Today, I am reviewing a coaster that stands just 59 feet or 18 meters tall and has just 984 feet
or 300 meters of track. Those stats sound like a relatively small family coaster.
But what if I told you this coaster had better airtime than most RMCs?
Stumped what it could be? Well, it’s none other than the Wild Train at Fantasiana in Austria.
Built by Pax, this coaster has developed quite the reputation and I was not disappointed. So in this
video, I will give my thoughts on Wild Train. Pax is a Russian company notorious for their wacky
designs. Many of their rides look like innocent family coasters- much in the mold of Wild Train-
but their coasters always have a wild side to them. Their coasters often have super steep drops
and shockingly sharp airtime hills. I can’t decide if their rides were designed to be this intense
or it was an engineering mistake, but as a thrill-seeker, I love how bizarre Pax rides are.
And Fantasiana’s Wild Train may be the company’s crowning achievement. This was
Fantasiana’s first roller coaster, officially opening at the start of the 2005 season.
Pax built several coasters named Wild Train, but the one at Fantasiana is a
custom layout that is far more intense. One thing you need to watch out for if
you seek out Wild Train is that this coaster does not operate in the rain.
Most European parks will run coasters in pretty much any weather outside of a thunderstorm. But
Wild Train is an exception and there’s a sign stating this by the ride’s main entrance.
The ride’s queue line travels through the back end of Wild Train and on the day I visited,
Wild Train was a walk-on all-day. I visited on a summer weekday, but I’ve never seen any trip
reports where people have had to wait for this coaster. In many cases, I was allowed
to remain in my seat once the train returned to the station. It was nice to get a lengthy
marathon on this coaster after combatting crowds at most other parks on my European roadtrip.
Wild Train runs just one train since the coaster brakes in the station. The train seats 14 riders.
The back 3 cars seat 4 riders each while the locomotive themed lead car only seats 2 riders.
And I really like the look of the trains. They are multi-colored and have a cartoony look to them.
And those trains really pop against the royal blue track.
For restraints, Wild Train had a seatbelt and lap bar combo.
And it’s very unlikely you’ll get stapled on this ride unless you want to. On most of my rides,
the operator just spot-checked the restraint and didn’t actually touch it. That’s the type
of trust you wouldn’t get at any American park. In terms of seat selection, I had a slight
preference for the back. But the front had almost as many insane airtime moments.
Just make sure to ride the back row early. It closed by the early afternoon.
I visited Fantasiana on a 90 degree day and it looked like the train overshot the brakes in the
station. To prevent this from happening, the back row was closed off. And it didn’t matter if the
train was fully loaded or not, the back row did not open the rest of the day. It was a shame, but
at least the second to back was almost as intense. Has anyone else run into this issue at this park?
Wild Train begins with a decently steep booster wheel lift. The lift doesn’t offer much of a view
of the rest of the park due to the trees around the coaster, but you do get a birds-eye view
of several of Wild Train’s oddly shaped hills. Once atop the lift, you hit a brief straightaway
before abruptly dropping 270 degrees to the right. The first drop is one of the ride’s tamer moments
as it doesn’t have much whip or any airtime, but the pullout is super sharp so riders get blasted
with positive Gs. The profiling looks wonky, but the pullout is thankfully smoother than it looks.
As a whole Wild Train is a smooth coaster outside of one moment that’s coming up.
You then navigate this small bunny hill high off the ground. The abruptness of this hill
offers a decent ejector pop up front and decent floater airtime towards the back.
But the scariest part about this hill is the headchopper with the helix.
Usually I have no hesitation keeping my hands up, but I immediately pulled them down on Wild Train.
The clearances on this coaster seemed a little too close for comfort!
You then spiral upwards 360 degrees in this super compact helix above the midway.
This element has a nasty jerk into it, so you’ll want to brace yourself there. And the element
itself just didn’t offer any notable forces. But Wild Train goes berserk from this point.
Remember, this helix ends high above the ground. So you plunge down this super steep drop
that may be the largest on the ride. The entrance into this drop is
comically tight. It’s so sharp that even the front row gets a tiny pop of airtime.
But if you’re in the back, you get violently thrown over this drop and get some very strong
ejector airtime. And that’s paired with a frightening head-chopper at the bottom.
As awesome as this drop was, it wasn’t even the most intense airtime moment on the ride.
You then fly over this super tight camelback. The compact crest looks more like something you’d see
on a single car wild mouse coaster, not a coaster with a 4 car train. The end result is insanity.
Everyone is aggressively launched out of their seat. The ejector airtime in the front
is incredible. The force at which you’re thrown upwards reminded me of El Toro’s Rolling Thunder
hill. The airtime wasn’t quite as strong in the back, but it was still strong ejector airtime
and this airtime was far more sustained. You stay out of your seat for the entire hill.
Wild Train wraps around a tree and there’s this kink halfway through the turn. This elevation
change looks like it should offer airtime, but instead it offers a good lateral kink.
Wild Train then abruptly dips off the turnaround. Like the prior two hills, the profiling of this
hill is ridiculously tight. Those up front get a weak ejector pop from the sharpness,
but those in the back get one of the strongest and most intense airtime moments in the world.
Wild Train tries to launch you into orbit and the negative Gs are ridiculous.
It’s borderline painful between the abruptness and power.
Oh and there’s another terrifying headchopper on the pullout. And you really feel like you’ll
strike the track above you because of how far you lift out of your seat.
Those jealous in the front get their shining moment on the following hill.
You have this sharp rise into a turnaround which offers similarly insane airtime for those up
front. And since the top of this hill banks to the right, you also get a pinch of laterals with that
otherworldly airtime. In the back, the entry into this turnaround offered just a weak floater pop.
Wild Train then cruises over one last bunny hill, giving everyone some decent floater airtime.
And then you traverse this 180 degree turn that dips down and up.
And the final transition into the station is wonky. It’s super compact. The rapid change in
elevation and profiling offers one last quick pop of airtime with a strong burst of laterals. It’s
the perfect end to a bizarre coaster. So what would I rate Wild Train?
I would give this little coaster a 9 out of 10. Wild Train is no joke. The ride has the guise
of the family coaster, but it’s a bonafide thrill machine. Wild Train has 4 of the craziest airtime
moments in the world. This abrupt, thigh-crushing airtime is something few coasters can match
once let alone four times. Some may find a moment like this too painful, but I was willing to take
the abuse for an airtime like this. I had bruises the following day from this ride’s strength.
And around these four signature moments are some good supporting moments.
You have some other decent airtime moments, some bits of positive Gs,
solid laterals, and frightening head-choppers. Wild Train starts off a little slow with
that initial drop and helix, but the pacing in the second half is perfect.
While Wild Train isn’t in my top 25, I would take this crazy coaster over the lower tier RMCs,
a large chunk of B&M hypers, and several other coasters 3-4 times larger than this Pax creation.
Fantasiana can be a tricky park to add to a European coaster roadtrip,
but Wild Train is well worth it. You’ll struggle to find airtime like this elsewhere.
So those are my thoughts on Wild Train, the insane Pax coaster at Fantasiana.
What are your thoughts on this coaster? Is this the best Pax ride? I would love to
hear your thoughts about this coaster 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!