EL TORO
FREIZEITPARK PLOHN
LENGENFELD, GERMANY
By Martin Valt - UK
T
he third album, as successful musicians will
readily testify, is always the most elusive.
Whereas the first serves to herald one’s
presence on the world stage and the second
to – hopefully – consolidate one’s much-morethan-a-one-hit-wonder credentials, the third is
inevitably accompanied by a plethora of difficult
decisions. Does one adopt a brisk “business
as usual” approach, inviting allegations of
complacently resting upon one’s laurels, or risk
igniting the wrath of devotees by attempting to
create something even marginally unfamiliar?
All in all, something of a “damned if you do and
damned if you don’t” scenario, and a challenge
parallel to that encountered by Great Coasters
International Inc (GCII) as those hardworking
chaps in the Pennsylvania hills quietly set
about designing El Toro (no, not that one).
O Great Coasters International Inc.
The spoils of GCII’s first two European
forays, 2007’s Troy resplendent amidst the tulip
fields at Toverland (Sevenum, Netherlands)
and 2006’s Thunderbird shivering beneath
the Northern Lights at PowerPark (Alahärmä,
N Martin Valt
FROM ANOTHER SEAT
E
l Toro might be a smaller-sized coaster,
but after one ride you will realize that
size really doesn’t matter. This woodie
is fast from start to finish, has plenty of
airtime, many twisted sections (a GCII
trademark), short tunnels and even
some strong lateral Gs at the end, which
is unusual for GCII. In fact, it may be a
little too fast. According to one of the park
directors, the German TÜV may force them
to install trim brakes in the near future. I
hope that never happens because right
now I think that El Toro is as good as the
excellent Troy.
If you like GCII wooden coasters, then
don’t be put off by this remote location
and head to Plohn to ride El Toro!
Andreas Kiehl - GERMANY
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Finland) – the latter being cloned within two
seasons as Evel Knievel at Six Flags St Louis
(Eureka, Missouri) – were both so universally
well received that expectations of the third Old
Country installation were already somewhere
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in the stratosphere. This well in advance of
details as insignificant as dimensions and
location being revealed. However, when
that announcement did finally emerge,
well… who outside southeast Germany had
really previously heard of a little park near
Lengenfeld named Freizeitpark Plohn (rhymes
with “phone”)? Moreover – and let’s be honest
here – didn’t everyone assume that the tertiary
European GCII would be at least slightly larger
than its predecessors?
El Toro debuted, to only modest media
interest, on 10 April 2009 in one of the myriad
of family-oriented woodland amusement parks,
that the Germans seem to do so much better
than anyone else. The country’s fourth wood
coaster, El Toro’s statistics were not – despite its
impeccable pedigree - immediately suggestive
of a world-beater. Significantly shorter than
either of its two northern forefathers at 750m
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(2,460ft) and – topping out at around 27.4m
(90ft) – by no means a particularly tall ride
by contemporary standards, few dared to hope
for much more than perhaps a GCII-lite – a fast,
fun, family ride ideally suited to a mid-sized
traditional park intent on stepping up to the
next level. However, it appears that we have
instead been gifted with something rather
special indeed.
Constructed on a shallow incline at
the rear of the hillside park, its dominating
contours and aesthetic grace are more than
slightly reminiscent of a scaled-down version
of Dollywood’s (Pigeon Forge, Tennessee)
Thunderhead (yes, yet another GCII – does
anyone detect a pattern here?). But there’s
nothing scaled down about its performance.
The rampaging El Toro simply stamps, snorts
and stampedes around the track, with the
single 24-seat Millennium Flyer train – still
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S
ilver Mine is the park’s
very well themed Zierer
Flitzer coaster. It started
life on the German fair
circuit before heading
overseas to Adventureland
(Altoona, Iowa) in 1975.
It operated there for 15
years as Der Flitzer before
heading back to Europe in
1991. It didn’t return to
Germany though; instead,
it turned up at Avonturenpark Hellendoorn
(Hellendoorn, Netherlands) was called
Rioolrat, (Sewer Rat), and stayed there for
just four years before finally making its way
back to Germany, but not to Freizeitpark
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Plohn. Instead it wound up at Spielerei
Rheda-Wiedenbrück (Rheda-Wiedenbrück,
Germany), and the schizophrenic coaster
was now called Mäuseachterbahn (Mouse
Roller Coaster).
In 2000 it made its final move (to
date) to Freizeitpark Plohn, and of
course gained another name but not
its current one. Initially it was simply
called Achterbahn (Roller Coaster),
and kept that name until it received its
fancy theming in 2006, when it finally
became Silver Mine. Phew!
All that travelling and upheaval
only to find itself back almost where it
started!
by some distance the premier wood coaster
rolling stock in the business – absolutely
flying from even a chilly early morning start
and delivering in abundance exactly what is
promised on the GCII tin. This raging bull is
without question the real deal. Everything is in
place, from the familiar curving first drop – on
N George Greenway
FROM ANOTHER SEAT
F
reizeitpark Plohn is a small family
park whose coaster claim was to have
one of just two Wacky Worms in Germany.
They also have a Zierer Flitzer called Silver
Mine. Now though, it is home to GCII’s 13th
woodie and their third outside the US.
El Toro sits camouflaged on the back
edge of the park, below the tree line,
winding itself around the log flume and the
existing buildings. There is even a bridge
through the coaster to the log flume exit
so you can watch the trains rush past.
The operators were dispatching trains
at an impressive rate, and all without
annoying safety notices and barriers. I
was even allowed to stay in my seat as
long as no one else required it.
The front and back seats are very rerideable, with loads of airtime; the middle
cars are livelier and keep you holding on.
Overall, it’s not as powerful a ride
as Troy at Toverland or Thunderbird at
PowerPark; nevertheless, riding El Toro is a
very pleasant experience indeed.
George Greenway - UK
this occasion disappearing directly beneath the
Wildwasserbahn log flume – to the signature
and seemingly infinitely intertwined wild and
twisted choreography. But of course, this being
a GCII, there’s more. Much more. Mesmerising
pacing with delicious, dancing directional
changes and airtime galore. Yes, airtime, and
lots of it. On a GCII twister. With the greater part of
its layout pinned quite low to the ground, much
of El Toro feels more akin to a terrain coaster
than a conventional twister. Beyond the first
drop no large ascents or descents are featured.
Instead a multitude of slick turns, tight little
hills and short, sharp, breath-catching drops
are employed to maximum effect, with every
last one negotiated at breakneck speed and
absolutely popping with rodeo-like negative-g
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jolts. Intriguingly, there appear to be no prime
riding positions; each seat unfailingly provides
a complete and thoroughly memorable
experience. Uncompromisingly relentless – as
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are all the world’s truly outstanding coasters,
regardless of genre – but eminently re-rideable
and possessing a “fun factor” which is simply
off the chart. It is difficult in the extreme to
conjure up any meaningful criticisms of El
Toro or even to imagine any way in which it
might be significantly improved. Nothing in
life is perfect, but this is damn close. Does it
incorporate the trademark seismic station fly
through? Alas, no. Nevertheless, the overall
quality of this ride is so astonishingly high that
the absence of the stunt is barely noticed.
I always avoid clichés like the plague –
indeed they are to me as a red rag to this bull
– but El Toro really has put Freizeitpark Plohn
on both the map and the ever-expanding list of
“must do” German parks. Pay no heed to mere
statistics. Bigger is by no means necessarily
better where wood coasters are concerned,
and this thoroughbred beast is the ultimate
overachiever and a legitimate global Top Ten
candidate. As GCII’s contributions to wood
coaster heritage continue to evolve and mature,
El Toro may well be their most remarkable to
date. In fact, perhaps the station should have
been themed as a china shop…
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