Toverland
We didnt make it to the park till about 12ish, it had been raining all the time at times very hard when traveling to the park and we thought we were either in for a soaking on the outside rides or they would just be closed, however as luck would have it as we arrived the rain died down a serious amount with only one or two showers whilst we were there. Nice to see that they do a English map, I wasn't sure if they would have one but its really nice that they do. I will give my feelings on the most noteworthy attractions.
Troy
We headed to Troy first fearing if the heavy rain returned it would be shut, it was walk on, which we thought was down to the fact the rain had only just stopped, however it remained walk on the entire time we were there, the operations were top notch, evening letting you remain in your seats or swap positions when in the station due to there being so few people there and it was only on a 1 train service.
I couldn't help compare it to Wodan as it was the only other GCI woodie I have done. The ride experience was fantastic, it roars round the track with some real nice pops of airtime and the first drop and overall pacing of the ride being super, although it isn't as quick as Wodan it doesn't seem much slower and it has IMO more interesting elements/ varied experience. The themeing isn't as good as Wodans but it is only a small park and it is far from bad especially from a small park, and what is there I really liked. The ride was really something special and worth coming to the park on its own and I will stick my head and say that I think it is better than Wodan which could mean it being my new favourite coaster, I really do like the feeling of a GCI woodie.
The only minor ciritisim (very minor) I would give it would be that on some but not all of the rides the second half of the ride felt slightly too rough, it could of just been me, as I know the ride has been retracked recently but felt on a couple of rides a little too rough on the second half, but it could of just been that I hadn't been on a coaster this year and it didn't seem consistantly like that and the rides before park closing none felt like that, so it could just be me being a winja .
Djengu River
The area for this ride looked really good and was IMO the best themed area if the park, whilst walking to this ride we saw the ginger haired boss lady, she seemed very nice and it was nice to see even on a very quite day she was out and about in the park.
The ride was walk on, and the staff member was even trying to encourage us to stay in the boat to go straight back round again which was funny (we did return later in the day to his amusement!). The ride was very nice with some nice pieces of themeing and with nice water effects. It was the first time I had been on a rapids with that boat design which made it so the water could go through the middle without drenching you. The ride seemed to get you a bit wet but not soaked which we liked and it made me think that is was down to the boat design as at times slashes that would tyically get you pretty wet on other rapids didn't seem to splash that much so I put it down to the boats design (river quest proved just how wrong I was but thats for a later post ). It was a good rapids, better than most the UK ones (maybe even all the ones I've done) and a solid ride to Toverlands lineup.
Dwervelwind
Dwervelwind was next, it was the second Mack spinner I had done after Euro-sat, and it is definantly not as good a euro-sat. It was a fun ride with some good twists and I prefer the free spining nature of the ride nut it seems to hit a peak about half way through the ride then mellow out in the last section. Far from a bad ride, its a really great family ride I just wondered if the make spinner is worth (what I imagine) higher prize tage than the Maurer spinners that do admittedly have worst throughputs but for a smaller park I dont know if the extra cost of a Mack spinner would be worth it? Also sad to here about Maurer plans to mvoe away from coasters there spinners are good fun.
The onboard audio was really awesome and added to the ride alot. Only on a one train service but same as before we sat on it, swapped seats and got many rides on it, which compared to how long you have to queue for one ride on Dragons Fury makes you laugh.
Booster Bikes
Nice little ride with an interesting but somewhat gimmicky seating arrangement, fun little launch ride, U thinky my little brother enjoyed it more than me. For a cheaper price than other launch coasters its a good offering althought the 1.4m height restiction seems to cut into the target audience IMO as it would seem like a nice first launch coaster. I do understand it was one of the park earlier rides and it is better the park has it than not.
Fun ride but we only did have two rides on it back to back front row, didn't even have to move which was cool, but with Troy sitting there with no queue it, I know which one I would rather be riding. i can't compare it with the one at flamingo land as I have never been.
Backstroke
Backstroke was a really good log flume which had alot going for it. No queue (noticed the theme yet ) the ride had some nice themeing and it made me laugh alot when the goblin type head sprayed my brother right in the face! Cool how it had an inside and outside section along with a backwards drop. If a flume of this calibar replaced the flume I would be happy but I image the water ride that will replace it will be unlikley to be a straight up flume.
It did get you wet but it didn't go over the top which was good as some drizzle had returned at this point in time. At the time of riding it I felt this was my new favourite log flume (it had been dragon falls probably due to a big dose of nostaglia but it looks mega ugly without the facade and is a bit run down now).
Blitz Barn
The only ride with any kind of queue which must of been 5 - 10 minutes, the ride was really unique and it was really cool once we realised you were the one in charge of your speed, so on the second go it was pedal to the metal! The start of the ride was my favourite as you zoom through the eletrical section. I also found that the onboard audio was really cool just like on dwervelwind. I dont think this is the kind of ride that could survive at larger theme parks due to its throughput but at Toverland (for now) it has a good place. Its great being on a ride with no restraint at all, felt very free and added to the thrill.
Other things I feel worth righting about are the huge number of play areas, if you had little children Toverland is idea even if they don't like rides as there are so many play areas both inside and out, I can imagine it being very lively in the summer becuase of this. The indoor train coaster packed more of a punch than I thought it was going to and there were some really small children riding and re-riding it all day which was nice to see. The waterslides were also good fun and on the blue one my brother and myself raced and the ride op gave my brother a push to give him a chance of betting me down (which he did!) however I went on mcuh further so it was less distance to carry the dingy.
I would like to thank those on here who recommended Toverland as originally the plan was to just do Efteling and Phantasialand but we were all really glad we did Toverland and would defiantly do it again. For relativly small and young park they are doing some fantastic things and I look forward to seeing what they do next, they really deserve more visitors than they seem to get. I would recommend anyone who is doing a similar trip to not overlook Toverland, even if it is just for Troy which is in my opinion a top European Coaster there is alot else there also to do there and I found a nice charm to the place, clearly run with a smaller budget than some other parks but with alot of care and top quality ride ops (probably the best of the trip!). I feel if toverland was in the UK it would really do great, it just has some tough competition where it is but in time I hope to see toverland go toe to toe with the big boys, they certainly have all the the potential and IMO are on the right tracks.
further reports on Efteling and Phantasialand to come hope you've enjoyed the read so far