Europe 07/19 – Toverland

Day 4

Toverland

When visiting in 2016, I left Toverland rather underwhelmed. Yeah the park has some really nicely themed areas but they also have 2 massive dimly lit warehouses. Sure the park has the wonderful Troy but they also have the incredibly average Booster Bike as a main attraction. It probably also didn’t help proceedings how busy the park was during our half day visit.

Thankfully, a mere 3 years later, major changes have taken place at the park and turned Toverland into something really special.

And it all begins at the entance. Gone are the days of entering a dimly lit warehouse. You now enter the park through their beautiful new entrance plaza. The fantastic Troy to your right and the stunning new Port Laguna directly ahead.

I was not expecting this. Neither was I expecting a massive smile to uncontrollably appear on my face as we walked through Port Laguna and heard it’s gorgeous score blaring.

Then we arrived in Avalon, another area that was new to me, this one even more beautiful and much more important.

Fenix

Because it was home to Fenix, the park’s new (to me) B&M Wing Coaster.

I don’t think my words or even my pictures can do this coaster and area the justice it deserves. It’s truly breathtaking what the park has created here, a stunning area, with an insane level of detail, that feels alive with wonder and magic.

The queue for Fenix really continues the trend of going above and beyond in the theming department. There were several moments when I just stopped walking to admire my surroundings. At the end of this luscious labyrinth, you reach the station, which is also stunning.

Fenix, as just the coaster hardware itself, is good fun, though nothing too impressive. It wouldn’t really make sense for it to be an intense experience like Flug der Dämonen. But on the other hand it doesn’t flow as well as Wild Eagle, a tamer example, that I feel Fenix is much more akin to.

Ultimately though, when looking at Fenix and Avalon as a whole, the park have a done a fantastic job and I’ve no doubt it has and will continue to do wonders for the park.

Sadly Merlin’s Quest, Avalon’s other star attraction, was closed all day, which was a massive shame because it looks amazing.

After 3 laps of Fenix, it was walk on and I wasn’t taking any risks today, we headed over to Dwervelwind.

Dwervelwind

Me and Heartline discovered that Dwervelwind, the park’s Mack spinner, is really hit and miss. Sometimes you’ll barely spin and it’s a bit boring, sometimes you’ll spin so fast you’ll barely be able to see when you hit the brakes. For our one and only ride today, Dwervel was playing it safe.

Booster Bike

For my brother’s sake I put myself through a lap of Booster Bike. It was alright and it was amusing to watch him struggle to get into the stupid seats, much like I struggled 3 years ago.

Next up my brother rode Toos-Express, a Vekoma Junior coaster located in the dimly lit warehouse that used to be the entrance to the park. While he rode I strolled around the foul smelling warehouse and realised just how far the park has come in 3 years.

We went for food next at Katara Plaza. The choice of food was insane, it was delicious and easily the best food of the trip.

Troy

We saved the best for last. After riding and being let down by countless GCIs recently, I was certain that I wouldn’t view Troy as strongly as I did 3 years ago. I was wrong, it still kicks serious ass and stands tall in a sea of mediocre GCI creations. Great airtime moments, vicious laterals and a relentless out of control feeling, Troy is certainly one of Europe’s best wooden coasters.

After 3 laps my brother said he needed a break, so we went back for a few more flights on Fenix.

Having now run out of things to do, and still having 2 hours before we needed to leave, I wanted to keep bouncing between Troy and Fenix but my brother said he’d rather leave and take the drive back to the Channel Tunnel slow. To compromise, I said we’d ride Troy 5 more times and then visit the gift shop, then we’d leave.

What a great final day of the trip today had been. Toverland had been the surprise of the trip. I was expecting to ride Fenix a few times, ride the other coasters once and then want to leave, but I’d have quite happily spent the whole day here. It’s crazy how far the park has come in only 3 years and I look forward to what’s coming next.

The drive to the tunnel went fine and we arrived 1 minute after the “do not arrive more than 2 hours early” rule expired. Meaning we got on a much earlier train, free of charge.

Thank you so much for reading.