Nrthwnd

Near the end of our visit, there wasn't a lot of time to run back and forth across the park. So I decided to take in something I'd not seen on the previous Scandi Tour.... The Dolphin Show There were only two live dolphins in the show itself, a lot of stuff up on screens, a child getting to pet a dolphin, and....uh....what looked like a really sort of "too close for comfort" relationship each dolphin and their trainers, had. A but creepy, especially when they trotted out the heart shaped spotlights, music, etc. So for that, once was enough, lol. And then, we were on our way back to Helsinki. Me and a couple of friends waiting for.... The Dolphin Show! A lot of water, lights, film...and real live dolphins! Here's one of them. I forgot it's name. Or even what sex it was. This is the other. With the "child from the audience" scene. Slow dance in the pale moonlight? Now, is this a rejection or a "come hither" thing? Some balancing and jumping happened, here. A jump. More touchy feely stuff. And then it was over. Now Steve, what I have told you, again and again? No hands up, till the ride - is - moving. Okay? Bye Bye Sarkanniemi! We had a great day in the park. Thanks!

Well it was the t-shirt to buy, at that time, lol.

I can only find one for my year - but it's a goody... 1953 ~ The Oldest Coaster in Japan ~ Opened in Hanayashiki Park, Tokyo Taken in the 2011 TPR Japan Tour, these guys marathoned the coaster, and cheered on by the park's ride ops! I lost count after 30...

Long Live the Tagada!

Next, I went up the park's Observation Tower and got a few overhead shots of the park. Then back down, to catch shots of few groups of people on the park's raft ride.... Sarkanneimi's Observation Tower. Going up. The half pipe, new children's Village area, the farmyard, and the park's Raft Ride. One end of the park, where the Disko is. And my fave flat! And the Volare coaster. Tornado red train on it's run, over the log flume ride. Angry Birds Land. Great place for kids and their families. Now it's yellow train's turn The sign for the raft ride. I liked the waterfall as part of it. Hey guys! Wet, yet? Nolan doesn't seem to be too worried about getting wet on this ride. The others, not so much. Ryan and Tom making the best of a (probable) wet situation.

^ Yeah, when we were at Disney Sea back in 2007, I bought a 6th Anniversary t-shirt. Was kind of odd to have, but it's still a nice shirt.

Tidal Wave at (then) Mariott's Great America

^ The Joker is working for the police! Name is Enigma, right? Was the guy always asking a question, instead of giving info. And the guy in the comedy audition has potential future, though I am not sure as who, lol. We also correctly assumed, the guy a/k/a Penguin wasn't going to die that quickly. He has to come back as Penguin!

Stand

Base

Two more mugs to show, before I start the Scandi bunch. These I have picked up in various places, with business logos, event logos, and attraction logs, too. These two I especially like, and always have. I think it's because they were actually my first two such plastic mugs to get. Works for me, lol! The one on the left comes from the now-closed Movieland Wax Museum, near Knott's. I got it, when me and my mom went to the parks, at Easter (!) in 1963. (And it was just as hell with the crowds, as it is now during that time period. The decades never change it.) The one on the right was from the then newly opened Monterey Bay Aquarium, Spring 1985. We drove down the coast from San Franciso a bit, and made Monterey our destination stop, toured the aquarium (the second floor was still being built!) with that gorgeous two-story Kelp Forest tank. Then, we turned around and headed back to SF. Movieland Trivia: Same tour as ^ The Aquarium, we also went to LA, did the parks, and went back to the Wax Museum And went thru their newest attraction inside, The Black Box. And I swear this had to be one of the earliest Haunt Walk-thrus ever created in an existing attraction/park! Walking through sets of recent movies (Halloween?), stuff was said, stuff happened, people screamed (we did too), and we moved on, lol. It was great! Good sturdy plastic. And they've lasted! And you can stack them. Kind of. (o;

After arriving early at the park, and having ERT on Half Pipe and Tornado, we were let loose in the park, reminded to show up for lunch, later on. Lunch was another pizza and salad buffet, but again, for myself, it was a really good one and everything was hot, ready to eat. (The Scandinavians seem to be pretty good at pizza buffets, I must admit.) ERT on Half Pipe. I enjoyed it much better this time, without the rain hitting me (2009). And I liked this shot, as one of my better ones taken, too. Hmm. On first glance..... Dippin Ma Jones In It? I think I'm getting hungry for lunch. EEP! Another 'sign'. But first - a ride on my all time fave flat ride! The only one I have ridden, too. Motogee, the new coaster. It was a fun ride. Nothing too special. Families would enjoy this, I'm sure. Angry Birds Land! I had known about this re-do of the childrens' rides area for a couple of years now. And now, seeing it for myself, it's really a a nice area for kids to let loose, ride rides, and have a good old time with the Angry Birds! Hey, I even bought the t-shirt for it! Here's Jake, awaiting permission to be launched at the pigs. And Bob leads this pack of shameless credit whores on the ...uh.... long named coaster. For kids. I have to admit though, I already got the credit in 2009 when we nearly broke it down. (o: Lunch! The setup for indoor eating. The buffet itself was up to the left of this area. OMG Lauren - you know Gus! I'd recognize that hand gesture any where! And there was outdoor seating as well, which some took advantage of. After lunch - back to rides. But no, not this one. In 2009 I saw this having vomit washed off of it. Not a pleasant memory and I won't ride it. Back to Orange Flip! And another one of those fun "faucet" fountains. It's a flat. It's a Shwarzkopf. But I don't remember the name of the flat. And I totally forgot to take a photo. But... it's a Schwarzkopf! (o;

Awesome. Still a great coaster. And the park is amazing, too!

Woo hoo! Just bought my FastPass ticket to Fright Nights! I'm going on Wednesday, Oct.22. Anybody else from the Vancouver area (or beyond?) interested in joining me that night's visit? The ticket is non-refundable and no rain checks given out, too. This night runs from 7pm-midnight. The current plan is to meet around 8 pm at the bus stop to the left of the Playland entrance. Then, get into the queue at the gate. (EDIT to add: And treat this like something in a TPR Tour - Buy the FastPass ticket. It'll be worth the extra $ ) Fresh off the printer! (o:

In it's early days, it was so amazing to see the trains running on Colossus, from the parking lot. It made you all the more anxious to get in there and ride it for yourself! It helped sell the park. From the freeway you could see the trains running. Easy to see with the white structure, too.

doubLe

That was quite the night, Friday night was. EDIT to add: The park was awesome too, as was Wagamamas.

Orkanen - Farup Sommarland, Denmark

"That was awesome! - Howja do?" Whoever that was, she definitely enjoyed the ride, lol.

Half Pipe - Sarkanniemi Park, Finland

It's really close now, the end of this tour. But these last two parks we visited in Finland are really two great parks with loads of rides and coasters in each. So first... Sarkanniemi - TORNADO = Yellow & Orange On Grey! Sarkanniemi is another one of those parks, like Tusenfryd, where a lot of walking can be involved. Depending on how much you backtrack, etc. We also started to get some rain (horrors) near the end of the visit, but that didn't hurt the tour at all. I had only one credit to get at this park, and it was their newest one, Motogee. A launch coaster that was nice, but not worth a re-ride IMhO. The new Angry Birds Land was a nice surprise, and had the older kids flat rides themed up along side new flats brought in for the Land. It worked well, from what i could see, and I am sure the kids were thrilled as they were constantly running around, screaming and just having a great time. And by the way - do you prefer your Tornado in Lemon Yellow? Or Orange Freeze? The schedule. I liked this park's entrance gate. It looked so nice with the trees around it. The New Flat! Down for Maintenance! Hmmmph. The Map. Quite the walk from the park's Disko to the Children's Farm/Village area. The Village was also new, like Angry Birds Land. Yellow Tornado twirling through the loading station "bunker". David and Gus on the orange train, with Gus showing me how he appreciates my taking his photo! Yellow on the grey track! Just in case you forgot what this coaster is called. Orange Flip! Yellow Flip! Orange Flip Again! Yellow does a twist toward the end of the run.

Last day today, of Playland's season.....yuk! Crowded, thousands of schoolkids, hot, and I got only one ride in, not even on Coaster. As this was the last day of it's season, this was also the last day kids had free before heading back to school, after a long teachers' strike that lasted three weeks into September. So, it was slow going, and I stayed just a short while. But I did pick up the flyer for Fright Nights they were handing out at Customer Service. Only three weeks to go! EDIT to Add: I totally forgot! While checking the place out for Fright Nights stuff, I came across the sign above an area that said The Sanitarium BAR. Booze, woo hoo! Mob scene at Coaster queue. And they ran only one train! This was as bad as the PNE crowds! The Fright Nights flyer. And the back of it.

^ Heck I'd be craving for the whole Disney Sea theme park!

And now for something "almost" unrelated... HAPPY BIRTHDAY Leonard Cohen! Why post this is this thread? Simple. There are some parks around the world, who like to do appreciative things for artists (and celebrities) who have performed at their park. Like Liseberg, in Sweden. At first, they had the signature Sidewalk STARS that included local talent as well as those far away, such as Michael Jackson. The "LiseGarden" is something new for the park. And instead of slate stars, or footprints, hand prints are saved here. Including one for the artist I took the photos of - Canada's Leonard Cohen. So here's to you Leonard! Nice to see you appreciated far far Away. Like Sweden! Does that really say LUST garden? My Swedish is terrible. (o; Where he is among. I think Tom Jones is there, too. They sign their plaque too, which makes me wonder what happened to that "r" in his name?

A troll is not a poll.