Colossos Review, Heide Park Intamin Pre-Fabricated Wood Coaster | Better than El Toro?

Colossos- Kampf der Giganten is a massive wooden roller coaster at Heide Park. This was the prototype Intamin pre-fabricated wooden roller coaster and it features more extreme elements and a smoother ride than traditional woodies. This coaster was completely retracked from 2016-2019 and it also received some new theming, including the massive fire-spurting monster during the ride's finale. And is it now running better than El Toro?
Video Credits
Colossos Construction (Heide Park)- • Colossos Rückkehr 2019...
Colossos POV (AmusementInsider)- • COLOSSOS POV - Prefabr...
Background Music
Colossos Theme (Heide Park / IMAScore)

[@88tibro]

Rode it in its opening week in 2001 when it ran glass smooth and with no trims. It was phenomenal. Also rode it 2 weeks before closing, and it was rather painful. Since its refurb, it has slowed down quite a bit but runs smoother again. I think they slowed down the lift and intensified the trims to increase the rides longevity. Thinking of this rides age though, its still absolutely fantastic!

[@CanobieCoaster]

I wish I could've ridden it in its prime.

[@rct800]

The forces and especially the final airtime hills were definetly stronger before the retrack, mostly because the 4 trims really hit quite hard (I actually think they added at least two of them when they were retracking the ride). Also, I prefer the first gen Intamin trains because they had much more lateral room, the new ones feel quite tight. That being said, I love the smooth ride of the new colossos and the ride really became incredibly rough and painful in the 2010s! Would've been interesting if you rode the pre 2016 version of the ride, because I recon that it would compare differently to El Toro in terms of intensity.

[@CanobieCoaster]

With stronger airtime in the finale, this would've been easily better than Toro for me.

[@uncledrosselmeyer6480]

Never once was this ride ever even in the remote range of Toros insanity & glory. Come on now lol

[@rct800]

@@uncledrosselmeyer6480 did you ride both?

[@uncledrosselmeyer6480]

@@rct800 yes. There’s a reason toro is rated the GOAT woodie

[@ToliiRH]

The theming looks incredible on this coaster, love that they reused the old track as well. It looks like it provides a great headchopper

[@CanobieCoaster]

It does.

[@KuRo88]

I miss the time when it first opened, without the trims.. It was insane. Absolutely world class. I didn't ride it after the retrack but i did ride it with the trims around 2015 or so and it felt more like a older B&M hyper - just wooden. The trims hit hard and I only had floater airtime, no ejector at all...

[@CanobieCoaster]

I wish I rode it before the modification.

[@33sam]

You did it again! Best review of Colossus by far. Thanks for letting me know that the ride has 1 strong sustained ejector moment. The way you talked about Balder got me pumped for your review if it!

[@CanobieCoaster]

Balder is a repetitive layout, but it's my favorite of the 3 prefabs I've done. So much ejector air!

[@andyroman8223]

It would have been great if the park got rid of the helix during the retrack, so it would have better pacing, and better airtime over those last few hills.

[@CanobieCoaster]

True!

[@jojo_hendriks]

Colossos has been running really great this year, the start is super strong and makes the ride. While it does get less powerful later on, it still is a fun and super long ride. But if El Toro isnt that much stronger, then I doubt it‘ll crack my Top 20…

[@CanobieCoaster]

I rate the two similarly.

[@dertexter]

At the risk of sounding old and bitter, I rode Colossos in its opening year, and it was simply mind-blowing. There were zero trims, the first two camelbacks were easily on par with El Toro's (if not more extreme), and even the final three bunny hills delivered glorious ejector, all while being smooth as glass. I'm frankly scared to ride it again as I don't want to ruin the memory of what it once was.

[@CanobieCoaster]

The bunny hills in its original state looked amazing.

[@popcanstudios9081]

This is currently my top wood coaster, the helix really stands out though and it makes it hard to rank above coasters that just crush their layout but I really really love that first half, the giant fire monster is also a nice touch as you can actually feel the heat off the fire. The one thing I found out is that the seat belt check on the outside is not fail safe as the ride op pulled on mine and it felt fine but I wasn’t wearing it at all, it was my first ride and I missed seeing it, I got his attention and I was able to put it on but I can see why on the RMCs I’ve been on they have you keep the lap bar up to visually check the belt

[@CanobieCoaster]

Yeah I wish that helix wasn't there.

[@willcroshaw-cw4is]

Just got back from a trip to Germany it was not busy at all but they still ran it on 2 trains so I got to ride it 25 times its such a great ride!

[@CanobieCoaster]

Awesome!

[@Jalmaan]

It was a really fun coaster last year. Those camel hills in the beginning are masterfull. The helix truely is a shame and i wish they'd replaced that with a banking turn

[@CanobieCoaster]

That would help the finale too.

[@AirtimeProductions]

I’ve always been fascinated by this ride! Really sucks I won’t be riding it on my trip but at least I’ll have more of a chance to ride El Toro

[@CanobieCoaster]

It has a lot of similarities to Toro.

[@maxhagenauer24]

The airtime in the first half socks of corse absolutely insane, if it's sustained ejector how it looks. The second half is definitely a bit slower though and that helix looks to big and looses to much speed but other than that, this easily looks like the 2nd or 3rd best coaster in Germany, definitely world class looking, you can never go wrong with the airtime on a pre fab. Also that mouth statue it goes through is just sweet.

[@CanobieCoaster]

I wish the helix wasn't there so the ride had more speed at the end.

[@clairefunnell8481]

Whoa! What a cool looking coaster.

[@CanobieCoaster]

Sure is.

[@michaeltaylor1603]

@ 0:40 I'm giggling like a school boy! One other Visual (in the distance are wind generators) representing the element of "wind" to go along with wood and flame. I lovvve the statue and flame with that wonderful backstory and theming.

[@CanobieCoaster]

Me too.

[@upsidedown_]

Apparently since the retrack the airtime got way weaker, I did still love it. Great ride

[@CanobieCoaster]

I figured the finale may have gotten weaker.

[@upsidedown_]

@@CanobieCoaster Yes probaly

[@alexlents4689]

They should honestly take out those trims in the first leg. That part would possibly be better than El Toro if they weren’t there!

[@bbbbbb111]

I rode Colossos in May and was a bit disappointed with the ride. Since I always sat in the last car, I didn't see the trim brakes on the descent and the airtime hills, but I definitely felt them. I've now ridden over 100 roller coasters and I know how such elements should feel. But with Collossos, the last thrill that I would expect from the profile was missing due to the trim brakes in certain places. You notice how strong ejector airtime starts to build up, but then the forces suddenly stop increasing and in the end there is only weak ejector airtime or flooter. Too bad. But maybe I was just too spoiled, because 2 days before I was in Hansa Park and was able to experience the strong forces of Novgorod and Kärnan there. Maybe that also played a role and made Colossos seem more lame than it really is.

[@CanobieCoaster]

I heard it ran faster before the refurb.

[@bbbbbb111]

@@CanobieCoaster I heard that too. Since the retracking she probably has 2 more trim brakes than before. According to the descriptions of friends who drove it before the retracking, it was somewhere between Silverstar and Expedition Geforce in terms of intensity. Now I would classify the intensity more on the level of Silverstar than Geforce, because Colossos doesn't come close to Geforce in terms of airtime.

[@RemixedVoice]

I think this is the least best out of the 4 Intamin wooden coasters, but it's still amazing. El Toro/T-Express, Balder, Colossos is my list in order. I can't decide which I like better, Toro or Express lol. I think all 4 should be on every coaster fans bucket list though. To be fair, I haven't ridden Colossos since it's refurbishment though; I can't wait to ride it again someday.

[@CanobieCoaster]

T-Express is the only one I haven't ridden, but it looks like the best onr since it takes Toro's amazing start and goes into Balder's airtime smorgasbord.

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

@@CanobieCoaster It is easily. I got to ride it in 2012 and remember it being awesome

[@LightningQ7]

I coincidentally rode colossos 1 week before its closure in 2016. While I can confirm that the ride was pretty rough and hard on your head if your rode it more then two times back to back, I also think that it was running more aggressive then now a days. You can kind of see that in pov's when you compare the entry speed at the turn around with older videos from before the retracking. While I'm personally sad that this is the case I can also see the park going with it to extends its lifespan.

[@CanobieCoaster]

That's what I suspected.

[@gunterguntersen8194]

I find it interesting that you prefer the back. The drop is certainly better there but for the rest I actually prefer the front. I honestly think the airtime is better there.

[@CanobieCoaster]

I think the finale has stronger pops in front but I prefer the more sustained airtime in back.

[@rickym7380]

When I went a few weeks ago, I also found the very back row to be superior to the other rows on the same car

[@CanobieCoaster]

Interesting!

[@zuzmju]

I agree with you mostly was there in June, i was so hyped to get on it and it was quite a dissapointing for me. Till the turnaround it´s really a worldcoaster after that it didn´t do anything for me my two rides(both in the back car) were trimmed to death so the train was crawling and after the speedhill it felt like a mediocore mine train. Even the finale couldn´t turn it around for me had no airtime at all. To the fastpass/singlerider when i was there in June all of that wasn´t avaiable might be different now since it´s holiday season but for everyone who plans a visit soon count in for it that it might not be avaiable. Got to say Heide Park in general was a big dissapointment for me i had booked two days and drove home after the first day. I try to sum it up real quick, i arrived at 10ish had my tickets already printed out so i walked to entrance for people staying on side, first bummer the scanner didn´t work and no staff in sight so after trying it a few times i decided to walk to main entrance, arrived there tried to scan my ticket but it said invalid, then spotted a queue with a woman which had handscanner so waited there showed her my ticket and said here what happend and she yelled at me really unfriendly that are no park cards and what would not and i got to use the side entrance with that card. After telling her that the scanner didn´t work she yelled even more and sent me away i should talk to reception. Great expierence so far was really tunred down at that point and i had to walk back 10mins to get to the reception. Staff there was actually friendly and tried to help she printed out my ticket again since it also rained a bit said to me i should try it again and if it doesn´t work there is a bell somewhere and some staff would come to turnstyles then. So back to the entrance and this time another family already stand there with the same problem. We then found the bell which was overgrown by some bush.So after 45mins i made it finally into park. In the park first visit was a toilet which was really dirty and filthy specially considering the park wasn´t even an hour open so that was the next bummer. Never had that happen to me in europapark or phantsialand. Park in general was rather dirty with garbage laying around and so on. But the worst was yet to come i had rented one of these small hoods on their camping side so i checked in and walked to my hood. After a few minutes i knew nope you won´t sleep in here the shower cabin was dirty with some stuff growing in the corner into it and on the celling were some mold spots. The pillow and blanket also had some weird stains on it so i was finally done with that park did ride anything i wanted anyway so i just got my dinner which was actually quite good took some short rest and did drive 420km home again. So for now i´m done with parks Merlin parks.

[@rct800]

Yes, I agree! Merlin is in the process (or already has) of ruining Heide Park with awful park management. Before it was a family-owned park and had much better atmosphere and even more rides than there are today.

[@zuzmju]

@@rct800 oh yea i also forgot about that stuff already the amount of broken rides/removed rides is/was quite high and all of the coasters there could use a repaint specially the old vekoma ones.

[@CanobieCoaster]

I've heard stories of them not staffing the single rider or Express queue on otherwise busy days which is disappointing.

[@CoasterDash]

I don’t rank El Toro as high as most enthusiasts but even then, to even compare Colossos to El Toro seems impossible. I love the first third, but the helix is one of the most lackluster elements on any thrill coaster in the world. I also found the last few hills to be very underwhelming.

[@CanobieCoaster]

I find it easy to compare given the same ride type and nearly identical layout at the start.

[@gemmachaos]

I rode it pre-refurbishment and I liked it okay. It was a bit rough but not unbearably so. The airtime was good, but it didn't blow my mind. It kind of dies on its feet after the turnaround. I'm more of a GCI fan as woodies go. Need to get back there, if they ever build a new coaster. How long has it been since the last one, ten years now?

[@CanobieCoaster]

It has been a while.

[@gemmachaos]

@@CanobieCoaster Eight years since Flug der Daemonen, turns out. I'd say they're about due. Get on it, Merlin!

[@housevida3598]

Vídeo idea: Ranking Prefabricated Woodies

[@CanobieCoaster]

Maybe in the future, but not until I ride T-Express.

[@PhonkPalmTree]

You should do more Heidi park reviews

[@CanobieCoaster]

I plan to.

[@ChiefBlueScreen]

Got walk of shame'd on 1/3 of my Toro rides last time I visited. Is the rest of the park worth visiting if I were to lose the gamble for that day?

[@CanobieCoaster]

Great Adventure and this park have more to offer beyond these pre-fabs.

[@alecvip7562]

Do you think el toro will need a full retrack soon? Balder has needed a full retrack, despite them maintaining the ride very well. I wonder if gadv prefabricates the second gen of track.

[@CanobieCoaster]

Did Liseberg replace sections of wood like Great Adventure has?

[@alecvip7562]

@@CanobieCoaster I believe they have. They had been doing it for a while, but soon realized the whole ride needed a retrack.

[@alecvip7562]

@@CanobieCoaster I'm just assuming because balder has stayed buttery smooth according to everyone that has ridden it.

[@mateoalvira3514]

Which coaster do you think that has a longer track length, Colossos or your least favorite one?

[@CanobieCoaster]

Coaster Express

[@chargedonpc9989]

Does Colossos have stronger airtime than Twisted Timbers? That's the strong airtime focused ride I have the most experience with.

[@CanobieCoaster]

The first camelback has similar strength to the 3 camelbacks on Twisted Timbers.

[@cliquet3scliquet3s96]

Would you like to go again to Heide Park and ride again: Big Loop Bobbahn Colossos - Kampf der Giganten Desert Race Flüg der Dämonen Toxic Garden

[@CanobieCoaster]

I'd ride all but Toxic Garden.

[@jtwoolley]

yes

[@CanobieCoaster]

I think so too.

[@cliquet3scliquet3s96]

Canobie Coaster said: I'd ride again all but Limit/Toxic Garden. If I ask you, why?

[@CanobieCoaster]

Unless they change the restraints, I don't have plans to reride it.

[@officialchase02]

That monster kinda reminds me of Wicker man at Alton Towers

[@CanobieCoaster]

Same

[@Pizzashorts]

If i were to rate the intamin woodies, 4 would be balder 3 would be this 2 would be el toro And 1 would be T express(yes i rode it) Hope ya read this

[@CanobieCoaster]

T Express looks to be the best.

[@Pizzashorts]

@@CanobieCoaster you won't believe how good it is

[@officialchase02]

The only one you need left is T Express in Korea

[@CanobieCoaster]

Maybe one day!

[@kddkdkykdkdkf5817]

Isnt it 60 meters tall?

[@CanobieCoaster]

I saw 50 m listed.

[@teddym2808]

I actually slightly prefer this overall to El Toro, please anyone reading don't shoot me. Just as an overall package to me it's ever so slightly better (IMHO).

[@CanobieCoaster]

I don't blame you.

[@rushiscool]

Wickerman…

[@CanobieCoaster]

Very similar.

[@dytamic]

why dont u want to go to qiddiya

[@dytamic]

@Enzo Discovery six flags qiddiya

[@ThrillsofColdplay]

@@dytamic it’s not open yet

[@CanobieCoaster]

Maybe one day

[@nexxfrfr]

In my defense feel like El toro is better cause you get more airtime

[@CanobieCoaster]

El Toro has stronger airtime. This ride has more airtime moments.

[@diskyboy1990]

This is the worst Intamin Pre-frab by a decently large margin. Its still very good, but i wouldn't call it elite, unlike all the others. Honestly, Shivering Timbers does this concept better. This ride might've been elite when it first opened, but not anymore

[@CanobieCoaster]

I wish I could have tried it before the ending was slowed down.

[@EastCoasters]

With El Toros track constantly getting replaced with cheap American prefabricated wood, instead of the good old Swiss stuff, I’m sure Colossus is a better ride now 🤌🏽

[@CanobieCoaster]

El Toro is still more intense.

[@alexlents4689]

Six Flags will always be Six Flags: Frugality above EVERYTHING!