Garet

Oh god, what have i created.... Rob

Personally I think the transcribe audio options attempts at translating Robb's voice while going 100mph definately adds a touch of TPR humour to it. Personal favourite translation of Robb's lines was I like morning boris. Rob

Yea they were, I think they are from a big chain brand because i've seen some students with them once or twice. Yea I tried so much of their food, all korean vendor food is so yummy, i'm addicted to mandu (for those who haven't been to Korea it's a korean dumpling) as well as every kind of meat on a stick. Yes I need to back when theirs water flowing again, I only get weekends off so I shall just have to hope I get a quiet one, I'm planning on using my 5 days vacation to either go on a culture trip to Vietnam (something i've always wanted to do) or try and go to Shanghai for happy valley and on to Bejing to try one or two of their parks... or I could go to Japan and try and get all the credits of Fuji-Q, that would definately need all 3 full days vacation time after the 2 travelling No there's a hour wait for it but they are also being made to queue at the entrance, I should have taken pictures of the queue lines by half 5 once loads of people had brought cheap tickets to get in the park it was chaos, you just could not find where one started and ended... luckily I got a magic pass (aka fast pass) for this ride at the start of the day about half 9(the magic passes were already timed back to half 5 so sadly it meant I couldn't get another until half 5 and by that time all other rides had long ago hit their quota) Rob

No you didn't miss anything I mentioned it in the first post, according to my co-teachers there was an incident involving a girl with long hair that led to them apparently.... I have no official confirmation on that though so take it with a pinch of salt. I think it's a yearly thing to do with irrigation since most of the rivers I have seen so far are barely flowing or just empty beds, I'm told the water is shut off further off for the crops and then it returns to normal later in the year after we've had the rainy months. I will go back in the summer and will know then All this is from broken translations and my co-teachers so please don't take any of that as concrete fact. It's well worth a trip out to see this country though some of the temples I have seen are spectacular in terms of colour and decorating and the korean hospitality, well what i've got in Hwaseong is second to none. The food here is delicious as well every corner practically has a street vendor and I would happily take their food over some of the trendier resturants any-day. Korea in 5 words: Meat on a stick heaven Korea in 3 words: Standing room only Rob

So I am currently on a years teaching contract in Hwaseong, the future home of a Universal Studios (in 2014). This saturday I found out I had teacher training on a saturday, throwing my plans for another cultural outing out the window. So with the training session in Jamsil in the evening I figured I would kill a couple of hours and finally visit Lotte World.Now I must point out I will go back later in the year to give Lotte World a fair review, since this was early march there was no water for Atlantis Adventure making the aqua-trax just a.... trax and half of the effects of Pharoahs Fury was also off. Robb and others have pointed out in previous TR's that Korea's theme parks tend to be full of grafitti and in Lotte Worlds defense they have taken steps to prevent this by now making everyone queue at the entrances to the rides and letting them walk through the queue lines in batches. On paper this is a good idea but it just doesn't work. The Korean school children have to go to school every other saturday and when they don't falls on one of the first sunny days like the one I visited it just causes chaos, the monorail had a 70 minute queue alone (log flume 120 minutes) and I had to give up getting the comet express credit because for the life of me I couldn't work out where its queue started, it crossed through so many othere queues and round so many buildings. It also causes chaos in terms of queue jumping since there are barely any rope barriers for most of them and I don't just mean the Koreans here. I witnessed one group of 15 Americans and english speakers leave one person in the queue while the others would go and eat then push back in, then see them swtiching the person for a different ride later in the day. Lotte World also sells cheaper tickets at 4PM and you'd be suprised how many Koreans will go for the cheaper option, when I left at 5pm you really couldn't find most queue beginnings. As I said i'm going to try and go back in the summer when Lotte World will be expecting peak crowds and see if its any different (and try and get in the rides I had to skip) Gyro Swing has also now got guards fitted over the restraints which I find a little bit of a shame as I definately didn't enjoy this version as much as the one at Drayton Manor, I asked my co-teachers about this later and was told it was due to a incident with long hair but I have no official information on that so take it with a pinch of salt please. I also plan on going to Everland and trying to get an update on Eagle Fortress in the next month or so when the weather gets better so stay tuned in. Rant over.... on to photos: Pretty Subway station You see the Top hat and you know your in the right place Behinf these doors, the magic begins... At the end of this corridor, the magic begins..... Yay found the magic Lotte World easily has one of the prettiest indoor sections of any theme park Picture of the monorail passing through the giant loop..... fail Standard Carousel Hmm I've always wondered where Vekoma track comes from Everyone always takes pictures of the pretty helix so i've been different and gone for the loop Wow it is really crammed into the building Train to roof ratio For some reason Lotte World use this train to advertise Lotte World on the buses.... Someone should tell them Atlantis Adventures better.... Building a bridge through the loop does not make a vekoma suck any less.... It makes for good pictures though Sitting next to the waterfall for 20 minutes until my vekoma headache went away Their ship swings really close to the hotel! Food and drink in 1 cup credit... check! Ahh crap, I queued 80 minutes for a museum Umm there is a ride here somewhere right.... There's either an awesome Indiana rip-off at the end of this corridor or no-ones ever going to see me again Dark corridor.... definately the second option The legendary Donkey!!! At the end of this bridge is a castle bigger than Disneylands.... See told you New guards Going.... ....Going.... ....Gone! Awesome ride Wierd flat Its like ripsaw and boneshaker at alton towers had a baby Before we get around to where Vekoma track comes from, I'll end this update with some Atlantis Adventure pictures So this is how vekoma track is made!

However wasn't the same thing said about the type of rollercoaster in your avatar? Oblivion opened in what 1998 and pretty much except for a clone or two this was assumed as a 'They're still making those things?' type of ride. It wasn't for another 6-7 years until SheiKra opened and the dive machines started to take off again. It's only just passed that benchmark for 4D coasters at 8 years so it still may have a chance yet. I for one am looking forward to this, I move to Korea tommorow for a years teaching contract... may have to see if I can extend it a month or two to try out a 4D coaster (yes I know there's always Eejanaika but i'd rather avoid Fuji-Q if I can) Rob

The decade's biggest flop; Surely joey on the monkey bars? Rob

Thanks for that advice, I will probably only use it to shoot some culture as I explore Korea so I think I will stick with my current camera and use its video setting put the money away to some better travel insurance, and if i do make it to Lotte World or Everland i'll just shoot with that ala shaky-cam style. Rob

Watching both the POV and the off-ride video it does seem to run flat after the drop for a couple of seconds before splashing down, I wonder when they are finished tweaking how much of that splash-free run will remain, if it splashes down straight from the drop I reckon that splash could be quite impressive, not that there is anything wrong with it's splash now would just be interesting to see how much difference a couple of metres makes. Rob

It's because when he started these forums someone was already posting with the name Rob on the end and he didn't want people to get confused. Everyone knows i was really here first Rob

Do you guys use a seperate camera to take your still pictures or do you use one of your video cameras and take stills with that or do you extract stills out of the footage at all? I ask because i'm not sure about whether to get a video camera to take with me to Korea or stick with the 7.2 megapixel camera and take that with me, I will probably end up taking more stills than videos, but would probably like the option of shooting footage if i feel like it or even shooting footage then extracting stills from it if that's possible. Many thanks, Rob

Someone correct me if i'm wrong but I believe that same model of fabbri spinning mice is here in the U.K. as well, i think it replaced Storm the old pinfari at Bottons Pleasure Beach in Skegness, i definitely remember the lift hill with a corner Rob

Cheers guys for your replies, they really hepled me out, cheers lou for getting me answers out of the umm "woodwork" To be fair my main dedication will to be to the job so I wouldn't be getting many park visits anyway, the main two i want to visit where Lotte World and Everland since I shall be fingers crossed based in a city attached to Seoul by the subway line, that and I have a whole year to get round to it (even if i only get weekends off) 3 years gaining a degree was definitely worth the almost free trip to everland Rob

This just makes me more excited about going to Korea, hopefully queues won't be too bad considering I can only go when kids are not in school Rob

Sorry to bother with this question if this has been asked before but I ran a search and couldn't find the answers exactly I was looking for. I am hopefully going to South Korea for a year to teach english, its all in planning at the moment and nothing concrete but hopefully leaving in November time, I was wondering if you had any experience with the travel systems between the big city or you used private coaches, was just wondering if i'm based in a city that isn't Seoul it would be interesting to know how accessible Lotte World and Everland is (the two parks i really want to visit). Also when during the year would you guys personally recommend visiting? I'm not too fussed as teaching is my main goal and the parks would be a really amazing extra but if i could find out answers to this, I might keep my eyes open on where the places i'm offered are. Many thanks for your help, Rob

As always sorry for the bad quality, i only had paint but again as always the idea made me chuckle and hoped putting what i saw in my head would make some others laugh. Rob Official entry

Looking back at Johnnyupsidedowns Manta construction pictures and comparing it to the 1st picture they do look sort of similar Isn't B&M flyer a bit flatter than Hyper and inverted track, if i remember dive machines had almost completely flat track compared to the middle beam, then flyers was slightly more curved out from the main beam and then hyper and inverted was even more curved out than that... excuse the lack of technical terms i can't remember any. Rob

I don't know didn't Alton Towers only just submit their plans? Would be a bit soon for it though i could be completely wrong and they were approved weeks ago... haha I would be careful using the term SW6 around die-hard Alton Towers fans so much debate over whether it is the next 'secret weapon' or just corkscrews replacement coaster though personally i'm not that fussed about plan names as i'm pretty sure the marketing department won't name it either of those things wen it opens. Rob

I'm a fan of the Blackpool look with rides goin under and around each other and shops etc but thats mainly because with so many rides all going round at once it always seem to make the place seem so full of energy... either that or i'm biased and nostalgic because it was the place i got my 1st ever season pass. Rob

Could not agree more i never enter these things with the idea of winning in mind, i always feel that if my picture makes at least 1 person laugh or enjoy it then it was worthwhile. Rob

Jeff is still alive in 2028?? Wow modern science will have come a long way Rob

Haha, then i consider my picture a job well done. Rob

Thought i would bring a whole new level to the find the manta track game, official entry Rob The managers of sea world are desperately trying to locate a missing track piece of manta that got shipped to the wrong theme park, unfortunately for them the manager of the park, Wally, was nowhere to be found

So after last years trip we decided to head back to Thorpe Park, unfortunately with Collosus and Tidal Wave two of the big crowd soakers closed as well as Rush it looked like we were in for some long queues.... and i was quite pleasantly suprised, for a busy peak day and as i have said with two of the bigger rides closed the operators were extremely efficient at dispatching and though the queue boards said 60 minutes for most rides we never waited more than half hour for anything except for maybe stealth and Nemesis inferno which was a 40 minute wait at most. Warning spoilers for anyone that hasn't seen Time Voyager.... New for 2008: Time Voyagers, i have to say i really did not enjoy this at all, pirates 4D worked for me as a 10 minute film but this just seemed random things thrown together, one minute it was a spaceship port then the next it was a aztec area then a dinosaur comes from nowhere then suddenly we were underwater, i'm sure there was a story to it but we could not understand a word any of the characters were saying and all 7 of us are from different areas of England, from most of the mutterings i heard around me from children and people they agreed the same, i was to busy laughin at the fact we were supposed to believe we are in a spaceship wen the walls all still have the pirates theming and rum barrels on them. Anyway rant over i have uploaded the few pictures i managed to take but the weather was not great so i didn't get so many this year. Thanks guys for another awesome year Vortex Another year... another colourful shark won Action shot Samurai I hope... there didn't seem that much going on in the construction area while we were there, though from what i have been told eurofighters are pretty quick to build Detonator station shot Vertical loop goodness If you can see 3 roller-coasters in this picture... please contact your opticians Some Nemesis Inferno shots Time Voyagers Another year... another soaked group picture Product placement alert Slammer And another More queue shots From the queue shot We headed straight to Stealth since we missed this credit last year .... it is, its Thorpe Park! ....could it be?... .... and she has spotted something in the distance.... Lucky our photographer is awake.... Our navigator this year... again we are screwed Another year... another pair of sunglasses at 6am

Six flags trying to make the park a more family friendly ride by combining there most extreme coaster with a ride that they knew the whole family loved. Official Entry The decision to make X2 a indoor ride, complete with animatronics and music was not met well by some enthusiasts