MrMorgan

Hehehe. I get it. I love how, in this pic, Ben looks like he's thinking, "OK, I really need to get away from these people and hang out with some normal TPR'rs. And they would be...."

Your photo captions are hilhairyass. I've laughed at just about every one now. Dorothy and Toto are still in line for Griffon.... Thanks for posting! Morgan "now I understand there is such a thing as a non-coaster riding coaster enthusiast" O'Brien

I think it's great that the sight is so awesome, (being a contributor and everything ) that even a non-coaster enthusiast likes to hang out here!

Knightmare has GOT to be better than Raging Spirits. Anyone else thing the trains look very similar to the Ultimate trains?

These "cauldron" styled boats, while really cool looking, don't allow for much wetness. The boat are also reticulated, so the water is channelled along the division toward the center. Only the couple of people sitting on either side of the channel get wet. Personally, I prefer a lower profiled seat, so that a splash down produces a massive wave that soaks everyone on that side of the boat. It's much more fun that way. That's a good point, Ron. With those major drops, you'd think we would've gotten wetter, but because the sides were so tall, it deflected everything. The only time we actually got some splash action was when a huge spout came up through the hole in the middle of the boat!

Well, I've just spent about 2 hours reading thru this whole trip report and have found it thouroughly enjoyable. Some things stick out in my head. I never knew that Shivering Timbers had that section of trick track! The ride always looks so impressive in photos. It's too bad Michigan's Adventure is so far away from anything else. I agree with you about Excalibur at Valleyfair. It's like the touristy restaraunt in a small downtown area: you won't see any locals there. Isn't it sad when you look at rides that are being built today on footprints much smaller than Excalibur's, that are so much more fun and re-rideable? Alas, I will always consider Valleyfair my home park, since I lived in MN until I was 18. One last question, is your brother Ed?

Hi Ed! No, I didn't grow any extra limbs, but I did grow a few extra pounds on my gut after eating free fries with mayo and ice cream all day long. Does that count? First off, you're so nasty, but I love it. And B, I've never heard any mention of that echo chamber at Disneyland. Are we talking like, original attraction, or how old is this? Sounds like a great idea. How did it work? Thanks! Yes, it's really real and I've seen it with my own eyes. I remember reading about it in ACE news or something several years ago, too, and I had completely forgotten about it. And no, we saw no 3 eyed fish. But, we weren't looking so that doesn't rule out the possibility of there actual presence. Kernie's is about 2 hours from D'Efteling. It's not that far on a map, but you have to go thru small winding dorf roads to get there. We didn't climb the reactor because it was an upcharge AND it was basically pouring rain the whole day, which I would assume would make it somewhat diffucult! Yes, and Pegasus is not very good at D'Efteling, I agree. But I don't think re-tracking it would add any airtime. The design is not built for airtime. It's supposed to be a light-hearted family ride with not very steep drops and not much speed, which I guess it pretty much is. It's just too bad it's so shaky and fish-taily. Broo-chey! I had to think of you while seeing the Zamperla signs everywhere. That coaster is fast for a 3rd-railer, but I was suprised; it's also very rough! We kept getting slammed from side to side in the transitions. I don't know if it would be worth it to stop there on the trip in 2008. Except for the free food and the fact to be able to say "I was at that park in a nuclear power plant", there's no real coaster or dark-ride worth noting and it's kind of far out of the way. We'll see what they decide!?!

Next stop D'Efteling Let me start by saying, I really love this park. It matches BGW for beautiful gardens and landscaping, and the themeing is overall pretty fantastic. Vliegende Hollander is EXTREMELY cool, as are all the other themed dark rides and coasters. MY only beefs (2) about the park would be 1) it's sooo spread out, it takes forever to get from one area to the next. Luckily, you're walking through beautiful gardens, over bridges, and through dense forests to get there, and B) the food service was overall extremely slow. We waited almost 20 minutes for a slice of pizza when there were only 2 people in front of us in the line. No joke. On to the pics and video. VH_0001.wmv This is the outside part of Vliegende Hollander. Like I said, as a coaster it's just so so, but the whole thing alltogether is fantasticcissimo. I didn't take my camera in the ride because the inside part is really dark, (and just in case I didn't mention it, really cool and suprising). And for the last pic, me and Markus and the pretty Dutch sunset. By the way, for anyone on the Mini-Europe Trip, Markus is the guy that donated the rain ponchos. If you want to send him a thank you email, PM me and I'll give you his address:) Perty. Here's the camelback on the outside coaster portion. Now, don't get me wrong, Vliegende Hollander is not an extreme thrill ride. The coastery part itself is only so-so, but the overall package with the theming and the indoor dark part is at least Disney level. Seriously. Giggety, it says zit. Teetle heheee. This room of the que was themed like a pub. Too bad they weren't serving because we would have been loyal customers. In this underground passageway, you hear the pirates pillaging the town above you and see the flames pass down the street. It's even in smellovision! Here's some theming in the que. And here it is, the aqua coaster dark ride 2 years in the making; Vleigende Hollander. I have to say, we were completely blown away by this ride! The theming is amazing! For you vertical loop fanboys, (you know who you are). First drop. They also have the Python; a Vekoma double loop and corkscrew coaster with the fancy schmancy trains from Kumbak. If you don't want to wait 20 minutes for a piece of pizza, you can always get food from one of these traditional gigantic vending machines. It's filled with fried sausages and cheezy things and stuff. This random Dutch guy just burned his fingers going for a Mexico Roll. Beleive it or not, there IS a coaster in this shot. It's the Bobbaan; a single car bob coaster. It's so surrounded by trees that this is seriously the best shot I could get. Behind this giant bird is a kick-ass indoor coaster called Vogel Rok. It was one of the first coasters, (if not THE first), with an onboard soundsystem and it's own soundtrack. It's pretty short, but way more intense than Space Mountain at WDW. We loved it. More Festival freakiness. They have a "Small World" type dark ride called Karnaval Festival. Here is one of the trippy scenes inside. It's too bad you can't hear the extremely annoying song that runs throughout the ride continuously. See at night? See again? See? p.s. Is it just me, or is that statue in the foreground somewhat erotically strange? This is the parks only woodie. It's basically an overgrown junior woodie with full-size trains. The lapbars are T-bars, and because the trains shimmy and fishtail so much during the ride, you bruise the inside of your legs and knees. I couldn't beleive that such a small coaster with drops at 15 degree angles could be so unpleasant. Too bad, cuz it's really pretty to look at. The trademark lookout tower. Stinky, non appetite making fish. Pretty, non passing boats The Piranha is a great old school raft ride. How many boats can fit into one area? We got passed on our ride! Next to Droomflucht is the Villa Volta. It's a "witches swing" (or whatever the generic name for that is) ride with a long; double room pre-show complete with animatronics and projections and stuff. Inside here is the world renowned Droomvlucht dark ride. It ends with a 3 story downward helix into a swamp filled with half naked elfs. Yes, you read that right. This is the entrance plaza to the Fata Morgana boat ride. It's cool to have a fun dark ride almost named after me. The ride itself has some great effects, but you don't really "float" thru it like you do on Pirates, for example. This is the amazing entrance building. I'm not a Trekkie, but I swear something about it looks very "Klingon" like, doesn't it?

Guten Tag. Last weekend, I continued my "Summer of Credit Collecting and Whoring" with a weekend trip to Kernie's Wunderland and D'Efteling. Kernie's Wunderland This is it folks, the real life "park at a nuclear power plant". You've heard the rumors, now see it for yourself. This plant was never actually in operation, and in 1995 it was turned into a resort destination with rides, hotels, nightclubs, sport facilities, and so on. At the amusement park, you pay one price at the gate, and you gain entrance to all the rides, PLUS FREE soft drinks, french fries, and ICE CREAM. I'm not kidding, free ice cream, all day long, throughout the park. It's like a fatty's dream or a diabetics nightmare. We only visited the amusement park part of it. Here's some pics and videos. Free Ice Cream.wmv Here's a video of how the free ice cream machine works. And last but by no means least, did I mention that they have free ice cream? They had a small museum where you could learn about the history of the park, and how nuclear power plants work. Yes, you can play tennis at Kernie's, too. Imagine being at a park with some friends and the plan being "OK, while you guys ride the flume, we're going to go play some mixed doubles." They had several upcharge attractions in the park part, including these dragsters. I really wanted to try it, but A) they were closed because of the rain, and 2) I also thought, "why pay 12Euros for basically the first 4 seconds of Desert Race or Rita or Xcellerator without the coaster afterwards?" Echo_0001.wmv Inside the coolant tower is a huge echo chamber. Check it out. In the "basement" of the tower, (where the nuclear stuff was to be cooled), is now a giant playground and a lazy river like attraction thru which you ride bumber boats. See, look! Climbing stuff. This is the old coolant tower. You can climb all the way up to the top for a small extra fee. It's really REALLY tall! ...and a carousel. More flat rides... One of the 2,000 kiddie falt rides at Kernie's. What's up, Bruno! Achterbah at Kernie's.wmv POV of one circuit on the Kernie's Achterbahn. Achterbahn thru the trees... bushes... whatever. The 2 most thrilling attractions: Wildwasserbahn flume ride and the third railer coaster Achterbahn. They're not very creative with names at Kernie's. Translated, those names are basically "log flume" and "rollercoaster". Here's a list of all the rides and upcharge attractions. They had a character show in this huge theater. We didn't get the chance to see it, but the kids sure seemed to love it. The entrance sign in the parking lot. Here's the remains of the actual power plant building. It's been gutted for all the valuable parts.

Thanks Dave. Yes, I was proud to feature you taking a dive. It could have been so much worse and we're all glad there were no serious injuries. Imagine ending the trip with a broken wrist or something... And I agree with you, the rapids ride at Phantasialand owns all other! Can anyone compare it to Grizzly River Run, (is that what it's called), at DCL? Similarities?

Larry's got midget legs Funny coming from the only guys shorter than me on the trip It does look quite amusing. My legs are extended outward in the proper riding position for a Top Spin. Morgan - I love that the video at Toverland on The Triage Triangle has me almost wiping out that little kid and Dave Lawrence almost wiping out everybody. Thanks for the kudos on my video. And sorry that I couldn't remember your name. After I posted, it came to me, but it was too late to go back and edit. Those are my 2 favorite clips of the Triage Triangle. I filmed for about 20 minutes, and those are 2 of the highlights. You have total spiderman like reflexes when you're about to clobber that toddler. I'm amazed. And last, but not least, I know your legs aren't actually 3 inches long, and coming from another shorty, you should know I would by no means make fun of shortness. I just thought it looked hilarious that from that angle, it looks like you have tiny little Chucky legs. By they way, I think I'm taller than you! hehehe.

I think we've scared the creator of this thread away already! Anyways, I'm sorry to beat a dead horse, but the attitude of "I made a mistake and now it's someone elses responsibilty to rectify it because I can't take care of myself/ my family/ my hot coffee/ etc." is unfortunately a very typical American attitude. I talked about it with many people on the Mini Europe Trip; about how a lot of the fun things we have here in our parks would never fly in the USA because someone would hurt themselves being irresponsible and then take that exact attitude. And you can blame the American "media" for keeping everybody in a heightened state of panic. I swear, the last time I was home, the headline story of our local news in St. Paul was "Shopping carts. What the grocery stores don't want you to know could cost you your life. Get the shocking details tonight at 10." I mean, come ON!?! VicP., welcome to TPR. Don't get scared away because people tell the truth here. I think, despite some harsh words, several people have made some good suggestions on how to better deal with, and perhaps avoid, this situation in the future.

The only B&M inverts I've ridden besides a few of the Batman clones are Nemesis and Raptor, and, even though in my book Nemesis is really awesome, something about Black Mamba makes it my favorite. I think it's the themeing. Maybe if I had the chance to ride Nemesis again, as well as Montu or Katun, I would think differently. Oh, and I have to say that Ex G-Force has fallen quite a ways in my book after riding it recently. The first half is still top-notch, but after the first trim brake, it really loses something. I was sad. I mean, you can't beat that first drop, as far as I'm concerned, but when you almost get whiplash from a trim while coasting downhill, something's not quite right. Morgan "Geez, nobody's perfect. What's with the mobbing? Where's the love?" O'Brien

I'm really bad with names. The guy sitting to our left of James, (not Rich, the other side), looks like his legs are like 3 inches long! Anyhoo. Below you will find my Phantasialand and Toverland Video. Please enjoy and comment as you feel necessary. It's mostly park showcasing and not a lot of "look at us having fun", (which I tend to like), but there are some interesting tidbits. And just to clear this up, I know they were adement about not allowing cameras on Troy. I had my camera in my hand while loading onto Boosterbike because I was filming the train arriving in the station. As I was loading, I was trying to pack it up and set it on the side really fast when the ride operator told me "You can take it with you if you want." I just wanted to post that before anyone gets huffy about me having taken a POV video. Enjoy! Phantasia und Tover Land.zip MrMorgan's Phantasia and Tover Land Video Phantasia und Tover Land.wmv MrMorgan's Phantasia and Tover Land Video.

Hey JimmyBo, great thread with all the pics and videos. It's so much more enjoyable checking out the sight now that I actually know some of the people in the pics and stuff. A few things: That galaxy at Tibidabo looks like it's a side friction coaster. When Rich is getting his splinter removed, it almost looks like he's getting a manicure. I would have been seriously freaked out approaching the lift when there's another train on it! But, I would have also seriously been counting the cash I would make selling my video footage to CNN and the AP... What video program do you use that lets you do a window in window like when Jeff is talking about all the credits?

Ohhh, this PTR so makes me want to go with on the Korean Trip! Great pics. I've always been very intruiged by Atlantis Adventure. I just rode Fliegende Hollander at D'Efteling for the first time this weekend and was once again convinced that watercoasters with great theming are always a hit!

Great shots, Simon! I have to say, I was always wondering why you were using the camera you were. As embarassing as it sounds, I was thinking "Wow, I guess they don't pay much at the BBC." Sorry! Now that I know the true reason, I think it's awesome. I'm proud to say I was there when many of these shots were taken and look forward to more from any other trips. What a great idea...

Hanno. Awesome AWESOME photos. I think Robb and Elissa should let you come on the next trip for free just for the great pics you take of everyone! It's so nice to have some pics of me that aren't like steril, "hey, will you take a picture with my camera" pics. Know what I mean? I could've paid a fortune for on-ride photos, or just wait for the Hanno update. Thanks sooooo much.

Unfortunately, I watched a cycle first, but it still is a shocking feeling; even when you know what's coming. By the way, I think it's really funny that no one's telling what it really does. It's like guarding a deep dark secret. Teetle!

As the un-official official translator of the German part of the Mini-Europe Trip, I feel compelled to answer this question G'Sengste Sau geh ZENGS steh Sauw It means "burning mad pig" in a strange, southern German kind of slang.

Holy shite, great pics! You got lots of great action with that super-long zoom lense of yours! It's so strange to see myself in pics posted by someone else... More, more, moooooore!

It's actually not that bad at all. It was very scary the first time because you just don't have any idea what it's going to be like. The impact isn't really that hard, I think mostly because you're going so fast in a forward direction. I remember building sledding jumps at the bottom of hills when I was a kid so that you'd fly off the jump, get massive air, and then land on flat land with basically no momentum. THAT hurts. The Boat Jump thing is slightly jarring, but not painful, and all in all a whole lot of fun.

You know, one thing I loved about Superman at Warner is it's one of very few, (wait are there any others?), B&M superloopers with a "straight forward" drop. Twisting is fun, but you can't beat a great big drop straight ahead. Anyone else share this opinion? And, I just remembered that the very first video I ever posted on the sight was from my Spain trip back in 2004. I re-posted a streaming version for anyone who's interested. Those of you who met me on the Mini-Europe Trip will be interested to see what I looked like when I had a small enough forhead to actually style my hair. Teetle. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=169395

Well that makes me feel slightly better about missing TM last year However i do wonder is White Canyon the worst so far? OK, call me crazy, (or if you're Robb Alvey, call me crazy AGAIN), but I LIKED White Canyon. We marathon rode it the whole day I was there and had a blast. It was rough, but "fun" rough and not "jackhammer vibrator" rough. I've heard lots of people slamming this coaster and I think maybe we just got a good day or something. The only other 2 I've ridden are Bandit and Coaster Express. Coaster Express WAS terrible "jackhammer vibrator" rough. Bandit was great in it's first season with the original trains and just got worse after that. PS: 300th post!

Hey! I like your comparison Black Mamba=Groundhog. I can't tell you how many times I got my video camera out to shoot some footage, and then when they train came, it was from the opposite direction as I was pointing my camera. Know what I mean? I swear, Black Mamba can change directions just to fool you.