Back in June 2017, we visited Toverland for the very first time, a park located in the Netherlands. The park isn’t huge but has some interesting rides as part of its lineup, most notably Troy, a GCI Wooden coaster that opened in 2007 and is regarded as one of the best wooden coasters in Europe.
As we entered the park through the “Land of Toos”, the first of two indoor areas we were very impressed by the overall entrance and first indoor section that features a chair swing, a junior coaster and a few more family attractions. In the second indoor area (that connects via an enclosed walkway) called “Magic Forest”, we have the log flume Backstroke, the powered bobsleigh, Alpine Slide, as well as a fun house and a children’s playground.
Backstroke is a fun log flume manufactured by Mack Rides. The ride is not particularly long, with only one drop but features a very interesting turntable halfway up the lift to the first drop, it is a very interesting and terrifying experience!
Alpine Slide is a powered bobsleigh coaster powered by the guest themselves, once you get through the queue themed around alpine culture you get into your ride vehicle, push down the level and zoom down the track, this is an extremely fun ride. Fiasco VIlla is the funhouse within the “Magic Forest”, against this is great fun (you would hope so with it being a fun house) and great for the whole family.
Once you exit the interior you are greeted with Booster Bike, the parks… Booster Bike coaster manufactured by Vekoma, this is the prototype for this ride type and has the same layout as Velocity at Flamingo Land, unfortunately, this ride was down for us but we always find its equivalent in the UK enjoyable and is a very peculiar seating position for a rollercoaster.
It was now time for us to enter the “Troy area” and ride, well, Troy! As mentioned, Troy is regarded as one of the best wooden coasters in Europe and we were excited. All we can say is, wow, this coaster is impressive! As soon as the coaster is released from the lift chain it never gives up, round every corner and every bit of banking this coaster never has a dull moment, it doesn’t even give you time to breathe until you hit that break run. It certainly lived up to our expectations and was a great start to our Europe trip.
The newest area of the park is the “Magic Valley”, this area of the park features the parks rapids ride, as well as the Mack spinning coaster, Dwervelwind. First of all, this area of the park is beautiful, undoubtedly the most serene and relaxing area of any theme park I have ever been too. The area is scattered with walkways that weave around the areas many waterfalls and rockwork. The area also features a few animatronics of little dwarvish folk and great magical music from the guys over at IMAScore.
Dwervelwind is an incredible, immersive experience, with some great on-ride audio (also done by IMAScore) and some great queue line/station theming. The ride itself is thrilling but not too much to put off smaller guests, it provides a great experience and lots of interaction with other guests as they spin into view, a great family coaster.
Djengu River is the rapids ride manufactured by Hefema and not the usual Mack variety, the boats feature four segments that independently move as the waves hit the boat, which means that water can come through the middle of the boat. It’s a great water ride with lots of theming and splash elements.
The “Magic Valley” also features a lot of family flat rides although due to our age we didn’t experience these rides!
Overall, Toverland is a great family park with lots of great theming and we look forward to seeing what the future holds for this park, we already know that in 2018 the park will be opening a new area featuring a B&M Winger coaster so we may have to make a future visit fairly soon!
