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Oh I`m so happy that finally one of my Videos (Andy Korb`s Park Asterix) has made it to this contest. Thanks for the critics so far - This is really one of our slower paced videos, because I wanted to show some of the other aspects of the park and the fun you can have. This video is part of our coasterfriends dvd, and so the park coverage is split in two parts - but I just sent this part as something different. So I`m sorry that Barry is missing some coasters. By the way, I really appreciate that my video is among those great other videos, made with so much talent! I`m really happy that I don`t have to decide which video to take - because most of them are so great.

The constructor is a german company called "Holzbau Cordes". They recently did the wooden constructions for Colossos (Heide Park), Balder (Liseberg, sweden) or El Toro (SFGA) - but not the technical things or the track. This time they did all the things! Just the cars are from Gerstlauer. The ride was calculated by Stengel Engineering. I`m a little bit split if it feels more like a classic or a "speed woodie". The coaster is really calm, you really can hear him only if he passes by. It doesn`t shake to much - just enough for a classic coaster feeling. And in these early days nearly every ride was different. I prefer the back seats over the front seats because you`ve a bit of airtime (really just a bit) and it feels a bit faster - and the ride is smoother in the back!?!

Today was the official opening of the new wooden coaster "Mammut" - built in this lovely green park "Tripsdrill". So I don`t want to bore you guys with lame introductions about the construction, because you`ll find all the facts somewhere in this forum. But I can tell you, that this coaster is a great addition to the parks line-up of lovely attractions. The speed is not awesome at all and airtime is just as little as possible but this coaster makes a lot of fun - especially if you think that we don`t have that amount of wooden coasters here in old europe. The park wanted to have a family oriented coaster - and that is exactly what "Mammut" delivers - Good speed, nice layout, great eyecatcher and lots of fun - this one will be a big hit for the park. Okay now I move on for some photos... Mammut is a great addition for a great little park! Opening day photo of constructor, park owner, engineers and designer - Thanks guys! Mammut don`t have so much airtime - but it delivers fun for the whole family This is one of the highlights of the coaster - a dark tunnel filled with a wet mist even the station looks not ready yet the overall theming is still missing for some months (it should be finished by 2010!) a nice first drop but it has some great moments it`s not a record breaking coaster a lovely family coaster this is Mammut Oh, I forgot that you want to see some great Mammut photos, right? next to this great little coaster this is the great looking log flume ride just a handful of visitors this day a nice sunny Tripsdrill day ....

. What do you find most useful about the front page? Forum Updates 2. What do you find least useful about the front page? 3. Is anything on the front page confusing? I think the first Nav Bar (what`s new, park index....) is really to small. I`ve often searched for some of the informations which are linked their. 4. How far do you scroll down the front page looking for updates? I only scroll down if I`ve too much time to spend - and that`s not very often 5. How often do you look at the front page? daily 6. How often do you click on the "whatsnew" link? Never - it is faster to go directly to the forum 7. What would you like to see added to the front page to make your visits to TPR better? USA/Germany friendship flag Just kidding - the frontpage is nearly perfect 8. Anything else you would like to mention? Like any thing else you would like to see us add/change/leave alone/etc? Don`t change to much. TPR is really simple to navigate and the frontpage is easy to handle - that`s really good!

Thanks for the awesome pictures. I think the park looks pretty themed! And I`m sure that HRP will be a big hit!

Thank you very much for the report - Brilliant TR. My last Orlando visit was just 4 months ago, but now this TR makes me wanna go back as soon as possible But I`ve also to say, that the highly advertised "dolphin slide" looks pretty lame.

you can count the coasters at coaster-count.com. All the travelling coasters are in their database.

Ya, money is definitely a big issue - because it`s not the cheapest thing on earth to have a great day at the Oktoberfest. Hotel prices are steep - if you want to do a lot of rides you`ve to spend a lot of money (prices are between 5 to 8 dollars each) - and of course the beer prices are at the moment 7,90 Euro ( that`s 11 US dollars per litre). Buuuut: You also can have fun just walking the streets, enjoying the atmosphere, watching people and just buy some food at some food stalls. That`s really inexpensive. If you want to see more hammered people I`ll try to locate some people in the next days - but normally I`ll try to avoid these kind of people . And by the way - you also don`t have to drink any beer to have great fun.

Last part... thanks for reading this report - maybe see some of you next year! 9 from 10 after 5 liter of beer!!! (that`s about 1,25 gallon of beer) after a fun filled night at the 10.000 people tent, it is time for some outdoor fun (if you can stand it after the beers) and he tried to mess with the natives Josh from Texas is our gentleman with the rose can you guess why I love Dirndl? ...or you`ll drop your pants! ...you need some pills for your headache... another tip - dont`t drink too fast - otherwise... it can get very loud here this is the most famous dish - a half chicken (here it is more a quarter chicken) you get great food, the best beer, mind blowing atmosphere and of cause great girls but the best Oktoberfest thing is to have a great night at one of the big tents... normally you eat a lot of chicken - but can have something completely different my tip: don`t wear it if you`re not from here Fire and Ice - a little powered coaster

and we go on with our virtual trip... Eurostar - the largest transportable Inverter one of the countless flat rides Toboggan - this slide has a long,long tradtition - and it`s funny to see the people using the very fast conveyor band to get to the top - and guess what happens if the people are drunk? Yes, you`re right! another great ghost ride by the way: it`s called "Hoellenblitz" - translated: "Hell`s lightning" but way too expensive - about 8 dollar for a ride great fun with fire and water effects inside - and a lot of spinning the biggest transportable indoor coaster worldwide signature ride tradition a great walk-through house

Oktoberfest 2007 is now 5 days "old" and we`ve had a great starting weekend with more than 1 million visitors, just this first weekend. Now I`ve some minutes to share some of the great photos from these years Oktoberfest here in munich. After last years great fun with Derek and his whole gang, we highly recommend every themeparkreview fan to visit us in 2008! you know this one! that`s the Bavaria and you`ll get a big smile! give a heart to the one you like You see some nice Dirndls here - a Dirndl is a dress for a woman - it`s also a nickname for a cute girl even on a crowded sunny day, you`ll have to get some beer! on a sunny weekend day it is always crowded this is a real important vending machine if you`re totally drunken - you can get: plaster, handkerchief, shower gel, toothbrush, alcotest, pregnancy test, drug test, pills against some illness, condoms and many more that`s the "Münchner Kindl" - translated "munich`s kid" On the first sunday there`s the biggest traditional costume parade worldwide - more than 9500 attendants and an audience bigger than 250.000 people 9 AM - queuing for the last possible seats Welcome St.Pauls cathedral in the background a great sunny day offers a backview of the big tents

All I can say about this poll is, that Derek is 100 % right (page6). I like all you guys in the states, but hey, there are a lot of good parks all over the world, like in Europe or Asia. This Amusement Today poll is so focused on the states. Polls in general are always hard to trust, and this one is no exception. I used to be a AT reader, but this newspaper is far to uninteresting to pay such a high oversea price.

How far north are you starting? If you will be near Lake Compounce (CT) make sure you check out their Halloween event. I`ll do most of the parks between Montreal and Orlando (with two flight segments in between), so yes, I`ll do Lake Compounce as well.

Oh man - I`m so excited! 35 days until my 4 weeks Halloween trip through some 22 parks on the US east coast - ending with the greatest of all: HHN on the 31st october and the 1st november - Oh I can`t wait anymore....

Thanks for the great TR and the pictures. Now I know that I miss Japan so much since my 2006 trip. Tokyo and all the cultural sites, the food (yes you can have great food on every corner), the nice people and of course the parks. There are so many great memories - and if I look at your pictures I still can remember the awful day at Fuji Highland - just the kiddie and indoor coaster worked on that day - but so I`ve an excuse to come back again - and again and again Japan is great!

@ coastercrazed49 In germany you are allowed to drink as much beer as you can handle with an age of 16 - that`s the good thing here in the old country But remember: drinking under age is not a good thing at all @crazydaveh That´s really a shame that you`ll arrive at the 5th, because we`ll travel on the 4th to your lovely country. So maybe we see us somewhere in the jetstream between the old and new world. @Peejay Just drop a mail if you can manage to come, we always love some Hessen on our table. @Tom we would love to see you around here in 2008 - so plan ahead!

Olympia Looping and Eurostar are always at the Oktoberfest. Then there will be the double Wild Mouse (Münch) and the powered Fire and Ice. Plus the new Renoldi spinning coaster attraction "Höllenblitz" (used to be Star World, was renewed). So for the credit whores: 6 credits

Hi Don, oh sorry, never seen your thread. Maybe I can answer some of your questions from your thread: -which is probably the best tent to book or get into...I know Belgian beer, but German and Bavarian is really foreign to me. Some tents are harder to get into, and some are just really huge, so which way should I be pointed to? Also, how late is too late or too early to book? Far too late to book - all tents are sold out in january. But even if you are early enough, it is also hard to get places because most tents are sold out to the same guests every year (mostly companies). You can`t estimate which tent will be the "tent of the year", it depends on so many factors like the band, the crowd on this day, special groups in the tents, the weather...but most of the tents are crazy enough for tourists. Big hits are always the Hackerzelt, the Löwenbräu, the Schottenhammel, for foreigners the Hofbräu (none munich resident will go to this tent) and the Schützen Festhalle. Some tents like the Augustiner or the Fischer-Vroni have great beer, the atmosphere is not that wild. -are hotels going to be booked up super quick? It'll be just my wife and my visiting best friend going, so I don't know what would be available. Go and book as soon as possible, because every single room will get more expensive!!!! -how late do the trains run from the area, and for that matter, is the train station close by, or do you have to take a bus? This is for if we can't get a hotel in the area, I can always hop a train and shack up at some military base hotel. If you`re using the hotels in the area where the public munich transport system is going (called S-Bahn), you can catch trains until about 1 am. You can also catch a Taxi if you`re not further than 30 KM from the downtown area (30 KM is about 50 euro). Main train station is about a 10 minutes walk from the Oktoberfest. -how close is the Theresienwiese from say, the Residenz or Marienplatz...areas of Munich I'm more familiar with...is it walking distance? Yes you can walk the distance, but I think its about 30-40 minutes walk - so it`s not far, but far enough to walk. -is anyone else here attending? Yes, now you`re attending! I`ll PM you all the details this evening, because I`ve to go on a meeting now. Andy "who`ll looking forward to see Don doing the Four Maß!"

Hi, we`ve reserved places for both tuesdays, the 25th of september and the 02nd of october (3rd october is national day holiday in germany) I know for some of you tuesday is not the best day, but don`t try to hit the Oktoberfest on any weekend days, because it`s awfully crowded. Most of the big tents will close their doors as soon as 1 pm and you can`t move around anymore. Remember that on a normal weekend day the Oktoberfest has around 500.000 visitors! So a weekday is a perfect day, because you can do all the big rides during daytime and than around 5 pm you can enjoy the atmosphere in one of the big tents ( if you`ve a reserved place, because every tent is sold out) until 10 pm, and than you can enjoy the bright lights of the oktoberfest for another 1 1/2 hours. If you`ve just the possibility to come on a weekend, choose the first saturday or the last sunday. Maybe we`ve the chance to offer two or three places on the first saturday, but on the last sunday we`re at Lake George. On the first tuesday (25th sept) we`ve tables on the side, that`s a more relaxed evening (for first timers it`ll be crazy enough) On the second tuesday (02 october) we`ve tables in the middle of the tent (near the band), and this will become insane fun! So hope to hear from you guys! Andy

Hi Derek, I hope we can meet each other, because we`re not really far away from your place. We`ll wanna hit Knoebels, Dorney, Great Escape, La Ronde, SFNE, Lake Compounce, SFGA, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, Hershey, Dollywood, SFoG, Carowinds and all the Orlando Parks plus some Penn halloween mazes. We`ll begin our tour on the 5th of october through all the october weekends, ending on the last october weekend in Orlando until the first november weekend. So I`ll mail you the detailed tour schedule in some weeks, hopefully we`ve the possibility to meet each other. Andy

Hi Guys, before I`ll do my 4 weeks journey along the US east coast, it´s time for our fifth season here in Munich, Germany - it`s time for the 197th annual Oktoberfest - the biggest celebration all over the world. Date of the Oktoberfest 2007: 22th september - 07th october As always, all the big tents are sold out every single night but here`s your chance to celebrate with us. We, the coasterfriends, had so much fun to celebrate with Derek and his gang last year that we thought it would be great fun to meet up with some more TPR User from all over the world. We`ve two dates reserved in one of the biggest tents (10.000 guests) for some 30 guests plus an optional third date with limited space. So if you`ll like to join us you can send us a message, leave a comment in this thread or visit us on our german site: www.coasterfriends.de Here you can see some photos from last years party with some of the TPR guys TPR VIEW: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=261214#261214 Coasterfriends View: http://www.coasterfriends.de/forum/showthread.php?t=74 We`re all very sorry, that Robb and Elissa can`t meet us this time - but hey - I know Robb is just doing some training, because he don`t wants to end like Derek last year Andy By the way: Construction allready began some weeks ago, and I`ll do a quick walk in the next days - so get back soon.

These are real beautiful pictures from my home park. Thanks for sharing!!! Andy

Derek, thanks for the great photos and the TR. I`ll gonna visit both parks on my october east coast trip and I`m looking forward which east coast Six Flags park will get the "worst park crown".

Don, thanks for the infos - I`ll try a cruise on my second next trip to florida in 2010 (this october I`ve no time at all). And if you ever come to munich again, drop a message and I`ll show you some more great beer places, besides the Hofbrauhaus

Thanks for the "extra" infos. So what do they charge for a shore excursion, like the Castaway or a Bahamas day? And are the drink prices "normal" disney level or more expensive? Thanks Andy