Nrthwnd

I think I would have missed it completely too Chuck, if I hadn't run into somebody else who had just been on it (it was called "Space Scooter" on the Hansa map {N5} here) and told me about it, heh heh.

And now, a word about transportation on the tour other than the tour bus we got... that being the great water transport system, in and around the various waterways, fjords, inlets (or what you call them) between countries in Scandinavia. BC has a similar ferry system mainly through our Gulf Islands and up the coast. But here, this is usually between countries - so there's onboard relaxing AND onboard Duty Free Shopping, woo hoo! This first (of three) ferry trips we took was the shortest, only an hour and some to get over to the N.German shore. And once we got there, we headed right to... ~ Hansa Park ~ Hansa was opening a new vertical lift coaster that summer, Fluch von Novgorod, and although they weren't completely finished with all of it's themeing, the coaster was up and running, and we were welcomed early into the park, given an advance look at future plans for the park (mainly expanding it's entry area and shops/eateries), and then we got some great ERT on FvN - which is very cool in that they had enclosed a good section of the coaster including that vertical lifthill! It was great to ride again and again. We had a nice group meal at the park's largest restaurant, and got to go on a lot of rides in the park, including two coasters that built around (and through) each other; my third StarFlyer (woo!); a not-get-wet spinning raft ride; and a strange bumper car attraction, totally indoors and themed around space battle, and you weren't encouraged to bump each other, but rather shoot from your car ... and get points, lol. I was a total loss at this, and I think several of us thought that the whole 'idea' of having bumper cars not bumping was....well... wierd. But a few of the young locals were really into it, and kept speeding out the exit, running around back through the entry so they could get on it again and score better points! I guess that's a better way to spend a day, than at the mall, or just being bored, heh heh. So here's some photos of Hansa. Travelling Sleep shot #1. On the bus, then the ferry, to Hansa Park, Germany! But before we went into Hansa - TPR tour members were being interviewed for radio and/or print. We were famous! (o: And then, Hansa welcomed us to their park! From the entry plaza, we were taken and shown the model of "future Hansa". Hmmm. It could be built by now, lol! On the Rio Dorado spinng raft ride. It was....okay. At our group meal - Josh gets his veggie plate! From the Holstein Tower: Now THIS is how you put two coasters together! That's the junior coaster, Rasender Roland "threading the needle" loop of Nessie, a good old Schwarzkopf. In the back: the StarFlyer; the Rio Dorado; a drop tower; and barely seen behind that is the (what I call) The (non-working) Taco Bell ride, LOL! In front, various flats, a junior adventure climbing/ropes area. And way at the back there.....water! And - Fluch von Novgorod! With one of the ride vehicles heading inside towards the vertical lift hill! It was great, even with all it's themeing "not quite finished" yet. A great coaster attraction for Hansa. And they should have that themeing finished by now, hmm? Ongoing landscaping work, outside the park. Bye bye Hansa - and Bye bye Germany, lol! Thanks again for a wonderful day there.

Finally got my new copy of the 2011 revival of James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim's (IMhO) Masterpiece of a Musical Follies And it's wonderful having some of the actual book dialogue leading into a song, bridging numbers, just adding to the total theatre experience of the piece. It is my all-time fave musical - and always has been, since I first heard the LP recording of the original production in....1971. And then finally found myself an actual copy of the original book - before they changed it for London, and then 'altered it slightly' (a lot I heard) for the 2001 revival So having this original dialogue within the cds is Golden! Woo hoo! Beautiful presenation, with the book filled with photos, lyrics and dialogue all there. "Beautiful Girls" photo from Broadway.com site for the musical. The Original Evita - Elaine Paige! Singing "I'm Still Here." Is she ever! And the classic FOLLIES' number "Who's That Woman?".

"Who's That Woman?" from FOLLIES - the new 2011 revival Broadway Cast Recording Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Danny Burstein, Ron Raines, Elaine Paige et al!

^ I'll get back to you on that.

More fun, you win! Edit to add, it would be literally... Up (and Over) For Grabs!!!

Hmmm. Maybe, just maybe.... This is going to be the "Potter London" that will be "magically connected" to USF/IOA thru the train station 'wall entryway'....? Imagine. You're there in Hollywood, enjoying the new bank-themed indoor coaster, and then later on, you're about to board your train to Hogwarts, and WHAM! thru that brick wall and there you are >>> Teleported to the actual station over in USF!!! (Hey - I can at least dream it like that for awhile, hmm? )

"Super Duper Weenie is.... DA BOMB!"

So then, if one cable ZIGS and the other one ZAGS... boom? These things better move darn slow, lol.

And now, to the next park... ~ Bakken ~ This was a small park, an old park, and one that the rainy weather started catching up to, in our tour, LOL. But that was okay with everybody, although later on, it did get a bit much. But we did really good through-out it all. Good for us! Now Bakken had a nice collection of coasters and flats, arcades, walk-thrus and eateries to make it a good one-day-visit park. The management welcomed us and wanted to really show us around Bakken, especially their old side-friction wooden coaster, just like Tivoli's AND with the brakeman onboard each train, too! Here's the order of things - I might be getting the order wrong but hey, it was all great whatever order we did it, LOL! - ERT on the Woodie, and eventually ROBB taking a spot in the brakeman's chair for a go! I demured for the ride, but did get a couple of shots of the eventual results... and he was great! The brakeman was right there with him on the train for 'guidance' (and probable legal issues, hee hee) but he looked like was having a great time of it all - and the 'volunteers' riding with him appeared to be thrilled AND relieved he got them back the station for.... - A wonderful Luncheon Buffet in one of the park's main restaurants. There was lots of food for us to enjoy, and it seemed pretty sure most of the food we could all figure out too, LOLOL! Nothing scary or 'unknown' I remember, heh heh. All great eats and drink! And then after that, on to.. - Bakken's spinning 'compact' coaster: Tornado = Most Insane - Lifthill - Ever Unfortunately, the ride ops were having some probs with getting it up and running for us before the general public, so we went around the park riding and doing other stuff, then meeting up a bit later on and getting First Rides, etc. Well, it was touch and go for us (and for them) for awhile, whether they'd get it up in time for even the gp - but they succeeded, a few of us did get stuck once or twice at the beginning of the ride... But then, once it all worked, and you got on-board, it was uuuuuuuuuUUUUUUP That F-ING LIFTHILL FAST TO THE TOP OF IT!!!! Then, it SPIT you off the lifthill and into its small but again wild and fast track layout in and out of a mock house, themed as being 'hit' by big old T. It was a wild !OMFG! surprise for a lot of us, first time on it. Then, on more rides, we readied ourselves for a good broncing-style whirl and to me, the rides actually improved as I rode it. Very cool coaster. Wish we had one of these at the home park, lol. Thanks, Bakken! We first toured thru the side-friction wood coaster, then gathered for some updates from one of the owners of the park, on what the park was currently up to and would be doing in the future. Same talk, artsy-fartsy viewpoint, lol. With an ashtray there, front and centre of all things! ERT on the good old Rutschebanen - a bit rough in spots, but if you were it's age, you'd be rough in a few spots too! And here's Brakeman Robb! At the back of the train, there. "And others." (o; And for my Coaster Count Project - here's Coaster # 3-4-5 ... Mariehonen, a nice family coaster! So - Bye Bye Bakken!

Um.... Pass The Sword?

Thanks for the pix, Elissa! That was a lot - of - candy there, heh heh. And now, on to... ~ Tivoli ~ This was one of the European parks (Efteling was another, I believe) I knew of for years and years, that Walt Disney had visited, before he built and opened Disneyland in 1955. So I was especially looking forward to seeing this park for myself. And Tivoli did not disappoint. The majority of the rides were at the 'back' of the park. And the majority of shops and restaurants, theatres and group get-together areas were in front. Landscaping was everywhere, especially around a lovely small lake that was also used for the park's own Nighttime Water/Light Show. And the night lighting was really something. So beautiful to walk through, without even going on anything, at night. A few Tivoli memories: - 'Backstage Tour' and ERT on Rutschebanen, the park's wooden coaster. Great tour of the entire coaster, inside and outside of it, with attention to showing where repair work and general maintenance was done, within the coaster 'building' itself! The staff there took pride in their work with this coaster, and it showed! The ride was pretty smooth (most of it) and they were still using brakemen on the cars, instead of updating it with trims. And some rides, the brakemen would mask themself to amuse each other and the riders on their train, lol! - TPR TakeOver of the Bumper Cars! It was awesome, and we nearly bumped and tipped over a couple of cars a few times, too! I think we nearly exhausted each other, bumping and banging.... and crashing into each other, lol. - 5+ Minutes of Hell on "The Dragon" A flat ride I plan to never go on again, LOL. The ride op thought it be cute if he opened the ride cycle time up, and keep us on it, going and going and going and.... Between Jason, Jon and myself in the ride cab, I thought I was going to totally "grey out" first! Evil Ride Op he was. Evil, evil evil! And finally... - Vertigo or "Insane Plane-on-A-Stick" What it was, was a four-seat plane-like thing you could make "aerial maneuvers" with several buttons to push, or just hitting this One Middle Button to accelerate the thing and just go top speed; non-stop; around and around and... Well, I believe most of us who rode this thing, did just that. Hit the main button and go TURBO! (o: It was wild. But I think the best part of it for several of us, was watching the usually quiet (but totally evil) Ben put the proverbial "Pedal to the Metal", and get the plane going at Turbo Speed - thereby totally freaking out two schoolgirls seated beside him. He hit That Button. And then. The screams. Priceless. Ben was My Hero that day at Tivoli. Early morning, waiting to go in at Tivoli's main entrance gate. And after the wooden coaster tour...ERT on the wooden coaster! Wheeeeeeeee! My Second StarFlyer (back then). Loved it. And this one had added height, built with space at the base for shops around it! A Vertigo plane - and Ryan and Marc are in there, ready for takeoff, lol! And they're Off! 'Round and 'round and 'round and... TURBO!!! Pre-Boarding Vertigo: Tim, BigMike, Jason and Ben. The Evil Ben. Good Evil Ben. In the Arcade, the right side area which is actually IN the lower part of the wooden coaster building! The walk-thru (Major Workout!) FunHouse was in that building too! Great use of space, Tivoli Tim there, just hangin' around (ha ha). On Monsunen = Monsoon. Me and My 'Scream! Thanks for the pic, Big Mike! And I tried licorice root at Tivoli too. Interesting, but not on my Top Ten Park Snacks List any time soon, heh heh. And finally, some of us with some of Tivoli's lovely landscaping in back. Beautiful in the daytime and ultra-awesome at night with all it's night lighting. Thanks for a great visit, Tivoli!

Just before I continue into my tour of Tivoli, I first wanted to bring up two very cool things we did, prior to actually starting the tour - that being... First Dinner- At The Hard Rock-Tivoli Very cool thing of Elissa and Robb to put this together. For starters it was right at the corner of where we'd be heading the next morning, Tivoli , and then - I mean it was the Hard Rock! We had a reserved section near the back of it, and closer I might add, to the restrooms, lol. And lots of STUFF all over the room! I can't even remember the costumes, the instruments, the sheet music for particulars. Very amazing set-up. And quite the starter for our First-Ever-Scandi Tour, woo hoo! and then (fuzzy here) either that evening, or the night after the visit to Bon Bon Land, or...sometime else? First Ever TPR Doritos-Candy International TRADE Fair! It started with Divv having this creepy (but interesting all the same) desire to taste all-possible-DORITOS from (literally) everywhere that made them - specifically those in "unique to the area/city/state/world country/ et al" flavours. Yum. So it was started on a thread, and by the time we all got to the first hotel, the Doritos trade had turned into a great big swap meet of sugar in many differernt varieties and MMMMMMMM nationalities! We did separate tables for what countries or 'groups of...' we could figure out (I think USA won it, though UK got in there really good, heh heh) and then PILED all of what we individually brought onto respective tables.... and then started filling up bags, our pockets, whatever would work, LOL! It was awesome! Some had actually done a (hah) "Pre-Trade AgreeMint" for specific wants and needs, "neighbor to neighbour" THANKS! Very cool to do, and a few of us also did a few beer/cocktail runs to a local late open nearby shop, to keep ourselves quenched as well as stupified with sugar into the night... ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ And so - sorry here - I don't have any pix for either of these two great starter events for our tour But if you check into the Park and Trips Index here at TPR, you'll get some good pix I believe of both the Hard Rock Dinner and that f-ing amaaaazing candy room, mmmmmm, droooool. But I had to share what a great tour TPR really puts together, with a lot of really great coaster/park freeks like you and me, LOL! (And pleeze, if any of the 2009 tourers have a few pix of either HRCR Dinner or "Candy Rawk" MeetUp, post them here! That would be awesome, thankyou!)

Honestly, it would be better to contact Elissa and Robb about this. I have the feeling/memory it cost a few thousand dollars, American. But I don't keep a record of every tour, after I have taken it. And you now have to consider, that what it will cost in 2013 (eep - I see future probs w/Japan tour same year? - or has that changed? Elissa?), is definitely more than what I paid in 2009. But from what I can remember, probably somewhere between 3000-4000$ US. And if I am way off, anybody else who did the tour, please correct me, thanks in advance LOL! Sorry, if this doesn't help you much - but I would really suggest you go to where the current TPR tours are offered, and even though you won't be getting on one (or will you? ) this time, you can see what costs are, whats included etc. And thanks for all the great comments guys! Tivoli & Bakken coming up soon!

Let's see here. How to start this tour, so late in the year(s)? Well, considering I am so far, 'two behind' (this one and last years UK/Europe tour) in posting trip reports, catching up seems to be the thing to do, easy! So here I go... This was by far The Best TPR Tour I had been on, of the (then) four I had done with TPR. Yes, even after an awesome Japan 2007 tour, this one really was something to really REALLY remember and enjoy. And it was (to my current knowledge, yes Robb/Elissa?) The Only TPR Tour where every listed coaster on the tour, was operating, although there were a few 'close calls', heh heh. But we did ride each and every one available on this tour, which was outstanding and awesome to Robb and Elissa's credit. Every year I am constantly amazed what they do, to give us the best tour possible, this one being no exception at the time. First up first - I actually came to Copenhagen several days ahead of the tour's start, so I could visit and stay (and unwind from the flight) with an old friend I have know, since before everybody starting getting "online" etc. He lived just outside of Malmo, Sweden, so I stayed with him there, enjoying the beautiful countryside and getting a 'taste' of Swedish life/culture, and food shopping, etc. Much fun! When my visit was over, Felix graciously transported me over the brand-new bridge that connects Denmark with Sweden (and a train runs under it too!) to brunch with some friends of his, and then to the hotel where (most of) everybody else was arriving for the tour. Great start! So, there's a first shot of me in this lush beautiful wooded park area, Felix took me to see and enjoy. It was really something to walk through. Very nice. And so - First Park of the tour - Bon Bon Land The park has the distinction of being basically run by a candy company! But the candy.... Lollipops with lovely-tasting flavours such as Rat's Breath, or Seagull Vomit. Tasty, hmm? They also put out a (to me) very funny park soundtrack cd, complete with farting in appropriate tracks, LOL. The themeing is something to see, too. Especially the cartoon-ing around the park. Most of it very UN-pc and pretty much right in your face without any escape, lol! (A few other parks went that way too in some attraction displays and dioramas - but who are we to make a judgement call, hmm? ) But it was a great first park on The Tour which a lot of us enjoyed. me too. I even bought those (ugh) lollipops and the cd! (Note about me "noting coasters numbers reached." I knew I wasn't going to hit '400' on this tour, but come pretty close to it, so i decided to make the best of it, used my fanboyness of the number '3' and all it's variations etc as well as other 'number combos' I thought o be....interesting, heh heh.) Me, near the end of my few days' visiting with a friend in Sweden. Now - our first park of the tour... BON BON Land! Here's our group, heading into Bon Bon Land. In the back there is the first ever (yes? please advise, guys) vertical lift coaster ever built. But we aren't riding that yet. We're here for some early morning ERT on... The DOG FART Coaster! (english trans.) Watch out there Fran & Jon! And yes, there is a 'farting sound' as your family coaster shoots thru a "doghouse" LOL. And 'thematic' dog turds everywhere too. Perfect. And will be my 333rd Coaster ridden, too! Yes, already my Wierd "Coaster Count Project" has begun, hee hee hee. Kristin and Elissa with a ride NOT on our Coaster List, lol! Back then, Kidtums was just over two years old. Time flies... And so do these animals too, LOL! OMG!!! RCT Sqeeeeeeeeeeee! I was so stoked finding this iconic thing. (too bad not open) Did not disappoint me, hah! Officer Rich doing his duty in helping with the public's needs. In this case, good 'guidance' down a slippery slope of life, lol. What I call "The Train Gang". Original, yes? Indoors, it toured thru some wierd displays and some cool ones, as well. And we ALL (I believe) fit in the cars, too! But - No Farting Allowed. Although Divv on the right there.... not too sure. This ride was open - then closed - then open - then... well, we all went other places, hmmmph. But what can ya do? Life. And rides breaking down. Happens. And this one I'll call The Slide Gang. Another original! Obviously, Far Right Yellow Slide Wins! Good going guys. And this is three of us 'getting ready' about riding this old coaster (Vild-Svin), while on it's lifthill - and it's been so long, but I think this was taken by Big Mike from the front row of the car. So THANKS BM for this - and next, the tour continues with Tivoli Park in downtown Copenhagen! ...

Great start EB - to your version of how the Italy Parks tour went! And that last photo you took, outside the bar - it could be for a well-known alcohol ad of some kind, LOL! (In that one shot - What is the guy drinking, there? Which woman of the two is he actually looking at? Or is he looking at BOTH of them, heh? And what is the other woman reading? And, isn't she the better woman for him?) Looking forward to more of your Itali-Tour!

Immediate reaction. Back to Tokyo Disney in 2011. Still awesome as ever.

But true. So true, Derek.

Darn. I was going to say the Seven Dwarves Mine Coaster at WDW. But that doesn't open till.... 2013? Hmmmph. Oooh! Can I put this in for your 2013 Coaster, Robb???

Awesome. The BC Lions won the Grey Cup this afternoon. < a possible second ugly riot averted, in Vancouver > Whew!

Very cool seeing all this, Larry. Thanks for sharing your tour! Looking forward to more and more about this project.

...and the Pirate Ship! That was an awesome super-8 there, Shane. So many great great shots of the few coasters that were (then) there at CW. Thanks for sharing this great video keepsake of yours.

WE GOT OUR CAT TODAY! AND SHE'S ABSO-F-ING LOVELY! me - my partner - (pix to follow, in another thread)

Yes, and it continued to stay there well into the early 1990's, I'm pretty sure. I remember riding it again in the late 1980's, with a local friend, when it was located near the FF's main coaster, "Whirlwind". The facade was pretty run-down looking. And the ride itself, I have no memory of how (probably) falling apart it was, heh heh. By the way. Larry, another Blue Sky Idea I always had about a Dark Rides Project was, (when I won that several million dollars, hmm?) buying up several travelling midway dark rides. Then presenting them to two institutions here, that dealt with technology, and design. And setting up a 'competition' where each team of techs and arts students would repair and fix a picked dark ride, then re-do the design on it, but staying within the original theme and design it (still) has on it, though maybe run down, etc. And of course, stay within the safety demands on these things, as well. Then, when the whole project was finished, the rides were tested and everybody further advised by actual professionals in this industry, the whole thing would be setup somewhere, for the public to ride, enjoy and VOTE on, which one they enjoyed the best. Maybe it would all be set up at Playland, my home park! That would be very cool. And then the park would get a nice set of dark rides that would be great to ride again and again, lol.

^ Darnit.