Divv3k

^ We TRY to make it over to Spain every year. Our track record shows that we only make it there one out of every three attempts...

Wanting to get a Winter getaway, the Brit Crew converged on Barcelona for a weekend in December. What better way to beat the off-season than with a trip to Port Aventura and Tibidabo?! This was a bit of a frustrating visit to Port Aventura, operations seemed to be more on the “Happy Valley” side with staggered openings and multiple rides closed for portions of the day. There was a point for a couple of hours in the afternoon when Furious Baco, Dragon Khan, Hurakan Condor and Shambhala were all closed. High winds were blamed for the closures but it still seemed a little strange because the winds were a lot fiercer when the rides started to open at the end of the day. We had pretty much written off any hope of getting on Shambhala by the afternoon as it had looked looked pretty lifeless. Thankfully right before we were about to leave the park for the day the ride opened and everyone in the park made a beeline for it. The ride itself was pretty good, especially as new B&M Hypers go, however, Dragon Khan is still far and away the star of this park. Really please we managed to get everyone on it and the rest of the credits. All in all, we managed to pull off a successful day at the park by the time we left but it really was a struggle to get there. I know that when you visit parks in the off-season you should expect ride closures and I’m cool with that, but Port Aventura had set such a high standard for itself when I visited on the exact same weekend in 2007 where everything was open and running great. But still, Dragon Khan!!! Okay, here’s some photos from our day... For looking at this photo you have incurred a £1.50 charge from RyanAir. Woohoo, we made it to PortAventura! It's all very festive at the park entrance. What a lovely sight to welcome you into the park! "Everyone grab a ball!" The bigger the ball, the better. Act Furius! I waited for a very specific seat on this ride. I'm sure you can all guess which one. In those front inside seats the ride is still really great. Apparently it's too windy to run this ride... KHHHHAAAAAANNNNN!!!!!!!! Shambhala! Yes, we'd like to ride you. No Shambhala opening with the park either. Oh well... At least there are inanimate statues to pose with! Yes! I loved this back in 2007 and was really excited to get back inside! Sadly it seemed very scaled back compared to the last time. But still, look at that fire! Fire is good! Ceiling fire is even better! Not much else is open so naturally we find the beer! Someone ballsed up this Christmas display... COOKIE PHOTO BOMB!!! What's this? Multiple popcorn flavours?! Nice! It's not DisneySea but I'll take it! It's December but being in Spain makes it okay to ride the rapids. Still the best thing any park can do for their rapids ride in my view. This was around midday. The rides with times beside them are the ones that are open. That's a lot of closed rides. At least Stampida's still open! Actually that's NOT a good thing! Lift Hill: The Ride was open at least and was still full of Lift Hill goodness. So nice to look at. It seemed that's all we'd get to do with these rides. New since my last visit was the new Sesame Street land! It's only a Vekoma! That's one big-arsed relative of Peena Puu. Mike's in heaven. The Sesame Street area has some cute theming on their rides. Also this Legoland Classic... New in the simulator room this year: TurtleVision or Aquaride, we're not quite sure which! I was pleased to see the simulator has retained its hilarious safety video! Mike fell asleep after dinner. Don't mention this photo to him though, he's got a chip on his shoulder about it. Blueberry popcorn! Whoa, whoa, whoa - that looks like an open ride! We quickly ran over to Hurakan Condor when we saw this only to find they'd only opened one side and a humongous line. Still we now had hope... YES! KHHHHAAAANNNN!!! Dragon Khan is still amazing! Seriously one of the best coasters in Europe. Still no sign of life in Shambhala though. We pretty much wrote it off at this point. At least we get to end the day with the big Sesame Street show. Mike thought it an even better idea to make his own Sesame Street show. This is the Christmas tree right at the park exit. This is how close we were to leaving the park when we saw the ride board change... About 20 minutes before closing Shambhala actually opened! I normally wouldn't post a photo like this but it's literally the only photo I have of the ride in action! I quite liked the ride too! Happy Shambalalala campers! Well it was a bit of a frustrating day but we got everything done in the end. So it has to be marked down as a successful day. At least things will be a little more relaxed at Tibidabo, which is coming up next!

Yeah, there was an AWESOME game on that day at Thorpe Park in 2010! Do 2013 trips people, they will be amazing!

Man, that Star Wars ride went up FAST!

Wow, this can only be a good thing! I'm at the stage where I'd be happy to see more Star Wars movies made if only to try and squash the memory of the prequels a bit more! I don't know if this will have a huge impact on the park side of things for a while. I mean, apart from a monorail and some merchandise we really haven't seen any Marvel stuff added to the parks yet (for understandable reasons in Orlando of course). But yeah, hopefully this might put an end to all that Avatar pish.

Earlier this year Southern Steve somehow managed to convince the majority of TPR's Brit Crew to sign up to run a 10km race in Edinburgh. This wasn't any 10k though, this one featured massive hills and a wide array of obstacles no less. You know because running 10k isn't tough enough for this group! So really what this meant was that a bunch of us were going to meet up in Scotland for a weekend (Yay, short trip for me for a change!) to do the run and just generally lark about. This also presented for the whores who hadn;t already been a chance to check out the delights of Scotland's Theme Park - the always delightful, M&D's. The good news for me with this park is that it's pay per ride, which means I can take people to get the credits and not have to ride anything myself! But the big event was the race and it really did go well. Despite some people's reservations the group did amazing to make their way through the course. It really was impressive. Here were the finishing times: Andrew - 1:11:09 Russ - 1:11:11 James - 1:19:09 Scottish Steve - 1:26:20 TPDave - 1:27:15 Mike - 1:28:04 Alex - 1:34:43 Southern Steve - 1:48:03 Brad - 1:48:03 Dave Fudge - DNF I also used this weekend as an opportunity to introduce the Brit Crew to Cards Against Humanity which went down an absolute storm! Thanks to Robb and Elissa for introducing me to that! Here's some photos from the weekend... A few of us started early with a visit to The Arches in Glasgow where Alien War is celebrating its 20th anniversary! This is a really good incarnation of the experience, it even incorporates a few elements from Prometheus! Yeah, we did this. These guys have their fun points loaded… Right, let’s have some fun! No way I was riding this! Looks like Tornado gave Russ and James the ride of their lives! Russ and James went for a much smoother experience next. I know the words “Pinfari Invert” inspires fear in the heart of every reader, but this is actually one of Scotland’s better coasters. Probably says more about Scotland's coaser collection than anything else. This year, the old Pinfari Express coaster has been repainted and relocated within the park to provide an all-new ride experience called Space! Apparently it’s still coming soon. New ride sign, Larry! Have to say, I actually really like the new train designs! It’s still a Pinfari though! Last credit of the day! Big Grizzly has nothing on this! Stacey used her remaining Fun Points to purchase this Scottish delicacy – Pizza Crunch! It’s deep fried Pizza. You can decide whether it sounds good or not! Creepy Hot Dog Guy is still scaring the crap out of anyone who dares to visit! Right, we’re M&Done! Let’s get out of here! Onto more picturesque places – we’re in Edinburgh! And we found some friends! Spot the Lou! Obligatory Brad and Mike beer drinking photo. Only one place for us to go for dinner… Wagamama! Steve’s dinner consisted of two tea-stained eggs. You’re doing it wrong, Andrew! After dinner it was back to our apartment for some Cards Against Humanity! More beer for me because I’m not running in the morning! I’d make a Red Shirt joke but it might even be too geeky for this site! Suffice to say, we found another reason to laugh at Mike! The Brit Crew running team is good to go! That’ll be Edinburgh Castle! I wonder if they’re beginning to regret that decision to run 10k. In Scotland. In October. Warm-up time! Everyone is perfectly in sync! Contenders ready? Go! TPSpeed. The hay jump was just one of many obstacles the runners would come across on the course! Whilst not officially partaking in the run, Anth found his own obstacle course to challenge him to his physical limits. The first pair to make it to the final set of obstacles were Andrew and Russ! This one was called “The Box” The Box was followed by this refreshing dip in some ice cool, very clean water. In third place (for our group!) it’s James! That’s attractive! Here’s today’s spectator crew – Chrissie, Anth and Stacey! The final obstacle before the finish line is this giant wall! Look at Scottish go! Mike was next to come down the finishing straight! Wall – conquered! Southern Steve’s niece, Alex did an amazing job at no only the run but with putting up with the Brit Crew for a whole weekend! Southern Steve laps up every moment of his parade to the finish line! Brad did an incredible job running his way to the finish! Do the Mike-Bot! TPKnackered! OMG, EVERYONE FINISHED AND NOBODY DIED!!! What better way to celebrate a race well ran than a visit to Edinburgh’s own Freestyle Music Café?! Mike likes lots of meat. Anth looks a bit tired from all that running. Everyone’s long finished but Mike’s still working on that meat. This was Steve’s reaction to his niece pulling the Card’s Against Humanity question card “How did I lose my virginity?” "One and a half minutes, rest, then another minute. And for god sake don't let it rest too long." The perfect pie, apparently. Well that was a pretty awesome weekend (and we only had to spend an hour in M&D's!) Well done to everyone who partook in the run. I’m looking forward to seeing more people kill themselves in a similar run next year! Thanks for reading!

It’s getting towards Halloween which means only one thing for the Brit Crew- time to go to Scarefest at Alton Towers! Yet again Alton Towers put on a fun event which can be enjoyed by a range of different demographics. There were a few changes to the event this year, the Black Hole tent where the mazes were last year is now an actual hole (we’ll be back in 2013 to see what becomes of said hole) and so the upcharge mazes have been moved yet again. Gone this year is the Boiler House, replaced by the SW7 related The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is situated in the Towers themselves much like Terror of the Towers. I was worried that this new maze might cannibalise the Terror of the Towers but thankfully that wasn’t the case. Terror of the Towers is still terrific and one of my favourite mazes ever. The Sanctuary felt a little underbaked, with a really good start and a bit of an anti-climatic finish. It’s themed to some kind of mental institution where patients are being made to smile somehow. It will be interesting to see how it links to next year’s new ride. The other maze is the Carnival of Screams, returning for its third year and this was probably the best incarnation yet. The maze had been moved to the middle of the park between Spinball and X Sector and seemed to be made up of a number of tents with a couple of outdoor sections in between. Unlike previous years where its been quite jokey and comedic it seemed to be a lot more sinister this year with some really good scares. Though in my view they really need to bring back Kumba the Giant Gorilla for a good ending. The Zombie Scare Zone was back this year albeit in a new location. It’s still basically Path: The Ride where you have to queue up to walk through a smoke filled zone with some actors inside it. Hopefully Alton will continue to work on the concept, but I still don’t get why they still aren’t utilising the Haunted Hollow pathway as a proper scare zone. This trip also gave me the opportunity to ride Nemesis Sub-Terra for the first time. I won’t spoil it for the uninitiated but I will say I really enjoyed it. Maybe I just had low expectations after intitial reports but I managed to stay pretty much spoiler free about the majority of the experience all year and I’m, glad I did. Okay, here’s some photos... One huge pumpkin of fun – it’s time for Scarefest at Alton Towers! All the usual Halloween accoutrements are on display again. This is what the entrance to Rita now looks like. Someone said that they;’ve had to block off part of the path due to the cable snapping recently. Whatever the cause let’s hope that this is just a temporary solution because it looks terrible. Rita is still it’s usual self though, which is a good thing. Spinball’s most depressing ride-op finally cracks a smile for us. The single rider line at Spinball worked its usual wonders! The Black Hole is now an actual hole. Join us next year to see the world’s largest Cheshire Cat. I’m all for slightly reducing capacity of a ride if it means awesome theming like this! Don’t worry, these guys are still there too! The Pizza & Pasta buffet is the only way to go for lunch at Alton Towers! The Runaway Mine Train was once again, by far Mike’s highlight of the day. The rest of the “normal” people preferred this. There was even a little bit of Screfest theming added to Nemesis this year! New for this year is Nemesis SubTerra. If you don’t what it is try and keep it that way. Suffice to say I really liked it! The ride did attract some lengthy queues though. It’ll be interesting to see what this is like in a season or two. Oh yeah, this pillock showed up in the afternoon to annoy us. It’s not that easy to see but that’s a SkyRide car with skeletons inside too! Right, onto the mazes! Terror of the Towers is a longstanding favourite for all of us! You just can’t beat a maze that’s actually inside a haunted castle! OMG, Charlie Wonka had a line! And we still rode it! Also new this year - ten minutes of scenes from the third Ice Age movie passed off as a new 3D show. The Cheshire Cat’s face was all over the ground at the park. What does it mean??? Beware what’s hidden behind the ancient BOOKCASE!!! Some of us needed a beer to get over the horror of what they found behind the bookcase. Seriously, that tree went mental! Also falling under the five pumpkins of fun mantle is this year’s new Scarefest offering – The Sanctuary! The queueline had some video screens offering some hints about next year’s ride. These guys are in need some smiles, don’t ya think? OMG, SW7 BLUEPRINTS!!!!111!! The Sanctuary uses the entrance that was used for Terror of the Towers the last few years. Thankfully this all that The Sanctuary takes away from the Terror of the Towers. This was in the line for The Sanctuary. Hi Winston! What does it mean??? No idea. But Mike came out the maze looking like this. Not disturbed at all... Honestly. This year’s big hit with us was The Carnival of Screams. The best incarnation of this maze yet! Path: The Ride makes a return this Scarefest. It’s still rubbish sadly. Mike says “Let’s eat at Eat!”. No Mike, let’s not. We finished our day with night rides on Thirteen. Darkness is definitely the best time to ride this. Nice hat, Mike. FIVE ACTUAL PUMPKINS OF FUN!!! I guess we’ll be back in March to beat the world. Here’s this year’s super-fun group of Scarefest losers. Despite one or two small complaints (Bring back duel live!) Alton Towers put on a real solid event again this year. Terror of the Towers continues to be a real highlight of my halloween season every year! Thanks for reading!

Pretty much everything I watch is downloaded or streamed. I haven't even used my Blu-Ray player in over a year because I have all my HD video backed up to hard drives. I know the bandwidth issues must be a huge obstacle but if TPR were ever to offer HD downloads I'd be happy to pay for them.

Another Panda-Vision bites the dust... This looks really cool, I have total faith in Liseberg and Mack to pull off an excellent ride. Seems like there is some potential for some nice interactions with Lisebergbanan as well!

^ Ha ha, I'm working on it! I DID get to ride the Roller Skater (c'mon, I was with Jeff Johnson there's no way I'm missing a credit like that!) but I gave World of Color a miss this time. My time in the resort really was limited and there were a lot of things I wanted to fit in. With the way the timing was working out I felt like it was a choice between World of Color and Fantasmic. Given what I know about what I've seen in the past and what I know of World of Color I'm really happy that I got to see Disneyland's version of Fantasmic! I'll be back for more soon, though. Thanks for the kind replies everyone!

In June this year I was fortunate enough to go on a business trip that would take me to California. Now, never having visited the West Coast of the US, this was a very exciting prospect for me. I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time to do all the touristy things that I really want to do in SoCal but there just wasn’t any way that I was visiting California and not making my first ever visit to Disneyland! So luckily I was able to make a day in my schedule that would let me get up to Anaheim for the day and go on a whistlestop tour of both parks, led by none other than TPR’s living legend, Jeff Johnson! Now I will say that maybe my timing could have been better because this was the Sunday before Carsland opened so I only got to peer through the fences and see it but I’m not complaining seeing as this entire visit was a bonus on the back of a business trip for me! Plus, it was really great to catch up with Jeff who I hadn’t seen for a good few years. Jeff was an awesome tour guide, who made sure that I got to do everything I wanted to hit in both parks, and more! Having visited Florida and Paris numerous times and being overawed and dumbstruck by the splendour of the Tokyo Disney Resort I was really interested to see how the original Disney park stacked up against it’s Magic Kingdom siblings. Well I can say that I really liked it, especially Disneyland itself! It doesn’t quite match the beauty of Paris, the scale of Florida or the sheer efficiency of Tokyo but its got charm. Loads of it. Plus, it’s not in Paris, which is a definite plus in my book. There are some great version of the rides here and some nice unique twists too. Overall I would say that I would rank Disneyland in California ahead of Paris, but behind both Florida and Tokyo. It does a lot of things great, but there’s also some things that were definitely improved upon in later iterations. DCA, was a weird one for me. We didn’t spend a great deal of time in the park, and i didn’t feel like I needed to spend much more time here either. That said, Carsland opened mere days after my visit and what I could glimpse of it and what I’ve seen in photos since looks absolutely fantastic. I can’t wait to get back to get in there for real. The rides I did ride were pretty good for the most part. I really liked California Screamin’ and thought Little Mermaid was excellent as Fantasyland-style dark rides go. Tower of Terror is a lot of fun and only suffers if you try to compare it to the superior Florida ride system or the amazing Tokyo theme (Shiriki!). The park for the most part looks good, I would have loved to have seen the new Buena Vista street but unfortunately it was still boarded up when I was there. But for me Disneyland itself is the real star of the resort and I was glad to spend the majority of the day there. California has what is by far my favourite version of Pirates and whilst it’s maybe not just as good as its Tokyo counterpart (smoke ring!), Indiana Jones is fantastic and remined me why I still proclaim the Tokyo DisneySea version as my favourite ride in the world! Anyway, I’ll move onto some photos and give more opinions there. It only occurred to me on going through my pictures for this report taht I have no pictures of Jeff! Sorry Jeff! Really, an amazing tour guide who enabled me to have a really fun and memorable day! I’m really looking forward to getting back to California very soon! It's an early start for me at Oceanside Train Station in California and I'm super excited... Because after 28 years of personal existence I've FINALLY made it to Disneyland!!! My actual first words to Jeff when we get into the park "Oh my God, the castle REALLY is small!" My first ride at Disneyland was the Nemo submarine ride. I've heard a lot of people talk this down but I really liked it! Granted it was a short wait but I was really impressed with the projections and the ride was quite long. Mr Toad was a lot of fun. I can't remember ever riding the Florida version back in the day so it was all new to me! Gotta love visiting hell in a Disney park! I had ridden Roger Rabbit in Tokyo so I knew what to expect. The benefit of the California version for me was the lackof TPDave trying to spin the car into Oblivion. The new Monorail wraps look really cool! OMG, Disney Popcorn! Here's the "Regular" flavour cart. Sadly Matterhorn wasn't quite finished it's rehab on my visit but at least it looks good! So far my Disneyland visit is going very well! Space Mountain! The ride was a lot of fun, it was a crazier ride than I was expecting not sure which version of the ride is my favourite though. All I know is that it's NOT Paris! Next up was a trip on the train back to the entrance to the park. I liked the indoor sections but will make no reference to any potential Jeff Johnson relatives who we may have encountered during the journey, no I will not. Now it's time for a quick jaunt over the road to complete my collection of US Disney parks! Oh wow, here's the regular popcorn stand! Monsters Inc, while not as good as the awesome ride in Tokyo was certainly fun. I got to complete the world's collection of Tower of Terrors! My verdict: really good but not quite on the same level as Tokyo for theming or Florida for overall ride. The Bug's Life section was really cute. I think it's just nice to see that at least one place in Disney still remembers that movie exists! Ooh, this looks exciting! But sadly this was as close as I got to Carsland... Next time! Jeff made a great recommendation for lunch - clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. This was amazing! Paradise Pier! A bit of a strange section, there's some really cool rides... ...then there's weird crap like this. Seriously, I just don't get why there's a bog-standard wild mouse in a Disney park. This ride though, I really liked! California Screamin' was just a ton of fun, a really solid coaster. Yeah, I have to say I think this section of the park looks very nice and I like that it looks unlike any other Disney park. Yeah, there were passholder previews going on in Carsland today. I know, my timing could have been better but this was basically a free trip for me so I won't complain! While I didn't get into Carsland itself I did get to have a loom behind the scenes of it in the Blue Sky Cellar. Yeah, looks like a lot of fun. Based on recent reports I'm thinking I need to visit this place on my next visit too... But that's it from DCA, a fun park which was lacking a little bit for me. I've no doubt that flaw has been radically alleviated since this visit though. We've headed back over now until the land of almost non-existant inconsequential castles. OMG, I DO have a photo of Jeff! Here he is making a purchase at the elusive regular popcorn stand. Adventureland! Starting to get a little busy in the park now, good thing I had Jeff to help avoid any long lines. Yeah, yeah, Ace was in town. Annual shower day or something. Jungle Cruise was fun, for such an old ride I still think it holds up very well. My favourite ride in Disneyland? This. I absolutely loved this version of Pirates and it's certainly my favourite of the four. Haunted Mansion looks a lot different from the outside to its counterparts but the interior seemed fairly similar to me. No ba thing mind you since they're all awesome. No Splash Mountain for me today but it was interesting to see it with old style single file boats. The line was crazy long today. Winnie the Pooh was by far my favourite ride at Tokyo Disneyland, how would the California version stack up? Oh my God, it was pish. This makes the Florida version seem good! Not a patch on Tokyo's orgasmic Pooh ride! Oh no, a parade! Disneyland does some damn good corndogs! We stopped by the saloon to see a performance by Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. A very funny show and a nice break from rushing from ride to ride! Hidden Mickey! Big Thunder was excellent, as expected. I guess that's my Big Thunder Mountain collection kinda complete too now. OMG, OMG, the super rare regular popcorn stand! Indiana Jones had a crazy long line. Thanks to single rider and fast pass we didn't have to wait in this and got in a couple of rides. It's awesome. Yes, I am actually double the size of the castle. Back to Tomorrowland to close out the day. Space Mountain is certainly worthy of a re-ride in my view! And it all comes to an end with a viewing of Fantasmic. The show was excellent, and certainly superior to the Florida version. A great way to end my first ever visit to Disneyland! So that's how I popped my Disneyland cherry. Overall I loved it and I really want to get back very soon. An extra huge thanks to Jeff who was a brilliant guide. He even welcomed me with a gift of Doritos in the morning! The guy knows his stuff about the park and his audience! Thanks for reading!

A Brit Crew get together for 2012 has been a long time coming so the opening of The Swarm seemed like the perfect opportunity for it to happen. Cut to about two months after the ride opened and we were there! Okay, we're not always the best enthusiasts these days when it comes to getting the scoop on the latest rides but we still know how to have a good time! (This usually involves Japanese food and beer) Seeing as we were in the London area a few of us checked out Legoland Windsor as well. The beer there is good too! Welcome to Legoland! Where the bricks are plastic and the beer is cold! If Joffrey were bald and had medium brown facial hair he would look exactly like this... Park Index Alert!!! The new indoor submarine ride looks kind of like this, except with less prams and buggies. Mini-land is still looking nice and mini. The theatre district has gotten a bit more camp since my last visit. Oh my! What's going on here? Note for any young budding Lego builders... Square bricks do NOT work as substitutes for tyres! This year's new attraction is the Star Wars mini-land. As cool as I think Lego Star Wars models are I can't help but lament the demise of the classic Lego Racers attraction (Laq and all). So it starts out with a load of prequels pish... Then it moves onto more respectable items. Cantina Band FTW! More Adam porn... Star Wars Miniland finishes with a sign saying "Ride Exit". Can someone point me to where the "Ride Entrance" is?? That's it from Legoland. Now let's go meet the newest member of the Brit Crew! Say hello to baby Phoebe (the one not wearing the brown shirt), the newest addition to the Fudge family! Dave and Amy are showing some incredible TPTrust or TPStupidity right now! Can't visit Windsor without making our customary visit to Wagamama! Katsu Palooza! Now, the whole point of this little get together... Depth Charge!!! Oh yeah, they've got this new Swarm thing too... I have to say, I didn't follow the construction of this much at all so I was actually pretty surprised by it... In a good way! I really liked it! I rode on the outside near the front, which apparently is better than the inside seats. I'm actually way more enthusiastic about these B&M wing riders than I was before! So at the very least there's another coaster I like at Thorpe Park which is no bad thing! I'm actually very intigued to check out Dollywood's version now! Bystander cannons should be mandatory on all water rides! Andrew is today's recipient of the post-water-ride-man-hug. Stealth is being as Stealthy as ever. See how it's near invisible against the sky? Time for Mike to CREAM UP!!! Get a room you two! Dave spells imminent doom for Anth and co... After spendng a full day with us Phoebe is surely resenting her parents big time right now! Here's Mike, mid-lull in his favourite queue-line in the whole world!!! Saw is looking as torturous as ever... Unfortunately Saw was feeling as torturous as ever as well this year. A shame because I quite liked it a couple of years ago. Much like our group photo after Saw opened in 2009 this one also has a pram in it. At least this time the pram belongs to people in our group! (Thanks again for turning out, guys!) The Swarm was a surprise hit for me. It's exactly the kind of ride I realistically wanted to see Thorpe Park build. We had a really good day at the park and really didn't have to wait too long, too often depsite the fantastic weather. A rare achievement in my Thorpe Park experience! Thanks for reading, everyone!

Well here it is, the final update! After all the awe and wonder of Tokyo Disney Resort we were in for a bit of a change with my last park of the trip, Fuji Q Highland! Let me just say first off, I had a great day. I really did, I had some great company and I even had a few good rides. But Fuji Q is a dump. A total anomaly for Japan, I can't quite understand how a place such as Fuji Q exists in that country. I don't even think photos can show it either. I'd heard all the negative stuff about Fuji Q beforehand but even then when I'd looked at photos of the place I thought it looked like a great park. I think the thing is, looking at photos I had built up a totally different image in my head of what the park was compared to the reality. Really the park is a load of rides thrown on some broken up concrete with a few nice areas here and there. That doesn't even explain it. But I think the people who have been there might get what I mean. The whole time I was there I was getting reminded of another place but I couldn't quite place my finger on it til just before we left... To me Fuji Q has that horrible M&Ds vibe! Now clearly Fuji Q has bigger and better rides than M&D's but the atmosphere and theming etc just gave me that feeling! Now I don't like being negative about parks but really the place just isn't very good. That said, I would happily go back (I still have two big coasters to ride there!) and it seems my experience was nothing compared to the horrors of TPR visits from the past. But getting to our day, I actually had a blast! Maybe it was the group I was with or maybe we all just got really lucky on this day but this seemed to be a pretty positive Fuji Q outing! Dodonpa was certainly an interesting experience with an unbelievable airtime moment and the Haunted Hospital was also very good! I'll get to the rest on the photos. But as this is my final update I would just like to say a huge thanks once again to Robb and Elissa. What an incredible trip this was. To think that I wouldn't even have attempted Japan had I not found TPR and that would have been an absolute travesty. Those guys really outdone themselves in my eyes for the fifth year in a row. So to both of you, thank you a million times, I absolutely love going on your trips. To the friends old and new from the Japan trip thank you also, you really made this a fantastic trip and I look forward to catching up with you on future TPR shindigs! And to anyone else reading this trip report and thinks that a trip like this might be fun but is not quite sure whether to do it. DO IT. You will love it and it will want to do it again and again. Okay, with all that said, here's my take on our day at the famous Fuji-Q Highlands! Beware the active stratovolcano! The final park of my trip – the hell hole that is Fuji-Q Highlands! Playing the role of “Erik the hotel room inspector” today is Bryan. Playing the role of himself is Larry. No better way to start your day at Fuji-Q than with the low capacity Mad Mouse! Get a room you two! Larry is not really looking mad enough for the Mad Mouse yet. Someone remind him of Godzilla! Bryan appears to be making some kind of humourous statement. It’s cool enough that you get weird Fanta flavours in Japan but it’s even cooler that you get weird cans with screw tops! Some on the Tokyo trip participants are getting the Japanese photograph gang signs pretty quick. Now this is a reason to come to Fuji-Q – Dodonpa! Dodonpa was quite the insane ride. Especially in the front! This was absolutely the most extreme moment of airtime I’ve ever experienced, it actually hurt a little! The rest of the ride doesn’t really do a whole lot but the top hat is insane! The other big coaster on the menu at Fuji Q today was Fujiyama! This is the view from the Express Pass line. Note that there was a limited amount of “Express” going on here. What can I say about Fujiyama? Well, it’s a big Togo. A very big Togo. That’s about it. Actually I remember the first half of the ride being okay. But then the second half wasn’t quite as okay… No Eejanaika for us today. Not to worry though we were all aware of this way in advance. Not getting all the credits in one visit is all a part of the Fuji Q experience apparently. One last Ice Cream orgy in Japan for Erik! This was probably our longest wait of the day. I can’t quite understand why a park that gets a lot of visitors like this would buy a rapids ride that can only take about three people per boat! Still, the ride itself was a good laugh. It was roasting hot today which meant lots of weird soft drinks were the order for the day. My personal favourite from the machine was Melon Fanta. Hooray for rodent themed rides! Jes loves threesomes with cute rodents. Scottish Steve is watching the bags, that can only mean one thing… Haunted Hospital!!! I’d heard a lot of crazy things about this walkthrough beforehand but had heard very little from people who had actually been through it! Haunted Hospital was good! I found it really creepy and the best thing about it was that it was really long! We had a great group too with quite a few screamers! Not for Scottish Steve for sure! Here’s my awesome Haunted Hospital cohorts! Thanks for a great day, guys! This is more Steve’s kind of thing!!! Thomas Land was by far the nicest looking area in the park! If only Fuji Q had more areas like this! How many beers you gonna have with lunch, Steve? This is totally on par with, if not better than, Drayton Manor’s Thomas Land! My parents have had that picture on the right on their bathroom wall for about 20 years! I know that means nothing to you as a reader but I thought it was pretty cool! Today’s lunch – noodles, octopus balls and most importantly BEER!!! Oh yeah, Takabisha hadn’t opened yet during our visit but we did get to see a few test cycles. It looks quite good, a little bit different from all the other Eurofighters at least! Fuji-Q have an AMAZING photo spot where you can get your photo taken next to Mount Fuji. Sadly this viewing area is not that spot! This is a bit better! We really got lucky with the weather to be able to get photos like this! Fuji Q is a dump but I actually had a great day here! Just goes to show that you can have a great time at any park with the right people! So for my last evening in Japan I figured I’d try and end it as it started with some yakitori! Cheers! (Though I silently hate everyone in this photo who stayed in Japan beyond this evening!) Larry shows us his “Yakitori moves” Balls. Emma loves those balls. Mmm… Meat on sticks… Well for a final meal in Japan I think it was pretty damn good! If only we had some Yakitori places in the UK! After dinner Stefan provided the evening entertainment in Larry and Erik’s room… Being 20 on the trip, Stefan was making the most of being able to legally drink on this night! Stefan, thank you for the amazing amount of entertainment you provided on this evening! I’m amazed you made the park the next day! (Everyone made it the next park, right??) It’s all getting a bit crazy now, there’s HORN involved! Renee had a great time rocking out with drunk Stefan! As did we all! So that’s it! That’s Divv’s Japanese Adventure all over and done with! The trip was incredible and I had the time of my life yet again. For that I can’t thank TPR enough. Once again Robb and Elissa went way above and beyond what you could expect a tour organiser to do. For that I am eternally grateful and can’t wait to do it all again. Not only in China 2012 but whenever the hell TPR goes back to Japan I’m gonna do my best to make sure I’m there!!! Only one thing remains from this evening. As I mentioned we were doing a bit of drinking in Larry and Erik’s room. You’d think after Europe 2008 people would learn their lesson about personal possessions in hotel rooms but it appears not. So to finish the TR I have only one piece of advice… Erik, keep your suitcase SHUT!!! Thanks for reading!

Up next is our final day at Tokyo Disney! It was yet another awesome day filled with park hops and multiple fast passes! This was another late night as we stayed til the bitter end in order to maximise our Tokyo Disney experience! How’s that for a hotel view to start your morning? Speaking of hotels… The Hilton at Tokyo Disney was fantastic! I want a Techno Toilet for home! Yeah, it’s park opening and once again we’re in Tokyo Disneyland! Larry and I managed to snap a picture with a couple of the furries! How about a ride on Pooh to start the day? Okay! Just looking at this photo makes me long for the ride! I feel like I might have undersold the Honey Popcorn. It’s really good! Sometimes when you visit a Disney resort there’s just some things that you have to do… How’s it going, brother? The easiest way of remembering which rides had the longest lines was by taking a picture of the board and referring back! Happy Easter bitches! I remember seeing this in Florida a LONG time ago! I didn’t remember there being so much thrusting. TPDave loves himself some 3D thrusting. Oh crap. We got stuck in the hub during the parade! There was no way out for us so we had to just watch it! I’m pretty sure that this was Larry’s favourite moment of the entire trip! Don’t mess with this dude. Single Rider Splash Mountain For The Win! Check out the Japanese dude taking the piss out of Larry too! Time to do a little park hopping, thanks for now Disneyland! Not to be forgotten either is the Sea Salt Popcorn. It’s certainly good, but when you’ve got Curry and Black Pepper to choose from it’s easy to overlook. The Gyoza Sausage Bun stand can get some crazy long lines! And I can see why, it’s really tasty! I could have sworn Colin was in this photo as well but clearly I was wrong! We checked out a Big Band show in the New York section of the park. It was very good, though for some it just meant an extra chance to sleep! This photo gets included because I realised that there is a Scotland flag in it. Unfortunately the Scotland flag is in relation to Duffy. Booooo! As you may have guessed we’re gonna ride the boat! This bit of theming at the edge of the water was brilliant! Oh DisneySea, why must you be so far away??? Look at it!!! The boat ride gives you a good look at all the different “Ports” that make up DisneySea. You might not be able to see it here but there people already setting up camp along this bank for the excellent Fantasmic show later that night! Anyway, the point I’ve been trying to make is, DisneySea is awesome. Did you get that? Time to park hop! Got your hotel key Larry? Oooohhhh! Dusk rides on Big Thunder Mountain! That works for me! Big Thunder is awesome no matter where in the world you are! Anyway, time to hop back for our last few rides at Tokyo DisneySea! Many of these rides were on Indy! Please don’t make me leave!!! Yeah, this place is fantastic. Hands down my favourite theme park in the world! Well, all good things have to come to an end and our Tokyo Disney odyssey is now sadly over. One more park from my Japan trip to go and it can’t be more of a stark contrast to Disney than a visit to Fuji-Q!

^ Agreed. I still use the bucket for popcorn at home!

The park tickets at Tokyo Disney work a little bit different from other Disney resorts. Instead of being able to buy a straight up park hopper we had spend the first day of our four day stint in DisneySea and the second day at Disneyland. Not until day three can you start park hopping until your little heart is content! And that's what we did. The majority of our time was spent in DisneySea though seeing as this was our first chance to see the park in daylight and get to really explore the place. As I said, it's awesome, the whole resort is fantastic and we were fortunate to have another day to spend there! Yes! We’re still at Disney! Larry was quite happy upon entering the monorail station this morning. Why? Because unlike the previous evening he used his monorail ticket to get through the turnstile rather than his hotel key! MONORAIL! MONORAIL! MONORAIL! Guess who was on Fast Pass duty first thing this morning? With our Monsters Inc Fast Passes in hand I joined the crowds waiting to get into DisneySea which opened an hour after Disneyland. First stop – more Tower! Yeah, DisneySea looks amazing! Even if there were no rides and just things to look at the place would still be amazing! There’s no getting away from it – that’s one big arse volcano! Here’s an attraction unique to DisneySea – Aquatopia! Totally random and pointless but a lot of fun! Inside joke there for some of the geeks! Yeah, still in DisneySea! Raging Spirits even looks awesome! Why? Because it has fire! Placeholder photo! The Arabian section of the park also looks incredible. No surprise there! We hadn’t gotten enough of rollerskaters in the last few days so we checked out Flounder. Understood! Mysterious Island looks unbelievable when you’re stood right next to it! These words actually came out of Stefan’s mouth: “What’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth about?” Rocking THREE Tokyo Disney Fast Passes! This stuff is VERY important if you’re journeying to the centre of the Earth! Yeah, that’s me. Still in DisneySea! The Center For Weather Control is the home of StormRiders. Stefan wasn’t happy we only rode once because he was desperate to experience all six endings. Today’s lunch - Japanese Mexican Food! This was today’s lunch venue! Not too shabby! We’re on a bridge! Oh yeah! Indy lives in this pyramid! It’s funny how similar this pyramid looks the Mexican Pavilion at Epcot! Rocking FOUR Fast Passes now! Time to cash one in now on Raging Spirits! Like the version in Paris, it’s a bit shaky but not too bad to be honest. But better yet, we’re still in DisneySea! Man, the Japanese REALLY love their Disney shows! This is DisneySea’s version of an afternoon parade. It’s probably better than parades in a lot of ways, seeing as paths don’t get blocked by it! I love standing beneath big wet balls. Seeing as it’s Easter, lets HOP on over to Tokyo Disneyland! That’s a Monsters Inc Fast Pass well used! Emma models the Erik Penders Hotel Inspection action figure. Only available in Japan. Two days in and a great deal of popcorn later and I finally realise that it might make sense to buy a bucket! TPDave loves it when I show him my “Popcorn Trick” Anyway, time to get back to the awesomeness that is DisneySea!!! Wouldn’t mind staying in one of those hotel rooms! OMG, this is the most unbelievably awesome popcorn in the world! Woohoo! Fiery volcano eruption! The Strawberry Popcorn wasn’t half bad either! Popcorn POV! Trolley takeover! The trolley gives yet more awesome views of an incredible park! Coming your way in 2012 – Toy Story Mania! I look forward to finding out how TDS makes this version even better than the other ones! Dave Fudge, if you’re reading this – I miss you. If you’re hungry you can just ask these guys to whip up whatever you want to eat. This one skull is enough to put the whole of Dinoland USA to shame. YES!!!! BEER!!! Stefan had beer too. However he wasn’t important enough to get into this photo. TPDave doesn’t quite get how the Popcorn Trick works. Not far from Journey is another Jules Verne themed contraption – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! The submarine ride is of particular excitement to TPDave. That’s because it’s fully enclosed and there’s no opportunity for him to drop his wallet out the side. Tokyo DisneySea pays homage to Disney’s animated history with an entire land dedicated to The Little Mermaid! This indoor section of the park has a load of well themed flat rides for younger riders. This park caters to all audiences! It’s getting late, but that doesn’t mean there’s no time to get on Indy through single rider! Aquatopia looks amazing at night! As does Larry. Today’s huge Disney day ends with yet another ride on Journey to the Centre of the Earth! Just don’t ask Stefan what it’s about! Another day at the unbelievable Tokyo Disney Resort is over but fret not, we have another day to go!!!

After a fun evening at Tokyo DisneySea it was time to spend a day at the older neighbour - Tokyo Disneyland! Being a big fan of Disney's Magic Kingdom style parks I really loved this park a lot. It has great versions all the Magic Kingdom staples as well as a few unique rides thrown in. And then there's one ride which kind of exists in the other parks but really is nothing like the version in Japan... Pooh's Hunny Hunt is one of the best dark rides in the world. Seriously, it's insane. The trackless system and sheer random fun of the ride just make you laugh and smile from start to finish, it's absolutely incredible! The new Monsters Inc ride is also good and an interested variation of the shooting dark ride. It certainly attracts a lot of guests! Seeing as this was a Saturday the park did get very crowded in the afternoon but a few of us took some special steps to avoid getting caught up in the huge lines. Read on... It’s an early start but it doesn’t get better in the morning than getting on these monrails! Playing the role of Colin today – Paul. Despite it being late June, for some reason Tokyo Disney’s Easter event was still going on. Works for me! Unlike the other Magic Kingdom’s around the world, instead of Main Street we have World Bazaar here in Tokyo. It’s like Main Street except with the added Japaneseness of a cover! First stop today – the unbelievably amazing POOH!!! TPDave usually has to visit his own special websites to see pictures of a donkey getting nailed in the behind. Haunted Mansion next? Don’t mind if we do! Randomly, Fantasyland is the location for Haunted Mansion in Tokyo! Doesn’t make the ride any less good! Unfortunately TPDave did not chase any bears into any caves. Umm, maybe we better wait until Fast Pass time before trying to get on Big Thunder. With the line at Big Thunder in such a gihugic state I finally got to pop my Country Bears cherry! Strawberry and Lime Pseudo-Dole Whip? You betcha! This is where we managed to valley a boat right before a drop. Well done TPR! The pirates animatronics are getting more lifelike by the year! Mmm… Waffles… I think this ought to cover a waffle or two? There’s a different range of waffles to choose from… They’re waffly versatile. Never has Mickey’s face tasted so good!! Light-o-speed-o!!! We got lucky on Japanese Star Tours and got the Death Star ending. All over the park there would be these random egg shaped versions of Disney characters. It is Easter after all! The big attraction now in Tomrrowland is Monsters Inc. Looks awesome from the outside! And the queue looks great too. Being a big fan of the movie it was really cool to walk through the building. The ride itself is kind of a shooting dark ride but instead of scores and lasers you shine a torch on things to make them move! It’s good fun, especially for people like me who tend to suck at the usual shooting dark rides. OMG, look at that beastly monster! Check out Roz too! About halfway through the day we took a little break from Disney to ride an inverted monorail and go on a quick credit run to a little park not too far away... Here it is.. Chiba Zoo! Yes, we’re awesome! It’s more than just a Vekoma – it’s a rare and exclusive Vekoma, like no one’s ever rode before!! Cha-ching! It's just a Vekoma POV! Electronic animal takeover! If only Erik were here to tell us exactly what this ride was called… OMG, a Big Wheel! I see we’re not the only coaster enthusiasts in town… Thanks Chiba Zoo! It was a nice break from the crowds at Disney and another chance to experience Tokyo’s awesome public transport system! Back to business though and there’s some more Disneyland action to be had! Splash Mountain seemed exactly the same as Florida to me. Which meant it was great! Plus we managed to skip a horrendously long standby line by using the little-utilised single rider option. How about Japanese Jungle Cruise? Okay! TPJungleboy. Does anyone have any soldeirs to go with this Pluto egg?? No? Paul and Jim do their best to blend in with the locals ahead of the parade. Here we go! I think we’re in for a treat! Ooh la la! I like this parade! Although it was literally five floats long which was a bit weird. But nevermind because it then meant we had time to head over to… Car Toon Spin! I really love the Roger Rabbit movie and having never been to California before I really was quite excited for this! Quick, run while they’re still inside! Not content with riding the one rollerskater today we were more than happy to double down! “Hello, I’m TPDave, trolley, trolley, trolley!” OMG, Curry Popcorn tasted fantastic, probably my second favourite flavour in the resort! As you can tell, Larry absolutely LOVED Pinocchio! And we finish our day at Tokyo Disneyland just as we begun – on Pooh! Seriously it’s incredible. Right up there with the likes of Spider-man when it comes to dark rides. Well that was another amazing day at Tokyo Disneyland! But wait! There’s more! After our second day on the resort our tickets became Park Hopper tickets which means there’s a lot more Tokyo Disney fun to come!

As Larry pointed out, this Trip Report is not quite over yet! After we left Nagashima it was onto a bullet train and thanks to copious amounts of beer a few of us were beginning to get a bit giddy! Not just because of the beer however, because we were on our way to the most anticipated place of the whole trip - Tokyo Disney Resort! Now, I'd heard all the hype about DisneySea beforehand, so I was expecting big things. Really big things. But after only a couple of hours in the park on this first evening I was able to say without reservation: TOKYO DISNEYSEA IS MY FAVOURITE PARK I'VE EVER BEEN TO. Hands down, no contest. It's absolutely incredible. I five years of doing TPR trips in various locations on the globe, never have I been so blown away by a theme park. The theming is incredible. You can see that from the photos, but what's amazing is that it looks even better in person! Not only is the theming great, DisneySea has a fantastic ride selection to back it up! And the place has only been open ten years! On this first evening we only had a couple of hours but managed to hit the big three attractions: - Journey to the Centre of the Earth: It's a fantastic and fascinating use of the Test Track technology which is just an incredible experience from start to finish. LAVA MONSTER! What an animatronic! - Tower of Terror: The ride system itself is the same as Paris/California so it's not quite as good as Florida but the Pre-show, theming and back story is second to none! The pre-show "vanishing effect" that they do with the Shiriki character is awesome! - Indiana Jones: Wow. I knew of this rides existence but having never been to California I was completely expecting something on the level of Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom. How wrong was I. I absolutely loved this thing, I'd probably even say that it's my favourite theme park ride in the world. It was just so much fun! Okay, okay, I could wax lyrical about Tokyo DisneySea for ages (and I will, there's more updates to come from here!) but since this was only our first night I'll move onto some photos... The theme for our final Bullet Train journey was BEER! And lots of it! For what may be the last time in Japan Erik enjoys the trademark giant ice cream! Some of us are a bit merry already and are about to get even merrier! Steve is so excited that The Rug cannot be contained!!! Never has a gigantic wet ball excited me so much in my entire life – WE’RE AT TOKYO DISNEYSEA!!! Where better to start an evening at DisneySea than at Journey to the Centre of the Earth?! Woohoo, we’re about to get on a lift! Woohoo, we’re ON a lift!!! And now we’re ON journey itself! Normally I wouldn’t post this photo, but check out Larry, how could I not??? As if you needed any more proof we were on Journey – LAVA MONSTER!!! I LOVED Journey to the Centre of the Earth! Speaking of rides that I loved… this is just part of the queue for Indiana Jones, unbelievable a theming! Indy’s single rider line was awesome! We really got in a load of rides during our time on the resort. Good thing to because Indy is amazing! Larry decides that the best way to have an ever improving popcorn experience is to start with the Duffy related stuff and move up. Can’t say I blame him! Quick, get the Milk Tea stuff eaten so we can move onto Black Pepper and Curry! As if getting on Journey and Indy wasn’t enough we even had enough time to get on Japan’s very own Tower of Terror! No single rider for this one, but that’s okay because this queue looked amazing and moved pretty fast! TDS really like incorporated lifts into their rides wherever they can. Everyone is either waving at me or Larry just said something REALLY funny! So that was our first night at DisneySea. We had only spent a couple of hours there but we’d already got on the three big attractions and I was totally in awe of the place! LOADS more DisneySea to come but next up is our day in Tokyo Disneyland itself!

Thanks for the comments everyone, glad you all enjoyed the report! For anyone interested here's a blown-up version of Larry's list... Thanks Larry, for ensuring we got through the rest of the day.

The last park of the "Southern Japan" portion of the trip was Nagashima Spaland! This park is renowned in the theme park world for possesing the Morgan gigacoaster, Steel Dragon 2000. Steel Dragon was good though it's not quite of the same calibre as the Intamin 300 giga coasters. Much like the other Morgan hypers it's not bad but just doesn't blow you away. But I did certainly enjoy the ride. The park has gained a bit of a reputation for being like a Cedar Fair park in some ways and I can kind of see where that comes from, though this park certainly looks a bit nicer than a lot of Cedar Fair parks. What the park does lack is those quirky Japanese dark rides that we'd become accustomed to over the trip so far. That said, there's a good selection of coasters there and certainly plenty to do. Here's some photos from our day... Everyone get in your teams and get ready for another taxi ride to the finish mat! Today’s park – Nagashima Spaland! Or as some call it - 80s Japanese Cedar Point! We started the day off with some early rides on White Cyclone! Can’t beat some morning ERT with TPR! It might not be amazing but if you’re having comparisons with Cedar Point let it be noted that this one’s better than Mean Streak! But of course, this is the big reason to visit: Steel Dragon 2000. TPDave has always dreamt of riding a 300 foot dragon. Jeez, I’m not sure I want to know what those bags are used for! Who doesn’t love a good “Coaster train climbs the lift hill” photo? So how was Steel Dragon? It was good, but much like the other Morgan hypers it just felt like it was missing something that would make it amazing. Plus I’ll take Steel Dragon over a Wild Mouse any day! Woohoo, another Ultra Twister! TPDave is quite a twisted guy so this ride is right up his street. Check out Jim’s “Do we HAVE to ride the Corkscrew?” face! As with any bad ride on this trip, you can always say “at least we’re in Japan!” No one on the trip is above a bit of kiddie credit whoring. TPDave has no idea what he’s bought. Here’s hoping its something horrendous. SHUTTLE LOOP BOX TICKED! Unfortunately the other Schwarzkopf looper was down for maintenance but if coming to Japan at this time of year means no crowds, I’ll take it! There aren’t too many of these Intamin first gen drop towers around any more so you gotta make the most when you get the chance! Quite possibly this is the only ride type in the world that actually scares me any more! Breaking Brad just loves to ride the Bob Kart! You will NOT find Scottish Steve anywhere near this place! You see Scottish Steve just hates the idea of seeing decapitated Jesus. Nagashima Spaland went for the DELUXE version of the Big Wheel which gives the benefit of added LED clock. The wheel gives some great views of the rest of the park… White Cyclone. From above. Great view of the bathroom from up here too. It certainly has a lot more trees than Cedar Point! One big lift hill and one big empty car park! Steel Dragon does it’s dragony thing. Not content with being terrible at skeeball in the US, Larry proves that he’s not very good at it in Japan. TPDave finally has a fan! If your meal smiles back at you then you know it’s gonna be awesome. Today’s lunch - Seafood Doria! This was REALLY good! In order to solve any arguments over what attractions we should hit up in the remainder of our time, Larry draws up an exhaustive list for us to follow. Unfortunately, “bathing with hot naked chicks” was not on the list. Hmm, those guys look familiar! In order to guarantee wetness, they put Erik in the front. Think it might have worked. Yeah, it definitely worked! Bathroom break! I didn’t need to go so I sat this one out. I always enjoy watching people on the Giant Frisbee though. Apparently this is how Larry prefers to shower. The list says we’ve gotta be on the car ride. So we’re on the car ride. Nagashima Spaland has some amazing merchandise! So is Nagashima Spaland the Cedar Point of Japan? Maybe, in some ways but it’s a nice park in its own right and well worth a visit! Seeing as no-one is interested in the place we went to next I'll just end this trip report right here. Thanks for reading guys!

Absolutely! Get it posted!

What can I say about Parque Espana?? What a really nice park! Out of all the parks on the trip that weren't Disney or Universal this was definitely the nicest park. Plus it had a pretty good selection of rides. The big draw is the huge B&M invert, Pyrenees I had heard it was very good beforehand and it absolutely delivered. This is certainly one of the more forceful early B&Ms in the vein of Montu and Katun. The park was pretty empty too so we were able to get plenty of rides in, even after our "unique" early riding session! The park itself was very empty which was quite weird for such a big park but that allowed us to do everything in the park with no waiting at all. All in all, Parque Espana was a fantastic park! And we’re back on a bus – old school! Hmm, the bus is getting awfully close to the rollercoaster… Yeah, we just got dropped off in the park at the entrance to the coaster! Old school B&M time! Pyrenees was amazing! It’s right up there with Nemesis, Katun and Montu in my view! The ride photographs quite well too! Parque Espana also offer a mine train - Gran Montserrat. An interesting contraption from Mack. Welcome to Spain!!! The park itself was VERY quiet today! We may well have been the only group of tourists in the park! OMG, this thing was hell. One of the most uncomfortable indoor coaster experiences you’re ever likely to encounter! Parque Espana also has a decent range of dark rides to keep the kids (and TPR) happy. C’mon giant rodents!!! I tell a lie - there WERE other people in the park today! From some angles you’d be forgiven for thinking you weren’t in a theme park at all! TPJackson can’t let the sunlight touch his skin. WOOHOO!!! ESCALATOR RIDE!!! Do the dance, TPDave! DO IT!!! Colin or Colon? Let’s go with Colon! Oh what a feeling, when you’re dancing on the ceiling. This looks like my kind of ride! Take Drayton Manor’s Excalibur ride and add a touch of Pirates and you come close to getting this thing. A friend of Dave Fudge haunts the entrance to the castle. Yet another dark ride. We call this one “If Peter Pan were a Spaniard”. Kind of like in Efteling there’s a “Life Size Storybook Diorama” section. But this one has something Efteling doesn’t… CRABS! As it is approximately 2 billion degrees today we will quite happily pay the upcharge for the ice house! Oh yeah, I managed to score another weird Japanese Doritos flavour! This isn’t any 3D attraction, this is 3D 360! This was actually surprisingly good, the 360 degree 3D worked really well! Although, I hear the dark ride that was in this place before was even better. Today’s lunch – random stuff I pointed at in the restaurant! This one’s for Larry. This one’s for everyone but Larry. I’m pretty sure there were more people involved in the parade than were guests in the park, seriously! The entrance to yet another engrossing indoor attraction plucked right out of Spain’s violent past. TPDave and Larry are privy to the retelling of one of the most brutal chapters in Spanish history… The skeleton zombie invasion of 1544! It was hot arse (at least for the Brits!) so the log flume seemed like a good idea. Not so good if you’re right in the front though! What’s this? The opportunity to put right what once went wrong? Thanks to the miracles of photography Larry can be kept in this moment forever! Emma wonders which present her beloved Josh would prefer. I’m thinking it’s Hot Love he’s looking for! Parque Espana is well and truly Divv-approved!!! And not just for the Doritos! If you can find a park in the middle of nowhere Japan selling Celtic shirts you know it’s a good place Pyrenees and Parque Espana both get the thumbs up from me! Probably the best non-Disney or Universal park on the trip for me! In the evening we set out to have another cultural experience with the YUMMY Korean B-B-Q! TPDave is ready for some of Korea’s finest grub. You know it was actually pretty good! On the way back to the hotel Larry got so excited to find his favourite Japanese chips that he had to break out his extra two arms in order to carry them all! Emma likes her balls nude. This looks like the kind of establishment that we should be checking out! Yes! We travelled all the way to Japan to visit the British pub! Having some non-Japanese people in the pub seemed to be quite the novelty for the locals! Not wanting to confine ourselves to just one, we then went on and tracked down a SECOND British pub, you know because we don’t get enough of these back home. Cheers! Hey! Look who we ran into here! We’re not the only drunken delinquents on this trip after all! Okay, I’m drunk and I’m tired plus there’s a park to go to in the morning. Time for bed!

Up next for us was a very much anticipated park - Universal Studios Osaka! I knew I'd like this park but I had no idea I'd like it so much! They've basically taken the best bits of Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure and added a couple of kick arse unique attractions to make one quality park. It was really odd being here and seeing how eerily similar the layout of the park is to the Orlando park and then it got even odder to see rides like Spider-Man in the spot where you think Mummy should be! The facade of the building is even very similar! There are two unique coasters here and they are both very good. Hollywood Dream impressed even with low expectations created from recent B&M hypers. Riding with the J-Pop soundtrack was awesome! Space Fantasy really was brilliant, really a modern day Space Mountain in a lot of ways to me! Being a fan of the Mack spinner at Europa Park I knew I'd like it but I didn't expect it to be this good! The show has a weird but fun pre-show and the interior of the ride itself is just nuts, especially if you manage to push the flashing button on your restraint at just the right moment to get the fancy bright ending! Though with all these cutting edge new rides the ride I got most excited about on this day was an old favourite of mine which I thought I might have never gotten the chance to ride again... That's right I used as many Express Passes as I could on Back to the Future! I may not be the most comfortable ride experience in the world but it holds loads of nostalgic value for me so I was super excited to get a few rides on it! I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment! All in all USJ was an amazing place and I would love to go back again someday! Let’s give Scottish Steve a break this morning and laugh at Larry instead! Anyone got any ideas where we’re going today? That’s right! Universal Studios Osaka!!! Before you get into the park though you have to take a test. Continuing the tradition of the Japanese doing all they can to avoid getting wet take a look at the weird cover over Universal’s “Main Street” First stop of the morning is none other than Hollywood Dream – The Ride! Despite it’s relative small height I was surprised by how good this was! Amazingly it was a lot better than many other much bigger B&M coasters of similar ilk that I’ve rode! Universal Japan manage to put every Cedar Fair kiddie coaster to shame with nothing more than their ride sign. MBF. It’s gonna take a lot more than 5 cents to help this dude! SCIENCE!!! Hmm.. Wonder what could be in store for us here? Look at the DELIGHT on Steve’s face! Japan’s the only place you can do this now! The Japanese skippers had some amazing enthusiasm too! Speaking of enthusiasm – check out Steve’s right now! Eat this, Florida! The one sad note in Universal Japan – Jurassic Park was down for maintenance. This makes Steve sad. Luckily there’s still plenty of Dino Action to be had in USJ! Now this was really cool! Huge Brachiosaurs walking around the JP section of the park! The other Universal parks seriously need to look into getting some of these – the crowds loved them! So whilst we couldn’t ride the JP ride we could still get ourselves some dinosaur for lunch. Look at that – Steakosaurus! Having never been to Universal in Hollywood I was very excited to check out BackDraftO! I liked it! Uhm, shouldn’t this be Mummy??? Spider-Man in any language is awesome! Speaking of awesome rides – this one is unique to Japan and it’s freakin’ cool! No photos of the indoor spinning coaster I’m afraid here’s the ride’s popular mascot! He’s a happy little soul. Still not in Florida. This was my first time experiencing a Water World show. Universal normally seems to do good shows and Water World was that. The Pyro-maniac in me was quite satisfied. USJ make real efficient use of their 4D theatre and manage to show both Shrek and Sesame Street! Yeah, we’re cool. Steve got quite the fright when Elmo fell off his bike and so beer was needed immediately following the 4D show. Now this is the reason I was so excited about Universal Japan!!! This is totally worth using our front of the line passes for! No Simpsons here!!! Yes, some of us actually rode Back to the Future multiple times! Had to be done. Who knows if we’ll ever get the chance again?! Universal Japan was really good! And it’s only 10 years old – I get the feeling it’s gonna get even better! There’s no better way to finish a day at a park than with copious amounts of beer! Continuing the theme of weird restaurants – here’s our dinner being cooked on our tables! Hidden Dinner Mickey! Yum! TPDave, be nice to your dinner!!! Time for some supplies for another journey! TPDave and Scottish Steve were kind enough to host this evening’s room party. I think Larry might have had enough. OMG, what has Steve been taking??? Uh oh… Poor little guy… Well, while Steve recovers I celebrate another awesome day with more Japanese Doritos! Parque Espana is up next!

It was very hot, but not "Six Flags St Louis Hot" thankfully! I'm just sad I no one has photos of the moment where the idiots actually wiped out! Thanks for all the comments everyone, you're really helping me keep this going at the current pace!

After Mitsui Greenland it was back on the bullet train - this time heading to Nagoya! TPDave is always sure to make good use of the free space in Japanese stations! Kit Kat Big Balls are today’s unique food stuff of choice! Note that TPDave’s balls never fall into that category! Weird Japanese 7 Up! Time for another Bullet Train! Score! Another weird Japanese Doritos flavour! Here’s our next base of operations for a few nights - Nagoya! Everyone was too tired to go drink except for Erik and I! It’s always good to get Erik drunk so that he gets honest about how he REALLY feels about Vekoma!