Freizeit-Land Geiselwind + Freizeitpark Plohn + Belantis: My Obnoxious ACE Central Europe Trip Report - Part IX

Ugh. I am still tired from that chaos from the hotel last night. 

No, seriously. Just writing all of that again wore me out. It brought me right back to giggling to myself like an invalid. 

Anywho, the trip continues!!!

DAY 1 of WEEK 2: COMMENCE!

Okay, guys! Where to next?

Freizeit-Land Geiselwind, of course! Thank you, Ray and Kevin, for turning a mandatory bus driver stop into a park visit!

We've got 2.75 hours, folks! No time to linger!

Though our stay was short, Freizeit-Land Geiselwind was very happy to have us & distributed free swag!!!

F. Geiselwind is quite charming. I mean, c'mon! They have PINK FLAMINGOS!

There's also a very large dinosaur that takes you around the park. 

F. Geiselwind's signature attraction is Boomerang!

This is the only Vekoma Boomerang in Germany. That means that it's a pretty special little ride around here. Indeed, the phrase "signature ride" was not actually applied sarcastically. Hooray for a "signature" credit #91 of my Year of 100 New Coasters!!!

I'm sure that if the United States had 1 Boomerang instead of 73-and-a-half-million-ish, it would be a signature ride there, too.

I think the unanimous opinion was that the family spinning coaster was actually more remarkable than Boomerang.

Unlike most spinning coasters, Drehgondelbahn has cars like that of a Tilt-A-Whirl.

Members of the West-PA Crew approve!

Terry approves also! Randy, however, looks like he might have a case of Tilt-A-Whirl-itis!

XTREME TILT-A-WHIRL-TYPE-COASTER-ISH-THING POV!!!

My car didn't spin a whole lot. :{

But that allowed for better on-ride shots. :}

I'd say that is probably more lush than most spinning coasters, too. :}

Yay for a Tilt-A-rific credit #92! What other spoils might F. Geiselwind have to offer?

Oh joy. A Wild Mouse.

This one was a little rough, too! There's a thin line between a good wild mouse and a painful one. 

Squeak squeak! That's credit #93!

A powered mine coaster rounds out F. Geiselwind's coaster collection.

The above-ground pools used to anchor Blauer Enzian double as ultra-legit water fountains!

The dark ride is called.....*ahem*...... Fahrt Zur Hölle.

Now, "Fahrt Zur Hölle" of course means "Ride To Hell" in German, but the application of English language-type-things can sort of give a different....well....lol.....yeah.

One can't hope to "Fahrt Zur Hölle" without the right equipment! If I'm going to Fahrt Zur Hölle, I need to be prepared! Preparedness here equals a large kendo helmet & an open mind about trying new things. :}

What happens after you Fahrt Zur Hölle? A Hölle representative teases you with a Hölle-spider!

...suddenly we're in Legoland & we're looking at one of those water-glider-type-things!

Actually, forget about that stuff you can do stateside; let's focus on the Nautic Jets for a sec!

The glorious water mutation of the Buttlefry has not one, but two incarnations at F. Geiselwind! It's a totally fun and satisfying little ride. :}

One of the Jets experienced some technical difficulties, but they were soon both up and running again! 

The European love for models seems to extend well beyond the purpose of developing a concept in miniature. Now they're doing it just cuz!

SWITCHING GEARS!

It's Freizeitpark Plohn time!

This little park spontaneously launched itself into the spotlight with the addition of their GCI "El Toro" coaster, which placed 6th in its first year on the Internet Coaster Poll. The massive, sprawling park has a lot more to it than just its woodie, though. Let's check it out!

Dojo-themed entrance for no particular reason.

ACE TAKEOVER OF THE WACKY WORM!

This lead to the Wacky Worm throwing its chain, causing a train of ACErs to evacuate! Good thing the boys and I got our credit!

Running to the Wacky Worm first thing served us well in the end! A very practical credit #94.

Miniature railroads at amusement parks around here aren't guarded like the ones in the US. They just meander right through the midways and thoroughfares.

El Toro is quite short in stature. The park did a great job of integrating it into the landscape without spoiling the park's quaintness.

What do we have here? It's Silber Mine, of course!

Silber Mine is a nicely-themed Zierer Flitzer with custom cars. The only other Flitzer I've ridden is the one at Bakken, and it was fabulous!

I was really looking forward to Silber Mine based on my last experience with a Flitzer, but I was sorely disappointed. Silber Mine's dreadfully-slow cars seem to be the culprit. A lame credit #95. :{

Thank goodness there's an excellent wooden coaster here to ease the disappointment!

And also a great log flume! But we'll get to those later...

Do you see what I'm talking about? The trains are just like *BAM* in the middle of the midway. I can picture myself walking into one as it randomly appears in the midway and being like "HEY! Who put this train here?"

After traveling through Freizeitpark Plohn's Asian, Western, and Latin areas, we found ourselves in Atlantis!

The newest coaster in the park, "Plohseidon" is a great little family coaster.

Disneyphiles may experience some Gadget's Go Coaster & Goofy's Barnstormer flashbacks.

That's credit #96, you guys! We're getting so close!

Okay, enough fussing with the small fry! It's El Toro time!

Riding the most petit coaster in the GCI family right after experiencing the gargantuan Wodan Timburcoaster definitely emphasized some contrast.

I can safely say, though, that both of these GCIs are better than the vast majority of US GCIs.

There is something distinctly old-school about El Toro; Its unassumingly-wild series of sharp turns and small bunny hops feel like a throwback to the golden-era woodies that peppered trolley parks all throughout America. The only thing big about El Toro is its delivery! It's an excellent credit #97 and an excellent 425th coaster! :D

El Toro was a bit more rattle-y than the average GCI, but that only seemed to add to its old-school feel.

There's some evil afoot! And its inside the log flume!!

Looks like we're not the only ACErs who just love log flumes. :}

I may have already mentioned this somewhere along the way (forgive me if I repeat myself), but JD's is huge here. People are crazy about it! There's people walking around in Jack Daniel's t-shirts everywhere. This is a picture of a flag that's hanging in the on-ride photo booth for of the log flume for no apparent reason.

Omg. The fact that I'm really hungry as I type this makes looking at this picture almost painful. It was really good pizza.

Exclusive goat time!

"How much is that goatie in the window?

The one with the waggly tail?"

"Oh, hello. I am a cute goat friend. :}"

Back in Atlantis, we checked out the dark ride!

It was a pretty small thing, however. Just a small oval. Cute, though.

Wrapping back around towards the entrance of F. Plohn from Atlantis, we find a small, disjointed viking-themed area.

There's also a scrawny Grimm's Fairytale area

And a sprawling Adventureland area.

These corners of the park were all very quiet. There were more animals than park guests for sure.

Oh, and Jeff started bleeding again on the Jungle-Cruise-type-ride! LOL.

I would now like to submit for your approval some ultra-legit bathroom signs:

omfg.

stfu.

Because there were very few other rides around, we ended up riding our first spinning kiddie drop tower! It was actually quite fun.

Epic soft eis is epic.

Oh, did we mention that there's a loose Flintstone's theme around? Yeah, they took it places that they shouldn't have taken it.

We went back for the viking spinning raft thing. It was alright. 

At night, the courtyard by El Toro really comes alive! There was a bonfire and dancing!

Goodnight, Freitzeitpark Plohn! You're a weird park, but we like you anyways.

Speaking of weird parks, Belantis is up next! The following day, we had a LOOOONG drive ahead of us with a quick visit to Belantis sandwiched in the middle. Belantis is a large, new-ish park that has yet to grow into itself. It's a big, corporate-y place that means well but doesn't quite flow. 

Belantis makes a dramatic first impression, but an overwhelming sense of emptiness quickly becomes apparent. Everything is designed for massive crowds that just don't exist.

Off in the distance, we see something very special!

A rare and unique Gerstlauer SkyFly is in the far-reaches of Belantis! Let's GO!

On our way, we found Egypt.

Joel and Ken are investigating Egypt's unusual raft ride, and so too shall we!

Oh my. This is a very interesting thing indeed!

And just LOOK at that drop!

You don't get very wet, but the ride was awesome. 

It's a slow loader, too. I can't imagine how bad lines would get if this park actually, like, had guests.

SkyFly time!

This is one of my new favorite flat rides. Rock yourself back and forth until you flip, and then angle your wings to go into what can only be described as a "death spiral"! SO intense!

In the German village, there were but few signs of life.

Scotland, however, yields more activity!

G'Sengte Sau fans, rejoice! It's time for another excellent Gerstlauer Bobsled!

Drachenritt, like all Gerstlauer Bobsleds, is a wild mouse triumph. 

Off in the distance, we saw the New World. We decided we liked the Old World better & stayed put.

(In case it's not apparent, Belantis's layout is a sloppy map of the world.)

Drachenritt affords you the opportunity to be eaten by an ULTRA-REALISTIC SNAKE!

Please, Lord. Let there be more Gerstlauer Bobsleds! I think if one of these showed up in the U.S., I would make an immediate pilgrimage to it. Also, I would die. Excellent credit #98!

Across the lake Atlantic Ocean, we see the embodiment of evil. More on that in a sec...

Let's just enjoy Scotland a little while longer.

Hey, look! It's Bill and Maggie! They love Drachenritt, too! :}

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

There is something to be said for a coaster with nothing but a really solid layout to hang its hat on.

Inside the castle that Drachenritt circles is a dungeon.

Wait, just kidding. It's a lab.

Oh! Nope, it's a church.

A-ha!! It was a Vekoma Madhouse all along. :}

Dude, that Frisbee looks cool, but.....I didn't want to walk all the way to the New World to ride it. And there's a Spanish ship in the way!

Okay. Here's the deal. This is Huracan. 

Huracan is a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter.

A REALLY bad Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter.

Why is it so bad, you ask?

Look at the picture above this paragraph. So those transitions? Yeah. This coaster was originally contracted for Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi. They wanted a B&M, but that wasn't in the budget. They contracted Gerstlauer to build them a coaster that looked like a B&M. They got a nice big zero-g roll, a cobra roll, and a pair of interlocking corkscrews. What they didn't get was a decent ride. Gerstlauer apparently expressed concern about the requests made by Ferrari World, but Ferrari World didn't really care. 

Fast-forward. Ferrari World runs out of money & they sell the Gerstlauer coaster before it's even finished being manufactured. Who buys it? Why the fledgling, money-hurt, Gerstlauer-supporting Belantis, of course! After the success of Drachenritt, they were sure to have a home-run with Huracan, right?

Wrong. 

Look at the cars. Do you see people riding? Maybe one or two per car? Yeah, it's that bad. Credit 99? Epic fail.

I need a break. The Dancing Pavilion doesn't hurt, right?

Ahh yes. This is just what the Dr. ordered.

Soon it was time to depart Belantis. This park is all over the place. Belantis, if you're reading this, get yo sh*t together!

Let's hit the road, Jack! We're driving all the way to the north coast of Germany today!

After a nap comes pit-stop time!

Convenience store salvation!

The cool thing about this McDonalds is that they have digital ordering terminals.

What sucked, though, was the fact that they had digital ordering terminals.

(Great concept, but a total sh*t show.)

FEAST YOUR EYES ON THIS!

The fries are delicious and eerily similar to the fries back home. The real star of the day, however, was my McFlurry. A Cadbury Calisto McFlurry. What is a Calisto, you ask? It's basically a Twix, but Cadbury-fied. They're amazing.

Add fluffy, delicious soft eis & chocolate sauce, and you've got something that is astronomically greater than anything I have ever received at a fast food restaurant. It was one of the few moments in my life where eating what I was eating made me sad b/c I knew that very soon it would be all gone. 

That wraps up this report, folks! Tomorrow we switch gears once again! We've got the superb Hansa Park & Hamburg Sommerdom coming down the pipe! See ya soon! :}