The Hague is practically next to Rotterdam, so prompted a less frantically early start. Two parks today: Drievliet and Duinrell.

Expectations ran low as I hopped from Delft station via a tram and a walk to ‘s-Gravenmade. The reputation is possibly overshadowed by all my friends having visited after a Phantasialand and Efteling double whammy, but I stayed positive. First omen: though I knew beforehand, the industrial nature of the area was jarring.

This bodes well

Going in its favour, the April heatwave was in full force brightening the place up. There’s no better day to be at a naff park than when the weather’s trying to lift the spirits (particularly damning for Schwaben and Skyline, which both had glorious sun). Thankfully, a bright sunny Saturday was not bringing out guests in droves.

Given how much the Dutch ride to places, this is a good sign

I bought my ticket, entered the park, and… you know, I’ll be controversial. The park is OK. Not great, but still OK. The park is clearly operating on a tiny budget, and it’s a small place. Other than that, it’s reasonably well kept and has various trees and cartoony flourishes. I feel mis-sold

There’s only a couple of creds worth really talking about. Obvious thrill ride Formule X is obvious, so I get it out of the way. This is admittedly one corner of the park without much ambience.

Ah Maurer, how I missed your weird uncomfortable restraints

I had two rides on FX during the day. The first ride was a little rattly but generally fun. The second suffered a major pinning by the ride-op and it all went wrong and gross. This is why you try to leave on a high, folks.

Such a shame, you were so close

The other notable coaster is Twistrix. It’s an unassuming little thing. A kiddie coaster layout, but with free spinning trains, and my god, it spins!

I love a surprise

Seeing as how everything was getting completed rapidly, I stayed around for the monorail and the ghost train. I know everything’s on a budget, but the ghost train was a special kind of cheap. The scares mostly amounted to one movement and one lighting effect.

The Sixth Cent

Sadly, Kopermijn didn’t open until 1pm, and frankly, waiting in a tiny park for hours for a wild mouse was not my idea of a good time. Cred ditched, I headed Duinrellwards.

I’m actually cheating and this transitional placeholder was taken before Drievliet

A brief note: I love The Netherland’s chipcard system. I used trains, trams and buses on Saturday, each with a chipcard reader telling you how much you’re spending. It takes a lot of stress out of worrying what kind of tickets you need for each leg of the journey. Just tap in/out and look as that number dwindles and you realise you forgot to work out how much to budget for general transport.

We start with the notes: ‘tasteful’ and ‘understated’

At Duinrell, the forest closes in on all sides and I realise this is going to be a stark contrast to Drievliet. My first impression was peace and tranquillity. In hindsight, I don’t remember much in the way of music, except the strange mix of tracks on Falcon’s exit path (Trouble by Coldplay is definitively not theme park music). Let’s explore!

This is like Oakwood’s Waterfall but without the water trough of doom. So what is the point, really?

The park’s a strange sprawling layout where you’re unsure it’s got any creds until you find the one path to the main area. Speaking about creds, let’s talk about them. Specifically, let’s talk about how they’re all f**ing brown!

Every…

Single…

One…

As they go, they’re a mix. The kiddie cred is your standard Zierer rumblebum, but with a nice long layout. Dragon Fly (specifically two words), the sit down coaster, packs a surprising amount of pace towards the end of the layout. Falcon, the Eurofighter, is about average as Eurofighters go. Rough in places, but good fun on anywhere it doesn’t have to turn a corner.

Being a small park, there’s plenty of time to take all their offerings at a leisurely pace. Especially so, since this place was also quiet on a sunny Saturday - biggest queue was for the kiddie coaster at two train cycles. The Sky Flies are always a laugh and an opportunity to hone the technique.

Read ‘hone technique’ as ‘get violently dizzy’

The covered water chute, Splash, is a must for the novelty. Not entirely sure how much I trusted the plastic head-holes on the non-covered boat, so opted for the covered boat. You seldom get the opportunity to realise how odd covered cars are on rides.

Can’t complain that the ride name isn’t truth in advertising

And the covered boat

And of course, we never pass up the opportunity for a good bobsled.

This seems like the sort of park which, pleasant on your own, would light up a little more with a group of enthusiasts. It’s got a ton of fun things dotted around the place but there’s not enough for me to want to come back for repeat visits soon. It’s got that peaceful woodland vibe that makes it worth at least one visit.

Being a short day so far, this seemed like the best time to see some of Rotterdam. It’s mostly garnered a reputation as being a very modern city. Your best bet is to head to Rotterdam Blaak station ato find most of the exciting buildings. For example, the foodcourt is insane…

I bought some noodles but there’s loads of stuff here

In general, Rotterdam’s approach to architecture seems to be “screw convention!”

The famous Cubes - an architectural forest where you live in the trees

What this station needs is half a wall

Duinrell and Drievliet wouldn’t be my first choice of parks in the Netherlands, but they’re certainly worth ticking off if you’re in the area and have space in your schedule.

In day 3, we take a break from coasters to go exploring Belgium… only for coasters to come and find me.