[Complete!] (October/November 2024) Austria & Slovakia - Day 3: Bratislava

[Rob Coasters]

The knowledge of Wild Train's death caused me to impulsively book a Halloween weekend out to Austria, country #14. I don't often gain country credits on solo excursions, in fact it only happened once before with my day in Tusenfryd where I stepped foot into Norway with nobody but myself. A friend of mine did the exact same thing a few weeks prior, and decided to gain yet another country credit with Slovakia and flying out of Bratislava instead of Vienna, and with my neverending interest in Eastern Europe, I followed his footsteps and soon enough was on almost the exact same itinerary as what he did.
The only thing I changed was that I was only spending an hour and a half in Bratislava, and I would be skipping Bohmischer Prater and the +1 that came with it, but I had it in my head that I'd be returning in 2025 to ride the new Macks and do a full sweep of every major Austrian park (spoiler, this never happened, so far).

Flying into Salzburg I reacquainted myself with one of life's greatest pleasures and one of Germany's greatest achievements, the schnitzel. Genuinely one of my favourite foods ever, I get my grubby hands on one every chance I can find. A train to Strasswalchen involved a lovely forty minute walk to the park with the most definitvely and undeniably Austrian countryside ever.


After one ride on #355 Wild Train I was overall unconvinced by the ride's offering, with the lap bar resting on your chest instead of your lap, which I immediately wasn't a fan of. The airtime was strong, but the aforementioned tightness meant I wasn't able to fully enjoy it. Immediately going back around, the thing did a 180 when the lap bar didn't come down as hard - this roller coaster might have the single most violent airtime hills I have ever experienced on a roller coaster, at least of this size. Deceptively devilish moments threw you vertically and laterally with zero mercy or remorse as the wild train careens and crashes its way through the course, violently jerking small children with no care for comfort. And I love it to bits.


Unapologetically this tiny thing, barely 40ft tall, is one of my all time favourite roller coasters. I only got three rides total due to abnormally long lines, but I suppose it deserves that when the thing is being turned to scrap in four days' time. Front row was where it's at for the lethalest moments of dicing with death. I'll miss you.


#356 Fridolin's verruckter Zauberexpress was far more suitable for family audiences, it's as tame as family launch coasters come but was still a great time either way - the backwards launch is utterly useless, but I like quirks like that, and the second lap was a welcome addition. Not long after, a quick lap of Mami Wata, the park's log flume with an elevator lift, soaked me to the core with a drenching splash that got me real bad! To dry off, an attempt at riding the Sinbad dark ride was made, but failed as the queue looked not worth the while it was going to take, plus its seemingly dismal capacity. Instead I rode the KnightsRide Tower, which quickly became one of my favourite drop towers.

The KnightsRide Tower is a drop tower concept I've only really seen once before with Ghost - The Haunted House at Legoland Billund, only this one clearly had a budget of more than the dust in empty pockets and a handful of 2-cent coins. You raise up the tower slowly as you view medieval scenes of increasing levels of concern before meeting the mighty dragon at the top who sends you down a shockingly forceful drop. This is a fantastic ride with perfectly-built visual storytelling, and this should absolutely be the move for parks who want drop towers but may not have the height to go big. I would love to see more.


The rest of the day was spent exploring the beauties of the park, its very own version of the Fairytale Forest, and also a mini-Niglo Show which was a welcome addition to everything. I had time for food and one final lap of Wild Train before bidding farewell - the park was open for hours longer but I really didn't want to walk back through the Austrian countryside in complete darkness, so left just before dusk. The fields of the rural area the park was situated in were as lovely as ever, the place felt somewhat fake sometimes, and while some may say "it's just a field, what gives?", sometimes you just gotta be there.


Back in Salzburg I checked into my hotel, then immediately dropped asleep, managing to miss dinner entirely without a care in the world.


Tomorrow - Prating

 

[Rob Coasters]

A lengthy train to Vienna had me arriving at Prater for day two of coastering, and I came well prepared with the huge amount of cash required in order to spend a day here. Immediately starting by knocking out #357 Dizzy Mouse, I proceeded to get lost in the maze of a queue for #358 Insider which was a pretty terrible example of a Maurer spinner, coming to a dead stop on the brakes with an uninteresting layout and a lightshow that's fun but not enough to save it from the bottom half of my list. #359 Gesengte Sau was the longest queue of the day at "not walk-on" and while it looked promising was unfortunately one of the weaker examples of these bobsled coasters. #360 Maskerade was, once again, a remarkably awful version of its model, and had me wishing I'd been able to get on Vicky the Ride.


It felt genuinely awkward presenting myself as a customer to #361 Hochschaubahn, and the contrast between this and the legendary Tivoli were astounding - Rutschebanen being the unapologetic centerpiece of the park with a bustling crowd and fantastic vibes, this one being shoved into a corner with literally nobody caring about it. It was an impressively boring ride with one singular moment to speak of, a fountain that would have soaked you to the core if you didn't duck. I don't think this ride tries to be good, and it's more of a 'scenic tour through some models', but as a roller coaster it fails pretty hard.


#362 Race gave nine laps too many before spotting a disused water feature then after making my way to a ride that wasn't an active disappointment, #363 Megablitz. Megablitz, is, AWESOME. Its utterly chaotic way of movement was the well-deserved change in pace that I needed, scurrying through dozens of dizzying helices with a lap bar that barely touches you. You truly feel at the mercy of the machine, and the sheer lack of control against anything happening earned it a reride at the end of the day (which was impressive considering how expensive this park is).


To add to surprise delight, #364 Boomerang was by far one of the strongest examples of a ride of this type, with those luscious lap bars, the tunnel, and the dreamily smooth tracking made this for a far more enjoyable experience than I had anticipated, though it was straight back to the dump. #365 Zug des Manitu had some comedic value at the very least, #366 Volare was legitimately miserable and a strong contender for the worst roller coaster I've ever been on (which was sad because I quite enjoyed Hero at Flamingo Land), and #367 Roller Ball was a huge nothing burger of a ride that failed to achieve really anything at all. Wilde Maus was closed (eh, just a clone), Olympia Looping was absent (eh, got the credit) and Wiener Looping was under construction (ugh, I have to go back).


I had little desire to spend much money than I already was, but wanted to try some dark rides, so went for Eisberg first. This was a fun take on a shooting dark ride, where you took photos of animals with your guncamera who activated cute little scenes as you shot them a nice 'graph. Geisterschloss was a hilarious ghost train with a surprise live actor which got me good, and ended the day on the Freifallturm drop tower which provided great views at the top, but as always, was a letdown (literally) on the drop. No other flats or dark rides were ridden as I was growing incredibly conscious of how much of a money sink this place is, so I decided to cut my losses and walk out.


Going back to the hotel I learned an important lesson - if anyone walks up to you and stops you on the street begging for money, don't give in. Being an empathetic individual can be a minor financial hit sometimes!



Tomorrow - Bratislaving

 

[Rob Coasters]

The desire to see a new country saw me not flying out of Vienna, but rather Bratislava in Slovakia, and being a direct train from Vienna away it was easy as lemons to get to; I had later discovered that you could get an alternate route by taking a boat as both capitals are on the same river, I wish I had known that earlier, would've been unique!
Instead I was taken to Bratislava Petrzalka, where I stepped foot into country #15 and took an Uber under the wondrous UFO bridge straight to the castle which I gawked at for a short while.

I hadn't allowed myself a long time here, just a pitiful hour and a half before my bus to the airport, but this gave enough time to take in at least some of the beauty of this place. Being a huge fan of Eastern Europe, this was more or less my first taste of it, and this style of architecture is exactly what I enjoy more than anything and it only deepens a desire to explore it further. I'd like to return here at some point, even if coaster numbers here are lacking!















Shortly I was on my way back home, where instantly on the plane, a stark and sudden urge for the bathroom arose - a "go NOW" situation, which made the taxi & takeoff agonisingly perilous as I counted every second and stared at the seatbelt lights like my life depended on it, but the second it turned off I was OUT of my seat bound for the bogs. It wasn't a terribly ideal experience; my nightmare is needing to go when the opportunity isn't immediately available and I was living that nightmare. The rest of the flight went swimmingly but that was a very unforeseen end to these three days.

Anyway, two days later Wild Train was a heap of scrap metal and I am forever grateful that Fantasiana told us that they were planning on saying goodbye, because I wouldn't have ridden it otherwise.

Thanks for reading!
Next - Madrid