Ride a giant caterpillar through a land filled with gnomes...
Ride a giant caterpillar through a land filled with gnomes...
| Theme Park | Fiabilandia |
|---|---|
| Type | Rollercoaster |
| Audience | Children |
| Opened | 1976 |
| Manufacturer | Pinfari |
| Inversions | 0 |
The caterpillar emerging from a giant apple
La Valle degli Gnomi ("The Valley of the Gnomes" in English) opened at Fiabilandia 1976, and is a gnome-themed kiddie terrain coaster which makes its way through a garden filled with oversized flowers and apples.
The ride was the first family friendly rollercoaster to be manufactured by Pinfari. Apparently the company was so pleased with the result, it inspired them to go on to create a smaller version which became the now ubiquitous big apple coaster found in parks across the world.
Fiabilandia's version has riders sitting in one of two caterpillar themed trains (green and pink) which make their way through the huge landcaped garden, past small ponds and through giant apples which are home to families of Gnomes.
Mid-way along the track the train passes through a tunnel and into a small cave themed "dark ride" section, complete with gnomes riding on top of fish swimming in an underground lake! Another tunnel encloses the coaster's lift hill about two-thirds of the way around, with animatronic gnomes hard at work in a mine which bears a passing resemblance to the dwarves' mine from Snow White.
While La Valle degli Gnomi feels more like a trundle around an undulating train track than a speedy family rollercoaster, it is nicely maintained and the theming is lovely. It's interesting too from the historic perspective of being the first wacky worm kiddie coaster, and of all that led on to from there.
Ride sign
Landscaped gardens
Station
Don't leave them out
Pink caterpillar train
Passing a giant lillypad
Towards the tunnel
Fishing gnome
Onboard
Lift hill
Mining gnomes
Giant red apple
Crawling through the fruit
Lake
Exiting an apple
Pinfari's big apple
