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Is it $5 per cart or $5 per person? 2 adults 2 kids... --- really? Either way.... yeesh. Just raise admission $0.75 for everyone if you really want to do something like this. I guess they only went to run 4 carts at any given time. Oh, and don't forget the surcharge! Then again, I remember a time SeaWorld Orlando used to charge for the sky tower.

Back at the Hotel, I realized I didn't have anything to help with allergies packed. so Matthew looked up the nearest drugstore (which was still open and he and I hopped in a cab - to make sure we got there as they were closing shortly, and I got to shop in a Swedish Supermarket. Wasnt' sure quite what to purchase, but the checkout lady spoke English very well and helped translate the nose sprays for me and I picked up a couple. then we walked back to the hotel. . grabbed some dinner in the hotel restaurant with a few other folks we saw were eating there, and I headed up to the room to sleep. Pics walking back from the drugstore: and dinner: then up to shower and relax in room/crash. since it's a short final group of pics, will put the Furuvik swag here too: sweatshirt with happy cotton candy: an magnet:

eh, in the grand scheme of things, it's a first world problem. so really nothing major to complain about.

His real name is Andrew. He needed a nickname.

I want to say I am surprised but with the way the BGT has been run in the past few years, I guess I shouldn't be. In a park that basically has next to no flats/non coaster rides especially for a large park, that makes it even more annoying. Parking also increased. Regular is $32, preferred is $47.

I'm curious about that as well. We always stay at the Royal Pacific when we go and in my opinion it is a very good value for what you get. The new hotel will be amazing I'm sure and most likely will be a deluxe so you'll get expresspass BUT you will have to bus to the other parks and citywalk and there is the question of how many rides in Epic will start out offering expresspass access. That walking path and boat transport at the other 3 deluxes is pretty amazing. I'm more worried that all of the on site hotel prices will take a big jump, especially the deluxes, after Epic opens. The value now as compared to the mouse properties down the street is pretty amazing, but thinking they will see this as a reasonable excuse to raise lodging.

Day 16: Sunday, June 18th part 2 (of 2) - Furuvik - and a surprise bonus on the way back to the hotel! continued. . . if I'm not mistaken, this was a lovely boardwalk/elevated pathway that went out onto the edge of the water, and around the goats & Red Panda enclosure. we didn't get to see the Red Panda - I do believe Dexter told us that the enclosure was getting ready for them, but the actual animals had not been moved into the enclosure yet? but I do know that he drew our attention to that land mass way off in the distance, and I'm pretty sure he said that was Finland we were seeing from Sweden. the post Indian food group that was being shown around by Dexter (that's him on the far right) yo Llama is SOOO fat. when she sits around the enclosure? she sits a ROUND the enclosure! hey. .it's not fat.. it's just fur. . . so Dexter was all excited about the Camels, and he actually called them by name and they came *running* over to him. now, did they come running over because they recognized and love him? or because he had handfulls of food to feed them? the world may never know. . . . but it was still wonderful to see, and get pics of. nothin to see here. . just some goats on a big rock. we had heard folks talking about a dark ride/ boat ride. . but hadn't been able to locate it. when asked Dexter about it, he brought us right to the entrance. (I dont' think we'd ever have found it otherwise). it looked like a fun little river raft ride, tho the boats were very small. there was some chatter about 4 per boat, but I recall protesting, and we ended up 3, 2, and 1 . . and what a correct call THAT was. that boat in front with 3 seems a little low to the water! um. . . . big Mike isn't looking too steady on his own either. . I'm concerned. . but at least Jonathan and I seem to be a little steady. um. . the heavier boat in the front seems to be causing a little bit of a traffic jam. . . I look worried, but the operators were laughing hysterically. . . and "luckily" we had someone off ride walking by at JUST the right moment to capture the chaos. ( think this is courtesy of Andy ? ) this guy's face cracks me up: I mean. . . we're laughing and horrified at the same time. ohhhh. . here comes the "Dark ride" part Realistic!! Sharks AND a Kracken? what kind of jungle is this???? but once you safely disembark, you are walking thru a monkey house. . .which makes the boat ride so worth it! turtles too. . you can get so close to them! Achievement unlocked!!! I found the 5th mascot. or did I? he was hanging around with his twin, and I wasn't sure which one of them I had met earlier. so better safe, than sorry. . . at least now I know i met all five of them. around this point, I was starting to feel pretty bad. I was getting cold, and was starting to cough a lot. . . I didn't think I was sick, and it SEEMED to be allergies. as that was affecting some others right at this point. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything with me to help with the congestion. . . . but I COULD buy a nice warm sweatshirt in a giftshop, so I did that. tho I didnt' buy this freaky octo-duck thing. . . nice to see that at least the mini carousel was getting some riders. . . speaking of horses? we had met up with everyone else to head out, and as we were walking towards the entrance we passed this Hobby Horse race track the park had as an attraction. so why not? Several of us grabbed hobby horses, and off to the races! this is a big part of why I absolutely *love* taking trips with TPR. . there really is no such thing as looking too stupid! it was hella fun, and kudos to my fellow racers! Pic courtesy of Robb, I believe. passing that theater we had seen on the way in. ah. .that's why only the two mascots were out. the others are here on stage. and have at least a bit of a crowd. and Elissa, Sarah, and TPR were awarded giant boxes of Chocolates from our guides at the park. we all piled back on the bus, as the sky started to darken and a bit of rain drops started to fall, and the candy got passed around to everyone for a taste. Robb & Elissa had a surprise for us on the way back. . we weren't going straight back to the hotel. . we were stopping here, at SkiStar Stockholm Hammarbybacken ! they have a lot of activities here at this place, that seems to be open year round. . . tho we were here for this: the only mountain coaster in Stockholm as you can see from the ground, it had started to drizzle, and we weren't sure they would keep it open for us.. but they did! here's some of the other activities that can be done here - this is the Tube sliding tracks (it was late in the afternoon, and the weather was kinda icky. . so that would be why it was mostly empty) you get in the individual cars, and they hook you up and pull you up to the top of the Mountain. here's Joey getting ready to head up. and I BELIEVE this is a pic I took of the screens showing how to control the mountain coaster as you descend. . .but gives a good view of the track/city. here's me coming down. . pic courtesy of, I think, Elissa (or could have been Jason) this thing was FLYING because the track was wet. pretty terrifying, but it was SO much fun. after riding in the rain tho, I was so congested and hacking that no one wanted to sit by me on the short bus ride back to the hotel. There was something going on in town tonight - a concert of some kind, I think. . and several in the group bought last minute tickets and were headed to it. all I wanted to do was find someplace to get some decongestant. . .

Day 16: Sunday, June 18th part 1 (of 2) - a park no one had ever been to, Furuvik - and a surprise bonus on the way back to the hotel! the next morning, we got up from our hotel, and filed onto the bus for a drive out of the city. and pulled up - right off what seemed to be a major highway - to a new park for everyone on the trip (including Robb & Elissa): Furuvik this is similar to Kolmarden in that it is mainly a zoo, but has some amusement rides and rollercoasters. . and it had been in the news fairly recently due to a horrific story regarding the Chimpanzees (that the park was known for - they were a main Chimpanzee research facility in Sweden prior to this) that escaped the enclosure and resulted in several injuries and the deaths of multiple primates. We did not ask about the story, and figured it would not be talked about - but it actually was mentioned by some of the park folks we talked to. and there was this memorial out front of the main entrance. (not sure if it was Furuvik sanctioned, but they were allowing it to be there - with the names of the 4 chimps that had died in Dec 2022). the actual main gates of the park. .and you can see front and center in the logo is a Chimp. . . looking back at the major roadway closeby before we went inside the park. it's a really large park, with some very lush areas. This was a theater we passed by on the way in, with a family show going on here during the day featuring the park's mascots: 5 cats. I never did get all of their names, but I WAS successful in meeting all 5 during our visit today I mentioned it's a large park? yup. .here's the park map oh.. did I mention the park Mascots are cats? yup. .they go ALL IN in places with the kitty cat theming. . a little hard to read, but I appreciate any park that attempts topiary/flower landscaping. Nice job by them. as I said, tho it's mostly a zoo, Furuvik does have an amusement park section (most over here in Scandi are identified by "Tivoli" areas). Based on this entrance area, it does appear that at one point the Amusement rides section was a separate ticket entry? but was all included now. various different rides over here. . some intense, some kiddie, but the majority of them "Family" rides. Sadly, this was the only Carousel on site tho. . . as a group tho, we headed for the Coasters first, as they were new to everyone! Lightning is a retro-looking family Vekoma Launch coaster, that was almost brand new - opening shortly before our visit. (I believe this sits where a Schwarzkopf Jet Star II used to be, named Rocket - that closed in 2021) nothing "EXTREME" here, but lots of twisty, twisty track. and a really fun retro station and train design. it went around twice, if I'm recalling correctly, and the 2nd time thru the station, it really pics up speed with the launch that increases the velocity the train already has going as it flies thru the station really great train design. . and part of the Control Panel for you freaks that like that. . . surprise surprise.. .Bumper Cars. (Swedes seem to LOVE their bumper cars). tho I did appreciate that this one had full "traveling Carnival" light package. . and every light worked. it was impressive when it got overcast how brightly this shined. a Disc-O and several games similar to we saw in Liseberg, where one could win a giant box of treats. next door was this wonderful shooting gallery - which for some reason you could win Octopus' at if you got a high enough score. I really enjoyed the choice of weapons. . tho I let down my Texas family by really sucking at shooting with most of the guns. this looked very similar to the one at Liseberg that had run the fairly tame program. . . simply called "Extreme" here. for sure wanted to ride it, but it required a certain number of riders before they could operate, so we'd have to come back later once the park opened to the public. instead, our guide, Dexter, led us over to the 2nd of the park's 3 roller coasters: Fireball - a Vekoma Family Boomerang. the theming here was quite nice, even if the ride wasn't an EXTREME ride. as a zoo, it's great that the "big" rides they have are mostly things the whole family can ride - even the smaller kids. whee!!! and next to it is a large shooting Dark ride - with some really amazing theming on the outside. but we didn't go to this one yet, there was still one more coaster here to get to as the park was opening up to general guests. Draken - a Zierer kiddie coaster but hey, new credit for everyone! as we got off our ride, and met to be released into the park (getting food vouchers, and being told what time to meet up later for the ride back). . I noticed - what's this? are those. . . mascots riding Draken with the 1st public riders? Yup! two of the 5 mascots found! make that 3 of the 5! and 4 of the 5 ! wow.. good timing to be there, just as the Mascots (well. . most of them) came out to start the day! now the park was open. . EXTREME had started running. we lined up - and tho still had to wait a little bit to get enough riders, were able to get a ride on it. Pretty intense, but I liked it. here's us on the ride - I believe pic courtesy of Erik, as we had to convince sMisty and Goldballs (as Erik calls him) to ride with us so we had enough people for the cycle. Despite my face, I liked it. and at the end of our ride, all the guys hopped off, causing the "arm" to raise up, leaving sMisty stuck in the seat way far off the ground (whoops!!) luckily, they have a step stool there, just for these situations all the big rides done (that I cared to ride), it was time for the spookhouse! fun animatronic in the queue line explaining how the guns work (in Swedish, but we figured it out). AMAZING boarding area. . . so cool. we were starting to get a little hungry, as we hadn't had much for breakfast this morning (I believe the Hotel had given us some pre-made bags, since we left so early, so didn't do the hotel breakfast this day). so we looked at the options for food, and most of the folks I was with agreed that the "Indian"/ Tandoori option sounded good. . . it was off in the middle of the zoo area, so we treked off to find it (with some directions from Dexter). . . passing the Camel enclosure. . . . tho we eventually found it. we were literally the ONLY folks here at this restaurant. so the three guys in the kitchen were joking with us, and chatting about where we were from, and they were very interested in TPR, and folks that took trips to go to theme parks and ride things. they laughed and asked me - since I was first - if I wanted the "American" serving for the add on chicken skewers. I had no idea what the difference was, but said "sure" this is what came out. LOL - you should have seen the eyes bulging out from the others with me. . as everyone pretty quickly ordered the same thing. it was a HUGE amount of food, and it was quite tasty! I posted this pic of it, and several other folks from TPR did come track down the Indian place and eat lunch here (I've heard it was way better than the burger place that some went to) David enjoying his protein! Dexter came by while we were eating and was happy his directions had helped us find the place. he offered to show us around to some of the animals, so of course we said yes, and ended up not having to wander aimlessly (which would have been fine, but nicer to have someone bring us to show the parts of the park that he loves). . . to be continued. . .

I owe Blippi an apology. He drove me crazy when he was on our TV non-stop. Now my son is an elementary student, and I see the real crap him and the other kids watch I wish Blippi was back, at least he tried to teach my son something educational.

Who is Steve? Do we know her?