Europe 08/20 – Energylandia

Day 6

Energylandia

Only 4 months later than planned we finally made it to Energylandia.

I know everyone has already visted this park and we are way late to the party but this still felt rather special. 15 coasters for the taking with 2 of them appearing World class, there’s no time to waste, let’s get in there.

There was a large rabble of people waiting to buy tickets which got us slightly worried but thanks to Polish efficiency the queue absolutely flew by and we were soon powering into this massive park and heading towards the very back, to Zadra.

Commence screaming now.

Draken

But first we need to warm up on the park’s only Italian kiddy coaster with a twisted airtime hill, Draken. In my excitement for Zadra I forgot to take a photo…

Frida

And while we’re here let’s ride the first of the park’s two Vekoma Juniors. This one is better, sorry but it is.

Zadra

Finally, the time has come.

I went into my first ride on Zadra not expecting much and believing it was overhyped by the lesser RMC experienced European masses. I came off of my first ride on Zadra absolutely blown away.

Zadra > Untamed > Twisted Timbers > Wicked Cyclone > Lightning Rod > Twisted Cyclone > Wildfire

Yeah, there’s no point keeping you in suspense, Zadra is my new favourite RMC and a seriously outstanding coaster.

Zadra takes a similar approach to things as Untamed by featuring a more varied layout, instead of focussing solely on airtime, this in my opinion makes for a more complete experience. This is coming from a man who lives for airtime, so you can understand how it pains me to say that but it’s true.

Similar to Untamed in approach, nothing like any other RMC I’ve ridden in execution, Zadra is an absolute monster. You feel every inch of the 200+ foot drop, you’re fully aware you’re flying around at speeds over 70mph. The airtime moments, though less than you might like, are all insane. All of the inversions hit hard and are memorable. Zadra has everything for everyone and I’m in love with everything about it.

So, Zadra far exceeded my expectations, can the park’s other star attraction do the same?

Hyperion

Yes it can!

Hyperion is the park’s winged Intamin Hyper coaster, it’s the coaster that put them on the map back in 2018, but it’s not without it’s critics. Going in I didn’t believe it was going to be a bad coaster, I just wasn’t so sure if it was going to ride as amazingly as it looks. And then it did.

In a World with so many lacklustre first drops, Energylandia have done the unthinkable and both their major coasters have kick ass ones. On Hyperion you get more than enough time to get concerned on the decent as you’re pinned into your very minimal restraint.

Then there’s the airtime. Similar to Zadra, there may not be enough for some, but what’s there is honestly brutal. Speaking of brutal, the positive Gs this thing subjects you to are insane, I really wasn’t expecting that. I also wasn’t expecting, much like Zadra, for Hyperion to make me appreciate the sensation of speed, which I really did when we were flying around a few feet off the ground at 80mph.

And then there’s the dive loop…

In most seats it’s great fun. In the back left winged seat it’s incredible.

Yeah, the park are 2 for 2 now.

Zadra and Hyperion are certainly 2 of the greatest coasters out there, more than deserving of both entering my top 25.

The monsters out the way, now it’s time to knock off the rest of the park’s coasters, this may take a while…

Frutti Loop Coaster

We started with the Wacky Worm, it was quite amusing seeing the park using a turnstyle and countdown system on such an insignificant attraction.

Energuś Roller Coaster

Next up was the park’s second Vekoma Junior. You weren’t allowed to bring loose articles into the station on this one, see I told you the other one was better.

Boomerang

Another Vekoma next, this time a Junior Boomerang, I liked the paint on this one.

Roller Coaster Mayan

Time for the SLC…

Me and Heartline spent the entire ride in stitches after I aggressively starting mocking those who say that with the right restraints SLCs actually offer a decent ride experience, they seriously don’t. At least with the over the shoulder restraints you have something to concentrate on, without them it just highlights how awful the layout and ride quality is.

Formuła

Damn, this thing was a disappointment…

I was expecting something rather special from this modern Vekoma launch coaster, especially after Heartline rode and enjoyed an almost clone in China, but it wasn’t to be and that saddened me.

It was just a bit lacklustre. The airtime was fine but was hampered by the bad train design. The inversions were fine but no where near snappy enough for my liking, they probably would have been better with better trains. The launch felt a bit pointless, made worse by Heartline saying the lifthill version has a much stronger start.

After 1 lap I thought it was me being fussy, but after several I’m sure I’m not really a fan. I hope this is just a bad example of a modern Vekoma otherwise I’m slightly concerned for both Lech Coaster soon and Abyssus when it finally opens…

Dragon Rollercoaster

Vekoma SFC next. It certainly wasn’t as pretty as the other layout clones of this I’ve ridden.

Circus Coaster

In punishment for attempting to ride this questionable coaster I stapled myself so hard that I couldn’t breathe at all for the entire ride… Apart from that though the ride operator was a bit of a legend, scaring kids with the air line used for unlocking the restraints.

Mars

Another SBF contraption next but this time I could actually breathe. The operator of Circus Coaster waved to us as we crested the lift, he either knows we are on a serious cred run or thinks we’re insane, or both, either way top bloke.

Happy Loops

Another SBF Visa? Alright then…

Viking Roller Coaster

The penultimate peril. It was now time to experience the infamous spinning mouse with over the shoulder restraints. I didn’t mind it, I actually found it quite funny, Heartline however, yeah, he wasn’t a fan so much.

Also that makes 4 SBF Visas in a row, 5 in a day, is that some kind of record?

Speed

While I enjoyed this Intamin Water Coaster far more than I did with Divertical, that was only because it had clean water and didn’t feature several hundred half naked Italians. These things are all about the ascent up that tower, which still worries me, but from there they are just a bit pointless in my eyes, as both a water ride and a coaster.

Park complete, let’s go ride Zadra and Hyperion until we bleed.

We started with Zadra and got several rides in before heading to Hyperion where we stayed until close. This was to get an almost night ride on the Intamin monster, which we did and it was incredible.

A minus point to the park now for being a little too fussy with their train management. The big boys were both running 2 trains for the most part but anytime the queue dropped below 15 minutes the ride team would instantly cease operations to take a train off. This would of course cause the queue to build back up, so they’d then have to re-add a train almost instantly. It was strange and it cost us valuable Zadra/Hyperion time.

I’d heard quite a lot of negative reviews of Enerylandia, with people saying it has a nasty atmosphere and feels like an oversized funfair. Well, in my opinion, on the 2 days I visited, I had a lovely time and other than the questionable train management I saw nothing at all to take issue with. I would happily return tomorrow for more time with Zadra and Hyperion and I cannot wait for the park to continue it’s incredible growth so I can return again.

Day 7

Zatorland

Knowing today was going to be an easy one, bouncing between Zadra and Hyperion all day, we decided to start things off by getting the +1 at Zatorland, which is about 15 minutes from Energylandia.

Dinocoaster

And there it is and Christ was it riding violently.

Park complete, let’s get back to the beasts.

Energylandia

Today we did a couple of things differently. We used the park’s all day locker rental wristband system, which is both extremely well priced and a lifesaver. We also got pizza from a shack opposite Zadra, which once again was really well priced and tasted awesome.

We’d spend all day bouncing between Zadra and Hyperion, with the occasional stop off at Formuła if the queue looked acceptable.

Today we ended things with an almost night ride on Zadra which was both amazing and awful at the same time. Awful because as the sun set the layout became surrounded by these tiny bugs. You could feel them getting swatted by your hands and you had to keep your mouth closed to avoid eating them. Sadly several got in mine and Heartline’s eyes and my God was it deeply unpleasant. It also took forever to get them out…

Thanks for reading, click here for day 8, where we’re disappointed by Lech Coaster while visiting the not so great Legendia.