robbalvey

^ Correct. As of last year the station was still standing and they use it as a Howl-O-Scream maze. --Robb

^ Agreed. I really don't mind Stitch if I *have* to go see it. Any attraction that can make kids scream and cry and run away in horrific terror is actually pretty entertaining in itself, and *LOT* more entertaining than Honey, I Bored The Audience. --Robb

Hey there Theme Park Review Members! We love when you post photo trip reports to TPR, however, we STRONGLY recommend everyone use the "Add Photo" tool when posting instead of linking to other images. This is why. Have a look at this once AWESOME photo trip report: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48478 Now it's filled with Red X's because the photos have been deleted from the location where they were once linked. We wanted to put this report in our archive and feature it in the park index, but as you can see, we can't do that anymore. If you upload your photos to TPR, it is a guarantee that your photos will be here as long as TPR is here! (Which we hope is a VERY long time!) Hopefully for future trip reports everyone can use the photo attachment tool as we would love the opportunity to feature your trip report on Theme Park Review! Thank you for your support! --Robb

TPR's Deep South trip will be making a stop at Ghost Town! We have ERT on both coasters as well as a show just for our group! We'll mount the HD lipstick camera onto the coaster as well. Should be awesome! --Robb

**ANYTHING** is better than "Honey, I Bored The Audience." Seriously. I'm amazed that it's been allowed to run for THAT long. I think I'd rather have back Magic Journey's over that film. I've seen it once at Disneyland. Once at Walt Disney World. And that's twice more than I needed to! Please! Bring back Captian EO. Not that I'm a Jackson fan, but because I hate HIBTA that much!!! --Robb

Wow! That ride is going to look spectacular at night! --Robb

Wait, am I missing something here? What part of this is the thrilling part? Am I seeing this right that you just stand on what looks like a fully enclosed 4 foot by 6 or 8 foot balcony made out of thick glass that you know isn't going to fall and there isn't any risk of danger at all? I don't quite get it. You're not exposed to any elements, and unless you're just scared of heights (and why would you be up there in the first place) it really doesn't seem that exciting to me. Hanging out over the Stratosphere on some ride contraption...that scrares me! Bungeeing off a tower in China, also scary. Standing in a glass closet? Not so much. --Robb

This is what I said originally too. I'm not even sure why the park bothers to open until 4pm. --Robb

There are still some spots open for TPR's Texas Events! If you can meet up with us please let us know! We have the following spots available - SFOT - 7 Spots Kemah - 6 Spots Sea World - 10 Spots Fiesta Texas - 10 Spots Schlitterbahn - 12 Spots If you can make any of these events, EMAIL ME NOW! robbalvey@aol.com

^ Amazing. So they are giving away admission at $4.44 per person on the Saturday of 4th of July weekend. While on one hand you go "WOW! What a GREAT deal!" but on the other hand that tells me they are REALLY hurting! --Robb

^ It's a shame that you cannot see what you have close to you. I would give anything to have a park like Grona Lund close to me. --Robb

More photos... Thanks to Mattias, Johan and everyone at Grona Lund for being a highlight of our Scandi Trip! TPR will be back soon! "Thank you Grona Lund for a FANTASTIC two days! Now let's go get drunk!" From the top deck of the ferry we all wave goodbye to Grona Lund! KidTums spent the next three hours squeegeeing the floor. "Hey check it out! Porthole room!" And now we board our ship to cross over to Finland! (Ok, so maybe this wasn't *quite* our ship...but our ferry was nice too!) Awww...how cute! And Ice Bat says thank you to this GIANT cotton candy for a great visit! Big Mike says thank you to Johan for a fantastic visit! "I LOVE naked boobies!!!" But move a little bit and TA-DA! HOT BOOBY NUDITY! Now obviously we can't show you the uncensored version (another reason why I *love* Europe) but if you want to see the uncensored version of this picture ... EMAIL DAN! mrt0ad13@aol.com Tell him "I want to see naked boobies!!!" This is easily the best attraction in the park! It's a Lenticular picture (a picture that changes depending on the angle you are looking at it) and this angle everything is nice and clothed... Everyone have fun tonight! It's custom made for the park, and really doesn't feel much like a "junior" coaster. We can't forget about the awesome Junior Vekoma Suspended! (Yes, I said awesome Vekoma!) Yay! Elissa got the HIGH SCORE of the day!!! (Seriously, she will OWN you in Whack - A - Log!") And the winner gets a pink hand! OK, everyone get ready to "Whack - A - Log!" "No, it's only about 100MPH!" "Does this slide go fast?" Jumpy. Jump. Jump. Jump....Jump. Watch out for ass burns on this conveyor slide thingy! Oooh....ahhh..... Grona Lund is also home to one of the most amazing fun houses in the world. KidTums coaster credit! Yeah, they let us into the room that makes Insane INSANE!!! COASTER NERD SHOT!!! We LOVED this coaster! Some of us even put it in our TOP TEN coasters in the world! This is going to kick my ass isn't it? Frame TWO! Which do you see clearer? Frame one... POV!!! POV!!! OMG! POV!!!! It does this to your hair. It was originally nicknamed the "Intamin Ball Coaster" because it looks like one of those toys you put a little ball in and it rolls down back and forth. It does this to you. Ok everyone...are you ready to go INSANE?!?!? Yay! Finally someone taller than me!

Next up on our Scandi Tour was Grona Lund! This park was absolutely the SURPRISE HIT of the trip! I had seen pictures of the park, knew a bit about the ride selection, but I honestly had no idea how AMAZING this place was! It's like a little bit Blackpool, a little bit Tivoli Gardens, maybe even a little bit Knoebel's. Take the best of the family owned "traditional" parks, throw in a lot of European culture, some fantastic coasters and rides and you've got Grona Lund! The coasters are also equally as amazing. While no, you're not going to find the tallest and fastest here at Grona Lund, they do have some of the BEST in their class! The brand new Insane (Intamin Zac Spin) is absolutely appropriately named. The ride, is in fact... INSANE! This is the largest coaster of it's type in the world and I have to say it's easily one of the most intense roller coaster experiences I've ever had! The Wild Mouse is the 2nd best coaster of it's type in the world next to the one at Klotten (that one is going to be REALLY hard to beat!), and Jetline, the Schwarzkopf speed racer coaster, is also insanely fantastic! Even the custom designed Vekoma junior invert makes adults giddy with laughter! The park is fantastic, one of the best kept secrets in the theme park world...here are some photos to check out... Do you see it? I certainly do! Same. These guys just lost their manhood. Stand-up and tilting on the drop tower does this to you. Oh, yeah, did I mention they had a HUGE Intamin Drop tower...with a STAND UP side?!?!? Guys, I might suggest NOT putting your hands up if you want to keep them! Of course we are! You all read for more rides on Jetline? Yup...spaghetti! This Wild Mouse "bobsled" coaster is 2nd to the one at Klotten for the most insane Wild Mouse coaster in the world! And yeah the park is *RIGHT* on the water! "OH MY GOD!!!!" Just LOOK at how crazy that thing is! From the lift hill you can see the rest of the park and the surrounding town. It gets REALLY close to the Schwarzkopf! The Wild Mouse is seriously amazing. Can you tell which one is the Wild Mouse and which one is Jetline? "You are HERE...and now we are going for more ERT!" ...and what's in store for the future. ...a few ideas that didn't quite make it... ...even Thriller aka Zonga was once here... ...more rides that have moved on... ...a few rides that no longer exist... ...showed us what the park looked like in the early days... They told us all about the park history... The next day we were given a fantastic historical presentation about the park in one of the oldest buildings on property. Elissa: "What can I say, I'm wet with Intamin Love." Chuck "I'm going to KILL YOU!!!!" It did this to Olov. Robb isn't too sure what just happened. The Brits make funny faces. It did this to Elissa. Insane at night was totally as named! "Ok everyone try your INSANE faces for our INSANE ERT!" This was a seriously AMAZING Schwarzkopf! Time for a little bit of ERT on Jetline! The park has lots of lights everywhere. Sun sets on Stockholm and things are about to go insane! The chairswings right over the water was a nice touch! Very "Indiana Beach." KidTums knows how to pull everyone's strings. Oooh! We see you INSANE! We will get to you later! Everywhere you look the park has fantastic architecture. We loved it! "Daddy, can I borrow the car?" Hanno isn't used to the high speeds and intense G-Forces of the kiddie coaster. We had some time to spend in the park so that means...that's RIGHT! Credit whoring!!! Oh, yeah, did I mention we got some INSANE T-Shirts too? Steve...pace yourself man...pace yourself. We were welcomed to the park with beer, wine and food! What else could be better? Very Scandinavian...very European. Just beautiful! (And at night this park looks even BETTER!) The park's setting and landscaping was FANTASTIC! Hey look! It's the name of the park! Just in case you forgot.

I did hear that they have fully replaced the bumper cars with the new ones now, however I haven't ridden in them yet. Are they any faster? --Robb

This just in from Universal Hollywood - Summer’s here! On behalf of Universal CityWalk, I’m very excited to announce the launch of SUMMER BLOCK PARTY! To celebrate the kick-off of the FREE summer marathon of music and movies, Universal CityWalk invites you along with your friends and family to attend a FREE movie night tomorrow presenting the blockbuster “Mamma Mia!” on the large outdoor screen on Cinema Plaza at 8:00 PM. For all of you diehard ABBA fans, come early at 7:30 PM to sing along and dance to timeless ABBA tunes! Please be sure to check out www.citywalkhollywood.com for more information on all the concerts, movies, dance lessons, and talent competitions planned for this year’s Summer Block Party! Hope to see you tomorrow night! Bring your dancing shoes and warm up those vocal cords!

TPR's media day coverage with photos and video can be found here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51392 --Robb

There IS something very "Rocky Horror" and "Little Shop of Horrors" abotu this that I think looks pretty cool. Not sure if it's something I'd do every time I go to the park, but I'm more intrigued to check this out than I was Spiderman Rocks or Fear Factor. --Robb

I have really mixed feelings about something like this. I've been to quite a few park buyouts, and to be honest, they don't feel as "special" as if you do something a bit more "out of the ordinary." Getting late and early ERT or a backstage tour, presentations, or something a normal guest can't do is quite "special" IMO. But a park buy out usually just feels like a non-busy day at the park. You might as well get a group of friends together and go on a mid-week day in May. You're so spread out that the camaraderie of the group is kind of lost. But you get 200 people together for ERT on Terminator and you've got something that has a LOT more energy than your typical day. That's just my thoughts on that... but having said that, if they offered us "whole park ERT" I certainly wouldn't turn it down! --Robb

Hmm...I really liked the first one, but as someone who not only also edits videos, but works in the entertainment industry full time, I feel that this second one was a step back, IMO. When you follow up with something, you usually want to make sure your second attempt is as good if not BETTER than the first. I actually felt the whole intro was kind of terrible and nearly turned it off. It went on WAY too long and the pay off wasn't that funny because it was predictable and wasn't believable. The music video section was MUCH better, but technically wasn't as good as the first. The lip sync didn't seem as good and for some reason the whole thing felt "rushed" to me. While I'm impressed that the crew are putting these together, I was more impressed with the first one (*REALLY* impressed, actually) but I just felt this was "less of the same." I hope video #3 is a bit more "tightened up" because it needs to be! --Robb

Agreed. The topic title isn't even spelled correctly. If you want to know how to either use the IMG tags or attach a photo, it's explained in the forum FAQ. Seeing as how tons of photo trip reports are posted here every day it can't be that hard. All you have to do is READ the instructions. Better luck next time...

Thanks dude. --Robb

Let's see... The event was called "Termination Day." There have been about 6 pages of reports posted. There have been at least 2 Photo Trip Reports posted. Did you read them? Did they make mention of any other rides during ERT? Now ask yourself... Is this a stupid question? --Robb "You've been posting for posting sake quite a LOT recently...stop it!" Alvey Ps. You really need to start using a spell check too. Go back and see how you spelled Terminator. You spelled it about as good as you do "enthusiast."

Wow! I had forgotten about Silver Springs. My parents took me there in either 1976 or '78. Don't remember exactly which year. Looks like the place is still going strong: http://www.silversprings.com/ --Robb

This just arrived in my email inbox from Universal this morning: Good afternoon. We want to introduce you to Syd Vinyl, “rock legend” and “consultant” for Universal Orlando Resort’s brand-new Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster. For a special message from Syd and for more information about him, check out his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/sydvinyl. Thanks and rock on!

You're absolutely right. Honestly I *love* the first three hills on The Voyage. Everything after that just does me in. --Robb