What does Bart say? – A Theme Park blog!

Before heading to my last stop in Germany, Europa-Park, I made a quick stop at Steinwasen-Park, a small park in the Black Forest nature reserve, in southern Germany. This relatively unknown park combines nature, animals, and attractions. And among these attractions are 3 roller coasters (two if you don’t count the motorised toboggan run/bobkart). Is Steinwasen-Park worth a visit while you’re in the area? Find out now in.. What does Bart say about.. Steinwasen Park 🚠

When you visit the website for Steinwasen-Park you not only can buy your tickets online, it also will give you a great impression of what to expect from the park before heading over. I bought my tickets a day in advance, and there were still plenty of tickets to purchase, even in the peak season (August). The website focuses on tourism and offers the option to change the language (several languages are available; I was even able to purchase my tickets in Dutch). If you’re planning on visiting Steinwasen-Park I highly recommend purchasing tickets online, this will let you skip the line at the entrance (for what I’ve seen there was only one ticketbooth) and especially arriving at the opening of the park the line for tickets could be a long one. The benefit from purchasing tickets online is the line you could skip, and you could walk into the park in just a few minutes.

You enter the park through the inner section of the park, where you will find an indoor playground, a number of attractions, and a restaurant. The attractions in the park are mainly aimed at younger visitors, so don’t expect any real thrill rides when you visit Steinwasen-Park. My focus during this visit was mainly on getting the roller coaster credits and taking a walk through the nature reserve. So for me, it didn’t matter so much that the attractions were mainly aimed at the youngest visitors. It took me a while to find the entrance to the first roller coaster (Space Runner), but once I found it, I joined the queue (which seemed very long at the time). But in retrospect, it turned out that the roller coaster had quite a bit of capacity, and the queue was over before I knew it. Space Runner is a bobsleigh ride by Wiegand, similar to the Maximus’ Blitz Bahn in Toverland. Space Runner has a surprisingly long layout, and if you’re lucky, the Glacier Blitz will race past you. The Gletscher Blitz is the second roller coaster in the park (a MACK Powered Coaster). For a Powered Coaster, it goes surprisingly fast, which made for some fun airtime moments, something you don’t often experience on a Powered Coaster. Both roller coasters are located in the same part of the building, so it is definitely recommended to do both if you are in this part of the park.

The park’s third roller coaster is located on the outskirts of the park and is another Wiegand roller coaster: an Alpine Coaster. While some parks charge extra for a ride on their Alpine Coaster, this is not the case at Steinwasen-Park, where one (or more) rides are included in the admission price. Don’t be put off by the queue here either. During my visit, the queue wasn’t quite full, and I waited  about 45 minutes. The layout is on the short side, and if you’re unlucky, someone will be riding in front of you, preventing you from reaching full speed on the way down. I haven’t been on many Alpine Coasters myself, but I found this one to be on the disappointing side. Maybe it’s because I had higher expectations, and with a 45-minute wait, you hope for a long track that you can ride at full speed.

In the outdoor area, there are a number of other attractions for younger visitors, as well as a rapid river and a toboggan run. I skipped the rapid river, I didn’t feel like getting wet, but the toboggan run was on my list of attractions to do. To get to the toboggan run you have two options: you can walk (the path is quite steep, but doable, and you walk past several animal enclosures, which is great fun!) or you can take the cable car up. The disadvantage of the cable car is the queue at the bottom (at the top there was no queue, but you will ride the toboggan down, if you don’t dare to sled down, you can take the cable car back). As there are only two gondolas going up and down, each carrying around 12 people, which results in a fairly long queue. I didn’t feel like waiting, so I decided to follow the path up.

I recommend checking the map when you take the path uphill, as there are two paths that lead to the top. The normal path or via the rope bridge that hangs over Steinwasen-Park. Unfortunately, I found out about the second option too late, and to my regret, I arrived at the rope bridge. After the first 3 meters, I decided to go back and follow the other path. The rope bridge may be faster, but with a fear of heights and the wind picking up, it’s no fun to walk across it. I have to admit that the higher I climbed, the harder it became to continue walking. When you’re walking among the trees, you don’t realize how high you are, and a few meters before the toboggan run, you come to a section where there are no more trees and you can see right down into the depths. I have to admit that I had to take a break here (and luckily there’s a small café where you could take a break). After a short break, I continued on my way to the toboggan run, where, to my surprise, there was no queue at all!

The toboggan run was much  faster than I first had expected, and I have to admit that I used my breaks quite a few times during my ride down to avoid flying off the toboggan track. I wouldn’t say I was scared, but at times I did find it quite thrilling, and I was glad to be back at the station. At the end of your ride, you can leave the toboggan on the track, and it will be returned to the station by cable. I thought that it was quite interesting to see how the toboggan went back up to the station. This is something you don’t see daily or while visiting other parks. If the path up wasn’t so steep and the queue for the cable car wasn’t so long, I would have liked to try the other toboggan run. Who knows, maybe it will be an option for my next visit?

Is a visit to Steinwasen-Park worth it when you’re in the area? I think it depends on what you would like to see and ride at the park.If you’re only visiting to get the coaster credits, I don’t think it’s worth visiting then. The tickets for the park are reasonably priced when you combine the roller coasters with the other attractions, a walk through the nature reserve, and a bite to eat or a drink in the restaurant. It’s not worth it if you’re only coming for the roller coasters. I had planned a quick stop but I ended up enjoying myself for a good 3.5/4 hours.

If you have any questions about Steinwasen-Park, feel free to ask them in the comments or send me a message on Instagram! I will try to answer your question as soon as possible ;)!

And that’s what I have to say about.. Steinwasen-Park!
Bart