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Thursday notes! Entertained myself for at least 45 minutes by standing on a bridge next to one of the soaking water cannons on Popeye's and watching people get absolutely demolished by the thing. They might as well just hand everyone a bar of soap. Idk how people ride this thing in blue jeans or sweatpants. Ate Green Eggs and Ham for lunch. Actually a pretty filling meal. Check it out if you grew up on Dr. Seuss books like I did. It was kind of a weird day. VelociCoaster didn't open until after 2pm. Hulk also had an extended breakdown midday. Thus, lines for the other stuff got a bit long midday but in the afternoon everything was back to normal. This resulted in us riding and reriding things like Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish, and the Sky Trolley. Spiderman is officially my favorite ride on Marvel Island. Sorry Hulk, you're cool and all but Spiderman is my 2nd favorite dark ride of all time (and also 2nd in this park, we'll get to that later). Anyway, for some reason the effects seemed more on point than usual today and the ride was fantastic. Kong is pretty fun. We won't talk about its counterpart in the other park. Not sure I'd wait very long for it but other than the big hitters, this park has been walk on city the last couole days. The holiest ride in the park is totally unchanged since the dinos escaped during Ian. The building didn't seem any brighter to me, but maybe I wasn't looking in the right place. Came off bone dry from the downtown. The baby dinosaurs that squirt water at you got more moisture on me. Ever since I met @PKI Jizzman at the Hogs Head and proceed to chug a beer near the station for Forbidden Journey because the line was non existent, I've kind of made it a tradition to do it every trip into the park now. Even managed to run into Logan from ElToroRyan at the bar. Grabbed a Strongbow with a cinnamon whiskey shot which was amazing. It's no secret how much I love Forbidden Journey, it's my favorite dark ride on earth. But Forbidden Journey with some booze in you means you might as well be flying around the quidditch pitch on your very own broom. Headed down the John Williams musical highway to wrap up the night with a back seat ride on VC. I wish I could just move into Gryffindor tower and have FJ and VC a short walk away whenever I please. Whats the Zestimate to buy that kind of real estate? Wife has some conference to attend this weekend. Might dick around the parks while shes there, and definitely will make a Fun Spot appearance or two. But we'll definitely be back at the park Sunday afternoon and evening before heading home.

Day 5, part I : Holiday Park Day 5 was probably the most packed day of the trip, as we were going to be seeing a total of 3 parks thruout the day - starting at Holiday Park, then a 3 hour drive to Klotten, then ending the day checking into Hotel Charles Lindbergh on-site at Phantasialand! thank goodness it wasn't a super early start to the day (up and at the bus at 8am). . but it was gonna be a packed and fun day! Sun peeking thru curtains - time to get up and pack up, and head down to breakfast and the bus! we were only here one night, but the included Breakfast buffet was really good Loading the luggage on the bus, I was able to get a pic of the wheels from Monster that were given to TPR from Walygator Parc and here we are, bright and early, back at Holiday Park to spend a chunk of the day. we were here until, I think, 1pm - so we had 4 or so hours in the park once open. but we were here well before open, as we had ERT on Sky Scream and Sky Fly. . . so the place was still pretty deserted right now. it was looking like it was going to be a beautiful day. our park guides met us out front, and we headed to the back of the park for Sky Scream. but of course, I took the opportunity to snap pics as we walked back thru the empty park. a Dinosaur themed rapids ride - a popular theming choice for rapids rides in Europe, I discovered. I see you Expedition GeForce! we'll get to you right before park open! First "official" ride of the day oooooo. . . as the Terminator said, "I'll be Back" the park's horror dark ride "Burg Falkenstein". . wonder if it's inspired by Haunted Mansion? the theming is lovely. . I adored the themed lampposts. . . several different themes thruout the park depending on which section you were in. headed back to Sky Scream, it felt like we were leaving the actual park, and heading into the woods. passing by Sky Fly. . we'll be back here in just a bit. oh, this is rather cool. . the entrance way into the section with Sky Scream is passing under a section of a classic Corkscrew that used to be at the park. they even have a plaque up: Sky Scream is a heavily themed SkyRocket II .. . .which is themed to horror/scares. So odd, as it's so close to what is a charming children's section (that we passed thru and I said the theming was charming). . so it's a whiplash effect that you go from charming to "scare the shit out of you" I personally am not a huge fan of this type of ride (I don't like the restraints, tho if I recall? this one was lapbar only, which made many on the trip very happy). So I rode it twice during the ERT, and then went to go take pictures. this was an interesting machine in the exit "arcade". . . I guess you make the bear dance? or maybe win it? I really couldn't figure out what the point of "Pink Date" was. . . LOL pics of Sky Scream in action: in the exit arcade, showing some of the heavy theming. . . why someone wants to pay a Euro to be shocked, I dunno. . but the "game" seems appropriate for this ride's exit arcade ok? not sure what the limo had to do with anything. . but it was kinda neat. ok, Sky Fly has started testing. .they are almost ready for us. I chose not to ride this at Tripsdrill. . but decided that we have ERT on this here at Holiday Park, I'll ride it. Even tho I'm not very good at getting the flipping action going. nicely themed area around it. and what I really appreciated, is that they had some kiddie rides around it - similarly themed to flight - so that the kiddos that weren't big enough for sky fly could have something to ride while the adults rode the bigger ride. I wish more parks would do stuff like this. (it really fills out the area, rather than just plopping a ride in the middle of nothing) more themed lampposts. . . love it. here we go. .almost my time to give this a shot these pics are either Brad or Andy. . (tho possibly AJ). Sorry I can't recall look how graceful! I was excited! I got TWO flips. LOL theming! we headed over to GeForce for 1st rides of the day. . and then we headed off on our own for a few hours in the park with the parks version of fast pass, and lunch to cram into the next few hours. let's start off with the horror dark ride. huh. . the vehicles do look a bit like Doom Buggies. . . is this gonna be a Haunted Mansion "inspired" ride? NOPE! the animatronics do stuff like lower their top to show old lady tiddies and Bears pull down pants to show bare butts and there's a big Dragon I had no idea what was happening. . but I loved it. I think I rode this three times during our time in the park. as was the case with almost all the European parks? the place is spotless, and just lovely. after a 2nd time on the horror dark ride, it was time for a quick coffee stop (which if I recall, Andrew treated us all for). . so we stopped at this little both which also sold chocolate covered fruit (and non dipped fruit) as well as coffee. I didn't mind spending time waiting for coffee (even tho we were only at the park for a couple of hours more) because the view while waiting for the coffees was pretty hard to beat: and nearby was (I think) the worlds biggest beer keg the park was starting to prep food for the lunch crowds, and man did it smell incredible over here! we weren't gonna eat here (as our lunch was good at the restaurant next door only) , but the length of that hotdog/sausage thing really did catch my eye. . .LOL instead, we headed over to the newest section of the park - and indoor section that seemed to be a kid's area, themed to fairies (very well, I might add). .tho it might be themed to a kids show? as the rides seemed to be focused on different characters. We headed here because of the coaster credit: Tabalugas Achterbahn , a family Zierer indoor coaster. It wasn't really a kiddie coaster tho, it moved pretty fast, and was well themed. the other rides in here were a combination of kiddie (a traditional carousel), young adult (the coaster, a ropes/adventure course), the coaster, and an older adult (a fairy themed ride where you controlled how your "fairy hangglider" moved up, down, or tilted). as noted. .they did a really good job theming inside this building. headed thru the "cave" queue to ride the family coaster. this little dragon might be Tabaluga. . .since it's his coaster. the coaster goes around, and thru, this environment. . . nicely done. feels pretty speedy too, probably because of the theming around it. it doesn't do much, and it doesn't look like much. am I gonna ride it anyways? It has "Karussell" in the name, so you bet your sweet pattootie I am! you just sit on the non moving animal, and the platform slowly turns. but oh my, look how much fun I am having sitting on a pig! would have ridden the chicken, but was worried it was too low to the ground, and would not look great standing back up (LOL) the sign for the Ropes/Adventure course. . didn't do that due to lack of time. we still wanted to hit the drop tower, the rapids, the flume, more rides on GeForce, and a few other things. . possible because of the fast lane passes we had. Jon and I on the Dinosaur rapids. we rode with other TPR folks as well. . but I recall we didn't even get slightly wet - on what ended up being a hot morning, it was slightly disappointing. the big Carousel was just teasing me. . but I knew I'd ride it before leaving, so we by passed it for GeForce, and then on to the park's flume ride. we got slightly moist on the flume, but not bad. . . everyone was hungry, so we headed to the restaurant to eat lunch. the pizza was surprisingly decent (tho it doesn't look that great). but the schnitzel was very good. and the theming in this restaurant was cute - tho giving me "Olive Garden" vibes. pic from Robb that he shared during lunch - his view of the park (and Expedition GeForce) from the top of the drop tower. Robb's pic inspired us to go to the Drop Tower next. . and using the Express Pass (I saw on Andrew's lanyard in a prior pic, that I've been calling it fast lane, but it's Express Pass here) we were at the loading station in no time. these ladies were advertising inside the queue. . I think they might be from Eurovision contest? but they are supposed to make us feel uneasy about our choice to ride. I think? it was a very fun tower. . .I Intamin, I think. and it reminded me 100% of Dungeon Drop (astroworld)/Superman Tower of Power (same ride, but moved to SFStL). it brought back some nice memories I think at this point the group I was with split off to go get some last rides on GeForce. . but I had something else on my list I had to do before we left. So while they went to ride the coaster, I walked back over to where we had eaten lunch. for this. yes, I know. . I'm a Carousel nerd. I mean.. look how happy! I don't think I'd have been ANY happier if I had been on a coaster again but I did go join them for one last ride on Expedition GeForce before we headed out, as I hightailed it over that way to ride with them. as we were heading out towards the bus, stopping to take a fond last look at this park. we weren't here for a full day - but I honestly don't think it's a full day park. So it was enough. buh bye Expedtion GeForce. . you lived up to the hype! snagged from Robb's post as we were on the bus headed to the next park. I really do miss the German Countryside. It's so beautiful! I mean. . . GORGEOUS and lots of windmills. . . we had a few hour drive, so some napped, many chatted excitedly about the morning we had just had, and we looked forward to where we were headed: Klotten - a very traditional park, with several "do it yourself" rides, including an infamous "boat jump" ride, that I've always imagined trying! Klotten, here we come! to be continued in part II . . . .

Easy there, champ. Put it back in your pants.

No more Final Destination coaster!!!

PlayLand is getting Canada’s fastest launch coaster:

A new boat joke.

Those are Snake River Expedition boats.

I heard this last night too. Guess that means "only" 6 train ops or so?

Continuing the pizza tour, this time in LA. We had only two days, so we chose to get to Joe's (basically the same, but not, of the original in NYC... But some lawsuits and other fun behind it all...!) and Apollonia's which is a highly regarded place in the area. Joe's was really good, but I do give the edge to the NYC OG, and not just because of it's location or anything. It just wow'd me a touch more. But still a stunning pie. Half cheese, half with fresh basil. Yum. Apollonia's was the second stop, and wow, SO good. The sicillian slices were amazing. One was pepperoni, garlic and basil, while the other was topped with garlic, olive oil, ricotta, mozzarella, pecorino romano, oregano, grape tomatoes, arugula and truffle oil. As good as it sounds. We also got two original NYC style slices, one cheese and one pepperoni. We both preferred the Apollonia's slices over Joe's of LA. If you ever find yourself in the area, go here! (Cash only!).

Yeah, it was just a joke, that thing was a hunk of junk lol.

Some notes from yesterday: Most of the parks were very uncrowded. Walk ons on Spiderman, Hulk, Mummy, Transformers, ET, Simpsons, Forbidden Journey. VelociCoaster never longer than ~25 minutes. But for some reason Hagrid NEVER posted a line shorter than 2 hours. I mean...I like the thing but if that continues today I guess that'll be an easy skip. Had my first Mummy rides in 10 years, forgot how fantastic it is! Legit airtime a couple times in the coaster section, the sets are great, just a total home run. I did get in one more Woody ride! Transformers is just super bouncy Spiderman. Rode VC in front for the first time. Quite terrific, but the back has more teeth. Incoming storm had Hogwarts looking spooky as all hell. Back it today and probably here on Sunday as well.

This one looks far better than a lot of the other smaller RMCs. Less of the abrupt jerky airtime and more fluid elements. I dig it.

Couldn't remember exactly where I saw it. Here it is.

We can now get vengeance at Kennywood, Dorney, and Hershey. PA doesn't let go of grudges, eh?

Hersheypark has announced Wildcat's Revenge, a new Rocky Mountain Construction coaster for 2023! https://stories.hersheypa.com/hersheypark-announces-all-new-wildcats-revenge-hybrid-coaster-coming-summer-2023/ Wildcat is back and seeking vengeance. Hersheypark amusement park today announced the details of its all-new Wildcat’s Revenge hybrid coaster. One of 15 coasters at Hersheypark, the wood and steel hybrid will join one of the largest and most iconic coaster collections in the United States in summer 2023, 100 years after the first Wild Cat ride debuted at the Park. Manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC), Wildcat’s Revenge adds an all-new steel track with unique elements to the existing wooden framework for a one-of-a-kind thrilling ride experience found only at Hersheypark. The hybrid coaster features a 140-foot hill, maximum speeds of 62 miles per hour and four inversions, including the World’s Largest Underflip. “Based on our guest feedback, we knew coaster fans would love a hybrid at Hersheypark, and we’re thrilled to work with RMC on a custom wood and steel coaster with a nod to our history,” said Vikki Hultquist, General Manager of Attractions at Hersheypark. “Wildcat’s Revenge features the very best of RMC’s signature thrills, including four inversions with the World’s Largest Underflip, Inverted Stall, Zero-G Roll and Reversing Downhill Roll.” UNIQUE HYBRID COASTER EXPERIENCE Located in the Midway America region of Hersheypark, Wildcat's Revenge features a fully renovated coaster station with a design that harkens back to the iconic 1923 Wild Cat station with low-pitched gables around the perimeter of the roof. Guests of Hershey’s height requirement and taller (48 inches and above) will sit in one of three custom trains, showcasing fully-dimensional black, charcoal and silver wild cats exacting revenge on their wooden predecessor. The thematic elements are a design first for Hersheypark. The 2-minute and 36-second experience begins as riders climb a 140-foot hill, plunge into an 82-degree drop and hit a maximum speed of 62 miles per hour along 3,510 feet of red track on a black steel and wood structure. The pursuit continues as riders stalk their prey through four inversions, including the World’s Largest Underflip, an inversion that begins with an upward climb, followed by a counterclockwise 270° roll and a dive down towards the side. Following its summer 2023 debut, Wildcat’s Revenge will be open for all four seasons, weather permitting. For more information, visit www.Hersheypark.com/explore-the-park/rides/wildcats-revenge/ and follow along on social media using #WildcatsRevenge.