Gardaland

Pescheira, Lake Garda, Italy

Date of last visit: June 2004

Age of kids at the time: 9 and 6. Free entry for children under 1m tall.

Travel: We hired a car from Milan Linate airport (about two hours’ drive). Cheap air fares from BMI via Heathrow (from Expedia.co.uk). Verona Brescia airport is closer if you can get a suitable flight. If you’re on the train, a free bus operates from Pescheira station. A very swish looking on-park hotel was under construction whilst we were there. There was a charge for the main car park, although the overflow car park was free. We couldn't find the right bus to get back to it, though, and ended up walking.


The Scores… (details below):


Family Factor: 8/10

Rides for Kids:  7/10

Rides for Parents: 7/10

The Big Ride: 7/10 (Blue Tornado)

Cleanliness: 8/10

Food: 8/10


OVERALL TPX SCORE: 8/10

We all came away from Gardaland with smiles on our faces, even though we managed to go on an Italian bank holiday the first day we visited (on a Wednesday? Oh well…) First impressions were good, with a huge entrance plaza complete with a fountain and surrounding waterfalls to help keep it cool. Well kept and clean, non vomit-inducing food and a decent selection of rides for all of us made for a fun couple of days. It helps that it’s located in a stunningly attractive part of the world, right next to Lake Garda. Not worthy of a special trip from the UK if you’re a roller coaster fan (Blue Tornado isn’t that good), but you mustn’t miss the park if you’re in the vicinity.

Official web site

Gardaland has a mascot – an Italian cartoon character called Prezzemolo. He appears from time to time to keep the kids amused on the TV in queue lines or as part of a ride, and especially in the great-looking Fantasy Kingdom, where he has a giant tree house with a sweeping view across that part of the park. Of course it helps if you can speak Italian so that you have some idea what he’s on about. He appears to be best friends with a talking Pritt stick – product placement gone a bit mad, but at least it isn’t fizzy drinks or lard burgers. It's glue.

Our children appreciated the number of kids rides, the fun theming  – the pyramid for the otherwise pretty soppy Valley of the Kings (Vall dei Re), the detailed pirate ship for I Corsari, the massive area containing the Fuga Da Atlantide water coaster and Jungle Rapids ride with its volcano. The variety of things to do easily kept them going for the two days – there are several shows (including a dolphin show), odd little two-person cable cars that take you across the park (though admittedly over the chemical store and various ugly back yards to start off with), a Wild West themed area, a couple of trains and a monorail. Plus there’s a whole bunch of sedate rides that didn’t have them too terrified to even get through the turnstile.

It got very hot at the park, but Gardaland had kindly provided water sprays to damp things down and even a drinking fountain in the Wild West town which consisted of spouts of water pouring out of holed buckets. You got the impression that the park had thought hard about what their younger guests might go for, and it certainly worked for our two.

There was no sign of any parent-friendly Fast Track or Single Rider Queue-type arrangements, even though the queues for some rides (Blue Tornado and Jungle Rapids especially) were up to an hour on the very busy bank holiday. No centrally positioned electronic signs giving an approximation of queue times, either.

A lot of the rides aimed at youngsters are grouped together in the attractive Fantasy Kingdom with its huge treehouse (L’Albero di Prezzemolo), an attraction in itself in that it has cartoon character scenes inside it and a great view from the top. It also hides a secret in its roots in the shape of a Vekoma Madhouse  - the Magic House - unusual in that it has cutesy theming, presumably to lull you into a false sense of security before proceeding to assault your inner ears.  I won’t give much away about this, suffice to say it’s the same kind of ride as Hex at Alton Towers, but not as unsettlingly effective and with a baffling pre-show if you can’t understand Italian. Our kids are OK with this type of ride, but younger kids may get a bit spooked when it appears to turn the room upside down children under 1.2m must be accompanied

A few mini-reviews of some of the other rides from a point of view of how the kids got on with them:

Ortobruco Tour A family coaster that both kids were fine on, and was likeable for the adults too – pulls some fairly tight turns towards the end, in fact children under 1m must be accompanied

Saltomatto Kind of a baby drop tower, the kids thought it was a thrill ride but in reality it’s as tame as you’d expect a kiddie ride to be children under 1m must be accompanied

Baby Pilota/Baby Corsaro Kids plane ride and mini ferris wheel,  good for the little ones children under 1.05m must be accompanied

Voloplano Horrendous queues for a grindingly slow plane ride on an elevated track (like Squirrel Nutty at Alton but less squirrelly), again good for the tots to get a view of Fantasy Kingdom from children under 1.2m must be accompanied

DoReMi Farm Tractor ride through a farmyard full of cheerfully demented animatronic animals, with about the most pointless ride photo I’ve come across. A good laff, as they say; our six-year-old thought it was cool

Peter Pan Little pirate ship high-speed roundabout; learn all about centripetal force here. If two kids go in one car, one of them has to be 10 years old or more

La Vall Dei Re Egyptologist themed dark ride that seems to wade through treacle (and then stop from time to time). No queues at all. Like a less detailed Pirates of the Caribbean (and just as rubbish as far as I’m concerned) – no drops, though, just a gentle change of elevation. Great theming on the outside, a pity the fountains had conked out. The inside was a bit worse for wear with its clapped out animatronics. Nice swirly laser effect that seemed a bit of an afterthought. Kids were happy on this one, although the ride operator getting on the tannoy several times to announce that the ride was stopping again (probably to get slowcoaches off the cars on the continuous belt at the exit) freaked them out a bit. Still, be grateful that Gardaland went to the trouble of recreating Abu Simbel for your enjoyment

Flying Island Go 150ft up to where most of the photos you see of the park’s roller coasters are taken from. Fabulous views of the lake, mountains and everything else for miles around; rotates slowly like the Post Office Tower’s revolving restaurant used to. Offers a bit of shade for a few minutes if the park is baking hot children under 10 yrs must be accompanied

I Corsari Celebrate National Talk Like a Pirate Day in style on this appropriately (and very nicely)-themed dark ride. Actually very good, although our six-year-old chickened out of going on it – it’s not really very scary, though children under 8 yrs must be accompanied

Tunga Unintentionally (I suppose) hilarious slow river boat ride with slightly dodgy-looking ape-man themed animatronics – harmless for the kids unless they object to seeing a native beating up a rubber crocodile. Seems to be a (real) frog habitat as well

Canyons A short ride in a mine cart, quite sedate at first but speeds up for a few yards and with some jollity on the way round, none of which should scare younger kids

Jungle Rapids Intamin rapids ride (the “rubber ring boat” thing), and a good one – whirlpools, a smoking volcano (which you go inside), waterfalls (to look at, not go over), much better looking than these things usually are. The regular minimum height restrictions apply. We didn’t get very wet and it seemed fairly gentle– suits us fine that way, but you might prefer a good soaking min 1m; children under 1.3m must be accompanied

Coffee Cups Didn't get to do these, didn't have time Not ridden children under 10 yrs must be accompanied

There’s a reasonable selection of rides for adults. None of them are exactly world-beating, although the water coaster looked like it would be worth queuing for. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to ride it…

Quick mini-reviews of some of the attractions aimed at grownups:

Blue Tornado See The Big Ride below.

Magic Mountain Vekoma sit-in coaster with a corkscrew and two vertical loops. The best thing about it is its attractive setting, in amongst the trees and fountains and well kept gardens. Looks better than it rides; pretty rough with a bit of ear bashing on the restraints, but at least it’s all over with pretty quickly. Reminded me of good old Corkscrew at Alton Towers as we rattled round the helices. Worth checking out the view from the top of the lift hill; Gardaland really is a good-looking park from high up min 1.1m

Fuga da Atlantide A new Intamin water coaster, which regrettably I didn’t have time to try out. Superbly detailed theming was in evidence, with sculptures and rocky scenery and some great viewing points to watch the riders get half drowned on two sizeable drops. The future of water rides is here, and I missed it Not ridden 1.2-1.9m

Space Vertigo A BIG drop tower. Didn’t bother with it as I’m not particularly interested in them, but other visitors recommended it to me so try it if you’re a fan of plummeting earthward for a couple of seconds. It’s right at the top of the park in an odd little scifi themed area (consisting of just the drop tower and the flying island) Not ridden 1.3-1.9m

Colorado Boat log flume I can’t convince the rest of my family to go on anything with a decent drop on it, and wasn’t going to queue for it on my own, so I’m just letting you know it exists Not ridden

Top Spin As in the Huss torture machine that turns you upside down, shakes you around a bit and reintroduces you to your last meal. I don’t do spinning rides, but it’s there waiting for you (next to a big gap which no doubt some other travelling fair ride will be wheeled into next year) if it’s your thing Not ridden 1.4-1.95m

4D Adventure Didn't have time to try this; apparently it's a kind of sit-in simulator with seats that wobble around Not ridden 1.2m

Pretty much in the middle of the park is what you could argue is Gardaland's signature attraction, Blue Tornado. It looks especially impressive when seen from the flying island; a fairly tight knot of white track and blue supports with some imposing-looking twists, made to stand out nicely by the contrasting track colour. Close up you see that there is a distinct lack of theming - the budget got blown on a life-size mock-up of a Tornado fighter perched on top of the station. Other than that there is what looks like a paddling pool at the bottom of the ride, which probably serves to collect the riders' loose change (and glasses, unsecured digital cameras and so on) as they hurtle past at 50 mph, and some trees.

The queue line is also pretty dull - just cattle stalls, thankfully partly under cover, but with no theming and not even a good view of the ride in action. The queue got up to an hour on the bank holiday, which could have been worse - a lot of guests were probably being drawn to the new Fuga da Atlantide water coaster, especially considering how hot it was.

The ride is a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster, an inverted design (similar to Nemesis at Alton Towers). These have a reputation for being rough, so I boarded the train with a bit of trepidation. The restraints were pretty comfortable, although the ride operators weren't checking how tightly they were pushed down (I went around on my second ride rattling around a bit inside the restraint, which is a good way of causing yourself pain).

My first ride was on the front row, which probably helped (with inverted coasters I find it good to know what's coming so that you can brace yourself). The lift hill gives you a good view of the park, as usual, but you are soon flung into a series of loops and turns (five inversions in all), the best of which is the heartline loop (which gives the characteristic heart shape that you can see clearly on pictures of the coaster). It actually felt quite smooth to me, and gave the impression of not being as violent as Nemesis (which I enjoy riding, but always gives me a headache after banging my head on the restraints).

It isn't worth a trip to Gardaland specifically to ride this coaster - it isn't that spectacular, and although it looks good from a distance there hasn't been any attempt to integrate it into its site in a clever or appealing way. Plus, you can go on pretty much the same ride in Southport if you hail from the UK... it's called Traumatizer 1.5-2m

There were plenty of cleaners on duty whilst we were there and they were doing a grand job. The place was almost spotless, even on the amazingly busy bank holiday; just a bit of dropped crud around the eateries, but the staff were on top of it. The park itself looks fantastic, with well-tended gardens and very attractive themed areas

Food 8/10

This is where the park really showed the UK and French parks where to get off. Excellent grilled sandwiches (including vegetarian options), non-greasy fries, great coffee from proper gurgling machines, plenty of ice cream. Loses a mark for the expensive soft drinks (take your own or go for the cheap mineral water) and slightly restricted choice. We were caught out at first by the fact that you ordered and paid for the food at one counter, then took your receipt to another counter where your panini would be grilled to order. Several outlets around the park, all selling pretty much the same items