PTR: Luna park Prague

[ignace]

In March last year, the 6th grade of my school went to a trip of 5 days to Prague, the beautiful capital of the czech republic. On the last full day in the city we had a free afternoon, so I decided to go to Luna Park- the biggest attractionpark of the country. That is still pretty small, since the park was nothing more than a few transportable rides in a park. I was lucky, end March is also fair-time in Prague, and the fair is located in the same park as Luna Park- so I could get 5 credits that day .

By foot and only accompanied by the bright burning sun I walked the 3.5 kilometers from Charles Bridge to Luna Park. The building on the photo is a sort of hall for events I think, and directly against it is Luna Park. You have to pay a couple of Euro's/a lot of crones to enter the park, and every ride (fair and the luna park rides) costs you money, but they all were pretty cheap, except for the rides that came out the Netherlands (The spinning mouse and the flume).

I immediately went to Horska Draha, which looked fab after the repaint (see rcdb for it's former color scheme). I had to wait 5 minutes before I could buy my ticket, since the cashier was reading a newspaper and wasn't very interested in clients. The most people who lived in Prague who I met weren't very nice .
The coaster was actually decent and ended up being the best coaster of the day. It was very smooth (probably it had something to do with the recent paintjob) and had some unexpected airtime. I rode twice, just because I had to much crones with me and I couldn't change the coins anymore back in Belgium.

The other coaster that always stays at Luna Park is Jurassic Park, a weird little coaster that is basically just a circle. Sure a unique credit to have... It didn't seem very legit either.

Another wild mouse credit, and the most expensive coaster of the park. I was glad I could speak dutch with the cashier, but I didn't mention that they weren't "EUROPE'S BIGGEST TRAVELING COASTER", as the billboard suggested. I prefer these Reverchon spinners over the Zamperla ones, because, unlike their Italian look-a-likes, they actually spin.

While I walk around this park, I see this coaster that I have never seen before (I searched what coasters will be in Luna Park that day), and also: the layout looked unique to me. A week later I would notice that the coaster wasn't "discovered" by any fan ever, so I send a few photo's to CC. I'm proud that I discovered a coaster, shame it was a very slow and rather painful ride. The turns where always to fast or to slow, and because you hadn't had a restraint, You saw every corner of the bench multiple times during the ride.

Speed of life is the name of this death trap.

And the coaster had it's own watchdog, which almost attacked me

The last coaster was very much alike speed of life: it had the same starting procedure (see onridevideo), Was also half-powered with tires, the letters "AFC" were on every seat and even the layout was similar. Amazing Drive wasn't nearly as smooth as Speed of Life, but also slower and therefore not painfull at all, just another boring but unique credit.

I had the car/train for myself on every coaster!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xck8PWiTXdc[/youtube]

The only non-coaster I rode was this Insanely big booster. I wanted to enjoy the ride, but it was just to intense. My feet felt like they were going to explode .

I'm sorry i didn't rode the ferris wheel .

With 2 free starflyers in my country's themeparks, I will probably not pay for them at a fair .

The other booster looked even more unstable

Zamperla's best ride

Goodbye Luna Park!

Luna Park is an awful theme park, but a great fair. But even when you combine these two like I did, it isn't worth the trip-unless you live in Prague or you're on vacation there. Thanks for reading!

 

[furie]

You have to pay a couple of Euro's/a lot of crones to enter the park.

Sorry, I know it's because I'm English, but I did laugh. I just imagined you giving Euro's to a group of some old woman with shawls on, with big warts on their noses, cackling "come, come, come and enjoy the fair my pretty one. Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa"

The coaster was actually decent and ended up being the best coaster of the day. It was very smooth (probably it had something to do with the recent paintjob) and had some unexpected airtime. I rode twice, just because I had to much crones with me and I couldn't change the coins anymore back in Belgium.

I've seen so many of those Pinfari/SDC/Figure 8 things and been on so many too. They're just a common "not another of these POS +1 coasters".

Then every time I go on one, I'm shocked to find that they're actually really good fun. They're not brilliant coasters, but they're always much better than my brain seems to want to accept.

While I walk around this park, I see this coaster that I have never seen before (I searched what coasters will be in Luna Park that day), and also: the layout looked unique to me. A week later I would notice that the coaster wasn't "discovered" by any fan ever, so I send a few photo's to CC. I'm proud that I discovered a coaster, shame it was a very slow and rather painful ride. The turns where always to fast or to slow, and because you hadn't had a restraint, You saw every corner of the bench multiple times during the ride.

RCDB doesn't have it either. It's worth pointing RCDB in the direction of this topic. He may be able to enlighten you as to why they aren't listed, or maybe you get the kudos of finding multiple new coasters

 

[ignace]

RCDB doesn't have it either. It's worth pointing RCDB in the direction of this topic. He may be able to enlighten you as to why they aren't listed, or maybe you get the kudos of finding multiple new coasters

Speed of Life is probably a travelling coaster, that's why RCDB will probably not list it . Thanks for the feedback .

 

[furie]

Fair enough, they only have the two coasters listed on RCDB so it looked odd you getting five :lol:

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Another nice trip report ignace! I love hearing about all these places I could potentially slot in on my travels. Not sure I'd call it a quality park, but five +1s can't be sniffed at!

I too am a big fan of the little Pinfari rides - they do exactly what you expect and more, and offer quite a scary drop for kids. They don't deserve all the negativity they get, and often last for years and years!

This BTW is hilarious!!

 

[Jake]

Yeah, the wildcat and that weird Jurassic park thing are the only creds that stay there all the time. The rest come and go (when I went in 2009 everything you did was there, minus the speed of life thing, but plus a Pinfari looper). The coaster counting sites (and RCDB) are aware of this so don't bother telling them!

As far as I remember, everything else dissapears after Easter and spends the rest of the season travelling. They just 'live' in Prague to make a few quid off-peak.

 

[gavin]

I was "unlucky" enough to go there in the summer, when I guess from what's been said on here most of the rides are traveling. The place was completely dead, and almost abandoned looking, especially at the front (from your first picture, where the tram stop is), with that whole entrance plaza looking derelict. I remember Jake saying he'd got a bunch of surprise traveling coasters, and I was semi hoping for the same, but it was not to be.

The whole area behind the entrance plaza on the way to Luna Park was also completely empty, with nothing open and no people around. This was on a summer afternoon in August. There seemed to be quite a few things around the area - a theatre in the shape of a pyramid, which seemed to be playing Les Miserables (the actual musical, not the movie obviously) and some kind of fountain show that's open at night - but nothing open during the day. There was no entrance fee either.

As for Luna Park, it was just the two permanent coasters, which were cheap. I got to ride both by myself, but a few other people arrived soon after and rode the Pinfari as well. There's pretty much nothing else there though. I didn't ride the ferris wheel, and I can't think of anything else that was actually there - maybe some dodgems or something? I'll get a trip report up eventually with some pictures.

The most people who lived in Prague who I met weren't very nice

I found that as well. Prague is such a gorgeous city, but it was almost ruined for me by the rather unpleasant locals and ridiculous amounts of awful, awful tourists. Obviously, I was a tourist myself, and it was the height of summer, so crowds were to be expected, but it was just ridiculous. The whole city just seemed to be completely clogged up with idiotic tour groups getting in the way of **** ing everything.

Thinking about it, that might be why the locals are a bit rude. If I had to deal with that **** on a daily basis trying to go about my normal day, I'd be pissed off, too.

 

[ignace]

^I hope you didn't went to Prague just for Luna park ?

 

[gavin]

^ Oh **** no!

I was going anyway and just had a quick look to see if there were any parks around. I wasn't going to even bother with it, but the tram went from very close to my hotel and I had plenty of time. Also, I wanted to get out of the city centre, and away from all the horrible tourist groups, for a while.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

I was gonna go here when I went to Prague but I thought it seemed a little bit too out of the way. How did you get there from the city centre?

Prague is such a beautiful city but this park looks a bit crap. Interesting to see what it looks like though.

 

[gavin]

There's a tram, probably more than one actually, that takes about 10 minutes from the south side of the river. You could probably walk it in half an hour or so.

Not worth it though unless you've got a bit of time to kill, or maybe if the travelling stuff is there.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

^ Oh, meh, I was never really too fussed about missing them anyway.

I'm shocked everyone found the people there rude?! I also went during the height of the summer and people seemed to be extremely friendly, although we did get a bit ripped off by the taxi driver. And by a bit I mean, a LOT.

 

[Tomatron]

I've always wanted to do a little tour of Prague and the three main capitals on the Danube (Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest), and the end of March looks pretty good on the cred and crowd front! Won't be able to afford it this year, but I'd certainly consider doing them in the not-far-off future.

 

[Jake]

I'm shocked everyone found the people there rude?! I also went during the height of the summer and people seemed to be extremely friendly, although we did get a bit ripped off by the taxi driver. And by a bit I mean, a LOT.

Oh, they're vile, especially if you try and buy anything with a note bigger than like, the equivalent of a fiver.

They were fine in Vienna, Brat and Bude, but in Prague <///3. Just, rude. Not bas bad as the Latvians and Lithuanians though <///////3. Really miserable, hostile people. I got slapped by a prostitute in Riga because I wouldn't give her a cig!