“Now I know you won’t refuse, because we’ve got so much to do and you’ve got nothing more to lose”, said Queensryche in their 1988 classic, Operation Mindcrime. That song sums up my day at Parque Warner well. Before we get into it, let me give some background to the trip.
Fifteen of us set off from all over The UK to Madrid. There’s two large theme parks in Madrid, Parque Warner and Parque de Attracciones. We had a day at each park and in off season, surely it would be easy to get all the creds right? Well… the day took a turn for the worst. There was barely enough time to take photos.
Parque Warner is somewhere I’d been looking forward to visiting for a while. It’s home to a large B&M Floorless and a new for 2023 Intamin launched coaster! However, I had some concerns. Spanish theme park operations are notoriously bad, like really bad. By this I mean things like coasters running one train, slow dispatches and ride break downs. Queue jumping is also a real pain in Spain. Let’s get to it.
We arrived for the midday park opening, only one of the creds opened with the park.
Shadows of Arkham - 531:
Starting the day My second Batman invert of the twelve operating, though I should tick some more off next year! B&M inverts are my fave coaster type, so I was happy to start the trip off with a back row ride. It was everything I wanted, forceful yet smooth.
Coaster Express 532:
This is where the day took a turn for the worst.
A wooden coaster with a reputation for being one of the most uncomfortable rides going. Coaster Express is often compared to Bandit at Movie Park Germany, a coaster I don’t mind. Joining the queue, advertised at 40 minutes, it took over an hour. The coaster kept going down and was running one train. We got the front and the restraint of a guest on the previous train didn’t open, the engineering team took an age to arrive and used a tiny allen key to open the restraint. Then they decided to change the train for a different one. Finally we got to ride. From the moment we left the station, it felt like the train had square wheels. Rough as anything, like a bad Thai massage. To top this coaster off, it had no airtime. The only nice thing I can say about it is that it was well paced.
Tom and Jerry 533:
I didn’t even have time to take a photo of this one. It’s a large Tivoli. It wasn’t what some enthusiasts describe as a ‘rumble bum’. I’ll spare the details on that…
We then had a break to consume a 1&1/2 plastic cup of beer and an average hot dog.
Batman Gotham City Escape 534:
The launches had good power, there was a great mix of elements and the air time, oh my word! At one point I felt as if I was stood up, the ejecter was that powerful! Certainly a better coaster than Taiga at Linnanmaki, which I guess is my closest coaster to reference this to! I really wanted to ride it again, more on that later!
Stunt Fall 535:
An impressive coaster to look at and photograph, in fact here’s a photo of me taking that photo:
This coaster was opening and closing on/off all day. If a butterfly in Portugal farts, the coaster closes. Once it opened for the first time that day, me and a couple of the others rushed there. There was no time to wait, it could close again. Phew, got the cred! It closed again, two trains after the one I was on. Some of the group didn’t get the cred. Time was running out, I was glad to get the cred. I didn’t enjoy the hang time but it was a smooth enough coaster.
At this point, the group split. There was around two hours until park close. Superman still hadn’t opened. Two creds to get. My cred anxiety was very high.
Correcaminis Bip, Bip 536:
The name translates to Roadrunner beap, beap. A decent family coaster. By this point, myself and a friend were rushing through the park to get stuff done. The clock was ticking.
We decided to get another beer and join the Batman queue for a second ride, Superman wasn’t going to open… or was it?
An hour until park close and posting a 40 minute queue….
Superman 536:
I had nothing to loose, it was an easy decision to leave the queue for Batman and race towards Superman. I love B&M Floorless coasters, I love the swoopy elements, the drops and the force of these beasts. Superman was a beast. Ending the day with a Superman night ride was a good end to a difficult day.
I was ecstatic to get all of the creds, especially when for so long it didn’t look possible. Stay tuned to parts 2&3 of Mad in Madrid! Operation Mindcrime complete!
Comments
Post a Comment