Dragon Khan

part 3 Some pictures of my family so my kids can show off and say "I'm on theme park review" lol. My son scored very well at shooting aliens

part 2 This year's edition is a shooting gallery and food stand orgy, as you can see. They also had the ubiquitous mirror maze...

Three years have flown since my last (and only) fairground trip report. Belgium has had very poor (rainy) weather this month, which was not really an incentive to go to the local fair with the kids. Monday evening looked dry enough to give the travelling showmen a chance so we decided to have a quick run through the alleys of the fair with my girlfriend and our two kids. It was the weirdest fairground experience ever, since even if the clouds had decided to keep the rain away, the cold was still VERY present and we had the feeling of having the fair on our own. But it clearly felt dead. Well at least it gave me the opportunity to get to know some of the ride owners and chat a bit with them, and to be honest, as there were no big crédits, we rather took the chance to eat the traditional fair food we're accustomed to. Do not expect spectacular pics of huge German rides. Most of the fair being deserted by the crowds, I could only take pictures of dormant rides. If you wish to see the same fair "alive", have a look at the trip report archives and look for Fairground in Tournai, September 2010. ( http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=56757&p=940309&hilit=tournai#p940309 )The only coasters were Eliott (kind of wacky worm. Calibretto would LOVE it, since it has a tail) and a spinning wild mouse called ... WILD MOUSE. It is a perfect clone of the one at Mt Olympus for instance, but with Medusa colours. I think pics speak better than words, so here they are in random order... We left before the rain came back and ate "Croustillons" on the car. Hopefully you like the pictures of my girlfriend sucking balls Pictures will come in several successive posts to avoid problems of server while posting them.

Yeah ! I always enjoy reading my friend Jason's trip reports. This one is no exception. Hopefully we can meet up next season, wherever it is ! Wonderful pics, C-Jay !

Zero G, especially the one on Dragon Khan that really doesn't feel zero G (forceless) but throws you out of your seat into the restraints while pivoting around its ax. Esthaetically speaking, I would vote for Goudurix's butterfly element, but it rides like a turd...

To be fair, we had been warned it would be "AGRESSIVE TODAY"

here is my personal view on Hades 360. I had my experience of it in mind (was on the Middle America tour and rode the "normal" Hades back then). I expected it to be rough, so was kind of preparedto be quite shaken. Or so I thought. My first two rides were in the back seat and middle of the train. Even the pre-lift portion was terrible. This thing hurts at even slow speed. The inversion is ok and is finally the only part I'd advise people to ride with their arms up. The tunnel parts and the return track were unbearable. Then I rode in the front (TWICE IN A ROW ! because invited by a pretty girl to ride along lol) While it still hurt, it was "slightly more bearable". Let's say the whole train is like Muhamed Ali punching you, and the front is like your usual bouncer at a club / bar / disco punching you. And this STILL hurts. Just less. By the way, something in my spine went wrong on it, and I haven't recovered from it: either my neck can move, or my arm. Moving both simultaneously won't work.

Robb, let's REdo Texas Midwest. ALL 4 RMC's on the same trip

and the BEER Elissa, do not forget the BEER !

200% agreed with the other SF parks' hospitality, especially St Louis. But thepark that impressed me most on this topic, was doubtlessly SDC. I swear my roomie and I were looking at the park map, and a park employee literally crossed the alley and jump on us to ask us if we needed help / directions ! Every single operator started conversations with us and wanted to know what we thought of their jewel. They really did a great job at making feel us at home and giving us the best possible day out. oh, andthe operator at METEOR (little Amerricka was FANTASTIC too) Now, SFOT... mini Mine Train crew... is it compulsory to wait for AT LEAST five minutes discussing together with your finger on the dispatch button, and everything have been checked 100 times ? At least, there was Titan (my first Giovannola hyper) to save the day (and Reverse Blast was very good too... even if I found the St Louis version a tad bit more intense)

Thank you very much for those wonderful pics. For some obscure reason, all of my pictures from the day at Sea World turned up blurry. Probably I switched to an inadequate shooting mode. Thanks to people with more skills (like you !) I can relive some of those moments.

Hanno, had no idea where to post this, but once again, A BILLION THANKS for the awesome pictures you take on TPR trips. I often neglect taking photos while having fun, and surfing your website, I can live those fantastic moments again. I can practically find pictures of myself on all the main coasters we rode and this in HD. You deserve the title of best photographer on this site, seriously !

^ absolutely not in the kids area but behind Khan and Shambhala. And the zone is BIG. Look at the pics...

Not saying you are wrong. I agree that recent beemers are NOT Dragon Khan. But my conviction is, if a park asks them for kickass forces, money will buy anything. Just like intamin will deliver soft rides if required. Think about Sheeta.

Dave Evans aka The Edge

Ride Shambhala and tell me in good faith it is floater only...

As much as the situation pains me, I'd say even if it is temporary, they would definitely NOT advertise Irat for the next couple of days to upset potential visitors... And even then, I am not sure it would be well received to advertise a ride similar to the one that has just been in the limelight for bad reasons... Maybe a "politically correct" move

BEST: Tonnerre de Zeus when it had its abrupt stop in the final brake run. (unfortunately weaker now) I also really loved the Schwarzie shuttle loops. Raptor is excellent too. WORST: I'd have to agree with the above post on Great Bear. And Alpengheist is just meh too.

Today, a train crash in Spain killed AT LEAST 35 people. (second in this country in two weeks) It may seem off topic (it IS) but trains will run everywhere in the world tomorrow. I can't help thinking about Irat being closed because of NTAG... I know, I digress. Just my feeling right now. edit, some minutes after: I do realise trains are needed and you can't stop the life of a whole country, still, the Ntag / Irat thing is irritating if -like most of us practically know- there was absolutely no technical failure...

EXCELLENT !

The future of roller coasters is in Europe ...

Believe me, all Tewas Midwest trip participants with it had happened on meanstreak ...

yet another video to promote the fact the original soundtrack by Quentin Mosimann (he was the winner of a TV programme called Star Academy, kind of X-factor) is now downloadable. I don't really care about the song, but thought the video showed some interesting images (essentially reverse POV) and seem to reflect the atmosphere around the new ride. This video for some reason, makes me want to ride it more than the previous ones.

GUESS WHAT ! I have just been proposed an invite to Psyké Underground 's official opening on Saturday, VIP access, little ERT and brunch for five people... and I CANNOT ATTEND ! Well, I will try to see if I can squeeze this into the last minute packing and so on... (doing Texas Midwest with TPR bext week)

One more (less serious though) incident for amusement parks this week end: Plopsaland's starflyer stranded 22 people 30 meters in the air today. Roxflyer is the second ride of the group to strand people, last time was Plosa Coo's MegaMindy héad stranded people for ... 3,5 hours !