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Energylandia (Poland): New Coasters

Another thing worth taking into account is that the park was EU-funded for its first few years, and attractions like Hyperion, Zadra et al were funded from the money they were given by the EU, as far as I’m aware. I also gather that all of the EU-funded projects had to open by a certain date or the funding would be withdrawn.

Could this slowing in pace simply correlate with the loss of EU funding, both in terms of lower urgency and no more seemingly limitless funds?

I’ve heard that the park can get pretty busy during the summer, so I’d imagine that it does make plenty of money.

As @Shaggy_Dog_ pointed out, it is also worth noting that the park is pretty young in the grand scheme of things (relative to the other European parks it’s often compared with). It’s only 9 years old; at that age, Alton Towers was mostly generic, unthemed fairground rides, with the themed stuff only properly taking hold after the Tussauds acquisition. Nick Varney even said in a promo for the 1992 season that that year’s investments were about eliminating Alton Towers’ reputation as “a fun fair in the woods”.

Not to mention that the park has only really become a “household name”, so to speak, among theme park enthusiasts in the last 5 years or so. Hyperion turns 5 this year, Zadra and Abyssus are less than 5, and even Formula is only 7 years old.

My point is that Energylandia is still such a young park. A lot will probably change as it grows and develops, and I suspect that it is definitely still a work in progress.
 
I am not sure I necessarily agree with it being lifeless and dead outside of summer months; I went early in the year and the park was consistently busy all day with huge crowds at rope drop. Hyperion had a 2hr+ queue at the start of the day (typical of a coaster being next to the entrance) however everything else as the day progressed was walk on or thereabouts. I think there is just so much quantity (not necessarily quality) it just feels like the park can be quite quiet - the exact antithesis to Towers at the moment actually.

Definitely agree about the odd nature of the park however. The older original stuff is absolutely hideous and garish whereas the newer additions are more typical of what you would find at a theme park.
 
I guess I have just timed it so that it’s dead on every visit. Last 4 years it has been very quiet for me. Every time I’ve visited though has been a mid week in September (apart from their Halloween night and this week). I maybe got the wrong word using lifeless but it’s definitely been very quiet every time I’ve been. For example I’ve now had 72 rides on Zadra over all my visits and never waited more than 5-10 minutes for any single one. It’s such an interesting park to talk about because it’s so different and new to what we’ve ever seen in Europe or even the world. Was a good day at the park today but they are desperately in need of a good dark ride or two… among many other things😂
 
This has no doubt been mentioned before but as a frequent visitor @Connor98 you must find the park easy to get to? What's the ideal way to get there and can it be easily done over a weekend (fly out Saturday morning, fly back Sunday evening)?
 
Burbs said:
This has no doubt been mentioned before but as a frequent visitor @Connor98 you must find the park easy to get to? What's the ideal way to get there and can it be easily done over a weekend (fly out Saturday morning, fly back Sunday evening)?
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For me, I always fly to Krakow (you could use Katowice but it’s further away and Ubers are harder to get) and just get an Uber to accommodation near the park that will cost around £35-£40. But if on a budget the best option is to stay in krakow and use the parks bus service from the MDA Autobusy station which drops at the gates. This time I’ve decided to take an Uber to the western camp and I’ll take the bus from the park entrance back to krakow at the end of the day. This is a very cheap option and I’d recommend it to all as it means you get to explore the wonderful city of Krakow after your park trip too!
 
Hire car is about £30 for something small for the weekend. Chuck some fuel on top and you'll have change from under £50, even better if you can split the costs with people you go with.
 
Burbs said:
This has no doubt been mentioned before but as a frequent visitor @Connor98 you must find the park easy to get to? What's the ideal way to get there and can it be easily done over a weekend (fly out Saturday morning, fly back Sunday evening)?
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The park is only 40 minutes away from Krakow Airport by Uber. Just bring hand luggage only so you can get off the plane and go straight out (without waiting for baggage) and stash your bag in one of the many lockers at the park. There is plenty of accommodation in Zator if you are staying for a second day at the park and a McDonalds near the entrance which is very handy. It’s a super easy park to do a weekend visit to.
 
Yeah it's so easy to get to and cheap as well.

I went in 2021 and stayed for a week, plenty of other things to do like Legendia, Zatorland, Minotaur Land, salt mines, Krakow, and your very close to Auschwitz which I think everyone should try and visit.
 
Connor98 said:
I do often think about wether the park turns a profit over the year. Apart from the main summer period the park is lifeless and dead. Great for us enthusiasts but terrible for the park itself. It seems as if they have looked at places like Europa and hoped they could have a piece of the pie, which hasn’t worked out as planned. I don’t like IP attractions but maybe that’s the way they should go to attract more visitation.
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The park reached 1.8 million visitors in 2022, so I think it would have turned a profit, though yes their running costs must be high as there were loads of staff, theres tonnes of rides, the car show, the pools etc all to take care of.
 
Easy and cheap to get to, but a bunny dies on Watership Down of carbon sufferage with every last seat on the "quick weekend trip" plane.
 
I've just returned from 2 days at Energylandia (plus a day at Legendia). All being well I'll be posting trip reports at some point this week, but I just wanted to give a few updates on future developments from what I saw when at the park.

Sweet Valley - I can't see the new area opening at all this summer. There is still a lot of theming work to do on both the Choco Chip Creek mine train coaster and the area itself. Maybe they'll go for a winter season opening, or just wait until 2024. Choco Chip Creek was testing, likely because it has been built for 2 years and needs to be cycled.

Tilt coaster - no work has begun on this project at all. I assume it is going to go behind Zadra, you can see that there is a path that currently just stops but looks like it would lead to a new area. If this is still happening, I would expect it to open in either 2025 or 2026.

Hotels - the park map shows 2 new "hotel zones" as coming soon, although no construction on either of these has begun. A waterpark expansion, including an indoor waterpark building, is also showing as coming soon. I feel a hotel would do very well so hopefully this can be progressed!
 
Very interesting to hear that, when you consider the speed at which Energylandia was expanding, that it now seems to have ground to a very abrupt halt.

I visited last summer and it sounds like literally nothing has changed. The map was advertising indoor water park and new hotels then, but I’d work hasn’t started, and Sweet Valley hasn’t developed at all since last year (let’s not forget that was supposed to be new for 2022), then it sounds like something’s not right at Energylandia. Have they hit trouble, or run out of money, or both I wonder?

Obviously I know expansion was never going to continue at the rate it was previously going, but for things to have literally all ground to a halt since last year is pretty concerning, especially when you consider how much was planned and still hasn’t happened.

I’ve heard that the theming in the Abyssus isn’t even finished? That was a new for 2021 area!
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Very interesting to hear that, when you consider the speed at which Energylandia was expanding, that it now seems to have ground to a very abrupt halt.

I visited last summer and it sounds like literally nothing has changed. The map was advertising indoor water park and new hotels then, but I’d work hasn’t started, and Sweet Valley hasn’t developed at all since last year (let’s not forget that was supposed to be new for 2022), then it sounds like something’s not right at Energylandia. Have they hit trouble, or run out of money, or both I wonder?

Obviously I know expansion was never going to continue at the rate it was previously going, but for things to have literally all ground to a halt since last year is pretty concerning, especially when you consider how much was planned and still hasn’t happened.

I’ve heard that the theming in the Abyssus isn’t even finished? That was a new for 2021 area!
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I’m unsure about the situation of their funding, apart from the fact they have had grants from the EU in the past, Hence their rapid expansion rate.

And regarding Abyssus, they’d just started to line the remaining pools in and around the coaster so I’d expect that to be complete and filled up in the not too distant future. But rather than building the Tilt Coaster they should really focus their efforts on the original sections of the park… it needs it.
 
They have definitely ran out of cash. Think that's fairly obvious at this point.

They went on a spending spree like there was no tomorrow without finishing off other areas. The chickens have come home to roost it would seem.

Shame really as it was slowly building into a must visit attraction in Europe for many thoosies.
 
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