Richard Bannister

Schwaben Park is located almost an hour away from the nearest half decent road, something which until today I'd have thought unthinkable in Germany. On the drive there we had satnav disagreeing with the signposts when we were still over half an hour away, a definite reflection on the many possible ways to reach the park, none of them any good. It is almost certainly impossible to find without electronic assistance, and thus potential thieves can likely assume that any vehicles in the car park will have onboard navigation systems.

We quickly worked our way through the Crazy Worm (#1358) before heading to what had brought us to the park in the first place. Himalayabahn (#1359) is one of three permanently installed Schwarzkopf Wildcat designs left in Europe, the fourth having been scrapped four years ago. This one seemed to be very much on borrowed time, with the car barely making it over the first hill, but it was still a classic coaster well worth the effort. The only other attraction we tried today was the Bobkart; though it wasn't as fast as the model yesterday morning it was still great fun.

EuroPark Milano Idroscalo is a night time park located a few minutes away from Milan Linate Airport. At first glance the site looks like a travelling funfair, but closer inspection reveals that a number of rides have been installed permanently. One of the most interesting looking was the Galeone, a partially enclosed stand-up pirate ship ride. The imaginatively named Flume Ride also looked the part, with an oversized pirate boat for its station.

On the coaster front the main draw is Storm (#1360), a Pinfari design with trains that prominently bear the manufacturers designation of RC40; might this have been a demo model that found its way to a park following Pinfari's demise? It was also interesting to see over the shoulder restraints which could be operated electrically from the ride pay box, something I've never seen on a portable coaster before. We finished our evening with yet another Bruco Mela (#1361).