Legendia

Chorzów, Poland

“Cosy theme park with one of the world’s best Vekoma coasters”

Poland isn’t the most exotic holiday destination. When talking about this country, I’m not instantly reminded of sun, palm trees, beaches and mojitos. A few years ago, I didn’t consider Poland as a coaster destination either. If you were searching for a theme park holiday within Europe, you needed to travel to Germany, Sweden or Spain. Definitely not Poland. However, times have changed and nowadays this country features a few rapidly expanding amusement parks. The centre of this theme park madness is the city of Zator, where the famous Energylandia is located. That’s why this destination recently appeared on my must visit list. And since I enjoyed a few days off at the end of August, we quickly decided to book a cheap flight to Katowice. This huge city lies within a one-hour drive of Zator and it’s home to another promising amusement park: Legendia.

ROLLER COASTERS

Unfortunately, not all roller coasters are operational during our visit. The park offers two Pinfari Zyklons and they both remain closed. At the information centre, a staff member explains us that these rides’ brakes don’t work properly during rainy days. Weather is pretty nice at this moment, but apparently it rained a lot earlier today. So unfortunately, we won’t be getting our Legendia coaster bingo.

My first Polish credit is called Tornado (later renamed to Devil’s Loop) and it was built by French manufacturer Soquet. Most Soquet coasters I’ve ridden so far are painful, shaky and uncomfortable. That’s why I was a little anxious about Tornado. However, the actual experience isn’t that bad at all. Tornado may not be the most amazing coaster on Earth, but it’s considerably  smoother than expected. By the way: the last carriage of Tornado’s train offers two backwards-facing seats.

If you’ve ever heard of Legendia, that was probably because of Lech Coaster. This is a Bermuda Blitz, built by Vekoma and opened in 2017. The ride is built around a beautiful medieval castle and the atmosphere even reminds me of Klugheim at Phantasialand. With a height of 40 metres and a speed of nearly 100 km/h, Lech Coaster is more than just your everyday Vekoma. Besides, the ride features three inversions and some very fast curves. Thanks to its smoothness and intensity, I’m considering it as one of Europe’s best inversion roller coasters. I really hope that Vekoma manages to sell lots of these machines, since it would be the perfect investment for any theme park on Earth.

DARK RIDES

Legendia is expanding at a rapid pace. After the addition of Lech Coaster in 2017, the park presented a trackless dark ride in 2018. Bazyliszek is an interactive dark ride with laser guns that combines screens and real life scenery. Although I generally prefer classic (non-shooter) dark rides, I have to admit that Bazyliszek was surprisingly good. The ride has a decent length, theming is beautiful and the story line is easy to follow. If Lech Coaster and Bazyliszek show Legendia’s current quality standards, the park is definitely on the right track.

ANYTHING ELSE?

We visited Legendia on a rather chilly evening. It definitely felt too cold for a ride on Diamond River, but this flume ride looked quite good. At that time, it was the park’s only water ride. However, Legendia was working on a brand-new rapid river, scheduled to open in 2020.

Thrill seekers will encounter a few unique flat rides at Legendia. One of them is Dragon Wrestling Tournament, a Huss Flic Flac. The theming looks weird and I don’t like those twisting flat rides anyway, so we skipped this one. Another pretty uncommon attraction is the park’s giant airplane carousel, similar to the ones at Disney California Adventure and Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

WORTH A VISIT?

After a few extra rides on Lech Coaster, we said goodbye to the park. It was a special visit, as we shared the park with just 40 to 50 fellow visitors. Luckily, these uncrowded conditions didn’t have any bad influence on the park’s atmosphere. Many F&B outlets remained open, most rides (except those Pinfari coasters) were operational and staff members were kind. However, the park is clearly still in development. Some areas look outdated and they could use a few extra high-quality rides. Anyway… I’m glad we stopped here on our way to Energylandia.

PHOTO GALLERY

Did you already have the privilege of riding Lech Coaster? Did you grey out during those intense curves? And should I go back to Legendia to ride those Zyklon coasters? Share your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this page.