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Managed to take the kiddo on Sunday to ride rides and check out some of the Fright Fest decorations. He's seen several horror movies (unfortunately) and loves scary stuff. He really wants to go in the evening when Fright Fest is going on but I'm wary about it. For a kid, he is absolutely fearless - but he's still just a little guy (he's almost 7.) NOTE: - he watched IT and Halloween at his Grandmother's house (not with me,) and loves them. To the point where his mother got him a Michael Myers birthday cake last year. I'm raising either a dare devil or a serial killer - I'll keep you all apprised Have to say, had the best ride on Scream Machine that I've had in YEARS. I'll still only ride in the front seat - but it reminded me of what it was like when I was a kid in the 80's. Wooden coaster rough, but not bad and full of airtime. It was awesome.

Photo TR: Haunt Friday, September 16th, My busy schedule this fall only allowed me one trip to Dorney Park this Halloween Season, and it was on the opening night of Haunt. I arrived shortly after park opening at 6:00. My first stop was the security checkpoint. As I mentioned above, Dorney Park (along with KD, KI, and probably a bunch of other CF parks) have instituted a bag restriction policy this year: Nothing bigger than 6.5" x 4.5" x 2" is permitted inside the park. Ladies, I don't need to tell you how absolutely impossible it is to find any kind of bag that is that small. This closest I could find was this, with dimensions of 6.8" by 4.5." Surely they wouldn't be measuring, and this extremely slight overage would be allowed, right? Nope, not at all. They have a wooden box that is sized to the allowed dimensions, and if the bag doesn't fit, it's not allowed. The person checking bags asked two other people for confirmation, and the decision was "You've gotta return it to your car." Seriously, if you wanted a "no bags allowed period" policy, just state that. If anyone has any suggestions of a small purse that meets these inane requirements, please let me know for future trips to CF parks. That out of the way, I made my way inside, and redeemed my season Fast Lane pass, which (as it did last year), also includes Fright Lane. Grabbed a quick ride on Talon (two train wait for row 7). I said it last year, and its more true this year: This thing needs a paint job. I double-backed up to the gift shop, to see if they sold any bags that comply with their policy - of course they don't - and grabbed a pretzel from Auntie Anne's. After a quick photo of one of the bars... ...I was back in the Hydra plaza area to catch the beginning of the Illuminightmares show, which despite its name, is really just drummers playing over some backing tracks with some dancers. Meh. At least they reused the stage from last year's opening ceremony show. I made my way down through the CarnEvil scare zone, which is a little tired by this point, but I did find the bubble machine to be a nice change from the ever-present fog machines. I hopped on Demon Drop (walk on, solo ride); I always forget how intense these first-gen Intamin towers are. Then it was time for my first haunted maze of the 2022 season: Roadside Stop and Chop. Yes, they've finally stopped calling it Cornstalkers! This maze mixes up a few different themes, to good effect. You start in the above pictured building, which is done up to represent a hillbilly rest stop on a highway, then proceed into a small section of corn maze. You then alternate between butcher-shop style areas, corn mazes, and other "redneck" themed areas, until you get the end. There was even a human petting zoo! Very well done, and a ton of actors (at least 30). I don't have any idea what this says, but thought it looked cool, so here's a picture. Tell me this isn't supposed to be Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Pretty sure that's a Disney property, CF. Thunderhawk's lights are still running in a steady-burn, as opposed to the chaser pattern of years past. My next haunted area was The Lair, which is kinda a cross between a maze and a scare zone, in that there's only one way in but there's no queue or grouping. Well done, again with a ton of actors. Towards the back of the park, I took in Trick or Treat, which seems better in terms of artistry from years passed, but still too many unadorned black hallways. In contrast to the previous mazes, there were only 10-15 actors in this one. I also grabbed a walk through Necropolis, which is a graveyard setup in the field next to the old Dinosaurs Alive walkway. Marked improvement from last year (the path was much more clearly marked). Decent amount of actors here. Yes, there is still no activity at the old Laser/Stinger site. Next up it was time for Enigma... ...which, just like last year (noticing a pattern here?) was a good concept with okay execution. Not a lot of actors in here either (only counted 7), but I guess it doesn't need them since most of the point is the disorienting visuals. Another of the bars... ...and a picture of the menu. Only what was listed is available; no custom cocktails here. I blame Pennsylvania's weird alcohol rules. After a quick ride on Possessed (1 cycle wait for row 12, of course no holding brake), I took in the Skeleton Crew show after a reccomendation from an employee who said it was "all new this year." It was not. The show is comprised of four different acts: and aerialist, a hoop-roller, a fire-twirler, and the trademark "guys falling off the building and bouncing." Good enough I guess, but not anything I hadn't seen before. The pirate area is very well done though. As is the Hollow, with all of the jack-o-lanterns. I guess maybe that wasn't Oogie Boogie before, since they had a few more of those things set up elsewhere without trademarked characters. The next maze up was Tourist Trap, which by this time (around 8:45), the mazes had started to develop some lines. I found this pretty well done, the maze was very long with a lot of actors and great artistry. That said, this house has been around for a long, long time, and it might be time for a re-theme. Next up was Blood on the Bayou, which from the barker and beads all over the front, you might think had been modified to be a Mardi Gras theme.... ...but alas, was pretty much unaffected from last year. Notably, this one had a 7 minute wait with Fright Lane due to the merge point. This one was very good, as it usually is, with over 40 actors and a ton of different well done scenes. Blackout, the pitch-black maze, was not open tonight, so that about wrapped up my activities. I took a walk through the Dystopia scare zone, which I had thought would be better at night than it was... ...and grabbed some pictures of the Dorney Park Haunt staples... ...and made my way out and started my drive home. Overall, I'm glad I started my Halloween-in-parks season here rather than closing it out with this park like I did last year, since things can only get better. Seriously though, it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination...it's just very samey with very few differences compared to previous years. And that bag policy needs serious work. Next Stop: Kings Dominion next weekend.

2019 for the Mine Ride's 50th anniversary. Fun fact--the figure was originally from the Pirate Ride!

It was interesting reading your review. I'm originally from Cleveland (don't hold that against me), so this was my home park. I'm glad to hear things have gotten better with the staff's attitudes. I'm going this weekend, so I hope to encounter the same. This trip wasn't my idea, but the Kings Island's hours are just so bad. We'll see what happens.

^Robb said he loved that flume AND rode it, that should have been all the warning you needed!

part 2, photos. Wonder Woman has murals on what used to be blank walls. I also felt at least a hint of air conditioning in the room. And Woman Woman has more lockers. Now it at least has enough to stop sending half empty trains. And it almost has landscaping? This was a giant hole in the dirt on opening day, so... Progress! Oktoberfest menu (served at Ace Of Clubs). There were also a few different beers and a cider. I think the $30 options is a pretty good deal depending on which food you get. This might have something to do with why Apocalypse was running only 1 train. Clocked three 3+ min dispatches in a row too. Love that for us. Best maze of the night for me. We love a cute little dark magic ritual altar moment. Skipped this maze because it's mid-tier and I've been through it so many times. But this is a fun shot. That's one hell of a jump scare.

Trip Report from 2022 Fright Fest TL;DR - worth the $25 upcharge for the wrist band, especially if you haven't been in a while. BIG dings for bad app and new maze not being ready. The Good: Condemned (best of the night), Willougby's, Sewer of Souls. All solid mazes with energetic talent. Condemned has the most immersive design/build, and the theme is very creepy and unlike most other concepts at other local big haunts. Willougby's is charming in its own way, though it could use some more oomph in some of its larger rooms. Sewer Of Souls is another great concept, and even though build quality isn't at the top tier of what MM has produced before, it works. Talent overall. Lots of energy, interaction, commitment to characters was good overall. Oktoberfest Food Fest. I only tried a couple things, but they were really good and there were lots of other things on the menu that looked great too. The Okay: Aftermath maze. I love that they worked the post apocalyptic theme into the maze that's right next to Apocalypse. It's smart and it shows that there is somebody in the park who understands how to work with theming. Love that the queue has a video to explain the story. But it needs more scenery. The footprint of the maze is enormous and it's outside so you can't narrow people's focus. Parts are good, parts feel barren. But the fireball over your head is a scare that's hard to beat. Show Moment 1. This is something I actually LOVE that they're trying but it needs work. They wrote a little show moment for releasing the monsters into the park, over by Batman. A track played, and then the gate opened for groups of monsters to walk through a cloud of fog. It was a great concept, but... the speakers were way too quiet to give the moment the drama it needs. And the groups of monsters were really small because of the way they broke them up into their character/zone types. This big build up of narration, fog goes off, gate opens, aaand.... it's 8 people. Show Moment 2. The front of the park scare zone has a new ocean/pirate theme, and they wrote another show moment to give the origin story of the zone. Fabulous idea, but the execution needs work. Once again. really underpowered audio, especially since the show was scheduled during a band set at the Full Throttle stage. The script was also just hard to follow. And there was a fog machine that kept cycling during the show and obscuring the action on stage. The Bad: Ride Ops. Lots of coasters running 1 train and having slow ops. I got off Ninja, got back into line, made it to the gates, and got back on the same train I had just exited. And I was not running. Also there were multiple break downs in just a couple hours. No map and broken app. When I bought the wrist band, I scanned a QR code that took me to a pdf map of Fright Fest. But it was not really optimized for phone usage, and it mentioned several times to check the app for maze info and show times. Except... none of that was actually on the app. IMO, if you're going all in on an app and ditching physical maps/guides, then your app needs to be FLAWLESS. Glitchy apps can be given grace only if there's something else as a back up. New Maze not finished. This is the biggest ding. There is only one new maze this year and it's not done. I was told it will open next week, which is the THIRD week of the event. And I didn't find this out until after purchasing the wrist band. I feel like that is a big deal that should have been disclosed upfront. Overall: I still think that Fright Fest offers the best value for your money of any of the theme park Halloween events in So Cal. Especially if you have a pass already. Build quality has been improving in recent years, and I see attempts to grow creatively.

part II, continuing on to Europa park: So back on the bus, and we raced a French train to IKEA. . . wait. . we're not going to Sweden on this trip! but the French Countryside is absolutely lovely charming and before we knew it? we were driving parallel to the Rhine River. . ready to cross over from France into Germany. hmmm. . appears the boarder is down to one lane here at the crossing (over a dam) a look at a closed dam gate. . and an open one. . exciting, I know! it wasn't as pretty as I had expected the Rhine river to be. . .but I must admit, it was very exciting to cross a river I had only ever read about in books. I have no idea what this sign means. . maybe the name of the township we passed thru once crossing the border? but this one I get. . . .this is actual border between Germany on the left, and France on the right. Managed to get a perfect picture as we passed it signs, signs, everywhere a sign, no idea what any of them mean, but I'm glad our driver (who was an awesome guy - even if not Franklin) did! and soon enough we pulled up in front of the incredible El Andaluz (themed to a Spanish Villa).. which would be our home for a few nights. it's one of several heavily themed hotels on property, and this one is conveniently located right next to the "Resort Entrance" gate, and also connected via underground tunnels and walkways to the other themed hotels by here, mainly Hotel Colosseo (themed as a Roman coliseum) it's also (apparently) conveniently located next to the monorail which will bring you around to the front gates of the Park. . . but that's something I never managed to do during our visit! There is simply SO much to do at Europa Parc, that I never had time to take the monorail, or even go out the front gates. (but why would I when the Resort gate is right by the hotel. . literally). tho I DID take the shuttle bus (conveniently located just outside the hotel) to go to visit Rulantica. .the giant indoor waterpark, that we were invited to check out during our visit anyways. .the hotels are all pretty heavily themed. . even the statues out front moved, and interacted with guests coming in. Impressive as hell. Elissa went and checked us all in, and came back out with room keys and entrance tickets (and other assorted goodies). . here's what the Europa Park tickets look like. the rooms at El Andaluz vary greatly, might just have one bed, and some bunk beds on the wall. . or two small beds. . or two queen size beds. it was just luck of the draw what room you ended up with. . . but James and I got a lucky straw and not only ended up with a very large room (two queen beds): with a huge bathroom: but also? right on the corner of the hotel. . . literally directly overlooking the Resort Guests Entrance to Europa Parc! that's the Resort entrance on the left of the yellow tent. wowza! we had a great view of the main Monorail too.. even if I didn't get to ride it around the park, I still go to see it in action (very much looks like Disney's, tho I haven't seen those in years) we were only the 2nd floor, so looking out of our room the other direction - towards the front of the hotel. and a view looking straight out. . at the monorail track (and of course, I didn't wait for a Monorail to be on it. . but still. . . look how lovely this is!) all settled in, we headed down to the lobby to meet a group of TPR trip participants to see what we could do about dinner, and explore the hotel (s) the chandelier in the main lobby is super impressive. hell. the whole lobby is impressive. It really is quite immersive. walking down some of the hallways to check out the restaurants available here. . . as noted. . heavily themed! even the toilets are themed, with piped in creaking sounds, and clanking of swords. yes, this is still inside our hotel! one of the eateries has outdoor seating options among the rooms/wings. we checked out the Brazillian style meat buffet in El Andaluz, but decided to skip it because we were eating there as a group the next night. And the Tapas restaurant looked good. . but let's head over to Colosseo to check out the options there, since they are supposedly very good Italian food offerings. a Model of the hotel theming in the tunnel headed over there from El Andaluz coming out to the front entrance of Hotel Colosseo yup. .heavily themed here too. . . cool manikins guarding the front entrance. and bewbs. . I mean. . art. . . stepping out into the main Courtyard of this hotel is impressive as hell. I mean, I loved our rooms, and very much enjoyed our hotel. . but this one is incredible too. (and there are people sitting up there in the section of the Colosseum ? wow.. will have to check that out later for the view) most of the group came over here to check out dinner options. . just like Disney tho, most everything here was booked solid (or had a long, long wait). . I guess when the park closes between 6-7, the restaurants are gonna get full, since all the guests staying are back from the park. so we headed back to the Tapas restaurant in El Andaluz, as that one we had checked out earlier and didn't have any waitlist. we joined a group from the trip of 7-8 people, and really enjoyed the meal, as well as getting to get to know everyone. we were seated in a covered "patio/greenhouse" section of the restaurant. with nice views of the surrounding hotel while we ate. (El Andaluz interior courtyard, gardens, and pool in the back there) interesting "rural" chandelier. . not sure if it was wood, or animal horns. . but I think horns? the menu, which I wish I had a picture of the inside of. .as I know the offerings all looked really good, and i know I really LOVED what I got. But I can't really remember exactly what it was. (no big worries tho.. of course I took pictures) the group at our table. . . . . .and going back to *edit*. . because just noticed that Jon had his wallet open, and dont' want anyone to zoom and get his personal info. . LOL I do recall this was a Terrine of tartar, tomato, figs, and nuts. . it was really good. Jon got tomato jam crostini, I think. A few folks ordered the Tapas dinner, which served between 2-4, so multiple folks shared. I tried a few things after everyone was full, and it was all excellent. my main was, I believe apricot stuffed duck? i think? I do remember that it was a LOT of food, and I shared some of it with others, and that it was so good. with sauce poured. full, fat, and happy, several of us headed back over to Colosseo to check out the bar that infamously has a jail cell in it. But before we tried to go there, we stepped back out into the courtyard. WOW. . absolutely stunning at night. a pic I took to send home to Nick. he thought we had gone to Italy. . LOL. . he didn't really pay attention when I gave him details . . but he said it looked like I was having fun. and I was. in the elevator on the way up to the bar, I snapped a shot of the restaurants/amenities offered at the on site hotels. and in the lobby of the Speakeasy themed bar. . . spy vs spy? Italian Gangsters? who knows. . probably iconic film stars, but I had no idea. I took a pic of them because. . . awwwww. . the bar was closed. Not sure why, the hours on the door said it should be open, but again it was a Tuesday, so maybe short staffed like many other places are these days. undeterred (Ryan really wanted a beer, as did Ian). . we headed back down to the lobby to check out the gelato stand (I was so full, couldn't even consider it), and the downstairs hotel bar to get drinks. but first, I looked up in the lobby and saw this. wow. the main lobby bar at Hotel Colosseo we got beer and/or drinks, and headed over towards the massive staircase that would bring us up to where we saw people sitting earlier. crossing the courtyard over there tho, we passed the lighthouse from Hotel Bell Rock (one block over, and themed to New England) all lit up. Very pretty. a climb up the steps and we got to experience the cool breeze and great view.. sitting on the steps and drinking. LtR: Andrew, Jon, Ian, me. . . . I think James and Ryan were sitting on the other side of me. as noted. .what a lovely view: we finished our drinks, and headed back down to the bar to return the glasses. . and tho it was a consideration to maybe get another? it had been a really long day, and we had to get up tomorrow for early entry (and ERT rides on Can-Can Coaster, and Silver Star before park open!). . so we said our goodnights, and headed back to El Andaluz and our rooms to crash. what a great start to the trip! oh, and on the way to our room in El Andaluz. . spotted this art. . . so a perfect way to end official day 1. . with some classy nudity! wOOt! next update will be in the next few days (I hope) and will be day one of Europa Parc. hope y'all are enjoying following along. bert

I’ve tried to convince Brit to get a bunch of women together and march on Washington demanding real pockets in women’s clothing. I don’t understand why there aren’t millions of women there with pitchforks every single day, I really don’t. If I were a woman I would be burning shit. Full disclosure, this is slightly self-serving because then I wouldn’t have to carry everything all the time, but let’s ignore that for now.

On to the official day one of the trip! this was a packed day, out of the lobby and on the bus at 8:30am, driving from France to Germany (with a bonus surprise park along the way) and checking into hotel El Andaluz at Europa park post 7pm - too late to go into the park (closed around 6pm this day), but early enough to explore the hotel and surrounding hotels - which were all super neat. so I will break up day 1 into two parts. first off, let's have a look at the hotel at the Airport in Paris where we had stayed, Hotel Ibis. it was very typical of a European Hotel (so I was told). . fairly small room, with two small single beds (with very thin mattresses). oh, it was fine for staying in overnight, but glad we weren't here for multiple nights, as the beds were probably the most uncomfortable out of all the hotels we stayed in on the trip. But hey, at the end of the day? I'm in Paris (at the airport, but in Paris. .so I'm not complaining!). the view of the hotel area at this stop for the airport shuttles as we were walking to the bus that would be our main mode of transportation for this trip. The Paris airport is HUGE! on the bus! and ready to go! I think there were 36 of us, on a bus that sat 50? so plenty of space to spread out and move around. . although I ended up sharing a row with my roomie James for the entire time we were on the bus thruout the trip (such a wonderful guy, and he put up with me as I got more and more stressed about what was going on at home during the trip. Both on the bus, in Disney, and in the room). Really. . James is gold. The TPR crew on official day one of the trip, as we're leaving the CDG airport in Paris. Photo courtesy of Robb this was on the window, and just cracked me up, every time i looked up at it. I mean, I know it's directing you how to use the emergency "crowbar" thing to break the window out in case of an accident. . but "Nooduitgang" makes me giggle. some pics of the French Countryside as we began our trip! windmills, windmills everywhere. . so many windmills. and really, rather soothing and pretty. huh. . what's this? empty parking lot? Tho I really like how the shade for the parking is made from Solar Panels. hmmmm. . what could they be generating electricity for? this is a LOT of parking. . I feel like I'm Charlie on "Lost". . "where AREEEE we?" I spot a roller coaster thru the trees! yup, we're at Wallygator Parc in Maizières-les-Metz, Lorraine, France ! but ..why is it empty? wow. . this is Tuesday, and the park is not actually open! But Robb made some magic happen, and the park opened just for us on the trip for a few hours so we could experience their 3 big coasters: Comet (a Vekoma Corkscrew), Anaconda (an infamously rough woodie) and Monster (a Raptor clone, relocated from Japan, but it runs with no midcourse). OMG. .thanks Robb! (or should that be "thanks?". . a Vekoma and a rough woodie as the first two coasters of the trip. . . after they haven't been running for a few days since the park hadn't been open since Sat). lol. .I'm teasing. . this was WONDERFUL! a couple of folks from the park met us at the front, and along with a couple of operators - who led us from ride to ride to run them for us - we headed into the closed park! so strange to be walking into a closed park. . . it was eerily quiet, and such a gorgeous day. I spy a carousel! wow..another absolutely stunning Carousel. 2nd day in a row, I didn't ride tho. . as this wasn't what the operators and the park had opened for us to ride. But it was so pretty I stopped to take a picture anyways, just happy to get to see it. how about a picture of Erik taking a picture of Ian taking a picture of me who was taking a picture of them? because? why not? the park is absolutely lovely. . there is some really nice theming thruout the park (which is odd because the theming is so nice, but then a lot of the rides themselves didn't seem to have much theming put into them). But still a lovely park.. . and this river cruise ride (which ended up being a very popular ride in most of the parks we visited) was very pretty, even with not a whole lot of theming. oh, I spoke a little too soon. . . entering Jurassic Park..sorta the dinos are part of the themed Raft ride, which has the rafts going thru a dinosaur enclosure while trying to survive escaped dinos. it looked really well done, but as the park was closed today it wasn't operating. I think this was a haunted house attraction? the exterior was interesting. . . but left me a little confused on what the theming/storyline was supposed to be. Celtic spirits perhaps? oooo..they have a Zamperla Air Race? I love the one at SFFT, although that one goes up. this is a park that has a nice assortment of flats and thrill rides! and then we came around the corner and this came into view.. our first coaster of the official trip: Comet. a Vekoma Corkscrew. the operators ran a couple of test trains while we watched nervously and took pics. it sure LOOKS pretty. . . Crossing Fingers and ready for a ride! (pic courtesy or either Robb or Elissa) whee! front row! know what? it was really . . . good ? OMG. .it was good! I think I rode it three times before I stepped off to take some pics of my own. Never thought I'd enjoy a Vekoma Corkscrew. . but maybe because it *hadn't* warmed up? it was very enjoyable the pics I took of it.. with the "Space Shoot" tower threading the needle the park reps were really excited that we were enjoying ourselves. . and they offered to open up the Space Shoot tower if anyone wanted to ride for us, before we headed over to the next coaster. i think there was complete agreement that, "yes, please". . . so they tested it a few times, and opened it up for us to get a ride or two. it was a really fun S&S Space Shot tower . . I enjoyed it. and this one had a little bit of theming too. I mean, not much, but a little bit in the queue and around it. (pics courtesy of AJ or Brad, I believe in this case) as we headed over to the parks woodie, Anaconda, we passed by this charming ride. .kinda like Moose on the Loose with Ponies. the Park reps told me that this was the most recent ride to the park - although they were about to open up a new section with more family rides (that we later would be able to walk thru for a "backstage tour". .tho they asked for no pictures please. But it had a cute mini log flume and a couple of nice family flats, and looked like a solid addition to the park) going into the section where Anaconda is.. not sure what this "theming" was. .but it was interesting. as was this.. .um. . ok? LOL and here is the official entrance to Anaconda Ride sign. . and this just cracked me up. . the kids riding on the snakes back. . wheeee! and why are the snakes that make up the "N"s stoned? LOL oooo.. . the station theming was just so-so. .but wow, do I love these trains. it looked like there was a lot of new wood on the track, and the park reps said they had done some retracking work. I was ready. .and prepared myself for a rough ride. . it wasn't warmed up, and had a reputation for being rough. (camera out with permission, since the park was closed, and they told me I could take a picture before they sent us out as long as camera went back in my pocket before we pulled out) here we go. . .TPR is about to do Anaconda at Wallygator! whee!! another one that shocked me. Not only was it *not* rough, but it was actually pretty smooth in places. it wasn't an exhilarating thrill ride, but it was a pretty wonderful family woodie. . I enjoyed it. (and I think I rode this 5 or more times while we were over here). pics courtesy of Robb or Elissa look at those smiles! you can tell the retracking work they did was a great job. after multiple rides on Anaconda, we headed to the parks main attraction, Monster.. . the Raptor clone from Japan (it's so pink!!!!!). . . but with no midcourse. remember what I said about weird/no theming in this park in places. . well. .that was pretty fully on display here. I was surprised to see it just plopped in a field. tho it seems to have a racecar on it. . . for some reason? the racing theme is not anywhere else in the queue. .which is pretty generic, to be honest. tho the amount of warnings are impressive. and we had a wonderful time making up what some of the warnings were for. (myself and a few others had time to giggle on this, as I knew it would be too intense for me - I mean, Raptor is too intense for me - so I knew this would be one and done for me at least. . and it was. But I liked it a lot too. after my 1 ride. . it was starting to get warm out here in the sun so I went downstairs under the loading platform in the shade to take pics of others enjoying riding this over and over. I was ok in the shade. . .making up restrictions for why folks couldn't ride. after Monster, we were led to a restaurant that they opened for us, and we got sodas and ice cream (yay!). .as noted it was a warm day. I got put on napkin distribution duty (yes, some of them made it into my bag, but I did have them later for when someone needed them, so it all worked out). I'm not really sure what ride this is. . but it's very pretty, and has lots of lights on it. bet it's beautiful at night! and I was SO excited to see a Sea Storm . . I love these and they're so rare in the States. I came to find out, not so rare in Europe, and pretty much every park had at least 1 (a couple of them had 2 - standard, and kiddie), most of them direct "out of the box" theme and all. but yes, I rode them ALLLLLL still I was thrilled to see this one here at Wallygator, even if it wasn't open for us today. but while we were breaking for Ice Cream, the reps asked if anyone was interested in G-Lock.. the Zamperla Air Race. again, it was, I think, 100% from everyone, "yes" So we headed over that way, and they cycled it, and the operators opened it up for us! whee!!!! I think this pic is from Brad, but not 100% sure. . might be AJ. and there is a little bit of theming outside this ride.. .I mean. .it's a rocket! (and a trash can) after our fun rides on the Air Race, it was time to head back out. . . we still had a bit of a drive to get to Europa. . and this had turned out to be a wonderful stop (thank you again, Robb for making this happen). . so we started towards the front gate. (oh, I should mention here that due to a conversation that Smisty had with the park reps. . so I heard. . she was gifted a wheel from Monster. . and then they gifted TPR with 9 more wheels, which were given out by Kristen at the end of the trip. Luckily I didn't "win" one, so I didn't have to schlep back a wheel thru TSA in my luggage. . LOL). But thanks Smisty. . she really is quite the awesome person! (who also asked about being able to buy something at the park. . and so they opened up a gift shop for us on the way out too!!!). anyways, here's the river boat ride from a different angle as we headed back to the bus: the front section, as we headed out. . the shop at the far front on the right is the one they opened for us. swag I bought? a shirt for Nick (that he sadly, never got to wear, but as it's a Large - they didn't' have medium - I gifted it to our friend Sean who loves theme parks. .and Nick would have wanted him to have it. the XXL gray one I got for me (I always get XXL so if Nick threw it in the dryer the shirts won't shrink so much I can't wear them. . .something I suspect I'll be doing for years to come anyways) and the hot pink (of course) Wallygator magnet, that's on the fridge. and with goodies purchased, and a pic taken by the park to commemorate TPR coming to visit (I don't seem to have a copy of that, or would share), we headed back to the bus, and made our way towards the Rhine River, and Germany. . we were due at Europa Park this evening. to be continued. . . . .

Smol update: My friend and I had a blast at Magic Mountain on Saturday - yes, it was unbelievably hot, but the crowds were minimal and every ride was a walk-on. In fact, the longest we waited was 15 minutes for X2 right at opening. (That was more due to slow operations, despite running two trains.) The best part of the day was getting my friend on X2 who was completely blind to the ride experience. We were assigned row 4 (no choice of row, kiddies) and received a surprisingly smooth ride. The first drop is incredible out of sheer virtue of its theatrics: it forces you to acknowledge your imminent doom in the most sadistic manner possible - an experience my friend learned for himself. We both loved it, and X2 remains our favorite ride in the park. My friend also ranked it above pretty much every ride he had ever ridden. See, my friend regarded Cedar Point the same way I regarded Six Flags Magic Mountain: a relic of childhood road trips past, with neither of us having visited the other's home park. (Perhaps next time I meet him at Cedar Point? ) Every ride was a new experience for him, and a few were completely new to me, as well. I last visited in 2012 and boy has the park changed. X2 and Tatsu were both lovely (the latter being far more graceful than the first) but that was only the beginning. I'll chalk it up to the 107 degree heat: everything was running super fast. West Coast Racers was a lovely 1st time experience: it was whippy, punchy, and offered a few great pops of air. I honestly felt undersold on the quality of this Premier coaster, and place it firmly in the #4 ranking of the day, with X2 at #1 and Tatsu at #5. Killer Gs in those helixes, by the way. Up next was Wonder Woman: Flight of Courage, a wicked single-rail coaster from Rocky Mountain Construction. I rode Railblazer (RIP) back in May and was thoroughly blown away by its intensity. Wonder Woman isn't quite that intense, but it came close. The back is obviously the best seat for airtime (the whip over the first drop is legendary) with its best moment being the hill immediately following the raven dive. Nothing puts a smile on your face quite like 4 seconds of sustained ejector airtime. #3 The greatest airtime of the day (and possibly the best we've ever experienced) arrived in the form of Twisted Colossus. I had the privilege of riding in both the front and back rows, and I'm honestly stumped on which I preferred. Yes, the airtime is world class in the back car, but the front offers a hell of a ride too. I think it ultimately comes down to what you want out of the first drop: do you want to dangle helplessly at 80 degrees for a few seconds, or do you want to get hulk-smashed to the ground? #2 We enjoyed a remarkably good run on Goliath next. The elongated bunny hill offered some gentle but pleasant floater air, and the helix is as grey-out inducing as ever. But damn, do those mid-course brakes suck. #7 Full Throttle exceeded my expectations as well, mainly due to the weird amount of flack it received at opening. Is it short? Yes. Is it still pretty freakin sweet? Yes. The launch rules, the hang time is other-worldly, and the bizarre reverse launch sequence is a lot of fun. #6 We ultimately left after marathoning those 7 rides for 5 hours in the park due to the unrelenting heat. (PSA: if you're going to Six Flags Magic Mountain at any time during the next week, it will be HOT. Remember your sunscreen and hydrate regularly - there were a few who experienced heat exhaustion, including my friend. He's totally okay, but remember that heat-related illness is no joke.) Final Rankings X2 Twisted Colossus Wonder Woman: Flight of Courage West Coast Racers Tatsu Full Throttle Goliath