Nrthwnd

"Skyfall" Adele

^ Naw. Animals' Group Names: Apes: a shrewdness Badgers: a cete Bats: a cauldron Bears: a sloth or sleuth Buffalo: a gang or obstinacy Cats: a clowder, pounce or glaring; for kittens: a kindle, litter or intrigue Dogs: a litter (puppies), pack (wild) or cowardice (curs) Donkeys: a pace Elephants: a parade Elk: a gang Ferrets: a business Fox: a leash, skulk or earth Giraffes: a tower Goats: a tribe or trip Gorillas: a band Hippopotamuses: a bloat or thunder Hyenas: a cackle Jaguars: a shadow Kangaroos: a troop or mob Lemurs: a conspiracy Leopards: a leap Lions: a pride or sawt Martens: a richness Moles: a labor Monkeys: a troop or barrel Mules: a pack, span or barren Otters: a romp Pigs: a drift, drove, sounder, team or passel Porcupines: a prickle Porpoises: a pod, school, herd or turmoil Rabbits: a colony, warren, nest, down, husk or herd (domestic only) Rhinoceroses: a crash Squirrels: a dray or scurry Tigers: an ambush or streak Whales: a pod, gam or herd Wolves: a pack, rout or route (when in movement) Interesting.

This is looking great. Good old Tripsdrill. The "smaller parks" like this (and others like Toverland) are certainly upping the ante with steel coasters being built here and there. I think they're starting to catch up to the Big Parks, heh.

Day 5 ~ On the road to...Tequila! After we left Selva Magica, we then headed to the growing fields where agave is grown, harvested, and then turned into a few things (like hand cream) and especially..... TEQUILA! The agave plant itself is a mass of razor sharp leaves, all guarding an in-the-ground Main Part of making tequila...the "pineapple." A few of us took a try at planting the pineapples, cutting the leaves... and a couple of us (Ryan, Cliff) proved much better at doing it, than others (me). After the tour of the fields, we bussed on to the actual town of Tequila, (in the state/province of Jalisco) where the process all happens... Highway art. Bet it looked really nice after dark, with the fountains and lights around it, on. Through another town with great architecture in it. This was certainly different . Nick had a short nap, with Keith's support. Our bus' name. Which proved to be not exactly true, later on, after dinner. Caught in a drive by. And in that order? Heading out into the countryside, here. Love the mountains, when we come across any, lol. Finally, the fields of agave appear. The fields keep going on and on and... ...on and on and on. So much agave to make so much tequila. More agave fields. Watching the demo of planting and cutting the agave fields. The pineapple, ready to plant. Everybody avoiding the razor sharp agave leaves. Ha. Poser. (With the harvested pineapples, ready for processing, back in town.) Ta Daaah! The town of Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico! With the (official?) Tequila KegMobile cruising around town. Lots of souvenir tequila kegs (huge and tiny, filled and un- ) sold in various shops in the city. Yay! Another Canada shout out. (o: A Tequila church. We were walking through the city at this time, to get to the tequila factory. Inside of the church. Just beautiful. And all funded from tequila sales! (o; Side of the church behind us. And ahead of us...Jose Quervo Tequila factory!

^ Wow. That's great! More Liseberg to love, eventually.

And here's a few more videos from Selva Magica... The first is of this (what I thought) lame flat in the park called MEGADANCE. Well, it certainly didn't "dance" around too much, and although there is I believe, one scream heard in it's cycle... meh. It wasn't much to watch, either. And I took a second video of the ride, with closeups on various cars, etc. The third video is of the nice woman who made up our (what I called) Mexican Cocktails. Basically it's just beer (Corona or Victoria) and clamato juice, with spices. But she used MAGGI Sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce...and it was goood. Especially in the hot afternoon. [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=MVI_1919_j9x5[/coastertube] [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=MVI_1920_grtj[/coastertube] [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=MVI_1922_vxjh[/coastertube] And tomorrow - Tequila!

^ The others I know well about, but..."I love Lucy"? That sounds interesting. Hope it works.

"the sex is in the heel ~ even if you break it..."

Selva Magica, cont... After we'd done our ERT, management took us into the back area of the park, and showed us around all the pieces and parts of rides and themeing that weren't being used any more. Except for one particular coaster. This one was previously known as The Bullet and resided in a couple of parks, before it turned up here at Selva. "The word is" that this will be put back together, hopefully next year and be open to the public again. Very cool to find that out! A few more rides... and then there was The Woman. Actually, it was a Pregnant Walk-Through Woman. Uh, okay. It was basically an edu-tainment thing showing different parts of the body. But not the naughty bits, hee hee. We entered through the head and eventually exited through.... the side of the leg. And the baby in the womb was a pretty freeky thing to see, and it sort of shocked me, when the light on it suddenly went on and it started moving! But I survived the tour. We all did. The SkyCoaster was done with Betty, but like I said before, it was totally exhilarating when the cord was pulled and we dove for the ground, swinging over it into a perfect arc. But when we started slowing down, the harness started getting tighter around my chest and I really didn't think I could take it much more. But I got down and out of it just in time. Then there was the discovery (to me) of a wonderful beverage involving beer...and clamato juice! And spices and even Maggi Sauce, instead of the usual Worcestershire Sauce in it. And it tasted great! Excellent way to cool off, drink some beer, and end the visit to Selva Magica. Here we are, heading back into the 'boneyard' of the park. The stairway to nowhere. Lots of stuff here. Great back view of Tornado from here. I'm lost! Betty's found something interesting - I think. And here is part of the one loop in The Bullet. With Robb on top. Me, being not so agile on it. I thought this was going to be a crazy ride, but it wasn't. To me, anyway. MegaDance wasn't so 'mega' after all. We 'think' this was supposed to be the Haunted Walk-Through in the park. But, not really that sure about it. And there in the distance.... Here she is! Enter at her head - exit at her...... leg. I got a kick out of the cars on this kids ferris wheel. Getting ready for SkyCoaster. Simple harness, hmm? Josh and Cheryl....doing it. This looked funny, like Cheryl was trying to grab the coaster to stop the swinging. And Josh is saying "Why Worry?" Lunch. Simple chicken burger with fries. With something extra special on it.... Nipples of Mayonnaise! (o: And a great beverage to end the visit. Thanks Selva Magica!

^ Hope you enjoy it. Am looking forward to what Disney does with this adaptation from animated film to live on stage. And I know not everybody's interested in this - but I am, and I would have kept watching SMASH if they were allowed to keep going. Not to mention the boost to Broadway the series gave, through it's two seasons. That said...available August 6 at Amazon.com... It's all here, including that gorgeous song (Episode 3 - The Song) Jennifer Hudson sang at the end of her "One Night Only" concert on the show.

Parents and telling them isn't an easy thing to do, no matter how "nowadays" anybody tells you. And it's soooo much easier to find groups, organizations, and chat groups online, than me and my era had to go through. So much easier. But I have been there and went through it, back in the 1970s! Doesn't change, no matter the decade. It's always a scary/personal to do. Best thing I can advise, is do it when positive stuff is going on. During a fight or just a negative atmosphere doesn't do well for such announcements. Trust me. And hey - we're here. And we love coasters too!

They definitely know where their on-ride camera is, lol!

This coaster keeps going and going and going... Looking forward to seeing the new paint job on it.

I have never had fish tacos of any kind, brand, make. It has always seemed 'wrong" to me. But that's just me, lol. They do look good, what you made there. And the ingredients read tasty, too. One of these days, weeks, months....

How about the Cave of Wonders at Disney Paris' Storybook Land Canal Boats? Disney Paris' version of Monstro. Thanks to MeetTheWorld... for the photo.

...and here's a not-too-professional video of Tornado.... [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=MVI_1921_mlsg[/coastertube]

Day 5 ~ Selva Magica Park This was the main park we visited in the Guadalajuara area, which had four coasters to ride - although only three were available (the Zierer family coaster was closed for maintenance), but we had a great time while there. And this is where I got to do my first SkyCoaster, with Betty, and it was quite exhilarating! But the body harness started squeezing around my chest when we were slowing down, and I thought I was going to pass out from the pressure! Thankfully, we were down and out of it before that occured. The park had a sort of uneven layout to it, but easily manageable in walking around. And lunch wasn't a big deal (good old chicken burgers...again), but of course with the right beverage..... mmmmm delish. Here's some photos of the first part of our day at Selva Magica... Morning shot outside our hotel window. reminds me of West Side Story, or something New Orleans-like. Two shots of the lobby as we left for the park. Shot #1 Shot #2 One was with flash. The other, not. I forget which was which, but I like this one of the two, myself. Right there beside our bus, a little (flag) reminder of home. Group Bus Shot. A pretty awesome group, yes? Nick is still waking up, hence the fuzziness. With Keith. Instead of a Tree of Life, Selva Magica has their Fountain of Life. Another mural to try and figure out. A pretty big one, too. This was just before the entrance to the park. With the all-important explanation sign. Looks like the mural was created in 2010 for Mexico's 200th birthday! We're here! Ticket pass prices. Guess which one Robb and Elissa got for us? Map of the park. Our three coasters to ride, were all over on the left, there. I know it's NOT what it looks like ~ but I had to smile when I saw the sign. And misread it. Here's the closed down Catarina coaster. No big loss for most of us. Our ERT on Titan, a steel jet coaster. The turn around of the coaster. It's a VERY simple layout, lol. Got the shot, but they needed to be back just a bit. Still, there's happiness in that train. Next on our ERT session, time on the old Pinfari coaster, Jubile. (I think it's missing an 'e', but who's to say...) Station Shot #1 Station Shot #2 And...Station Shot #3 Not much else to say about it. A simple Pinfari layout, it was. And then on to a lovely old Schwarzkopf jumbo jet coaster, named Tornado. We used to have one of these at our local park. I miss it. And this is the part I like the most of the coaster. (Also, no seat belts or OTSRs - yay!)

That photo of Mulan at Great Yarmouth (didn't ride it back in 2006, darnit), looks a lot like the one I saw at Mirabilandia Park in Italy. When TPR did the UK-Europe tour in 2010. Very plush with a lot of red in the seats and around the entire ride, I remember. And of course, I forget what it was called. And the all-Italian map didn't help me, lol.

^ Ah, thanks for the info about Bimbo. I thought it was only in Mexico, since that's only where I have see it, to date. And my sympathy goes out to that team with the unfortunate jerseys.

At the Jose Quervo Tequila factory in Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico! (Coming up this week on Day 5 of the tour...) What it is...is art.

^ Is it a franchise? Trippy commercial, btw.

^ That's great!

Corona Extra. The recent TPR Mexico Tour seems to have made me have (and like) this beer more often, than I used to.

Great set of photos, Neil! It all looks wild and crazy. But man, that's going to be some upkeep they're going to have to maintain, every year, year after year. All that "stuff", lol.

These are from one of the best (I was told) World's Fairs of it's time - the Montreal World Expositon, EXPO 67. They had a huge amusement area, which is now know as La Ronde. And in that area they had this massive pair of pyramid-like structures making up what was then called GYROTRON. Like a present day omnimover, a continuous track of 4 seat benches, first entered the larger pyramid and circled up and up through the darkness, with glimpses of spacecraft, astronauts and planets circling inside the building. Then about midway, the cars came outside and travelled along a "bridge" to the second smaller pyramid (called The Volcano), and entered from the top. And inside was "the lava creature" (more like a space age crab I thought) ready to (the PR said) "gobble you up". And then the ride was over. I never got to EXPO 67, but I heard the ride went very slowly and there wasn't much 'motion' to the creature at all. Still, it's an early one to note. The larger of the two buildings of GYROTRON. With the "space stuff" inside. Note the 'bridge' above on the right there? The second smaller building ~ The Volcano ~ with "it" inside. Heading towards our doom... Hello gorgeous! Not you. What's behind you! Look out!!!!!