Legendia and Energylandia are the two most prominent theme parks in Poland.
Legendia is located in downtown Chorzow near Katowice and it is one of the country’s oldest
parks, opening in 1956 as Slaskie Wesole Miasteczko. However, this park has undergone
a massive transformation in recent years. The park has invested more in themed experiences
and this shift is what triggered the park’s name change to Legendia in 2017.
So is the park worth visiting today? Find out in this review of Legendia.
Few parks that have been around as long as Legendia have had such a seismic shift in
just a few seasons. Prior to 2000, Legendia had barely any attractions
and zero roller coasters. In the 1.5 decades that followed Legendia started adding more rides.
Many of these attractions were portable or relocated attractions.
While they dramatically improved the quantity of the park’s offerings, the quality felt more like
a permanent carnival than a true theme park. Then in the past 5 years, Legendia has elevated
their game. Their new additions have been accompanied by nice landscaping and small themed
areas to boost the overall atmosphere and ambiance of the park. And the park went one step further.
They started renovating their prior attractions giving them new names, paint schemes, and theming
to better tie in with the park. This facelift was so severe that it triggered this Polish park to
change their name from Slaskie Wesole Miasteczko to Legendia. And the name change was earned.
The only weird thing remaining is that the park has several standing but not operating attractions
at the park such as the Scary Toys Factory roller coaster and the crazy Circus Hoppola flat ride.
Not only does much of the park feel fresh between the new additions and renovations, but it looks
beautiful as a whole. I love how the park is set around a central lagoon. It creates some awesome
vantage points, particularly of Lech Coaster and the massive Legendia Flower ferris wheel.
And then you have the kinetic energy of the city along the outskirts of the part. Not only do you
have the usual hustle and bustle, but you also have some unique attractions nearby
like the city skyride and a massive 295 foot or 90 meter tall bungee jumping experience
where you’re jump from atop a construction crane. The latter was particularly captivating
whenever you saw someone ride to the top. But back to Legendia, admission in 2021 cost
me the equivalent of 26 USD when I purchased it online in advance. That was a very good price
for a park as beautiful at Legendia that also has an elite coaster like Lech Coaster. I also
splurged for the park’s Fastpass skip-the-line ticket since it was only an additional $12 USD.
I visited on a beautiful summer Sunday and most rides were walk-ons. In fact, the lack of crowds
was an issue on my early rides on Lech Coaster. The crew would deliberately hold back the train
for 10-15 minutes waiting for additional riders. A few other rides did this as well. If a ride
had a full trainload of people waiting, the crew would load and dispatch trains fairly quickly.
The Fastpass came most in handy for Lech Coaster once that coaster built a steady
15-20 minute wait. I was able to basically board every other train for Lech Coaster.
It also came in handy for the low-capacity Dream Hunters Society roller coaster,
which had a steady half hour wait all day, and the water rides,
which had posted 30-60 minute waits due to the warm weather.
One other operational note is that Legendia has delayed openings for some rides
and early closures for others. The park had a sign at the end of Main Street
informing all guests which rides were affected, so be sure to check this when you visit.
Moving onto the ride lineup, Legendia currently has 3 operating roller coasters. The fourth in
Scary Toys Factory has been closed for the past two years. And this zyklon coaster
was also closed for a year straight from late 2018 through mid-2019 before that. But it’s
a really redundant attraction, considering Dream Hunters Society is a near-identical zkylon coaster
on the opposite side of the park. This is the park’s tamest roller coaster. It is surprising
Legendia no longer has a true kiddie coaster, but Dream Hunters Society is a fairly mild experience
for families. The two drops have a little zip and the rest of the ride is pretty slow. And
it’s quite funny to see the operators manually have to push the cars out of the station unlike
most coasters that are fully automated nowadays. Diabelska Petla or Devil’s Loop is a Soquet double
looper with a history of relocations. The ride has two forceful vertical loops reminiscent of
those on Schwarzkopfs, but the rest of the ride is relatively dull. That final helix is super slow
and doesn’t offer any positive Gs or laterals. This coaster has a very simple layout,
but the ride interestingly has two backwards facing seats towards the back of train. The
two loops are extra disorienting in those seats for reasons I go into in a separate review.
Lech Coaster is the undeniable star at Legendia for any coaster enthusiast and thrill-seeker.
The first and only Vekoma Bermuda Blitz coaster represents everything right with
Vekoma’s newest roller coasters. This attraction has incredible pacing, perfect transitions,
and awesome elements. This coaster is one of the most intense in the world.
There are two sections where I experienced extended greyouts rivaling those on
Intmidator 305 each ride plus a few shorter spurts where I started to lose my vision.
And then for variety, the coaster also mixes in several moments of airtime. You have several bunny
hills plus one of the best first drops of any coaster. This twisting, beyond-vertical plunge
offers a crazy combination of ejector airtime and strong laterals. This coaster is amazing
and I go into more detail in a separate review. For flat rides, Legendia has a very interesting
collection. There is a solid mix of pendulum rides and spinning rides for all ages. There’s
a dedicated kiddie area plus a decent assortment of family and thrill rides around the lake.
I was bummed to see Circus Hoppola in closed, but the park had another shockingly good pendulum ride
on the opposite side of the park. Skyflyer is a Vekoma kamikaze ride and if you love hangtime,
this is the ride for you. This inverting pendulum operates with just lap bars
and it boasts a ridiculously long cycle that clocked in between 6 and 7 minutes.
The ride didn’t offer any positive Gs on the downswing, but it offered countless inversions
with top-notch hangtime, especially when you paused upside-down at a few points. You may just
want to hold onto your lap bar or else it will keep lowering throughout the long experience.
Another cool thrill ride was Cyclodrome. This is a self-operated inverting bicycle.
You strap yourself in and have to vigorously and rhythmically pedal. It required a good
amount of effort and technique, but it was very rewarding to finally get that inversion.
And you also get rewarded with a little hangtime. Just beware the kickback of
the pedals when you’re traveling in reverse or slowing down. As you see in the video,
I had to lift my feet up to avoid getting pelted. Then there are two classics worth experiencing.
Dream Flight Airlines is a flying machine that is the final original attraction at the park.
The ride itself isn’t particularly thrilling; it’s just rare and historical.
Then you have the Legendia Flower Ferris Wheel, which stands 131 feet or 40 meters tall, so it
offers great views of the park and nearby city. To beat the heat, you have two water rides.
Diamond River has the layout of a log flume, but the larger boats of a shoot the chute ride,
so this one can get you soaked. Then you have Dolina Jagi, which is a very well-landscaped
Hafema river rapids ride. This one is pretty tame. It doesn’t have any drops or whirlpools.
You just have a few mild rapids and a few extra water effects that aren’t timed well enough
to do anything more than a dribble. Finally, you also have a dark ride in Bazyliszek.
This screen based shooter reminds me of the Justice League dark rides found at the Six Flags
parks. You have to shoot at a bunch of little characters that are analogous to Lexbots. There
are also some 2D physical sets, but many of the physical targets were broken during my visit.
The other weird thing with this dark ride is that it’s located inside a building
with a food court. And on that note, I did have a meal at Legendia.
I went to the burger restaurant near Diamond River and it pretty good. It was juicy
and bigger than expected. So do I recommend Legendia? I think
Energylandia is the best park in Poland because of the quantity and quality of offerings there, but
Legendia is still a solid park. It has a quainter, more relaxed feel with something for everyone.
And Lech Coaster is a world-class roller coaster that would fit in at any thrill park.
You could easily spend a full-day at this park reriding things, but it’s possible to experience
Legendia’s signature rides in a half day. So those are my thoughts on Legendia, the fun
amusement park in Poland. What are your thoughts on this park? Have you been there? I would love
to hear your thoughts about this Polish park down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d
appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a
lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!