While searching for some other parks do while visiting Munich for the Oktoberfest the best and most easily accessible park I came across was Skyline Park which was located about an hour by train outside Munich.
The park had a pretty good looking ride line up including the first Maurer Söhne X-Car coaster, a pair of nautic jets, a pair of butterfly coasters and some wacky self operated rides.
Also because I had visited during the end of the season when the park was very quiet I got in for a third off, so the admission on cost €13 which was a bargain for the amount of rides available. They also ran a strange timetable system in relation to some of the rides due to not having to have too many ride ops when the park was quiet. So they operate one ride for 30 minutes and then close it and then operate another nearby for another 30 minutes. This continued on throughout the day. The only down side was the grumpy staff but it was probably one of the most fun parks I’ve ever visited. I ended up whoring everything.
This was the view from the nearby train station which was about a 15 minute walk from the park.
The park logo sign near the entrance area.
Once inside first up were the nautic jets.
Unlike Wicksteed these were self operated like in most of the other parks in Europe which have them. You usually need another person outside to shut the gate and press a button to start the ride but as I was on my own I found out you could just bend your arm around the fence and press the button.
Also unlike Wicksteed the water didn’t stink of crap everytime you broke the surface when landing.
Next up were the Butterfly coasters which are pretty similar to the nautic jets.
Both of them were situated side by side and hidden away from the rest of the park. Luckily again I was able to press the button from the inside as there was nobody passing by to press it for me.
The backwards drop is fun but they don’t give the same thrill as shooting down the drop section like on the nautic jets.
They had one of those coaster or not type rides, the same as whats at Hansa Park but unfortunately it was not running on the day.
The mat slides.
The slide on this side was awesome but scary too as it was very steep and each time it felt like I was going to bang my head off the end of the perspex tunnel.
I had been waiting a while for Achterbahn the Schwarzkopf Wildcat model to open and then I found out they wouldn't let the car go around with just one person onboard so I had to wait until a few people turned up so I could join up.
I was impressed it had a really nice layout, some nice drops and it was pretty smooth for an old coaster.
This was one of the coasters they only operated for a short period at certain times so it was a bit of a pain trying to judge when to wait for a re-ride.
Another one of my favourites was the toboggan style Bob Racing. I had missed out on the on at Toverland last year so I was really looking forward to this one.
This was really good fun. It had a long enough layout and some really nice banked turns. It was also surprised at the acceleration and how fast it went throughout the circuit.
The main attraction at Skyline Park is the Sky Wheel which is the first X-Car coaster to be built.
Like Abismo at Parque de Atracciones in Madrid, Sky Wheel has the same lift hill and corkscrew section but then track then curves back down and completes the circuit back into the station.
This is one coaster which really got my heart pumping me as travelling up vertically to 150 feet with only a waist restraint and then hanging upside down for a split second was rather scary.
A close up of the train.
Sky Wheel’s compact station area.
Just behind Sky Wheel on the far side of the park was Sky Twister, the condor tower ride.
The last time I did one of these was at fair in Dublin a god few years ago. It took quite a while to reach top speed but still gave a good long cycle once it reached the top.
Next up was the weirdest coaster of the day and another ride with ‘Sky’ in its title, Sky Rider the suspended Gyroflyer ride.
It was quite similar to the Batflyer models but it contained four seats which all faced each other and the whole unit rotated as it travelled throughout the circuit.
I can see now why only one of these has been built as the Batflyers are much better. Also I reckon the throughput would be horrendous on a busy day.
The ‘Alte Liebe’ Pirate Ship and the ‘Reisenrad’ Ferris Wheel in the background.
Finally, I tried the Formel 1 Autoscooters which were like a minature version of the bumper cars which they had at Bakken. The cars are powered from running over strips on the bottom of the track.
First of I didn’t think I would be able to fit in them as my knees were rubbing of the steering wheel but luckily I managed to squeeze in. After that I forget how many goes I had, they were so much fun with power sliding around the corners and then bumping people out of the way. More parks need to get these.
Overall, apart from the Gyroflyer piece of rubbish everything else I really enjoyed and it was a great little park with quirky rides which you could easily spend the entire day in. It would make an ideal park for a CF Live.
The park had a pretty good looking ride line up including the first Maurer Söhne X-Car coaster, a pair of nautic jets, a pair of butterfly coasters and some wacky self operated rides.
Also because I had visited during the end of the season when the park was very quiet I got in for a third off, so the admission on cost €13 which was a bargain for the amount of rides available. They also ran a strange timetable system in relation to some of the rides due to not having to have too many ride ops when the park was quiet. So they operate one ride for 30 minutes and then close it and then operate another nearby for another 30 minutes. This continued on throughout the day. The only down side was the grumpy staff but it was probably one of the most fun parks I’ve ever visited. I ended up whoring everything.
This was the view from the nearby train station which was about a 15 minute walk from the park.
The park logo sign near the entrance area.
Once inside first up were the nautic jets.
Unlike Wicksteed these were self operated like in most of the other parks in Europe which have them. You usually need another person outside to shut the gate and press a button to start the ride but as I was on my own I found out you could just bend your arm around the fence and press the button.
Also unlike Wicksteed the water didn’t stink of crap everytime you broke the surface when landing.
Next up were the Butterfly coasters which are pretty similar to the nautic jets.
Both of them were situated side by side and hidden away from the rest of the park. Luckily again I was able to press the button from the inside as there was nobody passing by to press it for me.
The backwards drop is fun but they don’t give the same thrill as shooting down the drop section like on the nautic jets.
They had one of those coaster or not type rides, the same as whats at Hansa Park but unfortunately it was not running on the day.
The mat slides.
The slide on this side was awesome but scary too as it was very steep and each time it felt like I was going to bang my head off the end of the perspex tunnel.
I had been waiting a while for Achterbahn the Schwarzkopf Wildcat model to open and then I found out they wouldn't let the car go around with just one person onboard so I had to wait until a few people turned up so I could join up.
I was impressed it had a really nice layout, some nice drops and it was pretty smooth for an old coaster.
This was one of the coasters they only operated for a short period at certain times so it was a bit of a pain trying to judge when to wait for a re-ride.
Another one of my favourites was the toboggan style Bob Racing. I had missed out on the on at Toverland last year so I was really looking forward to this one.
This was really good fun. It had a long enough layout and some really nice banked turns. It was also surprised at the acceleration and how fast it went throughout the circuit.
The main attraction at Skyline Park is the Sky Wheel which is the first X-Car coaster to be built.
Like Abismo at Parque de Atracciones in Madrid, Sky Wheel has the same lift hill and corkscrew section but then track then curves back down and completes the circuit back into the station.
This is one coaster which really got my heart pumping me as travelling up vertically to 150 feet with only a waist restraint and then hanging upside down for a split second was rather scary.
A close up of the train.
Sky Wheel’s compact station area.
Just behind Sky Wheel on the far side of the park was Sky Twister, the condor tower ride.
The last time I did one of these was at fair in Dublin a god few years ago. It took quite a while to reach top speed but still gave a good long cycle once it reached the top.
Next up was the weirdest coaster of the day and another ride with ‘Sky’ in its title, Sky Rider the suspended Gyroflyer ride.
It was quite similar to the Batflyer models but it contained four seats which all faced each other and the whole unit rotated as it travelled throughout the circuit.
I can see now why only one of these has been built as the Batflyers are much better. Also I reckon the throughput would be horrendous on a busy day.
The ‘Alte Liebe’ Pirate Ship and the ‘Reisenrad’ Ferris Wheel in the background.
Finally, I tried the Formel 1 Autoscooters which were like a minature version of the bumper cars which they had at Bakken. The cars are powered from running over strips on the bottom of the track.
First of I didn’t think I would be able to fit in them as my knees were rubbing of the steering wheel but luckily I managed to squeeze in. After that I forget how many goes I had, they were so much fun with power sliding around the corners and then bumping people out of the way. More parks need to get these.
Overall, apart from the Gyroflyer piece of rubbish everything else I really enjoyed and it was a great little park with quirky rides which you could easily spend the entire day in. It would make an ideal park for a CF Live.
