Finland + Italy 09/19 – Movieland Park + Leolandia

Day 11

Movieland Park

Here it was again, the last day of our trip, and without knowing it we had saved the best for last. Italy had peaked far too early with Etnaland on our first day here, but today it would be topped by our short visit to Movieland Park.

Before even visiting this wonderful place crazy stories and speculation had gotten me even more excited. “It’s owned and run by the Italian Mafia.” Surely that’s just a rumour, but it does make everything that little bit more exciting wondering if it’s true. “The place isn’t dangerous but they fly a little close to the sun in terms of health and safety rules.” Sound funs to me, I hope that’s true. “The park’s monorail literally turned to spaghetti and partly collapsed.” No way, that’s not possible… No wait that actually happened 3 days before our visit. I’d better delete that from the list of attractions we need to ride on the day then.

Pangea

Talking of attractions we need to ride. When I was browsing their website and making that very list, Pangea made me do a triple take and I had to immediately inform Heartline. Mate, they have a fully unguided jeep ride, that you drive completely yourself, past loads of animatronic dinosaurs. That’s not just a World’s first and probably only, that’s freaking amazing.

The best part was it was even better that I expected. Heartline drove, exactly as advertised might I add, while I sat in the back. The roads you drive on are insanely bumpy in places and I spent most of the ride being violently ejected, in such a way that it was almost too much. I don’t think I’ve had this much pure fun at a park in ages, all 3 of us spent the whole experience crying with laughter, it was wonderful.

What a start!

Hollywood Action Tower

Intamin 1st gen drop towers scare me at the best of times, but now that Pangea had me believing this park wasn’t afraid to be brave I was even more concerned. This led to me and Heartline once again laughing and screaming for the whole ride and that was special.

There’s many things that separate Movieland Park from other parks, but one that needs mentioning is how almost all of their attractions feel like the main event.

Magma 2.1

Look here’s another! Jump in a converted racing truck driven by an absolute madman and discover the magic of movie making special effects at crazy speeds. Nothing I can say can do this insanity justice, just go seek it out, if you’re brave enough. Every single person on our ride broke into epic applause when it ended and I think that says more than enough.

Android 3D

Next up was the park’s 3D cinema of sorts, Andriod 3D. It didn’t quite live up to what came before it but it was still good cheesy fun. The preshows were hilariously lip synced by actors who looked like they didn’t care. Then the main ride had a stage infront of the screen where a live actor ran about and lots of special effects erupted from. In any other park it would be iconic but here it’s almost like they were playing it safe.

Brontojet

Brontojet was next, the park’s Schwarzkopf City Jet. It didn’t really make much of an impact on me but it was nice to get to ride such an elusive coaster model.

Kitt SuperJet

Right, back to insanity again. Oh my God, this thing was amazing and much like Pangea I have to believe it’s a World exclusive. Jump into a 600bhp speedboat driven by an absolute madman and well yeah, that’s the whole concept and it’s genius. Terrifying acceleration, terrifying water acrobatics, a special effects show thrown in mid ride, it’s truly one of the most exciting things I’ve ever experienced. If you’re brave enough and don’t mind get soaked to the skin, this is seriously one of the best attractions I’ve ever seen at a park.

Diabolik

We ended our amazing visit to Movieland Park by riding their Vekoma Invertigo, Diabolik. This thing rode amazingly smoothly for what it is and I honestely enjoyed it. To ride forwards is brave, to ride backwards is Diabolik!

Heartline, who reads the dirty forums, tells me Movieland Park isn’t very highly regarded amongst enthusiasts, who think it’s too wacky and out there. Well they are just too boring for their own good because let me tell you, after visiting nearly 200 different parks in the World, Movieland Park is a breath of fresh air and truly stands out from the pack. I loved this park and it was perfect way to end our visit to Italy.

But we aren’t finished just yet.

Leolandia

On the way to the airport we stopped off at Leolandia, a park aimed more at families with younger children, but they still had 4 coasters to knock off.

Leocoaster

A Zamperla kiddie cred was first up. We got some strange looks from the staff while boarding but that’s to be expected.

Twister Mountain

Then it was time for a Zamperla spinning mouse.

Vroom

Next up was Vroom, a really well themed Preston and Barbieri coaster. I wasn’t expecting anything of this calibre from Leolandia, I’m impressed.

Mine Train

The final coaster of the park (and trip) was a Zamperla (of course) powered coaster. It spends half it’s course riding strangely high over some grass and then interacts with the park’s log flume during it’s second half, it was alright.

And with that our mega trip to Finland and Italy was over. It was great to be able to finally visit these countries we’d been putting off for so long. Finland and Taiga left a very strong impression on me, whereas Italy was slightly disappointing if I’m honest. Having experienced almost all of the Italian coaster scene in 1 trip, it was a shame the country doesn’t appear to have a seriously kick ass coaster to it’s name. Also with the exception of Etnaland and Movieland Park, the park scene seems to be somewhat lacking as a whole. Hopefully soon they can rectify this because I’d love to get back out to this beautiful country and risk more intense sunburn.

Thank you so much for reading.