Groteslurf

Time for a new thread. It's been a while since I posted, but found some time again, so here we go and finish last year's Scandi TR's. Feel free to visit my previous TR thread. Hansa Park, the only park of the Scandi trip I visited before. Very nice welcome with some nice souvenirs Still the coolest Eurofighter I've ever ridden. We had an hour or so of ERT on this coaster It's spinning too fast so I've never been on the ride, but still it's my ride picture ever because of personal reasons. Always great fun. It must look quite different now with the new coaster in the back. Overview picture Such a nice park next to the Ostsee. TPR take over Skoosh Time to relax a lot of fun More overview And try to get both trains in one picture. I tried and tried and tried ... but wasn't lucky; Still my favorite starflyer. It's the same as other starflyers but this one is on speed Souvenir Martin keeping everyone save. From Hansapark, we drove into Denmark again to our hotel in Aarhus. Next morning we visited Legoland I'm way too old for Lego but still like Lego a lot. Working in the shipping business, I liked this Maersk Lego vessel a lot. Over 200 euro and considering I was going home after the trip by plane, I couldn't buy this one. The great news is that I'm a client of Maersk and my contact at Maersk ordered this Lego Maersk vessel for me for free now I loved Legoland Billund. The aquarium is really nice. And the miniature Lego cities are the best; I just love them Copenhagen Next day : Djurs Sommerland. When exiting the bus, Danish media was filming us Intamin megalite But first 5 hours (or something like that) of ERT on Juvelen; Really excellent coaster But Piraten rocked the place Mack watercoaster Hidden gem I rode this one several times; I just love the BBQ places in the Scandinavian parks; People bringing their own meat to the park and put it on the bbq. I love Scandinavian habits. In the evening, R&E arranged that Tivoli Friheden, normally closed that day, would open for out group. The SCAD tower was the more terifying thing I've ever seen Absolutely crazy Tivoli Friheden opened all their coasters too for our group Holger not being to sure whether he wants to do the Scad tower Pinfari ride of death One more ride on the boat ride Another thing I've never seen before in any other park. But something which can be found at several Scandi parks Toppletower. Not a fan but absolutely great for pictures More media Next day, another awesome park : Farum Sommerland. Their launch coaster is brilliant More Danish media Such a great day Hidden entrance Because of the 2 ponchos R&E packed for all participants, the weather during the whole trip was really the best we could wish for. Never done this before Stunning landscaping Very nice family coaster First timer, so not that bad. After Farup, it was time to head to Sweden by ferry. I learned to adhore ferry's during the trip. Arriving in Gothenburg After a short night in Gothenburg, we headed out to Tusenfryd Norway Speed Monster was a blast Amazing ERT More ERT on the watercoaster Very wet Love these rides Our excellent day would start and end with ERT on Speedmonster Weirdest darkride ever Heroes Time to head back to Sweden for more goodness Evening ERT Hidden in the rocks, an amazing darkride. Not at Spiderman level, but still it 'rocked'.

Kidzania looks incredible. I have a trip to London planned end of August with my 12 year old daughter and just had a look with her at the Kidzania website. And although we had already a lot of things planned to do in London, we just adjusted our schedule and will visit Kidzania the day of our arrival in London Thank you so much for finding and sharing Kidzania.

Afga - SLURF

14 million visitors a year and they not making profit ? I strongly believe they are making tons of money. They pay royalties to Disney USA so that they have only losses left and don't have to pay any taxes in France. Does this make sense or is this just my conspiracy theory ?

Scandinavia has always been on my to do list so I decided to join the TPR Scandinavia trip last June. It promised to be an amazing trip but it exceeded all my expectations by far. From the first to the last day, everything, every smallest detail was so well organized by our amazing tour guides. The parks were all really good and welcomed us like VIPs. There were tons of ERT at every park. I met a lot of old friends from previous trips and made a lot of new ones. It's really awesome to have friends all over the world because of TPR. The weather, I still can't believe how perfect the weather during the whole trip was. And I'm still sure this was because R&E packed 2 poncho's for every participant. I loved all the bonus parks. How awesome can it get when during a long drive, the lunchstop is at a bonuspark ? And all the food that was included !!! I was warned that Scandinavia is expensive. I budgeted quite some money for lunches and drinks but ended up not even spending half of my budget because most of the days breakfast, lunch AND dinner was included. Everything on this trip was amazing. I'm really glad I was able to explore Scandinavia with TPR. On to the pics As from the first picture, I realize my memory is not as good as Thad's memory (if you haven't read his TR, just go and read it). I don't remember why I booked my flight arriving at noon and missing out on the bonuspark. So in stead of being at the bonuspark, Ken and me used the spare time we had in the afternoon to explore Copenhagen by bike. I'm really glad we did. I was nice to bike around the city and visit some of the landmarks in the city. Oh yeah, I also got 'robbed'. When I left my bike unattended for a few minutes, my bottles of water (1 full, 1 half empty) got stolen. Oh well, I'm glad I helped out a thirsty Danish person. Borgen stuff I was standing in the direction they were going, so I moved out of their way after taking this picture. I still wonder what would have happened if I hadn't moved. I had seen pictures of this street before but didn't realize it was in Copenhagen so it was a nice surprise. First official day : Bakken. I didn't really know much about the parks we were going to visit, let alone about the coasters in the parks. It was fun to be surprised day after day by the parks and hear all the info about the parks and coasters from Robb on the busride to the park. Bakken welcome was awesome. The rideops gave us a lot of interesting info and facts about their wooden coaster. Not being prepared at all, the Tornado lifthill gave me one of the biggest WTF moments of my life Bakken is located in a park. It was great to see the locals coming to the park with their families to relax and enjoy the sun and the park. ERT time And of course every coaster is a credit Ross would look good with a mustache Awesome-memory-Thad EB flying More park time I enjoyed just watching them dancing in the park Such a great vibe In the evening we spent a great evening at the extreme rope course hall. Since a have a weak back, I joined as a spectator only. I was a great evening though seeing the group on the ropes. In the same hall, the Eurovison contest took place a few weeks earlier. To be honest, I didn't even know it was held in Copenhagen but it was a nice detail being at the place it was held. It was too dark inside so I don't have any pictures of the course itself. Oh yeah, it was also the spot where the metal fest Copenhell took place a few days before we were there Tivoli Gardens. Again a hartly welcome by the parkmanagement This was one of the coaster I knew we were going to ride. I knew it was a short ride, and it was short. I heard the lady who welcomed us saying that we didn't want to ride Daemonen for a long time and that we would quickly move to their better coaster. Being a B&M fan, it was weird to hear her say that, but she was right. Not that Daemonen is a bad ride, not at all but .... this coaster was so much better. We got a backstage tour through the complete structure and ended up at the roof. This rideop was so great. The info he gave us was very interesting and entertaining The moment he told us that we would go down from the roof by coaster train, I had goosebumps everywhere. Here the first group going down You can tell everybody was super excited I believe this was my first ever brakeman coaster As said, every coaster is a credit The park holds a lot of attractions including a enjoyable dark ride I loved this alley Aquarium time. The park is absolutely stunning In the evening we had a group dinner at the nearby Hard Rock Cafe. Included of course Trip shirt Bon Bon Land. ERT for 2 hours or something on all 4 coasters Probably the longest wacky worm I've ever been on Spinning mouse Eurofighter entrance empty park during ERT Snoop Dog it's a beautiful park Gokart fun Log flume cheese Some of the weird theming in the park While I get noxious in most flat rides, I have no problem on this type of ride. So I rode it several times in a row Fran and Ledgy Ferry to one day in Germany. Neighbours Bye bye Bon Bon Land

Loving the updates Bill. 3 months have already passed. It seems like only just ago but at the same time, it's like ages ago. I really miss everything on the trip : friends, the parks, the busrides, the ferries, etc

Congrats Caesar. Really enjoyed reading your report.

How many people were in your group ? Was it just the 2 of you ?

Great update Bill. I very much enjoyed Legoland. I wasn't feeling too well that day either, but I had a terrific day at the park. I spent most of the day on my own (that's just me, I like to be on my own once in a while when I'm on trips with a group) but I really enjoyed the park. The weather was just perfect and I realized I should be taking my kids to one of the Legolands next year. Keep up the good work Bill

Love this TR. I'm really into these VIP experiences. I remember when we were going to visit CP, I was considering this too, but it was quite expensive and eventually we didn't do it, also because we were visiting on weekdays in May and didn't expect a packed park. How much does it cost nowadays ? Looking forward to the rest of your TR Also congrats to reaching your goal.

Hey Bill. Great updates. It was great to get to know you during the trip. And thanks again for bringing the cups for the alcohol exchange. Sorry that I was outside with my friends most of the evening, and that you had to take the lead during the exchange. Thanks for that

Hey Thad, Looking forward to your TR. It was great meeting you on the trip. I too avoided reading about the parks before the trip. It was very cool to be surprised every day

Hi, wise choice not going to Walibi Belgium:-). While I haven't been to Bellewaerde since several years, not that much has changed over there lately, and I would highly recommend going to the nearby Plopsaland in stead. Especially with kids of that age. It's really a very nice park with great theming and a lot of attractions. The attractions are themed to the tv shows the parkowners broadcast and you'll not know any of the characters or shows, but even without knowing them, I would definitely rank the park higher than Bellewaerde. For side visits, I can only think of visiting Bruges or Antwerp. The old city centers are quite famous and enjoyable if you're into that.

Tick tick boom - the Hives

Star Wars

2 bands which HAVE to make my top list : You're my best friend - Queen : like many others, I think their Live Aid concert was the best concert I've ever seen. But not only that. They have so many great songs. I've chosen You're my best friend because of the special meaning to me Greyhound - Swedish House Maffia : this song has changed electronic music forever

one more song which has to make my shortlist : Kiss you all over - Exile : my absolutely favorite love song

Wow, this is challenging. My favorite songs Spotify list contains over 160 songs I tried to make my top 10, in random order though : Schism - Tool : the best concert I have ever seen, shortly after the release of Lateralus I remember - Deadmau5 : perfect build up EDM song Plug in baby - Muse : amazing live band with so many great songs Touching me - Finnebassen : my favorite EDM producer Sheena is a punkrocker - The Ramones : my favorite band of all time. I could have filled my top 10 with Ramones songs There is a light that never - the Smiths : best lyrics of all songs of all times The four horsemen - Metallica : I could have filled my top 10 with Metallica songs too Landslide - Fleetwood Mac : I love Stevie Nicks Piece of my heart - Janis Joplin : best female rockvoice ever Martha - Tom Waits : because Tom Waits belongs in my top 10 How deep is your love - Bee Gees : music from my favorite movie of all times California Dreamin' - the Mama's and the Papa's : amazing double chant Money don't matter 2 night - Prince : inspiring artist In the ghetto - Nick Cave : because Nick Cave belongs in my top 10 Blue Monday - Fats Domino : my father's favorite singer and I inherited that love for his fantastic music All tomorrow's parties - The Velvet Underground : Warholl is amazing Comfortably numb - Pink Floyd : one of the biggest bands ever A celebration - U2 : my favorite band upto War Life on the line - Fad Gadget : a song from my favorite music era : New Wave Roots bloody roots - Sepultura : best song ever ? Children of the damned - Iron Maiden : best 80's hard rock band Bobby Brown - Frank Zappa : love the humor in the lyrics Psyche Rock - Pierre Henry : best avant garde song Burundi Black - Burundi Black : my favorite African beat song which was a hype during the New Beat era in Belgium Your love - Frankie Knuckles : gothfather of House music who sadly passed away beginning this month All I need - Air : my favorite night drive song Dance of the knights - Prokoviev : my favorite classic music tune I tried to narrow it down to 10 but it was just impossible. And I skipped a lot of other favorites, but the above is my shortlist of favorite songs.

Awesome news. Finally a B&M in the Benelux. Really looking forward to the theming De Efteling has in mind for this ride.

Amazing 7 ? Amazing 8 !!! Shambalha is my favorite coaster since I rode it

Anubis - Plopsaland last Sunday

Yesterday, Plopsaland De Panne was in fact closed, but not really. The park was rented by Telenet, from which I managed to get a hold of 4 tickets. The park was going to be packed because Telenet handed out some 13000 tickets, so we arrived well before opening time to at least do some rides without waiting too long. Here we are The weather was great, but a bit too cold to see the kids playing here during the day I hadn't been to Plopsaland since Mayaland opened, so I was anxious to discover this new area. Also note the sky and clouds and sky in this pictures. That's the hall in which Mayaland is. On days like yesterday, you hardly notice this. It's like a mini Plopsaindoor with about 10 rides inside I can imagine that when it's raining outside, Mayaland must be crazy crowded I thought the background of this ride looked really nice. My daughter's friend There are some balls My daughter But the sun was shining, so we were outside soon again to ride this. My daughter is no daredevil, so she didn't ride, but it's also great to watch the boats going down in the water Me Not too many people yet. This would change later on the day. Random theming The landscaping in the park is stunning So beautiful Chopper Maya Annubis sign House Annubis was a kids tv serie of some years ago. I never watched it but I know it delivered the best rollercoaster in belgium Annubis theming It's a real good smooth ride. On to Wickieland, another undiscovered area for me. Rocks and behind the rocks What a nice theming The whole area is nicely themed Even the restrooms There's also a Viking splash battle Bos van Plop boatride. In the meantime it was afternoon and we waited 1 hour to ride it BBQ It's a great darkride. I love how they transformed the old bee ride when the park was still called Meli, into the Plop ride. The Plopsa starflyer, now named after Rox, a tv serie on tv the last few years Some more random pics of the park. Here you can see how they hid the Mayaland hall We had a great day, but left at 3 pm because the park was too packed. Thanks for reading

Souvenir - SLURF

Kuret - SLURF

Plopsaland in 10 days