Toverland – The Little Theme Park that Could

Sean: Within a span of 17 years this amazing Dutch theme park went from indoor play ground with a rollerskater to a world-class theme park destination. Toverland opened in may of 2001 with a Vekoma rollerskater and took the world by storm adding one of the regions largest and most impressive wooden coasters, a launch coaster, large spinning coaster, water rides, and one of the world’s best B&M Wing Coasters. Let’s take a look at this Dutch amusement park that want from 0 to 100 real fast.

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Due to temperamental weather in Orlando, we were delayed by a day getting into Europe. The good news is that we still managed to get to The Netherlands by 5am on our planned Toverland day! We left the airport in Amsterdam right away and showed up at Toverland about 2 hours prior to opening. Look at that prime parking spot in front of the entrance!

The weather was beautiful, temperature just where we liked for it to be, and thanks to the park’s quiet and removed location an overall serene morning. While the park was doing track work and cycling coasters, we figured we’d go on a little hike while waiting for the park to open.

Wooden coasters have never looked this good before.

Look! The park is testing Fenix!

Let’s enjoy that this park is located in the midsts of farmlands, fields and country roads. Given I was raised in The Netherlands in a farmland region much like this, I got a kick out of going for a morning stroll with the added excitement of coasters to look at.

Good morning!

Okay, time to head back to the park! We killed some time, now time to get changed into our designated pink matching outfits!

Upon return to the car Troy had also started testing and staff was busy preparing for the park’s opening.

The gates to the entrance plaza have opened! Time to head in for some magic!

Thanks to the amazing and very kind Toverland staff for their hard work and dedication to making sure the park looks incredibly well manicured.

The park’s new entrance plaza reminds me a lot of Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando Resort! One of my favorite theme park entrances. Such a refreshing change for Toverland and such a great step towards establishing themselves as a global player.

Tickets and parking permit acquired! Pink outfits ready! Ready to roll!

Roll on the first ever Vekoma Motorbike coaster for example! Booster Bike!

Once the gates opened our first coaster of the day was Troy. Back in 2007 this was a risky investment for the small park in Limburg, but you have got to dream big to get places. I remember how well received the “Largest wooden coaster in the Benelux” was. Troy is still sensational, a word they have used often to describe their woodie, and lives on to be one of my favorite woodies in Europe.

Lovely GCI transitions we’re used to, great pacing, nice setting and ultra smooth. Add in some pops of airtime, awesome staff, beautiful landscaping and well… you’ve got a typical Toverland-level ride and of the region’s best wooden coasters.

Troy ranks as high as Thunderhead at Dollywood and Gold Striker at California’s Great America for me, a high ranking.

A great display of Toverland’s dedication to improving the guest experience and their thematic immersion is their Maximus’ Blitz Bahn. Previously a standard powered bobkart that went outside is now equipped with an interactive queue, light and sensory effects, scenery and show scenes along the ride and completely covered when outside to ensure it can run in the rain. One of the biggest surprises during our trip to the park.

Time for a personal favorite… Booster Bike! To be fair, my first Vekoma motorbike was TRON: Lightcycle Power Run at Shanghai Disneyland. Naturally I was slightly skeptical of what to expect from the prototype. Having said that, I absolutely fell in love! It’s not as comfortable but it’s such a fun ride! Great launch, some fun elements, and overall very much felt like a mini TRON.

Nerd shot!

Booster Bike takes off in a hurry and I made sure we rerode several times. Again staff was amazing, at every single ride or attraction.

The coaster collection has been pretty amazing so far! Time to hit up yet another Toverland coaster with Toverland charm! D’wervelwind! – This 2012 Mack Spinning Coaster was part of a large expansion of the Magische Vallei that also included a major rapids ride. The spinning coaster has a fun mix of elements and features a custom onboard soundtrack as well as effects in the station.

Now the coaster our international readers may be most interested in is the park’s 2018 addition: Fenix. The custom B&M Wing Coaster is on another level. I am not the biggest fan of new age B&Ms, I’ll be the first to admit. Fenix on the other hand… what a beast! Short but perfect!

The ride’s queue is mesmerizing, with a beautiful back story, and the station itself is gorgeous as well. Please be warned that the station entry and exit stairs are particularly steep and terrifying. Very Dutch, very not American-friendly.

Fenix is part of Avalon and shares the land with Merlin’s Quest, an outside/inside boat ride with some dark ride elements!

Fenix‘s genius layout starts with a scenic turn that shows the calm surroundings before diving into a dive loop down to earth. That dive loop is followed by a very intense airtime hill. After the airtime hill a large Immelman swings you into a helix along the floor that is just phenomenal when seated on the right side of the train.

The helix is followed by another element over the water, The zero-G-Roll! All of Fenix‘ elements are perfectly blended with the rest of the area and Avalon can pride itself with one of the most beautiful theme park areas in the world.

Every bit of landscaping is immaculate and the integration of Avalon’s infrastructure with the coaster’s main elements is impressive. Such as the near-miss dives below bridges!

Fenix is themed to a battle between a firebird (Fenix) and the animatronic ice bird found in the pre-lift. Best story telling of any Wing Coaster thus far!

Some of the coaster’s final moments are just as impressive as the first half of the ride, including sharp and quick transitions and forceful turns. Overall just a very impressive coaster that leaves you breathless.

Length doesn’t matter when every second of the ride is just amazing.

Toverland has a long list of reasons why you should visit, but Fenix is the reason this park became a global player in 2018. The park now has several amazingly well themed areas and world-class coasters.

Goodbye Avalon, we’ll be sure to return.

After getting on most major coasters we decided to check out their Djengu River rapids ride! A nicely landscaped rapids ride around the Magische Vallei area of the park.

The queue, as expected is beautiful!

I low key hate getting wet on rides unless it is brutally hot out. I decided to bite the bullet because I wanted to experience this rapids ride so badly. A bunch of weird screams and emotions were presented by me all ride long in fear of getting drenched.

Ha.

Shout out to our Belgian friends that met up with us when we were in town! In the middle you’ll find Sven, our European Coaster Kings meister! Always bringing you the best coverage in Europe and cohost of of our Coaster Kings Radio podcast, next to him is our friend Timo!

Look at this beautiful interaction with D’wervelwind!

As mentioned in the beginning of the article, Toverland started as an indoor playground/mini theme park with a rollerskater. This hall seen below was the very original Toverland that grew to be a major regional park! We checked out some of their attractions like the wet-dry slides.

And Toos Express, the park’s well-paced custom Vekoma Rollerskater! This main hall is now primarily the park’s kiddie area and section of the park that remains open all year long!

Let’s take in the park’s natural beauty and magical atmosphere one more time!

Thank you for joining us at Toverland, one of our beloved Dutch amusement parks. As traveling to Europe for coasters becomes increasingly more popular, don’t forget the little park that could on your visit to the region. You’re sure to fall in love with Toverland <3

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Thank you for joining us on this little adventure to Toverland! Check out our report of nearby Efteling! Stay tuned for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, Wild Adventures in Georgia, additional European parks and much more! For now check out these recent updates and reports: