I like Germany a lot and I really want to drive over there as much as I want to but there is one tiny issue: you can’t carry any ganja over there as easily as you can in the Netherlands. Now, during the first half of last season we didn’t worry about that too much. We just carried our usual load of smoking equipment and never really had any issues. Until we got stopped out of the blue for no reason during a scheduled trip to Phantasialand.
This was the first time we finally found our way to the German A61 via Venlo but unfortunately after driving about ten kilometers into Germany we found ourselves pulled over by some undercover German highway patrol. After giving up our ganja and quite a hassle we were able to continue our way without any problems.
Even after we were stopped on the autobahn last summer and had to hand over our ganja, which seemed like quite a big catch to the Polizei guys but not so much of a loss to me and my brother, I still like the Germans. So now whenever we visit Germany we smoke a few before crossing the border, remove any traces of evidence before we cross and then cruise happily into Germany without any thing illegal.
Why is Movie Park Germany such a great park?
Few parks have such coherent and well executed theming like Movie Park Germany. Of course, since the park is supposed to resemble a giant movie studio this allows for some of the theming to be obviously fake whilst still remaining in the theme.
Often, the theming is executed into the finest details. Today, we suddenly found ourselves walking in one of the more quited areas of the park and suddenly heard some loud music. When we looked up at one of the buildings to our right there was an open window from which the music was coming. We really wondered for a minute whether there really was someone up there but then quickly decided it was part of the theming. Very well executed theming though and it is this kind of small details that really lift up the whole park.
TODO: Insert open window pic here
The infrastructure of most parks consists of a network of interconnecting routes. Movie Park however is more like interconnected squares. The park is built up by pretty large areas which are connected to each other in various ways. This means that navigating the park is a breeze and there are a lot of opportunities for shortcuts and alternative routes. Even when when there is a clear path it usually has the dimensions of an American street so it is still pretty huge.
The Bandit is a wooden roller coaster that is unique in Germany because it was the first ever woody in Germany and it was built according to American tradition. This basically means a ride that will shake you up pretty well. This is the roughest ride I’ve ever experienced and even though I’ve bin on it at least a dozen times I still don’t really know wether to weep from joy or pain when I exit.
The High Fall is another thing of beauty. It was struck by a lightning early last season and didn’t see a lot of action since then but today it was operating in full swing. And even though a sign at the entrance said it would open at one it was operating way earlier so remove the sign please – the thingy works! There was even some talk that it would be demolished last year but luckily the rumors where false because it is still unique in Europe.