Roberto's Anglo-German Adventure!

[Rojo]

Firstly thank you to everyone who provided advice in the Koln Trip thread, as your input was greatly appreciated and the driving tips probably kept me alive.

Note: I'm quite busy catching up with work so I will try and update when I can spare 5 minutes so please see this as a WIP. I just wanted to get the ball rolling.

Prelude
So after my 2nd Tough Mudder in as many weeks (I need lazier friends!). Myself and my better half headed from Crawley for a day in London. We managed to cram in soo much including National History Museum, London Eye, walk along the South bank, Tower Bridge, Towers, Clink Prison and the many buildings us northerners only get to see on TV that make up the skyline. From there we headed to Stansted, got the smallest amount of sleep and we were on our way to Germany.

We arrived at Koln/Bonn Airport and picked up the mighty 1.4 chariot known as an Opel Astra. In a baptism of fire I headed straight out of the airport onto the Autobahn for my first driving experience abroad. The next 2 and a bit hours to Hamelin was a stressed filled blur but we made it

My knowledge of Hamelin starts and ends with my school performance of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. I was naturally a little disappointed that the reviews of my stellar rendition of town folk #4 had not made it back to the town. So instead of signing autographs we signed the guestbook and headed for a look around the town. It's a beautiful town with lots of references to the tale of the Pied Piper as you would expect. The river Wasser is very close by and the town has an abundance of shops and pubs for the tourists. We arrived on a Monday which meant that the Pied Piper museum was sadly closed. You can do the whole town in half a day max, so if you arrive early maybe fitting something closer to Hanover such as the Herrenhausen Gardens.

So we decided to pad the time with a small snack in the oldest Inn in Hamelin, the Im Rattenkrug. The Inn was a great choice as it served my favourite German beer Paulaner and a great assortment of food for very reasonable prices.

We then decided to head to the pub next door called "Ellis Island". You're probably thinking that sounds about as German as a Frankfurter and you would be right. It's some kind of weird German/American mash up. After explaining the gutbusting amount of food I had next door to the owner, we agreed on just a pint of beer that I had never tried before and no food. It was at this point we had a breakdown in communication. The breakdown being that he thought the "no food" comment meant bring me sausage from Munich and a load of bread. So being typically British and somewhat an idiot I politely nibbled at it.

After all that food and beer I was too tired to do absolutely anything else, so it was time to hit the hay and wake up fresh and ready for Heide Park....

 

[Rojo]

So at breakfast a thought hit me as to how weird it was that I ended up heading to Heide park. In all honesty I hadn't even realised it existed until I had discovered a bottle of rum called Kraken. In the way that you go from listening to your favourite songs on YouTube to watching people eat cinnamon, I had ended up watching POV ride videos of Krake - Heide Parks dive coaster(more on that later). I had also originally planned to visit Movie Park however when I came to purchase tickets this was closed, which lead to me wondering if we make it to Heide Park. If I could have had a shot Kraken at breakfast I would have considered it destiny...

Anyway we hit the road for our 90 minute drive towards Soltau, blasting 90s pop tunes all the way until we saw Wumbo welcoming us at the entrance to the car park.

Heide Park

The park has a €6 car parking charge which you pay on entry with no concession for MAP holders and I had to park on grass which at the time was slightly annoying but looking back it's no biggie! First impressions at the front gate were slightly dashed as we approached the entrance. The entrance was obscured by 2 big white tents for bag and security checks. I have no problem with security checks and in fact I am in favour of them after seeing the amount of knives deposited in security box in Parc Asterix. However I'm just being grumpy as I wanted a nice picture at the entrance and that feeling of excitement that I get at Towers Street or at that first peek of the entrance Efteling. The above picture was the best I could get but you can still see a corner of the tent.

On a brighter note I was told I would get a 50% discount at the entrance and when I flashed my MAP someone just let me in. Weird but felt happier about the parking and spent more on merchandise and food than I would have normally to make up for it (Honest!)

So handed our map we set of for our first land in Heide Park...

Bucht der Piraten
Essentially this land is Mutiny Bay cherry picked from Alton Towers and placed in Germany. It did feel somehow familiar and was a nice to start with something that didn't feel completely alien. So we got to the entrance and noted that all the rides were under 10 minutes which meant we had a lot of time to really take in the area and not rush through it just to reach the coasters.

First up...

Floßfahrt

Floßfahrt or Rafting as it translates, is a small tow boat ride from Mack that goes around small island at a gentle pace and will give you a slight glimpse of a drop tower, the log flume, the nearby pirate ship and the Splash Galleons ride as well as having a small Monorail that passes over. We couldn't actually get on our first boat as it had been taken up by some skeletons and a witch. Nope I'm not being mean it was these guys;

As you can see that HP like most parks are gearing up for Halloween so expect some more random pictures of ghost, ghouls, zombies etc... throughout
The ride itself was pretty relaxing but not a ride I would have normally done if the park wasn't so empty. It did give us the opportunity to study the map and plan our route around.

Keeping with boat theme we headed to...

Bounty
What can I say about a pirate ship that hasn't already been said before. The only thing that surprised me that when I read about this back at the hotel that it was in fact an Intamin and I had assumed it was a Huss. It's not as big as Efteling's half moon and doesn't go upside down like LWV's black pearl but if you like pirate ships then this is for you. Sorry, that's all I have on this.

So keeping on with the pirate themed rides we stepped up our game and head to...

Krake

I cannot tell you how excited I was to ride this after the breakfast story. I was that excited I actually forgot that I am not exactly a fan of dive coasters as they actually terrify me. Drop towers also have the same effect on me. Its a love/hate relationship

We ran straight on so didn't pick up any pre-story to the ride other than there appears to be a sea-monster in a ship and you get swallowed into it. So straight into the back row and loaded up were taking to the top of the hill and held at the top as in true dive coaster fashion. On the way up I was taking in beautiful views across the lake with Colossus dominating the skyline in the background and now I was peeping over the heads of others, just about making out the teeth of the monster waiting for us below, grimacing waiting to be released.

Suddenly you are plummeted through the monster with your stomach at least a second behind. On the exit you will hear a spray of water as you ascend into a loop. You are now greeted with an amazing visual as you head to the water that was kicked up from the back of the train and you now head into it face first and upside down. You will then miss the water sans a little spray as ride now corrects itself to the upright position and you head back to the station.

We immediately ran back around and headed for front row. Feeling slightly more awake and pumped I was ready for an unrestricted view of the drop and it was just as fun the second time around for all the same reasons. We came back later in the day on way to big loop and watched people passing by getting soaked by the water kicked up onto the path. Some on purpose and some not so agile people trying to snatch a photo. Then at the end of the day we returned and settled for a ride on the middle row just to get on again.

As far as dive coaster go this is personally my favourite as an overall ride. Oblivion is second on the fact that its the biggest drop (of the 3 I have been on) and of course the original. Baron's pre-show and theming are great but maybe because its smaller of the 3 it wasn't as thrilling as the others.

We then decided to ditch the pirates and head to the next area...

 

[Rojo]

Transilvania (woooooOOOOOoooooo!)
Transilvania (Bizarrely it's listed as Transsilvanien on the map) is loosely based on Transylvania in Romania. The area has a gothic horror feel as if it were ripped straight out of a Bram Stroker novel and contains a few gothic style buildings including the castle station to a wing coaster. In this area you have a wing coaster, a drop tower, a mini-drop tower, a Mack Bob and a Vekoma SLC (urggh!).

Anyway all pumped up from 2 rides on Krake we headed straight for...

Flug der Daemonen

Flight of the demon is Germany's only B&M winged coaster much like The Swarm is the UKs only version, which is the only ride I can compare it to. I'm not sure why these models haven't exactly flooded out of the B&M catalogue but I've now enjoyed both wing coasters that I have been on. I love the fact the both sides give you slightly different ride as you rotate into the corners and being at the back just seems to pull you about a bit more without ever feeling rough. The left side for The Swarm for me has a better ride which makes that first drop much more intense, where as the right side has more interactivity with the ride environment. So it will be good to see if how Daemonen compares.

My first impression as we finally got from the longest queue of the day (40 minutes) and into the station were good. The trains on Daemonen seemed shorter than the swarm otherwise they were identical and the station had a roof and appeared to be part of the castle. No police truck in sight! Everything felt familiar, until we hit a game changer in leaving baggage at the queue. Its an odd thing to get excited over I'll admit, but its such a simple design that saves a lot of time on dispatching and could/should be implemented in a lot more parks. It will save people dashing around platforms and gives ride ops clear access to get everyone into place faster. Its basically a wheel split it into 2 sections, you place your baggage into your half and as you pass through the air gates it rotates around 180 degrees. This means your baggage is waiting for you and now the other half is free for the next riders. Simple but effective. The obvious flaw is that this only works for rides that return to the station and exit on the same side.

On to the ride itself I really enjoyed this as you are propelled around a twisty undulated track around the castle. Unlike The Swarm the first drop is better from the right hand side as you get a longer rotation over the first drop, after the drop you hug quite close to the floor before ascending into a loop and I think you double back on yourself at this point (I may need to watch a video to remind myself.) and the only point that sticks out after this point is the tight turn that drops down towards the queue, before heading to the station and of course to the baggage that is waiting for us. The ride time is as short as The Swarm but lacks all the interactivity with the ride area and props that The Swarm has. As far as the actual ride goes its fun and comfortable without ever feeling you are thrown all over the place. We came back later in the day to ride the left side which was the weaker of the 2 sides but still a fun ride.

On to the next ride...

Scream

and boy did I!!! Scream is an Intamin gyro drop tower that is 300ft high with 220ft drop. If you read my review of Krake, then you will already know that I hate drop towers. Unlike dive coasters when I get off drop towers I vow never to go on them again. However with some persistent persuasion from my girlfriend and the chance to see a long lost friend albeit briefly from great height I reluctantly agreed. So we got in the queue line and I realised I could see all of Ripsaw that I needed from this point but then my girlfriend then dragged me on. The slow spinning journey upwards offered some great views across the park, however there was still the pending feeling that we were about to plummet straight back down to Terra Firma.

If you do want a slow spinning journey without feeling like you are falling to your death there is a Sky Tower nearby #JustSaying. So the drop happened, I screamed all the way to the bottom and probably for a little longer just to make sure and a few people laughed. At least I got one last glimpse of Ripsaw from the exit.

We bypassed Screamie (Mini-Drop tower) and headed straight for...

Bobbahn

Bobbahn is a Mack Bobsled which to be honest if you have done Avalanche then you have done them all. The station is well themed but if I'm completely honest it doesn't fit in with area at all. After trying to walk into the exit and then walking completely passed the entrance, we eventually located the entrance that is a bit hidden. The ride was walk on and hopped straight front row into our Norwegian train. I believe there are multiple different national liveries available but this was running 1 train all day so I couldn't confirm.

We couldn't leave our bags at the station so we had to stuff them down our legs as if we were going to smuggle some Colombian marching powder into Norway from Romania. The ride itself is fun, fast but certainly not comfortable. I much prefer the Avalanche to Bobbahn as it isn't as rough.

Speaking of Blackpool and rough we headed to...

Infusi....

Sorry

Limit

Limit is a Vekoma SLC which in all honesty should have been should have been my first red flag, the 20 minute queue should have been my second and the people getting off as if they had gone a round Anthony Joshua should have made me walk past completely. Every time I go to Blackpool, I get myself on Infusion and stupidly regret it but it does have its fun moments. Limit is just pure hell!
Every turn rattled, the restraints beat me up, my head thrashed the restraints like an alarm clock and the brake run compacted me that I shrunk a foot when I got off. I would tell you about the layout but the concussion I received made sure I blanked it all out. I think this is as close as I could get to hating a coaster. All the screaming on this ride probably makes those waiting think its a proper thrill ride. Don't be deceived, they are screaming in pain.

Another thing that annoyed me about this ride is that the roof had a rusted American fighter jet on the roof in Transilvania? That makes as much sense as hot-rod cars escaping a forest.

So after the Mack Bob and Vekoma SLC in Trans-Fylde-vania (sorry!) We headed back to Bucht de Piraten for a ride on...

Big Loop

Big Loop is a classic ride and as close as ride to the Corkscrew that I have been on since it was dismantled. That would make sense as both are the same model from Vekoma and according to RCDB the current cars are the old corkscrew cars.The ride sends you through 2 consecutive loops and brings you back around for the Corkscrew. The exit of the Corkscrew is a little rough but compared to Limit it was a dream to ride throughout. This was probably the ride I regret not getting back to at the end of the day.

At this point we were starting to get hungry and planned to have our picnic on the monorail so we headed to different section...

Wild Wild West
This is obviously a Cowboy and Native American themed area. Although I reckon you got that unless you had been on Limit one too many times. Parts of the Wild West area was fenced off I assume for the Halloween preparations. Between the fencing and the train that runs through this section it kind of split the wild into 2 sections. An area that contained a few kiddie flats and an area that contained the log flume, mine train and rapids. Due to the confusion of the fencing off we got a little off track and instead of getting on the monorail we ended up the...

Wildwasserbahn

My girlfriend loves water rides so there was no way we were walking past it. I had hoped it would stop me missing The Flume at Alton Towers but unfortunately it didn't. It is just a small Mack flume that is definitely more for little ones. You will get slightly damp but to be honest I dribbled more on my leg during limit. It's still a fun ride and worth a go if you find yourself with plenty of time.

Still hungry we headed for something a little easier to spot than the monorail...

Panoramaturm
This is the previously mentioned Sky Tower. It stands a little over 240ft and offers great views from the middles of the park. In between wolfing down some Milka and Mezzo Mix I was able to grab some snaps of the view from the top.

 

[MattyH]

Great review so far, Keep it up!

 

[Rojo]

Great review so far, Keep it up!

Thanks MattyH. I was hoping to complete the Heide Park tonight and start on the Phantasialand review but life keeps getting in the way at the moment. I did manage a bit of an update but I think I may need to proof read it and probably rewrite a few sentences at some point.

 

[Rojo]

So after some food and drink on board we headed for...

Mountain-Rafting

Everybody loves the rapids right? Merlin parks and Intamin Rapids seem to go hand in hand (Except Chessingtons, what a loser!). The rapids are well themed and unlike anything more than 2 years old at a Merlin park had fully working effects, huzzah. There's nothing revolutionary here, other than the boats I suppose. So have some pictures as they are worth a few thousand words

After a nice tranquil rid on the rapids we made a quick beer and pretzel stop before heading into the new area of the park...

DreamWorks: Drachenzahmen Die Insel

Dragon Tame The island as Google translate eloquently puts it, sounds like an Asylum rip off of the popular How to Train your Dragon. Which it was but I wasn't certain until I met this guy...

The area is wonderfully themed as you would expect from other Merlin/DreamWorks mash ups and has lots of family rides in the area. 2 of them weren't running as the park was really devoid of children on the day and it was starting to get to that time in the day when those with families start going home. We did what I would consider the 2 "bigger" rides in the area.

First up...
Hicks Himmelssturmer

I'm not sure how many Zamperla have sold of these giant swings but I hope they are in for a little redesign in the inguinal area. If you haven't been on one you have 8 gondolas of 4 that you lie down into with a cage over the top so far so good. Apart from the shark fin shaped piece of plastic that slides between you legs and either keeps in or is some kind of prostate monitor. Initially its a pain in the a..almost anyway, but once you are in you can adjust about for a bit more comfort. The ride is very calm and comfortable but very repetitive. Its nowhere as near as intense as Samurai or an Air Race but neither is it designed to be.

After a very ungracefully exiting the ride we headed straight for...

DrachenGrotte

As far as I can tell from looking this up before we went that it is an old canal ride reconstructed from the front of the park and moved into the Dragon area (I might be wrong about this). The whole story is in German so I'm not 100% about what happened but you take a canal journey around a mountain, encounter Toothless, head into a cave, there is some dragon battle and you see Hiccup and Toothless before arriving at the station. The theming is spot on and I imagine the ride is quite magical for the young 'uns.

So with all the working rides complete it was time to leave the dragons and briefly head back into the Wild West to do...

Grottenblitz

A Mack powered Mine train, Choo Choo. Big deal we have one at Alton! Well unfortunately the one at Alton is running at half the speed it used to, has had half of the headchoppers and theming taken away. Grottenblitz suffers none of that, it is a fairly quick mine train in comparison to RMT. The layout while similar isn't identical and instead of passing through a cave goes into a barn. The ride in here interacts with the monorail, in a similar to RMT and CRR at Alton.

After leaving the Grottenblitz it was time to head to final unexplored area...

Land of the disappoint... Land Der Vergessenen
Land of the forgotten actually turned into an area to be forgotten for me. Unfortunately I knew coming into today that one of the draws to the park Colossus would be shut but to get there and find Desert Race would be shut to was equally disappointing. It's one of those things but nothing we could do. With 2 coasters down this turned the area into an area of flats. All brain rattling ones at that! I'm only going to lend my thoughts to Aqua Spin as the rest can be found in parks and travelling fairs all across the UK and there is nothing new to be said about any of them.

Breakdance - Is a Huss breakdance.
El Sol - Is a Huss Enterprise.
Huracan - Is a Heinz Fähtz Round Up .
La Ola - Is a Zierer Swings.
Lady Moon - Is a Huss Flipper.
Magic - Is a Huss Magic.

Aqua Spin

I loved Ripsaw and always made this a must every time I visited AT. So to see Ripsaw from Scream was worth even doing the drop tower, so naturally I was very excited to be doing Aqua Spin. First impressions were good it was a top spin with water and the theming fit in well with the rest of the area.

We didn't watch the ride before riding but I would have changed my expectations accordingly had I watched it off-ride. The water didn't move any higher than it is in the below picture and the ride cycle was terrible that spun twice going forwards and once going backwards. I really hope we hit a poor setting as it is awful to think that Ripsaw became a donor to Aqua Spin for that.

We rounded off the day with a trip on the Monorail, the train and re-rides of Krake and Daemonen. It was then a quick visit to the shop to purchase some merchandise and ice cream before leaving the park. The 4 hour drive back to Koln gave me plenty of time to reflect on the park and how it fits in.

Summary
Heide Park is weird as despite being in a different country it is very Merlin by the numbers but with it's own unique charm. If you plonked the Towers by the lake you could almost convince me I was back in Staffordshire. It seems to suffer the same flaws of it's sister parks; inconsistent area theme, danger of death signs, areas needing some TLC, rides pushed well beyond their shelf life etc... These things don't seem so bad on their own but if you travel to other European parks you just feel that there is a little more magic. (a little cheesey I know). Its almost as if some of the rides have outgrown their areas to quickly for the park to keep up.
The views across the lake are amazing and the way that Colossus just sticks out no matter where you are in the park, you know that this is still the main draw despite Krake and Desert Race being younger rides. In all honesty not going on Colossus is the only draw to make me go back in the short term. Every other ride seems to have a comparable if not better ride in the UK.

4 more hours of Autobahn and it was time to hit the hay at the ibis in Koln before heading to Phantasialand