Finally after what seems like an eternity, our first trip went ahead visiting 7 parks in 7 days and was a perfect start to Coaster Breaks.

With uncertainty still around entry to Belgium, Hansa Park and Heide Park became an alternative to Walibi Belgium and Movie Park Germany due to the operating schedules at these parks. The starting location changed to Ashford International in order to bypass Belgium and head straight to Germany for our first park, Phantasialand.

A small but perfect group consisting of myself, Chris, Nathan and Tom saw us start our journey in England before heading across to the continent via the Eurotunnel. Conversation was nonstop and instantly the trip felt as if a group of mates going on a road trip and this was only the beginning.

Once arriving at our accommodation in Aachen, we found out the hard way that with current restrictions, restaurants and bars stop serving by 10pm in Germany and we have missed our opportunity. The night turned into a petrol station feast with a couple cans of beers in the lobby as the game plan for Phantasialand was laid out.

Day 1 – Phantasialand

With a lack of sleep due to excitement, it was finally time to start at our first park of the tour and our first coaster was going to be F.L.Y. Parked at the Mystery entrance, we walked the long way round to Rookburgh so that everyone can take in the awesome atmosphere of Phantasialand. F.L.Y opens 30 minutes before all other attractions in the park and the majority of guests race to Taron first. We enter the heavily themed area in silence with goose bumps filling the arm and a speechless approach as we make our way to the entrance and around the long queue, stored our items in the lockers and a front row ride for Tom as we prepare for lift off.

Without going into full detail, the ride is awesome and never disappoints. For our early review on F.L.Y after experiencing this coaster in 2020, click here.

It is now 5 minutes until the remaining rides open and we head straight to Black Mamba. A short queue has already started forming and it is obvious that Taron would already be a 45 minute wait which we will leave until later. Entrance gates open for the B&M inverted coaster and we are ready to go on the third train of the day. Front row again… is Tom the lucky one?

Next it was time for the king of Phantasialand – Taron. Entering Klugheim at this time was only possible from the Mexico entrance near Chiapas. This is one of the most immersive themed areas in the world and hearing the roar of the second launch will make your spine tingle with excitement. The queue took less than 30 minutes to complete and seats are still assigned by the staff due to current restrictions. And yes, lucky Tom gets the front row again. Hitting the break run all that could be heard from everyone was chants of “Number 1!” This is such an enthusiast’s favourite coaster and one we are always envious of Germany for. Post ride we just marvelled at the area for a few minutes as it really is a lot to take in, especially when visiting for the first time.

Chiapas, the world’s steepest log flume was a walk on so it was time for some friendly revenge for Tom as he has just experienced the top 3 in the front row, so he can continue the tradition on a water ride. Before lunch we rode on Winja’s Fear, Crazy Bats (With Tom in the front obviously) and Maus au Chocolat. A quick bite of Pizza followed by a questionable ride on Talocan post lunch, Colorado Adventure, Mystery Castle and River Quest.

After another ride on Taron came the only disappointment of the trip as we headed to Winja’s to complete the final credit. With no one in front, the ride op would not let us on Force with 0 people at the air gate to enter the car. We explained this was our last credit and he said no. This was the only rude operator we saw on the entire trip as he made us re-ride fear. As we were pulling down the bar, the party behind us went straight on Force and this decision will always baffle myself on why he would do such a thing. This left a sour taste with Phantasialnd, mostly due to the rudeness of the operator, however another ride on Taron helped to bring the spirit back.

After plenty of re-rides in the afternoon, a long drive was ahead as we ventured toward Hamburg. This was part of the alternative tour and usually a short drive would follow Phantasialand, instead of a 4 hour drive featuring torrential downpour throughout the entire journey.

Day 2 – Hansa Park

Phantasialand is very full on with making sure you get everything you want to do done. Hansa Park on the other hand was a perfect place to visit after the seriousness of Phantasialand as it allowed us all to let our hair down and have great fun with plenty of stupidity along the way.

We could not go to The Oath of KÄRNAN first though as Chris was on 98 credits and as a team, we had to make sure the 100 was a big one. So we started the day with a front row ride on Escape from Novgorod, a fun Gerstlauer Euro Fighter with plenty of surprises and a real character for the park.

Next up was the huge 240ft beast, the tallest and fastest coaster we will be visiting on this trip and the all-important 100 for Chris. This ride features some very unique operations, first of which is how your row is chosen for the ride. You stand in a line, not knowing where you are going and then the chosen lights appear, making it random where you will be sitting. It really was not fair for the other guests as we had our lucky mascot Tom so obviously we were all going on a front row ride. This is by far the best coaster produced by Gerstlauer and a great experience. It is however difficult to keep lapping due to the pre shows taking place but we did manage 5 rides throughout the day.

There is a lot of fun and quirky things in Hansa Park such as a giant bouncing dome directly nest to The Oath of KÄRNAN. From here we all knew today would be a crazy day and soon after, slide credits made its way onto the scene.

Whether we got a soaking on the super splash, the multiple slide credits or the awesome coasters, Hansa Park really helped to bring our group together and the atmosphere felt perfect at this great little German theme park. The attention to detail and the rides all fit perfectly for this proud park that I am glad we had a chance to visit.

Day 3 – Heide Park

Another day, another milestone with Nathan hitting his 100 credit. This was 5 rides into the day and so everything was planned for the giant Intamin Pre-Fabricated Wooden Coaster Colossos.

The day had to start with a quick Covid test in order to comply with entry requirements to the Netherlands the next day, a huge relief as we all tested negative.

Heide Park started with some graceful rides on the two B&Ms, Krake and flug der dämonen. Next we experienced Big Loop which runs with the old trains from Corkscrew at Alton Towers, a nostalgia trip for those of us who remember the pre 13 days. A walk on for the mine train and we were ready to hit that 100 credit on Big Bob’s German Cousin. Colossos runs silky smooth, almost feeling like a steel coaster. There is a pacing issue with the ride as after the break run an incredibly boring helix is featured but overall the airtime is fantastic and it is a great coaster.

As a Merlin Entertainment park, it has all the familiarity you would experience at Alton Towers or Thorpe Park with very similar rides, like the next one Desert Race, a near clone of Rita.

We hit up all coasters pretty easy and got a lot of Slide Creds on the way as well as the water attractions and dark rides. The scariest ride for all the wrong reasons was the parks Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster, Limit. As we approach the head banger of a machine, you can hear screams of “Make it Stop” and you know it wasn’t because they were scared. This was my 8th SLC and definitely the roughest one I have been on. This ride was so bad I was tempted to add “Tour Operator will not ride any SLCs when visiting parks” into the terms and conditions.

Weather was kind in the morning but the last two hours featured torrential downpour, the worst of which we felt on flug der dämonen. For a ride we called graceful and no forces in the morning fast became the most painful experience as each water droplet felt like a pin stabbing you in the face. The majority of the ride was done with eyes shut in order to protect the pain and our vision. With no queue in the station and the staff asking if we want to stay on… of course we do!

Unfortunately the rides shut an hour earlier than planned, presumably due to the weather and so our end of day lapping on Colossos did not happen. Luckily we had the re-rides throughout the day. A visit to the gift shop has created the benchmark for best purchase on a tour with Nathan buying a piece of the old track for Colossos before the renovation, complete with a stamp on the side and certificate of authenticity. Next we made our way to Dortmund for the night ready to cross the border to the Netherlands the following day.

Day 4 – Toverland

The final milestone of the trip was for Tom who has chosen Troy for the 100th credit. This will be 3 coasters in to the day and so the B&M wing coaster Fenix was first up.

Toverland always has a great atmosphere and the entrance is no exception. We walked around Port Laguna and made our way to Avalon as Fenix was testing and the first train of the day with guests has just started climbing the lift hill. Halloween preparations are in full swing as a giant Fenix was being made out of pumpkins, something I am looking forward to seeing complete on my return later this month. We walked through the extremely dark and incredible themed queue and made our way to the left side of the train first, sit down, restraints on and… technical difficulties. The staff at Toverland are brilliant, we were all seen and talked to and everyone still had a brilliant spirit. Eventually the engineers came and let us out with a quick exit through the side door.

The morning was extremely busy with school trips, I do not think I have ever seen this many kids in their uniforms in one place… ever! This was great for the park which has always felt like a giant playground and really added to the atmosphere, even if we were having to be more careful and queues were slightly longer than anticipated. Quick change of plans saw us switch over to the Mack Family Spinning coaster Dwervelwind first and then a difficult decision had to be made. The indoor family train coaster or the Vekoma booster Bikes. With the queue for booster bikes building up fast and only 1 train operations, we opted for the 25 minute wait for Toos-Express. Desperately waiting to get on Troy, we had to make sure this was the 100 for Tom and so the wait was worth it.

Troy is a fantastic GCI wooden coaster, one that I personally rave about. Post riding we had to get the picture of Tom with his 100 sign and then come up with the plan for the remainder of the day. We all knew that the kids will not be around all day and so we took our time in the morning hitting up some of the slower rides and taking everything in. Fenix opened again soon after our lunch, a brilliant site while eating as the test trains started to go round.

The station to Fenix most have been the noisiest station I have every experienced, but again the staff were brilliant and handled all the kids perfectly with excellent operations.

Once the kids filtered out of the park, an hour of messing around, fun and slide creds with of course myself getting the best lap on Maximus’ Blitz Bahn. Asking Nathan if he is having a good time and the response “I have just rode a spiral slide while holding a slushy!” kind of shows the immaturity that Toverland allows us to experience as adults. The final hour approached as nicknamed enthusiasts hour. Hitting multiple rides on Troy and 5 back to backs on Fenix, we all left with a huge smile on our face. Toverland is a great park with exceptional staff and somewhere I am sure will keep growing from strength to strength.

This night we stayed in S-Hertogenbosch at the Movenpick Hotel where we had a fantastic dinner. Efteling was only 25 minutes away in the morning and so the night was great to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Day 5 – Efteling

The world of wonders awaits. Game plan for the day may have seemed crazy but everything worked out perfectly. Straight to the new Mack Powered Family Coaster for 2 quick back to back rides on Max & Moritz for both credits. Over to Baron 1898 and the water coaster Vliegende Hollander. Joris en de Draak was currently closed so we kept walking around the park grabbing some early lunch while it was quiet and going on the bucket list dark ride Symbolica.

Some great news with Vogel Rock which was due to be closed for maintenance has reopened and then time to catch the show raveleijn before an enchanting ride on droomvlucht. Time to finish of the credits with rides on Python, Joris En De Draak and of course the world’s largest pirate ship.

Efteling is one of those parks that does require multiple days to really experience everything it has to offer and so the day with Coaster Breaks feels like a taster for when you hopefully return. We experienced everything we wanted to including all the coasters, the bucket list dark rides and the main show before ending the day with the water show near the front entrance. It was another great day that did not disappoint, with only the car park exit being the slowest queue throughout.

Day 6 – Walibi Holland

Since changing over to Walibi Holland from Six Flags, it is clear there are still some of the past operations at play. Throughout the day we saw Sound of Speed, Condor and Express 13 all go down but the park got all three attractions back up pretty quickly.

Of course wanted to hit Untamed first, however with Walibi Holland, it is still a virtual queue for all attractions. Luckily I have experienced this in another Compagnie des Alpes park with Parc Asterix in 2020 so I was used to the operations. Untamed not available, please try again later. Ok, relax, had this with Oziris last year. Straight to Goliath which is a great Intamin Mega Coaster. Will not be a top 10 for anyone, but is incredibly enjoyable. As we enter the queue to Goliath, Untamed became available and we started the 10 minute virtual wait while travelling around the Intamin track over the lake.

The group reminds me to trigger Lost Gravity on the app as we get in the queue for Untamed. I have regularly been accused of hyping this ride up to much to my response, you can’t over hype an RMC. The brake run hits and yes, Number 1, Number 1 and Number 2 but maybe Number 1. This ride is just perfection even if the elements are hard to remember the names of such as the 270 Degree Double Inverting Corner Stall… bit of a mouthful!

To Lost Gravity the group expects but no, I did not trigger this but instead… Back to Untamed! Felt like a legend moment then as we already went for our second ride of the day on the Rocky Mountain Construction Airtime Machine!

The day went surprisingly well with the app, however at the end of the day we wished we could have just kept re-riding Untamed rather than joining the 45 minute virtual wait. The longest queue of the day was for the SLC Condor at more than 1.5 hours but we did manage to get the family coaster credit, a donut and 4 flat rides including the Ferris wheel completed while waiting.

Time to travel back down to Southern Netherlands for the final night as we were based on the Dutch Belgian border ready for tomorrow’s final theme park.

Day 7 – Plopsaland De Panne

A soaker of the final day from the second we left the hotel until just after lunchtime, but the Ride to Happiness more than makes up for this. Plopsaland De Panne was very quiet on our Sunday visit and after 4 back to back rides on the Mack Xtreme Spinner it was time to make sure that everything else got done in the park.

I will get a full review on the new for 2021 Ride to Happiness out soon but yes, it really is that amazing and when people say it pulls some of the craziest ejector airtime on any coaster in the world they are still under hyping this. It is crazy and one of the best coasters in the world. This made the top 3 for all of us including myself where I now have this placed just below Zadra and Untamed. (I will get my ride on Steel Vengeance in 2022!)

Throughout the day we easily visited all attractions including the water coaster and log flume because face it, we were already soaked. The highlight had to be 17 times on The Ride to Happiness, one time of which we all sat in a car to ourselves.

We left the park at 3:30pm to get back home due to increased measures at the border which took a little longer than normal to get through but everything was prepared and we were ready.

Overview

It was a great trip and I couldn’t have asked for any better guests than Chris, Nathan and Tom to share this with. The ending felt sad as we all had such a good time and became really good mates. At times you could have been mistaken that we all knew each other for years and this really made the trip so special. I really needed this more than I thought and so a huge thank you goes out to Chris, Nathan and Tom. After dropping off Chris at Gatwick, I drove home with a huge smile on my face and all the work over the last year and a bit has felt worth it. Sometimes there is no better therapy than a day at a theme park to just let all that stress disappear and although I know I am the tour guide and need to remain professional, I can’t help but loving what I was doing. I am now looking forward to meeting the next set of guests this Saturday and more awesome people throughout the years.

This is just the beginning of Coaster Breaks and you will be amazed at the plans I have to grow with such a fantastic community that I am proud to say I am a member of.

We have a couple spaces remaining on Friday 29 October and you can still book on. Click Here for more information.

Bring on the next tour!