RCT3Bross

Well (some) theme parks have shut down here in the Netherlands, it was inevitable. While I completely understand the situation, I'm a bit upset it didn't happen after this weekend as tomorrow I wanted to go to the Efteling but public safety should not be jeopardized so I can get my entertainment. I really hope this blows over quickly and life can start to stabilized in the next month or something.

Wanted to post this yesterday and completely forgot about it. Here are some extras I know about it: - It's 100% a Vekoma. Vekoma announced a 8th coaster at the park on Instagram with a picture of black track. - Boomerang isn't confirmed but very likely as someone managed to snap a picture of black track piece with the rails bend to prevent the train from going off and looks identical to the Vekoma junior boomerang way of stopping the train. - It might be a clone of Saven at Farup Sommerland as people found some aerial pictures with footers and when you place the Saven design on that it fits perfectly. So it's most likely a black clone of Saven that needs to open this spring (also confirmed by Vekoma). Edit: Spelling.

^ And ^^ One extremely good thing is that here in the Netherlands they try to find the people who are infected, like we now get a bunch of students who went skiing in north Italy back who all get tested just to make sure. After the first case they tested all the people he had been around and this is why that number starts to double almost each day here (Yesterday we had 83 cases the day before that 41 or something close to that.), so expect that number here to skyrocket the next few days, weeks.

Living in the Netherlands I'm really surprised the Efteling is still open as the first person to be diagnosed here lives in Loon op Zand what is the township of the park. Now I'm not concerned at all but we have a tendency to overreact in the Netherlands so I guess we will see how it goes, still expecting it.

^The idea seems to come from the fact that the park has released their 2020 parkplan and the ride has been removed there, but the attraction page still exist so I don't really know what's going on there.

I saw Sonic today. I have to say not bad, a solid 7/10 if I had to rate it. Most of the movie was just generic toys, Videogame, anime movie adaptation aka let's bring in the military and a human side-kick, but the movie had an opportunity for one of the oldest cliché and didn't even attempt it which made me very happy because I always hated it. I also had to watch the Dutch version that also soured the experience what means I probably would have enjoyed the movie more if I had watched the English version.

It's been a while after the last post here but a lot of work has been done by the park. Pandadroom has been closed down reworked and reopened as Fabula. Also Max + Moritz had all the track-work done last Friday: Placing the last piece One during the day. (Picture source: Efteling Facebook page.) We also know the rides are 300 meter (984,3 Feet) long, 6 meter (19,7 feet) high and have a top-speed of 36 Km/h (22,4mph). The park also has taken down a fairy tale house to rebuild it very soon. To finish this off Joris en de Draak has a malfunction that last a couple of weeks now. This Saturday I was in the park and you really miss it as Bob is no longer there, Max + Moritz is not open yet and de Vliegende Hollander is in maintenance cutting their coaster selection in half leaving only Python, Baron and Vogel Rok. So a bunch of things happened here after the opening of the last fairy tale, I thought it was worth sharing.

2020 is shaping up to be a good year for me. For Sure parks: -Efteling -Walibi Holland -Phantasialand -Toverland Very Likely: -Dinsneyland Paris resort -Europa Park -Tripsdrill -PortAventura World -Parque Warner Madrid maybe: -Parc Astérix

This ride doesn't look like a Spinning Coaster, the fact that it is makes it even better. I for sure will ride this when it opens.

Just got home from seeing The Rise of Skywalker. The 9th and final chapter of the Star Wars saga. Well there are things I don't like there is a lot of things I did. This was the scale I wanted Return of the Jedi to be, this sense of finality that I still felt robbed from in RotJ by those teddy-bears. No this movie did it so much better. I really liked that RoS did it own thing while not forgetting it had to wrap up 8 movies. I like to get more into this movie but that means spoilers. The Sequel trilogy: I want to look back just on these 3 movie's. It's definitely my least favorite trilogy, I don't think episode 9 did enough that watching episode 7 and 8 in with all the information is as much fun as watching episodes 1 and 2 after watching episode 3. The OT had just a great story but like the sequel trilogy wasn't as mapped out like the prequels. All the trilogies had there ups and downs but this is how I place them: 1. Prequels: (Episodes 1 and 2 lacked in the main story but Episode 3 made it a nice package.) 2. Original: (All three Episodes had a great main story but 4 has some problems after watching Episode 6 that prove this wasn't mapped out as much as people like to believe.) 3. Sequels (I enjoyed all three again, Episode 8 had a great main story but a bad side story. Abrams return was good to fill the gaps created by Episode 7 but no this felt as much mapped out as the OT) It falls in the last place but I love each trilogy and I can't wait to watch all 9 movies in a row. One thing I didn't like for RoS includes a small spoiler but was present in the teaser so SPOILERS if you didn't watch that: The Emperors return was done the only way I wouldn't like it. That said he was used right.

I don't know when I look at that first picture that A.J. shared seeing that pivot point of the lapbar and the amount of "floor" I saw from that seat makes me think: "That head is to little for this train." I like the head, I like the shape and dimensions for it, I just feel like it would have fitted better on a GCI train. I mean RMC has their seats and floor built on top of their chassis while GCI has them more embedded into the train and I feel that would have made the total look, look more "finished". I'm going to reserve final judgment when I see some track underneath the train, I have a feeling that's going to change a lot of my current view of the train. Again I like it, I just need to get used tot the "nakedness" when I look a bit lower.

^ Yes Untamed comes to mind quickly but I'm sure it's not the only one I like the gator head, but it seems too little for the RMC somewhat bulky shape. I don't know it looks a bit bare in the front, but it's a compromise I believe is justified when something looks good.

Next park is also the last visit of 2019 my home park: The Efteling in mid December.

^ I don't want to hate Big One, but it's the absolute worst coaster experience I ever had. I don't think this ride is boring, it has some nice moments, but this is the only coaster that hurt me and I still had pain days after my ride on it. I just hope the retrack helps to make this ride more enjoyable. I guess what I mean is I like what they are doing.

Still very flexible in my planning so that won't be a problem. Also during my last visit they still had the "construction" theme going with Karacho, so I'm used to that.

I was planning a trip down to Europa Park next year now Piraten reopens, might make a stop at Tripsdrill while I'm at that corner as well to try out these new rides. Also I like a reride on that log Flume.

That was more my own assumptions as when Looopings talked about the rumor of this ride type could be coming to the park in August this year they also had a snippet of a quote from Steve van den Kerkhof Plopsa-Chairman. There he said something like the "Successor" or "the next" Anubis the Ride what I assumed meant that this ride would replace Anubis.

^ I was afraid first that it would go on the place of Anubis the ride, but now I know that it doesn't I will wait till 2021 before I make my visit. Belgium really gets lucky in 2021 with this ride and the Mega Coaster in Walibi Belgium, I'm jealous of our southern neighbors.

I added the pictures of the closing day to the previous post. ^^ Those Trees will be back, I have no fear when it comes to that with the Efteling. As the ride gets taken down these days some things of note also happend. The queue is also destroyed, people expected that the queue would be reused with Max + Moritz but no it got sold on the internet (People where able to by the log posts that made up the queue for 50 Euro per log.) Also I guess this wasn't mentioned here before but we also know that the new Fairy Tale, The Six Swans, will open September 28th, they are testing the ride aspect.

Just the Coasters: 2010: Joris en de Draak (A few Days before it was open) - Efteling 2011: Naga Bay (Dizz) - Bobbejaanland 2014: Flug der Dämonen - Heide Park Sky Scream - Holiday Park Arthur - Europa Park 2015: Baron 1898 - Efteling Schwur Des Kärnan - Hansa Park 2016: Lost Gravity - Walibi Holland Pulsar - Walibi Belgium Taron - Phantasialand Raik - Phantasialand Wildfire - Kolmarden 2017: Star Trek Operation Enterprise - Movie Park Germany 2018: Tiki Waka - Walibi Belgium Fenix - Toverland Wicker Man - Alton Towers Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach Tweestryd - Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen 2019: Fury - Bobbejaanland Untamed - Walibi Holland Notes and Future plans: 2013: Psyké Underground: An upgrade worth a note, I never rode it before 2013 however. 2018: Python: A Retrack worth a note, my first ride however was back in 2008. 2019: Desmo Race: missed out on this one I visited Mirabilandia July 30th but Desmo Race wasn't working. 2020: Max + Moritz and F.L.Y. are for sure 2020 credits (if F.L.Y. opens in 2020)

So this weekend is the last for the Bob and I decided to go 2 days instead of my usual 1. The park has been cutting trees down near the ride and this gives a whole new look on the Bob. The station of the Bob that will be reused for Max and Moritz. This really opens up the place. Looks very strange. Just felt like making these. Clear look the lift from every angle. While the Trees where beautiful in the experience of the ride without them the ride looks more beautiful. People where queuing up for a last ride. One from the single rider queue. When it rains the ride stops and it was for me a reason to call it a day. Tomorrow are the last rounds of this rare ride and I will be there. Edit (9-9-2019): Pictures from 9-1-2019 Closing day: Prep work was done. Flag hangin on the operator booth with opening and closing date. Lots of traffic jams at the exit. As a T-Shirt collector I was happy with this shirt. These little flags where handed to people all day, there where moments no bob left without everybody waving them around. At the end of the day the track was full of them. A not so good onride shot, but if you look at the inside of the turn you might see a couple of flags. Without the trees this is how open it looked. For my last ride I took the regular queue to see the decorations for the last day. As I was waiting for my last ride it broke down for a minute or two, it just had to happen the last day. Red carpet at the exit as the ride was getting ready to close down. Half an hour before the regular queue closed the single rider queue already was shut. My last picture of the ride. A small gathering before the queue got closed for good. Closing the gate. And the end of the Bob 1985 - 2019 A small party was going on near the exit when the queue was closed.

The park is absoultely worth visiting... but at least now you can adjust your expectations. And I'd also say the park is worth visiting provided you also visit Legendia on the same trip! You recommending the park even after the "bad" experience sums up nicely why it used to be 50/50. It justs feels like a mixed bag of a park. So the adjusted expectations comes with the drop to 60/40, It's still very much on my radar though it just the priority has dropped. Getting this park recommended together with Legendia however helps me to consider the trip down the line if next year doesn't end up happening. I'm still hoping that things work out this year not only for a Poland trip next year but it can also make coaster trips in general easier in the future.

I must say I was about 50/50 to ever visit this park but Robb you really made that more like a 60/40, and yes 60% on the "no" vote and 40% on the "yes" vote. But I cannot lie, maybe I will be visiting the park in 2020. Right now I have something going on but this is still very fresh and requires things to work out this year. Anyways that trip will also include Legendia so I have a chance to ride Lech coaster also, throw in Hyperion and Zadra that look like they can give me something. With Speed I know what I can expect because I rode Divertical this year (solid ride but nothing new or exciting) and Roller Coaster Mayan gives me the chance to experience the "new" Vekoma SLC trains (But thats in no way a selling point for me). So if I get the chance next year I will take it. In about three weeks I will know more, if it stops there I doubt I'll make plans to go to there any time soon.

About that whole steel, wood, hybrid thing. The Worst part is that people will call it a wooden coaster just because of the construction of the ride. I've been to Walibi Holland 3 times after Untamed opened and each visit I heard people regard it as a wooden coaster, it annoys me but what can I do about it, I mean I'm not going to correct them (I don't even know them) and even if I did I doubt I can get them to call it steel or Hybrid. But Energylandia supporting them just angers me, they know they're wrong and it's just a record claim they don't really own. Also that cheap photo-shop really angers me even more as thats just lying.

I've ridden all 3 but my guess it's all about opinion. I mean all three are different rides, wildfire is a fast coaster, GeForce is an Airtime coaster and Helix is a looping, launch coaster. But Zadra looks to be a nice competition for Wildfire, it really seems to fly through the elements. I'm heavily conflicted about a visit in the near future, I mean Hyperion and now this, those rides look so great.