Divv3k

Thanks guys! Chrissie, I think it was actually supposed to be Edinburgh! It looked nothing like the Edinburgh in Windsor! Scott - I'm glad someone actually got the Coupling reference! The final update will be up very soon!

Thanks guys. Not long to go now! --- PART NINE LEGOLAND BILLUND Up until this trip Legoland was the only Danish park I'd visited before. That was back in 1995 and the park has changed a LOT since then, in a good way. All the old stuff is still there and is as it was before but so much has been added that complements it all so well. I really love both of the Legolands I've been to. The attention to detail is great and well there's just fun wherever you turn. I'm thinking more and more that I'll need to slip in a trip to Legoland California as part of my SoCal trip I'm planning for March next year. Here's some photos... That's all from Legoland. I LOVE this place! One park to go! Tivoli Friheden is next. "When God made the arse, he didn't say, 'Hey, it's just your basic hinge, let's knock off early.' He said, 'Behold ye angels, I have created the arse. Throughout the ages to come, men and women shall grab hold of these, and shout my name! " Man, these Splash Battles really are showing up EVERYWHERE! This one looked really good with all the Lego theming. Yay for Celtic supporting Lego pirates! Which was a shame because it looked really good! The Viking River Splash was closed. I coulda swore I saw somewhere just like this when i was in the States last year. Are you sure we're still in Denmark? Tom mentioned something about making a joke about this being a real space ship in his trip report. I had no idea what he was on about. Yay for the Scottish section! Everywhere in Scotland looks exactly like this. Fact. In case any of my Europe trip friends can't remember Amsterdam after we visit next week here's an advance look. Concorde lives on in Billund. Here's part of the Copenhagen sections. it's cool how all the different Minilands have mostly different places represented. I imagine Tom will be making some kind of Fuji-Q joke when he gets to this bit in his trip report. Woo, Miniland! I was disappointed to see that the driving school had lost its "Octan" petrol theming. (Lego geek) Yay for Lego nudity! The Lego canoe was much appreciated on this HOT day! SKLOOSH! Here's some little rodent type dudes to keep you happy. This is probably what I'll look like after all the meals on the Europe trip. A Lego pianist keeps queuers entertained. There were quite sizeable crowds in the park but because there's so much to do there really wasn't any horrendous waits at all. Doesn't look like those guys have got much done in thirteen years. This big Indian dude keeps an eye on you while you ride. The mine train is one of the older attractions in the park. But Tom needed it so I was more than happy to give it another whirl after thirteen years. Before this trip Timber Ride was the only Danish credit on my count. This seems to be the only photo I have of the powered coaster I have. Again for a powered coaster this one was quite good. Mmm... Lego food! Of course cool Lego models litter all the queue lines. I have to say that out of all the wild mouse type rides there are loads that I just can't stand to ride but I actually quite like these ones. It was nice to enjoy a ride like this without sneeze shields and roofs. Right away we head for the only credit in the park I needed - Xtreme Racers. Doesn't look like these guys have moved much in thirteen years! Park number three of the day - Legoland!

PART EIGHT SOMMERLAND SYD Our second park of the day was Sommerland Syd, right in the south of Denmark. There's not much in this park except for a couple of coasters and some waterslides but it's all quite spread out and what is there looks nice enough. Danish Face/Off is the big coaster there. Erik tells me that this was the first Invertigo and it really showed. This thing really kicked our asses. The other coaster Kæmperutschebanen was a bit better and at least looked a lot less deadly than the Vekoma ride! We didn't stay here long, it's more or less just a credit stop park on the way up to Legoland! Here's the photos... Sommerland Syd is not much more than a credit run but worth checking out if you're passing. Two parks down today, two to go! Legoland is next! No, I'm not gonna try and pronounce it but suffice to say it's better than the Vekoma death machine. Kæmperutschebanen is the park's other coaster. The park has some boats and other obstacle course stuff that's the norm in this country. I didn't manage to catch a price list for Big Mike readers but here's a season pass sign with park's mascot. These seemed to be a lot more popular than the other rides. There's quite a few water slides in the park. The pirate ship was nicely themed albeit a bit deserted. There's also a Disneyland dwarfing castle for people to laugh at. This is what the park's entire range of merchandise consisted of. This is Tom's "apprehensive about ordering Pepsi" face This thing looked pretty messed up. Again, something you won't see in a lot of other countries. Ow, ow, ow, ow ow. I wasn't looking forward to this. Here's the view of impending death. That's right - it's Danish Face/Off! Oh dear that doesn't look good. The park entrance looks alright, although the other Danish parks had kinda spoiled us by this point. We're back in Denmark for park number two of the day - Sommerland Syd.

Glad to see you continuing with this Lou! The food all looks strangely appealing to me!

^ Everybody should go to Scandinavia. I'm convinced it's gonna be the best TPR trip of all time! --- PART SEVEN TOLK-SCHAU After Tivoli Gardens we raced all the way back across Denmark and then hopped down over the border to the Northern German town of Flensburg for the night. This allowed us to hit up Germany's most Northern park in the morning before heading back into Denmark hitting more parks up there later in the day. Tolk-Schau is aimed at younger audiences but it's still a really quirky place. It's got one credit and a load of those "self operated" rides you've seen in previous TPR updates. It's these self operated rides that really provide the fun in this place. The butterflys are ok. Definitely not a credit for me but fun. The Nautic Jets are freakin' fantastic! Pictures don't do these things justice! We both had a few goes on these. We didn't stay here very long but still checked out a lot of what was on offer. I'm glad I finally got my fix of these self operated rides. I only wish they'd show up more places! Here's the pictures... And that's Tolk-Schau. If you find yourself doing a Denmark trip it might be worth considering a quick jaunt down to check this place out. Well at least if you haven't been to Klotten! Back to Denmark for Sommerland Syd next! I should mention it was HOT on this day! And this was only like ten in the morning! So this is Non-German Tom in Germany. Does that just make him Non-Tom? Yeah, there's also a self operated zip line. Check Tom's TR for action shots of me whenever he gets round to it! It's quite an experience! Tom then flies off the edge. Tom then gets apprehensive. I push the button and send him up the hill. Tom's not quite sure what he's letting himself in for here. And I send him off a tumbling. Tom straps himself in. Here's another of the random self operated rides. Butterfly POV! But NOT a credit! Not for me anyway. The butterfly. Cool little concept. A credit! Same layout as the dog fart coaster but nowhere near as entertaining! What's that I spy through the trees? The giant Tyrannosaur welcomes you into the park. Park number seven of the trip and the first of our final day - Tolk-Schau.

PART SIX TIVLOI GARDENS After Bakken we drove into the centre of Copenhagen using a bit of improvisation due to umpteen closed roads. We got parked up right next to Tivoli Gardens and headed in for a bit. We only rode the coasters so we definitely didn't get the best out of the place but we didn't have long, needed to get a decent meal in us too and had a long drive to our hotel in Germany ahead of us. The good thing about Tivoli Gardens is that its open at Christmas time so it makes it an easy place to go back to when everywhere else is closed. Here's the photos (again I didn't take many)... I wish we had more time to spend here. But I'm quite happy in the knowledge that I'll be back some day soon. Next up is Tolk-Schau in Germany. Our first of four parks on our last day. Tivoli Gardens really looks fantastic at night. This ride will have to wait until another time. Like maybe at Holiday park in a week or two? That's all the credits at Tivoli Gardens achieved. Yet another ride that seeks to make X2 jealous! Lift hill enthusiasts rejoice once more! While not as insane as Bakken's this one was still pretty good. This is the other Scenic Railway in Copenhagen. Don't let the fact that its powered put you off, this thing really flew around its course. Odin Expressen is the powered coaster in Tivoli Gardens. The S&S tower is painted gold. It looks very cool. Watch out you don't get attacked by growing plant life! Karavanen is the kiddie coaster of Tivoli Gardens. This is one of the better floorless coasters in my view. Despite its small size it still packs a punch. The area around the ride is quite nice. Daemonen is a TINY B&M floorless. But rollercoasters is what you're here to see so here's one! Tivoli Gardens is really about a lot more than the rollercoasters. I've been following the Big Mike road show for too long as I keep taking photos of price lists now! Park number three of the day - Tivoli Gardens.

^ Thanks! The ship themed fun house at Bakken was very random and a lot of fun! I think Tom took some photos inside it so keep an eye on his TR for that!

Yeah letter links seem to be working now on Firefox. The new index looks good!

Thanks for the comments! --- PART FIVE BAKKEN After spending a few hours at BonBon-Land we planned on hitting the two Copenhagen parks. We knew we wouldn't have much time at them but thought it was worth it since we were so close and it meant credits! Bakken is the oldest amusement park in the world. I really liked it! It's got a very cool atmosphere which was probably accentuated due to the sheer number of people in the place. Although despite the vast number of people there was hardly any waits for the rides. This was due in part to some fantastic operations by the staff and in part due to the fact a lot of people were just relaxing and enjoying the bars and restaurants. The Scenic Railway at Bakken was probably the best of the four Ive rode. There' air time on that thing in places you don't expect airtime. The Mine Train had one of the best ride crews I've ever seen. Despite only having one train they couldn't have pushed through people any faster. Plus they were doing cool things like jumping onto the back of the train while it was moving and rocking out to the awesome music that was playing in the station! There's also a really cool Ghost Train at Bakken with one really surprsing moment. I won;t ruin it but if you've been on the inverted monorail thing at Tibidabo you might have an idea of what it is! Anyway, we didn't spend too long but we got to ride all the coasters, the ghost train and the shot tower. I really liked Bakken. A bit different from the other places we'd been to so far. I didn't take too many pictures here but here are a few... That'll do it from Bakken. I really liked this place. Although you don't need more than a few hours there they are a fun few hours! Tivoli Gardens is next! The parks mine train was really good. It had one of the most insane first drops I've ever seen on a mine train. They hold the train on the lift hill to allow parents take photos of their kids. Marie Honen is the sad and pathetic credit here. Man these Splash Battles sure are showing up EVERYWHERE! Tom rides wacky flat ride of death. The double shot was good. Parts of it are enclosed to keep the noise down. It's lots of fun! Here's another of the coasters - Racing. This is the ghost train. It's very dark and has quite a surprising moment! and here's the green train! Did I mention the operations here were amazing? So you just saw the red train. Here's the blue train... Just a great fun ride. It's amazing to think it was built in 1932! Despite the park being packed you could still got onto the rides in minutes. Rutschebanen. A fantastic Scenic Railway. Park number two of the day - Bakken!

PART FOUR BONBON-LAND Originally we had only planned only doing Tivoli Friheden on the third day of our trip. However after finding out that the new Ride Tek coaster wouldn't be open yet we figured we'd be able to squeeze Tivoli Friheden onto our last day of the trip and free up an entire day to visit some other parks. So after a night of scrambling around the internet in the hotel we came up with a plan of hitting three parks on the Saturday. This is the first of those three. BonBon-Land is awesome! Yes, it's a lot of off the shelf rides but they've all got that extra touch to make them really look really cool. Of course there's also the whole "bodily function" aspect too which is endlessly amusing. I also rode my 250th coaster here. When I realised that I'd be hitting this milestone Tom and I agreed that it really should be the dog fart coaster. The Eurofighter wasn't the best. Maybe Speed has just spoiled me for those rides but I did really like the effort BonBon-Land put into this ride. All in all this just another great park made special by the park's unique sense of humour. Here's some photos. Well I look a bit constipated in this one so I'm sure Nadia will approve. BonBon-Land is just a really cool place to spend some time. I don't think there's a park anywhere with more laugh out loud rides! Bakken is up next! Boobs! The cowboy section was a bit sparse. But it was still great for one reason... Any ride involving monkey's gets the thumbs up from me! Oh dear. Is that TPR members making their way to the airport for the Europe trip? Octopus humping? Check! This is just another one of those "only in Europe" type things. They like to poke fun at other countries. This is BonBon-Land's answer to Chico and the Poachers. More boobs! I love Denmark! It's things like this that make this place so great. Here's another example of the awesomeness that is BonBon-Land! Did I mention that it was HOT! The rapids entrance was quite hidden away. But well worth the search. This drop ride was fun. Though I won't ruin the surprise at the end. You'll have to ride it for yourself! We rounded out the BonBon-Land credits with a ride on Kaninus. The park's kiddie coaster. This is just the greatest thing ever! Yay for the dog fart coaster! And what better coaster to do it on at BonBon-Land? Time for me to hit another coaster milestone. #250 Furries are out in force in BonBon-Land. This is about as RCT as you can get! This one didn't make me ill so it instantly gets extra points for that. Down the first drop you go. It's good fun. But again I think Dragon's Fury has spoiled me for spinning coasters. Han-Katten is the park's newest coaster. Thankfully it seems that Euro Fighters have only gotten better since this one opened. Vertical loops are always fun. This one was alright. But it was a bit rough around the edges. This was the very first Euro Fighter. The ride's station kinda shows off the sense of humour throughout the park. Vild-Svinet is the park's Eurofighter. Park number one of the day - BonBon-Land! This is the Great Belt Bridge. It connects up a few of the Scandinavian islands. It's quite an impressive sight. There's one! It's Saturday morning and it's early. Lets go find some bridges!

^ Well I get 25 days holiday a year at my job and this year every single one of them is set side for some kind of trip! On the money thing I really do just try and save wherever I can in other areas so that I can afford the trips. It's well worth noting though that Scandinavia is very expensive - even for someone from the UK. That said, I tend to feel its worth that bit of extra money since the places are so cool! I'm doing the BonBon-Land update now so it should be up in a bit.

PART THREE KAROLINELUND After the day in Farup Sommerland we ventured out to Karolinelund which wasn't very far from our hotel in Aalborg. This park used to be called Tivoli World but for some reason its not called that anymore. It's a nice little park for what it is. It was very quiet when we were there and so it did lack a bit of the atmosphere that the other Danish parks had. We still had fun there but it's not a place you need more than an hour or two at. The most amazing thing of note at Karolinelund is the Wacky Worm. Or should I say Wackiest Worm! Not only did this Wacky Worm have tunnels and more pronounced humps it also had TWO TRAINS!!! I kid you not. OK, so the other one was just sitting there looking like it had been unused for a long time but it did seem that this ride actually functioned with two trains at one point. I've never seen anything like it. The other coasters are death machines from Pinfari and Vekoma so needless to say we only rode them once. The ghost train had boobs so naturally Tom went for a second ride on that. Here's some pictures... It's a small park but its close enough to Farup Sommerland that it can be done in a few hours in the evening. This was one of the most surprising things of the trip. Definitely my favourite Wacky Worm. The Wackiest Worm. It was indeed themed better than any other Wacky Worm. The humps seemed a bit bigger on this one compared to the three million other wacky worms that we'd rode. We wondered if this was in fact the original Wacky Worm. Yet another ride that seeks to make X2 jealous. You better believe it! WOW!! What the hell is this? A Wacky Worm with TWO TRAINS? OMG!!! They were horrifying! It had been so long since Tom had seen any boobs he immediately rode again! Ah the ghost train! This one succeeds in making X2 jealous by having tunnels. Now if only we could some fire to melt the thing! Another death machine! Woohoo! The big drop tower looms over Aalborg. Yay - a stacker! I tried it once. I sucked. Where's Steve when you need him? Although coasters with green and white colour schemes always get extra points from me. This was my fourth Vekoma Boomerang. How many do I have to go Erik? Oh joy, a Vekoma Boomerang! If any of Big Mike's readers speak Danish here's a 2008 price list for you. OK, onto the park! This time Karolinelund. Or make that Tivoli Karolinelund? I tried out some local variations of my favourite snacks. Enter the sex shop through the newsagents! I love Denmark! Right next to the hotel its reassuring to know that our sex shop needs will be catered for. It was very nice. It even offered partial Vekoma boomerang views! This is the hotel in Aalborg where we stayed for a couple of nights. Tom proclaimed that this was the most Scottish he'd ever seen me so lets finish this one on that note. BonBon-Land will be up next!

PART TWO FARUP SOMMERLAND Wow, what a park! I absolutely loved this place. Right up there with places like Kennywood and Liseberg IMO. It just has a really great atmosphere and some really great fun rides. Obviously the big attraction is Lynet which just opened the day before our visit. Thankfully the park wasn't too busy so we got to ride a few times. It's a lot of fun, especially in the front. The back has some bumpy spots after the MCBR. There's good airtime and some good laterals too. Plus its themed really well. I can see this ride being a big success for the park. Hopefully more of these rides will start to pop up around the world soon. The other big coaster in the park is Falken. What a fantastic ride! I'll be honest I didn't think it looked that amazing in video but that just shows that you should never judge a ride by a video. It's really great. fantastic airtime on every hill and just generally a lot of fun. It's a little rough on the final turnaround but apart from that it's all pretty good. Other things worth mentioning: - The speed boats! Yeah they have speed boats in which you can do a lap round their little lake which is a LOT of fun. Again, this isn't an upcharge which makes it even better! - The obstacle course! OMG, this was like something out of Gladiators. It's really long with loads of cool different things to try. We were both pretty exhausted by the end of it. Especially Tom - who actually made it across the monkey bars! - Trampolines and bouncy castle things. These were great fun and yet again another way in which to exhaust yourself silly! All in all I have to say that this place really exceeded my expectations. I'm really looking forward to visiting this place again some day! Here's some pictures... Words can't express how cool Farup Sommerland is. Definitely one of my favourite parks. Get over to Denmark and check it out! Karolinelund will be up next! It has some real nice airtime on this hill. Definitely a great addition to Denmark's coaster collection. Here's another look at Lynet before we leave. If you go to this park you won't be able to buy any merchandise. That's because Tom bought it all. Here's some gun POV. Yes, the park let you shoot guns! I don't know how we did it but we somehow made it through the obstacle course alive! Here's Tom entering Anita's back door. Here's Tom moments before his momentous completion of the monkey bars. I was convinced I was gonna die here. Slide POV! Time to take on the obstacle course! Here's Tom - presenting TPR slush! Tom mastered the art of bouncing on his head. And succeeds. (Although I did it first) Tom takes on the triangle. I love Denmark! Although we managed to get through this one without getting evacuated. The log flume here has the same layout as the one at Djurs. He just kept bouncing around for hours. In fact he might well still be there bouncing away. Tom has a go on the embedded bouncy castle thing. The weather was really hot today so the rapids were a welcome cool down. Did I mention that Denmark has hotties wherever you look? Tom invites you to play his game. This is the ride where every photo is "through the trees"! Everyone loves the Vekoma ride. This one's just for you Erik! Tom enjoys his banana. There's a much better caption in this photo I'm sure. Another fruit stall. This isn't something you'd see in a UK park. Again there was a only a small line for these despite not being an upcharge. Needless to say we had a couple of goes. There goes Tom speeding along. Ah, the speed boats. These were bloody amazing. This really is a great ride. S&S are two for two with great woodies for me. Another happy train of Falken riders come back into the station. Tom's looking for people. It's like our own little ERT session. The funny thing is the car park was really packed today. But most rides were like this! It has great airtime over every hill. This woodie really packs a punch! I liked this ride a lot! Falken is the other big draw at Farup Sommerland. This one wasn't too Divv-unfriendly. I don't know how they did it but they managed to make a spinning mouse look semi decent! Flagermusen is the park's spinning mouse. It really is a solid addition to the park. And just one of many reasons to visit Farup Sommerland. This is one of those rides that can really appeal to everyone. Although I would NOT like to wait in all that queue line! Thankfully the queue was only about 20 minutes or so all day. The whole area around the ride is really nice. See - flips like this. Then its all bends and flips and stuff. And over the airtime hill. Up the top hat you go. That's right. There's finally a ride named after a Desperate Housewife. They call it Lynet! As soon as we got into the park we followed the masses towards this big wacky shack type thing! Park number two of the trip - Farup Sommerland!

Hello all and welcome to another trip report from yours truly, Divv. I've spent the last four days in Denmark with Non-German Tom checking out the parks, the rides and the occasional Danish hottie. Be sure to check out Tom's trip report whenever it appears - it's sure to be similar to this one but probably even better! Update list: PART ONE: DJURS SOMMERLAND (below) PART TWO: FARUP SOMMERLAND PART THREE: KAROLINELUND PART FOUR: BONBON-LAND PART FIVE: BAKKEN PART SIX: TIVOLI GARDENS PART SEVEN: TOLK-SCHAU PART EIGHT: SOMMERLAND SYD PART NINE: LEGOLAND BILLUND PART TEN: TIVOLI FRIHEDEN So without any further ado here's park number one of ten... --- PART ONE: DJURS SOMMERLAND Pretty much as soon as Piraten was announced last year Tom and I agreed that we would be over to check it out shortly after it opened. Now despite my experience with Intamin hypers being limited to Millennium Force (damn you S:ROS for being closed!) I was excited about this due to the good reputation of similar rides. And deliver Piraten did. Despite its small size it really packs a punch. This is just pure fun - great ejector air on pretty much every hill and super smooth of course. I really can't wait for Goliath and Expedition GeForce now! But Piraten isn't the only great thing about Djurs Sommerland - the place is filled with loads of great rides and has lots of real charm. The park also has a very "RCT" feel to it. In a good way. The Gerstlauer Bobsled was a lot of fun. With some pretty insane helixes of death and a nice little airtime hill too. The queue line has some really cool theming to it as well. Also of note are the off road go-karts. These were a lot of fun and surprisingly not an upcharge attraction. I normally don't bother with upcharge rides so it was great to get to do this. Oh and if you visit this park you absolutely MUST check out the "Jungle Safari with Chico and the Poachers" (seriously that's what it says on the map. Words can't describe how random that thing is. We tried out pretty much every ride in the park, although we had to take two goes at getting on the log flume as we got evacuated the first time! All in all this was a really nice place with a great atmosphere that was a lot of fun for all ages. I can see TPR having a LOT of fun here on the Scandinavian trip next year. Here's some photos... Aha! Finally a photo of me! Djurs Sommerland is a fantastic park and well worth a visit. Especially so now that Piraten is there. I know I'll be back here someday. Farup Sommerland is up next! Photos don't do this thing justice. I can't wait to try the other Intamin hypers on the Europe trip! Just look at it! Mmmm... Piraten... It may be small. But that doesn't it stop it being amazing! Here's some more Piraten to drool over. OK, back over to see these dudes. If you like fruit or veg Djurs Sommerland is the place for you! Tom and his "spunk"! I love foreign sweets! But it was nothing compared to Farup Sommerland's the next day! Its fun. And we thought it was a little challenging. Tarzanland is the parks obstacle course. And there he is! These were great! Tom's ready to go. Djurs also has off road go karts! EVACUATED! This doesn't look quite right. Lets give it a go. This log flume looks fun. Yay for Wacky Worms! Yes, we are sad and pathetic. The ride itself is a little lame but that suited me in this case. I thought it was alright. Here's the topple tower. Which was incredibly themed for a little flat ride. If you ever forget where you are just check out the side of the rapids boats! Oh and there's monkeys humping branches. This is just one of those rides you have to experience. It really took us by surprise! There's also a cameo from King Kong. Yes, the ride is this messed up! OMG! We're on Lost: The Ride! Yes that is a turtle hanging in front of you. Tom's not quite sure what he's let himself in for. According to the map this translate to Chico and the Poachers. Anyway, fun ride. Go ride it! "Enter the surface forbidden"! WTF? No, you are not seeing things! Yay for pseudo-donkeys in the queue line! Here's a fun little hill! Yep, its just a big mess of track! It's definitely whetted my appetite to try more of these rides! Lift hill enthusiasts rejoice! This Gerstlauer Bobsled was good fun. Such as Thor's Hammer! Djurs Sommerland does have other rides... OK enough drooling over Piraten. We'll be back later. There's plenty of T-shirts and other random crap available. The ride exits into a little shop filled with Piraten souvenirs. Another happy train of riders returns to the station. ...after ejec... You get the picture! Pure awesomeness! ...after ejector airtime hill... Then its just ejector airtime hill... ...over the twisty hill... and down the first drop... Up the super fast lift hill... OK, enough messing around. Let's go and get eaten by a big skull! Just in case any of Big Mike's readers are joining us here are the 2008 admission prices. First stop - Djurs Sommerland. Home of Piraten! We're in Denmark and here's our rental car for the next four days so let's get going!

Rode it a few times today. It's a lot of fun. There's some bumpy spots in the back row but pretty smooth in the front. I'd rank it alongside the "mid tier" Intamin accelerators.

People are certainly not losing interest Big Mike! I've enjoyed the whole thing so far. I'm looking forward to being a part of the Road Show on the Europe Trip. I just hope the Big Mike Road Show will be there to cover the momentous occasion of my 300th coaster!

Enough of this retired nonsense! I'm gonna be investing some good money on you to win me some games consoles next time we're at a park!

Yeah I feel I should point out that there was an actual 360 in the box. And Steve almost won a PS3 a few hours later. It was crazy. It's a shame we never captured his winning moment on video. But we caught this: I didn't mention the dodgem woman because I felt like we would be depriving everyone else since we were all stupid enough not to take video. It was seriously one of the funniest things I've ever seen! MVI_4203_agk.avi Better quality version of the above video. Proof that it wasn't just an empty box that Steve won!

<----- Will screw over Hooters Crew for beer.

Thanks Lou! Apparently there used to be a Crystal Maze in Blackpool! Wish I'd had the chance to check that out. Oh and if you ask very nicely when we're in Europe I might be able to conjure up a photo or two!

Sorry about the delay in getting this last part up! Hope you enjoy it! --- PART SEVEN OAKWOOD Well this was a place that was new to all of us. Being from the UK it really is shocking I'd went this long before visiting Oakwood but it really isn't the most convenient place to get to. The park was dead. I mean really dead, there were maybe 20-30 people in the park all day. This was great as we could take it easy and ride whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. The park itself is quite nice. Very peaceful and relaxed with a nice ride selection. Megafobia wasn't that great in my opinion but Speed really impressed me. All in all it was a great day and a great way to cap off the trip. I'd just like to thank all the guys for coming and thank AJ, Andrew, Steve, Dave and Mike for contributing photos and videos for this TR. Here's the last batch of photos... Thanks to everyone who followed along with this trip report. And thanks to Shawn for giving us great things to laugh about! Hi Shawn! So with that our trip is over. Thanks to all the guys, it was great fun! This was a LOT of fun. Especially for the people who used to watch the TV show. After Oakwood we checked out the Crystal Maze. Mike wasn't so smart. Dave's delighted he was wearing a poncho. Andrew's just happy he didn't drown. SKLOOOOSSHHHH!!!! AJ, Andrew, Dave and Mike braved Hydro. AJ wasn't taking any chances when it came to the next ride. There's always one who gets wet on rides like this. Dave and Andrew experienced some heart in mouth moments here. Mike took another risk by being the first to try the tea trays. But no excitement for Dave since he was too scared to try the slide. The slide of death provided plenty of excitement. AJ tried to reenact the ride for us. And lots of other rabbit shenanigans. Yeah, there's plenty of rabbit nudity. We really didn't know what to make of this! Ah, Brer Rabbit's Acid Trip! AJ was gutted when he found out that Matt wasn't performing today! Which in turn tempts Andrew into demolishing a few himself. AJ follows up the Bobsled experience with some tasty Oakwood doughnuts. AJ doesn't even realise there's a brake! Andrew tries it a little faster. Dave enjoys a leisurely roll down the hill. Next up we headed for the Bobsled. Its a nice little combination shot/drop ride. After the fun of Speed we headed for Bounce. The Hooters Crew enjoy yet another ride. I think Speed took all of us by surprise. And really good fun! Thankfully this ride is a lot more comfortable! The lift hill is a bit unconvential. Kinda gave some of us flashes back to the dreaded Toboggan! Mike, Dave and Andrew prepare to ride. It's quite an impressive looking ride. Especially for its small footprint. Time to ride the Eurofighter! As I found out when I was just about decapitated by a rogue branch! Watch out for tree branches as you ride this one! We headed to Speed but noticed the Treetops Coaster was about to open as we passed. Don't get me wrong it wasn't bad. Just not great. We managed to have fun on just about every ride we rode on this trip! I imagine it used to be quite good but maybe it just hasn't held up over the years. I was led to believe this ride was a lot better than it actually is. It's a really nice looking coaster. OK, let's check out Megafobia! We're not even in the park and Dave is camping it up already. Today's stop - Oakwood!

My first and likely only entry. Cuts the amount of roughness in half!

PART SIX BLACKPOOL PLEASURE BEACH Ah Blackpool. You really have to experience the place to grasp what its really like. Luckily for us the park was very quiet when we visited so we did pretty much every coaster and dark ride in the park as well as having time to faff around trying win things in stupid games. This was my first visit to Blackpool since Infusion was moved up the coast. I have to say it is certainly the best looking SLC I've ever seen. But unfortunately it still rides like a piece of crap. But still it looks really, really good. Valhalla also had pretty much all of its effects working which was a nice bonus and so it remains as amazing as ever. Oh yeah and Steve got an XBox 360 for £1!!! Yeah the jammy bugger won it on the "Stacker" machine! Just goes to show that people actually DO win those things! And he almost won a PS3 on one a few hours later! All in all it was an excellent day. Enjoy some photos... What an amazing day in Blackpool we had! The Pleasure Beach might not be around forever so enjoy it while you can. We certainly did! I think he enjoyed them too! AJ mesmerised us all as he devoured them! AJ ordered the ribs. How the hell is he gonna eat all those? It's really cool inside with loads of old Pleasure Beach stuff adapted for the restaurant. After the rides closed we headed to Coasters for some dinner. And he showed his love accordingly. AJ had a bit too much fun on the Derby Racers. I'm not sure if Steve will ever want to visit Blackpool again after this. AJ helps glide the plane along. It really is one of the staple rides of the Pleasure Beach. Of course you can't fly all the way over to the UK and visit Blackpool without riding the 100+ years old Flying Machines! Who needs incriminating drunken shots of Dave when you have this? With all the other dark rides conquered Alice in Wonderland was all that remained. Even AJ found a way into the race. How could we pass up this opportunity? OMG!!! It's Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 - in Blackpool! Just remember - Mono means one and rail means rail. How many coasters can you spot here? Monorail POV! The monorail afford many very cool views of the park. Monorail, monorail, monorail... Another fun ride. Which is in turn stacked upon many other very fun rides. Avalanche. A ride where you get to know your friends very well. Cue some Dire Straits. Apparently seven people don't fit in one of these boats. Yeah the new trains kinda ruined the ride a little but it still offers great rides in the back. It was running really well today too. Although it did break down many times so make do with these photos. Ah Grand National! Best coaster in the park! Time I was getting outta here! It's horrifying! I told you!!! Now when you see what's next don't say you weren't warned! It's very scary inside! Don't mess with the water AJ! Complete with inter-species animal porn! Onto Noah's Ark. Another totally random but amazingly cool attraction. It's one of the best dark/water/fire/ice/whatever rides ever! Because we're doing Valhalla! Time to pull out the poncho! And won a frickin' XBox! Until Steve took the bastard on... Throughout the day. Everyone kinda got obsessed with the "Stacker". People got close but never close enough to winning those super prizes. I always assumed that people never really won anything. And it was a real quiet day so we didn't have to wait which always makes things more fun! Big Dipper is a fun ride. It has its good and bad days. Nothing spectacular though. AJ can't even look. No copyrights were infringed upon in the making of the Ghost Train. But this isn't just any rollercoaster. This is... erm... Rollercoaster!!! Steve's excited to ride Rollercoaster. Whores, whores, whores... Dave's enjoying this one a bit too much. Whores, whores, whores... Space Invader 2 doesn't quite compare to the randomness of X:\ WTF Argh it's a soft drink overload! Revolution scores points due to its Irn-Bru association. A surprisingly good flat ride. Next up for the guys was a jaunt on Bling. Steeplechase is Divv approved. It's just pure fun. Especially racing against friends. Lets hope this ride doesn't go the way of Blackpool's Log Flume any time soon. The guys prepare for the awesomeness that is Steeplechase. Let's ride some good rides! Still as lame as ever. So we did the Big One next. As I said we were getting the crap rides out the way early. Although they do have this 100% accurate scale model replica of Infusion. Just a shame that it rides like crap. I will say that it LOOKS great! Yes, we're very excited to ride Infusion. We thought it would be best to get the bad rides out the way as quickly as possible. OK, out into the park and see if we can't find some rides. Since we got into the park before the rides opened we gamble our lives away on the Kentucky Derby. This actually resulted in some very exciting races! Well not for AJ. Today's stop - Blackpool Pleasure Beach!

PART FIVE: NIGHT OUT IN BLACKPOOL After Alton Towers we headed to Blackpool where we would be staying that night in preparation for our Pleasure Beach visit the next day. Of course with AJ and Andrew having never been to Blackpool before we felt compelled to show them a little of what the place was like. This was ended up a VERY drunken night and so what I present here is a very limited view of how it actually went. I think some things that happened that night are best left between the participants. But needless to say we had a LOT of fun! Here's some photos... This is the only photo of the walk back to the hotel that I will divulge for fear of dismemberment by other members of the party! Thank goodness the Pleasure Beach opened at 11am the next day is all I can say! I'll show you that soon. After this things become blurry. Scott really showed everyone that he has moves! "Hello ladies! I'm free and easy!" We went to the 80s bar to make Nadia proud! Then it was time for the drinking to commence! Must... resist... urge... to... make... joke... about... Shawn's... tattoo... Although I'm sorry Steve, it doesn't count. Andrew and Steve tried to compensate for the missing credit by trying out "Virtual Phantom's Revenge"! Somehow he managed to remain standing. We made sure the ride op knew that this was a new experience to Andrew! To make up for the disappointment of the missed credit we introduced Andrew to Waltzers. Andrew mourns his missed credit. This is all that remains of South Pier's crazy Mouse right now. I'm not sure if its gone for good or getting rehabbed or what. Oh dear, that doesn't look too good. AJ appreciated the view of "The Pole" through the telescope. Being that we were passing by we felt that it would be wrong not to check out South Pier. I mean it has a credit! Time for some Blackpool "nightlife". Of course in true B&B fashion it wasn't quite perfect. But it was nice enough and right next to the Pleasure Beach so it served its purpose well. Where we got to introduce Andrew and AJ to the delights of "The B&B". We've left Alton Towers and are headed for Blackpool!

It looks like they're all gone Elissa. The one near the front of the park is now a Burger King too. Sad times indeed.