Louise

Really? I think it gave me a concussion before the first drop. That rings a vague bell actually... Perhaps I sustained enough of a concussion to eliminate the memory of the concussion-inducing incident?! LOL, the water cannons were hysterical, we literally did go from dry to soaking in like three seconds. I'm really glad you came down too, especially with you not doing a TPR trip this year! Us Brits and Canabians need to stick together. (Just emphasising the spelling so people don't think it's a typo. )

Wow, great pictures. I *LOVE* this one (the first one of the report, for those of you who can't be bothered clicking): http://puntmutsen.nl/disney_oud_en_nieuw_2007-2008/1.jpg Seriously, I would actually love that as a desktop! It'll be almost three years since I've been to DLP by the time I get there on the Europe trip, I can't wait to go back! I think Tower looks great too. Thanks for posting!

The Monster Trip of Death: August/September 2007 So I guess I should give a bit of background on this. I wasn't even planning on going to Japan, but people kept trying to convince me... I so wanted to go, but financially it wasn't an option. Then, in a random conversation with my mother one day, she told me if I really wanted to do, seeing as it seemed kinda like the trip of a lifetime for me, I should use some of my inheritance and just do it. With her blessing, I used that money, and started planning. While talking with Robb and a couple of others about the trip, I joked that I should fly to the US first and spend a couple of days in LA, then fly to Tokyo with the TPR crew... Somehow it ended up actually happening. And I had planned to visit Chicago for a while, and Cameron had VERY generously offered me a place to stay and a chauffeur service... So that got added on too. And with the way my flights worked out price-wise, it actually only ended up costing me about $500 more to do Korea and then fly back the wrong way around the world via the US than it would have done to just fly back to the UK from Asia. So my 17 day TPR Japan trip somehow became a 37 day monster trip spanning three countries. I kinda figured I've just graduated, am in a job where they'll let me have the time off unpaid if I'll agree to stay in that position until January... F*ck it! And so began the trip of a lifetime. I should also point out that my camera decided to break two days before I left home. So the first thing I did on arrival in Chicago was go camera shopping with Cameron! Got off the flight (which was full of aerophobic people, one of whom tried to sit in the aisle for take-off as she felt safer there), and was met by Cameron wearing the most awesome shirt in history, which I didn't even notice because I was so annoyed with immigration and glad to be off the plane. So wish I had a picture of that shirt. Anyway. Settled in at Cam's, went for a hotdog, went camera-shopping, and off we go. The area where Cameron lives is really very pretty, I like it an awful lot. Shot of the Lake, testing out my camera. I was disappointed that these seagulls are much braver than British ones and didn't run away when I ran at them, just kinda casually strolled. More testing of the camera, but I like the picture so I'm forcing you all to look at it. This was really the perfect start to my trip, just wandering around getting acquainted with the place and drinking coffee... Just what I needed considering how manically busy the next few weeks would be. Cool graffiti, but really, would you accept a proposal done on a rock in paint?! After heading back to Cameron's to change, we drove out to to eat at this awesome place called . We met up with Paul (Carnage, who I knew from the UK trip), and Matt (mcjaco) and his wife Abra, who I hadn't met before but who turned out to be fairly awesome people. Paul and Matt were also gonna join us at the park the following day. The next morning, well-rested after a good night's sleep, we had breakfast at a nice little local diner. I'm not entirely sure why Cameron looks so confused here!! I have major love for anything retro and black and white, so I loved these menus enough to take a picture of one! After breakfast, we were off to Gurnee to visit my first US park outside of Florida, and my first Six Flags park EVER!! First coaster of the trip was Batman! I was again surprised by the intensity of this thing! I don't really know why, but I was. Good start, I thought! I'm so happy to finally be in the US and on a coaster after planning for like six months! Next up was Vu. Which was running! Two for two! I didn't hate it, but El Deja Vu-o still kicked the crap out of this one, with its pretty colour scheme and FREAKISH smoothness! More than anything I was severely irritated (not really sure why) with the PA announcements which kept referring to it as "The Deja Vu". I just didn't see why the article was necessary. Or the constant repetition, but whatever. Matt and Paul are such a pair of geeks. Gotta love Matt with his tongue sticking out. At this point (I think, the chronology's kinda messed up in my brain), we headed over to Vertical Velocity, which to be honest I was kinda "meh" about beforehand. I was like yeah yeah, launch, up, down, twist, yada yada. But I actually *really* enjoyed it! The launch made me giggle and I basically didn't stop until about two minutes after we got off the thing... Which I always say is how you can tell I really like a coaster. Sometimes it's the simplest things I enjoy the most. Makes me sad that I might not get to another one of these for a looooong time. The non-twisting one in Japan just wasn't the same. The Scrambler apparently makes Matt feel scared and me feel.... pouty. I love this ride, and this one was a good one, though not as crazy as I'd expected it from what people had told me! Raging Bull was another surprise for me! Interestingly, I've heard a few people who were on the Midwest trip (they were there just a week or so before me) speak quite negatively of it, but frankly, I loved it. It's one of only I think three coasters that we re-rode on this day... I mean, to be fair, we only had time to re-ride a few as we were taking our time and chilling out, but this was one of the ones I really WANTED to re-do. This was my first of the B&M hypers, but even though I'm a bit of a B&M girl I hadn't let my expectations get too high. I really loved it. I have teeny tiny bones and am a messed up shape and often have problems with restraints, but these ones are just perfect, and the airtime was great! Definitely on the favourites list. Demon I remember nothing about other than the boys lamenting the fact that the lights in the tunnel weren't on. Iron Wolf was fine, though I didn't love it. At the time, it was only my second stand-up (rode four on this big trip) and I MUCH preferred it to Drayton Manor's Shockwave, but then I hated Shockwave so that isn't saying much. I will say that it was much better than I had expected, I realised at the top of the lift hill that I still had my earrings in, and I managed to take them out during the ride without any real problem. I also very much enjoyed Viper. I'm not a huge woodie fan (no jokes please), I tend to either think they're amazing or else complete crap, but this was a good solid "I like it", and I certainly didn't complain when somebody suggested a second ride later. Much fun. Okay, so I'd heard all the jokes about the prices of Six Flags' food and stuff, but I was all "whatever, it can't be that bad"... By British standards (which are ridiculous), it really wasn't that highly priced at all, but going by average American pricing, and the amount and quality of what we got... Yeah, rip-off. But never mind, I guess it's to be expected! Seeing as my Six Flags cherry was being popped, this seemed appropriate... Even though I don't actually like cherries all that much. Somewhere around this point, it had gotten REALLY hot (and I'm from Manchester, I don't deal well with heat), so me and my fellow freckled friend Paul decided to cool down on the rapids, whilst Cam and Matt waited.... The line really didn't look that bad, but we didn't realise it went right back over the bridge... And it was moving sloooooowly.... An hour, we waited. But it was totally worth it. At first it seemed like I was gonna get off dry, and then suddenly... Yeah, I was drenched. But God it felt good, and was totally worth the hour in line. Only real disadvantage was that after getting off the ride we discovered that Craig (IggyACE) and his kids had joined Cameron and Matt, and I was now meeting somebody while looking like a drowned rat. Oh well. I also for some reason feel the need to mention that when I realised Craig had his kids with him, I was actually a little concerned, as I'm not particularly child-friendly and always worry that having kids around will change peoples' behaviour... Craig's kids are AWESOME!! I've never been around such fun, funny, well-behaved mature children, seriously, I have such praise for them. They're a real credit to their parents, even Casey is mature and he was only two and a half at the time! Moving on... As we were nearby, we rode Rajin' Cajun at this point, which was fun, but we totally failed at the weight distribution and didn't spin as much as I'd have liked. We did still spin though, but I'm of the opinion that you can never spin too much. Bahaha, this photo has such a funny memory attached to it but probably nobody who wasn't there will understand. Anyway, we're standing by this pond, and for whatever reason, ALL of the ducks are arse-in-the-air, little legs waggling like crazy, trying to get to something. No idea what, but they were literally under there for a good ten minutes or so before we walked away, just kept popping up in shifts for air. I think I was sad because I didn't know what ducks ate. Who knows why I make the faces I do. I still theorise that their retarded cousin Jim-Bob was drowning or something and they were all trying to save him. SEE!!! The highlight of my year. The guys will vouch for how excited I was about this... Apparently Marvin was excited too, seeing as he apparently wet himself in this picture. We rode American Eagle somewhere around this point... Hard to believe this coaster is related to Kijima's Jupiter, which I'm sure must have permanently damaged at least four of my major organs. I honestly fail at geekery and memory enough to know which side of this we rode, though I'm sure one of the others can jump in later if anybody cares. It's funny with me how other memories can easily push things out, I have VIVID memories of being on this coaster and Craig telling me about a lost cellphone. Another cherry popped: My first bowl of Dippin' Dots! Mmmmmm. Definitely the ice cream of the future. Dippin' Dots of course paled in comparison to riding Whizzer with Cameron. Whizzer was so much fun, I adored it!! I don't know where there are others of these but there damn well need to be more, it was a blast, definitely a fantastic family ride, and it was fun to see Casey ride too, fearless as anything! After Whizzer we headed over with more than enough time to hit Superman and then do a couple of re-rides before closing. My only flyer before this one was Air at Alton, which I love, but it's such a different type of ride. I'd been warned in advance about the intensity in the pretzel loop but it still surprised me! I'm not sure if it *is* different, or (more likely) whether it just *seemed* different to me that day, but something in the padding of the restraints was more comfortable for me on Superman than on Air, which is a comfortable ride, but the restraints always bother me. So immature. Sorry. (Tee hee, "wang". ) Re-riding Viper. Haha, Matt has no friends! At closing, the whole group traipsed off to Steak N Shake. I won't bother going into the whole story, but basically Steak N Shake has HUGE nostalgic value for me and I just adore the place. I used to eat at ones in Florida on a pretty damn regular basis, and it had been five years since I'd set foot in one. So this was majorly exciting. Hence the giant smile. *drools* This picture is like porn to me. As a side note, I'm astonished I managed to take pictures at this meal considering all the poking that was going on. So overall, it was a GREAT day, and really a perfect start to the trip. I liked the park a lot, far more than I expected to, many of the coasters greatly exceeded expectations, I had amazing company... Couldn't wish for anything better! No parks in the next update, just Chicago touristy stuff, so be warned.

I'll take the cool points for including it in my TR instead of just ignoring the pictures, but Robb should get the credit really for stealing my camera!! Thank you all so much for the positive comments, it means a lot and really makes it worth the time and effort, and in fact I *really* am enjoying going through all this stuff and reliving fond memories! Scott (BeemerBoy), I'll bear in mind your comment, and maybe next time I'll actually do trip reports after the trips instead of saving them all up like this, this thread is gonna have a monster-load of pictures by the end of it!! So awesome that Larry broke his CD case in a Dave-type fashion.

^ His shorts really weren't that short at all, and neither were contender number 9's... I think it's just an optical illusion because they're sitting and Robb took the pictures standing over them.

^ Robb?

And, for those of you who were on the Mini-Europe trip, I present, courtesy once again of Mr Alvey...: Guess That Crotch!! Do I need to arrange a points system?! I will tell you that all but one are male, there are a mixture of Spain trippers and just-Mini-Europe trippers, and all ARE TPR members (Robb did take a picture of the waiter's crotch, but I apparently accidentally deleted it). Oh, and I don't even know who a couple of them are, or at least, which way around to match them up. Have fun! Next up, skipping ahead two months to Chicago....

Onto Mini-Europe!! Klotten!! At 5am the next morning, it was time for the add-on crew to fly to Germany and meet up with the Mini-Europe trippers. We all met up at the airport, quick round of introductions (and Jow hugging and simultaneously insulting me, a first meeting that will probably match the entire rest of our friendship ), then drove off to Klotten. The park seemed to struggle with the idea of lunch coupons, so Robb and Elissa made a TPR first, and handed out cash!! Everybody else recieved theirs in the palm of their hand, but Robb just HAD to give me mine in a different way. "Tonight is my stag do, and I shall be behaving... like a stag. Awooooooogha, awoooooooogha." (Bonus points for identifying the quote. ) Currywurst and chips for lunch. Mmmmmm!! This is a goat pissing. I'm not sure why I photographed it, but here we are. Me at the top of the well-documented and amazingly awesome self-operated boat-jump. I must admit I was somewhat intimidated by this, though it was great fun!! See, I'm definitely enjoying it!! (Thanks Hector for playing photographer!) Aaaaaaaand that's all the pictures I took until Phantasialand. Klotten was one of those awesome places that you would never find anywhere but Europe... Well, maybe Japan. The self-operated spinning car wheel things were amazing, with Chris and I arguing over whether to flip backwards or forwards. Petting the deer was fun ("RUN FROM CHRIS, SAVE YOURSELVES!!!!"), and Klotti coaster was FANTASTIC!!! Seriously, that coaster packs a serious punch, airtime galore. Elissa had told me it was great, but I think we were all surprised, and I probably had more re-rides on this than anything else on the trip so far. Despite all that though, Klotten is definitely a half-day park, there really isn't all that much to do. But the place is cracking entertainment, what with the goat shows featuring dogs, and all that good stuff. Well worth a visit, and with a coaster that pushed the ever-advancing Gerstlauer further and further up my list. I'll take this moment as a good time to direct anybody who missed them originally towards Robb's and Hanno's reports from Tripsdrill, Holiday Park and Toverland, seeing as I'm failing at having pictures from them. Shameless advertising!! Robb's Mini-Europe Trip 2007 Tripsdrill Mini Update Hanno's Mini-Europe Tripsdrill Pics Robb's Mini-Europe 2007 Trip Holiday Park Mini-Update Hanno's Mini-Europe Trip Holiday Park Pics Robb's Mini-Europe Trip 2007 Toverland Mini-Update Hanno's Mini-Europe Toverland Pics As for my opinions, these shouldn't be quite as lengthy as my Spain thoughts. Tripsdrill: I felt quite ill this morning and missed out on quite a lot of stuff. The coaster was really really fun, though Klotti coaster definitely beat it. The park had a family coaster too, but I sat it out because of fear of vomiting. This park is also the place where a cock bruised my boob. That's a sentence not many people can say! They had some really cool little things like many of the European parks, like the bikes with the up-and-down seats, and the figures that come to the window when you climb the ladder, or the spitting animatronic. Inside the windmill building is a great slide, and Tripsdrill has one of my favourite drop towers, which is really messed up and needs to be a total surprise to everybody who rides it. I'm really looking forward to getting back to this back next year, as I feel like I wasn't there at all last time, my head was all fuzzy. Holiday Park: Home of..... Expedition GeForce!! Was it worth the hype?? The problem I always have with really highly rated coasters is that general I think it's just TOO much pressure upon them. I don't think there's any way EGF could have been as good as I was expecting it to be. However, it's still an *incredible* coaster. Well, the first half is. After the trims.... Blah. The second half is still a damn good ride, better than a good 75% of the coasters out there I would guess, but it just doesn't compare to that first drop, which really was best described by Dave Lawrence as "a religious experience". I won't go on for too long about this as I think I've made my point. EGF good, trims bad. Other than that, I didn't do an awful lot at this park. We all sort of wandered aimlessly, rode the Corkscrew (it rearranged my clothing and damaged my earlobe) and some other random rides, the Starflyer (which surprisingly didn't frighten me, and I really loved it!), then sat around chilling out and having a couple of drinks and some pretty good pizza before ERT. It was a pleasant afternoon, nice and relaxing, and again, a great park, but not worth a full day. Thank God for Robb and Elissa knowing how to schedule. Toverland: I love love LOVE this park. Booster Bike was meh, but Troy shot straight into my top five woodies (not that I've ridden that many anyway), and I just fell in love with the park. We were treated wonderfully, the park management giving us our own room to use as a bar and for relaxation throughout the day, providing dinner and cool souvenirs, and just generally being welcoming and nice people. I totally failed at getting to the top of the triangle (I was soooooo scared of killing a random child!!!!!), and I didn't bother attempting the rope course on this visit, but maybe next year. I also got to ride a GCI Woodie in the front seat with a GCI Guy , which I guess not everybody can say! Even now I'm singing that stupid catchy music. Awesome park I can't wait to get back to, and it'll be exciting to see KidTums there when she's a bit older!! Phantasialand! I loved Phantasialand, a really nice park, and Ling Bao is an AMAZING hotel, with GREAT bars!! The night we arrived we all had a bit of a drunken one up in the Dragon Bar, which was really really great. We were devastated when it wasn't open the second night!! I'm bored of reviewing at this point so I'll make this quick. Black Mamba is vastly overrated, and right near the bottom of my list of B&Ms. It's not bad, not at all, but I really don't get what all the fuss is about. The theming is amazing, the view from the front row is damn cool, but the ride itself... blah. Winjas, on the other hand, whoo!!! I knew nothing about its many surprises, which made it all the more awesome. I don't remember whether it was Fear or Force that I preferred, but I know I was with the majority... Fear, was it?? The Michael Jackson ride was fun but nothing special, and I actually really liked Temple of the Night Hawk! It got soooo much sh!t, but honestly, I thought it was kinda cool! There's something that I find very entertaining about randomly speeding around in the dark with no idea which direction you're heading in, and being attacked at seemingly arbitrary points by giant holographic birds. Classic comedy. Other rides... Secret hidden drop tower complete with scare actor at the entrance, one of the wettest rapids rides ever (don't even bother with a poncho, it does no good when there's a 45 degree drop!), the Hollywood Movie ride, which I swear to God EVERYBODY must ride before they die, and Talocan, a floorless top spin with fire and mist which is quite possibly my favourite flat ride of all time ever in history. And yes that much emphasis was required. Amazing ride. The other highlight from Phantasialand was definitely the food! I'm amazed that I didn't put on about two stone at this park, I was constantly snacking. Churros, ice cream, chocolate dipper fruit skewers.... Yum. I know I'm forgetting about a dozen major things from this place, please all feel free to remind me. Alright, back to pictures: This place has the creepiest mascots ever. This one kept growling at me and sounded really perverted. I couldn't tell whether it was the member of staff inside that was making the noise, or whether there was a voicebox built into the costume. Either way, damn creepy. Ed's doing that forced "I'm actually really scared" smile. In the bar on the last night, Hector and I get a little posey, and a little sad. We have to say goodbye tomorrow!! Ed is being groomed. Teehee! At this point of the evening, my camera disappeared for about an hour... I kept spotting Robb with it, but had no idea what he was doing. Turns out he was making a "gift" for me, and also created a game, which I guess we can play in the next post. The little present, which he dubbed the "Buffet of Robb Expressions", which I acronymise here to BORE, is included here for your enjoyment. The following morning, heading over to the park for Winjas ERT. Mmmmmm, Morgan. I mean, mmmmm, Winjas. Me with the GCI Guys , who I totally expected to be there really only in a professional capacity, but who both totally became part of the bar crew, telling stories and downing vodka with the rest of us. Waaahhhhh. I miss you Hector!!! I stood chatting with Carl while a load of the boys re-rode Talocan. Some of the expressions are priceless. Dave looks unconscious, and Larry's commitment to keeping his legs completely straight is AWESOME!! Helping Daddy babysit for a few minutes. It frightens me to think that the next time I see Kristen she'll be way too big to hold this way!!! Growing up soooo fast already. After his recent abuse, I may name him Unhot Fuzz. Me with Only-Slightly-Less-Cool Rich. It's been a good ten minutes since we ate the chocolate fruit skewers, and probably even twenty minutes since the churros, so Robb resorts to gnawing on KidTums for a while. Dave and I wanted a picture together, and Elissa correctly pointed out that the giant sign shouting GAMBLING! somehow seemed right. I don't know why it's funny, but it is. Me, Zamperla guy, Zamperla hat.... which I lost. But Bruno very kindly sent me a care package with a replacement hat and bunch of other stuff. Thanks Bruno!!! At Dusseldorf Airport, Hector and I take a brief nap together (LOL and awwww) in between me being pathetic and tearing up saying my goodbyes. I'm not sure who took this or why it was taken, but I find it quite funny that Hector looks, well, dead. We're so gangsta in our hats. That's how we roll. And so the trip ends!!! Jow (ParkTrips) and I waved them all off onto their planes, and then wandered off into Dusseldorf for the night, before heading home the next day. We were dismayed to find the amazing fair that was in town, but didn't open for another two days. *sigh* I won't talk about that too much though, Jow might cry. I really did have a fantastic trip, thanks to everybody I got to spend time with, you were all great fun and I have a ton of happy memories. Please enjoy the B.O.R.E. video, and bear with me, the "Guess Who" game that Robb created is about to follow... Buffet.mov The Buffet Of Robb Expressions (B.O.R.E.), as taken by Robb.

^ Bruno!! No, I didn't ride Turbulencia!! I meant to write about that in my post but I forgot!! They would let us ride it only early in the morning before anybody else was riding, but I was with a group who wanted to go and ride Tarantula, and I didn't want to miss out on that, so I didn't get to ride Turbulencia! Sorry!!

Great start Hector, can't wait til you start on Spain! You are SUCH a poser by the way.

^ It does sound like burst mode, but in actual fact it was just the retardedness of my old camera, if you held the button for too long, it'd do this weird improvised burst mode thing where it somehow took three pictures simultaneously. I used to automatically adjust and have perfect timing cos I was used to it, but anybody else using my camera usually had duplicate results. Glad you noticed the prize Jon, and Orangeosaur definitely enjoyed that luxurious hotel, hence why he was out on a counter instead of in a bag! Thanks for contributing that picture Kyle! I can't wait for Europe either, going through this stuff has REALLY made me get itchy feet for it!! Oh, and this comment from Matt? ...Just proves my point that I should stick to my random people pictures and not bother taking coaster photos at all, as it's the updates with loads of stupid antics that get the best feedback. Thanks guys! Gonna do Mini-Europe today, won't take long as it'll just be Klotten, a paragraph or seven about Tripsdrill, Holiday Park and Toverland, and then Phantasialand.

There is a picture of one of them actually, I almost commented on it but I had no pictures from that bus ride so I didn't. Look harder!

^^ I've decided that the non add-on people aren't losers, they're just like those people at parties who leave before they get too drunk to embarrass themselves: you're the ones with class!! Seeing as I may not be able to do add-ons for a couple of years while I sort out my finances, I have to find a positive spin. I just took a quick look over my Mini-Europe photos and it turns out I only took pictures at two of the five parks... Hector, you may be able to start your TR in like two days!! Thanks again for all the feedback guys, I really appreciate it.

^ Finish what, the whole 2007 report?!?! It'll be a while mate, I've got Mini-Europe and then my 38 day trip to do!! Or are you just gonna do yours after Mini-Europe?! Should be about a week or less. Glad I've inspired you to do one, your pics had to be one of the best sets I saw.

Awesome!!!! I LOVE the Channel 4 idents, they're one of my favourite little media items, much more ingenious (and far less annoying) than the BBC's tapdancing wheel-chair acrobatics ones. Very very cool, I'd never seen the Knott's one before!

LOL Bob!!! I love your new avatar too Ron, looks like so much fun! And thanks for the compliment, glad you're enjoying reminiscing, it's been fun for me going through all this stuff too!! I just got home and am wide awake and feeling productive, so I guess I'll do another bunch of pics. Changing the format up a bit too, this is my first trip report and I'm learning as I go, trying to figure out how I like doing this. Last Day in Spain!! -- Parque Warner Madrid, and the Last Supper. On the bus on the way to Parque Warner, I prove (once again!) that I don't look good in any glasses After arriving, we had ERT on the park's Superman coaster, and I loved it! Only my second floorless, and while I do think I would rate Kraken ahead of it, it's been a loooooong time since I rode Kraken, and I would definitely need a re-ride to be sure. Great coaster regardless of that. I actually greyed out at one point (first time ever, though it's happened a few times since) which I initially put down to intensity but upon re-riding and further experience now I think was a combination of lack of sleep, blindingly bright sunlight and nothing to eat or drink that morning. After Superman we headed down to get our wristbands for the day... We're SUPERSTARS!!! They also gave us Roadrunner stickers to wear, which was entertaining but kindof a failure as far as practicality goes... More on that later. Chadlyr really likes Superman, almost as much as Jon likes Batman... Shame I didn't get the photo of him humping the statue. Next we headed over to Stunt Fall, aka El Deja Vu-o, the first of three Deja Vus I would ride this year... And I'll never get that fourth. I actually REALLY enjoyed this ride! Smooth as glass, which prompted a big chunk of the group to tell me not to expect that from the others, if they were actually running the days I was in town. After dealing with the ride safety talks on El Deja Vu-o (I do understand it and usually don't complain about this stuff, but WOW they were obsessive), it was off to Batman for yet another great coaster, FAR more intense than I was expecting. I rode a further three of the Batmans this summer, and this one and Great America's were probably my favourites. Himeji Central Park's was decent, but those two definitely beat it, and for whatever reason, I just don't remember the one at SFMM, even though I KNOW I rode it!! I was pretty wiped out that morning and the whole park is kindof a blur so... Anyway, I figure if I had preferred it to the others I would remember it. So far, three coasters, all of them pretty damn good. So we decided to shake that up a bit and head over to Coaster Express.... Robb and Elissa and others had warned me about this one, and the video footage I'd seen had hardly been kind, so I wasn't looking forward to it... Look, John and I are definitely scared! But it wasn't that bad! Don't get me wrong, I hardly loved it, and I had no strong inclination to ride it again, but it didn't kill me. A few bumps, a few aches, but nothing major. Pleasantly surprised by our survival, we headed over to the log flume, which was really cool, a great backwards bit (love that turntable), then headed over to redeem our lunch coupons. Hector looks so tired and full because he's just eaten most of my lunch after having eaten his own. My earlier reference to the practical value of the stickers referred to this (photo courtesy of Hector): Notice my sticker is now attached with gaffer tape, as the water from the flume had completely erased any adhesive. After lunch, we went and rode Tom Y Jerry, which was interesting as the seats have these weird vibration enhancing appendages!! Think some of the guys (and MAYBE the girls) rather enjoyed this ride! I'm not a credit whore and rarely ride kiddie coasters but fun stuff like this is right up my street. We also rode the Scooby Doo shooting dark ride, which I completely failed at, though Elissa rode with me and did quite well, the ride told her she was "gay", then wandered and posed with random statues. My new boyfriend, I LOVE Marvin the Martian. About three seconds after this picture was taken Robb attacked me. Sadly my camera didn't capture the moment. We also waited in line in the BRUTAL sun for the S&S combo tower, which I forget the name of and can't be bothered searching for. They only had one side running, then eventually progressed for two, by which point we were all suffering from heat exhaustion. The second tower had been running on a bit of a naff programme, so a few of us were just sitting their chatting waiting for the slow ascent to the top, when suddenly we were shot upwards, as we were the first cycle they changed the program on. Shocked us all half to death but was great to be surprised. After waiting in the heat for that we tortured ourselves some more waiting in an area with NO COVER for the Batman simulator. The park staff didn't quite seem to understand the priority passes, as we ended up waiting longer with those than people with no passes for a lot of rides. Carl and somebody else from our group were in the normal line for this one, and the rest of in the Priority area, and we thought for a moment that he was going to get in a cycle ahead of us, but thankfully we all got in, even though they tried to cut our group in half. We then had to wait another five minutes inside before the pre-show started, then into yet another pre-show area. And after all that, the simulator was rubbish, as the screen was so terrible. Oh well. The only really amazing ride that stands out in my mind from this park was the rapids, which frankly is one of the best rapid rides I've ever ridden. I think we put ten in our boat, the whole ride was brilliantly Acme themed, we got soaked, and the thing spun more than you could possibly imagine! We all know what it's like, for some reason spinning just makes people laugh like crazy, and we all giggled like idiots all the way round, I've never known a boat spin so fast or so much. Overall, I really liked the park, and now, having visited a couple of Six Flags park, understand why many people were confused about the standard of a lot of things considering its past ownership. There are certainly improvements to be made, but the place has some great attractions and theming, and a really nice atmosphere. It desperately needs more shade though, we all really suffered with the heat and it was difficult to escape. Onto the evening, the goodbye dinner. A few of us had found a nice little buffet restaurant with a big outdoor area on the first night we arrived, and Robb and Elissa had contacted them to warn them that a group of thirty or fourty would be descending upon them on the final night of the trip. A large portion of the group were doing the add-on to Germany, but there were still a lot of goodbyes to be said, which always makes me cry! To all the non-add-on people, thanks for making the trip such a blast!! Why is it taking them all so long to get ready, let's go and start drinking!! Kyle looks way too happy to be saying goodbye to us and going home the next morning. Walking down to the restaurant... I'm telling you, he just can't wait to get away!! Jon had swiped my camera again at this point, here's Kristie dicing with death. Thank God her grandpa was there to save her if she fell! (Thanks for taking this picture and the previous one three times by the way Jon! ) ROBB EATS SEEDS. Dave decided to get some yoghurt from the machine... Chris offered to do it for him. With hilarious results. Robb saying goodbye to John and the lovely Rebecca, who was a great sport on the trip despite not being an enthusiast. Walking back up to the hotel, I noticed how gorgeous the sunset looked. I just *barely* missed it being a perfect shot, as that stupid Volkswagen didn't QUITE get out of the way in time. Robb kisses Kyle goodnight... Awwww. "Oh, Mr Alvey!!!" (I really think I need to make a .gif out of these two photos, they're hysterical.) Me with the awesome British bar crew, who I had SO much fun with. Love you guys!! And another one with Steve being silly for good measure. All the Brits together.... Except Piers, who was upstairs cutting and colouring hair, like you do. If anybody who's good with Photoshop fancies pasting him into this photo I'd be thrilled, I was always sad to not have a picture of ALL of us. Half of the Panthers. The Panthers and Brits turned out to be a match made in heaven. I love the awesome barman doing the rabbit ears too, he put up with a lot from us and was a great laugh. Does anyone remember his name?? Sadly we also said goodbye to Tomi, heading home to Finland. And to Rich and Mel. Never ask Chris to take a picture of women for you. This is attempt number one. And attempt number two. Number three.... "Rich, will YOU take the picture please??" "Chris, why do you still have my camera?" "DAMN IT CHRIS!!!!" And seeing as I'm posting pointless pictures that nobody will care about, here's one you WILL, I present Cool Rich's nipple. Robb, Chris, Kyle, Jon and myself ended up congregated in mine and Kyle's room for an hour, reminiscing about the trip before Jon and Kyle left the next day. Kyle was feeling constrained by his clothes, and decided to slip into something a little more comfortable. Apparently my arse makes a good pillow, though notice it's Kyle's he's interested in grabbing! Oh wait, maybe I spoke too soon... And so, another great trip comes to an end. The whole ten days was a blast from start to finish, and I was really sad for it to come to and end... Though knowing I was heading off for another mini-trip the following morning helped! Klotten up next, thanks for reading!

Oops! Well I won't speak for everyone, but in my mind it's baffling enough that even ONE person would want to brave that water, never mind more than one of you! And I'd just like to say, if I had wanted to go in, I would've gone in clothes and all, regardless of swimsuit. So there. Kyle, be glad I posted that one! The other two were really really bad, I chose the nice one on purpose! But I'll delete it if you wish... I mean, I may as well be nice because tomorrow it's turtle time!!

Awwww, that post made me so sad!! I didn't "leave" the hat in Germany!! I lost it!! And I lost my Troy wood and my Zamperla hat!! *sob* And I really did appreciate the gesture so much, I was devastated when I realised I'd lost it, ask Jow! At least it was a TPR trip, therefore about a dozen people took pictures of me wearing the hat. So I've been able to get photographs even if I don't have the real thing. LOL at the thought of me wearing some kind of Chinese gown all day in the middle of July in Spain.

After a final morning at Port Aventura, including ERT on Baco which due to technical difficulties ended up being more like ECT (Chat time, not that I'm complaining, I was endlessly entertained by the Panthers as always), we travelled alllllll the way down the Meditteranean coast to Benidorm. As a town, Benidorm is kinda like Spain's version of Blackpool, but thanks to Elissa's travel savviness, we wound up staying an absolutely stunning resort, seriously the nicest place I have ever stayed. This hotel was beautiful, and as of this coming year, will be not only a hotel but also a golf resort, meaning it will now be far too pricey for me to ever stay there again though. It was lovely to have just one night there though, and I think it totally refreshed us!! Upon arrival in Benidorm, we dumped our bags, explored our rooms (they were big enough to explore!) for half an hour, then hopped back on the bus to go to Festilandia, a mini kiddie park with the best coaster of the trip, Draky. We also had a few hours to explore the town and the beach before either making a bus meet, or getting a taxi back to the hotel. We decided to skip Draky in favour of having more time to ourselves, then going back on the later bus. Did I get to California two months early?!?! Boys on the beach. Jon, myself and Hector sinking. I love to sink. It's fun until you fall over and get an eye full of sand. Kyle is essentially insane and decides that the Med isn't cold and he's gonna go and jump around in it. I seriously thought he'd lost the plot, but now that I've put my toes in his Pacific I can see why he's immune. You can't see Miles's face, but something about his body language just SCREAMS disbelief at what Kyle is doing. This was me DETERMINED to get a picture of Jon both smiling properly and wearing his glasses. Success!! And damn happy about it I was too! Kyle just didn't seem to get what all the fuss was about! Freak!!!!! At this point, Jon had my camera, so I had three copies of the picture before, three copies of this one, and three copies of the next two. I do think Ron looks like a catalogue model here!! The Retarded Yellow Hat Crew have arrived, and are equally shocked by Kyle being back in the water! (Also, is that me behind Melanie, taking pictures?!?! This shot came off my camera... Was I using Kyle's or something??!!) Jon apparently thought Kyle was ready for his close-up.... Three times!!! Yeah, he's in a towel, and??? Back at the hotel, I had a couple of drinks in the bar with the Brit lads, watched the others frolic in the pool for a bit, and then headed back to the room to sit on the balcony and read for an hour. I'm sad that my old camera and my photography skills suck too much to really capture this, but the Benidorm skyline was beautiful from this angle. Couple of shots of our awesome rooms: Oh, and I cut open my foot. The next day, we headed off to Terra Mitica, which you could actually see from out hotel! Once again, no pictures, which I apologise for. If it helps at all, on future trips I intend to take pictures every day, because this summer I really really failed. We had all been really hyped up for the Intamin Ball Coaster, but sadly they couldn't run it the day we were there. However, Robb and the park had kept in touch during our time in Spain, so we had at least been warned in advance, and they were nice enough to give us ERT on Synkope, their giant Frisbee, instead. Synkope was actually pretty fun! From a lot of reports, maybe even moreso than the Ball Coaster! We also had ERT on Magnus Colossus (more in a minute) and I believe Tizona... Or perhaps they just walked us over to Tizona before opening. I forget, which is what happens when you get too much ERT on a trip. Anyway, inbetween all of these little sessions, the park very kindly walked us over to a restaurant where they had drinks and plenty of soda for us, and pastries and other breakfast goodies. On a day where I had grabbed the world's quickest breakfast in the hotel but definitely needed more, and when the heat was particularly brutal, it was just what we needed, so much thanks and kudos to the park for that one! Tizona was blah, just another SLC, didn't wish for it to be burned to the ground, but didn't ride it again either... Except actually I think I did, I think I rode this one at least twice if not three times, and I can't remember who to blame for convincing me, but I do know I had pink-ear. Magnus Colossus.... This one kinda did live up (or down) to expectations. The first of two RCCA woodies in two days.... This has to be near the bottom of my list. It didn't cause a huge amount of pain, it was just damn uncomfortable, kinda itchy, and really crap. The restraints vibrated against my stomach so much that they actually unscrewed my navel piercings, and no I'm not kidding. It's just a really ODD ride. I guess "vibrated" wasn't really the right word, it's more that it shunts back and forwards, so you don't even feel like you're moving some of the time. It's really quite amazing. We rode a bunch of stuff at this park, but the only thing that really stands out in my mind is the Labyrinth of the Minotaur, a Sally shooting dark ride. I should state right off the bat that I can't stand shooting dark rides, unless their theming is really good, in which case generally I'll just sit and not shoot because I find that having to concentrate on targets makes me miss out on the rest of the ride. This one I loved. The animatronics and scenery is really REALLY good, and guns actually work as they should, and it has the awesome multi-ending thing where depending on how well your car performed, you can end up in any one of three or four final scenes. I believe in the worst eventuality you don't even GET a final scene. Our car thought we had done terribly, but then we went through a door and faced the Minotaur, which apparently means you did really really well! That ride was a lot of fun. And a lot of the other rides are well themed too, the rapids etc. Really REALLY lovely park. Next up, the final day in Spain *sob* with ACTUAL PICTURES!!!!

On day.... two or maybe three... at Port Aventura, we hopped on a bus and headed over to Tibidabo for the afternoon. This park has one of the most incredible settings of any place I've ever been to, it's near the top of Mount Tibidabo, with a beautiful view over Barcelona and for miles upon miles around in every direction. The park is built on five or six different levels, each of them featuring rides built actually into the side of the mountain. The falling star for example was built with its back to the mountainside, trees in front of it, then as you rise up you see over the trees and there's no ground there, just a massive drop off the side and an incredible view! I didn't take any pictures this day apart from this one, which I'll include because a tiny part of it has a story involved with it: So, in the middle of the two men in my hotel room (LOL at the false implications) is an awesome Chinese hat.... Some of you may know the story that after booking onto the Spain trip, I found out that it would clash with my graduation, which originally SHOULD have been July the 12th, which might have scuppered my plans to do Mini-Europe but would've meant I was fine for Spain. Anyway, it got changed to the 4th. Bugger. So I spent a good few months soul-searching and trying to decide whether I needed to go to my graduation or would rather go to Spain. I chose Spain, pissing off many of my friends and family, but not myself. However, that day when I woke up, I was still a little depressed, knowing that many of my friends were in their gowns walking, and I wasn't with them. So the TPR crew organising a mini-graduation ceremony for me on the way to Tibidabo was simply perfect. Larry got me the hat (pictured there on the bed, sadly it didn't make it home from Germany ), and I was given a "diploma" (a placemat ) and made to walk up and down the bus to people singing the graduation march (which I didn't know, because I'm British, but never mind). An awesome memory, and just what I needed, so thank you SO much to anybody who had a hand in that. And thanks to whoever it was who decided that making me wear a black plastic bin bag would depress me. Anyway, onto Tibidabo chit-chat: Montaña Rusa is the main coaster draw there, built (as with everything else) out on the edge, terrifyingly awesome views. I rode this first with Melanie and our onride photo was great, but they wouldn't let us take a picture of it and it's rare that either of us buys them so I don't have it to share. But the ride was fun. I have to wonder whether it would have been as fun if you weren't so frightened about flying off the side of the hill, but whatever, there was some decent airtime and the cornering wasn't too brutal. The park also had a SPEEDY powered coaster, the Tibidabo Express. This thing was really good fun, but if you only have a small build, do NOT ride it alone!!! I wasn't strong enough to hold myself in place and I had the world's worst bruise on my left side from slamming into the side of the car. I think this was also one of the coasters which slapped me in the face with a branch. Very good fun though. Also at the park, a Fabbri skydiver which I DIDN'T GET TO RIDE... The Bucket Ride of Death which provided the best views EVER but was a little too rickety and rusty for many peoples' tastes. A funny moment of the day was a bunch of us posing for a picture up there and the second we all let go of the sides, the thing JOLTS wildly. The park elevators were entertaining, with actors who were frightened of Hot Fuzz Rich. The park's other selections were fairly decent, as well as the Skydiver they had a falling star, a top spin ("MY STAMPIDA BRUISE, MY STAMPIDA BRUISE!!!), some kind of haunted walkthrough (which I didn't do because I'm a wimp), a new 4D movie (which we didn't do because we were done with 4D movies.... either that or because it didn't open until the following week ), the awesome plane ride which shows you the 360 view whilst hanging you over the edge of a whatever-foot-drop, and which was operated by the very handsome Oriol, much to our delight (Hi Oriol!), a nice waveswinger, and a "meh" pirate ship. Oh, and not to forget, the suspended monorail, which becomes a dark ride and gave me the biggest fright of the trip... But I won't spoil it. Overall, the park was a lot of fun, and apart from the food situation I had no complaints! I had been planning to leave early to go into Barcelona with a group who was going, but in the end I was having enough fun to just stick around! Thanks again to anybody involved in my graduation. Really appreciated the support and the celebration. Benidorm to follow in a new post!

^ You had respect for us?! What the hell is wrong with you?!

^ You mean these ones?? As you can see, there were several in sequence!! Photos courtesy of Hector Guerrero!! (Excuse the sidewaysness, I'm too lazy to figure out an easy way of rotating them, I've been up 22 hours straight) Pretty sure this was a different night though, our clothes are different!

Now you've said it, I do remember it! It was down at the bottom of the indoor bit on the lower floor, right?? I'm still getting weird memories though, perhaps there was one in Japan too? Meh. I still don't know who makes that thing, I was gonna try and look it up and see if there are any more in other languages that I need to try and head towards.

What park was Desperado at in Korea??? I don't think I remember that! Unless the one I rode WAS in Korea, and I'm imagining that there was one in Japan when in actual fact there was not... I went to too many places this year, I'm so confused!!

^ YAY, I'm not alone! I also stole somebody's dinner roll at Isla Magica, along with maybe a croquetta or two, and I definitely had somebody's caramel dessert pot thingy. How could I forget Templo del Fuego!! This is why I need to take more pictures of rides, I keep forgetting things! And thanks for the awesome info on yet another language I will get to watch Desperado in! Yay!!