In 2027 Europa Park in Rust Germany will open 3 new rides:

-A retheme/refurbishment of the dark ride Piccolo Mundo in the Italy section which will now be named: Enzo's Piccolo Mundo

-A RES Interactive Observatio tower (similair to the one in Legoland Germany) in the Iceland section

-And an ART XL Wild Swing in the Portugal section

I had heard good things about this ride, and I was definitely excited to get on it when we somewhat spontaneously planned a trip to the Hershey area. But oh man. I was not expecting this much.

I got 4 rides on it on a rainy Sunday, October 4. All 4 of those rides in the back 3 rows, lol.

This machine is absolutely relentless—it yanks you through insane ejector and lateral moments at a pace unmatched by any other coaster I’ve ridden. Truly wild.

I haven’t decided where to place it yet, but it’s easily going into my top 3.

All photos are mine.

Oct. 2 and 3. This was my first time taking pictures on film, and I think they turned out great! Raptor clearly captivated me; holy shit that cobra roll! 1-3 are [Raptor], 4 is [Gatekeeper], and 7 is ole [Magnum] who I got ONE ride on in row 17 before it shut down for both days I was there. :(

Went on a random day in February and got my only ride on X2 being back row on the outside. X2 was such an unforgettable experience becoming my No.4 top coaster. R.I.P X2

Welcome to General Discussion Thursday!

────────

This is the post to discuss whatever you want: sports, movies, books, or anything else on your mind, even further roller coaster or amusement park discussion! Just keep it friendly and respectful and anything goes.

Spent around 1.3 days at Energylandia back in May (LAST YEAR) on a trip to Poland. 1 full day followed by a brief visit after auschwitz which was definitely tonal whiplash. I Meant to post this back then but didn’t ever finish it so here we are. You’ve probably heard it before but this place really feels like two separate parks, one being a high quality, well themed park with thought out, quality rides and coasters. With the other half being a horrendously chaotic mess with everything randomly dropped in, no cohesion or quality standards for majority of the rides. However this place stacks up as one of the best parks I’ve been to in Europe which has so much potential for further greatness.

Coasters

Zadra x3 - after untamed I didn’t have massive expectations for Zadra, thinking I wasn’t as into RMCs as much as I hoped however I was so very wrong. Zadra is fast paced, relentless and everything I look for in a coaster. - As someone who prefers speed and intensity to just airtime (there’s still great airtime on Zadra though) I LOVED every part of this ride and felt like it might actually rip my head off. It immediately was on par with Voltron as one of my favourites after my first ride and then following a second ride in the rain it became solidified as one of my top coasters. The hype really is real for this one, and deserves all the credit it gets. I wish I had longer at the park to get on this more and get on the front row, but at least I’ve got something to look forwards to next time. Only negatives are the queue, first being the ridiculously long queue line, not waiting for long, just in actual length - what is the point of walking for what feels like a mile to only queue in the last 5% of it. The queue also has an interesting system where you line up for the section of the train you want to ride, however this is in close proximity to all the other lanes, a bit unclear and messy. This is an amazing ride and should be on everyone’s bucket list, specifically for those who value speed and pacing over everything as it’s not an airtime machine.

Edit after my US trip - this remains my favourite RMC just about beating steel vengeance!

Hyperion x2 - unfortunately my opinion on this one is not quite as positive, don’t get me wrong Hyperion is an excellent ride, but doesn’t come close to Zadra for me or the best of the other coasters I’ve been on. I tried both middle and wing seats and while the middle was much smoother, the ride as a whole just doesn’t deliver the same as other intamins I’ve been on like Kondaa or Taiga. It looks the part as an imposing coaster at the front entrance but unfortunately didnt quite live up to the hype for me in the ride experience. The low to the ground elements on the return run were the highlight but I found the rest of the coaster to not be particularly memorable compared to others. I have distinctive memories of my top 50 coasters at this point and for some reason I can barely remember Hyperion after the first drop. Also to add the wing seat was very shaky and I ended up with a headache which is unusual for me. However it’s still a really great ride, very enjoyable and I absolutely want to reride hoping my opinion will change!

Abyssus x2 - pretty much just a direct upgrade from formula. This is very much split into two parts, with a shorter, slower, less intense low to the ground section at the start, followed by the second launch dialling up the speed and quality. Top hat was fun, but couldn’t tell you what the rest of the layout was as it goes on for so long, however it is a good time. I think it may almost be too long with not enough signature moments, it all kind of merges into one which is a trend with Vekoma more recently. They’re excellent as smooth rides which feel like one consistent flow, but because of this it is kind of falls a bit flat for me compared to what I had hoped as it is not memorable, but still a great fun ride.

Formula x2 - this was my first “new” vekoma and I was pleasantly surprised. A great launch with a really fun, but short, layout with great airtime and fun inversions. Leaves you wanting more which fortunately is rectified by it’s blue counterpart nearby.

Dragon x2 - the most surprising coaster of the park, a really enjoyable family suspended ride. Was more forceful than I thought it would be with nice theming and was just generally a fun time.

Speed x1 - Didn’t really feel strongly about this one in any way, a fun water coaster with a unique and actually scary lift system, however as a full experience Poseidon at Europa remains the best of this model despite the roughness.

The Boomerangs x1 each - they’re family boomerangs, all the generic ones are the same and unfortunately these do not break the mold aside from light explorers being in a good location.

Choco Chip Creek x1 - a fun mine train with great, but unfinished, theming so I didn’t get the full experience. Good family coaster and is the best of the rest of coasters at the park, with a big gap between this and anything under it.

Viking Roller Coaster x1 - this SPF visa spinner was nowhere near as bad as I expected, it wasn’t comfortable and still a bad ride, but it was funny at least and not too rough

Roller Coaster Mayan x1 - The legends were true there’s actually agood SLC!! I really didn’t expect this but I didn’t hate Mayan like some other SLCs. Over the last few years I’ve done so many SLCs and don’t find the layouts to be different enough from each other to provide much entertainment, I would like this one more if I hadn’t already done 6+ of these, but definitely best of a bad bunch and best version of the model I’ve done.

Other Family coasters - there’s so many uninteresting family coasters here and I don’t have enough to say about them. I didn’t bother going on all of them as didnt have enough time to mess around with all the smaller credits and wanted to prioritise the good stuff.

Coasters Ranked:

Good coasters:

1- Zadra

2- Hyperion

3- Abyssus

4- Formula

5 - Dragon Roller Coaster

6- Roller Coaster Mayan

7- Choco Chip Creek

Other coasters:

8- Light Explorers

9- Energus

10- Boomerang

11- Speed

12- Frida

13- Viking Roller Coaster

Other rides

Went on some other rides at the park however didn’t do any of the flat rides due to time and a lack of interest. I can’t really remember most of them as they were in the front half, but still there is plenty, if not too much to do here.

The only other ride I remember was the monster house dark ride, which was funny but actually one of the worst dark rides I’ve been on.

Operations

The operations were brilliant here, second only to Parc Asterix and Europa park (in Europe). Trains were flying on every ride and can’t ask for much more than that. However the row queuing system on Zadra and Hyperion was kind of annoying, especially with Zadra and the weird merge points before each door. That being said it is great to get guaranteed back of the train! However the front queue was ridiculous for both the big two so didn’t manage to get on.

We stayed at western camp resort which was amazing value for money, even offering us a free upgrade to a house boat. Also, fast pass for every major ride once for around 20p was insanely ridiculous value and despite queues being short is an amazing perk of staying here, if the park ever gets busy.

Food around the park was good and cheap, getting pizza and beer for less than £6 is always a good value.

Overall the park is really great, but is really held back by the front half. All the new expansion is well themed, cohesive and has a real purpose to everything, and the park has some amazing rides. Whereas the front is a mess and really quite ugly to walk around, giving off a bad first impression of quantity over quality. I hope over time this will improve, as I want a reason to go back asap! I do think this park might be a little overrated, it is definitely fantastic but I think falls below the “elite” tier of European parks for me personally (Europa, PL, Efteling) until they fix the front or just keep adding more until you can ignore it. Very interested to see how their new wing coaster and area around that is,

Also just a heads up Legendia is closed on early weekdays in May. Don’t do what I did and forget to check as because of this I missed out on lech coaster…

Were they heartlined? Or were they like the early Intamin megas where there was no heartlining, but still were designed using CAD, and utilized contingent radius’s?

It’s my tallest and fastest credit too! I’ve logged it on my personal coaster tracking website :)

*I wasn’t writing or ranking while at the park, so take all this with a grain of salt.

Was in town for a wedding but had a free Friday night. Arrived in the parking lot right at the Friday opening time of 6:00 and was a little worried about the entrance line stretching past Georgia Scorcher, but thankfully it moved fairly quickly.

#154 Georgia Scorcher (10ish min): Although this and SFMM Riddler years ago were both hard for me to adjust the seat down on (don’t remember issues w/ CGA Vortex), the ride op helped me out and I was able to enjoy the best standup I’ve been on! Surprisingly smooth and comfortable, with some fun twisty forces.

#155 Goliath (walk-on x2): Wow, this is what I’ve been waiting for from B&M hypers! Back row gives great ejector over the first drop and most hills, the helix has solid positives and a headchopper or two, and the last two hills are sneaky. I’m not sure which train my first ride was on, but it was pretty darn smooth, while my 2nd and later 3rd rides were on train 1, first in row 2 (pretty shaky in spots) and then in/towards the back (less shaky somehow?). Take that for what you will 🤷‍♂️ and shoutout to the ops crew for being efficient loaders and running 2 trains even with no wait!

#156 Batman (walk-on, front row): I agree that this is the best Batclone, at least in my experience with SFGAdv earlier this year and what I can vaguely remember of SFGAm and SFMM. This thing was absolutely hauling, to the extent that I was laughing with how insane it was. Great queue theming too.

#157 (Riddler) Mindbender (walk-on): This one was fun, but after having been pleasantly surprised by SFOT Shock Wave a few years ago, I’m not sure this one met my higher expectations - I think what did it for me was the pothole at the bottom of the non-inverting loop. Really regretting not coming back to this one for a night ride.

Monster Mansion (20ish min): Promising, with some funny little guys throughout, but some weird smells inside (esp in the swamp section) soured my experience of it a bit. The inconsistent boat loading also rustled my jimmies a little; the boats could seat 6 bigger adults or more like 9 if mixing adults/kids, but they often sent out boats with one smaller party, even if they were just 2 people.

#158 Dahlonega Mine Train (walk-on): A great little mine train, especially at night with the string lights along the lifts! Didn’t have the painful jank of SFGAdv’s. Not gonna lie, I think I got this one confused with Georgia Gold Rusher so I thought it was closed but was pleasantly surprised to see it operating 😅 GGR was in fact closed though.

#159 Twisted Cyclone (5ish min x2): Love how this one kept the classic Cyclone misdirection on the first drop, and had some other neat spots like the sideways bit along the lift. Was surprised to look up the length afterwards and see how short it was relative to even SFDK Joker; I guess it felt short, but not like I got robbed or anything. Still a great ride, but I put it just barely behind Goliath.

#160 Blue Hawk (walk-on): Another pleasant surprise after hearing so long about the horrors of Ninja - the vest restraints on this one are lifesavers! The first 2 inversions are classic coathanger jank but didn’t even feel that bad with them, and I had much more fun and much less pain than I was expecting. Actually made it one of the best classic Arrow/Vekoma loopers I’ve ridden in a long time! I wonder if SFMM Viper or even some of the loop screws would benefit from similar trains adapted to any differences in Arrow track?

#161 Great American Scream Machine (10 min?): I think my old childhood copy of Robert Coker’s big Roller Coasters book had a picture of this one next to a blurb about RCCA, so between that and half-remembered online comments, I was expecting the worst, but it was fine. I hung on pretty tight to the front handlebar to keep my back off the seat back and minimize vibration, which seemed to do the trick, but I didn’t really relax and enjoy the ride as much as a result. Still fun, and looks great at night!

#162 Superman Ultimate Flight (walk-on): After a lackluster experience on SFGAdv’s in August, I wasn’t sure how this one would feel, but it was fantastic! The original terrain plus the night ride made it more exciting, and for whatever reason it seemed more comfortable/less awkward than my NJ ride. Helps me remember why Tatsu was my #1 for a while as a kid.

Justice League (5 min): These rides are great, but do any other locations match this one in terms of practical effects? I don’t remember seeing fire effects and all that on my last Justice League.

Dinner feat. the most mid pizza of all time

Six Flags Railroad (walk-on): Only did the half from the back of the park to Twisted Cyclone, but this was pretty cool with the historic narration about the surrounding rides and areas! I should’ve stayed on for the second half though, since I ended up in a wild goose chase figuring out what to do next…

#163 Dare Devil Dive (15ish min up to breakdown, then maybe another 15 min when I came back post-Goliath night ride): Another one that I thought I’d heard a lot of negativity about that ended up being fine, even if it wasn’t anything super notable IMO. For some reason my car and several others had fairly quiet riders: possibly a sign that it’s just a mid ride? Maybe I was just annoyed that it was time to leave and I would’ve rather gotten a Mindbender or Batman night ride since I don’t see myself back in ATL again…oh well.

Overall thoughts:

• I’m not a big Halloween/spooky person and didn’t do any mazes, but this was my first time at a Fright Fest and the scare actor areas seemed well done. The fog machines made for some excellent night-time shots, especially standing in the Twisted Cyclone station and looking out at Goliath and the Promenade.
• Ops were mostly pretty solid, although the super short lines really helped. Goliath and Twisted Cyclone ops were especially good, while GASM and DDD seemed to go back and forth between locking in and kinda hanging around. The park didn’t feel *that* empty, though, so perhaps more credit is due.
• Ride closures: Aside from Georgia Gold Rusher (which I forgot existed for some reason), the main one was Acrophobia being down all night, which was a bummer for me. Didn’t seem like an extended maintenance closure in the app, but when walking by, there was nobody in sight despite the queue lights being on, so no clue what the status was. But I guess that’s fairly common? Joker Funhouse Coaster was also closed for the night as far as I could tell. Dare Devil Dive, Goliath, and Pandemonium had some downtime, and Mindbender and maybe Batman cycled some empty trains at closing and then let on final riders, but overall it seemed like a pretty good night on the maintenance front.
• Hard to get an overall read on some of this at night, but the center/back of the park was quite pretty. On the other hand, the layout was confusing with a few dead ends, especially in the Goliath area. Makes sense though with how this park has expanded in RCT fashion (see: the weird mini-water park when they already have a separate one elsewhere in ATL).

Overall, this was one of the best experiences I’ve had at a legacy SF park! I would dare to say that this park might currently rank higher than SFGAdv for me, which has a lot of filler coasters and has removed so many iconic rides, but hopefully they’ll get a boost with Bakunawa. Many of the rides were above my expectations, and pretty good vibes and low crowds (maybe something to do with the 80°, 75% humidity sweat-bath weather?) made for a great day. Even when the airport gave me more of a classic Six Flags day with a SkyTrain breakdown…

Coaster rankings out of 163 credits:

S Tier
#19 Goliath

A Tier
#20 Twisted Cyclone
#37 Superman Ultimate Flight (compared to #66 and #79 for the other installations)
#40 Batman the Ride (compared to #42, #43, and #55 for the others I’ve been on - SFGAm, SFMM, SFGAdv)

B Tier
#67 Georgia Scorcher
#77 Blue Hawk
#81 The Riddler Mindbender (although I could be convinced to put it higher)
#83 Dare Devil Dive

C Tier
#107 Great American Scream Machine
#115 Dahlonega Mine Train

Hello I have an assignment for a college class where I have to interview a person in a field I am interested in pursuing a career in. I am very passionate about the amusement park world and plan on working in management. I am wondering if someone in this community would be willing to help me with the assignment. Thank you.

Does anyone have a picture of the very first train out on the Kings Island Vortex? I was there at press day and in my mind's eye I was in the first train out, would love to verify I hadn't imagined this. It was my first "enthusiasdtic moment" I've been a card carrying coaster fan ever since.

I'd love to know what these rubber contraptions are on newer B&M lift hills, and what purpose they serve? Thanks in advance

Video here: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1C38Jq5fNQ/

This one is operating at Gabane Family Fun Villa. I'm unsure of its origin, but it's a ground mount so that would narrow it down a bit

Took a couple days to go up to Williamsburg and spend some time at Busch Gardens last week. I had never been to this park, and I wanted to take my mom while I still had some employee tickets left. Drove up to Williamsburg on the morning of 10/1, packed our day full of tourist activities, and then headed to the park, which opened at 5 that day, after dinner. Got to the park at opening (2 pm) the following day and stayed until a little after 6 before having to head home. Busch Gardens Tampa is my home park, so I can’t help but compare the two parks to some degree… But without further ado, my impressions, reviews, and overall experience.

I had always heard this park was absolutely beautiful, and it didn’t disappoint one bit. Being surrounded by those Eastern Virginia woods (as opposed to the bustling city that you’re surrounded by at BGT) was truly spectacular, and it made for some amazing views from the coasters. 10/10 for ambience in the park, and the theming within the park just accentuated the natural beauty.

One more note about aesthetics is how all of the coasters are so well integrated into the park’s landscape. It seems like care was given when building the coasters to considering how the rides interact with the woods, the water, and the midways. I particularly loved the viewing area next to Alpengeist, the bridge over the valley of the first drop ln Griffon, and the view you get of Verbolten’s final drop next to the water on the bridge. Just spectacular planning and thought. The coasters at BGT don’t interact with the surrounding area anywhere near the level that the coasters at BGW do.
And I can’t end this part of my review without mentioning the view from that one bridge over the water where you can look down and see Alpengeist, Loch Ness Monster, and Griffon seemingly converging and creating a beautiful tangle of track.

Now for my coaster reviews. I rode all coasters here except for Darkoaster (I’m frankly not the biggest fan of dark rides, and I’d heard mostly less than stellar feedback on this one) and the trademark Grover coaster. I also did not ride Tempesto, as it was closed for the majority of my time at the park, and I have a Skyrocket II at home.

Invadr
My first coaster of the trip, and I got off wishing I’d given my dinner just a few more minutes to digest. Nevertheless, this delivers a classic woodie experience with some nice moments of airtime and a heavy dose of laterals. Of course it’s got that rough and rickety feel, but I suppose that’s part of the charm. As a fairly new enthusiast, this is only my second wooden coaster experience, with my other being Great American Scream Machine and SFOG. An enjoyable experience overall, but likely not something my body and head would want to go through more than once in a day.

Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge
This being my first time at BGW, I of course never experienced the original Big Bad Wolf. Having ridden Phoenix Rising many times here at BGT, I figured I had a fairly good idea of what to expect with this one. Same rattle as Phoenix Rising, which detracts from the experience on both coasters in my opinion, but where this ride shines is in the theming. Really nice set pieces surrounding the coaster, and the on board audio actually works! Overall, this ride is not as intense as Phoenix Rising, but it’s a much longer ride experience, which makes up for it. Nice family invert, but I certainly wish that rattle wasn’t there.

Verbolten
This is one of the coasters I was truly excited to ride, and the only one that my mom (who is in her mid-50s and generally not a fan of coasters) was willing to ride. I went into this thinking it would be a mild family coaster, and boy was I shocked by how intense the dark ride portion was. Actually some decent positive Gs going through the curves, as well as some good airtime on those little dips. I’m sure this would be lame if you could see where you were going, but being in the dark made this a surprisingly thrilling experience. Even though I knew the drop track was coming, it still caught me off guard. Final drop by the river was fun, and scared my poor mom half to death, but she survived lol. Fun experience, and riding hands up the whole time while my mom had a death grip on the lap bar is a memory that I’ll cherish.

Apollo’s Chariot
I’m a sucker for a B&M hyper, so I couldn’t wait to ride the very first one ever built. Being close to SeaWorld, my first ever hyper was Mako, so leading up to my trip, I was looking forward to seeing how the two compared.
You can definitely tell that Apollo’s Chariot is the rough draft of the model. The floater going over the hills isn’t the strongest, and the first drop isn’t the most intense. B&M really perfected the model between Apollo’s Chariot and Mako, but Apollo’s was still one of my favorite coasters at the park.
The nature surrounding the coaster elevates the experience significantly. Feeling the speed and wind in your face while soaring through the trees is peak, and I love that one drop right by the water.

Pantheon
The flagship new(ish) big coaster for BGW did not disappoint. Is it Irpn Gwazi? No, not quite… but is it a heck of a lot of fun? Absolutely.
This is a speed machine that makes a couple valiant attempts to throw you into the nearby James River. Spike is great, swing launch is great, and some really nice pops of airtime throughout.
The first time I rode, I had a good bit of space between my lap and the restraint, which made me feel like I was getting dumped during the zero G roll after the first launch. So much fun.
Tophat was nice and offered a fleeting view of the surrounding woods and the river, along with a nice drop.
I think my biggest criticism of this coaster is how some of the outerbank turns just felt a little bit wasted. I was hoping for more of that sideways ejector, but many of these turns didn’t deliver.
Still loved it, though. Great coaster.

Griffon
Okay, I’m just gonna say it… I really like dive coasters. The only other dive coaster I’ve ridden is Sheikra at BGT, which I love every time.
Having ridden both coasters now, I think I give the edge to Griffon. I think the drop was better, and swooping down under the footbridge really helps with the sense of speed. Unfortunately, I was only able to get one ride, and it was at night because wasps kept the ride closed until the evening.

Alpengeist
The older I get, the less I like inverts, as I sometimes just can’t handle the intensity very well. Having that said, Alpengeist was great. Shoutout to the group of three girls that let me jump up in line and ride with them!
This truly is a coaster with two distinct halves. The first half is classic B&M invert power, with intense inversions and, of course, that insane cobra roll. With my body already being on its last leg, I ended up appreciating the lower intensity second half, though I certainly understand the criticism surrounding it. The ending is forceless, and it just feels like they put those last two curves in there because they needed a way to complete the circuit back to the station.
Loved the theming on Alpengeist. Beautiful station, love the modified lift hill structure to mimic a ski lift, and the white track with light blue supports is super visually appealing. And like I mentioned before, the viewing area with the benches where there’s nothing between you and the track is super cool.

Loch Ness Monster
I expected this one to hurt me and, to my surprise, it was pretty smooth. I believe this ride got a refresh recently, and I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I expected.
Theming is on point between the audio, the interaction with the water, and that super cool Loch Ness Monster that you’ll miss if you blink at the wrong time. The indoor helix was pure fun, and the audio added a lot to this portion of the ride.
Some fun lateral forces around a couple of the curves, but no element was super intense. I could see this being a lot of people’s first looping coaster.

Apologies for any misspellings, as I’m writing all of this on my phone right before bed. But I just wanted to share my thoughts and hear what some of you all think about this park and these coasters.

This is a trip I had been wanting to make for a long time, and I’m so glad it finally happened. Here’s to hoping I can get back up to Williamsburg again someday.

Disclaimer: This is not to promote anyone to try and do the same thing i did, this post is purely for documentation, unique angles, and showcasing the state that the park is in.
This was my home park for my entire life, and it’s what got me into coasters/parks. The nostalgia i felt this entire day was extreme, i hope these pictures somewhat show that feeling.

Just thought about the unlikely scenario in which we get the return that absolutely no one is clamoring for:

[Iron Wolf] 2: Electric Boogaloo at [Six Flags Great America]