Divv3k

I don't think it's any secret that the Brit Crew needs only the smallest of excuses to get together and find lots of alcohol and copious amounts of other fun things! So Andrew coming over to study in the UK for six months was reason enough for a bunch of us to get together for a weekend of fun in Manchester! Even though there's not an open park around here at this time of year we still managed to find some activities to keep the "TPR Brit Crew Experience" intact! Check it out... I'm Divv, and you're not. Thanks for reading! Was that fun guys? I think so! I foresee many, many more drunken nights like this to come whilst Andrew is over here with us! Though maybe none of us will survive tonight if this is anything to go by! Andrew’s never going to survive a week in the UK if this night is anything to go by! Oh good lord. Now that's HOT! TPPeePee! Rach just turned a quarter of a century old! Congratulate her! Try harder, TPDave! Throw those shapes, boys! By entire coincidence Mike happened to bump into some of his Just For Men Friends here! Our final bar is Manto, where copious amounts of Windex can be obtained! This place was fun, if only because we got to laugh at Scottish Steve and Mike some more! Abuse Mike! Abuse him IMMEDIATELY! Damn he found us! Has anyone seen Scottish Steve? This place is certainly Lou-approved! Let’s see what Via has to offer! View well and truly banged my party! Let’s check out somewhere else on Canal Street! Its one thing to drink TPDave under the table but this is just mean! I love it! This photo is not camp enough for this update. Please ignore and move onto the next photo! Thanks! Southern Steve, this one is EXCLUSIVELY for YOU! Can you do this TPDave? (Please ignore the scary camp guy who looks like he may kill your children!) Could this be an “A”? Yup, we were listening to YA! This looks like a “Y”! Dave calls this one the “Roly Poly Cowboy!” I have no idea what’s going on here but I’m smused! Hold on to that feeling! Dave calls this little move the “Uppy downy hand slap!” OMG, Mike’s rug is about ready to explode!!! Yay, let’s all abuse Mike! There’s certainly plenty of campness in here! Will View be up to the challenge of satisfying Mike’s massive cravings? Dave, would you mind taking Lou’s empty Windex bottle? Thanks for that. Steve like his beers extra foamy. Remember this and help him when you see him with a foam free beer. First stop: Churchills. Will this place satisfy the TPCravings? Okay, enough of that eating malarkey, we’re at Canal Street and we’re gonna get pished oot oor tits! The wasabi in the chocolate fudge cake clearly got Steve a wee bit TOO excited! Number 93. Order it while you can! Yay, Lou’s here! Random group photo with Wagamama hotness! Brad held those chopsticks for this photo and this photo alone because he FAILS! Dinner time! We’ve never been here before; let’s see what it’s like! All that time running into little kids clearly took its toll on Mike. It’s TeamPR! Trust Dave Fudge to strike the campest laser gun pose of all time. Oooh, the Ultimate Sci-Fi Action Adventure? I sense some sharks with lasers! TPDave and Mike are my guitar heroes. They rock my party to shreds. You know what’s in that bottle in Steve’s left hand? It’s Lemon Cider! Isn’t it, Steve?! Wow Mike, that’s a great impression of the dude on the Irn-Bru logo! Wow, that Divv3k guy got one of those turkey things! Gobble, gobble gobble! I can see some TPArse! Mike just can’t get enough of the TPBalls. That's one hell of a McRack! There’s also a bowling alley in Manchester! Can you believe it? Remember, Manchester has a ferris wheel! Just like you might find at your local amusement park! Although McTucky’s may impact Andrew’s well being for the worse! After many hours of boozing Andrew is still somehow alive! Yes, Divv dances like an eejit, but forget about that and pay attention to the fact that Colonel Sanders is alive and well in Manchester! ITS THE RETURN OF THE RUG!!! HEY YOU GUYS! Must drink more beer so I’m able to make some sense of Scottish Steve’s logic! TPDave, why can’t you bend your left thumb? Everyone else can! Yes, Fudge 3: Master Of All That Is Camp & Disturbing is here! And if you wanted a reason for why we’re in a pub: Andrew’s in the UK! Let’s welcome him by getting very drunk! Here’s a pub! Just like you might find in a theme park! We’re in Manchester! Did you know that there’s a ferris wheel in Manchester? Just like you’d find in a theme park!

This is more of a review of the last four or five years for me since I've only really been an enthusiast since 2005, but I'm sure I'll have some stuff to say! - Favorite new coaster Balder! Balder! Balder! - Favorite new ride As far as non-coasters go I'd probably say Valhalla, although I'm probably forgetting some Disney or Universal amazingness that opened this decade. - Favorite new park I can't think of a new park that opened this decade that I visited and really loved. As far as new-to-me parks go then IOA would be the top of the list. - Most memorable park moment The first thing that sprung to my mind when I read this question was Larry falling on his arse at the punching bag in Linnanmaki! So let's go with that! Special mention to experiencing the Terror of the Towers with Scottish Steve! - Most memorable coaster moment Riding Balder at midnight in 2006 and thinking it was the most amazing thing ever only to have that ride emulated and bettered in 2009! - Best ERT session Getting strapped in and not allowed to leave Expedition GeForce on the 2008 Europe Trip! - Least favorite coaster Son of Beast on the Midwest trip! Although a perverse part of me is really glad I had this horrifying experience! - Least favorite park That's a tough one. I usually find something I like about every park I visit. As far as least satisfying I'd say M&Ds since there really is not much good stuff there to ride at all! - Most interesting ride you've seen introduced It has to be Intamin prefab woodies! - Least interesting ride you've seen introduced The Mack e-Motion coaster. Pointless. - Your favorite TPR moment (favorite post, trip report, video, whatever!) Lou's 2007 Year in Review. - The decade's biggest flop Vertigo at Walibi Belgium! - The best meal you've had at a park The BBQ Steak Burger thing I had at Mythos was amazing! I'd also like to mention Hansa Park and their bacon wrapped asparagus! - The worst meal you've had at a park Don't order fish and chips from Skara Sommerland. Even if it's free. - Best park turnaround I think you've got to give credit to Thorpe Park for becoming the thrill seeker destination that it has in the last ten years. Even if I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the rides it really has turned into something completely different from what it was a decade ago! - Worst park turnaround Blackpool Pleasure Beach, it feels like a different park now from the place I loved as I child. - What was the biggest trend of this past decade? It seemed at the start of the decade the trend was all about setting records whereas the trend now seems to be about created more family orientated rides that offer fun to everyone! It'll be fun to look back to now in ten years time to see how much things have changed! Bring on 2010 and beyond!

1. What are your initial thoughts? I think this sounds excellent! Which is strange because I've never had any real urge to join a "coaster club" before but somehow, once the TPR name goes on it I'm all of a sudden VERY interested! 2. Can you think of anything else we could be offering? I know a lot of people will have different reasons for wanting to join but for me it's about supporting TPR and thanking them for all the amazing stuff they've done for me over the years. If I get some park benefits and stuff out of it then even better! 3. Is this something that interests you? Yes! 4. Why would you NOT be interested in this? The only reason that I might not be interested in this would be if I was in trouble financially and I couldn't justify the costs. But seeing as I've been making financial sacrifices in my life to fund TPR stuff for years now I'm pretty certain I'll be taking up this scheme. 5. Any additional feedback you can give us based on the information you see here. It's interesting that a lot of the international members seem to be slightly more resistant to this than the US members. I'm wondering if it's maybe because the concept of a "coaster club" with entrance to park sponsored events and the like is a bit more of an less known concept outside the US. I know the ECC exists but I've never really encountered an event in Europe where you had to be a member of a club to attend. So I think that's why some of the international members are not completely seeing the value in this. I think these members should have a look at how much Robb and Elissa champion the non-US parks, especially compared to any other US based enthusiast circle. TPR have always offered great value for money. Even if their products aren't the cheapest on the market you ALWAYS get extra quality back in return for the higher pricepoint and that's why I'm always happy to pay that bit extra for TPR offerings. So if Robb says that there will be great stuff on offer to international members then I trust that the value for money will be fantastic. I'm looking forward to the next stage of TPR's evolution.

NEC FUNWORLD I was quite excited a couple of months ago when I read that the folks who run the Irn-Bru carnival would be running a similar indoor carnival in Birmingham's NEC this Christmastime. Now, I'm not a big fan of spinning rides and so tend not to ride much at these things but still, for some reason I really love visiting the Irn-Bru carnival because they really pack a lot in, it has a great atmosphere and well, it's just funny to watch your friends get molested by all those carnie rides. So I had good expectations for Funworld. Overall, what is there is good, but there's not enough. Especially when compared with the Irn-Bru Carnival which has 50% more rides than Funworld but is also 50% cheaper to enter. I think the fact that the place was dead when we went also contributed seeing as there was zero atmosphere during our visit. I hope it's been busier since we were there as everything seemed really spaced out and far apart but that could have been due to a lack of visitors. But as I said what's there is good. The Ghost Train and Fun House were quite cool and the Dodgems were smashing. The spin'n'spews also got favourable reviews from the group, so all in all we were satisfied. I just wish we weren't totally done with the place after 90 minutes. It really could have done with a couple of bigger travelling rides like a spinning mouse, a top spin or a drop tower just to make the ride selection feel a bit more "complete". Here's hoping that Funworld returns in 2010 bigger and better. I'll be watching with interest! I was pleased to check out NEC Funworld. I hope it’s successful enough to warrant a second year that will see this evolve into something that can rival Glasgow’s Irn-Bru Carnival! Thanks to the Brit Crew for another awesome weekend! Thanks for reading! This just looked evil, in a funny way. Funny because I was not riding! Just a wee bit more spinning fun before we call it a day. Steve is secretly adding this to his count, I just know it! I might not count powered coasters but I never pass up a good Dragon Wagon! Kentucky Derby takeover! My, my, that’s a lot of arses! Check out poor Lou holding on for dear life! This thing was crazy! Bouncy Bouncy! Rob and Steve feel like they’ve recovered enough from the Reflexmas cheer that they could brave the Bouncy Bouncy! I don’t know if it was just the time we visited but the place was DEAD. And with all the big gaps on the floor between rides the place was really lacking a bit of atmosphere. The biggest ride in Funworld is probably the Frisbee, which looked pretty cool. The place could have done with a few more rides like this! We were going to ride the Go-Gator but then we discovered that none of our group actually counted powered coasters! Dignity intact! TPDave has a thirst for giving Scottish Steve some internal bleeding on the Dodgems! These bumper cars really were quite nippy! We were quite impressed and actually rode twice! Some people still hadn’t quite recovered from the Reflexmas festivities. Hey Anth, isn’t that the chick you hooked up with last night? (Anth, you really need to tell your hookup story!) At least we got to laugh at everyone else getting mixed! Unfortunatley for us all, Anth didn’t want to amuse us like he did in Glasgow last year and avoided Food Mixer: The Ride! Yup, we took over the entire Wacky Worm train! Ain’t we just sad and pathetic to the max?! Woohoo! A credit! What are you guys so excited about? Traveling Subway is very much Divv approved!!! Who doesn't love traveling Subway? This is the most awesome thing ever. The carnival has this really cool traveling Subway outlet! I’ve never seen anything like it! Dave just filmed himself the whole way round the fun house. Seriously! Look out for that video!! Brad was a bit disappointed to find that after squidging his way through all the big noodle things that there was a dead end at the other side and so he had to squidge the whole way back! Mike’s Fun House Fail #670 for 2009. Amazon Jungle, or more simply – the Fun House! This one was pretty good! OMG, I just saw Steve’s rug! “Grrr… I’m angry ghost train car, Gimme some snow putty!” Don’t worry guys, Steve’s Rug of Love won’t be in this one! This looks like something that Scottish Steve would just LOVE! Okay, well let’s just go here then! I’m expecting this to be quite good seeing as it’s being run as the same people who do Glasgow’s awesome Irn-Bru carnival! Can anyone point these two in the direction of the Leadership Rehearsals? No?

REFLEXMAS! I don't think anyone seriously expects to read a Brit Crew and not see photos of us all getting pished out our nuts. And I'm not gonna disappoint you here. I now bring to you, photos from our jaunt around Birmingham's German Christmas Market and more importantly - REFLEXMAS! I think we’ve mentally scarred enough Reflex patrons and TPR readers for one evening! NEC Funworld is up next! MERRY REFLEXMAS! RUG OF LOVE!!! Okay Scottish Steve. Show us what’s under the frills! Now prepare yourself for the most mindblowing photo ever. I bring to you, Scottish Steve’s… She looks like she digs Steve here but this one ended up hooking up with Anth! TPDave really does hope he grows up to be Steve one day. Don’t we all? BRING ON THE WALL! Bring on the what, Steve? This guy at the front was NOT amused with Steve! I don’t know what the significance of this one was but Steve really liked her! Now for Steve’s tour of random photo friends. How he loved invading the Sexy Santas! Getting camper! I like it! Everyone be sure to notice the cool zigzags in Steve’s hair! Not camp enough! This is surely what Mike secretly wishes he would look like every day. Ooh, that’s quite a rug you’ve got there, Scottish Steve! We want to see more later! Does anyone still want to admit that they know these people? The wait is over. It’s now time for REFLEXMAS!!! It's a real crazy show where anything can go! OMG, I’m blind!!! TP’s here! But he can’t quite believe what he sees! This guy’s guilty feet certainly have plenty of rhythm! Does anyone know who this guy is? No? I’ll help you out - it’s Mike Fudge! You know that guy who had that Christmas Number One hit in 1984 with Wild, Wild West? Right, we’re back at the hotel, where a select few of the group are getting well in truly in the 80s spirit of the night! Quick, lets take a detour via El Toro! Everyone ready to head back to get ready for some 80s Reflexmas fun? Okay, let’s go! Number 79. Get it. You know you want to. It was awesome! Aha, this place looks interesting! No, Mike. We’re not eating at EAT. Right Steve, drink up, it’s time to get some dinner. But where to go? TPR lipbalm comes in very handy in cold Christmas outdoor settings! Never leave home without it! I think we all agree that Lou’s hair looks amazing but have you noticed how cool her gloves are? The German Market also sells non alcohol related products like random chocolate on a stick! Thanks for reminding us of that, Russ! Steve knows he needs to get as many beers down him as possible if he is to reach his full potential in Reflex tonight! Mulled wine is good too! Tankard’s of German beer make anything good! Even standing in outside in sub-zero temperatures! Birmingham has a very cool German market at Christmastime. It’s not quite as amazing as Manchester’s but it’s still good! We’ve spent the day doing some theme park related stuff, I think we’ve earned the right to do some alcohol related stuff now, right?

Off season? What off season? This past weekend the Brit Crew got together in Birmingham to get drunk and laugh at each other! Oh yeah, we did some theme park related stuff too! CADBURY WORLD (Below) REFLEXMAS! NEC FUNWORLD On the first day we checked out Cadbury World, you know those British folk who make the awesome chocolate? Not quite Hershey Park, this is more of a factory tour with loads of fun stuff interjected. Basically, you get a history of chocolate and more specifically, the Cadbury company itself. There's a cool dark ride and some free chocolate to help you along the way! Here's some photos... And that was our day at Cadbury World! It was quite nice to do something a bit different, especially at this time of year! Brit Crew drinking fun is up next! Yes, we pretty much doubled Cadbury’s Christmas sales figures! That’s a lot of Mis-Shapes! The most awesome thing that the factory shop sells are these awesome bags of “Mis-Shapes”. Chocolate gone wrong basically! Quite fitting for the Brit Crew! Bargain Fudge for Fudge! Liquorice Allsorts for Robb! Anyone want more Double Deckers than you can shake a stick at? I have no idea why you’d want to shake a stick at confectionary, but at Cadbury World probably you can! OMG, the World’s Biggest Cadbury Shop! They really should NOT have let us in here!!! Anth scores with the Caramel Bunny! Way to live out a lifelong dream! Check out all the old school merch! I miss the days when you could get Crunchies in Heroes! So eventually we learned that the Cadbury’s got out of the tea business and started making chocolate bars. Thanks in no small part to anthropomorphic cocoa beans and some frog named Freddo. We call this: "if the Brit Crew were made of chocolate!" Can you make out who’s who? Oh my, what’s she waiting for? Yes, a rollercoaster in this update!!! Does anyone else have that Friday feeling? Those chocolate flavoured lampposts are Dave’s favourites! Hi Andrew! Oh Fudge. Official Treat Provider to the Olympics? Seriously? I now want to know who the official toilet roll provider is! These are the amazing people who put the Cadbury’s Buttons into the bags one by one. The rest of us, not so much! At least you can make it out! Kind of. Look at how nice and neat it is! Lou got to relive her Thorntons days by playing with chocolate writing thing. Anyone want some Choco Fudge? Any ride with a 99 at the finale gets a thumbs up from me! Cocoa beans gone wild!! There’s loads of little nods to old Cadbury characters throughout the ride. There’s the Mini-Egg parrot dude in the clock! Mmm, Cadbury’s Caramel bunny! She’s such a hottie!! Now for the only ride in Cadbury World – Cadabra! It’s a small dark ride through a load of random scenes! We then got to tour the packaging plant which was quite cool. Though there were no cameras allowed so you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you that those Oompa Loompas sure work hard! Russ and Stacey love using the incredibly sophisticated interactive chocolate making device. Sadly they will not share the secrets of Double Deckers with us though! These little dudes are Cocoa beans. They are NOT M&Ms despite what Mike might tell you! Did you know that the Cadbury dudes started out as tea dealers? Well now you do! We’ll see you in 2010, Europa! Oooh, Lou wants to know what’s under the loin cloth! We start off in he Mayan times to see the very day that Jeff Johnson discovered cocoa beans. The best thing is that they give you FREE CHOCOLATE as you enter! The Cadbury factory is also home to Cadbury World, a kind of indoor theme park showing how the chocolate is made and stuff! We’re at the Cadbury factory! Yup, the place where all that delicious chocolate gets made and all that fudge gets packed!

DIVV'S FINAL THOUGHTS Well the trip is over and so is this TR, just about. There's just some photos from the last night and the journey home to show now. Before I do that I just want to say another massive THANK YOU to Robb and Elissa. I can't even begin to comprehend how much work you guys put into this trip (and every other one). The quantity and quality of ERT, meals and perks was unbelievable. I don't know how you pull it off but I don't think I've ever trusted anyone more about planning and executing a trip like this. I expect I'll be doing your trips every year for a long time to come! I should also say thanks to Andrew, Brad, Erik, Scottish Steve and Southern Steve for letting me steal your cameras and memory sticks on occasion. Those few extra pictures of yours I sprinkled throughout this TR really helped me tell the story of the trip. In conclusion, if you haven't done a TPR trip before then you're missing out. I hope TRs like this help convince people on the fence about taking part in trips, you'll never regret it! And if you're only going to do one TPR trip then you could do a lot worse than picking Scandinavia as it is home to one of the most amazing and unique collections of parks and rides. Finally, thank you to EVERYONE who came along on the trip! Here's the last batch of photos... And with this sad photo of me back in my flat seconds after returning I shall bring this TR to a close. If you’ve read through every update I thank you. If you’ve taken the time to comment on it I thank you even more! All the kind words have been appreciated. It’s been fun looking back at all the parks and antics of the Scandi trip and it’s got me even more excited for 2010! Hope to see some of you on a trip then! On our minibus to the airport we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take up the Brit Crew back row seats one last time. We’re nothing if not traditionalists! There we go, that’s something that brings a smile to everyone’s faces! C’mon don’t look sad! Let’s think about Mike at the Grand Prix! Yup, there’s nothing to do now but be sad and wait to go to the airport. All TPManorexia jokes aside, TPDave did a good job of staying in top shape after two weeks of non-stop booze and food! It’s the final morning and Lou’s sad to be saying goodbye to Jon. The rest of us miss you too Jon! Okay, they’re not Doritos but these look VERY interesting! We all appear to still like each other here so well done everyone for making it through this far! We spend our final evening reflecting and reminiscing about the past two weeks in Helsinki’s finest (and only, I suspect) Irish bar! Don’t worry if you can’t see any of the guys faces. As long as you can see Lou, my shoe and Steve’s hair we’re all good! I take that back, that’s awesome!!! Back in the hotel, Steve for some reason allows Lou to style his hair. What was he thinking? Hey everyone, it’s FINAL SNACK TIME!!!

^ LOL! I just take the photos I'm told to take! Blame TPDave and Lou! --- Day 15: LINNANMAKI The last day of the trip is always bittersweet. On the one hand everyone's really sad about it all being over but on the other hand everyone wants to make the most of the limited time left by having as much fun as possible! Linnanmaki is a good place for having fun! The place doesn't really have one standout ride but most of what is there is good and there certainly is a lot in the park. There's a fun Intamin ball coaster, which I think we may have enjoyed even more if we hadn't been exposed to Insane earlier in the trip. That said, it was still good and we had some fun ERT on it. There's a Maurer Sohne spinner which didn't spin too much but again, it was good for what it was. Not in the same league as Dragon's Fury or Winjas but still better than most other spinning coasters out there. There's a huge amount of flat rides and some other cool random stuff. Plenty to fill out a day with. The other cool thing about the park is that it's one of those "urban parks". This one is right in the centre of Helsinki which meant we could get out and have a quick look around in the afternoon too. Here's a look at the final park of the trip... It's time to say goodbye to the theme parks of Scandinavia I’m afraid. Linnanmaki was really cool and another example of that fantastic concept of the “urban park”! One final update to come! Aha, it was with Ice Bat all along!!! Well the meal was amazing, but we were getting ready to say goodbye which is always a sad thing. We also realised that one of the mysteries of the trip had still not been solved… Just where is that SCAD TOWER? Well the rides of Scandinavia have been conquered. Including EVERY coaster! All that remains now is the farewell dinner! Now if only those water jets were on a bit stronger. Linnanmaki really has an impressive collection of flat rides. Which was good for us as the park was pretty quiet when we were there. Do you want to join Lou’s Basket Club? Come to Finland then! I don’t know why I took this photo or why I’m including it but I hope you appreciate it. Okay, I lied earlier. Here’s Erik’s final giant cone of the year! Note that I said “less chance”. This is the guy who frightens himself sometimes! Steve always enjoys slides when he’s on before the rest of the group as there’s less chance of him getting scared at the bottom! Linnanmaki has a fun house! Of course we couldn’t miss this! We see you in the back, Laq! 4D Kino? What could this be? Why is Finnish so hard to translate?! Mike wants you buy Smurffi for all your thirst quenching needs! Go get it now! I thankfully, was smart enough to avoid this one! This monstrosity was a challenge to even the most hardened spin’n’spew fans! Despite our grand plans of abusing Scottish Steve endlessly on these Dodgems the big pillar in the middle of the damn thing just ruined it for us! Damn! I don’t know how we did it but Mike and I somehow managed to squidge in here together! Yay, Egg Ride! Seriously! Andrew was convinced he’s be catching rabies from the thing. Mike was just jealous that it looked more “medium brown” than his beard. Tee hee, it says “fanny”! That’s quite amusing to us Brits! This is NOT how you eat ice cream. (Unless you’re Mike) Okay, this is how you eat ice cream. I feel really bad for taking so long to mention Tommi so here’s another photo of us! Tommi would have been the coolest “Divv shot guest” of the trip if it hadn’t been for Ice Bat. This was an emotional moment. Why? Because now, for the last time on the trip – Mike creams up. Brad decided that it would be a good idea to break out his “Ferry moves” again on DDR! I think Steve completely fluked his way to that Xbox in 2008 because he totally sucked at the stackers this year! Please feel free to have a feel whenever you please. Shirt buttons or bat-nipples? You decide! Anyway, we headed back to the park to get in our last rides of the trip. Hey look, it’s Tommi! I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to mention him seeing as he’s been with us for over a day now! Tommi’s awesome! This is the only place in Finland that Mike wants to stay. In the afternoon we went back to the hotel so people could get changed. Look at cute wee sleepy Scottish Steve! Aww. Despite the fact that I was mixing things up by riding spinning flat rides we were unable to trick Scottish Steve into checking out this Ghost Train. I was somehow coerced into riding this panther-friendly Enterprise. It was not fun. ...thin air and fell on his arse! Unlucky Larry! I'm sure it somehow wasn’t your fault! Larry hit… 250!!! There’s only one person who can beat this score... Larry! Next up was Mike, who was desperate to make up for his Go Karting utter failure. Just under 200! Good work Andrew! Andrew was next. He had drunk two pints the night before so we weren’t sure how well he’d do. Brad was first up and scored a respectable 200. The Zamperla punching bag allowed some of the guys to ignite their competitive sparks. One last giant cone for Erik in 2009. Every room was just an orgy of random circus stuff piled up! Awesome! That must be it! Mike clearly smells something a bit nasty. The creepy clown themed dark ride was a source of much amusement! TPEmo about it being the final day. Okay Junior Space Rangers get ready to blast off! The Space Corps needs me?! I’m in! The thing with the Finnish language is that it’s very difficult to even guess what things mean. So we had no idea what was in here but the entrance had us excited! Turned out it was the park’s indoor coaster! You should have stolen someone’s poncho Brad! Everyone else did! I was a whore enough that I took the drenching needed in order to obtain this credit. And I wasn’t the only one. Eek, I don’t want to be anywhere near this wave! Well it looks like the TPManorexia is well and truly on it’s way out! C’mon guys, make sure you do your best to ruin Lou’s self photography! The Mack E-Motion coaster was a bit of a WTF ride. Not in a good way. More in a way of WTF’s the point? I wasn’t the only one trying to get in on the Ice Bat action! Yay, the sun is back, Mike can cream up once again!! I forget why we attacked Craig in the first place but I do remember that it was completely justified. Note should be made of the fact that today was ICE BAT DAY! I was honoured to include Ice Bat in one of today’s Divv shots! Even tastier was the super hot ride op! Mmm, Salami POV. Tasty. Hi Ryan! Mmm, the Salami ride! It has the same layout as the version in Bakken, although this one didn’t seem as crazy. Next on our ERT schedule was the Scenic Railway. These really are perfect rides to shoehorn into small places. I can think of about 50 parks that could use one of these! I love that the cars just spin around freely the whole ride. Even on the lift! Brandrew are ready for some Intamin spinny fun. Speaking of twins… Hey look, it’s Insane’s little brother – Kirnu! Not quite a twin of it’s Stockholm sibling though. The bad news is that it’s the last day of the trip. The good news, however, is that we’re at Linnanmaki!!!

Day 14: SARKANNIEMI Our second last park was Sarkanniemi, right in the heart of Finland. This was probably the park that I knew least about before the trip and so I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw here. The coaster line up is mostly good. Especially the Intamin SLC! There's a good selection of flat rides, some cool shows and an observation tower that offers really good views and really makes you appreciate the park's setting! All in all I quite liked this park am interested to see how it progresses as it adds new stuff! And that was Sarkanniemi! A pretty cool park that offered way more than I expected! Well we’re almost at the end, so I thank you for sticking with this TR this long! The final updates will be up soon! It may have been a bit tame for them but I think one of these will work pretty well in Chessington in 2010! Sarkanniemi’s new for 2009 attraction is one of those gihugic Disk’os! Erik takes a second to pay homage to his home, Ho Land. Sounds good to me! Mike does not like being the meat in an Erik and Brad manwich. At all. Yay, the Jet Star opened! So far every coaster of the trip has been open for us! Exclusive never before seen photo of Erik. After the incredible disappointment of the Parc Asterix dolphin show last year I really was expecting the worst from this, but no, it was very impressive! Those dolphins could move like SteveC! Only the most awesome dolphin show ever! Ooh, this looks exciting! What lurks in here? This is what I would look like if I was in an observation tower in Finland 500 feet off the ground. Oh look, the Jet Star is running, we didn’t expect that! Looks like we won’t be missing any credits on this trip afterall! Little did we know when we rode but we got this credit just in time! Best SLC of the trip! The non-coaster section of Tampere looked pretty cool too! Aww, I just want to reach out and pet it! Next we got an exclusive tour of the park’s observation tower and got to play some “RCT: Live”! It was a bit too wet for us to want to ride the log flume (Anth wasn’t in our group today) but it looked cool! Everyone! Attack Larry! This thing would have just about done me in. Glad I gave it a miss! Brad what’s with the cape? Didn’t you watch The Incredibles? Now for a tour of random flat rides! Sarkanniemi has a load of cool carnival rides. TPAbuse. "Tell me when Steve is coming round the corner!" Seconds before a TPSmash into the glass. Maybe not quite super. but a fun and happy pair of slides nonetheless. Erik’s getting good at that old Michael Jackson move. Translation – FUN HOUSE! If bats, bikes and lamp posts are your kind of thing then you’ll love this! Just for you, Dave Fudge – the lamp post ride!! Yup, sad and pathetic to the max. They had to limit the kiddie coaster to three of us at a time in order to get it up and over the lift hill! Everyone look away whilst Mike sorts his junk! REACH FOR THE STARS!!! (Craig, can you post that video?) Now for the GREATEST attraction in all of Finland – Peena Puu!!! Sorry, I know people hate coaster photos without the train in them but Tornado’s must be camouflaged or something. Now, has anyone seen the train? We decided that it would be best to just ignore the rain and ride lots! Aha, a ride that I have high expectations of! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such claustrophobic restraints! It was all a bit weird! I’m amazed there’s more than one of these things in existence! This was my first ever Volare experience. It was… interesting. Our day started out with some Half-Pipe ERT. I quite liked the ride, though after riding it I decided not to count it as a credit. How geeky of me! Our second last park of the trip is Sarkanniemi, right in the middle of Finland!

Chuck and I never realised we had a limited number of bullets til about half way through when our guns stopped working. Luckily we were the only two in our car and there were two spare guns that we were able to take advantage of at that point! Thanks for the comments everyone! Sarkanniemi is coming up!

That was quality, Piers! I never realised there were quite so many credits at the different carnivals! If I realised that I would have went when I lived down there! I can sense a Brit Crew weekend in the capital next Christmas!

Day 13: TPR GRAND PRIX & POWER PARK This was a nice change of pace towards the end of the trip. After twelve days of trash talking it was finally time for the TPR Grand Prix. Everyone had their own personal goals that they wanted to achieve. Some wanted to win it all and others, well they just wanted to finish the race. Some dreams never came true but this was a great activity to take aprt in! And that’ll do it for Power Park! This was a great place! Only two parks left! While not my favourite GCI, I still really liked it! It cracked my top ten woodies. What better way to finish our time at Power Park than with another spin on the GCI coolness! These guys had some extra change in their pockets and figured that the easiest way to get rid of it would be to ride this again! Everyone! Attack TPDave and Steve! Erik, I thought you said you were lactose intolerant and couldn't eat ice cream? TPOblivious. This looks like a good opportunity to abuse him! TPSleepy! Who wants to have some fun on the Octopussy? Steve has a wallet. Please remind him of this whenever you see him as he sometimes forgets that it exists. Lady Kuumat Kummut tasted amazing! What’s that you’ve got Mike? Ah it’s made by BonBon, it all makes sense! Erm, yeah, I’ll just take the photo and walk on by. It’s a shooting dark ride but they give you a limited number of “bullets” which means you need to be a bit strategic! A great idea in my view! Now this was one of my favourite rides at Power Park! This carnie looking drop tower was pretty cool. Wow, it’s THREE MIKES! Rock’n’Tug take over! Oh yes! Hands up if you didn’t have to take a walk of shame at the end of the Grand Prix! Well we still have a few hours left so let’s go check out Power Park some more! Hold on a second, I’d know those shoes anywhere! Take the walk of shame, Mike! But whilst everyone else had successfully crossed the finish line there was one driver who just couldn’t quite make it all the way. It's just a shame we couldn't work out who it is. It looks like we have a winner! WIPEOUT! As the event went on the pressure got greater as the final got closer. Who the hell is it? Looks like the morning after a typical night out for Steve. Check out the TPR Cheerios! Oh my, that’s a lot of arses. Yeah, we’re all a bit special. I for one would love to see a Go-Karts in the Raw DVD! Yes, that is Brad getting overtaken by the tandem! Oh dear lord. Don’t let these two out on the track! Unfortunately with the helmet obscuring the face I can’t tell who this is. If only they were striking some kind of familiar pose. Brad likes the fact that the karts are Drive-thru friendly. Ready to burn some TPRubber? Good morning race fans! Welcome to the first ever TPR Grand Prix!

Day 12, Part Two: POWER PARK (II) Being in the north of Finland when the days are at their longest encouraged to stay up late and do lots of drinking in the sun! I think a few of us were a bit tipsy by now! This is about as dark as it got this night. A very cool thing to see! TPR Grand Prix is next! Give your camera to Lou and this is the sort of return you get. Can anyone match everyone’s shoe to the person? I don’t really know what’ going on here but Lou seems to have a lot of fingers! This was taken around about midnight. Seriously! Can you believe that Andrew is still up?! These dogs are one of the many reasons why this hotel is amazing. We don’t know why they’re there or what they’re looking at but we love them anyway. Go to Power Park now for your own chance to purchase one of these amazing lollipops created in the likeness of SteveC! Our group meal included lots of random meat on sticks! So after a fun day in the park we headed back to the very cool Power Park resort hotel!

Day 12, Part One: POWER PARK (I) Our first Finnish park must be one of the northern-most parks in the world. Power Park, whilst not very big does it what it does very well. It kind of made me think of what my old homepark M&Ds could be with a bit of effort. The park is very well kept and there are some good rides. The big one being the GCI woodie, Thunderbird which was really good! Another hit from GCI! This was quite a relaxed time for us all since the park was quite quiet during out visit and we had lots of time. Just what we needed at this point in the trip! Here's some photos... Believe it or not it’s actually evening in this photo! Yes, our “evening ERT” was in broad daylight! One day at Power Park down and we still have another to go! As well as the TPR Grand Prix and a bit of boozing too! When you see your employer's name in a rollercoaster station it can be a very surreal thing! I work for Hilti and apparently we provided the tools that were used to construct Thunderbird! We had a great ERT session where through some very tactical and thought out riding positions we manage to set a speed record for the coaster! It’s just great fun from start to finish! Being the GCI fanboy that I am this was one of my most anticipated coasters of the trip. It delivered the goods too! Of course the big attraction at Power Park coaster-wise is the GCI sexyness that is Thunderbird! How there were no deaths on this trip I will never know. Now for something a bit more in line with the group’s mental age. Check out everyone holding on for dear life! Oh, maybe this is why! This thing takes about three different flat rides and squishes them together. A great machine for emptying people’s pockets! You’re looking a bit apprehensive Steve. Any reason? Actually this one wasn’t too bad. Which I at least expected since it’s fairly new. Still not something I was rushing to reride. Oh dear. A boomerang. What’s that you say Erik? It’s just a Vekoma? You can just about make out TPDave’s TPThumbs up! Looks like a TPR takeover to me! Because it goes through a freakin’ house!!! This is one of the coolest Frisbee rides ever. Why? Yes, the park was quite empty when we were there. Which still doesn’t encourage me to ride a Musik Express. Every restaurant in the world needs one of these toothless dudes! Here’s a never-before-seen Mike Fudge photo pose. Power Park has this groovy looking Booster and despite its low capacity it’s not an upcharge! Very cool! It’s called Chuck Wagon and his name is Chuck! Jeff Johnson Safari is Divv-approved! Nope, it’s just a zeeeebra! I think they can see the Others! Jeff Johnson! Nice of you to finally show up! Ah, that’s why! This ride is straight out of the Northwest of England! Hmm, this looks familiar. Why am I getting deja vu? Super Whores. Whores. Here’s some more awesome excitingness for us to conquer! It was actually quite good for a pseudo-Pinfari! The train was obviously way too heavy with Andrew on board. First thing we checked out was the sexy L&T hotness. We overshot the station and so some of us had to ride again! We’re at Power Park, I mean Power Land! This place has a bit of an identity crisis. I think the whole place is called “Power Park” whilst the rides section itself is called “Power Land”. Or it could be the other way about.

Thanks for the comments! I'm totally sold on a TPR cruise. Especially if we can get Steve onboard! Power Park is coming up!

So if you think Steve looks like a dancing legend in photos check him out in motion! It really has to be seen to be believed! Watch out for the Big Mike cameo at the end too! [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=SS_0001_jx92[/coastertube]

Day 11, Part Two: OVERNIGHT FERRY! This was a bit of a first for TPR trips. For the first time we wouldn't be spending the night in a hotel, we'd actually be in a ferry overnight! This was very cool as it afforded a new environment for us all to be socialable and get drunk with each other. The other great thing about this was the onboard disco which led to some VERY amusing displays on the dance floor by many trip goers! And of course, Southern Steve was the star of the show... Words and photos can’t sum up how amazing it is to watch Steve dance. So with that in mind check out the VIDEO in my next post! We’ll be in Finland soon! Steve, that’s hot. Olov’s dance moves were KILLER! It looks like Andrew's two pint threshold has been breached. Big Mike and Steve really put everyone else to shame on the dance floor! This is getting a bit X-rated now. Avert your eyes Scottish Steve! Oh dear, Steve doesn’t want to get upstaged by The Big Man! The Road Show is here! Look at him working that Big Mike charm! Miles don’t need no good advice. He’s already wasted. But Steve really was the star of the show! This is another of Brad’s signature moves apparently. After seeing how much success Steve was having on the dance floor a whole raft of TPR members got up and started to shimmy! Right Steve, the song's finished, you need to let go! Watch that hand, Steve! Steve even pulled the singer from the band up to the floor! Shimmy Steve, Shimmy! Steve’s skills were so impressive that there was a line of people wanting to join him on the floor! Steve likes to dance! YES!!! We’re in a bar, there’s a dance floor and Steve is here. We all know what we want to see and so we sent in a team to persuade him to perform. Will he? This certainly had something for everyone to enjoy! Into the bar for the pure hotness that was the Abba tribute show! Okay, who wants to visit the Sextant Deck or the Bell Deck? Both sound good to me! Pretty views like this were standard throughout the journey! Our home for tonight is this pretty big boat, motherfudgers!

Yeah, I would absolutely love a little trip back to Stockholm next year! Before I put the lid on Grona Lund I just want to say how cool it was to see the park on The Amazing Race this year! It was very surreal seeing a place I'd just been to on the show! Okay, Overnight Ferry photos coming up!

^ Thank YOU Mattias! We really had an amazing visit and I can't wait to get back to Grona Lund! It's great to see you checked out my update! Here's another... --- Day 11, Part One: GRONA LUND (II) Once again the park treated us amazing this morning! They provided food, drinks and a great presentation on the park's history and future. The plans the park has look fantastic and i really can't wait to see them come to fruition! We also got to ride more awesome coasters and got a look behind the scenes at Insane! A huge thank you once again to Grona Lund for everything they did for us and to Robb and Elissa for organising it with them! Here's the photos... I was blown away by how amazing Grona Lund is. Pictures and words just can’t quite capture it. And with the expansion plans it’s only gonna get better! Up next, the update Southern Steve has been waiting for… OVERNIGHT FERRY! Grona Lund is just an awesome coaster orgy! Photos really don’t do this place justice. Lou, on the other hand, just ate fluff. Brad somehow talked Erik into buying an ice cream. We finished up our riding at Grona Lund with the Magic/Flying Carpet. HE SURVIVED!!! Only about 45 scares on this one. Scottish Steve is in line for a ghost train. This must be documented. I like fish. OMG, what’s going on down below? Did I say that Jetline was brilliant? Well, I’ll say it again! Not content bringing his parents along today Russ also let us say hi to his brother! Lou’s starting to feel a bit overly short. The Tow Boat ride was full of lots of random scenes like this. The dudes inside were a wee bit scary for Scottish Steve. Aww, aren’t Olov a cute little couple heading in the Tunnel of Love? (Cue the Dire Straits) Next up we hit Lilo & Stitch: The Ride. But don’t fear; everyone’s favourite stand-in ride op Larry is here to help! Actually, yes you should fear for your lives guys! Brad and Dave seem to be having a bit of trouble getting out of Pop-Expressen. This is the prawn sandwich I got for lunch. There was so much food that the bread was hidden! Amazing! We threw in a few more Insane rides since it’s just that insane! Russ was kind enough to introduce us to his parents today! You might not be able to tell from this angle but we’re being incredibly sad and pathetic here! Apparently all the TPR Mods have dedicated games at Grona Lund. Here’s Matt’s! (kind of!) These rooms never cease to mess with me. Which way’s up? Which way's down? What do the numbers mean? Mike’s probably about to experience another Fun House Fail. I’m doing the Super Fun Happy Slide wrong and am loving it! Seeing as it’s so awesome we went back for a FUN HOUSE TAKEOVER! Just beware of the junk destruction at the end! It's worth it! Frit Fall was really good. It has one of the best views you’ll ever get on a drop tower! Right guys, look for the big red and yellow arrow, okay? I’m sure I saw this dude before on Robot Chicken. This was pretty good too! In fact there wasn’t a coaster in Grona Lund that I didn’t like! How about some ERT on the rodent themed coaster? Yes please! It really is so much better than those old “Junior SLCs”. Make more of these please Vekoma! Yup, this family inverted swingamajig was really good! Next on our ERT schedule was some Vekoma… (gasp!) goodness! OMG, the last time I was in Sweden in 2006 Hardcore Superstar were performing at Liseberg at the same time I was there! They’re following me! I just inherited about 1000 extra geek points, didn’t I? Oooh, what coolness lurks in there? We then headed back to Insane next for some behind the scenes action! It also featured FULL FRONTAL NUDITY! I love Grona Lund even more! Our second day at Grona Lund began with a presentation from park management on the park’s history and future plans!

^I totally get your feelings on The Voyage and I appreciate that you rank it highly despite the fact it's not one of your "top tier" coasters. The Ultimate is probably a better example of why I try not to let "general consensus" sway my opinion. A lot of UK enthusiasts gave me stick for ranking it really low after one ride in 2006 and part of me felt like I wasn't giving it a fair chance. With that in mind I rode it again this year with an open mind, and whilst it was slightly better than my last ride I still thought it wasn't very good and ranked it accordingly. This is why Mitch's poll is so good, as all of our opinions get heard!

Robb, I get what you are saying but I really was in severe pain after riding. The thing just left such a bad impression on me. I think only getting that one ride on it hurts it a lot more. When I think back on the ride all I remember is getting my ass kicked and not wanting to repeat the experience. I can't rank the ride based on the experiences of other people so for me the choice is to rank it really low or don't rank it at all. I've rode SM in Paris multiple times and really only the morning rides in 2008 are what puts it so low for me. I've had some pretty good rides on it too. The fact that I've had multiple rides on that coaster helps it. The general consensus is that the Voyage is a top five ride but you don't put it there. And that's cool, I completely understand and respect that. But judging off that one ride I had in which all I rememeber is sheer discomfort and pain (way more than I've ever experienced on SM:M2), I feel my ranking reflects that. I like to think of my rankings being a weighted average af all my rides on a coaster with the most recent season affecting my placing the most. My rides on Piraten this year weren't as good as my ride as 2008 but my ranking still shows how I feel about the ride and how it's aged. I guess the point I'm making is that I understand that other people really liked Tornado and I get the feeling that I got really unlucky but I can't make a judgement based on other people's experiences my ballot has to reflect my opinion. So in the end the end the fact that I only rode Tornado at Bakken that one time (which was sadly a bad experience) puts it low in my ballot. If I get a better ride the next time I ride it I'll be more than happy to rank it higher.

This is the most amazing photo of Dave Fudge ever taken: Thank you for sharing it with us! Loving the TR, Natalie! I'm really looking forward to the Legoland update!

Yeah, my neck got mauled by the restraints and I was in a bit of pain after the ride. Which is a shame as the general consensus was that it was great! So I guess I was in that unfortunate minority and I can only rank it based on my experience, which wasn't good. I like to see Intamin rides get championed as much as possible so I'm pleased most people liked it. I definitely wouldn't be averse to giving a similar ride a go in the future!

Mine have both been submitted! WOOD: 1 Balder 2 El Toro 3 My Favorite Steel 4 The Voyage 5 Kentucky Rumbler 6 Troy 7 Colossos 8 Avalanche 9 Thunderbird 10 Falken And the bottom... 58 Cyclone (SFNE) 59 Stampida 60 Anaconda 61 The Bandit (Movie Park) 62 Son of Beast (SBNO) --- STEEL: 1 Favorite Wood Coaster 2 Expedition GeForce 3 Nemesis 4 Piraten 5 Montu 6 Dueling Dragons-Ice 7 Goliath (Walibi World) 8 Kumba 9 Phantom's Revenge 10 Apollo's Chariot And the bottom... 136 Goudurix 137 Vortex (KI) 138 Space Mountain (DLP) 139 Tornado (Bakken) 140 Tornado (M&Ds) I'm looking forward to seeing this year's results!

Day 10, Part Three: GRONA LUND (I) After Liseberg I don't think any of us expected any other park to even come close to such amazingness, but wow, weren't we wrong! Grona Lund was just amazing! Apart from the fact that they gave us LOADS of free alcohol, T-shirts and ERT this place was just fantastic. The atmosphere in this park was just second to none. I can't really sum it up in words but there's just an energy that this park has that makes you feel real good whilst you're there. It also helps having a strong array of coasters! EVERY coaster in this park is very good, there's no "meh" among the bunch. I really was impressed. Especially with Intamin's Insane, never has a ride name been more appropriate. Even though I couldn't stomach an entire ERT session on it I really thought it was fantastic and incredibly messed up! There's also a very cool walkthrough haunted house that was a bit different from what Liseberg offers but still really good in it's own way! Then there's the countless array of quality flat rides, dark rides, side shows, food places... oh hell, here's some photos from our first night in the park! What a place Grona Lund is! It’s so good that I’ve another update from our second day in the park to bring to you soon! We spent a LONG time at Insane this night. I really hope we see more of these pop up in the future! And this is a typical AFTER reaction. Insane, indeed! Here’s what most of us looked like BEFORE the ride started. Looks quite innocent, right? Well this thing is just CRAZY! And now for the most appropriately named ride of all time! I really liked Jetline. Sweden is two for two with amazing Schwarzkopf rides! They really puts Knightmare in its place! How about a spin or two on the awesome Schwarzkopf, Jetline?! Super Super Duper Duper Fun Fun Happy Slide! And for the Fun House Grande Finale… TPShattered. We figured it would be a good idea to pile as many people as possible onto the rotating circle thing. Somehow it still rotates. Even the speakers are fun in this fun house! Mike doing it wrong? Check! Crazy Super Fun Happy Slide? Check! Massive moving steps? Check! This thing has to be the greatest fun house I’ve ever experienced! Words cannot express how messed up this thing was! The park looks cool during the day but just gets even better as the sun goes down and the lights come on! Even the scare actor wanted to get in on the random group photo! How cool is that! I love Grona Lund. Speaking of creepy… Mike’s hand and leg sticking out the side just make it more creepy! The Spokhuset haunted walkthrough was very cool! A bit different from your usual walkthroughs but still pretty creepy! Scottish Steve has a ticket for the haunted walkthrough! We tried explaining to him that he would be offending park management if he passed. He didn’t listen. This looks about normal for Southern Steve too. Aww, this is probably the most “normal” photo of Robb I have ever taken! Andrew try and not drink any more than those two. We’re not carrying you back to the hotel! Steve was very keen to express all our gratitude to fantastic waitress! One bottle of free wine down and there’s still loads left! Did I mention I love this park? TPFree means he’s getting TPPished! The Brits know never to say no to free booze! And free wine! Ben’s in heaven! They gave us copious amounts of free beer! Welcome to Grona Lund! This place is just all kinds of amazing!