Mammut is only wood coaster at Erlebnispark Tripsdrill.
And this tree-themed ride is notable for being the first wood coaster completely designed
and built by German companies.
This ride looks like a GCI with its swooping drops, but it sure doesn’t ride like one.
Find out why in this review of Mammut.
Tripsdrill’s first major coaster was G’sengte Sau in 1998.
This was Gerstlauer’s first roller coaster and it was basically a wild mouse on steroids,
but the ride experience was still suitable for families.
This paired well with their Zierer Tivoli coaster in Rasender Tausendfüßler.
In 2008, Tripsdrill added their third and largest coaster to date in Mammut.
The ride was designed by Werner Stengel’s company and the ride was the only coaster
ever built by Cordes Holzbau.
Mammut would stand 98 feet or 30 meters tall, making it quite a bit taller than the park’s
prior coasters.
And it’s still tied with both Karacho and Hals-uber-Kopf for the park’s tallest attraction.
But while the latter two are bonafide thrill rides, Mammut is more of a family coaster
despite its size.
Mammut is themed to the German Mammutbaume or Redwood tree.
The start of the queue winds through the coaster’s structure, but the final section features
some characters logging.
And fittingly, the station itself is erected entirely of wood.
Now you may be in this queue line for a while.
Mammut was one of the three busiest rides in the park.
It had a 45-60 minute wait midday, as the queue spilled out onto the midway.
The ride was running two trains, each seating 24 riders, but it was just popular with most
guests.
The line did shrink significantly towards the end of the day though.
Once you reach the station, you are free to wait for any row of your choice and I strongly
recommend the back on this one exclusively for the drop, but more on that in a bit.
Mammut runs Gerstlauer trains.
Several wood coasters run Gerstlauer trains, but the ones on Mammut are different.
These are 3 bench trains.
And the lap bars aren’t U-shaped.
Instead, they are L-shaped and thankfully have some extra padding for comfort.
I think these are the best Gerstlauer trains I’ve seen on a wood coaster for functionality,
and I also love the little chipmunk on the front of the car.
Once dispatched, you slowly round a corner and enter a wooden shed.
Inside is a neat little dark ride scene.
You hear an alarm go off.
Lights flash and you creep towards a buzzsaw.
At the last second, you navigate a small dip and then head up the ride’s lift hill.
This is one of the highlights of the ride.
Once atop the lift, you sharply twist downwards and to the left.
This drop gives a really good combination of floater airtime and laterals in the back.
It beats the twisting drops on most GCIs without a doubt.
However, Mammut is quite literally all downhill from here.
You enter the first turnaround, shuffling along the way.
Considering this was Cordes Holzbau’s only coaster and this ride was running 3-bench
trains on a twisted layout, I was nervous it would be rough.
But thankfully Mammut is quite smooth outside of the entry into this first turnaround.
Instead, this ride’s biggest flaws are the elements and the ride’s pacing.
Almost every element is deliberately drawn out.
Maybe that was intentional since the transitions are elongated and super fluid, which allows
the ride to track gracefully.
That would be fine if the ride carried more speed, but it felt a little sluggish at points
too.
As a result, the airtime and laterals suffered.
In fact, I got zero airtime up front.
That first turnaround is followed by a camelback that does give a pinch of floater airtime
in the back, but that is the final airtime you get in that row.
Mammut then enters this element that’s a combination of a turnaround and a helix.
You rise upwards like a turnaround and then you twist downwards to the ground.
And there’s a nice headchopper at the bottom.
Mammut then glides over a bunny hill that also features a great headchopper and then
traverse a low turnaround near the station.
Again, these don’t do much from a force perspective.
You then piece through the lift structure, getting another solid near-miss with the wood.
And then you make a lap through the structure.
The small bunny hills and far turn don’t offer any forces, but you do have a few more
headchoppers.
You then rise up this S-hill and drop underground into a tunnel.
When you emerge, you rise into the brake run getting some laterals on the way up.
And this ends your 2822 foot or 869 meter long coaster.
So what would I rate Mammut?
I would give this coaster a 4 out of 10.
This is a below average wood coaster for me.
The ride has a few redeeming qualities.
The ride has the cool dark ride scene at the start, several strong near-misses, and a great
first drop in the back row.
But unfortunately, that drop is the only good element on the ride.
The ride thankfully isn’t rough.
It’s just that most of the coaster is drawn out and devoid of forces.
Again, maybe that was intentional, but the ride looks more substantial than just a family
coaster.
So those are my thoughts on Mammut at Tripsdrill.
What are your thoughts on this German-built wood coaster?
Do you enjoy this ride more than me?
Let me know what you think down in the comments.
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