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What's this? An actual theme park update?! Indeed so! 06: Authentic Taco Toast That TPR bus life. But to where...?! This isn't really much of a cliffhanger, if you're reading Chuck or Bert's trip reports. Or read my first update where I literally spoil everything. Turns out you have to be a superhero to visit BonBon Land. But that's okay because I can talk to animals. I'm also extremely lactose-tolerant. Fun story. No, wait, what's that other thing? Tedious. Tedious Story. I was somewhat more familiar with this park's layout and history because my internet-friend JazzAnden recreated it on the DKMP OpenRCT2 discord server as park of a timeline park "contest." (I was also part of that contest, though my park was entirely made up, and also not as good.) I am telling you this for a reason, though the payoff won't be until the next update, at which point you'll probably have forgotten. This park is very normal. Founded on/with/because of a candy factory in much the same way Knott's was built around a berry farm or Plopsaland De Panne was founded on honey--except that this candy is gross. Or at least it's themed that way. I've never actually had it. I did buy a bag, and brought it home--but strictly for display. Smisty found her jam. And I found mine. I am among my people. Although, my people are apparently very weird. I'm all for a themed log flume--even if that theme is cheese-making sewer rats--but this one had some rough, clunky transitions (not unlike Diamond River at Legendia). *sigh* ... the dogfart coaster There's a bit of this sort of thing. I think this is supposed to be an albatross. But, thanks to Bert, all I can see now is "transvestite chicken." Have you ever wanted to say that you've ridden the very first Eurofighter? I didn't. On the other hand, this spinning coaster was quite good. With the highlight being that bunny hill on the right, which offered a nice pop of airtime whilst the car was spinning. Smisty and I were able to get a car to ourselves, and sit together, early in the day. (And, baby, you don't know what "imbalanced" is until you've ridden with me!) Oh, Henry. You are one gastrointestinally-distressed doggo. Is this the world's longest coaster train? Let's not do any research and just say that it is. Speaking of gastrointestinally-distressed, it was time for a group lunch at gross-candy-themed Danish theme park Mexican buffet. I'm sorry, "Mexican" should really have quotes around it there. If you're worried that this might prove to be too spicy, a.) don't, and b.) congratulations, you are Danish. I was trying to figure out what the turtle's problem was, and then I realized he was skewered on a spinning pole and had chair swings attached to the bottom of his shell. BonBon Land doesn't have a proper dark ride, but they do have an outdoor boat ride with scenery. Which is the next best thing in my book. It's fun how the unload station is just "get out during the ride and then walk into the actual station even though the boat is moving and you're just impatient but no one will be mad at you because you're in Europe so that's fine." And also there's only one ride op and who even knows if there are rules? Just, the best photo ever. My finest work. Hundreds of young people are gathering for the latest craze An acid house party in a disused warehouse This child thinks his hands are guns. Because he's stupid. Super hidden rapids ride. Which is also smelly according to that goat. But I rode it and it was fine. And not even particularly wet (though there is of course an element of randomness). The theme is beavers. But just kind of regular beavers, not gross candy ones. Newer stuff really does not embrace the whole gross mascots thing. Which is sad, but also...yeah. Listen. y'all, I live in Cowboy Town. *salutes in American* Not a dark ride. Dark. And shooty. But not a ride. Just a room with guns. So, like, America. That skeleton has eyes but no skin. Also, where did that other one get their shirt? Because it looks like it's really held up in a way that mine never do. Also, is he a prisoner, or...? Fun story: When I was a kid, I thought if someone got prison time of "life plus [x number of] years" that they just left them in jail for that long after they died. I also thought all dogs were male and all cats were female. This all really explains a lot, huh? I should shut up. Let's get the hell out of here, Hankatten. On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being a park I have no desire to return to in its current state, and 10 being one of my 10 favorite parks, I give BonBon Land a 3. Which is probably not as bad as it sounds, but yeah this park was just okay.

Since this current Summer season was drawing to an end, I wanted to make one more trip down to Hershey Park. I decided to go on Wednesday, and the crowds were relatively quite slow. The other reason for this trip was to buy the Scrambler coaster-dynamix model as a gift for my friend/boss who owns Adventure Park USA, as we have a scrambler at our park, and his birthday is coming up. I went with a coworker who had gone with me at least 2 times over the year, which made the trip a lot more relaxed. We didn't feel the rush to get every credit, we could just do what we wanted to do. We did Fahrenheit first as it was a walk-on, and we rode the front seat. I've ridden the back seat of Fahrenheit before, and it was amazing. The front seat is less intense, but I did enjoy the hangtime on the inversions. That one airtime hill after the the double corkscrews/overbank was powerful, but I still prefer the backseat. Fresh from a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure where my friend and I had ridden El Toro for the first time, we went onto Wildcat's Revenge afterwards. We've ridden it before, but now we had something to compare it to. While front row on El Toro was great, I don't know if I prefer Wildcat's Revenge more. I think both have great finales, but Wildcat's Revenge is more enjoyable. The aggressiveness with the airtime is easier to take in when the track is butter smooth. El Toro wasn't rough by wooden coaster standards, but I'm also not sure how many times I could ride it. The finale where the airtime hill goes into a sharp turn is the part that I found a little bit uncomfortable. In contrast, Wildcat's Revenge rips you out of your seat, but there isn't any part that I find rough. I've only ridden Joker at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom out of the other hybrids, and I will say that I prefer this over that. We rode Lightning Racer next. We got the front row of Lightning Racer and while it was a little forceless - it was a lot smoother than any other seat. The coaster definitely banks on it's interactive elements, but I do wish that the little hills throughout the attractive gave some airtime. I don't really notice a huge difference between Lightning and Thunder other than Thunder feeling slightly rougher. In a couple of years', I do think a retracking might be in order. Not unbearable, but more noticeable than years' prior. Afterwards, we went over to ride the Hershey Drop Tower. It's not a bad drop tower, and gives you a full experience. I do think the launch feels weak, but I do like the view and length of the attraction. We then did Coal Cracker. We ended up doing this twice throughout the day. I'm a sucker for log flumes. Next to roller coasters, I'm a huge log flume enthusiast. Out of the log rides, it's not the most special, but it definitely is cool to interact with the other attractions as you float along. I also enjoy how throughout the ride, the little waves in the current can splash over your boat. It's not quite to the extent of a rapids ride, but it's more than you usually get on a log ride. The airtime hill at the end isn't bad either. Next was Great Bear. Last month, my friend and I had done Talon at Dorney Park. My friend hated Great Bear the last time he came, and he didn't have too much of a reason other than it feeling so/so. I didn't understand the criticism, but I sort of do now? I love Great Bear, but I do think it lacks a finale. Talon might be less intense, but it feels more full. I don't know if it's a fair criticism though since the space Hershey had to work with wasn't ideal. We got to ride the front seat, and I liked it a lot. I just wish there was more of a finale into the brake run. Our next rides were on Superdooperlooper, and Skyrush. These are the only two rides my friend hadn't ridden yet. The loop on Superdooperlooper is still very intense, and then the ride sort of just interacts with the park. It's fun in that way, but not much. I do wonder how the ride runs without the trim brake before the helix. Skyrush was a front-row ride, my first time in the front row, to-be-exact. It was great. I have a love/hate relationship with this ride. This time? I liked it. The airtime is great, it has one of the best first drops on a roller coaster, but I'm not the biggest fan of those trains. Part of me would probably prefer the ride with the same cars used on Superman:ROS. My friend didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. Comet was our next ride, and we got the back-seat. Words cannot describe how awesome the airtime on Comet can be. The back seat ensures that during that first half, you're going to not be in your seat. The second half does have some dull moments, but once you enter the two last humps before the brake run - it's back. Underrated wooden coaster. We decided to do the Scrambler because we wanted to compare it to the one at the park we work at. There's no comparison. The Scrambler at our park is naturally very tame. It takes about 4 minutes to get to its' full speed, and about one minute to stop. I love the thing, but it is what it is. The one at Hershey Park is a lot faster, and its' surreal to ride an attraction the way its' meant to be run. After that, we rode Candymonium. As far as B&W hypers go, Nitro/Mako are the ones that rein supreme in my heart. I haven't ridden too many B&W hypers, but Candymonium is probably better than Apollo's Chariot for me. The ride feels full, and the floater airtime is great. For Hershey, it's one of the standouts for me. I think the lack of intensity helps it out, and makes the attraction feel a lot more drawn out. While Hershey has a lot of great coasters, a lot of them are compact, speedy, and really snappy. This ride takes its' time. For me, Wildcat's Revenge and Candymonium are the best additions for Hershey. They feel like full rides. You have a great start, a great middle, a great finale. We went to get drinks at the The Chocolatier. We got the Chocolatier martini, the smores' martini, and another friend who joined got a martini combo. I liked the Smores' martini, and one of the chocolate martinis' in the martini combo. (i just forget the name of it). I don't think they were that strong, but I didn't want them to be either. I got Shrimp tacos to match it, and I think my friends' got burgers. The food was good, not great, but a needed break in the system. Still a little tipsy, we went back to Coal Cracker. It's peaceful, and not too intense. My third friend really wanted to do Tidal Force. We had ridden it before, he didn't. I know how soaked you get on that ride, but I'm also cognizant that you can dry if you only ride it once. You can also take your shirts/shoes off. I only really had to take my shirt off, and my shoes stayed dry. As far as chutes go, it's large, but the hill doesn't have the punch that other larger chutes have. I think Dorney's had a better drop, even it had trims on it. We went back on WIldcat's Revenge, which had just broken down, but by the time we got in line - it started working again. If you see a ride testing, a lot of the time, it's going to open back up. My advice for breakdowns is to put a ten-minute timer on your phone, if it bypasses 10 or 15 minutes, get out of line. It's saved time, and frustration. We finished the day on Stormrunner/JollyRancher. Stormrunner is my favorite accelerator from Intamin. I loved TTD, but it's a one-trick pony. Plus, the launches on both KingdaKa and TTD are drawn out. The punch on Stormrunner's launch is what keeps me going back. A fuller layout really benefits the attraction. I prefer Maverick, but I'm not sure what that's considered. That feels like a completely different attraction. For a Boomerang, I do think JollyRancher is one of the better ones. I rode in the backseat. The intensity of those models are a lot, and can be enjoyable. After that however, we were ready to end the day. In conclusion; It was a great day. Hershey Park has a great collection of rides, and the inclusion of longer attractions such as WR, and Candymonium; the park feels more full. That being said, I did notice a lack of great flat rides. Both Dorney Park and SFGA really showcased a better variety in that department. Here, you have some good ones, but a lot of areas where you're looking for things other than kiddie rides and roller coasters. I think the inclusion of so many kiddie attractions is a good thing, but also feel like there should be a balance of thrilling flat rides too. Dark rides is another area that could use improvement. The Reeses' shooting ride is a step there, so is Lafftrak, but there should be a little more to do other than that. If not a dark ride, a show other than the Sea Lion show. I know people probably want more roller coasters, I think we just need some different additions to really help out the park. I do not think the boardwalk needs anymore expansion. I'm not a fan of the Boardwalk, and I feel like it's disrupted the flow of the park. Now with the lazy river, some slides, and a waterplay area; i think it's big enough for a tiny park-in-a-park. That's my take.

With all the backlash the new management gets, I will agree that I enjoy attentiveness to things other than roller coasters. Out of all the additions going to other parks, this is the one I'm most excited for. I love arrow log-flumes, and honestly I wish this had been done to log jammer back at Magic Mountain. With so many log flumes getting taken away, it's awesome to see that this one is here to stay.

- The turnstiles open at 8:30 along with the square area of the park. As mentioned above, there is a breakfast buffet in Molly's Mill Restaurant right off the square that also opens at 8:30. There are other shops open then too. No rides are accessible until rope drop at 9:30. People do tend to get there early, but not it's not usually a huge crowd at opening. - No, you do not get wet on flooded mine. - If you have time, just take a walk around the park and through the MidTown area just looking at stuff. If you see a hole and it says not to look, you should for sure look in it. There are so many little things around the City that can easily be missed when rushing from one ride to another.

There'd be a lot of room to play with orientation within that plot of land but the general placement that I chose there makes for an impressive sight walking the midway from Pandemonium to the games, while swinging towards the lagoon. You'd be able to see it right in front of you swinging above the 'arcade' building. It could be pushed a good 25ft closer to the railroad track without changing this framing I just did a quick and dirty fit check. The angle would look about like this walking this direction.

If they did get anything high odds it'd be a replacement for Hook's like the other water play structures SF parks got this year. It's been high on the wishlist to replace for years due to age and was seriously floated as a possibility going into this year.

I have to admit, the thought of it swinging over the lagoon is absolutely thrilling to me. It would be a lovely view.

Part 9 The Day Is Yours, So Enjoy It: Tusenfryd The original entrance sign at Tusenfryd used to day “dagen er din,” which means “the day is yours” in English (or so says Google Translate). I remember hearing someone translate this as “enjoy your day” back in 2006 when I first visited the park with TPR, but I might be misremembering what was said. Whatever it means, Tusenfryd is still a very good park in the beautiful Norwegian mountains. It looks like a ski resort with coasters and other rides. This is my third visit to Tusenfryd, the last being in 2009, and the park has changed since then. Gone is the old “Viking ship simulator,” but the excellent Speed Monster and the cute-as-a-button Teeny Weeny remain. They’ve done some nice work upgrading some sections of the park, too, such as the spruced-up Route 66 and the new Dragonville. Speaking of Dragonville, this is the home of the park’s newest coaster--a Gerstlauer launched suspended ride called Storm. If you like intensity, you’ll like Storm. It also has some rather violent airtime, particularly during the first half. On the “transitional” hill, the airtime was so crazy that it felt like someone was driving spikes into my thighs. The second half of the ride isn’t as intense (and it’s more fun), but my legs were pretty sore that day and the next morning. Then again, I was also the oldest person on the trip. I’ve come to appreciate more “floaty” airtime. Even thought I’ve liked this ride during past visits, the park’s woodie, Thunder Coaster, has not aged particularly well. It now sports Timberliner trains, but I think it could use some re-tracking. It’s very bumpy. But Speed Monster is still excellent. This Intamin launched coaster is smooth as glass and has a great, twisted layout with plenty of airtime. ERT on this coaster was great--I could ride it all day. Oh, and the old Arrow loopscrew, appropriately named Loopen, still exists. My memory of it was evil, so I didn’t ride it this time. Others in the group didn’t think it was all that bad. But you know how coaster enthusiasts love to kid people. We spent the previous night in Oslo, so let’s start the photos there. Sheesh! Thor is sure careless with that hammer. He left it lying around Djurs Sommerland, too. No wonder Odin gets impatient with him. Here we have two naked people on top of what appears to be a giant dildo. You’re welcome. Oh hi, Ligeia! My, how you’ve grown while I’ve been away. TROLL! A beautiful Norwegian sunset. “Nice city you got here. Shame if someone were to poop all over it.” Time for the day to be ours at Tusenfryd. We started the day, which was ours, here. Mike, you’re gonna hurt yourself! Save your strength for Storm. Storm starts with a forward launch, a rollback into a backward launch, then a drop into a stronger forward launch. This seems to be the latest fashion in coasters. I prefer the second half of this ride after you fly by the station. This is the painful transitional airtime hill. But the little dragon head on the front of the train is cute. Look! An Old West-style town! I know you’re all very surprised to see this. (“Will Kane” was the name of Gary Cooper’s character in “High Noon.” I guess the “Morgan” part comes from “Morgan Earp.”) Marshal, I think they’re doing more than just laundry at Kitty’s House if you get my drift. Morgan Kane City is the home of the buck naked version of Big Thunder. Norwegian tacos, anyone? Thunder Coaster is growing older and crankier. Well, don’t we all? Nice setting, though. “Oh, great. We’re on Teeny Weeny. People are taking pictures and shooting video. Life is good.” Livin’ the dream, baby! Based on what I’ve seen at Tusenfryd, . . . . . . Vikings like to get really wet. (I think this is either an AJ or Andy photo.) Thor’s Hammer is a good 3D dark ride--sort of Norway’s answer to Curse of DarKastle. Few are honorable enough to carry the Hammer of Thor. My . . . that’s a big one. Matt has found his soulmate. I guess he’s into really big Viking guys in armor. Who knew? A jungle-themed ride in Norway? Eh--why not? Here’s where you can “get your kicks” . . . oh, gawd, that song’s as old as me. Why Loopen--what a great big new sign you have. Why, this new sign and the fresh paint will make all the difference for this old Vekoma loopscrew. Godspeed, my friends. I salute you . . . from a safe distance. They said it wasn’t that bad . . . or was that the concussion talking? This whole section of the park looks much nicer than it used to. Route 66 is a fitting home for the park’s best ride. There are two ways to ride Speed Monster. Like the little boy . . . . . . or like the little girl. Whatever you decide, this is a great launched coaster. It don’t need no stinkin’ backward launch. I spy with my little eye two familiar faces in the front row. “Whee” is the appropriate response here. Any ERT spent on Speed Monster is well spent, indeed. I see nothing to dislike here. AJ wishes he were on this train. Now there’s a good way to end a ride--well done, Intamin! My thanks to whomever took this photo. Long may Speed Monster run!