Neil, Author at Coaster101

Thoughts on Alton Tower’s Wicker Man

Ahead of 2018’s other major U.K. coaster installation at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the Mack Rides multi-launch coaster Icon, we visited Alton Towers’ new attraction for this year, their latest Secret weapon – the Wicker Man. It would be interesting to...

May 23, 2018 by Neil Features 0

Old Favourites Feature at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

A season ending visit to London gave us a chance to revisit Hyde Park and it’s massively successful month long Winter Wonderland. The original has spawned many other similar events in it’s image, infact it is unusual for most large...

Heidi at Plopsa Land – Another Look

A recent visit afforded us the opportunity to experience Heidi – PlopsaLand’s new Great Coasters wooden coaster. With the ride structurally complete on our visit last year, it was an unusual return to ride the now opened attraction, given that...

Jul 20, 2017 by Neil Trip Reports 1

48 Hours in Hamburg

With the new coaster season underway, it was good to reacquaint ourselves with several old coaster friends recently, with a 48 hour away-day in northern Germany. It has been a fair few years since visiting Heide Park. Last visit was...

Apr 27, 2017 by Neil Trip Reports 1

Farewell to Pleasure Island

Cleethorpes Pleasure Island has just made its final farewell, closing on Saturday 29th October, with its annual end of season firework finale. The park recently announced the intention to close at the end of 2016, bringing to an end the...

Nov 13, 2016 by Neil Trip Reports 0

Heidi the Ride awaits at Plopsa de Panne

There’s possibly few things more frustrating to a coaster enthusiast than anticipating coaster opening dates, and certainly over the years I’ve experienced my fair share of delays in this manner. Visiting Plopsaland recently was a case in point, as the...

Sep 18, 2016 by Neil Trip Reports 1

Reflections on Phantasialand’s Taron

A recent trip to Germany gave us the opportunity to experience Phantasialand’s new coaster coupling : the exceptionally unique Raik, Vekoma family coaster and it’s senior partner , the spectacular Taron, an Intamin multi launch coaster. You could see from...

Aug 17, 2016 by Neil Trip Reports Features 0

Flying Visit to Walibi Holland

We managed to get the opportunity to get to Walibi Holland to experience their new for 2016 multi element steel coaster from Mack rides, Lost Gravity. Bringing their coaster tally to seven, this was already a good park for large...

Jun 8, 2016 by Neil Trip Reports Features 0

Looking Back at Pleasureland – Part II

After a short hiatus over the cold winter, we’re back with another look at Southport and it’s amusement park. In part one, we looked at the park in transition through the 2000s, from closing up to the re-opening under the...

Feb 21, 2016 by Neil Features 0

What’s ahead in Europe in 2016

After a fleeting festive season, it’s time to have a brief look at what’s arriving on the continent this coming year, and hopefully anticipate some gems in there. Maybe the most anticipated additions will include Taron, and Raik at Phantasialand,...

Jan 9, 2016 by Neil Features 1

Looking Back at Pleasureland – Part I

As the close season is upon us, I thought it would be good to take a look back at a park I always seemed to always take a little for granted over the years, given that it has existed for...

Dec 9, 2015 by Neil Features 0

Thoughts on Tayto Park and the Cu Chulainn coaster.

I am sure that quite a few people were surprised when little known Tayto Park announced the expansion plans, which included a wooden roller coaster, the Cu Chulainn. It’s rare nowadays to hear of such a large initiative for a...

Oct 22, 2015 by Neil Features Trip Reports 0