After seven years in the making, in May 2024 Ireland's Emerald Park finally opened their beautiful new Tír na nÓg land expansion. Home to two Vekoma rollercoasters and a Zierer Waveswinger ride, the new land represents €22 million in investment to the ever-expanding sole theme park in Ireland, and as with every addition the park makes represents another step forward towards solidifying themselves as one of Europe's best smaller, regional theme parks.
I've long been a fan of Emerald Park, formerly Tayto Park before they changed their name in 2022. I first visited way back in 2013, before they'd even built their first rollercoaster but strong rumours were circulating of something BIG coming to the park. In the decade since then, the park has expanded rapidly, with the epic Gravitykraft wooden coaster Cú Chulainn putting them firmly on the coaster enthusiast map in 2015. Cú Chulainn represented the park's first forray into representing Celtic mythology, and although the coaster itself is not themed, the trains bear resemblance to the mighty warrior himself from the folk tales as well as an impressive themed entry portal to the ride - small but impactful steps towards what we see from Tír na nÓg today.
In 2017 the park opened Viking Voyage - a huge themed log flume experience from Interlink, and this for me is what really turned my head for the first time towards what Emerald Park could do. The ride is beautifully themed, with proper materials and storyline as opposed to a few fibreglass theming items strewn about here and there. It was clear from this investment that the park had intent to continue stepping things up thematically.
Fastforward through several years of smaller, but still themed, family ride and coaster additions and a world of planning permission pain and global pandemics to 2024 where the park were finally able to welcome the first guests to Tír na nÓg. The park's, and indeed Ireland's, first themed land is clearly dedicated to immersing guests from the minute they step across the threshold. A beautiful, instrumental Celtic composition soundtracks the land and towering castles, buildings and flags decorate every corner.
The attention to detail and finish is stunning. The already impressive spectacle of Europe's longest intertwining rollercoasters is elevated with gorgeous theming courtesy of leading design and production company JoraVision. Known for their work on projects in parks such as Efteling and Toverland who have that fantasy/magical theme down to a tee, JoraVision were the perfect partners to theme Tír na nÓg land - they just get how to transalte the folksy whimsy of such a theme so it's fantastic to see Emerald Park spared no expense in only working with the best to bring their vision to life.
For those who aren't aware, Tír na nÓg in Irish/Celtic mythology is the Land of Eternal Youth and is depicted as a place of joy, happiness and paradise. Essentially it's an Irish mythological version of heaven or the afterlife for those who did good in the world whilst on Earth. I am so glad to see Emerald Park have really leant into representing Irish/Celtic stories in their attractions. There's such a rich well to draw from with beautiful art and music and architecture to bring it all to life, so I am very surprised such a theme has been so underutilised in parks elsewhere around the world until now.
The themed tower that houses the Vekoma family boomerang's (aka The Quest) spike is clearly the standout piece of theming here, but the whole building for the Vekoma suspended thrill coaster Fianna Force is gorgeous too. Reminiscent of an ancient Irish castle or fort, it looks magical and like something straight out of Game of Thrones. It's detailed and interesting to look at, with different levels and bridges and tunnels all intersecting with one another and the attractions themselves to create a delightful feast of kinetic energy that completely envelops you whilst in the land. Truly it's hard to know where to look.
I also adore the use of water and greenery that adds a beautiful, natural finish to the land. All of my favourite themed regional parks do this well - places like Toverland and Tripsdrill know how to balance off the physical theming against the natural elemental accents and it's clear Emerald Park have taken notes on how to do this too. The area over by the entrance to The Quest was still under construction but given the setbacks the park has had with this project I do not blame them for just getting the thing open at this point and I'm sure when the time comes the final product for this section will be just as gorgeous and finessed as the Fianna Force area.
The rides then! Sadly Celtic Dreamer, the waveswinger, was experiencing some technical difficulties during our visit so we did not get to ride, however I did get to stand and drool over the absolutely beautiful artwork and the accompanying logo. I am an absolute sucker for that ancient Irish Book of Kells artwork style and Celtic Dreamer is adorned in it from head to toe, representing all manner of Irish myths and legends within it. I'm a big fan of the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon and the Celtic Dreamer and the music in the land is very reminiscent of their work so naturally I was obsessed with it, what a beautiful ride.
The Quest is fun but if it were a standalone ride I feel it would be questionable and strange - its raison d'être is quite literally to interact with Fianna Force - and quite a brilliant job it does at that too! I'm very clearly not the demogprahic for this coaster though - the families and kids riding absolutely loved it and were thrilled at the novelty of the thing going backwards. The spike up the crumbling tower is quite the spectacle and the optics of the two coaster trains interacting is an absolute feast. The station is also beautiful, providing some fantastic flyover interactions with Fianna Force and I cannot wait to see what the finished product will look like for this part.
Saving the best 'til last and clearly the 'e-ticket' attraction of the new land, Fianna Force is a Vekoma suspended thrill coaster and only the second to be built with the first being the excellent Hals-Uber-Kopf at Tripsdrill. And luckily for us it's just as much fun, if not better. There's something just so perfect about these suspended thrill coasters - all the speed and intensity of a B&M invert but somehow they feel...lighter? Insanely smooth to the point where you don't even feel like you're inverting when you are, the lapbar only restraints allow for a level of free movement you won't find on any other thrill coaster out there and just infinitely rerideable.
It might just be a perfect coaster - it's by no means the tallest or most intense in the world personally I judge a coaster on whether I want to run straight back around and ride it again, and I could sit on Fianna Force all day long. The layout is thrilling and intricate and interesting and full of elements that spark pure joy. The Quest station flyover is a delight, the track interaction is titillating and the (inverted!) bunny hop ended had me crying with laughter. Swooping around low to the ground for the second half of the layout only further amplifies that sense of speed as well - it's just overall a really excellent coaster and much like I said after riding Hals-Uber-Kopf back in 2020 I would love to see more of these pop up because they're incredible little bits of kit.
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I cannot recommend a visit to Emerald Park enough to check out Tír na nÓg for yourself. In just a short few years the park has gone from being a regional theme park with one stand out coaster to an integral part of the European theme park line-up and I absolutely love to see them thriving as they are. It's a beautiful addition to the park with new rides that complement an already stellar line-up, including one I would go as far to call near perfect. I'll be keeping an eye on how the theming progresses as things on the right hand-side of the land finish up and I cannot wait to see what their next investment brings - hopefully we'll see more Irish mythology and stories brought to life!
Have you visited Emerald Park? What did you think of the new land? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think, I'd love to have a chat!
Talk later xoxo,
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