Groteslurf

^ Yeah, good luck !! I'm putting the alarm clock at 7 am tomorrow morning and my plan is to start running at 9 and end my run 2-3 hours later and run at least 30K. Hope I will make it.

Hi Roxy, Wassup ?? a friend of mine just called me because he won 2 tickets for the U2 show the 23rd this month. He had tickets for the show the day before already, but so he won tickets for the show the day after. And guess what, he asked me whether I was interested to go with him the 23rd I'm more a Boy/October/War U2 fan, but still of course I said yes. After Elevation & Vertigo, my third U2 tour in a row that'll be If I have to chance to talk to Adam, I will say hello for you I'm suddenly excited for a U2 concert, but I'm even more excited to see you back next year See ya

After the first report, I was just speechless. But I'm still speechless after the second one. It's too awesome for words.

Your way - Netsky

After our morning visit to Plopsaland, on our way to home we decided to stop at Earth Explorer, Oostend at the belgian seaside. Earth Explorer is a science based attraction park, focusing on the way the elements shape our planet. The park belongs to the Merlin Entertainements Group. We got 50 % reduction on the ticket price with our Plopsa funcard. It's an indoor park so it's open all year. I didn't know the park had something to do with Merlin, so at the time of our visit, I really wondered why this Legoland shark was there. Before you enter the actual park, you do a preshow and get to be God (or an astronaut if you like) for a moment, looking over mother Earth. My daughther the weathergirl. Small overview First ride : Richter 7 The attraction simulates an earthquake before ... during ... after Abyss It was a weird experience. It's not a 3D movie, and not a 4D experience. Although the seats were buzzing is a strange way. If were no effects. It was more a constant buzzing during the complete movie. Volcano the ride. First real ride. It even has a lifthill and a giant (approx 3 ft high) splashdrop. I still haven't figured out how exactly the lift mechanism worked. Another overview Twister. It's nowhere like the Universal twister. This version is a tornado shelter and a tornado passing by outside is being simulated. I liked this pre-after show 'attraction' better. And last attraction : Apollo 3000. This is a small spaceshot ride. No camera's allowed inside. Not that I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the park. This is basically what the park has to offer. Well, it was a nice stop over and we had a fun hour at Earth Explorer. So time left for a 3rd park on the same day. More about that in the next update.

Plopsaland part II Tadaaaa !! Of course she has her own attraction. Us on the Spring flyer Time for lunch. Parkmap. Logflume Excellent theming all over the park. Powered coaster station building I forgot this coaster in the previous update. The park holds 6 credits !! Or wait, actually 7 credits as this coaster has 2 sides to ride. Didn't ride it this time because the park was quite busy in the meanwhile and this coaster probably has the worst capacity of any coaster in the world. More theming De Konijntjes Funky frogs De Kikkers The park also holds a few non themed rides. My daughter told me that this horse is also from one of their tv series. So they theme horses Mega Mindy kids Adorable Goat-Attack IV Too bad I could only take home the right one Bye Mega Mindy, see you soon, but today we still have 2 other parks to visit. More about those in the next updates.

We have of course free access to Plopsaland, so since I didn't have the chance yet to ride Anubis, it was time for a revisit to Plopsaland. Arriving well before opening time does make your day at a themepark. The door was open already. YAY !!!! Mega Mindy )) Even though we were there half an hour before opening, we could enter the park's 'mainstreet' already. And that's the way it should be. Meet'n'greets going on. YAY !!! Mega Mindy !!!! Carrousel Since we were there well before opening time, we had time to check out some Plopsa shops. And since I'm a HUGE fan, I was happy with all the Mega Mindy merchandise My kid disturbing my moments with the Mega Mindy merchandise. Don't remember Mega Mindy wearing this .... Of course, that's a K3 dress. Isn't it strange for all you living outside the Benelux, that you don't know these characters while they are 'world' famous over here ? It must be strange to all of you not living out here and not knowing these characters. While there are already 4 Plopsa themeparks and K3 even have their own museum at Plopsaland. OMG !!! An original K3 dress ... Hey, some stuff from ancient history. From the time Plopsaland used to be Meli park. Okay, the park opened in the meanwhile so we headed to Anubis. Here we pass Storm op Zee on our way to Anubis. Anubis waiting row/station building Anubis. Anubis is another 'world' famous tv series in the Benelux. I admit I haven't seen a single episode of it, so I have no idea what it is about. But judging from the waiting row, dark things happen in Anubis. Ample time left for a second ride before the GP would arrive. Anubis is a great ride. Without a doubt the best coaster in Belgium at the moment. Great launch, a lot of different elements, smooth, ... I liked it. Skipped this ride. In stead we went for a ride on the Supersplash. Plopsaland is also without competition the best themed park in Belgium. Koffiekopjes Dongo's race. Spring flyer Restaurant theming Another credit. A beautiful park with 5 credits : TPR should include this park in their next Europe trip Only going through a washing machine makes the park already worth a visit. More theming De Vliegende Fietsen Like CF buying Windseekers, Plopsa bought Vliegende Fietsen for every park. More Spring flyer Wait, why is that lamp themed like Mega Mindy ??? Isn't that nice There she is More about Mega Mindy in part II of this report.

Loving the reports Dave. What's up with the tattoo sign at the first park ? So if you have a (visible) tattoo somewhere, you are not allowed to the parks ? I

With our Plopsa funcard, we get 50% reduction on the ticket price at Aquatopia. Aquatopia is located next to the Antwerp central station in the middle of the city. Some details of the central station Aquatopia is located in this funky hotel building Entrance Funky frogs Funky piranhas Transparant fish made my kids transparant. Funky longneck turtle Aquatopia is nicely themed Funky seastar Funky octopussy Funky stonefish. Beautiful aquarium OMG, Megashark Aquatopia is spread of 3 floors. This is the escalator to the 2nd floor. Funky isn't it ? Funky seahorse Funky fish Funky lobster We killed megashark Blue funky fish Funky ray Reptile section Funky snakes You're doing it wrong Funky reptile. Guess those things aren't dangerous because I could really get very close with my camera Wouldn't it be nice if we humans would eat our burgers like this at McDonalds More funky fish Hey, I may look like the dumbest fish out here ... but I'm really funky. Escalator to the 1ste floor. Funky sharks It's just like seaworld My kids with a giant octopussy Escalator exit out of the shark Hootie and the ... blowfish it was raining outside, so we spent some more time at the Aquatopia shop. I was amazed by the variety of stuffed animals they are selling. stuffed ray stuffed seastar !!?? Stuffed octopussy If your kid wants this as a stuffed animal, I would start to worry. Thanks for reading this update

That helix looks really awesome. Thanks for sharing.

This new park seems to be very worth a visit. Will the hotel(s) & outlet also open together with the themepark ? Or will those only open up later on ? Anymore details available about the hotel(s) & outlet ?

Funky drummer - James Brown

The day after the Dodentocht, there was an event called Antwerpen Zingt (Antwerp Sings) and my oldest daugther and I together with some colleagues from work decided to go. Antwerpen Zingt is an event without any real bands, but the intention is that the crowd 'performs' and sings the songs. It's a real success and last year about 40000 singers sang together. But weather was beautiful last year, and this year, heavy rains were to be expected. 3/4 of the colleagues didn't show up because of the rains and also there were 'only' 25000 persons in total for this year's edition. Still, we had an awesome time. 3 hours before the start, there were already a lot of people and also a few preshows A few times during the evening, there was no rain for about 5 minutes. Time for beer Some die-hard colleagues who did show up and my daugther My daugther took this pic. Me in the back My daughter checking out the lyrics of the songs. Another die-hard colleague showed up. Snacks More preshow Rain startied pouring down As long as there was beer, we didn't mind the rain Let's sing We were completely soaked but had a great time. Next TRs will be themeparks again.

^ I'm belgian too, so one more person needed to fill a car However, I suggest to drive to the right park

August 13 @ 9 pm, I participated in the Dodentocht/March of Death. This march is a 100 km walk/run which you need to finish in 24 hours time. Although some people run the complete distance and finish it in not even 10 hours time, the Dodentocht is not a race. There is no ranking, it just a personal victory if you finish it. I'm not a walker, I'm a runner. I've been running for 2.5 years now, and lately I've been concentrating on running longer distances (1/2 marathons), and since this wasn't a problem, I decided to participate in the Dodentocht together with my brothers-in-law. My plan was to run about 10-15 % of the time, so that different musscles would be used. Official logo The forecasts predicted some rain during the night, so I used my TPR bag to protect my stuff against the rain. Official Dodentocht beer Route Together with 10651 other participants, we prepared for the start Scanning chip People everywhere. My brothers-in-law ready for the start Here we go for what is going to be an exhausting 24 hours. I suck in taking pics in the dark. This is a sunset with a lot of walkers in the front. The animation everywhere all night long was awesome. Only after about 10 kms, I was able to run for the first time. Before it was just too crowdy. Beautiful settings everywhere, and 1 huge party in every village we went through. Lots of free food for the participants Here I am. It was my first time I participated. I made some capital beginner mistakes and I was already suffering blisters after 30 kms. More food and drinks I just loved all the random people everywhere along the roads and that in the middle of the night. Scanning post 2 weirdos 6.71 kms to go to the next food/drink supply. I couldn't run anymore because of the blisters. I started feeling pain everywhere and 2 kms before the next supply post, lights went out completely. Till then I was convinced to finish the 100 kms, but the 2 kms before the supply post at 40 kms weere hell to me. It was 4 am in the meanwhile, I had been walking/running for 7 hours in a row, my legs were hurting because I couldn't run anymore due to the blisters hurting like hell, the fact that if I would proceed, it might have taken me several days to recuperate, the fact that there would be a taxi home at the next supply (my sister-in-law was waiting there), everything combined, I gave up after nearly 40 kms. The last scanning/supply I passed. The Duvel brewery. Free Duvel beer. Too bad I was too exhausted to drink it. To give you all a full impression of the Dodentocht, I'm using some pictures from the Dodentocht website. Yeah yeah, I was in bed at that time (( The UK army was there too. The people along the streets were really awesome. I would have love to still be there. Ready to continue. K.O. Kids handing out water. Still fresh I think it's this guy who finished all 41 marches so far. It's really exhausting. REALLY exhausting. But look at the next 5 pics The reason why I WILL finish the Dodentocht in one of the next years. (not next year because I will be in CP together with TPR during next year's edition) No pain, no glory !! R.I.P. to the participant who died after having a heartattack during the Dodentocht. Very sad this happened.

The day after we came back home from holiday, I was invited to the Tall Ships Race which was this time departing from Antwerp. Hello mermaid !! To be honest, the only thing I know about the Tall Ships race is that it concerns tall sailing ships. Ships everywhere Great name A lot of ropes. We were able to get aboard of some vessels. Rush hour Every one's a winner Summer beach in the port. Next vessel Russian again I think Another boat The place where we would have dinner and watch the fireworks. Random statue Random building. Well, not really. It will be a new museum soon. The most beautiful ship I saw that evening. It turned out to be a ship with a quite interesting history. Here some info I found back on wiki : The frigate Shtandart (Russian: Штандартъ) was the first ship of the Baltic fleet. The kiel was laid down by the decree of Peter I and according to orders of governor Aleksandr Menshikov on April 24, 1703, at the Olonetsky shipyard near Olonets. The vessel was build by the Dutch shipwright Vybe Gerens by Tsar Peter design under his direct supervision. She was first flagship of Russian Navy. Shtandart took part in many military operations, and was in the Navy till 1727. On 4th September 1999 the "Shtandart Project" (a non-commercial organisation dedicated to youth-training) has launched an exact replica of frigate Shtandart. The Replica was built by naval architect and sailor Vladimir Martus, with help of hundreds of volunteers. Damn you, soccer fans. Funky building. Time for dinner Great setting. The best thing of the evening was rediscovering an old friend. More than 20 years ago I was is the same school as the lady in green. It was weird but also very awesome meeting again after 20 years. Nice views. The company which invited me. More great views. After dinner, it was time for the fireworks. Too bad it was not as close as expected. End of this update. Next update will be an heroic one.

^Thanks. I'm sure that we'll meet up a some point soon.

VERY interesting TR. Thanks for sharing.

I gotta feeling - Black Eyed Peas

Orca ride (Boudewijnpark)

^ To make you even more jealous : I'm seeing Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg live in 2.5 month Next update. At 1 hour driving from Europapark, Centerparcs opened a new holiday village a few weeks earlier, so we booked a weekend at their new park called Domaine des Trois Forêts. It's a very huge park and the cottages are really nice. Unfortunately it' was hot, really hot, extremely hot during our visit. It was just too damn hot to enjoy the park. Both my oldest daughter and me weren't feeling too well because of the heat, so we drove home already on Sunday morning in stead of Monday morning. The new park is a full ecological park, whatever that is good for. The only thing I know it means, is that you can't find A/C ANYWHERE !!! In temperatures nearing 40°C with high humidity, to me that must be how hell is like. Although, dixit Robb, the music is better, I hope it won't be that hot over there. Or at least hell will have A/C in the sleeping rooms As said, the cottages were nice. In fact, the best cottages I stayed in at any Centerparc so far. You NEED bikes to move around inside the park. It is a massive park. Living room. I was really glad with the fireplace Kitchen Masterbedroom First bathroom 2nd bathroom This one holds a steambath/powershower. Normally I would take a steambath everyday, however it was too damn hot. 2nd bedroom The best part of the cottage was the terrace. The window can be opened completely. By doing so, the terrace became a real extension of the livingroom. Too bad the huge closed window also let in a lot of heat during the day. Discovering the park. I-am-melting ! Artificial river. Park centre. I really had troubles standing the heat, so I obviously forgot to take pictures inside of the parkdome, so I downloaded a few pics from the press section on the Centerparcs website. This is how every Centerparcs parkdome looks like. Aqua Mundo Is was the best Aqua Mundo I've been to so far. A lot of different pools and slides. The river again Morning dew and a few deers. Forget the deers, if only there was morning dew during our stay. Back to my own pics. This was the bowling in the Market dome : no A/C, but because this place didn't have windows, it was by far the coolest place in the park. There was also a farm at the park. Babe trying to cool down. Inside the farm, there is also a kids playarea called Baluba. Last picture. There is a complete new road from the 'route national' to the park. Too bad is was that hot during our stay. Domaine des Trois Forêts IS a beautiful park, but not in 40°C.

And here the Europapark pictures. Blue Fire is not any longer open during morning hotel-ERT. So most hotelguests run to Blue Fire at 9 am, when the park officially opens. But we got our 2 rides on it before the 'GP' arrived. New ridesign I like the ride. The new ride. I'm not the biggest fan of splash battles to be honest. But I discovered that when the temperature is right, you can have LOTS of fun on it. It's the ride we rode most during our visits and also the ride we had most fun on. Even my youngest daughter, not the biggest themepark fan in the world to say the least, loved it. There was some kind of opening/celebration during our visit. Not sure for what exactly. "I'm gonna park my car over there" Unique coaster, but I don't really like it. I like this one though Me : 'Hold up 2 fingers !" Daughter : "Why ?" Me : "In about 10 years, you will be happy you have this picture. This is your second B&M !!" And another ride on Poseidon. It was hot during our visit. So this was fun too. Chillin. I really love Europapark. Not only for the theming and coasters, but also for all those random rides. Even on busy days, only the big rides get lines. For all those random rides, there is almost never a line. There is so much to do for everybody. This was a nice refeshment. Water playground. Hidden shop. England Self portrait On sale already. Ok, I hate soccer. I think soccer is the most overrated sport in the world. The soccerplayers are overpaid and lately all they do is showing off with their Louis Vitton handbags. But last winter when there wasn't even an inch of snow on the fields, they cancelled the games because of that !!! But even then, WTH would buy a shirt like this ??? (sorry about the rant) Main street. The park is stunning at moments. Dive show. Not a fan of diveshows either. Sorry. And it ruins the view on Atlantica.

One - U2

Great coverage Filip. WDS is getting a big park step by step.

After Phantasialand, it was time for Europapark. After having slept in all other hotels in the previous years, we booked a room in the Santa Isabel this year. Every Europapark hotels is awesome. Lobby theming Conference room More lobby theming See-through floor. They didn't have to pay for their stay over. Admit ! This is amazing theming. We booked a suite again, so we got a golden vip roomkey. The only bonus included in the vipcard, is that you have access to the suites floor. Suites floor. Our suite : Santa Isabel Loved the livingroom. Sleeping room Bathroom Restroom Bunked beds for the children Room theming Balcony Hotel Castillo Alcazar And we also were close to an attraction. This time Altantica. Exploring the hotels a bit more. The hotels are simply amazing. We had a drink at this place. The history of the Mack family on the walls. El Andaluz hotel. You can even rent a Porsche and do some driving on the Autobahn. Olive garden My kids had a lot to confess during our holiday. Time to eat. The buffet at the Santa Isabel hotel is a bit more expensive than the buffets in the other hotels, but it was really worth the money. We all loved it. Chef, throw some more shrimps on the barbi for me please ! Another Porsche for rental Dammit, totally forgot the WC soccer was still on. Here's Holland playing. The day after, Germany was playing. A little bit more crowded. I admit, I was extremely glad we didn't have to stay at the Colosseo with all those soccerfans. Even the sodamachine is themed. I must have taken a picture of this hallway everytime I went through it. Temperatures were quite high during our stay. So in between we had a lot of fun in the pool. For our last dinner, we ate at the Colosseo hotel. Mariachi band. Bar Colosseo I preferred the previous name of the bar : Mille Miglia. Everybody does, because the bar was empty. Another great stay at Europapark. Can't wait till they open their new hotel in 2 years. Nest update : Europapark.