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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/21/2023 in all areas
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Went to the PNE yesterday and has a lovely day. The new night show Remix Inferno is stunning, they did an insane job on it! Loved it. Didn’t do any rides, but did walk through Playland. The Coaster is closed for some reason, again. Every year now it seems the coaster can’t make it for opening weekend? Anyway some photos I took. Beyond Monet. Some Piglets. The main drag. Speaking of drag, caught this adorable moment. Some of the added rides. New this year. A little “Music Express” throwback. Just because. Remix Inferno. Epic. Wonderful. Surprising. Go see it.2 points
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I agree. It seems as if the park needs to announce a 3-mile long giga coaster to appease these folks. And even then they would still complain about something. Geez...2 points
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1 point
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Day 6, June 8th part 2: rest of the day at the incredible Hansa Park making our way towards the front area with the big restaurant (which seemed the best bet as they had lots of options), we stumbled across a section in the middle of the park that seemed to be themed to Africa. and, of course, they had a Jungle Safari ride. it looked rather silly - basically an antique taxi kind of ride, but there was no line, and the ride op said we could each take our own "jeep'. . so we hopped on. turned out to be a great decision, as this was not only stupid long and relaxing, but full of some amazing (and amazingly bad) animatronic animals. absolutely loved this, and posted about it to the group thread the moment we got off, so folks knew it was there. come along with me and enjoy "Africa" ! the snake hissed, made an attempt to strike at you, and spit water. . LOL just like the Lion King. . .'zactly! look on the left over there. . it's the backside of Hippo and then they apparently decided: Enough with the realistic animals. . let's stick in one that looks like a pinata. Big Mike loved it. as did Doug Hawk just gave up. . . and out front.. a Giraffe apparently named "Akira". . . I mean. . . gotta climb up and hump (I mean Hug) it. . after our safari, it was time to eat, and the restaurant up front was like a cafeteria with a lot of options. and this neat little kids play area in the corner, so the adults could eat in peace while the kids are distracted. (we weren't there exactly at a meal time, so wasn't busy at all, but did see many other TPR folks in there too). can't remember what I got.. but I do recall the desert was very sweet, and what looks like Schnitzel there (probably was) was pretty good, but too much gravy on it. oddly, the restaurants here don't have the restrooms attached.. so had to go outside and down the way to wash my hands before eating. while outside tho, get a wonderful view of Nessie, so stopped to snap a pic or three again, not patient enough to sit and wait for the shot (hey, I was hungry), but Royal Scotsman *did* come thru Nessie's loop about 2 seconds later food eaten, and some shopping done (magnet and T-shirt purchased. .but sadly no Nessie merch as mentioned in part 1), we headed towards the train. Planning to take a calm, relaxing ride after a meal. the park also has an observation tower, but unfortunately was down today as it was being painted. the train takes you all the way around the park, and it's a really nice ride, with lots to enjoy. here's some nature, part of Flucht von Novgorod's track (in the background behind it is track from Schwur des Kärnan). and on the left is I THINK a Starflyer (tho it could be Highlander?). yup. .it's Highlander the train weaves in and out, and under, some rides. allowing for some really cool pictures. another of the little play areas. . this one with self operating teeter-totters (kinda) called "Buffalo Rodeo" LOL Schwur des Kärnan & Crazy Mine from the train. THEMING! our lil group enjoying the train. . and yes, those are the same two girls from way earlier. . who spotted Jonathan and really wanted to share a seat with him on the train totally forgot the park has a Troika. . . it's kinda tucked off by itself behind that building on the left - which is indoor, disco, bumper cars. (no, really) this space here is where a Carousel is supposed to be. They had a temporary (cheapie) one set up across the way I didn't bother with. .but the sign says they are refurbishing a classic carousel and will put it in that spot, across from the observation tower on the right. after the train ride, we were settled enough it was time to hit the water rides (and it had gotten warm enough). over by the flume, they have some animatronic bears (I think they are bears?) that play in the clock-tower. got more than a little moist on the flume, but it felt good! and just outside? a photo op. i can ride a bear? yes please and over here in this section they do have a classic merry-go-round (similar to several I saw on last year's Europe Trip). so made a point to ride this one. . and Big Mike rode with me. look how happy! and yeah, of course I chose a bear to ride again. (think I have Hawk to thank for this pic) another photo op, going towards the park's Supersplash, you can lower the helmet to pose. prolly was stupid to do, but at least didn't get sick from anyone else's germs while posing. the park has a few big water rides, spread out at the edges. tho we didn't get SOAKED on the flume, some in the group were wary about getting on something called a Super Splash. so I ended up riding it alone. because it wasn't busy over here on this side of the park, the ride ops had no problem letting me go in my own car. it helped keep me a bit drier than it would have. (think these pics are courtesy of Big Mike) then we all headed back over towards Flucht von Novgorod. . and although we got in the Single Rider line (and there was a pretty big line). . it just happened to work out that Hawk, Doug, and I all ended up on the same train. so Big Mike was able to get this great picture! what's this section. . had we been thru here yet? I see Western theme, and American flags? and scales for some reason. but a great photo op! I feel so skinny! and the store was selling "Horse Bubbles". . . it's EXACTLY as gay as you'd imagine it would be from the sign oh. . oh. . .I LOVE these, and they have one. and not only is it just a pony ride. . it's a SHOOTING pony ride, and the ride keeps score! I got to ride "Fury" the targets were a bit hard to hit, but when you did? they reacted like the old Disney Shooting Gallery.. ended up being a lot of fun. and of course, had to take this pic. across the way was the kiddie canoe ride (the operator for the ponies was also running this one).. but the canoes were clearly not for adults, so didn't even try those. a statue of someone. . for something. Zooming in on the sign, perhaps he was the King of Denmark? but they had those ice creams I loved in Paris here. the ones Kristen got me hooked on. not exactly the same, but close enough. oo. . sexy. . . we had made our way to the other side of the park, and the other "big" water ride. .the rafting. nobody getting off looked wet, so we all rode, and even tho it was fun? yeah. . didn't even get spritzed with water.. . so a dry water ride. But again, it was fun, and we got a lot of spinning during the ride. like the canoes, they also have a kiddie log flume. also like the canoes, this one clearly looked like there was no way an adult would fit in these barrels .. so I just took a picture of it. David was over at the "Planes on a Trebuchet" getting his flip on (and I think he did end up on the scoreboard). . so went over to watch that for a bit. and across the way from it (in the shadow of Schwur des Kärnan) is the Hupfberge - the giant bouncy playground. it was getting close to time that we had to meet the bus, so Big Mike and I made our way around the far end of the park. (while some others ran back to get more rides on some of the coasters) and we stumbled across yet ANOTHER flume. this one had ride vehicles shaped like viking boats. and upon observation, it appeared to be a family version - with one adult seat and two kids seats in each boat. there were adults and older teens riding, so we joined the line. it's not Dumbo, nor Shamu. . . Shumbo ? from the mini-flume ride. and yeah. .while not all that tall, or steep? this thing gave off a big splash. very refreshing and for some reason, themed with Penguins, and Vikings buried up to their necks in the ground watching you on the ride. kinda creepy, kinda cool. I don't ride bumper cars - can mess up my back. . but as we made our way to the front gate for the bus, we just had to pop into the Disco Bumper Cars so I could take a look at them. you enter thru a spinning walkway - apparently going to outer space. and the ride looked like a lot of fun - and was blasting music. but no. .didn't ride. Just took a couple of pics. and then we headed to the gate to meet up with the group and the bus. We had a drive tonight, as we were headed back to Denmark - specifically to Aarhus, as tomorrow was a park that has a one of a kind in the world (now remaining) thrill. but yeah, Hansa was a really fantastic park with a lot to do for anyone who is any "thrill level" loved my time here.1 point
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Day 6, June 8th part 1: a full day at the incredible Hansa Park after checking out, a short bus trip brought us to the main gates (well. .the parking lot across the street from the main gates) to Hansa Park - which started out life as the first official Legoland (way back when). it's so much more now, with sections that are fully immersive, and hidden nooks and crannies everywhere in the park with all kinds of fun stuff to discover. up the escalator to cross the busy road. . . a bit foggy this am, but it would burn off. oooo.. pretty charming front gates. and a welcome TPR area? with cool goodies for us? how neat! (including a CD of music played at the park). after a quick introduction and welcome to the park, we were walked into the place before opening to enjoy some ERT on a coaster - the park's "biggie" Schwur des Kärnan (Karnan's Oath). . a Gerstlauer Infinity coaster. thru the main gates. . .tho stopping 1st for a pic of park map wow. . it's a much bigger park than it looks like on the map. did a LOT of walking today. I'm positive Robb took a group picture, because I remember posing in front of this flower clock.. . but I don't seem to have it in my pics from the park (which means I have it mis-filed, and if I find it during the months it will take me to finish, I'll go ahead and post it). but meanwhile, here's my pic of the flower clock at the main entrance. what you see upon entering the park: Nessie , the Schwarzkopf looper. also that tower there is "Highlander" - which is now the world's tallest tilting freefall tower (since, you know, the incident in Orlando) restaurants and shops.. as noted, lovely theming. Empty only because we're in the park before official opening. another look at Highlander as we walk by it. . .that's not Nessie, but yet ANOTHER coaster, Royal Scotsman, a Vekoma Jr. coaster, that wraps around it (and passes thru Nessie's loop) lots of play areas sprinkled around the park.. I appreciated that many were close to "big" rides, to give the little ones something to keep them occupied while the teens/adults were on the bigger things. a mini canoe ride, featuring frogs. Indian frogs that live in tee-pees apparently. and a very plastic horse in the western section that one could pose on (I passed on this.. .shocking, I know. . but there were many other photo ops that had my attention) remember the Alamo! (well, this ain't it.. . so your memory is faulty) and coming around the corner, our first real peek at the twisted, terrifying track that is Schwur des Kärnan that medieval tower there? that hides the lift. . and has a secret that scared the crap out of me and really gets the adrenaline going. the track is way off the ground in most places -- at least in the places one can see. the first half of the ride is kinda a dark ride. let's walk the queue so we can enjoy the heavy theming. . going up into the castle via the queue, one gets a look at the "planes on stick" ride (tho it's actually "Planes on a trebuchet"). and a playground area with one of those giant inflatable bouncy mountains. deep into the castle, the theming gets more and more intense as you discover the storyline of the ride. . it involves magic and spells that protect the castle. . . the lockers are tied into the theming, as the wizard tells the story on the TV, and then the bookshelves slide open to reveal storage for all loose articles. so because everything was put into the storage, I had no camera to describe the rest of the loading process. . but it's very cool, so will describe it. once everyone has stored bags, you are led into a circular room that's divided with six "queue lines". . . .these lines don't match up with where you'll end up on the coaster - as you can't actually see the train yet. What happens is the lights at the top of the room start to spin (ie: magic) and in turn it lands, randomly, in front of each queue row in the circular chamber, and then the "wall" in front of that row opens, and those 4 people go thru to sit on the ride. So first door open, gets front row, 2nd door 2nd row, etc.. . got really lucky on my rides, and ended up front row one ride, and back row on another. I think I got a 3rd ride and just went to the center since we didn't have to go back thru the preshow room if we wanted to ride again that time. a GREAT ride. and no..I'm not going to spoil the start of the ride, or what happens in the lift. but wow.. it's a shocker the 1st time, and even when you know what's coming? it still gets that adrenaline pumping. a few rides later, and my camera back from my stored bag. . .I hung out at the bottom of the tower to try and catch the drop from the vertical lift (it moves so fast it took a few tries, but I got it). after the fun ERT, we were cut loose in the park, and since over here, several of us went over to the nearby Crazy Mine - a Maurer Wild Mouse (that also has some animatronics.. many rides here seemed to have a dark ride-like portion, or at least animatronics). and lots of theming in the queue-lines. was fun for what it was.. tho not as fun as the photo op that was available in this area. is it a "horse" ? hell if I know.. but damn right I'm gonna climb on top of it for a photo! look how damn happy I am.. LOL. . does this count as humping? this is a weird one. . while looking at RCDB, I noticed that Hansa Park had another coaster, that I must have missed: Schlange von Midgard (Snake from Midguard) a Gerstlauer family coaster where the train looks like a viking ship, and has an enclosed (dark ride-ish) start/lift hill. I REALLY thought I hadn't ridden it. . LOL. . but then found this pic! - part of our "goodie bag" from the park included an on-ride pic, and I got this one. too damn funny that the coaster I got the onride pic from is one that I don't even remember riding now. we're all smiling tho, so we must have enjoyed it enough it was time for a potty break, and I found these "kiddie sized" toilet stalls so charming, that I took a picture of them. tho most were mainly interested in the coasters, I really like most all rides, and so did those I ended up with today. . . so we made our way over towards Highlander. um. . that looks really high (probably because it is) I don't recall it being "scary". . which is odd, as I don't like heights. But I guess I DO love Falcon's Fury, and Acrophobia. so a tilting drop tower is more fun to me than scary. . and I do recall this being fun. as it was RIGHT next door, we headed over to Royal Scotsman before going over closeby to queue for Nessie. honestly, Royal Scotsman doesn't do much, but it's ALL about the setting - circling Highlander, and going thru Nessie's loop makes it kinda fun. tried to get all at the same time. . but I don't have the patience for that. . .LOL. . so here's Nessie going up the lift hill just before the 1st drop. again, the park has done a heck of a job with the queue. and I adored this logo, and would have bought a shirt or magnet with it in a SECOND. but the park store didn't have any Nessie merch very impressive station. and we knew we'd all love it. . I mean, it's a classic Schwarzkopf after Nessie we moved further into the park to head towards the kiddie coaster (was on the way to our next thing). .and found ourselves in a traveling circus area. at least the clowns in Germany are not as terrifying as the ones in Denmark! or are they?? clearly this is a kiddie coaster, and it's called Kleine Zar (Little Czar, I believe). (it's hidden behind a fairly tall fence, so you can't even see the coaster much unless you've queued for it) that's a pretty tight helix tho and it looked like it might be fun, so we asked if adults were allowed to ride it. an example of the view one can get of the coaster from outside the queue. we got a "yes, of course you can ride" from the ride op, so we hopped in line for this. (on the right is the coaster we had been heading to: Flucht von Novgorod (a Gerstlauer Eurofighter). . but as noted, this was on the way it truly was a lot of fun, and I giggled my way thru it. as I expected, that tight helix was quite enjoyable. I took back row. while others went for the front rows. hands up! and the wonderful operator who told us of course we could ride. Kiddie coaster credit out of the way, we headed to Flucht von Novgorod (Escape from Novgorod). . a heavily themed coaster with a spooky storyline. . . the two girls we had met by the clown bridge came along with us, and were truly scared to get in line for it (no, really)! hmmm. . another brick building? yup, another enclosed vertical lift coaster. later in the day, this ride would have an insane line - especially with so few riders per car. . . BUT we discovered that making use of single rider got you on relatively quickly, and so ended up riding this several times during the day. it was a lot of fun. one of the most fun features of this was that the storyline doesn't end after the ride! the exit is via a maze (that one really can get lost in) and there are also photo ops in the exit maze: lots of fun. this seems to be an out of the box ride, but I liked the look of it, and so convinced Jonathan to ride it with me. the operator put us on a LOOOOOONG cycle tho.. and I was well ready to stop spinning around before he stopped the ride. luckily we hadn't eaten lunch yet. but before it started it sure looks like we were ready to have fun also over here was what appeared to be a rather "hidden" water obstacle course. . . it wasn't huge, but I'm a klutz, so I took pics of the obstacles, while Jonathan actually did the course. one tiny step to cross this water filled trap. . whoops. . well..there WAS one little step. better watch your timing on this! oooo.. .kinky a junior sea-storm. . but I actually passed on this - wasnt' about to go on another spinning ride after being spun to death on the motorcyle ride just moments before. here's my speed. . and yes, it's called "Blumenmeerbootsfahrt" but the English section of the description sold me as a perfect ride for this moment: "A slow moving boat ride" piped in sounds too. . very calming but with freaky little fairy people among the scenery. Big Mike likes flowers, and I do too.. . so seemed a nice reprieve. Think everyone with me rode it awww a cute lil mushroom wave swinger for the lil freaky people. aha! from the boat ride, you can actually see part of the kiddie coaster starting to get a little hungry. . but so much more of the park to do.. and we decided to take the "long way" around to the front restaurant where we'd eat lunch. but passing by a photo op? don't mind if I do! and they even had a small section with the "do it yourself" rides I had seen in some parks last year while in Europe these seemed to be clearly for the little kiddos only tho. . so just snapped a pic of them. to be continued. .1 point
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Vapor Trail at Sesame Place (credit #424) For you stoners out there, credit 420 was Timmy's Half Pipe Havoc at Nickelodeon Universe in Jersey.1 point
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Our annual OUT ON SCREEN Film Festival, just wrapped up a ten day schedule last night. Lots of Shorts Collections this year. More than I ever remember, seeing before. A lot of good Feature Films, too. Best one was "1946", which looked at how the word "homosexual" did not appear in The Bible until.... that year. It's true! Really, an amazing documentary, with a lot of film shot in Canada. It is worth seeking out, if you ever get the chance to see it. And during the Festival, lots of photo ops, heh. Also, I manage to 'decorate' my Passholder Pass (I am at "Producer Patron" i.e. monthly donations) every year, since 2008. And here's a link to OOS' website. https://outonscreen.com/ Can't wait for next year's Festival! Somebody always takes photos of us and my pass, every Festival. This was Opening Night, Aug.10/23. My Passholder Pass and the Festival Program Booklet beside it. The theme of the 'decor' on my pass, is always dictated by the Festival's Program booklet. And I give thanks to Michael's Arts & Crafts in Vancouver, as well as any Dollar Tree store, which has the cheaper supplies. etc. ...And I added stickers to the back of it, as well this year. Clark and myself, having our photo taken for.... (David took this side pic of us, being 'taken'.) Damn I hate those bags under my eyes! <sighs> Clark still looks as woofy as ever. Clark, Lisa and my David in their 'shot'. Great Festival!1 point
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I'm pretty sure you'll enter from screampunk area across from the Thunder River entrance. I don't think it'll be a DC themed name. Website/app lists it in Screampunk.1 point
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Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, so skid pads. It's a WRX, so it feels like it's on rails. (I wish)1 point