Cameron

^ Except it sounds like half the coasters were closed or running one train. I've only been to Magic Mountain 4 times (and three of those times were West Coast Bash events), but always had a really great time. It's disappointing to hear about such a bad visit. I'm actively a Six Flags fan too .. Echoing Robb's comments, hopefully this was just one off day. Cameron.

Maybe it's the Giant Dork in me, but that actually sounds kind of cool. It might be interesting if each Six Flags park had some exhibit show-casing some local industry/produce. Cameron.

Great photos! I always like to look at PTRs from parks I'm very familiar with as other people always find a different perspective. I admit that I'm really not in-love with Bull, but I am thrilled you enjoyed it so much. It certainly is extremely popular though, and that is of course great for the park I'll echo the other comments about what a fantastic day it was. Thanks to the park and especially Robb and Elissa. Cameron.

I agree that Lo-Q and magnetic brakes were fantastic developments over the last 10 years. The wooden Intamin pre-fab technology certainly seems right up there too (although I *still* haven't ridden one!). I also want to put in a vote for the awesome small coasters that seem to have become popular in the second half of the decade - aside from the Raven-style wooden coasters we also got Eurofighters, and a lot of the Maurer Söhne stuff. And yes I have to join the brown-tongues and say TPR forums too; for the consistently high-quality discussions, no ads, great trips and freaking amazingly awesome people. Cameron.

Top Thrill Dragster (and even more so Kingda Ka), Deja Vu, Vertical Velocity (as much as I love them, they only ran properly for a few years), X. Just the general air of incomplete engineering. Cameron.

Resuming where we left off for the third (and final) part of the magical journey that is Brewing... Overall I had just a terrifically fun day. I'm not sure I could do this every day, but I genuinely loved it. I'm really appreciative to Tom and Lynne for letting me help out - I already can't wait to do it again Tom pitched the melted chocolate into the boil while Lynne and I were disposing of the spent grains, but once we returned we had a short breather and then it was time to remove the bags of hops. As amusing as this picture looks, it's actually really tough .. Tom has to fish the bags out of an extremely large tank that is full of boiling liquid (hence the gloves and long-sleeves). But he always finds them! With the hops removed, and the beer (still) boiling, Tom starts to prepare to transfer to the fermentation tank. He is running an oxygen line, and in the foreground (the bottle partially full of white liquid) is the yeast. Pumping the beer from the boiler into the fermentation tank. The thick gray hoses carry the actual liquid, and the thinner clear/white hoses carry cold water to cool the beer as it flows through the heat exchanger. Tom is checking the temperature gauge, and making sure that the right amount of oxygen is being added (it's tough to see but there's a glass window and you can see the bubbles in the liquid). If the beer is too warm or the amount of oxygen is off, then the yeast will not do its job correctly. Pitching the yeast into the beer as it fills the fermentation tank! Any time we have to disconnect a hose, some beer spills; however it's such a pretty colour! With all the beer in the fermentation tank, it's time to clean the boiler. This takes well over an hour, and includes Tom actually getting inside there with a scrubbing brush. As the yeast works its magic, gasses will be released and come out of the top of the fermentation tank, through this tube, and bubble up through the water. When I went back to F8 two days later, it was already bubbling like crazy. Very exciting! Cleaning continues ... hosing down the pump. We also have to pump hot (clean) water through everything to clean out any sediment. With the beer in the fermentation tank (where it will stay for about two weeks), and at least half the cleaning done, it was time for a lunch break. Joel (Tom and Lynne's son) joined us for some food and later some pinball too. It was about 3pm by this point, and we'd been on the go since 8:30. Back to work again, and I'm cleaning out the hop bags so they can be reused the next time. This is what used/boiled hops looks like! One (of two) piles of clean fittings for all the plumbing. It's important to stay on top of getting all this stuff clean because it's 4pm now and the tasting room opens in just one hour. This must all be clean, dry and out of the way so that we can deal with glasses and growlers. With about 20 minutes remaining before the tasting room opens, it's time to turn on the taps! With everything ready for customers, Tom handed me a sip of what we had just brewed. It's not even close to done yet (no alcohol, or carbonation), but damn it was good! Then the people came .. we were **slammed**! It was one of the busiest days at F8 since opening, and I spent the next four hours in back washing glasses and growlers (new growlers are slightly cheaper if you bring back the old one). This is just a small percentage of the Growler Madness I had to contend with! We were thinking we could leave by about 7, but we were there until after 9! By the end of the night I had been on my feet for 13 hours, and had only eaten a small (but very tasty) sandwich at about 3pm. Fortunately one customer had brought in a platter of cheese, sausage and crackers for us! Figure 8 has a very cozy and welcoming feel, and there is a growing number of regular (and awesome) customers to back this up. Tom and Lynne get little gifts like this regularly (I'm sure it didn't hurt being 2 days before Christmas!).

^ That is of course the best solution!

^ Yeah - brewing is really hard work. After listening to Tom and Lynne talk about it for most of the year, I really wanted to try it out. They currently brew once a week - some weeks they brew twice. Then there are days where they fill growlers, or run the (very manual) bottling machine. And of course they need to run the retail space. It's a boatload of work - but they are having fun. Matt let me know if you need a new shirt, I see Tom and Lynne pretty much every week and it will be trivial to buy a replacement for you. They are constantly bringing me growlers for various people, so it's no problem For part two I'll cover the mash and disposing the used grains.. As soon as Tom gives us the "all clear" from down stairs, we fire up the auger and the grain starts flowing into the mash. I'm having too much fun taking care of the grains in the hopper - making sure everything goes smoothly. As the auger turns and the mash is mixed, the hopper slowly drains. It was quite spectacular to watch - the grains slowly disappear in a sort of slow-motion whirlpool. Meanwhile Tom continues to mix downstairs - never stopped stirring. The wonderful smells have already started to fill the air. Even once the grain hopper is completely empty, Tom keeps stirring. The liquid is already developing the rich, dark colour of an excellent stout - and did I mention that it smells great?! Meanwhile Lynne and I start melting chocolate. Yes - actual melted chocolate goes into the mix! (Although it won't actually be added until the boil, we need to start melting it now). Tom is still mixing, but Lynne and I prepare the hops. The hops have a very strong but very distinct smell - pretty much exactly like an IPA beer. We load up the required amount (by weight) into big bags (like tea-bags) which will be later dropped into the boil. The hops totally disintegrate in the hot water, which is why Tom prefers to keep it all contained in these bags. With the mash sufficently mixed, it's time to strain it and pump it into the boiler. During this process the suds form around the strainer, and it's tradition to scoop up some suds - they taste delicious! As the mash is nearly completely drained, additional hot water is flowed through the grains to help get every last bit of flavor out of them. This hot water flows down from the tanks in the rafters which we filled right at the start of the process (remember?). I previously mentioned that Tom and Lynne built most of the brewery by hand, well the mash tun is an old (significantly modified) dairy tank; it used to store milk. This is looking down into the boiler, as it slowly fills with liquid being pumped out of the mash tun. Taking advantage of the few spare minutes during the transfer, Lynne and I start to prepare the retail area. It's still 5 hours until they officially open, but they never turn anyone away who shows-up wanting to buy some carry-out. Tom and Lynne are amazingly friendly and welcoming, which is a part of their success. With the mash completely drained, Lynne and I start the process of cleaning out the used grains. Meanwhile Tom drops the bags of hops into the boil. That rising steam smelled SO SO SO good! Lynne and I continue to shovel the grains. Almost done now. You can see the line which marked the top of the grains - that was full solid! It took a good 30 minutes to shovel everything out of there. Once Lynne and I had finished that, Tom got to work on the final cleaning and sterilizing. And Lynna and I took all the used grains over to the city compost heap / recycling center. Sometimes Lynne takes this over to local farms so that it can be fed to animals - but being the day before Christmas Eve everyone was busy. Those buckets were *heavy*, and the grains are still very hot. At the compost center we were met by the guy in the bulldozer, and we got to dump the grains directly into the front bucket! You can still see the steam rising...

In March 2010 some close friends of mine opened a small brewery in Valparaiso IN called Figure 8 Brewing. I covered the grand opening here. Well the business has been going very well, and from the original four brews they now have nine on tap in their tasting room (actually eight, since they ran out of Crash Test Blond while I was there). Local liqueur stores sell all the growlers, several local restaurants have the beer on tap, and Tom is just getting a used bottling machine running (for 22oz "bombers" of Ro). I had been wanting to help them brew from the beginning, but it was always difficult for me to get down there mid-week (since I have a job too!). Well I was extremely fortune on Thursday December 23rd in that I had a day off work, and Tom and Lynne were planning to brew. Not only were they planning to brew, they were planning to brew the delicious Black Corridor - their chocolate stout. I love a good stout, and I love a good chocolate stout - particularly Black Corridor (it's easily one of my favorite F8 beers) .. so I was there, with bells on! Well ok, no bells, but I was there - very very excited to be there too Unfortunately the lovely Anne was out of town for The Holidays, so it was up to me to fill her delightful shoes. I hope I did an adequate job! This first installment will cover setup, and loading up the giant grain hopper with the desired grains and malts. As I mentioned, I was extremely excited to be given the chance to play ... err I mean ... to help out on what I had been told is a long and exhaustive process. I was out of bed at 6am, and pulling into Figure 8 World Head-quarters just after 8. Tom was already there, and had set the boiler going.. This is the large Brew Kettle .. basically a very big water (or beer) boiler. At the moment it's full of water that is being heated to 190 degrees (F), but later on the beer will "cook" in there. This is the tank which will eventually hold this new batch of Black Corridor, and it's where the beer will ferment and become awesome. A lot of setup is required before we begin. Here is a pile of plumbing that will be necessary to pump liquids between the various tanks. Tom is already attaching some of the said plumbing. Most of the hot water will be transferred into the mash tun - which is where most of the ingredients are mixed into the hot water. The remainder of the water is pumped into some tanks up in the rafters, and will be used later. But first, some of the hot water is circulated through this heat-exchanger to sterilize it. Later on, once the beer has finished cooking and is being transferred to the fermentation tank, it is run through this heat exchanger in order to be cooled down. As Tom continues the setup downstairs, Lynne and I venture up-stairs to start fetching the grains. The super-secret recipe calls for specific amounts of several different types of grains and malts, and Lynne and I have to load everything into the grain hopper. This is the grain hopper, into which all of the grain will be poured. The blue device at the base is an auger which pushes the grain down chute into the mash tun. Yes the hopper is home-made .. Tom and Lynne built most of the equipment by hand - they did a stunning job. Here I am pouring a bag of grains into the hopper. The mask is necessary because of the dust. Lynne is measuring the last few pounds of grain-X into a bucket in order to ensure we have the exact amount. This is a CHOCOLATE stout after-all! The chocolate malt looked awesome. (I have been promised one of these grain bags for my basement ) As Lynne and I fill the grain hopper, Tom is filling the mash tun with the water from the boiler. You can see the silver grain chute obscuring Tom's right hand. No, it's not a dryer duct Here is the grain hopper full of all the pretty (and lovely smelling) grains. The dark-brown stuff is the chocolate malt. Proud of my work so far, I pause to check out the awesomeness of a hopper full of grains. Lynne does the same .. of course she has a lot more to actually be proud of. She and Tom continue to work amazingly hard on this project, and it is really turning out to be something special.

Thank-you! This puzzles me too .. It's just $1, and often increases capacity. Seems like a win to me, considering I'm willing to pay $50 for a QBot. At a park like SFGAm there are usually several coasters grouped together (Superman and Dark Knight; Batman and V2; Viper and Bull; Demon and Whizzer, etc) so you can even get one locker and hit several coasters. Or ask someone else in your group to hold your crap while you ride. Cameron.

Hasn't Six Flags stated that the l-o-c-k-e-r policy increases capacity? Why are we happy that they're backing down?

I'm already planning to be there! At this point I might already be in Vegas during the week before for work, so things are aligning well Can't wait! Cameron.

Wow - those are some great shots! I'd heard about the area, but never the abandoned road. Thanks for sharing Cameron.

"I WANT A BIG COASTER - I WANT A BIG COASTER - I WANT A BIG COASTER" - what are you trying to say here, I don't think you're being clear enough? Seriously though, numerous people have pointed out that the main draw at SFGAm isn't coaster dorks, why do you refuse to accept that? I'm genuinely curious - is it conscience delusion, or some kind of mental issues? Because I have to say, you really do sound a bit like a two-year old throwing a tantrum. Chang would have been a mediocre addition to the park (and I'm being very generous with "mediocre"). Corporate could see that, the park could see it, even 13 year-olds on TPR can see it. Why can't you? Chang would have be dumped out in the car-park, largely to rot away - much like Scream at SFMM. Had it been installed we would have been stuck with it for many many years .. no potential prototype, no cool (custom) floorless, or Eurofighter or heck - even a hyper-lite. Just .. Chang: A duplicate of probably the most unpopular coaster type ever created. Yes it's been 9 years since we got a big/adult/kewl/grab-the-hand-cream-I'm-In-Love coaster, but SFGAm apparently continues to be among the top earning Six Flags parks in the chain - they are obviously doing something right, and they know a heck of a lot more about running a park than you (or I, or anyone on TPR) do. So please - we know you want a big coaster, but it's just not necessary to keep whinging on about it. Cameron (Screeeeeeeeee!!!) Silver.

Awesome report! Looks like a huge amount of fun, and that inverted mouse seems interesting. Miss you guys! Cameron.

Hanno - your pictures are just stunning! I love the super-zoom photos of people on ride, the expressions are fantastic. Thanks so much for taking the time to share them Cameron.

^ Yup - it sounded like you guys had such an amazing time on the UK portion, I was bummed that I wasn't able to be there too. The Final Night... Robb describes these trips as "summer-camp for adults", and that really is very apt for you get to have a lot of fun, great laughs, no sleep, and you hang out with some amazingly awesome people. It's always a reunion of old friends, and a place to meet new ones; and the people come from all over the world. It's funny how close you can get over just one or two weeks, and so the last night is always quite emotional since you know that you won't be able to see most of these people for months or years. There were a lot of hugs, and even some tears, as we reminisced about all the amazing things which happened over the last few days (it seemed more like weeks). The festivities began as soon as we arrived at the hotel after the great day at Efteling. We headed down the street for a delicious group dinner. It was slightly amusing to be in Amsterdam, at a French restaurant, eating Italian food - but such madness is actually not all that unusual on a TPR trip. The reality of it being the Final Night was not discussed much, and the dinner was full of the typical fun and laughter. We all thanked Robb and Elissa for their hard work, as park and even hotel changes were going on even while we were on the trip. I honestly don't know how they do it all so well. After dinner we all met up in the hotel bar, which fortunately was open until 4am. I don't actually remember how we got on the subject of different currency, but I of course whipped out my Australian notes for a bit of show-and-tell. I always enjoy challenging people to rip the money, having them ask me "are you sure", and me saying (smugly) "yes, you won't be able to". They all try, and so far have all failed, but that is precisely the point. Lou was so taken with the money that she was reluctant to return it.. For a good two-three hours this was a typical bar night for TPR, but unfortunately people started dropping off after midnight. Every goodbye is tough. Lou, Eric and I were all on the very first TPR trip in 2006, and have all hung out several times since. Eric is really an amazingly sweet and fun guy, and it was great to have him on the trip. "The Brit Crew" is an ever-evolving group of Brits, and all of them are just wonderful. I spent most of my time this trip hanging out with them, and we all got along really well. Many of these guys hang out even in "real life", but they welcomed me into their close group with open arms. Pictured here is just a small subset of the group: "Scottish" Steve, Brad, Russ (in the back row), and "Southern" Steve and Lou in the front. It was getting late, and we were all sleep-deprived, so it was natural that someone would fall asleep in the bar (and amazingly it wasn't me). Russ, Steve and Lou pose with the snoozing Brad. Just after we took this photo Brad shifted, and almost tipped his beer in his lap. Fortunately we were all there to catch it (which wouldn't have been the case had we not been taking the pic). I finally succumbed to sleep at 3:30am, and we took this pic with the last remaining people in the bar: Brad, Russ Lou, me, Bob, Steph, Fran, and Steve. If it looks like we're all half asleep it's because we are, if we look all sad it's because we are . I'm starting to feel a bit silly going on and on about how amazing this trip was, but it really was. There really wasn't a single disappointing park or ride, and experiences like that German fair was like nothing I've ever done - and I very much doubt I'll ever do anything like it again. Aside from the parks, rides and of course the people, I have thoroughly enjoyed typing up these reports. I can't believe all the technology involved in taking the pictures, transferring them to the iPad, typing up reports, and then emailing them .. From a balcony in Rome, or a bus driving through Switzerland and Germany, or currently on a plane flying back to Chicago (which I hope to transmit from the taxi-way once we land). I know that the audience is small, but I hope to look back on this in years to come and re-live some of the awesomeness. Thanks for reading, and remember that all of this was brought to you by... The End. Cameron.

^^ Hahaha Renee, I'd totally forgotten about the random plastic box that landed in Lou's lap! And yes, it was on River Quest at Phantasialand. That was my day to be a walking zombie, so my memory is a little hazy in places. The last six months have just flown by at incredible speed - it really seems like we were all there just yesterday. Cameron.

This is what I find so puzzling .. it seems that if they just rented out the retail space, then it would be up to the renters to equip it, staff it, supply it, and run it - plus Six Flags would actually be getting paid. I'm obviously missing something here, because it sounds like it's not that simple. Is it a zoning issue (ie: will it conflict with the malls and such outside the parks)?? Cameron.

^ Oh man - I bet that watching the Germans play in that little outdoor place would have been really fantastic! Park 7 - Efteling We had a really terrific time on Saturday night at the beautiful Efteling hotel. It was a cool night, so we spent much of it sitting outside in the bar.. Hanno was buying shots of some really thick and sweet orange stuff which I didn't care too much for, but Steve then showed up with a round of "Baby Guinesses" which are basically B52s - yum After a short nap we were all boarding the bus for Efteling, a massively spread-out park with some really odd character theming. First up for the day was Exclusive Ride Time on their "Flying Dutchmen" water coaster .. This was really really fun. All the effects were working, and it's just just a very cool ride. Part dark-ride, part coaster, part flume, I enjoyed this far more than I was expecting; however this was overshadowed by the fact that we also had ERT on George And The Dragon. With all the amazing things we did on this trip, we ended it with ERT on pair of amazing racing/dueling wooden coasters which had just opened 3 days earlier! Of the world-wide coaster community, we were among the first to ride it - very cool. This coaster was designed and built by my favorite wood-coaster design firm: Great Coasters International (GCI). Simply put, I am a total and complete GCI fanboy, so I was in utter GCI heaven The coaster is really awesome, with each side offering a unique layout, with patented GCI curves and pops of air. The theming is of course stunning, and the ride makes a big deal of which side wins (Fire or Water) with a banners in the station. This was another insane ERT session (following Black Mamba the day before), and we were all quite exhausted by the end. Why is ERT so tiring? You're really just sitting in a chair?! By 10am the park opened and ERT was over - Awww. The last ERT of the trip, too. Sadness. However next to Dragons was the horrible Vekoma torture device called "we hate humans and will hurt them all". Actually I don't recall what this ride was called, but it wasn't great. Steph, Bob, Ben and Doug return to the station after a particularly painful ride. We actually had a Vekoma engineer on the trip with us, and we constantly gave him a very hard time about how rough those rides are - don't worry though, Erik is a very good sport! We were a bit of a smaller group today (probably smallest of the whole trip), and some times we were down in the single digits; however we still had enough people to fill an entire rapids boat. I didn't ride of course, because I didn't want to spend the rest of the day squelching around the park, but most of the group did. "Bag Bitch" duties fell upon Renee and Lou, while everyone was on the rapids and I was taking photos. Turns out it was a fun ride and not even terribly wet. There were some very strange, interesting and often creepy characters wandering around Efteling, and Lou got a full dose of this when they decided to completely surround her. Europeans have very different standards than the US, as evident by the tea-cups ride that is themed to cannibals! Sexy Lou poses with sexy Larry's sexy hat. At the German fair on Friday, Larry won some bubble mixture. He had actually forgotten about them on Saturday, but today he and Lou had hours and hours of fun with them. Seriously, I will try to bring bubbles with me on all park visits from now on, as you have no idea the utter filth that a purely children's toy can bring out in people ... Most of my photos from today were actually from the Hot Bubble Action, however I will limit the ones I post.. Renee was pretty much a walking zombie all day, much like I had been the day before. When we stopped to checkout the "Water Organ", she took the advantage to have a small nap. And why not? I mean it was cool in there, dark, with music, and the sound of running water.. There were several carousels at Efteling, but this is the main one. It is actually in-doors, and has a working pneumatic band organ. Many of us like carousels, and this was in fantastic condition, so we decided to take it for a spin. We were still climbing around around and taking photos when it started up, but that's ok because it's just a carousel right? WRONG! This thing hauled ass! It reach full speed quickly, and by the end of the first revolution we were all scrambling to secure our cameras and really hold on. Action on the horses was fantastic, with a lot of movement and vying for position. Corey, Russ and Steve.. Lou and Corey.. Anth and Russ. (Russ is very tall.. ) Remember when I said that European parks have different standards to the US ones? Well Efteling has a sh*tting donkey. Seriously. You put money in a coin-slot, then the tail raises and a prize (a souvenir token) literally shoots out of his butt. The kids were in hysterics, as were the TPR members, and I bet that the sh*tting donkey made a fortune today. (How often do you get ton say THAT?!) More Hot Bubble Action .. Steve was really getting into it! Ice-cream gluttony continued as Larry and I each picked one up. The entire group followed and it turned into a delightful ice-cream eating break, in the shade of some beautiful trees. Those chocolate "sprinkles" were weird, they seemed more like Rice Crispies and were quite good (although I preferred the chocolate dipped ice-cream at Phantasia land on Saturday). Also Larry had been my room-mate on the trip, and he was just awesome. Larry gets some lovin' from Lou on the swinging ship ride. This was quite amusing because Larry said (upon seeing the ship) "I wish more people liked swinging ship", well I said that I love them, then Lou said the same thing, then the Brits etc .. For some reason we all thought that no-else likes those rides, so none of us even suggested riding it! Well we were on that ship on the very next cycle, and it was of course super great. I know it's all out of focus and stuff, but I still really like the expressions on both Lou's and Steve's face. The final park on the trip is always bitter-sweet. We had a great time, and spent most of the day laughing. Efteling is really a beautiful beautiful park, stunning, but *massive* - everything is so spread out. However there was a dark cloud hanging over-head as we knew that soon we'd all be going home, and plunged back into the "real" world. It was a fantastic group of people, and I feel privileged that I could hang out with them all. I'll miss them terribly and already can't wait to see some of them when I hang out with the Mid-America trip in august. There will be one more update, with photos from the final night...

With regards to the chain restaurants in the parks .. how come it doesn't work like a food-court in a mall? Six Flags could rent out those spaces to whomever wants to serve food. I imagine companies would be lining up for the opportunity to sell food (at inflated prices) to 20,000 people a day. Was Six Flags really paying the chains? That seems so backwards.. That said, I really hope Panda Express stays - it's the only thing edible at Six Flags Great America. Cameron.

It's funny because I never really pay much attention to those games before (at US parks), but the ones at the fair looked great. It seemed like every second booth had some weird/interesting looking game to play. I wonder why there isn't more variety in the US? Are the games unpopular? Anyway, on with the show! Park 6 - Phantasialand. Yesterday was amazing in absolutely every respect, so Phantasia Land really had it's work cut out for it ... Well it obviously didn't out-do yesterday, but it was still a really awesome day. On the UK trip in 2006 I remember two distinct (but separate) valleys in the day-to-day excitement, and I was fully expecting today to be just that. Not at all though, Phantasia Land was really enjoyable. It is smaller than Europa Park, and has less attractions, but it is exceptionally well themed and has some wonderful, very unique and awesome rides. The atmosphere here actually feels a bit like Indiana Beach of old, it's just such an adorable park; and (like Indiana Beach) focuses so much on a wide range of fun. If I was local to Phantasia Land and Europa, I suspect that I would actually visit Phantasia Land more often. We were eating breakfast by 7:30am, and at 8:00am were met by some park staff who walked us into the park for ERT on Winja. This is a pair of dueling spinning coasters, with many fun surprises. Highly and very well themed, each coaster has a unique layout. Each car holds four people (two pairs, sitting back to back), and a clutch is released after the first drop which allows the cars to spin. I'm not a huge fan of spinning rides, but the spinning really wasn't very strong on all but one of my rides (I did each side 5 times). Lou and Larry take a spin during Exclusive Ride time.. Lou also scores a ride with Steve - she certainly is a popular one! Some of the twisted track on Winja. There are great pathways all around the atrium, so you can get very close to the action. Following on from the insanely fun Ride Time on Winja, we got insanely fun Ride Time on Black Mamba. Now one of my top, all-time favorite coasters is Nemesis at Alton Towers in the UK. Black Mamba is similar in that it's an inverted coaster, and it is built in and around a lot of theming. The train is constantly diving in and out of trenches, and skimming over rocks and other stuff. It is such a great feeling to ride these, and I was seriously looking forward to Mamba. There has been a great deal of discussion online about whether or not it's better than Nemesis, and indeed I was frequently asked my opinion. Well sorry to say this to the Germans, but I do prefer Nemesis. Mamba was indeed awesome (an A ride, for sure), but I found it lacking a lot of Nemesis' intensity, and it isn't over rivers of blood Exclusive Ride Time was an absolute blast on Mamba, with Robb in the station creating a real party atmosphere. Speaking of which, in the station when a train is dispatched, all the lights dim and African tribal music starts playing. Even the ride-ops are African! I re-rode non-stop for probably close to 15 rides, and had some trouble walking when it was all done! However off-ride Lou and Renee were having some fun with my camera.. They snapped this great one with Erik too ERT ended at 10am when the park opened, and we very much wanted to ride Talocan, which is a Top Spin ride featuring not only water, but FIRE too! They say that everything is better with fire, and I have not come across anything in my life that would suggested they are wrong (whoever they are, anyway). I'm not normally the biggest fan of Top Spins, but I'd heard very good things about this one ... Plus, as I've already mentioned, it uses fire! The whole ride is very highly themed (of course), and the ride program wasn't too intense; I did lose count of the number of times we flipped, but it wasn't so much that I started to feel sick. The fire was awesome Renee took these photos which my camera (after a brilliant effort from Steve and I to communicate with her while we were on the ride). The smoke in the air is from the fire .. This ride uses fire, and it's awesome To cool down from all that awesome fire, it was necessary to indulge in an ice-cream. I haven't had vanilla dipped soft-serve for probably more than 10 years, and it was Nomalicious! Phantasia Land also has an extremely fun "mine train" coaster which is for some reason named "Michael Jackson". It is named after the singer, but thankfully there is no MJ theming or music playing. The mining theming is really fantastic, and the ride is terrific ... But really? Michael Jackson? Apparently he was present when the park opened the ride, and even took part in the ceremonies. Lunch was a bit of a debacle, since it was about six thousand million degrees in the restaurant; however the food really was very good and that more than made up for it. It was over 90 degrees today, with probably close to 100% humidity, and we're sitting outside here to cool off after being in the restaurant for lunch. These times of just hanging out are typically some of my favorite moments on these trips. While waiting for everyone to finish eating, Larry, Renee and I went down to some gift shops and did the obligatory hat parade Mystery Castle is not just an Alvin G pinball game, it's also one of the most insanely awesome drop ride I've been on (beaten only slightly by Disney's Tower Of Terror rides). I had been told that it was just an enclosed Intamin drop tower (like Giant Drop), but boy oh boy. I mean holy cow is this thing insane! I don't want to spoil the surprises, but on my first ride I think I screamed more than on anything I've ever ridden .. The theming all over this ride is amazing, and the theatrics during the ride are stunningly effective. Funny how so many of the ride highlights on this trip aren't coasters, that speaks volumes about the European parks we have visited. I don't actually remember the story behind this photo, but I do think it's pretty nice. From left to right we have Brad, Russ, Lou and myself. If Mystery Castle is a drop ride gone insane, then River Quest is a rapids ride that's gone insane. I had heard stories about this thing, and am well aware of the arguments about whether or not one can even call it a rapids ride; but who gives a crap what you call it, it's insane insane insane! Even the rafts themselves are curious, where each pair of seats can actually articulate around the center .. It's tough to explain, but the goofy raft design is just the beginning. Another elevator lift here, but this is more like being in the luggage transport system at the airport! At the top of the lift the doors open, the raft is pushed down this loooong ramp into deep water. The impact causes a wall of water at least 7 feet high, and the people sitting on that side of the raft suddenly very soaked! But that's not all, there's also a whirlpool and several more crazy-steep drops. Pretty much the only thing it doesn't have is actual rapids American parks are really lacking in little side things to do just while walking around. In a quiet and very picturesque section we found this fun little obstacle course. I'm happy to report that no-one fell in the water, despite the look on Renee's face. A brief rain-storm rolled through at about 4pm, so we took shelter in the lobby at the entrance of Mystery Castle ... Which of course meant that we got to ride it again . All up I think we did this 4 times and I screamed on every one. We had expected the park to be pretty busy today, and we had been given some "front of the line passes" which are good on all the major rides. I guess the fact that Germany was playing in the World Cup, combined with the brutally hot weather, had kept a lot of people away. We really didn't have to wait for anything, so we had several free rides available by the end of the day. We decided to hit up Winja some more. Check out this awesome on-ride photo with me and Renee (this is on the first drop). Phantasia Land is just such a sweet little park. After using up the last of our free rides on Winja, we watched their big show featuring the 5 mascot dragons (Phenie, Wang, Drago, Kroka, Quetzal and Schneck). It was a good show, although I wasn't 100% sure what was going on the whole time . And finally as we headed back to meet the buses we just had to get one final ice-cream.. Now we're back on the bus and just crossed over into The Netherlands. This isn't one of the monster drives of the trip, but we're all pretty tired so it's a bit subdued. I was so tired today that I actually started nodding off on the Night Hawk roller coaster (which was a very odd thing, indoors and pitch-black darkness). Tonight we are at another resort hotel, and tomorrow we'll be at Eftling which also looks like a great park. Now it's nap-time..

In an effort to stop my last few readers from falling asleep, I thought it would be fun to do today's reports in the form of "a day in the life". Today is a very full and immensely exciting day, so this format should work well. 6:50am : I woke up a full ten minutes before my alarm, and after a thoroughly luxurious 5.5 hours sleep. I really needed it too, after three nights in a row where we only got like 4 hours, last night I was trying to hold a conversation with Lou, Renee and Derek but I started nodding off mid-sentence. After a shower and packing, I felt refreshed and ready to take on this monster of a day. 7:30am : Larry and I heading down to breakfast, which is included at the hotel. The breakfast is a massive buffet, with potatoes, eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, about 43 different types of juices, cereal, yogurt, etc. It's a spectacular display, and the food is really good. We were fortunate enough to have two nights at this hotel, so this was the second morning with such great food. 8:00am : The entire group met in the lobby to prepare to head to the park. By 8:15 we were on the monorail (which the park ran just for us). The monorail is fun, and you get a great view of all the rides and gardens. The music is unbelievably sad though, and we talked about a movie scene for which it might be more fitting; the an old man is sitting by his wife's bed, moments after she passes away. As the music plays, the man sees flashbacks of their life: things like their first date (a picnic in a park), wedding scenes, holding first baby, and finding a precious nicknack in a store, etc. It was a short ride, but by the time we got off we were all quite emotional. 8:30am : Exclusive Ride Time begins on EuroSat, the crazy indoor coaster that also has techno. As a special treat for ERT, the park turned on all the lights for us. Really fun riding these dark coasters with the lights on, and I got to checkout the crazy spinning lift-hill (the same system that is used on Euro Mir). It's a remarkably simple and very elegant system, plus it can really turn the lift into an actively fun part of the ride (as is done on this and especially Euro Mir). Dave and Hans, with Ryan in row two. Derek, Piers, and Lou are taking a quick rest while we wait for the last few people to finish their final rides in EuroSat. 8:50am : The park, obviously not content with being utterly amazing, walks us all over to Silver Star so we can get a few rinds in before the unwashed masses arrive. As I mentioned yesterday, I had not heard good things about this ride; but it was fabulous. Even first thing in the morning it was running insanely well, and we even got one ride that was completely brakeless! At the exit for Silver Star are these entertaining "spinning things", which Dave is enjoying far too much.. 9:00am : the park is now open to the public, and we are all relegated back to just being normal boring members of the public. Oh the horror! Actually that's not quite true because while every guest is running to their favorite coaster, we went straight for the Circus Parade car ride. This ride is made for kids, and is adorably cute; you sit in these little cars and are ridden past various circus scenes. Despite the fact that the tiny cars are made for little kids, we still managed to cram four adults in there.. (From top left: Lou, Larry, Cameron and Renee) Europa Park strives to make their rides a little different. I have already gone on and on about Euro Mir, Blue Fire and the water rides, but here they have some bumper cars with a giant ball (it's in an area themed to soccer). Blue Fire was amazing, as was Silver Star and most if the rest of the attractions at the park, but there will always be a very special place in my sentimental little heart for Euro Mir. We of course ride it again this morning and it was just as amazing as ever .. As I type this up it's been over 2 hours since we rode, yet the music is still stuck in my head: Dada Da DAH! Our on-ride photo from Euro Mir, apparently I was very surprised to see Lou sitting there next to me! An impromptu game of tag broke out between Lou and Steve .. I will leave out the gory details behind it as it is slightly gross (it does involves pus).. 10:30am : back at the hotel to checkout and board the busses. We have new busses and drivers starting today, and the checkout process always takes a while, but by 11am we were on the road. 12:30pm : as I type this, Renee just handed me one of her headphones. I admit that I was a bit hesitant to listen as it could be some crappy "young person" music, but no .. It was better than I could have ever imagined ... It was the Euro Mir song!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 This last day and a half at Europa Park has been so great. Even hearing nothing but awesome comments about the park, there is no way I could have imagined just how good it would be. The range and quality of rides is un-matched, even by Disney; and things like Euro Mir and Blue Fire just make it all that much more special. Even though I literally can't contain my excitement for the German Fair, I am really sad to leave Europa. I'll be back .. 40th birthday perhaps?? 1:30pm : The bus is racing down the autobahn, and Lou and I are watching "The IT Crowd". Technology is so awesome! We are traveling though some fantastic little German towns, and the countryside is really pretty; there are even some wind turbines <3 2:30pm : Morgan does an amazing TPR rap, which had us all laughing hysterically. He first did a song on the 2007 mini-Europe trip, which I wasn't on, but I have heard very good things about it. This new one lived up to the hype of the original, and was extremely enjoyable (especially since we hit traffic, and were all a little grumpy). 3:15pm : We arrive in the awesome little town of Würzburg, and the amazing looking German fair. TPR organized an entire hour exclusive ride time on the legendary Olympia Looping: This *portable* roller coaster has been thrilling people at fairs all over Germany for over 20 years. Having this fair coincide with our trip is like falling back in time to the 70s and seeing the Rolling Stones play in a small pub in the UK. Calling this legendary is a complete understatement, it's an utter masterpiece. Designed by the genius Anton Schwarzkopf, this coaster is super smooth, extremely fast, and brain-meltingly intense - I loved it! I'm not ashamed to admit that I fell right back into my extreme coaster-nerd persona, and rode over and over and over again - at least 10 rides, probably close to 15. It absolutely lived up to the hype. The amazing coasters I've ridden in the last two days (even just today) is staggering. This coaster truly is portable too, and it has spent it's life traveling the German fairs. Every piece is numbered, and it takes several days to construct and dismantle. There have been many traveling coasters before and since, but this one is the undisputed king. If all that isn't enough, while riding we got a view of a stunning medieval German town: 5:00pm : ERT ends and we walk over to the Biergarten for liter mugs of Würzburger Hofbräu, which has been especially brewed just for the fair and isn't available anywhere else. It was great, complete with the beer wenches delving armloads of mugs to the table. I also ordered Festwursts with sauerkraut; Guten Appetit and Prosit! Myself, Renee and Larry all enjoy a mug of beer.. 6:00pm : If riding the absolutely amazing Schwarzkopf coaster in the German fair in the picturesque town isn't enough, it was also the opening day! As a result we were privileged to see the ceremonious tapping of the first keg - even the mayor of the town showed up for the festivities. This was simply an unbelievable spectacle to witness in person.. Once tapped, you could line up for a mug poured from this very special keg. Not a whole liter of course, but it is free! Brad is very proud of it.. A game was set up where you could attempt to ring a bell at the top of this pole, and win a free liter of beer. This was fantastic to watch, and I wonder how The Climbers would do with such a challenge?! No holds obviously, but there was belay. A few people in our group attempted this, including Larry. I saw two people succeed at ringing this bell, this is one of them. He scaled the pole insanely quickly, the entire place was stunned and then applauded loudly. I mentioned earlier that it was mohawk day, and Lou was our Mohawk Queen. She did around 12 mohawks after dinner, including this weird Australian guy... (before and after - neither look too good) 7:00pm : The madness continued in the food tent, with a band playing such greats as Blues Brothers, Cotton Eyed Joe, Ring Of Fire and the Benny Hill theme (I wanted to chase Lou around the tent in fast-motion, but her bikini was locked in the bus.. Boo!) However it was time to explore the fair (which had since opened). Since there is no notion of a wristband at these fairs, we were each given €20 to spend however we wanted. First up was the Ghost Train .. This was awesome! The lady collecting tickets was dressed as a which, and aside from the usual fun ghost-train tricks they also had two live actors! It really was unbelievable fun. Just down the way was the Psychedelic House, which was also seriously fun. They hand you funky glasses (which make the light sparkle), and you walk though this maze full of flashing lights, YMCA, and a rolling room. We were laughing and dancing and just having such a good time Myself, Renee and Larry after the Psychedelic House: We also played many games, including the horse racing game and this fantastic thing called "time bingo". It's very similar to Fascination at Indiana Beach (and other parks) where you roll a ball into holes in an attempt to light a line of 5 lights (vertical, horizontal or diagonal). You only have about two minutes though! If you succeed, then a bunch of plastic tokens come rolling down the glass (like the Safe Cracker pinball machine!). Larry won some bubbles, Renee a cute stuffed giraffe, and myself a wristband in the colours of the German flag. Hot stuff! This report doesn't even come close to describing the awesomeness that was today. We had Europa Park in the morning, and the fair in the evening. I've been really interested in these fairs, and especially Olympia Looping, for close to 10 years; and I'm just so thrilled to have had chance to experience it - on opening day no-less! 9:00pm : But unfortunately time passes, and we had to return to the bus. We have a three hour drive to the next hotel, but spirits are high (liter mugs of beer tend to do that!). I woke up this morning before 7am, and will not sleep until at least 1am; but close to every minute of today was more full of fun and laughter than a pomegranate is of pits. Up next: Phantasialand!

As an avoider of the camera myself, I'm very mindful of others like me. No reason to force people to be in pictures

^ Every time it rains, I have flash-backs to U571 .. scary stuff Park 4 - Europa Park (part 1) The drive through Switzerland yesterday evening was stunning (seriously, mind meltingly stunning). Mountains giving away to beautiful lakes, surrounded by small villages ... All with the sun setting as a backdrop. It was quite the amazing drive, and ended up with us arriving at the Hotel Colosseo in Germany. I have spent the last week in Italy, and now just arrived in Germany. It takes a little mental adjustment to make that switch, but it's quite a bit more weird because I'm staying in an Italian themed hotel! No worries though, this hotel is fabulous... After arriving on Wednesday night we sat outside for a while and had some drinks, then went to the upstairs bar for some more. This bar is curious in that the mens bathroom has a recording of a Ferrari which plays every few minutes. I'm not complaining though, Ferraris are awesome! This morning (after only about 3 hours sleep), it was time to hit Europa Park. This is the park I was most looking forward to on the whole trip (second are Phantasialand on Saturday, and the German fair tomorrow). I have heard only extremely positive things about this park, so it had much to live up to. Well, it succeeded. Not only that, but I think it's safe to say that I want to marry Europa Park and have its babies! The park is divided up into thirteen sections, and even after being there all day there were still a few whole sections we didn't even step foot into. The map is so big that it requires two people to hold it: We started the day with an entire hour of Exclusive Ride Time on the new coaster Blue Fire. A+ all the way, baby .. In fact I think I might have to reorder all my other rides! This coaster is really odd in that it's not super fast, nor does it pull particularly high forces, but OMFG is it fun. So much fun! The layout and theming is brilliant, and the way it interacts with everything around is perfect. Plus it flips you upside-down 4 times, yet there's only a lap-bar. It's just so awesome! I kept having to fight the urge to buy it ice-cream. Renee and I are right up front on Blue Fire. Eric joined us for several spins, and agrees that it is one terrific ride. With three trains running, our Exclusive Ride Time was very very exclusive. Be very envious! Here are some general pictures of Blue Fire awesomeness... After ERT a few if us were lucky enough to get a backstage tour of the park. This was great, I love seeing how these parks are run, and Europa seems quite like the Chocolate Factory. Backstage was BUSY, with people running around like very busy little bees. Europa was spectacularly clean and well run, and it all starts with a super efficient backstage area. Along the way we passed some beer kegs, which Derek and Piers enjoyed.. Europa is run by the Mack corporation (they make rides) and many Mack ride systems are showcased here. The rides are run at maximum capacity, and even though it was a very crowded day, and a few lines approached 45 minutes, the waits were not bad at all. The coasters dispatch on remarkable 20-30 second intervals (basically that's unheard of on the US), so while you're waiting in line, you're pretty much never stopped. Seriously, sometimes it was tough to take photos because the lines just kept moving so much! One of the great Mack ride systems is this cross between a coaster and a boat ride. You are in fact sitting in a boat, that ascends a lift-hill, runs along some coaster track with hills and turns and such; but then it can suddenly splash down into water. Very very cool stuff. Our group was pretty big, and fortunately there were always a few people with bags. On the water rides these bags were used to protect phones, cameras and even smokes. And if someone decides that they don't want to ride, well then they become "Bag Bitch" for everyone else. The irony of this photo is that I was in-fact going to ride, but I had opted to sit in one if the seats which doesn't get very wet. I tells ya, I get no respect! That's Ryan on the right, and Jon Locke behind. Euro-Mir!! If there ever was an award for the most awesome coaster just for then sake of being amazingly awesome, then Euro-Mir would be the undisputed champion. You sit back-to back in these four-person cars, which make up a small train. One pair faces forwards, and the other backwards (so you face the people in the next/previous car). It's all themed to the Russian space race, and for some reason there is this kick ass techno tune thumping in line and in the station ... And also all the way up the entire lift-hill .. Which takes about 5 minutes! Seriously the lift is this loooooong spiral (which can handle like 5 trains at once), its in the dark, with disco lights, and the techno track. Oh and the cars are motorized, so that they spin around (not very fast) at specific points, so you're always seeing different passengers. It's insanely fun, and we danced and raved our way all the way along this bad-boy. The last time Theme Park Review was at this park (2008, I believe), they actually got Exclusive Ride Time on Euro-Mir ... And more envious, I could not be. Yes, the building is mirrored, so aside from the neighboring riders, you can also see yourself. Lou and Scottish Steve are getting ready to rave while waiting for Euro-Mir. Absolute fun! It's not Spaceship Earth, it's an indoor coaster called Euro-Sat. This was much weaker than Blue Fire and Euro-Mir, but still fun. We have ERT on this tomorrow morning (with the lights on). I'm looking forward do it because it uses the same lifting system as Euro-Mir and I'm curious to see it with the lights on. Oh and note the climbers on there - not sure what they are up to. The other stand-out coaster is Silver Star, which was greatly better than people had lead me to believe; and a mad-mouse that uses an elevator style lift-hill. There are also about a zillion flat-rides, and some great dark rides. We'll have some more time there tomorrow morning before heading to the German Fair, and OLYMPIA LOOPING!! Stay tuned....