coasterer

Thanks Zach - we'll for sure have to meet up again at some point down the line. A shouted introduction across ten people in line for Giant Drop was hardly sufficient Yeah right come on Kyle haha. All else equal I got 9 rides on Behemother-of-all-rides in the time you were a whore. Proactive my rear end.

Thanks for the comments so far guys. Definitely appreciate it So the next thing that happened was pretty silly. We make it back to a hotel right outside Canada's Wonderland but weren't sure if we wanted to stay there or try to find a cheaper place, so we sneak their free internet by sitting right outside the front doors on a bench to look up some facts, and by chance check CW's website to find that they had changed the operating schedule last minute and were having a job fair all day the next day, so they weren't going to be open. Well what could we do, but get the heck out of Canada? It was already 11 at this point, but there was nothing for it. So we bolt, and head all the way back through Niagara and the extra hour, hour and half or whatever it is to a hotel near Seabreeze, in which we fully planned to make the trip BACK in to Canada the next night, and then make the terrifying drive all the way home from above Toronto to NJ after CW closed the following night. Here's to ambition! So we finally crash around 2:30 or something, and wake up the next day to hit Seabreeze by opening and then haul it to Darien and Martin's. I couldn't tell if Seabreeze wasn't the place for me, or if it was because I was so flustered from not being in Canada and all the extra driving, but I didn't enjoy Seabreeze all that much. I mean, it was niiiiiice, sure, but from a credit standpoint it didn't have much to offer me except for the numbers. The woodie was pretty uneventful, the bobsled was reeeeal small, the whirlwind was fine, but nothing spectacular, and the line for the kiddie coaster was outrageous, and Kyle had to wait in it twice to ride with the kid I had already stolen. I recall describing the park as "almost fun". But really, I'm sure it was because I was just grumpy. I think it would have been a wonderful place to take young-ish children for an afternoon. We were out by 12:30 (they didn't open the kiddie and the whirlwind til noon, ugh) and were off, rapidly tearing up New York [again]. Thanks for reading, Darien Lake next! First stop, Jackrabbit! Nothing to right home about, but certainly not one of the worst I've been on We should be in Canada Whirlwind! Ho ho hooooo it's like we're in Holland!! (I've never been to Holland) The Bobsled ride kinda felt like something somebody's uncle put together for their backyard, but it was nice, and definitely unique Log flume! I mean, the place would have been great for an afternoon with the kids An abysmal attempt to capture Jackrabbit's layout Kiddie coaster has landscaping. Nice Done and done Whirlwind from the disco coaster we rode waiting for Ww to open. Noooooot the biggest fan of sitting like that Oh yeah we were right next to a lake!!! Story.of.the.trip. There's Kyle in the middle, the least proactive credit whore ever. You have to WANT IT! Anyways, thanks for reading, Darien Lake next

Cool. So after Marineland we hauled up into Canada around the lake, passing through heavy traffic, in an effort to get about an hour/ hour and a half up past the city. Why? Wild Wonder Water Western Waves Warlocks of the World and Wheels ... or whatever it was called. No really, there's this nifty place up past the city in the middle of nowhere with the only pipeline coaster left in the world. What is a pipeline coaster you ask? I actually didn't know either. Props to Kyle for finding this little thing. These auto sled Pipeline coasters apparently used to be in a lot more places than they are now, but were eventually all taken down for one reason or another (I'm pretending to give you a history lesson, but really I don't have a very good idea of what I'm talking about at all). Well, so this is the only one left in the world, and you basically climb to the top of a tower, sit in this individual sled that was pulled up the chain lift without you in it. At the top of the tower, once strapped in, the ride op kind of gives you a running shove off the tower, and you plunge down the drop, your little 3 x 4 foot sled attached to two pipes that serve as the tracks perhaps a little less securely than you'd hope, but then it's just you and the world as you fly around these two narrow strips of steel, completely exposed to the wind. It was awesome. Really, it was. Whether you count it as a credit or not (naturally, I do), if you're ever in the area, stop by this place. I'm not sure how long it'll stick around, but it was such a fun idea, and a really unique individual 'coaster' experience that doesn't quite measure up to anything I've ever experienced before. Anyways here are some PICTURES!!! Thanks for reading, next is Seabreeze park due to some horrible, horrible unforeseen circumstance and lack of planning on our part. The layout was pretty much a huge square with a couple turns and a few great hops 5 stories worth of stairs isn't something I typically look for in a theme park experience, but in this case, It's worth it ohhhhhhh yeah Got there just in time before closing. Sun setting over a great first day View from the top. You literally just get shoved off the platform and fly down the first drop Kyle, ready to go And he's OFF!! Revolutionary 360 degree rotational photography. I know, I'm an artist The lift hill More places in the world should be like Canada. What a great place We really did love it Thanks for reading, Seabreeze next!

Hey TPR So a few weeks back Kyle and I took a trip up to Toronto and the upper western New York area for a few parks out that way, taking advantage of the free weekend I had before school started up. Having left the previous night, we made it to Marineland just over the border by early afternoon the next day. And I have to say: holy weirdest place ever. It was somewhere between a theme park and a lost mountain wilderness. It was big and empty and hilly and barren and Dragon Mountain was the weirdest ride ever and there were whales. Huh. But, actually, for how weird Dragon Mountain was, it was pretty enjoyable. It used the terrain well enough (in fact, it was never more than like 20 feet off the terrain), and it was long and a real nice way to just get away from everything, out in the Canadian scenery. It was smooth enough, and though were some spots (the volcano, the flat stretch that went out over the dirt pit for a few hundred feet), were kinda pointless, it was still a pretty fun ride. We got out of there within a couple hours, after we made sure to see the whales, but it was a pretty enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. There's a ton more to come so just stay tuned. Thanks for reading!! Hello Marineland, hello first credit of the trip, hello lady bug coaster Credit managed Here's some of the rest of the park. Wheeerrreee areee weeee??? Oh look, a wilderness!! OH! OH! There it is!!! A three mile walk later, and we've finally arrived Canada is great. Real great So many open mouths (2) Pointless The end of the ride a BEAR! Doin the "old lady waddle" So many bears and... a WHALE! OHHH YEEEAAAAHHHHH Dragon Mountain Thumbs up This dragon would be a lot more intimidating if it looked less constipated. Thanks for reading so far! There's a pretty darn unique ride comin up next

I loooooooooove marathoning rides. My tops are 62 - Cannonball Run, Waterville USA 37 - Phoenix 34 - Voyage 34 - Batman the Ride, SFGAm (I actually think I'm done around 30 on it 5 or 6 times now) 33 - Talon 30 - Hydra 28 - El Toro 28 - Cornball Express

Hello again, I just thought that now that the club TPR magazine has a link to this report, I should probably actually finish it haha. So I know this is really late and long overdue, but here are some of the rest of the trip! The last couple weeks we stayed in Madurai down south, which is a holy city, and then Kameron and I stayed a week extra in Delhi and Jaipur where we were lucky enough to know someone there who we could crash with. So there are no more coaster shots and these are all really out of order, and a bunch of them aren't even mine, I grabbed some really nice ones from other people - but enjoy, and once again, thanks for reading. Cover yo knees, cova yo heads, we in a holy spot. Dang I look fine hahaha ha ha.. Stunt fail I got yelled at for this.. by the security guard policeman.. who was blowing his whistle and brandishing his weapon. Hooooo boy children are the greatest. Well, these children us on our last day in Goa with the students from the local university. Love those guys Our home beach Stone workers. This was somewhere in or around Agra Early morning on a river OH! At this temple, during the middle of our professor speaking, I glance to the left and see a guy holding a chicken. Next thing I know, he whips out a knife, cuts off its head, throws it on the ground, and the chicken runs around flopping for a good 15 seconds, before he takes it and offers it up as sacrifice. Then ten minutes later, three young goats were brought forward. And at this point, whoever wanted to stick around could (I did, of course, how many times in your life are you going to get the chance to see a goat sacrifice). It was actually fascinating. The whole town was there and they herded the goats to the center, and then poured water on them until the goats would shake it off. That was their cue. Then a guy would pin that goat the ground, and start sawing through its neck witha huge knife til he got half way through the bone, then snap it's neck back and then continue cutting. The goat would then run in place on its side for about ten seconds as the head was laid pointed to the gods, and when it stopped moving, they cut off its right front foot (I didn't catch the reason for this). They did this to all three. I forget the occasion, but it was a huge deal, and actually one of the coolest most interesting things I've ever seen. But crazy Me Kam and Joey are up in the top right window in the white shirts. We're probably making some stupid face. This was I think at a museum Our group, formal night. One of our last nights Goa, the land of love This.was.the.happiest.moment.of,my.life SO MANY WONDERFUL CHILDREN!!! I love this picture. This was in the enooooooormous temple complex in Madurai A shrine of the ages A pretty darn cool traditional dancer All of Panjim, our base in Goa Calangute by night Old Goa, tons of beautiful Portuguese churches King Kong lives here So every week there was a karaoke competition at our favorite local bar, and Joey was literally third in the competition called "the Voice of Goa". Amazing. So, so close Cil Cuil Cudi. Or something. We climbed that mountain. Pretty neat stuff. One of the best things about India was that there was music EVERYWHERE. Awesome music. Even in the boonies, when we were on this mountain, some farmer somewhere was blasting music. It was awesome. A local God. Downtown Madurai coolest temple ever. I actually wrote my final paper on the curvilinear form of the exterior. By all means it doesn't make sense. But it's pretty neat stuff. I can't imagine that anybody here is actually all that interested though closer bag lady The.Best.Restaurant.In.The.World. Like, no joke. I also think I paid less than two dollars here. Love this lady We're Indian. It's fine In Tanjavur. This was the 476394100661st temple we saw.. FLASH FLOOD WATCH OUT! Yes, yes, I got blessed by an elephant. It was the greatest thing ever Galit, admiring things. The Amber Fort in Jaipur The pool at the Monkey Temple. So, I actually think the monkey temple was my favorite place on the entire trip. During the day, the monkeys retreat into the forests at the mountain base to avoid the sun, but at sunset when it cools off, literally thousands and thousands of monkeys make the trek back through the temple complex Looks like it's from Jumanji. Elephant riding at the base of the fort. So, we were looking for an elephant to ride up to the top of the temple, and it was like 1000 rupees for the two of us, and then a guy came up to us and asked if we wanted to go via motorcycle to his house a few miles away and ride his own personal elephant for an hour through the jungle looking for tigers, for only 1500 rupees. Naturally, we accepted. Lotus temple in Delhi. Reeeeally really neat. It's actually for a little known religions called Ba'hai. Who knew The arch in downtown Delhi So I held a snake. Yeah it's real, and the guy had to keep the snake distracted on him so that it wouldn't bite me. Because although he assured me it's venom had been taken out, it still had rather large teeth, and looked much more agile than I Capital building It was around 115 degrees that day. Jesus, Delhi. This is disgusting. We were really only walking around for like 20 minutes Back at the monkey temple, monkeys in action amazing. So many monkeys CAMEL The wind temple in Jaipur. They really know how to sell things down there. We talked to these college guys who had a shop who knew 5 languages and have been all over, who gave us beer for two hours before he even tried to sell us things. Naturally, he won. Our own personal elephant "look like you're on a safari" In Jaipur. On top of everything And finally, back home. The Ganesh head, the formal wear, and the 2 foot giant wooden buddha statue are hands down the best three purchases I've ever made hahaha. Thanks so much for reading!!

You just blew my mind, your pictures were so good!!!! Thanks for sharing!!

Awesome pictures thank you soooooo much for posting these. I grew up here. Some of my earliest memories at an amusement park are on Sky Whirl back in the mid nineties. I remember our parents would always eat at the Moose Burger Lodge in the afternoon, and then us kids would run all the way to Looney Tunes National park and take over that enormous play structure. Iron Wolf used to be my favorite ride at the park (when I could hardly touch the floor lol) and my dad and I used to ride Shockwave over and over again because there was never any line. Ahhhhhh the good old days. Thanks again, these pictures were great!!

Harold and Maude for sure. Then in no particular order it's Little Miss Sunshine Atonement O Brother Where Art Thou Matilda and of course, everything Disney (but especially Pocahontas)

Wood: 1. Voyage 2. Boulder Dash 3. El Toro 4. Shivering Timbers 5. Thunderhead 6. Hades 7. Prowler 8. Cornball 9. Phoenix 10. Avalanche Steel: 1. Storm Runner 2. Alpengeist 3. Intimidator305 4. Bizarro (SFNE) 5. Millennium Force 6. Griffon 7. Raging Bull 8. Maverick 9. Batman the Ride (mostly the one at SFGAm, but I'll take em wherever I can get them) 10. Medusa (SFDK)

Thanks for the comments so far, guys! Sue - By the time we'd actually met and introduced ourselves and I had calmed down enough (you guys are like celebrities to me, honestly, haha) taking a real picture with you guys had completely slipped my mind. Next time for sure though. I'll be back out east soon enough. David, hahahahaha that's too bad about the window. Glad to see you're still around though. I might've suggested trying to drown yourself in the toilet but that's too undignified for you. And you wouldn't want to have spoiled that amazing gold vest!! I did have an amazing summer, with ooooooone really big hitch toward the end but yeah, it's finally time to relax. Summer camp ends tomorrow and then I'm free for 2 and a half weeks before its back to school again. thanks again guys

SO COOL!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

SFGA: Six Flags Great America, TPR meet up - meet Eric and me, of course. Behind the scenes at six flags. Quite the set up. And then we got some great views of Superman on our walk around The cloud cover wasn't quite ideal, but it would clear up soon enough The walk back was excellent, thanks to everyone who made that work Eric and I. It was hilarious seeing everyone so intent on taking pictures of the same thing. I used to always laugh at the pictures of everyone taking pictures, but it's even more ridiculous in real life. What a sense of community hahaha Superman Ultimate Flight over the fir forest Some cool shots over here Well, I skipped over pictures of the whole landscaping department, but walking under Wolf was real neat Just because I refuse to ride it any more doesn't mean I'm above taking exclusive pictures of it The surprise highlight of the walkback!! I saw parts of Eagle I didn't even know looked like that! This has all the potential makings of a good picture... and just as many shortcomings I really never thought I'd ever even see this side of the ride, let alone get this freaking close to it!!! Possibly my new favorite picture of myself hahaha. I couldn't resist This turn around looks amazing from underneath. I'm just sayin' this part of the ride does some pretty odd things when viewed from ground level Just a mess. A beautiful, beautiful mess After ERT, I think this ride is back on top of my hyper list. Gotta love the layout Ok, I love these little pre-lift dip turn thingys. They look great too this is sufficiently interesting Completing the walk around.. I just can't put into words how amazing night ERT was I wouldn't have it any other way cute Again, thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone I went on these trips with and to everyone I met. I've had a blast so far and can't wait to see where things take me next One last glorious credit whoring picture from Lake Compounce. So worth it

Hey guys, So I have a number of pictures I was gooooing to post throughout the summer, but for one reason or another, just never got around to it. So I've kind of condensed what I have left and am just going to go through the best of the best of these visits. SFGAdv, these two visits were both in May with really short lines, and a great great time at the park. Great Adventure is my home park while I'm at school, and I've really started feeling at home there. We managed to get a ton of rides in each time, and generally just had a great time. El Toro's still running great, and I think i could ride Nitro all day every day for the rest of my life. It's really starting to grow on me. Lake Compounce was new to me though. Mr friend from school, Dave, lives right above NYC, so I went to his house for a long weekend in between finals and Reunions, and we made it up to the lake for the day. The park itself was surprisingly small, I was expecting a biiiiiit more to do - it was cute. But good lord Boulder Dash more than made up for any short comings the park may have had. This thing has so much power and such a good layout I never wanted to leave. And the ending was just insane, those GCI pops of airtime and those batsh*t insane laterals??? God, what a great ride. I was a little unsure whether to rank it right in front of or behind El Toro (It ain't no Voyage), but after riding El Toro again a couple days later, it was clear, hands down, that Boulder Dash was the better ride, or at least miles away a more complete ride. I really was blown away. And I had the highest expectations too. Also, we met some fantastic people here at the lake. I had remembered reading an article about the couple who had gotten married on Boulder Dash a couple years ago, and knew that they rode it all the time, and so had my eyes open just in case. And what are the odds, Sue and Rich were there, and we had the amazing opportunity to get acquainted with them over a lovely chat on the lift hill when the train got stopped for 20 minutes due to someone having their camera out, and strategic seat placement on my part, that had me and Dave directly behind Sue and Rich. We met Jason however briefly later as well, and all in all had a great time getting introduced to some great east coast TPRers Wildcat on the other hand, no sits in my top three worst woodies. I've never, EVER, felt pain like I felt in the low points of Wildcat. Knoebels was another new park for me, and I was reeeeally impressed with how much fun you could have at this place. There was so much atmosphere here, I really hadn't experienced anything quite like it. And Phoenix - holy crap! There really isn't a good way to describe this ride. Neither words or pictures do it justice. There's just something about bouncing around loosely in your bright yellow train along a track so overgrown with moss and character before skidding to a halt into a station that's thrown all the commercial regulations of ride operation out the window that brings the biggest smile to your face. The ride is an experience. From the creaking and shifting of the track, the overgrown forest encroaching over the ride, the thick untrimmed grass underneath, and flying over hills that only produce that much airtime because of how carefully they've been worn in - it really was a wonderful experience, and to rank it in polls based on technical ride quality alone is simply missing the whole point of the ride. Also, just a quick note, I did get permission from the ride op to take pictures during the ride. I didn't much care for Twister. I thought I would, but I didn't. Then the other day I brought my camera along to Six Flags Great America, my official home park, specifically for the backstage tours we had during the TPR day. Which worked out perfectly, since the battery I thought was full most certainly wasn't, and my camera ended up dying right after the tour anyways. When we were taken back behind American Eagle and Raging Bull, I overheard Robb say that this little surprise stop would mean the world to the TPR participants there, especially the locals since we had grown up on these rides. And he was definitely right. Seeing Bull like that, and getting so close to Eagle were the highlights of the day (except for the insane ERT session, of course). So thank you, to both Robb and everyone who organized the day, and to Six Flags, for allowing us that opportunity. It meant alot to me, and I'm sure to everyone else there as well, and I really appreciate the extra effort that went in to making that happen. The ERT session was insane. Viper was running beautifully after that downpour, and the first ride we had of Bull ERT was the best I've ever seen it run, of my nearly 150 laps on it. The trim brake didn't catch (it was hilarious, every successive time that it did catch, you would hear the entire train let out a disappointed moan), and the track was still wet, and we just flew over everything. The ride came to life like I've never seen it do before, and I finally felt like it was riding how it was originally intended. We flew through the MCBR, and the last half was just a supercharged blur. Really fantastic. Part way through the second lap, after the trim brake caught again, I said to David (who I finally met) and Eric (who I brought with me) "Well thank God, I wouldn't want to get used to Bull running that well." But really, ERT was incredible, and I had such a great time, and had a ton of fun finally meeting people I've been reading about, seeing pictures of, and talking roller coasters with for the last few years. Thanks for reading! Kingda Ka. The best ride to take people on, when they haven't been on a roller coaster in years Ravaged: the Kingda Ka experience El Toro. First drop glory Lotsa wood There just isn't much better out there than getting ripped over these hills Some Bizarro action. A decently enjoyable ride, but once or twice a visit is enough for me AH! A lot more happened this day - a looooot more - but this about sums up the day Oh Lenora. Gotta love her Giving Batman some love. It's not nearly as smooth as others, but its still one of my favorite layouts out there Delightful Check out THIS Golden Kingdom!! hahahahahaha, the most awkward picture of all time El Toro through the flowers at that one taco place just across the way that I've always been meaning to try but just have never gotten around to it And my personal favorite. I have no words, hahaha Knoebels!! One of the greatest atmospheres of any park, any where Gotta love the look of that bright yellow train on such a clear day Oh, yes, I got permission to take pictures on the ride from the ride ops. This is one of my favorites. ... it was hotter than we would have preferred The first drop was fine, sure, but the ride doesn't really pick up til the second half. We preferred the front of the train, specifically the third row, the seat of destiny. Phoenix: a memoire Entering that cloverleaf element thing. Right around here's where the ride does a nice job kicking you out of the seat, and landing you pleasantly on someone else, or the seat divider - amazing. You can feel the good old fashioned fun from here From the midway. Also, food here was really cheap!?!? It was like the first time I'd bought food in a theme park in living memory Twister didn't win over my heart in quite the same way as Phoenix. In fact, Twister didn't really win over my heart at all It did this a lot, and it was occasionally uncomfortable, and often times underwhelming, This on the other hand - someone had a pure stroke of genius when they thought up this thing. I haven't laughed so hard on a ride since I pretended to have an epileptic seizure on the teacups during frightfest in '07. Kind of unconventional, but an oddly comfortable picture... in so many words, hahaha After 37 rides, it was time to say goodbye. And take the world's most poorly timed jumping picture. A day at the Lake!! Let me just say, I was sooooo impressed by Boulder Dash Me and my newest love If there's one complaint I have, it's that these lights are way too low to avoid walking in to if you aren't looking out for them. Talk about embarrassing. One smalllllll small part of glory Dave!! Boulder Dash: an experiment in improvised photographic composition The lift hill of destiny One of the only visible parts of the ride from the main entrance Ok, this ride was horrible. I'm sorry. I hope to never have to ride it again. I have never been in that much pain through out a coaster ride. Signature shot Heading out Hahaha, super sneaky, hello Sue and Rich. Thanks for the great day at the Lake!!

Wow, those blueprints are sooo neat!! Great reports, you guys look like you're having a ton of fun!!

There was that one ride on Raging Bull when we first got there for ERT after a ride or two on Viper where the brake didn't catch all the way, and the track was still really wet, and we just flew through the block break to top it all off - I've taken nearly 150 laps on Raging Bull and I can honestly say that was the best ride I've ever had on it.

This is really interesting news. I was just there, and wondering how long it would take for India to get a major theme park. With over a billion people, almost all of whom might travel to Bombay or Delhi anyway to visit family, and with their economy currently growing outrageously at like 8 or 9% a year, it only seems natural that the theme park industry start to develop as well, along with the rest of the country. I think a park like Universal can cater to a much larger demographic than the current Indian theme parks, which just frankly aren't up to an international standard. BUT, I feel like trying to build a park out of exclusively Universal owned movies - ET, Spiderman, Mummy, Harry Potter - is a mistake. While a place like India does like Western films to an extent, they aren't NEARLY as renowned as some of their Bollywood films and stars. Harry Potter world wouldn't fly in a country like India, where as every single person knows and is obsessed with Shahrukh Khan. But I'm definitely excited to see how this unfolds!!

Sounds like a blast. I would probably do this in a heartbeat

Adventureland in Iowa, for sure

I'm getting more and more excited for this event! It'll be my me and my girlfriend's first official TPR event, and we can't wait to meet everybody!

Nice reports!! I really enjoyed reading through your comments - a great set of pictures, some really funny and informative commentary, and you guys sound like you had a great time. Also, I agree with you on just about every ride. Can't wait for more!

^Well, yeah they have an "eco friendly" bus that takes you in the last kilometer, just to try and minimize pollution, but I wouldn't necessarily call it hard to get to. Actually, a bunch of the sites we've seen now have had these eco friendly buses take us the last little way. I'm not sure how much they help, but it's a nice thought. Agra itself is kind of an awkward trek, because it's a 4/5 hour drive outside of Delhi, and I don't think many places fly directly to it without going through Delhi first. But there are plenty of buses and trains and tours to get you there. In response to Daniel's question earlier (sorry it's taken me so long), my school started up a new program a year or two ago called global seminars (I think they're unique to Princeton, all though other schools may have things similar), where they offer five or six different courses in various parts of the world, where the courses are relevant to that area. I heard about them through a friend, and have always wanted to go to India, so I just applied and got lucky.

Athisayam, Madurai, southern India. A 25 minute rickshaw ride from our hotel, and Kameron, Joey and I had reached Athisayam. We were most excited for their water park, which was billed as being the largest in India (which is interesting, considering that Esselworld in Bombay was billed as the largest water park in Asia...). The park was virtually empty - There were maybe 25 people there, which was great, we had rides and slides open and close for us exclusively as we walked up to them. The park was only 400 rupees, which is around $8, and we were there from around 12:30 til 6, which was plenty of time. We started things off at the only credit in the park, another one of those water dive coasters. Park etiquette at this park didn't exist, and you would just walk up onto the ride platform and just step right on to the ride. Ok, so there were a number of questionable, probably "unsafe" things that happened today, but we just kind of wrote them off as "when in India" type problems, but some of them really weren't good. This one in particular. We got onto the ride, Kameron and I in the front row, and pulled down the harness, when the woman who had just ridden in my seat came up to me and started speaking really fast in Tamil, doing a fair deal of pointing and talking to the "ride op" (one must understand that I use this term incredibly loosely, mainly because they did nothing, and there were hundreds of them). Well, turns out what she was pointing out was the fact that she had cut herself on the rusty metal shoulder restraint, and that her blood was smeared all over the harness, and was now dripping into my lap. But I was told no worries, because they had already put the restraints down, and the water was just going to wash it off anyways. Just watch out so that "I don't cut myself on the same sharp pointy rusty metal part that she did". Thiiiiiiiiiiis is not ok. But besides THAT the ride was a blase. Nothing special, but once again an amazing display of how wet you can get at one time. The impact with the water was kind of like getting into a car accident though, so if you don't brace yourself for dear life, prepare to end up with nasty bruises. The rest of the park we did a walk through of, before dropping off the camera and our shirts and our backpacks in a locker, and spending the rest of the day in the park almost by ourselves with very minimal amounts of clothing on. It was really quite a nice break from everything, and quite an enjoyable place. Other things about the park: they have a dragon coaster, but it was both powered, and closed for maintenance. They had a lot of smaller flat rides, and a lot of small jungle gym type stuff, but the park was nicely packed with quite a lot of things to do, and the water slides were really quite nice. Except for the fact that the Tornado wasn't screwed together properly so you had large 1 inch ledges that your bum kept running over, and the fact that you bumped into the six inch ledge on the side of the sting ray with enough force to make you seriously concerned that you might flip over the edge, and the fact that one of their tube slides ended by spitting you out of the slide, and up a concrete ramp that had a narrow strip of carpets for you to decelerate on, and that the slide into the lazy river didn't have enough water in it to keep you moving ever, and the fact that you got 10 feet distance of airtime on one of the hills of the the mat slides, and the fact that one of their slides was partially supported by bamboo scaffolding, and the fact that their lazy river didn't actually have any propulsion jets and was technically a long thin lazy stagnating pool with lots of mini frogs and God knows what else growing in it, and the fact that not a single one of their rides had restraints that you couldn't manually open while on the ride... the park was fantastic. But really, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Two quick disclaimers - 1, as I already mentioned, we put the camera away in a locker because the majority of the park was a water park, so we don't have toooooo many picture - sorry guys and 2, my shaving gel was thrown out a week and a half ago when I foolishly packed it in my back pack on your flight to Madurai, and they threw it out, so I look like the Wolfman's socially awkward second cousin that they don't like to talk about very much - again, sorry guys But here are some pictures, again thanks for reading!! Athisayam park entrance!!! So excited for something other than class work Holy giant King Kong animatronic what is this doing here?! Our first glimpse Doing the "Can't wait to ride this sketchy Indian water ride because it's at least a million degrees out here" dance Here's the majority of the layout. It's really quite simple But who could ever imagine that a simple oval layout could bring so many interesting stories?? Refer to disclaimer number 2. Again, I'm horribly sorry you had to see me like this Water Chute, and a flower It doesn't look like it's capable of that much harm from this angle That's the one. That's the lady who got cut by the rusty restraint and got blood all over the harness that they didn't notice til after I was locked in, and decided it would just wash off, as it was dripping onto my shorts The water dip of destiny Up up and away And again, just like at Esselworld, it really is amazing how much of that water ends up back in your lap Again, notice the restraints. Nothing says "safety" like an unlocked metal cage. Documentation of our survival of ride 1. It was a battle Noted. If I see either a pregnant lady or child, I'll be sure to let them know. In fact, there are very few people I would deem qualified to safely ride this ride. Moving on! This is the first half of the water park I mean, some of it looks great, and I was really impressed by the ride selection But there alot of things, like when there were gaps in the slide, or when they'd send three tubes into the funnel at once, that just made me question ever so slightly... All in all though it was a lot of fun The park had some other rides though, so here are a few of them... not all them worked quite as well as one might hope, but nonetheless.. Here's the park's "FREES BEE" And the greatest and the least safe of alllllll the "flying ships" And none of us had the slightest idea what "Torratorra" meant The frog hopper ride.. And the parks other coaster, which was unfortunately powered, and inconsequentially closed for maintenance A look from the front Thanks, but no thanks. I think we'll pass And this is Kameron's impression of how they cut the heads off of the three very-much-alive fledgling goats at the temple sacrifice we saw earlier that morning... I wish I was kidding First glimpse of the long thin lazy stagnant body of water And here we see quite a lovely little slide into the lazy "river", that looks quite like Hobbiton, and would have been very enjoyable, if there had been enough water in the damn thing to actually make you move forward notice the giant waterfall in the back that you could walk under... pretty sweet Holy pavement too hot to stand on (notice the photographic expertise where each person in the photo is only showing one nipple) Here's the parks central play structure Ok, here's a quick layout (sorry I don't have better pictures of this). On the far right is the funnel slide of death where you drop out at the bottom. Thank God it wasn't open so that we weren't tempted to try it - we wouldn't have made it. Next is the yellow group tube slide, which is quite fast and direct and fun, and shoots you out and up a concrete ramp strip covered with a narrow walkway of towels to slow you down. Realllll advanced. Then the hard-to-see brightly colored ones are the mat slides- lots of airtime, lots of fun. Then the blue is the really painful body slides. Then behind the trees to the left are the nice open single tube slides. Quite a nice grouping, really This pretty much sums up the remainder of the afternoon And finally, one last shot of this half of the water park. Thanks for reading!

Taj Mahal update woo woo Simply put, the Taj Mahal was the most perfect building I've ever seen. Absolutely stunning We also saw some big old Mughal tombs, Agra Fort, and Fatepuhr Sikri, Akbar's old "new city". All in all, a fantastic weekend. The city itself was a bit city, but it's hard to care when you've got the most beautiful monument ever to be built. Holy Akbar! The gate to Akbar's tomb. Akbar was the third sultan of the Mughal dynasty, an Islamic empire that ruled India around the 1600s ish. Preeeetty incredible Sunset on Akbar The inside of my house one day Inside Fatepuhr Sikri A Mughal jig While not my favorite place, it was still nice a BABY! In the mines of moria World's most unnecessarily lavish gate AH! Greatest building ever I was more excited to see this than just about anything When we first learned the height, the first thing that came through my mind was "That's as tall as Silver Star". Weird Reflection pool An Indian pilgramage I could look at this building every day for the rest of my life Close up of the dome It's so big the floor itself is 15 feet tall Agra Fort across the river So many people Oh look, the entire facade is covered in marble and inlaid with finely crushed fine jewels in perfectly articulated shadings of floral patters. Story of my house's life I love this picture Reminds me of that Dali painting with the elephants... except with my friends instead of giant elephants Through the archway. So glorious

Just got back from Agra for the weekend trip with our class. Thanks for the comments - "A true credit whore trailblazer" - what a title hahaha Yeah, while I did go by myself, I had asked Kameron if he wanted to come, but the prospect of two 14 hour bus rides was a bit of a turn off for him. It was manageable, just, you had to stay on your toes. The overall upkeep of the two parks was fine, really. Esselworld seemed a little bit old fashioned, but they were still putting money into it, especially with the water park, and I wouldn't be surprised if it continued to grow over the years. And while Tikuji-ni-wadi was weird as hell, the coasters ran surprisingly well. And this is kind of India's off season, so it's hard to say what the parks are like when it picks up a little more. I'll have some more general India pictures up some time soon, and hopefully pictures of a park in Madurai within the next two weeks. Also, our visit to Nepal is now up in the air, as apparently there's a semi recent rule that necessitates two months before you can reenter India, if you have a short term American reentry Visa. And not that being stuck in Nepal would be the woooorst thing that could happen to us, but our flight home is from Delhi, and it'd be best to not get stuck in a foreign country.