily the best part of the ride. I'd quite happily go through that a few more times, and the cred was decent. Launch was fab, and the layout wasn't overly rattly or jerky, I think most of the group enjoyed the first ride of the trip. Everyone then got their free refill hot drinks, which were a godsend when running on minimal sleep.

Next up was Speed of Sound which I heard was the best version of the boomerangs. I liked it, the OBA added a lot to the ride, the restraints were reasonably comfortable and the backwards section didn't seem to be overly forceful and bleh. Decent, but not something I'm overly bothered about re-riding.

Moving swiftly on, we moved round the park to Drako. Standard +1 that was more memorable for the chat with Sue than the cred itself. The Clinic was here, and it offered some decent views of Lost Gravity.

Yay! Lost Gravity is Fab! The Queue is decent, as mentioned, the fab vibrating escalator is tingly in all the right places, plenty of interaction and quirky theming. Fraser and I bagged back wing seats and the commentary went like this;

Lift hill: "Yay wing seats, this is gonna be fab"
Drop, speed hill, weird twist hill, floater hill: "Fraser I love it!"
Slow Turn, MCBR, Dive Loop, Zero G: "Fraser I hate it!"
Helix, Final weird looking hump: "Fraser I love it again!"

The first ride in the morning was really weird, the drop was incredible in the back left, EGF style twisted ejector, then a few really great mixed elements of ejector and floater before the slow turn. I LOVED the first half. The 2nd half was a bit bleh, slow and hangy, not what I like, but the final hump was amazing! Overall I liked it.
The night ride was even better, front right, and while the drop was nowhere near as fab, the rest of the ride was great. The Zero G had no hang and was lovely floater with a bit of force as the end and the Dive Loop was taken quicker. I'd like to see how the back left rides at night as it could potentially be a top 20 ride. Faaaaaab!

Next up was Condor the first ever Vekoma SLC. There was a faff when one of the seats failed to release a poor soul. It was eventually fixed but the train was taken out of action. one train operations yay. Fortunately the wait was only around 30 mins. It's disgusting, like all SLCs, probably not the worst one, both Infusion and Mind Eraser stick out as being worse, but not by much. At least we got to enjoy everyone else's screams of pain while waiting for the 2nd group.

I think we did the rapids next El Rio Grande, always fun with a group but this was one of the weaker rapids of the trip when compared with River Quest and the one at Efteling. Good boats though, I like the section ones as you can get a good shot of water to the face, shame the actual rapids weren't better.

Goliath loomed at the back of the park, and as a huge EGF fan, this was one of the creds I was most looking forward to. But it's not great, It's bad compared to EGF, but great compared to Rita, very much middle of the road. I'll ride it again when I go back but it's not the star of the park anymore. The Stengel is fab tho <3
However, after Nemesis_Guy was spited in the afternoon, we made it a personal mission to get him the cred in the evening. It took Jake(in an incomfortable position, there is a pic floating somewhere) and myself to close the seat belt but we did it. Getting Shaun the cred and seeing his happy face made up for the dissapointing ride :)

The Clinic group disappeared so the rest of us went for the final cred Robin Hood. It was good fun, nothing special, but not disgusting. I got non wheel seat so it was reasonably smooth, but others on the wheels reported vile juddering and jerks. The restraints were a bit vile, as they kept tightening, but the ride itself was fine.

Lunch Break was called and it was getting close to 4pm (The Villa prebooked time) so I sauntered over to the Villa where I found Caffeine_Demon, but the rest (Ben, Maddie, Lofty, Serena) were nowhere to be seen. Turns out The Clinic had opening faff and they were running late. The Villa allowed us to come when everyone was ready, which was nice of them, so I went back to give good vibes to the Clinic group. As Serena said, she was soooooooooo close to Chickening out, but somehow she went in through the door.
I waited for them all to exit and Lofty's face when he got out was sheer joy. If Lofty loves a Haunted Attraction then you know it's good, and my heart sunk as I should've booked it myself :( Ben and Maddie came out soon after and both agreed it was excellent, but Serena had bloused out near the end. Safe Word Serena was born from the Clinic, and became a thing for the rest of the day.

Anyhoo, The Villa WAS INCREDIBLE! The batching guy kept character and wouldn't lose eye contact from me until we went in, very spooky.
Small groups are the best, I think the first scene was the Ring and I nearly died... I made Lofty go in front as we passed through amazing rooms. Saw was excellent, with multiple actors doing double scare techniques, especially when the pig came out at lofty and the guy on the floor sawing his leg reached at us as we jumped back from the pig. I also loved the Exorcist girl and the Scream scene with Drew Barrymore on the phone scaring us towards a side door and Mask Face came out! Freddy was also fab and Michael Myers.... so many amazing scenes and actors.
Then the finale with Chucky, Midget Chucky was unbelievable, we were screaming/laughing/crying as he chased us whistling, one of the major highlights of the day and trip. We waited to watch and hear Maddie and Serena get chased out and it was hilarious. So damn good.

Unfortunately I missed out on the Madhouse due the Maze issues, but caught up with the group and wandered around the park, some of the group did the S&S Shot Tower, but I needed another coffee and a rest after The Villa. The Scare Maze group caught up with us and we moved around the park going through the impressive Scare Zones. Twisted Hellfire was the first one I remember going through, so much Fire!! Excellent costumes especially the bird beak guy, chasing the GP everywhere towards actors in cages, Heavy Metal music blaring, it was amazing.
We made our way through Pirates Cove which wasn't quite as good as the previous one but did have a Pirate on a bungee jumping down from a tree and again, excellent costumes, with loads of mist and blue lighting.

The group joined the queue for Lost Gravity again, but at 50 mins, I couldn't hold my bladder for that long so found Jake outside and went into the Firepit area. We hung around there for around 45 mins taking in the atmosphere and enjoying the actors chasing everyone with chainsaws. It was nice to have some downtime with no stress so Jake decided to have liquid dinner and polished off beer after beer :)

On the way back we went through the scare zones again and found the Game Over section which resulted in everyone grabbing as many selfies with the characters as possible, seeing everyones face as Zombified Princess Peach, Luigi and Ash(from Pokemon) were sacheying past was priceless. The lighting package put on the rides for this area were excellent, espcially on the Enterprise and the Space Shot.

After the Goliath and Lost Gravity night rides we did Jefferson Manor, which was located in the Firepit area, where a quite drunk Jake got called a fairy by the Hillbillies which welcome you to the area(apparently I was wearing Alien eyes...) Anyway, Jefferson Manor, which as everyone has noted, was very well themed, with what felt like a hundred actors scattered around. The groups were larger here so the scares weren't quite as good as the Villa, but there were a few notable ones including the girl under the floor.

After finding the last couple of scare zones, one was a generic Zombie Area and the other weird Things(which made more sense why the kids area had a load of industrial equipment plonked in it), I realised I was beginning to not function properly after a very long day so made our way to the Hotel and grabbed a late night Mcdonalds(Dutch kids in Mcd are VILE!).

Park Thoughts - The park isn't great during the day, apart from Lost Gravity, all the other creds are a bit bleh. Xpress was ok, but that's mainly because of the queue line, and Goliath was a let down considering. But the Halloween event was incredible, both mazes i did were excellent, with the Villa being one of my favourite ones to date. The scare zones are over the top, in a good way. It's great that they put so much effort into them, the amount of fire in Twisted Hellfire was ridiculous.

Still, great event as a group, and the meh-ness of the park was balanced by the great group collective throughout the day.
It really is night and day, but I don't think I'll be returning, unless it's for the Halloween event.

When I get my photos off my dead phone I'll post any I did take on here, might have some of Toverland too, and I'll be stealing everyone's off Facebook from PL and Efteling.
 

nemesis_guy

Roller Poster
Had a blast on this trip - lots of great rides, great people, great Taron ERT session etc. Loved it all (and I didn't get escorted off the plane by Police this time).

Day 1

The first day was hard work after getting up at 3.30am, flying in to Schiphol and then facing a long day at Walibi Holland... but it was a lovely park that I'd be happy to return to in future - especially if they have an event on which matches the great atmosphere the Halloween one did.

Xpress: Platform 13 – The queue line was AMAZING – and yes that’s all there really is to say about this ride. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh but overall it didn't do much for me. The launch was decent though and it was actually pretty smooth/no head banging/rattling like other Vekomas I have ridden so that’s a bonus.

Lost Gravity – exceeded my expectations, it really packs a punch considering how small it is. I love how you get to the top of the lift hill and it just throws you around in the awesome drop before you can catch your breath! Decent queue line and with some weird smell in one of the shipping containers. I jumped out of my skin quite a few times when there was a burst of fire – that was pretty interesting… Oh and there was a vibrating escalator which was a pleasant surprise.
f7aL3Vl.jpg


Robin Hood – I heard some people bashing it beforehand so I wasn’t expecting much but to be honest I liked it! I thought it was a fun woody! Nothing to write home about but an OK/fun ride for Walibi’s line-up IMO.

Goliath – I had HIGH expectations for this ride, my first Intamin mega, I was so excited! CoasterForce made their way over and the anticipation was building up – finally going to ride this beast so I got in the car, went to belt up and… UH oh. Spited. I couldn’t believe it – of course totally my fault for being overweight but to be spited on one of the coasters I was most looking forward to was really depressing! I looked down and saw quite a gap between the belt being buckled so instead of letting the ride ops humiliate me more by trying to clip it in I just did the walk of shame. Of course my fellow CFers got wind of the news and later in the day when we returned for a night re-ride Jake & Tom were determined to get me on… so thankfully with the combined effort of them both I managed to get my belt clipped in for a dark rainy ride! Apologies for holding the train up and to the ride op who looked scared. I noticed on the CF Twitter a pic was posted which just happened to catch this moment – here’s the cropped image of this intimate moment hahahaha :
1U0AaMG.jpg


AS for the ride, I was actually a tad disappointed! Agh well – it was still pretty fun but I thought it would deliver more on airtime. Big thanks again to Jake and Tom for not letting me be spited – needless to say this gave me a big wakeup call – I’m on a well needed diet! I didn’t quite get the perfect picture of the Goliath sign and coaster but at least I snapped some goons standing next to it :)
qxTZ5GL.jpg



Walibi Halloween – This was the first time I’ve ever been to a park during a Halloween event and I was extremely impressed with Walibi – so many actors and mazes it was nuts. 10/10 for effort. Jefferson Manor was the only maze I actually went through – it wasn’t the most terrifying thing I could imagine but it was a still a good Halloween experience, I particularly likes the glass floor and ceiling section where actors would slide underneath or above and try and frighten you.

We did a few other rides such as the Log Flume which was actually pretty decent and the rapids which was OK. I was not very impressed after receiving a bit of a headache after riding 'Condor' the Vekoma SLC. Speed of Sound the Vekoma Boomerang was not as bad but there were some awful jerks on some sections of the track - it was my first boomerang though so I was glad to have ridden it anyway =D>

To conclude day 1 - Walibi Holland is a great park and after being impressed with Lost Gravity I hope they add another solid addition to their coaster lineup in future.

Thank you to all the drivers for driving, I don't know how you managed it after the exhausting days! Thank you to everyone else for being friendly and good fun! And finally, a big thank you to Ian for organising these trips! What a great guy you are, much appreciated!
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
Day 2 – Toverland

After some needed sleep in the Zwolle hotel, we had a surprisingly nice breakfast in the hotel and made our way to Toverland! Luckily we must have hit this on a quiet day since everything was walk on!

First up was the indoor coaster, Boomerang. Was ok and suited well to its target market. Nothing special though. (4/10)
Water slide was done next which was surprisingly quick and wet! Lights inside the black slide were fab. Was funny watching Richard go flying into the end wall!

Fun house was up next. I find these things need to be done with the correct group of people and CF were perfect for this. Great laugh watching everyone attempting to get round.

Dwervelwind was next, my first Mack spinner and 2nd modern Mack. Definitely didn’t disappoint, is a great little ride. Station theming is also brilliant. Onride camera’s in a really odd place though. (7/10)

Next up was my 100th coaster, Troy! Definitely worthy of the milestone, was very quick and surprisingly smooth. Until Phantasialand, this was pushing for my number 1 spot (or at least a spot in my top 10) Could have used a bit more airtime though, most noticeably was if the bunny hop before the station fly through was lowered slightly, that could have provided some fantastic airtime! Due to it being walk-on, a few instant re-rides happened. Afterwards, I made a sign for the obligatory photo with Ian! (9/10)
2016-10-15%2013.19.16.jpg

(sign didn’t come out but it does say 100!)

Also took some more photos while waiting for everyone:
2016-10-15%2013.52.51.jpg

2016-10-15%2013.53.07.jpg


Next was Boosterbike. Not much to say, was fun but not anything outstanding. Definitely prefer Velocity.(5/10)

Lunch happened and I headed to a hotdog place in the second building where I think I unintentionally taught that staff member some new English terms. Did order the Pulled pork sandwich but they were out of stock, leading the guy to explain the other options to me. He came up short when pointing to the Hot dog machine and actually mentioned he didn’t know what the English term for them were. I said they were called hot dogs and he seemed very graeful for this new bit of knowledge, especially since Ian came up behind me wanting hotdogs as well!. Was quite a nice hot dog, would have again if at the park again.

After lunch, everyone went on the log flume which was surprisingly tall! Great drop though with a very decent splash level. While waiting for everyone to get off the log flume, someone (can’t remember who) had the great idea of taking Maddie’s bag and leaving at the top of the massive slide near the log flume! This was followed by Jordan Wood’s bag which I delivered up to the top. Once Jordan got off the log flume, a challenge was set for Jordan to fetch his bag within 1:30! This was fun to watch since the slide was busy with children at the time so he had to try and get past all the children without barging them out the way!

The bobsled was done now which had the longest queue of the day. Was still fantastic though and surprisingly quick around some of the corners. Managed a lap time of around 1:40min which I thought was pretty respectable!

Antics were then had on some of the other play equipment including seeing how many people we could get onto the ferry thing without it sinking and bouncing everyone on the giant pillow. This type of stuff I’d have never considered doing without CF so was quite great fun to have the chance to do it without worrying about nearby children! Was quite proud of myself for making it to the top of the volcano thing.

The rapids were done about now. Fairly average rapids but thought at one point the boat was going to sink! After going through the misty tunnel section, the boat hit a big wave and got partly sucked underneath the water, leaving the other half of the boat up the in air! Luckily, the boat soon corrected itself and we were back on our way round!

A re-ride on Dwervelwind was then done followed by the Faffle. This was my first faffle and I managed to win 2 things. A Swarm alarm clock and a mouldy Alton Towers air freshener! Just what I’ve always wanted!
2016-10-15%2016.42.20.jpg

(for those interested, I have stuck the air freshener up on eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122190368050? ... 1555.l2649). Am surprised by that it has a bid, someone actually wants it!))

During the Faffle, a random cat appeared in the middle of the park!
2016-10-15%2016.43.50.jpg


Afterwards, we all headed back to Troy for re-rides until the park shut. The ride had warmed up by now and was running even better than before. There was even another enthusiast group getting a backstage tour while we were on it!

Overall: A great little park, made extra fab by being with the big kids that call themselves CF. Wouldn’t have enjoyed the park half as much without CF.

After leaving, we made our way to the fab Hotel Matamba at Phantasialand. Easily the best hotel I’ve been to, rooms were fantastic and whole hotel was brilliantly themed. Only problem was that there were 2 double beds between 3 guys who hardly knew each other!
2016-10-15%2019.58.45.jpg

2016-10-15%2019.59.30.jpg

2016-10-15%2019.59.33.jpg


Only gripe with the hotel is I wouldn’t eat there again. After taking ages to sort us a table, we finally got a table about 10pm for the buffet Chinese restaurant. Not only was it ridiculously overpriced at €28pp, the food was only of average quality and there wasn’t much choice. I’ve had better Chinese takeaways before!
 

Ian

From CoasterForce
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
It's lovely to see the reports coming through. As I said on the trip, even if you don't write a report (although a few words woudl be appreciated), at the very least, please post a link to your images. I want to make a photo book thing but can't without photos!

Anyway, on to the second part of the Trip - Toverland!

After the knackering day at Walibi, I was looking forward to the more gentle day at Toverland. I was excited about getting back on Troy and trying out the new rapids, which were being built when I last visited.

As usual, all cars arrived more or less on time with Sue being slightly behind. But this gave me time to buy the tickets for everybody. Obviously the group rate meant a saving for everybody on the trip. Strangely, they gave me one ticket with "24" written on it instead of 24 individual tickets so everybody had to be counted through as the turnstiles. I swear a lady bunched in with us.

Inside the first shed is the first cred - Boomerang I sat it out opting for coffee. People didn't seem too enthused about it it both pre and post ride, but the fun factor bumped up when the group tackled the indoor water slides. I spent the time guessing in which order CFers would come down. I think Richard and Plod were banned from the ride for being too heavy...

We did the Point Wand at Things In The Witches House after the water slides. I think these rides are good for family theme parks but they're not my thing so I walked in and our in about two mins. However, being one of the first lot to go in, I got to watch others inside from the benches (where we took one each) and laugh at the reactions. Alex's face was in wonder, Richard looked pissed off...that is one of the reasons why I love doing CF Lives. Everybody has a different reaction. Some are predictable, some aren't. Sometimes I enjoy watching and hearing reactions more than actual riding itself.

We trotted through the fab corridor into the second shed where we promptly did the Fun House. It's a fun house with CoasterForce....in other words, great fun! Usual carnage, silliness and cheesy laughter.

I can't really remember the order next but we ventured outside! The outside area looked great with the interactive water area, the bridges and the new rapids. I like the way the area around the new rapids is quite maze like and has bridges and high walled areas. It broke up the flat and linear terrain that most of Toverland has.

Dwervelewind was great! I thought it was fab several years ago and it's still good nowadays. I thought that because my coaster and theme park count has increased significantly since my last visit, I'd find it dull. BUT NO! The station, the OBA and the ride itself is fierce! It's seriously good. It looks tame but it has good enough twists, turns and speed to make it feel action packed. Everybody smiled during and after the ride.

Booster Bike was awful. The launch did nothing for me, the layout was uninspiring and I wasn't thrilled at all. The coaster is an example of how my opinion can change with increased coaster experience. I now rank this in the same league as an apple coaster. I'd do it for the plus one but wouldn't waste my time re-riding.

Over to Troy we went! I'm pleased to say that this ride did live up to my expectations and I found it just as enjoyable as I did many years ago. I really love the twistiness and the (here comes that awfully overused expression) little pops of airtime. I was even more chuffed that the queue was dead so we could get a re-ride before going off for a snack.

The meet up time after lunch wasn't adhered to. On this occasion, it didn't matter because we had done all the creds and the park was quiet so I was content to let it slip and wait for everybody to finish playing and eating (unlike at Phantasia...).

Immediately after lunch we did the log flume. I like the backwards bit and the turntable on the lift hill. There's something quite epic about the way it meanders around inside before heading outside for the big drop. There's also a good moist drizzle to it, without saturating riders. Yeah, it's fab.

A proper "only with CF" moment followed the log flume. This is another thing that I love about CF, the mucking about and how quickly things evolve. Some left their bags on the flume's platform, and somebody (Conor, I think) suggested that we take one of the bags. It was decided we'd take the bag of somebody we know who can take a joke, so Jordan Wood's bag was selected. The original plan was take it so he was confused. Then somebody suggested it should be put on the highest point of the climbing frame so he would have to climb to the top to get it. It then involved into a time challenge where we would have to climb up, grab the bag and get back down in two mins to win a prize. It was great watching Jordan running up, politely avoiding young kids, and then getting back down again. He made it down with a couple of seconds to spare. There was drama when kids were coming up the ladder that he needed to get down. It was awesome watching and hearing 22 CFers cheering him on! Jordan completed the challenge and I rewarded him with some theme park tat.

We did the Bobsled. It had a massive queue during my last visit so it was a new ride for me. Wow! The queue line was fab, loads of interactive stuff to play with, watch and enjoy. But the ride itself is tremendous! The on board audio is so epic, triumphant and encouraging! I had a big grin all of the way round. It's incredible how much OBA can transform a ride.

We headed back outside to do the Rapids. have to admit, they passed me by. I found them quite uneventful. Yeah, they were nicely presented, but not the soak fest I had hoped for. But it is a family park after all.

I did the faffle at Toverland, where I think everybody won a prize (some won two!) ranging from a mouldy Alton Towers air freshener to a lanyards. Thanks to Maddie for being my sexy assistant, a role usually done by Vadge.

We did another ride on Whirlwind and a few more on Troy.

But the play areas created most of the fun. Bouncy pillows, rafts, see-saws, climbing frames, slides. It doesn't matter how tired CFers are, the majority will exert most of their energy on stuff like this. It makes me so proud!

Toverland was as just as good, if not slightly better, than I remember it. It's one of those parks where I don't expect too much so it always over delivers in terms of trills, fun and fabness.

When the day was over, we got back in the cars and then headed to Phantasialand where we would spend the night in the Hotel Matamba on-site. Being a large group, it wasn't possible for us all to eat together so that caused a bit of faff, but once everybody had eaten and relaxed with a few drinks, all was forgotten. Maybe the sight of Black [strike]Mamba[/strike]Member from the hotel's garden had a calming effect!

I had heard good things about Phantasialand so I was a little worried that it possibly won't be as good as everybody says. I'm not a fan of hype. Little did I know when I went to sleep that night that the next day would smash my expectations to bits and re-write everything I thought I knew about theme parks....
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
Guess I should write a bit of a report then!

Day zero - I flew out to Eindhoven the morning before, and initially made plans to visit slagharen for thunder loop/looping star - Unfortunately that closed about 2 weeks before so I decided to visit duinrell to mop up the rides I didn't get on a few years ago, and spend a while in the waterpark. - they had a deal for the last 2 hours of park opening and waterpark for 20E

Aqua shute: Easily the best ride there! kinda like waterfall at oakwood without the chance of falling in. Still had a mad out of control feeling sliding along the trough!

Didn't do the nautic jet as the landing pond looked a bit on the green side!

Wild wings - Love these gerstlauer skyflys...

Toboggan - It was ok, but not as good as some I've ridden.

I then headed to the water park - which was great - had a good variety of slides, including a trapdoor one, a bowl slide, one that dropped you about 15 feet into the water, twisty ones and a nice lazy river with a dark ride bit!.

I then had one of those moments when I checked the bus timetable for a second time and realised the bus I was intending on getting only ran during August! Thanks to google maps, I found another bus stop and made it to the hotel in good time.

Day 1 - After airport meet up, I headed of with Sue to get the hire car and it was on to walibi

Xpress- Platform 13, Nice queue, reasonable ride.

Speed of sound - I don;t mind boomerangs, but I'd put this one quite low on my list.

Drako - +1 zierer thing

Lost gravity - Looked intriguing during construction, kind of like skyrush had done the naughty with smiler. The queue has a vibrating escalator, which I rather enjoyed. the ride itself is floaty light and lovely!

Condor - Worst coaster I've ever been on, makes even baco, infusion and mind erasers feel like oziris, I've never been so beaten up by a ride before!

Goliath - The main reason the park had been on my bucket list for so long. POVs looked excelent, and the layout looked great. so - got strapped in and headed up the lift hill. First drop was good in the back, but not so much in the front, the airtime hill and stengel dive are great, but the middle third seems to do nothing, until the bunny hops at the end - a big disappointment. Wasn't expecting to prefer lost grav!

After this we split to do the mazes - bit of a hiccup on my tickets, so Had to do the clinic later than the others, but joined the rest of the maze team for the villa, psychoshock and haunted holidays.

The villa was excellent with scenes from horror films (the ring, saw etc. with chuckie chasing you around washing lines at the end.

Psychoshock was also very good - and the actors were exceptional. in one room there's a woman on a stretcher with blood all over her face, and the "doctor" started teasing me with a syringe...

I was a little disappointed in haunted holidays - maybe it was the 30-40 minute queue, or maybe it was that there were too many "dead spots" - the clown in the queue line was fierce though!

I think after this, I did robin hood - Had been warned that it was rough on wheel seats and ended up on a wheel seat. Did have some reasonable airtime, but some vicious lats that hurled you from side to side - not as good as thundercoaster at tusenfryd, but not mean streak/bandit bad!

It was then my appointment at the clinic, I'd done my best not to hear spoilers from the other guys who'd done it! - the language barrier was not an issue at all - the majority of the experience is in silence
Firstly you lie down on a hospital bed and get strapped down, and then wheeled into an operating theater, where the machine that goes "beep" with your heartbeat gradually fades into the long beep that means "he's had it!", you're then moved into one of those mortuary drawers, where someone mourns over you, and then into a coffin, where you see soil being piled on top of you as people weep by your graveside! You then get taken out again, where the devil gives you a little scare (the only "traditional" scare maze scare in there), there are then fire effects and you're wheeled off into the final room - I think I heard some people say there are different endings..
Sounds rather morbid, but it's beautifully done.

Before jefferson manor, had a night ride on lost grav (thanks to ian and walibi for the fastpass), still awesome and dinner - made the mistake of getting half a chicken and a beer - of course I couldn't walk and eat it at the same time!

Jefferson manor was probably the best of the mazes - full of people popping out from picture frames - I actually watched one of the frames for another jump - and the next one, there was someone stuck behind a pane of glass - just fab touches throughout - another of the scares was someone sliding out from under the floor. Also had a real jump near the end when someone jumped out at me!

After that, I just had time for another go on goliath before we headed to the hotel, via a burdenous diversion.

As others said - the scare zones around the park were very good - my fave was the pirates area - scare actor on a bungee FTW!

Fright nights were easily the best halloween event I've been to - Would certainly consider a return visit!
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
Day 3 – Phantasialand

Started the day well by accidentally oversleeping and having to rush breakfast. Once in the park, the whole group ran to the Klugheim area to join the queue waiting for Taron to open. This queue gave a fantastic view over the whole Klugheim area and we get to watch and hear Taron testing!
2016-10-16%2008.58.05.jpg

2016-10-16%2008.58.11.jpg

2016-10-16%2009.01.34.jpg

2016-10-16%2009.39.39.jpg

2016-10-16%2009.39.41.jpg

2016-10-16%2009.40.17.jpg


Once we got on, this ride was incredible! Both launches were fab, especially the 2nd one which seemed to just keep pushing you on. Virtually every hill gave plenty of ejector air, most noticeably the s-bend hill after the 2nd launch. The noise of the launches was incredible as well. While I doubt it was intentional, the roar the launches give off actually fit in with the theme of Taron being a mythological beast! The ride was improved even further at night with the addition of not being able to see fully where you going and the fact the ride had all day to warm up meant it was running a lot quicker! Still Can’t decide if front or back is best but any seat makes this worthy of taking my new number 1 spot! (10/10)

After the excitement of Taron, we made our way to Chiapas. I have ridden the old log flumes that Chiapas replaced and after all the stories I’ve heard about Chiapas, I was only expecting good things! It certainly lived up to those expectations! The theming was fantastic throughout and the ride seemed to go on forever! The unexpected disco room was also fab and the whole ride was polished off with the fantastic final drop!

After Chiapas, Colorado Adventure was done. I have actually ridden this before back in 2009/2010ish so was excited to see how it compared. I’d actually forgotten how good it is! Surprisingly long and full of headchoppers (especially for a tall person like me). (8/10)

Black Member (named so after a member accidentally mispronounced Mamba at Toverland) was up next which was just as fab as I remembered it to be! Was longer than I remember as well. (8/10)

Talocan was next, one of many rides I managed to miss on my previous visit. After seeing a lot about it online, I was excited to finally get on it! So much fire! Unfortunately, was sat on the back row so couldn’t get the full experience but it was still a lot more intense than I was expecting and easily the best Topspin I’ve been on. Glad it has proper restraints though and not the stupidly tight ones on other topspins.

Lunch happened next and I opted for a quick burger so that I could get the Ghost train done as well. A longer than expected wait in the burger restaurant meant I was pegging it to/from the ghost train though. Was still a decent burger, just a pity I had to rush it. Ghost train was decent enough but in hindsight, I’d have rather sat and enjoyed my burger with the view over Chiapas.

After lunch, we fastpassed Maus au Chocolat using the free fastpasses given to us for staying in the hotel. Easily the best shooter I’ve been on and surprisingly long. Was winning in my car (me and Owain (I think)) until I got overtaken on the 2nd to last screen and proceeded to lose badly. A score of 157450 I don’t think was too bad though.

We then proceeded into the Wuze Town area for the Winjas and queued for Fear. Easily the longest queue of the day in an un-airconditioned indoor cattlepen, meaning that was not a fun queue! Eventually got on and was pleasantly surprised by it! Completely forgot about the see-saw style section near the end and had no idea about the bouncy track right at the end! Luckily, we had another hotel fastpass to use up so managed to avoid queueing for Force. Again was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the tilt feature at the end but definitely enjoyed Fear more. Fear just seemed to have a lot more going on and felt longer than Force. (Fear = 7/10, Force = 6/10)

After the Winjas, we headed to what felt to be the older section of the park for Temple of the Night Hawk and Hollywood tour/CBR. Temple of the Night Hawk surprised me since in a park as amazingly themed as Phantasialand, I wasn’t expecting such a poorly themed ride. Yes, it’s old but is still clearly showing an old Sci-fi theme badly remade into a forest theme and switching all lights off inside the ride. Just made the whole ride feel out of place, would be a decent enough ride anywhere else though. (4/10) CBR wasn’t much better either but could be massively improved by updating the theming to modern standards. Does remind me of River Caves in its current form though.

Hotel Tartüff was done next and again I’m glad I was with CF for this. I usually skip fun houses when on my own but in a group like CF, it was fantastic and very well themed.

After the fun house, it was time for River Quest. Still just as good as I remember and they seem to have improved in by adding more actual rapids! Easily the best rapids I’ve been on and still nothing like any other rapids I’ve been on!

Mystery Castle was up next and I’m in a minority here. I enjoyed the ride but don’t see why everyone raves about it! It was good in the way it just kept speeding up on the way up but there was no force to the movement. IMO, it would be improved by making the drops more forceful and have a slightly longer ride cycle.

After Mystery Castle, some of the group split and I joined the group doing the madhouse. Couldn’t get anything of the storyline but seemed to be Mortal Kombat: The Ride! Was good though like any other mad house I’ve been on.

Afterwards, there was time for a quick look in the shop before hotel ERT in Klugheim. Once ERT opened, everyone rushed to Raik to get it over and done with. Was a quite ride and perfect for the families visiting the park. Was especially fun ducking in and out of Taron and the theming. (6/10)

Once Raik was done, everyone ran over to Taron and stayed there for the rest of the evening! I managed to get quite a few back row rides done with a front row ride, made even better by the fact it had got dark by this time! These night rides were fantastic and cemented the ride as my new number one! As I mentioned above, I still can’t make my mind up between front and back for best ride as both are fantastic.

After ERT was over, we made our way to the Eindhoven hotel ready for Efteling the next day!

Overall: Fantastic little park that has made its way to my favourite park. I’m just so happy I finally got back here, been on my bucket list since managing to miss half the park on my previous visit!
 

Ben

CF Legend
Started the day well by accidentally oversleeping and having to rush breakfast.

The meet up was 8:45. And he was munching on toast.

Black Member (named so after a member accidentally mispronounced Mamba at Toverland)

Nah it's named after the time Jordan Insta'd his secret desire.
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
^Ah, thought someone just misprounounced it (and sorry again for the oversleeping!)

Day 4 – Efteling

After some more needed sleep in the Eindhoven hotel, we got up early to make our way to Efteling for exclusive ERT on Baron and Joris!
2016-10-17%2008.58.03.jpg

2016-10-17%2008.58.06.jpg


Baron was great and to me, felt like a smaller but longer Oblivion. It was only my 2nd dive machine so was always going to get compared! Was great fun though with some fantastic theming, even if I wasn’t quite sure what was supposed to be going on (a theme that continues with virtually all dark rides today!) (7/10)

Joris was also great. Managed to get a back row ride on both sides during the ERT and the water effect took me by surprise! The racing element on these coasters are always fun, especially with a large group like CF when split across both trains. Not quite as good as Troy though. (7/10)
2016-10-17%2009.38.47.jpg


During some faff waiting for the park to officially open after the ERT, we headed over to Joris’s dragon for photos.
2016-10-17%2009.42.36.jpg

2016-10-17%2009.42.43.jpg

2016-10-17%2009.43.13.jpg


Once the park opened properly, we headed over to Vliegende Hollander. Had heard mixed things about this ride and was thinking to myself as to why KumbaK have only ever built 1 coaster but went into this with an open mind. The theming inside was fantastic and the outdoor section is very photogenic. As for the actual ride, the dark section is brilliant but the actual coaster section was severely lacking and didn’t really do anything. As I said at the time, great dark ride, ok coaster (5/10)
2016-10-17%2009.38.18.jpg

2016-10-17%2009.47.31.jpg

2016-10-17%2010.06.19.jpg

2016-10-17%2010.06.22.jpg


Next up was the old Vekoma looper, Python. Didn’t do much but wasn’t as rough as I was expecting. While they’re never anything special, I do have a slight soft spot for this type of coaster, the generic looper that doesn’t do much without gimmicks. This may be caused by the overall gimmickyness of UK coasters though, leaving me wanting something normal. (6/10)
2016-10-17%2009.38.36.jpg


The long walk to Vogel Rok was made next. Was another great ride and the theming inside definitely helped it. The onboard music was very cleverly integrated with the station music so I didn’t notice the transition! Ride itself fairly average though. (5/10)
2016-10-17%2010.51.50.jpg


Next up was Carnival Festival with the annoyingly catchy music. Fun though and much longer than expected.

Droomvlucht was next and had one of the longest queues of the day. Free wifi helped though and I was actually able to use my phone! (and catch up with the Pokemon Go bandwagon.). Ride itself though was great, fantastically themed throughout even if I wasn’t sure of the storyline!

Lunch happened and I joined the group doing Raveleijn who decided to run halfway across the huge park for food! Surely, anywhere nearby would have been easier? Food was good though and quite like the self service system (even if I did cause faff by not having the change for it and the change machine not accepting my €20 note!).

After the rushed lunch, we went to watch Raveleijn. I had heard a lot of good things about this show so was expecting great things. The theming on the set used was fantastic but through not understanding dutch, I wasn’t quite sure of the storyline. Did love the big dragon setpiece used though!

After lunch, it was time for the park’s madhouse, Villa Volta. Again, since I don’t speak dutch, I wasn’t too sure of the storyline but was still able to enjoy the ride. Again the theming on it is incredible. I find all madhouses pretty samey so ride itself was nothing special.

Afterwards, we made our way to the park’s bobsleigh coaster, Bob. This was my first time on an Intamin bobsleigh so was interested in how the ride compared to the Mack counterpoint. Ride itself was fun but felt very stop-start due to all the MCBRs. Certainly banks a lot more than Mack bobsleighs though. (7/10)

Pirana, the parks rapids, were done next. Exceedingly average but definitely better than Rumba Rapids at Thorpe. The boat overtaking going on was also fun.

Fata Morgana was next, another indoor dark ride that I wasn’t too sure of the storyline for. Again, the theming was incredible throughout, cannot fault the theming at this park.

Afterwards, a quick look at the park’s model railway, Diorama was done. As with most model railways, it was very well made with a lot to look at. I especially like the night-time section but it would be best enjoyed if there was more time.

Next up was Spookslot! Went into this expecting a ghost train of sorts, the animatronic show was definitely unexpected! Was good though and hard to keep an eye on everything at once!

Afterwards, a quick walk past the building site of Symbolica was made and the building looks fantastic! The amount of detail on the outside can only bode well for the theming on the inside!
2016-10-17%2012.39.16.jpg

2016-10-17%2012.39.18.jpg

(even the back of the building is fantastic! Seemingly didn’t take any photos of the front)

Now for possibly the most famous part of the park and the reason the theme park is here, the fairytale forest! This was fantastic but was completely unaware of how long it all was! Was in there for what must have been at least 1 and a half hours! Would like to do it again but would most likely get a 2 day ticket for the park and do this the morning of the 2nd day to ensure I enjoy it fully without rushing to get everything done. This would also give time to enjoy the rest of the park more.

The fairytale forest took up the rest of my time in the park before having to get to the airport for my flight home. Had just enough time to catch the end of Aquanura and have a browse of the shop.

Overall: Great park but as I mentioned above, I feel it requires 2 days to enjoy it fully (1 day park, 1 day fairytale forest + rerides). Would love to go again and Symbolica just makes it this prospect even more tempting!

After hitting bad traffic on way to airport causing me to panic about my flight, I managed to catch the flight after running across Schiphol! Big thanks to Sue there for driving as quick as the law allowed and re-assuring me I’d get home somehow! As a bonus, 2 rows in front of me on the plane were Ian and Jordan Wood lookalikes! (not great photo, looked better in real life). Ended up following them through Bristol Airport as well!
2016-10-17%2020.53.28.jpg


Trip Overall: Fantastic trip, so happy I filled that last minute place that opened up on a spur-of-the-moment decision. Big thanks to everyone who drove for driving, Ian for organising, and everyone for being such great company!
 

jayjay

Giga Poster
Toverland

After a great night at Walibi and a night with very little sleep, I was glad that Toverland was up next. A short relaxed day, but not without some things to look forward to (and some surprises along the way). Ian's car sadly did not have the expected CD player, so his Toverland pre-flight instructions were enjoyed from out of DelPiero's car in the Toverland car park.

Toverland is not the most exciting looking park from the outside: a big blue box with some theming. Inside, everything looks a bit more presentable. We started with some gentler indoor stuff: the Vekoma not-a-Boomerang, water slides and the house where you waved a stick at things to make them do stuff (adventure ho!). The fun house was also done, which, while fun, is not on my list of top fun houses.

We briefly lost the group before Dwirvelwind, a spinning coaster that packed a surprising punch. Actually, the whole of the outdoor section, especially the new bits, are very well presented. Lots of greenery, lots of water. I managed a front car on Dwirvelwind, which is pretty fun, especially on the first drop. The switchbacks through the circuit are the highlights, delivering a disorienting lurch each time.

Apparently we did the Rapids. I only just remembered. They were... rapid? More excitingly, TROY! I liked this very much. Troy is one of those coasters that goes for the "diving in and around the structure" approach to layouts rather than the straight airtime machine, and it's the sort of approach that suits me. It also doesn't die halfway through the layout, which some wooden coasters have a habit of doing. Booster Bike for the cred next - it's... disappointing. I've not done Velocity in a while, but I remember enjoying it. That said, I still think bike-position makes for fun airtime.

Somewhere, the faffle happened where I won a Chimelong Hotel mint tin/keyring thing. Ian tried his hardest to keep people's attention, but then a cat appeared from out of nowhere and half the group (including me) became preoccupied with more important matters.

We took a pause for lunch (pasta - not bad but not exciting), then staggered over to the log flume. Other than half of it being indoors, the only thing I really remember about it was the turntable on the lift hill, that dumped the water that had collected in the front of the boat entirely down my trouser leg. As Ian mentioned, stealage of Jordan's bag happened and Crystal Maze style antics ensued.

Surprise highlight of the day: The Bobkarts. Bobkarts are pretty fun on their own (even Schwaben Park can't screw up bobkarts), but Toverland goes the extra mile to bring out the best: triumphant on board audio, lighting effects and surprise scenes including a chicken shed. And, since it's all covered, probably works well in the rain too. Fab!

Among rerides of Troy (Troy!) and Dwirvelwind, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring various playground toys, trampolines, assault courses and the like. CF shines the most when there's the opportunity to throw a member in the water. We had a real team bonding experience later when we found the climbing volcano and encouraged the more nervous members to reach the top.

Overall, it's a great little park, especially as a relaxed day between bigger parks. Troy and the bobkarts are quality rides, and there's enough else to fill out a whole day without running out of steam.

Evening - Matamba Hotel

We all bundled into cars and headed out to the Matamba Hotel at Phantasialand. Oh lawd, it's gorgeous! Not a surface left bare and a really pleasant ambiance. Plus the courtyard and stairwell has a great view of Black Mamba. Unfortunately chaos ensued as everybody ran around trying to find food. Caffeine Demon, Shaun, Neo and I just said "sod it" and went to the Matamba a la carte restaurant. Quite gormet - the sort of place that puts its vinegary sauce in a pattern of spots down the plate. They gave us some free entrees and bread (I didn't realise the "wooden" spoon that came with the entrees was also made of bread). I enjoyed it anyway.

Reconvening in the bar, the drinks started to flow. In hindsight, maybe starting with a Long Island Iced Tea was a bad idea and a sign of where my night was headed. Their cocktails were all decent, with some ride themed names like "Black Mamba." We found a German guy outside who lived a few miles away (lucky sod) who we chatted to for a bit, before a few of us decided to check out the Dragon Bar in the next-door Ling Bao Hotel. Another hotel with a great view - we just chilled out on the balcony overlooking the China section of the park. At this point, I'd decided to move on to beer because cocktails are expensive.

So, next up - visiting my most anticipated park for the first time... with a hangover.
 

EnigmaHyena

Hyper Poster
Saturday 15th October

Following the tiring long day at Walibi coupled with the fact many CFers had horrendously early alarms and flights I think everyone can agree that a full night’s sleep in the Campanile hotel was more than welcome. After everyone had dragged themselves from their slumber and demolished the breakfast buffet it was time to switch cars and make the trek to Toverland. But with a twist! Ian had a bunch of CDs with the name of a driver on each disc respectively which each car was told to listen to on their drive, I ended up in Sue’s car. It turns out Ian From CoasterForce™ had recorded an intentionally cheesy but hilarious message for everyone, Ryanair style, complete with a cameo from Mushroom, the official Ryanair onboard audio and even the full Troy (TROY!!!!) music to whet everyone’s appetites for the awaiting creds.

15wscYj.jpg

It was raining and a drawbridge spited us...great start!

rKsfoLa.jpg

Oh...It's okay to drive through roadblocks right?

Naturally being in the Burdenmobile there were a few hiccups along the way like being delayed by a drawbridge letting a boat through and a detour because the road the SatNav wanted us to take was closed. We were fashionably late to the surprise of absolutely nobody but spirits were still high and I was excited to explore yet another new park – Toverland!

nAUgIU2.jpg


Admittedly from the outside the entrance leaves a lot to be desired as it’s not really the most spectacular but that all changes the moment you set foot in the indoor area, with lights, audio and several rides dotted around to really get visitors immersed and ready for a fun day. Once all heads were counted and a surprising lack of faff it was time for Ian to set his legion of goons upon the rides!

Boomerang
S3pp18p.jpg


Td0Bzrx.jpg


XFQl5to.jpg


A Vekoma kiddy cred with a deceptively cutesy looking layout – not an actual Boomerang layout mind you…imposter - this thing picks up some serious speed and even sneaks in a cheeky bit of airtime! It wasn’t quite the CF takeover we’d hoped for and given the long train it’d have been perfect but there’s not much that can be done about the public splitting up the group. Anyway the coaster itself isn’t anything remarkable but no-one went on expecting it to be, instead it’s just a good laugh and a good way to start a CF park visit. 4/10

8mT0c1T.jpg


Since they were right next to Boomerang the majority of the group (or did everyone go on? I forget) rode the waterslides of which have two options: an enclosed black slide with loads of twists and even a helix or the blue straight-down double drop slides. I think it was a fairly even split of the group with myself choosing the black slide. They may offer different experiences but one thing they share is they WILL get you wet! Soggy arses aside it was a beautiful moment witnessing Richard and Owain barrel down the vertical slides and rocket straight into the wall with enough force to get launched upward from their dinghies. An angry staff member clearly didn’t see the funny side and started shouting at them and banned them from re-riding…

We then made our way to the funhouse, a choice that always seems to go down extremely well with CF given that we’re all basically a group of big kids! It’s your standard fare of funhouse staples like rotating floor discs, inflatable rollers, tilting boardwalks and that trippy shifting staircase that never fails to spite people. It’s a nice decent length and the wacky music just adds to the chaotic experience. I’ve not done Alpen Hotel at Winter Wonderland and I’ve heard nothing but praise for it but I still enjoyed this one. 8/10

Next up was Wavy Stick Thing House which was odd but entertaining. The idea is everyone gets a wand to flap their arms hopelessly at various sensors in and around the house to activate ‘magic’ scenes. Seeing Jordan (female, not Wood) grinning knowingly as she shouted for CFers to activate the farting witch was the highlight! Interesting concept, perfect for little ‘uns I guess.

With us doing so many attractions other than coasters in a row the cred anxiety was starting to seep through so we darted over to our second coaster, Dwervelwind.

Dwervelwind
A3NUhvK.jpg


muwNfID.jpg


J33Gu69.jpg


XMpctPq.jpg


no0lpuh.jpg


This is another coaster on the trip and the first of the two main creds at this park I’d been looking forward to riding and surely didn’t disappoint. It’s a Mack spinning coaster with conjoined cars so you can see the hair of other riders going absolutely wild, which my hair also did much to the amusement of a chuckling Mr Bell. MY EMU HAIR!!

The station has an incredible relaxing ambience, with greenery and wind chimes dangling from the ceiling and the sounds of wind and wildlife. The soundtrack is by the now legendary IMAscore so you know you’re in for an epic treat when it’s being blasted from the onride speakers. It’s an overused term but it really does add to it, like you’re embarking on an epic quest. The ride itself is frantic and unpredictable and as can be expected of a spinner no two rides offer the same experience (another overused term…but true!). The combination of the mangled spaghetti mess of winding track, steep twisting drops and spinning creates an amazing if disorientating coaster and one I’d definitely recommend multiple rides on. 10/10

BOOSTER BIKE
Lrysq9T.jpg


VK76TsP.jpg


K8vFyPW.jpg


Honestly I’d forgotten this was even at the park before we visited but here it was. Initially there was a bit of cred anxiety due to the overcast sky that looked like it could burst with rain and apparently they close this coaster in the event of a downpour. Luckily that wasn’t the case as the weather behaved itself! I have a soft spot for Velocity at Flamingo Land (“FLAMINGO LAND!! All your rides are really bland”), it’s by no means perfect or even that good but there’s something about the odd seating position and launch into an airtime hill (I use airtime lightly since it’s pretty weak most the time) that I find charming. Booster Bike not only wins for having the most creative name ever but also being as ‘just okay’ as Velocity, though maybe I’m just remembering wrong but I swear Velocity’s launch feels faster. Eh whatever, it’s more or less the same experience on t’Bike. 5/10

Troy
vbpJjtM.jpg


kYYW8nQ.jpg


VKw2o3Q.jpg


HFnqEgm.jpg


a6ZgzXW.jpg


JJXDxmj.jpg

Troy (TROY!) and Jordan! We made it our goal to ruin eachother's money shots.

TROY!!!! Now for the coaster I was most keen to ride at Toverland and without a doubt the main reason most people visit the park. I consider this to be my first ‘proper’ Woodie since the ones at Blackpool are tiny and uh…not that great in my opinion. It’s one of many coasters I thought “I’ll never get to go on that!” when I was a babby n00b enthusiast in 2009 so to finally have it right in front of me was somewhat surreal. A running theme of the day was the lack of any queues and luckily that trend carried over to Troy (although still enough time to appreciate the smooth jazz instrumental version of the famously corny theme song) so before I knew it I was on back row with that giddy anxiety/excitement that comes from riding something like this for the first time. That probably makes me sound ultra basic (due to my low coaster count from not travelling beyond the likes of Thorpe and Alton prior to last year…) but I still love those ‘first time riding’ goosebumps.

Decent height, relentless speed, ejector airtime (mainly in the back) and even a station flythrough, Troy offers a lot for everyone and thankfully has little to no dead spots. As with many coasters it’s much more aggressive and eventful after it’s warmed up later in the day but regardless I still think it’s a great coaster. I rode it in the very front later on and while the sense of speed is better I still think the back row is where it’s at. Overall while it’s not the tallest or fastest of its kind I think it’s an awesome coaster and one that I’m more than happy to finally have under my belt. 9.5/10

The group split for lunch and time in the indoor play area, the latter being…you guessed it, perfect for CF (take a shot each time that gets thrown about in this topic). It’s got all sorts of ridiculous things like climbing nets instead of stairs, tightropes and slides and it’s pretty darn tall too! There was a moment where I went down one slide and immediately heard Owain behind me screaming “Oh god this can’t end well!” as he’d miscalculated the speed of the rollers and entered straight after me. The moment of panic as I looked back and saw his silhouette looming behind and zooming towards me was both terrifying and hilarious at the same time, I don’t think I’ll ever get that image out of my head.

9SQuN1h.jpg

bIxpRXm.jpg

B4VUzR8.jpg

WFpw4k2.jpg

For you geology fans out there. This park is beautiful.

There was a bit of faff lunch-wise with mine and a few others’ food taking ages to arrive, although it did result in a super intense game of “Whose Food Disc Will Buzz First?”, to the point of people placing bets on who’d ‘win’. It’s stuff like this why I love you guys. We eventually got our lunch and…oh dear, it turned out the pizza I ordered WASN’T a rectangular slab slice like in the picture but a whole round pizza with 8 big slices. By the time we got our food it was already stupidly close to the meet-up time, and with the size and burning heat of the pizza it meant there was no way it was going to be finished in time. Luckily others still hadn’t turned up but I’m still annoyed the big pizza contributed to the hold up. Sorry!

4sgg9YD.jpg


The log flume was next, but not before Jordan (male) had to complete a Crystal Maze style task of fetching his bag from the top of the play area in a certain time limit. Tense stuff. The flume itself is really quirky with a backwards drop into a backwards lifthill…that has a turntable midway up and turns the boat the right way again! It makes it’s way outdoors for the token big drop. Real good fun! Shoutout to the single fan way up on the high ceiling that’s totally useless but keeps spinning anyway.

Blitz Bahn
mF5A5Mg.jpg


mdA86Np.jpg


LokMgJf.jpg

THEMING!

hfxY1mm.jpg

The-ming!

LrvrXRR.jpg

The room that does the thing!

Blitz Bahn was our next destination, an incredible Bobsled only improved by the insanely well themed queue. I can’t even begin to describe the interior and do it justice but take my word it’s amazing. The room with the ball zipping around a long track into an animatronic statue’s mouth to wake it up caused many faces to light up. As for the ride itself, hoo boy is it insane! You sit in a toboggan/bobsled car with two levers on either side in a metal trough, and the moment you’re propelled out the station it’s up to you how fast you want to go by how far you push the levers. Naturally I pushed them all the way down the whole way, as I’m sure the rest of the group did, and the sense of speed on the turns mixed with the triumphant onboard audio blaring makes for a truly out of control ride! Everyone loved it! The only thing missing is compulsory aviator goggles and flappy hat. 10/10.

zUVLATt.jpg

I'm going to murder whoever got their arm in the way in the bottom left...

With all that excitement out the way we made our way to the rapids. It’s been said about many things by many people but this is a ride type where CF really shines as it’s all about socialising and laughing at eachother getting spited by water. I don’t think these were overly eventful but I had my umbrella handy just in case – prompting a distraught sounding staff member to radio me to de-umbrella immediately! Jordan (female) also kept preying on the fact I’d never done River Quest at PhantasiaLand and proceeded to make remarks about how I was in for a shock on them which basically put me on edge about what awaited the next day until I rode it haha.

Faffle was next, presented by Mr CoasterForce himself and his sexy assistant Maddie. The tat this year was absolutely awful but in the best way possible, thanks to everyone who donated. I won nothing but I suppose the infuriatingly indestructible Pleasurewood Hills Woody Bear coin tin I won a few years back more than makes up for it…

Another play area outdoors meant another playground for CF! River rafts, trampoline pillows, roundabouts…all lots of fun but VERY tiring! The highlights were probably stranding Richard on the raft, pulling of SiCK TRICKZ on the bouncy cushions and circling JayJay who was sat in the middle while we all tried to jump at the same time to send him flying. We all became exhausted and rolled off and basically died. Why is fun so tiring?! Despite draining every bit of energy it was a total blast, I wish more parks had silly stuff like this.

A few re-rides on D’Wervelwind and Troy later and it was time to set course for our next destination, the Matamba Hotel at Phantasia! As for my thoughts on Toverland it may not be the biggest park out there and there are some things that could probably do with replacing I think it’s a perfect day out for families and it really does offer something for everyone. Having two stellar coasters Troy and D’Wervelwind doesn’t hurt either ;)

Onwards to PhantasiaLand!
kIAxoui.jpg

DRAGON!!

aOJg8Kv.jpg

DERG!

BWikkib.jpg

The best bar there is. Because dragons.

o5sa5Gc.jpg


Once we arrived at Matamba there was a serious faff with dinner since the hotel buffet was full…well it wasn’t totally full but it was never going to fit 24 CFers in it. I won’t go into detail but after many tequilas, whiskies, yo-yoing between restaurants and the confusion “Fray-Fray Chicken Chow Mein” caused we finally got seated at the Dragon Bar. Yay! More drinks were had after the group rejoined and Maddie got spooked by both a mystery fruit on her pillow and a creepy mask on the wall. We eventually settled down, in the hopes of being fully recharged for potentially the most stressful day of the trip…
 

Serena

Miss CoasterForce 2016
Staff member
Social Media Team
Day Two: Twoverland

Ahh Toverland is a nice park, isn't it? It's indoorsy. It's outdoorsy. There's plenty of silly things to clamber on / slide face first down. The day kicked off in good spirits thanks to Ians en-route car cd, featuring Mushroom. "Please ensure your attitude is not in a uptight position" hahaha! It was hilarious, loved all the puns!

Faffed with a hot beverage whilst the newbies rode Boomerang (not a boomerang) then raced down the water slides. Did the magic house where you point a wand at things. I particularly liked making the witch fart! I love stupid little attractions like this <3

First decent coaster of the day was the majestic Dwervelwind with it's valiant OBA. Oh heck, I don't care, this coaster is going my top 10, no matter how many times I ride this thing I grin from ear to ear every time. Walked through the newish rapids area to get to Troy, it has lots of pretty waterfalls and impressive rock work.

Troy is pretty cool. I was annoyed that they were playing a 'chilled' jazz instrumental version of the ride music, not the usual infectiously catchy song in the station. Boo!

I had a bit of cred anxiety re: Booster Bikes, as last time I visited they closed this ride when it rained. No fear, got the cred, it's rubbish. I second what Ian said about this being like the equivalent of a Big Apple now. This ride is just soulless.

Highlight of the day for me was the fabulous bobsled ride with OBA. From the well-themed queue to the snazzy lighting effects, this ride is a joy from start to finish.

Afternoon was mostly dedicated to playtime, which is a large part of what these trips are all about in my opinion. Cue: mega group bouncing on the pillows, rafting hi-jinks and getting my sweat on on the climbing frames. It was great fun (as was watching Jordan try to retrieve his bag....against the clock!)

I feel as though Toverland are just one big coaster away from becoming a really brilliant park. Even still, the place is great fun to visit as it is now. It was a much-needed relaxed day amidst a trip crammed with so much to do at the other parks.

The Phantasialand hotel was nice, as to be expected - no corner was left unthemed. The food in the buffet was delicious, I actually am still craving more of that ridiculously creamy Sweet Potato soup. Mmm! I opted not to stay up late in the bar as I wanted to be feeling my best for the jam-packed day that lay ahead.

Next up: Why Phantasialand just doesn't make me fap quite as much as everyone else...(sorry!) ....but Taron and Klugheim are stunning..
 

ATTACKHAMMER

Strata Poster
Day 2 Toverland:
14700915_10205604060659590_5649174936515471492_o.jpg


14711469_10205604060699591_5625834390312985423_o.jpg


The indoor parts were quite fab!
First up was the kiddie cred; it was quite good.

Then we did a house thing, where you take a wand and wave it stuff to make more stuff happen:
14611122_10205604060899596_5327487102555671994_n.jpg


Then we did the fun house, which was entertaining!
14712785_10205604061379608_8788534483519145059_o.jpg


14712565_10205604062619639_9111870411241867419_o.jpg


Was next. A good solid coaster, which fab on ride audio!
14700889_10205604062499636_7102744646668424871_o.jpg


Tom and Loft enjoyed the theming:
14707841_10205604062899646_7259869428498385570_o.jpg


Troy (TROY) was next:
14707991_10205604063899671_5072634232070798709_o.jpg

14680969_10205604064779693_7647063007007636660_o.jpg

14707867_10205604066179728_5296753272318680741_o.jpg

14633106_10205604066259730_7411550992020704902_o.jpg


Troy is great woodie! The pacing is excellent and I love how low to the ground it gets. There is also some good airtime. Across the course of the day the group had several rides.

Booster Bike was next (I'm going by the photos and have no idea if this was actually the next ride we did)

It was very dull, but I still managed to have a dab time:
14691275_10205604066379733_4604055760787683771_o.jpg


The log flume was next and very good. Backwards drop are awesome!:
14691972_10205604067259755_4099742543447536768_o.jpg


We then did the bob kart thing, it was great fun:
14691892_10205604067299756_7214733506207924149_o.jpg


The rapids were next:
14711134_10205604067779768_6261758570884709184_o.jpg


As always they provided good entertainment.

*Inserts random Toverland photos*
14682193_10205604067459760_5399982434001163031_o.jpg

14715586_10205604068779793_13838079934023349_o.jpg

14711283_10205604069099801_2616383866283322105_o.jpg

14681971_10205604069019799_4721684417646598761_o.jpg
 

Mushroom

Goon of the Year
Glad you all enjoyed the announcements. Just little notes on it:

1) Every single car was custom (In some degree in regards to names).
2) Each car had it's own number (1-5) but the first 2 numbers were '15' which was the day of the month.

=]
 

jayjay

Giga Poster
Before I go on with the review of day 3 in Phantasialand, some bad news. I spent a couple of hours trying to get at the data on my camera and I've decided that the water damage has corrupted the hard drive (RIP).

For the record, after the standard music video section, I had the idea to do a CF Crystal Maze intro (mostly with Toverland stuff) to lead into Jordan retrieving his bag.

Phantasialand

After the previous night's festivities, I was in no fit state to join people for breakfast, so I shuffled downstairs to meet people in the foyer before leaving.

Considering how well themed most of the park is, it's surprising that the entrance (and the access road) makes the place look like a 1960s university science department. As you move into the park, you forget all that, especially when we reached our first area: Klugheim for Taron. We were kept waiting outside while test cars were sent around, for maximum teasing. Taron during the day is... good. I enjoyed some of the better interaction sections and strong airtime/whippy transitions, but there were definitely some dead sections. The second launch followed by the curve up the waterfall is a great sequence.

I can't remember much of the order, so I'll blitz through what I can:

Chiapas: a great water ride, which, like everything else at Phantasialand, was very well themed. Bonus points for snappy reverser mechanisms and actually using its backwards section (and the random Aztec rave).

Colorado Adventure: Lengthy mine train with some fun sections. Unfortunate that it starts out navigating what feels like a warehouse, but it saves the best parts for the third lift hill.

Black Mamba: I've looked forward to this one for a while, and it delivered what I expected. Lots of interaction, lots of footchoppers and that good old B&M force. I love rides that end on a twisty-turny section and don't just die and run out of ideas.

Talocan: I decided it would be best to sit this one out since I was feeling a bit unwell following Black Mamba. But it looks stunning, doesn't it. More topspins should have fire effects.

We broke up for lunch, and I went off to grab some nuggets and chips (decent quality chips for park food). We met up at Maus au Chocolate, a dark 3D shooter ride. As much as I liked the idea, there was something kind of tiring about it, getting to the end.

Hotel Tartüff: A funhouse with a twist. Not as good a layout as the Gröna Lund funhouse, but I'll give it full marks for the way it uses the hotel theme to mark itself out. I particularly enjoyed the in-character lift operator batching people through.

Hollywood Boat Ride: At any other park, it would be a decent ride, but it felt a little ragged round the edges for Phantasialand. The Jaws stuff at the start was pretty fun though.

Winjas: Very nice! I had an idea of what the hidden elements were, but there were still one or two that caught me by surprise. The whole central room has a great active atmosphere with Winjas circling the drop ride in the centre. Marks down for a burdenous queueline though.

Temple of the Nighthawk: Definitely not a space theme. Pay no attention to the spaceship corridors. I like indoor rides sometimes, but this one doesn't work so much on the basis that you can't see anything to gauge your speed. Usually, I prefer things to whizz by, which, in the dark, makes you feel much faster than you are.

River Quest: The ride that spited my camera. It's one of those rides that keeps getting wetter and wetter and finding new and inventive ways to soak you.

Mystery Castle: I love the whole atmosphere of Mystery Castle. It's nothing like my favourite drop tower style ride, but the way the strobe shadows fill the wall, the way the ride-ops stay ominous and silent, the way the music and dramatic reading fill the cavernous tower - everything works beautifully to fill in the weakness of the actual ride.

We broke up before the evening ERT. I did the Madhouse (Feng Fu Palace) which was underwhelming as madhouses go, but I can at least say I've done it. I also bought a Drago mug, because dragons <3

Phantasialand is my favourite park. It's themed to every corner (apart from the one or two corners that are old and untouched), and it has the ride line-up in addition. I can't think of another park with such a great concentration of high quality rides, so I'll certainly be back in the future.
 

Lofty

CF Legend
Toverland was such a great little park.

Troy is good fun, I loved the theming of the new area, too. Such a nice little place.
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
For those interested, the Alton Towers air freshener I won in the faffle just sold on ebay for £5.50! Someone actually wants it!
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
Day 2 - Toverland
I'd already been here a couple of times, but the improvements outside with the new rapids and fantasy area in between dwervelwind and troy really improve the place. Ians cd livened the journey up a bit - loved the bit about "ensuring your attitude is not in an uptight position"

first up was the non boomerangy boomerang - a standard vekoma junior coaster, so +1. The twisty waterslide was good fun, maybe I should have done the straight one too!. After that we did the cute house where you aim wands at targets to make things happen - barmy salami and cow (or was it a horse) farts FTW! I love things like this - just make a park day a bit more fun.

The fun house was next - and a particularly good one - I love a good fun house, me!

I think next was D'wervelwind, A ride I didn't enjoy too much on my last visit - but I think that was down to me being a bit shattered after a long coach trip and flight. It's surprisingly intense, but smooth and lovely! This was followed by troy - the ride which put them "on the map" - in the middle and back it's a decent ride, but it's brilliant at the front - lovely pops of air, relentless twists and turns and just so full of character - the front rows actually give better airtime on the first drop than the front row / first drop on Goliath! As a family ride it really shows up the vast majority of family coasters out there!

We had time for booster bike before lunch - I think these are ok as backing coasters, don't really see why anyone would compare them to big apples.. anyway lunch was a pizza - I'd seen people lwave the cafe with 9 inch sized pizzas and thought that'd be about right for lunch - however the adult pizza was just a little over 12 inches (oo err). wasn't bad but the tomato sauce was a bit heinzish...

After lunch, and getting to about meet up time, I saw that some people were still getting food so I had a quick whoosh round the funhouse again - when I got out meet up had happened and people were in the queue for the log flume - could still join them as noone else had got in the queue between them and me! - whew! It's a nice flume - every park should have one (*COUGH* merlin *COUGH*).

The rapids were also good fun. so main rides done, it was time for some play! I enjoyed the wobbly bridge, but no way can I do the climbing things! Had a few more rides on troy before heading onto the hotel matamba at phantasialand.

And what a hotel it is - beautifully themed, and the rooms were great - a bit smaller than ling bao's but I loved the way they had the kids beds separate in a "tent", I actually prefered it myself. Dinner was at the poncy a la carte restaurant - Had ostrich with a wild garlic sauce and cassava chips - first time I've tried all three of those! the ostrich tasted somewhere between Beef and Venison.

Coming next - the phantasialand review with excessive exclamation marks!

EDIT: Forgot to mention blitz bahn - a massive improvement over the previous bobkart - Actually has some nice speed. It records your times at the end of the ride - people werer getting 45-55 seconds, I think Jordan got best of the day with about 40-42. Mine came up at 1 minute 50, so no idea what happened!! I was definitely flat out all the way!
 

nadroJ

CF Legend
Right, I've written up my musings on le blog.

Some highlights though:

Walibi Holland
Lost Gravity being an unexpected hit
Vibraty stairs
Platform 13's queue
Unlimited hot drinks refills
Ridiculous rapids
Sitting out of El Condor because it's vile
Getting Sean on Goliath
Scare zones
The whole Horror Nights event being excellent
Hillbillies yelling abuse
Jake pointing and going 'HUERGH!' at an incoming airtime hill on LG (had to be there, I died)

Toverland
Richard and Owain being banned from waterslides for horseplay
The ride op squeezing past Conor in the waterslides queue
Blocking everyone on the upside downy thing in the fun house
Maycock taking a selfie with the magic wand
One bench per person
Epic bobsled
Epic queue for bobsled and oohing and aahing at the animatronic head thing
Dweverlwind being fab
Interacting with the 'other goons' whilst riding Troy
Nicking Jordan's bag then making him retrieve it and subsequently watching him get blocked by kiddies

Phantasialand
Slithering to the buffet
Sweet potato soup omg <3
Fraser leaving Maddie a fruity surprise on her pillow
The meetup was 8.45, and he was munching on toast
Everyone legging it to Taron
The epic sunrise and steam and urgh, everything waiting for Taron to open
Wandering through Klugheim jaw-dropped
Everyone loving life on Chiapas and interacting with each other's boats
ChainedBanana spiting himself with a waffle
Getting a ****ING COOKIE
Convincing Josh's family to ride the worst Crappy Boat Ride of all time
Conor farting in the Winjas queue and everyone's disgust
Everyone loving Maus
Virgin boat on River Quest
Night Taron/Klugheim and subsequent euphoria

Efteling
The incredible walk in and how amazing everything looked
Celebrating Ben's 1000th cred
Racing on Joris en de Draak
Bashing out loads of rides before the public descended
Everyone dying on the racist dark ride (it's NOT OK!)
MASSIVE UGLY FISH
Everyone crying at the Little Match Girl (is this the best one?)
"I thought Efteling would be really fab and well themed, but in reality it's just Dutch children catching things from a donkey's anus"
Pancakey dough ball things <3

And some pics
Thanks Ian again for organising one of my favourite CF Lives in a long time. It was excellent!
 

Serena

Miss CoasterForce 2016
Staff member
Social Media Team
I suppose it's time to offend pretty much every goon ever now...

Day Three: Phantasialand

Phantasialand is too close to the road. You never feel that far away from the world outside.

The entrance is so bland is gives Paultons swimming pool entrance a run for its money.

Breakfast in the hotel was nice, running into a misty Klugheim area in the morning was also pretty. But as we waited for the new zone to open, I couldn't help but notice that you can see Mexico from Klugheim. Maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal if each area wasn't so thoroughly themed, but when you can the jarring reds of Chiapas from the grey rock work of Klugheim, the effect is a little jarring.

Many seem to love that Phantasialand is a condensed park, and bam there's lots of themeing in your face. But I dislike the way it's so crammed, and the way it all sits on top of each other. I like a good vast, green, forest between park areas to give that feeling of really exploring and discovering something - not having it screaming in your face from the other side of the park.

Anywho. Taron in the morning was a solid 6.5/10 It's basically Juvelen on steroids. (Maybe that's why the launch sounds so angry...roid rage.) The themeing is beautiful and I did really like the ride area and the music, but innitially I found the coaster itself to be just a really, really decent family coaster. I don't know why, but it failed to excite me.

Chiapas was next, and it's a pretty fab water ride. I liked the snappyness of the transfers and the silly backwards bit. I have a photo of me on the old Wild Wasserbahn in 1998 at Phantasia and I can sincerely say that Chiapas is a vast, vast improvement on that, haha. So yeah. it's impressive. But, I don't know....couldn't help feeling like everyone was seeing something I couldn't as they gushed over the rides. I had yet to feel the magic.

Black Mamba is a cool invert, nice and low to the ground. In terms of European Inverts, it's no OzIris but it's a solid coaster. Themeing is vast, but (and here lies another of my issues with Phantasia) I just don't care about 'countries' as themeing. If I wanted to see Africa I would go to Africa. Ditto for China. And Mexico. I prefer themes that are more out-of-this-world...spooky, fairytales, ghosts, disasters etc. Stuff that really plays on your imagination. I know Phantasialand have the symbolic dragons for each area, but these characters are not exactly at the forefront of what is essentially a Cultural Studies lesson come to life.

The Michael Jackson thrill ride is pretty decent for a mine train, but not worthy of a re-ride or anything. Lunch in the Klugheim area was good: tasty pizza and some really cute dogs woofing about.

Then it was Maus au Chocolat, a shooting ride which favours the, err...'dexterous of wrist' ;) This is one of my fave rides in the park. Very fun, brings out my competitive side (something many shooters fail to do) and it smells of chocolate. What more could anyone ask for!

Ugh are we onto Wuze Town now? Urghhhhhh. It's hideous. The noisy, jam-packed indoor area with all stuff and kids clanging about gives me a headache every time. The colours are drab, there seems to be no air conditioning in the queues and the whole area is devoid of a pleasant atmosphere. It houses 2 creds in the form of Winja's, which are technically impressive but dull to ride.

I had never ridden the crappy Hollywood boat ride at Phantasia before, but it proved to be a fun highlight joking around with Mushy999's parents. Then it was time for River Quest, where Richard got soaked. River Quest is cool and quirky, a fun one to ride with people who had not experienced it before. Then the others rode Mystery Castle whilst I bloused out and chatted to Mushy999 and his family instead. It was really nice to meet them, and I hope to see them all at more Lives in the future :)

Owain, Neo and I got some nice Chinese food before we had our nighttime ERT on Taron. Similarly to Helix, Taron is a different beast at night. It's much more powerful and snappy. Was a lovely moment, seeing everyone get so excited together about the coaster. Running round and round for re-rides (oh, and grabbing the surprisingly tolerable boomerang cred too)

I do really like Taron, but I can't help but knock it for its inconsistency. In the same way as riding Shambhala in the back row has so much drag over the hills that it's a bit of a non-event. A truly great coaster experience shouldn't be so dependent on where you sit or what time you ride. Just imagine if you didn't have nighttime ERT, for instance, and queued for 2 hours for one ride on meandering day-time Taron. I definitely would be asking 'hey, what's all the fuss about?' after a daytime ride.

Luckily we got to ride it in all it's night time glory for an hour. That was exhilarating and we all left the park with wind swept, grinning coaster-faces. I did have a nice day, but Phantasialand just isn't my kind of park at all.
 
Top