Day Three
Koningin Julinana Toren
A small park aimed at kids, but with a lot packed in, including a strange darkride and yet another Vekoma Rollerskater.
Amusementpark Tivoli
One for the those who count their coasters - a medium Zierer Tivoli.
Toverland
Now this was the biggest park of the day, and was by far the best, partly indoor, partly outdoor, a great flume ride called “BackStroke” with a reverse drop and unique turntable system.
The highlight of this park - and their headline attraction - was the Vekoma BoosterBike coaster - a launched ride where the passengers sit astride a mini-motorcycle rather than the more traditional coaster car. This ride has a lot of potential, and I’ve no doubt we’ll be seeing more of them over the next few years, however the riding position and restraint system isn’t particularly comfortable, leading me to wonder how a group managed to ride for 24 hours!
Photos of the three parks are in the gallery:
Now, I know I’ve been dropping hints about “the third night” - well, this is the story. We arrived at our hotel in the center of Tilburg (which is only a few miles from Eindhoven, a city which apparently has a vaguely well known football team) to find a fairly quiet place. We checked in and heading out for some food to discover that every bar and restaurant we tried was packed out with football supporters.
Fortuntely the match then finished, and they all headed off somewhere. We got our food, and settled down to eat at a rather nice Irish pub with some very friendly staff, who managed to convince us that they were actually Irish (although one eventually confessed that he was Dutch after all and was just very good at the accent!).
We then headed back to the hotel, where we discovered where all the football fans had gone - yes they’d gathered at a large outdoor stage, located right outside the hotel. This did not bode well, as the noise carried on till 2am.
Once the loud thumping party music, chanting and fireworks finished, the fans dispersed, and a couple of hours later the cleanup and dismantling of the stage began.
At least the hotel staff didn’t have the nerve to ask “did you have a pleasant stay” when we checked out.
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