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That’s where they’re going to start laying out pieces of Dragster and let the dump trucks take it away for scrap.

Bonjour! Erik & Smisty here. You may remember us from such trip reports as Erik & Smisty & TPR do Holland, Poland, and Swedeland. Travel has been kind of weird the past 3 years--and still is--but if TPR was ready to give organized trips a go again, we were down. We went to 12 new-to-us theme parks, rode something like 40-45 new roller coasters (I don't really count) and 30-40 new dark rides. There was less sightseeing on our own this trip, both because of timing and the fact that we flew in and out of the same city this time. But we still got in a few extra things. As a reminder, in addition to being overweight, I have scoliosis. And while my condition has never (to my knowledge) been exacerbated by riding roller coasters, and I can generally fit on most everything, how a particular ride's restraints fit me will often greatly affect my opinion of the ride in a way that often won't make a lot of sense to other people. On the other hand, I tend to be pretty forgiving of general roughness or violence as long as it's not specifically targeting me. So, for example, I find Helix (at Liseberg) awful, but I love Desperado (at Buffalo Bill's). So, just because I don't like a particular ride certainly doesn't mean that you won't love it. Everybody good with that? Okay, great! Also, please bear in mind that I am crafting the first part of this trip report whilst under the influence of European Brand COVID™, so my already often strange captions may or may not end up being total gibberish. Off we go...! Part 1: France in Germany Part 2: Germany in Germany Part 3: Exotic Belgium Part 4: America in France Paris! Okay, enough of that. Wait, this is my first coaster of the trip?! I don't even ride s#!t like this! But the park was so nice to us that I didn't want to appear rude. Which, I guess I'm kind of being rude now. Sorry. Let's start again. The first official park of the trip was originally meant to be Europa. But since that's a 10-hour drive from Paris, and European labor laws required a fairly lengthy break in the middle of that for our bus driver (fair enough) it just made sense to stop at Walygator Grand Est. Just one problem: Walygator was closed that day. But Robb somehow convinced them to bring in a few people to walk us around and let us ride a couple of their coasters. So that's kind of amazing. This is Anaconda. A William Cobb woodie with a super-interesting layout and a super-bad reputation. However, the park has recently put quite a bit of work into it, and that reputation needs to be reexamined. Sure, it's not particularly wild, but it's very smooth. How smooth? Well, I started with a front seat ride to get a feel for it, and then happily hopped into a wheel seat towards the back--which was also good. This ride is tons of fun! I mean, it doesn't really have airtime or significant laterals or anything, but it's certainly not the second-worst coaster in Europe or whatever. Great job, Walygator! I skipped this, but Misty loved it! Here you can see her having convinced the poor Walygator PR guy to ride with her. If Anaconda is not intense, it's only because this ride has sucked all the intensity to itself. I'm not sure that makes sense, but basically this is Raptor except somebody forgot to install brakes on the mid-course brake platform, resulting in a first half of Raptor-ish intensity, followed by a second half of holy-crap-Raptor-is-a-kiddie-ride intensity. I respect it, but once was enough for me. It wasn't part of the plan, but Smisty asked Elissa if she could talk the park into letting her by a stuffed Waly Gator. So they opened up a gift shop for us. Now, I had pretty much convinced Misty to buy a gator that would fit into her bag. But then Elissa (who is now dead to me) was all Satanic-influence with, "Hey, they opened this gift shop for, you have to get the big one!" But it gets worse. See, Misty was then talking to one of the park managers and thanked him for opening up the gift shop so she could buy a stuffed alligator, and he responded by gifting her a frigging Monster road wheel. Happily, they also gave 9 other wheels to the group, and I'm pretty sure that everyone who wanted one got one, so I'm not the only one who knows the joy of trying to get what (out of context) looks a bit like part of a nuclear reactor through airport security. But hold on, there's lots more parks before we start worrying about heading home! Our first day at Europa began with ERT on the indoor CanCan Coaster, followed by Silver Star (in the rain). CanCan Coaster (inside the golf ball) was fun and well-themed, though the restraints/seat horns weren't entirely ideal for me. Still, I rode it three times (once with the lights on) so they weren't that bad. I liked Silver Star a lot, despite a bit of rattle. That rattle was a deal-breaker for Misty, though. And yes, the golf ball is rather Epcot-like--except they put a roller coaster in it. Good artists borrow. Great artists steal. Now on our own, we headed for the park's newest dark ride, Arthur. But, really, Arthur is more than a dark ride. It's an indoor/outdoor powered coaster dark ride with a whole indoor area built around it. And it's great. We rode it 3 or 4 times over our 2 days at Europa, which required some effort and commitment considering how popular it is. I honestly had no idea that Europa had a fairy tell walk-through and push-button area! See, after the last trip, I was left with a conundrum: did I prefer Efteling or Gröna Lund? Thankfully, I now have an answer: I prefer Europa. Look, they even have self-operated rides! (Well, one. ) It pretty much rained the entire first day. But that was fine by me! It kept it from getting too hot and scared most of the locals away. No lightning, though. So we rode lots of stuff, including some water rides--including this splash battle, which also had indoor dark ride sections. Because everything at Europa is a dark ride. Of course, the weather wasn't ideal for photography. But that just gives me an excuse for my crappy photos! So, again, a win. This powered coaster intertwines with the log flume and then they both intertwine inside a man-made mountain along with a walk-though attraction about elven slave-labor gem mining. The nice gentleman working the log flume asked if we wanted to stay on and ride again and we did. Is a dive show in the middle of a water ride safer if the guy misses the pool or less safe? There was a small language barrier with the guy in the ice cream shop on account of the fact that I am an American and do not speak any other languages secure in the knowledge that I will never need to understand any other culture and his English was only almost perfect. But it did result in this amazing waffle cone sundae thing and my new motto: "Yes to everything." Actually, this might be the park's newest dark ride: Snorri Touren. It's easy to find as it's located in a basement through a random door in the Scandinavian section of the park. And Misty had a stuffy of Snorri shipped to us in the states months before we visited this park. Josefina's Magical Imperial Journey might be the snootiest name for a ride ever. It also has a fascinating narrative, in that it's utterly unburdened by conflict or adversity. Basically, a princess meets a prince, their respective families approve, everything is what it seems, they get married, and everything is wonderful. See? They don't just rip off Disney. We didn't eat at Food Loop because Elissa said the food was bad. But I don't why I should listen to her "buy the big gator" slander. Oh right, the line was also long. Looks like I'll trust her opinion after all and just take a photo instead. I'm told that folks around these parts like pictures of roller coasters. So here are two in one photo. Can I go back to pictures of foliage now? Wodan is my new favorite GCI, by the way, and probably the best coaster I rode on this trip. For anyone who doesn't know, Europa Park was ostensibly started as a showcase for Mack Rides. But there's clearly more to it then that. Indoor spinning ride? Check. Okay, I do have one minor complaint. This is a Mack water coaster. Essentially, it's the same ride type as Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld Orlando. Except what's cool about that ride is that it's a log flume and a dark ride and a coaster. This is just out in the open, and mostly unthemed (outside of the station). Which is doubly odd as everything at Europa is a dark ride. Except this, which really should be. It's like, a duck is cool because it can walk and swim and fly. But a duck just walking is kind of lame. Get a goat or a cheetah or something. I insist that this is a perfect analogy and will not hear otherwise. By my count, Europa has 6 proper dark rides. Including this one, Geisterschloss, which roughly translates to "Moist Cattle." I'm sorry, that should've been "Clothed Hassle." Damned auto-correct. This ride is just a bunch of things that Germans think Italians are into, but it ends with a gelato room, so I like it. And also the Russian dark ride is worse because it's so much about snow and ice and cold that penguins actually show up at the end. But those all pale in comparison to this one. As near as I can figure--and I did zero research but don't correct me--there was an existing dinosaur themed ride but they wanted to retheme whatever this section of the park was before to France and this was how they bridged the gap: an old French women collects weird things, including and mostly consisting of live dinosaurs. The best part of this ride was that a live squirrel wandered into it and was just as confused about the whole situation as I was. Ireland is the park's kid section, which seems kind of insulting if you're Irish...? Except that when I say "kid section" I actually mean completely awesome family section filled with more tracked outdoor scenic rides than I can count. I mean, I would give a lot of parks half credit for having a dark ride if they had anything half as good as any one of these indoor/outdoor scenic rides, and this area has like 4 or 5 of them. And also one of those Lindt chocolate stores that Ireland is so famous for. God, I love Europa so much. But mostly because I'm not Irish. This nightmarishly-themed water cups ride is called (and I'm not making this up) "Puppet Boat Ride." Note that the sign in the background reads "CIRCUS MACK'S IMUS" because Mack. Old Mac Donald's Tractor Fun Yes, that's its actual name. Note the observation tower in the background, as we're going there next. I am the master of transitions. You know how people are always like, "They should have benches in the queue." Well, these crazy bastards went and did it. Also, Misty representing. Her favorite ride manufacturer was Mack before we went to Europa. Yes, she likes this park, A view from the observation tower of the 3 coasters we'll have ERT on the following day. Back to our on-site hotel, El Andaluz. A large contingent of the group headed to Europa's new indoor waterpark, Rulantica, for the evening. But we're old and tired and I'm under court order not to be seen in a bathing suit. This tapas at the hotel restaurant was so good we ended up going back and getting it again the next evening. Yes, we got this two nights in a row, also. The big bed is for gauchos and donkeys. The top bunk is for little boys. The bottom bunk is for maracas. Day 2 started with ERT on Euro-Mir. This was Mack's prototype spinning coaster. It's kind of weird, it doesn't free spin, and some of the transitions are a bit...Arrow. But I like weird, the spiral disco lift and the mirrored towers are fun, and it's not overly painful. I rode twice, once experiencing the bulk of the ride forwards, and once experiencing the bulk of the ride backwards. So I figure I pretty much got the full experience. I'd hate for them to get rid of this ride. But I also feel like they could do better now. Maybe like a full-scale revamp/refurb? Make it spin freely and reprofile some of those transitions? I'd say they might just go full Ride to Happiness, but I don't think Mack wants really extreme rides in their park. Still, they have two water coasters, so who knows? Voletarium is their flying theater ride. You know, like Soarin'. But when was the last time you rode Soarin' and there wasn't a seam or a blemish on the screen or a bit of trash at the bottom? Everything at Europa works. Buttons actually activate things, screens are pristine, animatronics move like they're supposed to, operations are top notch, and policies actually make sense. Also, the transitions were really good. (I hate smash cuts.) And the ending? Oh yeah, you end at Europa with fireworks going off. I don't carry a big camera. I just use my phone. Both because I want to travel light, and because I don't want to fall into focusing so much on photography that I miss out on just , you know, experiencing things. But I did want to bip out the front gate for some quick photos of the park entrance and Silver Star. So here's an example of what I was talking about before. If you leave the park, and wish to return that same day, there's an automated system that takes your photo and attaches it to your ticket. Now, obviously, that's to prevent people from giving their tickets to others. But, you just know that if a US park were to do something like this, they'd make everyone attach their photo upon initial entry. But why? Most people don't leave in the middle of the day and come back again. So Europa only does it when it matters. And, yes, I suppose you could go with a traditional handstamp instead, but kids were defeating that when I was a kid, and I'm old as dirt. A small Mack/Europa museum at the front of the park. And a much weirder "Narrenscheune Museum" (whatever that is). Just a weird garden-y section near the front of the park. I imagine that a lot of people miss it. And again, this park is so much more than just a Mack Rides showroom. How am I supposed to drive this thing?! The steering wheel is on the wrong side!? Also, there are no guns on this thing! That's like an America joke, right? I have no idea. I'm way too handsome to be an ugly American. Sex joke...? Wait, maybe this is the park's newest dark ride. Yes, it's a Pirates of the Caribbean rip off. But really, I think of it as more of a companion piece. Like, I honestly think you'd enjoy it more if you were already familiar with PotC. Quality-wise, it's pretty much on par (or maybe just a slight notch below) but has much more of an Asian-vibe. Or, to put it another way, how can you improve Pirates of the Caribbean? If your answer is "add a tiger," then this ride might be for you! Honestly, what kind of lunatic makes an otter in a tiny pirate costume walk the plank? Is this theming Disney quality? I dunno, I'm not that into Disney. This is good enough for me, though. Raclette. The hype is real. Was excited to see this football bumper car thing, but it's apparently been replaced by some kind of virtual garbage. Boo. How about some ERT on my new favorite GCI? It's just so good. Plus, no seat belts, so operations are lightning fast. Speaking of which: This story is second hand, but I don't think anyone would object to my paraphrasing it here. Essentially, the ides is that Europa feels that they have to have excellent operations because they want to sell these rides to other parks, and they don't want those parks to think they make low-capacity rides. Of course, this isn't a Mack ride, so I guess maybe they just want to take care of their guests, as well. Everything is a dark ride. I haven't really talked too much about Blue Fire. I dug it. The restraints were mostly pretty okay for me, but that last hangtime inversion was a little owie, so I stopped after about 3 rides. Still, that's a pretty decent amount for me. In fact, I rode all 5 of their big coasters 2-4 times. There really wasn't one that I rode once and was done with. Which, if you know me, is pretty good. We asked Robb and Elissa if they could just leave us here, but apparently Europa insisted that we go experience some other German parks...? Seems a bit insulting, but I guess we have to respect their wishes. Anyway, is Europa the best park in the world? Well, I haven't been to every park in the world, and we still have 10 more parks to talk about from this trip, so technically it's too early to say. But yes.

It's nice to hear that Walygator has turned Anaconda into an enjoyable ride. I haven't been there since 2008, when that coaster would've put any torture by the Spanish Inquisition to shame. Europa looks excellent, as usual. I appreciate the beautiful theming and the "balance" of the park (good mix of thrill and dark rides).

So, for this year's "big" park trip, I decided to focus on the mid-north states again, starting in western Pennsylvania with.... Idlewild, June29th. Beware, there are a lot of pictures from here, mostly since I know many of you have never been here. You pay for attendance at what would normally be the parking booths. My Palace Platinum Pass scanned without any issues. The parking lot. I think there was a bigger one somewhere else. The "entrance gate" LOL. They had a log flume, that was closed for the day. A kids climb-about play area, something you don't find in a lot of proper amusement parks. But no park would be complete without an Auntie Anne's pretzels...yes, that does say $8.00 for a standard pretzel. Moving along, we come across a dining area... ...A Tornado with a unique theme and decorations... ...some more scenic buildings.... ...a Monster... ...bumper cars (sadly nothing special)... ...your standard balloon ride... ...and a show venue. These were posted right in front of the drive-'em cars. The sign has definitely seen better days. Another few eateries... ...some games... ...and a scrambler. There was an antique carousel, dating back to at least 1931, which had stationary outer horses like Knoebel's, but sadly no ring-grab thingy. They have your standard Flyers... ..and of course, the reason anyone non-local ever comes here... Rollo Coaster! Sadly the original trains are long gone, replaced by a single PTC two-row car followed by 3 single-row trailer'd cars, but it was still a fun ride. I rode in the front and the back (minimal waits), and while the front row was pretty tame, the back row had one solid pop of air and some good laterals at the turnaround. It was also much much smoother than any ride from 1938 has being. 6/10. And here's a bunch of pictures of it: Moving along, we come across a Tilt-a-Whirl... ...And then the other reason for an enthusiast to come to this park... This was the first Vekoma mouse I've ever been on, and it did not disappoint. Despite the addition of magnetic brakes along the zig-zag portion, it still felt like the cars were coming to come flying off the track. It was super smooth and had some great positive and negative G's along the hills. And who can forget the banked lift hill with what have to be the loudest anti-rollbacks ever (yes, even louder than an RMC!)? Easily the best wild mouse I've ever been on. 8/10. And of course, a bunch of pictures: Everyone loves when coasters aren't bolted to the ground. Continuing onward, there's a long path back to the small water park, on one side of which is a not-very-friendly-looking lake. And onward into Raccoon Lagoon, their main kiddie section. Featuring a set of electric auto-drive cars with a well-themed entrance... ...the most ingenious installation of a boat-go-round I've ever seen... ...a mini Turtle... ...a very old car-go-round... ...a tram-go-round?... ..and finally Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. This is a trolley ride through various scenes from the show, which while being a huge fan of Mr. Rodgers growing up, I've never seen. Circling back around towards the front of the park, we come across another show venue... ...a standard Dippin' Dots and Gift Shop... ...and a really cool bridge. There was apparently a tiny train station here? And then some more rides, including a Round Up... ...Paratrooper... ... and a train ride. There was this nice fountain too: At this point I took a break for some food, and grabbed a custom mac and cheese from the Mac Shack (no relation to the one at Cedar Point, I think). $15 for an absolutely massive portion; I wasn't able to finish it all: And last but certainly not least for this park was Confusion Hill. This is a walk-through attraction with a narrator telling a story about miners. There are some awesome visual gags, including slanted floors, perspective skewing, balls roll and and water flowing the "wrong" direction...all in all very entertaining. And something that no one ever talks about from this place. The narrator would pour water into the trough, and it would flow "uphill" into the bucket. These balls rolled up. These balls rolled left. And that about does it for Idlewild. Not a whole lot for enthusiasts, but it is a very nice family park. Next stop: Kennywood.

Well, thank you. But honestly I don't really think of myself as a photographer, per se. More of a storyteller, if anything. I just use my phone these day (currently a Pixel 6). I did play around with the photos a bit before posting them, which should be fairly obvious on a least a few of them. Thanks for reading and replying!

Sorry for the double post, but this is actually big news. Nick Universe is now letting you pay per ride, which is great news for everyone who wants to go back and ride the 2-3 coasters that were broken on their last visit but doesn't want to pay full admission again! They call it a "Points Pass" but basically it's just a pay-per-ride system. The only thing that's weird is that it works with wristband and not a card or actual tickets so it seems like everyone needs their own points pass. Kids rides start at $6.99. Adult rides and coasters (if you can find any that aren't broken) start at $9.99 but realistically nobody is going to pay that much for a kids ride and the more points you buy, the price per point drops as you would expect. All rides are either 3 points or 6 points. This is apparently not valid on Saturdays or Holidays. Also, note that every adult coaster except for the spinner is currently broken per usual so don't go rushing out there. Oh, and points expire after 90 days. Link

We spent two days at Europa in 2019 and we fell in love with it! Easily one of the best parks we have stepped foot into. Solid collection of rides, fantastic theming and the overall 'experience' of the place. We stayed at Hotel Krønasår just a few weeks after it opened and it was stunning. Even jumping around hotel to hotel bar hopping is a great time after hours. Also not a big fan of Disney parks, but Europa far exceeded the overall experience in comparison for me. It is a complete package all-around. Just stunning! I just love all the parks we visited in Germany/Netherlands (Holiday Park may have been the only ho-hum one, Expedition GeForce aside...). Just a whole different experience from those in the US, we can't wait to get back over to Europe to go visit more! Fantastic TR, look forward to the next parts!

“Knotty knott’s coaster loses loop, sends riders on a white knuckle ride!”

^One would hope they are indeed completely dismantling, sandblasting, and rebuilding it. That would signal a long term investment that should be praised!

The screenshot I posted is my screenshot so yes I've seen both this and the Insta post with my own eyes. Official RMC account.

It needs to be replaced with a more reliable B&M Hyper by 2025. Turn the train approach out of the station around & put the lift hill going out over the employee parking lot to run a longer course. Put a fork in LROD already...it's done.

Glad you guys are getting so stoked for another new turn-around for Timber Wolf.

According to "Queue Times" the Bat has reopened!!! Yeah

I also have a good feeling they're going to go for a hyper with this. It sits right along Hersheypark Drive and they can use their giant lift truss ala Iron Gwazi and make this thing pretty massive and eye catching for everyone driving along there. They'll also have three hypers to go with their three drop towers. Hershey already has one of the most stacked coaster line-ups in the world, an RMC is just the icing on the cake. Beyond stoked for this.

^I definitely understand the surprise/shock factor of seeing the restraints pop up after hearing "All clear," but this is still a very different situation than "one of the operators almost dispatched our train with the restraints up."

See? I told you it wasn't going to be a roller coaster. This crow is delicious.