Richard Bannister

Park Rozrywki is part of the Bałtówski Kompleks Turystyczny, a tourist complex established in 2004 with the opening of JuraPark Bałtów, the first dinosaur park in Poland. Over the intervening years the owners have added a zoo, an oceanarium, an amusement park, a horse riding centre, a ski resort, and a variety of smaller attractions – taking the total size of the facility up to 100 hectares. There are a number of different places to park around the complex; readers retracing my steps should probably aim for the lot at 51.01438, 21.55173 (in the bottom left of the map) as it lies roughly half way between the two coasters.

The main area of the park comprises a selection of family rides laid out along both sides of a wide midway. Wristbands are available, though most enthusiasts will likely be content with three regular tokens for Kolejka Górska (#3001), a standard model SBF Double Coaster dating from 2011. The ride is one of the oldest examples of its type, and to be blunt, it feels its age. Each tyre drive motor shakes the train in a manner very reminiscent of the Wisdom coasters of yore, and while the descents are somewhat better the overall comfort level is not good.

The complex is also home to an alpine coaster located about five minutes walk from the other rides. Today it wasn’t possible to pay for a ticket there, apparently due to a staffing problem; instead, I had to retrace my steps back to the main cash desk in order to acquire a black-and-white coloured 10 zloty token. If I’d known how good the ride was I’d have bought more than one, but by the time I discovered that it was altogether too much effort to retrace my steps a second time. The park is to be commended for prioritising operations over sales, though I found myself wondering why the same person couldn't do both tasks at once as seen in France a few short weeks ago.

Rollercoaster was manufactured by Techfun, a niche player in the alpine coaster industry with just six known installations in operation as of 2022 – one each in France, Georgia, Iran, Poland, Slovakia, and Switzerland. The track looks somewhat less refined than the more common Wiegand product, but it rides very well – the only oddity being a steady sound of flatulence from the underside of the sled, presumably related to the speed regulation system. This doesn’t impact the ride quality in any way as it is uniform throughout; there’s no issue taking the corners at full speed. The layout also has three significant drops of around twenty feet that deliver remarkably good airtime.

The Studio 100 chain has been on a spending spree of late, opening three new Majaland parks in just five years. The Warsaw branch is the latest as of this writing, having premiered just four weeks and change prior to my visit. It features an indoor hall more or less duplicated from its predecessors and a newly designed outdoor area comprising a water play area, family rides, and a Gerstlauer Sky Fly – an oddly intense choice for a family park, though presumably management knew what they were doing.

Roller Coaster Wikingów (#3002) is a standard model Zierer Force Two and an excellent family coaster. As usual for the chain the layout is largely hidden from the midway inside a light-filled box with token theming. I’d have liked something a bit more elaborate in here, such as an animatronic or two and maybe a soundtrack, but that’s honestly a nitpick; the ride is fun, and that’s what matters most. I did three laps; a back, a front, and a middle. Operations were unhurried but today that just meant that I had time to get back through the queue into the train I'd just left!

Enthusiasts should also make the time for the Viking Totem, a family-sized spinning drop ride from Zierer with lap bar restraints. I’d thought this was closed, but it was actually being run in rotation with the nearby Wild Drakkar (Rockin' Tug). The ride was worth the wait; it was running a lengthy cycle with a mixture of short and longer drops. I'd go as far as to say that these rides are almost as much fun as the much larger drop towers, which are over in a few seconds. I like my rides to last for a while!

SCS Aktywna Warszawa operates a Wiegand alpine coaster on an entirely unpronounceable hill (see Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz) located close to the centre of Warsaw. Zjeżdżalnia Grawitacyjna is notable chiefly for a fantastic view of the city at the highest point of the layout; other than that, it is a fairly standard affair comprising helices and a terrain-hugging descent. For the second time today the ticket office was nowhere near the ride, but on a happier note it was at least clearly signposted.