£192 for a Turkish delight
BARGAIN of the week is seven nights all-i all-inclusive at the 4* Julian Club H Hotel in Marmaris next month f for £192. The half-price deal i includes return flights to D Dalaman, Turkey, from G Gatwick, based on two sharing. Th The he family family-friendlyfriendly hotel has two pools, a kids’ club, a full evening entertainment programme and an on-site spa with Turkish bath, sauna and massage. You can enjoy the pool games, water polo, water gymnastics and beach volleyball – then unwind in one of the three bars and two restaurants. Full details at cheapflights.co.uk neighbournei Abu Dhabi has the current rollercoastercoa flag-carrier for the area in the shape of anotherano Ferrari ride, the Formula Rosso.
ThisT is not a coaster that features heart-attackinducingind loops, drops and climbs, but it impresses moremo by its sheer speed – roaring around long bankingban turns and smooth ascents at up to 150mph.150 That makes it the fastest in the world… for the time being. GO:GO Destinology has five nights in a five-star ho hotel in Abu Dhabi, tickets to Ferrari World and re return flights from London Heathrow with Et Etihad Airways. From £749pp, destinology.co.uk. You can’t have a theme park round-up without a Dis Disney inclusion, and this one justifies its place for its California Screamin rollercoaster – one of the world’s longest at more than 6,000ft, and wi with Comea stomach-churningback to the park loopin the halfway evening round.for the Wo World of Color show, a night-time extravaganza of f fire, fountain, fog and laser effects set to stirring music.
And of course there’s also the more traditional Disneyland Park with all the Mickeys, Minnies and Sleeping Beauties just across the road. GO: US specialist Bon Voyage has five-night packages that include hotel accommodation, return flights from Heathrow, and a three-day pass into Disney’s California Adventure, which also includes entrance into Disneyland Park. From £925pp, bon-voyage.co.uk. This most famous of Japan’s theme parks has the bonus of sitting at the foot of iconic Mount Fuji, with the distraction of potential peak-spotting from the top of several of its rides.
Mind you, not many people will be looking at the view, especially from the new Do-Dodonpa rollercoaster – which accelerates from 0 to 110mph in just 1.5 seconds, leaving Spain’s Ferrari Land Red Force for dead.
The mid-section’s vertical tower feels as if you are being thrown into the air – if you like that kind of thing. And there are traditional Japanese onsen, or hot baths, on site to calm your nerves after all the excitement. GO: InsideJapan’s Zen and Adrenalin package includes nine nights in Japan, with all transport (excluding international flights), some private guiding and tickets for Fuji-Q and Universal Studios Osaka. From £1,886pp, available at InsideJapanTours.com. Perhaps the biggest development in the 200-year history of the rollercoaster is the pairing of virtual reality headsets with existing rides, currently being pioneered by Europa-Park, near F Freiburg in Germany.
Wearing a VR headset with software precisely tailored to the ride, you get all the sensation of the original rollercoaster but with a whole new flood of imagery to re-animate it.
Europa-Park has introduced this on its Alpenexpress Coastiality ride, creating a completely new world. When it is perfected, expect to see many more theme parks re-inventing their old coasters like this. GO:G Fred Holidays has a four-day Europa-Park break including flights from London Stansted, transfers to resort, park entrance tickets and B&B in the resort’s Bell Rock Hotel. From £624pp b based on a family of four, fredholidays.co.uk.