It feels a lifetime ago now since I was in sunny Spain, perhaps mostly due to the decided lack of any sunshine as I write this. In July. In the UK. I’ve already covered all of my thoughts on the miraculous PortAventura and its not-so-grand neighbour, but those parks weren’t even the reason for the trip. In fact, they were added in desperation a few weeks prior. (Our original target had been Europa Park, but like every other major coaster this year, Voltron opened later than anticipated!) No, the whole reason we’d journey down to Spain was for Parque Warner. Or, to be precise, for Batman Gotham City Escape.
During our time in Madrid, we’d be staying at the Ibis Madrid Getafe. Located well outside the city centre, this hotel struck the perfect balance of proximity to both of the city’s major parks for us whilst being pretty cheap. From here, it would only be about a €20 Uber ride over to Parque Warner.
Though we were hopeful that our Friday visit wouldn’t be too manic, we weren’t taking any chances – especially given the park wouldn’t be opening until midday! 40 minutes before park opening, we hopped into the short line that had already formed outside the reminiscent-of-Universal-Studios entrance. A note on this: under the majestic yellow entrance arches were a solid row of walkways. Each one was fenced off in the same way. But only some had queues. When the doors opened, only those lines with queues were actually opened. I’m not sure what the system is here and why some never opened. But trust the locals and get in the queue!
Guests began to be allowed into the park at around 11:30, and, as you’ll see in any vlog from the park since the ride’s opening, we found ourselves in the first of many Batman surges of the day! Thankfully, the turnstiles and roaming photographers helped keep the crowd volume in check, and we were able to make it to the rope without too much hassle. Passing through the oh-so-familiar Hollywood-inspired architecture – even passing a replica of the Chinese Theatre/Great Movie Ride – we were greeted with quite the view.
Batman Gotham City Escape works with such a tight parcel of land, yet still, the design team managed to revolutionise the park’s key sightline completely. Whilst the triple shot tower is iconic, the framing of that top hat makes for just about the most exciting welcome to a park that any coaster enthusiast could wish for.
Midday struck, the rope was dropped – well, cut, it was a tape – and the second surge of the day began. This time, it was far more chaotic as the entire crowd raced towards Batman Gotham City Escape, ourselves included. We’d heard all the warnings. All the talk about the ride’s poor uptime record. But still, you have to rope-drop the major coaster when you’re at the front of the pack, right?
Can you guess what happened? You can, can’t you? Of course it didn’t open! Of course! Ultimately, we waited about half an hour before considering the coaster a write-off, at least for the morning. As with any ride breakdown, we went through the usual emotions of ‘but what if it opens as soon as we leave?’, ‘we’re nearly at the front, so surely it’ll still be worth it?!’, ‘but all the other rides are walk-on right now, and I’m wasting my time here!’ All of the regular torment. In the end, we made our decision by deciding we’d leave when the other enthusiasts in the queue left. Just ahead of us were two young German enthusiasts (their shirts and accessories featured a multitude of international coasters) who had been chatting frequently with the staff. When they went, we’d go. And so, after half an hour, we’d all make our way out of the Batman Gotham City Escape queue and off to whatever coaster was nearest. And open.
Coaster Express is, after BGCE, the coaster in the park I’d heard the most about. Just very different things. Widely considered one of the roughest wooden coasters in Europe, I was very hesitant to ride this. Hesitant enough, in fact, that I sent my group on without me as test riders. Meanwhile, I explored Old West Territory, the Wild West themed area surrounding the coaster. It’s a pretty solid themed area! Certainly, there is a higher level of theming than I was anticipating at this park, but, like so many parks around the world, the Western area is where this park shines! Or maybe I just have a soft spot for them.
Whilst everyone else enjoyed the delights of Coaster Express, I decided to try out the nearby shooting gallery. I profess I’m no great shot. I never seem to do particularly well on these things, but I did not get one single shot on target here and remain convinced that the thing did not work properly! Surely I would have hit one of these massive targets?! Surely?
It turns out that maybe I would have been better off just hopping on the coaster, as Coaster Express got passable reviews from the whole group! Sure, it wasn’t a good coaster, but it probably wouldn’t break my spine into little pieces either. So, I proceeded to give it a ride and actually had a fantastic time! For me, Coaster Express is firmly in the So Bad It’s Good category. I could not stop laughing! Why was it bouncing so much? Why was it so slow? How was it managing to deliver precisely nothing? I was in awe. Impressively, gloriously bad.
Our next stop would take us out of the West and into Cartoon Village, the park’s designated kids area. This area is massive and, like many brightly coloured kids areas around the world, struggles slightly to remain vibrant in the face of the relentless Spanish sun. Sun bleaching not withstanding, this is a fun area packed full of characters from my own childhood and those of the kids today! I was delighted to see an eatery themed to Cow & Chicken, a Scooby Doo dark ride – more on that later – and plenty of Looney Tunes presence. However, our first stop wouldn’t feature any of these classic characters, instead taking us on a picnic with everyone’s favourite duelling duo – Tom and Jerry!
Tom and Jerry Picnic in the Park is a larger Zierer Tivoli. Think Treetops at Oakwood, or #LikeMe at Plopsaland De Panne, just without the killer soundtrack. Instead, the coaster boasts some very cute theming with the train passing through oversized picnic foods! I was absolutely obsessed with the giant ants coming to seize everything! I only wish the ride was as enjoyable as it’s theming. With two of us in a row, we had nothing short of an ordeal on this, yowling as we crushed into every turn. We’d buy a photopass later in the day, and I wish I’d bought it before riding this because I have a feeling the on-ride video would have been something special!
But perhaps the most memorable thing about Tom and Jerry is that this is when we finally saw Batman Gotham City Escape testing for the first time! Like any good enthusiasts, we scrapped all plans for our next moves (who needs lunch anyway) and rushed over to the attraction that had brought us to the park in the first place. By the time we reached the centre of the park, the coaster had finally opened its gates and was posting a half-hour wait. Not that it mattered, we would have gotten in line whatever the wait time. But half an hour seemed very respectable, and so, we were finally in line for our very first ride on BGCE!
I’ll be honest, this attraction does not have a great queue. Even in April, when it was only about 24°C, the heat was a lot. Spain, of course, gets a lot hotter, so I can’t imagine what it’s like in the heat of summer! Parts of the queue are shady, but just parts. Consequently, we found that the queue stopped and started as people tried their best to stay in the shade. Not that the queue doesn’t massively stop and start anyway. This is a batched line, with groups entering Wayne Manor every 10-15 minutes. Just to really make sure that you roast, should you get caught in a part of the line with no shade.
Thankfully, it wouldn’t be too many batches before we found ourselves ready to enter Wayne Manor. Once batched, the group is free to move around in the holding pen outside the front door of Wayne Manor. I don’t know about you, but I always kinda hate spaces where you lose your place in line. It’s not necessarily an issue with a small group, but in some attractions – BGCE included – it can sometimes feel as though you’ve been massively queue jumped.
Stepping inside the doors, we entered the manor’s vast lobby and assembled in front of a grand fireplace. This would be where the coaster’s pre-show takes place. Though largely screen-based and, bizarrely, only ever featuring the voice of Batman, but the face of the Joker – perhaps to avoid ageing the ride – I adored this pre-show! No spoilers, but it features some very fun effects and sets up the story of the coaster nicely. It was far more elaborate than I had expected from a park of this nature!
Passing into the hidden areas of Wayne Manor, we made our way down into the Batcave. This is where the queue got very frustrating. The Batcave is stunning. It’s vast. It’s got screens playing in-universe news updates. It’s lit magnificently. Yet, you do not spend any time in here whatsoever. The queue passes quickly through, moving instead into a dingy corridor (wonderfully) themed to a disused metro station. After waiting outside, exposed in the heat, passing straight through a well-themed, miraculously air-conditioned queue area on every one of my rides was infuriating!
The station itself is located within the metro station, and though you don’t spend much time here – the layout pretty much only means you’re actually able to see things from the airgates – it’s an extraordinarily cool place to be. The trains are a dominating presence, a masterpiece of sharp, dark edges, brought to life by bright blue headlights. They’re just about everything you could want from a train on a modern Batman coaster! Being a new Intamin coaster, they’re also so comfortable!
Usually, this is where I’d begin to describe my experience on the ride. But this time, if you fancied, you can actually watch it, courtesy of the well-priced photopass at Parque Warner! (At least most of it, the quality was not great.)
As you can see, I had a pretty great time. Batman Gotham City Escape is a phenomenal roller coaster with snappy launches, crazy airtime, and glorious hangtime. It’s also extraordinarily unique and just fun! A launch into a spike acting as the final brake run? Silly! Going over the top hat ridiculously slowly so you’re just hung from your seat? Ludicrous. That airtime hill? Crazy! It just delivers on every element!
Is BGCE worth the trip to Madrid? Easily. Eaaaaaasily.
First superhero ride of the day down, why not continue the trend? Moving into the DC-themed area of the park, I really began to understand what people mean when they say that this park feels American. As I walked through a concrete plaza surrounded by attractions with DC branding slapped on, I was whisked away to the USA, specifically Six Flags Great Adventure. But, there’s no Medusa here. Instead, we’d be treated to a B&M Floorless that I’d heard so many good things about: Superman: La Atracción de Acero. Quite an unforgettable coaster. Unforgettable in that it is one of the biggest disappointments of my coaster-riding life and perhaps even my least favourite B&M.
Things were off to a rough start in the queue. Though the entrance was promising, with an initial section of queue themed to the… is it Daily Planet? I’m no Superman expert. But it was well themed anyway. Sadly, we’d pass straight through here and be greeted by a concrete courtyard – and the worst screeching I’ve ever heard from a coaster. Not encouraging. This part of the queue was hideous, and it never got better. Indoors housed just a bland staircase with peeling, faded artworks before heading into the station. With one train ops, we also spent far too long waiting in this barren environment. Honestly, we shouldn’t have bothered because the ride experience was even worse than the queue. Never, in my 450+ coasters, have I ridden something that rides the way this does. I’ve heard of coasters ‘riding as though it had square wheels’, but this? This felt as though the train had no wheels at all. Instead, it ground and dragged its way around the layout, squealing as it did. The result was a migraine-inducing, bizarre, and downright unpleasant ride experience. It wasn’t jolty or headbanging, but the whole train just shook to the point that after just a few elements, I was desperate for the ride to end. Despite the ordeal, I did give the ride another try. Maybe I was on a wheel seat? A bad train? Nope. Same again. Horrendous. Maybe this ride has potential with a little (read: a lot) of love and care, but on our visit, it was the worst ride in the whole park.
Perhaps we should have simply written off this entire area of the park because our next ride wasn’t much of an improvement. Lex Luthor Invertatron. The worst top spin I’ve ever experienced! Thankfully, this landed in the so-bad-it’s-funny category rather than so-bad-I’ve-got-a-migraine, though. Good old Lex Luthor didn’t want to test us too much on his Invertatron, instead settling for one flip and done. I think there were maybe two swings alongside this? Either way, it did nothing – except make us laugh!
Despite constantly saying that we were going to go get lunch – it was nearly 4pm by this point – we’d squeeze in one more ride beforehand: the glorious Stunt Fall. One of only 4 extant Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerangs, Stunt Fall is pretty darn unique. As well as being pretty darn intimidating. 177ft of inverted vertical lift hill – eek! Of course, as with any slightly aged Vekoma, the most intimidating thing was not the layout itself but the chance of it being rough as hell. Thankfully, our first ride in the middle of the train was nothing of the sort. I mean, it was scary as hell. As we ascended the lift hill, I was sure I was going to fall straight down onto the seat in front of me. The sensation of free-fall from the top of that drop was bizarre and incredible! As we passed through the layout, even the cobra roll was smooth, and though I was screaming like a maniac, it was just from how unhinged the whole thing felt! Thankfully, not a single yelp of pain. We’d ride again later on the front row, which sadly wasn’t nearly as smooth! Still not bad, but definitely jolty. However, it was certainly worth the jolts for the view falling down that first drop. I really did feel like I was going to fall to my death. Stunt fall indeed!
When it came to lunch, the Parque Warner app was surprisingly helpful. Being vegetarian in Spain isn’t necessarily the easiest of things, but it had proven relatively straightforward in PortAventura, and thankfully was here too – we just needed to find the right outlet! With the app listing Porky Pig Diner as having vegetarian options, we made our way back to Cartoon Village and into the surprisingly pleasant quick-service restaurant. The food here was nothing to write home about, burgers, hot dogs, onion rings, you know the deal! But the veggie burger was solid, the interior was bright and colourful, and the custom packaging was cuuuuute! A veggie burger and a portion of onion rings set me back £10, so not horrendous either. (I already had a Freestyle vessel for drinks!)
Is there anything better straight after lunch than a good water ride? How about if that water ride is also a coaster credit? Enter Rio Bravo!
This Intamin log flume dominates the park’s western area with its final drop housed in a vast, and vastly impressive, mountain. Though this had me extremely excited for the ride, the experience still managed to blow me away. Rio Bravo is, quite simply, one of the best flume rides I’ve ever experienced! With turntables, a backwards drop, gorgeous theming and a thrilling finale, do not miss this! (Plus it’s a +1!)
Having gotten pretty darn soggy on Rio Bravo, it seemed silly not to head straight on over to the park’s other main water ride: Rapidos ACME. A rapids ride themed to the Looney Tunes characters, this ride was almost as good as its fellow water attraction! Packed full of fun nods to the beloved characters, alongside plenty of water effects and even a fun queue line, I was very glad to have experienced this. Which, honestly, is saying something when so many rapids disappoint!
Soaked through, it was time to get back to business and tick off the final coaster in the park: Correcaminos Bip Bip (or Roadrunner Beep Beep in English!) As can be inferred from the name, this is a family coaster themed to Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner. As a Mack YoungSTAR, this coaster is fantastic. In fact, it was one of the rides in the park I was most keen to re-ride! With beautiful, comfy trains and a surprisingly whippy layout, this is a family coaster that stands above most rides aimed at the age group. I hope we see more of these begin to appear at theme parks. They’re just such a great model!
With all of the coasters and major supporting rides ticked off, there was only one more way to round off the day – as many escapes from Gotham City as we could squeeze in!
And how better to end a visit than back-to-back rides on one of the greatest coasters in Europe?
But, whilst that was the end of our day, it was not the end of our time at Parque Warner! With a few hours free before our flight home a few days later, it seemed silly not to swing in for a few more rides!
Parque Warner offers a fantastic deal for returning guests with a non-consecutive visit ticket available from the ticket office for just €19.90, making the idea even more of a no-brainer. We picked up our ticket on our way out of the park, and though the staff were friendly and made the process nice and simple, be aware that you do, bizarrely, need your passport to purchase these tickets. Thankfully, they were happily to accept a photo!
As we’d be heading directly to the airport, our second day began with a visit to the lockers outside of the park. Directly to the right-hand side of the park entrance, you’ll find a large bay of lockers available for rental. An XL locker cost €10 for the day and easily fit my large travel rucksack, alongside my reasonably chunky cabin case! If only storing cabin cases, you’d easily fit two people’s luggage in one! However, there did not appear to be any options for luggage larger than a cabin case available. It’s also worth trying to get to the park as soon as possible if you did require a locker as by the time we came to leave the park, all lockers were sold out for the day.
Luggage stored, it was into the park. We sailed in with our return tickets which scanned at the turnstiles just like any regular ticket. This time however, we’d have a different rope drop target. Dark ride fans may have noticed that I left one major attraction untouched on our first visit. This park does in fact have a dark ride. Not just any dark ride mind you, but a Scooby Doo ride! This ride holds further significance for enthusiasts like myself who have travelled to the Cedar Fair parks and experienced Boo Blasters, as this is the last remaining original configuration of those rides!
It’s not that we didn’t want to ride La Aventura de Scooby Doo on our first visit. In fact, we even got in line. But, and I’m not exaggerating here, La Aventura de Scooby Doo has one of the worst queue lines I’ve ever experienced. The ride itself has glacial operations. (We rope-dropped the attraction and still waited 25 minutes, *even* after being pulled through half the queue as seat-fillers!) But it’s not the slow pace that kills this queue, it’s the design of the space. Normally, I’d celebrate an indoor queue for anything, but this queue was so loud. Overwhelmingly, unbearably loud. I don’t know what it was about the space that amplified noise so bizarrely, but for a ride that obviously attracted plenty of smaller, excitable guests, the noise in the queue was obscene. So much so that after a 10 minute wait without moving on day one, we bailed. With headaches. The ride itself is cute enough, filled with the usual UV dark light fare, with plenty of appearances from Scooby and the gang. But I can’t recommend the experience at all, not unless you have a fast pass!
With it being a busy weekend day on park, we spent a good while mopping up some of the smaller supporting attractions we’d missed on our prior visit. The first of these would be Los Carros de la Mina, a Huss Breakdance that we’d originally skipped as it appeared to be giving a weak cycle. Oh how wrong we were! For a theme park flat ride, this offered some really wild moments, and appropriately for a western ride, left me hootin’ and hollerin’! It’s gorgeously themed too – look at those buckets of gold!
It felt wrong to leave the park without having experienced its iconic centrepiece La Venganza del Enigma, an enormous S&S shot tower. In contrast with Los Carros de la Mina, this was a ride that appeared to have a fantastic cycle, rising to the top, shooting down and then shooting up from the base, all in one ride! We were happy to wait half an hour for such a great experience! You may see where this is going… alas, we did not get this cycle! Whilst we were queueing, the operations team were trying their best to get a second tower into operation as only one of the three was running. By the time we reached the front of the queue, it seemed that they had established that they could not open another tower, and such would have to switch to a shorter ride cycle. So, we just got a shot. Of course, these rides are always enjoyable, but I couldn’t help but be bitter about the switch up!
Plus it was just a 5 minute wait afterwards!
Finally, we made our way round to a back section of Cartoon Village that we’d only ever spotted from Correcomanos Bip Bip – seriously, this kids area is massive! But perhaps, Cartoon Village would do better without this area… For as much as it has an incredible carousel that we just had to ride (look at these Looney Tunes seats) the rest of the area feels like a sun-bleached barren wasteland.
I love a monorail attraction, so we journeyed to the very back of the area for our ride upon the Academia de Pilotos, which admittedly was quite cute with it’s adorable airport theming and Baby Looney Tunes ride vehicles. But, as it passed a closed Flintstones attraction and a concrete courtyard, really emphasised how much this area needed love.
We couldn’t leave the area without another ride on Correcaminos Bip Bip which we feared would have a long line on this busy weekend day, but thankfully had rolled out a second train for the occasion, making operations slick as anything! As we made our way out of Cartoon Village for the last time, we were even greeted by Correcaminos’ arch nemesis, Wile E. Coyote!
There was another character meet advertised on the app that I’d had my eye on since booking the trip. As part of the celebration of Warner Bros 100th anniversary, the park have been organising a series of limited edition character meetings celebrating the studios most beloved works, and during our visit the meet was Bugs Bunny and Lola Bunny as you’d never seen them before! They were meeting dressed as Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, as they’d appeared in Casablanca! How insane is that?! I absolutely had to do this meet!
Thankfully, with times listed in the app, we were able to get to the meeting spot 10 minutes before the scheduled time and be first in line! As always with these things, once people realised what was happening, the line started stacking up quick, so it’s well worth checking times for character meets you care about!
Bugs and Lola looked phenomenal! Just look at Bugs’ ears poking up through that hat! It’s experiences like this that really elevate a park for me, and this brief character interaction really helped me leave this park on a very high note.
As before, where else would we end a visit to Parque Warner than with multiple rides on Batman Gotham City Escape? Like everything else in the park, operations seemed to have been scaled up for the weekend, meaning that even though the park was busy, we never really waited over 30/40 minutes. A wait time I did not begrudge at all for some more ridiculously fun rides. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over that stall!
And with that, it was time to grab our cases out of the locker and head out to the airport. The journey to Madrid-Barajas (MAD) took exactly 30 minutes and cost just €34, making for a very stress-free end to our trip.
Parque Warner is a strange park. The contrasts within the park are extreme. Some areas are themed meticulously. Others? Simply concrete and sun-faded graphics. It’s the sort of place where all the weirdness makes sense when you know that it used to be operated by Six Flags. For enthusiasts that have travelled across the USA, this park will feel familiar. For those used to our European favourites, it may feel bizarre – and not in a good way. Despite this, I had a great time. Regular readers will know it takes an awful lot for me not to have a great time at a theme park. They’re my favourite places on earth, after all! This one had plenty of characters, fun theming moments, and, of course, one of the greatest coasters I’ve ever ridden!
Would I have recommended this park prior to the addition of Batman Gotham City Escape? Probably just as a if you’re in the area kinda deal. But that coaster makes the park a destination. And it certainly is one that you can easily spend two days in. God knows, we didn’t even have time for any shows – and I really wanted to see that stunt show!
As of time of writing, it’s also a destination park because you can meet Gizmo!
I need to go back!
Speak again soon,
Claire
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coasterclaire.co.uk 