Shockwave

Great photos. I used to love going to Jodrell Bank when I was a kid, and even today the sheer size of the structure is awe-inspiring. On a clear day you can see it from the top of any of the hills that overlook the Cheshire plains, even from far away it stands out a mile from everything else.

When I visited last year, the park had a lot of potential, but I felt that it lacked a big signature roller coaster, so I'm glad this is getting built there. When Freizeitpark Plohn build their new coaster for next year, I'd definitely make a visit back to both these parks.

Add me to the listed of "gutted". It was probably my favourite coaster out of the many that I've been on. As sad as it is to see Eagle Fortress pass into history, rides do have a lifespan often dictated by financial constraints, and they won't all last forever. Arrow Suspended coasters have a chequered history, and were built at a time when manfacturers didn't have the level of techonology and experience that we find ourselves surrounded by today. I feel very privileged to have been on what will go down as a "cult" ride. Here's to the memories. [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=eaglefortress_dauz[/coastertube]

I'm glad it was a good race this time out, albeit courtesy of the weather and Vettel's brittle car. The next few races will be crucial to seeing how long the refuelling ban will last.

Also 13/20.

Here's my assessment of the group stage: In Group A, I'm sad to say that I can't see South Africa making much impact. They'll have massive home support, but they're well behind the other three teams in that group in terms of skill and experience. They'll need their top players like Pienaar to be at their very best to get out of that group. France should get first place, but if they slip up, French boss Raymond Domenech will be a wanted man. Whether they should even be at the finals will be argued fiercely by any Irish fans, but now they are there, they can ill-afford to waste the opportunity they have. It's close to call between Uruguay and Mexico, but one of those two teams should get into the knock-out phase. Group B should be a walk in the park for Argentina. I'd expect Greece to struggle against all three other teams, who play some very attacking football. Nigeria are either very good or very bad, and South Korea whilst playing some attractive football don't have a truly world-class leader like a Messi in the team. Argentina to win the group, and Nigeria or South Korea to come second. Group C - With England, anything can happen. Before John Terry and Ashley Cole started playing away so to speak, they were a good bet to win the whole tournament, but now only time will tell if Capello can get them truly focused to do the job in hand. USA will play a big part in this group, with several key players having a lot of experience in the English Premiership, and they could cause an upset against England in the first game. Algeria and Slovenia are solid teams, but I don't expect either of them to make the cut. Not unless the other two teams has a tournament to forget. Group D - Another interesting one. Not so much for top spot, I'd be stunned if Germany didn't get that. But Australia, Serbia and Ghana are all very good sides, who should fight out a good battle for the second knock-out place. All three of those teams will need their Premiership stars in top form. Cahill (Australia), Vidic (Serbia) and Essien (for Ghana, and if fit) will be the focal points for the three pretenders. Group E is a tough group to call, but not the "Group Of Death". The Netherlands will be favourites to qualify, as long as their replacement for the now retired Edwin Van Der Sar, one of the best goalkeepers this generation, can fill his shoes. Denmark have some strong squad players, and put in a good claim for getting through - as long as Nicklas Bendtner shoots better than he did for this club this afternoon. Japan and Cameroon are both very hit and miss sides, but could spring a surprise if they can play to their best ability. Into Group F, Italy will have no problem securing top spot. I would find it very hard to fathom if they could not beat New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia with the pedigree at their disposal. As for the other three, I can't see New Zealand being a big threat, but Paraguay and the Slovaks will be contesting the second qualifying spot all they have to give. Group G - Dubbed the "Group of Death" by many, and the Ivory Coast are in it again! They'll need Didier Drogba at his very best to stand a chance of getting through the group stage, especially against five-times World Cup winners Brazil and Portugal, who are the favourites to qualify. North Korea are somewhat of an unknown quantity, so this will be a hotly contested few games to see who can avoid going home embarrassed. Lastly, Group H. Spain were undefeated in World Cup qualification, and should walk away with top spot easily. The final knock-out place could go to any one of the other three teams, but if I had to pick one, I'd say that Chile should have the class to shine through against Honduras and Switzerland.

17/20.

In a word: epic. Great to see GCI taking a great leap forward (no pun intended) from their regular twister designs and making a monster.

Unless some Mexican or South American park is looking for a new flagship attraction, that Shuttle Loop is most likely doomed. I have a really good day there back in 2007 when I visited. This was when Jay Thomas was in charge, just before he took up his post at Magic Mountain. But if the park is not going to be economically viable for a company which is still in a bucketload of debt in a weakened market, then this outcome would have been on the cards for some time. With the benefit of hindsight, the closure of the Twisted Twins area and the removal of Chang were some pretty big hints.

Thought this might be worth a topic. It's a new advert filmed on location (with a lot of CGI) in New York City. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-DGbKOn1FI

Maybe somebody high up the Six Flags hierarchy was suckered in by one of those e-mails claiming to be from a friend of a long lost brother who's just died on a plane crash.

Patrick Swazye goes to the afterlife for the second time. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8256033.stm She's Like The Wind will be getting played very loud in my car tomorrow.

Jeff, great photos. That thing looks amazing! Funnily enough, a friend of mine was discussing going to Andorra for this, but I had no idea that the ride was as big as you say. Might end up going there sooner than I imagined now!

^This online clay pigeon shooting regatta keeps me entertained no end. I'm looking forward to this a lot. The ex-Paramount parks always needed a couple of good coasters, and Cedar Fair are doing the job. Hopefully I'll get over to the East Coast in a couple of years and try this thing out.

Went to the park today and they seemed to be taking it quite seriously! Lots of signs up saying "No to B.O.", announcements about keeping your arms down and deodorant in the stations! Didn't recall anyone really putting their hands up, and most people seemed to take it quite well. It's a bit of a laugh, but considering that half of Thorpe's audience are going through the acne-ridden odourific pubescent stage, it's not a bad idea. I take care of my personal hygiene, so I don't see why anyone else shouldn't.

^I'd rather die of malnourishment than do another one of those. I hate them, hate them, hate them. Both bits of Ireland were lovely, I wouldn't mind going back and doing a bit more sightseeing. Dublin looked great from what we saw of it, and Limerick was quite nice the castle was in the centre of the town. Also saw Sean Kelly on a charity bike tour that was going through Tipperary and Limerick, they were all waiting in a lay by for the road to be closed off before they made their way through!

I was so tired after the last long drive I spelled conquered wrong.

I'm really sad about that. He was responsible for some cracking films.

I'm on a boat.

^^Thanks Erik! ^And think again Matt! Day 2 - Tivoli Gardens Old wood, good food, and TURBO BOOST!!! It's now Monday June 8th, and we're onto our second park the trip. Tivoli Gardens is a park I've been to a couple of times before. Once during the Winter festivities in 2004, and last year on a whistle-stop tour of the park with Divv. I was delighted to be going back again this year, because last year was nothing more than a credit run, which to be honest is a bit of an insult to how great this park really is. There's so much to do, from watching the shows, eating and drinking, the rides, more eating and drinking, just taking in the atmosphere, and maybe a little more eating and drinking as well. I've never been to a park with so many different eateries - and a lot of them can be accessed from outside the park as well, so even if you're not wanting to pay to enter the park. you can still go for a meal there. It's one of the oldest amusement parks in the world, and the history and charm is inescapable. But despite this, the old mixes with the new in a fantastic collection of rides that suit every taste. The coasters are all enjoyable and a lot of fun. The B&M Floorless coaster Daemonen (that's Demon for you translation geeks) is short, sweet and packs a nice little punch. The old side friction woodie Rutschebanen (Roller Coaster) is great fun and you really feel at the mercy of the driver who's doing the braking. We were lucky enough to get a backstage tour of the woodie, which was a history lesson, woodwork class and photo opportunity all rolled into one, and I'd like to say thanks to the park for putting on an awesome event for us, and of course thanks to our wonderful organisers for making it happen. The new ride for 2009 is Vertigo, a giant spinning-centrifuge-WTF-is-going-on machine, which is like a Fabbri booster, but a lot more fun, as you can spin in almost any direction you wish and max out at an amazing 5Gs!!!! (for you G-Force freaks). It was a lot of fun, but on a midsummers day will be packed with people trying to ride it. At only 4 people per plane, it's not a crowd shifter. And because of this, on busy days Tivoli operates a timeslot ticket system to prevent massive lines. Busy day or not, I would recommend that anyone who loves a fast, intense ride to try this out. I loved it. And I loved the park - so here come a good few photos! How close can Big Mike get? Winner gets the first body part he loses! Part 2 of Tivoli coming soon.. Mark suddenly bears a resemblence to pro-wrestler and actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The line to get the best photo spots was huge. "We're gonna get those terrorists. Now watch me crash this sucker." After a recent celebrity was found working at the park, Tivoli's employment standards were under severe scrutiny. That didn't happen. So here's a picture of Bike Mike. Robb can actually defy gravity. No photoshop here. Really. Honest. Now for some exclusive photo time. This cable lift is old enough to be Millennium Force's cable lift's Grandad. And 10 Goon points to me for that awful caption, 10 Goon points for the first person who spots where the workshop is on this map. Grab your tissues geek squad, he's got a tape measure! Sexy. There should be an ironic caption after those previous tool references, but you'll just have to make do with this coaster nerd porn instead. These are bigger tools. These are tools. Time for a wood shop lesson. This is what coaster bowels look like. Not the wall of horror - this is another wall where the ride-ops wacky photos end up. But not before the Big Man gets a piece! Robb found some tits and ass after all! But if they break the ride they end up on here! Not literally, just their name. Would be a bit cruel to just nail them up. The ride staff can relax here. The park's PR manager took us inside the bowels of the woodie. Dave makes me think of Shiny Happy People by R.E.M. here. Don't ask why. Ryan doesn't know it, but Jon's been storing that one up all morning. Good beard. Robb gets in on the filming as well, but sadly there were no tits and ass on display yet. Hanno literally strangles himself for the perfect shot. Well if you're being filmed by a stunning Danish girl, your piece better not get crushed! Groinage checking was popular this morning. Right turn. Dave. Left turn. Despite the look of incredible speed on Larry's face, this is from lift hill. And here's a good classic to start the day off with! One of the iconic buildings inside the park. It's Tivoli Gardens! Clue - It's not Freestyle Music Cafe. So where are we going again, Robb?

Sounds like a Disko or Disko coaster to me. The one down at Paultons was pretty good, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone from the Chessington took a visit down there and liked it. I'm a bit sad that Beanoland will be getting rethemed, but I'll be interested to see what they do to it.

Good stuff! I'm going to be at Freizeitpark Plohn next Saturday evening and I've been looking forward to riding this a lot.

And without further ado, I present Day 1 for the TPR 2009 Scandi Tour from my view! Day 1 - BonBon-Land Flatulent dogs were never this much fun! Our first day of parks was at Bonbon-Land, a park which is infamous for it's crude style of humour in the form of X-rated park mascots and merchandise. It's been toned down a little since my visit with Divv last year. All of the self-operated rides have now gone, and there are some more permanent attractions filling the park, and a few of Betty Babs figures (she's the cow with the enormous tits) have disappeared. This could be attributed to the park's owners, the international group Parques Reunidos trying to turn into more of a slicker operation. Whilst I can't really complain about this, it would be sad if the park got rid of a lot of its more risque attrctions. But after my visit, I've got good reason to believe that Parques Reunidos and the management know what they're doing, and the park won't lose all sense of identity and the quirkiness that makes it what it is. The park's big rides are all pretty solid. Vild Svinet (Gerstlauer Eurofighter) was runnign much better than the previous year, and HanKatten (Gerstlauer Spinner) with 3 people in each car was giving out all sorts of head trauma and dizziness! The new coaster for this year, Viktor Vandorm (Zierer Tivoli) has possibily the longest train in the world and covers a huge area. Amazingly this thing is not a custom installation, it's been relocated from Panorama Park in Germany, and dives into the big lake at the back of the park. It must have been quite a job to get it all fitted, but it's a fun ride and a nice step up for kids who aren't quite ready for the two big Gerstlauer rides. There's also a new indoor area near the front of the park, which is a bit like a walkthrough Small World but with the annoying Marmite music that people love or hate. Sadly I totally forgot to get any pictures. But I was having too much fun on the ball pits! Before I get onto the pictures, there's one very deliberate mistake I've made in this photo report. If you can spot it, I will buy you a pint of shandy on the next TPR trip that I am a part of! And I'll end this section of the report with a photo out of the Divv book. Tivoli Gardens tomorrow! Something tells me this boat might have some water in the bottom. Proof that hippos have hydraulic mouths. If you're a wild boar dressed as a hula girl and you're reading this, do not fight a big blue octopus! But part from one little drop, it's mostly random stuff like this. Wave to the Native American mentalist animals! I was a bit concerned when I saw the boats getting water sucked out of them. It's only supposed to be a gentle ride! The second half of this water ride section is brought to you by the 6 men and 1 lady in a boat. ...and after. There wasn't much white water stuff going on, more like a light splashing. Steve and Ben get ready for some beaver rafting action! Before... And this is too obvious. Divv carries everyone's sacks. Erik strokes a giant cock. That's a lot of train. TAKE THE TRENCH! Time for the big relocated Zierer thing! And here's the rest of the layout. Who's up for a bit of overbank? This was the very first EuroFighter coaster made, and it's holding up pretty well. Today's language lesson: Vild Svinet is Danish for Wild Boar. Next up, it was time for some Beyond Vertical goodness! For you layout geeks, here's the layout. There go the chins! Mark and Jon get ready for their chin-flapping-testicle-popping ride. And thanks to Robb, it's all on film! Chins will flap and balls will pop! LOL! Nearly forgot Ryan was there as well. Make that a menage a quatre-hot-spinning-death-vomit inducing-OMFG kinda way. With Erik and myself now onboard, Dave wanted to demonstrate what this ride does in a menage a trois-hot-spinning-death-vomit inducing-OMFG kinda way. Robb and Dave can't quite believe what's happened to them. Spinny Gerstlauer goodness was the name of the game here! Good job Garfield's not coming here from Kennywood any time soon! No entrance picture for this day - because we have a couple of awesome organisers who pull out all the stops, we were let in the back entrance for our exclusive morning at the park! Big Mike bought his very own Roadshow bus for us today. Thanks buddy!

I can't believe how tiring editing the photos can be - I certainly don't envy Robb each night after a day at a park on a TPR trip when he has to organise everything as well! I'm so tired right now I can hardly stand up.

...Here we go again! Now for those of you who know me well know a couple of things: I'm awful at actually getting these things done, so in complete contrast to the main updates for this site, I must stress from the offset PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PESTER ME UNTIL THIS IS FINISHED! That way I might actually complete it. Also, since my brilliant/disastrous fence jump at Lagunasia in 2007, I did not jump over anything on this trip. So, I'm sorry to disappoint the bloodthirsty masses but I wanted to set the record straight before we begin. I'm gonna try to balance a few choice words with the photos. I'm not a novelist, but I have a lot of opinions that I will not not be bottling up, so if there's something you don't agree with there's probably a good reason why. I don't just say things for the sake of causing argument. Anyway, to begin with I wasn't even going to be on this trip. My budget simply said no. But after looking at the itinerary and how things were going to work, I was gutted I couldn't join the great group of people already on the list. Then after a chance to go on the tour came up, the opportunity was too good to turn down. Thanks to some skilful manoeuvring of money, I just managed to scrape enough together to afford the trip, and I didn't have to starve or eat out of rubbish bins! So, just two months after I was officially welcomed as a participant on the forums, it was time to make it happen. On the morning of Saturday June 6th, I set off for Manchester Airport for the start of what would become a truly memorable 16 days... This first of many group dinners. Tomorrow, we hit our first park of the trip - BonBon Land! Most of the group got together later that evening and sat down for dinner at Hard Rock Freestyle Music Cafe. ...here's an example. Modelled by Larry. But we did past this exhibit of weird and wonderful signs, which I will put up and some point later in the report. To give you an idea of what they were like... This building sitting over the harbour looked pretty cool. We didn't bother with the little mermaid because it was too far to walk to, and it's a lot smaller than you think. Just like Joey. There's lots of bars and street drinking to be had here. A great picture ruined by a hideous car in the foreground. Here's the main sqaure in they city. The very centre is the furthest point from any 7-Eleven in Copenhagen. With rooms checked and baggage dropped, it was time to explore. And here's our first hotel of the trip. In Copenhagen Airport I managed to walk right past Larry and the group before I saw it was them! That's my flight - 10:20, BD3892. Better knock back my refreshing Coors Light made with over a century of brewing tradition! Coors Light! Damn, that's a light tasting beer! And here I am! This truly flattering photo is brought to you by... And this is inside Terminal 1 at Manchester Airport. Like most big airports, it looks more like a shopping mall than a gateway to the skies. This was breakfast. Since I was flying to Copenhagen, what you are looking at is a Danish pastry. More mildy ironic captions may occur at any point during this report.