John Thorp

Yes, because the public would love lottery funding going to a privately owned, corporate amusement park.

Also, Jackson was acquited.

Hey Guys, Currently looking to the possibility of going over to Tokyo over New Year for around a week. A lot of information about Disney available, mainly thanks to yourselves, but I'm not having quite as much luck with other ascpects, probably thanks to a mixture of my nil Japanese, and the nil English on a lot of the park's pages. Firstly, I was wondering if land of the rising wait, Fugi-Q, is open over this period or not? The website states April-September, but I swear I've seen a PTR of the park in the winter, and as so many other smaller parks are, I assumed Fugi-Q would be. The same question applies for Spaland really. I'm reckoning all the other city parks will be open though, and Tobu Zoo. And now a stock TDR query - I'm aware that a 7AM start is the way to go in consideration for the contstant business of the park, but I'm thinking the 2nd-4th will be a little quieter than directly around New Year? Cheers Guys! John

Mmm, I feel like an IMAX!

Many Congratulations!

That uses the word 'LOL'!

I'd also like to sign up for the Valhalla is utterly terrible club.

Hey TPR Guys. I and a group of people from various UK park forums have just returned from an absolutely superb regional Germany trip, taking in Cologne, Dusseldorf Kermis and Phantasialand. I'll have a photo update or two for each (I took alot! of photos along the way, and some others are planning on videos), but even though it was our last destination, I'll kick of with... Phantasialand This park is truly fantastic - I think even somewhat prefer it to Europa Park, which still remains fantastic. First of all, Black Mamba is a true experience. The theming, the detail, the design, the sound system, the... erm... authentic staffing. It's jaw dropping. I think it's an improvement on some of the stuff at IOA, all held together in one absorbing corner of the park. It also helps that the coaster is absolutely mental, with the front seat at least battering Nemesis. It's like the new kid in the class who is better at everything, and has nicer clothes!!! We stayed in the six person executive suite at the Hotel PhantAsia. We didn't deserve it, it was luxury to the extreme. We had, amongst other things, a letter from the manager asking us to call if we needed anything, our own private table at the restaurant, lovely fluffy dressing gowns, a private suite lift, and three balconies. The fact the park is small but packed, and the hotel is built onto it is a major bonus in relation to the idea that we could, and indeed did, go back to doze in the afternoon. To be perfectly honest, it felt wrong at first just going into the park when we had the suite at our disposal. I'm sure you're all aware of what the park has to offer, but I'll take the time to run you through a few photos [/u] Afterwards, we all went back and chilled in our robes in the suite, and drank till' we broke the vending machine. We considered ringing the private line to get the hotel's cuddly Panda mascot to the room, but alas, it was not to be. Gave you these cool little 'sofa pagodas' to sit and get drunk in! In the evening, the park were hosting an event called 'Asia Nights', which esentially involved turning the back area of the park into a giant Chinese beer garden. The drinks were cheap, they had shows on, lit it up lovely, and then for a finishing touch. Here is the view from the bathroom balcony towards Riverquest, an awesome rapids drop ride, and the general spookiness of Mystery Castle, or 'Mystery Car Sale', as the German's like to say. The rather lovely view from one of our three balconies overlooking the equally lovely pool. This is the quaint and atomspheric entrance to the park. Main Street miniature. Hotel PhantAsia... it's gorgeous. Some of Wuze Town's great theming. I love Wuze Town, it's like a hypnotically fun shopping mall where everything's free... apart from the annoying locker system. Winjas Fear. An amazing coaster. Oh look, it's Wuze Town. Home of 'Wozl's Duck Washer' and 'Wuzi's Wabi Wipper'. Oh, and Winjas Fear and Force. If they're not two of the best family coasters in the world, they're the best coasters themed on an ancient race of tiny women in the world. Black Mamba... safe in the knowledge it's better than Nemesis. Here's Black Mamba and the 'Deep in Africa' area... it's just awesome. And the lines were never longer than 20 minutes. Here's Black Mamba's first drop. This bit is suitably brilliant. Here's the view of the Chinese section of the park from the room. Spot the Panda!

I quite like Lightwater Valley. The park was quiet - we were afforded three consecutive rides on the giggle inducing 'Trauma Tower' - and the weather was pleasant. However, the park would be a total non-entity without The Ultimate, a big, rolling endless field interspersed with dodgy looking rented travelling rides and sporadic owl exhibits. The Ultimate, as it happens, is a fantastic, quirky, real adventure of a coaster, an extreme scenic railway, akin to an unplanned backpacking trip without guidebooks. You'll come back slightly bruised, with less cash than you began with, and somewhat exhausted, but you'd happily do it all again. Unless you hate rough coasters, in which case you'll cry. Whilst the first half is all jolly (yet still surprisingly harsh) dipping and turning, culminating with a series of absolutely pointless miniscule bunny hops, The Ultimate's British Rail engineered (no, really) second half is we're the 'fun' starts. The second lift hill takes a Yorkshire hour, offering unsuspecting riders a good while to look back on how far away from the main park they've come, and how far they have to go back, using track they... well, track they can't even see. This return journey on the world's longest operating rollercoaster will take far too long, surely? Far from it. The twisting and turning third act of the coaster is a perfect exercise in terror inducing mild brutality, with the train taking corners and twists of vartious variety with a speed and force which, particularly at the back of the train, seems frankly unsafe. But it's also, at least in my opinion, absolutely hilarious. The track of the ride only comes back into view once the train has finished throwing riders violently through a tiny dark tunnel, by which time it's finally run out of steam, crawling gently back to the station - it's surely false advertising to have something that looks so unnasuming showing itself off like that. A massively underated 'experience'. Also, worth riding is 'The Rat Coaster', 'The Rat' or 'The Rat Ride', depending on where in the park you are. A relic from the days the park was doing quite well, the queue is a creepy tunnel underground into a small sewer network, with an actual stream of water running under foot. The ride itself is smooth, fast and fun, taking place in complete darkness. When you're finished with The Supermassive Rat Hole, or whatever it's titled at that particular time of day, you can ride 'The Grizzly Bear', a ride exactly like 'Rat' except with the unique novelty of being in broad daylight! Eagle's Claw is a KMG Afterbuner in the middle of a largely incovenient field operated on our visit by a kindly old chap named Ray. Although he gave long and varied cycles on manual operation, he was the slowest, oddest ride operator I've ever met, and would probably suit work in a butchers more than a small theme park. Once you're done with such 'family sized' excitement, you can visit 'The Toad Hole', the centrepiece of the innuendo square area of the park, home to the 'Munchbox' and 'Ring Toss', and new for this year, 'Skyrider', a 'rock n' roll ride!' The park's website has yet to revela the mystery identity of this investment, but it is in fact a... travelling Wavewsinger! Just like the one the park got rid of two years ago! Oh yes, The Toad Hole. The precursor to 'proper' water coasters, guests climb a hill to the small entry to the hole, and wait in a tiny room for a few minutes. Here, the entertainment is hearing something or other quite drastic and weird going on inside. It's a Hitchcockian exercise in suspense. Eventually, they are invited into a darkened shed of a station with a very faint 'Wind in the Willows' theme, featuring paintings you can barely see and a 6 second loop of sound effects. Guests are then invited into a damp crate with a few benches. The ride operator dissapears, and the lights dissapear entirely. Suddenly, young and old alike are shocked, surprised and confused by a small, plastic, freakish puppet that says in the sound quality of a Casio Cassette player, something along the lines of, "You will beg for your life!" The crate shunts forward and drops in darkness, then up a section of track, out the foretold 'Toad Hole' and splashes oddly into a murky pond, next to where the queue began. Missing the unloading dock by a fair margin, the boat then mysteriously shunts backwards, and people leave, usually confused. It is at this point it becomes apparent the boat is in fact attached to a rough looking piece of rope, the job of which is to drag the empty boat back into the hole. Smashing. For a clear illustration of the sort of park LWV is these days, you only have to stand in the entrance area. It's an enclosed plaza, with really nice, quaint looking themed buildings and kiosks, a theatre marquee and a coffee shop. Glancing upwards, you're greeted by a filthy, green plastic barn roof. The park is fairly entertaining, although I'd argue even £15.99 is a bit much. The ride close was 5PM, but most rides closed ten or fifteen minutes before that - I'd imagine Eagle's Claw finished around 4PM if our friend Ray wanted half a chance of catching Mexico V. Argentina. Like most UK parks, Legoland and PBB being the notable exceptions, the catering was crap. The food was shoddily prepared in front of you, and when we visited 'The Pub in the Wood', the guests inside looked like locals that were about to beat us up, which is odd in a paid admission theme park. The park advertises a nice little shopping village at the entrance, which was nonsensically closed when everybody streamed out, along with the Birds of Prey centre. With Flamingoland seemingly determined to become a kind of Busch Gardens for Hull, I hope a park with as much potential as LWV begins to improve over the next few years, as a park can only live on rented ex-travelling rides, occasional owl appearances and scout trips for so long. Here I am, enjoying the ring toss!

I do enjoy reading this forum, I find, pound for pound, theirs more groping in photo TR's than on the majority of other similar forums. Keep up the good work guys!!!

I'm off to Hong Kong on Thursday, and your update has swayed a trip to HKDL for me. However, so I know which day to opt for - do fireworks take place at 7PM closing dates?

'Ello guys. I'm off to Hong Kong on Thursday. As it seems to be selling out at the moment, I'm planning to catch DLHK n a quieter day - do they still have fireworks during 7PM closing days?