Heide Park
Soltau·Germany·Europe
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Visit
Breakdown
Introduction
We visited Heide Park on May 15th and 16th, 2026, spending two full days at this large legacy park in northern Germany. While this is our first official Parkrating visit and our first time looking at the park through a critical lens, we have been to this park several times in the past. Since it is the largest theme park you can easily get to from Denmark, it has sort of become our home away from home. As a result, we have been able to follow the park's development throughout the years (from 2008 to now) and observe its global status shift in the wake of the current European coaster boom.
Heide Park Review
Best Coaster
8.5
The park's standout coaster is, and has been since 2001, Colossos: Kampf der Giganten. This behemoth of a wooden coaster is one of only four prefabricated wooden coasters made by Intamin and is, without a doubt, the most iconic attraction at Heide Park.
This coaster offers a fantastic first drop, especially in the back row, before sending you flying over two massive camelbacks that offer sustained ejector airtime. The ride is super smooth and features a massive, fire-spewing wooden giant that you fly right through during the ride.
Colossos is a spectacle both on-ride and off-ride, with plenty of great photo opportunities and an exciting atmosphere to boot. Needless to say, Colossos is an absolute must when visiting Heide Park.
This coaster offers a fantastic first drop, especially in the back row, before sending you flying over two massive camelbacks that offer sustained ejector airtime. The ride is super smooth and features a massive, fire-spewing wooden giant that you fly right through during the ride.
Colossos is a spectacle both on-ride and off-ride, with plenty of great photo opportunities and an exciting atmosphere to boot. Needless to say, Colossos is an absolute must when visiting Heide Park.
Coaster Depth
9
Despite the park's physical size and great attractions, it can sometimes feel like Heide Park has fallen behind, and it's not actually a park that is widely discussed in the coaster community. The reason for this is quite obvious, however, as the park hasn't opened a new roller coaster since 2014 (12 years ago at the time of writing), and it doesn't look like it's going to get one in the next couple of years.
Luckily, what is here is still really great. The supporting standout is Flug der Dämonen, a forceful B&M Wing Coaster with great theming and inversions. Desert Race has that great initial launch, and Krake features an amazing drop right through the kraken's mouth. Bobbahn is an old and feisty family-thrill coaster that, while quite shaky, offers a wild experience routing through buildings and tunnels. Big Loop and Toxic Garden round out the major supporting rides, while Grottenblitz and Indy-Blitz take care of the younger crowd.
Ultimately, Heide Park has a very strong lineup, especially for thrill-seekers, but they could really use a new, modern, high-capacity family coaster to elevate this score even higher.
Luckily, what is here is still really great. The supporting standout is Flug der Dämonen, a forceful B&M Wing Coaster with great theming and inversions. Desert Race has that great initial launch, and Krake features an amazing drop right through the kraken's mouth. Bobbahn is an old and feisty family-thrill coaster that, while quite shaky, offers a wild experience routing through buildings and tunnels. Big Loop and Toxic Garden round out the major supporting rides, while Grottenblitz and Indy-Blitz take care of the younger crowd.
Ultimately, Heide Park has a very strong lineup, especially for thrill-seekers, but they could really use a new, modern, high-capacity family coaster to elevate this score even higher.
Water Rides
6
Heide Park sports the classic one-two log flume and rapids punch. Wildwasserbahn 1 is the surviving flume ride of the park's previous flume duo. With this Mack flume, you get a classic, scenic ride with three drops, the final one being fairly tall. The route itself isn't that interesting, however, as there is not much theming or attempt to engage the rider beyond that standard "you're on a flume ride now" feeling. That is perfectly okay, but we have definitely seen other flumes do more.
The rapids ride, Mountain Rafting, is a classic 1992 Intamin river rapids that also features a fairly scenic route with geysers and waterfalls, though it's nothing that will get you too wet. It is a fairly long ride with all the classic elements, great for baiting people into believing they might get soaked, but it doesn't actually offer that much wetness at all.
The lineup itself is okay, but some more immersive and perhaps interactive theming would have done a lot here. Other than that, a water coaster would be a really nice fit for Heide Park; specifically, a Mack PowerSplash on the edge of the center lake would work fantastically here.
The rapids ride, Mountain Rafting, is a classic 1992 Intamin river rapids that also features a fairly scenic route with geysers and waterfalls, though it's nothing that will get you too wet. It is a fairly long ride with all the classic elements, great for baiting people into believing they might get soaked, but it doesn't actually offer that much wetness at all.
The lineup itself is okay, but some more immersive and perhaps interactive theming would have done a lot here. Other than that, a water coaster would be a really nice fit for Heide Park; specifically, a Mack PowerSplash on the edge of the center lake would work fantastically here.
Flatrides And Darkrides
7.5
There has been an interesting shift in Heide Park's ride lineup over the years. They used to feature quite a strong collection of flat rides, while dark rides were a distant concept. That has completely changed; Heide Park now boasts an impressive three different dark rides of solid quality, while the flat ride game, at least for thrill flats, is lagging somewhat behind. Drachengrotte, based on the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, is just an okay dark ride; it features great theming, but the journey through the cave is fairly short and uneventful. However, both Ghostbusters 5D and the new-for-2024 Dämonen Gruft offer genuinely impressive ride experiences, each in their own unique way.
Regarding flat rides, it's not like there is an actual lack of them. Heide Park has plenty of family flats, including most of the classics, alongside a few notable standouts. Highlights include Hicks Himmelstürmer (a Zamperla flat where you ride in a prone, flying position) and a rare HUSS Magic with suspended seating, which playfully functions like an inverted Breakdance and sits right across from a classic HUSS Breakdance. But in terms of true thrill flats, Scream is really the only major one left after the park removed their Top Spin, Enterprise, and Round-Up over the years. Thankfully, Scream is a fantastic drop tower, but adding another extreme flat ride would go a long way at Heide Park.
Regarding flat rides, it's not like there is an actual lack of them. Heide Park has plenty of family flats, including most of the classics, alongside a few notable standouts. Highlights include Hicks Himmelstürmer (a Zamperla flat where you ride in a prone, flying position) and a rare HUSS Magic with suspended seating, which playfully functions like an inverted Breakdance and sits right across from a classic HUSS Breakdance. But in terms of true thrill flats, Scream is really the only major one left after the park removed their Top Spin, Enterprise, and Round-Up over the years. Thankfully, Scream is a fantastic drop tower, but adding another extreme flat ride would go a long way at Heide Park.
Park Appearance
9.5
Given the relative lack of investment, one might be led to believe that this park is neglected. However, we suppose they are just very conservative when it comes to spending, because when you are actually in the park, it truly feels like it is flourishing. Heide Park is gorgeous, and with its giant central lake, there are so many great photo opportunities that it became hard to just walk alongside the water without stopping to take more pictures of the rides on the opposite shore (you should see how many photos we have that ultimately didn't make it to the site!).
Heide Park has that distinct, classic European theme park feel, filled with history, lush greenery, and highly detailed theming. While it might not hit you over the head with it, we implore you to spend 10 to 15 minutes of your visit just walking around an area to truly look at all the beauty it has to offer.
The only thing keeping this from being a top contender in appearance is the presence of abandoned or unused spaces that stand out as glaring eyesores. This is a direct consequence of Merlin's lack of spending on new hardware; thankfully, however, it still isn't enough to stop Heide Park's natural beauty from shining through.
Heide Park has that distinct, classic European theme park feel, filled with history, lush greenery, and highly detailed theming. While it might not hit you over the head with it, we implore you to spend 10 to 15 minutes of your visit just walking around an area to truly look at all the beauty it has to offer.
The only thing keeping this from being a top contender in appearance is the presence of abandoned or unused spaces that stand out as glaring eyesores. This is a direct consequence of Merlin's lack of spending on new hardware; thankfully, however, it still isn't enough to stop Heide Park's natural beauty from shining through.
Park Practicality
9
Heide Park is a very practical park. It's essentially an entrance area and then a big circle around a giant lake in the middle, with an inner path that pretty much hugs the lake while an outer path takes you through the different themed areas and all of the rides. There are plenty of quick connecting paths, and the lake makes it super easy to always see where the different rides are located. Yes, it can obviously be a bit of a hike to get from Scream to Colossos, especially given the hillside that the former sits on, but there is a great natural flow where you can pretty much just continue to circle the lake and hit up all rides very easily as you go around.
Food
7.5
Inspired by our great light meals at Legoland Billund earlier in the trip, we decided to go for something easily digestible that wouldn't reduce our mobility while still being super tasty, and therefore, pokebowl it was. The portions were huge with lots of salad, vegetables, some chicken and a tasty 'dirty umami' sauce on top. These were found at Frau Mümmels Kiosk, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, inside Peppa Pig land, which at least gave two grown men an excuse to hang out in the kids' area. Later on, we also tried their hotdog where you choose the toppings yourself. This was alright, as there was a good amount of toppings, but the hygiene of such a concept could be better.
Day two we got some gyros with fries at the 'Colossos Snack' place, which was decent. Overall, the selection was solid and so was the quality of the food we ate.
Day two we got some gyros with fries at the 'Colossos Snack' place, which was decent. Overall, the selection was solid and so was the quality of the food we ate.
Snacks And Drinks
7
Regarding snacks, we tried a few options. On day 1, we went for another waffle on a stick (PTSD from Djurs Sommerland) and some custom shakes at Café Transsilvania on the hill between Bobbahn and the Scream plaza. We were left quite disappointed, as the waffle was pretty mediocre and the shakes tasted quite weird. We agreed we would come back on day two to either redeem or doom Heide's snack score, and luckily we found the chocolate shakes to be much better. We did go elsewhere for the actual snacks and ended up at the Schmalzkuchen-Schmiede where we got... Schmalzkuchen? These small dough balls were exactly what you would expect, doughy and savory, but definitely not the most exotic option out there. The park also sells coffee, hot chocolate, croissants and chocolate-covered candy, as well as the classics like ice cream, churros and crepes.
Ride Operations
7.5
Operations were solid at Heide Park. They had multiple trains running on the major coasters like Colossos, Flug der Dämonen, Krake, and Desert Race, while leaving Toxic Garden and Big Loop on one-train operations.
Dispatches were okay for the most part, but we did experience quite a bit of confusion inside the various stations, which led to some slow dispatch times. We aren't exactly sure what was happening, but it generally seemed like they didn't always do a great job of keeping track of how many people they let into the station and where they were sitting.
Queue handling was very good, however, and the staff was nice and friendly. There were a few minor breakdowns, but nothing was down for more than 15 minutes, and everything got back up and running quickly. Overall, Heide Park more than passed in this category.
Dispatches were okay for the most part, but we did experience quite a bit of confusion inside the various stations, which led to some slow dispatch times. We aren't exactly sure what was happening, but it generally seemed like they didn't always do a great job of keeping track of how many people they let into the station and where they were sitting.
Queue handling was very good, however, and the staff was nice and friendly. There were a few minor breakdowns, but nothing was down for more than 15 minutes, and everything got back up and running quickly. Overall, Heide Park more than passed in this category.
Park Management
9.5
Say what you will about the lack of development, or perhaps a "lack of vision" for the park's future, but when it comes to how the park is managed on a daily basis and how that translates to the overall guest experience, Heide Park does an excellent job.
Everything opened with the park, and there were no unexpected facility closures. That said, a few former restaurants have been vacant for some time, and the park could do a better job of either replacing these closed-down facilities or, at the very least, hiding them.
On our first day, we arrived just before park opening on a very busy Friday. What could have easily devolved into absolute car chaos at the parking lot entrance was handled with grace, ensuring a great start to the day. The staff was friendly, service was good, parking wasn't overly expensive, and the merch game was very strong.
Overall, we had two very comfortable and fulfilling days here, largely thanks to how well the park is managed.
Everything opened with the park, and there were no unexpected facility closures. That said, a few former restaurants have been vacant for some time, and the park could do a better job of either replacing these closed-down facilities or, at the very least, hiding them.
On our first day, we arrived just before park opening on a very busy Friday. What could have easily devolved into absolute car chaos at the parking lot entrance was handled with grace, ensuring a great start to the day. The staff was friendly, service was good, parking wasn't overly expensive, and the merch game was very strong.
Overall, we had two very comfortable and fulfilling days here, largely thanks to how well the park is managed.
Roller Coasters (9)
Main Coasters (8)
Optional Coasters (1)
Gallery
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