5 Reasons You Need To Visit Toverland

Many Thanks to Toverland for gifting us tickets for this visit!

Because my most recent trip to Toverland landed smack bang in the middle of Halloween season I didn't really get a chance to gush about how much I fucking love that park. It was one of the first European parks I ever visited, back in 2009, and I've visited five times since and each time the place and just gotten bigger and better every single time I've visited. It's one of the most impressive theme parks in Europe for a ton of reasons, so I wanted to take some time now whilst everyone's in trip planning mode to shout from the rooftops about how amazing this park is and how you should absolutely be planning a visit. Especially if you're planning on doing Efteling and Phantasialand this year as it's right around the corner so there's no excuse really. But in case you wanted any more explanation as to why this park is so fab, read on.

Troy is easily one of the best coasters in Europe, and even with the addition of their B&M wing coaster Fénix, is by far the best coaster in the park. It's a shining example of what GCI do best - roaring, rumbling speed, spatterings of short, sharp pops of airtime, intense transitions and very little relief from the frantic pacing until you slam into the brakes at the end. It's an absolute masterclass in how to do a wooden coaster well, and whilst I appreciate nobody is out there saying it's a bad coaster it's weird to me that this thing doesn't get the praise that something like, say, Taron gets. I've found over the years of doing that that sometimes coasters I thought were amazing way back when have paled in comparison when I re-ride them in later years, but Troy has just never let up. When we visited recently in October we rode it at night and it was out of this world incredible. If you need just one reason to visit Toverland, Troy should be it.





It's a well known fact that European parks are slightly more, erm, chilled when it comes to healthy and safety. Sometimes that can add a little extra spice to rides because you genuinely don't know if you're going to survive the thing, but it also opens the door to allow things like giant play areas that adults are not only allowed to join in on but are actively encouraged to enjoy. They're slightly less prevalent since the addition of Avalon and Port Laguna, but one of the best parts of Toverland in the past for me has been all of the giant inflatable bound cushions, water play areas and massive climbing frames that you end up losing hours of your day running around on. And the best part? There's zero judgement from the parents in the park either, nobody gives a fuck that you're jumping around and sliding alongside a bunch of kids. The other great things about these activities is that they offer a welcome respite from queuing for attractions. You can just kick off your shoes and jump on for twenty minutes without having to wait your turn because they're just so huge!

Toverland were one of the many European theme parks that jumped on the IMAscore bandwagon a few years ago and the result is bloody magical. Toverland has quite a lot of what I refer to as 'European weirdness' and the music has a lot to do with that - the sounds you hear all over the park conjure up a real element of whimsy that's bloody magnificent. Especially when those soundtracks are on the rides themselves. Their Mack spinning coaster Dwervelwind is host to my second favourite piece of theme park music. I can't put my finger on it but it's just so, urgh, MAGICAL. It managed to make you feel nostalgic even though the coaster has only been open since 2012. But it doesn't stop there - the park took their electric bob-kart ride Maximus Blitz Bahn and rethemed the whole thing including an updated on-board audio track and completely transformed the attraction. Proof of how much of a difference music can make in elevating an attraction experience!





This one's an interesting one for me to write as when I first visited the park back in 2009 the whole place consisted of two giant warehouses and a small indoor section whose theming, whilst awesome, consisted of quite basic wooden structures and clever landscaping as opposed to anything truly world-building. Now when you visit the park you're absolutely blown away by the theming - especially in the new Port Laguna and Avalon lands. It's honestly up there with the likes of Islands of Adventure, which the entrance plaza is clearly inspired by, for detail. One of the greatest things about the theming at Toverland is that it's all themed around 'magic' (Tover literally translates to the word magic in English) so there's a ton of extra magical elements to discover if you have the time to stop and really pay attention. Probably some of my favourite theming at the park of recent times has to be around the boat ride Merlin's Quest. The park do a really good job of concealing what lays beyond the entrance to the hidden caves but once you're in there there's enough magic and sparkle and sights and sounds and smells to rival even Efteling. It's incredible.








I vividly remember walking around the park in 2009 and 2010, looking at the vast flat fields behind Booster Bike and imagining what weird and wonderful things Toverland could build on these areas in years to come. The park has expanded rapidly, it's very impressive and I don't think I've ever seen a park change so much in such a short space of time into a truly world class attraction. As I've mentioned, the place went from what was essentially a slightly more elaborate Family Entertainment Centre with a couple of kickass coasters to full blown theme park in the space of a decade and it's magnificent to see. You can feel the passion thats been poured into the place - from brand new lands that have literally been created from the ground up to constantly going back to older attractions and freshening them up to bring them in line with the new feel of the park. I've already mentioned the bob kart, but the park also rethemed the first warehouse a few years back to add a bunch of stunning Arabian style theming to ensure that no area stuck out like a sore thumb in need of a spruce up. I'm so excited to see what happens over the next few years with this place!










I mean, if you're not currently scrambling around on the internet looking for the best way to book your trip to Toverland after reading that then I really can't help you. The place is fantastic, has some of Europe's best coasters, is cheap to get to and is situated extremely close to some of the best theme parks in the world so honestly, it's a no brainer!

Talk later xoxo,

1 comments

  1. So happy this is my homepark, live realy close to IT. Love to work there. And this for a park that is 17 years old is amazing.

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