Divv3k

Thanks for the comments guys! Chuck, I'd need to ask Lou to be sure, but your futuristic logic sounds about right to me! --- DAYS 10 & 11: EUROPA PARK What about Europa Park itself? Stunning. It's huge, every bit of it is themed and it has some really cool rides. It doesn't have a number one coaster but everything that department is pretty good. Well, except Silver Star, which isn't bad by any means but compared to every other B&M hyper I've done it was a real tame letdown. Plus, I'd rode Expedition GeForce the day before which probably showed up Silver Star's flaws even more! The real highlight of Europa Park is Euro-Mir! Words cannot describe how amazing the Euro-Mir experience is. From getting in the line til the gift shop at the end there really isn't a more bizarre and infectious ride experience out there. I can't get the song out my head now that I'm thinking about it. That's a good thing! I also had the privilege of being one of the lucky people on the "party train" when TPR took the ride over. That's an experience that'll live with me for a long time! I think we got to try just about every Mack ride under the sun here. Well everything except a Splash battle, which was disappointing because we were under a lot of sun on this visit! At least all the water rides Europa offers cooled us down. We also had Jes to thank for keeping our group extra cool on the log flume! Right Jes? I could go on and on all day about Europa Park but I'll still not be able do it justice nor would I be able to work out just what Person X is! I LOVE this place! I NEED to go back to Europa Park. I've some unfinished business there and can't wait to get back! Okay, last Fudgey jab I swear. But don't you think he'd LOVE this place?! I think Anth is trying to convey some sort of subliminal message here. It started raining which only meant we would need to take cover and make fools of ourselves even further! Stacey's really rocking out in the queue! Of course when you have extra time in Europa Park there's only one place to go! Lou can't go anywhere without making new friends. Is this any use to you Fudgey? The next morning we had a few extra hours in the park so we went and rode Silver Star again. Still not so great compared to the other B&M hypers out there. My German isn't great but I'm sure this one said "The plants are my source of energetic lesbian power!" This lesbian dinosaur was very energetic! Everyone is fascinated by the German Lesbian Energy! Basis Lager? Yeah, that seemed to be the basis of the trip for Steve! OMG, could this be Lesbian Energy Hour in German?! VERY HOT! Yup it was HOT today! Erik only wanted to ride the mad house for the boobs. Brad doesn't seem impressed by Lamppost: The Ride. Now for Fudgey's favourite ride EVER! Did the satellite ever move? Lou suggested I try Currywurst today. It was amazing! Much better than suggesting I drink a Zombie! You're doing it wrong! Hold on, is Fudgey here? Oh wait, that's a tree. The rapids crew celebrate riding what they expect to be the last rapids of the trip! By the time we got to the rapids we had been driven completely mad and danced the entire length of the queue. Yup, skloosh. It doesn't count as a coaster for me but the cool down was much appreciated on this HOT day! Hi Scottish Steve! I still can't believe the soaking that Jes dished out to our boat on the log flume! What were you playing at Jes? Hey look - it's me! Russ and Stacey had to hold on to stop themselves from dancing the whole way round. Euro Mir is approved by all 17 of my chins. Brad can't help but bust a move to the greatest ride song of all time. Yeah it looks cool but really its the audio experience that makes Euro Mir! Speaking of coolest rides ever - it doesn't get much more amazing than this! Matterhorn Blitz = coolest wild mouse ever. Fudgey loves Europa Park. SKLOOSHH!!! The new watercoaster was really cool! Yet again, the station was immensely themed! How's this for layered theming? I'm not sure if this is Steve previewing his dance moves or not. Time for one of the best parks of the trip - Europa Park!

DAY 9 - Part 3: HOTEL COLOSSEO BAR What can I say about Europa Park? What can't I say?! I could use every superlative under the sun and still do the place justice. This is the greatest resort park outside of Disney I've been to. As far as hotels go I don't think I've stayed in a more amazing place than Hotel Colosseo. I just marveled in awe everywhere I looked. It's getting to stay in places like this that sets TPR trips ahead of pretty much any other kind of trip there is. We spent the first evening closing out the bars in true TPR trip fashion. Much of this evening was spent in the toilet and trying to educate Larry on all things "Glasgownian". I don't think he understood a thing! I spent the rest of the evening talking "Glasgownian" and listening to Larry laugh at my Scottishness! You'll have two of us to deal with in Scandi Larry! Brad will only sit in seat 69. He says it brings him luck. That was your EXCLUSIVE Europa Park toilet tour. Brought to you by Lou, Jes and some random German dude. Lou has a six year long penis so she's allowed in here. Jes is getting antsy waiting! Hurry up Lou! Lou gives the loo a thorough inspection. Now for the main attraction of Hotel Colosseo - the bar toilet! Apparently that's a Zombie in Ben's hand. I don't think it was quite Dragon Bar standard though. At the bar Steve decides to give up on the drink after realising that not even the glass he drinks out of appears straight to him anymore. Bizarrely this the only non-bar photo inside Hotel Colosseo that I took! Seriously, this is a place that you HAVE to check out at some point! I'm determined to go back and stay there again sometime soon!

DAY 9 - Part 2: HOLIDAY PARK This was one of the most anticipated parks of the trip for me. I'm sure it was the case for quite a few people on the buses. Now with 2007's mixed reports on Expedition GeForce and the effects of the trims my expectations were lowered slightly so imagine my surprise when even my highest expectations were blown out the water! This really is the best steel coaster I've been on. The airtime is amazing and it has a first drop rivalled by no other steel coaster I've experienced. Plus, when the ride ops strap you in during ERT and just keep sending you round the track after session was supposed to have ended you really do have one of the best ERT sessions ever. The rest of the park has some fun stuff too. Which Lou somehow managed to navigate around and show us where things were! It doesn't happen often! =P Anyway, I'll let the photos do the talking... As I was RUNNING back to the bus after our longer than expected ERT I realised I didn't have a shot to finish this part of the TR so I quickly snapped this one mid-run! I was shattered by the time I got to the bus but it was SO worth it! Not much Germany left! I've never had ERT like that before either! My new #1 steel coaster! Nemesis has finally been displaced! I've never felt airtime like it on a steel coaster! This first drop - especially in the back row - is unbelievable! I knew it would be good. I didn't know it would just as good as it was! Now, time for the REAL reason to visit Holiday Park! Before ERT Dave got completely entranced with a slinky. Hi Fudgey. Though Steve might have been regretting all this "Rapids Crew" nonsense by this point! Another rapids conquered! I've no idea what the story was (too distracted by the nudity!) but I think this dragon was pissed about something! Yup, more boobs! The dark ride had all your usual European excitements! The 200 foot Starflyer was quite cool to experience. Once you get over the fact that it's just a wee chain holding you up there it really quite a relaxing ride. Whilst everyone else killed themselves on the Super Gerbil Lou tried to bribe a local. Apparently it's all Arrow's fault though. It looks quite nice but it was a bit of a death machine. Wait. That's just why Erik signed up! Because of Super Wirbel of course! Here we are at a park which was one of the main reasons I signed up for this trip! Why?

Thanks! Well you won't have to wait long because Holiday Park is coming right up!

^ Yeah, but Steve more so than everyone else! --- DAY 9 - Part 1: TRIPSDRILL Our next park on the menu was Tripsdrill. This was a place I'd been looking forward to seeing as it looked like it might be another of those quirky, unique European parks. I was right. A really cool place. The only disappointment in the park was Mammut, the new woodie. It wasn't bad really, it was just that it really wasn't that good. When you see how good the latest GCIs and Intamins are this one really makes you scratch your head thinking what were they trying to achieve with this? Hopefully it'll at least hold up alright, but I worry as I found it a bit shuffly already. The other disappointment for me this day was that I managed to lose my mobile phone somehow, which wasn't a huge deal as I was able to replace it easily once I got back but I was a little annoyed with myself which dampened my spirits a little this morning. To be fair to Tripsdrill they were very helpful when I got in touch with them and even emailed me to tell me that they'd looked for my phone and couldn't find it. It probably happened during the awesome ERT on G'sengte Sau, made all the more entertaining (and frightening) by Robb playing ride op! I really loved that thing and its made me even more determined to get over and try that one in Klotten! The rest of the time was spent enjoying Tripsdrill's quirky rides and awesome food! Here's some photos... Tripsdrill's a stunning park with some really cool things to ride too. Definitely a place to keep an eye on. Next up is some steel amazingness! TPR trips are always a great way of finding a lover! BOOBS!!! Can't beat these European parks! The log flume here was awesome. Not only was it the birthplace of our "fat boat", it also had... And they're made even better by the water cannons by the side ready to soak fellow TPR participants! I love that Tripsdrill's rapids are themed to laundry! I really was a bit lame not riding this because it spun! Half the group was so used to not being able to walk straight by this point of the trip they didn't even realise that the bridge was wobbling. Rounding out the coaster collection is this Zierer kiddie which offered plenty of opportunities to get your hands on the plant life. Elz looked like he had a good time at least! But still, I'm glad I got to check it out and hopefully it's addition will help Tripsdrill grow further. It really just didn't do much. Especially compared to some of the stuff we'd already ridden like Troy and Colossos. Sadly, it didn't score many more Divv points after that! The coaster at least scored some points with me for having a cool logo! And then some places you look it's a bit more like a construction site. But at least the coaster is open! Some places you look in Tripsdrill you wouldn't even know you're in a park! The setting really is second to none. I really love these Gerstlauer bobsleds. I must go hunt down some more. Especially since there's one right here in the UK I really should get on that! Bill's loving G'sengte Sau! Brad loves going down into the bushes. Yet again a TPR trip day starts out with some awesome ERT! Park number seventeen of the trip - Tripsdrill!

^ Just wait til I get to the nightclub at Disney Village!

From what I can gather you guys were at Terminal 2 in LAX. Tempo Economy is Air France's economy from what I've read. I'm guessing you guys are heading to CDG. That was a fun killing of ten minutes checking if there was definitely a Burger King AND a Starbucks in T2! LOL!

Its 1am, I'm wide awake and procrastinating online despite having to be up for work in six hours. Good time to throw up another update! --- DAY 8: PHANTASIALAND This was probably my favourite day of the trip. Everything just clicked together - a great group of people and an unbelievably amazing park. I'm still not 100% sure what it was about the place but I was in awe of Phantasialand. Maybe it's because I wasn't expecting much I got really blown away. The park has a great collection of rides and everything is really well themed. Funnily enough Black Mamba was the only real letdown of Phantasialand. I mean it was good, but I didn't think it was much better than Nemesis Inferno. Yes, it's really well themed, but unless you're in the front row most of that theming is lost on you. I only rode a few times in ERT in the morning and wasn't in any real rush to get back. That's not saying its a bad ride, just that there are many better rides in Phantasialand! Like Winjas! OMG, was this awesome. I thought Dragon's Fury was good but even that couldn't compare to the quirkness and greatness that is Winjas. I won't say too much except if you haven't rode it already then go do it! Winjas is just pure fun and definitely my favourite Maurer spinner(s). River Quest also really surprised me. I know there's some debate about whether its an actual rapids ride or not but for me if you're in a rapids boat thats floating on water then I'm calling it a rapids ride. And out of all the rapids type rides on the trip this was my favourite. I'm sure a lot of that was to do with all the surprises I got. I had no idea that it had an elevator lift and some of the elements on this I hadn't seen before. Plus when you're on a ride like River Quest with a good bunch of people it gets even better. Robb and Elissa were good enough to score us all two queue jump tickets each and our group used both of ours on River Quest. I think that speaks volumes on how much we all loved it! Despite not being a fan of spinning flat rides Lou somehow convinced me to do Talocan and I'm really glad she did. Any ride that combines FIRE and MIST like Talocan does gets big points from Divv. Spinning or not. The indoor drop tower was really cool. Again, it was just really cool to see a little twist on what can often be a very standard ride. I think that's what Phantasialand does really well. Lastly I should mention the Hollywood ride. I feel dumber now just having thought about it. The number one "must ride" attraction in the park is that dark ride! Anyway, I'm boring myself now. Here's some photos from a fantastic day! (Oh, and we laughed at Steve a LOT this day!!!) This was such a good day! I can't wait to go back to Phantasialand in the future! Does anyone want to pay for me to go back? No? More German fun to come! Fantasy Store! I love Europe! I won't mention who it was that forced us to ride the scintillating simulator inside the dome! Steve was just happy to finally get something resembling a shower since he didn't get to have a wash in the morning! Those guys scored yet another rapids credit in Europe. River Quest was a huge surprise. Definitely a favourite with the Rapids Crew! The indoor phallic ride impressed us all. Especially so for us since it contains LIGHTNING! This lunch we had was amazing! My mouth's watering looking at this and remembering it! Steve was certainly more partial to the more tranquil thrills of the dark rides today. This ride was pointless. Lou is wrong. It's not three different birds that you see in this ride. It's the SAME bird three times! It might have burned down in the real Hollywood but this EXACT REPLICA of Kongfrontation lives on in Germany! It's not quite Disney quality. But you really have to ride it. My little brain got at least 10% smaller after riding the Hollywood Tour! How many different ways can one statue pee? Of course the ducks couldn't get away from us fast enough! Not contented with copious amounts of FIRE and MIST in Phantasialand we even managed to track down some DUCKS! Look Scottish Steve - they have Stackers in Phantasialand! Get over there now! How can you not love this? Not only is it an awesome Vekoma mine train, it's named after Michael Jackson. We all had a good time riding Michael. Jes REALLY liked it! Steve started to pick up a little once we got on the log flume. I don't think there's a ride in Phantasialand that isn't buried in theming. It has FIRE!!! Still, even feeling like that how could you not enjoy this? When Steve got in the line for Talocan he thought it was for a coaster! No one informed him he was letting his drunken little body in for top spin fun! This is before Lou convinced me that ride Talocan would be a good idea! I don't think Steve quite appreciated Winjas as much as the rest of us. We have Miles to thank for that! Karma's a bitch! Poor Steve! LOL! Steve needed a team of crack commandos to bust him of his room this morning! He'd over indulged a little too much the previous evening. I never thought this looked that great in photos but its one of those things you just have to ride! Winjas, on the other hand made a huge impact! Considering these are the only two photos I took of Black Mamba I think its fair to say it didn't make a huge impact on me. The day started out with some Black Mamba ERT. Time to say farewell to the fantastic Hotel Ling Bao. No one does resort hotels like the Germans!

I'll leave it to Lou to decide if she wants to post the video. I'll also try and use my powers of persuasion and nagging to get her to put it up! --- DAY 7 - Part 2: SCHLOSSBECK After Movie Park we made the short journey to Schlossbeck. A bit different from the other parks we'd been visiting it consisted of mostly self operated rides and a kiddie coaster. Just what I needed to recover from Zombie Vomit Night! This was a tough day but I survived somehow! Thanks to Erik for his remarkable patience and understanding this day! =P I love ya big man! Look at all the special kids racing on the slide! Whilst I was feeling better by this point I wasn't brave enough to upset my recovery by trying this! I saw a mother take her child on her knee on top of the the restraint on this. It was pretty horrifying to watch! This one didn't splash nearly as much as we expected! Erik looks worried. SKLOOSH!! Steve prepares to get blasted into oblivion by the nautic jet. I actually remember riding this one! I was obviously beginning to recover by this point! Schlossbeck is a nice place to chill out for an afternoon.

DAY 7 - Part 1: MOVIE PARK GERMANY Okay, so maybe I wasn't quite as fine after the night in the Dragon Bar as I made out earlier. This was a tough day! I really felt like death. Damn Steve, Lou and everyone else involved in anything related to the Zombies! With us staying at the same hotel for a couple of nights I could have easily skipped this day and recovered from the Zombie experience but there were credits to be had and I was gonna get them damn it! Even if it meant being laughed at by everyone on the trip and never being allowed to forget it! I think Hanno captured my day here way better than I ever could so check out his trip report HERE I also have to thank Hanno for getting photos of me on every ride or I wouldn't be able to count them as credits if I was only going from memory! Though unsurprisingly I do have vivid memories of riding Bandit later in the day! That thing actually shook me back to life I think! Sadly my fragile nature this day made me skip out on the rapids at Movie Park meaning that I was no longer in the elite club of people who ridden every rapids on the trip. I also missed out on some really great looking food. My tender stomach just couldn't take it! Sitting on benches was far more important to me today! Also, major thanks to my amazing roommate Erik for getting me up this morning! Here's all seven photos that I took, as crappy as they are! Thanks to everyone who documented my day at Movie Park in such intricate detail and ensuring I'll never forget it! (Yes, I was sitting on a bench when I took this photo) Finally! A ride that didn't exacerbate my fragile condition! Lou risked getting thrown up on to ride this with me just so she could laugh at my agony. The SLC did not go down well! I rode this? Hanno has proof so I'm counting it! My photo taking skills weren't quite at the top of their game today. But so help me, I got this credit! I was feeling so crappy that I didn't even notice that this kiddie SLC had the new restraints! I'm feeling like death but I'm at Movie Park Germany dammit!

I have no idea what all this talk about Erik's suitcase and laundry detergent is about. You guys must be getting mixed up with another trip.

Happy birthday to KidTums! Can't wait to see how much she's grown by the time June rolls around!

Great photo's Eric! I don't think I have many photos of my own from this night so it's really great to see these! It was really great meeting you there and what a great event MNSSHP is! I wanna go back.

DAY 6 - Part 2: DRAGON BAR! This is a night I remember little of but have heard much about. Basically we'd been looking forward to the Dragon Bar at Phantasialand the whole trip and when we got there we felt we had to make the most of it. After countless beers we decided to try some kind of new drink. I seem to remember Lou suggesting a Zombie, and well, as soon as she mentioned it Steve had ordered up two for us! That's about the last thing I remember. Which is fine since nothing else of note happened anyway... Here's some photos... Looking quite good at 3:35am! I'll be fine tomorrow! What a great night we had! Well what I can remember of it at least! Steve's finishing off his Zombie in the early hours of the morning. Looks like he's enjoying it! I'd love to see Jes' corresponding photo from this! Lou's looking all innocent when it was really her that would have been responsible for any things that would have followed. Luckily no incidents followed. Steve and I are enjoying our Zombies! Looks like Jes has had enough already!

DAY 6: HEIDE PARK Our visit to Heide Park started with us arriving at our second resort hotel of the trip - the brand new Hotel Port Royal. This place was awesome! Not only was the hotel cool but they also treated us to a great buffet "snack" when we arrived! After our snack a few of us went down to the bar. Upon asking what time they closed we were told that they'd stay open as long as we were around. Needless to say we were kicked out in the early hours of the morning when it became apparent we wouldn't leave! LOL! Onto the park itself. What a beautiful place. It really looks amazing and has a really good line up of rides. Case in point - Colossos. I was really looking forward to this since Balder and El Toro are my top two coasters. Whilst Colossos wasn't quite as good as those two it really delivered airtime filled ride after airtime filled ride. Desert Race didn't seem quite as good as Rita for me but that could have just been the horrible rain that battered my face as I rode. It was still a fun ride and even the Vekomas weren't too bad. All I think the park is lacking is a real kickass dark ride, if they get that it would be one of my favourite parks in the world. Still the park is amazing without it, with multiple versions of the same ride and green and white colour schemes on everything it scores major points with Divv. Oh, I can't forget to add one of my favourite memories from the trip: So there's five minutes til the bus leaves Heide Park and Steve and I are running back to the hotel after a fruitless search for a souvenir shop. When we get to the hotel exit we find that there's this huge gate blocking our way which is locked. This is when Steve decides to start panicking and shaking the gates whilst shouting "HELP! HELP!". Some random German looked at him blankly then pointed out the buzzer right next to us. It was hilarious. I've never seen Steve look so panicked! Here's some pics... What an awesome day we had at Heide Park! Really it is one of the best parks in Europe. Next up is quite an ill-fated night... We all approved of Colossos! Everyone enjoys an airtime filled ride. Europe needs more Intamin wooden goodness. The ride was even better in the afternoon! We finished out the day with more Colossos. Schnitzel was lunch for the day. My first experience with it too. I have to say I really liked it! Mission accomplished! Hey look it's our line jumping friends! Lets wind them up some more! Whilst I wouldn't ride any of them the colour scheme on the flat rides was definitely Divv approved! You wouldn't see a whole land of blue rides would you? Hi Fudgey! Do you like orange ones? It's tough to even tell which ride is which! Green and white rides collide! They got past us in the end but that didn't stop us antagonising them for a good long time! It was worth it for these issues we had with the line jumpers in the queue! Still wanting to justify our two hour wait for the rapids in Walibi Belgium we elected to ride these ones too. It's powered, it doesn't count, but it was still fun! Is it just me or is this Statue of Liberty a bit short and stumpy? The new kiddie coaster was one of the longest lines of the day! Unsurprisingly there were a few TPR members in front of us! Everyone follow the bear's lead! What a kickass drop tower this was! All parks should convert their spare observation towers into drop towers! It was just a Vekoma! That's some more European death! Erik liked this one so much that he was stroking the custom gold wheels. (Seriously!) What's that lurking behind the trees? Heide had a fun Bobsled. Of course it sported the fantastic combination of green supports and white track. Or maybe Arrow just had nothing to do with this one. Maybe the other Vekoma death machines made this one seem better than it was but I was surprised! This was "just a Vekoma" and it wasn't that bad! Seriously amazing (as I knew it would be)! What an awesome ride! Of course the big draw of the morning is the massive Intamin woodie! It's fun ride but I find it strange that I much prefer Rita despite them both being the same layout. This one threw me at first since it's not green and white! Riding in the rain HURTS! LOL! Our morning starts out with some ERT on Desert Race, the Rita clone. After a few hours sleep we head out into Heide park. This is the group who closed out yet another bar on the trip! Into the bar and Ben, being a guy who knows exactly what he wants ordered a Desperado. This is EXACTLY what you wanted, right Ben? Look at the lights on the walls. Everything was themed! The room we had looked amazing! Fudgey would have LOVED this place! Our visit to Heide starts at the brand new Hotel Port Royal.

^ Ben, I think you should just stand in the splash zone at Tidal Wave when we go to Thorpe next month! Heide Park update coming up!

DAY 5: WALIBI WORLD This was a park I was excited about. After enjoying Piraten so much on my earlier visit to Denmark I really was intrigued to find out how the bigger Goliath compared. Now, whilst I thought the ride was VERY good, I was just a wee bit disappointed. I guess its a case of bigger isn't always better since I definitely think Piraten is a superior ride. But that doesn't mean Goliath is no good because it really is excellent. It's still one of my favourite steel coasters in the world. The rest of the park has a very "Six Flags" feel about it. Given this park once carried that moniker that's hardly a surprise. There isn't many other stand out rides but what's there is mostly good. The big exception is the SLC which was just a joke. I thought I'd ridden bad SLCs before but this one was by far the worst. Seriously one of the worst coasters I've ever been on. (Sorry Erik!) Actually Vekoma didn't do too well at all this day. The boomerang and the Rock'n'Rollercoaster outdoor clone were both down. Needless to say Erik blamed the whole thing on Arrow! But all in all a fun day was had! Here's some photos... Walibi World and Goliath are Divv approved. And with two coasters there still to ride there's little doubt I'll be back some day soon! That's us done with Holland. Off to Germany next! Thanks to AJ for joining us for these couple of days in Holland! Can't wait to do it again! Damn, I sat too close to Ben! With Ben's water attraction skills he was doomed to ride alone! Of course we finished the day with a whirl on the rapids. We rode Goliath a LOT on this day! I wish there was something like this in the UK. Another happy train of riders fly by. Back to Goliath to for a few more rides! I gave the top spin a miss. If it doesn't have fire and mist I'm not interested! Random politically incorrect group photo! AJ just loves petting goats. Thankfully the next log got a bit wetter. Ben was in this boat so it was no big surprise. They got off way too dry for my liking. Here's the crazy bitches sliding down. Steve showcases his armageddon coat for this one. These guys were all crazy enough to ride the log flume. Dutch cream cakes are Divv approved! This didn't look like it would be open any time soon. You're doing it wrong! AJ never misses! "If you don't agree that it was all Arrow's fault you're all dead!" AJ re-enacts the Blackpool nightclub experience for us all. Ben is very respectful of Wok! Yay for politically incorrect kiddie coasters! Thankfully we rode it before it broke! These kids were stuck up there for a while! Next up we took on the Wild Mouse. It's not even 12pm and AJ's on the beer! The things that an SLC will drive you to! "It was just a Vekoma!" How Steve is still able to lift his arms I've no clue! Steve and Erik are having lots of fun in the front row! Erik tells us not to worry. "It's just a Vekoma!" Oh dear, this thing looks painful. AJ says "Hi Fudgey!" It's just a Vekoma! Also on the ERT menu is Robin Hood. Look at all those empty seats! I love TPR ERT! Hi Steve! Steve and Jes are loving some morning ERT! Of course, where else would you start a visit to this park? If you see the bright orange kangaroo on top of the globe you know you're in the right place!

Thanks Big Mike! That was an awesome picture memorial of the historic moment! Hopefully the Big Mike Road Show will be looking to secure the exclusive rights to Divv's #400 in Scandi! I actually realised the other week that I hadn't picked out a photo yet for my prize. How about this one from the start of the trip? Can't beat a photo of me with the superstar that is Big Mike, my awesome roommate Erik and some other random drunkard!

DAY 4 - Part 2: DRIEVLIET & AMSTERDAM Next up on tour was a little Dutch park called Drievliet. This park is notable for being home to the launched X Car coaster - Formule X. Now my only previous X Car experience is the big piece of crap in Drayton Manor so I wasn't expecting much from this one. But man, did this blow me away! It was just pure fun. I think replacing the awful lift hill with a fun launch really makes all the difference to this coaster. This is a perfect ride for small parks like Drievliet to install. If you followed the Big Mike Road Show in Europe you'll know that Drievliet was also notable as it was the place where I picked up my 300th coaster credit! In keeping with crappy coasters being my milestone credits Koppermijn, the wild mouse, was bestowed with this very prestigious honour. After the park we checked into a hotel in Amsterdam where AJ gave us a little tour of the city and joined us for a few beers... This was a great day in the Netherlands! Such a fun country and we still have another day there to go! Not content with our drinking session in the city we decided to have a few more at the hotel pub! I think the logic behind this was: "Everyone pose with your tickets, it'll make for a REALLY funny photo!" You can tell Steve, Brad and Jes had had a few to drink this evening! They weren't Doritos but they tasted great! In the bar AJ convinced us to try out some Dutch snacks. I forget what they were called. AJ was driving so had to drink non-alcoholic beer! LOL! Poor AJ! Fudgey won't like this photo. He thinks the lamppost should be IN the Sex Museum! After the park we ventured out for some culture in Amsterdam. How cool am I? Drievliet is much cooler. I'll be happy if more of these start appearing around the world. This really was a shock to everyone when we found how good it was! This ride is just hands up fun! Is Jeff taking the piss out of the Hooters guys here? LOL! Time for some X Car ERT! I don't think Brad will ever forget this ride! Moments before Steve witnessed Brad getting his restraints fly kicked into his belly! If only I had photos! This ride was the scene of one of the funniest moments of the day. AJ loves eating red crap even more! We love random mini monorails! Brad and AJ are petrified of the Ghost Train! If I counted powered coasters I'd have hit 300 a long time ago! Steve appears to love wild mice too! God, I hate wild mice! Which is why I chose this to be my 300th credit! Steve and Erik don't quite know what to make of it! Twsitrix. This was one messed up coaster! No we're not in Ancient Rome or Greece. But you'd be forgiven for thinking so!

It would seem that this is a bit of a family trait! Sometimes one Fudge isn't enough...

DAY 4 - Part 1: EFTELING After Leaving Toverland we headed out to the Efteling Hotel. In all my wisdom I decided upon arriving that instead of waiting in the queue for the elevator to head up to my room I'd go to the bar for a bit first. I don't think I got to my room til 3am. I had a fun night, though I am a little sad that I didn't get to experience the room a little more. What little time I did have there though really impressed me. Plus, the laugh we had in the hotel bar was great! The park itself surprised me. I went in not knowing what to expect after hearing a lot of hot and cold reports on the place. I guess I fall into the camp of people who really like it. I still for the life of me can't figure out the layout of the park at all but I thought it looked beautiful and some of the dark rides were amazing. The only thing that hurts the park is the coaster line up, which is mediocre at best. If the place had even one kick ass coaster it would be one of my favourite parks ever. Still, the new Flying Dutchman ride really surprised me. The queue(line) is exquisitely themed and I thought the dark ride section of it was really impressive. I just wish they'd themed the coaster section too. It's not often that I feel the coaster section is what lets a ride like this down but the dark ride part really impressed me here. I wish I got to ride it again. Also today was a extra special for me as my good friend AJ who I'd met on the Midwest trip joined up with us. AJ is tremendous fun and it was good to catch up and have him show us around one of his home parks. Onto some photos... Efteling really surprised me! While I still feel its lacking a really good coaster I can't wait to go back and explore it some more! More Dutch fun coming up! It's not often I take a photo of flowers! I must have been very impressed with these! Some places you look in Efteling you wouldn't even know you're in a park. This is seriously the most amazing ATM machine ever! Poor Ben somehow got stuck on his own. As if that wasn't sad enough, about three boats overtook him! Poor Ben! LOL! Efteling has a rapids. It had to be done. Hi Brian! The coaster section is a little short. But its fun and the dark ride portion was great! Fudgey would love this ride. Look at the orgy of lampposts out there! Even in a queue Steve can't pass up the opportunity to visit the bar! The big attraction at Efteling now is The Flying Dutchman. The madhouse at Efteling was really cool. The soundtrack is amazing. So epic! Its worth owning the Efteling CD for that track alone! Complete with fatty porn! Because they're on the Dutch version of Small World! Why are these guys so happy? Vogel Rok has one of the coolest coaster entrances in the world. Its a shame the music wasn't working when I rode. It apparently makes a big difference to the experience. Today's guest star is AJ! AJ wants to give a big "HI" to his friend Dave Fudge! The woodie looks nice enough but it really didn't do much to warrant being labeled as "good" or "bad". Out in the park we start with a "filming session" on some of the park's coasters. I include this picture only because Lou loves the glass holder so much. I didn't spend long in the hotel room due to excess time in the bar but it was very nice! Ben tried to add to the creepy creature collection by creating his little friend: Bob Cesar. The Efteling Hotel is home to a lot of these creepy creatures. This is apparently a bin. So that we could drink some more! After all the hilarity of the free bar at Toverland we headed over to the Efteling Hotel.

DAY 3 - Part 2: TOVERLAND If ever a park rolled out the red carpets for TPR it was Toverland. Not only did we get three hours of ERT there was also a free open bar for the duration! What a night this was! Of course the big draw at Toverland is Troy. I was very excited for this ride beforehand having really loved Kentucky Rumbler and Renegade. Thankfully Troy didn't disappoint. It was really amazing fun from beginning to end. Not quite as good as Kentucky Rumbler for me but still right up there on my wooden list and my favourite woodie of the trip. The rest of the park is a lot of pure European quirky fun! From the funky Bob Karts to the triangle of death it's a place that has to be seen to be believed. It's got a real unique atmosphere and I can't wait to get back! Here's some photos... We had an amazing evening at Toverland. I can't wait to go back! More Dutch shenanigans to come! Exclusive never seen before pose! Well done to Jeff Johnson, he stayed on Troy (TROY!) the whole session. I'd have probably done the same were it not for me trying to get as much free alcohol as possible! Empty seats started appearing on the trains as more and more people sampled the free bar! GCI woodies had a three for three success rate for me at this point (I wouldn't ride Gwazi til later in the year!) Troy. TROY! (Let's play Yahtzee) She wasn't the only one! Lou appears to be VERY impressed! LOL! We rode Troy a LOT! Troy is Big Mike approved! I lost count of the amount of times I rode. A lot of the group were very impressed. Of course most of the time at Toverland was spent on this baby. The Booster Bike was good, though a bit slow when the train wasn't full. At least that was the excuse Erik gave us. I think he said something about Arrow being responsible too. The best way to cure pain and suffering is of course to ride some Vekoma goodness! The triangle of death was the source of much hilarity. Although for Erik it was the source of a lot of pain and suffering! Erik's a big fan of Bob too! Anth loves riding Bob! First of all we got the indoor rollerskater out the way. Erik was very excited to ride this. It's just a Vekoma! Toverland was the second park of day. It's an indoor and outdoor mish mash of fun!

DAY 3 - Part 1: BOBBEJAANLAND Day three saw us move over to the Dutch speaking side of Belgium (this made Erik very happy!) to check out Bobbejaanland. This was a really cool park. It's one of those places that you look on on paper that really doesn't seem like much but when you actually visit you come away pretty impressed. The place has a real nice atmosphere and charm despite not having any real super coasters. The Eurofighter is good fun. It's no Speed but its definitely better than the other two I've been on. The real stand out ride here was ®Evolution. This thing was just mad and random. Of course when you add those ingredients to a TPR takeover and throw in a stupid line jumping kid hilarity will ensue! Miles and I had fun with that kid! Anyway, I'll let the photos do the talking for the rest of the place... Bobbejaanland was a real surprise place. I didn't expect much going in but it was a great little place. Off to Holland next... Ben and Steve don't count this as a rapids credit but we rode it for them anyway. Erik finally admitted that Vekoma messed something up with Gouderix. He felt so guilty that he followed the admission by shooting himself. This awesome spaghetti bolognese was our lunch for today. Even better than the food was the FREE BEER! And this is a demonstration of a typical shop visit on a TPR trip! Erik gives a demonstration of a typical morning at the Vekoma offices. The best thing about this photo is that right after Erik posed like this he actually tripped over the banana! Of course after the previous day's two hours rapids wait we felt we had to justify it by riding this rapids too! Dave enjoys squeezing into the cars tight with Steve! Steve may be enjoying it a bit too much. Housed in this box is probably the most messed up but best ride in the park! Steve doesn't care about a missed credit. Well not that much! Only the left side of the coaster was open when we visited. I'm including that in the caption so that I remember to check it before I visit the park again! Despite it not counting for me I have to say I really enjoyed another powered coaster on this trip. And you got to shoot everything! Gotta love El Paso Special! Domestic abuse... Defecation... More strippers... Boobs... Strippers... It has cocks... Next on the schedule was this. The best shooting ride... EVER! More Vekoma ERT awaited us next. Everyone do what the clown does! Dreamcatcher made Erik very happy. Although I'm sure Arrow might have been responsible for any uncomfortableness caused by the restraints. =P Jes was still dazed from the grill as we went onto our next ERT coaster! I passed on this but some stupid people braved George Foreman Grill ERT! Hi Ryan! Isn't TPR ERT just the best? Eurofighters do elements like this very well. Hey Big Mike! If you ever forget a coaster's name make sure the first place you look is the loop! This photo is special for not only showing how awesome TPR ERT is but it also marks Lou's photo debut in this TR! Where else to start but with ERT on the Eurofighter? Bob and Jane Land is next up for the TPR tour!

Bobbejaanland coming up...

Yeah Walibi Belgium didn't leave a particularly nice taste in our mouths. Thankfully we had some real fun in store in the afternoon! --- DAY 2 - Part 2: AVENTURE PARC This was a masterstroke by Elissa finding this place. It really was a great way to mix up the trip and get us away from the crowds at Walibi. The ropes courses were really tiring but a whole lot of fun. I spent a long time out on the courses. I only missed one of the medium difficulty ones that I would certainly have attempted if I hadn't run out of time. Still five out of six was pretty impressive for me. I didn't expect to get much further than the easy ones Here's some photos (thanks to Ben who walked around with my camera and got these shots!) This was an awesome day! Thanks to Elissa for finding this place! More Belgian fun up next. Somehow I managed five out of the six courses here. I was buggered by the end of it but proud that I managed it. I needed a few beers this night! How attractive am I? Of course the photos don't show you that he just dangled here helpless for two hours. For a venue that has its own bar I was amazed Steve spent as long as he did on the ropes. See? Yes, I'm totally willing to kill myself out here! Here they dress you up as car mechanics and let everyone laugh at you. Somewhere in the middle of a big load of trees in Belgium lies this little place.