Nrthwnd

^ Unfortunately, I cannot find at least 1 GIANT rubber duckie in all that stuff (theming) in Andy's back yard! But then I figured, he doesn't play with those much, as he's getting older, right?

Saw this, and it made me laugh... Yep, there's 12 of them there. Should look great all in the middle of the dining room table. (o:

Arnolds Park 37 Lake Street Arnolds Park, Iowa, USA

Jupiter / ジュピター Kijima Kogen (Beppu, Oita, Japan) I think I was saying, "Get me off this thing!" TPR 2007 Japan Tour

There was a set of those at Rusutsu Park in Sapporo, Japan. I finally decided to try it. And nearly killed myself trying. Strength AND co-ordination is definitely needed (and timing!) on one of these things. Best shot David could get of me in the thing. TPR 2013 Japan Tour

^ Don't forget the McDonalds there!

Blue Fire Megacoaster Europa Park (Rust, Baden Wuerttemberg, Germany) TPR 2010 Europe Tour

^ Oooooo, looking good there.

^^ Gotcha. I'll check around on Tuesday, when I'm there. and ^ Thanks for the video. And no thanks for the ride. I'll skip that one, lol. And yeah, the Fair Food always costs way more than I would ever spend, on a daILY basis. But hey - it's The PNE, so for now, I can pity any "family of four" (or so) that has to pay way more for their food, than I have to do. For now, I've determined that any fairly decent meal at The Fair I get, could cost me up to $20. Such is The Fair Life, heh.

I remember riding Jupiter for the first time (2007), and when it was so rough, just on the first part of the track as you left the station and before hitting the lift hill... ...It didn't take much more to make me feel that once for the credit, was enough. I did ride it again, on another trip, but that was a few years later, and I just wanted to see if anything had improved on it. It hadn't. And in my humble opinion, ^ Regina was/is the best to me, of those three. Regina - better than Jupiter and waaay better than White Cyclone IMhO. (TPR 2011 Japan Tour)

(Right after I saw the Super DOGS show...) The sign says it all. Where kids can register with their own SuperNAME. Truth, this kid wanted to be called SuperDIRT, lol! In the old days, there was this thing called....radio. Many super heroes had serial programmes on, then. Drawings and art concepts. Old comics. This reminded me of the Spider Man ride in IOA! Don't really know why. It just did. (I've ridden the version of it in Japan.) Hey Hulk, ready to pound something? Far view. Closer up. Hey Bat, my Man! Supe gets a crystals background, of course. And who - is - this? Hardly anybody took 'his' photo. I thought he might be an anime' character, from Asia. But, there was no sign, saying who he was. OMG - it's a TARDIS!!! Actually, there's nothing inside of it, and it's just used as a 'tunnel' between other exhibits. Big disappointment, and not much of Dr.Who there, either. Except in the souvenirs shop, of course. Note the two lines in the middle of the sign. Under "featuring"... They weren't kidding! I guess better 1/2 this way, than the front or back of it, LOL. Souvenirs Shop as you leave the building. PNE Trivia: This building is known as the Rollerland Bldg. as they actually had a full sized roller rink in here, back in the days. The Dr.Who stuff to buy. And pillows below. On the way to eat, passed our old Agrodome. Cow judging (I think). Here we are. Henry's! And my coupon book gave me a $2 off deal for... ...This. 1/2 chicken with a load of fries and a good sized drink. (o: There were too many fries to finish, but the chicken was juicy and delicious. And I finished it! Now, owl_enthusiast - this is what's at The Fair now. Called the Orbiter, and has four arms which fling about cars, just like the two-armed Twin Flip does. Another shot of it. I am planning my next visit for Tuesday, and will have a real good look around ALL of the rides, to see if Twin Flip is somewhere else on The Fair site. (o;

They are doing a SuperHeros exhibit at our annual fair, The PNE (open now). But all I could find on display was this, to do with The Doctor. And it's basically just a 'tunnel' to walk through to other exhibits. Nothing really inside it. They did have some Dr.Who Stuff in their souvenirs shop. OMG it's a walk through Tardis! Some of the stuff available to buy.

^ Thanks, and I plan to do a post with (most of) the rides in Playland, this year. Stay tuned. And owl_enthusiast, I did a search for what exactly the Twin Flip looks like - and am afraid this Playland ride is not one of those. It's an Orbiter which is like a Twin Flip, only has four arms instead of two. Maybe that's the one you meant, about being your "favourite flat ride," etc. Only way to find out, is when you get to The Fair next Sunday. So, today's visit was for SuperHeros & Super DOGS!. One was an exhibit, the other a show with a lot of talented canines. Both were fun to taken in, although I found the SuperHeros display so varied and soooo muuuch stuuuuff to see and read...it was exhausting just to walk through all of it! But it a lot for the kids and plenty for the adults to enjoy. And a souvenirs shop of course. For my food fix, I went to one of the closest food stalls I was interested in, Henry's Chicken BBQ. It - was - wonderful! The 1/2 chicken was so juicy and flavourful, the fires were so plentiful and nicely done (I left some, there was just too many of them), and a Coke to wash it all down. Not exactly a cheap deal ($18 cdn w/coupon) but still, oh so good. My PNE Food Grade: B The little booklet held lots of $ off coupons and other deals for food, games and merchandise. It was free if you got the All Fair Gate Pass, and only $2 if you had to pay cash. Really a great little thing to have during the Fair. And a great little Fair Map in back, too! The Lottery Home now had a lot of people lining up for a look see. On the way to see the Dogs, there's something for poutine lovers here. Now playing! The setup before it all starts. The Peter Pan show stuff is all behind that curtain. Immediate gift shop right there ta the end of the show floor. Announcements made. The crowd is ready. Opening, showing all the dogs involved. Timed stunt course. All the dogs were given Star Wars names, re: "Salute to HollyWOOF!" The host was confused whether this was a dog..or a cat. And he ran pretty good & speedy all over the course. Had a little bit of trouble getting over those "logs" though. (o; 'Paws' for a Live Dog Food Commercial. (o; These were Celebrity Dogs. The middle one had been in "Heartland." The one by the host had been in a version of "Marmaduke." And the other three were in some upcoming History Channel special. And then they were off! Didn't do a trick at all. Celebrity does have it's perks I suppose. Oooooo - curtain colour change! Two kids in the "Fashion Contest" awaiting their two 'helpers'. Object - the helper gets 3 things from the pails to get to the kids. One helper was not being too co-operative.... ...And did his 'exit' this way. Spoiled dog. Jumping dogs. A balancing dog. Pairs of dogs competing against each other. Final bow (wow). Got the souvenir kerchief. I know Stella won't have anything to do with it, lol.

More of Opening Day (today)... Three things to note in this set of photos. 1) The Rib Fest Contest was not as "All-Canadian" as we were led to believe, when the papers reported on it for this year's fair. Two are from Canada - but the other two are American. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But I was expecting a full slate of four Canada companies. As advertised. Anyway, rant over, and I'll be checking it out soon. 2) There's a second Haunt House at The PNE! Which is great! It`s an up charge, like the original Mansion on the other side of Playland, but that`s for the actors, which I totally agree with. And now, I have TWO Haunt Houses to push-pull-shove my partner David through, bwa - ah - ahhhhhh. 3) Food - I`m going to try and get at least one of the food stalls visited for either a snack or a meal itself. And of course, all those beer gardens, too.... I did and it was 'okay' at best. So for this fair I create the My PNE Food Grade and give this first try.... a C. More to try, later on. Here we are - Rib Heaven - or at least four BBQ stalls in a row. Our fave - and the winner last year - Misty Mountain from Hinton, Alberta. Next was Prairie Smoke & Spice, from Regina, Saskatchewan. Now the Americans. This one is from Seattle WA. And the other - a repeat we found too sweet - is from Florida! Hi Robb and Elissa and Kristen! Add to that, the fact, you can take your order out of the hot, hot sun, and into this Beer garden right beside the Rib Fest, for your beverages with your BBQ. It's perfect! The round up is an extra ride for the fair. This is opposite the Rib Fest and Beer garden. Wrong place? Looking up towards the front of the fair and more food stalls. ShyWheel shot. But more importantly..... The ground base that it's on, is actually one of the least visited bathrooms at the fair! Nobody notices them, AND there's a great cold water fountain in between the entrances. It's a great secret of The Fair. Where the main stage acts will be performing for free. Or $20 extra, gets you a closer seat. Colin James plays tonight. The Music Express looks sooo much better with the middle hanging thing and the "back flap" taken off. Am still thinking about maybe one visit to the Cuckoo Haus. Not really a fun house, but I might give it a try, knowing it'll give me a bit of a workout. (o; Remember this is I saw, before the fair opened? Well it's surrounding a new Haunt House called... Keeper's Doll Factory! Cool! This one, and the Haunted Mansion I'm taking the partner through, on Sept.3 when we go together,hee hee hee. There's the entrance. And the red umbrellas are for this new FastPass thing they've got going. On top of your $40 (cdn) Ride Pass for the Day, an Extra $20 gets you to the front of 10 main rides at The Fair. I won't do it, as most if not all the rides in question are at Playland, off season, so it's a no-brainer not to do it, for myself. I went to Shrimp Boat, cause I'd always wanted to try their shrimp baskets at The Fair. But after standing in line for several minutes, we find out the fryers aren't working right, and then one patron in line "passes the word" down to the rest of us. So - I left the stall for.... ...Waffles With Benefits! I had never had chicken& waffles in - my - life, so this was a good place to try it out, I thought. I chose the Buffalo Chicken. Cost about $12 cdn. No sides. Honestly? The best part about it was the Hot Sauce! The chicken was 'okay' but didn't taste really "southern fried" at all. Very plain. The waffle was plain also. Not much flavour to it, I felt. So, what I need to do, is find a REAL Chicken and Waffles place in the USA, hmm? My PNE Grade: C Another mainstay of The Fair. I am definitely going to try a half-chicken platter, eventually. (o: Then, as I was leaving The Fair, I saw THESE CARS, just sitting at the entrance! Must of missed them, when I was running to get my Gate Pass done, heh. No matter. Really nice kept up police, ambulance, AND fire trucks (other side). Here`s the fire trucks. Just look at that chrome. Beautiful!

First of all... Bench: The Ride And I LOVED the Tubs-O-Fun when we had them here at Playland! One of the (then) best flat rides I ever rode, when I was younger. And that's a pretty good looking kids' coaster there, for the size that it is. Looks like a great little family park.

^ Thanks! And I think I did see the Twin Flip at Playland, in it's usual spot. I'm heading back there tomorrow, so I will check on it for you. Is that the Twin Flip, in the background, in front of the trucks? I'll get a closer shot, tomorrow.

PNE Opening Day! Just got back from touring the fair grounds, checking out what was what and where. And of course the FOOD stalls, trucks and counters were everywhere. So many choices of old favourites and new stuff to try. I went through the fair without going into any of the main exhibits, the livestock buildings, or seeing any of the free shows offered every day. Then I left The Fair, mid-afternoon. Here's what I saw today.... Main Entrance to the PNE. Disregard the "Winter Wonderland" notice. (o; Not much to see when you get in, and turn the corner. But then, things start popping up. Here's the Beatles exhibit. It's a $3 upcharge, though I still don't understand why. Will check that out another day. But first, to Customer Services... For my PNE fair Season Gate Pass. Good for the entire run of the fair. One of the several beer gardens on site. Not too busy now, but I'm sure it will get very busy with these hot, hot, hot August days we're having. One of the few main stages on site that feature free entertainment during The PNE. Why this fence is there I have no idea. But here's some food stalls. "The Best Fish & Chips in Town"...? We'll see, on another visit. One of the mainstays of the fair, Jimmy's Lunch. Loads of fried onions served here, with their burgers. What fair isn't complete without funnel cakes, and deep fried 'stuff.' The PNE Prize Home this year. Ultra modern. Too 'modern' for myself. One of my fave stalls to go to. Every year. A SuperHero exhibit to check out, later on. Band entertainment in the upper area of the fair. They were very good. The Pacific Coliseum, where "Peter Pan" (evenings) and the Super Dogs show (afternoons) play. I will probably see the dogs and not Pan. Sign that shows where you've gone too far, and how far to go... Looking down Miller Drive. Home to... Dinosaurs! The big ones move, the small ones don't. Hey! You lookin' at me? Entry to the Craft Beer Festival. Will go to it another day. If you have a thing for race horses, this is the place to go during the fair. (More to come...)

^ Just think of the PNE being the two weeks before Labor Day weekend in September. As for the fair itself, I just went Opening Day today. And took a load of general walk-around shots, just taking in everything that was there. I didn't take many (if any) ride pix as most of the Playland rides, I've already photographed. But I'll do a TR through Playland, eventually. I got myself a Fair Gate pass for the entire fair's run, so I have plenty of time to check things out, then TR back on them, individually. Nice t-shirt you got there, by the way. I like the orange, too.

I went to the opening day of our fair, The PNE, today. Hoping, and hoping for a Zipper to be one of the extra rides brought in for the fair. Sadly, not to be.

Nemesis Inferno Thorpe Park (Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK)

^ But wait! You have to get over to Stockholm Sweden, and ride This One! TPR 2009 Scandi Tour

Anaconda in Walygator Parc (France) and El Condor in Walibi Holland (Netherlands) always make my List of "No, Never Again(s)".

Yes, if it's possible. Do you like the idea of holograms?

9/10 Milkshakes.

Pass