Ride Check Special - Colossos 2019 - Is it really back? | English |

This blog is a transcript from my review video of this rollercoaster. If you don't want to read, but want to see a motion picture, you can scroll to the end of this article. But you'll miss some nice pics :-).

Park Introduction:

In 2001 the Heide Park Soltau made it big across all media. With Colossos, advertised as the world's largest pure wooden roller coaster at the time, Heide Park, inspired by American theme parks, opened a wooden roller coaster of unseen dimensions in Europe at the time.

In cooperation with the Swiss rides and roller coaster specialist "Intamin" a completely new track system was developed, which was modularly constructed and already brought 3D- milled tracks, ready to be placed to the construction site for assembly. The great advantage of the new technology was the high possible precision with which a high-speed ride could be built as a wooden roller coaster like only the steel mega coasters could before.

The previous technology of track construction by laminating on site would probably never have been able to achieve the ride comfort of this new development. The monstrous wooden roller coaster is still a flagship of the European roller coaster landscape, but its history has not been without problems.

At the end of July 2016 Colossos had to be closed for the time being, as the original rails are worn out much faster than had been calculated at the planning stage. Colossos was closed for almost 3 years. The giant has been back since 13 April 2019. Not only with completely new rails, but also with a new theme - The Battle of the Giants.

Colossos – Mega Coaster made out of wood:

I take this as an opportunity to deliver a Ride Check Special, as it is not often that such a large rollercoaster is renovated in this form. At the opening in 2001 Colossos was a breathtaking airtime machine, but the ride was clearly declining over the years. In 2016 was my last ride on the "old" Colossos and the ride was at this time already clearly more bumpy and also the forces were far less than I experienced them in the first years of the wooden giant at Heide Park.
But before we get into detail about the new experience and the question if colossos have risen to his old quality again, we take a quick look at the datasheet as always.

At the top of the chain lift, the impressive wooden construction stretches about 52 meters into the sky. This Lift provides the 2 trains with 5 cars each for a total of 30 people per train enough energy to reach up to 110 kilometers per hour on the bottom of the Drops.
Passengers plunge down up to 48.5 metres into the depths at a maximum inclination of 61 degrees. The roller coaster takes about 2 minutes and 25 seconds to complete the 1344 meter in track length. With this the rough key data are set and we go over to what the overall experience of Colossos offers.

The Theme:

Colossos has already been redesthemed twice. The first theming was given to the rollercoaster when it was integrated into the "Land of the Forgotten" theme area. Part of the waiting area got planted, the station was given a basic redesign and the old trains were repainted. But this was not to last long, because this happened shortly before the longer breakdown of the ride.

For the return, the theme was again significantly expanded. This includes minor improvements to the waiting area. Unfortunately, they have again refrained from providing shadows on the slope directly in front of the station. This can be exhausting in summer with high temperatures and direct sunlight for up to 30 minutes in this area. It's a pity that they didn't do anything here again.

All the more, however, was rethemed in the station itself. The supporting columns in the building have been given a design that is reminiscent of strong roots. This fits well to the new theme element directly at the track, the giant that gives Colossos the new subtitle "Battle of the Giants".

It piles up impressively and wrapped in flames above the track and regularly devours the approaching trains with fiery greed.
The new presentation of the coaster is rounded off with an extensive new soundtrack and a small pre-show on screen which explains the new story of the wooden coaster.

All in all, Heide Park has to be granted a successful retheme of Colossos with small deductions in the B-grade. After years since Merlin took over, the Heide Park has taken a big step forward in terms of theme and design quality at the Park.

The Layout:

The station exit is followed directly by the quite quick chain lift hill up to 52 metres. Before the trains plunge into the depths, we take a panoramic curve which slowly brings us towards the First Drop. This also offers the steepest point of the ride. What follows are, let's say, two and a half airtime hills which lead the classic "Out and Back" layout towards the turnaround element. In order to get to the way back, the track banks sideways in a 180 degree right turn towards the ground and in an S-curve up again.

Another sudden drop leads to a low, wide high speed hill to climb up again and reach a short straight track part. This leads into a 450 degree downward helix through the truss of the support construction.

For the finals Colossos lines up 3 more airtime hills, the last of which is overshadowed by the huge new creature. The last element is a 180 degree turn into the final brake, which is prominently placed behind the station at a large place for spectators.

We are back between the roots of the station.

The Ride Experience:

Colossos is designed as a pure airtime machine just by its layout. So to say a wooden megacoaster that focuses on height, speed and strong alternation between positive and negative vertical G-forces. The brand-new rails ensure that the ride even comes very close to that of Intamin's steel coasters, but not quite as close to the almost imperceptible transitions between the track elements. So the joints of the individual track pieces are easy to feel, but far away from unpleasant. Only in the 450 degree helix do these become somewhat clearer. But the roller coaster has always had this behavior at this point and it is far from the hard bumps that were still distributed there in 2016.

The effect of the giant also works very well during the ride itself. Not only the fire effect, but especially the fake track that the creature holds in its hands offers a quick headchopper moment that I didn't expect. Very good and precise work here by Merlin and Heide Park. That the giant could also be seen as a ripoff of Wicker Man in Alton Towers doesn't really matter at all at this point. The creature achieves its effect and that's what matters.

The new trains also offer a slightly different, less free ride experience than the old ones could. The sides of the cars are now much higher and you sit much more "constricted", but for me far away from unpleasant. Unfortunately this makes it a bit more difficult for larger passengers to sit in a comfortable position. A pity.

It's also a shame that they placed a clearly noticeable trim brake in the first drop of Colossos, which is supposed to reduce the load on the rails a bit. One knew the braking of the roller coaster already from the last years before the renovation. Unfortunately, this also means that we can no longer talk about the airtime machine from 2001. Because the energy, which is taken by the Trim in the First Drop, is then clearly missing on the many Airtime hills of the course. Compared to the original opening, Colossos was noticeably tamed, which I think is a pity. Of course there are still noticeable negative forces on the hills, it's just that it feels like somewhere between B&M Floating Airtime and the otherwise familiar ejector airtime of Intamin and was unfortunately neither fish nor really meat for me. My audience out there, who have some experience with the Intamin Prefabricated Woodys, let me tell you, you can hardly hear the airtime anymore, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Conclusion:

Colossos - Battle of the Giants is without a doubt still a fantastic roller coaster experience and the undisputed flagship of Heide Park. But unfortunately it did not return to the level of the early 2000s, which I find extremely sad. On the other hand, it's understandable that in 15 years they wouldn't want to risk another 3-year closing time of the ride with renovations in the millions.
As a compensation we get a significantly extended theming including an impressive soundtrack, a little story and a convincing effect when passing through the giant.
Overall, Colossos is still a roller coaster of the upper league and the given criticism certainly borders on "whining at the highest level". On the other hand, we're also talking about a ride that wants to play at the highest league and in my opinion criticism can be harder than average. In the end it remains to be said that Colossos is an absolutely rewarding experience, which is primarily aimed at Thrillseekers, but especially after the renovation and the somewhat slowed down ride it might also be scaled down a bit further in the audience. Europe's biggest wooden coaster is certainly not uncompromising, but still a must ride in the European coaster lineup.

All this as Video:

But all this is only my personal opinion, if you see it differently, or if you want to add something, then just add it to the comments. I look forward to every suggestion and discussion.

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