davidm
Strata Poster
Just back from a little break to Berlin. You don't want to know about the reasonably large amount of Berlin beer I consumed or the various
culture-credits I obtained do you? You only want to know about the +1 involved, so here we go...
For a major city, Berlin has a dearth of roller coasters. The one large park (Spreepark) has long been abandoned (you can do guided tours of
the place but my timing was off so I did not get to do that on this trip). There's a butterfly in a park well North of the city (but there's
no way I was going out of my way for a butterfly FFS). But earlier this year a little chain of destination jam-shops (yes really) decided
to open a little coaster within the Berlin transport zone, so I spent a morning heading out there.
The place is 'Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal' (The chain is "Karl's", this place is the "Adventure Village")
https://www.karls.de/elstal.html
Getting there from central Berlin was not too bad could get a train out to Elstal (zone C in the travel-zone) and then there was a bus that
would take you the last couple of km. Elstal is not a throbbing metropolis, being mostly a deserted train-yard and a few run down out
of town industrial units, there was an outlet-store village nearby and Karl's but that seemed to be it.
Anyway the train/bus timing was a bit off and the next bus was 1/2 hour after the train arrived, so I walked it instead and arrived at the
park about 30s before the bus did.
The place is free-entry, but pay to ride the coaster - its a very strange place though - genuinely an industrial sized jam shop. The stench of
strawberry-jam thick in the air as you head into the cavernous indoor jam shop.
So. Much. Jam.
There's a lot of other food products for sale inside too - jams of various varieties (mostly Strawberry though) and all this "homely" produce
sort of thing going on.
Anyway, not here for jam am I so get a "day-pass" for €12 (it is €4.5 per ride and I thought I'd right it a couple of times at least) and
dashed thru the jam-shop to the outdoor zone.
The coaster is part of what looks like a whole new section of the outdoor section as it is build into a building that also houses a restaurant
thingy and the gift shoppe. Its all very new-looking and pretty impressive to be honest. Its also all themed to potatoes. Everything that is,
cafe, shop and roller coaster. Potato themed. Honestly. Bonkers.
So head into the potato-shop and the entrance to the coaster, K2 is within ("K2" must be some potato reference rather than the big mountain,
but I didn't see any explanation to why its named that anywhere)
https://rcdb.com/15490.htm
OK the queue-line for this (there was no queue but you have to traverse the whole queue line) is ridiculously highly themed - like world
class queue line themeing, video-screens, models, themed rooms, artwork, signs... all potato themed of course...
(all the below is the queue)
(ahh moonshine, best potato-product here then)
Yay, enough of the potatoes, we get to the station.
Trains are little two-carriage jobs. Two adults or 3 kids per carriage, sat in-line. Just a seat belt and you take bags on board with you
(there was a bag drop area too if you didn't want to do that). Trains are themed to wagons for carrying potatoes around in, so I guess that
us the passengers have now taken on the identity of a potato now? I sit in the back for my first ride.
First bit of the ride is a little dark-ride section - again pretty well themed and with a couple of "scary surprises" in it - little mini
drop and a quick-brake section while some dark-ride stuff happens. You end up coming out of a tunnel beneath a load of potato-crops and
head onto the left hill.
Its obviously a kiddie-friendly ride, but I thought it was lot more worthy than most kiddie-rides, certainly a lot smoother and more
comfortable than many a kiddie-coaster. Quite quick and sections towards the start with the hint of some floaty airtime - guess the small
light weight carriages combined with a reasonable amount of speed lets that happen.
Half way round we end up on top of the building inside a small themed tower-room, then the second half of the ride is mostly quick helices
nipping around at ground level before we head back inside and onto (well next to) a conveyor belt carrying, you guessed it, more potatoes
and a small lift back into the station.
So actually really good for what it is. Ride op takes pity on me and lets me through a gate to re-ride it without having to walk thru
the queue line again and I ride it in the front this time, no great difference to the back, back was probably a bit more comfortable but
that's about it.
The exit line is a lot shorter that the queue, but still the potato themeing goes on as you head back into the cafe/gift shop space at roof
level.
There's stuff going on outside the building too, like this guy who pops up and berates you about something presumably potato-based in German.
I ride it a couple more times, just to get my € worth.
The rest of the outdoor section has a fair amount of other kiddy-entertainment-friendly activities, slides, swings, farmyard animals and
the like.
Laugh at Kings Island's antique-cars, this place has antique-tractors!
Mazes
Gearing up for pumpkin-festivals (I think that actually started the following day, expect it was more themed to the vegetable rather than any
halloween-stuff though)
Think this was a display of ice-sculptures, but didn't look worth the upcharge so I didn't
And since it was lunchtime by then, and I'd spent the time riding the potato-themed coaster, and there I was in a potato-themed cafe place,
I had some potato-based lunch (and a beer of course, not potato-based though)
OK that was worth the couple of hours effort I think, get a bus back to the train station and head back into Berlin to continue "normal"
tourist activities (Charlottenburg Schloss that afternoon if you are interested (I know you are not) and a few hipster-beers in the East
Side of the city that night)
culture-credits I obtained do you? You only want to know about the +1 involved, so here we go...
For a major city, Berlin has a dearth of roller coasters. The one large park (Spreepark) has long been abandoned (you can do guided tours of
the place but my timing was off so I did not get to do that on this trip). There's a butterfly in a park well North of the city (but there's
no way I was going out of my way for a butterfly FFS). But earlier this year a little chain of destination jam-shops (yes really) decided
to open a little coaster within the Berlin transport zone, so I spent a morning heading out there.
The place is 'Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal' (The chain is "Karl's", this place is the "Adventure Village")
https://www.karls.de/elstal.html
Getting there from central Berlin was not too bad could get a train out to Elstal (zone C in the travel-zone) and then there was a bus that
would take you the last couple of km. Elstal is not a throbbing metropolis, being mostly a deserted train-yard and a few run down out
of town industrial units, there was an outlet-store village nearby and Karl's but that seemed to be it.
Anyway the train/bus timing was a bit off and the next bus was 1/2 hour after the train arrived, so I walked it instead and arrived at the
park about 30s before the bus did.
The place is free-entry, but pay to ride the coaster - its a very strange place though - genuinely an industrial sized jam shop. The stench of
strawberry-jam thick in the air as you head into the cavernous indoor jam shop.
So. Much. Jam.
There's a lot of other food products for sale inside too - jams of various varieties (mostly Strawberry though) and all this "homely" produce
sort of thing going on.
Anyway, not here for jam am I so get a "day-pass" for €12 (it is €4.5 per ride and I thought I'd right it a couple of times at least) and
dashed thru the jam-shop to the outdoor zone.
The coaster is part of what looks like a whole new section of the outdoor section as it is build into a building that also houses a restaurant
thingy and the gift shoppe. Its all very new-looking and pretty impressive to be honest. Its also all themed to potatoes. Everything that is,
cafe, shop and roller coaster. Potato themed. Honestly. Bonkers.
So head into the potato-shop and the entrance to the coaster, K2 is within ("K2" must be some potato reference rather than the big mountain,
but I didn't see any explanation to why its named that anywhere)
https://rcdb.com/15490.htm
OK the queue-line for this (there was no queue but you have to traverse the whole queue line) is ridiculously highly themed - like world
class queue line themeing, video-screens, models, themed rooms, artwork, signs... all potato themed of course...
(all the below is the queue)
(ahh moonshine, best potato-product here then)
Yay, enough of the potatoes, we get to the station.
Trains are little two-carriage jobs. Two adults or 3 kids per carriage, sat in-line. Just a seat belt and you take bags on board with you
(there was a bag drop area too if you didn't want to do that). Trains are themed to wagons for carrying potatoes around in, so I guess that
us the passengers have now taken on the identity of a potato now? I sit in the back for my first ride.
First bit of the ride is a little dark-ride section - again pretty well themed and with a couple of "scary surprises" in it - little mini
drop and a quick-brake section while some dark-ride stuff happens. You end up coming out of a tunnel beneath a load of potato-crops and
head onto the left hill.
Its obviously a kiddie-friendly ride, but I thought it was lot more worthy than most kiddie-rides, certainly a lot smoother and more
comfortable than many a kiddie-coaster. Quite quick and sections towards the start with the hint of some floaty airtime - guess the small
light weight carriages combined with a reasonable amount of speed lets that happen.
Half way round we end up on top of the building inside a small themed tower-room, then the second half of the ride is mostly quick helices
nipping around at ground level before we head back inside and onto (well next to) a conveyor belt carrying, you guessed it, more potatoes
and a small lift back into the station.
So actually really good for what it is. Ride op takes pity on me and lets me through a gate to re-ride it without having to walk thru
the queue line again and I ride it in the front this time, no great difference to the back, back was probably a bit more comfortable but
that's about it.
The exit line is a lot shorter that the queue, but still the potato themeing goes on as you head back into the cafe/gift shop space at roof
level.
There's stuff going on outside the building too, like this guy who pops up and berates you about something presumably potato-based in German.
I ride it a couple more times, just to get my € worth.
The rest of the outdoor section has a fair amount of other kiddy-entertainment-friendly activities, slides, swings, farmyard animals and
the like.
Laugh at Kings Island's antique-cars, this place has antique-tractors!
Mazes
Gearing up for pumpkin-festivals (I think that actually started the following day, expect it was more themed to the vegetable rather than any
halloween-stuff though)
Think this was a display of ice-sculptures, but didn't look worth the upcharge so I didn't
And since it was lunchtime by then, and I'd spent the time riding the potato-themed coaster, and there I was in a potato-themed cafe place,
I had some potato-based lunch (and a beer of course, not potato-based though)
OK that was worth the couple of hours effort I think, get a bus back to the train station and head back into Berlin to continue "normal"
tourist activities (Charlottenburg Schloss that afternoon if you are interested (I know you are not) and a few hipster-beers in the East
Side of the city that night)
