Flug der Damonen at Heide Park is my favorite B&M wing coaster.
I should preface this by saying that I haven’t ridden any of the ones in Asia, but I have
ridden all the other operating ones and Flug der Damonen offers a far superior ride experience.
Find out why in this review!
Bolliger & Mabillard introduced the wing coaster a decade ago and Merlin was the earliest adopter
of this model.
der Damonen at Heide Park in Germany.
And Merlin has an additional two wing coasters on the way for the 2023 season at Legoland
Deutschland and Chessington World of Adventures.
But back to Flug der Damonen, this coaster was placed in the Transylvania section of
the park.
The ride replaced the beloved Wildwasserbaan II.
This Schwarzkopf log flume ran along the hillside and featured a shockingly tall 75 foot or
23 meter tall drop.
Heide had big shoes to fill with this ride’s removal.
And I think they more than did that with Flug der Damonen.
Let’s start with this ride’s presentation.
It’s phenomenal.
A lot of Heide’s coasters oddly feature white track, so it can be hard to pick this
coaster out in the skyline from a distance, but it looks nice and clean up close.
And I love how the elements interact with its surroundings.
The coaster runs all through Transylvania, diving adjacent to and beneath pathways.
And this coaster uses the hillside like its predecessor.
This creates some neat vantage points as you move through the area.
I particularly like the observation deck atop the hill overlooking the ride.
The station is themed to a church.
You have the traditional pointed roof and some nice lanterns, but the walls are vandalized
with warnings.
And you hear the ride’s custom soundtrack blaring.
It’s a dark and ominous one from IMAScore that matches the ride’s eerie theme perfectly.
Then the ride’s trains are themed to look like these gnarly black demons.
Not only do they look stunning, but you’ll hear these demonic screeches at points on
some of the valleys.
It’s a small touch, but it shows just how much care Merlin put into this ride’s presentation.
Each of those trains seats up to 24 riders.
Guests ride in pairs on each side of the track, and the coaster has 6 rows with 4 guests in
each.
Flug der Damonen is one of the park’s most popular rides.
Many days, it often has a 30-45 minute wait.
I believe the ride once had a single rider line, but I haven’t seen one in use in my
visits to Heide.
Your best bet to avoid a wait is to head here towards the very beginning or end of the day.
Alternatively, you can purchase an Express Butler skip-the-line pass.
Not only do you almost always board the next train, but it gives you an advantage when
it comes to seat selection.
Heide only lets enough people into the station to fill the next train.
The attendant lets those with skip-the-line passes into the station first, so they get
first choice.
You cannot wait for a specific row if it’s already occupied.
My favorite row on this ride was the back.
I thought this row offered the most hangtime.
Further, I thought the right side of the train offered a bit more hangtime than the left
as well.
And as with many wing coasters, I prefer to ride on the inside.
I think it offers a smoother ride.
The outer seats offer the cooler visuals, but they’re bouncier on the valleys.
In general, this is a very smooth ride, especially on those inside seats.
It’s about on par with the other wing coasters.
I could and did marathon this coaster for an hour.
Like all the B&M wing coasters, this ride features vest restraints.
And I find these quite comfortable.
They hug your body, but they have enough give to not restrict the forces.
Then they have the primary benefit of making headbanging impossible, improving guest comfort.
And they’re quite easy for the employees to check.
They dispatched trains at a steady rate and minimized stacking.
Once dispatched, you turn out of the station and ascend the lift hill.
This ride’s height is posted at 130 feet or 40 meters, but I believe that figure is
the difference in elevation from the ride’s highest and lowest point rather than the lift
itself.
Once at the top, you head into a wingover dive drop.
I love these elements.
Those up front get some nice hangtime as you slowly rotate 180 degrees high off-the-ground.
While those in back get some great whip as they’ll pulled through the twist and yanked
to the ground . And that descent will also give those in back a little airtime.
The first valley has a fantastic headchopper with a bridge while also piling on the positive
Gs.
I believe this is where the ride hits its max of 4 Gs.
Then you fly over a speed hill.
And this element is magical.
It feels straight out of a B&M hyper coaster.
Heck, it offers better airtime than most hills on Colossos across the park.
You get several seconds of very strong and sustained floater airtime here, even with
the vest restraints.
This element dives under a pedestrian bridge, which again produces a sweet near-miss.
And this is another fairly forceful valley.
And if you’re up front, those positives continue into the Immelmann.
I would grey out in that seat from the sustained Gs.
The positives are still good in the back, but not as intense.
The back compensates by getting some floater airtime as you twist out of the element and
dive towards the ground, especially if you’re on the left side.
The pullout has another good headchopper with a support and then you navigate a zero-G roll
that goes uphill.
Up front, you are pushed through this element.
It’s whippy and disorienting up there and you go too fast for any hangtime.
Instead, you’ll just get some laterals.
Meanwhile, those in back float the entire way through the element.
This is what I personally prefer.
Next is a turnaround that goes right up against Bobbahn’s station.
This maneuver has some decent Gs.
The entrance is more compact since you’re atop the hill, but the exit dives back down
to the ride’s lowest point.
So you get some great pull in back.
And the sense of speed in that valley is wonderful.
Now it’s time for the ride’s signature element, the one-of-a-kind demonic knot.
This is comprised of an inclined dive loop followed by an inclined Immelmann.
But rather than riding like those elements, it feels more like two twisted and angled
zero-G rolls back-to-back.
The first one offers identical forces to this ride’s first zero-G roll.
It’s whippy up front with some laterals and chalk full of hangtime in the back.
The valley in between blasts everyone with positives.
Then the second inversion rides similarly up front.
Those in back get another dose of hangtime, but it’s not quite as pronounced this time
around.
Then because of how this element is angled and profiled, it’s extremely disorienting.
You have no idea which direction you’re heading.
Flug der Damonen finishes with a funky turnaround.
The entry rises upwards and then banks nearly 90 degrees at the apex.
It feels like a slower RMC wave turn.
Those on the right side will get a pinch of airtime and then everyone will get some lateral
hangtime from the speed loss.
You then dip downwards for a deceptively intense turn that lays on the positives one last time.
You wouldn’t expect it after how much you decelerated a second ago.
Then you twist upwards into the final brake run and if you’re on the left side, you’ll
get a small bit of airtime as you level off.
You then hit the brakes, ending the 2533 foot or 772 meter long coaster.
Another aspect about this ride I need to praise is its pacing, which isn’t something you
typically say about a wing coaster.
Flug der Damonen has no wasted elements.
Not only that, all of the elements are great.
And you brisky go in-between each one.
So what would I rate Flug der Damonen?
I would give this wing coaster a 10 out of 10.
Overall, this probably is more like a 9 out of 10 when compared with all rides, but I
decided to go with the perfect rating because it’s head and shoulders better than all
the other wing coasters.
I liked this ride back in 2019, but it blew me away after my 2022 rides.
This ride is a masterpiece.
From the top notch presentation to the unique use of terrain, this coaster has all the visuals
you’d expect from this model.
Then the pacing and elements are far better than usual.
You have that incredible speed hill and 5 inversions that all offer a blend of airtime,
hangtime, positive Gs, and/or laterals.
Then the remaining turns and valleys are no slouch either, offering some interesting forces.
So those are my thoughts on Flug der Damonen at Heide Park.
What are your thoughts on this B&M wing coaster?
Is it your favorite one of the model as well?
Let me know if you like this ride as much as me down below in the comments.
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