The Bat

Hooray for TPR Tokyo friends!!! Eric, love the pics. Looks like you and Mike and Julie had a great time! Happy '09! -- Dave

Well, well, well... I wondered when the rest of HFR's (Hot Fuzz Rich) trip report would be posted. Rich, first off, great trip report. I knew I couldn't escape completely unscathed. You really have some great pics. The pic of you grimacing at HKDL is perfect. Too bad you are so wrong in your dislike of Disney. The Korean barbecue dinner actually wasn't that bad. You just need to get a little more adventurous in your food choices!!! Kawasemi was truly amazing. It is my number 1 steel. T Express was outstanding, but I have to give the edge to El Toro right now -- I'll be riding Balder for the first time this summer on the Scandi trip. The midcourse on T Express really affected the second half of the ride too much for me. BeemerBoy wrote: Thanks, Scott, for the words of encouragement. Being at the Tokyo Disney Resort was one of those surreal experiences -- you never really thought you'd be there and then you are. It was an amazing experience. Touring the resort with Robb and Elissa and all of the other TPR peeps made it even that much better. -- Dave

Just sent in my deposit for Scandi (via Pay Pal)! Woo Hoo!!!! -- Dave

You didn't really get THAT adventurous with the food, did you??? Come on, don't disappoint me! Love the captions! Great pics too. -- Dave

Great trip report! Thanks so much for sharing. Your report has definitely made me even more excited for my trip there this September! -- Dave

Love, love, LOVE the drunken Miles and drunken Steve pics! Classics!!! I love the Dragon Bar -- it is definitely an evil place (evil in a very good way, though)!!! -- Dave

Mike -- GREAT update!!! It is fun seeing everyone again in your pics! I SO wish I was there (stupid work). I guess our dark ride rematch will have to wait! Have a great time. Tell Ron, Miles, Steve C., Lou, Robb, Elissa, TPDave, etc. I said hello (err... Bon Jour). -- Dave

Robb & Elissa -- Kudos on a GREAT update! Some of the photos are truly frightening. It was nice to see the elusive Hanno in front of the camera! Great job! -- Dave

Where's the 'chick magnet' shirt?? I demand Big Mike pics with the chick magnet shirt!!! Great start to what I know will be a memorable year of trip reports!!! Keep it up! -- Dave

Ha Ha Ha! Yes, I am rather late to this party. LOVE the new video. You have some really great shots there. If there is anything I can do to help you get this to Robb to get uploaded, please let me know. The video brings back fond memories. I remember begging my parents to drive me over to Kings Island as many times as possible. I would spend entire afternoons either simply watching or, of course, riding The Bat exclusively. To this day, I don't know what it is about that ride, but it still fascinates me. Long live The Bat! -- Dave

LOL! I was just in Brookstone and saw the converter/adapter thing and said, "at least Hector had the converter!" So, I definitely learned my lesson! Somehow between the two of us we got everything charged. Love the Benidorm pics! -- Dave

Hector -- Great pictures! I am loving the report. I believe that Ron took the picture in the plane. Lou, I must say, you did kind of freak out about the possessed window... I'm just sayin'!! -- Dave

Lou -- WOW. I am really late to this party. It is GREAT seeing all of your Spain pics. There are some new ones in there that I hadn't seen. I am SO bummed that I couldn't meet up with you at Indiana Beach. Oh well... Glad to see you pics -- loving the report. See you this summer!! -- Dave

Robb -- GREAT job on the video! It truly captures how wonderful Port Aventura was (is) and the great times and great people that were on that trip! I LOVE Spain! -- Dave

Yay for clutching the pearls!!! Woo Hoo! Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing the pics. -- Dave

Good question! Been on 18 and here's my list: 1. Black Mamba (wasn't as intense as it should have been, but still loved it) 2. Dueling Dragons: Fire 3. Raptor 4. Batman Clones (SFMM, SFGAm, SFOG, SFOT, SFGAd, SFSTL, Great White) 5. Dueling Dragons: Ice 6. Montu 7. Top Gun (Carowinds) 8. Alpengeist 9. Talon 10. Top Gun (Great America) 11. Silver Bullet 12. Great Bear

^^^ Elissa keeps the legend alive!!!! Woo hoo! Sounds like you guys are having a blast. -- Dave (oh and Pink Panther > pengiun > hippo)

Giving a shout out to Miles!!! Panther love!! I almost didn't recognize you without the goatee! I hope you all have a tremendous time. Can't wait to see all the antics. Oh, yeah, love the curls Lou! Have a BLAST! -- Dave

Way to GO Big Mike! Woo Hoo!!!! -- Dave (just celebrated number 400!)

Tommi -- Great pics!! That Tibidabo bucket of death ride was sick and wrong. I think it was you and Ed who were shifting around and causing the bucket to rock back and forth (at which point I thought I was going to DIE). Can't wait to see the rest of your updates! Hope you are well. -- Dave P.S. You've got a Big Mike pic in there! YAY!

^^ Larry's right: the group really does split up into smaller groups once the ERT sessions are over. It is just too unweildy to have a group of 30 people (or more) running around together. Someone always has to pee, eat, take a picture, chase a bird, whatever. It is hard to describe unless you've done one of the trips. Here's a bit of advice -- don't criticize anyone on the trip for not posting pics either soon enough or of different people. First off... RUDE. Secondly, they are actually on the trip for their enjoyment -- NOT yours. I, for one, am just happy to see another group of folks enjoying another GREAT TPR adventure. Thanks Robb and Elissa for keeping us up to date. Have a blast -- and stay hydrated! Oh... and Troy > Thunderhead > KY Rumbler. -- Dave (Panther)

Again, Hanno, GREAT update. Your pics of Black Mamba are especially great! Thanks for sharing!! -- Dave

Morgan -- Great video! I cannot believe you got my wipe out. Larry is right -- it looks like I about took everybody out! Toverland was great and Phantasialand was amazing. LOVE the rapids footage. That rapid ride owns all others! -- Dave (healing nicely by the way from my Triangle experience)

Has anybody else picked up on the fact that there were several Carpenters song titles in the Holiblog post? Close to You We've Only Just Begun For All We Know Not that I'm a big Carpenters fan, I'm just old enough to remember those titles. I don't know if that means Valentine's Day section or what... Anyway, just thought it was interesting... Blessing the beasts and the children, -- Dave

The Cure is (are) GREAT! That was my college music -- yes, I'm that old. I was wondering why '& Bouncy Bouncy' was changed. Great to see that the Panthers are sharing the love. Miles, you crack me UP! I'm glad that you and Robb had fun. Thanks for the update, Robb! Dave -- Panther, yet scrunchy-less