KBrylczyk

How have I not heard about this until now? Has Mack finally gotten around to getting their spinning coaster design up to spec? I mean, just read my TR from Europe and you'll know that I LOVE Euro-Mir, but let's be honest, it's hardly a "spinning" coaster. This one seems to combine Euro-Mir's controlled spins with the more popular free spinning rides. I really hope more of these pop up!

EUROPA PARK!!!!!!!! Wow, what an excellent park! Everything you've read about this place is true. The rides are all top-notch, the customer service is superb, the rides are run at the highest capacity at all times, the themeing is out of this world, the food is delicious (especially the fresh-made Churros), and the ride ops are cute! I wish I could live right next door to this park. Our ERT sessions went well. We shared Blue Fire with a local film crew, Wodan had to be postponed due to it not wanting to wake up early in the morning. Euro-Mir was a kickass "session" that was shared with the public, haha. We did manage to do a TPR takeover of a few trains, though. The ERT on Eurosat the following morning had to be experienced to be believed. Everything about the time spent at this park was magical and extremely accommodating. They know how to treat their guests! Let's get on to the reviews! Blue Fire - WHEEEEEEE!!!! The train design on this ride is wicked. They're wide open! The ride itself was very twisty and interacted with the themeing very well as well as Wodan! There was airtime, there were loops, there were tons of twists, and that final heartline roll is designed to forcibly remove riders from the train. It's nuts! I love it! Wodan - Front seat ride. The back was only OK. It's a world of difference between front and back. The front row gives airtime and insanity. The back row gives...a ride. It's a solid ride, don't get me wrong. Every seat is good, but if you want a GREAT ride, sit up front. Alpenexpress - Hooray for powered coasters that interact with the flaming log flume! This was a cute little ride. Atlantica Supersplash - The original San Antonio Journey To Atlantis. You go up, you spin backwards, you hit a dip, you spin forwards, you drop, you splash. You also don't get very wet. Sure, the splash is huge, but very little water makes it onto the boat. However, the geysers that are triggered by guests after the drop will soak you. You've been warned. Euro-Mir - RIDE. OF. THE. TRIP. I had been hearing about this coaster for years. I had seen all the pictures and videos, read all the reviews, and still NOTHING could prepare me for the insanity of it. The song is still #1 on my iPod's "Most Played" listing. The ride itself can't be explained. You just need to ride it. Watch the video for my review - Eurosat - Coaster in an EPCOT Ball! This is another ride built to push the boundaries of sanity! I loved it! Sure, it knocks you around a little, but it's awesome! Our ERT with the lights on had me ducking for cover half the time because of how close the supports got! Matterhorn Blitz - A wild mouse with a vertical lift. The lift is pretty funky, but the rest of the coaster is a standard mouse with exceptional themeing and some good headchoppers. Hooray! Pegasus - If I'm remembering correctly, this was designed to be a Vekoma Rollerskater killer. I'm sad that it hasn't caught on more. The ride was perfect for smaller kids and pulled some serious forces! It's like a Rollerskater that's begun puberty! Poseidon - Excellently themed water coaster. I got wet enough, but not drenched. It shimmies a bit in areas but it's still a very fun ride. Schweizer Bobbahn - I love a good Bobsled ride and this was no exception. It was short but it was fun. Hooray! Silver Star - Another yawn-inducing B&M hyper. Snore. Abenteuer Atlantis - This was a cute little indoor shooter dark ride. A nice way to get out of the sun for a few. Ciao Bambini - Creepy dark ride #1. This one had a ton of dogs or something, as well as a tunnel of love. Fjord Rafting - OMG! ANOTHER INSANE EUROPEAN RAFT RIDE! This one was even more nuts than Donnerfluss at Holiday Park! Much better themeing here, too. I got drenched again and I also almost saw some kids jump from raft to raft. Football Scooter - Soccer bumper cars! It was a cool concept, but nobody seemed to want to play the actual soccer game and rather just hit each other, haha. Geisterschloss - Europa's Haunted Mansion ripoff, right down to the mock elevators. The themeing was great, but the ride itself you could tell was crammed into a small building and the omni-mover system was very jerky. Piraten In Batavia - Europa's Pirates of the Caribbean ripoff. It was a good length but couldn't hold a candle to Gardaland's pirate ride. It all seemed to take place in one huge room rather than move from scene to scene. Schneeflockchen - Creepy dark ride #2! This one was full of horrifying dolls. Tiroler Wildwasserbahn - This log flume was excellent! They had real fire all over the place INDOORS! It was themed to some kind of elf mine. It also got us pretty wet. Yay! Wiener Wellnflieger - Just a typical wave swinger themed to a mushroom. Good times! Pictures! Hotel Collosseo by night. Pretty. Hotel room goodness! Morning at Europa! Colin's a special boy! Gjeurgen bjeurgen fjeurgen jeurgen. Gershkie bershkie! Swedish Chef, anyone? Blue Fire sure looks nice. Yay for insane raft rides! Yay for themeing! Are you sure you want to attend the Die show? YESSSS!!!!!!! SWEET SWEET EURO-MIR GOODNESS!!!!! They even had a full size mock-up of MIR. Creepy doll ride. AKA Bench: The Ride. Our facial expressions say it all. Someone's weinerschnitzel hurts. My extensive knowledge of the German language tells me that is the proper translation. Excellent concept restaurant. The food was great! I kinda wish I could ride... Hey there, Euro-Mir! The Globe Theatre? What's going on in there? Oh...oh god...why? WHY?! Yes! Slides O' Death! This slide was evil in disguise. I got so much speed that I was launched off the end and straight into the banister of that building. Thankfully you didn't get a lot of speed on this one. Your body was too busy being knocked around the inside like a pinball. Eurosat and Silver Star. One EXCELLENT coaster, one crappy coaster. You decide which is which. I'll give you a hint: Silver Star sucks. The sun smiles upon Geisterschloss! Great themeing. Italy again! This is how you're greeted at Eurosat. Bumper Car soccer! These two got in a wild water fight with the fountain. It was all in good fun, though, which I love seeing. Two people letting loose and having a ton of fun! Totally not safe. Acceptable amount of wetness? Usually I'm against seat belts. Then there are times where I understand their purpose. Lucky timing. Real fire! Zooooooom! Thumbs up for Blue Fire. Wodan's station. The first drop goes through the structure. Hotel Collosseo in the daytime. Ken, Dan, and I came across an awesome air hockey table. The puck never stopped moving thanks to the curve! We went back to Euro-Mir the following morning to say our goodbyes! Well, not everyone. The majority of people went for the first ride of the day on Silver Star. Our small group decided to ride the good ride. Thumbs up, Euro-Mir! Thumbs way up!

You there! Delete that comment before one of them higher ups reads it and gets an idea!

Following the morning at Walygator, we had a pretty good drive (2-ish hours) to Holiday Park. I really enjoyed Holiday Park. They've recently been bought by a company that panders towards younger children, so they haven't, to my knowledge, added anything huge and thrilling since the buyout. Expedition GeForce, the drop tower, and Star Flyer, all of that stuff remains from the old owners. Unfortunately, Expedition GeForce is plagued with problems, which is a shame. The ride is amazing. Our ERT was cancelled because it went down just prior to when we were supposed to begin. Robb made the announcement before going into the park that everyone should go straight to it because there was a good chance it would go down for our ERT. Luckily, everyone listened and got our ride in before ERT. We ended up hanging around outside the coaster for about 2 more hours while the mechanics tried their hardest to get it running again, but to no avail. Oh, well. We were still able to ride earlier, which is better than nothing! The rest of the park was nice. It was very heavily wooded and the selection of rides was nice. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the theme to the drop tower, though. Apparently when the new company took over they threw up a bunch of cast photos of some German live-action Scooby Doo knockoff and themed it around a mystery...or something. Expedition GeForce - What is there to be said about this ride that hasn't been said a thousand times already? It's amazing. Pure and simple, amazing. I just wish someone would spend the time to figure out just what is wrong with the mechanical side of the ride to make sure it can stay operational for more than a few hours at a time! Holly's Wilde Fahrt - Aside from having one of the greatest names EVER, it's just a standard mouse. Yayyyyyyyy, I guess. Super Werbil - Twisty pain machine! Burg Falkenstein - BOOB CREDIT!!!! This is a dark ride through a medieval dungeon. There's some gruesome scenes in here and I was pretty surprised that it all survived the new ownership. It isn't the kind of ride you'd be used to seeing at a park aimed towards children. It's an old, omni-mover style dark ride with some charm. I enjoyed it twice. Donnerfluss - WHAAAAAAAAT?! This was my first encounter with European, non-Italian river raft rides. It was pretty shocking, to say the least. There were areas where we were playing bumper-rafts with everyone else in the trough! It is madness! I also got drenched, haha. Great times! Anubis Free Fall Tower - Again, I have no clue what's going on, theme-wise, on this attraction. It's a long queue of a bunch of empty rooms with cast pictures of some German children's show. The themeing doesn't matter, though. The drop itself was great and very long. Lighthouse Tower - Star Flyer credit! I HATE THESE THINGS! But I love them just the same! They're the one ride that can consistently terrify me to the point where I lock my entire body up in fear of my impending doom. It has happened every time I've ridden one and I don't see it stopping any time soon. I know how evil they are, I know what they do to me, but I still jump on every one I come across because DAMN do I respect a ride that can do that to me! What made this one worse was the strong wind above the treeline. As if dangling by weak chains in a fiberglass chair wasn't scary enough, imagine being hit by a wind every turn of the tower, forcing your chair to rock front to back AND side to side. My knuckles have never been whiter. Teufels Fasser - This was a GREAT log flume! There's an indoor portion that involves a pretty large backwards drop and some cool effects. The final drop has a double-down with INSANE airtime in the back seat. I thought the double-down flume at Mirabilandia had airtime...that ride pales in comparison to this. I actually thought for a moment that I would be ejected to my death. Pictures! Brand new entrance with new ownership. Expedition GeForce! Ken, Dan, and I posing with the American flag. Yup, definitely tourists. Through the trees! Prepare for OMFG airtime! Movin' right along...backwards. Time for some GeForce porn. Enjoy! My lunch! This cost a grand total of 3 Euro. If only American parks had prices like that!

Walygator time! After our drive to the south of France, we stayed at a pretty nice, quaint hotel. They had some good food and TONS of wine for all of us. The first park of the trip was upon us. Walygator! Yayyyy... Yeah, the park is pretty bad. The saving grace is their Raptor clone, Monster. It's run with no brakes! Whoo! The rest of the park includes a pretty horrible haunted house, a vekoma or arrow looper, the world's slowest wooden coaster, and an unimpressive collection of flats. Monster - While it is a pre-owned, cloned B&M that the park just dropped in a field, this coaster has some serious talent! We all know how much fun Raptor is at Cedar Point. Now just take away the brakes, as well as the station house. The second half of the ride is fast and furious and the final helix pulls some great forces. The general feeling among the group was that it was a better ride than Raptor. Anaconda - Ugggggggh, it was horrible. It wasn't rough or anything like that, just exceedingly boring! There is no speed at all! Not even at the bottom of the first drop! It feels like you're riding on the back of a snail the entire time. Cyclone at SFNE goes fast than this, if that will paint a better picture. It also has a better chance of making it over the hills. Space Comet - This is either a Vekoma or Arrow design, I'm not sure. It was small, had a few inversions, and hit the brakes pretty hard. The ride op was cute, though! Terror House - The scariest part of this was when I nearly broke my neck in the queue line. It's actually two parts. The first is an upper level "maze" with the day-glo paint all over the place and the speakers playing the "Saw" theme. After that you are told to go down the stairs to the actual haunt...which was bad. I don't remember coming across any actors or any animatronics / triggered events. It was more or less a walk through a dark basement with various scenes where nothing happened. I didn't get a chance to do any other rides because A) the park was inundated with children once it opened to the public and B) nothing really interested me. Anyways, on with the (very few) pictures! Welcome to Walygator! Please note the broken fake palm trees! Ken, Dan, Kevin, Colin, and a bunch of other up-to-no-good-ers decided to trap me in an old phone booth. Honestly, it probably would have been preferable to going inside the park. According to Robb, this sign hadn't been touched since their visit in 2008. Monster's entrance and "station house," if you can call it that. Excellent ride, though! I found this out by the parking lot next to what looked like an abandoned train station. French Silent Hill?

The first day of TPR's Europe 2012 trip was one looooooooooong day of driving. We went to the Milan airport to drop off a few participants and to also pick up a whole bunch of people joining us for the Europe leg. After the stop at the airport we had to get to the south of France, straight through Switzerland. It was about a 6 hour drive on a fully packed bus. Luckily for everyone, all participants had the good mind to shower that morning. We had a lunch stop in Switzerland right before entering one of their giant tunnels. The pictures here are from that rest area. I know, I'm a fancy guy. Welcome to Switzerland! Home of many a gorgeous view! If water rises, run away! I think this guy is on his way to Poland, though I have been wrong before. Blood Orange Orangina! I'm in heaven! Truth be told, it tasted EXACTLY the same as regular Orangina. Today's oxymoron brought to you by...

Here's a link to my entire Italy 2012 TR. http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64096

Pictures ahoy! Coke Zero out front. Hot Italian girls really help sell the product. This is actually a preview booth of Gardaland's next rollercoaster. Yay for waterfalls! Raptor! Twisty! Watch your legs! I love this shot. The use of water effects was excellent. Take that, guard tower! Excellent leg/head/arm choppers all along the course of the ride! Ooooo, purty! IT'S SO TINY!!!!! Mammut rocks! The Flying Island allowed for superb views of Gardaland, Lake Garda, and the surrounding community. Bonus points if you can spot Movieland Studios! I can still see Movieland Studios. Can you? Overview of Mammut. Beautiful picture, two painful rides. OMG IT'S STILL SO TINY!!!! Brace for impact... I really only like this picture because my jawline looks incredible in it, haha. Gardaland Hotel. Nice place, horrible internet. That tree is home to the Magic House. More Raptor, anyone? Twisty, sweeping goodness! Water in yo face! il Corsair's facade. I thought it was appropriate. Gorgeous...yet evil. Kinda like my ex! Why?! RAMSES!!!!!! If anyone was wondering the easiest way to get to space, well, here you go! We'll leave with a final shot of Raptor coming down its first drop.

Any extra info on that whole Golden Horse / Zamperla thing?

Looks like we're all coming to a close on the Italy trip. Gardaland was our last stop before heading to Milan to drop off a few participants. Gardaland was a huge surprise to me. I wasn't expecting it to be so Disney-ish. I was expecting a Cedar Fair style park, not this. I suppose, had I actually looked up the park before the trip, I would have known what to expect, but I was going in blind. The only ride I knew about was Raptor. Everything else was brand spankin' new to me. The park has great themeing and an excellent selection of various rides. Their gardeners also know how to do their job, haha. Quick note - We stayed at the Gardaland Hotel for 2 nights, and Robb and Elissa got everyone the 2-day pass for Gardaland because they rock. After our day at Movieland Studios we still had a few hours of Gardaland being open and we were more than welcome to get a head start on the park before our ERT sessions the next morning, which a bunch of us did. Raptor - 1 of 2 wing riders I've been on (the other being Wild Eagle) and this is my favorite. The amount of themeing and close calls and water effects really take the ride from being just OK to being great. As I've said about wing riders in the past, it's nothing thrilling, but it is a lot of fun. I love how much the ride interacts with the queue plaza. Another great thing is that you get shot at with machine guns while geysers erupt from the lake you're sailing over to simulate the bullets hitting. Did I mention you also get pretty wet on the outer seats from those geysers? Yup. I love it. Magic Mountain - Another old Arrow Loop Screw. They even had the train ad-wraps like Six Flags! Funny they did it to the ride sharing the same name. Short, painful, but still fun. Sequoia Adventure - Painful. Ludicrous. Stupid. But also probably the greatest ride commentary you will ever hear on the videos Robb got. Ortobruco Tour - Another huge Wacky Worm. This one actually got to a decent speed for it's size at times, though. Mammut - This was an excellently themed mine train that got WILD in the backseat. It looks unassuming from the queue, but once the ride begins it gets crazy pretty quickly. I re-rode it many times, which I rarely ever do for mine trains. Blue Tornado - A typical Vekoma SLC, but with a bonus helix! Surprisingly, this one wasn't extremely rough. The super-thick mist pit was a cool effect, and the extra helix actually pulled some forces! I was pleasantly surprised! Colorado Boat - This was a nice log flume with a surprising amount of water. Thank you, splashback walls! Fuga De Atlantide - An older Intamin water coaster. You will get SOAKED in the front seat. Any other seat, though, not so much. I recommend the front. I Corsari - Surprise of the day. This was a super-long Pirates of the Caribbean-style ride that took place under probably half of the park. It's massive. Absolutely massive. The effects were all great, especially when you go "underwater" towards the end. It really looked like we were moving around underwater. The misty forest scene was also really cool. There was a lot of cool stuff in this ride! I liked it better than Pirates of the Caribbean at WDW and DL. The Pirates at Disneyland Paris, though, still wins for favorite pirate ride. Jungle Rapids - This thing spun a bunch, so you never knew who would be getting hit. It wasn't exceptionally wet, either. Sure, you got splashed, but never drenched, which was nice. The length was pretty respectable, too. Good times! Magic House - Yet another Vekoma Mad House. Nothing special here. Ramses II: Risveglio - WHOOOOOO!!!! Let's hear it for excellent shooting dark rides! Let's hear it again for ones with ludicrous themeing! Ludicrous themeing like ancient alien robot mummies!!!!!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!!!!! The themeing was so insane that it can only be described as art. The soundtrack was stupendous. The entire ride was FUN! I think I rode this 10 times, at least, just because I could! Space Vertigo - Probably the shortest Intamin 2nd gen freefall I've ever been on. It's MAYBE 75 feet. Maybe. However, it still provides a great thrill. Spectacular 4D Adventure - Well, it wasn't spectacular, that's for sure. The video was antiquated and the simulator vehicle was out of synch. Ice Age 4D - This was Ice Age 3 condensed to 10 minutes. I'm not even close to joking. There was no original story, just a truncated version of the movie. Oh, and the only 4D effect was the snow in the theatre. The seats were the most comfortable I've seen at an amusement park, though! Top Spin - I can't even remember the program being run on it. Still, though, I enjoy Top Spins. Hooray. Transgardaland Express - Yay for train rides! This offered some nice views of the park, along with a pretty crazy, LSD-induced tunnel. Pictures coming later. The board seems to be acting up right now.

Guys...guys. Seriously, you guys. Seriously. It's time. That's right...the world's most dangerous park. Movieland Studios and Aqua Studios. I mean Caneva Aquapark. They keep changing the name to keep the lawyers at bay. How do I best describe this day in my life? I'm not really sure. This comes to mind - Yup. You know how they say a near death experience makes you appreciate your life? These two parks are one big life-affirming experience. While walking back to the parking lot, the world takes on a new glow. You notice things you didn't on your way in. Butterflies are more colorful. Birds sound more cheerful. The air smells sweeter. All of this because you managed to survive this shrine to insanity. The day began with a quick walking tour of Caneva Aquapark with a stop by the craziest piece of Italian engineering, the waterslide that sends you careening down a fiberglass tube in an inflatable tube at 65mph and off of the slide over a second hill. I can't remember what it's called, but that doesn't matter. Just looking at it sent shivers down my spine. But we'll get to that later. After our tour of Caneva, we sauntered over to Movieland Studios for some ERT on Tower Of Terr....er, I mean, Hollywood Tower. That's right, ladies and gents. One of the last remaining Intamin 1st gen freefall towers. It is just as much fun as I remember them being, and just as loud and clunky. After the ERT we were given the honor of being the first victi...I mean, riders, on Magma 2. I'll have a link to my onride video of that a little further down. And yes, it is just as mad as everyone claims it is. Once we were finished with Magma 2 the park had opened to the public and we were free to roam. There is copyright infringement galore at this place, but it's all tongue in cheek and done with love. I fell in love with the place. The rides were ridiculous, they were dangerous, but they were nothing but fun, as well. Oh, did I mention that Nolan, Ken, and myself were taken hostage at the Rambo stunt show? Because we totally were and it was awesome. I'll try to get that video up soon, no promises if Youtube will accept it, though. Hollywood Tower - Like I said earlier, it's your typical Intamin 1st generation freefall. As such, I love it. The one bonus it has is the animated signage up top right before you drop. These rides are still great after all these years. Magma 2 - I really wish this was more commonplace. Just take a 50-passenger truck, throw a psychopath behind the wheel, and add explosions and water and you're all set! This ride was hardly a ride and more a brush with death. Flames erupted inches from the truck, the back row almost got ejected on the first downhill slope, sparks flew into the cab, we chased a park vehicle around a building, and we were blasted with water more than once. Just watch my onride to witness the insanity. Spoilers ahead! Brontojet - Ahhhh, a small Schwarzkopf baby. One that shouts "Yabba, dabba, doo!" when you dispatch. You just have to love something that does that! Check out my crappy video! Bront'O'Ring - This was a kiddy coaster that I'm ashamed of riding, simply put. Back to the Backstage - Hooray for tiny monorail "backstage" tours! While the ride was boring, it did afford some good views of Magma 2 and U-571, so yay! U-571 - I don't think I can describe this madness any better than Robb did when he posted the video on Facebook, so I won't. Instead, I'll just quote him - "...U-571 at Movieland Studios. The ride is completely WTF and wrong on so many levels. It's hard to tell in this video, but the entire time we are screaming, water is POURING into this tiny capsule, filling up at our feet, the capsule is moving and tilting, and we are on seats that have no seatbelts, and roll back and forth, we're were flopping all over each other. The ride is also in the dark and some dude is shouting at us in Italian. Never been on anything like this and it's completely SCREWED UP in the most awesome way possible!!!" Horror House - This was a looooooooong and unpopulated walkthrough haunt. Seriously, we ran into maybe 2 actors the entire time. It was almost pitch black the entire time, too, turning it into one huge touch tunnel. However, the Exorcist scene created one hell of an on-ride photo. I can't remember who bought it, though, unfortunately. Still, though, actors or not, I'm always a sucker for walk-through haunts. Yay, horror house! Police Academy - Very old school simulator that gets taken over by the gang of misfits and turned into a disco. Nice for a break from the heat. Terminator 5D - The 5D wasn't needed. According to Robb, the show has changed a LOT since the last time they visited. It is now a glorified video game. No more live actors or live ammunition. Booooooo! Tomb Raider - This was a funky Top Spin knockoff (not sure of the technical term). There were some flame effects and some good maneuvers. Unfortunately the ride program was short and the fountains were turned off for the day. Oh, well. Still a cool ride. Waterslide O' Doom - I rode once, narrowly escaped death, and then had Robb tell me to go again because he didn't get a good video. I felt like an infantry soldier being told by his general to cross No Man's Land again to deliver a message. This thing is truly terrifying. They make the bigger guy (me) sit in front to get more speed. The inflatable raft you are sitting on reaches 65mph at the base of the (near vertical) drop and then you proceed to launch into the air over the hump and hopefully land in one piece. Sure, it was terrifying. Sure, it was completely mental. Sure, it was all those things, but it was also the most fun I've had in a waterpark. I will gladly ride again and again! Picture time! Oh, sure, it looks unassuming. Sheer terror on my face as we descend. Kevin seems to be enjoying himself, though. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG This was round 2. Also OMGOMGOMG! Midway view. This is what U-571 actually is. A tube that fills with water and moves around. Those boxes hold the water that dumps on your face. Rambo Stunt Show backstage. Magma 2 overview. Brontojet Skinny cars, no? Random Miami Dolphins signage. Purty Italian lakeside property. Choose your relax! U-571 entrance The aftermath of U-571. The gang's all here! Me goofing off. Nolan enjoyed it!

^ 3rd row mainly got a nasty spray in the face right after the first drop. The water shot up through the articulation joint and sprayed them. Row 2 gets murdered on the final splashdown because a ton of water comes up through the joint again, but gets thrown forward and down row 2's back. Take a look at the ridercam and watch my reaction leading up to the final splashdown (I know the amount of water coming) and the wave that goes right down my back. Also in the ridercam you can see row 3 get blasted right after the first drop.

Mirabilandia? Yup, Mirabilandia! The day at Mirabilandia was pretty action packed. We had ERT on Katun, iSpeed, and eventually on Divertical when it opened. Yes, when we arrived, Divertical was being a PITA and refusing to work. We did our morning ERT with Katun and iSpeed while hoping the Intamin gods would be kind to us and let the ride open. That wish was eventually granted later on in the day and the park, while not keeping the ride open exclusively for us, was still very accomodating. At the end of the day a bunch of us went to see the stunt show. We were told repeatedly by our guides that it was very good and would be worth it. Well, if you follow Robb's YouTube channel, you already know why. Robb and Elissa were pretty much forced into participating in the stunt show. There were times when all of us in the audience were fairly certain we'd be going home early, haha. Divertical - Just watch Robb's video of the ride to see how I feel about the ride. I'm the idiot on the left of the screen for the ridercam. Basically, I love the ride. The meandering river section prior to the lift is full of WTF WAS THAT?! moments when water would randomly cascade over you. The lift hill itself is extremely funky and scared the hell out of me every time I rode (I swore we were gonna tip over the edge). The rollercoaster section is a lot of fun, too! It's fast, there's no brakes, and it's twisty. The skimmin the water portion right after the first drop gives a great sense of the speed you're travelling, too. The final splashdown is pure evil and I loved it all. Nobody on the boat comes out dry. Every last seat gets soaked. If you're in the back row of the boat, beware of stacking. You'll get a nice, lap-high wave of water come into the boat from behind. Two trip members learned this the hard way, hahaha. Katun - Why can't B&M make rides like this anymore?! It was so great! The coaster itself is massive, the layout is unique, it pulls a ton of forces, and you can even play "grab the branch" during the final helix. B&M always described their inverts as being designed to feel like flying in a fighter jet. This is one of the few that ACTUALLY feel like that. I wish I could ride this all the time. iSpeed - I love Intamin launched coasters. The only straight section of track on this is the launch. It's full of twisty goodness and the most terrifying headchopper I have ever seen. If you're sitting in the right-hand seat, you'll know it when you flip over the station. 3 for 3 so far with the excellent rollercoasters here! Master Thai - Ow. The pain still lingers from this ride. There is more padding on the trains than I've ever seen before and it still doesn't do any good. The ride looks cool from afar and the mobius loop concept is a good one, but the execution is wretched. The ride is way too slow for it's layout and way too rough. Pakal - Worst mouse I've ever ridden. They don't use any trims and you get banged around like Jenna Haze at a frat party. Explorer - I think this is a Schwarzkopf powered. I could be wrong on the manufacturer, though. It is what it is. Leprotto Express - TPR takeover! Somehow the motor managed to get a train full of TPR members over the lift, haha. This is your typical kiddie coaster. Yay, credit whoring! Auto Splash - A double dip on a log flume! Airtime, baby! Seriously. There was scary airtime in the back of the car/log. Great views of iSpeed, too! Columbia / Discovery - Double shot towers, only one of which was working, which TPR quickly broke as soon as we sat down. We had to come back an hour or so later to ride. S&S fun, if you're into that kind of thing. Reset: Anno Zero - Way worse than I was expecting. It's a shooting dark ride that takes place in a post-apocalyptic NYC. The targets aren't responsive, the scenes are near pitch-black, and the effects are "meh" at best. Picture time!!! First ones here! I spy an Intamin! Creepy mascot, anyone? Hooray for insane maintenance guys! The balls on this guy can be seen from space. Themeing! Well, hello, Katun. iSpeed time! Twisty! Pakal. I think that translates to "Painful." Columbia / Discovery iSpeed and Auto Splash The Ferris Wheel was closed all day, unfortunately. There go a ton of photo ops. Climb that lift! Go down that drop! Katun is very photogenic. Bellagio wishes they had fountains like this! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Hey, guys? What's the name of this ride, again? Seriously. I knew it a second ago! Oh, iSpeed, hey there, buddy. What's good? I love the station design for Divertical. And so begins the Divertical photo craziness. Enjoy! Did I mention you get wet on this ride? I like this shot for some reason. Just try to stay dry. I dare you. Can you spot Colin? There's Colin! Robb and Elissa got in trouble with the law. Tsk tsk, guys. Clap for the Americans!!!

^ It's actually the late-night version of Transformers at Universal. See, it's the same ride, but instead of giant robots, it's a league of crime-fighting Transvestites.

Alright, let's get back to the park stuff! Fiabilandia! Home of the world's most WTFISHAPPENINGOMGIMGONNADIETHISISINSANEOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGMAKEITSTOP Crazy Mouse. Also home to the world's longest Wacky Worm which, at this point in the tour, was probably number 234. Seriously, there's Wacky Worms everywhere in Italy. Oh, there was also some Big Thunder style wacky worm, as well. Go figure. The park was cute. It was pretty small and didn't have a huge selection of rides, but for what it is there for, it gets the job done. The landscaping in some areas was great, lacking in others. The selection of rides was decent and it made for a fun few hours in the morning. There was a walk-through Peter Pan attraction that needs to be seen to be believed as well as a splash battle with boats that glide along 2 feet above the surface of the water. SpaceMouse - Whoever designed this mouse was on a mixture of drugs that would put Keith Richards to shame. That's the only way I can think of to describe it properly. It spun. Boy, did it spin. And it kept on spinning, faster and faster, as the ride went on. It never let up. It just got even more insane. So much so that I had a legitimate fear of being thrown from the car to my death or knocking my head clean off from one of the supports since I was being pushed so far out of the car from the Gs. I know Craig or Hanno got video of this thing and I'm eagerly awaiting it. Best mouse ride I have ever done. Valle degli Gnomi - World's longest Wacky Worm! Or at least it seems that way. I'm not too sure on how truthful that statement is. Imagine a wacky worm crossed with the Seven Dwarves, remove Snow White, and add in sentient flowers. The course is long and meandering with plenty of those teeny hills that we're all used to on Wacky Worms. The themeing was a cute touch. Miniera d'Oro - This is the same track style as Wacky Worms, but on a much grander scale. For instance, it reaches heights of at least 20 feet! It was built around a very low-budget Wild West area of the park and moved around 5mph. It even had a full on 10-second stop on a downhill section by some native American scene. Once you get up the lift hill and go into the mountain, though, the drop is actually pretty fun. The light effects made that drop. il Castello de Merlino - Ahhh, a cute, old school, 2-story dark ride themed around Merlin's castle. It had a decent length and some good effects, but nothing you haven't seen before. Still, though, I'm a sucker for dark rides, especially old school dark rides, so it rocked. il Lago del Sogno - Nothing like a slow, meandering powered dragonboat ride past peeling scenery and ducks! Getting eaten by the dragon only to find a fully-grown blooming tree in it's stomach was interesting, at least. Labyrinth - The most non-maze maze I've ever done. I don't think any dead ends even exist in it. To the pics! Unfortunately, the only picture I have of SpaceMouse. New entrance. The old entrance was across the street. It said Foto-Point, so I did! Nice landscaping. Low budget wild west. Boob credit at Peter Pan's walkthrough! Kinda creepy... Captain Hook's ship. Themeing! If you're going to crash, make it a SAFE CRASH! They're riveted by the excitement. Colin is all set. I'm extremely proud of this on-ride. Thank you.

Time for some Rimini pictures. After the day at Rainbow Magicland we had about a 4-hour drive clear across the country to the eastern coast resort town of Rimini. We had two nights here including a visit to Fiabilandia the morning after the drive (those pics are up next). These are photos from the time spent in Rimini. It was a very fun little town with gorgeous beaches and lots of things to walk around to check out, including some phenomenal gelato and calzones. There was also a huge Ferris Wheel at the north end of the town. Nice accent lighting for one of the hotels. That's the Holiday Inn that TPR took over. It had the smallest elevators you will ever see. Only in Italy will you see a camo Porsche. A bounce castle in the middle of an upscale restaurant? Intriguing... Flame in a tube! Some of the trees were pretty gnarly. Suddenly I was transported to NYC's famous mental institution. ...and the Jets? Yup. Me being me. This was a nice little pool, but someone decided mold-green accent lighting was a good idea. It wasn't. View from my room's balcony. Read this entire thing! I'm not even kidding, it's hilarious!!! I don't trust these bathroom doors. The rape tunnel! This was the old tunnel for pedestrians to cross under an overpass. There were new, streetside walkways that were wide open. This was all gated up, mostly because of rape, I'm assuming. And knives. Massage Center. Suuuuuure it is. The Luxor?! When did I get to Vegas?! Pretty cool architecture all around town. Adult vending machines! There were also more risque banners that aren't appropriate to post here. Just know that all kinds of toys are available. Sunrise from my balcony. Gorgeous.

Rainbow Magicland day! This park has a great future ahead of it. Right now it is still a baby but they have a solid collection of rides and some of the best themeing I have ever seen. There is plenty of room for expansion and, given the time and money, they will become a major player in the worldwide theme park business soon enough. I look forward to visiting again in a few years. Unfortunately, upon our arrival to the park, we learned that Shock would not be ready for our ERT session. The mechanics were still working out all of the kinks. Being ever so accommodating, though, we were told that we could have extra ERT on Cagliostro, their indoor spinning coaster. We all walked across the park and had a grand ol' time. Due to the mishap with the Shock ERT, the park decided to be awesome and still give us our ERT...when the park was open! Once the ride was up and running they opened it exclusively to our group for an hour. They even posted an employee at the entryway to turn away the other guests. It was very well handled and I give the park a lot of kudos for that. Shock - This is the ride that Rip Ride Rocket SHOULD be. The thing rides smooth as silk while also feeling like a bucking bronco. The non-inverting loop is one of the scariest elements I've ever encountered, what with the whole "trying to throw me out of the car" thing that doesn't exist on Rip Ride Rocket. The turnaround following the non-inverting loop is one of the craziest things ever built. I have no clue how many Gs it pulls, but just watch the car fly through it and you'll understand how wicked it is. The corkscrew at the end is very long and floaty, too. The ride is great. Cagliostro - Fun indoor spinning coaster here. It's nothing big or wild, but it is fun. The spinning concept is a bit lost on it, as well. I was only able to get one ride that offered a moderate amount of spinning. Oh, well. As I said, it is still fun, though. The first drop into the darkness and the fan turn following are great. The rest of the park, like I said earlier, is fantastic. The themeing is top notch all around, the two water rides are among the best I've seen, and the drop tower, while having a painful stop, is great. The stunt show is also good for a few laughs. If there's one thing I learned while in Italy, it's that the stunt shows have absolutely no regard for safety. On with the pictures!!! We're here! I see me one of them there rollery-coaastery thingies! Let the IOA ripoff themeing commence! John is definitely looking at the themeing. Definitely the themeing. Yup. "The Adventure Begins...?" They even had a ripoff IOA lighthouse...but they ran out of money so they only built the base and added a snake. Through the trees! Shocking, no? Note the amount of shade available. Huntik 5-D. Well, the themeing was nice, at least. Apparently a lot of the group enjoyed this ride. I just couldn't get into it. This was a pretty wicked Vekoma minetrain. Mega-size Nutella bottles. Note my Flip camera there as a size comparison. NON-INVERTING LOOP! WHEEEEE! Looking back across the lake from the far end of the park. I love how compact Shock is. Drop tower! Feel your spine compress! Cagliostro's exterior. Another view of Shock. This was the greatest lunch I have ever had at a theme park. Flying Islands are always a fun diversion. Check out my pole, baby. Awesome shoot the chutes ride. It managed to get me pretty darn wet, especially after narrowly avoiding a bear the size of Texas! Just like Universal Orlando! One last look at Shock.

Well, I was inspired by Ken's photo TR today and, since I have a very limited amount of time to get all of the Italy and Europe 2012 insanity posted (I leave on Friday to go work on the Carnival Dream for two months, followed by 6 months aboard the Carnival Miracle) , let's get this started. Day 1 for me was going from NYC to Rome by way of Helsinki, followed by a beautiful night at the Hilton Garden Inn next to the airport. Day 2 was meeting up with TPR and doing some Roman Sightseeing. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. Rainbow Magicland will be coming soon! The view from my seat for my flight from JFK to Helsinki. I highly recommend Finnair! Inside at the Helsinki airport. This was the greatest airport I've ever travelled. It was clean, laid out well, and the customer service was out of this world. Yup, a wine bar with a view. I had to board a bus to get to my connecting flight. There wasn't a terminal for it. They put a group of us on a bus and drove us all over the tarmac. First time I'd ever done that! It was cool! Anyone up for some hot hot plane tail? Mr. Bond! De plane! De plane! Long flight including a very long layover. What do I see when I first get out of the airport in Rome? Pregnancy stuff! My room at the Hilton Garden Inn. It was soooooo comfortable. Wait, I thought Tower Of Terror came at the end of the trip! Day 2 begins and we're on our way to do some sightseeing! Starting with the world famous Roman....pyramids? TPR took over this awesome pizza joint. Yup. Amazing. Here's the point where I learn to not leave my camera sitting around while I excuse myself. Thanks, Hanno! Thanks, Craig! And of course, thank you, Robb! Only Mona Lisa is allowed to smoke up in here! Culture! Only a real man rides a leopard-print Vespa! More culture! Myself...culturing! Rome can be scary sometimes. Pantheon! This is my attempt at making the entrance seem foreboding. Collosseum! I wonder if Russel Crowe is around. No Russel Crowe, but there was a lesbian wedding across the street! We also made a quick stop to the Vatican where the pope tried to enlighten me. It didn't work.

This just might inspire me to post mine, too! Might...I only have 4 days until I hit the road for my job again. Edit - BTW, Ken, the Parthenon is in Greece. That's the Pantheon we went to. I still get the names confused, myself, haha.

Batman: The Ride. First ever looping coaster and I was 10. I was terrified of it but ended up the way I am now.

Also to note, please, while waiting in line, don't keep squeezing out silent farts that smell like the bowels of the underworld. While in line for Wild Eagle the other day one of the people in the group ahead of us kept it up and it was rancid. Move to a well-ventilated area or at least off to the side.

Just posting in the public thread to say I'm all set for Texas / Midwest. I can't wait for the madness to begin!

Big Bad Wolf. It wasn't anything huge, but damn was it a fun ride.

Getting a random gift from an internet stranger? Sounds like something Chris Hansen would be all over... COUNT ME IN!!!

1 - Being part of the TPR late-night group that got kicked out of the Dragon Bar at Phantasialand for breaking too many glasses. 2 - TPR Europe Trip. All of it, especially Europa. The madness of Euro-Mir and Euro-Sat will never be forgotten. 3 - TPR Italy Trip.