Skyline Park + Erlebnispark Tripsdrill: My Obnoxious ACE Central Europe Trip Report: Part V

Okay, kiddos! We've got a lot to do today! MOVE OUT!

Skyline Park is the first of two parks today. It's basically a field with a moderately-large collection of rides, including 5 coasters. We had 3 hours, the park was packed, and it was hot. Let's get started!

First stop!

Of Skyline's 5 coasters, my priority was Achterbahn. Who can resist a Schwarzkopf in Germany?!

I can't think of a better coaster to be my 400TH COASTER!

I pondered this as the Cadillac coaster cars rattled by like metal trashcans rolling down concrete stairs.

That sort of thing obviously raises concern, but the people coming off the ride seemed happy.

From the queue, we admired the Buttlefry's cousin, the Nautic Jet. Unfortunately, there wouldn't be time for a ride today! Additionally, the park has a traditional Butterfly, but we chose to just skip it all together (or, at the very least, save it for last).

Riding this really made me miss Cedar Point's Wildcat.

It may not be aurally-pleasing, but Achterban & its Cadillacs traverse that Schwarzkopf track like a dream! HOORAY FOR MY 400TH COASTER! (And credit #73 of my Year of 100 New Coasters!)

If we'd had time, we would have stopped to do these. They look like an accident waiting to happen.

Sky Wheel time!

Yeah, it's not a wheel. I know.

We'll be back for this one later.

This park has two halves, separated by a large patch of grass. LARGE patch of grass. And the rest of the park layout is pretty stupid too. 

This was a tough part of the day. It was very hot, the line moved really effing slow, and the general public seems to have a really nasty dependency on line-jumping.

At first, they were sending riders through two cycles. This sort of irritated us because the park was packed. Then the ride closed for about 30 minutes. We waited and waited in the sun while fending off would-be line jumpers. Finally the ride re-opened with one-cycle operation.

The process took entirely too long, but that didn't take away from what a remarkable ride these Maurer Söhne X-Car Coasters are. Like its twin in Finland, Ukko, Sky Wheel gives a ridiculously-intense ride.

Hour-and-a-half after credit #73, we got credit 74 of the year!

They have a really cool looking Condor, but it seems to be missing its hood ornament! 

Being the log flume junkies we are, the boys and I were really tempted to ride the park's log flume. Not only that, but  Mat and Jeff are both Faller kit (German fairground ride models) junkies, and Skyline's log flume just happens to be the model upon which the Faller log flume model is based! Also, the line was short & it wasn't getting any less hot. VAMOS!

In Germany, you can stand up in your log at your own discretion.

And ride backwards.

Somewhere along the way, we heard from other ACErs that the park's 5th coaster, Sky Spin, had broken down. New for 2013, Sky Spin is a Maurer Söhne off-the-shelf spinning coaster. Its lack of originality made it a low priority anyways, and it was down for the rest of the day. 

Sky Rider! You're next!

We had less than an hour by the time we got in line for Sky Rider. The line wasn't terribly long, but capacity for this one is low. There were several ACErs in line, but we were the last ones in. 

Ok.

Story time!

What we were looking at was getting on this coaster & then making a MAD DASH to the bus. I was trying to get myself comfortable with the idea of not making a gift shop stop at this park, but I wasn't happy about it. I really wanted a keychain from the park with my 400th coaster! The boys were sympathetic to my plight, so we were going to do anything within our power to get to the park's gift shop before the bus left. Even if it was for 30 seconds, I was going to get my keychain. 

Suddenly, there was a call out for a single rider. The call made it all the way back to us (apparently everyone in front of us was in groups of 4). We looked at each other; Mat, John, and Jeff all screamed "GO!!!" I hesitated, but with the boys' encouragement, I started making a mad dash through the congested line of about 60 people. There wasn't much time to get over there, however, because Sky Rider's cars do not stop in the station. I was flying over and under members of the general public & some familiar faces. All of the ACErs cheered me on! The car rolled out of the station just as I passed the last person in line, but the lap bar was still up! I leapt out of the station and into the car just before it entered the elevator. I yanked the bar down, grabbed my sandals, and away we went!

The ride itself was very nice. It was like a prize after my mad dash! I definitely worked for credit #75 of the year! (And yes, I went to the gift shop & got my keychains.) :}

  

Goodbye, Skyline park! Off to our next stop!

Okay, you guys!! Next stop is ERLEBNISPARK TRIPSDRILL!!! It's one of my most sought-after amusement parks. We'll be finishing out the evening here & be back in the morning!

*flies around*

Tripsdrill is a gorgeous traditional themepark out in the middle of nowhere.

Anchoring their entrance midway is this unique Maypole ride!

First credit of the day is Rasender Tausendfüssler! (Racing Millepede)

Though an off-the-shelf Tivoli coaster, it's probably the lushest kiddie coaster I've ever ridden. 

This ride alone has more trees than all of Carowinds. 

If the kiddie coaster is any indication, we've got some well-themed coasters to look forward to!

The scenic millepede coaster is credit #76! Time to work our way to the back of the park to visit the rest of the coasters!

Tripsdrill is dripping with charm. Here's their choreographed water rock opera.

Best carnival game ever:

Fire eggs out of a chicken into the mouths of agape individuals. :}

Plenty of things to keep the little kiddos busy.

Something for the big kiddos, too: the new-for-2013 KARACHO Gerstlauer launched Euro Fighter!

Tripsdrill started as a winery (hence the aforementioned "middle of nowhere" locale) & now they've graduated into a winery with roller coasters! (best kind of winery)

Tripsdrill's a pretty classy place, but they've got some pretty whimsical minds at work.  Probably the wine.

If the chicken cannon carnival game didn't phase you, then you should be completely prepared for the claw-footed bathtub log flume.

Standing in line, I'm all "Oh this log flume is so pretty imma take a picture..."

And a moment later I'm nailed with wetness. I was totally shocked because I'm used to U.S. parks routing log flume queues far away enough from the splashes because.....well....you know....they wouldn't want people getting wet or anything.

After drying myself & my camera off, I cautiously made my way through the rest of the log queue. Other ACErs laughed in my general direction! :P

Is this place for real? It's like Napa Valley with coasters. 

Tripsdrill is a Gerstlauer kind of park. They've got the only Gerstlauer woodie!

Have fun you guys!! I've always believed that bathing is a fun group activity...

After the log flume, which is now my new favorite log flume ever, we quickly ran off to dinner. The weather looked like it might make a turn for the worse, so we ate quickly & made B-line for Karacho.

The weather still looked fine in the immediate area, but we started hearing cracks of thunder in the distance.

Here you can see the ride operator on the right checking for signs of bad weather.

Soon the rain happened. It started out innocently enough, and then it got bad. To make matters worse, we heard from some other ACErs that Karacho also happened to be broken. 

:{

@*%#

Michael, Jeff, John, Mat, and I sat under the awning of the rapids ride's photo booth as the rain cascaded down.

Things looked pretty grim. We were loosing valuable time & Karacho was now not a guarantee. We were theoretically supposed to have ERT after the park closed, but bad weather and a breakdown made the likelihood of that actually happening feel slim.

After about 45 minutes the rain cleared up enough for us to walk to where there were more ACErs. The park would be closing in 10 minutes, so we figured there'd be no reason for them to open anything back up even if the rain stopped.

I sought what comfort I could in this Haribo push pop.

Then, suddenly, with about 7 minutes left in the operating day, G'sengte Sau re-opened!

G'sengte Sau is Tripsdrill's fabulous Gerstlauer "Bobsled" coaster. It's basically a big, terrain-build wild mouse with airtime! And it's Gerstlauer's first coaster!

G'sengte Sau was my 3rd Gerstlauer Bobsled coaster (the first two being Vilda Musen at Gröna Lund and Thor's Hammer at Djurs Sommerland), and it's a total slam-dunk like its siblings. 

The culmination of fabulous scenery & a wild mouse maximizing its full potential is nothing short of a flawless family coaster!

I got one wet & wild ride on G'sengte Sau before they closed the ride's cue for the evening. Credit #77 felt like the silver lining on this dampened day.

Probably time to go soon.

AAAAAHH!!!! KARACHO IS OPEN!!!!!!! *falls over dead*

Despite all odds, Karacho miraculously opened for ERT!!! The Coaster Gods have smiled on us this day!

Seeing it in action again kind of made me want to cry. It also kinda made me want to PARTY!!!!!!!!

And party we did!!! Inside the still-under-construction station of Karacho, ACE was having a full-fledged ERT joy-fest!

Charles and I agree that, if a ride is finished, open it & then worry about the scenery later!

Karacho is totally wild and full of surprises! 

HOORAY for Credit #78! Karacho completely delivered. It's one of the best launched coasters I've ever ridden.

To allow for quick re-rides, Tripsdrill gave us a special walkway under the coaster!

"Smile, guys!"

After 3 superb rides, ERT ended & I left feeling elated.

Tripsdrill's plan is to complete the ride's theming during the off season & unveil a new plaza for Karacho in 2014. :}

As we headed out for the night, we admired some of the park signs.

I did the wobbly bridge once. I decided not to push my luck with a 2nd time.

Once we were at the hotel, we walked to a nearby Italian restaurant. We saw this interesting ad on the way.

Hi, Joel! Time for dinner!

I got the bruschetta. The ones with bacon were good, but I'm not a feta guy & frankly the one with olives smelled like cat food. 

'Night, y'all! See ya bright and early for round 2 of Tripsdrill! Tomorrow afternoon we'll be visiting Holiday Park, home of the World-renowned Expedition GeForce!!!!! :D