A quick flight over to Dublin to try out Emerald Park's two new rollercoasters from Vekoma...
A quick flight over to Dublin to try out Emerald Park's two new rollercoasters from Vekoma...
Ireland, until recently, was not known for having a prevalence of rollercoasters or theme parks. That began to change in 2010 when Tayto Park (named after the Irish snack brand famous for their potato crisps) opened just north of Dublin. In 2015 the park hit the rollercoaster enthusiast headlines when it opened Cú Chulainn, a huge wooden rollercoaster.
A visit to the park - now renamed Emerald Park - has been on my To Do List for a while now, and with the European Coaster Club being invited to the Media Preview event for their new €22 million Tír Na nÓg area for 2024, it seemed like this was the perfect opportunity.
The majority of us (68 ECC members in total) met up at Dublin Airport early in the morning
The Club had hired a double decker bus to ferry us to the park
After travelling north up the M2 we arrived at Emerald Park
There were quite a lot of us!
We checked in to the Media Event and were given passes and lanyards
Free food and ride photos
The entrance to Tír Na nÓg, with one of the two new rollercoasters beyond
There were lots of media and other invited guests, with many more people wearing suits than you might see on a typical theme park day!
We were welcomed into the new land by a cast of characters
Emerald Park has laid on breakfast
After a bite to eat we joined the queue for our first ride of the day
Na Fianna Force is the park's new Vekoma Suspended Thrill Coaster
It took a while between dispatches, as riders were filmed and interviewed for various Irish TV and radio stations
It's a wonderful coaster - energetic with just the right level of intensity, very smooth and totally unlike Vekoma's horrible old SLCs
There was a good range of merch for sale in the shop at the ride exit
Next we tried out The Quest, the other new rollercoaster in Tír Na nÓg
It's a Family Boomerang and another great coaster - the track interacts nicely with Na Fianna Force too
The park had also opened Cú Chulainn for us
It was a fun ride best described as "full of character"
More rides on Na Fianna Force followed
It was fantastic to be able to take advantage of the very short queue
We had an amazing lunch at The Lodge Restaurant
What better way to help lunch go down than another ride on Cú Chulainn?!
The media interviews continued
Adjusting the ride photo camera on Na Fianna Force
Another ride? Oh go on then!
A final ride on Cú Chulainn to end the day
Thanks so much to Emerald Park for inviting the Club over - Tír Na nÓg and the two new coasters are superb!