simon8899

Always good to have a Maurer spinner. But at longer lines I would skip it as we have the same coaster on the carnival here.

^Well as it came from Oktoberfest they only had 11 days to dismantle it, run it by train from Munich to Bremen and then construct it again. I guess this is about the fastest it goes.

As said before I think Universal did a great job on Springfield but they should have made Moe's Bar a little darker - it looks way too bright. Did you also visit Wheelie that day?

Finally Freimarkt time again. Offering a good ride Oevre with some fun flats. Also here the Olympia Looping and the biggest portable log flume, the Wildwasser III. As most Bremen showmen own HUSS rides and they also mostly make the home Freimarkt their last stop of the season this years carnival aagain offered a wide range of HUSS flats. Coming in from the catnral station this amazing inversion flat by Moser Rides was first Olympia Looping running great as always First drop goodness And another colorful Musik Express Well visited early in the day Grearly themed Mack Kolumbusjolle owned by Bremen showmen Howey Yearly visit to the topless mermaid Speaking of Mack rides - here is another one The most beautiful Schwarzkopf Monster on the German carnivals Lots of fine made paintbrush Each car is individual Speaking of cars The first and smaller of two Break Dancer on the Freimarkt Huss Frisbee always a fun ride One of the older Top Spin around The program consisted of 6 slow inversions with a fixed gondola and a nice 7-inversion multi-spin Bouncy Zamperla Jumper No German carnival without a Zierer Waveswinger Wild Mouse XXL was the second coaster this year Always fun to have a Huss Flipper Big Break Dancer No.2 At lower crowds running a great 5+ minute program Konga XXL soaring high over the fairground Classic kiddie ride with the Bremen City Musicians on top of the cashiers box A final spin on Olympia rounded a great afternoon

Never one in sight if you need one....

Carnivals still up till early December, with xmas-markets - with lots of "Glüh"-Wine - till early Jan. In Feb I will start booking my May/June theme park holidays - hello Helix! And asap late March early April its off to test Heide-Park's new Wing Rider...

3 spins on Olympia Looping

Having roughly the same weather Saturday was in 99 out of 100 parks I visited more crowded than Sunday. Do not know why exactly but guess many people want a day off before work or going to church on Sundays. So if you only can go during the weekend go Sunday!

Sometimes one wonders why some high tourist areas or major cities have no park nearby. The before mentioned coaster lineup sounds a little redundant - Mack Looping AND Gerstlauer Eurofighter. In that area they should also make sure to have high capacity waterrides like a Mack SuperSplash, an Intamin rafting ride and a log flume with double loading station - maybe inside a separate area which allows riding in bathing suits.

Nearly a year gone since my Orlando visit - how time flies. Thanks for the TR. Trying to mail the Worls Showcase video to my mail did not work at the time. Luckily I filmed it with my photo camera off the screen...

On to the light parade! Some final rides after the parade before park closing There is a coaster in this picture somewhere.

Visiting Hansa-Park last week during the special event Autumn Magic at Sea. During the event weeks the park stays open till 9pm - allowing to ride in the darkness - with special illuminations in all the park, a light parade and fireworks. Sadly the latter didn't happen as there were high winds all day right into the evening. This also prevented the operation of the Huss Gyro-Observation-Tower and the Funtime High-Flyer, later in the day as wind picked up even more Die Glocke by Funtime was also closed. Aside from this all other rides were open but it got quite windy once you rose over the treeline. The Schwarzkopf looper Nessie was running the green train this time. Love it that Hansa-Park keeps all 3 original trains operational. As I was there one could glimpse wielding going on on the red train, while the blue train was held for high-demand days. Doing an amusement park at night is unique even compared to our carnivals. At the latter the whole area is highly illuminated while here you rode Nessie in near pitch black darkness. If you need an alibi this the place to come Hansa-Park version of "High Five" coasters Huss Troika doing its rounds Love the near-collision point with the administration building Second drop goodness with airtime in the back Novgorod running good this day, however some of the special effects were not on the queue and vertical lift Historic carnival area BHS Bayerncurve - always amazed how popular this still is Western Town "Bonanza City". Nearly all German parks had one in the past, Hansa-Park one of the few now that is keeping theirs. The former place of the drop tower has not changed much since spring Unique rafting ride, reminding one a little of life-rafts Die Glocke while it was still running Yes, High-Flyer closed all day Kiddie log flume in the Viking area Some more Gerstlauer goodness Fast forward to 7pm Nessie also got a light The entry for Nessie was amazingly lighted For the ride sign enthusiasts They really should add scare actors to Fluch on these days! Suddenly the boat ride had a long queue The old carnival area looked much like photos from the past The Huss Ranger Fliegender Hai was one of the brightest rides in the dark Always great to hang upside down - only held by a heavily padded lapbar! Always ride this often. As it is one of the last of its kind in Western Europe I fear it will be gone some sad day.

Always interesting how a refurbishment turns out: On Teststrecke they got new trains but kept the original lift and brakes. I only saw a train once stuck inside a brake that would not release the train but that was solved within 15 minutes. Even if they got replaced by more modern and silent magnetic brakes the original Schwarzkopf brakes are fun in their own way. Visiting Hansa-Park were the noise is amplified inside a tunnel it is always a unique experience you will not have on modern coasters. Also filling up the standard loops with sand which robs one of the signature "RA-TA-TAT" as the train goes through...

Nessie at Hansa-Park

Bremen Freimarkt is one of the highlights in northern Germany carnivals. This year the major coaster highlight again the Olympia Looping. Also coming tons of other rides like 2 Break Dancer, Frisbee, Monster, TopSpin, Waveswinger. Edit: Got this mixed up - tallest portable drop tower will go to Hamburg! Local Marcel Gode made a good picture slideshow of pictures he made during the ongoing construction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxEbZYYgtPw Stay tuned for a PhotoTR - maybe already next week if weather permits. Carnical layout for this year

^In Denmark they could use heaters for a good time of the year...

Can't wait to go there next June again to ride Helix. Also next year will be the "Year of the Pretzel" for me and will see how the Pretzel-Loops of different makes will compare: First: B&M pretzel on the Heide-Park wing coaster Second: Intamin pretzel on Speed Monster on the way to Göteborg Finally: Mack pretzel on Helix

^^this normally only starts after about 3-4 years - so the first years should be fine.

Well the TÜV has cleared ride for a launch of 105 mph in 2 seconds, now the final clearance has to be given by the local authority. And German civil servants are not known to work fast... I will stand corrected if this will open this year...

Always amazed how you do the coasters in the rain. A rainy day is a total bummer for me and prefer to do a museum or shopping on a rainy day.

Another point may be that Hungary had become a quite extreme right wing country in the last years - lately starting to surpress minorities, cutting freedom of the press and cutting the rights of its supreme court. This repelled many tourists from western European countries. Right now Hungary is no travel destination for me.

Judging by the pictures Wonderland takes great care of their rides. The coasters and even the flats look like new - love parks were they preserve the classics.

Part 3: Phantasialand Phantasialand was our last stop and as weather was good we decided to get a 2 day pass. The park is located in the Cologne suburb of Brühl, from the city you can take the tram 18 till Brühl-Mitte from which goes a shuttle bus to the park twice an hour. We however stayed directly in Brühl and took bus 985 to Berggeiststrasse, with the bus stop about 500 meters to the park entrance. Having last visited Phantasialand before the big fire were both Schwarzkopf coasters were destroyed this was literally a new park for me. In the last years Phantasialand has upped the theming with the new fantasy area Wuze Town. Also to food options - we tried the chinese and mexican restaurant - are recommended. Flight of the Night Hawk - Vekoma MK-750 indoor coaster, formerly themed to a space trip it good converted to fit Wuze Town and has now a night forest theming, the ride itself in nearly pitch black darkness a little bumpy at times Winjas, Force & Fear - Fun Maurer spinner with some surprises while your ride. A little low in capacity for park this size. Colorado Adventure - my new favorite Vekoma Minetrain, more forceful than the Disney versions and equally long. Liked the middle part most which runs in near darkness. Black Mamba - Well done ground hugging B&M invert with some surprisingly forceful helices near the end of the ride. Entering on the first day we see that Talocan is down... Heading on to the next best thing Weeeee! Vekoma Minetrain was the positive surprise of this trip Fun rafting, not overly wet more Minetrain goodness They had splendid icecream Entering Wuze Town is this unique Zamperla London Bus Splendid theming Winjas! The only park that allowed non-flash photography on all shows. Cool and quite erotic ice show! First drop offered some floating air in the rear left Main Plaza with the signature Wave Swinger hmmmmm....still closed Too much Black Mamba? Never! Gymnast show in the chinese area A western city theming leftover between Mystery and Mexico Impressive indoor drop tower with a very short program. But beware of the living ghosts in the queue! Main Plaza fun More Winjas and Tittle Tattle Tower The low flying profile is really impressive Wait times as I like them! Past 5pm Talocan looks repaired doing a test run Big kudos to Phantasialand for opening Talocan for the last half hour of the day! I got two rides, one in the back and one in the front row. Plus doing video and photos in 20 minutes before hurrying to the bus.

After - finally - reviving this classic who is for it that Knoebels builds a wooden Shoot-The-Chute next?

^^^^I visited DW and Orlando first time this Feb as a driver and found it quite easily to navigate, next to that no problems with rude drivers. Orlando drivers may drive more confident than in most parts of the US but coming from Europe that is kind of refreshing and reminds of home... To avoid sketchy neighborhoods I normally come in as suggested on the park website via highway only plus I also check Google Maps and Earth before and mark areas as red I want to avoid. Worked like a charm so far. The only driving problem I had was this Feb going to BGT as heavy construction was going on at the highway and with all signs removed I missed the exit. But as I had planned enough extra time I was still right on time when the park opened.