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Yes, thanks Larry. Got the PM also - great!

Merde! - and Break Lots of Legs to you, your castmates & crew! "Welcome to Kana-gawa. Music and food and company. Music and food and - for a fee: Welcome..."

Oh Wondrous and Melodious Title Faerie A "new one" came to me in a rum and eggnog dream... Raised on The Lore of Donkey-ism May I be so bold as to acquire this one in place of my tired - old - thoroughly - old one? And my huz thanks you, 2. "You're gonna love tomorrow - You're gonna be with me - You're gonna love tomorrow - I'm givin' you my personal guaran-tee." (FOLLIES - Stephen Sondheim) EDIT To Add: No good, huh?

Great, thanks Hanno. And if it turns out I do have to wait 24 hrs. before EDITting - that's fine. I got time, LOL.

Yes, Hanno. I should have been a bit clearer, sorry. I just posted a new review of my own in the Park Index, for Tokyo Disney Sea, saw a lot of mis-spells and stuff after posting, I then went to edit it - and now I am not being allowed to do it.

... I get the grey box telling me that I need to "wait 24 hours before I make another post." Which is actually not what I was intending to do. So... am I doing something wrong? If you look at the review, you can already see my errors a-plenty. But I cannot edit them, now. Thanks in advance for the help.

(Not really freeked out by them, lol.... I think.)

Mmmm. Gotta wait for ... (possible TPR tour in) 2013?

Ooooooooooo yes! A picture book, woo hoo! (Coffee-table Size ) Well, I can agree and dream, yes? The ongoing report is great, Larry. This is really a neat, fascinating (and wonderful!) project they're all working on. Kudos to all of them!

~ Ottovolante ~

^^ Here is where it's going, Bob. And I read somewhere it will probably use the FastPass system, too. Hmmm. That will be quite a "Dash & Split" to the FastPasses machines for it and ToT, when Mania opens, lol. (I forget who took the photo, but THANKYOU!) The front entry area is to be a "Toy Story-themed city park," themed in that area's era.

Wow. A totally different-looking park with all those thousands of lights on. I like the idea of allowing visitors to change the colours or patterns of a display, with a button. Very nice 'touch,' heh heh. Thanks for sharing your photos. The park really looks amazing!

^ Actually the belts were quite comfy, and we still got a bit of airtime in those seats LOL! The bath gels, IMhO, didn't really "smell up" to what they were "supposed" to be, heh heh. Already tried one of the Hot Sauces, and the Mustard, Ketchup, and Mayonnaise bath gels - all smell like soap but the colours are pretty true, lol. A gimmick, to be sure, but they were fun to bring back. And rea$onable, too. And of course with the Japanese writing all over the packages, LOL! And then, some crazy bizarre (and sometimes unrelated) english tanslation. ^^ And Chuck? Just found this on the net... And it was the Most Un-International Rep I ever read in this list, lol.

TPR China Tour. Sept, 2012.

~ Kumali ~ ("Smoother than a baby's bottom.")

And a Happy Day to All, previously - today - and for the future.

All of these 2011 trees are awesome, everybody! Wish there had been a few more posted by now, but I know how everybody is busy with stuff right now, - still, these are all really nice. ~ Best Wishes to All ~

How about fresh sushi & egg nog. Too much?

Well, it had to eventually come to an end, the tour did. But we still had one more great park to do, and one more group meal to have together before we parted and went our separate ways home, from Helsinki. ~ Linnanmaki ~ This was a city park built literally on and around a hill! And it made for a great walking workout for us all, lol. But before all that walking started, we got some ERT in, before the park opened... Vuoristorata, a side friction wooden coaster, brakeman included, that was very enjoyable to ride, even as old as it looked to be. Well maintained, ran great, we were impressed! Kirnu, or what I called "INSANE,Jr." which was the same design and maker (Intamin ball coaster) but a bit (no, a LOT) less intense (and less an extra level/section of track, too) than it's bigger bro at Grona Lund. Sio much so, I found myself riding it way more times through the day, than I did on INSANE. After that, management got us over to what I called the "Coaster Quartet" for First Rides on them, before the public swarmed in: Salama, a pretty good spinning coaster; Pikajuna, a very intense (IMhO) powered coaster; Tulireki, an 'okay' Mack E-Motion coaster that had a couple of 'tilts' to it, but not much else; and my #393 Coaster (Vonkaputous), a great zippy water coaster I went on a lot. Really enjoyed that one. Really got wet too, lol. And there was an indoor coaster too - one on the top of that hill the park was built around: Linnunrata, a space-themed coaster which had some great star effects we got to whiz by, heh heh. And in the park itself, several flats and indoor attractions including a great ghost train (Kummitusjuna); a wierd clown and elephant poop-themed ride (Taikasirkus); a FunHouse I didn't go in, but heard it was quite the workout and very popular, with the never-ending queue to go in it; and KotKot which is basically riding in a hard-boiled egg, and spotting (and counting) baby chicks with red bandanas on! Basically for children, but hey, we're kids too, right? Eventually, we all gathered together at one of the park's main restaurants (Safari Family), and had a wonderful Farewell Dinner, before heading out of the park, back to our hotel, and then heading for home the next day . And here's the park photos, but I will post the Farewell Dinner pix (and Souvenirs, and Onride Photos, oh my!) after the holidays are over and we are into 2012. So for now... "Happy Holidays Everybody!" Have a great season and an Equally Great New Year of Coasters and Parks to all! Our ERT on Vuoristorata, the side friction woodie, complete with onride brakeman! And after the other coasters counted - my 393rd one (Vonkaputous), wet and wonderful! Several times! And some of us like pinball, too. And it was great to find a country's park with some to play. Very cool! On KotKot, Tim and Jon in their egg, ready to count baby chicks with red bandanas on. And Josh and me in our KotKot egg, doing "the funky chicken" I believe. And there's a section of Kirnu track in back, there. Our mid-day meal, with our second bus driver for the tour (Sorry I forgot your name but THANKYOU for the great coach driving!) He's behind Jason and Jon. And doesn't our server (behind Tim) look like the US actress Amy Poehler? Hmmm... Observation Tower view. How many coasters can you count? And remember, there's one under all that grass & greenery there, inside the building! From the ferris wheel - a great shot of Vuoristrata. And Helsinki, too. A look at Kirnu through the trees. The FunHouse is at the left (red entryway roof). And our Farewell Dinner was in the smaller (one of) building behind Kirnu. Kirnu and Vuoristorata, with Josh pointing them out, lol. Me and the park's clown mascot. And I still have no idea what his/it's name was, LOL! After this, the Farewell Dinner and Goodbyes.

Well, no way around it. Once we were up, breakfasted, loaded on the coach, and off to our next park and (eventual) hotel, the clouds had rolled in and started to heavily "drizzle" down on us the second we walked into... ~ Sarkanniemi ~ Management was very nice to us, getting us our ERT on three of their coasters, even though.. on Half Pipe we kept getting smacked in the faces with rain 'bullets'; on Tornado the Intamin Invert, as sweet as the ride was, it was just wet and a bit ch-ch-chilly on it (wearing shorts I guess didn't help, lol); and although Trombi was not favoured among many who had ridden similar coasters (lay down 'cages' & inverted?), the rain had let up a bit, by the time we were riding it, and most of us felt "it wasn't too bad a ride, all things/other reviews considered," so that was nice, not getting beaten up by this one, lol. Unfortunately, their Schwarzfopf Jet Star and their new disko/coaster attraction Surge, apparently just weren't "dry enough" to be operating. The word was "20 minutes after it stopped raining", and of course, it kept starting and stopping again and again, into the afternoon. But before finding out about whether we could ride either ride, we had another great group meal in one of the park's main eateries (Sarkka Lunch Cafe). Then, we met up a bit later after other rides and checking on Jet Star and Surge (nope - still not open), and got to go up and into the special private level of the park's massive Observation Tower, which was amazing for the park and city view. But those of us still checking, noticed (from high in the tower) that they were now running cycles of Jet Star! So of course, after touring the tower, down down down to the ground, and over as fast as we could to Jet Star... only to find out now they wouldn't be running it, just yet! So, several of the group, took it upon themselves to stay and wait, and eventually they started up with a sing song of pop songs that contained the word or themeing of SUNSHINE, lol. It was funny. I kept going to other parts fo the park for a flat ride etc, then come back to JetStar queue and heard everything from "You Are The Sunshine of My Life" (Stevie Wonder?); "Let The Sunshine In" from HAIR; "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" (Lesley Gore???) and 'others' heh heh. Must have worked, because as time was running out for us to stay in the park, JetStar finally opened, those of us there immediately all got our credit, woo hoo! And some of us got the disko/SURGE credit too, lol. And after we were all done and then heading out to the coach, it started raining - again! Ah well, we got all the credits, the park management was fantastic hosting us... and this was Park #100 for me! After Half-Pipe, and Tornado, we did ^ TROMBI or "Inverted Hamster Cages". Actually, not bad for my first (and so far only) kind of coaster. Have heard the rest of these, around the world - aren't so good, lol. Sad and pathetic me, with the Viking Ship in mid-swing. I think this is more for a group photo, hmm? You think? Take Off! I loved this flat! And I wish we had one of these at the home park. And for those who wanted to get more wet than they already were... The Rapids Ride! Hi guys! Some of the themeing around the park. I call this "Streetcar Under Glass". Tornado and it's flashy neon train. And they had a yellow one, too! Another Tornado shot, with the Observation Tower (heading up to it now) in back. And here we are - on the Private Level of The Tower. And a bit of what we see bel - wait! Is that Jet Star running cycles??? Eep. Wrong place (and height). But eventually... We all get our Jet Star Credit, woo hoo! Here's Marc and Ryan, the first riders since the rain stopped! And noting the achievement - My 100th park! Thankyou Sarkanniemi for a great day, rain and all, LOL!

I just love aerial photo love ~ especially of theme parks and particularly of DISNEY PARKS, woo hoo! Thanks for posting these, Elissa! Edit to add I especially like seeing what they are creating for the new waterways through the Dwarfs' Coaster layout, and around Belle's father's cottage - and of course Ariel's hubby's little kingdom area there, too. It's all looking great.

A Happy Solstice to all at TPR!

Maybe it's flotsam & jetsam?

The next morning, we had breakfast, loaded the coach for our leaving later in the day, and then got ourselves over to the buildings where most of us were about to take part in the First-Ever... Theme Park Review (mini) GRAND PRIX! It was pretty easy to figure out what one had to do in this fierce competition. Win. And make good time while doing it too, heh heh. I hadn't driven anything like a go-kart in decades, and I was hoping that several others were in the same position as me. So we suited up in coveralls, gloves and helmets, were assigned our car numbers and heats we were racing in. Then one group at a time was taken through the course to get the feel of it, before actually racing each other in it. Didn't help some of us, myself included, one bit LOL. I made fairly good time in my first heat, but in the more important elimination round to determine the final heat... well, I got myself 'stuck' on the first right turn of the course, with one of the operators running out to me to get me unjammed where I was, with both of us constantly looking behind us to see if the group was coming around and catching up to where we were. Well, they didn't thankfully just yet, so I quickly got out of that scrape, and although I was way behind the top drivers, I managed to pull ahead of a few others (sorry Chuck) to at least NOT be in last place, lol. It was pretty wild and exhilarating, and and heavy on the nerves, all at once. A great adrenalin rush. Definitely would do that again. Then, after the races, we spent a few more hours at Power Park, re-riding Thunderbird and the other flats and coasters we'd enjoyed the night before, or not gotten to ride till now. After that, a nice group meal back at the resort's main restaurant, and then back on the coach and off we went, continuing on to our next-to-last park and city... Sarkenemmi Park in Tampere, Finland. Everybody (most) suited up and waiting for their turn on the Grand Prix course. Lou Got Ride! I think it was Andrew there on the right, being Lou's "driver", and it was fun to watch them with this 'sidecar' peeling around the course. And after the race - back to the park - here's a view from the ferris wheel. And even that boomerang was pretty good! Typhoon! We all loved it how you "almost hit the building" whooshing back and forth like a pendulum through the loading station. It was great! And on the way out, to our coach and travelling to Tampere...I saw these guys. A bachelor party to be sure. Uh, yeah, that's right. It was amusing to see them leading their Main Cow through the park, lol. Moo moo! And after a few hours' drive - this awaited us in our room. I love to soak in a tub (if possible) after a long day of walking, riding, Grand Prix-ing, heh. And tubs in hotels on this tour were very few. So this one was especially enjoyed. Mmmm bubbles. Then a nightcap, to bed, and then - Sarkenemmi Park!

^ Thanks, it is the real deal, lol! I bought it with my mom back in 1963 on my first visit there, at 10 years old!