Back in October I flew over to Kràkow and spent 2 days at Energylandia. This park was massive and it was so cool to be somewhere new again. I don't know how easy it will be to try and summarise the obscene amount of rides this park has in one review but it's worth a shot. So here is Energylandia!
Smoczy Gród
Zadra was a masterpiece, as expected. The airtime combined with the amazing inversions just made the overall ride amazing. The queue is also as ridiculous as it is made out to be. It could probably take like 4 hours worth of queue when on most days it hardly breaks 10 minutes. The only thing I could say to improve it other than that is some added theming but its almost perfection. Frida and Draken were such fun additions to the area but again could have done with some extra theming or a vague storyline for the land. In comparison to other park areas, it felt more themed and had its own vibe very separate from the crowded rest of the park, similar to Aqualantis.
Aqualantis
Being the newest area to open at the time of writing (who knows when Sweet Valley will mysteriously appear at this point), Aqualantis is slightly on the unfinished side. I don't know whether their budget simply didn't stretch far enough or the time wasn't there, but loads of the structure and floorwork on Abyssus and Tidal Wave Twister have been left not done. I've been told they are set to be closed over this winter for this all to be finished, which would make the area look fabulous. Anyway, onto the rides...
Abyssus was so fun! The best way to describe it is probably half way between Lech Coaster and Icon - I don't know if that's a weird comparison but that's how it felt to me. The trains and restraints were comfortable, the inversions were glossy smooth and something about the second launch hit different. However, the first half of the layout was very slow and boring so not for me.
Ekipa Light Explorers probably has my favourite Vekoma Boomerang layout so far. Back row rode so nicely and in all honesty I think I rode it 4 times while we were there 😭. The area also housed both a Zamperla Mega Disk-O and a Rockin' Tug but we didn't do either, too busy lapping Zadra. There were a few other kid's flat rides but there was honestly no-one there riding them 😭.
Extreme Zone
This land was home to some real incredible works of engineering... and some real sh*t. If you've been, you probably know the 2 coasters I am referencing. Viking is easily the worst spinning coaster I have done and Mayan is an SLC. Enough said.
Hyperion on the other hand, was fantastic. As someone that can't really handle overly strong forces and rattle, the front inside seats were my preference but between people we rode with, lots of people had their own opinions like back edge or back inside. You do have to wear goggles in the front row Zadra, but of the coasters I've been on where this is a requirement, they are pretty comfortable and I'd hate to feel what it's like to ride that in the front without them because Zadra was awful. I think the weird turnstile seat batching system would work well if the park had enough guests for the queues to slightly fill, but i'll get into that later.
All of the parks extreme flats like Aztec Swing, Tsunami Drop, Apocalypto and Space Booster had very long, intense ride cycles and were super fun (aside from Apocalypto, we don't talk about that...). Speed was very.. damp, as expected and was a great change from a lot of similar family coasters surrounding it. Formula was very, smooth and graceful; a perfect step up from family coasters like Boomerang before Zadra and Hyperion. I feel like a similar Vekoma family-thrill launch coaster would work great at a UK family-thrill park like Chessington or Drayton Manor because they would pull off some awesome theming.
Family Zone
You'd think a park with 17 operating rollercoasters that has only been open 9 YEARS wouldn't have the money for water rides or family flat rides. You'd think. Energylandia has no less than 3 rapids, 2 log flumes, 2 or 3 splash battles and a shoot-the-chute. All drenching, all incredibly fun.
RMF Dragon and Boomerang both reside in this land and both are amazing. I loved the use of tunnels and levels in both, especially the station fly-overs.
Monster House had a Halloween overlay with a few live actors for October which definitely added to the atmosphere. I'm not sure if UK health & safety laws would have allowed live actors so near a ghost train ride system, but there's not much you can do. They also had scare mazes, but I'll tackle them another day.
Food
Over our 2 days I tried so many different food offerings with very mixed reviews. Here are some highlights.
- Dirty Fries, Frytkomania
- Ice Cream, Steam Ice Cream, Aqualantis
- Pizzas and Cheese Bites, Don Energio
- Mini Melts (vending machines across the park)
Overall, I had an incredible time at this park! As is frequently talked about, they have a locker system on almost every ride. It's very useful on water rides and when you're lapping coasters, however slightly inconvenient if you have glasses or something you have to take on and off every ride. Most major attractions have small shelves or cabinets for loose items people 'forget' to put in a locker so if you have something on you there is somewhere to put it. Zadra, Hyperion and Abyssus have a very clever turnstile system to batch their rows, but because they park's queues are always very short, it doesn't work very well. When trying to queue for the front row, a stranger shoved all 3 of my group over to get into the batch for that train. I think this system is a very good idea, just really not suited to this park.
Have you been to Energylandia? It's well worth the flight out to Poland to visit. Thank you so much for reading, I'll see you next time!
Cleo x
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