Na Fianna Force debuted during a press event yesterday at Emerald Park in Ireland as we were kindly invited over to check it out along with the other two rides that make up the park’s brand new Tír na nÓg themed land. Here’s our Na Fianna Force review!
Embark on a trial of strength as you set out to follow in Fionn MacCumhaill’s footsteps and prove you are worthy of joining Na Fianna. Before you begin, listen to the battle cry of the Dord Fian horn sound three times, members of Na Fianna, will be those who return..
The ride is based on the Na Fianna who were a legendary band of fierce Iriish warriors and with such beautiful rockwork theming around the brand new Vekoma suspended rollercoaster you certainly got the Celtic vibe with a winding queue line over water and around various landscaping.
It must be stated that the land is still in development, the park opened the land ready for summer but work is still ongoing to finish off certain pieces of landscaping, station design theming and more so whilst it wasn’t the finished article it was still an impressive space with great potential.
What I will say about Na Fianna Force though however was the station building / interior queue line was rather basic. The beautiful stonework exterior sadly didn’t continue indoors as we had a very basic set-up with a few arrows and shields on the wall with a projection show on a bare wall.
This for me was a little bit of a shame considering how beautiful the rest of the building looked and the immersion sadly disappeared the second you hit the interior of the station.
The Ride Experience
With speeds of up to 90km/h and reaching heights of 32m (just slightly taller than the parks Cú Chulainn coaster) Na Fianna Force consists of 3 inversions that you experience with nothing more than a lap bar keeping you in!
The ride duration also goes on for quite some time with a track length of 750m but the best thing about Na Fianna Force is the fact that you only need to be 1.2m to ride meaning even the bravest young warriors can tackle this mighty beast at Emerald Park.
I was so surprised by not just how comfortable the seats were but the smoothness of the track and the inversions, it felt like you were genuinely flying and there was that silky Vekoma ride experience (modern Vekoma’s of course) that just enhanced the experience.
Each windy piece of track had the trains swinging out as they caressed the track with the low-to-the-ground elements and the fly through The Quest’s (the park’s new Vekoma Boomerang coaster) was quite special.
The Quest’s station hasn’t been completed yet but it’ll further compliment the overall experience as the interactions between Na Fianna Force and The Quest are outstanding.
This perfectly smooth but forceful new roller coaster is partially based on Hals-über-Kopf at Tripsdrill in Germany, but with a completely redesigned second half, the ride delivers even greater thrills.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this Na Fianna Force review! Check out the POV that we captured on board the ride as myself and Scott were the first two public front-row riders on this brand-new coaster!
