bert425

^ what a great addition. I loved this large park - especially the dueling mountain coaster they have. And Hurricane was fantastic.

rumors are it's a Junior Suspended. (and note, there's also another kid's ride there, by Dolphin Drop (which used to be in Sesame Street Bay of Play), which is the old Big Bird's Ferris Wheel - rethemed to SeaLife) so I guess they are aiming for two "younger" rides areas among the bigger rides.

Barry Island is in Wales. tho not an "amusement park". . it's a great collection of carnival type rides, including a few small coasters https://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=3&ex&ol=26112

Final Hotel, flight home, and swag! the hotel at Heathrow was pretty nice I believe these pics were taken by Andy, who had gone up to the rooftop bar. . he shared with with the chat thread, so I snagged em to share too. the next morning, Stacy and I had breakfast at the hotel before I headed to the Airport proper for my flight (I believe she headed back into London for the day as she had a later flight) this was my seatmate on the plane. it turned out she was the Pilot's wife, and he was texting her during the flight. So that's how I found out way earlier than everyone else on the plane that we were being diverted to Newark and we were NOT going to make it to Houston due to a hurricane in the gulf. that's a whole other story, I wont' get into, but I will say i've flown enough that I refused to recheck my bag after customs so I could sit in the airport all day while they promised our flight would be going out later that day, only to cancel it 7 hours later (while I was soaking in the tub in the hotel they had gotten for me when rebooking me for the next day for a direct flight home to Austin). anyways, I wasn't too panicked, but I DID manage to hurt myself in the Newark airport. . at least didnt' break anything and will spare y'all the pics. the first meal on the flight was very good. too bad we never got the 2nd one (they gave us vouchers to use in the airport, that didn't work. . oh well, I eventually got home). onto Swag! Swag from my two full days in London before the trip officially started: swag from the "Spirited Away" show I saw on the West End Swag from the day spent at the Tower of London: Thorpe Park: \ Chessington World of Adventures: Oakwood Theme Park (R.I.P.) Alton Manor: (I liked a LOT of stuff here) Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Barry Island (where "Gavin and Stacy" was set. .hence the shirts) and tons of magnets from every stop!

Day 12 (pt 2) 1/2 day stop at our final (and surprise) park, Gulliver's Land: across the bridge (and on the top floor over the Gulliver's Travels ride), is the bonkers "Once Upon a Time" walkthru. a play area that has tons of animatronics, and some of the fugliest mannequins I've seen in a while there are multiple paths one can follow thru this exhibit, and some slides. I went the direction the cute bears told me to go a proper teddy in the fairy lights and possibly the same fairy that was in the Gulliver's Travels ride ? I learned that day that Fairies have no knees and therefore cannot bend their legs. no wonder they fly blinking and talking trees. not creepy at ALL oh. .it's Narnia over here. . . LOL. and I just *now* in this picture, noticed the Wardrobe. . . oooo.. my type of place in a Christmasy area. . so I think an elf? or maybe a child leaving out snacks for Santa? for some reason, I always seem to find a Cow on my travels. this one looks like it's from Jack and the Beanstalk hmmmm. . . I've seen that face on some type of doll before Alice in Wonderland! lots of the flowers, and the animals, all moved we're in fairy tale land, so why not a baby dragon? Goldilocks? maybe?? 'tis another bear tho! not exactly the most attractive Snow White I've ever seen. . but the animals moved, and she "breathed" No Prince in sight to kiss her tho. this tree knows what's up! coming back down, I noticed Merlin (I think) in one of the displays that you could have pushed a button to activate - if this playground area had been open. the park also has a decent hedge maze, tho made for the smaller kiddos, so we could "cheat" and look over the top. tho in the center is a raised lookout, so we headed in to get a good view of the park. the hedge maze dead ends were pictures of dangerous animals. . LOL from the lookout tho, a fantastic view, as the weather had moved off for the moment. it's a dragon! there's some of the TPR gang, including Chris, Shane, Hawk, Doug, and Caroline. . . I see a beer on the table, so the restaurant in the castle must have opened. another gaggle of TPR folks, including Jon, Andy, Collin, and some others.. . it was getting close to time to head out, so many were gathering near the front of the park. Andy spotted us taking pictures, so snapped one of us in the lookout. thanks Andy! there really is a nice view from up here. I headed off for the last 40 minutes or so to explore the one section of the park I hadn't been in. there wasn't a lot open over here on this side, but it was still lovely. there's what looked like an area for meet and greet, and a puppet show theatre, but neither were in use today. there WERE a few folks lined up for the short Antique Car track. . tho the monorail upstairs wasn't in operation today. I wonder if perhaps this area used to be the main entrance plaza? it's at the right hand side of the front of the park, and there's a large Gulliver Statue over here. and also an animatronic Gulliver, that had a broken push-button to activate no takers to play in the shoe today. tho the Tea Cups were drawing some to this area. as I said, lovely tho. as it was getting to be time to head out (and the rain clouds were moving in) the Park started a show in the main plaza area. that included several characters out on balconies, and bubbles. and with that, and a slight drizzle started, we said our goodbyes to Gulliver's Land, and headed back to the bus. a short while later, we pulled into what appeared to be a very large mall. it was close to closing time, but the restaurant where we were having our goodbye meal was here. They weren't quite ready for us in the private room, so some of us headed out to look around for 15 minutes or so. the ice cream cone chairs are adorable! LOL. . small Batman Carousel in the mall. shortly tho, we were called back to PizzaExpress, as it was time for dinner. hey look at that! I DID finish before the 1 year mark one of several tables set up for us in the upstairs room. (thanks Hawk for the picture!) the pizza was really great, and even the deserts were fantastic. after a great meal, and some visiting, we headed back to the bus, that took us to Heathrow. officially our trip was now over, but I had a fantastic, bucket list checking off, time. many of us were staying overnight at the hotel for flights the next day. . but the TPR portion of the trip was now over. once again, I sincerely thank Robb and Elissa for allowing me the privilege to join along on this trip. it allowed me to visit places I had only dreamed about. . and made several dreams actually come true. once we got to the hotel, I checked into my room, showered, and immediately went to bed. . it had been an exhausting trip, but worth EVERY moment.

got way far behind, with so much stuff going on since my last update here (SFOT Coasterthon, Holiday World Holliwood Nights, SFFT Roller Coaster Rodeo). . but gonna do my best to catch up on several reports over the next week or so! Day 12 (pt 1) 1/2 day stop at our final (and surprise) park, Gulliver's Land: Owned by the same company that owns Gulliver's World - that we stopped into earlier on the trip - this was the 2nd (of the 4 I believe) "Gulliver's Park" in the UK. this one was bigger and had larger rides than Gulliver's World had, and seemed a bit more geared towards older kids/teens - with some bigger and more thrilling rides. And as we were here on a Weekend day, there were way more families visiting as well, so we weren't the odd adults in a park full of small children and it was way less weird it was a bit overcast off and on, but never really got anything more than a slight drizzle. added bonus is that we got to say hi to Caroline, who is local and swung by the park to meet up with us. you can tell from outside the park, that it's a little more adult ride wise than Gulliver's World had been. TPR is ready to enjoy Gulliver's Land! the main street USA version for this park. the Castle at the end housed a restaurant in the bottom, and a playground area on the top. Dragon Siege was small, but intense. loved the theming. and yes, it went upside-down for full rotations this is behind the castle, and is the large Gulliver's Travels ride (it would open up in a short bit), and the upper level, over the bridge from the top of the castle, was a HUGE fairy tale walk thru area, called "Once Upon A Time" - that really had to be experienced, as describing it sells it short. (pics of that in part 2) a small jungle raft ride was also well themed thruout the park there were these push button kiosks that had animatronics inside them. not all worked, but all of them were entertaining. the Orangutan Band was near the jungle river ride. so was the animatronic snake. 3 family coasters at this park. 1st up was the racing coaster, called Grand Prix Racers, and I think it was an exact clone of the one at Gulliver's World tons of rides scattered thruout the park, including smaller rides for the little ones. Like this little race track. and a Pony Express (that adults weren't allowed to ride. . . sad face) not a bad log flume for a park this size. . and TONS of photo ops all over the place. there was a shooting dark ride, the Silver Mine, that was fairly popular. . tho I seem to recall a lot of the targets didn't do a whole lot. but most of us rode it. an overview of the park, via a park map. it's a fairy good size the interactive Fort area, with lots of things to climb on and swing on. the park's 2nd coaster is called "Runaway Train" and is a Zamperla family coaster. as the Bear out front told me, it was located in "Western World" over here was also a smaller train ride. I had to wait a cycle (and then was the only rider), but was told it was ok for adults to ride, so I took a spin on it. I rode in the Caboose, and the operator was kind enough to snap a picture for me. I rode the flume too, and it did get me fairly moist by now the Gulliver's Travels ride was open, so headed back over that way. it has the same ride system as the Princess ride at Gulliver's World, so I was prepared to love it. (and had been told there's an amazing scene inside) yup. . a full sized Gulliver, being tied down by little men. . LOL also lots of princesses. . or fairies. . I dunno. not many of my onride pics came out usable. but of course I LOVED it, and rode it a few times. as did Stacy & Nick and Robb & Elissa and Jack & Jackie anyone who knows me, knows I love photo ops . . especially with park mascots. so I was in heaven when so many of the Gulliver's mascots were out and about today. I still have NO idea what the one on my left is. . (the one on the right is a bunny, I think). . but the one on the left? an anthropomorphic squash? and Gulliver's Girlfriend!! the third coaster in the park, is an indoor roller skater called the Crazy Mouse. it was a coaster, and it was indoors. and it had some big props.. . . these pics are from the loading station, but the park does its best to keep the riders in the dark, as there's no description or view of the coaster from the queue line, and in fact the keep the doors to inside closed, and only open them up to load the next riders onto the platform. this pic is from the platform, before I put my phone away see? big props. some pics of the playground area on top of the castle (before heading across the bridge to the walkthru). it looked like they were doing some construction up here, so the area was roped off. we still had some time at the park, so some of us headed over to the jungle rapids ride. a "snug" fit, but fun. to be continued. . .

I didn't get an ask NOT to say anything, so I will share. I spoke with Jeffrey Siebert multiple times during Roller Coaster Rodeo this weekend, and at one point I was teasing him how I hope the new coaster at SFOT is named "El Toro" , as it's in the Spain section of the park. Name it that just to watch enthusiasts heads' explode. he laughed and told me that in all seriousness, they *were* planning on using a name from elsewhere, but he insisted (and won that battle) for a unique name. --> so the new dive coaster will have a unique name in the chain. (similar to the way they went with Chubacabra for the Goliath rename at SFFT). I followed up asking if it's themed to bull fighting as it's in the Spain area, and they aren't planning on changing that. and the response was "you'll just have to wait and see" but yeah.. unique name for this new coaster.

fantastic weekend at RCR, and I'll get a trip report up in the near future. Rattler mentioned Jeffrey's tease about 2027 - and I'm assuming that means really nothing will be added in 2026 (unless they put in a new ride onto the Kid Flash pad, once it gets demolished - as of right now, the ride entrance is totally walled off, which is a shame as the whole rest of the ride IS visible thru the chain link around the rest of the ride. So gotta wonder if they will eventually just wall it all off). but expecting something big to be announced for the 35th anniversary in 2027. Perhaps that wood "out and back" on the boardwalk, that would fit perfectly in that area (and that side of the park could use another coaster). I asked that in private to someone and got a raised eyebrow. . . so who knows that that means in other news, tho Jeffrey was at the park during Fri/Sat for Rodeo (he had to go to Houston on Sun, and Jeff F. from SFOT (who used to be at SFFT) came down to represent). . . the new park GM, Robert, really ran RCR, and it was so smooth. He was out and about, and I interacted with him several times - got a pic with him, so I'll post that in my report. So while the individual parks might not have Park Presidents any longer? they will have General Managers dealing with the day to day stuff.

yup. . ZERO chance they don't renew DC License. .. I"m sure for multi years - across the whole chain. too much has been invested in the DCU, and some parks (Fiesta, SFOT, SFOG) have really incredible DCUniverse sections.

actually thought they resurrected that this past Thurs. . the whole train station reeked of Horses. (turned out they had freshly manured the flower-beds). it was a shame, that Boss was down the day I was there - they were trying, but both trains on brake run the whole time. And had the worst ride I've ever had on any Justice League (only the "Barrel" effect working, and the car didn't STOP in front of any screens - just kept moving. we told the op she needed to call maintenance for a hard reboot. otherwise, Eagle and Thunder were both running amazing. . and the best coaster ride of the day was Mine Train ! (shocked me too, but I think the rainy weather made the ride that much faster). the new coaster is not much, but loved the theming, and Joker looks great over there.

oh, and they started working on their website too! no longer shows as a "kiddie park". . .but has some nice pics, and a way to sign up to follow the progress: https://cotaland.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKfF_5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETEzZVMxZ0FlR3dTNjUycjVHAR7I9pwGkeKJobcZJdcTIyTQ4py2g_pxVjmM87705aIiHMeZ83SUcUhu6wCFHQ_aem_CWcNMUB15TJwohPSYC3yEQ#newsletter

apparently the folks behind COTALand (at the Circuit of the Americas) - finally are listening to my (and our other friends advice / nudging), and have started promoting on their FB page! (these pics were taken by my friend Nick Carlos, 1/2 of the Quirky Coaster Couple) here are the pics COTALand uploaded of Circuit Breaker (the Tilt Coaster): Think you can handle Circuit Breaker? New shots just dropped—and this thing moves. Steep climbs, sharp drops, and nonstop speed from start to finish. 9 Airtime Moments 4 Different Inversions 5 Head-chopper Effects Only at COTALAND! and here is their update from yesterday, featuring Palindrome: (assuming this is by my friend, Matt Hughey; VP of Park operations) Construction Update! PALINDROME is taking shape — and it’s unlike anything else in the country. This groundbreaking ride will be: The first Infinity Shuttle Coaster in the U.S. The only steel coaster in the country to soar over an active road! Forward. Backward. Gravity-defying in both directions. PALINDROME is built to thrill — and it’s coming only to COTALAND. #COTALAND #Palindrome #InfinityCoaster #comingsoon

I could swear I brought it up in passing (over in the Fiesta thread). yes, he's been named GM. . so he's over Fiesta, Hurricane Harbor Houston, SFOT (where he's been spending a LOT of time the past couple of weeks)/Hurricane Harbor, Schlitterbahn (both New Braunfels and Galveston), and Frontier City!

Cutting it a little close, but SFFT finally released the schedule for the upcoming Roller Coaster Rodeo this morning. this is an EXCELLENT event (with, honestly, the biggest selling point being that your badge works as VIP Flash Pass Access *all* day Friday & Sunday too. . . .so while you'll be too busy to use it on Saturday, it works all day before the event officially starts Friday, and all day after the event ends Sunday at Noon). some changes this year and I'm a little bit sad they seem to have gotten rid of some of the "rodeo games" / "scavenger hunt". . . but mostly, I'll miss the Friday night "Frightfest" they had been doing for attendees in prior years, complete with two houses. But I can get over that, as we're having an ERT DCU party instead. (and it looks like Saturday morning ERT has been added to allow day time rides on the Crackaxle rides. . if i'm correct in my guess that's what "wild west sunrise shindig" is. it's a great event, and so worth the cost!

due to it's location? I dont' think it will open before they have the "Park" built around it. "Palindrome" tho? that's near the entrance to the observation tower / concert venue. . . so I would put $$ on it that will open well before the actual "CotALand park" will. as to Circuit Breaker's stats? I don't believe they have released them yet (again, for some reason not promoting it), but it's a Custom Vekoma Tilt Coaster model, they codenamed "Pittfall" now back to Cedar Point. . . I can't wait to go back. Haven't been since they removed Wicked Twister, and have only ridden Steel Vengeance once (with a major injury, so didn't really enjoy it either). so lots of new things for me to ride there. . including that mouse on the boardwalk!