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^ Yeah, I would do that next time, too. Playland usually re-opens in May, weekends only. Then around the middle of June it starts weekdays, etc. But you can always check out the site, to find out the actual schedule. And as far as queue shading goes....these heat waves we're now getting, are still relatively new here, believe it! In the past, they've never had to even consider shading for any of the rides' queues. But now... maybe you could send a Coaster Fan Letter to them and suggest the queue shading, etc. Worth a try. http://www.pne.ca P.S. Forgot to mention, but over this past Playland season (non-PNE), I ended up riding Coaster a total of 76 times! Pretty good, for myself, at my age and health. Next year I turn 67, so the goal is 67+ times on Coaster, then. Should be easy. Me and KC saying, "See ya'll next year!"

^ I'm glad you enjoyed Coaster....but spending almost 7.5 hours in queueing up for it? Sheesh. Maybe next year, when they've finally, hopefully, got two trains running again during The Fair, the wait will be half as long etc. I also think, that the way the weather is becoming every summer (hot, humid, and more hot) they might consider a structure to shade that back and forth queue area. Maybe.

"It's Closing Time..." Yes, that time of year. Labour Day, the last day of the PNE. I went mid-afternoon, to check out my last Happy Hour there, say goodbye to those who I got to know regularly (mainly at the bars), and just take a final walk around the place. Got myself a couple of Diggity Dogs, both of which were really good. Then one more dollar popcorn refill, a few dollars into the quarters games (my last PLINKO for the season), and then cashing in all those prize tickets I've saved up since the off season. Turns out they put more prizes up on the shelves! Including light up neon lights, and a cool looking LED message board. So I got the LED board and a light up palm tree. I was happy with that. And headed home. Not even a "See You Next Year" on that message board? Buh bye to this year's exhibits. Here we are! Where the action happens! I decided to be a little piggish..... ....and got two of them! The Macho Nacho and Southern Comfort ones. With beers of course! SC was good as always. I had one last year. Macho Nacho turned into a colourful mess of stuff. But it was good! Nope. Not for me. Who was playing tonight for the last PNE Concert. My very last NeFAIRious Beer at the Ride Side Bar in Playland. Coaster's still pulling in the huge queue for it's last day of The Fair. See ya at Fright Nights in October! Local businesses nearby had these cute PNE posters in their window. My Quarters Games Prizes! Yay me!

Just an aside, but I think both their names look so sweet on the front page of the site... Erk & Smisty's...

I really REALLY miss Toverland. TROY! Thanks for all this stuff so far, Larry.

Ha Ha awesome quote from your boy about El Condor. My follow up, would be "Is the blow up squad ready to 'dismantle' this thing?" Great report and all the great photos, too! Thanks for sharing your visit there.

I love where you put Corkscrew. Personally, and at the time I rode it, I would have put Blue Streak there.

^ That's cool. Back then, we hit a huge line up at Maverick's "Fastpass" entrance, and decided not to ride it. A bit of a regret on that decision. (Pardon the sidebar on this thread.)

Hey there! We had a great time on Wilderness Run - when they let us ride it late at night, during CoasterMANIA! back in 2017. Us idiots lining up for WR. With a bemused ride op in front. June 2, 2017. And I had a pretty good time on Woodstock Express, too. But I'm old, and you're not. (o;

I rode the one in Tivoli a few years back. Fun and unpredictable. Have they actually released how TALL it actually is, compared to others of it's kind? This one I rode. TPR 2014 Scandi Tour.

I'm not fond of the Aquaman logo-figure. I want him more hairy. Yeah. This is better.

^ A little launch, followed by a much larger launch?

Well for myself, it would a great tribute to both eras of the films. Us and the kids, LOL! P.S. And I wanted to add, exactly for that "blend"... having the runaway carousel horses (film 1), riding through that lamp lighters' number (film 2)? That would be awesome!

Just made a reservation for lunch at Oga's Cantina, to visit in a couple of weeks. "Lunch" being the snack mix....and cocktails! Very easy to do, on the park's website. (And reservations have been made for the Blue Bayou Restaurant, a Fantasmic! meal package, and a couple of other neat things.) P.S. Anybody already been to the East Coast Galaxy's Edge? How was it?

Only a few more days, and then we're off to California on the train! Staying at the Knott's Hotel, and visiting Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland Resort. Been too long since my last trip anywhere (2 years). For David it's been four years! Cannot wait for this one! Especially looking forward to the Train Ride, and all it's delays, LOL!

As for possible Poppins attraction...I am old and physically tire of walk-throughs, recently. Rides are so much more fun and better IMhO. And a nice rest from (the heat) walking. And the tech for them is getting so much better and better (i.e. trackless etc.) Give me a ride from either movie (could they pull off both in one ride?) and I shall be happy. I still love the original. But the new one was really amazing in scope and vision for continuation of MP.

It would be nice, if those who run La Ronde actually go over to Sweden, and Grona Lund park, and try INSANE out for them self. Hmm? Still going strong in Sweden, I hope. TPR 2009 Scandi Tour.

Valerie Harper. She of Rhoda and Mary Tyler Moore shows.

Nice color of track.

^ I remember they used to do a couple of those closing night events in front of the Agrodome, and kids danced on the overhang on the entry way, there. And yeah, the night concerts' spaces went back and forth for awhile, before they started staying with where they are now, beside Revel District. Just the PNE trying to keep things a bit different, every year, right? And Electric Fire was really GREAT! Retro Non-PNE: When the Agrodome was actually used as a concert space. And I remember my dad taking me there as a child, to the MOSCOW CIRCUS!

"ELECTRIC FIRE!.... and another corn dog." Electric Fire was the show that closed the Fair every night. Only 15+ minutes long, it absolutely packed those minutes with fire, led costumes and a huge led screen, fire, fireworks.....did I mention fire? It was really an amzing quick show to end the evening for us. Definitely recommended if you can hang on through the day, to see it, feel it, hear it. Awesome show. We also got that Ramen Corn Dog from the Corn Dog King, as a late night snack. It was really good. I wanted another, but held back. The Coaster queue was still outrageously packed. Even in the evening. Lazy unicorn. From The Corn Dog King....The Ramen Corn Dog! It was nice and crunchy. The batter was good, too. We'd get one again. The covers band playing their last set for the night. Where Electric Fire happens. I'll just let the photos show it all. They did re-use the stage for this, but we didn't see much from where we were. That was okay. Got one! The sudden fire bursts were hard to get, considering we didn't know when they were going to happen. A final blast, and it was over! And then we went home.

^ Hope you enjoy your Coaster rides, and anything else you do/see/eat/drink at The Fair! Yesterday: Out At The Fair Day...and ribs, ribs....corn dog! The PNE did "Out At The Fair Day" again, yesterday. To get in free, you could buy a pair of rainbow socks from the Pride Society. Either at a previous event (which we did on Parade Day), or right there at the PNE front gate. We wore ours, and walked right in. Throughout the day we didn't see too many others with the socks on, but as the day went on, groups of sock wearers started appearing. Awesome! David had to get his Marketplace Fix on, so I let him disappear into the Forum Building, not to reappear again till well over an hour, at the Festival Park Beer garden, our meet up spot. Unfortunately (or thankfully, depending), he couldn't find any device, thing, art pieces etc. that coaxed him to pull out his wallet. Oh well. Maybe next year he'll get lucky. We started our ribs eating with the baby back ribs from Misty Mountain, now located where Henry's BBQ was. And they were excellent. We also couldn't believe these were baby back ribs. They were so big! We were not disappointed with these. We then went took in the two inside exhibits they had this year. One was "The History of Video Games" and the other was about "The Selfie Experience." With the Glass Blowing demos in between. Honestly, the glass blowing was way more interesting than these two exhibits. The photos will show how blah each exhibit was. Not every exciting to go through, we felt. But we did get a good bunch of photos in the Selfie Exhibit, heh. With our camera. Not a cell phone . Then we traveled down the "back of the fair," along Miller Avenue beside the horse racing track. Checked out the Transport 2050 display, with VR goggles to see a Vancouver of the future. This was actually my very first time seeing VR, and I was impressed. But I'm still not convinced it's great on an actual, moving coaster. Went on to Revel District and got our two 1/3 racks from Prairie Smoke & Spice, and Gator BBQ. Then headed into the big tent where Dueling Pianos were just starting to perform. Both ribs were really great. But I think we "preferred" the Prairie ribs over the Gator ribs, this time. After all the ribs were consumed, we headed into Playland, got the dollar popcorn, I play some more PLINKO (and got my biggest ticket score in one game ever = 368 tickets!), and we headed back to the front of the Fair, to get ready for something we were really looking forward to....ELECTRIC FIRE! Outside the PNE Gate ~ David with his socks on. And then he disappeared into the Marketplace, not to be seen for a good hour+. I headed here, of course. Happy Hour! The Pride Society also had a booth set up inside the Fair, too. With buttons to make, for the kids. A bit of sky. After David met up with me, I headed over to Misty Mountain for the ribs. Their trophy haul. And I LOVE that one in the middle! Here they are! Baby back ribs. 1/3 rack = four ribs. Perfect. David says yum. Our "appetizer" is finished. The PNE Band is really good. Lively, well choreographed. They were great to watch and listen to. The glass blowing exhibit and demos, right beside the Festival park. Lots of heat coming from these...uh...ovens? Beautiful colours. First Exhibit, at the front of The Fair. About the history of video games. Ta dah. I thought the Hockey exhibit a couple years back, was more exciting, and I don't like hockey. Does anybody remember Guitar Hero? I do, but never played it. More screens, more words on screens, more meh. This is our network service provider. Telus. David checking something out. The other exhibit. Spread out like the other one, but definitely more colourful. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! David wanted it all purple, but it never showed up. Me holding back the glitter curtains! Believe it, these oversized gummi bears cost $75 Cdn EACH! Even the sales person thought that was a bit much for such a thing. We passed. The exit is thataway. Rainbow drag queen on the way to a show. The Transport 2050 exhibit (with the VR) is behind them. Hard to believe this is in the middle of all the PNE and it's noise. A really nice rest spot. The other ferris wheel. At Gator BBQ, this guy is The Rib Guy. David waiting for me to take the *^#@( photo. He's anxious for ribs. They were both great, but Gator (in front) was sweeter to us, over the Prairie ribs. But Prairie's corn bread, in the middle, was really great with bits of bacon in it.... Sold! The Dueling Piano players perform. Great mainstay of the Fair. Hope they keep coming back. Yep, they're both awesome! And the corn bread too. We took a break on a grassed area, and watched the PNE goers go by. Does any body remember Vanilla Ice? We do, but we never saw him. The Main Wheel. Now sponsored by...Chevrolet? (To be continued...)

Insane ~ Grona Lund TPR 2014 Scandi Tour.

I must say, that's a lot of new Six Flags stuff for next year!

^ Just to let you know...we just came back from a visit to PNE today... and people we asked, were saying it took about an hour to get through the Coaster queue. By the way, if you're staying into the night, do stay till 10:15 when they end the night with this awesome 15+ minute fire and light show in the Festival Park. It's a-ma-zing. Here's am un-downsized pic I took of some of it, just over an hour ago. The rest I will post tomorrow. By the way, I also decided I had seen enough, eaten enough, and drunk enough of The Fair, for now. So instead of being there tomorrow, I plan to give it all a rest, and head out on it's final day, Labour Day Monday. And the blue lights are dancers with changing LED lights on their costumes. Here's another shot, with the dancers in view.