Heide Park

[spark]

Looks loads better,

I wonder, will Merlin put some theming in airs tunnel? lol

[Dingerbell]

Looks loads better,

I wonder, will Merlin put some theming in airs tunnel? lol

Yes please..

[AstroDan]

Looks loads better,

I wonder, will Merlin put some theming in airs tunnel? lol

The problem is, Heide are still marketing "Krake" for 2012 (with the scare maze). As much as Air's tunnel has been hideous since 2002, the fact it's 10 years old plays a major part. Merlin aren't really, or don't seem to be, interested very much at all in going back to old areas or rides and improving them. This only happens when it's marketable (i.e. a complete area re-theme like Wild Asia).

In terms of the general presentation of the park since Merlin took over, it has not got any better than it was before. All that is better than in the latter years of Tussauds, is the theming of new attractions. Upkeep is as was, sadly.

[CoasterCrazyChris]

In terms of the general presentation of the park since Merlin took over, it has not got any better than it was before. All that is better than in the latter years of Tussauds, is the theming of new attractions. Upkeep is as was, sadly.

Does Heide Park suffer from the same lack of maintenance as UK Merlin parks?

That is a shame. It looks like a really beautiful park.

Merlin are far worse than late Tussauds for maintaining rides. Merlin might be at least theming new rides properly as you say, but at least Tussauds did a fair amount of scrubbing and painting during closed season which Merlin rarely do.

[AstroDan]

Heide Park I would say has actually come off somewhat worse. It's not worse than AT, indeed it's probably in better shape, but from what it used to be - I would say the change is even more dramatic from what AT was in the late 1990's.

Yes, Krake looks stunning in the middle of the park - but the park started out as a very quaint, German park - with a similar look to the likes of Europa-Park- i.e. loads of flower beds, cute facades and squares, water fountains, bands playing. Some areas of Heide Park have been closed off entirely, and many of the cute, quaint parts are no longer as such. Colossos is amazing, but didn't help this - and since then Tussauds installed Desert Race, which again is just plonked with little theming and a random African theme, at the edge of the park. At least with Krake it's in the middle and  more integrated.

The likes of Colossos and Desert Race are in stark contrast to the way in which Phantasialand and Europa-Park have brilliantly integrated their newer rides within the context of the existing park, or extending the park in a similar taste to existing property.

At Heide, you can clearly tell a divide between the quaint, old stuff (Bob Sleigh, Boat Rides, Mine Train) and the more garish new stuff (Colossos, Desert Race, Scream).

However yes, the park is nowhere near as well kept as EP or Phantasialand, although it is by no means in bad shape.

Heide is a good place, though - full of rides.

[Benzin]

Scream isn't that garish imo, I thought it looked quite nicely and was a decent retro-fit of an old observation tower...

Agree with the Intamins though... Probs why they're trying to sort out the park theming, but you didn't even mention the poor attempts at a Western or Pirate areas :P

[AstroDan]

EDIT - Yes, sorry - Scream isn't garish. Not sure why I indicated it was. Looks fine

Well its because merlin have tried to cheaply add pirates theme to half the park. The western area is terrible. Imagine that at other German parks. Even Hansa!

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[thefatone]

Merlin are far worse than late Tussauds for maintaining rides. Merlin might be at least theming new rides properly as you say, but at least Tussauds did a fair amount of scrubbing and painting during closed season which Merlin rarely do.

Still very much dispute this. The closed seasons of late tussauds had ridiculously small budgets, nothing got maintained. Least they get budgets nowadays.

[AstroDan]

Merlin are not worse than Tussauds for maintaining. I would say they are equivalent.

I fail to see an improvement in the general state of Nemesis, for example, since Merlin took over.

[DiogoJ42]

Merlin's theming standards are getting better and better, shame they're all similar themes though!

Nah, don't be daft. There's a world of difference between squid monster tenticles and tree root tenticles. Or alien monster tenticles. Or flying alien monsters that may or may not have tenticles but we don't know yet.

...

:-k

[Islander]

The teeth have arrived! Wow...



Certainly looks like a tight fit

[captain]

That looks absolutely immense.

[Nightfall]

Is anyone else really curious about this new Scare Maze?

Normal I think year round horror mazes are a bad idea. They just seem to lose their novelty when they aren’t limited to a few weeks in the year. But this sounds very interesting. I really like the shipwrecked theme of Krake and there's something I find really creepy about the tentacles emerging from the walls:



Thinking about it I don't think we have seen a horror maze quite like this before. It sounds like the ship theme is something they can only do as a permanent attraction. Could we also see leg ticklers to make it feel like the creature is coming to get you? Could they be using similar effects to what is being added to Sub-Terra (spread the costs by developing both projects at once?)

I was just wondering if anyone knew anything more about this project as so far I’ve heard very little. I don’t even know where they are building it.

[Sam]

[Nightfall]

That is a completely awesome piece of theme-work. I can understand why they were so desperate to get it built this year. It's just a shame that there are very visible watermarks on the tentacles and mouth where is has been lying in the water. I do hope it gets a new touch of paint once everything else is done.

Besides that top marks Merlin.

[Blizzard]

As we all suspected, krake has now been updated to pass through the kraken into a tunnel after the first drop! I thought i'd create a new thread for this, as I'd like it to get attention so those who were desperately looking forward to seeing krake as in the plans now can!



^ Off Ride



^Link to new POV on YouTube.

[Benedique]

Wow, it's amazing how a ride experience can change thanks to some well placed theming. It looks sooo much better now.

[W@LLI$]

Got to say that the ride does look pretty AWASOME! One thing I would like to see is the horror maze (Krake Lebt)

[Chris]

The above photos show the start of what is pretty much confirmed as a B&M Wing Rider or Flyer - will be interesting to see what it turns out like, as the setting so far is lovely.

More photos on Coasterfriends.de

http://www.coasterfriends.de/forum/4108-2014-neuheit-b-m-wing-coaster-heide-park-geruecht-31.html

[SwEDEN]

Anyone got any idea on layout?