milst1

We actually got our photo from the Duinrell testride in the biggest paper in the Netherlands today. Page T11 of De Telegraaf, whoever's interested. Seems to not be avail. online.

Nice TR, seems like a million years since Japan, but just 3 1/2.

Hi Chezha, I don't know who you are, but I was at Duinrell for the testriders event today too! You scooped me but I was just too tired to post when I got home today. I received my invite via a Dutch enthusiast site called Rides.nl. Miraculously I didn't have classes today so Cheryl and I headed over to Wassenaar, about 45 minutes by public transit from where we live in The Hague. Here's the 91 bus to Wasenaar. Here's the Duinrell bus stop! Here's the welcome tent and some Dutch enthusiasts. Test riders sign in! As part of the welcome packet, we got a free park ticket for later in the season, including 2 hours at the waterpark. Two hours? The Duinrell Express would take us directly to the coaster! One cool thing I noticed on the way in was that they've put up a climbing wall on the supporting structure of this super slide. Pretty clever. I don't remember seeing that on past visits. We were among the first to arrive. As you can see, there is still no name for this coaster! We got right on with no wait. You can see that they left the Gerstlauer plastic sheeting on the trains. It's a fun little ride! I guess this is the Gerstlauer version of the Vekoma Junior. I don't remember riding one of these things before. It's a fun and twisty layout, with a couple of head choppers (when did "fin del capo" stop being used?). Not bad for a family ride. Here is Duinrell's more extreme Eurofighter, Falcon, which was also open to the testriders today. Their Zierer Tivoli Large was open today too, but I didn't get a pic. A lot more people started showing up and they had a little speech for the media. We ran into Oscar Abbenhuis too. He's the Netherlands rep for European Coaster Club. There was a fair amount of media. We got interviewed by The Telegraph. I'm sure my broken Dutch amused the reporter. I'm not good at explaining this hobby in English, much less Dutch. A little quality time with Rik, the park's spokesfrog. Thanks for checking out the report, and thanks to Chehza for starting the thread and posting the video!

Nice report, Chuck! Looks like a fun coaster and a nice theming. Maybe this is a good excuse to finally try to get those Delmarva credits and see the Chesapeake on our way to Williamsburg. Thanks for the nice update.

Nice report. Still haven't been to TP, maybe this year.

Spidey looks freakin' awesome, as does the mini-golf, as does New Fantasyland. I envy you Orlando-ites. There's always so much changing there, so all of our trips are pure madness, running around trying to catch all the new stuff in the few days we have. But we did finally invest in one of those non-expiring 10 day WDW park-hopper tickets.

Finally, some pics from our Costa Rican adventures. If you like adventuring, this is the place! Plus English is widely spoken and they pretty much accept US dollars everywhere. It's not a cheap vacation but it's a lot of fun. First, we did some ziplining at the Arenal Volcano. These were the longest and fastest ziplines we've ever done. One zipline was nearly 1 km! The outfit was called Mundo Aventura, whoever's interested. Here's Cheryl, flying through the air without a care in the world. Until she "valley-ed", and had to pull herself to the end. My big fat self was not having that problem. In Costa Rica, they give you a huge leather mitt (see my right hand) with which you hold the cable while zipping. It keeps you from spinning and can act as a brake if you need it. Next up, the good folks at Aguas Bravas gave us a great whitewater rafting trip. Class 2 and 3, for those interested in such things. Most of our pictures show this expression on our faces. But totally fun. Next up was an awesome ATV tour. We'd never done this kind of thing before, so it was pretty awesome. Iguana! Awesome assemblage of giant crocs! Scarlet Macaw in an almond tree. White Faced Monkey in Manuel Antonio National Park. This is my clearest shot in two dozen photos. But it's just incredible to see monkeys hanging around, not in cages, just foraging in the jungle. Thank you so much for reading our Central America report! See you in the queue!

Whoa, I just saw that nannerdw has a Rock-o-Plane as an avatar! Cool. Actually, those mini-Frisbees are incredibly intense. As the period (looked this up in Wikipedia) is much shorter, there are many more swings than a giant frisbee during an equal length ride cycle. As the thing is simultaneously rotating, it can get pretty intense. I rode the House of Anubis ride at Plopsaland Indoor Coevorden and it seriously kicked my ass. Thanks again for the visits and the comments, folks. Huis Anubis Mini Frisbee at Plopsa Indoor Coevorden

Whoa, I just saw that nannerdw has a Rock-o-Plane as an avatar! Cool. Actually, those mini-Frisbees are incredibly intense. As the period (looked this up in Wikipedia) is much shorter, there are many more swings than a giant frisbee during an equal length ride cycle. As the thing is simultaneously rotating, it can get pretty intense. I rode the House of Anubis ride at Plopsaland Indoor Coevorden and it seriously kicked my ass. Thanks again for the visits and the comments, folks. Huis Anubis Mini Frisbee at Plopsa Indoor Coevorden

A short flight from Guatemala City (on Copa Airlines) brought us to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Costa Rica practically lives on tourism from the U.S., but you won't find many U.S. tourists at the local amusement park, Parque Diversiones. According to rcdb, all profits from the park go to a children's hospital, and the official name of the park is Parque de Diversiones Dr. Roberto Ortiz Brenes. We're here! First credit was this Vekoma corkscrew, though rcdb says it was *built* by Arrow. I don't get it. Vekoma in a U.S. park in 1984? Apparently this thing was originally at Rye Playland, and then was moved to Knoebels! Anyone ever ride "Whirlwind" at those parks? Cool entrance to Bocaraca. Flat! Not a fancy park, but it grew on us. Lots of natural greenery. Interesting theming. Now, this Huss Topspin actually had pretty cool theming. It was themed as a Category F5 tornado. The queue was housed in a midwestern-looking barn. Scarecrow and windmill...I'm sure people from Oklahoma would be terrified. And the water effects. Can't remember if there was fire too. Again, lush greenery. Lagoon with paddle boats. Teletren was the other credit, a Zamperla roller skater. That's Tio Conejo (Uncle Rabbit), he's the park's mascot, and this was a children's area. I believe that this is what is called an Eyerly Rock-o-Plane. Where can one find these in the States? Ignoring the infirmary, some incredible views from inside the park. Drop Tower! Cheryl needs to change her screen name to DropTowerJunkie. Is that already taken? Classic Spider. A Disko. You gotta go pay at the stand and then give a ticket to the popcorn lady. This area in the back of the park was just gorgeous. This was a fun spinning raft ride... ...with a nice long lazy river part at the end. These things are fun. Interestingly, there was a church in the park. I know Dollywood has a little church. Any others? There was a huge covered area for food and games. This is how you get diabetes! Strawberry Light! Thanks for visiting this charming park with us! Next update: Costa Rica is the Capital of Extreme Adventure Tourism!

First, thanks to Robb for throwing this report on the front page! I hadn't even realized! Second, there are 8 inversions on Avalancha. Third, thanks to everyone who's checked out the report. Thanks for your comments! More coming soon!

Nice report on Cliff's!

Nice doggie pics Big Mike!

After driving back to Guatemala City, we went to the big inner-city park, also owned by IRTRA, called Mundo Petapa! Awesome volcanoes driving back to El Ciudad. So it's about US$13 to get in to the park, but I can't remember how much the all you can ride wristband was. I don't think it was too bad. Entrance section was nice. We saw lots of Zamperla rides in the kiddie section. And one of the credits is this Zamperla MotoCoaster. I think Zamperla has a good product because of the compact layout, but I prefer the Vekoma Booster Bikes. These are still fun though. The other credit was this spinning mouse. One of the ops gaves us a really hard time about sunglasses, even with retainers on. People with regular glasses were't being bothered. There were a good many flats. I have no idea what this one is called. This DiskO looked extreme. Insane elevator lift raft ride. Here's the elevator at the top. Decent non-S&S air powered drop tower, but we were not happy with the ops. Long unproductive cycles while the line got longer and longer. Brinkaguro Kangaroo ride. Better shot of the drop tower. Pretty tall. Was worrying about earthquakes. Big covered area for games and such. Here's that bad queue for the drop tower that formed due to the slow ops. Additionally, the park was getting more crowded as it got later. Moving beyond the rides, there was this cool dinosaur play area. As well as a zoo, which we did not explore. There's also a large public pool. Dining area near the pools. We didn't ride the powered coaster. This was a very cute kids' ride. One of those smaller frisbees. There was also a theater and some holiday theming. Thanks for checking out this report of Guatemala's Mundo Petapa! Next Up: Parque Diversiones in Costa Rica!

Next up, I wanted to show you a gorgeous water park, Xocomil. Most water parks don't have a theme, so it's really cool to see a *themed* water park. Check it out. Here's the entrance where we came in. And here was a cool display at the other entrance. Like the rest of the resort, the settings were lush and immaculately clean and manicured. These buildings contained lockers and changing room. A fast moving lazy river. Sand volleyball. Our first big ride was what appears to be a White Water Boomerango. I'd seen photos of these but had never ridden one. Amazing how it's themed. I believe this is the name of the slide, but the word is not my Spanish-English dictionary. Whatever, it was a lot of fun. This sign on the landings was disconcerting. You can probably figure it out even if you don't speak Spanish. Awesome. And again, amazing theming, same slide. Decent sized water play structure. Mayan head with scarlet macaw filling the tipping bucket. The lush greenery made it hard to photgraph slides. Mat slides. Toilet bowl, but everyone was getting stuck. The red and blue slide was intertwined with the blue-yellow toilet bowl, and that last drop you see was awesome. Large restaurant, camera doesn't capture it. Smaller play structure, theming. That's the restaurant in the back. I just love this Mayan theming. Standard covered and uncovered tube slides. Nice lazy river. They also had a couple of tube-less speed slides, but I hurt my back on it (fast water tearing flesh apart) so I guess I forgot to take pics. For some unfathomable reason, the shop closed for an inventory and cash count 15 minutes prior to the park's closing. When all the exiting guests are going past the shop. *sigh* But overall, we really loved this water park. Highly recommended. And thanks so much for reading this report! Next up: Mundo Petapa in Guatemala City

As always, many thanks to those who've checked out the report. I hope to add some more soon. Also wanted to give a shout out to packfanlv who did a nice Guatemala report back in 2008: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43372

It's getting harder and harder to find new credits during the cold winter months, so Cheryl and I headed to Central America, specifically, Guatemala and Costa Rica. We had a great time in both places, but Guatemala really is a third-world country, with extensive poverty, terrible roads, and fearsome looking soldiers on patrol. Fortunately, I didn't read the State Department warnings (gang rape, murders, narco-terrorism, highest violent crime rate in Latin America, etc.) until after our trip. Guatemala just elected a new law and order president, so we hope that things improve. Despite all of this, our experiences at the premiere Guatemalan parks, Xetulul and Xocomil, were extremely positive. The IRTRA resort in Retalhuleu is a gem, especially considering its location. We also visited the IRTRA park in Guatemala City, Mundo Petapa. We liked that less, but it's still an impressive facility. We then flew to Costa Rica, which is a somewhat wealthier nation (it helps that military spending = 0), with better tourism infrastructure. After part of a day in the very nice Parque Diversiones in San Jose, we did some very cool adventuring and nature-spotting. First up, Xetulul! It's about a 3 hour drive from Guatemala City Airport to the resort town of Retalhuleu. And it's a bad, bone-jarring road, almost all two-lane. We hired a driver because there are bandidos. Seriously. IRTRA stands for the Institute for the Recreation of Workers in the Private Sector, and they own the Xetulul-Xocomil theme and water-park resort, as well as other resorts and parks. The entrance to the resort hotels is gated and the guard is armed. Not what you usually see at theme park resort hotels! The security guard had to call in to make sure we had a reservation, and he took down our license plate info. This was our hotel, one of three buildings in a hotel complex called Palajunoj, which is just one of several hotel complexes. It's not Disney, but it's still impressive. The grounds and the theming of the resort are gorgeous. This sign advertises the seating assignments for the IRTRA 50th Anniversary New Year's Eve Gala. IRTRA was founded in 1962, and this resort was built in 2002. Really nice theming at the pool near our building. A mariachi band plays at the tram station before our Dinner/ERT session. Our first look at Xetulul. Tables set up for dinner. We had a package for the days leading up to NYE, and it included nice events like this one. Cheryl's liking the food. The staff at this resort were incredibly friendly and gracious. When you say thank you, they respond "Para servirle", or "in order to serve you." This is Avalancha, the 8-inversion Intamin. I'm proud to have this credit, but those old OTS restraints caused skull fractures with every lateral movement. Here's a daytime look at Avalancha. Nice looking, with some nice theming. Xetulul, Efteling, and Europa-Park are the only non-US parks that have won the Applause Award. Friends greet you at the gates of Xetulul. Park entrance, yay! They're setting up for the NYE Gala. El Choconoy is the other credit. Cheryl likes this large Zierer Tivoli. There's a Disk-O... A pirate ship...sorry Larry, I know I'm a shitty park index source. Here's the park's money shot. And at night. Beautiful touches everywhere. I loved the Mayan theming in the Guatemala section. Here's the Mayan pyramid without the people, but I chopped the top off. They have two jaguars. Native to Guatemala, jaguars are the biggest cats in the Western Hemisphere, and only lions and tigers are larger. We did the train ride at Xetulul and it was awesome, like a half hour long. The property was just enormous. We saw the IRTRA chopper on the train ride. Other themed areas included France... ...Spain... ...Italy, and Germany, but I seem not have any pics of Germany. That's where Avalancha is. There was a big party for New Years Eve and it was gorgeous. Music, dancing... Food! The place was beautifully lit up. Now, I had mentioned that I was an IAAPA member when I tried to make our hotel reservation (that's a whole other story), and we were told that someone from IRTRA would be sitting near us. We waited for a while, eating at an empty table, feeling a bit awkward. Enter Jorge Mario Chajón, Marketing Manager for IRTRA. He and his beautiful family (L-R wife, sister, daughter, and two sons) made us feel most welcome. Wait, I just realized, that's Mario in the rear, dancing with his mom. They were all very very nice to us. Awesome New Years fireworks! Happy 50th IRTRA!!! Mario also treated us to some of El Mejor Rum Del Mundo! Thanks for checking out this report. Next up, the best-themed non-Disney waterpark I've every seen, Xocomil!

Added the final park of the year, Xetulul in Guatemala. Full trip report from Guatemalan and Costa Rican parks coming soon. Hope you like.

Thanks and bedankt! Really appreciate everyone taking a moment.

Yes, the students are aware of sampling bias in the survey's distribution, and it's hardly a perfect questionnaire. It's possible that some of their hypotheses apply mainly to enthusiasts. They'll probably sort by light vs. heavy users. I assume that you're implying that TPR enthusiast-type people are willing to pay a premium for convenience compared to the average consumer. I would agree that TPR enthusiast-types are probably less price sensitive because theme parks are more of a "necessity" than a "luxury" for them, but I would also guess that there are probably some people here on this forum, especially those at lower income levels like teens and college students, who are willing suffer some inconvenience in order to save money. It's a global survey in several different languages, so they may also see patterns depending on region. Thanks to you, and to everyone, for your participation.

^^^ A million thanks.

Have you visited a theme park in the last five years? Please help! A few of my students are doing a study on theme park pricing and consumer preferences. Please help them by filling out this very brief questionnaire. And thank you very much for you help. http://www.thesistools.com/web/?id=238780

Ditto. Although I am a little bit of a Disney fanboy. Wannabe.

You'll have to ask Robb about that one. Sometimes he gets a little behind because other things come up. Plus there are cool reports from others on the trip, like the Kiwi's report. Check it out. Bob, hope to coast with you again soon! Once, thanks to everyone who's checked out this 2011 update!

Nice report! More, more, more!