RCFreak

^That's actually this saturday, the 19. Posters for it were EVERYWHERE. Diana Ross is going to be there lol. I did notice the (lack of) smell in The palazzo compared to the Venetian too. It definitely felt like it was in a soft opening, they were still a lot of unfinished things and a lot of construction goin gon still. But hey, I got to see inside so I'm happy!

Terra Mitica! This is yet another park I was blown away by. They had some excellent Service for us while we ran around during ERT including breakfast (and free sodas!) in between some of the sessions. They also gave us ERT on their Mondial Revolution Synkope in place of Inferno as it was suffering from the Intamin Curse and was having issues with it's braking. Synkope was pretty mediocre and definitely not as fun as a Huss Giant Frisbee. We also had ERT on Magnus Colossus which is a true RCCA woodie. I didn't think it was too bad, but that doesn't mean I liked it that much. Way too much shaking made me feel like I needed to be wearing a bra on the ride. Tizona is a standard Vekoma SLC, which again I like them. El Laberinto del Minotauro (The Minotaur's labyrinth) is probably the best showcase of Sally Corps most impressive animatronics they've created to date. The trackless shooting interactive Dark ride has multiple endings (which I'm pretty sure we made it all the way through) but does not display any scores for the riders or cars, which is my only qualm about the ride. Other rides include Two rapids rides, yes two completely separate and VERY different rapids rides. The first is El Rescate de Ulises (Ulysses' rescue) which pretty much is just a dark ride on rapids boats. the other is Rápidos de Argos (Argos' Rafting) Which is a decently themed regular rapids that did get us wet despite seeing rafts upon rafts exiting dry! La Colera de Akiles is a Mondial Supernova, it was decent, but nothing too thrilling, not like it's flipping Top Spin-like Cousin found around the world. The Falls of the Nile is a reversing Log Flume built by mack rides that got us decently wet (which was WELL received being how hot it was!) On to some pictures! One last pic, bye bye Terra Mitica. Hello super long bus ride and Parque Warner! You can see the flume's main drop in this pic scorss the water back to the front of the park Mondial Supernova, it moves. I choose You Zesus, the ultimate Pokemon It's beautiful park really. This is a kiddie coaster line!? *tee hee hee hee* I really liked how this pic came out Tizona SLC This coaster was happy to see us, but was having performance issues. Robb enjoyed the food they gave us The view toward Benidorm, you can see some of the green from the (then) Uncomplete Golf COurse were that fabulous Hotel was off to the left Off to Magnus Colossus! Robb tries to blend in Statue Porn that had nothing to do with anything other then to be theming Synkope, A Mondial Revolution The Exit One of the rides I was most looking forward to, El Laberinto del Minotauro (The Minotaur's labyrinth) The park further back. It was really bright that day. The Main plaza in front of the big lake the park surrounds. The entrance let us know how well the themed the park would be.

^^lol glad you're enjoying it! And oh yeah, somewhere in all the traveling, I did in fact win Elissa Bingo: The Spain Edition where I got an amazing CD of random Dave Thomas music (thankfully NOT the scary kind) Some glow Bracelets (which I still have yet to actually use) and the book Ghoul by Brian Keene, which I really want to read but just haven't had the time to yet. Thank you so much Dave for the awesome time killing game AND the awesome prizes!! ^I was seriously shocked at how nice this place really was (as well as Hotel ling bao at Phantasialand, but that's a little further down the line) and I'm glad Elissa and Robb were able to get us in there. This is why I would rate the Trips as a HUGE valuefor what you are really paying. It seems like a lot if you just look at the price, but if you look at everything you get it's more then worth it if you can swing it. Thanks everyone for the kind words so far. This is taking a lot of time to do (500 pictures will be posted!!) so the kind words mean a lot to me.

So I had the opportunity to head to Vegas yet again and rumors of the Palazzo being open made me say "YES!" As I'm completely in love with the whole place. I've been watching it's construction for a quite some time now and it indeed was open! Sadly I didn't have nearly as much time as I wanted to explore the place as we had other things we needed to do but here are a few pics I managed to snag as well as from some of the other hotels. One last pic of the Riviera Wynn's Waterfalls. I can't wait to se what Encore will have in store. The Sierens of TI are back in action after being in Rehab the last time I was out there in the middle of December I stayed at Treasure Island this time so this is what i saw heading back out from the Hotel at 2 AM *insert the water cannon noises here* *western music here* The fountain show outside, this was the first time I've seen them use fog to cover the lagoon though. it was amazing as always. Inside the Bellagio The model of both the Venetian and The Palazzo when the project is complete Looking back toward The Palazzo's casino. Everyone just seemed in awe of the place. I love this place More Water features around the Fall as well. The Waterfall, fountains, and escaltors to the Canal shops at The Venetian Another Skylight over the waterfall leading to the Venetian SLightly different angle, much more artsy this way. The fountian below One of the many skylights in the place. ATM/ Bill breaker/ and ticket redemption taken to a whole new level Inside the casino of The Palazzo. Much work was still going on upstairs The extra plush Carpet greeting vistors coming from the escalators from the Wynn There she is, The love of my life. The 1.8 Billion dollar The Palazzo.

More pics from Benidorm and the Hotel and the AMAZING view from it. Next up is a few pics from Terra Mitica the following morning. One last shot of the big pool before heading off to Terra Mitica. Benidorm hung over from the night before I really like this picture, and not just cause it's of me. Part of the big pool the next morning The model of the whole complex when completed. Another pretty artsy shot. Naked time with TPR! Playing with long exposures with Benidorm The smallest of the three pools, and the non-working jacuzzi (maybe?) Benidorm The pool, one of three, and this was the middle sized one, the big one has a man-made beach. From one of the many rooftops of the hotel The reception area. The view from our room. The view into the room as you walked into the door. I was FLOORED how nice the place was. They gave us robes and slippers which were way too small for my humongus Size US 13 feet The bathtub in the room Lou picks yet another fight with someone on the trip.

Benidorm! So there's not much to really write about for this. We had the night to do pretty much whatever we wanted, so I'll let the pictures tell this chapter of this story. Some of us had a rather intresting dinner. Some people (*cough* *cough* me *cough* *cough*) just had other people's (*cough* *cough* Lou's *cough* *cough*) yummy pizza. The last supper? Looking down the Boardwalk Sand art We found the british pub and I go to try windex! I'm now on an epic quest to find Jones Bubble gum soda and try to re-create it I'm pretty sure they sold two girls one cup here Enough of that foolishness! Time to wash up and head out to other fine establishments. YAY more people are here to join us! *SPLOOSH* "Pretend like you're going to dive in!" Almost as if someone else took it We twisted too hard (One of these things is not like the other. One of these things is not the same!) Do the twist! New Sea credit! Beach Blanket Bingo? Is this a 50's surfer musical, is that what's going on? The other side Off to the beach! well, thee are the teacups (notice the lack of fence around the ride) Indiana jones? Is this Disneyland Spain? Draky, something I didn't feel needed my money Disneyland? This was our destination, the credit/ flat ride at Festilandia Most (all?) of us headed over to Downtown Benidorm on the bus. Freakin' Walk-in Closet We're just happy to be off the bus! After what seemed like forEVER on the bus, we arrived at the nicest hotel I will ever stay at and we had an amazing view of Terra Mitica. We were the top, but then we got some new experiences being the bottom. At this point we were going down.

Don't worry, I only have like three pictures of us (as in the group) from when you were here in August. I'm really surprised I took that many pictures over the whole trip and that so many of them were just freaking awesome! That was it! It strated moving as soon as we moved to go pose for the picture. THANKS! And don't forget to take a power converter to Europe! I'm not going to lie, I was freaking out a little too before I knew what was going on lol. And don't worry, we were glad you were at the control booth. YAY Ron! You don't know how many times I've heard myself say "Girl Please." Stayed tuned for lots of pics from Benidorm!

TIBIDABO!!! Also known as Tibiyabbadabbado, when the bus finally made it's way up the tiny winding streets to the top of the mountain, we were told we couldn't go all the way up in the bus as there was no where to turn around. So we all had to get out and walk up the rest of the way, if you've ever been to SFMM it was basically was the equivilant of walking up "the hill" twice. Sitting high above Barcelona, Tibidabo is a small park covering six different levels on the side of the mountain. They have two coasters, and many family flats spread about. Montaña Rusa, which is Spanish for Roller Coaster, was built by the park, and it looked like it! A fun coaster made extra thrilling with the view from being on the highest level of the park. The other coaster is Tibidao Express, a custom Zamperla Super Express featuring a very dark tunnel and some VERY sharp turns which if you're not ready for, will slam you from side to side. Other rides include a log flume that was fun, but gladly didn't get us wet. A haunted house/ fun house which was REALLY fun as it had a lot of darkness, a couple scenes and a lot of basic fun house stuff (moving floors, stuff you have to push out of your way and such) The plane on a stick was great. It was a real plane just attached to the tower and it even had a bathroom in there. Ed played a funny trick on Lou with the window. There were these little knobs that turned to roll them down and Lou's was right behind her seat and Ed slowly turned it and it kinda freaked her out as she could not figure out what was going on with her window. The bucket of death gets it's own paragraph. It was really funny as the bucket you're in swings freely (think of any booster, just really slow) so when it stops to let the other end of the arm unload/ load, the sudden stop swings the bucket a bit, which is terrifying in itself. So we get up to the top and I get my pics of the view and I say "Hurry up and get on this side of the bucket so we can get a group picture before it starts moving again." There must have been microphones because the second everyone let go of the sides it started moving! A few people decided to break off from the group and head into the Barcelona on their own, I decided it wasn't nearly enough time as I wanted and it was extra cash so I stayed at the park and just headed back So she tried to take his eye out with her fag. Up NEXT, a night in Benidorm Dave stole it form her as we got back to the Hotel Robb tried on Lou's graduation cap. Magic Shrooms The view from the suspended monorail thing LIES! one of the most intense swing rides I've been on Normal Swing ride? Inside the plane on a stick. I forgot who took the picture (don't blame me! I have a horrible memory!) the log FLume adn the other ride only three of the group got to ride In case you forgot where you were I ♥ this picture As if you weren't high enough over the city View from the Bucket of death While still weak, it was a LOT better then the one at Zaragoza Bad Hurakan It's kinda like RCT, everything's on top of each other. Smile for the camera! WEEEEEEEE CELEBRETIES OMG TOUCH ME! "Roller Coaster" Plane on a stick The view from next to the coaster and the airplane ride flying above Bucket of Death Beautiful chruch on top of the mountain. The Drive up was scary so I put on my seat belt incase we went off the side of one of the cliffs!

you look better sideways the way I filmed it, but it streched out a bit when I rotated it in windows movie maker to squish it down to fit. Please forgive my lack of good editing software to make you look thin!

YAY! more pictures of me... er I mean from your trip! I just so happen to have a video from the party. lol I had such a great time while you were over and I'm glad we got to hang out again. Dance Dance Lou and Robb.wmv Warning! Some Mild language and adult situations are present in the above video!

You sure are a pansy already.

More pics!! Next up is our side trip to Tibidabo. This is my dear friend from templo Del Fuego (which I LOVED as well! Only thing that would have made it 100 X better would have been a water tunnel like Posiden) *SMACK* LOL! How many people got this shot off the bus? Powerful laser beam. You can take out an eye with that thing. Chris' ultimate goal! Trying to recover Chris likes it there I think Lou likes it there TICKLE FIGHT! Another view of bacon the tearful goodbye Chilly Willy sure likes that idea Man, John really loves his statues. Lou tries to get into the action too. I *LOVED* this fountain Tee Hee I'm so 12. Another ERT session! Someone needs an English spell check. Bunny Mountain! ok not really but there were a lot of cute bunnies that resided on that patch of grass Look we're still dry! You go Stampedia! Cedar Point? We're all watching Lou Porn So we had to warm up somehow at the bar (note: both those glasses are actually Ed's) The Panthers made Lou wet a lot this trip. Ed does his best impression of a dog. A tad wet from the flume no comment... Ron doesn't like gravity. Don't worry if you forgot your gum, the park provides plenty of space to grab a piece. Themed Flat in the Mexico section (made me giggle a little that they would have a Mexico section at a Spanish park) I think this gave me an erection but still massively tall! Not the tallest I've been on Nicely themed

Next up was Port Aventura!! I absolutely loved this park and think it's one of the nicest and well themed parks I've been to (I also haven't been to any Busch parks yet either so take that with a grain of salt) with a great mix of rides and things to do and see. The first afternoon there was pretty much a free for all (as most of the days were outside of ERT and the trip over to Barcelona and Tibidabo) so most of us decided to head over to Furious Baco as it is a newly opened Intamin Rocket prototype. And of course like the true Intamin it is, it broke down as soon as we got there. After waiting for a bit we headed off to explore the rest of the park and we headed over to Polynesia where I finally found out that this was IOA quality stuff we were dealing with. I think our intention was to head over to Dragon Kahn at the back of the park but we stumbled on a highly landscaped Vekoma Roller Skater called Tami-Tami. This is when the groups started breaking up even more. The group I went with (<3 Panthers) was hungry so we stopped by and got burgers (well, some of us) it was during our eating we discovered the fun trick on Tutuki Splash that the final drop had the potential to also soak a boat on the lift if timed right. My pictures tell me we then went off to ride Sea Odyssey which had the most hilarious safety video (a little of which is in Robb's video) and the most random English speaking Dolphin. At least the queue was very impressive. Then we finally hiked over to Dragon Kahn! Definitely one of the best B&M's I've been on, this mostly standard sit down looper featured a bonus loop and plenty of old school B&M forces which kicked mucho a$$-o. Lift Hill: The Ride (El Diablo) was fun if not a very disappointing Arrow Mine train. Hurakan Condor was an awesome Intamin drop tower with different sides to choose from, I'm sorry, different sides to be forced to sit on. The water rides were particularly fun with the aforementioned Tutki Splash soaked us. The really good log flume (Silver lake something or other) Soaked us. The Rapids also soaked us. Luckily staying at the awesome Hotel El Paso gave us resort Express passes so we used them quite a few times for the water rides as it was still hot! We also got passes to go into their waterpark which wasn't bad, but was way too small for the amount of people that get crammed in. There were quite a few well themed flats around the park as well, most of which ran an incredibly weak program (Kyle and I had a nice chat about being former ride-ops at Cedar Point on their Breakdance) that all could have been so much better. Now onto my rant on Furious baco! The ride sucks! i don't say that about a lot of rides, and it would have been a GREAT ride if it weren't for the trains. my first ride was in the front row, ont he outside. I actually felt a little nuaseous (and rides do NOT make me sick) and I couldn't wait for the damn thing to end! however I did feel a good ride was somewhere in there and it showed itself on a night ride (ha ha Lou!) I was fine as long as I didn't see my vision being blurred by the ride lol. We had a really good few days there and it was a nice travel break considering the bus rides we had to and from the place. Enough of me ranbling, Here's a LOT of pics! The most exciting part about lift hill: The Ride! yes it is isn't it. Mmmm Bonus Loop. Dragon Kahn! VERY Star Tours-esque, this little guy was "fixing" a damaged ship that looked like a shark. Turns out it was a crappy simulator but very well done Half the fun was not knowing what the crap the ride was. This is probably my most favorite queue, EVER. hmmm this is really nice for Sea Odyssey Tutuki Spalsh's small drop after emerging from the cave of wonders... er... gum Dinning room themeing Smile for the camera! Man I love Roller Skaters YAY Credit! Hmmm I wonder what that is? oooo this is nice. Oh well, off to somewhere else! the queue was well themed. Don't be sad Lou, we'll get to ride it. There she is! in all her broken glory... Heading further in, Furious Baco looming int he distance The view after you go around some of the entrance buildings A Woody to greet us even though Universal doesn't own the place anymore. A LOT like IOA Reminded me a lot of IOA Entrance to the water park. We were so close we decided to walk to the entrance. After a brief rest some of us headed off to the park I WIN ELISSA BINGO! not even an hour there and Steve already found the bar. The view to the left had other Spain participants The view if we looked slightly to the right. The view from our hotelr oom. the hedge maze was stumbled and walked over many nights, and One night a few employees crashed their golf cart there too!!

^^ Good for Matt! And I like to think of those pictures as "artsy" thank you very much. lol ^Most definitely!!

You also have to keep in mind the noise restrictions on that side of the park being so close to residences (why do you think all the really big a nd tall stuff goes one the other side of the park) so it's not like they really could have gone tall with this ride. I think it's a great addition to the park as it'll give families yet another thing to do and if it turns out to be half as fun as Sierra Sidewinder then I'm all for it.

BWUAHAHA That was awesome!

So you're trying to tell us you are a woman trapped in a man's body? They have amazing surgeries these days that do wonders.

^ Funny, I JUST noticed that yesterday as I was going through my un-edited photos. Anyway, After a full half day running around one Parque de Atracciones it was off to another one very far away. The drive was pretty boring, but Robb had made a few DVDs featuring random shows (Family Guy and Robot Chicken!) and segments from previous TPR DVDs to help pass the time. Once we finally got there, the entrance was less then stellar and it looked like a very tiny ghetto place. We all got our black VIP wristbands and they let us loose, most of us headed off to get the three credts the park had and other various random rides before having an AMAZING dinner (with wine and champagne) and running around with a buzz through the Mirror Maze. The first ride up was Mina, which was a small Zamperla kiddie coaster and I had the extreme thrill of not having my lapbar locked at ALL on the ride. Then it was off to Moncayo which was a standard SDC Galaxi. We also rode Rameses (You can hear me screaming like a girl in the mini-updates video) Bouncy Bouncy (many praises from me here as well), their lame Top Spin (on "crazy" mode as the PR lady said they would run it, or something like that) and their Rapids ride. All in all I was more then impressed by the park in the town that was being built around it it seemed. Another short drive over to our Hotel for the night and some time in the bar before being kicked out by the lady at the front desk it was off to Port Abentura the next day! The last pic I took before we hit Port Aventura! It was also around this time that Dave Thomas passed out the awesome Elissa Bingo cards. I wonder who won that... ...and Lou has lost A little Matrix action... Course it just looks like Chris' trying to force Lou's hands down his pants I think this is when Chris challeneged Lou to get the awesome lighter Zaragoza gave to us that was given as a prize during trivia (right?) i think Ed just caught on as the Beer just hit my camera lol I love when people don't realize I'm taking pictures and don't have a chance to pose. I think this was during euchre At the "bar" at the Holiday Inn exress. Kyle finds this pleasing lol. Last Bouncy Bouncy ride I just missed Chadlyr and Dave are the brave ones to go first (or did I miss some people and forget?) Poor flash, but Kyle and Lou look so serious mmmm best part of the meal (I'm not a big seafood or things STILL on the bone fan) That's me! The only actual coaster photo I have from PdAdZ as I forgot to take more pictures here. We made it! Welcome to Zaragoza, Pardon our dust as we make way for the actual city coming soon! Wind Farm! They grow em good in Spain. It was very green "Jolly jolly Jolly" was on the TV, who was paying attention to what was going out there. Random Castle... Rock... thingy Little towns were along the way to dance for us so it wouldn't be too boring. Very Plain *rimshot*

Dude, Kara, that's freakin' AWESOME! I've never thought (or heard) of making a quilt out of old shirts. I've never been to into the whole Coaster shirt thing, most of the shirts I do have are not that nerdy, but this is something I may have to keep in mind when killing time at parks.

Sounds like an awesome time! I'm also a huge fan of the sky scrappers (and major city architecture in general) and those pics from the top of the Sears Tower were awesome. I really need to get to more major US cities.

^The backside of awesome! lol So the next morning brought us to Parque de Atracciones Madrid and as it was my first visit, I got to hear a lot about the park from those who went the day before the trip started. Again, I was quite blown away with this park as it had one of the best photographic entrances to a park I've ever seen. As always with the Alvey's, 'Tis much better to arrive early and entertain ourselves then to arrive late and piss off the park. So we had quite a bit of time to kill and again, it was chit chat and get to know yourselves more, and they let us in to stand around some more as we headed over to Abismo and Tarántula and chatted more as maintenence finished up their testing and Robb filmed Abismo a few times we got our rides in and headed over tarántula. Abismo was my first (and only) Maurer Söhne X-car So I was terrified of the ride, more like the restraints and/ or getting stuck at the top of the lift. Luckily on the few rides I had on it they were all fantastic! Tarántula was my second spinning coaster besides Exterminator at Kennywood and this totally blew me away! the ride had me giggling the whole way through and getting stopped on a block up there is quite disturbing if you just happen to be hanging on the side without a catwalk. Other rides include Tornado which was pretty "meh" for being Intamin; the log flume with that stupid timed waterfall that decided fat people slowing down a log should get absolutely drenched (Yes, that was me...); the Jungle Cruise rip-off; Spanish Small world; an old shcool Frisbee which I prefer over the gaint's as long as it has a good program, and this one wasn't too bad; and of course Deperado, which I didn't win, but I wasn't the donkey. Then it was off to Zaragoza! Good bye PdAdM! "Man I have got to remember to stop eating those shrums" Excuse me sir but the wires from your neck are showing. No missing feet today The sky cleared a bit and Abismo had a long line. Tarántula *drool* I was a split second off from getting Dave in there too! Lou's ready to ROCK! Are you? Random Castle and Holidog clone I think Kyle's face sums up the ride. Soaked from that damn log ride and not having any idea what kind of scrotal pain would be delivered. Backside of Lou Evil to come later I think there's a coaster in those supports somwhere WHEEEEEEEEE they got Abismo open first and Robb got his footage from the front. Swan lake this is not. This was so random A few of us headed over to Tarántula hoping it would open with Abismo Damn it's early!

Wow, I've been a member here how long and I've never posted in here? One more for now. Photo stolen from Chris at Toverland This hat doesn't make me look gay does it? Surprise TP attack before Blue Man Group at the Venetian I swear I didn't just drink 60 oz of tequilla with a shot of margarita mix and ice! ignore the double chin on the left please. oh great, now you're looking at it aren't you. Stop it! I said Stop! This picture is REALLY funny if you know me.

I'm so there! And not just because I'm in the DVD!

I know Everyone's crotch!... uh... I'm not sure if I should be proud...

Off to Spain!! After a VERY rocky start in getting over (I was the last to arrive that night wasn't I?) after missing two flights (damn everyone who jinxed me by saying "don't miss you're flight!") and not knowing where the crap the hotel actually was I finally made it! Add to it that no one was there at the hotel when I got there as Elissa had gone off to McDonald's down the street and the people who went off to Parque de Atracciones had not returned yet, I was a bit worried that it was a sign of things to come. Luckily it wasn't! The next day promised to be an early start as we were off to take the bullet train to Sevilla and Isla Mágica. I honestly had no idea what to expect from many of the parks on the trip and this was the first one to blow me away. When we arrived we had to wait for Robb to contact the PR guy for the park and that gave a lot of us (mainly me who wasn't there the day before) to chat and get to know each other a little. When Robb got back he said that they were going to give us ERT on their two newest attractions, their new 4-D theatre and their new spinning, shooting, pirates-peeing-on-you dark ride, Captain Balas (AKA Captain balls) They actually showed us two movies, one was N-Wave studio's 12 and a half minute "Haunted House" in 4-D and the second was N-Wave Studio's 9 and a half minute (did it feel that long to anyone else?) "SOS Planet/ PandaVision" Then we all headed over to El Jaguar, which is an extended SLC (AKA Bonus Helix!) I rode Lethal Weapon at Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia so i had some idea as to what to expect (the helix is the smoothest part...) and I liked it, I think I'm the PERFECT height for Arrows and Vekomas as they don't bother me as much as they do other people. Other rides include a Zamperla Mega Disk'O, A very decent flume, a splash down, heat exhaustion, and an Indiana Jones type "adventure" ride ride with carts from the Flintstones, which was really well done for the park it was at. On to some pics including LOU all wet! Our Sexy ride home. Cutest ad, EVER! Choose your own Adventure: the Ride Drying "where the sun don't shine" Or you could go in this fountain and risk getting some sort of communicable disease from the locals. This look slike a postcard. It also got you just enough wet to cool you down but not soak you (unless you just happened to be standing right on top of one of the little jets that pop up from underneath and go up your shorts... Those Spaniards sure love them bulls. A lot of the smaller parks had a mechanical bull out for people to humiliate them selves on. They had some boats going out toward the front of the park and I think they have a big fountain night time show there too Lots of bush at this park, I guess they don't believe in trimming in Europe Chris really, really wanted to ride the llamas. EL Jaguar, look out! The park was built around this lake (The lake was built in the park?) The themeing to the outside of Captain balls was amazing. New for 2007 4-D "oooooooo" "ahhhhhhhhh" Luickily the Camera of doom was not present How about a little kiss. "We want candy too!" I'm a Rock God, Give me some candy!" This was our first impression of the park lead back to where the new attractions were.