Trevannosaurus Rex

I just lump them all into either favourites, ok or crap. There are too many variables in ranking rides. How the ride was running, how long you ended up waiting for it. When you actually rode the coaster last. I've had great rides turn to crap rides as parks have failed to maintain them (or installed trims). Or rides that I thought were rubbish only to re-ride them later with new trains and ended up loving them. My favourite rides aren't necessarily the biggest or faster I love rides that exceed in what they set out to do. I'll easily put Space Mountain at WDW in my favourite rides list along side rides like Balder,Winja's and Nemesis. Completely different experiences and it's difficult to rank them against each other.

I normally take a taxi from Cologne to Phantasialand. I remember with a group of 4 it was very reasonable. But if you're on your own may be a bit more prohibitive. It's only about 30 minutes by taxi as well. Good luck!

I love Barcelona, one of my favourite cities I've had the pleasure of visiting. So much to do and see. Never seen it when the weather hasn't been plus a million! Great TR. I loved Tibidabo on my trip there as well. Lots of unique stuff there. Krueger Hotel, the suspended monorail and the Plane on a Stick are all fantastic fun!

Even my bad days at parks are still fun in places. I had some incidents years back when I was a teenager... I've been robbed at Chessington in the queue line for Samurai, which wasn't too exciting. One time at Thorpe Park in the queue for Vortex I reported some queue jumpers to the ride op. Who tried to deal with the situation. Unfortunately the queue jumpers were part of a large London Gang. As we went past the ride booth we asked him to call security as there was going to be trouble. We board the ride (we'd spent 40 minutes in line not going to go away now), restraints lower. The gang is taking up the rest of the seats. They start threatening our group, spitting at us etc. The ride starts they hold on for dear life, scream away. Ride stops and they start threatening us again. Fairly amusing. Security arrive, force them to stay in their seats as we leave and escape into the park. Spoke to guest relations, who couldn't do anything for us. As we were taking public transport we opted to leave then, rather then risk running into them later on a train. Even with all that nonsense going , I mean I still had fun in the parks. Even a hot, packed and rubbish theme park can still be good fun with the right people. (right people in this case means people who are not criminals).

The Mindbender at West Edmonton mall. Which is one of the best coasters at any park. It just needs some company.

Sorry, thought he said he was in Europe this summer without a specific time frame. I should clarify myself, I mentioned Klotten as a side trip due to its proximity to Phantasialand and you can do them both in a day. It's full of those self powered rides as well as the coaster (which is of course awesome). So it's a great quirky park to spend an hour or two at. But it's not a stand alone park.

I'd agree with BDG, in that Europe is huge and you are going to want to start narrowing down the area you want to visit. Spread yourself too thin over too short a time you'll spend all your time stuck on a Ryan Air plane and you don't want to do that! How long will you be over for? (and most importantly can you work a German fair into the mix?) Will your work take you to different places or will you be in one area? Lots of flights fly you straight into London Heathrow and you change from there, so that's a good chance to get to Thorpe and other UK parks. Will you be relying on public transport, or can you add rental cars to the mix? I'd recommend including Phantasialand with a side trip to Klotten as they are both awesome.

The Hamster coaster can hold a whopping 2 people! Just like their Wild Mouse! I'm not even sure where they managed to find a 2 seater mouse.

Mike the sheer tenacity you have to get these small credits is astounding! Keep it up!

So they put fire spitting wolves on top of a wooden roller coaster. Awesome. This ride looks incredible. Here's the making of the soundtrack.

TOBU ZOO - Or the part where I (partly) defend Fuji-Q. I've not been looking forward to writing this trip report. My visit to Tobu Zoo confirmed it. I don't like steel Intamin coasters. They don't do anything for me. I thought Expedition Ge-Force was average at best and it doesn't feature in my top 10 let alone 20. I'm not completely deranged, I love their wooden coasters, Xcelerator and Furious Baco are great fun. But these sit down air time machines? Meh. With that in mind, I came to the park with fairly low expectations for the ride. I wanted to like it, but I wasn't expecting to be blown away. Sadly I wasn't (but I can see how people do like the ride). I think a lot of it is down to the train design. Their lap bar pins me in so much, that when their is airtime, I stay put, safe and secure. Bum on seat. Maybe with a restraint more similar to B&M's clamshells I'd love them more. As for defending Fuji-Q? Tobu Zoo had the WORST loading for any ride I'd ever seen! Now it didn't bother me too much as there were only five people in front of us, but even then it would still be a 20 minute wait for the ride. They'd wait for the train to arrive in the station, let everyone off, then they would load a single row at a time! They wouldn't let you onto the station platform, until the 2 in front had stowed their loose articles, climbed aboard, and had their restraints checked a few times. Once the full train was loaded then they would recheck all the restraints again several times, spiel and finally dispatch, at least Fuji-Q, would load a full train load of people at a time! Has anyone been at Tobu when it was busier? I'm not sure if they just did this because it was so quiet? Still Tobu Zoo was a lot nicer then Fuji-Q anyway. Onto the pictures! Cute tiles, on the way to the zoo. We went the right way! The mascots were pleased to see us. We were pleased to see them. A hippo sculpture. I thought, the Thomas bus was awesome, but this is the GREATEST THING EVER! What's that peeking through the trees? G-Max was good fun. (OK I Love Intamin drop towers). Putting the coasters by the lake was a great idea. Ecrair anyone? From here a 20 minute wait. I forgot to bring my spinal cord of trouble today, so I could ride! You don't need to read Japanese to know what the white means. These things are still awesome. Regina was the best wooden coaster I rode in Japan! (well the other was White Canyon). The manhole covers were awesome. But best of all the Chinese people themselves. Look at them there, aren't they great? The Chinese; a great bunch of lads. This was the world's most laid back Kangaroo. He kept getting harassed though. The petting area looked a lot newer than other parts of the zoo, hopefully they'll bring the rest of the zoo up to scratch. Next picture is NSFW Told you so. Regina looks awesome, but doesn't do too much. Another classic. There were loads of stray cats in Tokyo, include a bucket load at the zoo. Cute, don't get your hands trapped in the door sign.

Nah, that's not the case we went first thing (albeit on a Saturday) and the place was heaving. I spent an hour in the gift shop, just actually trying to see everything they had for sale, it was so packed in there! Two Ghibli Museum updates in a week.....Seriously, go there people! It's awesome!

Same here. When I read they were taking out a log flume, I presumed it was the other one there. Wildwasserbahn II was awesome, You completely forgot about the drop by the time you came to it. Sad to finally realise it's gone and won't be there next time. Maybe they'll get round to building the Aquatrax they promised years ago!

Day, something or other. Today was rather busy. It was also really cold. In the morning we went to the Ghibli Museum. This place was awesome. It was full of nooks and crannys to explore, with all sorts of hidden details. Tickets, have to be bought in advance, they don't sell them there. You also can't take pictures indoors, so you'll have to use your imagination. You can walk through recreations of various workspaces, see how the films are created, as well as take a ride on the Cat Bus. There's even a cinema showing short films exclusive to the museum. If you're a fan of Ghibli films (if not why not)?! then, I'd definitely recommend a trip there, it's a pretty good deal at ¥1000 a ticket. We spent a couple of hours there, then headed over to Senso Ji and Hanayashiki. The temples were pretty impressive, nice to stroll around. For a tourist trap, it was one of the nicer ones, You weren't getting hassled to buy cheap gold-plated recreations of the temples, so it was a thumbs up in my book. It was bitterly cold at this point and it was only meant to get colder for the next couple of days when we were at Disney, so we made the decision for me to run in and ride the coaster and sadly cut out Toshimaen and buy a couple of extra layers so we didn't end up freezing to death at Disney. So Hanayashiki was my quickest park trip ever. I was there for literally 20 minutes. Ran in rode the coaster then took some pictures. I thought the park had a lot of charm to it. I'd certainly want to come back to the park and explore it on a warmer day. Especially with all those in-house built rides, which looked interesting to say the least. The Little Star ride looked interesting, picture of it below, has anyone here ridden it? What did they think, it looked equal parts amazing and evil. This would be our final night in our first hotel, as the next day we'd move to Disney and check out Tobu Zoo. on our way to the Ghibli Museum Totoro is going to take our tickets today. There was a robot on the roof. somewhere to wash your hands New and old. Sperm on the roof building. culture time! I'm actually at EPCOT right now. quickest ever park trip! I can't believe I did this. The park is actually quite pretty. It's also tiny. Rollercoaster's station ok Not going to give any one nightmares. what ever some one is cooking for dinner across the hallway, smells awesome. Seriously it smells great. This thing looked amazing/evil. Has anyone ridden one? Know what these guys are famous for? Yay, Japanese McDonalds! Wasn't the greatest thing I tried. The Big American Beverly Hills burger was amazing! In this McDonalds you could still smoke! You have a spot for a clean ashtray, then you have somewhere else to put the ash.

There were a lot of people working on SL coasters site and it looks as if they had built an access road there. The lake had been drained, other then that just lots of land clearing. Anyway, next part! After two days of parks, we had a day shopping in Shibuya and Harajuku, with a bonus trip in the evening to Aqua Stadium! It rained the entire day, but you wouldn't know it inside the shops. By the doors they have umbrella stands or machines that put covers on your umbrella for you so you don't drip water everywhere. Shibuya is pretty busy, the first time in the station we got stuck for 20 minutes trying to find the way out of it! Although signage in stations is normally pretty good, we found you would follow a couple of signs and then they'd disappear and you were left confused. Takashite Dore had a couple of interesting shops, mainly geared to teenage girls though. Galaxy Express 999 was a fun ride, I think we spent more time looking for the place then we did riding it! We both thought it was good fun, very odd quirky coaster. The themeing was pretty good, although we had no idea what was going on in the pre-show. Next up a trip the the Ghibli Museum, Senso Ji, and a quick stop at Hanayashiki! So these Vegetables of Nightmares were pretty popular, we saw them everywhere. There was also the little gnome vegetable who had sex with different animals. Gum Drops, anyone who has seen the film this is based on will know what you will end up replacing the gum drops with. The Disney store in Shibuya is awesome! More Disney store, if you are short on time when you visit TDR, pick up your tickets here before hand! Harajuku station. I'll point out here that the train stations all play music when trains leave or arrive and each station/line is different. It's awesome! thanks, I'll bear that in mind. So these guys are transvestite eggs. I think they have their own show. Honestly, it's just impossible to NOT love Japan. The crowded shopping area of Takashite Dore. This was one of the more complicated toilets that we found. I was too scared to push any of the buttons. When you waved your hand in front of this it played loud flushing noises, so you could fart and poop without embarrassment. moving on.... Hachiko. Ever see that Futurama episode Jurassic Bark? This was the real life inspiration. Shibuya crossing can get pretty crowded. Greatest boy band ever? That is if they are a boy band, this could just be an advert for a cleaning product. Rollercoaster time! This was a fairly unique coaster. The whole Aqua Stadium area looked really nice

Day 2 Yomiuri Land. When we checked the weather we were told it would have been +15C so we thought we'd be fine with a couple of sweaters and some light jackets, especially when we're used to -20 at this time of year, but it ended up feeling really cold. So today was Yomiuriland, which is built on a hill somewhere in Tokyo. The park had a lot of charm and we both enjoyed it, despite it being freezing cold. The park was absolutely dead, so we walked onto everything. So despite it being freezing cold and the park looking fairly worn down, we had a good couple of hours. I'll certainly come back here on a return to Japan. More coming soon.... What Yomiuriland TR is complete without this classic. The gondola ride into the park. SL Coaster is completely gone and they are working on something new. LANDDOG best park mascot ever? Oh Japan We got to meet LANDDOG, who followed us around for 10 minutes. Bandit was awesome, smooth and fast. Ducks couldn't ride it though. I'm not sure how people managed to return to the station without a concussion on this before the extra padding. The planters here and at a couple of other parks were cabbages. The toilet signs were awesome, but I was unsure if it was the ladies of the cross dressers. Standing Looping Coaster, was pretty smooth, just very short. The standup seats look as if they will kill you, but they don't. acceptable Tokyo fashion. Tweety Bird pajama suit thing. In the sealion show, they made the poor creature were angel wings, then balance a ball with inflatable heart balloons tied to it on their nose. You can ride LANDDOG as well for ¥200 I suggest going to his house as that is just weird. Klaxons, flashing lights and blasts of air. Very odd.

So our first full day in Japan was spent at Fuji-Q Highland. It's got quiet the reputation here on TPR, it gets constantly bashed, because of crap operations and daft policies. Fortunately we knew this and bought priority tickets. Although it's pretty daft that we'd need to spend an additional $50 just to get on some rides on what would be a quiet day anywhere else. Apart from the Thomas area, the park lacked any charm at all. The Thomas section was great. Takabisha was great fun. Probably my favourite coaster of the trip. It's a mix of everything really. They had closed the lines early for some rides but not others. Eejanaika was closed an hour before park close, Takabisha was still open with a 2.5 hour wait. It was an incredibly average park, with a couple of good rides, that was only made bearable by purchasing queue jump tickets. Also what was up with the mouse? Seriously. Morning exercises on Japanese TV. wait, what? One of the buses to Fuji Q was Thomas themed! Sadly we got a dull, plain one. Weather stayed like this all day, at least the coasters stayed open though. slow and dull the first time, hauled it round the second time and was great fun. Yeah, it's pretty steep. Managed to get on this just as it opened. Waited half an hour, Prefer X2 to it I think. This show is still insanely popular, but the attraction seemed fairly low budget. Got some big robot heads inside. To stand next to some of the other figures, you have to pay, or stay in the hotel room. You can also recreate scenes from the show The mouse, layout designed by a drunk. Ah, take a picture of your stupid picture on the free pass. I see your meat cow and raise you, spandex dancing men. Don't think you have these yet... Takabisha's weeing American. Takabisha's station, was pretty nice. So the park's mascots were these Hero types, but the yellow guy just wore his underwear and was painted yellow. Hooray, for Takabisha and the stunning grey backdrop. We didn't make it into the hospital cause of the wait, the Coffin ride was closed all day, but we did do this one. Which had this warning sign. Why was the Thomas area so great compared to the rest of the park?

Right, first time doing a PTR, so bare with me.... Fuji Q Averageland Yomiuri Land Shopping and Aqua Stadium Ghibli Museum, Hanayashiki and Senso Ji Tobu Zoo Recently got back from 11 awesome days in Japan. Trip's been delayed a year, we were literally about to book when the earthquake struck last year. The trip wasn't originally going to be a coaster trip, but the extra year of saving we ended up adding some extra parks! Here are some pictures! They sprayed our plane with dip and killed some toons Our food had a distinctly Japanese flavour to it. Finally after many hours of traveling, we'd arrived at Narita airport. We traveled from the airport to Shinjuku with an N'EX and Suica card, these are pretty good value! Obligatory shot of novelty toilet buttons. First night of TV, bunch of guys in drag. Glad to see Japanese TV wasn't going to disappoint.

I just got back from Japan and I noticed the same thing about their control panels there. All in English! The CM's at Disney even used English CM terms!

I stumbled onto the Hot Dog eating contest when it was televised when I was in the states. It's certainly one of the most bizarre things I've stumbled across, a line of people gorging themselves silly. People talk about Japan being weird, but this really takes the cake (or hot dog bun). I know there are eating contests all over, is Nathans the biggest or just the most famous of them?

Thanks for the Space Mountain video, brought back some memories of ICP Fall 2006!

That's looking pretty awesome. Glad to see it getting added. From what I can recall in the past, it's not uncommon for German Parks to open the ride and then add the theming later. (Klotten and the Klotti coaster is probably the most well well known example at the moment).

With the rate Phantasialand are replacing their attractions, Black Mamba will be replaced in about 5 years! I hope they do replace the Silverado Theater with another theater. The stunt show there, ranged from mildly amusing, to absolutely insane depending on the year. It was always packed. However from the pictures just posted it looks as if they are cutting up the bents for a new woodie!

I was planning on going to California soon after Transformers and Cars Land opens, but after my trip to Knotts and Haunt, we're delaying the trip a couple of months just for Knotts (and Haunt). When I went the staff were incredibly enthusiastic and friendly, it was a complete contrast to down the road at Disney where the cast members were incredibly glum. Apart from Ghost Rider being incredibly rough, they had a great line up and a real mixture of coasters so they all felt different. Looking forward to the return trip!

Fantastic, that's one less thing to worry about. Thanks Elissa. Really looking forward to finally riding Moonsault Scramble, Linear Gale, Thunder Dolphin, SL Coaster, The Looping Mouse and Zola 7!