While I’ve yet to make it across the pond to visit any of the great theme parks in Europe, I’ve had my eyes on several parks over there for years. In this week’s Top 3 Thursdays I’m going to list (in no particular order) the theme parks that I’d like to visit the most in the Old Country. As usual, my list is focused on their World-class roller coasters and not the guest experience or other factors of a theme park trip.
Thorpe Park – Chertsey, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Thorpe Park has more of a thrill park vibe and it boasts a pretty intense arsenal. There’s Stealth (an Intamin Accelerator Coaster like Xcelerator at Knott’s), Nemesis Inferno a unique B & M inverted coaster, and a heavily-themed Gerstlauer looper in SAW – The Ride. There’s also one of my most wanted roller coasters Colossus. Next year, Thorpe Park will unveil B & M’s next wing rider in an unnamed coaster with an apocalyptic theme. Theme Park Tourist has an in-depth look at Thorpe Park’s 2012 wing rider roller coaster.
Visit the official Thorpe Park website
See at StreetView of the area inside of Colossus
Thorpe Park on RCDB | CoasterForce’s Thorpe Park Guide
Alton Towers – Alton, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom
Could Alton Towers be the British doppelganger of my beloved Busch Gardens Williamsburg? I don’t know, but it is a great-looking, wooded park that’s home to a few landmark B & M roller coasters. There’s B & M’s first ever flying roller coaster Air, B & M’s first dive coaster and World’s first vertical drop coaster Oblivion, and Nemesis which is a highly regarded B & M inverted coaster that hugs the park’s terrain. There’s also Rita an Intamin accelerator coaster and last year’s much hyped Thirteen which has the World’s first drop section.
Visit the official Alton Towers website.
See a panoramic view of of Air
Alton Towers on RCDB | Towers Nerd’s Alton Towers Guide
Europa Park – Rust, Baden Wuerttemberg, Germany
Germany has a number of roller coasters and theme parks of interest. Europa Park is one of the most popular theme park resorts in the World. Europa Park first showed up on my radar when they built Europe’s tallest ride (239 feet) the B & M hyper coaster Silver Star. According to Wikipedia, the park is owned by MACK, so Silver Star is the park’s only non-MACK roller coaster. The park also boasts blue fire Megacoaster, and two water roller coasters. In 2012, the park will open a new GCI woodie called Mythos.
Visit the official Europa Park website.
See an overhead view of the park and a gallery of photos
Europa Park on RCDB | Europa Park on Wikipedia
Here’s a POV video of bluefire megacoaster at Europa Park:
See my previous Top 3 Thursdays posts.
What’s Your Take?
Again, this list is just based on what I’ve been able to discern about these parks’ roller coasters over the years. I invite my UK and mainland European readers to chime in. Leave a comment below. Image 1 courtesy of legoyoda, Image 2 courtesy of Roger Barker, and Image 3 courtesy of CoasterForce.