2022 felt like one continuous highlight which makes it near impossible to pick out individual pieces. The year really felt like it started with Blackpool Pleasure Beach opening weekend with a reunion with guests who managed to attend 2021 tours and then kept spiralling out of control from there. With 14 tours complete, and so many guests I have met who trusted me with their holidays, it really has been one of the best years of my life as I continue to see Coaster Breaks grow.

The 14 tours consisted of the Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands tour 10 times, South West Germany and France tour twice and also two Winter Tours. When I am on a tour with a group, that group is my priority and I love what I do. The very strange feeling is always the following tour when I feel like I am cheating on my previous group like a disloyal partner, making me feel dirty for about a day before getting back to business and riding coasters.

One of the most frequent questions I receive is how do I remain so excited about visiting these parks and does it get boring? No, never! Going on Taron at Phantasialand with someone for their very first-time, getting that front row ride and hitting that brake run, you look over and see the reaction that person has. After collecting the bags and waiting for the rest of the group to finish getting off, running out the exit, sometimes a chant of ‘Number 1’ or sometimes just the words of woah, but always a smile. Sometimes they say they preferred F.L.Y but no matter what the reaction is, I was there, I saw it, and I experienced this with a new group. Plus, when a group thinks that Dora the Explorer Log Flume at Movie Park Germany is going to be dry as it is themed to a kid’s character, you bet I will be there to take the photos! This is why it will never get boring, because of the guests!

2022 New Attractions

My favourite new for 2022 attractions included the Expedition Zorg retheme at Toverland and Deep in Africa Adventure Trail at Phantasialand.

Coasters alone do not make a park but really the extra bits that create fun moments and help the group to bond together. Both attractions are perfect additions to their parks to help the group come together and more specifically allow me, to take more photos of the group. Expedition Zorg was an extensive retheme on their log flume which has modernised this section of the park.

Deep in Africa was a pain during the construction as Black Mamba was not opening until 1pm during the renovation. Having opened on July 12th, we visited on my birthday on July 14th and the walk-through adventure trail was filled with so much fun that I always make sure we have time to visit with every group. Plus, at the end you will even get to meet a Phantasialand Dragon, Kroka.

South West Germany & France Tours

A huge highlight for myself was the inaugural South West Germany & France tours as both these tours saw previous guests from the original tours return and meet other members for the first time. As this was the case, it was easy to have the discussions to extend the trip which was done with the first tour as we headed to Bellewaerde, Bobbejaanland and Klotten. These became the first new parks in 2022 for me as well, which was great to experience with other members.

Going away with previous guests made for an exciting trip for myself, but also with people I trusted to gain their feedback on the new tour. The biggest request on both trips were to visit Rulantica, the world class water park at Europa Park Resort. Both visits were brilliant, and I laughed so much with the rest of the guests.

It was of course great for me to get back on Expedition GeForce at Holiday Park for the first time in 17 years and I was so happy when the coaster met my expectations from my memory from all those years ago.

Halloween

Spooky Season is amazing in these European Parks – Especially Walibi Holland. The park is open with rides and scare mazes until 11pm with an amazing overhaul of the park from 7pm. It is almost like being in a completely different place when the sun goes down and the lighting packages and different soundtracks the rides use is a show in itself, Lost Gravity being my personal favourite. With a very busy park, we always go prepared with Gold Fast Passes and so plenty of night rides on Untamed. Walibi Belgium also showcases their demons throughout the day, but the main priority when visiting this park is the rides, especially Kondaa!

The Inaugural Winter Tours

Finally, after cancelling the winter tour in 2021 due to Omicron, we got out to experience the festive activities of Phantasialand, Europa Park, Efteling and Plopsaland de Panne. These parks go all out on the winter decorations and made the season atmosphere come alive.

Two tours departed in December, The Allied Forces and The Hat’s Ons. Although the month was cold and of course you must dress up warm, The Hat’s Ons had some really bad luck as the unexpected cold weather hit Europa Park causing the temperatures to drop to below -11 degrees. Only 2 days later this increased back up to 12 degrees, an incredible change. Europa is a great park, and we all had an awesome time, we got to experience a few coasters including Wodan: Timbur Coaster and all the dark rides and both the tours of course ended back up in Rulantica.

Phantasialand at night could take me 4,000 words to talk about my love of this park. The night rides are incredible, whether the red mist in Taron’s second launch or the lighting show taking place every hour on the hour in Rookburgh for F.L.Y. The main square is lit up gorgeously with so many lights and the atmosphere is perfect navigating what I believe to be one of the best parks in the world.

The Winter Tours finish with two days in the quirky Efteling and a stop off at Plopsaland de Panne on the way home. Efteling decorates their fairy tales in the forest to dress up warm in the colder months and with plenty of indoor attractions such as Symbolica at Vogel Rok, there are plenty of places to stay warm. As always, finishing the day at Efteling is only complete after watching the awesome Aquanura water show.

2023 Winter Dates will be on-sale soon!

Roundup

From April until December, with a little down time in September and November, it has been a very busy year. In my time off I have had 2 trips to America visiting such bucket list parks as Cedar Point and Magic Mountain.

Thank you to all my 2022 guests in the following groups - The Log Flume Appreciation, Meat Processing Coasters, Finger Marie’s, Catfishes, Spin Snakes, Traffic Wasps, Teacups, Le Noooms, Double Fisters, Tuck ‘n’ Sniffs, Travel Beavers, Crumpets, Allied Forces and the Hats Ons.

I can’t wait to start the tours again from April and places are getting very low, if you want to book, please do this as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Here’s to an awesome 2023!

View Our Departure Dates Here

And a few of my favourite images that make me smile from 2022 trips below.