HighExtreme

Great photos! I visited Toverland back in January 2009 with lots of ice, snow and general coldness. Unfortunately it was too cold to run Troy, however the park cut through the ice with chainsaws to get the Backstroke log flume operational I was very impressed with fantastic commitment from the park to get everything open, despite there only been around 50 guests in the park, they didn't have to really make the effort and I don't think a lot of parks would have done, got to love Toverland

Wow! Thanks for the photos, construction is coming along nicely this ride looks like its shaping up to be a fantastic coaster The OCT parks have interesting themeing, while they may rely on the manufacturer production model coasters, they've done well to open so many parks in a relatively modest period of time Now they've established the chain, hopefully Fireball will be successful and encourage the company to invest in more custom designed coasters in the future

Flinker Fridolin - Panorama Park Furius Baco - PortAventura Go! Go! Banana Coaster - Japan Monkey Park G'sengte Sau - Erlebnispark Tripsdrill Heiße Fahrt - Freizeitpark Klotten Hundeprut - BonBon-Land Oki Doki - Bobbejaanland Trace Du Hourra - Parc Asterix Valle degli Gnomi (Valley of the Gnomes) - Fiabilandia Wally Whales Deep Dive Adventure - Farglory Ocean Park

Whether the Terminator rumour is genuine or not, the Six flags philosophy on the new coasters at the present time seems to be to go for a solid existing design, clone it and wrap it in licensed/branded packaging which are not entirely related to the ride experience itself, for example Tony Hawk, Evel Knievel, Batman in a Box These names / brands aren't going to be as relative to guests in ten years time as they are to the guests at the parks today, so in this respect the thinking is very short term and quick fix Of course the long term solution is taking the time to create something individual

Thanks for the heads up Sean, i've labeled each photo to say which park its at, i've also uploaded a short clip of the backwards Wave Swinger at Djurs http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ygPtvnNYiZY

Just returned from a visit to Scandinavia, we started with an afternoon in Sweden, like you do, before sailing to Denmark for Lynet and Piraten Balder beckoned, so first up was Liseberg, the park opened at 1pm, there were lots of school kids queuing up outside the gates waiting to get in, the park was very crowded, the longest wait was half an hour for Kanonen, which still rides like a small train wreck, the transitions are a little too tight and there are some nasty jolts The log flume was welcoming in the glorious sunshine, the final triple drop of doom is very unnerving, we had just over 4 hours in the park, as we'd visited before it was plenty of time to get on most of the rides at least once, if you've never visited Liseberg before I’d definitely recommend a lot longer in the park Leaving Liseberg behind we sailed across to Frederikshavn in Denmark, up bright and early the next morning we took a train to Lindholm, then the bus to Farup We found using public transport relatively easy to get around, detailed timetables and prices are available on the DSB's Website Farup is a neat collection of well chosen rides set largely amongst the trees, there's also horse riding, shooting, assault courses and a water park included in the admission, the water park was fantastic despite the freezing water and slightly cold temperatures we braved the concrete slides which meandered down the hillside, they also had a bowl slide, insanely fast racing slope down hill thing and a wave pool For the next couple of nights we stayed in Aarhus as it was a nice base for transport to Djurs and the Airport for the return flight back to the UK, Aarhus is home to Tivoli Friheden, unfortunately the park wasn't open on our visit, but they're building a new compact inverted coaster, so definitely worth checking out for anybody who's thinking of visiting the region We stayed in hotels belonging to the Scandic Hotels chain as the rooms were a good standard, all their hotels offer free breakfast buffet and free wireless internet access, they were in convenient locations for using the local transport, as we didn't have a hire car Djurs was the last park we visited, like Farup it had a lot of extras included in the admission price including a water park, dune buggies, go-karts, mini golf and of course a shooting range! Piraten is a great little hyper, the first helix is very forceful, the airtime kicks in from the third hill onwards. Overall I'm really impressed by both parks and would recommend the experience to everyone [Djurs] Like divv and tom we also found the spunk candy - also notice the friendly engineer sat at the top of piraten's lift [Djurs] the wave swinger was running backwards! yes backwards! [Djurs] Tarzanland assault course was like something from a Japanese game show [Djurs] Djurs peddle kart things were crazy [Djurs] the operate yourself racing wet/dry racing slides had no staff anywhere - help yourself to a boat and press the button to lift the raft onto the slide yourself! [Djurs] Piraten is a great coaster for Denmark, sure it'll be very sucessful for the park [Farup] Farup's aqualand featured concrete slides of death down the hillside [Farup] Falken was a wee bit slow though very enjoyable [Farup] Lynet is a very punchy ride, the bunny hill and zero g have insane amounts of airtime [Farup] notice the workman still building the queue line, by the end of the day they'd built a hand rail and added some themeing to the inside parts of the queue and station [Farup] never trust a Squirrel with your chip and pin number the exotic ferry crossing from Gothenburg to Frederikshavn took 3 hours and cost $22 [Liseberg] the corner of joy [Liseberg] Soarin' over Gothenburg [Liseberg] Lisebergbanana was running as fierce as ever [Liseberg] we only had just over 4 hours in Liseberg, despite the busy crowds, we managed to get on everything at least once and a few re-rides on Balder

Fantastic TR, just returned from Liseberg/Farup/Djurs myself really impressed by those parks, as you've mentioned the sommerlands aren't just about the rides, there's lots of distractions, such as shooting ranges, assault courses and trampolines which are just a complete giggle and something a little different to your usual amusement park Did you manage to get inside the ship themed fun house at Bakken?

Wow! spectacular photography, just simply amazing! Are many of the rides open for the winter event?

Who would have thought the group that owns Boomers would buy Kennywood it's a huge shock! I really agree with olimonn's point, whether you like or dislike Parques Reunidos existing collection of theme parks you can't deny that they are all individual, since acquiring its current parks it hasn't tried to make them the same or install the same rides, therefore I don't think we have to be too worried about the new owners destroying any of Kennywoods charm or originality This is because Parques Reunidos realises the importance of the local knowledge and will leave the existing management team to carry on what they were already doing, as it has with their other attractions

(part two) Anyone who's visited Tivoli Gardens will know what a remarkable place it is, there's no real defined pathways or midways like a standard amusement park, it feels very open and free flowing around the beautiful landscaped grounds creating a sense of a true escape At night when the lights illuminate the gardens it feels truly magical, even more so at this festive time of year. Christmas in Tivoli is an amazing event that makes the fantasy of this urban oasis extra special . . . hmm don't think I'll buy any shoes from here Spot the amusement park, Copenhagen is welcomingly a very low rise city No visit to Copenhagen is complete without passing through the "Seaman's Quarter" Melting ice rink in one of the city squares was half a circle (the other half had melted) Outside the palace the royal family play human checkers with their guards The royal guards march to McDonalds Camping indoors was great, there were even creatures on the walls to keep us company We stayed at Hotel Fox our bed was inside this tent Pagoda looks even more special with the extra Christmas lights around it Night show on the lake with smoke, music, fountains, lights and lazers The lake at night, the building on the water houses a micro brewery and restaurant

We visited Tivoli Gardens Copenhagen for a winter fix of adrenaline to cure the closed season blues. The park is currently open for its annual Christmas in Tivoli event, where 70 stalls, over 5 miles of special lights and an entire forest of Christmas trees transform this already magical amusement park into a festive wonderland Despite the December temperatures all the rides are open to warm the hearts with Tivoli's unique brand of nostalgic charm and amusement The very grand main entrance arches, Tivoli charges an admission fee to enter the grounds of 79 Danish Kroner (about $15) Chinese Lantern, a violent spinning junior tower ride, one of 3 extra rides they bring in for the event, was better than the S&S tower Dæmonen was running great, with a great bear impression first drop and triple inversion assault, there was no line so we got a few front row rides, though its better at the back Classic fun house with its "contraptions of death" was a huge laugh as always Equal opportunities in Denmark, the Rutschebanen scenic railway had both a brakeman and a brakewoman This construction wall is shaped like the building that’s being refurbished behind it . . . and coax the genitals back out after they retreated inside becoming internal organs due to the ridiculously cold conditions the star flyer is operating in! After a 200ft up freezing spin it is necessary to warm the hands on one of the many open coal fires around the park . . . Star Flyer is still open despite the freezing winds The many fountains around the park have been drained and covered over with Christmas tree branches and decorations or in this case, a zeirer wave swinger with those funky new double seats Main stage is transformed into a meet Santa photo opportunity Inside random winter land, the park goes to a lot of effort with its Christmas attractions Inside the blue marquee is a series of winter animatronic scenes which you can either walk through, or ride through on the Pixie Train Once inside the park you can then either pay per ride or buy a Turpas unlimited wristband for 200DKK ($40)

I can't believe they've removed the loop, Son of Beast was just an uncomfortable from start to finish, largely not helped by those tank-like trains Slowing down into the midcourse brakes, provided a chance to realise just how crazy the next part was going to be, the loop was a much awaited breather from the constant jolting from side to side and actually the only enjoyable part of the ride, the ride has lost its only selling point and seems a bit pointless now

Had a great time at PortAventura's Navidad event last week, work on Furious Baco is progressing well, quite a lot of the track work is in place ^ the station / launch area ^ the inline twist is looking insane There's also a section of track which features the signature intamin change in direction move, as used in Expedition GeForce The footers are ready for the part that will fly over the lake, i guess they're waiting untill the season ends in January to drain the lake and finish this part of the coaster when the park is closed to guests It's all looking very positive, i just hope this ride will achieve the predicted throughput as it sits at the very front of the park

Just to echo everybodys thoughts, it is shame to loose another seaside park In recent years the real estate value of seaside parks has forced the closure of parks in Scarborough, Morecambe and Margate, all demolished to pave the way for grand new mixed use leisure and residential schemes billed to update the ailing tourism offerings of the historic coastal resorts Yet none of these schemes have delivered, all thats left is big holes in what were still attracting at least some visitors and money into the local economy, it seems nobody has learned any lessons from this and Southport will now make the same mistake

Wow nice to see an Abc Rides Tilt Tower has finally appeared at a park, certainly looks a little crazy

I won a competition to ride Cobra before its official opening on 18th March, so on Wednesday morning we ventured to an empty Paultons Park, it was quite surreal walking through the park with everything closed, and this roller coaster running just for ourselves The park is beautiful there’s some exceptional landscaping, a great collection of wildlife and although the rides aren’t themed everything is really tidy and smartly presented and very spaced out, I’m sure even when the park is busy in the summer it must feel very relaxing to visit Photos from the day Cobra is a fantastic family coaster, I’m not sure if the lift had been slowed, we were at the top fairly quickly, the first swooping drop is amazing, and the wild mouse style hairpins that follow are very smooth, all the transition on this ride are done very gracefully and gently which make it perfect for the family audience, it’s just a lot of fun with no hype, intimidation or fuss

I totally agree four launched coasters are really going to guzzle lots of power juice Possibly the ride is to have it’s launch system upgraded the FoF coasters were the very first LIM launches from Premier, sure the technology has been more refined since they were introduced and they can power them more efficiently now Or perhaps the launch system is been redesigned completely replacing the LIM with a ultra cost efficient hydraulic option Either way it’s a good time for the park to close the ride for whatever refurbishment is going to happen, with the new Italian Job launched coaster to take the attention, the absence of FoF for the general guests may be less noticeable and less of a disappointment