bert425

great update! in particular, this line: The photo of the photo session of the video session of the TPR Gran Prix.

^ that trailer certainly implies a very unique "Coaster-like" ride. very exciting, and can't wait to check it out at some point in the future if I ever make it back to Japan!

quickie follow up before we went to bed. . as in the morning we'd be leaving Denmark, on our way to Norway via ferry. .. but when we got back from Legoland, it was still fairly early (I think perhaps 7:30 or so). . . .and some of the folks were hungry. although I'd had a big lunch, I'm always up for hanging out, so I joined Jon & Jason for a walk around the neighborhood to see what was avail. we ended up finding a mostly deserted (I guess 8pm was late on a Monday) Sushi Place that was still open. The proprietor spoke no English at all - and seemingly no Danish either. Luckily, I knew a small bit of Japanese . . . oh let's be honest, we were successful because the place had pictures of all the Sushi on the wall for a menu, and one only had to point at what one wanted. I'd assume that's how they got around the language barrier for any customer it was SO good. after eating we headed back to the Zleep Hotel for our last night in Aarhus, and I spotted a "Pride" bench. a Photo op? yes please: I made Daniel proud, and I even did "the Method" on the bench: and then it was back to the hotel, where I believe we joined in the lobby to share some wine with folks saying goodbye to Caroline - who was heading home in the morning. and then off to bed. big travel day tomorrow!

and here is the swag from Legoland (minus a few gifts I had bought for people, which I gave out before I took pics) Magnet: T-shirt: and. . . Bananaman!!!

I'm wearing it in some pics. . but I can't believe I forgot to show my crown among my Farup swag:

Day 10: Mon, June 12th part 3 : Legoland Billund concluded. . Headed over to the Pirates dark ride. .and how neat, the sharks circle the old man on the island. he looks emaciated tho. . why doesn't he eat a parrot? or a Turtle? not as fully immersive as "similar" versions of a Pirate ride, but this one is starting out rather fun. Dead Men Tell No Tales! a bar b queue? looks tasty! and you can certainly tell who's in charge here. . . whadda ya want lady? you seem to be leaning in!! Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Turtle's life for me. Oh my! this is getting PG-13 yeah.. .we're ALL thinking the same thing. . . . since we're already a LITTLE moist from the waterfall in the Pirate ride. . let's head over to the flume ride. themed to Canoes. this really seems to be the only picture I have of it! I guess it was an ok flume.. not a big one by any means, but pleasant enough. but was able to get some good shots of the Flying Eagle from the flume queue and for some reason, took a pic of the Lego goats in the station., le sigh. . . too tiny for adults to ride (which I knew as soon as I saw it. . so wasn't TOO disappointed), and was happy to see it had people on it at least. the park does have a rapids ride too. .. which if I didn't have this pic of us on? would totally have forgotten about. I guess it didn't soak us! time to head to the very back of the park, for the NinjaGo section! pretty cool statue. . . tho this is a really large area, and it was really pretty empty. Seems like maybe the line isn't as popular as once was? this was tough! It's an interactive ride where you use "ninja moves" by waving your hands/arms over the sensors to fight Ninja/bad guys on screens during the ride. think Midway Mayhem, but instead of having pull toy guns. . you have nothing.. just your hands to figure out what motions might get a reaction and shoot/throw something I can't really say it was "enjoyable" because too much of the ride was trying to figure out how the system works, so you could "play". but it was an indoor seated ride, so there's that. and THIS is right next door in the same building!! we had managed to bump into another group of TPR folks in the Ninja ride, and all headed to the maze together. in all honestly? this was quite a lot of fun. you had to go down the hallway, avoiding the lasers and you could compete for best time. there were two side by side tunnels, so didn't get pics of everyone, only those that came thru this side. I believe this blur is David. Jason Jon hands down, my favorite. . .Caroline just walked thru them and hit the buzzer. Bwaaa-haaa-haaa. . she had the fastest time, but the tunnel was very upset with her, turning bright red! Colllin of course, Daniel was great at it Barry this is listed as an "attraction" in the Legoland guide. . it's a musical fountain, that performs every 15 minutes or so. to be honest? I quite enjoyed it! another look at the Driving school as passing by on the way to the overhead Monorail station. and now the view of the park from the Monorail. . which goes around basically the same area the train does. . . but hey, we're up in the sky now! you can see the Blue "sister" train (we're on red) across the way next to the trees on the right. and there's Yellow. It's a long enough course, they can run 3 trains at once..it was a pleasant ride around the center of the park. . mainly over Duplo Land (kiddie rides) and the Miniatures area. realizing we'd missed the Aquarium. . . cutting thru MiniTown to head over to it. a little (working) street carnival! I swear, this whole area was so neat. and SO much to look at. here's the included aquarium. . which started out with a really odd pre-show room, that had a film that mentioned "if you feel ill raise your hand" so I've got to wonder if at one point, the first room was actually a motion simulator, that took you "undersea".. because it certainly looked like it was set up to admit groups of perhaps 25-30 at a time (what you would expect in a motion simulator) and when the room doors opened, we were in the underwater aquarium. if they removed that at some point, it's a shame, as it would have made the seemingly pointless pre-show room make sense, and added a little fun. tho I loved the theming (even if not made out of Lego) leaving the Pre-show room and into the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. it really is a pretty cool walk thru Aquarium. .just rather small. they do have lots of buttons to push, that make some of the Lego figures in the tank move, or blow bubbles. I shit you not. . .this guy, when you push the button, farts in his suit. He then reacts thru the speakers (lots of "ewwwwww") and then bubbles seep out of his suit. Klassy with a K. . . . but yeah, I stayed and pushed the button a few times I'm sure the Kiddos find it hysterical. Lion Fish photobombed by Big Mike how YOU doin? Jason wonders about the meaning of life. . and yeah, i'm not missing THIS photo op.. tho I was trying to look scared and I have failed all the "major" stuff checked off my list, I broke off to wander about Minitown to check out all the stuff I hadn't seen yet, while the rest went back to ride, Polar X-plorer, I think. some of these are SO damn impressive. so many moving parts. . .the trucks , the boats, the bridges. as I keep saying, so. freaking. impressive. Elissa pointed this out to me, so I had to get a pic too! "DO NOT HUMP" the firetruck pulls out and rescues a kitten from the tree! NEVER in America. . look how close to the tracks those people are standing. . . bumped into Andy also checking out the Miniland Airport it was getting close to the time to leave, but I popped in to check out the "hands on building" area, where there are plenty of bricks for folks to let their imaginations run wild and build whatever they can dream of. the really good stuff gets kept and displayed, while the workers undo the bricks to get them ready for the next day for all the others. what's interesting to me is they have cases surrounding the build area, filled with specialty/custom builds and unique builds that have been done for the park/company that they want to display. some are truly incredible. an example out on the work counter of the kind of stuff Guests can build with the available yellow bricks. Ferrari also had a full Lego Ferrari on display! it was incredible! (and amazingly, most paid attention to the little sign and did not climb on it)! I'm not sure what this big plantation/farm display was near the front of the park, but it too had a lot of moving parts. . . or should I say Moo-ving (cows, get it? wink wink) if you went around to the farm side, there were buttons to push and the animals would come out of their stalls and performed a song. headed back to the bus, and passed this guy and this beautiful dog. asked his permission and he said sure. . love how the dog is looking RIGHT at me. what a pretty doggo, and the perfect way to end a great day at LegoLand ! hope you enjoyed following along. bert

Day 10: Mon, June 12th part 2 : Legoland Billund continued the folks I was hanging out with today kept talking about "Ice Piolts School" and how we had to do that before it filled up. I didn't know what they were talking about (not putting two and two together). So we headed back over to Polar X-plorer, and I was even more confused, when they went to the side of the coaster entrance then up a short path into a warehouse. oh. . this thing. yeah.. this is that INSANE "robot arm" ride, where you can program it yourself, and then the robot does what you've asked it to do. You have to pair with someone, as it's teams of two, and I was feeling rather brave (realize that you can't see the actual Robot Arms. .they're behind the walls), so I told David, yeah, I'll ride with you - after everyone else passed on riding with him because he wanted to ride in *extreme* setting. here are the screens where you pic what actions you want the robot arm to do. then it spits out a card, that you take around the corner to give to the operator - who feeds the card into the Robot, and it does what you've programmed it to do for your "ride" oh my! well, that doesn't look too bad! looks like fun. and then I watched someone ride who had apparently chosen "Extreme" as well. . ..seriously, it looked like the Robot Arm was bashing them against rocks, like a cavewoman doing laundry! LOL too late to turn back now! yeah. .there are people on that arm (in that blur) our turn. .here's David an I ! MBSX9787.MOV and I believe I have Elissa to thank for capturing this. . . . can't really remember, but I *think* we hopped on Polar X-plorer, since it's right next door. before heading over to that Egyptian themed ride I had seen earlier. I wasn't exactly sure what this ride was, but I prayed it was more gentle than Ice Pilots School. . .it HAD to be. . lots of littler kids in this queue. Turns out it was a shooting dark ride. i don't recall much about it, so I guess it wasn't a super exciting shooting ride, but was cool to see all the stuff made out of legos. it was almost time for lunch, so we headed back towards the park entrance. That observation tower - while not super tall - was tall enough for my liking and wanted to try it out post lunch, as hadn't been on that side of the park yet. lunch was in the Pizza Buffet. . which had some wonderfully strange pizzas (as Erik pointed out in his report), as well as seafood salad, and that wonderful tasting "Not Butter, Not Chicken" - which actually WAS butter chicken, and was one of the best things I had at any of the parks we visited. the fountains weren't working, so we got bottles with lunch. hmm. .maybe those Lego polar bears on the way into the park WERE Coke cross promotion? David happy with his small cup of Ice Cream, Me pleased with my larger (not as messy cup) and Jason upset he didn't think to use the drinking cup for Ice Cream. Letting the food settle a big, we wandered towards the observation tower, but stopped to browse in the giant Lego Store at the front of the park on the way. so soft!!! Bwaaa-haaaa-haaaa! I'm a rebel! see?? grrrrrr map of the park. . .it seems SO much bigger when you're walking around in it. it's very spread out. LOVED the Lego store. Even if you're not really into the blocks..it's still amazing just to see what they have on display in there! I went back and forth on if I should get Banana or Hot Dog. it was so hard to decide. Luckily no KISS ones. . or would have been schlepping big things back with me! exclusive to this store? after too much $$ spent, was time to head back into the park and up in the observation tower! We'd be heading back this way shortly, because the Aquarium and the NinjaGo section is back there behind Mini-land. on the left is one of the Legoland HOtels, and I believe way back over there is the Lego Campus (with the yellow brick on top) looking down at part of Mini-land as we head up. that's Lego House in the back with the giant window on top. not sure what the castle is. . possibly one of the Legoland hotels? (one is called the Castle Hotel) better view of the spread out park - that's polar X-plorer way back center right. . . and a better view of Lego campus on the left. and catching planes landing in the airport across the street. back at ground level, checking out some of the awesome mini-land as we walked by. i wanted to spend a lot of time here, but there were other things on my list I wanted to knock out first to be sure I did them. these planes taxiied. . and pulled into the terminals! so freaking cool. Safari time! I might be mis-remembering, but I think it was this line where a park goer got into an argument with the operator because the operator wouldn't let him ride without a shirt. So he threatened to put his shorts on over his head so he could ride, because the rules only said "Shirt and shoes must be worn" but nothing about pants. after he stormed off, we laughed with the operator about it. Pretty sure that happened in this queue. myself and Jonathan shared a jeep on this safari. a picture of Jason and David, taking pictures of us as we passed them on the "Savannah" Big Mike scores his own Jeep! we found our way back! and perfect timing too. . the train pulled into the station right next to the Safari ride. it's a rather tiny/cute train tho. . can a bunch of TPR guys fit in it??? you betcha!! a little "snug". . but a nice slow ride, that goes around the park a bit, tho mainly by Miniland. watch out for Robbers!! Traffic School. . . LOL. . loved this, but was for the littler kids. I could have done the Fire Brigade one, as that's for adults/families. . but the line for it was a bit long, and as mentioned, I still had some "must dos" on my list. some lovely picnic areas sprinkled about the park too. off the train, and we headed across the walkway for one of the most classic Legoland rides (at least one I'd always heard about) the boats! a nice slow moving ride, that you don't actually have to steer, that brings you among the world's greatest wonders. all made out of Lego of course. I recall you COULD sorta "steer". . but it really didn't make much difference where you went. hey, I know that!! I've been referring the Sphinx as "Sfinx" ever since I saw this. . . it's rotted my brain and stuck in it. . LOL I imagine it's what a cat sneezing and farting at the same time sounds like: Sfinx ("bless you") ta-daaaa! what can I say? it's a classic. next up? the Haunted Mansion. . I mean. . . . "Ghost" the Haunted House. which, I will admit up front. .I absolutely loved. doggie ghost? uh-oh. . Frankie's on the Juice again! parts of the walkthru are interactive - say you pick up a flashlight and shine it on something, and the figure moves. or pull a book out of the book case, and a fart noise happens. same thing if you step in the wrong spot on the steps - loud fart sound. yes, juvenile, but funny. and there's a mirror maze in the center of the house! with some mirrors hiding ghosts that appear out of nowhere. but the biggest "whaaaa?" is at the end of the house, when they move you into a room and load you into a small drop tower (think mini version of Mystery Castle at Phantasialand). . where you face across from another row of guests, also about to be dropped. not a huge drop, but fun and had us laughing. and the operator was kind enough to take this picture for us before the lap bar came down over our heads. creepy ass giant spider made of Lego greets you at the exit. to be concluded. . .

taken me a bit of time to get back to this, but hopefully worth the wait. my first EVER Legoland, and it's the biggie. . so took a LOT of pics, and will have to split this report up. Day 10: Mon, June 12th part 1 : Legoland Billund so we got up fairly early from the Zleep in and piled onto the bus for the drive. where were we headed? oh my. . .getting giddy! strangely located across the street from a functioning airport - tho it didn't seem to be a commercial airport, so must be mainly for freight (tho I'd guess used for executives coming to Lego headquarters?) - is the biggest and best Legoland (so I've heard. . this is my first one ever) even across the street in the parking lot, there's some theming going on. . . but this was nothing compared to what we'd see when we got to the actual park. it really is a full assault on your senses, with sounds and things to look at EVERYWHERE. this is still outside the front gates! Lego flag of Denmark? Modern Art? I dunno. . but I liked it. the lil Lego guys n gals hard at work building over the actual main gate. TPR Group Pic (courtesy of Robb) before heading into the park with out guide. and because he had on this AWESOME shirt, a pic (also courtesy of Robb) with Erik as the *STAR* - may we all burn so brightly some day! ah. . a bit more like it- as we're heading into the park. a more themed Trash can. wow. .this place is a lot bigger than it looks like on the maps! and that we were in before it officially opened, meant I could get lots of clear pics of many of the amazing Lego art all around the park as we headed to our first ride of the day: a ride on one of the park's 4 family coasters: Flying Eagle. Pizza pizza! . . and now I want a Coke! dang, this park is absolutely beautiful. I'd always heard and seen pics of some of the Legoland "Minilands". . but I was super impressed with how immersive this is! and so many of the parts are moving parts! cars, trucks, planes, trains, ships, even drawbridges. . . all work with the push of a button. a famous Legoland attraction - the boats. Oh yes, I was coming back for this once park opened. and the Lego safari. I didn't ever get to ride the Lego Catipillar. . and I'm wondering since in the pic I took, there's a maintenance guy there working on it, if it ever actually opened on the day we were there? but look how ADORABLE it is !!! and what's this? "Ghost". . . this Legoland has a haunted house walk thru? yup. . . + a surprise ending. naked hairy-chested Lego man in the Western section is making me have "feelings" that I'm not quite sure what to make of them. and adorbs Carousel. . . that I figured wasn't going to be allowed to ride, since it's so tiny (and I was correct.. . don't recall riding it, so must have been told no). ooo. . a log flume too over here. but this is what we had trekked back over here for.. Flying Eagle. since in the Western section, lots of "old West" Lego animals about.. such as this Buffalo and this Bald Eagle. some nice "Lego" theming on the coaster train itself tho the front car had a nice Lego Eagle piece attached. Here's Robb filming in the front row. whee!! the workers in this section were really getting into character. I loved his painted nails, so asked for a pic. whee!!! this wasn't operating yet (remember, we were there, I think, a good hour before park open), but this seemed to be a "Pirates" themed boat Dark Ride. Princess Garden? hmmmmmm. . . we bypassed Dragen (a Mack powered coaster) on our way to the next coaster. . .but I think everyone made a note to come back to this as soon as morning ride time is over, since apparently Dragen at all the Legoland Parks tends to be a slow mover. (wasn't the case here, as not only were they running two trains on this powered coaster / Dark Ride - having never been before I had no idea what to expect, but I LOVED the dark ride section it starts out with - but also because it was a Monday, so never really got super crowded). and outdoor theater for, I think, a Pirate vs Medieval Knights show? not 100% sure, as didn't make time to go see it. the castle that Dragen is located in really is a looming centerpiece here, and it's very cool how they keep the theming all the way around it. with lots of nooks and crannies to explore in. this is where we were headed tho: X-treme Racers (a Mack wild mouse) they weren't quite ready for us, and were testing to get it up and going, so I explored the area a bit. further down this way is the 4th coaster in the park - Polar X-plorer - we'd head there next. aw. . a cute lil dragon for checking heights me being a child.. . put your empty bottles in da butthole. it's a Llego Llama! this was intriguing. . . turns out it's a shooting dark ride. and peeking in the side of a gaming area. . all kinds of large stuffed toys one can win. the blue Koala looks kinda like Stitch to me (and the pink? kinda like Elmo) . . never noticed that. got the call back that it was time to ride X-treme Racers, so headed back that way. being in the front row means Elissa & Robb won, right? they beat those in the 2nd row? Big Mike and Bert going Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (I think this pic is from Andy. . thanks!) Big Mike and Caroline are ready to race. . . but what I think makes this pic? is how thrilled Kristen looks that she's next on and then we headed over to Polar X-Plorer. . . the parks other "big" coaster. It's still a mostly mild family coaster, but this one has a very surprising center section! You break thru the "Ice" when you stop in a show building. . you hear all the ice cracking around you, and then suddenly? a drop track! absolutely thrilling for those few seconds, and the adrenaline keeps you tingling for the remainder of the ride. Someone told me there used to be live penguins around the coaster - or maybe you just ended up in a penguin encounter area? But I only recall seeing Lego Penguins (and Walruses) on this, and I rode it a few times. I think this tied with Dragen as my favorite coaster here, as both had elements that make them a bit more thrilling than just a family coaster. which is NOT to say that Legoland doesn't have rides for thrillseeking adults - oh, they most certainly DO. But the coasters are targeted towards those that prefer rides with no inversions or "extreme" elements. I don't seem to have any pics on Polar X-lorer. . but it was fun. before cutting us loose, our park guides asked Robb if the group would like to head into Movie World and get an opening ride on Emmet's Flying Couch. . . so we followed them next door into Lego Movie World I LOVED this area. . and not just because of the photo ops. but of COURSE I had to be "Banana Man" and Bunny. Kitty had two smaller drop towers. . group pic before going into Flying Couch. . which is a "Soarin" type ride with three stacked couches in each section instead of three rows of "seats" it's actually some pretty perfect synergy, and makes total sense! i did get a little bit motion sick from it - but that could have been as I hadn't really eaten yet that day, or maybe was just too close to the side of the screen. regardless, it was Awesome!! (or as they say in Denmark: "Super Duper!") getting instructions on where to meet for lunch, and planned leaving time. . and then cut loose to enjoy the park on our own, as it was now open. not everything opens at park open, so tho they have a "flipping Plane" type ride, it wasn't open yet. Iit was by a different manufacturer that typically makes air-race, and the folks that were going to be operating it told us the number of flips they have as the record is hard to beat (tho it was fairly low). we knew some in the TPR group could probably beat the flip record, so made plans to come back once open but for now, most of the group headed to Dragen. everything that would be breathing in this pic, is actually Lego.. even the ducks! lovely attention to detail in the large ride queue inside the castle gates. and many of these vignettes sprinkled thruout the queue-line. you pushed a button and they activated, causing song, and some movement. LOL.. I noticed the measuring system for the kiddos here on Dragen for the first time. LOVE it. the outfits for the workers here were cute too - and again with the foam sword. this operator was very into it as well, when I asked for a pic taken *with* permission from the photo booth person, as the machine was down and they couldn't print it out (otherwise would have bought it for a magnet) what is this? let's check it out! hmm. . looks like it's supposed to "mist" or "squirt". . . no harm that it didn't on us. . LOL ooooooohhhhhh. . it's this thing! I saw these last year at Klotten - where it seemed the point was to swing out under a waterfall and get soaked. tho here it didn't seem quite as wet. . and the riders were getting quite a bit of "whip" motion. so we stayed in line (pic courtesy of Big Mike) it was more fun than I had been expecting, and didn't end up wet at all. don't think I rode this again. . . probably just snagging pics as we walked back over to Movie World for the planes. but interesting they are launching the cars much closer together than would be done in the USA. hi David! this is who we figured would beat the flip record here. . and I'm pretty sure he did. actually, I'm positive he did. . even tho the ride plays dirty, and if you flip too many times, it slows you down so you can't get yourself too dizzy (at least that's what the ride op told me). and Jason and Jon giving it a go as well. me too. .tho I'm not really good at getting these things to flip. but whatdda ya know? on this version, I was pretty able to do it. oh, not a LOT of flips, but at least proof I did it a couple of times. to be continued. . .

wow. .thanks for this report. really nice pics, and the night time ones are fantastic! for $8? well worth spending some time there, even if a bit frustrating having to wait for others to ride some things.

it's now a moot point for me anyways. .as I took advantage of the Cyber sale and did 2-meal-per-visit dining plan (as they note - in bright red on the site -- that dining is good at all parks your pass is good at. and since I splurged for the Diamond pass? that 2 meals per visit is good at all six flags parks). so since I'll have meal plan now? no surcharge for me. which is what I expect they were trying to drive people to anyways. i still think it's tacky and horrible. . . but a non-issue for me now.

as noted, I have no issue with the prices. I DO have an issue with the surcharge added to every purchase. raise the prices if you need to, but don't insult me with that .99 surcharge bullshit.

yup. .it's chain wide. SFFT just posted pics of the new Holiday meal limited time option (which is a STAGGERING $26). . and insultingly also note the .99 surcharge. insulting, and crazy and will really affect food sales (at least for those who don't splurge for dining plan). now, granted, the food at SFFT has been rather good lately. . but still? these prices are outrageous. from Jeffrey's/Parks twitter post, and my feedback to them:

so it can ride a Morgan Hypercoaster (with those hard plastic seats) with no worries of pain. - did that help? Great update!

great update! and brings back some wonderful memories (and some scary ones. . I have pics of myself on front row of Jetstream. . . I absolutely add my thoughts to yours in terms of the Park and those affected by the accident). I have to look and see if I have pics of Jere in his soaking wet shirt, as he ended up sitting behind me and my unstable water on one Maus cycle)

YUP and not only does Jeffrey post on his own accounts (as well as cross posting on FB and into multiple groups), but the park itself posts on Twitter. (now granted, that's probably Jeffrey as well, just while posting, logging into the Park's account. . . but still the park itself updates at LEAST once or twice a week).

Porcupine??? I thought he was a hedgehog. and I LOVE you for getting a pic of folks doing Head,Shoulders,Knees & Toes on Saven. .as folks I've told about doing that tend not to believe me it happened

Swag from Fårup Sommerland Magnet: and two T-shirts:

Day 9: Sun, June 11th part 2 (of 2): Farup Sommerland after the funhouse, we headed to the whitewater rafting ride we had seen earlier. yeah. . we were gonna get a bit "moist" another of the larger playground areas (and another of the "never in America" attractions. since were already wet from the rapids, decided to just head to the flume next. . . it's one of those "European" style, where the lift hills and drops criss cross each other. no backwards section that I recall tho. ready to get more wet! "Bags and the like". . LOL guess this coffee counts as "the like" it was a fun flume tho, at least I recall it was fun. another lake area, that's over near the obstacle course. . in this one, you can paddle a rowboat as an option that ship & fort are part of the obstacle course! it was time for the kiddie coaster credit. Wasn't too sure about riding this, but gave in as this cute Zamperla coaster is called Pindsvinet (Hedgehog), and has an adorable hedgehog mascot on the front of the train. we even tried to let little kids go ahead of us, and they were TERRIFIED of passing in front of the grown white men - even with the attendant kneeling down and trying to get them to pass us to ride first. LOL so when we got on, he took a selfie with us look how cute that Hedgehog is! I think these pics might be from Andy? (or could be Big Mike) we were on the side of the park housing the only coaster we hadn't ridden yet: Orkanen, the Vekoma suspended, so we headed over to it. Robb was here filming. . hey Robb! no inversions, but this coaster does have some fun airtime, and a dive under the lake. I wanted to ride Falken again, so we headed right next door for another ride. front row! this is a pic Robb got from over by Orkanen, and shared with the group. great shot! I was *not* thrilled about this. . . as has been noted, I'm a big ol klutz. . but it was time to brave the Obstacle Course. "suattejacten" = "the Treasure Hunt" you start off with a pretty good maze, made up of black painted panels. but when you find the correct way thru, you come across this: don't I look thrilled? a look down at the maze, once up those "stairs" several of the obstacles DO have "chicken" options. . . but I did do some of them. not these tho! this one was ONLY an option to do either Raft, or monkeybars over the waterway. yeah.. . i took the raft. and am very happy, don't care if I'm the only one. and yes, that's part of the course above in the trees! (thanks to Jason for the pic) across the water and into that fort/ship area nice views of some of the coasters peeking out from the course. and a very confused young lady wondering what I'm taking a picture of. oh no. . . the only way down was in the slide?? great. . . ANOTHER one ??? ok. .I've had enough of this. . LOL. . . I had to go to the bathroom anyways. Luckily, I heard a man yelling for his son that they had to leave, NOW (I'm assuming that's what he was yelling, as the kid made a beeline to him), so I followed him thru some bushes, and out past a playground and found one of the main pathways in the park. liked the theming on this, tho wasn't sure if it was closed, or just nobody wanting to ride, as it was tucked away among the trees. I browsed a shop/restaurant, and relaxed while waiting for folks to finish up the obstacle course and meet up. loved these skull stools in the Pirate themed shop. and treated myself to ice cream for at least trying some of the obstacles. tho I think this was the place where I was TRICKED. .and those wonderful candy colored sprinkles were licorice. . ewwwwww after I wiped the nasty fake sprinkles off (that's why I always carry extra napkins. . never know when there will be an emergency need!). . I shared my cone with the Hedgehog. (no, not Ron Jeremy. . THIS one) Speaking of Licorice. . I don't understand the obsession with it over here in Denmark. everywhere sells it, and it appears to be VERY popular. just never has been my thing. just look at all these "flavors" available. meeting up again, we found this log themed Himalaya! wheeeeee!!! I think we split off at this point, to get some things in before we had to meet for ERT. i believe I had bumped into sMisty/Erik and they told me about a slow moving "tractor ride" that I hadn't seen. right up my alley, so Big Mike and I headed over in the direction they pointed to go ride us some tractors. ohhhh.. this ride might be themed to the Bunny mascot. . . front seat definitely made for smaller butts. . .. didn't stop us tho. gonna be fun "driving" they really do such a great job.. it's like you're not in a theme park. heading over towards Fonix for our ERT times, managed to catch Saven going up the spike. . we had some time still and had forgotten that the park had a 4D film. . what you can't see in this pic, is the lady in front of us that brought her little dog in. and the animated feature was about animals falling thru portals and changing into other animals. and that little doggo went NUTS any time an animal that even looked like a dog showed up on the screen. I was far too amused to be annoyed by it. it made the film 5D !! Exit thru the (themed) gift shop! what are these? foam crowns????? Gimme! it was just about time for our ERT session, so we relaxed by a playground near Fonix. . and I thought this was rather amazing. loved it. and one of these "break your neck" king of the mountain things (along with dozens of other trampolines) too. they are cycling thru the remainder of the crowd. . . I'm ready for you, Fonix there's a nice "viewing area" they built next to it.. so took advantage to watch it cycle for a bit. and then it was our time to ride. this coaster is absolutely amazing, and ranks way up there among my favorites of the trip. So re-rideable. . and insanely fun. queue theming. that heartline roll thru the station I mentioned. and now some pics from Robb's Rider-Cam. . you can tell I loved it. . rode at least 10 times during our ERT. and then it was time to head back to the Zleep hotel. after all, this was only day NINE!! tons more to do, and we had to get some rest. but this guy was in the playground as we passed. headed back to the front gate, got a clearer pic of the park signs. and I found this odd. . yes, I know I got a dogfart head icecream at BonBonLand, but it just struck me as odd, that you could eat icecream out of a Fonix head or the other two mascots ' tho I did find it rather cool that they have a map of the coast, and things of interest to do in the area of the Country right at the exits. had a great time here. . .it's easily in my top 5 parks. . probably a very strong 3rd place! hope you've enjoyed the pics.

Day 9: Sun, June 11th part 1 (of 2): Farup Sommerland after such a great day prior at Djurs Sommerland, I was really looking forwards to today. This was also noted as one of Elissa's favorite parks, and after experiencing it? I absolutely agree! the Countryside in Denmark on the way to the park is just as beautiful as one would expect: but soon enough, we see the flags, and are turning into the main lot for Farup Sommerland - which seems to be in the middle of the wilderness this is the parking lot? it must be a HUGE park - it IS. . very, very big park. with lots of nature, and some really fun rides & a world class coaster. similar to driving into the peninsula at CP, you pass right by the wooden coaster Falcen (the blue track is the suspended coaster Orkanen (Hurricane) bus parked, and the front gates Group pic, courtesy of Robb: and an excellent welcome: here's the toilet! (I'm being serious. . really needed to pee) as noted, this is a large outdoors park, with a waterpark section, some large coasters, big playgrounds, a big obstacle course, multiple lakes (where one can paddleboat or row a boat), and even a mini-golf course. They have a hotel on site, and if you're coming for the first time, you could do with an overnight stay/2 days to ensure you can do everything! signage! the park reps walked us back over to the park's wooden coaster, Falken along the way, we passed the mini-golf - on an island in one of the lakes! (didn't have time to check it out this visit, but it seemed to be pretty popular every time I passed the entrance) here's a better look at Orkanen - and the onsite resort back there behind it - as we're headed into Falken's queue. Pic courtesy of Elissa, I believe. this was a fun, mostly smooth family coaster. we did have a little bit of a mishap where the train stopped on the lift hill for a few minutes, while the folks from the hotel watched us and wondered what was going on. benefit is that we got to see the park mascots riding out on golf carts towards the front gate, as they were getting ready to open the gates this is the maintenance guy who came to our rescue, in a golf cart (LOL) to get the lift chain going and start our ride. he zoomed by us as we were walking across the park, since the reps asked us if we'd like to get the first rides of the day on the park's newest coaster - a Vekoma wildcat called Fonix. of course, the group response was "yes please!" passing by the Spinning Mouse, called Flagermusen (Bat) made note of this, as we walked by. . as this unassuming building, with that sign "rævens hule" (the Fox's Den) was a funhouse. I don't even recall what this was supposed to be! LOL. . one of the park's mascots? passing under the family boomerang - themed to a sawmill, "Saven" two coasters in this pic as we are still headed thru the woods to Fonix. neon green diving into the tunnel is the boomerang, "Saven" the elevated green track is the park's Vekoma junior coaster, "Mine Expressen" scary spider in one of the playground areas sprinkled about the park. as it got to evening, the eyes light up. coming into the new area of the park: Fonix plaza who am I to pass up a photo op? wow. .this thing looks impressive. and it truly is. This is an amazing Vekoma. . a true world class coaster. Multiple inversions, including a heartline roll thru the station house! (overhead while the 2nd train is loading) after finding out we had ERT on Fonix to close out the day, we were turned loose into the park. . many of us headed to the two coasters over near this area of the park. I went with much of the group to Mine Expressen not sure who this pic is courtesy of. . possibly Brad, as I don't see him on the train. or maybe Didier, as he was taking some pics too. that was a fun ride, not super exciting, but fun. so we headed over to Saven, the Vekoma family Boomerang. love the Sawmill theming here. . and the ride operator was very happy to take a pic for us (and be in it too). as the park had just opened, there wasn't much of a line, and they were running the ride with two cycles. Well. . sort of! they made you stand up between cycles and do either a song (we got this one. . and he MADE us all do it, to the delight of the kiddos on the train with us): or those that did NOT want to do the "dance" had to do Calisthenics (LOL) .. . we saw the folks behind us doing Jumping Jacks. these onride pics are courtesy of Didier, as we saw him on a picnic table taking pics of the group as we cycled thru Saven having knocked out the coasters over here (at least one ride on each), we decided to hop on the train to get a better look at this large, and beautiful park. absolutely NO idea what we're all staring so intently at. . . LOL. . maybe a child stuck in a rowboat in the middle of the lake? one of the larger playground areas in the park (there were at least 3 this size) it really is a very large park. felt like we were on a train out in the woods. passing underneath Saven's exit from underground ' and into the "spike" the train ride/tracks are so long, they run two trains at the same time, and at one point you pass each other and can wave. one of the lakes where you can paddleboat. off in the distance is the waterpark section, and the minigolf island. after a loop around the park, I noticed on the map they had a Carousel. So without too much complaining from those I was hanging out with today, we headed over to that area, which had several younger kids attractions. this area looked fairly new too, and the ride operator confirmed for me that although the carousel looked older, it was a relatively new one. I still loved the choices for riding. . . the guys crammed into a "spinner" seat.. and I was in my happy place on a galloping horse. upper level had some really tiny options for babies. Jon decided to watch us on the Carousel, rather than ride with even Didier rode! (tho he rode a "tractor" - that was basically a glorified bench. . .LOL). thanks to Jon for this pic.l ooo. . . we'd come back to this later, but this is an interesting layout for a rapids ride. (you can see it comes from up above, passing under the skull before coming back by) we were headed to the wild mouse tho. . not realizing it was a spinner yet. yeah. . now we realize it spins. . . it spun a lot. . and was fun. Thanks to Big Mike for this pic. the butt of the bat! yargh!!! this place has the foam swords too. . that most of the ride ops were poking riders with (or high-5ing with) as they went by. looking at a park map, we realized we had missed the small section where they have another "extreme" coaster (and that crazy flipping ride on the left). this is a Gerstlauer launch coaster called "Lynet" (Lightning) also a little playground area. . with some fun spinning/springing seats David enjoyed it more than I how was it? well. . .. ow, ow, ow.. . . holy crap. . ow. . . .ow . . . ow! yeah, LOL. . one and done. since over here, we jumped on this one too - not Big Mike tho (he doesn't do spinning rides). so got this pic out of it. this wasn't near as intense as I was expecting it to be, but had some really fun moments. heading back into the main part of the park, we passed one of those "never in America" train crossings. . such a lovely park! and headed to the fun house (tho we weren't sure it WAS a funhouse. it seemed to be an attraction, so we gave it a shot). this was the clincher - the warning that there may be passages where it is "important" to hold on to smaller children. . LOL it's a wacky shack on acid. . with some really steep funhouse gags included fight your way thru the giant sausages! and the spinning tunnel room a really disorienting hall of mirrors and watch your step! (tho I appreciated the "coward" / klutz path offered too) I'm flying, Jack !!!!! they are not kidding around. . . very steep. to be continued. . .

^ I mean. . he's NOT Bruno

now Erik. .you can't bring up the world's hunkiest maintenence guy and not show a picture. here. . borrow one of mine

Wondy did the 1st part of refurb and reopened for FrightFest & Holiday in the park. yes, they did mechanical upgrades and the added catwalk at the drop. In early 2024 is the remainder of the refurb - which will be the new trains. and yes, the scrambler ALWAYS runs that insane of a program - which is why it goes down every year or so for motor replacement It's always worth a ride.

I'm all ready for the Trick or Treaters! (and now I simply MUST plan a visit to Knoebels in 2024)

they must have rolled out recipes/directions chain wide. . . as I noted in my SFFT review of Octoberfest/Frightfest from Sat, the food was all Excellent. and at SFFT, everything from the booths could count as a "snack" on the Meal Plans. . which was nice.

went to SFFT yesterday for an event, that included a special Eclipse Viewing Party - dubbed "Total Eclipse of the Park" during the Eclipse, we got special glasses, a drone show, and fireworks! (it never really got dark enough for the drones to be super effective, but damn, the fireworks were insane!). Not only does the park still have "Octoberfest" going on (spoiler, the food is all pretty amazing), but also "FrightFest" is in full swing (with Boo-Fest, the kid friendly event going on during the daylight hours). it was a PACKED day, and was in the park from 10am-10:10 pm . . . we actually didn't stay for the evening ERT that was included in the event from 11-Midnight, and we actually left before the Evening "Frightful Finale" fireworks spectacular - but it was the right call, as the park was absolutely PACKED (parking lot was completely full. . don't think I've ever seen that) and we were worried about getting stuck in post Fireworks traffic that can sometimes add up to an hour getting back home to Austin. The park was so crowded, they thankfully had opened up the Employee exit (never seen that before either!) that even with a huge exodus of folks also trying to beat the fireworks crowd, we were on the freeway back to Austin by 10:30. overall opinion before the pictures: Octoberfest - A+ : - the musical performance in Sangerfest Halle is great. - the food from the booths is all excellent (everything we tried at least) - the decor and costumes in that area are top tier, the "Beer Tapping Ceremony was fun" "Boo Fest" - A : - the characters were out and about in costumes - the new location for the corn maze (front left lawn of Rockville High) let them do something more intricate this year, with multiple "chicken" exits if it got too scary for the kiddos due to the animatronics in the maze. - the Voodoo Haunt during the day is running as "House of Curiousities" - with the lights turned up, and no "scare" actors inside - instead there are "guides" that bring each group thru and point out funny and amusing things. This is such a great idea, and I wish more parks took this note and did this! it's so nice to be able to see all the details, and the "guides" are friendly and not scary at all. - multiple cast members in "non-scary" costumes handing out candy to anyone who says to them "trick or treat" - weather kid or adult - the ONLY odd thing was the Trick or Treat/Kids town - where the character meet and greet was next to Hustler. you know what's over there? yup. . the toilets. It was a bitt odd that to take pictures with costumed characters in front of the toilets. .LOL. so . . odd, but not enough to knock this down a grade. "Fright Fest" - B+ : - the grade might be a bit too high, if all you care about are the Haunts. for just the Haunts? C- of the 7 Haunts, honestly, only 2 of them are really good (with great effects and scenes, this includes the new "puppet/clown" house) another 2 were not bad, but were seriously lacking scare actors when we when thru (and it's noticeable because there are so many "nooks" where it's clear there was supposed to be a scare actor. . just weren't there). the remaining 3? they were just OK. . really nothing special that you wouldn't see in the neighborhood "scare house" that someone set up in their garage with hanging sheets splattered with paint, effects that didn't really work, and lots of jump out "boo" type of scare actors. but oddly, the 3 so/so houses did seem to have the majority of the scare actors inside. . . so gotta wonder if they got pulled from the heavier "themed" houses to make the "hanging sheet" houses seem a bit more scary. I dunno, but since Six Flags Charges for their houses, they SHOULD be much better than just 2 really good, two decent, and the rest just ok. (tho were included in our event passes, that's not true for the average guest) - Scarezones/street actors - the park did a fantastic job here. many were terrifying, and the way the interacted with the massive crowds moving among them? bravo. In particular the absolutely PACKED streets of CrackAxle during the Arrival - so crowded it was a bit frightening - but the scare actors came off the train and streamed thru the crowd to the delight of most. the Actors on the Boardwalk - which is now a full scarezone were great, the ones in Rockville (in the heavy fog) were truly pretty terrifying the way they materialized behind guests in the fog, and in CrackAxle were all fantastic. - Shows - this is where SFFT really, truly shines. The shows are all fantastic (and amazingly - to me) use the same cast for multiple shows. How they keep track of the songs and the choreography between the shows? I dunno, but I was impressed. "Curse of the Zombie Prom" is super dumb - but in a great way. fun, and great voices. and do NOT miss "Monster Mash Bash: the Bloodletting" - a real rock concert featuring many songs that are vampire/moon inspired, as well as storyline about 5 teens that are stalked by the vampires thruout the show, and are bitten one by one. Excellent show, tho you might want to bring earplugs, as the music (and the pyro involved) can be loud. there's also a band performing in front of Dr. Diabolical twice a day that was very good (I was told). - decor. . . wowza wowza wowza. . the park looks absolutely fantastic. Entry area is Dia De Los Muertos, Soul Harvest scarezone at the end of the plaza. The boardwalk is all clowns. CrackAxle is "Steam Pumpkins". . and the arch between DC Universe and Crackaxle is filled with glowing Jack O lanterns. . and honestly? is absolutely gorgeous. - be ready for the Crowds. . it was manageable during the day, but by ~4pm, the lines for any ride were crazy (and pretty much everything was operating). . and by 6pm (when the houses open. . tho the scarezones don't open till 7, as the creatures from the Arrival are who staff the scarezones). . it was difficult to navigate the park with the very crowded pathways. the Eclipse Party gets an A+ just for how fun it wal - and the park has no control over the Sun, so not their fault it didn't get darker during the full eclipse (the + is for the brilliance of blasting Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" right at the moment of full eclipse to start the drone show). and a perfectly timed small cloud allowed for some amazing pics of the eclipse as well. and the whole day/night? the park had the lights on Kid Flash going. it looks incredible. it really does. Jeffrey told us inspection is next week, so the ride should be open very soon. ok. how about some pics! arriving at the park. . one perk of attending an event, is you arrive a few hours before park opens, so able to park way up front in the lot! while waiting to check in, bumped into SFFT Jorge Alvares - the park's Marketing Supervisor (and also the voice of the San Antonio Spurs - he does the announcing at the home games) Lone Star Lil's opened up for the Eclipse Party, and most folks in the park has purchased this option. . so we all headed there, and I saw my friends Kelly and Nick (aka: the Quirky Coaster Couple). .they were in outfits for Octoberfest (and later that evening would change into Victorian Garb for Frightfest ).. they're oddballs, I love em! also met many other friends at the event, include Erika, Andrea (who gitterized us), & Belinda and look who I bumped into wandering around Lone Star Lil's making sure everyone was having a good time: Park President Mr. Jeffrey Siebert Jeffrey and I are ready for the Eclipse! a pic taken of the gang of folks I was hanging with. . taken by Park Marketing Manager Jeff Filicko (and I appreciate him airdropping me this pic, even tho the snaps on my shirt were losing a battle with my belly when I sat down. . LOL ) the Sun is starting to be eclipsed! see? (via my phone with the eclipse glasses over the lens) Ring of Fire started playing, and the drones take off! still a bit too bright, but they made a carousel horse, a few other things, and spelled out Six Flags and a pretty spectacular fireworks show began and suddenly a very well placed cloud passed by, and was able to get a couple of lovely pics of the eclipse without the needed glasses lens: the finale of the Eclipse fireworks was impressive as hell. . . this pic does NOT do it justice. .it went on like this for at least 2 minutes. grabbed a pic with the aforementioned Jeff Filicko before we headed out into the park, after congratulating him on such a fun Eclipse event. let's take a peek at Kid Flash! the station is almost done, and the LED Light package is amazing. . it doesn't really show up in my pic, but even in the daylight was impressive. dinner wasn't for a good 5 hours yet, so the group I was hanging with headed to Sangerfest Halle to grab some Octoberfest food. passing some Frightfest decorations on the way but there is this giant Octoberfest Animatronic out over here too for my $$? the best food stand. all three Proteins offered here are fantastic. and the German Chocolate Cake got a great review too. the meatballs - smothered in sauce, with a side of the potato wedges (I shared with someone, and dipping them in the meatball sauce made them so much better). that's the cake in the background there SOOO good and can't go to SFFT without a visit with Sweet Connie! clockwise from me: Bryce, Connie, Steve, Russell, Erika, and Nellie the newest figure on the Carousel. . finally able to get a pic without someone on it. going to the Trick or Treat Trail from Boofest (as noted, by the toilets. . LOL) . . but I mean, I HAD to get a pic with "Wizard" Wil E. Coyote and Haaaay Gurrrrrrrl! the new house this year is over in the old "Joker's Funhouse Coaster" unused queueline. the cornmaze for Boofest, has some slightly scary animatronics in the center of it this year. . . .I think that might be why there are multiple "chicken exits" from the maze this year. we headed over to watch "Curse of the Zombie Prom" show. . . it's silly, but fun. and one of the zombies comes out early to mess with the audience (pretty full show too) she's doing her "Shamu" impression to poke at SWSA up the road. since the Zombie Prom show is in the big Zaragoza theater near the front of the park, we popped into the VIP lounge for colas and cookies/snacks. this lady had an adorable rhinestone Cat in the Hat outfit on, and let me take a pic. yes, Adults *can* dress up for Frightfest, but the only rule is face cannot be covered! if you want to do makeup? you can only cover 1/2 of your face with it. we spent some time in Thirsty Buffalo enjoying drinks, and then headed over to the picnic grove for our dinner (that was included with the event ticket I had purchased). . on the way by Dr. Diabolical's Elixir cart . I noticed that they have JUST put a permanent cover over it. thank goodness for Shade. (I complimented Jeffrey about it later when I bumped into him again, and he said this is only step one. .there will be more improvements to this stand - hopefully a 2nd tap so they can double staff it) after dinner we fought our way back into CrackAxle - tho stood pretty far back (near the Buried Alive house) because it was just too crowded to try to get any closer for the Arrival. it worked in our favor, as we happened to be standing right where the Stilt Ghouls come out from (since they don't arrive by train). the ghouls that stream off the train, disperse into the (packed) crowd and mess with folks. . . after we did several houses, we took a break to go look at KID Flash light package in the evening. . how about a video of the light package in action? IMG_6182.MOV a look at Kid Flash from the other side. . and another short video of the light package in action: IMG_6200.MOV we made our way over to Lone Star Lil's for the "Monster Mash Bash: the Bloodletting" another great show - that happens to star many of the cast from Zombie Prom My friend Nellie - who was in the earlier pic with Sweet Connie. She won the Monster Makover the park drew for, and they made her over into a monster and let her terrorize folks in a Scare Zone for a while (what a fun contest they do every nite!). but once she was "released" back into the park, they had to clean off 1/2 her face, because Adults may not have full face paint in the park. and I bumped into the Quirkies again before we headed out. . .so I got to see the Victorian garb they had changed into. all in all, a great time was had yesterday. I'd recommend hitting SFFT soon. . while Octoberfest is still going on (to enjoy the food) and the Frightfest atmosphere. personally? I would not pay for the fear pass, and just stick to the two free houses, and ignore the other 5. . but hey, if you love jumpscares? it might be a good deal for you! regardless, recommended, as this park is always wonderful!