Huge 2026 Trip Announcement ft. Coaster Breaks! (4/9/26)

I’m interrupting the Disney series to make a special announcement about my major trip for this year because one…..It’s coming up ridiculously quickly, and two, I booked it back in November and it’s taken every fiber of my being to keep it under wraps until now.  It’s gonna be thirteen days in late May, and I’ll visit eight parks with 64 possible credits, and you better believe there are some bangers on this itinerary.

So to get things kicked off, I’ll reveal all the parks on this trip, then welcome some special guests to the podcast to talk about their roller coaster journeys and help me get prepared for my adventure to come.        

This is going to be my biggest trip ever, and somewhere along the line, I’ll get my 300th credit, and I can’t wait to bring you along.

If you enjoyed this episode, please help me out by leaving a 5-star rating, a review, and tapping follow.  You can also comment on Spotify, and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and X @coasterredux.

Transcript

What’s up coaster nerds, it’s Erik from Coaster Redux and this is Redux Rundown.  I’m interrupting the Disney series to make a special announcement about my major trip for this year because one…..It’s coming up ridiculously quickly, and two, I booked it back in November and it’s taken every fiber of my being to keep it under wraps until now.  It’s gonna be thirteen days in late May, and I’ll visit eight parks with 64 possible credits, and you better believe there are some bangers on this itinerary.

So to get things kicked off, I’ll reveal all the parks on this trip, then welcome some special guests to the podcast to talk about their roller coaster journeys and help me get prepared for my adventure to come.        

This is going to be my biggest trip ever, and somewhere along the line, I’ll get my 300th credit, and I can’t wait to bring you along.  So without further adieu, let’s get into it.            

I’ll embark on the trip of a lifetime on a Tuesday evening in May beginning with a flight from Miami to London Heathrow on a Virgin Atlantic A-330neo.  I’ll land super early Wednesday morning and take some time to explore London while attempting to acclimate to the time change leading into my first theme park visit.

Thursday morning I’ll Uber a mere seven miles from my hotel to one of the UK’s biggest thrill parks, home to massive roller coasters from B&M, Intamin, and Mack Rides.  I’m talking Nemesis Inferno, Swarm, Colossus, Stealth, and of course Hyperia, England’s tallest and fastest roller coaster that looks so unique and exciting, and I can’t wait to check it out.  But Thorpe Park is just the warm-up!

I’ll crash at the same hotel by the airport before catching trains from Heathrow to the Ashford International Station where I’ll meet my guide for the remainder of the trip.  I’ll be travelling with Coaster Breaks, a UK-based tour company specializing in small-group theme park enthusiast excursions.  From here, my park tickets, hotels, breakfasts, and transportation are all included in the package, and all I have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.  After a railway journey beneath the Strait of Dover to France, we’ll drive across the border into Belgium to meet the rest of the group in Brussels.  

Now this is the part I’m most excited about.  I’m gonna spend the next eight days with a guide and seven fellow coaster enthusiasts I’ve never met before visiting some of Europe’s best theme parks.  I presume we’ll all be first timers, so it’ll be a blast nerding out on these epic rides together.

We’ll start the trip at Walibi Belgium, best known for Kondaa, a new school Intamin mega coaster, and their new-for-2025 Mecalodon, a Gerstlauer launched family coaster that’s supposed to be wilder than it looks.  

Next up is my single bar-none number one bucket list theme park in the world, Phantasialand, located just outside of Cologne, Germany.  If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that my brother Karl has visited this park twice on layovers as an airline pilot, and he’s raved about its immersive theming and top notch roller coasters like Taron, Black Mamba and F.L.Y.  Ever since hearing his reactions to this park, I’ve wanted nothing more than to experience it for myself, and I’ll have two full days here with Coaster Breaks.  What’s even better is that Karl managed to finagle his work schedule for another layover, so he’ll meet up with me at Phantasialand for my first day in the park, and I’m beyond excited to share my reactions with him.

Next, we move onto Movie Park Germany, best known for the Mack multilaunch coaster, Star Trek: Operation Enterprise.  Then we’ll head to the Netherlands for Toverland to ride the Fenix wing coaster, and the highly rated wood coaster, Troy from GCI.

Then Day 7 with Coaster Breaks will be another monster at Walibi Holland, and I’m beyond pumped for Goliath, another Intamin mega coaster, plus a triple threat of RMC’s in Untamed, and the dueling thrill and chill sides of the Yoy Raptor that opened last year.

From there, we’ll move onto Efteling, a fairytale theme park better known for dark rides than coasters, with attractions like Symbolica and Danse Macabre leading the line-up.  But there’s still the B&M mini-dive Baron 1898 and the dueling GCI wood coasters Joris en de Draak to keep the adrenaline flowing.

Then, the tour will conclude with a visit to Plopsaland Belgium, home to my single most anticipated roller coaster on this trip, Ride to Happiness.  I didn’t know how much I liked spinning coasters until I rode Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City, which is currently my number 6 ranked roller coaster.  By all accounts, the Belgian extreme spinner from Mack Rides blows the American version out of the water, and coupled with a Gerstaluer launched coaster and a family GCI, I think this will be a phenomenal conclusion to this trip.

I can’t tell you how excited I am as my departure date grows ever closer, and today I’m beyond thrilled to be joined by the husband and wife team behind Coaster Breaks, Marcus Gear and Gabriella Fernandes.

As if it was even possible for me to get more fired up for this trip, that conversation with Marcus and Gabby did it.  You can feel the passion and excitement they have for roller coasters and theme parks, and their love for sharing these experiences with all of us.  I can’t wait to join the Coaster Breaks family and meet more enthusiasts from around the world as this adventure unfolds.  

As for me, I’ve got just over  five weeks worth of anticipation remaining, and I’ve still got the final two episodes of the Disney series to finish, so look for those coming very soon.  My goal is to have both my Magic Kingdom and EPCOT episodes out before I leave for Europe so I can roll straight into talking about that trip upon my return.

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook @coasterredux for real-time updates on my Coaster Breaks trip.  It’ll be so much fun to bring you along.  Until then, stay tuned for the conclusion of the Disney series over the next few weeks.

And with that, thank you for listening to Redux Rundown.  Until next time, enjoy the ride.