Ryancrash

The Northwest, definitely. One of the reasons I left Seattle in May 2001 was the lack of roller coasters. And in the 10 years+ I’ve been away, the situation hasn’t improved at all. People will cite the weather as a reason for the lack of theme parks (“It rains there all the time…”), but this excuse doesn’t hold. Seattle has some of the nicest weather in the country - it’s very moderate, never too hot or too cold. I now live in New York - New York gets many more inches of rainfall per year than Seattle, and it doesn’t prevent New York from having theme parks. Hey, if Scandinavia can have awesome theme parks with its cooler northern climate, then the Northwest should be able to as well.

Great TR! Thanks for sharing. I look forward to making it down to Brazil someday.

Great TR Divv! Wish I could have joined you all for this trip - but I spent all my money on the European trips instead. Dollywood is my fave park in the U.S. - absolutely charming and delightful, with an atmosphere not usually found in American parks. I haven't been since 2008, so I'm definitely due for another visit soon.

^Wish you could have joined us Steve! You could have led the way for us inside Spökhuset... (and the Gasten Ghost Hotel...)

^I'm doing a rather sad and pathetic version of a Brobee wave in one of the pics Dave posted.

Great TR Robin and Dave! As has already been mentioned, this was an incredibly awesome weekend - so glad I was able to join in on the fun. After the wonderful times we had at Gröna Lund and Liseberg on the 2009 TPR Scandinavia trip, I couldn't wait to get back to Sweden. The opening of TWISTER and an invitation from the Brit Crew was all I needed to convince me to buy an aeroplane ticket. I flew in a couple days early, skillfully dodged the wrath of Iceland's great volcanos, saw IRON MAIDEN's "Ed Force One" aeroplane on the tarmac in Reykjavík, then landed in Stockholm and spent a couple days of sightseeing, eating reindeer, drinking in Ice Bars. Then on Saturday the rest of the gang arrived... and we all went INSANE!! TWISTER lived up to the hype and then some, even landing on my Top Ten Woodie list. And it has made all of the other coasters even more cool than they already were, the way their tracks are so tightly interwoven. And I loved the revamped Blå Tåget, which had some fun surprises inside. (Scottish Steve, beware!) Gröna Lund is one of my favourite parks in the world, and this year's visit was just as much fun as we had there in 2009. (Which is saying A LOT!) And we had a blast at Liseberg too. BALDER is my #1 favourite woodie, and I was really stoked to get to ride it some more. We had some light drizzle later in the day, so we got to experience BALDER with a wet track - Wow!! And AtmosFear was breathtaking - the former observation tower has been converted into Europe's tallest drop tower. Terrifyingly high... but what a view! How about a few more photos... Getting ready for some twiiiiis-tease!! TWISTER is so exciting, it acts as an aphrodisiac. Hot young Swedish couples can't resist its power and have no choice but to make out in the queue. Genius at work! At lunch time, Anth set out to construct his own version of the great Swedish warship, Vasa. I think Anth's version may actually make it further into the harbour. Hanging out at Gröna Lund! One of my favourite parks in the world. Our visit was worthy of the fun we had there in 2009. Gröna Lund swept me off my feet - quite literally. I didn't know Spökhuset had been transformed into an "upside-down" ride. Wow!! In Great Britain it is a noble, time-honoured tradition for newlyweds to feed each other massive quantities of Candy Floss. You think Wills and Kate didn't do this on their honeymoon? Think again. Fun times in Gröna Lund's Lustige Huset! Time for some din-din... Pizzas and beers at Kaskad. YUMMERS!! "Summer Night City!" The end of a long, incredibly fun day at Gröna Lund. To Mattias and Johan I would like to say - “Tack så mycket!” We had such an awesome visit! On Sunday we took the train from Stockholm to Gothenburg, where we visited Liseberg. Inside the park I found... fluffy fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo! Looks like I've got a hot date for the night... Poor Robin and Hans got felt up by this pervey old man. Queueing for BALDER! My #1 favourite woodie! BALDER is BETTER!! Time for some Swedish meatballs with lingonberries... YUMMERS! And better than the ones at IKEA (which are also good). Now it's time to give all our friends a snack! On the escalator to AtmosFear and its massive shaft. "Up, up, up, up, up, up... Down, down, down, down, down, down..." After Liseberg, we hit the Gothenburg Hard Rock Cafe. They had Sid Vicious' leather jacket!! All in all, this was one hell of a fun trip! Short, but AWESOME. We crammed so much into the brief time we had. I want to thank Robin for all his hard work in organizing and arranging everything. Thanks also to Russ, Stacey, Dave, Amy, Hans, Anth and Nathan for sharing all the fun. Special thanks to Mattias, Johan and Robb. And... thanks to Divv for dreaming up this weekend in the first place (even though he wasn't able to join us in the end). Fun times... can't wait to return to Scandinavia once more!!

I asked for a two-scoop sundae. Instead, I was given the Mondo-Behemoth-Ace Special-Hyper-Sundae-Surprise. The look on my face is an odd mix of shock, awe and horror. Though some of that expression may be left over from the shock, awe and horror I felt when I saw the size of AtmosFear and its massive shaft. I can't believe I ate the WHOLE thing!

^Agreed - my thoughts exactly. I’d been watching the ride construction photos, and I’d watched the POV video, and it still took me by surprise. My expectations were somewhat high, and they were exceeded by far. If Twister were a stand-alone coaster on a flat slab of concrete at some random generic park, it would still be an excellent ride with a lot of pep (and some great headchoppers). But Gröna Lund has done so much more with it. Between the creative use of limited space, and the awesome interaction with the other rides, and the gorgeous waterfront setting, and the surrounding atmosphere… Twister has some real character. So much character that it just found its way onto my top ten woodie list - yeah, I liked it THAT much!

BALDER!! Sunday evening. A light rain meant a short queue and some wet track - as if Balder wasn't amazing enough already.

I leave for Stockholm tomorrow night - hell yeah!! Can't wait to get back to Gröna Lund, can't wait to check out Twister and the new Blå Tåget. (And can't wait to eat some tasty Swedish meatballs with lingonberries... Mmm...)

^^^^If Jason Voorhees was a ninja, and had a sister into cos-play-zoku. Manga-rific!

Personally, I love Black Mamba. It was #33 on my list (out of 277 steel coasters - quite respectable). Yes, there are more forceful coasters out there, but "forceful" isn't the only thing I take into consideration when ranking coasters. Aside from the great theming, Black Mamba is just an incredibly fun ride - I can ride it over and over, and it never fails to put a smile on my face. And on how many coasters can I stick out my arm and touch a waterfall?

Thanks for sharing the pics! I really enjoyed Bobbejaanland when we visited in 2008. I look forward to returning and riding DIZZ. The new coaster looks like it will be an excellent addition.

Sorry to disappoint you, but you'll have to wait quite some time before we get up to ten million.

Congrats Robb and Elissa! And may your next million be even more orgiastic. So am I post #1,000,000? "Yay! I won!" ("No Ralph, you did not win. This means you're failing English.") ("Me fail English? That's unpossible.")

Great TR Divv! Thanks for sharing. I finally made it to SDC last year and I was really impressed. Wonderful atmosphere. It reminded me somewhat of Dollywood. And though I still like Dollywood just a little bit better, SDC is definitely one of my favourite parks in the U.S. Just wish I’d had more time to spend there - not knowing how awesome SDC was going to be, I gave myself about two hours to credit-whore the place before driving back to St. Louis to catch a flight. Needless to say, that wasn’t enough time - I could have spent three days there. I rode the coasters, but that was about it (didn’t get to do that amazing cave). The coasters all exceeded my expectations. I think Wildfire impressed me the most - built on the side of the mountain, it looks SO much taller than it really is. Oh yeah - and I hit that jerky stand. I tried the kangaroo jerky - delicious! Awesome park - I really need to visit again soon.

Twister looks great! I fly into Stockholm three weeks from today. Can’t wait to do Gröna Lund again - such an awesome park.

I love, love, LOVE Steel Dragon 2000! Still sitting solidly on my Top 10 steel list. I think a lot of people had such high expectations for this one, that when they finally rode it, they felt let down. Personally, I couldn't get enough of it. What's not to love - the first drop is over 300 feet, followed by a 250 foot drop, followed by a 200 foot drop, followed by some swooping curves and endless bunny hops on the way back to the station. One common gripe I often have with coasters is "aw, there weren't enough drops" - but Steel Dragon 2000 left me supremely satiated. Yeah, with all those drops it could probably deliver a little more in the air time department, but it's a smooth ride and just a helluva lot of fun. I could ride it all day. As for woodies, I still love The Beast. Ah... nothing like a good terrain coaster, and a wild ride through the forest. (This one's especially fun at night.) And you get not just one lift hill - but TWO lift hills... plus tunnels, and if you're lucky, maybe even some deer sightings in the woods. Some of my love for The Beast may be nostalgic - but I've ridden it lately (most recently in 2009) and it's still hanging on to a spot on my Top 10 woodie list. People tend to complain about the trims throughout the ride - but I think they're probably necessary; I think if they took out the trims, it would probably be unbearably rough. To date, I've ridden it 40 times and I haven't had a bad ride yet (though I'll admit I don't dare ride on the wheel blocks).

Dammit - never got to ride this one. Looks like it was a lot of fun. Thinking back to my last trip to Florida - I really should have skipped my day at overpriced Universal/IOA (with all of its broken down rides); I should have taken a little road trip instead. Guess I no longer have any reason to visit Miami now.

2010 steel ballot completed and submitted! And the winners are… (drum roll…) 1. Expedition GeForce (Holiday Park) 2. Diamondback (Kings Island) 3. Behemoth (Canada’s Wonderland) 4. Bizarro (Six Flags New England) 5. Nitro (Six Flags Great Adventure) 6. Steel Dragon 2000 (Nagashima Spaland) [Favorite woodie - Balder] 7. Goliath (La Ronde) 8. Goliath (Walibi World) 9. Katun (Mirabilandia) 10. Mamba (Worlds Of Fun) 11. Intimidator 305 (Kings Dominion) 12. Piraten (Djurs Sommerland) 13. Phantom’s Revenge (Kennywood) 14. Steel Force (Dorney Park) 15. Apollo’s Chariot (Busch Gardens Williamsburg) And the 2010 walk of shame… 269. Colossus (Thorpe Park) 270. Ninja (Six Flags St. Louis) 271. Pirate’s Hideaway (Casino Pier) 272. Space Mountain (Disneyland Paris) 273. Great American Scream Machine (Six Flags Great Adventure) 274. Gouderix (Parc Asterix) 275. Fav. Zyklon Loop (Orkanens Øje - Tivoli Friheden) 276. Fav. Zamperla Volare (Trombi - Särkänniemi) 277. Ninja (Six Flags Over Georgia) 278. Roller Soaker (Hersheypark)

I hearby dub this new element the Sushi Roll. (Since it just looks so darn tasty... Mmm...)

^^^I've been in NYC ten years - I usually ride the subway (MUCH cheaper), but I've never had any problem getting a cab. There are thousands of them - you can usually just walk out to the street, hold up your arm, and one will stop within a minute or two. The ONLY time I ever had a problem was Halloween 2000. It was a very busy night. Oh yeah, and I was dressed as a zombie, and I was standing with a zombie nurse and a seven-foot-tall pirate robot drag queen. The zombie nurse and I were positively DRENCHED in blood. That night most drivers took one look at us and kept driving, but even then we finally got a ride. Under normal circumstances though, it's very easy to get a cab quickly.

Now that all the amazing food from yesterday has settled and I’ve finally started eating again, what did I do for dinner tonight? Why, more PIZZA! (What else?) Tonight I hit up another one of my faves… Two Boots. Two Boots has a few locations in the city - I usually go to the one on Avenue A and East 3rd Street. (It used to have an awesome little indie theater and also a movie rental store adjacent to the restaurant - those disappeared in the last couple years, casualties of the economy and the times, but you can still rent movies in the restaurant.) Two Boots is unique in that their pizzas feature cajun flavors. (“Two Boots” - get it? Italy and Louisiana are both shaped like boots.) Tonight I tried the “Swamp Witch” - not one of their regular pizzas, this was something special for Mardi Gras time. The “Swamp Witch” had alligator and pork sausage, crawfish, red and green pesto, and a “swamp witch spice mix”- it was delicious!! Had a bit of kick to it. Oh yeah… and unlike yesterday, tonight I ate a sensible ONE slice.

Agreed. Honestly, I thought four slices of pizza sounded like it would be overkill, and I didn't think I'd be able to eat that much. But the slices were spread out over a few hours, and they were all cheese slices (not quite as filling as the meat slices I'd usually order). By the end of the tour I was certainly full, but it was "comfortable-and-supremely-satiated" full, not "ouch-I'm-in-pain-kill-me-now" full.

I hear ya! I'm still full. Skipped breakfast this morning. Two large dumps last night, and another coming up soon... Maybe by tonight I'll be ready to eat again - although it will probably be a light dinner. So much EXCELLENT food... Thanks again Larry for the awesome ghetto tour!! What a fun day.