For the 2019 season Hansa-Park in Germany has introduced Highlander, the highest and fastest Gyro Drop Tower in the world.

Highlander is also the tallest freestanding tower drop ride in the world, and with seats that tilt forwards by 30° riders are provided with a terrifying 'face down' descent.

We were invited to an extravagant launch event on 26th April 2019 for the opening ceremony and a wonderful celebration.

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Hansa-Park is Germany’s only theme park by the sea, situated in Sierksdorf by the Baltic Sea, 30 km north from the world heritage site of Lübeck.

Highlander is the centrepiece of a new themed area, Beautiful Britain, which also includes two roller coasters, Nessie and Rasender Roland.

The new ride is 120 m (394 feet) high and has a speed of 120 km/h (75 mph). It is also the first Funtime Gyro Drop Tower with tilting seats.

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The owners of Hansa-Park, Christoph Andreas Leicht and Claudia Leicht, personally welcomed each guest to the event. The evening began with drinks and canapés, before a black cab and marching pipe band led us to the entrance of the new area.

After a speech and a ribbon cutting, it was time for the first riders to take their seats. An excellent on-board soundtrack by IMAscore builds anticipation throughout the long ascent, while an accompanying score creates a great atmosphere around the ride.

Once at the top of the tower, the seats continued to rotate but also tilted forwards to intensify the impact of being held so high up, but then returned to their normal position. The big drop is sure to take your breath away! It's extremely fast, so it's over all too soon.

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After three rides on Highlander, we went to check out Nessie and Rasender Roland. The former is a classic Schwarzkopf roller coaster that is surprisingly thrilling, and the way that it interacts with both Highlander and the other coaster really adds to the experience. The latter is a charming family coaster that again benefits hugely from its interactions with the other rides.

The Beautiful Britain area has been based heavily on Scotland and one of its most impressive castles, Eilean Donan Castle, which has clearly inspired the station building for the Nessie roller coaster. The station area for Rasender Roland has yet to receive a similar makeover, but we were assured that there are plans to do so.

In keeping with the theme, we then sampled delicious fish and chips (a British favourite) and enjoyed folk rock music from The Baltic Scots. Once it got dark, we seized upon the opportunity to ride Highlander once again with the lighting package in full effect. This time the seats remained titled forward for the entire drop, so plummeting down towards the ground was somewhat more extreme!

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The night wasn't over, as the party continued in the Weltumsegler restaurant where a seemingly endless supply of gourmet food and drink was available. At the end of the event, all guests were presented with a wonderful gift, the new Hansa-Park Soundtrack Collection.

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Before the event, we were able to explore the rest of Hansa-Park and enjoy the other rides and attractions. It's a beautiful theme park with a good selection of things to see and do, but we were blown away by the two world class roller coasters.

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Our first stop, the hypercoaster Schwur des Kärnan. Nothing could prepare us for this outstanding ride, which features two indoor sections, a vertical lift with a 30 m (98 ft) reverse freefall drop, a 67 m (220 ft) forwards drop and a top speed of 127 km/h (79 mph). Even the queue line is an experience, with multiple walkthrough scenes and a dramatic sequence in which the row that you will sit is chosen.

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Next to this in the viking themed area, the Kärnapulten 'Sky Fly' ride and family coaster Schlange von Midgard. Both have been impressively themed and are examples of how much effort the park has put into the decoration and narrative for the newer attractions.

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The other major roller coaster, Fluch von Novgorod, features a dark ride section, powerful indoor launch reaching 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 1.4 seconds, and then bursts out of the building into a series of elements including a heartline-roll. It then goes back inside where a vertical lift and a 97° beyond vertical drop in the dark await. Not only does the ride have a fully immersive queue line, but there is even a maze to navigate after the ride.

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There are lovely views of Hansa-Park from the Holsteinturm (Holstein Tower), which rises to 100 m (328 ft) whilst rotating so that everyone gets to see everything.

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Being family-owned gives Hansa-Park a special charm, and we look forward to returning for the next world class addition.