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This is one photo for each park we visited between 2009 and 2018. 2009 starts here, 2010 starts on page 4, 2011 starts here on page 5, 2012 starts on page 6, 2013 starts on page 7, 2014 starts here, 2015 starts here on page 12, 2016 is on page 14, 2017 is on page 15 and 2018 is on page 16. Here is one photo from every park visited in 2009, though I didn't include a couple of adventure tree-cable course parks that we hit in Italy and Belgium. I did not do a photo for each visit, just one for each park. And my definition of "park" is pretty loose. These (2009) were originally posted in chronological order, but somehow they were rearranged into alphabetical order. The chronological order is used for subsequent years. Of course it's hard to sum up an entire park in one photo, but please enjoy! Happy Holidays everyone! Here's to a great 2010! Tibidabo Port Aventura Six Flags Great Adventure Lightwater Valley Flamingo Land Blackpool Pleasure Beach Amsterdam Dungeon Walibi Belgium Schloss Beck Freizetpark Movie Park Germany Bobbejaanland Plopsaland BillyBird Park Hemelrijk Efteling Walibi World Avonturenpark Hellendoorn Attractiepark Slagharen Koningin Juliana Toren Kings Island Castles 'n Coasters Land of Make Believe Bowcraft Six Flags Over Georgia (on the TPR Deep South Tour) Zuma Fun Center (on the TPR Deep South Tour). Hope you enjoyed our 2009 Wrap-up! Alabama Adventure (on the TPR Deep South Tour) Lake Winnie (on the TPR Deep South Tour) Dollywood (on the TPR Deep South Tour) Carowinds (on the TPR Deep South Tour) Dixieland (on the TPR Deep South Tour) Elitch Gardens Lakeside Mile High Flea Market Drievliet - a 15 minute bike ride from our apartment! Duinrell - a 45 minute bike ride from our apartment Casino Pier Funtown Pier Gillian's Wonderland Pier Playland's Castaway Cove Morey's Piers Knoebel's Hersheypark Okay, I know it's not a park, but this was a killer alpine slide in Todtnau. http://www.hasenhorn-rodelbahn.de/ Europa Park Erlebnispark Tripsdrill Holiday Park Toverland Gardaland Disney Hollywood Studios Paris Disneyland Park Paris Winter Phantasialand Mirabilandia

Great video, as usual, Robb! Cyclone was one of my very first "real" roller coasters and I still love it. It can be pretty rough (e.g. back seat), but has held up well considering its age. And the Wonder Wheel is amazing! I'm still sore at Joe Sitt/Thor Equities for forcing the closure of Astroland, but here's hoping the City's purchase of acreage from Greedy Joe and the new call for amusement development proposals ushers in a new Golden Era for Coney Island! FUN FACT! Did you know that the name "Coney Island" comes from the Dutch word for rabbit, "konijn"? NOW YOU DO!

Classic.

Groteslurf, is there a fast pass or q-bot or the like for those not staying at the park hotels? We're going this weekend. Thanks! -Martin

Great thread! I'm a terrible photographer of coasters, but a great photographer of coaster signs! Thanks for the Hydra sign, but you need the smoke effect too: Another standout. Here's a classic...

You're kicking butt, Robb, great stuff!

I'm psyched for the polls this year...I have 180 new credits in 2009, including 26 new woodies, and still have a PortAventura trip coming up this month. Thank you TPR for enabling my addiction.

Just figured out that the guy seated on the right is Michel den Dulk. He's 30 years old, he's Dutch, and he worked as a designer at Efteling and then at Europa Park, and I just read that he's been hired by Disney! Here's the story: Dutch attraction designer joins Disney Tuesday 10 November 2009 A Dutch amusement park attraction designer has been offered the job of a lifetime at the Disney corporation in California, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday. Michel den Dulk, 30, was invited to join the team as senior concept designer by Tony Baxter, a legend in amusement parks, who is most famous for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction, the paper says. Among den Dulk´s credits are the Blue Fire rollercoaster at the Europa Park in Germany and the Little Match Girl attraction at the Efteling amusement park in the Netherlands. © DutchNews.nl Michel den Dulk, new Imagineer, seated to the right.

Good question! And the answer is, B&M did not have a booth at this show. Yes, this was surprising, as all the steel competition was there. I had been hoping to get an autograph on my Diamondback-themed KI park map, but it wasn't to be. -M

Okay, I'd better continue this because the BIG SHOW is coming up fast in Vegas next month. School attacked me during the week of the Euro Attractions Show, so I couldn't get to the convention center during the day, but I did make it to The Heineken Experience in Amsterdam for the cool party! Par-tay. Lots of cool industry people. I mingled with vendors, park mgmt, etc. A blast. Next, last day! Will Morey of Morey's Piers, watching Heineken commercials. The guys from Tripsdrill and Liseberg were singing some kind of Heineken Karaoke. Tons and tons of other stuff, like bottle your own beer. The meaning of it all, served after the ride. ...and you enjoy a 4-D experience of being brewed! Here's the jiggling platform you stand on... OMG, a beer ride!!! You get to be a bottle of Heineken! I was shocked to come across this scene. It seems that A-B isn't the only company keeping its old draft (get it? yup, same word) horses from the days of yore. They're called Shire Horses, which apparently means draft horse, or trekpaarden in Dutch. Incidentally, you can get horse meat in the local supermarket. I know, disgusting, but I kid you not. And the whole tour is in English. This college kid explaining the hops and barley and yeast was American! Can you imagine going to college in a city where pot and prostitution are legal, and working at Heineken? If I were still in college, I'd be transferring! Big vats for brewing. Yes, my TPR bretheren, it's what we live for: Coasters!!!!!!! The Heineken Experience is a massive 4-story interactive museum. Here's the introductory video about the company's history, told from behind the bar. From Holland to the World! See amusement industry bigwigs go to drink some Dutch suds! Free entry for IAAPA party guests! Regularly €15, which is like $22, thanks to the Incredible Shrinking Dollar!

It'll be 3AM here, but I'll be dreaming of our next TPR trip.

The big show is, of course, coming up in Vegas this November 16-20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Next year's EAS in in Rome, October 6-8, 2010. -Martin

Okay, second day was the first real day of the show. I started on the floor of the RAI, attended an interesting panel, and the welcome reception followed. The show broke its own records this year with approximately 8,000 visitors, 50% more than last year's show in Munich. There were 278 exhibitors and 1,000 people attended the related seminars. Well, that's it for Day 2 of IAAPA EAS 2009. Tomorrow: The Heineken Experience! Alan Ramsay gets credit for introducing me to these guys, and this was the highlight of my evening (not counting the ProSlide guys): On the left is Emmett Peter, Director of Worldwide Safety & Assurance for Disney Parks & Resorts, and on the right is Michael Withers, VP Show/Ride Engineering for Walt Disney Imagineering. Michael told me he would hook me up with hotel people (I'm a hotel management professor), and Emmett let me rant about Disneyland Resort Paris for 10 minutes while he took notes! He was headed there to do an audit. These guys were great. Sponsored by Vekoma, which you know, and JLT, which sells insurance to amusement parks. Lovely setting for a cocktail party... These were some of the coolest people at the show! Maybe the coolest. They're smiling because they've just heard a Dutch-speaking American sing "O Canada". Did you know ProSlide is headquartered in Ottawa? I didn't. That's Rick Hunter, President & CEO on the right. Let the schmoozing begin! On the left is Alan Ramsay, a ride safety expert and a real industry insider. He knew everyone! And he knew a lot about how to run a park. With Alan are the delightful Janice and Will Morey of Morey's Piers! Recall that the Giant Boomerangs briefly drove Vekoma into bankruptcy. At that point, a group of employees jumped ship and started KumbaK Coasters. These are their new trains, which you can ride on Python at Efteling. The guys at Sally were so cool. They were pretty pumped about a possible big order out of the blue. If you get a chance, their Challenge of Tutankhamun at Walibi Begium is pretty awesome. I was surprised to see more than one vendor in this particular category. The new Vekoma restraint system. Damn! I'll drink to that! Yummy goodness. Cool model of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at the Maurer Söhne booth. I went to a great discussion session on the themed attraction industry. The guy on the left is Salvador Clave, author of The Global Theme Park Industry, then Bob Rogers of BRC, notable for a number of projects. The third guy is a designer for Europa Park (did the new Iceland section) and is up and coming. Zorbing supplies! You couldn't ride the mechanical dolphin but you could place an order. Lotsa crazy stuff here at EAS! There were a lot of theming and design vendors. That's right! And the park is Europa Park. With 9 credits, you don't want to miss Europa Park on next year's TPR Mainland Europe Tour! This dapper gentleman is Roland, who's in an interesting place in the industry. He and his family are major ride manufacturers, and they also own one of Europe's biggest and best theme parks. Where better to showcase their products? Have you guessed Roland's last name? This is a model of Typhoon, the 2nd Euro Fighter ever built (Bobbejaanland). Many of your favorite ride builders and park suppliers are here to display their crazy wares. It's a pretty gi-normous hall.

I've had the amazing opportunity to attend the IAAPA European Attractions Show in Amsterdam and it's been a great experience. Yesterday, we went on a tour of Efteling and I started meeting a lot of the people who make theme parks so cool! The Key Keepers were our hosts for the day and these guys were awesome. Tomorrow: First day of trade show and serious industry schmoozefest! Post-tour cocktail party. This is Bart de Boer, President and CEO of Efteling. Just in case you run into him on the street. These fellows run a park that has a coaster called "Balder". That's your loyal correspondent in the middle. Christine Ulaky, owner of Canobie Lake Park! She told me she had just come from riding a certain woodie at a certain park in Sevenum...hmmmmm Fata Morgana is a dark boat ride with an Arabian Nights kind of theme. I got to ride it with... We got a nice tour of the new Efteling Bosrijk bungalow/villa development. It's all themed in the Efteling style and will add 1000 beds for lodging accomodation. Victor here was the project manager on Furius Baco. Now he works in Dubai. No sign, but everyone knows it's Droomvlucht (Dreamflight), one of the coolest dark rides ever built in-house. First bonus: Our group cuts to the front of the queue. Mega bonus: I rode it with John Woods, CEO of Sally! Efteling is one of the nicest parks in Europe, if you're not familiar with it. We were VIPs for the day, about 150 of us. I went around the building looking for the bus to Efteling and saw this praying mantis trying to eat an Australopithecus. Amsterdam is pretty kinky. Welcome to the RAI Convention Center in Amsterdam! Not much going on here today, just lots of set-up for the trade show.

Not that I'm aware of. There was no testing or anything of the sort going on during our visit. Additionally, we weren't big fans of the ops in the park, which we thought might be due to overcautiousness after the Big Dipper accident. One member of a particularly bad crew on the S&S power shot (not bothering to look for pairs or singles when they had a side with two seats open, for example, and the line for the ride was pretty long) saw my jacket and said "You've been to quite a few parks!" It was all I could manage not to say "And I've seen a lot of shitty ops too..." Still, the parks charm and compact goodness overcame our frustrations. -Martin

I actually just wanted to share a picture I took at Efteling last month for the people on the 2008 European TPR trip...We watched a large piece of machinery hack away at Pegasus. Fortunately a new woodie will open in its place next year. And I was thinking, do you have cool demolition photos? It's a sucky thing (coaster destruction in general) but interesting to document. What do you have in your collection? And this is only other one I could find, Batman and Robin: The Chiller, from October 2007. This was replaced by The Dark Knight Coaster...nuff said. Pegasus at Efteling, August 2009

^^^ We met at Diamondback this year, right? Like, August 3rd I think? Actually, my only rides on Steel Eel ever were on a wet and misty morning in early Spring, wet enough to buy ponchos when we got to the park. I don't know if the rain helps grease things up or what, but I was in airtime heaven on that thing. I guess I've got to get back there to try the night rides. Martin

Wood 1. The Voyage Holiday World 2. El Toro SFGAd 3. Phoenix Knoebel's 4. Ravine Flyer II Waldameer 5. Thunderbolt Kennywood 6. T Express Everland 7. Dania Bch Hurricane Dania Beach 8. Kentucky Rumbler Beech Bend 9. The Beast Kings Island 10. Blue Streak (SBNO) Conneaut Lake Park Steel 1. Steel Eel Sea World Of Texas 2. Eagle's Fortress (SBNO) Everland 3. Phantom's Revenge Kennywood Park 4. Superman - Ride of St SF New England 5. Millennium Force Cedar Point 6. Kawasemi Tobu Zoo 7. Nitro Six Flags Great Ad 8. Kingda Ka Six Flags Great Ad 9. SheiKra Busch Gardens Africa 10. Diamondback Kings Island A lot of great credits in the last year, but only Phoenix and Diamondback cracked the top 10. Hopefully others will get a shot at those SBNO's.

It appears to be. Did you catch the pineapple slices on top of the cheeseburger? Something to wash down with a Dole Whip. Regards, Martin

So what was the curve ball and is anything rescheduled yet? Are there other ways for people to help? I bought one of those commemorative coins a year back or so. I care about Blue Streak; it's the only SBNO I've gone out of my way to visit on a trip. -Martin

Alas, while my step-counter on Day 1 reached over 20,000 steps and we walked all the way to the tower and back, it was quite late and the tower was closed, so I didn't get any shots of the actual beach or the entire area. Sorry for that, but I bet they're around on the 'net. And, let me just say "thanks" for the compliments and for reading the report! Hi Melissa! -Martin

Last weekend we jetted to Manchester and then got on some trains... Overall it was a very fun trip. Thank you Blackpool Pleasure Beach! The famous Blackpool Tower houses an observation deck and a circus and other attractions. The Boulevard is elaborately lit up at night and it stretches for a couple of miles. The pier's dark ride did kick ass. There's a smaller amusement pier across the boulevard from Pleasure Beach, where this dormant credit lies. Apparently it was dismantled, refurbished, rebuilt, and then put up for sale. It sits SBNO. A bit further along the boulevard we chanced upon this cardiological nightmare. A stroll on Blackpool's promenade led us to some delicious fish n' chips... A decent SLC...not too rough. An Old Mill like those at Rye and Kennywood. The only surviving Derby Racer outside of those at Rye and Cedar Point. Valhalla is a monstrous indoor themed shoot-the-chutes with multiple drops and effects. We got soaked, even with ponchos. There was a decent dark ride with many sets of crash doors. There's also an Arrow Shuttle Loop, one of those old spinning tethered rocket ships, and a 3-track Steeplechase. ...and the moebius racing coaster Grand National. When they're all up at the same time, that's 5 woodie credits, which is pretty great for a single park! Zipper Dipper, the wooden kiddie... Roller Coaster... Sadly, the Big Dipper was down, but the park still has a slew of woodies. Besides the wild mouse, there was... I could be wrong, but as far as I could tell that peg in the middle groove was the only sort of upstop mechanism. Crazy ride! Hello British people! The mouse at Blackpool is a woodie, and it's completely insane. There are no brakes, and you will get hurt! It's amazing! The Mack bobsled was a blast. We got really lucky with the lines and managed multiple re-rides. The Big One is not a bad ride, but the ride in the back was much rougher than our second ride towards the front. It has a violent right turn after the top of the lift and is bone-jarring in the back. It's very similar to the top of Expedition GeForce but doesn't manage to pull it off. Of course, the Blackpool view is much better. The rest of the ride is really a few big turnarounds and rolling hills. Still, a fun and worthwhile credit. First stop was Pepsi Max The Big One. I know, dorky patch jacket. But it's a good conversation starter. These things are so old that they've been pretty severely altered over the years. I know Kennywood's rocking mechanism had problems for years and it was difficult to get parts because the original company had folded. Blackpool has a viewing area underneath and you can see the original rocking mechanism in action. Yay, a real Noah's Ark! Unfortunately it was closed, but thankfully was still rocking back and forth. Blackpool reached it's height in the post-war 1950's but declined thereafter because the textile industry declined, improved roads allowed for day trips instead of overnights, and probably most of all, it became relatively cheap to fly to places like Barcelona instead, where the weather was more reliably sunny and drier than England's northwestern coast. The Ripley's museum was slightly fun. It's pricing reflects Blackpool's currently slow business state. The regular price was 8 pounds, you see the sign for the 5 pound special, and we had a coupon for 3 pounds! Random walk-through on the strip between hotel and park entrance. If you're not aware, Blackpool used to be the ultimate beach resort in England, attracting vacationers from England's northern factory towns, but also rich folk from London. It's rise came after the 19th Century industrial revolution. The reasonably good hotel affiliated with the park. Unfortunately, they didn't open the park gate nearby and you had to hike a bit to the main entrance. There it is! I've wanted to ride on this coaster for 13 years. When I first got into coasters in the mid-1990's, this was the biggest in the world. I haven't exactly heard raves about it over the years, but back in 1996 it was mythical. Someone told us that Paul Simon wrote "Homeward Bound" while stuck at this station, but Wikipedia says otherwise.

SeaWorld Texas is a beautiful park, and Steel Eel is my number one steel coaster in the world!!!!! Great to see all the fun people from the Deep South trip continuing the journey...

Um, strange foreshadowing of next year's TPR trip to Brazil...? Brazilian flag at Incheon?

Um, strange foreshadowing of next year's TPR trip to Brazil...? Brazilian flag at Incheon?