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Gardaland
- Thread starter Olly
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BigAl
TS Member
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Anyone know if Gardaland are actually planning anything decent for next year? I take it they aren't going for a coaster as we'd know about it like we do for Heide Park, but surely 2014 should be a medium investment year at the very least?
Edit: Just found a link to a survey that I passed through a translation website to make it a little easier to read regarding ideas that you have for the park, as well as a survey section at the top. There's a chance to win a stay in the Gardaland Hotel, as well as entry into the park (though I don't think it's for non-Italian residents
). Interesting nonetheless.
Edit: Just found a link to a survey that I passed through a translation website to make it a little easier to read regarding ideas that you have for the park, as well as a survey section at the top. There's a chance to win a stay in the Gardaland Hotel, as well as entry into the park (though I don't think it's for non-Italian residents
). Interesting nonetheless.
BigAl
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Forbidden Journey
Good news from Screamscape:
Did I say good? Sorry, I meant awful news.
Park News - (8/8/13) Readers out there know my basic disdain for the trend over the last decade at theme parks around the world for creating different tiers of guests by offering premium upcharge perks for better parking spots or access to a virtual queue system so you can cut to the front of the line.
Get ready for the next disgusting development. Gardaland’s masters at Merlin are very quietly testing something new at the park’s Colorado Boat ride. Right next to the regular queue entrance which has a very long line, Gardaland set up a woman with a credit card machine on a small podium with a big sign behind her announcing a special Gardaland Express upcharge service fee to enter a special single rider line. The sign was in Italian and English and offers guests a way to “Save Time! Speed up your access to the rides”. For 3 Euros a person, on an extremely hot day in the park, they were blatantly upcharging guests to gain almost immediate access to the ride.
While Virtual Queue and other cut to the front of the line systems have almost become a necessary evil in today’s theme park environment, typically the steep fee to use these systems serves as a deterrent to keep the number of users low enough to minimize the impact on the regular park guests. With a system like this place instead, you lose a lot of that deterrent, because the guests can just opt to pay a little extra to cut to the front of the line on just the key attractions they want, rather than pay for the whole system.
In short this is nothing less than cutting your way to the front of a long line and bribing the bouncer (with a big credit card swiper no less) to let you in past the velvet rope ahead of everyone else. I’m not going to lie, I don’t like this one bit, especially not when it is so easy to see what a day in the park would be like if this was fully expanded throughout the entire park in the future.
Did I say good? Sorry, I meant awful news.
I was at Gardaland last week and didn't actually notice this other than the standard selling of the one-shot fasttrack - maybe I'm so used to it or expect it, or I guess it was pretty quiet. Saying that, when I saw (what turns out to be) the single rider line at Jungle Rapids, I just assumed it had been fast track for a while as it has the Express stickers stuck to the floor. Speaking of the rapids, for a climate where it's essential that water rides actually wet you, it was ludicrously calm. May as well have been on a lazy river. Makes sense it was on Colorado Boat though, it was the only queue whilst I was there that got over 30 minutes. It didn't help that they weren't fully loading the boats to speed things up - most boats only had 2 people in.
Unfortunately the Merlin influence is strong throughout the entire park that it is really noticeable. As soon as you come off each ride and arrive at the photo booth there is somebody shouting into an awful quality PA system to get you to buy photos, and of course whenever you go to a food outlet and tell them "it's just this please" they launch into "would you like a chocolate bar with that?" "No thanks." "Ice cream?" "No I'm good." "Two bottles of water for 2 euros?" "No it's just that, as I said." It's really frustrating. And do any other Merlin parks charge for ketchup/mayonnaise? That felt ridiculous considering the price of everything else there.
Some other thoughts:
Raptor was by far and away the best coaster there (all the others are mediocre to quite good), but good god what an awful theme. Let me qualify that: the theme is executed quite well (although with no obvious explanation anywhere barring queueline videos that no-one could see because of so much sunlight), but good theming is really confined to the ride area itself, rather than where guests can actually access or be immersed in. This results in an environment for people that appears to solely be huge volumes of concrete decorated with a prison's worth of 10ft tall metal fencing. The fencing around the ride area is the more Jurassic Park-esque wires and lights etc., but the queue fence is depressing bland cattlepen cage with little shade and a concrete floor. Large amounts of it also have a caged roof on. It is not a nice place to be.
Who decided that in a climate that regularly excedes 30 degrees throughout the year, a theming palate of just concrete and metal was a good idea? There is so little vegetation in the area, again all confined to the ride area. The sun on the bare concrete gets ludicrously bright and the fencing gets ludicrously warm. It seems such a shame to take a forested area, chop down every tree and blanket the place in bare concrete, especially because of the climate. I don't get why there was so little shade. The station was ok although it already feels run-down - tactical move by those in charge to again choose a theme that even its falling apart can still look intentional.
It's a good coaster though, with some of the low-to-the-ground turns feeling reasonably intense. Nice and smooth (obviously) but still does have the lumbering feel that the wingriders in particular are known for.
Tornado was remarkably intense (rode just once on the back row) and my girlfriend found it particularly painful/ear bashing. Maybe it's the standard of the rest of the coaster, but I found the extra helix one of the more enjoyable parts of the ride.
Despite being close to exactly the same layout as Efteling's Python (are there even any differences?), Magic Mountain felt much more intense, particularly the loops felt very tight, enough to cause black spots to appear all over my eyes which has happened on an incredibly small number of coasters. It's a completely ok ride.
Didn't make it onto Sequoia Adventure (who named that?!) because of the appalling Flamingoland-esque throughput and the fact that people came off looking like they had had brain haemorrhages/lost the will to live. It really looks like an awful experience.
Mammut was my first Vekoma mine train and I wasn't particularly impressed. Very rattly and they don't really do much. Some fun pops of speed and the occasional tiny airtime hill. I can see why these make good family rides though, with a particularly decent length (although it never felt like much was achieved before the next lift hill). More interesting that Thirteen's outdoor section though.
Ortobruco Tour was amazing. A ludicrously long Pinfari caterpillar that is inept at building speed (or they kept building hills to the same height the lift hill reached, so required masses of kicker wheels to keep it going - it became unclear whether there were two lift hills or four). What made it particularly remarkable was the operation: despite there being a few thousand places where a train could be stopped in an emergency, once a train had reached the final brake run, it was held there until the first train had well cleared the first lift hill, before it was brought into the station. It all seemed a little strange when the train reached a top speed no higher than that of its namesake walking backwards. Somehow it's listed in the Adrenaline category of rides with the major coasters, instead of say Fantasy or Adventure. Bizarre.
I Corsari! What a pleasant surprise. A standard dark boat ride but with some quite sinister scenes and a fun way to start. The talking stone heads just before you set off are really quite impressive, and the entrance/descending through the ship was good too. Frustrating how you are made to exit into a crap restaurant though.
Speaking of restaurants, it's perhaps the only park I've been to where every single sit-down restaurant shut outside of lunch hours (presumably opening again in the evening), leaving you with no choice but to go to a takeaway job. Not great.
It's been spoken quite a lot here about how (at least for Scarefest) Alton could have an entry option say from 5pm until late at a reduced cost. After being done with the park in 4 and a half hours we left at about 6 and there were millions of people streaming in. Obviously it works better in hot countries but it looked to be working well, and in a good summer in the UK I'd love to see it at AT. Really spreads out the burden of people on rides throughout the day.
Overall I enjoyed my time there, but as I mentioned above I was done in less than 5 hours. It just doesn't have an atmosphere that encourages you to stay, or any really great rides that will grab you for a while. Raptor was good and worth a reride or two but it doesn't have that key spark of "YES!!! That was amazing!" that really grabs you like a great coaster should. Maybe it's wingriders and the weight of the trains or the trims or the ludicrously drawn-out elements that make them feel a bit sterile and detached.
I felt there was also a lack of seating areas in the park (unless you were spending money). All of the seats outside the restaurants/cafes/takeaways made it very clear (with a sign bolted to each table) that they were only for people who had bought things there. That's all well and good if there's an alternative, but whilst there were a few other benches around (but not enough), none of them were benches with tables so you couldn't have your picnic whatever there. I don't think it's a park that's good for just wondering around and taking in the atmosphere and the theming like say Efteling is. The atmosphere isn't relaxed, with signs telling you to buy something everywhere, and the theming isn't great.
One of the bizarre things is how mismatched and discontinuous all of the themed areas are. For example, you can walk down a path from Fuga de Atlantide (Greek mythology) to Tornado (building with fighter jet on top, nothing else) to Jungle Rapids (Aztec) and then BAM! out of nowhere comes Mammut (mountain/snow place thing) tucked behind the Tornado fast food restaurant. Zero transition between them all, they're just sat there. Mammut isn't in a themed area, it is the themed area. As in: enter the entrance to the queue and you're in the snowy mountainy place; leave the exit shop and you're in the generically themed (airbase-themed at a push) Tornado plaza. It's really strange - and really visible on the aerial view I've attached below. Red is the path route I mentioned, and I highlighted in yellow the cattlepens (there were only cattlepens there, not great in 35 degrees).
Also there is a policy of not allowing bags on water rides! It seemed a really cynical way of trying to force you to pay for a locker or chance leaving your bag on the floor outside the ride, like a thieves' paradise (not that I had any problems doing this after refusing to pay for a locker on principal). At the entrance to Fuga de Atlantide there was a staff member not allowing entry to those of us with bags, and aggressive security came and removed the bag of a guy who had slipped past the first check.
I didn't mean to write a complete review of the place! It's enjoyable because of the rides, but not much else, and left me with no desire to stay longer or visit again - something I only really feel at Merlin parks. It's certainly the shortest time I've ever spent at a park. Raptor is a good coaster and certainly the stand-out attraction as everything else is middle-of-the-road, but even then I don't think it's worth going out of your way to ride. From many reviews I expected more. Glad I went regardless.
Unfortunately the Merlin influence is strong throughout the entire park that it is really noticeable. As soon as you come off each ride and arrive at the photo booth there is somebody shouting into an awful quality PA system to get you to buy photos, and of course whenever you go to a food outlet and tell them "it's just this please" they launch into "would you like a chocolate bar with that?" "No thanks." "Ice cream?" "No I'm good." "Two bottles of water for 2 euros?" "No it's just that, as I said." It's really frustrating. And do any other Merlin parks charge for ketchup/mayonnaise? That felt ridiculous considering the price of everything else there.
Some other thoughts:
Raptor was by far and away the best coaster there (all the others are mediocre to quite good), but good god what an awful theme. Let me qualify that: the theme is executed quite well (although with no obvious explanation anywhere barring queueline videos that no-one could see because of so much sunlight), but good theming is really confined to the ride area itself, rather than where guests can actually access or be immersed in. This results in an environment for people that appears to solely be huge volumes of concrete decorated with a prison's worth of 10ft tall metal fencing. The fencing around the ride area is the more Jurassic Park-esque wires and lights etc., but the queue fence is depressing bland cattlepen cage with little shade and a concrete floor. Large amounts of it also have a caged roof on. It is not a nice place to be.
Who decided that in a climate that regularly excedes 30 degrees throughout the year, a theming palate of just concrete and metal was a good idea? There is so little vegetation in the area, again all confined to the ride area. The sun on the bare concrete gets ludicrously bright and the fencing gets ludicrously warm. It seems such a shame to take a forested area, chop down every tree and blanket the place in bare concrete, especially because of the climate. I don't get why there was so little shade. The station was ok although it already feels run-down - tactical move by those in charge to again choose a theme that even its falling apart can still look intentional.
It's a good coaster though, with some of the low-to-the-ground turns feeling reasonably intense. Nice and smooth (obviously) but still does have the lumbering feel that the wingriders in particular are known for.
Tornado was remarkably intense (rode just once on the back row) and my girlfriend found it particularly painful/ear bashing. Maybe it's the standard of the rest of the coaster, but I found the extra helix one of the more enjoyable parts of the ride.
Despite being close to exactly the same layout as Efteling's Python (are there even any differences?), Magic Mountain felt much more intense, particularly the loops felt very tight, enough to cause black spots to appear all over my eyes which has happened on an incredibly small number of coasters. It's a completely ok ride.
Didn't make it onto Sequoia Adventure (who named that?!) because of the appalling Flamingoland-esque throughput and the fact that people came off looking like they had had brain haemorrhages/lost the will to live. It really looks like an awful experience.
Mammut was my first Vekoma mine train and I wasn't particularly impressed. Very rattly and they don't really do much. Some fun pops of speed and the occasional tiny airtime hill. I can see why these make good family rides though, with a particularly decent length (although it never felt like much was achieved before the next lift hill). More interesting that Thirteen's outdoor section though.
Ortobruco Tour was amazing. A ludicrously long Pinfari caterpillar that is inept at building speed (or they kept building hills to the same height the lift hill reached, so required masses of kicker wheels to keep it going - it became unclear whether there were two lift hills or four). What made it particularly remarkable was the operation: despite there being a few thousand places where a train could be stopped in an emergency, once a train had reached the final brake run, it was held there until the first train had well cleared the first lift hill, before it was brought into the station. It all seemed a little strange when the train reached a top speed no higher than that of its namesake walking backwards. Somehow it's listed in the Adrenaline category of rides with the major coasters, instead of say Fantasy or Adventure. Bizarre.
I Corsari! What a pleasant surprise. A standard dark boat ride but with some quite sinister scenes and a fun way to start. The talking stone heads just before you set off are really quite impressive, and the entrance/descending through the ship was good too. Frustrating how you are made to exit into a crap restaurant though.
Speaking of restaurants, it's perhaps the only park I've been to where every single sit-down restaurant shut outside of lunch hours (presumably opening again in the evening), leaving you with no choice but to go to a takeaway job. Not great.
It's been spoken quite a lot here about how (at least for Scarefest) Alton could have an entry option say from 5pm until late at a reduced cost. After being done with the park in 4 and a half hours we left at about 6 and there were millions of people streaming in. Obviously it works better in hot countries but it looked to be working well, and in a good summer in the UK I'd love to see it at AT. Really spreads out the burden of people on rides throughout the day.
Overall I enjoyed my time there, but as I mentioned above I was done in less than 5 hours. It just doesn't have an atmosphere that encourages you to stay, or any really great rides that will grab you for a while. Raptor was good and worth a reride or two but it doesn't have that key spark of "YES!!! That was amazing!" that really grabs you like a great coaster should. Maybe it's wingriders and the weight of the trains or the trims or the ludicrously drawn-out elements that make them feel a bit sterile and detached.
I felt there was also a lack of seating areas in the park (unless you were spending money). All of the seats outside the restaurants/cafes/takeaways made it very clear (with a sign bolted to each table) that they were only for people who had bought things there. That's all well and good if there's an alternative, but whilst there were a few other benches around (but not enough), none of them were benches with tables so you couldn't have your picnic whatever there. I don't think it's a park that's good for just wondering around and taking in the atmosphere and the theming like say Efteling is. The atmosphere isn't relaxed, with signs telling you to buy something everywhere, and the theming isn't great.
One of the bizarre things is how mismatched and discontinuous all of the themed areas are. For example, you can walk down a path from Fuga de Atlantide (Greek mythology) to Tornado (building with fighter jet on top, nothing else) to Jungle Rapids (Aztec) and then BAM! out of nowhere comes Mammut (mountain/snow place thing) tucked behind the Tornado fast food restaurant. Zero transition between them all, they're just sat there. Mammut isn't in a themed area, it is the themed area. As in: enter the entrance to the queue and you're in the snowy mountainy place; leave the exit shop and you're in the generically themed (airbase-themed at a push) Tornado plaza. It's really strange - and really visible on the aerial view I've attached below. Red is the path route I mentioned, and I highlighted in yellow the cattlepens (there were only cattlepens there, not great in 35 degrees).
Also there is a policy of not allowing bags on water rides! It seemed a really cynical way of trying to force you to pay for a locker or chance leaving your bag on the floor outside the ride, like a thieves' paradise (not that I had any problems doing this after refusing to pay for a locker on principal). At the entrance to Fuga de Atlantide there was a staff member not allowing entry to those of us with bags, and aggressive security came and removed the bag of a guy who had slipped past the first check.
I didn't mean to write a complete review of the place! It's enjoyable because of the rides, but not much else, and left me with no desire to stay longer or visit again - something I only really feel at Merlin parks. It's certainly the shortest time I've ever spent at a park. Raptor is a good coaster and certainly the stand-out attraction as everything else is middle-of-the-road, but even then I don't think it's worth going out of your way to ride. From many reviews I expected more. Glad I went regardless.
BigAl
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Forbidden Journey
That's quite a shame to hear about Raptor's shortfalls. From videos and photos, I'd thought it was one of, if not the best ride that Merlin has made. The problems sound quite easy to fix as well.
I'm not so bothered about the intensity not being brutal as when you've got theming and a decent story they can balance each other out. It looked to me like Raptor had a decent story (though not reliant on a backstory, more of the fact that you can piece together what's going on in your own mind like you can with rides like Nemesis, Hex Oblivion) and a fun layout mixed with a few effects to make up for the fact that it's not the most intense ride on its own.
I'd really hoped that this was an example of Merlin being able to make every aspect of a ride to a good enough standard, but it obviously not.
Anyway, great review, Rupert! One question though, how would you (or anyone else that has been on some of these) rate Raptor against the likes of Swarm, Krake, Saw and The Smiler?
I'm not so bothered about the intensity not being brutal as when you've got theming and a decent story they can balance each other out. It looked to me like Raptor had a decent story (though not reliant on a backstory, more of the fact that you can piece together what's going on in your own mind like you can with rides like Nemesis, Hex Oblivion) and a fun layout mixed with a few effects to make up for the fact that it's not the most intense ride on its own.
I'd really hoped that this was an example of Merlin being able to make every aspect of a ride to a good enough standard, but it obviously not.
Anyway, great review, Rupert! One question though, how would you (or anyone else that has been on some of these) rate Raptor against the likes of Swarm, Krake, Saw and The Smiler?
Benzin
TS Member
Krake is quite a good ride though, certainly better than it's bigger American cousins...
The Germans loved Krake as well, and it's actually quite a sensible idea to be able to use the smaller track for cost effectiveness... Doesn't sound like being cheap for the sake of it to me...
The Germans loved Krake as well, and it's actually quite a sensible idea to be able to use the smaller track for cost effectiveness... Doesn't sound like being cheap for the sake of it to me...
John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
I'm with Sam on this one, Krake is one of the worst B&M's I've been on. The drop lacks any of the impact of Oblivion's and the rest of the layout is far too bland to make up for it. It's only worth riding on the front row or in the outermost seats on rows 2 and 3, the other 8 seats are completely uneventful.
If this ride does turn out to be a D6 dive coaster it'll significantly lessen the individuality of both parks - both will have a wing rider, dive machine, vekoma SLC and vekoma loop-screw.
If this ride does turn out to be a D6 dive coaster it'll significantly lessen the individuality of both parks - both will have a wing rider, dive machine, vekoma SLC and vekoma loop-screw.
John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Gardaland desperately needs a top-drawer headline attraction. Raptor is not that ride - it's good but it's pretty tame and fairly small for a wing-rider. Their other main coasters are a trio of Vekomas (SLC, mine train and loop-screw) and an utterly pointless Screamin' Squirrel.