gemmachaos.bsky.social
Queer Musician, Nature Nerd, World Appreciator, blogs and podcasts at chasmosaurs.com
Special interests include but not limited to: Animals, dinosaurs, theme parks, music, prog rock, infrastructure, LGBTQ+ rights.
(she/her) 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
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And when I said Passover, I meant, of course, Pentecost. You can tell I'm a born scholar of religion.
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It's also got this going for it: It must be one of the easiest parks in the world to get to, with a dedicated stop on the Madrid metro, so you won't be discouraged by a difficult journey (looking at you, Alton Towers).
Another great roller coaster day in Spain!
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I was expecting a park similar to Legendia: run down and empty, but with some worthwile rides. Parque de Atracciones is better than that; the rides are better, the atmosphere is better and it doesn't look like it's on borrowed time. Also: it's in a much better city. This matters!
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But it definitely has some oddities and rarites that make it worth a visit if you're interested in rides, and the place has good vibes. Plus, if you're a serious thrill seeker you can't really miss Abismo.
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Parque de Atracciones is a nice place to visit when you're in Madrid, but it's not what you come to Madrid for. Between the two big parks in the area, it's definitely the lesser one.
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We also queued up for the wild mouse coaster, but the line was moving at a snail's pace and we were tired, so we bailed. No great loss: turns out I'd already ridden this particular roller coaster many years ago, when it used to be at Bobbejaanland! For what it's worth, I remember liking it.
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I came off and simply said "no bueno". Only a shame that my last coaster in Spain was the most disappointing one. Coaster Express over this, any day!
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It's as rough as any Vekoma SLC and has a drawn-out, meandering layout that's not especially fun. And it looks pretty ugly, too. Is this the same firm that made Batman: Gotham City Escape?
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Intamin: they've built some of the best rides in the world, as well as some capital L Lemons. Tornado, sadly, is closer to the latter category.
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We had to prioritize, and this was the remaining big coaster that was open. I'd been quite looking forward to Tornado, a very rare suspended looping coaster from Intamin.
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A rare but welcome sight: one of the last operating Huss Condors, a ride I've always loved at Slagharen (that one hasn't operated in a while). I'd have fancied a ride but M wasn't keen, and the lines were slightly longer than I wanted to put up with.
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More random themeing! A tank! Looks like a real one, too! Why? Why not?
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The park operates well enough, but it seems like it's been a long time since it's recieved some TLC from the invesment company. I suppose they reckon the park looks after itself, given how many people it still pulls.
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Here's a big building with a fake facade, standing totally empty. And this isn't in some forgotten corner of the park, but right on the midway.
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Random themeing: an Eiffel Tower! Why? Why not?
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Next door is the obligatory log flume, which we'd have been keen on riding if the line wasn't seven eternities long. Even as the day progressed the crowds were nowhere near thinning out. I was hoping to knock this park out in a few hours but we'd been here a while and there was lots more to do.
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Bummer. Tarántula is one of the biggest spinning coasters ever built, and there's a pretty good chance it would have been my favourite in the park. That's the biggest L I took in Madrid.
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The exit of Abismo opens up to a sad sight: a roller coaster not operating.
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You don't brake in the station, instead you whizz past and back up the vertical lift hill... where you get slammed onto your back! Ow. Abismo is probably the scariest roller coaster I've ridden so far. I wouldn't say it was the most comfortable ride experience ever, but absolutely a thrilling one.
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Some overbanks and sharp airtime hills give this one some meat on its bones. It's still a short ride, but a satisfying one.
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Abismo is unique for having a bit of a layout after the signature sky loop element (other similar installations by Maurer end after the dive loop).
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Abismo starts with a vertical lift, which feels sketchy enough on its own. Then you cruelly get turned upside down, all too slowly, before gravity finally takes over and you get flipped right way up, only to go upside down again for the dive loop. And it's all with a lapbar (rather, a stomach bar)!
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Abismo is not the best coaster in the Madrid area, but no doubt it's the most evil.. and the competition is pretty steep! (Pun intended)
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Enough beating around the bush. Time to confront the fact that I'm here to ride scary roller coasters.
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Do the cannibal dance. Because European theme parks are classy like that.
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Why is this here when there is literally a big zoo next door? But then, why not?
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We also couldn't resist the jungle boat ride.
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One of the absolute must-rides is the Star Flyer, not for the thrills, but for the views. The park, the estate, the city with its palaces and high-rises and the mountains in the distance: it's enough to make you fall in love with Madrid all over again. I couldn't take my camera on, you can see why.
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The central zone of the park is very pretty and even very quiet in places. Southern Europe in June, you can't beat it.
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From the zeppelin, some taller and more intriguing rides beckon...
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Much less of an eyesore is the zeppelin monorail, which was running with plenty of trains and which we gladly took a ride on.
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One of the stranger sights on this side of the park has to be this elevated railway with a screaming orange train and station, striking a very out-of-place note in the lush greenery. Nickelodeon themed lands: not even once.
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Actually, we had great fun on this. I should probably stop pretending I'm too good for kiddie coasters. Nevertheless, at this point I was hoping I'd get some bigger rides in.
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...only to lose it for good on another Zamperla kiddie coaster. This one is at least more unique, with the suspended aeroplanes. Themed to a much less hot and happening Nickelodeon property (Fairly Odd Parents), this line was a mere ten minutes!
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It was Passover Sunday and the park was rammed. That meant I probably wasn't going to ride all the roller coasters. No +1 for me here. This kiddie coaster pulled an hour-long wait... just because it's got the Paw Patrol name slapped on it. At least I walked away with my dignity somewhat intact...
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I think I prefer TNT over the similarly-sized Mack-built Road Runner coaster over at Parque Warner. This one looks a lot better, too. Built in 2012, this is the most recent coaster to be built here...
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Named TNT - Tren de la Mina, the castle theme never really ties in with the rest of the coaster. But it's a good coaster all the same. It's smooth, has some pull in the helixes and nice interaction with some artificial caves. Gerstlauer are great at family rides.
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This is not a park of grand statements or intricate themes. Some individual rides are nicely spruced up, some not at all. A nice castle serves as the joint enterance to the shoot-the-chute splash and the mine train coaster.
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Built on a hill in the vast Casa de Campo park estate, Parque de Atracciones is the older of the two. Founded in 1969, it is old enough to be a bit run down but not old enough to have a long, respectable history behind it. Still, it's a park of many joys and charms.
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With crowds moderate but the atmosphere lively, and all the rides running at full force, I think we still saw the park at its near-best. As the lazy June sun set over the Spanish steppe, we knew we'd had another very memorable theme park experience.
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The biggest disappointment was the food. I'm Dutch, I like to be able to pack my own lunch. If you're going to forbid visitors from bringing their own food, at least have some good food options. Stands that sold sanwiches were all closed. Most of the open stands offered only ice cream and popcorn.
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It surely helps that I'm seven-for-seven with their roller coaster collection. It isn't the biggest ride line-up in Europe, but it can't be beat for quality. That's one of the biggest differences between this park and Movie Park, which has maybe two-and-a-half decent coasters in a line-up of eight.
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We had a great day at Parque Warner. Unlike the Walibi parks, the other former Six Flags parks, Parque Warner still feels a little bit old-fashioned, stuck in the past... but is that a bad thing? It fits with the atmosphere and leisurely pace of Spain. The heat discourages rushing everywhere.
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Na na na na TAFKAB! When this park was new, the newest Batman movies this ride tied in with were those terrible Joel Schumacher ones.
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TAFKAB a very intense coaster that still holds up very well. B&M doesn't make them like this anymore! I wish Movie Park Germany had gotten one of these instead of a rubbish Vekoma SLC.
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The original Batman coaster in Chicago was the first inverted coaster at the time (early nineties). It was cloned a dozen times, but this is, again, the only one of its kind in Europe, and the first I got to try. Another reason why this park's lineup feels very American.
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...sorry. "Shadows of Arkham". Bleh. These IP-based parks have some clunky naming conventions, and with a new Batman coaster across the plaza The Attraction Formerly Known As Batman (TAFKAB) had to get a new (bad) name.
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One coaster left to go! It's Batman!
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I was scared of the backwards drop especially, but it was a surprisingly smooth element... until the pullout, that is! Still, one of the better models from Old Vekoma. It's the only Vekoma in the Madrid region so I'm glad my countrymen got to make a cameo.