Day 7: We are at Heide-Park, checking out the roller coasters

Today, we had planned a day off and bought tickets for Heide-Park two days in advance. Due to Corona, only tickets for specific dates were allowed. Our vacation rental was about 2.5 km away from the park, so just a short bike ride away. Full of anticipation, we started our day after a delicious muesli breakfast with our lightweight bicycles towards Heide-Park. We made sure to lock them securely with our three locks :)) Despite having pre-booked tickets with designated time slots, it was quite crowded at the entrance when the park opened. Everyone was wearing face masks (mostly correctly) and maintaining more or less appropriate distance. By now, we had noticed that some people need a shopping cart to maintain distance. We finally entered the park just before 10 am and had until 7 pm (or until 6 pm, as the rides close one hour before the park closes) to enjoy ourselves. This time, we didn't come prepared. So we downloaded the park app, which provided a park map and wait times for the rides. Very helpful! We started with a small roller coaster for kids, then went on the mountain rafting, and continued from there. Without going into too much detail, let's get straight to the conclusion: We liked the roller coaster 'Flight of the Demons' and the wooden roller coaster 'Colossus' the most. The former had a very smooth ride, along with intermediate acceleration sections. Colossus impressed us with great vertical g-forces (positive and negative). We were lucky enough to time it so that no one lined up for the third carriage in the Colossus roller coaster, where we were sitting, at closing time. So we actually got to ride it three times in a row, super cool! We were practically fused with the ride! During the last ride, we both dared to keep our arms above our heads without holding onto the restraint :))) Just behind these two roller coasters, we found 'Desert Race', which accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.4 seconds. We sat in the front (unplanned) for all the rides and were able to enjoy this speed burst without any restrictions. We just had to hold onto our face masks a little with our lips :))

On the other hand, Janina gathered the courage to ride the free fall tower with a height of 71 meters and experience more than 2 seconds of weightlessness. Jörg was finally convinced to go on the bobsled track (even with two rides in a row) after enjoying a delicious nitrogen-cooled ice cream (Nitrogenie), which didn't run on any tracks... ('What if the engineer miscalculated?! Then we'll fly off the track!') For lunch, we had a tasty falafel bowl, which was surprisingly healthy, delicious, and affordable for an amusement park. While enjoying our food, we admired the view of the lake surrounded by ducks, geese, swallows, coots, and unfortunately, a few wasps. We also had a nostalgic ride on the Breakdance. The roller coaster 'Krake' impressed us with its vertical drop, but it was overall very short and the waiting time was relatively long. Even more impressive was that the cars rushed through a lake into a loop, splashing water onto the sidewalk. The people who stood in this splash zone only got a few drops of cooling. But when Janina stood there for a little refreshment, a wave practically engulfed her... She got completely soaked, which was actually a joy in the high temperatures!

All in all, it was a fantastic day filled with thrills and fun! We would love to do it again :))