Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!

Discuss theme parks, roller coasters, and donkeys!


18,027 topics in this forum

    • 6 replies
    • 2.3k views
    • 6 replies
    • 2.4k views
    • 3 replies
    • 2.1k views
    • 8 replies
    • 3.4k views
    • 0 replies
    • 2.9k views
    • 4 replies
    • 2.1k views
    • 9 replies
    • 2.8k views
  1. Project X

    • 16 replies
    • 4.8k views
    • 8 replies
    • 2.5k views
    • 3 replies
    • 2k views
    • 8 replies
    • 2.7k views
    • 11 replies
    • 4.4k views
    • 7 replies
    • 2.7k views
  2. Kingda Ka 1 2

    • 32 replies
    • 15k views
  3. Wild Adventures

    • 7 replies
    • 3k views
    • 0 replies
    • 1.5k views
    • 9 replies
    • 3.1k views
    • 24 replies
    • 7.7k views
    • 2 replies
    • 1.7k views
  4. Your Favorite

    • 3 replies
    • 2k views
    • 17 replies
    • 6.7k views
    • 4 replies
    • 2.3k views
    • 4 replies
    • 2.3k views
  5. Westcot

    • 12 replies
    • 4.3k views
    • 1 reply
    • 1.6k views
    • 10 replies
    • 4.2k views
    • 5 replies
    • 2.8k views
    • 8 replies
    • 2.8k views
    • 3 replies
    • 2.1k views
    • 12 replies
    • 4.2k views
  6. BGT 3/31

    • 1 reply
    • 1.7k views
    • 9 replies
    • 2.6k views
    • 3 replies
    • 1.9k views
  7. I'm new!

    • 11 replies
    • 4.3k views
    • 14 replies
    • 6.9k views
    • 2 replies
    • 2.1k views
  8. Dubailand

    • 1 reply
    • 2.1k views
    • 10 replies
    • 8.4k views
    • 18 replies
    • 5.5k views
  9. TESTING!!

    • 6 replies
    • 2.6k views
  10. On Ride Photos

    • 7 replies
    • 2.9k views
    • 34 replies
    • 10.4k views
    • 12 replies
    • 6.3k views
    • 10 replies
    • 4.4k views
    • 11 replies
    • 4.9k views
    • 12 replies
    • 5.1k views
    • 9 replies
    • 3.4k views
    • 3 replies
    • 2.4k views
    • 25 replies
    • 8.1k views
    • 48 replies
    • 14.3k views
  • Posts

    • Barry Island is in Wales. tho not an "amusement park". . it's a great collection of carnival type rides, including a few small coasters https://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=3&ex&ol=26112
    • That's sad about Oakwood closing. It was actually one of my favourite parks in previous UK tours. And my #100 was there - Clown Coaster, naturally. 🎢 Do you know, or anyone else (Elissa? Robb?) that this was the only amusement park in Wales?  Just curious. And so --- many --- t-shirts you got !!! As well, that's a mighty collection of magnets, too. It was great following you on your UK trip, Bert. 👍
    • Final Hotel, flight home, and swag!   the hotel at Heathrow was pretty nice I believe these pics were taken by Andy, who had gone up to the rooftop bar. . he shared with with the chat thread, so I snagged em to share too. the next morning, Stacy and I had breakfast at the hotel before I headed to the Airport proper for my flight (I believe she headed back into London for the day as she had a later flight) this was my seatmate on the plane. it turned out she was the Pilot's wife, and he was texting her during the flight.   So that's how I found out way earlier than everyone else on the plane that we were being diverted to Newark and we were NOT going to make it to Houston due to a hurricane in the gulf. that's a whole other story, I wont' get into, but I will say i've flown enough that I refused to recheck my bag after customs so I could sit in the airport all day while they promised our flight would be going out later that day, only to cancel it 7 hours later (while I was soaking in the tub in the hotel they had gotten for me when rebooking me for the next day for a direct flight home to Austin). anyways, I wasn't too panicked, but I DID manage to hurt myself in the Newark airport. . at least didnt' break anything and will spare y'all the pics.    the first meal on the flight was very good.  too bad we never got the 2nd one (they gave us vouchers to use in the airport, that didn't work. . oh well, I eventually got home). onto Swag! Swag from my two full days in London before the trip officially started: swag from the "Spirited Away" show I saw on the West End Swag from the day spent at the Tower of London:    Thorpe Park:  \ Chessington World of Adventures: Oakwood Theme Park (R.I.P.)    Alton Manor:   (I liked a LOT of stuff here)     Blackpool Pleasure Beach:  Barry Island (where "Gavin and Stacy" was set. .hence the shirts) and tons of magnets from every stop!      
    • Day 12 (pt 2) 1/2 day stop at our final (and surprise) park, Gulliver's Land: across the bridge (and on the top floor over the Gulliver's Travels ride), is the bonkers "Once Upon a Time" walkthru. a play area that has tons of animatronics, and some of the fugliest mannequins I've seen in a while 😛  there are multiple paths one can follow thru this exhibit, and some slides. I went the direction the cute bears told me to go  a proper teddy in the fairy lights and possibly the same fairy that was in the Gulliver's Travels ride ? I learned that day that Fairies have no knees and therefore cannot bend their legs.  no wonder they fly blinking and talking trees. not creepy at ALL oh. .it's Narnia over here. . .   LOL.  and I just *now* in this picture, noticed the Wardrobe. . .  oooo.. my type of place in a Christmasy area. .  so I think an elf?   or maybe a child leaving out snacks for Santa? for some reason, I always seem to find a Cow on my travels. this one looks like it's from Jack and the Beanstalk hmmmm. . . I've seen that face on some type of doll before 😛 Alice in Wonderland! lots of the flowers, and the animals, all moved we're in fairy tale land, so why not a baby dragon? Goldilocks?   maybe??  'tis another bear tho! not exactly the most attractive Snow White I've ever seen.  . but the animals moved, and she "breathed"  No Prince in sight to kiss her tho. this tree knows what's up! coming back down, I noticed Merlin (I think) in one of the displays that you could have pushed a button to activate - if this playground area had been open. the park also has a decent hedge maze, tho made for the smaller kiddos, so we could "cheat" and look over the top. tho in the center is a raised lookout, so we headed in to get a good view of the park. the hedge maze dead ends were pictures of dangerous animals. . LOL from the lookout tho, a fantastic view, as the weather had moved off for the moment. it's a dragon! there's some of the TPR gang, including Chris, Shane, Hawk, Doug, and Caroline. . .  I see a beer on the table, so the restaurant in the castle must have opened. another gaggle of TPR folks, including Jon, Andy, Collin, and some others.. .   it was getting close to time to head out, so many were gathering near the front of the park. Andy spotted us taking pictures, so snapped one of us in the lookout. thanks Andy! there really is a nice view from up here. I headed off for the last 40 minutes or so to explore the one section of the park I hadn't been in. there wasn't a lot open over here on this side, but it was still lovely. there's what looked like an area for meet and greet, and a puppet show theatre, but neither were in use today. there WERE a few folks lined up for the short Antique Car track. . tho the monorail upstairs wasn't in operation today. I wonder if perhaps this area used to be the main entrance plaza?  it's at the right hand side of the front of the park, and there's a large Gulliver Statue over here. and also an animatronic Gulliver, that had a broken push-button to activate  no takers to play in the shoe today. tho the Tea Cups were drawing some to this area. as I said, lovely tho. as it was getting to be time to head out (and the rain clouds were moving in) the Park started a show in the main plaza area. that included several characters out on balconies, and bubbles. and with that, and a slight drizzle started, we said our goodbyes to Gulliver's Land, and headed back to the bus. a short while later, we pulled into what appeared to be a very large mall.  it was close to closing time, but the restaurant where we were having our goodbye meal was here.   They weren't quite ready for us in the private room, so some of us headed out to look around for 15 minutes or so. the ice cream cone chairs are adorable! LOL. . small Batman Carousel in the mall. shortly tho, we were called back to PizzaExpress, as it was time for dinner. hey look at that!  I DID finish before the 1 year mark one of several tables set up for us in the upstairs room.  (thanks Hawk for the picture!) the pizza was really great, and even the deserts were fantastic. after a great meal, and some visiting, we headed back to the bus, that took us to Heathrow. officially our trip was now over, but I had a fantastic, bucket list checking off, time. many of us were staying overnight at the hotel for flights the next day. . but the TPR portion of the trip was now over. once again, I sincerely thank Robb and Elissa for allowing me the privilege to join along on this trip.   it allowed me to visit places I had only dreamed about. . and made several dreams actually come true. once we got to the hotel, I checked into my room, showered, and immediately went to bed. . it had been an exhausting trip, but worth EVERY moment.
    • got way far behind, with so much stuff going on since my last update here (SFOT Coasterthon, Holiday World Holliwood Nights, SFFT Roller Coaster Rodeo). . but gonna do my best to catch up on several reports over the next week or so! Day 12 (pt 1) 1/2 day stop at our final (and surprise) park, Gulliver's Land: Owned by the same company that owns Gulliver's World - that we stopped into earlier on the trip - this was the 2nd (of the 4 I believe) "Gulliver's Park" in the UK. this one was bigger and had larger rides than Gulliver's World had, and seemed a bit more geared towards older kids/teens - with some bigger and more thrilling rides.  And as we were here on a Weekend day, there were way more families visiting as well, so we weren't the odd adults in a park full of small children and it was way less weird   it was a bit overcast off and on, but never really got anything more than a slight drizzle. added bonus is that we got to say hi to Caroline, who is local and swung by the park to meet up with us. you can tell from outside the park, that it's a little more adult ride wise than Gulliver's World had been. TPR is ready to enjoy Gulliver's Land! the main street USA version for this park.     the Castle at the end housed a restaurant in the bottom, and a playground area on the top. Dragon Siege was small, but intense. loved the theming. and yes, it went upside-down for full rotations this is behind the castle, and is the large Gulliver's Travels ride (it would open up in a short bit), and the upper level, over the bridge from the top of the castle, was a HUGE fairy tale walk thru area, called "Once Upon A Time" - that really had to be experienced, as describing it sells it short. (pics of that in part 2) a small jungle raft ride was also well themed thruout the park there were these push button kiosks that had animatronics inside them.   not all worked, but all of them were entertaining. the Orangutan Band was near the jungle river ride. so was the animatronic snake. 3 family coasters at this park. 1st up was the racing coaster, called Grand Prix Racers, and I think it was an exact clone of the one at Gulliver's World   tons of rides scattered thruout the park, including smaller rides for the little ones.  Like this little race track. and a Pony Express (that adults weren't allowed to ride. . . sad face) not a bad log flume for a park this size. .  and TONS of photo ops all over the place. there was a shooting dark ride, the Silver Mine, that was fairly popular. . tho I seem to recall a lot of the targets didn't do a whole lot. but most of us rode it. an overview of the park, via a park map. it's a fairy good size  the interactive Fort area, with lots of things to climb on and swing on. the park's 2nd coaster is called "Runaway Train" and is a Zamperla family coaster. as the Bear out front told me, it was located in "Western World" over here was also a smaller train ride. I had to wait a cycle (and then was the only rider), but was told it was ok for adults to ride, so I took a spin on it. I rode in the Caboose, and the operator was kind enough to snap a picture for me. I rode the flume too, and it did get me fairly moist  by now the Gulliver's Travels ride was open, so headed back over that way. it has the same ride system as the Princess ride at Gulliver's World, so I was prepared to love it.   (and had been told there's an amazing scene inside) yup. . a full sized Gulliver, being tied down by little men. . LOL also lots of princesses. . or fairies. . I dunno.    not many of my onride pics came out usable. but of course I LOVED it, and rode it a few times. as did Stacy & Nick and Robb & Elissa and Jack & Jackie anyone who knows me, knows I love photo ops . . especially with park mascots. so I was in heaven when so many of the Gulliver's mascots were out and about today. I still have NO idea what the one on my left is. . (the one on the right is a bunny, I think). . but the one on the left? an anthropomorphic squash? and Gulliver's Girlfriend!! the third coaster in the park, is an indoor roller skater called the Crazy Mouse. it was a coaster, and it was indoors.  and it had some big props.. . .  these pics are from the loading station, but the park does its best to keep the riders in the dark, as there's no description or view of the coaster from the queue line, and in fact the keep the doors to inside closed, and only open them up to load the next riders onto the platform. this pic is from the platform, before I put my phone away see?  big props. some pics of the playground area on top of the castle (before heading across the bridge to the walkthru). it looked like they were doing some construction up here, so the area was roped off. we still had some time at the park, so some of us headed over to the jungle rapids ride. a "snug" fit, but fun.   to be continued. . .
    • Oh wow. Even in just a few pictures you can tell how Herschend has put its touch on the park. They really kind of charmed KK up, I suppose.   Are a lot of those signs new?
    • It's new. All of the flats in the front corner of the park around Lightning Run were either removed (so long Cyclos) or moved to Discovery Meadow in the back. That whole area is lined with fences and there's a bit of development happening in there. Snuck a day away to go check out Discovery Meadow, and honestly? It's actually super nice. Felt like a move Herschend money could definitely pull off. One of the biggest things I've noted before was how alone Storm Chaser felt. Now the entire path between Roller Skater (Hollyhock & Roll) all the way to Wind Chaser is lined with rides, and a ton of shady sitting spots under existing trees. My biggest surprise was seeing the pirate ship put in a perfect spot next to Mile High, so close to the splash but angled perfectly to avoid the wave. Speaking of waves, this heat wave has been pretty intense lately so I didn't stick around too long. I mainly wanted to get my steps in then cool off, so I only did Wind Chaser and Treetop Drop. From what I could see, they reprofiled Woodland Run's first drop and I'm seeing a ton of crazy hairtime from riders in the back seat, so take note of that for anyone else who goes.
    • I mean...Kingda Ka itself didn't start site work until July of 2004 (and this new coaster really won't even need much site work) and didn't go vertical until September, and then opened in May. It's only June, and Six Flags doesn't like opening coasters until August these days anyway so is it really surprising that nothing is going on yet?
    • STSTL. The longest carousel refurbishment. 
    • The problem here is that no track pieces have arrived for the alleged "Record Breaking Launch Coaster", nor has any installation work been done. Construction crews have not even arrived to begin the work of installing this supposedly large scale ride.  Compare that to the rapidly progressing work on the new Giga-Dive at Six Flags Over Texas. Track pieces and supports are arriving by the truck load, almost every day. Crews are hard at work digging the holes and placing the first footers for this massive coaster.  A coaster on the scale of what is supposedly planned to replace KA would need nearly a year of construction work to complete.
    • I guess I can give SFNE that...our carousel is always running 😆 In all seriousness SFNE has generally always been great about the park being as close to 100% open as possible on any given operating day. I hear horror stories from some other SF parks (and as someone who goes to Great Adventure almost as much as SFNE, I see this first hand!) so kudos are due to maintenance at SFNE who are typically on the ball with just about everything. I have also seen the issues with the other straddle coasters being closed suddenly so I wouldn't doubt that the park had it ready to go and then something else came up. Hopefully it's nothing too serious and it won't be a long delay.
    • Is that actually based on anything, or just some YouTube comment sections run amok? I've yet to find anything to substantiate the claim.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/