robinschroder

More Japanese warning signs please Robb! Those last ones were just so great! Keep Watch Emoticon!

Hi Robb, According the speed test, I have 5484kbps download 360kbps upload but I'm over in the UK - not sure if that has any influence on things. Large video file Took about a minute before it started to play Stopped to rebuffer at 21" for about a minute and a half Stopped to rebuffer at 39" for around about another minute and a half etc. Small video file Took about half a minute before it started to play Stopped to rebuffer at 22" for about a minute Stopped to rebuffer at 39" for about another minute etc. Large video file test 2 Took about a minute before it started to play Stopped to rebuffer at 20" for around a minute and a half Stopped to rebuffer at 37" for around another minute and a half etc. I never normally have any buffering or lagging problems on streaming content sites and could always stream the smaller TPR videos in the updates without any problems. Hope that's helpful! Robin

1. Jerry Seinfeld 2. Michael Bloomberg 3. Paul Simon

Hi John, Look no further than TPR's Spain and Mini Europe Trip 2007 reports and TPR's Europe Trip 2008 reports for inspiration! I haven't personally been to PortAventura, although it does look fantastic! There are several parks in Germany reasonably close to each other such as Europa Park, Holiday Park and Phantasialand which are all well worth visiting, plus I really loved Heide Park (further north in Germany) when I visited last year. It really depends on what sort of rides you like... Robin

Hello, Whilst not really answering your specific question about travelling to the US, I did notice you mentioned one of the reasons for your trip is that you've exhausted all of the UK theme parks... Don't forget that there are so many fantastic parks all over nearby mainland Europe! Once you've hit up SFMM / Cedar Point / Orlando or wherever you end up in the states, don't forget about European parks like Holiday Park (for Expedition GeForce), Europa Park, Phantasialand, Heide Park, Walibi World, Liseberg, ... the list goes on!! Robin

Courtesy of BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7697240.stm

Big Mike, I can't believe you even need to ask - of course, YES! Not just 2009 - let's pre-book the Big Mike Roadshows for 2010, 2011, 2012,... ! Anyone that says 'no' has probably not met you and doesn't understand the humour behind your reports and this thread. Keep up the great work!

Congratulations Big Mike! Looking forward to your reports!

UK Train times and prices can be found here: http://www.thetrainline.com/ Trains leave regularly from London Waterloo (and Clapham Junction). The bus journey costs of the order of about £3 for a return - can't remember the exact price. The 950 Thorpe Park express bus leaves from directly outside Staines station and it's well signposted. The bus journey takes no more than about 10 - 15 mins max.

You're the safest person to ride water rides with! Glad you had a great time! Robin

Actually I think I meant 'Beat The Teacher' (although it did feature 'noughts and crosses' quite heavily). But I do vaguely remember 'Hold Tight' (based on 'snakes and ladders') which was staged at Alton Towers itself! Anyway....

The last time I rode Corkscrew (pre-Rita days), they forced me to take my backpack on the ride with me...!! Seemed a bit weird, but they were adamant that I couldn't leave my bag at the station so I had to attach it to my legs and hope it didn't drop out. Although it's one of the responsible factors* in getting me into coasters when I was really young (a trip to Alton Towers was always the prize on a children's TV quiz show here in the UK in the early 80s, 'Noughts and Crosses', and they always used to show the Corkscrew at the end) I'm not all that sad to see it go, especially if it's paving the way for something better...! (*The other main one was reading about Moonsault Scramble in the Guinness Book of Records!)

Yikes! This thread is a blast from the past! This year (2008) neither Virgin Trains nor Midland Mainline ran their all-inclusive deals to Alton Towers. I really hope they consider bringing this back for 2009 as although there are some local bus services which can be reached by train from London, the cost and complication factor really makes things tricky!

^ That's what happens when you process Fuji Velvia slide film (deliberately) using the wrong chemicals (- those that are intended for normal negative films like your Fuji Superias or Kodak Ultras etc.). It's called 'cross-processing'. The blue shots are from AGFA CT Precisa slide film through the same process. ^^ I tried to claim this all back from Eurostar (since my travel insurance company didn't want to know) but... Royal Mail went and lost the letter containing all of my original tickets and receipts even though I sent it Recorded Delivery... nice! Fortunately I had photocopies so I posted those off yesterday Special Delivery.

A few more... Where were you Sir John Betjeman when I was stranded? Followed by complete chaos at Paris Gare du Nord! Eiffel Tower in-camera mashup Eiffel Tower pigeon Pompidou foyer mashup Up to the art galleries... Centre Georges Pompidou Some pylons from the ICE train window At Kaiserslautern Hauptbahnhof Sunrise in Neustadt back at the station

Ich bin dein Expeditionsleiter, Doktor Robin Schroder. I was itching to ride EGF again, so on Tuesday 9th September 2008 I took the Eurostar to Paris from London (2 1/2 hour journey), I had a few hours in Paris to break up the journey and then I took the ICE (Intercity Express) train from Paris to Kaiserslautern in Germany (another 2 1/2 hour journey). From there I took the S-Bahn (local train, 30 mins) to Neustadt an der Weinstraße where I stayed overnight. On Wednesday 10th September, I travelled one more stop on the S-Bahn from Neustadt to Haßloch where I met Peter / 'PeeJay' and he drove us for about 10 minutes over to Holiday Park! It was a bit of a cloudy day to begin with (a shame as it transpired that the weather on the days either side was lovely!) but it was not at all cold the whole day, and that was the main thing! There were very few people at the entrance gate as schools had already resumed and it was the end of the summer season - also the not-so-great weather forecast probably helped! After a wander around the front of the park, we were allowed through to the back at 10:00 and we headed straight for Expedition GeForce! We got on the first train of the day (towards the back) and although it certainly wasn't the best ride we had that day, you could hardly call it bad... I mean, it's Expedition GeForce!!! We headed over to the Starflyer and took a terrifying spin, by which time the rain had unfortunately set in and we decided to shelter for a little while since Holiday Park isn't exactly huge, and we had all day to check in with GeForce! After a ride on Holiday Park's (in)famous dark ride, we took shelter in one of the cafés until the rain subsided. The park was still very quiet, which was great! Very few people seemed to be coming in, although after having laughed a lot in the past at GeForce's warning sign that animals aren't allowed to ride, I did see a couple enter the park with their dog! Once the rain had gone, it stayed reasonably cloudy but dry for a few hours. GeForce seemed to continue to 'warm-up' and it was one-train operation (with the 'yellow' train - which doesn't really help as they're both slightly different shades of yellow!!). This was no problem seeing as it was either a walk-on or a one-train wait to get the back seat all day!! It was like an 8-hour ERT session! Ha ha! On some early rides you could really feel the first trim before the 'S-curve hill' as well as the second trim before the final bunny hills on a couple of rides. However, this gradually eased up and by about 1pm / 2pm GeForce was really flying!! You could still feel the first trim a little - Peter said a little more than when TPR were there in the summer, but we both agreed definitely a lot less than when we were there with TPR the year before. The second trim didn't really make much difference, especially by the end of the day. Plus the final bunny hills were so much better than they had been last year! In between rides on GeForce, we did pretty much everything else in the park and never had to wait in line for anything! I love their log flume, their (Olympic themed!?)drop tower is really intense - although drop towers freak both of us out anyway, and the Starflyer is even more fun when it's not raining! We even did Super-Wirbel (Vekoma corkscrew with Beyerncurve, no less) for nostalgic reasons as it was both of our first ever coasters way back when! This makes more sense for Peter, although it's more complicated for me! It's funny as it seemed a lot faster than I remembered it being - although we were pretty far back in the train - and not too rough all things considered. That said, we were definitely in the Vekoma brace position! It did unfortunately start to rain a little again in the mid-afternoon, but after that had cleared, the sun came out - even better for some photos! It was really interesting to see GeForce's performance dip a little as a result of the turn in the weather, but it soon got back up to how it had been running earlier - in fact even a little better by the end of the day! That drop, the first hill and then the insane ejector second hill... what more do you need?! And it was so nice to get good airtime on all 4 of the final bunny hills - something that hadn't really happened last year. What a great ride!! Worth all the travelling out there, and it was great to catch up with Peter again! Check out a selection of pictures from my funny cameras below! As a side note, Peter kindly gave me a lift back to Neustadt, I stayed at the same hotel overnight and then on Thursday 11th I took the train back to Kaiserslautern and then from Kaiserslautern back to Paris. There was unfortunately a 1 1/2 hour delay on the trip back to Paris due to a problem on the high speed line. Nevertheless, I still had time to go to the Pompidou Centre (Modern Art Gallery), wander over to the Eiffel Tower area and get something to eat... before I heard that the Eurotunnel was closed due to fire, so my train back to London wouldn't be running!!! Cut a long story short, I ended up having to find a hotel in Paris (not before having travelled to the airport and back to investigate flights), stay in Paris unexpectedly overnight, get up early on Friday and head up to Calais (due to there still being no Eurostar trains) where I then eventually got on a ferry to Dover (along with thousands of other stranded people) and then a really slow train back home. I ended up spending over 2/3 of my original budget again on just getting home, although that's currently being claimed back! It was quite exciting though (if not a little stressful) and I still maintain it was worth it all just to get on GeForce again! Sunset in Neustadt and der Weinstraße The day was done and I returned to my hotel Hey, this one's for you Big Mike! Count the rubber duckies! A special 'Shocktober' orange tractor quite literally made out of oranges... Not so much love for Superwirbel, though Gotta love the Starflyer! The other train stayed in bed all day... Back to the station And the (in)famous Pipi Station! Lots of intamin track! Lots of airtime! As well as the first hill! ...drop!!!!! ...that... Love... A few more people... but that's as busy at it got! It's like our own personal ERT... all day! Hanging out by the EGF jeep EGF is brought to you by BIG MIKE FM! EGF with its 'Shocktober' theming! The next day at Neustadt Böbig station I took the ICE to Kaiserslautern in Germany More pigeons! Notre Dame mashed up with some trees A brief stop in Paris to see this pigeon at Notre Dame The Eurostar trains Sir John Betjemen at London St Pancras station home of the Eurostar

I'd like to see a Big Mike Roadshow reality show.

This was an amazing update! Nightmare Salamander Space Contingency > Laser Snake Horse On Fire

Colossos and Desert Race at Heide Park don't look too out of place next to each other... We can only but dream that planning restrictions / problems will one day be such that Alton can build a woody - and an Intamin one please if they do, or at least a GCI!!

Great photos as usual Hanno - thanks for the updates and hope to see you again at some point soon! Robin

In light of the 'no-reflections' ruling, I've changed my answer to 9! Robin

I think I definitely helped spoil River Quest for you, Robb - I'm sorry! As Chuck said, all of the "tricks" were new to me which made it special when I rode it. Still a fun ride, though as you say (and still one of my mini-Europe highlights) and I'm glad you got to go on it this visit anyway! Robin

Hanno - these are all absolutely amazing photos as usual!! Can't wait to see more! Robin

David, your photos are brilliant! I've enjoyed many of your past photos too - thanks for posting such a great report ! Robin

Big Mike, Having had so much fun on the Big Mike / TPR Mini-Europe Roadshow / Trip last year, I shall be meeting up with the Big Mike Roadshow on the fast approaching Big Mike / TPR Europe Trip as you pass through Heide Park - see you again then! This thread is great, by the way; keep up the great work! All the best, Robin