Nrthwnd

"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" Anne Murray

Bull

Best - shooting dark ride - ever! And in China too - who knew?

Our annual Theatre In The Park here in Vancouver, just announced the two show lineup (which will play in repertory next summer): SHREK: The Musical and Legally Blonde:The Musical Its sort of local trivia, that this is the first time that TiTP has repeated a musical from the following year. Apparently LB was a GI-normous success this past summer, and worth the repeat try. I am curious as to how they are going to handle the two completely different sets and lighting set-ups for these two productions. Might have a go, and find out next summer.

Violins can be so soothing.

Instead of the flat promised for Playland (PNE) in 2015, I would love to see rather, a steel coaster that completely encircles the park itself. And not that hard to do really. The whole park is basically a rectangle in shape... ...with a coaster on it's side. And the nasty rough old corkscrew at the back of the park, torn down and replaced with an El Loco. Original design or custom, like in Vegas. I'm good with either.

^ Hmmm. How did you guys do, together? My tenth was loaded with people, although 99% of them I never really "knew", (ha). But I got to take David along on our 10th, as we had been by then, 9 years together. And it was 1981 = DISCO REUNION! You had to be there. Really. And I think I finally got it all blocked out of my mind.

Wow, what a wonderful year you guys have had! And I got a kick out of your choice for Cosmoworld, that being the characature (sp?) artist there. I had mine done on my first Japan tour with TPR, back in 2007, just before we were getting ready to leave the park. And mine was good, too! Thanks for sharing it all in a very unique way, Martin. You, Cheryl and Lauren have a great holiday season - and see you in June!

I always enjoyed visiting Sea Paradise park, not just for the rides, but for how it's laid out with the landscaping, and the Aquarium and all the marine life exhibits, for sure. Yeah and Blue Fall, too. Great ongoing TR, Ken! Looking forward to more.

"Amahl and The Night Visitors" ~ a short sweet holidays opera ~

^^ Love the packaging.

Here's the whole 2012-2013 Broadway Musicals Season as seen through my cast cd collection, lol! Including the TONY Winner for it, KINKY BOOTS! Happy Holidays Everybody! Starting with "Bring It On" and ending with "Pippin" for this past season.

Totally agree. I am very tired of West Edmonton Mall being The Only Mall with an indoor park. That I know of, in Canada. Maybe an entire building could be put over Playland (PNE) including the wooden coaster!

No I can't, Robert. The rules of the Kickstarter state, from "all 50 states and territories" etc. etc. Any other suggestion is and will be appreciated. Hope it's getting mucho $$$, all the same.

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" Barenaked Ladies

Looks great! I am in Vancouver, Canada - is there a way to donate to KickStarter, from here? (the form has US states only, with zip code fill-in)

I enjoy the updates, reminders and stuff that TPR keeps me informed on. Sometimes I miss some stuff on my own, and the update actually points me out to "more good stuff".

I have no idea where I got this photo from. But the eating choices are....interesting. Mmmm, dragon meat.

Jolly, jolly,. jolly!

~ Efteling visit - Part 2 ~ The rest of the park photos posted, include the train ride you can take around most of the park, which was nice and relaxing. I also enjoyed another ride on the equally-relaxing Gondoletta, a tow boat ride around Efteling's big lake. After that, a simple snack (egg rolls!) and then back to the hotel, ready to head out again, towards our final hotel on the tour. (Our final dinner together, and souvenirs, I'll be posting after The Day comes and goes.) Happy Holidays, Everyone! The train engineer actually knew Vancouver quite well, and had relatives in BC! He was the one who also took the pic of me and Jon in front of the enclosed merry-go-round building facade. A very nice guy. One of the views from the train - Fata Morgana, like Pirates of the Caribbean only more un-PC, and all Arabian Nights kind of. Cheesy, but fun. I took this in the Storybook Garden, as it looked like 'somebody' was about to give birth! And I got my coin from the shi**** donkey! Put a coin in front, tail goes up, coin pops out, LOL! Ah yes, colours of the season. Sort of. They were just wandering around, showing off. This was fun. A gaggle of geese (that right?) "on parade" for onlookers. Gondoletta - a tow boat ride, that travels all around this lake in the park. Another relaxing attraction to enjoy. The couple I rode with, was nice enough to let me take a pic between them, lol. Egg rolls and Coke! What better way to enjoy the end of a visit to Efteling. In the hotel lobby. Stuff I got from the park (plant not included). And it's on Table #53! My birth year. Cool! And here's the on-ride photo of Jon and myself in Efteling's un-pc ride, Carnaval Festival.

Our last 'official' park on the tour was one I was really looking forward to coming back to. Efteling is one of those parks that combines family rides and thrill rides with an enormous amount of attention to making sure the surrounding themeing and landscaping make it such a beautiful park to move around in, even if you don't ride a single ride! Our ERT that morning was on the park's newest coaster creations, Joris en de Draak, a family sized racing coaster that everybody enjoyed riding again and again...and again! One of the neatest parts of all of it for myself, was when the banners came down in the station for the "winning team", returning back. A very fun touch. Of course, Efteling had a lot more to enjoy on this return visit for some of us. There was Bobban (nicknamed "BOB") a nice bobsled coaster; Vliegende Hollander, a water coaster with a great indoor beginning of special effects and lighting....but the outdoor coaster part was simple, and not too scary for most. With a splashdown too!; Vogel Rock, the park's totally indoor coaster; Python, an old Vekoma looper... One thing I have always noticed about this park is the many, many, many merry-go-rounds and carousels it had. The main one was in a wonderful ornate building, that not only had the ride, but a wonderful display of miniatures, and a mini-musical water show as well. Here's some of the first photos I took in the park. With so much film left in the camera, I took the most photos in this park of any others, therefore two parts. (This has since changed, with my new digital camera, lol.) Part 2 tomorrow. For now, enjoy.... A great "what time is it in..." setup in the Efteling Hotel. You sort of get the idea of what you're in for, at the park. Joris en de Draak, with an amazing AA of a Big Dragon in there! This is the original first mad house in Europe, with so much themeing in it - Villa Volta, one of my all-time fave mad houses in the world. Does not disappoint, even if you don't understand the language. Group shot in front of Droomvlucht, an awesome suspended rail-type ride that takes you into gorgeous settings and scenes from the Efteling faerie world. Worth re-rides and had a pretty steady queue all day long. I found Canada! In the (sort of) IAsM attraction called Carnaval Festival. Big on un-PC-ness, but colourful and the theme song was almost as memorable and annoying, as that "other ride's theme song" Me and Jon in front of the beautiful facade on the building housing the main merry-go-round in the park. I wish we could have stayed into the evening, to see this all lit up. And much more inside, besides the ride, too. Here's one of the miniatures displays they had inside the same building. And another. So intricate and attention to detail. Really awesome stuff! A closer look at the workings of how the music came out of this merry-go-round. Like a player piano, sheet music and all! The ride itself, with some really unusual animals and riding vehicles (that rocked and tilted) while going round and round. Back outside - and how many merry-go-rounds can you count in this photo? I felt like Efteling had a "record" of how many of these, were in a single park. Easy winner!

^ Not from me. I keep searching and searching online, for any photos I can find of construction. And the only thing so far, that I've found, is the "Official Vertical Construction Ceremony" pix a few pages back. Disney is being (to me) somewhat successful in keeping hush-hush with this, on actual photos being released. And I suppose getting out to the actual site itself, isn't easy. The public transit station(s) hasn't been built and opened yet, so that doesn't help. Hopefully, somebody over there will be able to post something. Or Disney will finally release some on-site photos, soon. In the mean time...patience. (Or maybe we'll be given a nice Chinese New Year's gift of photos! )

It's looking better and better, with every posting! Thank you for sharing a part of the tour.

Great TR! And I would love to see any of these overseas parks, during the Holidays. Love this shot. Ho ho ho!