Heide Park

[Bert]

The future doesn't look bright for Colossos.

The future of Europe's largest wooden roller coaster does not look rosy. 

The largest wooden rollercoaster in Europe has been grounded since July 2016 for urgent maintenance and repair work. Early this year, Heide Park announced that Colossos will remain closed throughout 2017. Many details could not be released, but a spokeswoman from the park could tell us that "It's a replacement of the roller coaster rails, which is a very cumbersome job. An opening date is not known yet, but we keep everyone informed As soon as there is more news,"said the spokeswoman.

Last weekend, a conversation round took place with the fansite "Freizeitpark-Welt" and some Heide-Park managers. In addition, the park came out with an official verdict on the future of Colossos at the end of this year. It was also said that the repair of the roller coaster is accompanied by a repair cost which is below a two-digit million amount, a pepper repair.

The park is now watching with the parent company Merlin Entertainments and their investors what decision they will take. There are currently different scenarios on the table, including breaking down the job to replace him with a brand new attraction.

Imagine if they actually closed Colossos, Imagine the bad publicity Merlin would get...

[Chris]

Hopefully we won't be in the same situation with SW8 in ten year's time..

[NemesisRider]

This has honestly made me quite sad. When I visited last year I was gutted to miss getting a ride on Colossos - I loved the rest of the park, but it was sad to see their biggest ride down. From what rumblings and rumours I've heard, it is possible that Merlin essentially left the ride to rot for a year or so under the guise of maintenance, so they can eventually come out and say that the ride is irreparable (as they may have done here). I really want Heide to keep Colossos as an Intamin - RMCing is out of the question if the issue lies in the structure. If it does get removed I will be disappointed, but it opens up a huge plot of land (the long rumoured hyper/giga could easily fit in this area). That said, a hyper/giga could easily fit around Colossos if designed well....

[Luce]

Yeah I really want Colossos to stay as it's one of my favourite woodies and would be such a shame if it was to close.  Plus I would like to return to Heide as a few things have been added since I visited and to have Colossos still part of the line-up would be great.

[ponder]

I'd also be gutted to see Colossos go. Never ridden it, or been to Heide park, but it was, for me, the big selling point for a visit. Especially as I adore the Intamin pre-fab model, with El Toro being my favourite coaster.

[Chris]

El Toro is a better version of it all round, so take a flight to New Jersey and ride some other world class coasters while you are there

[ponder]

El Toro is a better version of it all round, so take a flight to New Jersey and ride some other world class coasters while you are there

Already done that twice I like a bit of variety.

[Bert]

So this picture has been taken...

It looks that Colossos may have a future!

[MakoMania]

So this picture has been taken...

It looks that Colossos may have a future!

That's great news if true. Restores a bit of faith in Merlin!

[Chris]

Fingers crossed!

[NemesisRider]

I saw something similar to this going on on the final hills when I saw there in October last year, with engineers walking along the track. I think they’re surveying the structure; I hope this means Colossos is more likely to survive, but I don’t think this tells us anything either way...

[Schneck]

Yeah that picture is just engineers carrying out another inspection. No final decision has been made yet.
But to be fair I can't see Merlin paying a repair bill which is two digit amount in the millions - when for the same price they can build a new large coaster attraction which they can market and get a big return on in profits. I'd like them to prove me wrong but I strongly doubt it.
Hopefully Merlin will have now learnt their lesson and look after SW8 properly.

[The Nemesis Fox]

Surely they could RMC it so it still retains and can be marketed as a new coaster

[Schneck]

Surely they could RMC it so it still retains and can be marketed as a new coaster

The coaster clearly has some major structural issues, not sure how much is left that you could actually RMC.

[Ladyofthelake]

Heide Park Resort have posted a video on their Facebook page about the current status of their wooden coaster Colossus.

The accompanying text states that the Resort will make a further announcement on 11th January regarding the ride's future. Whilst my german isn't great, from what I can tell from comments posted in response to the video it seems to be the case that the whole track needs replacing which would take 2 years and millions of Euros.

What does strike me as odd is that th Resort are able to give a definitive date for the next update. To me this suggests the decision has already been made and January's announcement will just be confirmation of that decision, whatever that may be.

[Chris]

So a new wooden coaster can be fully built in six months but they would take two years to refurbish this one? Laughable.

[Justin]

I wonder if the announcement will be the resort's biggest firework and bonfire display for 2018?

[lewis97]

While everyone's distracted with Wicker Man, Heide Park have announced their Peppa Pig Land which appears to feature four attractions: George's Dino Adventure, Peppa's Boat Ride, Grandpa Pig's Train Ride, and Peppa's House.









Peppa Pig themed rooms are also being added to the Adventure Hotel.

[Bert]

So is George's Dino Adventure by S&S Steeplechase? I wouldn't have thought that Merlin would have brought them for any of their park, But I guess they have done. 

Also is it a credit?

[Owen]

It looks the same as the Paultons Park one which was made by Metalbau Emmeln. It is certainly not a new steeplechase.

And although it really shouldn’t matter, yes I would class it as a ‘credit’. :P