Holiday Park

Haßloch, Germany

“Expedition GeForce remains one of the best European coasters”

Every coaster enthusiast in the world knows Holiday Park. Despite the fact that this German amusement park isn’t huge, it has one unique selling point: Expedition GeForce. This Mega Coaster opened in 2001 and it put Holiday Park on the map. Nowadays, the park is operated by the Belgian Plopsa Group. Plopsa is mainly known for their child-friendly theme parks, so they added loads of family rides to the park. This may seem uninteresting from a coaster fan’s point of view, but Holiday Park actually made a huge leap forwards during the past few years. The overall theming level has risen steadily and many rides have been added during the Plopsa era.

ROLLER COASTERS

Expedition GeForce is Holiday Park’s biggest star. It’s built by Intamin and it has won multiple awards. Many enthusiasts consider it as the world’s best steel coaster and it’s easy to notice why. GeForce’s first drop is nothing less than legendary, the ride has tons of airtime and the curves are very intense. Over time, the ride has developed a little rattle, but this doesn’t make the experience any less awesome than it used to be. Unfortunately, Expedition GeForce seems to be running with one train permanently, so capacity is limited. My most recent visit to Holiday Park took place on a relatively quiet day, but the queue remained at 30 minutes all day long. The return of the second train would be greatly appreciated.

Holiday Park has a total of three roller coasters: Expedition GeForce, an indoor coaster for children and Sky Scream. This is a Sky Rocket II manufactured by Premier Rides, which you may recognise if you’ve ridden Tempesto or Tigris at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Tampa. And although I don’t consider this as ideal rides for those big Busch Gardens theme parks, it’s a perfect thrill ride for a medium-sized park like Holiday Park. The ride is fitted with a horror theme and a creepy (very elaborately themed) queue line.

ANYTHING ELSE?

If you want to see naked women in a theme park, Holiday Park is the place to go. The park’s medieval dark ride has some uncensored scenes and that’s pretty unusual at a Plopsa park. Definitely visit Burg Falkenstein if you want to check it out. Apart from that, the park has many flat rides for every age and there’s even an indoor section themed to several Plopsa IPs. The most recent addition is Wickieland, a carbon copy of its namesake at Plopsaland De Panne. The area is beautifully themed and it features a Disk’O Coaster, a Splash Battle and a playground. Other popular rides are Wickie Splash and Dino Splash, two well-themed water rides. The Plopsa Group added brand-new decoration to these rides in recent years, so they both look stunning. Don’t miss them, but be warned: queues get rather long during those hot summer days!

WORTH A VISIT?

Holiday Park would be a fine amusement park without Expedition GeForce. But thanks to this awesome roller coaster, it has become a must do for every theme park fan. It’s easy to combine Holiday Park with a visit to Tripsdrill or Europa-Park, as they are both within manageable driving distance. So if you haven’t ridden GeForce yet, there’s literally no reason to postpone your visit any longer.

PHOTO GALLERY

BACK IN TIME

Is Expedition GeForce the world’s best roller coaster? Is Plopsa Group doing a good job with this park? And is Burg Falkenstein the most unusual dark ride you know? Share your opinion in the comments section at the bottom of this page.