bert425

it was closed for maintenance during our time there. . . . so wasn't avail. regardless.

it's taking me just as long. . . LOL.. I'm still 3 parks behind you! that "Bear Castle" reminds me SO much of the Deer enclosure at Marineland, Niagara. but they STILL use that one - even if the Government took away all the bears from the enclosure they had, so you no longer can feed them ice cream cones. as to the Helsinki Wheel? Jon and I DID ride that one (tho, no, we didn't do the Sauna car. that was extra).

^ sounds really amazing. . wonder if they'll do something about that Cars ride - that's a HUGE amount of space wasted for a mediocre ride. . . turn it into something akin to Radiator Springs Racers, maybe?

Day 20: Thursday, June 22nd - Power Park Part II the Pizza Buffet was decorated just as "eclectically" as the rest of the park. it was over a grill (on the 1st floor) that only seemed to sell cheeseburgers & Pepsi - shades of Classic SNL), but upon going up the stairs, greeted by this funky Roman guard. why? hell if I know. sticking with the Owner's plane theme tho. .there are lots of planes in here hanging from the ceiling. how that ties with the Roman guy? yeah.. again, I dunno. the buffet had a few things more than just pizza (which was so so - tho they again had the pizza with corn on it). the Chicken nuggets and happy face hashbrowns were good, I recall. oh. there was also an Indian. .and a witch mirror (which I liked, especially the bat under it) and can't forget the Conquistador - that was guarding the staircase down to the burgerjoint below. pleasantly full, we headed out to the section of the park near the front that we hadn't explored yet. The sky was turning a bit darker, and it was getting a little chillier. . . luckily the hotel was right across the street, so made a quick stop while over here at the gates, to grab a hoodie. the Pizza place is on the 2nd floor of this building. the green tower is the park's Asian themed drop tower. the mentioned "main entrance" for the Hotel guests. . that building back on the left is the giant events center and the Movie theater. they were setting up for a big concert coming the next day. . didn't recognize the band names, but they apparently are popular in Finland. Time Square is another Kiddie flying carpet type ride. back behind it you can see a few other kiddie rides. back there is also the parks smallest coaster, and a shooting dark ride. the cars are a bit "steampunk". . so maybe that's the "Time" in the name of the ride? on the left was a weird little "station" that definitely gave me the impression that at one point it was a loading platform for a small train. the park doesn't have a train, and it's an odd "oversight".. so I've got to wonder if they used to have a trackless train type ride that at one point used this as it's station? no ride here. .but hey, a Rabbit riding a carrot. sure, why not? Mine Train is the parks final coaster, it's a Zamperla family coaster, with a fun little layout. tho they certainly made it less "family" and more "kiddie" with the train design which had VERY tight seats - especially after gorging on pizza buffet. but we squeezed our butts in! Next door was a car ride which was part Jurassic Park, part Antique Taxi, and part " we got this ride via multiple Garage Sales" here's Kristen and Brayden, looking excited to ride! ooo.. nice theming. . very Blair Witch. rather than squeeze into the front seat, we chose to ride front and back. look how excited we are! (and got yelled at by the operator for having my phone out. I was confused. this is a slow moving car ride that you aren't steering, but was told that I MUST put my phone away - and note, several extreme rides I had been on today, was told it was ok to have phone out for pics - so I went ahead and put my phone away and we "enjoyed" the ride. but it was weird, that THIS is the ride they won't let you take pics on. you can take pics OF it. . . so they aren't concerned about the content of the ride, or the design. it was just weird. hmm. . the drop tower hadn't gone in a while.. was it down? answer was yes, it was down. . but the same maintenance guy was there working on it, and he did get it back up. so Kudos to this amazing Mr. Fixit, who was able to get every down ride back up and running. we went on it a little while later. Kiddie Ferris Wheel, and behind it looks like a Himalaya, that I don't even remember seeing, so I didn't ride it! whoops. walking around the Dino Safari ride, to go to the park's dark ride. . here's a pic of the kind of Dinos you'll see on the safari. yup. . a plastic Zebra. this area suddenly got very well themed, to kind of a western Boom Town. Really well done. don't recall if the Steakhouse was open, but as we had recently eaten, didn't check anyways. here's the Dark Ride. . the Devil's Mine hotel (I think it's called that?) this one had working animatronics, even on the outside. with the cowboy up top talking to people in the queue, and various characters emitting "bodily noises" and it's a SHOOTING dark ride. I hoped it was good. and it was. . it was VERY good, I recall. I rode this thing at least 4-5 times. speaking of motion activated animatronics in this area: (yes, he yells at you for watching him while he's pooping. . .complete with fart sounds). As the sky threatened to open up, I headed back over towards Pitts Special to get a ride on it, just in case the Evening ERT had to be cancelled. passing back thru the "main street area" I again was impressed with the facades here. a photo-op to sit on a Cowboy's knee? why sure! I rode Pitts Special - I didn't care for it (not a fan of vertical lifts. . but this one doesn't even have inversions, so it seemed "not worth it". the fact I didn't get any pics of it when I went over to ride it? kinda says it all. heading back up to the rides in the front I hadnt' gotten on yet, I eyed this as I passed it. I was GONNA ride it, just had to get my nerve up. you can really see how threatening the sky was looking in this picture tho. an adorable kiddie flume, that really wasn't operating today as there just weren't a lot of tiny kids in the park. but look how cute! I will say that Pitts Special LOOKS pretty neat. .that ampersand feature. . .I mean, it looks like it SHOULD have inversions. taking a spin on Typhoon - going thru the house really adds so much to this ride - as does going completely upside-down. oh. .I actually DO have some pics from when I went over to ride Pitts Special. . just had them filed wrong. here ya go, a few pics of the Gerstlauer coaster with the Vertical Lift and looking the other direction, this is Junker. . with the loops. I AM "Kapteeni Koukku" I think this is a stage for a show, that they probably run on busy weekend days. from the backdrop, guessing it's a comedy pirate show. I've grown to appreciate these rides. . they are way more fun than they look, even tho really you're just going in a circle and controlling the "swing out" the Enterprise ran the whole rest of the day once it got fixed, but I can't recall if I went and got another ride on it. at first couldn't remember why i took this pic, then realized it was to catch the collapsing balcony on the tower there on the 2nd floor. I'm not sure WHY it does that, but it was pretty cool to watch steeling up my courage, headed towards the big ride I was gonna force myself to ride. *and I think this is when I grabbed my Mr. Slushie. taken from in line for this thing. I DID ride it, and we didn't' flip much. . so it really wasn't near as terrifying as I was afraid it was gonna be. in fact, this was running a crazier cycle than the one I was worried was gonna flip. luckily it stopped before I got too sick to my stomach. LOVE the angry fish faces on the cars tho a few more pics of Thunderbird, while over here. . . and then a treat for me. it was time to ride the Carousel! and Mike and Jon rode with me too. .so wasn't the only on riding. yup. . my happy place. while we were on the carousel, the drop tower started working again, so we went right next door to ride it. as with the starflyer, there are two separate lines: one for thrilling drop, and one side where it cycles as an observation tower. we chose fast, of course pretty neat that the top of the loading station is clear, so you can look up and see the prior riders. and the queue line has windows too. . so was able to get this shot of Collin, Barry, and Andy as they also had come right over when it started running again. after that ride, it was back to the dark ride (again) with yet another shot of the Dino Safari... that seems to have no dinosaurs, just zebras and military trucks. oh, I found this other carousel too this park lets you bring your doggie if you want to, and you can put them in the stocks while you enjoy the park. so of course I had to! I saved one of the best for last. . . I sat and watched this for a while, tho didn't ride it. it's the gayest, straight ride I've ever seen. you climb on top of the "bull" and wrap your arms and legs tightly around the "bull weiner". . and then it bucks like crazy to try and throw you off, while LOUD music blasts from those speakers. no. . really. I was worried about breaking my neck - even with all that padding underneath it.. so I just enjoyed watching. it has different settings too. and the operator controlled how extreme it was gonna be. i tell you. . just TONS of enjoyment watching this crap. . LOL it was time for our evening ERT over on Pitts Special, so we headed that way. now, I might be mis-remembering this, as it's been 10 months, but I *believe* Robb asked us if we wanted to do ERT on Pitts Special, or just do Junker again, and it was unanimously decided that Junker was the better coaster, so did that instead. while waiting for them to clear the short queueline, snapped some pics of the back end of Junker. (while getting eaten to death by mosquitos who came out in forces as it got overcast) some wonderful woodcarvings on the sides of the buildings back behind Junker. including the hawk (Eagle?) with it's catch the garages where the owner of the park keeps some of his classic cars (per the operator I was chatting with) whee!!! and now back on for more ERT.. this seems to be my pic, since I'm not on this train. . but I think the rest of them are from Elissa (and yes, I was so glad I had grabbed my hoodie) the Ride building, with a weird restroom/storage area for park food carts beneath it. and then a pleasant surprise. . . more ERT. on Thunderbird. I really liked the coaster, so was a happy "yes" for this too. i think I rode every cycle on this ERT, so these pics must be courtesy of Elissa (I see Robb, Andy, and Brad on the train) rider cam. . WHOOOOOOO!!!! just look at that smile on me. . such a good coaster. even if it DID 'put put put' thru the brake run every time, sloooooowly inching into the station. Steve looks thrilled. . HA! and then it was over, and time to go back to the hotel. Robb sent to the group chat a couple of spectacular pics he got from the top of Dragon Tower - when it was in "observation mode" look how amazing the setting for this place is! Pitts Special from the Dragon Tower, thanks to Robb. and back to the hotel to refresh for dinner. this was the welcome mat at the hotel: and before dinner, wandered a bit to snap pics of the oddball theming. the 2nd floor over the dining room - called the Lido Deck - looked like it was a bar area for use when they were really crowded. but there were planes hanging in the hotel too.. so not JUST boat themed. Eclectic! taken thru a closed glass door. . hence the reflection. very Nautical. . . the lobby on our side of the hotel, and Main Deck is the dining room. I believe the appetizer and Desert were the same as the prior night and that's why have no pics. but I do have a pic of my main course this evening. . . and I'm STILL confused by "why a cup of ketchup with my fish?" and the watermelon seems a bit out of place as well. one last look out the window towards Power Park. . and with that, I went to the room, packed stuff up, and was ready to head out in the morning. had been such a fun day, and I really enjoyed the wackiness of this place. tomorrow. . onwards to Sarkamniemi

^ well, that's gonna make quite the break between part 1 & part 2

Day 20: Thursday, June 22nd - FULL (and I mean FULL) day at the Northernmost Theme Park in the world: Power Park in Finland I had turned in early from the exhausting travel day / TPR Grand Prix. .. but many folks hung out at the "bar" that was near the Park's hotel. these pics are from Andy - and based on the time stamps, the 1st pic was around 11pm, the 2nd was around Midnight, and the 3rd was just about 1am. here's me, just after Hans came in, and raved about it being light after 1am. .and how I should get up and look. he was very insistent. . so here's my sleepy ass out on the balcony snapping a quick selfie, so I could go back to sleep (thanks Hans!) better pic (camera takes much better pics when it's not a selfie). . fast forward a few hours, and I believe was up just before 8am, and snapped this pic then. Sun now coming up and blue skies. we'd have some foretasted rain later in the day, but nothing really terrible, and tho was overcast (and colder) much of the day? ended up being a great day to visit the park. here's a look at what I got from the Breakfast Buffet served in the hotel. most of it was very good, and I loved the mustard Herring at the bottom center. and some fruit - gotta be "healthy" and then we headed across the street as a group to start the day at Power Park. I believe we were about an hour before Park Open and we were gonna get some ERT on Junker - the Park's Gerstlauer launched Infinity Coaster. With some ERT later in the day on Pitt's Special - the Park's Gerstlauer vertical chain lift Infinity Coaster, and Thunderbird - the Park's big woodie. making our way thru the gates, we passed a carousel (so of course got pics) and this thing, which was scary as hell... but I DID ride it. Nice, large, Ferris Wheel a swinging carnival ride. . but this one has an amazing setting - you swing THRU the house while spinning. It really feels like you're going to hit it every time. the Park also has a Boomerang - Cobra This was the first Boomerang to use Vekoma's "new" MK1211 open sided trains (spoiler, it didn't help, the ride STILL sucked, and I regretted getting talked into trying it out) tho I did love the theming on the Octopus ride there - and the tower behind it, which seemed to have some animatronics on it, so the balcony collapsed as if there was an earthquake going on, and then re-set. this crazy thing - for some reason called "Pegasus" (yeah, a lot of the ride names were a bit odd to me) - was AMAZING. this one did all the flipping and spinning that several similar rides we had been on earlier in the trip didn't do. Fantastic and a do not miss ride if visiting the park. the park's Spinning Wild Mouse coaster - called "Neo's Twister" (Based on a Finnish Cartoon mouse). If I'm recalling correctly, we got stuck on the brake run here facing the wrong direction, and they had to call someone to turn the car around so we could exit after the ride and there it is. . . Junker. or is it Pitt's Special? hard to tell - as they are bother Gerstlauer Infinity Coasters, and the park painted them the same color - so it looks like one massive coaster, but is actually two separate ones side by side. the park's flume ride. . which is really more like a Chute the Shoots boat in a river with some flume elements. Called Kwai River. and the big woodie back there is Thunderbird. I believe this one is actually Junker. I THINK that's the one that wrapped around the walkway. Lion King ? what the heck is this? and why is Johnny Depp in front of it? I LOVED the WTF-ness of this park. . it just comes out of nowhere sometimes. LOL such as this Enterprise. (I LOVE this ride, and they are disappearing). but this one? they took it literally, and named it after the USS Enterprise - with Star Trek theming and characters inside the base, that one could only see when the ride went vertical. it was down in the morning, but they had maintenance (the same guy who rescued us from the Wild Mouse) working on it most of the morning, and he DID get it working, so I could get a ride on it here's the TPR Group picture in front of Junker - with our Park guide. Thanks Robb for the pic headed into the station.. wow. .loved the Art Deco design on these trains. I *believe* they told us that Junker is a type of classic Plane (so is Pitts Special). .so that would explain the cool engines on the back of the train. wonderfully comfortable restraints. a look at the magnetic brake run, as it does come into the station really fast. looking out from the exit ramp from the station. . it's lovely here! (that's some of the owner's housing, I was told, tho he rents it out to park staff to stay in mostly) I dunno how much I'd love living right behind a rollercoaster.. but would be cool at first, I'd think. Wheeeeee! LIM launch. guessing this pic is from Elissa ? yeah.. I liked it and rode it a lot during the morning ERT theming! morning ERT over, and park now open to the public, we spread out to meet up again later for more ERT. crossing the "bridge" that Junker circles - you can look over and see the vertical lift for Pitts Special (that's the one that goes over the road and in the center of the race track). We had Evening ERT on that one, so we decided to move to other things as we'd ride that later if weather held out. LOL. . they called the water ride Kwai River, so that this would be the "bridge over River Kwai" BWAAAA-HAAAA-HAAAA oh and a cactus theming for the Mexican place (didn't eat at it, but I think that Erik said it was ok) the loop on Junker going around the bridge that I just mentioned: across the bridge is Thunderbird - a GCI coaster with Millennium Flyer trains . .. looks like it's got some steep turns. . . one of the drops on the Kwai River ride. . you can see the wide flume and why I said it's more of a Shoot the Chutes with some flume elements. it even comes alongside the "bridge" before dropping under it - in the major drop that will soak everyone in the boat. as noted, Park is now open, and Thunderbird is testing. a peek towards the front of the park. . random Alligator. sure, why not? but I did love the attempt at theming with the sign. . it was lovely over here. more.."theming".. this one didn't really make any sense to me.. .but OK oh yes. . HOT PINK trains. LOL (the other one, as you may have noticed was neon yellow) and it's themed like you're taking a train between cities. well.. the station is themed like that. . not so much the rest of the ride. best thing about it? the brake run coming into the station. they brake the hell out of this thing. We made it a game later during ERT counting the brake stops, as we inched along, slowly thru the brake run and into the station. . . I swear it was no less than 23 "stops" before the station every time. LOL and you exit the ride thru the "Flipper Saloon" er.. or, maybe I should say, you USED to? I mean. . I GUESS you could play this one - if you're really, really skinny. wasn't very busy today - not sure if it's just the time of year, the weather forecast for today, or just that it's not a weekend. but most everything was open. and some of the themed sections were great. . . even if just facades that contained basically convenience stores. ah.. just noticed, the neon yellow train has green sides. I did ask what this was - it wasn't open today - and I believe was told it's a "storybook" area for kids, where the characters in the window tell stories for the kids. I was getting "Flowers in the Attic" vibes tho. .LOL and across from it. . seemingly appearing out of nowhere? A construction themed Fun House. It looked like nothing, but was SO much stupid fun, I think I went thru it twice. and yes, full of the kind of stuff you'd see in a traveling carnival fun house . . but also full of freaky mannequins - doing "butt" humor. of course I loved it! they did make you check all bags and loose articles - but it was ok to carry a phone to take pictures. (I didn't question why a phone is not a "Loose article". . you can see, Andrew didn't question it either. D'oh! ooo. .this is cool! and this is rather . . "snug" funhouse done. . there seemed to be an outdoor walk-thru area. I THINK this says: "Teruetuloa". . . and when I asked what it was all about, they said this area was built to film a TV series, and they just left the sets after so the Park could use it as a walk thru experience. the woods were pretty, so figured, ok, let's check it out. having never seen the show, I had NO idea what was going on. . are they trolls? hermits living in the woods? Nymphs? i dunno, but there was a Photo Op, so I was happy. ' lots of buildings and sets to check out. . even a little band-stand. Wonder if there's actually music here sometimes? and lookie who came out while we were walking thru! Mascots. i think? didn't see them anywhere else in the park. one looks like a hermit, and one looks like a Nymph. . so I'm still confused. but no matter. .let's pose! NIGHTMARE FUEL!!! even a sauna out here. . . and a place to sacrifice puppies???? hell if I know. . we had to pass back by Thunderbird again on the way out from the walk thru, so sMisty and i hopped on for a front row ride. whee! thanks Erik for the pic! the Wild Mouse was having some issues, and wasn't quite open yet. . tho not sure why it says "Steam Power" on the sign, or why there are animals about to get ground into meat byproduct from gears. but just across from it, Pegasus was running. . . so we looked at each other and headed there. I had to look up what "HUOMIOITHAN" means, since I saw it on lots of rides, and surely they can't ALL be called that: it means: "Please Note" Erik said "hell no" to the spinny ride, but told us to have fun. so thank you to him for these great pics! This was one of the many kiddie rides sprinkled thruout the park. all of them looked like a hoot, but all of them were for little kids only. (most of them were paired up next to each other, with one operator for both rides) I REALLY wanted in on this: a bouncy house fill of balls, that actually moves! was told "little children" only.. but with some nice asking, was allowed to take a picture almost on it - even if I didnt' get to actually "ride" in it. I had to ASSURE him I wasn't going to go inside, I just wanted a picture. still.. good enough! I was happy Neo's Twister had opened while we were on the other ride, so we headed back over there and got in queue. the line stacked up while we were waiting for Maintenance guy to come spin our car around so we could exit. (making it the longest line we saw all day). LOL Having ridden most of the stuff in this section, before heading back towards the main promenade of the park, we decided to ride the Kwai River ride. the ops decided that all six of us should ride together in one boat - despite us asking if it was ok to split up between boats. yup.. they made sure we were heavy enough, and this was the result. does it get you wet? umm. . . yup: walking by Lion King again, it was running now, soi got a better look at what it actually is. seems to be a "flying carpet" type ride . with arms crossed neon colored lions sitting at the back of each car. No, that doesn't explain why there's a pirate there. but I mean. .flying neon Lions, and you're worried about why there's a Pirate? I didn't even ask about riding this one (tho did see some adults on it). . was worried it wouldn't support my weight. the Enterprise was up and running - which made me SO happy. we got a ride on it with a long ass cycle, and I was happy that I hadn't eaten lunch yet. It was nice of them to give us such a long cycle tho, as i had mentioned to the maintenance guy earlier how much I loved these rides. tho it did concern me that he hung around during our ride to make sure it kept operating ok - it had been closed due to getting stuck in the upright position the prior day. still. . . .whee!!! remember I noted some of the rides have strange names? here is "Fiesta Mexicana". . . which is the park's Starflyer. yeah. what I found rather cool tho, is that there were two separate lines - one for "thrill" (meaning that the Starflyer operated as normal) and a line for "Observe" (meaning it spun very slowly so you could use it as an observation tower. i thought that was rather a neat option, and have never seen a Starflyer operate that way. (there were only two people in the "observe" line, so the operator loaded up the Thrill side first to get us on. not the main entrance gate, but an entrance gate to the Park.. I think the one closest to the main parking area, for those who are not staying on property. were some clouds rolling in, but was still a lovely day. Finnish butt. I mean, I COULD claim I took the pic because I wanted to show someone standing in the "observe" line. . but no. . I took it for the butt who doesn't want to buy something from "Mr. FUNSLUSH" ???? (I had one later in the day. . super sweet. . like a slurpee with added sugar) here's that Cobra I got talked into riding. yeah. . still terrible, even with different trains, and some theming (a puff of smoke over the train when you leave the station from the 1st drop) the parks one remaining "big" coaster - which is a family coaster, called Joyride. it's pretty much a traveling carnival coaster, that is pleasant enough, and does have some steeply angled turns. and artsy shot of a crappy coaster, taken thru an ok coaster. Power Park really does like to paint coasters that are close to each other in the same colors. . .if you just glance at it, these two look connected. and closing out this part of the report with a park map: by now was starting to get hungry for lunch. . . so we took a look at the offerings, and I believe myself, Big Mike, and Andrew decided that the Pizza Buffet near the front entrance sounded promising.. so we headed there. to be continued. . .

S.T.A.R. labs (a big part of the DC universe - in particular the Superman family corner of it), has a "Particle Accelerator". and the Character "Captain Atom" - who has been associated with Star Labs in the past, does have "Quantum Powers" so it wouldn't be out of the question, if they decided to do something Star Labs/Captain Atom and use this name. I doubt it. . .seems a stretch. . . but you never know!

^ looks like you had a great time!!

^ thanks! this reminds me I need to get back to this and finish off! (three parks left). work dumped so much stuff on me (and life as well). . that just haven't had the time to sit and work on this. but will get back to it and finish this off soon!

Granted.. it's not a fair comparison, as SFFT is run much differently (although SFStL does seem to be copying style/ideas from SFFT now with the updates). but Joker: Carnival of Chaos (previously planned as Joker: WildCard) is the exact same ride that's going here. At SFFT: they started clearing for Foundation pour on 2/23/19 footers poured by 4/7/19 ride pad, and queue house done by 4/28/19 ride parts arrived on site 5/18/19 main supports bolted together (on ground) and LED light package installed 5/25/19 ride vertical, and 1st testing on 6/26/19 finishing touches over the next week. Ride was ready to go by 7/14/19, but did not open until 8/10/19 due to waiting for inspections. so from actual starting of pouring the footers, until ride was up: ~3 months. and from actual RIDE PARTS ARRIVING ON SITE until ride was up? ~2 months. (all dates from construction updates at SFFT source) So, yeah.. they COULD still hit mid/late summer, if they get it going.

note that Pepe is there too. nothing to do with "woke". . .which is a GOOD word, it needs to be taken back from those who think it's an insult.

Oa and Mogo DO have similar designs. .

I first rode this at the end of 2022. the launch slowed to almost a stop at the top of the lift. It was underwhelming. there was NO "pop of air" at the top of the lift hill - and anyone saying there was, and the ride is now "neutered" is simply not telling the truth. the ride is EXACTLY the same after the 1st hill, no difference at all.

I'll believe it when I see it. the main source for this has been saying they're shutting down every year for a while now, and he's always been wrong.

and it's finished. . .and it's a Non-Specific to a specific GL: Planet Oa I'm assuming signage will go up explaining the Home planet of the Guardians in the Queue Line (and yes, it's 100% "Planet Oa". . it's how Jeffrey just introduced it on Twitter)

^ Marvin is often out and about at SFFT

Day 19: Wednesday, June 21st - Travel day! From Sweden to Finland, were we were gonna spend a couple of days at the Northernmost Theme Park in the world. And have the TPR Grand Prix! it was sad saying goodbye to Stockholm, as I'd really enjoyed our time here, and what I'd seen of the City. (and I LOVED Grona Lund). but it was time to move on. before heading down to the lobby to meet everyone and head to the airport - we were flying today from Sweden to Finland - I finally DID remember to get a pic of the room at the hotel we stayed at. (this is after Hans and I pushed the beds together. .for our stay we had separated them with the little tables in between). not neat, but at least can see the room pretty good size. but with one of those annoying 1/2 showers, that this American always has trouble figuring out, and get a flood in the bathroom. eventually I'll figure out how to use the hand shower without spraying all over everything. waiting for our bus - we were saying goodbye to Didier today too, as he was leaving us at the airport - one final peek into the coffeshop/cafe connected to the hotel & ABBA museum. I recall this being a good size airport (pretty crowded too) with plenty of shops to explore while waiting for our flight to be called. I knew it was gonna be a small plane, as luggage for carry-on was really restricted. but I was surprised. I think this is the first plane I've ever been in with Propellers. Snug fit. . but we all were on the flight - spaced out here and there in seats thruout the plane. I ended up with a window seat, not my usual choice, but I didn't mind as was interested in looking out the window. ok. .that's gonna freak me out a little. not sure if this is leaving Sweden, or going into Finland. . . .but it sure is pretty. landing in Finland. Can you tell??? this was hysterically a big, one room Airport. with the bag claim and arrival on one side, and the "lobby" for departures on the other. I'm in Finland. yay! no worries about which luggage carousel our bags would be on. . .there was only one. and I think we were the only arriving flight anyways. Our new bus driver was waiting for us, and very quickly we were on our way. the country side in Finland looks a lot like many of the other Scandi Countrysides I'd seen. . and very much like mid America as well. for the most part. some houses stood out. many of them were painted Red with Yellow Door. (I did ask about that, and was told that painting your home Red was a sign of Finnish Pride, as it was reflective of the Copper Mining the area was first known for). the many fields of Finland but then, seemingly in the middle of no where, this appeared on the horizon. The Power Park complex (depending which sign you looked at in the park) all owned by the same folks - including that Road House, the complex contains a theme park, a big event center, a big 5D Cinema, a big Race Track - that can be configured for professional racing, as well as for full size go karts, mini-Golf course, and probably more! the owner collects all kinds of stuff (I didn't go into the Road House during our visit, but those that did have pics of some of the James Bond Movie vehicles from in there). like this plane. just displayed there, for some reason. not sure if it's from a film? but I'd assume it IS, and I should know that? yes, one of the configurations of the Track DOES go around one of the coasters. NEVER in America. and look at the size of those grandstands. . they must draw quite the crowd for some races. on the far right in the back, is our hotel (my room would end up at the farthest right, upper corner - overlooking the turns of the track, and what looked like no-longer-used grandstands). Kinda spooky, but all kinds of weird too. the front of the onsite Hotel. There were other guests here, but mostly it was the TPR group. kinda funky design, and the truck in front says "Power Park" so we're in the right spot. one side of the hotel - there are apparently more buldings around the corner too (near the abandoned grandstands), but they weren't in use, I was told. this hotel (called "Park Hotel" based on the name over the door on this side, has two entrances. . but the lobby is only on the other side, and the two sides connect via the Dining Room - which is only open for Breakfast and Dinner. funky, and I liked that it looked like we were gonna be staying inside a Koo Koo Clock. large Pool (but not for swimming.. tho we did see a drunk guy get naked and jump in on the 2nd night), with Stingray sculptures (for some reason), surrounded by that building that was a sauna/bar/ snacks area. it DID get rowdy at night, even with not many folks in the hotel. I remembered to take a pic of our room as soon as we got in it this time. the "info about the hotel" booklet. our room - with Hans enjoying the balcony the view down from said balcony. . . there were folks racing. we were planned to race tomorrow. the TPR Grand Prix. but the weather forecast wasn't looking great. I was looking forward to a nap before dinner, as it had been a really long day and I was exhausted. (I can't remember why I was so tired. .maybe it was an early morning check out after closing out Grona Lund with ERT and so my adrenaline made it hard to sleep? Or it could have just been the travel day - flights always stress me out a bit). . but when the park worked with Robb & Elissa to let us do our races this afternoon instead of possibly being rained out tomorrow? I got perky again and we all headed over to the Race Track area of Power Park. "Pit Lane Cafe" wasn't crowded at all. . .but the had some snacks to purchase if anyone was hungry, while we filled out all the forms and insurance things before we could race. this..did NOT make me want to eat one of the ice creams. . It's the Leif Garrett Smile and the Ascot/Pink Hanky that does it, I think. . . .LOL I was in Group 2 racing, so I stepped out front to get some pics of the park. I actually rode everything here. . including that Orange and Yellow thing that really scared the crap out of me. but I rode it. (I guess that's the same ride as Catwoman's Whip at SFStL ?) the starflyer runs in two modes, slow spinning for "observation" or fast spinning for "thrill". . you can line up for which one you want, and the operator sets the cycle based on which line she's loading from. Rather cool, I thought. (this might be another restaurant on the left, below. . .wasn't open that I saw, but probably most of their business comes during races. stepping out on the other side of the cafe over the track. you can see one of the Grandstands by our room over there in the distance, as well as some of the ones that looked abandoned, and the other hotel buildings on the left back there. as noted, there were other folks there racing, so snapped pics of them while waiting for our turn and the coasters running in the background. as mentioned by (I think) both Chuck and Erik in their reports - that tangled mess of track back there is actually TWO Gerstlauer Eurofighters, that are next to each other (one launch, one vertical lift) that the park painted the exact same color. . so it looks like one giant coaster. HAH! and then it was our time to go down to the lockers and get dressed for the TPR Grand Prix! they are serious.. as these are almost full size carts, with high speeds. Can be dangerous, so you must wear protective suit, and headgear, and glasses, etc. I'm ready to go tho! so is Hans. damn..everyone looks good in their suits. Except me. I look like a potato taking pics of Group 1 racing while waiting for our race. which car is Robb? the one with the Go-pro attached! a pic of Elissa taking pics of the group racing. Each Group got two races. a first race, and then a 2nd race depending on your placement - with the top speeds, or the lower speeds. so here you can see who is who based on the car numbers at the top. all these pics are, I believe, from Elissa, or possibly Chuck. 30: Kristen 3: me 11: dunno who that is. . maybe Hans? 23: Brad 1: Ryan 7: Brayden 9: Big Mike 5: Stephen 3: Me Big Mike & me yeah. . after seeing some of the others "spin out" and realizing these go REALLY fast - and I don't recall there being a great seatbelt! - I decided to just enjoy my driving, and take my time. So I came in last. but I had a great time regardless. Park employees were out on the track too helping with wrecks, as there were a few big ones (but no injuries). after both groups raced, the losers got to race again, with the winner of this group getting to run in the final laps with the winners. as you can see, I still came in last, but at least I had fun! (and Robb, who was filming everyone, had slower average than me. . so yay! I wasn't the slowest!. . LOL). I think this is courtesy of Chuck. it's a picture of Elissa, taking a picture of Robb, while Robb is filming, and I'm just happily puttering along enjoying my ride. Jon in 24, me in 8 oh well! the "safety" signs down in the pit. . . and this wonderful mural they had painted on the wall of one of the garages. Racing done, it was time to eat. (by the way the inside of the Koo Koo Clock hotel facade? the inside was SUPER weird. . designed and themed like a 1940's passenger ship. it was so funky). heading into the dining room (after showering and changing), you can see the breakfast buffet area. Only used in the morning, the rest is table service. a player piano, up on the stage. for some reason. mixed in with the lighting and instruments. . and yes, it was playing while we were there. closer look at the dining room. you can see how "non busy" it was. . . but dinner did still take about 2 hours. That seemed to be the custom, really long waits between courses, and taking the time to enjoy. not really an issue, but once we realized that every meal with a server would be that way, at least knew what to expect. the food was great tho. . . 1st course, Escargot Andrew had this (he was sitting next to me) yeah. . doesn't look appetizing, I know. I mean. .it LOOKS really bad, but it was very, very good. a non-super sweet desert. I think it was a Mousse over a Panna Cotta? I do remember liking it, but noting it wasn't sweet. Cheating a little, as Elissa didn't hand these out until the next night's dinner. but we all got a participation medal! how cool is that? then as I was totally exhausted, and dinner took so long, it was actually pretty late.. like almost 10pm. So I headed up to the room, while others headed over to the bar, or over to the Road House, or just to relax. I was asleep, so I DO believe these next few pics are from Brad or Chuck - who shared to the trip group, so I swiped them and have them on my camera roll. the sun setting. .probably around 1am. as noted, i was already well crashed. . . we had a FULL day tomorrow at Power Park. but the travel day was good, and Grand Prix was a blast. This kind of day is another reason why I love going on TPR trips.

wish we had a "hug" reaction. ..

he wasn't mentioned (or shown). . but since they are naming a ride after him (it's a Nebulaz). . .and all other "named" rides have statues of the characters in front of them (even Kid Flash). . . I'd expect we'll get a statue, and a character meet opportunity. (pic from yesterday)

I REALLY think this is a Generic GL ride. why I think this? Here's the slide Jeffery shared in Jan. at Winterfest for the new Character interactions in the DC Universe when the new sections open: Jessica Cruz, Hal Jordan, and John Stewart are all walk around GL's

^ I think the GL ride is not specific to WHICH GL. . . so that will count to cover all. (unless they slap a giant Hal Jordan on top - currently it's just the pole, so I'm assuming a big GL Logo symbol will go there)

SFFT is currently spending a huge amount of $$ retheming the Kid's area into a huge expansion of the "DC Universe" including naming the new dueling racing coaster, Kid Flash. Repainting (awesomely, by the way, it looks AMAZING) zoom jets, into Green Lantern. And Skyscreamer into "Supergirl" and the new area will have the "Metropolis Railway" monorail. the DC characters are not going anywhere.

I have! Nick and I did that back in 2016

so. . I just got an alert thru the Six Flags app. . the Speedy Parking is now FREE for my level pass (Diamond). all I had to do was sign up for it, and I have it for free for the rest of the year (thru Jan 1st 2025). I have to assume that the upcharge pricing for it was a big flop. . . but hey, I'll take it! was super easy to sign up, just need to give them your license plate, and good to go. tho it means less folks at the booths when coming in. . .

and here's Swag from Grona Lund & ABBA museum Magnets from Grona Lund: Magnets from ABBA museum (and I bought sets for a friend too) stuffed monkey gift from Matthew and T-shirts from ABBA museum: