Hyde Park Winter Wonderland 2nd January 2020

Hi guys. Now, I know Christmas was over a week ago, but today was the day that I got my main Christmas present; a trip to Hyde Park Winter Wonderland! This was great for me, both because it started my 2020 theme park season within days of the year starting, and because I had wanted to visit the event ever since Olympia Looping first arrived at it in 2016; that ride has had so much hype, and I was very excited to finally ride it! We arrived at the park at around 2:30pm:



Naturally, our first ride turned out to be the main thing I had come for...

Olympia Looping

So, we got our tokens and joined the queue for Olympia Looping. The queue wasn't actually too long, and it was made even shorter by the fact that the dispatches were lightning fast! The riders were getting into the train, and the train was being dispatched seconds later! So efficient; well done, guys! So, did Olympia Looping live up to the hype? If I'm being honest, not really. Don't get me wrong, it's an absolutely phenomenal feat of engineering as far as travelling coasters go, the layout is good, and I'm glad I rode it, but I don't think it was quite as overwhelmingly fantastic as I thought it would be, and there are two key reasons for this for me. The first of these reasons is probably more down to my personal taste; I almost think the ride was a bit too intense for me. Even though I didn't grey or black out on it, the loops provided a very different type of intensity to anything I've ever felt before, it made me feel a little nauseous and I found it somewhat of an unpleasant sensation going through them. Secondly, I wasn't overly keen on the restraints; despite not being overly tall, I found the cars quite tight to get into, and the hard plastic shoulder harnesses tightened a lot and really made my shoulders ache. Despite these flaws and it not living up to my personal expectations, I still think it's an admirable ride considering it's a travelling coaster, with a good layout:



After Olympia Looping, we headed to another coaster, which was...

Ice Mountain

Now, unlike with Olympia, I very much knew what to expect with Ice Mountain. It was my 4th Reverchon spinning mouse, so I very much know the type of experience they provide. However, I must admit that Ice Mountain was perhaps the most spinny of the Reverchon spinning mice I've done; by the end of the ride, the car was spinning madly, and I could barely walk in a straight line getting off! Also, the lighting package and theming did elevate it slightly; the theming in there is actually really good considering it's a travelling ride! Even though I still wasn't a massive fan of the ride and found it quite rough, these elements were certainly surprising:



After that, we managed to find another surprise coaster that I wasn't expecting...

Spinning Coaster

Now, I didn't even know this coaster existed, but my parents asked me if I wanted to ride it, so I naturally said yes; as they say, a cred's a cred! It turned out to be another Reverchon spinning mouse, but I oddly liked this one slightly more than Ice Mountain, as it was a touch smoother:



After the surprise coaster, we moved on to...

Wilde Maus XXL

Now, I must admit that I'm not generally a fan of wild mouse coasters, but I was intrigued to try Wilde Maus XXL as it seems to get much better reviews on the whole than your average wild mouse. Before I get onto the ride, let me begin with the queue. The queue for this ride is certainly... different. It's basically like a mini-funhouse, and it certainly spiced up the queueing process! In fact, it created one of my most embarrassing theme park moments ever; in the queue, there were some rollers in the floor. On this particular obstacle, I struggled to maintain balance, and I very nearly fell over and hit the poor person in front of me! Thankfully, I just about managed to prevent this from occurring, but it was still very embarrassing! After the unique and fun queue, we got onto the ride. So, how was it? Well, the ride certainly kept up a greater pace than your average wild mouse, and the large drops were good fun, however the ride was very, very rough and hurt quite a lot, even in comparison to other wild mouse coasters I've done. The speed certainly elevated the ride, however the rough nature of it meant that I wasn't personally a fan at all:



After Wilde Maus XXL, we moved on to our final coaster...

Euro Coaster

Now, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from Euro Coaster, as I thought it looked a bit wild mouse-esque in some parts, but it looked totally different in others, not to mention that it's a suspended coaster. Like Wilde Maus XXL, Euro Coaster also had a mini-funhouse queue, although thankfully this one did not generate any embarrassment! That being said, standing up properly was easier said than done when we were waiting on the rollers! So, how was the ride? Well, it was certainly... different, to say the least! Oddly, I'd actually say I enjoyed it more than your average wild mouse coaster as I didn't think it was as rough (other than some slightly abrupt braking in places, I didn't actually think it felt that rough at all), although it felt like it was going to stall in places. So overall, although I wouldn't have said that Euro Coaster was brilliant by any means, it wasn't actually a bad ride for what it was, and I enjoyed it a little more than I expected to:

After Euro Coaster, I headed on my own for a ride on...

Hangover

Now, Hangover was recommended to me by another forum member, so I decided to give it a go. I do actually quite like drop towers, and this one was particularly tall (85m, to be exact), so I was looking forward to it, although I must admit I tried not to elevate my expectations too much because it was a travelling ride and I'd never really heard much hype for it. So, how was the ride? Well, let me tell you that I hugely underestimated Hangover! Despite hearing that taller drop towers don't tend to be as forceful as smaller ones, I thought that Hangover had a fantastic drop, with great forces! The views of London from the top were also amazing, even though I was extremely cold at the top! Also, I think the operator deserves a mention with this ride; he had real enthusiasm and was playing a different song over the tannoy each time, even timing the songs to do with where the ride was in its cycle, with his own voiceover being added now and then! So that was a nice touch! All in all, Hangover was an excellent drop tower that massively exceeded expectations! In fact, I'd say it was my personal favourite ride at Winter Wonderland:

After Hangover, we headed for a final dark ride on Olympia Looping; my thoughts on the ride were exactly the same as before, although the shoulder harnesses seemed even tighter than last time. That being said, it is a very good-looking ride and a real marvel of engineering considering it's a travelling coaster, and at night, it looks stunning with all of its lighting:

After that, we headed back to our hotel.

Overall, I had a very good day at Winter Wonderland! The event itself is really nice, and there's a lot more to do there than we actually did; there's tons of food and drink stands, there's loads of ice attractions, like the ice skating rink and the Magical Ice Kingdom (which we did actually manage to get a peek into the final part of from the shop; the sculptures looked phenomenal!). Even though Olympia Looping didn't quite meet my expectations, it was still a good ride, and I also loved Hangover!


Hope you all enjoyed my report, and I hope my great day at Winter Wonderland bodes well for my 2020 season!

Apologies for the current lack of images towards the end of the report; imgBB is playing up. I'll try and get them on as soon as I can!
EDIT: They're in now!

You not a fan of flat rides, Matt? Surely a go on XXL would have knocked your socks off as an alternative to a second turn on Olympia Looping!

I rode Wilde Maus XL the other week and didn't find it particularly rough at all. In fact, I'd say it was nicely turbulent in between the very satisfying large drops. Then again, there's no rhyme or reason to reactions for this kind of sensation. Well, unless you're above a wheel on the Nash and not a fully dedicated sadist.

I feel like the UK H&S inspectors must be oddly lenient for WW, at least compared to standard procedure. The loading on Wilde Maus and Olympia Looping are nearly as efficiency-driven (by which I mean, utterly hectic) as when they're operating in German, and I'd like to see a Merlin attraction even attempt to install an in-queue funhouse any time soon...

Sorry to hear that Olympia Looping proved underwhelming. I feel the ride has served it's time in London for now. I would like to see Alpina Bahn make it's way over in the next few years.

I got to go along to Winter Wonderland last Saturday for the first time (with friends - so didn't get to do many rides sadly!). I did get on Olympia though, and I agree entirely with your point on it being a tad underwhelming. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed it, it was smooth (if a bit painful in the shoulders as a taller person) and enjoyable, but it really didn't live up to the hype I was expecting. In retrospect I wish I snuck off at the end of the day to get on XXL as well...

Brilliant feat of engineering though, and those near-circular Schwarzkopf loops do give a really odd sensation!

Now you can understand the difference between pay per ride queues and wristband queues Matt.
Olympia is a typical "bang em through quick" operation.
Wristbands have generated long queues and minimised satisfaction levels on all but the quietest days.
In days of old, you could ride every coaster on the Pleasure Beach, and be off the park with empty pockets in about a couple of hours.
Now, for roughly the same amount of money, it takes all day.
Progress?

Plastic Person said:

You not a fan of flat rides, Matt? Surely a go on XXL would have knocked your socks off as an alternative to a second turn on Olympia Looping!

I rode Wilde Maus XL the other week and didn't find it particularly rough at all. In fact, I'd say it was nicely turbulent in between the very satisfying large drops. Then again, there's no rhyme or reason to reactions for this kind of sensation. Well, unless you're above a wheel on the Nash and not a fully dedicated sadist.

I feel like the UK H&S inspectors must be oddly lenient for WW, at least compared to standard procedure. The loading on Wilde Maus and Olympia Looping are nearly as efficiency-driven (by which I mean, utterly hectic) as when they're operating in German, and I'd like to see a Merlin attraction even attempt to install an in-queue funhouse any time soon...

Sorry to hear that Olympia Looping proved underwhelming. I feel the ride has served it's time in London for now. I would like to see Alpina Bahn make it's way over in the next few years.

Click to expand...

I do like some flat rides, but I find some of them a bit nauseating. XXL did look like really good, but I must admit that the cycles on some of the flat rides (e.g. the waltzers) looked somewhat nauseating!

The reason why I probably found Wilde Maus XXL rough was because I don't tend to like really strong lateral g-forces, like the sort you find on this style of coaster. If I liked wild mouse coasters more, then I think Wilde Maus XXL would have ranked more highly for me. As with Olympia, though, it's quite a feat of engineering for a travelling coaster, and it kept pretty good pace for a wild mouse!

All I can say about the operations at WW was that I found them very efficient and I thought the teams did very well to achieve such fast dispatches, but my mum was a bit shocked when the operator was riding into the station on Olympia's second train that had just been added very quickly!

A lot of people seem to like Olympia, so I think my disappointment in it was more down to my personal taste and intensity tolerance than the ride itself. That being said, I think Alpina Bahn would be an interesting addition to WW!

Shame you didn't particularly enjoy Olympia Looping @Matt N. I think you have to ride it with the mind-set that it's a 30 year old travelling Schwarzkopf. Yeah, it's a bit squishy, it's not glass smooth and the loops are tight but I still find it a really fun ride.

Stuie said:

Shame you didn't particularly enjoy Olympia Looping @Matt N. I think you have to ride it with the mind-set that it's a 30 year old travelling Schwarzkopf. Yeah, it's a bit squishy, it's not glass smooth and the loops are tight but I still find it a really fun ride.

Click to expand...

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good ride, and staggering for a travelling coaster of its age; and in fairness, it might be more down to the fact that I tend to rate more fun, rerideable coasters and I often find constant intensity in the style that Olympia provides makes me a bit nauseous. I’m not sure why that is, as I could handle a ride on Nemesis no problem!

Great report, I went yesterday for the first time on a night and really enjoyed the whole atmosphere of the place. Roll on next (this) year's event.