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Heide Park

Dave said:
German theme parks are curiously flammable it seems.
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No no Dave, just EP. EP is the one that needs closing down, all others are fine! In fact it was probably Roland that set Heide Park alight to make it seem like EP is more fire retardant than it is, I’ll have you know!
 
Burbs said:
No no Dave, just EP. EP is the one that needs closing down, all others are fine! In fact it was probably Roland that set Heide Park alight to make it seem like EP is more fire retardant than it is, I’ll have you know!
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Roland the pyromaniac strikes again!!
 
Heide Park was looking in pretty good shape when I visited this week. All rides were running, most of the abandoned rides have now been well hidden/disguised, which was nice to see, all water features and theming elements were working and the gardens looked very well kept. A very pleasant park and enjoyable experience. The staff were great too.

But my goodness, a park of this size closing at 5pm in the height of North Germany’s school holidays is just down right ridiculous. Especially when considering that (the much smaller) Hansa Park was open 11:00-21:00 on the same day. I guess this is the inconvenient reminder that the park is run by Merlin.
 
Least they are getting a new ride, seems like they are the German Thorpe park, with very few investments for years.

I’m guessing this will be located somewhere near where the old log flume and stuff used to be if it’s themed to Flug?
 
Doxical said:
The new attraktion will be a darkride named "Dämonen Gruft (transl Demon Tomb)". Located near Flug der Dämonen.
And of course it has a dark theme. Merlin never misses. I hope this got the same scary vibe like curse at alton manor.
www.heide-park.de

Dämonen Gruft | Heide Park Resort

www.heide-park.de www.heide-park.de
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Bonus point for a Merlin mention of a mysterious discovery made during recent excavation works! In the opening line, no less.
 
Matt N said:
Damonen Gruft has now opened, and Dark Ride Database was invited down to experience it. It sounds as though they had pretty good things to say about it; here's their review: https://darkridedatabase.com/report-taking-the-catacombs-tour-at-damonen-gruft-heide-parks-new-ride/

It looks like a very resourceful use of space, actually! Even if the theoretical capacity of 380pph is mildly concerning... those initial queues could be long!
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That looks brilliant. The theming throughout seems like it is great.
 
It's small size gives me a "Dungeons" vibe. Reminds me of the coaster that used to be in the Amsterdam Dungeon.
Only without the coasting.
And better theming.
 
Mixed reviews on this new dark ride from Merlin then, if judging the POV it doesn’t look anything outstanding but perhaps better in person? I still believe The Curse At Alton Manor still stands as one of the more interesting dark rides Merlin has had its hands on!

Maybe the two Johns mixed with Merlin magic were a great combination, they also had the upper hand utilising what was already there to free up the budget for more creativity I guess.
 
First visit yesterday and rode Damonen Gruft. It’s no Curse sadly. Tbh was disappointed - it’s quite small and even with that, at least 50% is in total darkness with nothing to look at. Then of the few rooms that have something, 2 rooms only have screens and the others are sparse.

Kind of sums up my overall opinion yesterday, felt this place was the weakest major European theme park I’ve been to in terms of overall experience.

Though it wasn’t slammed, with 1 train ops/slow ops, 2 coasters deliberately opening late, the worst slc I have ever ridden and a general neglect about the place I left early, something I don’t usually do.
 
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I’ll follow up with a more practical post.

Having now done it, I’d try to avoid coming by train from Hamburg. Delays due to DB and the line is mainly single track. Times aren’t convenient to hit rope drop. It’s a long but easy walk from Wolterdingen. However the trains are covered by the Deutschland ticket (as they are to Hansa Park and public transport around Hamburg) and HVV will pro rata the first month so you can buy and cancel on the 9th via the Switch app for it to be cheaper.

Also the Krake srq is an utter faff if you have a bag, having to go into the shop then through the ride exit to the bag drop, to go back out and to the left of the express queue. However it does mean it’s a lot faster!
 
Merlin do seem far less concerned about capacity these days, which is odd because this definitely used to be a big consideration.

They’ve given up on “catch the mouse” (thank god) but that doesn’t mean that they are no longer a major player in the theme park market. Installing rides like Mandrill and this dark ride with a 380 throughput, when previous coasters and dark rides had much better capacity, is a concerning development. I was hoping that Mandrill would be a one-off, but it seems that’s not the case.
 
Given the space used surprised that dark ride can get 380 pph.

Plus point is that it was using dead space. Only because they'd spite the better Log Flume mind.
 
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