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Day 8: Evening: arriving at our hotel in De Panne, and checking out the beach we pulled into De Panne close to 9:30 pm, if I'm not mistaken, and were quickly in to our hotel - which looked like perhaps it was once an apartment complex that had been converted into a hotel. Hotel Ambassador (thanks Elissa!) was the name of this place, and the husband (Luc) and wife team that own it were charming, and each room had a different layout than the others. The small lobby (with even smaller elevator off to the side) opened up to a large breakfast area on one side, and into a bar/dinner area to the other (which was closed already since we arrived on a Tuesday evening, off season, close to 10pm). since it was off season (a few weeks before the peak holiday), I think our group took over the majority of the rooms in the hotel. . . just a block or so from the beach, and on the main street of the town. the rooms are all different, as noted, and James and I got lucky again (as we did in Phantasialand) and scored a room with a tub (one of only 4 in the hotel - yes, I did take a soak one night we were there). A large room too: view from the bedroom looking towards the beach (behind the condos/buildings there) our gigantic bathroom. . seriously, it was almost half the size of the room itself! and the tub long walk to the toilet. . LOL and the view from the bathroom window. we got settled away, and met a group of folks in the lobby to go explore (even tho it was kind of late) and see if we could find anything that looked good to eat. (another group had also gone out exploring) we headed to the beach boardwalk - I had heard there was a Carousel here (bonus!) if I could find it, and if it would be open prior to the season really starting. quite a few folks out for post 10pm on a Tuesday! (more than I had expected) looking North: Looking South: there seemed to be more options going North, so we headed that way. this is the Atlantic Ocean, as seen from Belgium. Gorgeous. "funland". . . sounds kinky. I had to keep reminding myself it was late, so of course not much would be open. . . even tho it LOOKED pretty early. a picture I sent Nick from the beach. It was morning in Austin and he thought I was sending him something from the prior day, and I was like: nope.. it's still light out here. he was impressed. we peeked into a few of the open restaurants as we passed, but most of them looked a little bit too "fancy" for us - we'd spent the whole day in a theme park, no one had showered, and the idea of a sit down, upscale meal just wasn't that appealing to anyone in the group I was with. so we kept walking looking at options, making note of the Pizza place we passed, and a hot dog place. the architecture on the beachfront buildings impressed (and delighted) me, so I took pics as we walked the boardwalk. it wasn't "cold". . but it was just chilly enough, I had no desire to walk out to the water tonight to dip my feet into the Atlantic. So we stayed on the boardwalk. From the boardwalk, looking towards the street that our hotel is on (way back a couple of miles, since we had walked pretty far) doggo! at the far end of the boardwalk, it dead-ends on this side into an entertainment area. not only a big ferris wheel and some art installations, but also "glamping" areas, and this place that offered these activities: beautiful sun finally starting to set, close to 11pm. nothing had caught our eye, so we took the walk back up to the main street, to head back towards the hotel that way and see if any options there . looking back at the beachfront lots of sculpture and unique installations on the main street walking back too. but not a whole lot of places to eat that were open, or more casual. so we decided we'd head back to the pizza place, and see if they were still open. De Panne is very lovely. a pic I stopped and sent to Nick. he responded telling me he wasn't' feeling all that well, and he thought he was going to lay back down. But I should go eat and have fun, and he'd ping me Austin Evening, tomorrow morning my time. so we exchanged "love you"s and we headed off back to the pizza place on the boardwalk. we got back to the pizza place, I *think* just after 11pm? and tho the sign had been flipped to closed, the door was still unlocked - and we saw the other folks from our group in there eating and drinking. so we popped our heads in and asked if there was any chance we could squeak in and get food. There was only one worker left - who I think was the manager - but he seemed delighted to have a small surge of customers at the tail end of the night. Remember, it's still off season, so I assume business was slow? with a big smile, he waved us in to sit, and then when handing out the menus asked "please, order only from the pizza options, I don't know how to make much of the other things on the menu" Deal! and he was so kind, and happy, that we gladly ordered alcohol and planned to give nice big tips. here's our group, and the other group of TPR folks who had stopped in before us.. TPR takeover of the Pizza Place on De Panne Boardwalk: it was a LOT of food.. but we weren't gonna start asking to split up stuff. . . keeping things as easy as possible for this kind restaurant owner/manager. a few folks shared pizzas, but I wanted to try something (that I can't recall now) that no one else wanted. . so I had my own and ate about 2/3rds of it. was VERY good. I think a calzone? or maybe a shared 1/2 of pizza from James' plate. and heckling from the other table. . LOL full, fat, and happy, we headed back to the hotel to crash after a very long day. the sun had finally set enough that it was actually dark-ish. but before we went up to crash, we stopped at the convenience store up the street, which was open 24 hours. since the only cigarettes i'd seen had been from generic machines, this was the first time I saw the way they do the actual images on the cigarette boxes. i was shocked, kinda grossed out, and very amused. so of course I took a pic. I didn't pick up the weed/crack pipes they had for sale tho. . . just some bottled water and a soda. and with that, we said our goodnights in the hotel lobby, and everyone headed up to the rooms to crash. tomorrow, day 9, was a full day at Plopsaland De Panne - and we had morning ERT on one of the most looked forward to coasters on this entire trip: Ride to Happiness. so I went to bed excited. to be continued. . . .

apologies for the weeks long break here. . . I know why I've been procrastinating in continuing on, but after talking thru it with my therapist, I'm ready to keep going now. Doesn't mean I'm not going to be sad, but there's lots more to see, ride, and share. . so continuing on. Day 8: Walibi Belgium, Part 1: we got up at the hotel, ate breakfast and checked out by 8:15. after loading the bus, we drove to nearby Walibi Belgium. we had stuff to do before park open: ERT on two coasters, and 1st rides of the day on their new Intamin, Kondaa. pulling into a mostly deserted parking lot. . tho it was a Tuesday, there were already buses in the parking lot, and it seemed it was a school holiday of some sort. very glad to be on this trip with TPR, because the extras - such as the skip the line passes. . it was certainly gonna help with what looked to be a busy day. not too crowded walking up - but it was still over an hour before park open. headed into the park, we see where we were going first: Loup-Garou, a kinda infamous Vekoma wooden coaster. Several of us had been talking and we reasoned that Anaconda at Walygator was vastly improved from what we had expected. . so perhaps it would be similar on this one? I was excited to see it regardless, as I love woodies (that's what he said!). . . but was prepared for 1 and done. I mean, it certainly wasn't warmed up 1st thing in the morning, so hoped for the best, but expected the worst. Still got excited to see it peeking up over the entrance plaza buildings tho. not as excited as I was to see the Park's Carousel front and center at the end of the entrance plaza tho, on the way to the coaster entrance i'd be back for you later! the coaster started testing as we approached it. apparently "Lupe Garou" means Warewolf in French . . so it had that "theming". . . in name and signage only, but hey, theming! it sure LOOKED pretty. . . .I felt my hopes slightly raise. Two hair-wolves (or are we both just Bears.. . Andrew???) ready to ride! they were running two trains during our ERT. . Green & Red. i really liked this train design. it was comfortable. . and you know what? it was a lot of fun, and other than one *really* funky transition that will realign your spine if you don't know it's coming and brace for it - which for some oddball reason is JUST before the photo snap (so everyone in the photos would be making a pained face. . LOL) - it was actually quite good. after the 1st ride, I knew when/where to brace, and I loved it. I think I rode it every cycle available during our ERT on it, which if I recall correctly was 1/2 hour, so I got 6 rides on it. (Pics courtesy of Elissa I think) I think most people on the trip liked it, and many of us kept riding until it was time to head to another coaster. walking from Loup Garou to our next stop - across the park - I snapped a few pics while walking (as usual). here's one of the spikes on Pulsar - one of only 4 Mack Powersplash operating in the world - at least until Aquaman at SFOT finally opens in 2023 ooo..a Top Spin? after Talocan the prior day, I was eager to try a "tamer" version. . so would come back for this later too. an Intamin drop tower, similar to Dungon Drop/Superman (Astroworld/SFStL) - which is now gone. . so wanted to ride this too. . . THRU THE TREES!!!. . that's Kondaa. . . wow, that looks amazing, but we weren't headed here yet. giant fries.. because. . . why not. Tho they didn't' entice me to want to eat any of them. we continued on into "Exotic World". . .. oooooooo kinky! down that way is Kondaa (angels singing). . . but not yet. Park Map THIS is where we were headed next for some quick ERT on the park's Gerstlauer Bobsled, Tiki-Waka really nice theming over here in "Exotic World" section of the park. and the Coaster itself really dominates this area, going around, and over, the walkways, and even interacting with the boat/river-raft ride next door. my turn! and pay attention, no voguing or dancing on this ride! Whee! as mentioned, it interacts with the river ride next to it.. really nice setting. after we all got a few rides on Tiki-Waka, it was time to head to the main event, as the park was opening up to the public. so we followed our Park Guide and Robb, over to the park's latest star attraction Kondaa if you've seen folks online complaining about the lack of theming around this Intamin coaster? yeah, they just haven't been on it. True, there's not a whole lot around the track (but really, what can you do to "theme" around a large, spread out Intamin coaster?). However the entrance plaza and surrounding area for the ride is beautifully done. I liked it so much, I bought yet another "ride" T-shirt - this time with the Kondaa dragon/logo on the front. the train design is so cool as well.. it's a dragon! yes, I waited to ride front row very "Aztek" looking stone design on the train. . . one of the better train designs I've seen. after we all got our opening of the day rides on Kondaa, we got our flash pass/skip the line bands, and then split off to enjoy the park for the day. a group of us - mostly the same folks I had hung out with at Phantasialand - headed to the 1st of the parks two EXCELLENT shooting dark rides. Challenge of Tutankhamon: full of pretty amazing animatronics, fire, and interactive targets. .this ride really is incredible. and the "guns" you shoot with are Ankhs: I think Andrew was shooting at a target and not me. . but who knows. . LOL oh, see that car in front of us? they are going to a "secret" bonus room. . that if the points in the car add up to high enough, you get an extra room with more fire effects and another scene! Oh yes, we immediately rode it again and really aimed, to make sure we got high enough points to do both versions. a photo op? Don't mind if I do. the park really was already starting to get busy, and we passed a LOT of people rushing past us towards the back of the park (where we were coming from Kondaa) and ignoring some of the flats. so when we passed this we decided to stop and ride, as there was no line. basically teacups. . we each got our own, and it became a TPR takeover! tho Ryan gets a separate picture, since he sat in a different "wing". . .:) after this spinning ride, we headed down a path against some oddly placed buildings. what is this? it seems so out of place. . . Gargoyle Hotel ?? I hadn't seen that on the park map anywhere. . what the heck is it? a walk thru? an unused Haunt? then I heard the muffled screams, and saw the sign on the side of the building. it's Psyke Undergound! a FULLY ENCLOSED Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop ! loading station so cool. .I think we rode this twice too. .tho a line was starting to form and we used the fast lane wristbands for the 2nd ride. there are projections inside the building during the launch, and if you pay attention, the "ghosts" are pretty neat. from the exit queue. . it's a lovely park, with a large lake in the center of it. looking across at the Vekoma Boomerang (called Cobra) in the middle eastern area of the park. . we'd get over there later, as the park's other dark ride/shooting ride (Popcorn's Revenge) is over there too. one look back at the enclosed shuttle loop before we headed across the bridge. it was time to get wet. . . yup. . we were heading to Pulsar! this is what has delayed the SFOT Aquaman ride so badly. the design change to do what Walibi Holland has: a turntable so they can load a boat, while another boat is operating. unfortunately, on the day we were there, only one boat was running. . so the turntable just added extra time as it had to flip around to unload before the next group could load. (but again, luckily, we had Fast Lane/skip the line wristbands, so wasn't TOO bad.. tho think it was still a 10-15 minute wait). for as big a splash as it makes? it really doesn't get the riders wet (other than those sitting on the outer edges). it was mostly just a moist cloud of drizzle. not gonna lie tho.. it's a fun as hell ride. and at least at Walibi it has Single Rider line. . so yeah, I did ride this a few times. . next to it is the parks' flume. Which for the life of me, I cannot recall the name of (From the signage I see, looks like maybe "Flashback" ? ) I do remember that like most other flumes I rode in Europe, it has a backwards section, so that makes sense I guess. it was fun.. but I think I got more wet on this, than I did on Pulsar. . so this was 1 and done for me. back over to Pulsar for a few more pics (and I think I rode again. . figuring, I'm already moist, might as well) to be continued in part 2

I took the last working day of the year of and made a visit to Liseberg for the last time this year. So lots of (random) photos from the park The sun shines its rays on Valkyria Only 359 days to the next Christmas Eve Weeee.... The Santa helpers are grumpy and sad that it's the last day of winter season 2022 at Liseberg. but they are happy that they can now rest for 9 month.... As a OHS representative at my work It's good to see that they keep a good working environment in the Santa workshop... Who have been naughty this year? Maybe NORAD can borrow this map for next season "Santa tracker"??? The new hotell looks really good in the dark. The interior of the "VOLVO experience center" look impressive. Happy New Year and looking forward to the next season that also will be the 100 year anniversary of Liseberg!! /// Marcus

Luc was the owner at the Hotel Ambassador De Panne! Wonderful family and hotel! And the breakfast spread was great too!

The thing that I wish they would do that would cost them very little would be to re-open the path from Boomerang to Motocoaster, creating 2 dead ends with no real reason is silly (to be fair I'm sure there's some reason I don't know, but I still think it's stupid)

Barbara Walters, just passed away, at age 93. And what a career this journalist had! Too much to mention here.