KrautWithAltitude

This first hill is gonna make some turbans fly, looks like almost too much good ...

Sorry about that, I forgot all about the disclaimer. I didn´t mean to insinuate anything about you and Elissa, I was all about being drunk and making a fool of oneself. Don´t get me wrong here, if you can. It is easy to get things the wrong way, isn´t it? If I believed you were bad parents, I would well shut up and not seek to meet with you. Yeesh! I have 3 sons of my own, and they hate it when I´m drunk, and I know and stay away from them, that´s it. Why make stuff up? Do I complain about you insinuating that I am an ignorant dork? Nope. So let´s get over it, I´m getting thirsty...

Well, for me, I liked Piers a lot since the first time I met him, and still do, though we haven´t met for a long time. It is fun, yes, but also kind of an unsettling sight (like Elissa´s peeling wieners). Like Piers is about to make a fool of himself for everyone to see. The day might come he regrets having this posted. That, or maybe he just doesn´t care and never will. As for me, I´d be ashamed of myself talking to children like that, even if they were my own, and don´t think I never did. It is a good bit sad and pathetic besides all the fun. Just look at Elissa, she looks quite a bit underwhelmed to me. Maybe better think twice before you post more of this stuff ? I too like to have a drink or two (ok, eight) but I´d rather keep the outcome in private, it is just funny for the moment.

All you beer price experts better remember that a tip is mandatory. So much, that if you give the waitress a 10 she will keep the change by default. Serious! I never cared/dared ask my change back since i believe they deserve their money - there is no better service anywhere, if you know the average bavarian attitude towards it

^^ Normally, everybody is qeueing up. However, there is always riffraff who think they don´t have to or drunk people who don´t give a damn. But its not really bad

Does this mean you are in Neuschwanstein today?

Well done! You captured the Oktoberfest frenzy very well. How are your heads today? I STRONGLY recommend you try Augustiner for once. I hope you have some money left by tomorrow, so i can meet with you crazy guys

Good thing EGF is up and running again! All those new parts and paint ... wow! Someone must have had a notion about the needs of that machine

This bunny hop after the first drop must have a killer angle thanks for the update

still walking around with that old Nikon D80... planning on upgrading during the next winter period as soon as i know what will replace the D90.. or maybe even a replacement of the D700.. Thanks for the reactions so far. happy to hear people like the pictures and appreciate the effort and time it takes. Yeah I know the hassle when it comes to upgrading anything. You wish you never had to... but all digital stuff grows out of date so quickly. Hope you make the right choice (something like a D700 with half the weight and size)

More great pictures. Are you still shooting with you old D200 (or what it was)? Until today I believed www.coastersandmore.de had the best rollercoaster photos. Now I think you do

I cant remember a note of the theme and my coach didn´t spin a lot. I was with a small group of coaster experts from Stengel, and nobody was too excited (as opposite to Blue Fire or Silver Star). No use discussing this though...

Very cool photos indeed. Nobody else think that Euromir is a piece of crap? When its not boring, it is rough, I wonder what everybody is so excited about....

@ TPR brew -------------- Unfortunately (but fortunately?) my brewer buddy decided to spent his summer in a mountain cabin. So - no brew for the few. Since the feedback wasn´t too big, I figure only 20-50 TPR people will be really p***ed off at me now. Don´t worry, just stick to Augustiner and everything will be alright And I´m gonna help you stick to it ... see you nerds later MfG Norman though... I could still organize a very special event for an exclusive group of say 10 - 12 people out of the already exclusive Octoberfest crew at my place, about an hour away from Munich. Only in the very likley case you would get bored of hanging around in the big town. The options would be: - a pinball tournament at my house (on my Williams Firepower) - a dart tournament at my house - a kubb tournament (viking game, kinda like chess and bowling combined) - spareribs/hamburger/hotdog bbq on my old and battered Weber grill - weird local beer and people How about that for breakfast?

Concerning the book about Mr. Stengel - I`m sorry I can´t offer anybody a copy, mine is the german issue from the Stengel exhibition in Munich back in... when was it? 1999? I´ve heard the rumors about a reprint as well, no idea why they don´t do this, and an american translation above all

I am not sure if I am getting right what is being posted about Mindbender here. There is that famous book by Klaus Schützmannsky (forgive me any misspellings) about Werner Stengel. In it, the cause of the tragedy is clearly described. It says that around the time Mindbender was being made, Schwartzkopf went broke or was put out of business, I don´t remember exactly. A different management/workshop team took over and made a fatal mistake by not reducing the track gauge in curves which would have been required by the pivot geometry. Thus the bolts of the wheel assemblies got way too much stress and had to break. The rest became history. The ground beneath the track was found to be scattered with broken bolts and everybody scratched his head about it, but it was up to Werner Stengel to take into investigation and find out why those bolts broke at all. So he was summoned as an expert consultant and it was not Schwartzkopfs personal fault, because he and Werner Stengel were of course aware of such geometry details, they made a lot of still awesome epic rollercoasters together... thats roughly how I read it, please make your own impression Get that book if you can, it is awesome! (but sold out ) edit: And by the way, if I understand anything, the EGF incident can not have the same cause as the Mindbender one. Today, technology is so advanced that not even shit is allowed to happen anymore. There is always somebody to point the finger at, even if something happened under the most unlikely circumstances in the most cutting edge technology (Apollo 13, Challenger, you name it). But don´t let that fact delude you into thinking that things will ever be fail safe just because someone has to pick up his walking papers if they don´t

Well, I actually didn´t weed through all of it. (Check out my new sig - swell, eh? ) But sometimes I find myself speculating, and it´s tempting to engage into the discussion on a public forum, just for the fun of it. And sometimes I do so, and everytime I find myself ashamed of it, because I posted before I took any research... Oh well, millions of people seem to do not much else nowadays. And this must be a neverending task for you. I guess I couldn´t take it, I´d become the most hated admin ever. But, I don´t bother to So thanks for keeping up the flame, someone has to do it and I couldn´t think of a more appropiate team than you and Elissa and all those "inner circle" members and people who help you keeping the train rolling - it´s to late to stop anyway, isn´t it All the positive feedback you get from all the companies/people shows you have done a lot of good in the last years. As said, there has to be a top-shelf residence for everything on the internet, and only by this standard the fun and motivation for the makers will be long-term. If you stick to high quality you can´t go wrong. Of course public forums are not the place for high quality discussions, just because of the nature of it. (edit: Well there are good discussions, but almost never real expertise which could raise eyebrows) But I see TPR constantly changing from an enthusiast residence to a more professional outfit, TPR becoming kind of a brand name. If I was a park owner, I´d go that extra mile for you, and not only because of the money (do TPR members spend more money on their park visits than regular guests? I don´t know) but also because I might expect positive publicity from a group of people who don´t mess up my properties and will come back forever if I keep them entertained. But to be honest, I´d let you have all the beer and food you want, as long as it would pay off in the future. Not one bite more See you on Octoberfest!

No matter how much ballyhoo here on TPR - it won´t make much of a difference. At least, that´s my opinion. Just compare the number of TPR members/users to that of park visitors wordwide. Like 90% of people who go to amusement parks have probably no idea about TPR and similar www resident clubs. No one should be seriously nervous about all that idle talk of everybody. Not to be confused with newspaper or tv broadcast of course, that could do a lot of damage since it makes a lot of people believe in whatever media people see fit. Internetdiscussions can´t do a lot of damage, since those who KNOW dont TALK and vice versa. All that could possibly happen would be that 1% of all roller coaster riders might become a little nervous about - say - Intamin rides To be frank, thats ridiculous - no one needs roller coasters for everyday purposes, so any unsafe products would be ruled out by market soon. Not to mention by TÜV, lawsuits, park reputation, tv reports and whatnot. So go ahead and discuss, all those fake theories won´t last anyway. People in the amusement business know about the relevance of web community activities. Since hospitality is the key to it all, everybody is welcome and especially frequent guests like TPR folks. But remember that enthusiast clubs might make just 1% of the volume needed to operate a park or roller coaster. Their relevance is not so much on the amusement business but on the coaster nut scene. It´s fun, it´s cool, but it is not the whole thing. So if I was a park owner, I wouldn´t give too much of a damn about the current gossip. It changes every time. If I was head of Intamin, I´d reckon the same. And one sad truth: Accidents make coasters safer, just as they make cars safer. This has always happened and will always happen. There are so many people´s opinions on the creation of one single amusement ride, if it wasn´t "perfectly" safe it would never make it on the market, and the parks do everything they can to stay out of the headlines. It is business, for christs sake, it is not about cheap chinese cars for people who cant afford cars. At least I hope so

Well, I think I might have heard part of the real story on the grapevine, and that was years ago. Still I can´t claim to know about what happened yesterday. It would just be jumping to conclusions, and those in the know will never tell to the public. Did they ever? And why should they? So we need to feed on shady rumors and the yellow press, don´t we Let´s see what they give us: - eye witness words: „Es hat laut gequietscht, dann gequalmt, dann flogen irgendwelche Teile durch die Gegend. Die Bahn fuhr noch den Anstieg hoch, dann rollte sie langsam zurück. Die Leute haben panisch geschrien: ‚Holt uns hier raus!’” "There was loud screeching, then smolder, then parts were flying around. The train went up the hill, then rolled back slowly. People were screaming in panic: "Get us out of here!". (There was an ugly smell everywhere ) - official park statement: „Wagen vier der Bahn hat die Spurführung verloren. Dadurch setzte sofort der Notstopp ein. Es bestand aber zu keinem Zeitpunkt Lebensgefahr für die Gäste.” "Coach number four had lost rail track. Thereby emergency stop engaged immediately. But at no time were the riders in mortal danger." One thing I wonder about is the statement about emergency stop. This coaster doesn´t have one, the only active brakes are in the station. So either the press got it wrong (as they often do) or they must have pimped their trains lately... The other statement is that about mortal danger. What if some of that flying debris hit you straight in the face? It was pure luck no one was hit by flying scrap! This park guy has to show nerve, I bet he thanked the lord all day long! But since the train is well designed, it couldn´t come apart nor could any restraints fail, since couplings and restraints are redundant and made to last such situations. Compare to Mindbender if you want, as fare as I remember, neither couplings nor restraints did fail on that one too. Since plastic bandages of coaster wheels are kind of an achilles heel and thus may come off, trains must be made to resist the forces of a derailed coach. Normally, it wouldnt completely derail like it seems to have happened on EGF, it would still be on track, but dragging. Why aren´t there better pictures of the train? Park must have been full of people, as the train was ??? All that I can see is that a whole wheel assembly seems to be missing. This was a serious malfunction for sure, but will we ever know? As I know "our" press, they will never catch up on it again. But don´t you blame it on the maintenance crew! Those guys know what they are doing. If you are looking for someone to blame, put it on the management. That will always do

Cool, so TPR is finally coming to my neighbourhood - I am absolutely gonna be with you that day. Thanks for all the fotos, it´s been 6 years since my last visit and I live like 10 minutes away But I still remember the Sky Circle as the scariest ride of my life. You are gonna love this park. Check out their website, they even have barf ringtones for download...

oh well, I never meant to start that kind of "expensiveness" discussion, if I ever did. No question TPR trips are great value, but its up to everyone how much money youre gonna spend. And the octoberfest is gonna be tempting. Thats all I had to say. But to make things easier for all you poor travellers, I think I have a treat for you. Last year I met a dude who brews at home. Since I am gonna meet up with TPR anyway this year, I wonder if there is any request for "TPR BREW" around here? I might ask my friend to brew a few gallons of ExCeLlEnT beer of any kind TPR would choose, and it would come in swingtops or kegs, for you to take back home, and to mention it, it would be even more genuine bavarian stuff than that already good brew you get at the fest. How about that for you Bud/Miller/micro brew slaves?

Hi there, now thats some good news - TPR is finally coming to Octoberfest While your stay should allow for trying each and every treat on the fest, there are a few things that everyone should know: - Try Augustiner Bier! And if you like it, stay with it. (Won´t stop the most of you guys getting wasted in the Hofbrau, though... ) - Go to Fischer Vroni (near the main entrance) and try Steckerlfisch (smoked mackerel) together with Augustiner Bier! (Since most of the food on the fest is just excellent, just eat your way through all the beer tents while you are there, and don´t miss out the schnaps and the candy) - Try Snuff! I recommend "Kloster Andechs Spezial Snuff" - Stuff your pockets with money! Everytime I go to the fest I wind up with a two day hangover and 200 € poorer Remember that individual ride fares average about 4,50 €. There´s a familiy day though (wednesday?) with lower fares. Oh, and beer is around 9 € per Mass (34 oz). Meals are from about 7 € up. And there are megatons of merchandise to choose from. - If you want Dirndl and Lederhosen (Robb? Elissa? At least you should absolutely do that!) don´t get ripped off in some fancy fashion shop but try used stuff, there are lots of shops around. It´s cheaper, and it looks better, especially the Lederhosen. Interested? PM me! - Take a look at the city (beer-goggled or not) and consider the following: Englischer Garten (biggest park in town, some Biergarten, no roller coasters), Deutsches Museum (somewhat dated but very large science and technical exhibtion - and an according shop you have to see, with all kinds of technical toys, alike literature, and general science stuff...), Olympiapark (especially worth visiting because of the architecture. It´s another beautiful yet futuristic park with a large TV tower to explore and a Sea Life aquarium and it is close to the BMW Museum and the new BMW Welt where you can check out the latest Beemers if you want (I prefer Audi a lot ) and if you want to check out the nightlife, there are of course many many Octoberfest-afterhours and chances are you will find one of your favorite rock bands playing in the city, since there are thousands of concerts every year. Some suggestions for side trips - Kloster Andechs. A beautifully located monastry just outside of Munich. They brew a widely renowned beer there, and they have a beautiful Biergarten too. - Schloss Neuschwanstein. A 2 hour bus trip from Munich. Not much here to say, everyone should see it once in a lifetime. Try to get a "behind the scenes" tour in advance, which shows some of the secret spots of the castle you normally don´t see. There is also a sledge ride nearby. If the weather is nice, take the nearby cablecar to the top of the Tegelberg and enjoy the panorama, its just amazing! Hey, you could even hike to the top! - Go and visit my friend Peter and his little park in Marquartstein 1,5 hrs south of Munich: http://www.maerchenpark.de His wife is american, she will love to meet you guys! - Consider renting a car and enjoying the last Autobahns on earth without speed limit. Find the autobahn to Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Passau and just nail it! - If you are not sick of airplanes yet, the Munich airport features a visitor hill with good view of the enitre airport and also a behind the scenes bus tour. Well, after all there are a lot of things to do here. If you are looking for something particular, just PM me!

Hooray Robb´s dropped those damn pounds! I´m happy to see that

There sure is some weird stuff going on these days... I got one of these fake emails too. It all looks to me like some random kid with nothing better to do gave Robb another crazy workload ( I guess it´s the guy who posted above me, I can smell irony in his post )

oops-- I just realised, this was part of your Scandi trip, of which I was of course informed by you. I mistook this for some random TPR event I hadn´t heard of... Don´t drink and post! hehe...