WillMontu

I'm sure the most important questions are what amenities the Big Mike Hotel has. Does it have... Free WiFi? A/C? A bar? A breakfast buffet?

I visited the park yesterday with someone who had never experienced the park before. We covered nearly everything, including all the major shows (and the nighttime versions of Clyde and Seamore and Shamu). We did not do the tower, but I was able to snap a few pictures of the construction. No track on site yet, but there is a large pile of dirt. Viewing the construction from the Dolphin Stadium A large pile of dirt

Edit: Never mind

I'm uploading a few right now, mostly of Troy, as many of the ones I have of Thunderhead, Gwazi, and Rumbler are of poor quality (i.e. blurry, old, out of focus etc.) Some are on-ride (with permission of course), others are off-ride

I think that Phantasialand is a decent park, but not my favorite. It has some good rides, such as Michael Jackson and Hollywood Tour, but personally I didn't enjoy it as much as some of the other parks. River Quest is definitely a unique ride with the drops, elevator lift, and themed rafts but it is a rapids ride without the rapids.

^ I don't think I would notice "Ms Right" with or without a camera. It's what being on the autism spectrum does to me. I could go into more depth all about it, but that would take the thread off topic. It's just that I admire the abilities of people like Robb and Hanno and wish I could do similar things

If I recall correctly, I had some "statue" pictures from Asterix, but after that I have very few. I'm sorry that I caused problems

I thought you were going to cut the sleeves off that shirt. Here are some more pictures from the Big Mike Road Show. http://picasaweb.google.com/william.mccombie/TheBigMikeRoadShow Some of the highlights: And how can we forget Team Larry? Blending in Big Mike in a little hole A big couch for Big Mike The signature move Big Mike and three drinks Do we really need to see that? Nearly got the boob credit there

I've learned to be more careful with pictures on TPR trips. I'm pretty sure I've upset some people unintentionally by taking pictures as there are social cues that I don't pick up. On the other hand, there are some "candid" shots that just beg to be taken, but I never "hide" my camera

I believe this was the machine in question. I have a whole collection of "curiosities" from the Europe trip that I may post.

It may have been deleted for some reason, and it had not been updated for a while. I don't think it would be a good idea to start a new one until we can confirm what happened to the old one.

I'm going to put in my two cents about Colossos It's a good ride, not quite as good as Balder or El Toro, but still fun. I did notice the square wheel syndrome, but for me it's nowhere near painful (they've got the SLC for that). I also found the helix to be a little boring, but then again that's just my opinion.

I spotted this at Great Adventure earlier this year. I was going to use it in a Photo TR, but I ended up not doing the TR and left it sitting on my hard drive. Of course, does it even matter as the world's going to end in 2012 anyway?

I just wanted to say that once again I am humbled by your photography abilities. I personally took over 7500 pictures myself, but they pale in comparison to what you've posted.

I'm sure there is the technology and engineering to create big and tall coasters, but look at the last two record breakers - Dragster and Kingda Ka. Both rides resulted in all sorts of problems for the parks from a maintenance standpoint. There may be some record breaking "conventional" coasters, but many parks are trying to build more rides that are "fun". We'll probably continue to have plenty of conventional rides, with Intamin, GCI, Gravity Group, B&M, and others out there

I got to ride it last year. It tries to be both a coaster and flume, but fails at both. The theming (or rather the lack of theming) left much to be desired too. I did get to ride the Disk-o, at least partially, as I was in the TPR group that broke it last year.

^ Actually it's a Vekoma, and there are several clones of the ride around Europe, including one at Flamingoland and another at Holiday Park. I wonder if they would relocate it or simply scrap it if it does go.

A few things I want to say Extra extra extra extra extra ride time on Expedition Ge Force ERT on the Monorail at Europa Park FIRST EVER SLC! (and two others, as one was closed) Bandit, SOB's little brother who didn't get as much attention, yet still likes to induce pain. I've taken over 6000 pictures so far, and surprisingly my video camera is also still working, and I've filled up several tapes so far. Don't count on a Trip Report though, but I may post some other things, including a few videos and plenty of pictures of Big Mike Boobs, boobs, and more boobs! A lot of parks have them. Even some of the hotels, including the one we're at right now. Evac credits! We rode Michael Jackson (or did he ride us?) Nautic Jets An X-Car coaster that doesn't suck Roadside car crashes (several of them)

We're still at Europa Park and we had the best ERT ever! I would have posted this elsewhere, but this will do for now (I can't find the thread that I would have posted it in) First we got ERT on this, and then we rode Euro-Sat with the lights on.

^ Cedar Fair doesn't have any problem with Vekoma rides. They moved the Flyer to Kings Island in 2007 and just re-opened the SLC at Michigan's Adventure. I wouldn't be surprised if they do something with the Boomerang.

There's going to be a lot more of Big Mike in the coming days. Everything's going fine. We've visited two parks, Jardin in Paris and Parc Asterix, but we only broke two rides so far. Here's Big Mike's new #1 steel! Smooth as a baby's bum!

SoB is another coaster from 2000 that G-trains haven't ruined...at least not yet, but that's because it only got the G-trains last year. I'm sure we're all looking forward to the day that SoB falls, but it could only be used for firewood, rather than scrap metal.

It's amazing what's changed and what hasn't from when I visited last year. I'm wondering what they did with all the trash cans. Maybe they moved them to other CF parks or maybe some to the waterpark side. Last time I checked, Kings Island didn't have many in the parking lot.

^ Sorry, I overlooked that. Shame on me

I think it's better now than it was, and the dynamic system probably makes it easier to do updates and change the layout (if needed)