MannekenPis
Roller Poster
I had a very tight 4 hour visit to Toverland, squeezed in between school drop off and pick up, with a 4 hour round trip to get there, because I wanted to get on Maximus Blitz Bahn before it closes. This park is the last decent sized one I can get to in a day, hard to see where new to me coasters will come from now 
.
On a beautiful Spring day, the Park really did look magical, but my plan to get Blitzbahn done before queues grew was scuppered as it was down when I got there at 10:30. It was down several other times when I checked. What can really go wrong with a toboggan? When it was open, queues were 45 minutes or more, and that's just too long for me, so I failed in my main objective. My choice though, I could have fitted in 45 minutes queuing inside a warehouse at the end of my day, I chose to spend that time enjoying a Magic Beer and some chips in the sunshine in Avalon instead, and am happy with that decision!
When I got in, Fenix was advertising 5 minutes so I headed straight there, and so Avalon was my introduction to the park. The theming there is really top drawer, detailed and immersive. Operations on Fenix were a bit slow and one train, so the advertised 5 minutes would have taken more like 20, except I noticed in the slightly chaotic lift station that front row queue was only 2 people deeper than any other airgate. I waited the extra 5 minutes and thought 25 minutes for front row was great, even if the advertised number was way off. Fenix was an excellent ride, smooth and swoopy the way a wing should be, but with strong forces on the helix. Great near miss elements, and the inversions just the right speed for the format, controlled but not too slow. A really excellent wing coaster, would definitely have re-ridden if I had a full day.
I popped on to Merlin's Quest as was walk on and I wanted a dark ride. The boat parts are pretty slow but the indoor dark parts are detailed and well realised. I'm glad I did it and not just the coasters. I liked the look of the sky fly, again very well themed and in keeping with the area, but it was down intermittently through the day with consequent large queues when open.
I left Avalon and accidentally turned down the brightness on my phone so I couldn't read queue times, by the time I sorted it I was already in an advertised 30 minute queue for Dwervelwind, and decided to wait it out. Dwervelwind had 2 coasters but one was just filled with weighted bags/dummies. So it was worse than 1 train operation because you had to clear the 2nd train. Then when I got to the front the working coaster stopped working so some extra delay. When it got going it was a lot of fun, plenty of spinning, unusual angles, just funny. But a bit on the short side.
At this point I'd been in the park 2 hours out of an available 4 and had done 2 coasters and a dark/boat ride. Nothing had gone too wrong, just a bad decision and bad luck on Dwervelwind but it was all looking very tight, especially as Troy had been posting 40 minutes when I first arrived.
However it was now posting 10 so I hotfooted to it (the park is quite compact). The coaster itself looks great and I loved the wooden horse, but other than that, it isn't that extensive or immersive a theme. Perhaps I didn't give it a fair shake of the sauce bottle on a short visit but I did feel Avalon was levels above in area feel. Anyway due to some efficient single rider shuffling I got on in 5, and it suddenly felt the day was saved timing wise. I knew I would love Troy and I did. Troy felt relentless, great overbanking, really hauling, non stop, not exactly smooth but tracking well, not uncomfortable. It was fantastic but the only thing was I wasn't getting a load of airtime, marking it down just a touch. Though it wasn't a reride kind of day with that wait I went straight back round. Again I realised in the slightly chaotic station that the queue for the back was only 1 train longer than any other spot. Got on the back in less than 10 minutes (2 trains and good operations). I'd thought it was good before but it was fantastic in the back, getting loads of air, and really appreciating the station flythrough. Top stuff.
I would have loved to go again but headed instead to Booster Bike. Advertised at 25 minutes I thought I would just have to suck it up, but I was actually on in 10, again with a bit of single shuffling. I'd not been on one of these and thought the position was fun especially on the turns. The launch feels like it's going to be epic but then just tails off halfway through. Then the layout just doesn't do much, no air on the bunny hops, just some fun banking. And it's very short. Fun enough but limited.
The final coaster was Toos Express, a family coaster indoors but it was walk on so why not. The indoor area was quite well themed, and I well understand why indoor areas are a good idea round here. It wasn't as well done as indoor areas at Plopsa, and well below Phantasialand, it still had a slight warehouse feel. Perhaps I'm being unfair because it was so nice outside. It was decent but not top. The coaster itself is a bit rattley but is fine. 1 lap felt like it should have been 2, especially when no queue. Fun enough.
It was here I encountered my final Blitzbahn dilemma, having been checking on it all day, with less than an hour to go, did I really want to spend it queuing indoors for a toboggan? I did not, so I headed back to Avalon, had a great beer and really good chips in the sun, watching Fenix. I had thought I might grab another ride if the queue was short but it wasn't to be.
I feel Toverland has 2 excellent coasters and 1 superbly realised land, and the other parts are all decent enough in a supporting capacity. I also get that I am complaining about queue times that aren't long in the grand scheme of things, certainly compared to the UK at this time of year, I just needed a bit more luck to get everything done.
Obviously I would have liked more time for rerides, and would have liked a water ride (the log flume looked well themed), but they were busy given the weather. Ultimately it's better to go for 4 hours than not at all, I got on 5 coasters, including front row Fenix, back row Troy. I thought both were fantastic of their type, I thought theming was decent throughout and excellent in Avalon and I had a lovely beer in the sun. Excellent day.
. On a beautiful Spring day, the Park really did look magical, but my plan to get Blitzbahn done before queues grew was scuppered as it was down when I got there at 10:30. It was down several other times when I checked. What can really go wrong with a toboggan? When it was open, queues were 45 minutes or more, and that's just too long for me, so I failed in my main objective. My choice though, I could have fitted in 45 minutes queuing inside a warehouse at the end of my day, I chose to spend that time enjoying a Magic Beer and some chips in the sunshine in Avalon instead, and am happy with that decision!
When I got in, Fenix was advertising 5 minutes so I headed straight there, and so Avalon was my introduction to the park. The theming there is really top drawer, detailed and immersive. Operations on Fenix were a bit slow and one train, so the advertised 5 minutes would have taken more like 20, except I noticed in the slightly chaotic lift station that front row queue was only 2 people deeper than any other airgate. I waited the extra 5 minutes and thought 25 minutes for front row was great, even if the advertised number was way off. Fenix was an excellent ride, smooth and swoopy the way a wing should be, but with strong forces on the helix. Great near miss elements, and the inversions just the right speed for the format, controlled but not too slow. A really excellent wing coaster, would definitely have re-ridden if I had a full day.
I popped on to Merlin's Quest as was walk on and I wanted a dark ride. The boat parts are pretty slow but the indoor dark parts are detailed and well realised. I'm glad I did it and not just the coasters. I liked the look of the sky fly, again very well themed and in keeping with the area, but it was down intermittently through the day with consequent large queues when open.
I left Avalon and accidentally turned down the brightness on my phone so I couldn't read queue times, by the time I sorted it I was already in an advertised 30 minute queue for Dwervelwind, and decided to wait it out. Dwervelwind had 2 coasters but one was just filled with weighted bags/dummies. So it was worse than 1 train operation because you had to clear the 2nd train. Then when I got to the front the working coaster stopped working so some extra delay. When it got going it was a lot of fun, plenty of spinning, unusual angles, just funny. But a bit on the short side.
At this point I'd been in the park 2 hours out of an available 4 and had done 2 coasters and a dark/boat ride. Nothing had gone too wrong, just a bad decision and bad luck on Dwervelwind but it was all looking very tight, especially as Troy had been posting 40 minutes when I first arrived.
However it was now posting 10 so I hotfooted to it (the park is quite compact). The coaster itself looks great and I loved the wooden horse, but other than that, it isn't that extensive or immersive a theme. Perhaps I didn't give it a fair shake of the sauce bottle on a short visit but I did feel Avalon was levels above in area feel. Anyway due to some efficient single rider shuffling I got on in 5, and it suddenly felt the day was saved timing wise. I knew I would love Troy and I did. Troy felt relentless, great overbanking, really hauling, non stop, not exactly smooth but tracking well, not uncomfortable. It was fantastic but the only thing was I wasn't getting a load of airtime, marking it down just a touch. Though it wasn't a reride kind of day with that wait I went straight back round. Again I realised in the slightly chaotic station that the queue for the back was only 1 train longer than any other spot. Got on the back in less than 10 minutes (2 trains and good operations). I'd thought it was good before but it was fantastic in the back, getting loads of air, and really appreciating the station flythrough. Top stuff.
I would have loved to go again but headed instead to Booster Bike. Advertised at 25 minutes I thought I would just have to suck it up, but I was actually on in 10, again with a bit of single shuffling. I'd not been on one of these and thought the position was fun especially on the turns. The launch feels like it's going to be epic but then just tails off halfway through. Then the layout just doesn't do much, no air on the bunny hops, just some fun banking. And it's very short. Fun enough but limited.
The final coaster was Toos Express, a family coaster indoors but it was walk on so why not. The indoor area was quite well themed, and I well understand why indoor areas are a good idea round here. It wasn't as well done as indoor areas at Plopsa, and well below Phantasialand, it still had a slight warehouse feel. Perhaps I'm being unfair because it was so nice outside. It was decent but not top. The coaster itself is a bit rattley but is fine. 1 lap felt like it should have been 2, especially when no queue. Fun enough.
It was here I encountered my final Blitzbahn dilemma, having been checking on it all day, with less than an hour to go, did I really want to spend it queuing indoors for a toboggan? I did not, so I headed back to Avalon, had a great beer and really good chips in the sun, watching Fenix. I had thought I might grab another ride if the queue was short but it wasn't to be.
I feel Toverland has 2 excellent coasters and 1 superbly realised land, and the other parts are all decent enough in a supporting capacity. I also get that I am complaining about queue times that aren't long in the grand scheme of things, certainly compared to the UK at this time of year, I just needed a bit more luck to get everything done.
Obviously I would have liked more time for rerides, and would have liked a water ride (the log flume looked well themed), but they were busy given the weather. Ultimately it's better to go for 4 hours than not at all, I got on 5 coasters, including front row Fenix, back row Troy. I thought both were fantastic of their type, I thought theming was decent throughout and excellent in Avalon and I had a lovely beer in the sun. Excellent day.