Waltzers From Vienna

After the Zoo I got the U-Bahn over to Prater Park itself. It's a park I really liked, with so many rides on offer I was able to go for a very long time without loosing interest. If I had even more money I reckon I could have continued for even longer.
The lack of a pay one price policy is an interesting issue. Normally I would say it would be a big problem for a park this size not to have one, but here there are things that make this work in the parks favour. The reason for this is because a lot of rides are owned by different showmen and operators. This means a lot more effort has to go in to presenting of the rides in order to draw punters in. A ride can't be unpopular and a ride can't be allowed to look drab or fall in to disrepair as it means people will use their money to go on another ride instead. It also means every possible space is used to acommodate something you can spend your money on. You even see vending machines and small coin operated rides stuffed into leftover space in front of rides. This helps make sure your never likely to get board.
This can make Prater an expensive place, I wouldn't recommend a trip unless your prepared to spend at least £100 per person on rides, and you could spend more than this if you wanted to do absolutely everything. If you are willing to go to this expense though it's a great park. It's one I'm definitely planning to do a trip to spend a couple of nights at again.

Prater has a large number of compact roller coasters including this fun one called Megablitz.

One of the thrill rides at the park is this one called a Starflyer. I've now ridden quite a few of these around Europe, and am surprised one hasn't been opened in the U.K. yet.

One thing I would to have liked to have done if I had more money to spare is some more of the dark rides at the park. I managed to do my favourites of the fun houses, but didn't get a chance to try to do some of the other dark rides.

I think I remember seeing 3 or four ghost trains at the park which offer some of the best examples of the great presentation values found at Prater.

This is an area of the park called the Rondeau. It's a big plaza area with a large number of rides around the edge of it.

Also found in the Rondeau is this Boomerang coaster. Thanks to a very attractive paintjob it looks a lot more attractive than a typical Boomerang. The ride is also enhanced by some new trains that go across your lap instead of over your shoulder. This helps make the ride more confortable and creates an extra thrill from the exposure and vulnerability you feel on the ride.

Another great looking rides is this one called the Prater Marina.

With such a large number of compact coasters a mouse coaster is almost inevitable. This is a colourfully decorated version, but is a pretty standard version to ride.

If you want a break from the rides Prater also has lots of great restaurants, pubs and Beer gardens where you can chill out for an hour. If you feel homesick you can even visit an English pub.

If you want just a snack your also well catered for, with lots of options, and yes, even they have a McDonalds.