Divv3k

DAY TWO: CAROWINDS The first park of the trip was Carowinds. A park that straddles both North and South Carolina. It's a nice park with some fun rides. It has some nice loking areas but also suffers from that Cedar Fair condition of lifelessness and concrete in areas. On our day we got some great ERT on Afterburn and Intimidator which was a lot of fun. There was also a great behind the scenes tour at Intimidator which gave a nice view into how the ride works. But no doubt, the highlight of the day is the incredible theme song that plays when the park opens. It's this point you really get the lowdown on Carowinds. No need to consult your calender when you're at this park, because EVERY DAY IS SATURDAY!!! Here's the photos... CAROWINDS! It’s a magic breeze! TPFail managed to spill coffee all over himself this morning. Fortunately for all of us he wouldn’t have been allowed in the park had he taken his soiled top off! We started out our morning with some Afterburn ERT! We’re special! So special!!! Afterburn is actually a VERY good B&M invert IMO. Definitely the best coaster at Carowinds for me. And now for the main reasons we’re at Carowinds– the first Intimidator of the Intimidatour! Wouldn’t Dale be proud? This is the Twisty section but unlike the other one this one just has floater twistiness. I’m still not really sure who he is but apparently he’s a big deal in the Carolinas! Look at that for an ERT train! Anyone know what this ride used to be? I don’t have a Scooby! "using your Boob" Southern Steve is rockin’ the 3D look! Well done on Boob Lasters guys. Unfortunately you didn’t get enough points to beat the high score for the day! I forget who actually got the high score though. Oh wait… Me!!! OMG, it’s NASCARDave!!! I spent the whole time in line for the boomerang bitching and moaning about how much I hate these rides and how I only ride them for the credit. At the point where the train got to the top of the lift I realised that I actually got this credit at Geauga Lake. Damn it!!! We all managed to survive the B&M stand up. I don’t seem to remember much about it though. Couldn’t have been that great. When will America learn that this is NOT the English flag?! This looks like LOADS of fun! Neil can hardly contain his excitement! The Wild Mouse is something that everyone seems wild about! I’m all for Wayne’s World themed areas! I just wish the Wayne’s World themed ride was good! TPSad and TPPathetic. Kristen was good enough to ride with a few of us so that we could get our Taxi Jam credit. Much appreciated Kristen! It doesn’t matter what state you ride Thunder Road in, it’s not very good in either! No beer on this coaster. Which is a shame, would have made it better. Best. Hat. Ever. In the afternoon Carowinds’ Steve Jackson gave us a fantastic behind the scenes tour of Intimidator! Look, I’m taking this photo from behind the scenes! Lift hill nerds rejoice! OMG, OMG. WHEELS!!! Excuse me whilst I indulge in an orgy with the B&M test dummies. Check out TPGeek right up front. TPDave just wet himself a little. OMG, track schematics! This here is where all the hamsters live and spin the wheels that make the lift work. In all honesty I wasn’t that impressed with the B&M Intimidator. Out of all the B&M hypers I’ve been on I would rank it towards the bottom. But even then, it’s still a good ride. Just not anywhere near my favourites! No Vekoma flyer for us today. Damn you Erik!!! TPDave is pretty cut up about it. But things were made better for Dave when he made friends with the girl at the Domo stand! DOMOS SCISSORING BETWEEN STATES! My head is in two states! How cool am I? Fun never ends Carowinds! Carowinds is certainly one of the nicer Cedar Fair parks and just don’t forget – EVERY DAY IS SATURDAY!!!

Hello! Fresh off the TPR Mid-America Trip we jumped straight onto the IntimidaTOUR, a trip borne out of Cedar Fairs decision to build two coasters themed around some racing driver on the East Coast of the US. This was probably the shortest TPR trip I'd been on but since it was straight after Mid-America it served as a fantastic add-on and let me visit quite a few parks I'd never been to before. As always, Robb and Elissa pulled out all the stops to make sure this trip was amazing! I can't thank them enough! UPDATES: Day 1 - ARRIVAL DAY (below) Day 2 - CAROWINDS (below) Day 3 - DOLLYWOOD Days 4 & 5 - PIGEON FORGE AND MORE! Day 6 - BUSCH GARDENS WILLIAMSBURG Day 7 - KING'S DOMINION Day One: ARRIVAL DAY On this morning a bunch of us flew in from Minneapolis to join up with the Intimidatour participants. The day was mostly a bus ride but was noteable for me due to the restaurants we visited. - KFC. This was noteable because it finally gave me the opportunity to try the famous Double Down! As a fast food fan I was intrigued when I saw this revealed and was saddened that it was available only in the US. Luckily for me I got to visit KFC on the Inimidatour and try one for myself! - The Tilted Kilt. Kind of like a Scottish themed Hooters. This place was awesome. Hot girls in little tartan skirts serving you food and beer. Works for me! - Papa Pino's. This restaurant was right next to our hotel. We didn't eat here but since they had a bar Southern Steve, Ben and I figured it would be a worthwhile visit. Thanks to Steve's charm we managed to stay in the bar as they cleaned up and closed the restaurant all the while trying all the different spirits from their shelves which clearly hadn't been open in years. Needless to say, it was good to have Steve with us on a US TPR trip! FINALLY!!! After 12 days in the US I got my hands on the famous Double Down from KFC! It was awesome! I really wish KFC UK would start selling these! From lunch to dinner… This is The Tilted Kilt. Now I had never heard of this place before Elissa told me about it but turns out that this place is kind of like a “Scottish Hooters” So naturally I was right at home! Robby and Tyler don’t quite know what to do with themselves! The Tilted Kilt didn’t just do girls they had some pretty good food too! Not only did they do girls and food. Celtic, the greatest football team on the planet were honoured on the restaurant’s wall! Screw you, Scottish Steve! TPDave doesn’t quite understand why there is a picture of England’s Stone Henge on the wall of The Tilted Kilt. I don’t quite understand why they let TPDave in in the first place! Just like a normal Saturday night in Glasgow for me! Being that Southern Steve is on this trip there’s no way we can pass up the opportunity to hunt down the nearest bar to the hotel! This barmaid was awesome and kept serving us drinks after they closed. I think it was the Southern Steve charm! The Intimidatour has begun!!! Carowinds is our first park and it is up next!

I was but I had to pull out because of work commitments. I had two weeks off before the trip for exams and then I'm off for another few weeks this month for Japan. In other words I ended up with WAY too much to do and not enough time to do it so Sweden just had to give. Hopefully I'll get back over to Sweden soon! Great photos Dave and Ryan - sorry for picking marathon weekend!

I HATE YOU ALL!!! Seriously though, great stuff so far. I'm just so gutted I couldn't make it in the end. (Stupid accountancy!) Looks like you all had a great time despite TPDave not being there either. - Divv "Thanks for the postcard, it only made me MORE jealous" Walsh

Great job on the entire report, Martin. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Hopefully I make it out to this part of the world with TPR some day!

DAY ELEVEN: VALLEYFAIR! This was a fun day. I had visited Valleyfair by myself in 2007 and wasn't wowed by the place at all. Now I wasn't totally wowed by it this time but I was impressed with the staff and all the lengths they went to to make sure we had a great day. It's always bittersweet on the last day of a trip because you're usually having loads of fun all the while you know the trip end is just upon you. Luckily for some of us there was another trip the next day but this group of people were amazing. Really just a fun amazing group of people and I want to thank all of them for the part they played in me having another fantastic trip. Special thanks of course go to Robb and Elissa (who we missed dearly this day as she had went onto Richmond to get the ball rolling for the next trip), they just put on another incredible trip. I'll say it again, I can't imagine a summer without a TPR trip and I have both of them to thank for that. Oh yeah, Mike Austin was an absolute legend here too. We'll get to that... Well the bad news is that it’s the last day of the trip. But the good news is we’re at Valleyfair! And the even better news is that the day starts out with ERT on Wild Thing! Wild Thing is a solid ride. Much like the other Morgan Hypers it’s fun and rerideable. Which makes it a GREAT coaster to have ERT on! These guys don’t look too excited for the Arrow Wild Mouse. They clearly didn’t know what was coming! A special park just for Andrew Janes! Random Divv shot! Robb and Joey assume the mandatory front row poses on High Roller. I mean they’ve gotta find some way of making it interesting, right? I’m so glad I already go this credit in 2007! It’s what I like to call a “point and laugh” ride! Does my ass look big on this concrete? Hey look, it's Vertical Venom! Bryan tells me this is Jake’s “I’ve just been caught naked looking at pictures of The Voyage” face. We like the twisty, we certainly do! Seconds after picking up this piece of crap off the ground TPDave consumed it. As if you needed any more reason to visit Valleyfair! Once again we’re special, so special. Wow. Just, wow. TPDave would eat the shit out of these. As if I could forget, this is the moment where the day transformed into DOMOKUN DAY!!! Robb was first with his superb shot to nab a Domo for TPR HQ. As soon as Jake laid his eyes on this little beauty he knew he couldn’t leave Valleyfair without him. More from Domo very soon. At lunch TPR were treated to a performance from Valleyfair’s own wacky brass band! Very entertaining! Even more entertaining was Scott and Jenn handing out this trip’s illustrious POINTLESS AWARDS!!! TPDave can’t drink! That’s gotta be worth an award! Afeter lunch we were treated to a Renegade walkback and a behind the scenes tour! How special are we? So special. The first stop on our tour was the park’s maintenance facility! OMG, WHEELS!!! OMG, WHEEL-A-PALOOZA!!! Valleyfair is in good, safe hands. Oh dear. OMG, it’s Jake!!! The Renegade walkback was really cool too. It’s a very hard coaster to get photos of without these kind of perks! That looks like a fun ride. Alas, a credit we’ll never get. Not even resident youngster, TPDave can get this one. If you ever see Jake now this is who you’ll see him with. Though hopefully John won’t be trying to eat him. TPLost. The Retro music show was a surprise highlight of the day. For Chuck it may well have been a surprise highlight of the trip! And Jake never saw his beloved Domo again… I kid! I kid cause I love too! In the evening we took a little break from Vallefair in the evening for a little Buffalo Wild Wings fun! Even our awesome bus driver Brian couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have some wings! And when they say the sauce is hot, they really mean HOT!!! TPDave still can’t drink! Let’s all laugh some more! Brian was an absolute legend and hero. Possibly the greatest bus driver I’ve encountered on a TPR trip! Okay, back to the park. Let’s close out this trip! Russ, Stacey and Kathryn camped themselves outside Renegade as they waited for ERT to begin! For the next hour we were subjected to some really amazing night rides on Renegade. Not only did we get to enjoy the ride with TPR but park management and security even got in on the action! EXCITEMENT!!! A truly amazing ERT session! I lost my voice in this one! A HUGE thanks to Valleyfair! They really pulled out all the stops for us today! Domo got a little too excited by Renegade as well… I can think of no better way to end a TPR trip than with Mike Austin leading the entire bus in a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody! Mike, you were awesome! The bus just can’t get enough of Mike! What a legend! This was one amazing group of people on the Mid-America trip! You’ll go down as one of my favourite TPR trip groups ever! Thank you to all of you! And now I’ll bring this to a close. But before that I have to say an even bigger thanks to Robb and Elissa. For the fourth year in a row they raised the bar even higher when it came to making these trips amazing. I honestly can’t think of anything I’d rather do with my summer than a TPR trip! I look forward to many more in the years to come! Thankfully at this point in time, I didn’t have very long to wait for the next one! DIVV’S INTIMIDATING ADVENTURE is coming very soon!!! Thanks for reading!

Thanks guys! It was certainly one of the more filthy credit whoring sessions!

DAY TEN, Part Two: KNUCKLEHEADS Bonus Update! Yeah, on the way out of Wisconsin we took a quick stop for some horrificly digusting credit whoring.... Interested in joining a Birthday Party League? Then Knuckleheads is for you!!! What’s the three dollars for, TPDave? Is it for this funky looking indoor flat ride? Hell no! IT’S MINER MIKE TIME!!! This could be one of my saddest and most pathetic credit attempts yet! But hey, if it’s okay for Bryan then it’s good by me! It’s still all about you Bryan! Better clear out of here before the three year olds arrive for their birthday party! One update to go – Valleyfair!!!

Awesome, Joey! Excitement for Japan is building at a rapid pace now!

DAY TEN: WISCONSIN DELLS, IT'S ALL ABOUT BRYAN!!! On the Midwest Trip in 2007 we had the original but on the 2010 Mid-America Trip it canme back better than ever - that's right, IT'S ALL ABOUT BRYAN!!! It's a good thing today was All About Bryan Day because Mt. Olympus really seemed to have fallen downhill since our 2007 visit. Hades has got rougher to the point where it is totally unrideable. In fact just about everything has gotten rougher, including the ride ops! At least Cyclops is still the OMFG-amazing ride that it was. Thank heavens for Timber Falls too because Avalanche (or whatever it is called these days) is still the best ride in the Dells for my money. Oh yeah, special thanks to Robb's ass on this day (more so than usual) for it graciously handing me a free renewal of my Club TPR membership through winning the Bryan photo of the day competition! Don’t be tempted by Brad’s meat, Bryan! Okay go ahead, it is ALL ABOUT BRYAN DAY after all! Wake up Bryan, IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU!!! Bryan looks pretty pissed. That’s because TPDave is taking up way too much of this photo when IT’S ALL BRYAN today! Still too much TPDave! IT’S ALL ABOUT BRYAN!!! Everyone had to make sure they go their moment with Bryan today! Yeah okay, we’re at Mt Olympus. But do we really care when Bryan isn’t in the photo? It’s all about the Power Packer! Hey Bryan, it’s not all about Divv, it’s all about YOU! It’s all about crotch. This sign is the understatement of the century. As well as keeping your hands down on the ride you should also keep them off the banisters in the line! Hades may have been as rough as a ride in the back seat of TPCar but at least I got to ride with Bryan! IT’S ALL ABOUT HIM! Strippers pound notes are no good here. Whilst most of Mount Olympus’ coasters have gotten noticeably rougher in the last three years, Cyclops has held up pretty well. These people don’t know what’s about to happen to them! While the rest of the ride is just “okay” this drop still gives one of the most insane airtime moments you’ll experience. By far the best ride at Mount Olympus in my view. Okay enough coaster and nacho photos, don’t you remember IT’S ALL ABOUT BRYAN TODAY?!!?! It's all about Park Info! "THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S ALL ABOUT MEEE!!!!" This ride would cost £1.39 a litre to run in the UK. It’s all about redemption! Swathes of followers just couldn’t miss the chance to get their moment with Bryan. Bryan was feeling so awesome today that he was even able to balance a small child on his head whilst being stalked by an Aussie. It’s all about the pose. Bryan doesn’t care if it’s all about him or not, he’s still not drinking Fosters! Try it! You’ll like it! Robb was unimpressed at my lack of photos of Bryan and set about rectifying the situation as this series of photos will show… It’s all about forking (with Bryan). Who wouldn’t want to spoon with Bryan? Bryan may be veggie, but he’ll be more than happy to make an exception when it comes to taking Robb’s meat in his mouth. This is the very moment that Bryan got smacked in the face with Robb’s meat. Gotta love that reaction. Under normal circumstances I’d say this would be my favourite Bryan photo of the day. In 2007 it certainly would have been. But thanks to the Great Greek Gods who smile so divinely over Mt. Olympus we were so grateful to find out that in 2010 it is… . . . . . . . . ALL ABOUT ASS!!! Of course Bryan can’t visit the Dells without making a quick stop at the hallowed ground of Timber Falls! Say hi to your mom, Bryan! We missed you today, Terrance! That’s quite enough of you TPDave! Thankfully Avalanche is still a great little ride. Especially in the front row! Even in the second row, Avalanche gets certified with the illustrious “It’s All About Approval” stamp! Bryan, you’re a hero. Wisconsin Dells just ain’t worth visiting unless it’s All About Bryan Day! I’m glad I got to experience it again!

Yeah, TPArse was eager to point out that he had got his red side credit earlier in the day! OMG, Viper by miles and miles! Not even a contest for me! Two updates to go!

DAY NINE: SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA This was a tough day... Yeah, I was feeling pretty rough. At least I wasn't the only one as Miles and Kyle were feeling the previous night too, but man was I struggling this morning. Since I had visited the park in 2007 I even went and spoke to Elissa about picking up my ticket later and not visiting the park in the morning which I was all set to do. Until I spoke to Miles. Somehow Miles convinced me that if he was going to go through hell with a hangover I was going to do it too. So in a scene very reminiscent of Movie Park Germany in June 2008 I ventured to the park with the rest of the group only to sit on every bench I came across as the rest of the group enjoyed ERT. I was really struggling to have fun at this point, but as soon as the park opened properly I forced myself onto the Little Dipper seeing as it was one of the few credits I still needed and a good thing I did too since our evening ERT on it got rained off. It wasn't long after this that Miles conceded that a trip back to the hotel was in his best interests too and so we split a cab and I got to spend a good portion of the day recovering from the previous nights exploits. I returned to the park in the evening feeling MUCH better and got to enjoy the CRAZY rain storm party with the rest of TPR and some fantastic ERT on Raging Bull and Viper! All in all a great end to a tough day! My head hurts but I somehow made it to Six Flags Great America! We’re special, so special! I needed this credit, and despite feeling like total death I forced myself onto it in the morning. Good thing I did! Well done Six Flags Great America for restoring this ride, this was great move in my opinion! After retiring to the hotel for half the day I was welcomed back to the park with the sight of this shirt that TPDave and Jake got whipped up for Bryan that he’ll get to wear tomorrow! Smile, Miles! You’re on Whizzer! This stage show could have done with a bit of Scottish Steve or McFudge to get the crowd going! That’s the blue side of American Eagle running. ONLY the blue side! That’s three visits to SFGAm for me and the red side has been closed every time I’ve tried to ride! That’s some bad luck! Even after my afternoon nap Batman was still a bit too much for my weak condition. Mmm, Captain Salty! Luckily for me today, B&M hypers lacked the intensity I was avoiding and I had a few fun rides on it this evening! Still, I don’t love Raging Bull but it’s a better than a few other B&M hypers I can think of! Just as ERT was about to begin for the evening we were hit by the craziest rain storm of the trip. So whilst this meant that the coasters were temporarily down it also meant we all got to get up close and personal under a small shelter! Dan is thriving in his natural habitat. As soon as the rain cleared up ERT was back ON! ERT on Raging Bull is all well and good but Viper was where it was at! I rode this in the front row for about half an hour straight! This was one incredible ERT session! It’s always cool after night ERT where you get to see the park starting shut down, the double decker carousel looked very nice! Despite a self-inflicted horrendously tough morning I was totally prepared to write this day off completely! I’m glad I didn’t, whilst Great America is far from my favourite Six Flags park this ended up being a really fun evening! Thanks to Miles for making me go to the park in the morning, otherwise I’d have missed Little Dipper! (Our evening ERT was rained off) Next – IT’S ALL ABOUT BRYAN!!!

I guess this is an indication that Universal are quite keen to hold onto their Marvel properties even if Disney own them. Can't wait to see how the new and improved Spider-Man looks. Though I'll get to see it in Japanese before that!

Thanks Martin! Kyle, looking at the photos from the next update makes me feel ill! I'm at my folks' placein Glasgow right now and don't have that video on my laptop. I'll besure to get it posted before all is said and done though. I'm sure Miles would be annoyed if I didn't!

DAY EIGHT, Part Two: BOOZINESS IN GURNEE Not much to say about this night except that I got drunk. Really drunk. Thanks Miles! I quickly got drunk enough to want to join in on the open mic night that was going on at O’Toole’s Irish Bar in Gurnee. Yeah, I managed to subject some poor people to my dulcet tones for a couple of tunes. Thanks to TPDave for filming this video: Oh yeah, TPDave didn’t get drunk. Because he couldn’t. Things are getting a bit crazy in O’Toole’s Irish Bar in Gurnee! They were crazy enough to give me a guitar and I was drunk enough to play it and sing! Back at the hotel Kyle and Miles can’t miss the opportunity to be introduced to some Whyte & Mackay whisky – all the way from Glasgow! Quite a boozy night! Now Miles, he’ll admit to that! We’re gonna pay for this tomorrow! Bye Miles! Let’s see if that smile’s still there in the morning! TPDave still can’t drink so I was kind enough to drink his share too. What a great idea!!!

DAY EIGHT: INDIANA BEACH I liked this day a lot. Not from a rollercoaster geeky perspective though. I mean, of course I partook in the ERT which was great but I just spent the majority of the day chilling out drinking beer in an outdoor bar. It was awesome. But like I said, I did ride the coasters and thoroughly enjoyed Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain again for all the random reasons I loved it last time and Cornball Express is still a pretty good woodie. Steel Hawg is the precursor to Flamingoland’s Mumbo Jumbo with almost an identical layout and colour scheme. Much like Mumbo Jumbo I was pretty non-plussed by this ride but most people seemed to really enjoy it so it seems like a winner for the park. The funniest part of the day was watching TPFail on a grand scale at the fascination parlour. It was hilarious! Here’s a few photos… I guess this means we’re at Indiana Beach! Ah, such a pretty park to look at when you’re coming in over the bridge. Oh my God, they let Josh iunto Indiana?!?! These LoCoSuMo virgins are about to experience something incredibly unique… The tunnel has well and truly been taken. Did I mention this was some ERT we were partaking in? Can’t beat a bit of Cornball Express ERT! TPBlank. Cornball Express was my favourite coaster in the park in 2007 and it remained that way in 2010! I’m not quite sure how the name works. Are Cornballs known for their velocity? Maybe in Indiana. Steel Coaster! Oh carp. Finally, a new Indiana credit for me! Steel Hawg is pretty much an exact clone of Mumbo Jumbo at Flamingo Land give or take a few degrees. Much like Mumbo Jumbo I wasn’t all that impressed with Steel Hawg but I’m always happy to see S&S trying new concepts! Oh yeah, today was Ice Bat day! I was careful not to get my tongue too close. I know where he’s been! Deep fried Oreos! Anyone who makes judgements about Scots and deep fried Mars bars should look at this photo! One of Indiana Beach’s more unique attractions is the redemption game, Fascination! It’s kind of like the “Kentucky Derby” games you get in the UK where you roll a ball into a hole. Much like those games TPDave sucks at fascination too! TPSmug. Well done on winning one ticket, TPDave. Everyone stand and applaud. Winning at Fascination entitles you to some of the latest and most innovative concepts in audio playback. Bryan’s in for a real treat tonight!!! RACY!!! This guy is right next to the bar at Indiana Beach. I spent a long time sitting next to him today. Not content with his one coupon from Fascination TPDave set out to suck at Skee Ball too. And suck he did. I take that back. Look at the quality of those prizes he won! The things you can spend your money on when you’re not buying booze… That’s not quite where I’m thinking about putting my face… Oh yeah, Indiana Beach has some slides too. They looked a bit dodgy. The flat rides over the water are really cool here though! Indiana Beach has a good bar and gives plenty of opportunities to laugh at TPDave, how can you not have a good day here?! Next: Booziness.

DAY SEVEN: HOLIDAY WORLD One of my favourite park’s on 2007’s Midwest Trip was Holiday World so I was very excited to return! I still really like this park. The park has added some really good rides since my last visit too, Pilgrim’s Plunge is an excellent splash boat and Wildebeest is just awesome. Hands down the best waterpark ride I’ve ever been on. Thanks to the awesome people at Holiday World for helping us out with front of the line passes on that one! This was a day full of perks for TPR, thanks to Elissa and Robb buying up a bunch of special behind the scenes tours on a charity auction. This meant that everyone on the trip got split into a small group and got given a tour by a senior member of the park staff. The group I was in had a wonderful tour courtesy of Vanessa, the park’s Merchandise Director. This was a fascinating experience; it was extremely interesting to get a perspective on a park’s operations from a merchandising point of view. I had no idea park and coaster related T-shirts were so popular in the US! Another perk as part of the tour was getting front of the line access to each of the park’s coasters meaning we were able to avoid a long wait for Voyage! Speaking of the coasters, I have to say that Raven has held up considerably well since my 2007 visit. Unfortunately The Voyage was suffered terribly in the last few years. It’s gotten a lot rougher than it was in 2007 and just not a very enjoyable experience. Such a shame, I hope those new Timberliner trains manage to solve the roughness issues. But hey, we got plenty of excellent rides on Raven and well there is a arse-kicking ride in Wildebeest too! Okay, onto some photos! Hello Holiday World! This was one of my favourite parks on 2007’s Midwest Trip and I was very excited to return. Hey that sign was up three years ago! Do they ever take it down?! Holiday World was kind enough to provide us with front of the line passes for the awesome Wildebeest! We’re special, so special! OMG, a behind the scenes look at the cardboard dumpster! To distract us from the behind the scenes dumpster tour Holiday World walked us back to Raven so that we could be the first riders of the day! We’re special, so special! Over in the Turkey land section of the park this polite old lady tells us that The Voyage isn’t quite ready for us yet. TPDave’s just about ready to go on a calling spree! Timberliner! Let’s hope we see these bad boys on the ride soon, let’s hope they make a real difference as well! Our sub-group was treated to a FANTASTIC behind the scenes tour by Vanessa, Holiday World’s Merchandising Director. Oh my, that’s a crapload of T-shirts! But the merchandise tour is all a front to the awesome behind closed doors dumpsters we got to see! No Mikestery Cards in here! The various shops in the park have their own version of this big thermometer type thing that they fill out as they make sales. When the thermometer explodes they’ve met their target. Russ shows off the latest in the Russ cuddly toy line. Good likeness! This looks dangerous and important, are Holiday World SURE they want Jake in the vicinity?! We’re special, so special! It’s like Raiders of the lost fluffy bunnys or something… So THIS is how Russ got away without booking flights to Middle America! Any theme park that sells toy guns gets the thumbs up from Russ! We got a super secret look behind the scenes at some of the offices for these cool Holiday World employees! For some reason they didn’t seem phased by five nerds walking around their office and taking photos of them! It’s funny because Russ is tall. Who you calling a cock? Yeah, we’re REALLY special!!! Vanessa was really kind to us, offering us all a free T-shirt as part of our tour! Jake was sure to take the nerdiest looking one he could find! Vanessa isn’t afraid to pitch in on the cash registers either! In lieu of my free T-shirt Vanessa was kind enough to offer a free stuffed toy for KidTums! It’s a very complicated process of making sure the right amount of stuffing gets fluffed up the flamingo’s arse. Don’t forget the suppositories before sewing it up! Kristen is now the proud owner of a pink flamingo with the unique name of Scottish Steve. Except Kristen thinks Scottish Steve is a crap name and I quite agree. From this point on Scottish Steve shall be known as Mr Flamingo! Much to Russ’s dismay Stacey’s on the pull in Holiday World. What the hell am I doing to Santa?! Okay, okay, I know fine well! Oh yeah, as part of our behind the scenes tour Vanessa got us a skip-the-line front row ride on Raven! Raven was for sure my favourite coaster at Holiday World this year! Thanks again to Vanessa for a fantastic tour! It really was fascinating to look at a park’s operations from a merchandising point of view. I had no idea ride related shirts were SO popular in the US! That's right. We’re special, so special! Unfortunately I wasn’t wearing enough blue or white to ride Liberty Launch but Russ was good to go! Fortunately I got this credit in 2007 so could laugh at Russ’s creepy credit whoring for a change! One quick mention of Splashin’ Safari since I didn’t bring my camera into the waterpark… There’s some really fun slides in here, the exposed ground burns the soles from your feet though, hopefully the extra shade HW is adding will help with that. Oh yeah, Wildebeest is INCREDIBLE!!! Best ride in the park!! TPLegend? Not quite. I guess we’re in a Christian County. And now because we’re special (so special) it’s time for a behind the scenes tour of The Voyage! It may have gotten rougher since 2007 but it still photographs as well! Sixty-one degrees! Not a photo you can get when you’re in front of the scenes! TPNerd!!! Pilgrim’s Plunge is a lot of fun. The lift is a bit freaky (a good thing!) and I don’t think I’ve done a bigger drop on a water ride. As the day at Holiday World comes to a close there’s only one place we all want to go – Raven!!! If Liseberg thinks you’re a good park then you must be doing something right! Holiday World is a great park! Whilst Voyage has deteriorated since 2007 there’s more than enough other cool stuff to make up for that. Namely Wildebeest which is just the most kickass water ride I’ve been on! Special thanks to Vanessa for that brilliant behind the scenes tour! Indiana Beach next!!!

Thanks everyone! Totally agree on the heat. I will say it cooled down slightly the next day. But still, it was hot as arse for a Scot like me! Holiday World coming right up...

DAY SIX: SIX FLAGS ST. LOUIS Saint Louis HOT!!! Seriously this day was about as hot as it’s ever been on a TPR trip – it hit about 44 degrees Celsius on this day. I don’t know what that is in Jeff Johnson measurements but I reckon it’s a lot! What better way to fight the soaring temperature than with a behind the scenes tour of Mr Freeze?! This was a great perk, especially so since Mr Freeze is actually quite an interesting coaster with a lot of unique features going on. For the true dorks out there this seemed to be pretty awesome! We also had ERT on the GCI woodie, Evel Knievel which is a clone of Thunderbird at Finland’s Power Park. This one is every bit as good! You can’t beat a bit of GCI ERT! The rest of the park offers an array of standard Six Flags coasters, Batman, an Arrow death trap, a mine train etc. Plenty to keep you occupied whilst you’re braving the heat! I also found a place that sold beer, which went down an absolute treat on this day! Our day at Six Flags Saint Louis started off with a COOL behind the scenes tour of Mr Freeze! The tour was very informative. We learned that it takes a LOT of power to make Mr Freeze do it’s thing! We were then shown the station and the cool double loading bay that lets one train load while the other is blasted up through the course. There’s the man himself! I have to admit, he left me a little cold. Don’t push the button, the button is bad! This is the contraption that helps the ride get all its power to launch. This piece of track is the vital part that can be removed in the event that the ride valleys! And there it is in action! Just ice is served to the TPR contingent. Mr Freeze, it’s certainly a cool ride. Oh yeah, we also had ERT on Evel Knievel this morning! Russ and Rich love themselves some early morning GCI! The ride is a clone of the very good Thunderbird at Power Park in Finland. Two trains were running throughout our session so there never was any line, even for the front and back rows! Evel Knievel was a lot of fun! It’s good that Missouri has an operating GCI! Over at the Scooby Doo dark ride, good spelling is optional. Don’t shoot! TPDeadly. The Six Flags version of a dark ride tends to rely a lot less on animatronics and a lot more on cardboard cut outs! Eat your heart out Universal! OMG, look at all the fluffiness! Fluffy Bunny POV!!! I kind of want to get out of this photo. Did I mention it was hot as arse today?! TPDave is actually doing Hanno a favour here! Some trains will travel a long way to get away from Kentucky! It’s MIRROR BATMAN!!! It may be over 40 degrees but I’m still getting my Batman credit dammit! At Ninja, you don’t want to get caught line jumping! This could be the most welcome beer I’ve ever had! I really wasn’t caring that it was Bud Light or that it was like $12, it was 43 degrees outside! TPDave at this moment started developing a very unhealthy m&m fetish! Here’s our awesome Q-Bot group of four for today! Oh and Jake and Bryan joined us for a photo too! It may have been hotter than a night in a hotel at Disneyland Paris with Southern Steve but Six Flags Saint Louis still delivered a fun day! Holiday World is next!

DAY FIVE, Part Three: WHITE CASTLE! On 2007’s Midwest Trip I didn’t eat at White Castle. I don’t really know why. I think in the years since I’ve just become a bit more of a fast food junkie (Fat B*stard) than I was in 2007 when I was happy just to eat at Subway. Suffice to say I spent years regretting not partaking in the White Castle experience and highly anticipated the chance to finally get in on the action in 2010! I’d even researched the menu before I left the UK and knew exactly what I’d be ordering. Yes folks, this is White Castle. The real reason I signed up for the Mid-America trip. What better way to top off this amazing day than to FINALLY pop my White Castle cherry! For those that don’t know, White Castle is a chain of fast food restaurants in Middle America famous for their tiny credit-card-sized burgers, called Sliders. TPDave is all set to satisfy that craving! My order? Four sliders, two bacon double cheeseburgers and chicken rings with cheese! White Castle was as awesome as I'd hoped it would be! Russ and Stacey are eating up their White Castle experience! TPQuiet. Not only is White Castle some of the tastiest bad food you’ll ever have, the boxes can be used to make some real interesting towers! White Castle is reason enough for me to return to the Midwest again some day! There were some very interesting smells produced by TPDave this night! White Castle has been conquered! Lets make sure everyone on the bus knows about it tomorrow! White Castle was awesome! Can’t wait to try it again someday!

DAY FIVE, Part Two: CITY MUSEUM Well, well, well… What can I say about City Museum? I had heard very little about this place and even when I was told a visit was on the itinerary I decided not to research it in order to go in with an open mind. Well this place was just INSANE!!! I never expected to ever find a place like this in the US! This museum is not your usual assortment of paintings and Jeff Johnson skeletons. It’s an old show factory that was converted into this massive play area with slides, tunnels and loads of other random stuff! The best part was, TPR got this place all to ourselves! Unbelievable. How this night ended without loss of life I’ll never know. I don’t really think words do this place justice and I doubt photos will either, I can but try though! OMG, we’re at City Museum, we’re all gonna die!!! Just look at it. If ever there was a museum that screamed “Please come visit me, TPR!” this is it! The only words I can see are DANGER and RISK! All I need to know! City Museum is actually an old converted shoe factory. True story. And now for the TPTour of City Museum! Please note TPDave cannot play the piano. Nor can he sumo wrestle. But find a place called Toddler Town and TPDave is home! Especially if it means he can have some balls on his face. John McClane, TPDave is not. But he is at one with the world of nature. I want to take this guy home so that he can be my robot skeleton sidekick. On the wall there’s little hint to US amusement park past. Can we just lock the door and leave TPDave here? TPDave, if you can’t drink alcohol here than you most certainly can’t sell it! Please let the lift fall now! What the hell is TPDave doing with his right hand? And next to a guy named Big Boy no less! Slide POV! City Museum had loads of cool slides like this! TPDave decides to take us both to our impending doom over the edge of the museum. Dan seems pretty excited to not be in Derek's predicament. Most exercise Ben’s had since last night! Speaking from experience, swinging from this rope for an extended period requires more upper body strength than you might expect! Is that a Baldknobber?! And this is the last we ever saw of Jon… TPHorrific! All sorts of scary creatures lurk within the tunnels beneath City Museum! This was really cool too, there’s little ferris wheel on the museum’s roof! There was also this massive climbing structure inside the building. Quite tiring to climb around! How this is allowed in the US I’ll never know! TPFail! Your shirts are only going to get more yellow and horrific, TPDave! TPDaring! We finished our visit to City Museum by having Kristen select some lucky participants to join her at the top of this slide for some tandem sliding fun! Somehow I made it through the visit to City Museum without spilling blood. Others weren’t so lucky! This place was incredible!

Thanks everyone! Glad to see I wasn't the only one left with such a lasting good impression from Silver Dollar City! --- DAY FIVE, Part One: GATEWAY ARCH When I tell non-enthusiast friends about these trips they always bring up the point that we just skip by a lot of the places and miss the local culture by visiting the parks. I never buy this argument because I actually think the parks give you a great deal of the local culture and well, I’m just not that into doing day after day of sight seeing. That is, unless there is something cool to see! But at least now when anyone tries to give me any jip for this I can throw Gateway Arch in their face! Gateway Arch is not something you can do anywhere and there’s no better group to do a unique thing like this with than TPR! Culture Credit! Say hello to Gateway Arch in St Louis! Though not just an Arch, there’s some museumy stuff in here too. Mmm, Whiskey! TPTeepee! Nice beaver! It’s a tough job, but TPDave insisted that he do it. KidTums just loves hanging around at Gateway Arch. In order to get to the top of the Arch you get into teams of five and squish yourselves into these little cubicles that lift you to the top! TPDave cannot believe the view he gets from the top of the Arch! Hello Saint Louis! Hey look, it’s the American Cricket stadium! Why does Jon look so excited? Ah, bridge porn! Shadow artsy. That’s me, 630 feet over Saint Louis! It can be nice sometimes to take a quick break on a TPR trip to do a little sight-seeing if it fits in well with the trip schedule like this Archsy! Can I be in the Expendables sequel please? This was a nice stop, it was good to see St Louis from high up. It also gives me something to throw in my mum’s face when she rolls her eyes at me missing non-theme park stuff when I visit all these different places! Next up, City Musuem!!!

DAY FOUR: SILVER DOLLAR CITY This place was fantastic. I visited quite a few parks in 2010 and if I had to pick a favourite I’d name this place. I don’t think I’ve visited a park in the US with so much charm. Silver Dollar City is very different from the reams of corporate parks you’ll find in the US. Lots of greenery all over the place, fantastically friendly staff and some of the best food you’ll ever get at a theme park. They have some pretty awesome coasters too! Wildfire is a solid sit-down B&M in the same vein as Incredible Hulk at Islands of Adventure. Often a coaster like that would be the best at the park but not here – Powder Keg, the S&S launched thingy is just brilliant. Plus, there’s also the very quirky and cool indoor dark ride/woodie called Fire in the Hole which is right up there with best attractions in the park! Oh yeah, the whole park is built right next to a hubongous cave, that you can explore the deepest and darkest depths of! Did I mention the food was AMAZING??? And now for what ended up being my favourite park of the trip – Silver Dollar City! What a great time to make your first visit to this park – it’s 50th birthday season! Wildfire was very good! It’s not often you see a B&M coaster poking out the trees like this! Whilst not quite up there with Kumba and Dragon Khan this ride still exceeded my expectations. TPDave, if it’s beer you can’t have it! Now for Fire in the Hole, this ride was brilliant! Baldknobbers?!?! I’m always wary of them! This poor little dog was stuck in this cage at Fire in the Hole’s station. I hope someone lets it out for a run from time to time! It seems that the Dalmatian living in the station is a regular thing. Skinny Anth and Colin were loving some fire in their hole. I did not know that. Thanks, Silver Dollar City! Understood! Wow, that’s a lot of jerky! TPFriends. Hi Rick and Jackie! Looking forward to getting blown away? Powder Keg is an excellent S&S launch coaster. And we never saw Rick or Jackie again. That’s me! Call me Senora! I didn’t see these in Thorpe Park. That’s TPHim! The new Screaming Swing is a big hit in my book! My Jon, you do that awfully well. Amazing funnel cake, cocaine or both? You decide! TPDave cannot resist. No snorting off the floor! TPBad! Hello rapids! The skillets in Silver Dollar City just looked and tasted incredible. Why can’t more parks have food as good as this?! TPTasty! Not to be outdone by TPDave’s delights, Lou finds a cookie that is bigger than TPDave’s head. Jason is also loving the “Bigger than TPHead” cookie. After such a fun experience on Mirabilandia’s Splash Battle I was very excited to check out Tom and Huck’s River Blast. It definitely delivered in getting us soaked! Though I prefer the European version that lets you move around the boat a bit more. August isn’t a bit early for a Christmas store? Not in Middle America I guess! It’s funny to the Brits, okay? Next up is SDC’s other steel coaster, the Arrow mine train – Thunderation. Arrow’s bringing the thunder back to Silver Dollar City. I’m dubious as to whether someone actually changes this selection every day… Colin’s just doomed himself to fall to his death by sitting in seat 13. Allow me to break the ice. His name is Kyle. Learn it well. For it's the chilling sound of your doom. Silver Dollar City’s County Prison Mine luckily doubles as a shooting dark ride! Pretty cool theming! Gotta love the ride op outfits! Miles is quick to point out that he’s not shooting blanks. No matter what anyone tells you, Kyle, it really is the size of your gun that counts. Time for a skillet serving! This is a “tater twister”, absolutely delish! How about some strawberries and cream for dessert? Another big attraction at SDC is Marvel Cave. You don’t want to miss this! That’s where we be going! Mike Austin behind bars. Did we ever doubt we’d see the day? You’ve gotta go down a lot of stairs to get into the cave. This is the last vegetation we’ll be seeing for a while. Everyone’s excited to see what delights Marvel Cave will offer. Pretty ray of light poking through the cave’s entrance. Cave stuff. The cave was originally called Marble Cave, after explorers in 1882 saw what they thought was marble on the cave's ceiling. They were wrong. The further down you go the tighter the walkways get! Kinda like a woman. Watch your head! H2Whoa. Marvel-lous. Is that woman behind Lou picking her nose? I’m pretty sure these are stalactites. What an impressive hole Marvel Cave has. After you’ve been to the bottom everyone gets to pile into a cable train to take them back to the surface. Definitely a good bonding experience for the TPR contingent. How the hell did we all fit in there?! TPHot! I was originally planning on leaving most of the food from the TPR included meal so that I could get more of the stuff out in the park, but this included meal was just fantastic too. So I just had even more than planned! TPWinning! Kyle’s very taken with the Tiramisu Fudge. I think Dave and Mike would approve. A couple of glory holes… Hey look, a mug just for Mike Fudge! TPDave’s loving the spray action from these guns. The huge bags of kettle corn from SDC are of excellent use even when you’re not hungry! Does this count as breaking park rules? All sorts of crazy things go on in here… Yet another of Lou’s fantasies fulfilled on a TPR trip. TPDeathDefying. Choo choo! The Silver Dollar City train ride was hilarious. It was fantastic how all the staff got really into their roles as the bandits tried to rob the train. They probably got a bit more than they bargained for from us! SCIENCE!!! Silver Dollar City is an absolutely fantastic place. I can’t stress enough how much fun I had this day. It really is one of the best parks in the US and if you haven’t been then you really should make every effort to get there! St Louis fun up next!

LOL! So they did! Totally forgot about that! DAY THREE, Part Two: LAMBERT’S CAFÉ! After World’s of Fun the bus made it’s way to Branson. Though before we got to our hotel we had the small matter of a group dinner to enjoy… Hands down the BEST group meal on a US TPR trip I’ve ever had. Do I need to say any more? Before our group dinner we got to check out the local area. Mike Fudge would have loved this place! Can always count on the supermarket to make me feel like I’m home! Russ is a bit confused by Coffee Crisp being sold in the British section… It’s just like checking the top shelf at a magazine shop… Now that’s HOT! Supermarket takeover complete! Our group dinner this evening was at Lambert’s. I wasn’t quite sure what a “Throwed Roll” was going in, but it is indeed exactly as it sounds! Nice jugs, Stace. There be a roll comin’ atcha! Good catch! This was some amazing food! Seriously one of the best TPR dinners ever! TPDave just can’t get enough! The chocolate pudding was incredible too! We’re all pretty stuffed now, what an amazing meal! When a restaurant can have their own gift shop you know they must be doing something good! "Get the perfect date, perhaps a lifetime mate!" I’ve got my reading for the next long bus ride sorted!

DAY THREE, Part One: WORLD’S OF FUN The next morning we went back to World’s of Fun. Some of us had to pick up that all important Wacky Worm credit and there was the little case of a TPR trip perk to embark upon… Another morning and another trip to the international esplanade that is Worlds of Fun! Over at the Wacky Worm we have some very sordid dealings going on… You dirty b*stard, Joey! TPWhore. Kidtums was loving all the time she got to spend in the kiddie area this morning! TPLiar. Being Divv3k I wanted to get a K one of these for myself, but sadly they only had 4Ks. =( After lunch the entire group was treated to a VERY special backstage tour. That’s right, we got to see behind the scenes at Timber Wolf! How this thing only got 124 in Mitch Hawker’s poll I’ll never know. Look at the amount of love that TPR is giving Timber Wolf! Ben just wants to be the victim of a Timber Wolf crucifixion. I can’t say I blame him! Bye bye, Timber Wolf – you rocked all my worlds of fun! OMG, Adam got a piece of Timber Wolf to take home with him! I hope this has pride of place on your mantle piece! Oh and by the way, World’s of Fun is Scottish Steve approved! World’s of Fun was incredible. Between Timber Wolf, Waffle House and Snoopy’s Hot Summer Lights I don’t think this TPR trip experience can be topped!