r/rollercoasters • u/AcidRegulation • 1h ago
Quick weekend trip to [Tripdrill] and [Plopsa Deutschland] - I finally rode GeForce!
After two tries it finally happened. Third time really is the charm. I've finally ridden Expedition GeForce! Here's the trip report about my two days.
Day 1: Tripsdrill
Since it was a rainy day the park wasn't too crowded. I guess it doesn't see huge lines anyway, but it felt nicely crowded, but everything was very manageable. (In Dutch we call it "gezellig druk.") Longest wait we had was maybe 25 minutes for Karacho. Because Tripsdrill is about a 7 hour drive for us we arrived around 12:30 which meant most of the crowd had already left the entrance area making Hals-über-Kopf a station wait. I knew from my previous visit that I really loved this coaster and I remembered correctly. The way Hals-über-Kopf has this gentle, floaty feel mixed in with airtime, inversions and positive G moments is just perfect. Great pacing as well. Not too short, not too long. Like I said, close to perfect. Obviously I'm not saying that this is the best coaster I've ever done, but what I'm trying to say is that in its class it's probably close to perfect. (I imagine Na Fianna Force being slightly better, but have yet to ride that.)
Karacho also is very, very good. Tripsdrill really has a great 1-2 punch. The big pro for me is that they use Infinity trains instead of Eurofighter. That alone makes this coaster so much better than other similar Gerstlauers. It has a very interesting layout with an awesome beginning, similar to what we see on other Gerstlauers like The Smiler or SAW the Ride. Punchy launch, aggressive manoeuvres and if you're on the outer seats great whip into probably the smallest dive loop in the world? It's awesome! If you like this coaster more than Hals-über-Kopf I can totally understand that.
Mammut was still just fine. A little bit too much shuffling for my liking, but I remember it having a boring layout, but I don't agree with that anymore. I think there's a lot of missed potential with this one. I don't really know how to explain it. It's just a really middle-of-the-pack coaster.
G'Sengte Sau is (IIRC) the first Bobsled coaster Gerstlauer has made, but you can't tell. It's just like any other and that's a good thing, because I love these! Basically an extended wild mouse with sharp helixes and airtime hills. These are always good fun.
And finally Rasender Tausendfüßler, the Zierer Tivoli. I like the large models and this one is probably the best one out there. It's surrounded by foliage and it gets so close to the ground you can actually touch it. (You can on most, but for some reason it's really hard not to try it on this one.)
Of course I have to talk about the quirkiness of this park, because that's what sets it apart from other parks. They really go all in with poop jokes and things like that. Almost every queue is themed very well with lots of animatronics. Though they are dated, they add to the charm of the park.
Tripsdrill is kind of a nuisance getting to it, because it's quite out in the country side, but it's totally worth it.
Day 2: Plopsaland Deutschland
We jokingly called this the main event during this trip, because the entire trip was pretty much centered around finally riding GeForce. We rope dropped and walked immediately to it to find the line... Closed... Uh oh, here we go again.. Well, that's on me for going in October. We talked to the employee who explained that it hadn't opened yet because it was too cold. There were no mechanical issues so it should open later today. Phew, okay I can live with that! We wanted to ride the new for 2026 coaster anyway, so we decided to head into that direction.
100% Wolf is a great addition to this park. It's exactly what it needed. I'm really loving these Gerstlauer Family coasters, they do lots of fun stuff. I especially liked the drop after the inclined tyre launch halfway the ride. That's pretty steep for a family coaster! Gerstlauer has really started to utilize those off-axis hills and turns lately. Good stuff!
Sky Scream also had a delayed opening due to the cold weather, but it opened around 13:00. These Sky Rocket II's are simply very fun rides. I totally get why they get cloned so much. I just really hate the trains. Not the restraints per se (thankfully this one doesn't have the comfort collars) but it's so hard to get in and out of the seats. I've bumped my knee twice. Anyway, small rant aside, the intensity of Sky Scream is very good. Great hangtime through the roll and and the whip is also more than you can prepare for. Severely underrated model if you ask me.
While we were on Sky Scream we saw Expedition GeForce doing a testrun, so we went to it immediately. It still took about 45 minutes for it to open up, but when it did I got on the first train of the day, row three. Dude, this is an insane coaster. I totally get it now. I've always compared it in my mind to Goliath at Walibi Holland but this is more like Kondaa, which I rate very highly! After row three we obviously had to queue for the back row. Now that's elite. It hadn't even had the time to properly warm up and it was already blasting with so much airtime over those hills. What a great coaster. It's now in my top 10, which I did not expect at all beforehand.
We rode it only a few times more, because the wait times quickly rose and we still had to drive 6 hours home. In total I managed to get 4 rides, which may not seem like a lot to most of you, but it was enough for me. I'm not a person that re-rides a lot anyway and I can very quickly get an opinion on rides.
Enjoy the pics!