Toverland April 2018

I visited Toverland last year, and you can see all the photos of it here.

 

 

I was staying in Essen, Germany, which is only about 60km as the crow flies, but the journey took like 3 hours due to having to change trains at  Viersen, and then again at Venlo, before finally getting a local bus to the park from Horst Severnum. To add insult to injury, my first train was late to Viersen, causing a missed connection by a matter of minutes, and a 50 min wait for the next train. I didn’t reach the park till after opening.

I cant really recall what order I did stuff, so I’ll just give some impressions and the stuff I did.

The park is basically just a couple of green sheds, with some nicely themed outdoor rides and some other bits that are tidy, but otherwhise generic feeling.

Both the sheds felt a bit dark inside, and the theming never feels truly immersive because there’s no escaping being in a giant shed….Some of the set pieces look great, but they feel “Stuck In”. (Eg look back at how the main entrance looked)

The themed areas get better in the outside bit, except for the original play areas and Booster Bike.

One thing I liked about the park (And in Europe in general) is the large number of play areas and playgrounds scatted through the park. As a kid, this would be awesome, I remember when I  was little I preferred playgrounds to mini kids rides!

As for the rides:

Boomerang

Perhaps the only Vekoma named Boomerang that isn’t a Boomerang. This one is a kiddy coaster, but actually has a pretty cool layout that is more than just the gradual helices you see on roadrunner. Only one train available though (Which was the theme for the day!)

Booster Bike

Not Bad actually, but perhaps a bit forceless, though this is a family ride. The cable launch did have a bit of kick to it though.

Much more comfortable than the Intamin or Zamperla bikes. I did feel the layout could have done a bit more, it was really just a couple of sweeping turns in an extended figure 8, some hills, and then done.

 

Dweverlwind

This was a good one, a mack spinning coaster with a really intricately themed station with spinning flower type things on the roof that I guess reflect the spinning nature of the ride. Everything would come to life whenever the train departed or arrived.

The ride itself is well structured, with a big first drop and high banked horseshoe, and then after that its all fairly low to the ground helices and s bends, keeping the pace right up.

Backstroke

This was an indoor outdoor flume ride by mack, made from modular galvanised steel trough sections, so it carried a similar feel to the some of the transportable mack flumes.

It was pretty middle of the road to be honest, with a few turns inside and a backwards drop, then a bigger lift hill to the outside of the building, with a full sized drop.

I had arribatta pasta for lunch at a nearby eatery….F&B aint this parks strong point, I’ll leave it there.

Aqua Snake

So a lot of parks in Europe have these dry water slides you ride in your street clothes, to date, most parks have just had the straight drop / wavy drop ones, but this one was a proper enclosed water slide with a helix, so I just did it for the sake of it really. If you’ve ridden Broken Headz at WWW, you know what to expect.

Djengu River

This one is a Hafema river rapids, but it was fairly conventional, with none of their fancy elements like whirlpool drops or vertical lifts and the like. The theming was immense, one of the prettiest rapids  rides out there, despite a challenging design where it was built above ground.

Just compare this:

To the abomination at Legoland Windsor built in similar circumstances.

Maximillius Blitz Bahn

A Bobkart ride. For those unfamiliar, its like one of those toboggans you control the speed of with levers, like at Jamberoo/Funfields/Big Banana etc. Except its not on a hillside, and the carts are electric. I felt this design lacks a certain something, like you know Weigand invented the ride for clients who don’t have a sloping site, but on the other hand its not quite the same without the feeling of gaining speed till you are scared you are going to flip the thing over

 

The ride is a bit low capacity, so has a really well themed queue themed to an inventors workshop, with lots of moving bits and bobs, including a kinetic ball machine sculpture in one of the rooms.

Fenix

Spited by this one, it was still under  construction. This is the second time I’ve missed a wing rider by months, the first such instance being when I was at Holiday World when Thunderbird was under construction.

They were also building a boat ride and dark ride simultaneously. I thought it strange they would put the dark ride in the outdoor section of the park instead of connecting it to the indoor area with the other all weather attractions.

Katara – Fountain of Magic

I mentioned the play areas scattered throughout the park, but things like this fountain show demonstrate the way this park just has a whole bunch of “nice” things that aren’t necessarily drawcards, but work to make the park a good overall package. It was an enjoyable diversion for a few minutes and compact  enough to take in all at once.

Parden  Van Ithaka

Wooo, time to tick off a new ride type. You just sit on a horse that runs along a monorail track , which bobs a bit. Good for the kids, but you saw a few bigger ones having a ride for a laugh.

Toverhuis

This was my first go at a magiquest, which is basically magic wands that are glorified remote controls. You wander through a small house with effects that can be activated by pointing your wand. It’s a bit like what DC Villains and its interactive stuff is like , but on a smaller scale.

 

Villa Fiasko

One of the best things in the park, a traditional style funhouse, including a revolving tunnel you can plant your hands firmly inside and do a cartwheel type manouver. Theres all your usual spinning platforms, shaking walkway, and inflatable rollers things you squeeze through, rubbing your face where everyone else presumably has. A slide for the kids joins the top and bottom floor.

Troy

The highlight of the park was this sprawling GCI Twister coaster, at this point I can probably recycle  my reviews of them. They are a bit samey (Including that station flythrough element), but generally quite solid rides, with fast pacing and a confusing layout. Sadly only 1 train on, which meant an unnecessary wait and only a couple of rides managed. The ride sat in a nice ancient Greek themed zone.

So that’s Toverland. A few more of the park:

 

I’ll be interested to see how the park grows, they seem to select good attractions and integrate them well. I’d gladly revisit the Netherlands, and here, in the future.