Erlebnispark Tripsdrill is a very important park for Germany. While it’s not one of the behemoths
like Europa Park or Phantasialand, it does have distinction as the country’s oldest theme park.
Tripsdrill is one of the most naturally beautiful theme parks I’ve visited and the park has really
improved their ride lineup over the past two decades, adding some intriguing roller coasters.
Now the park is one of the most underrated in Europe and this review will explain why.
Tripsdrill originally opened in 1929 with just a windmill, a restaurant,
and a series of beautiful gardens. A few decades later, Tripsdrill started adding mechanical rides.
But their boldest additions have occurred over the past 2.5 decades. This has included
5 of the park’s 6 roller coasters plus their best non-coasters. The evolution of this park
from a leisurely garden to a full-fledged theme park has been fascinating to watch.
I knew this park had some themed attractions, but I was blown away how much detail this park
included. The front half of the park feels like a village with the traditional architecture and
greenery. Rides in this section are themed to family and chores. For example, the river
rapids ride is themed to washing or laundry. And the waltzer ride is themed to baking bread. The
themes are quirky and unconventional, but they work since Tripsdrill goes all out with them.
The back half is more open. Make sure you have sunscreen for this area! You have a giant grassy
area for guests to lounge and relax on. Then the perimeter contains gardens and some of the
park’s largest and newest attractions. These rides tend to open an hour after the rest of the park,
but there’s a sign by the entrance confirming the operating times for the major rides.
I knew Tripsdrill was renowned for its natural beauty, but I had no clue the park would contain
as much theming as it did. Several rides had detailed queue lines complete with figures and
set pieces. Some even included a museum! There were so many little details around each corner.
I’m just surprised the park doesn’t have a true dark ride given their love of theming.
Beyond the themed rides, there were statues and even these animatronic displays adjacent to the
midway. All of these elements make Tripsdrill one of the most pleasant parks just to walk around.
And the quaint feel has been maintained despite the park adding bigger and bolder attractions.
As of 2021, day tickets cost 37 Euros, which I thought was very fair considering how much this
park offered. I visited on a summer weekday and crowds were busier than I expected.
The park typically opens at 9 am. I had heard the major rides didn’t open until 10 am,
so I wasn’t in a rush to get to the park, but that was a mistake.
By the time I arrived at 9:15, there was a 15-20 minute wait to get into the park.
This was a combination of crowds and the entrance booth only having 2 windows.
I also found out the new-for-2020 additions in Hals-uber-Kopf and Voldampf open with the park.
My recommended touring plan is to arrive before 9 am so you’re one of the first ones in the park.
That should allow you to start your day with a walk-on on Voldampf
and a mini-marathon on Hals-uber-Kopf. The latter is the park’s highest capacity coaster,
so it never was more than a 15-20 minute wait. The key is to be ready to hit the major rides in
the back half of the park once they open at 10 am. I would hit the Jungbrunnen log flume first
and continue clockwise hitting G’sengte Sau and Mammut. These three rides had 45-60 minute waits
midday for me. So it’s very advantageous to beat the crowds here. You’ll probably have to wait for
Karacho at this point, but that coaster’s wait maxed out around 30 minutes for me.
Operators were dispatching trains quickly. The operator on Hals-uber-Kopf was skillfully
unclipping the restraints of the returning train as it was moving into the station.
On many rides, guests were responsible for lowering their own restraints
and operators performed spot checks, which accelerated dispatch times. All rides were
running with their maximum number of cars or trains. Lines were mostly a byproduct of demand.
Tripsdrill is mostly a park for locals and doesn’t attract too many foreign tourists. As a result,
signage is exclusively in German. And I’d guess roughly half the employees only spoke German. So
while the park was less accessible to English speakers than several other European parks,
it didn’t impact my ability to enjoy the park. Moving onto the ride lineup, Tripsdrill had a
really nice mix of rides. Karacho is their most thrilling attraction. This Gerstlauer infinity
coaster features a powerful LSM launch at the start, a top hat loaded with airtime and laterals,
and four fun inversions with the final two being the highlights. The dive loop goes underground,
giving a delightful mix of viscous laterals and crushing positive Gs. Then you have a hangtime
filled barrel roll as a contrast immediately after. The coaster is well-rounded and smooth.
And you also have some science theming in the queue plus the infamous puking animatronic
that needs to be seen to be believed, and I talk about it more in a separate review.
My favorite coaster was actually Hals-uber-Kopf, the prototype Vekoma suspended thrill coaster.
This inverted coaster features a unique layout for the genre. The ride is very well-paced.
Transitions between elements are seamless and exciting. The coaster has 3 floaty inversions,
several forceful turns, and a handful of airtime moments. The ride also has
freeing lap bar restraints and glass smooth tracking unlike the old Vekoma inverts,
and I talk about this more in its own review. Traveling under Hals-uber-Kopf is Voldampf,
the Vekoma family boomerang. The best part about this coaster are the visuals as you whiz under the
invert and then shoot through its station. The park’s best family coaster is G’sengte Sau.
This was Gerstlauer’s first roller coaster and this is one of their bobsled models, which is
basically a wild mouse on steroids. You have the usual hairpin turns chalk full of laterals
plus banked turns, helixes, and airtime-filled bunny hills. The ride also great visuals as you
whiz past gardens and wind through a castle, and I talk about this more in a separate review.
Mammut is the park’s lone wood coaster. I love the ride’s theme and the show-scene before the lift.
I also love the first drop in the back row. It offers a great combination of floater airtime
and laterals. However, the rest of the layout is pretty lackluster. As I mention in my review,
Mammut looks like a GCI with its twisted layout, but it sure doesn’t ride like one. It is smooth at
least. It’s biggest fault is that it’s boring. Lastly, you have Rasender Tausendfubler,
which is a Zierer large Tivoli coaster tucked amongst the trees. Try to ride in the back if
you want some great whip because the 20 car trains are abruptly pulled over the first two drops.
The best non-coaster is Badewannen-Fahrt zum Jungbrunnen. This Mack log flume literally
translates to the Bathtub Ride to the Fountain of Youth. It sounds like a bad translation,
but that’s actually what happens. You ride in bathtubs and then you float to the Fountain of
Youth where old women bathe to become young again. And because it’s Germany, the women are naked.
Along with the visuals, you have three drops. There’s a nice backwards one and a tall one at
the end that even gives a little pop of airtime. And you get the perfect sized splash on this one.
I also have a separate review for this ride since it’s one of my favorite log flumes.
Waschzuber-Rafting is a well-landscaped river rapids ride as you float past gardens.
It’s not particularly soaking though, as the waterfalls are more for show
and the rapids only send small splashes into the raft.
The only other water rides are a few scenic boat rides.
Or you have a few scenic attractions on land if you’d prefer to avoid the water.
For flat rides, there are two that standout. Hohenflug is a Gerstlauer sky fly that is one
of the world’s most intense flats if you can get it flipping. If you can patiently
and rhythmically throw your weight back and forth to get that first inversion,
you can rapidly invert for the remainder of the ride. I got nearly 30-40 flips on this ride.
Doppelter Donnerbalken is an odd drop tower. It’s themed to a treehouse and not overly tall.
There are two separate towers facing each other. The drops are pretty tame,
but the final ascent has an evil trick. At the top, the gondolas are violently tilted forwards.
It feels like you’ll be laterally ejected. It’s one of the scariest moments on any ride
because it comes out of nowhere. The park doesn’t have too many other flats,
but the few there look great either with their landscaping or small thematic elements.
Last but not least, this park has a bevy of walkthrough attractions and play structures.
both an indoor and outdoor section. You then have play structures for kids and then some
of the pathways are made interesting. For example, you have a suspension bridge above
water or stepping stones also above water. Along with the theme park, there is also a
nature park roughly 1 kilometer or 3/4 miles away. You can either walk,
drive, or take a complimentary shuttle. The nature park is included with theme park admission,
or you can alternatively purchase admission for it separately. I skipped this on my visit,
but it’s 116 well-shaded acres filled with a few nature trails and over 60 different animals.
You’ll also see plenty of bees in the amusement park. They were constantly swarming the trash
cans. That’s not too surprising given all the gardens at Tripsdrill, but just be prepared.
I didn’t have a full meal at the park, but I did have a few pretzels because they were
delicious. They were the freshly baked, doughy pretzels Germany is known for.
So do I recommend Erlebnispark Tripsdrill? Absolutely. This is a very underrated theme
park. Karacho and Hals-uber-Kopf are two strong and diverse attractions that can
appease thrill-seekers. The log flume is one of the best out there. And then you have plenty of
family attractions and walkthroughs. But the park is about so much more than just the rides. It has
a pleasant, traditional feel. And the visuals are top notch. You have a mix of gardens and
thematic elements. Many of the themes here are bizarre and because they’re well-done,
they standout even more. If you find yourself on a theme park tour in Germany, do not miss this park.
If you only care about the coasters, you probably only need a half day, but I strongly encourage a
full day to see everything that makes this park unique and soak up that atmosphere.
So those are my thoughts on Tripsdrill. What are your thoughts on the oldest theme park in Germany?
Let me know what you think about this one-of-a-kind park down in the comments.
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