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So I have just returned from a trip to Europe where I was able to sneak in 3 parks, Europa Park, Phantasialand and Legoland Billund. I was able to spend 2 days at each park. I'm going to start off however with something that really really p*ssed me off on this trip at the parks. I travelled on my own for this portion of the trip so of course was going to use Single Rider lines. Europa Park has about 6 rides and Phantasialand has 2 that have a Single Rider line. I have absolutely nothing against single rider lines, you run the risk of waiting long to get onto a ride as they're only used to fill empty seats, all good I accept that. What really p*ssed me off however was at both parks a staff member stood at the entrance to these rides and, as a single rider, I was forced to use them, which meant I couldn't queue for the front seat if I wanted to but also the staff member wasn't stopping groups from using the single rider line, which they did. A LOT. Now in credit to the loaders I saw none of them allow groups to be seated from the single rider line, even when asked they held firm and detailed the rules for the Single Rider line, but as stated above I was p*ssed that I was forced to use the line when groups could choose to use it. OK end of rant, onto the TR! Europa Park I wanna start by saying that this park is absolutely massive, I honestly think it would have to be one of the biggest parks out there. Themed around European countries overall the park is really well done. The theming is great, it's clean, their app works well (except for directions) and there is plenty of free wifi. The food at Europa is also top notch and cheap. Currywurst or Bratwurst in a roll for under $10 for example. Europa was also fairly easy to get to by train and when you get to Rust there is a free bus you can use to get around. Unfortunately when I was there it was the middle of Europe's summer holidays however operations at Europa are on point. I don't think I waited more than 30 minutes for any rides. Voltron This is the newest coaster in the park from MACK. This thing GOES. From start to finish it just does not let up. 4 launches, 7 inversions and some epic airtime later and you'll be running to reride it. 10/10 would definitely ride again. Being a single rider I was lucky to get rides in the front and back and it just slaps wherever you are. My only complaint with this was that by the end of the ride my thighs were a bit sore from being thrown into the lap bar so much. I really liked the operations on this ride. First off in the main queue hall if you have loose items you are given a keycard for a FREE locker for all loose items before you head to the station, interestingly if they catch you with anything after this point they will make you go back, put it in a locker, and go back to the end of the queue. When you get to the station the trains don't stop, the station is in constant motion and is loaded quickly row by row. The only time I saw the station stop was when a disabled person needed assistance, and even then the stop was minimal. Arthur OK this was an interesting ride. It's a family suspended coaster and its got some decent g-forces associated with it. Operations were similar to Voltron above with free lcokers and a constantly moving station. What struck me as really surprising however was 1 section of the ride, where you go through a bug city section indoors. The ride has onboard sound and during this section they've selected a portion of a Hip Hop track, not my cup of tea, but it fits with the section of ride. Now on my first ride I thought I'd heard something, second ride I specifically listened for it and by the 3rd ride I confirmed it. Now call me an old man but choosing a section of Hip Hop song that contains 2 racial slurs (N word) and the F word may not be appropriate for a kids ride, but that's just me. blue fire Megacoaster The OG Steel Taipan. Now I haven't ridden ST yet (I've been to Europe twice in 6 months, so haven't been able to afford to go to the Gold Coast), but I was pretty impressed by this. Lots of great speed and force along with some good airtime. I can see why it is so popular. Euro Mir This coaster was an interesting one. I've wanted to ride it since I first saw pictures of it way back in the 90s not long after it was built. When I finally got to ride it? Hated it. Hated it with an absolute passion. Typical of wild mouse lots of force going round tight bends at heights in front of mirrors and yeah, definitely not my cup of tea. Hated, hated, hated it. Wodan A fairly standard woodie, but was an awesome ride. Eurostat - Cancan Coaster Europa's golfball coaster. Pic above is of the model. I don't know why but I really liked this one. Really smooth, dark coaster. Silver Star This is a fairly standard B&M Hyper. Good speed and some great airtime, but nothing I haven't ridden before. There is a bunch of other smaller coasters like Pegasus, Schweizer Bobbahn, Matterhorn Blitz, Poseidon and Atlantica Splash which were all fun as well. Phantasialand OMG I wanna start by saying that this park is absolutely beautiful, I honestly think it would have to be one of the best themed parks out there, even as a former Mouse House employee, this place beats it hands down. The theming is out of this world, it's clean, their app works well but there is a real lack of free wifi. The food at Phantasialand is also top notch and cheap like Europa. Interestingly though it was cheaper to buy beer here than a coke. Phantasialand was also fairly easy to get to by train. Operations were also on point again never longer than about 30 minutes. Black Mamba No picture of this one, it is so super well hidden through theming but also it is mostly a ground hugging suspended coaster from B&M. Again this was on my list from very early on as it looked amazing and it lived up to the hype, unlike Euro Mir. Most of the course is through canyons and tunnels and it's a great ride. F.L.Y This is a flying coaster from Vekoma and damn it is amazing. Interesting operations as you load into a seated position and are then turned into a flying posting just before the launch. There are 2 launches and both pack a great punch. This was definitely a highlight of the trip. Taron Another launched coaster, this time from Intamin. As with everything at Phantasialand this is themed to the eyeballs and it's great. Lots of great airtime and some great forces. Raik Raik is a family boomerang that weaves in and out of Taron. Not a bad little ride. Colorado Adventure A family mine train roller coaster this could have been great. Great length, speed and layout but this has got to have the most uncomfortable seats on a roller coaster ever. And I've ridden Time Warp at Canada's Wonderland. Crazy Bats An indoor VR family coaster. The coaster itself wasn't bad, but when I rode it my VR was off and I had to turn my head to the side to make it look like I was going forward which was disappointing. Winjas OK this was interesting. 2 tracks, Force and Fear, and you can choose which one to go on, in a mass of people however this was difficult. Spinning Wild mouse coaster with some great drops and theming. Was also, for a wild mouse, surprisingly smooth. Talocan Not a coaster, but most people will recognise this Top pin after it went viral when it was built. This thing was amazing. Legoland Billund No pics for this one at the moment. This was a fairly standard Legoland. My biggest complaint however about this park was definitely the cleanliness. This park was filthy. Everything was dusty/grimy. For a park that closes for a few months each year it definitely needs some TLC. The park is of course aimed at families so there aren't many major thrill rides. It does however have 4 family coasters, 2 of which are mild thrill being X-Treme Racers (Standard Wild Mouse) and Polar X-Plorer (Which had a nice little drop surprise at the end). The food at Legoland wasn't bad, though expensive, but then again everything in Denmark is. I can recommend the ribs at Legoredo as they were pretty amazing. As an AFOL I really enjoyed all the builds and how they incorporated Lego into the park, just disappointed with how it was maintained. If you are in Billund you also can't miss the Lego House, this is more like a discovery centre/museum of Lego, but with lots of opportunities to build things and interact with them. You can also watch bricks being made and even eat in their robotic Mini Chef minifigure restaurant which was a bit of a novelty, but the food was pretty good. Overall across the 3 parks I got a really good mix of everything and was really pretty happy with my choices overall. I would definitely recommend Phantasialand if you get the chance, it was really so far out of this world with the theming and the rides were top notch.

I've had a nice and cheerful experience with the guys at CoasterForce at Parc Astérix, so I decided to join them for another, bigger trip! This time I would also discover 3 new parks in Germany, in addition to a return to Phantasialand... Summary Part 0: Phantasialand - Return of Taron Part 1: Movie Park Germany - Star Trek is actually underrated! Part 2: Heide Park - My first Wing Coaster Part 3: Hansa Park - Lovely management and stunning Kärnan Part 0: Phantasialand Although not an official part of GhosterForce, many people from CF added a stop to Phanta before the main event. The temptation to return there and get more night Taron craze was too much! One of my car-mates was Rachel, who was visiting the park for her first time, and her excitement was infectious! It's always a special feeling for me to return there and enjoy unique creative theming and rides, but to share the experience with someone who's never visited before added to my joy and certainly made me proud of my favourite park We also met CSLKennyNI, which was a real pleasure. Really cool guy with great insights on the park and the German coasters in general Starting with Maus au Chocolat allowed us to avoid long lines there, and therefore the high-pitch mice noises didn't get too annoying. I find this shooter dark-ride to be a lot of fun, despite the shoulder pain it indulges and despite my actually terrible aiming skills! The walk to Wuze Town includes a stopover near the much-discussed F.L.Y. sign. Winjas was good family fun as usual. It has a lot of gimmicks, but it truly adds to the experience instead of being a marketing overhype. Only complaint is that the cars are really narrow, even for a skinny dude like me :eek: We cleared off this side of the park with two of its more dated rides: Temple of the Night Hawk and Hollywood Tour. I suppose that, along the Berlin entrance, Phantasialand will work on refurbishing this zone to bring it to the standards of the park. Temple is actually fairly smooth and has some decent pace, but its family-ish layout calls for much more theming than a ride in the complete dark with no effects whatsoever. Chiapas is for me what a flume ride should be. Gorgeous, immersive theming and music that keeps you entertaining throughout. The disco part never ceases to keep me excited! After that, I split a while from the group to take more pictures and off-ride videos, we rejoined for Mystery Castle. The launch took me by surprise as I was expecting some more wait before the boost kicks off. I know it's part of the theming, but I wish it weren't so dark during the actual ride experience, so you could see the others as you drop and launch up again during the short program. Still a creative and exciting take on the usual drop tower/space shot type of attraction! We walked through the Klugheim zone but did not ride the gem Intamin yet. Not exactly sure how we resisted the temptation with so many breathtaking interactions with the ride, but I also remember Rachel really really wanted to make Taron her #300! Colorado Adventure was I believe her final stepping stone before reaching 300. I still like this Mine Train very much, the long layout provides a enjoyable ride. However, Big Thunder Mountain in Paris did have more of a wild out-of-control feel since its rehab. The banking on Colorado is funky at times. You have some wonky laterals which gets really fun during the dark section. Not having hard OTSR on an old Vekoma (and no inversions either) really helps I suppose! Can we ride Taron now then? Yessss!!! After that exhilarating Night ERT last April, I was curious to ride again the much-praised Intamin Blitz. Predictably, it wasn't as intense at noon, but Taron still surprises me, notably with the wicked change of direction right after the first airtime hill! Really snappy twist coming after a dive under some building so you can't really see it coming if you're not familiar with the layout. I split again from the group for the launch break. I was planning to shoot more videos of Taron, but a 5 minutes wait for single riders decided otherwise... Not gonna refuse such a treat! Did 3 more solo rides then, and also grabbed a front row ride on Raik, which does have a twisty bit of its own. It's a cool extra really Black Mamba at the front was still remarkably forceful. The layout is kinda generic, but very enjoyable nonetheless. The drum beat playing as the train exits the station always makes me more excited! Did a couple more re-rides later in the day which confirmed my positive thoughts about the Invert. I somehow forgot to take a picture of Talocan on fire. Such a spectacular thrill ride and once again, the scenery and atmosphere really enhance the experience there! Onto the final "new" attraction of the day: I never did Hotel Tartuff in 7 previous visits to Phantasialand. :eek: It's very easy to miss it and mistake it for yet another merch store in the Main Street. The CF lively atmosphere made the Fun House quite fun actually! The rest of the day was re-rides so let's skip to the most exciting part... Exclusive rides on Taron for the hotel guests, yay! I have to say, while the coaster does feel less borderline insane than before, I still get the adrenaline rush that makes me run in excitement from the station exit to the ride's gates all across the empty line again and again. The epic fanfare, the magnetic roars, and a twisty fast-paced layout really kept me excited during the whole hour. I ended up riding Taron 10 times during that session, and 15 times the day overall. Phantasialand really had a superb idea to make this hotel ERT, that's a brilliant piece of marketing there!

Hello again! This topic will comprise of my Trip Reports to parks in Europe. I really like to describe my experience on coasters and I hope you'll enjoy the reads (The Phantasialand and Liseberg TRs are a copy paste of my reports originally posted at CoasterForce) Part 1: Phantasialand (April 2017) After missing out on Taron the previous year because I visited the park too early, I was determined to make it this time! The coaster has received rave reviews, almost unanimous, and my anticipation was sky high for a coaster that has a very unique and confusion layout...A 3-hour drive from my friend Erdekraft's home meant we had to wake up at 5 am to ensure we would get to Phantasialand around opening times. We arrived at the Ling Bao (no pictures, whoops) hotel right before 10:00 am for check-in. We took our hotel ERT bracelets and headed straight to Winjas': The sight of Wuze Town's main hall and the double helix still amaze me. Even though it is my 3rd visit to the park, I was surprised by how fast the elevator lift was. It lasts for like, 10 seconds until you reach the main drop? The coasters themselves were fun as always. They didn't really duel during my visit but I did not mind given how immersive the theming is. Both layouts are varied, complete and have some little tricks that set them apart from other spinning coasters. I can't conclusively decide which one I prefer, even though both my friends heavily leaned towards Fear because of the bigger drop and overbanked turn. Our second ride of the day was Temple of the Night Hawk. Erdekraft nicknames it 'le coaster nul' ('the sucky coaster' in French). It isn't that bad to be honest. Just meandering a very long time in the dark. Would be more interesting lights on and with theming in my opinion. I guess even Phantasialand has room for improvement I was looking forward to riding Black Mamba which left me a positive impression last year. And my first ride was... fairly disappointing sadly I sat at the front right seat, and definitely felt some headbanging during a couple of transitions. The intensity was there though as I remembered, but those jolts meant I couln't fully enjoy that first ride. Funnily enough, Erdekraft sat in the middle front and had no trouble whatsoever, but heard me and my other friend (sitting at the left) say 'ouch' at the very same time! Thankfully, there was no such headbanging on my following laps later in the day or the next day, and as such I still rank this B&M Inverted highly for its extensive theming and narrow, forceful layout.Our impatience then was too much, we couldn't resist the urge to go and see Klugheim... Taron was about an 1:30 hour wait. I was extremely intrigued by the hype and applause around the latest Intamin blitz that I feared ending underwhelmed. Therefore I was very excited when it was time to ride aboard the new trains complete with their Mack-inspired lap-bars. They felt a little bit bulky at first, but caused me no problem overall. Good job Intamin! My first impression was that the ride was worth its reputation, a Top 5 coaster full of intensity and snappy turns. The couple of airtime hills are good ejector but definitely not the most insane/powerful Intamin ever did (EGF and El Toro still fare better imo). But more on Taron later that day with the hotel ERT... Mystery Castle was a 5 minute wait. Aside from the great theming, this Space Shot-thingy dazzled me with its light effects which made me lost sense of height. At some points during the program I couldn't tell if I was towards the top or the bottom of the ride. I suppose the effects worked wonders on me! Chiapas and its earworm soundtrack... Still the best flume log I've ridden, great Mexican scenery all along and fast, efficient switch track tricks. The log reaches a fairly nice speed at the bottom of the main drop. Templo de Fiesta is still good funky Onto another best of its kind, this time Colorado Adventure. This Mine Train is only pure fun, no dead spots, a good speed throughout and fairly smooth even though a few oddly banked turns caught me off-guard when I raised my hands ^^ The final helix makes for a great picture location. The next ride was something much more agressive with Talocan. A good soundwork and fire effects really add to the atmosphere, especially during the queue. The ride itself was on the edge of too much intense spinning for me buy fortunately I still enjoyed it.We then decided to eat a quick dinner with some Chinese noodles (no pics, yep again). For some reason our noodles contained a substantial amount of sweetpepper. Well, doesn't matter if you have bad breath when you still get an ERT on Taron later! Taron evening ERT. I will go straight to the point: this hour of exclusive ride time of Taron was the most fun I ever had in an amusement park. I really enjoyed my first lap on this coaster, but the 6+ rides with little to no wait after park closure took matters to an entirely new level. The second half was literally breathtaking, I couldn't even scream of joy even though I wanted so, because the twists were so snappy, and the turns so intense. The official POV doesn't do it justice really. While the first half might be some fast strolling around the rocks after the airtime hill, the second part is so relentless the overall experience feels overwhelmingly exhilarating. The Taron fanfare and the sweet Intamin LSM sound build my excitement even higher for a complete experience, ride and theming joining hands to deliver a fantastic moment! I think EGF still ranks ahead on pure airtime joy, but Taron comes very, very close behind because of that magic ERT. As opposed to most coasters I've ridden before, Taron has an 'organic' feel that is hard to describe. I can't tell each element from another, as the elements are so intertwined. A truly wonderful engineering achievement to my eyes. (Picture courtesy of my friend Maxime) We went back to our room still bewildered by the outstanding time we had. The experience was so fulfilling we couldn't help laughing for the next hour! -Day 2- After the insanity of evening ERT on Taron, this custom Vekoma family Boomerang might seem like a footnote, but there's still plenty to say about the other 2016 addition at Phanta. Raik, for that matter, is actually my very first Family Boomerang. I have to say I was pretty impressed by the speed the train goes through the station after the first backwards crest. For a family-oriented coaster this is still fairly scary The scenery is very detailed and easy on the eyes. I didn't get the fog effects but I loved how the lights changed from red to green as the train switches from going backwards/forwards. The only downside of this charming coaster is its limited capacity because of its shuttle nature. I waited around 45 minutes in the morning (in the single rider line!) for my one ride. Thankfully the atmosphere is more than nice enough to cushion my impatience and I got rewarded with a nice interaction with Taron on my way through the backwards lift! Maus au Chocolat was our last major attraction to experience again. This 3D shooting dark-ride was a pleasant and fun one. I love the theme, it is refreshing and new for a ride of this type and still very fitting! The theming is well executed and the whole 3D-thingy well integrated. The rest of the day, which precise schedule I can't exactly remember mostly consisted of rerides on Black Mamba, Winjas Fear and Colorado, with the B&M getting the most laps overall despite (or because ?) of the unconfortable experience of my ride at the front the previous day. We also went around the lake for a welcome break from all the intensity and dense (but wonderful!) theming of Phantasialand. Overall, Phanta stands out as my favourite park. It simply has the most balanced mix between intricate theming, excellent operations and of course, fantastic coasters. Taron and, to a lesser extent, Black Mamba might get most of the attention, but Winjas and Colorado Adventure are really quality rides for their type. I would only avoid going to the park during very busy days, because the dense scenery with many narrow pathways might become uneasy, but otherwise I have not a single minor complaint about the park. It truly is fab! I hope that you'll like reading coasters reports in Europe. If so, I'll be posting my story of visiting Liseberg last month next

So only 1 year after it build the stunning Taron (and Raik), Phantasialand already announced its next big thing: the world's first launched Flying coaster! What we know: - It will be the longest Flyer in the world, beating current record holder Flying Dinosaur (1,124m) - It will be located in the new Steampunk zone - It will feature a launch (duh.) What we do not know: - The manufacturer. Money's on Vekoma now, but B&M is not out of the equation too. - Opening year. 2018 is possible since they already started working on the new zone this year, but 2019 seems more likely. - The type of launch. Magnetic and tyre are the two most discussed options. - The layout and elements. Phantasialand keeps adding amazing stuff at a crazy pace!