Coaster Palooza

Congratulations on 700 Mike!

It's great to see a Trip Report from both of you! Thanks for the info on the Goldbot/flashpass, etc.

Great report on Knoebel's! It is one of my favorite parks also. We have only been there once though. I'm looking forward to breaking in the Big Mike hotel as its inaugural visitor.

^^I did the same thing after I guessed 9. I PM'd Mike and told him I found the 10th one, but I already guessed. He made his post about putting in another guess and deleting your previous one. Maybe we can PM him and also write something nice about his TR because I think the King of self-promotion would like some replies! The one that I kept missing was the Great Bear duck as well.

Hey Mike, I am going with 10 now. I have found my way. I tried to delete my post, but I don't have a delete button when I click on it. There must be some way, but I am stoopid...

DELETE POST!!!!

^I'm glad to see you received the reservation. I am looking forward to September. As you know, the Coaster Palooza hotel will return the favor a couple of weeks later! We are just waiting on your reservation...

^I agree that this is a shame. I remember my Grandpa taking us to Tiger stadium on Willie Horton bat day. I was only 3, but the memory is still there. I still have the bat too! When they remodeled Tiger stadium, my Grandpa got each one of us boys a chair from the box seats. I still have the chair also!

Big Mike, you're one in a million! The contest sounds like a great idea.

My wife and I have gone 3 times together. We went twice the week after Thanksgiving (one of those included Thanksgiving). I was told, from park people, that the time was a "dead" week at the parks. It was as dead as it could get! On our third trip, we went on New Year's and the following week. It wasn't that crowded, but the week after Thanksgiving was better. The next time we go, it will be the week after Thanksgiving again. I hope this helps.

^^Way to go with the new job Kevin! I don't work too far from you. If you need another "taster" for the beer, give me a call.

^ & ^^^^I believe that both of my links that I posted do cover the animal areas. We fed the Giraffes, watched the Tiger show, stopped by the elephants, and saw most of the animals along with taking pictures the whole way I also show a little bit of Thomas Town and Tava's Jungleland. We don't have kids, so we usually don't go into the kiddie area. I did take my neices in there a couple of years ago and had a blast.

My tips would be very similar to what everyone is posting. Make sure you get there before 9:30am. I have been there before when they open up the area around Medusa at 9:30am. That helped us knock out that side before 10am. Check all shows first. The Sea Lion show is usually an early one. Plan on Lunch either after or before this. Once the ropes drop at 10, ride Roar, then Tony Hawk and V2. It is all in the same area. Head over to Medusa's area and ride Kong (if you want/need to). Then ride Medusa and, as you're walking out of the area, ride Cobra. At this point, you might need to see a show or go to the kiddie area. There is a roller coaster over there as well. Below are a couple of links to my Trip Reports for this year. March 3 http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42498&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20 May 23 & June 7 This page actually has 2 Trip Reports in it. One is with my neices. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42498&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=90 I hope this helped! Have a great time.

^Thanks for the comments Scott! I'm glad you received the postcards. Nice cat BTW! Sorry about the Eiffel Tower stamp. We did ask where we should go to get the stamp. Unfortunately we must have asked the wrong French person. ^^Thanks Mike for the comments. It took a while to go through over 1200 photos and come up with the ones that I posted here. I didn't want to bore everyone to tears. I appreciate all the replies and comments! I know this wasn't one of your "normal" amusement park Trip Reports. Thanks for putting up with our sight seeing. I know it can't be easy to look at some of the photos without being there.

Hi Guys, I haven't posted in a while. Here are the photos from our London and Paris trip. I hope you enjoy them! My last beer in London was a Fuller's with fish and chips. That is all for now! we finished our crawl at the Duke of York. Next place was the Albert... This was during our fun pub crawl. We started at The Sanctuary House. I think you can see what beer I am drinking here! Another beer at the HRC before we took the train back to London. We had a drink at the No Stress Cafe in Paris as well. The wings are always good there. Robb's are better though. We hit the HRC in Paris also. I had a Guinness at the pub too. This was my favorite pub of the trip. It is called the Allsop and it was across the street from the hotel. I think I "tried" all the beers. This one was the 1664. We threw back a couple of Ales at the Sherlock Holmes Pub. Sherlock Holmes Ale Our free beer for being Americans and celebrating Independence Day in London! Hard Rock Cafe in Lodon! I know it is terrible, but it is a free beer.

July 12th This is our final day because we leave the following morning. The tour for today was Windsor Castle, Oxford University, and Stonehenge. We saw the changing of the guards at Windsor Castle. Unfortunately the fire alarm went off in the main castle and that cut into our time walking around the inside of it. We couldn’t take any photos or videos inside anyway, but we would have liked to look around a little bit more. Oxford University was so busy. It is actually made up of multiple universities and not just “one” Oxford University. I didn’t know that. Our guide took us around and showed us the neat things about Oxford. We finally had a pastie on the trip too. I make them back home and I was wondering what the actual “English” version would taste like. It was great! The tour continued to Stonehenge. I have always wanted to see this and find out what the hub-bub was all about. It was amazing to see. I can’t believe this was actually started in 3000 BC. You can form your own opinion about it, I have mine now. July 13th Fly home…I guess that is it! I hope you enjoyed it. Don't know where we're headed next, but I will update this thread once we go there... That's it from England. I don't know where we're headed next, but I will be sure to update this thread when that happens. Have a great summer and coaster season! Gotta make a phone call from the red phone booth. I think this was a Fuller's beer. Gyendolynne had toads in a blanket. Our last day and I finally had fish and chips! The last local London brewery. I hoisted a couple in their honor! A rainbow. That must be that it is either raining or it had been raining, naturally, we're headed back to London! More mounds in the area. There are those goofy kids again! This is the North rock that would provide the people direction as they were bringing the stones up from below. A better view. There is a rock on the opposite side signifying the winter solstice. This stone is set to the summer solstice. I believe it was built by the sun/stars/moon. There are many mounds around the area that are burial sites. I believe the "moat" around it was supposed to be filled with more stones... They had a recording that you can listen to about the legend of Stonehenge. They say the stones were brought through this opening up to the area. There's the 2 of us again... More incredible was their placement. One-third of the stone is actually in the ground! It was incredible that the stones were put together with mortis and tendon joints. My theory on Stonehenge is that it was made for Pagan rituals. The 2 stones all the way to the left look like snake heads to me. It was made in 3000 BC, so the creativity wasn't much more than a few carvings. I'm sure many of you might have your theories as well. Enjoy! Well what do you know? We made it to Stonehenge. They can last 20-30 years! I think... These Thatched roofs were very interesting... The following photos are the views on the way to Stonehenge. That's all from Oxford... The cemetary around the Martyrs. mmmm.... These are pasties. My mom's side of the family is from England. We make these and I was looking forward to eating one while I was over there. These Oak doors are centuries old. This is the Library area. Each door has a different section. I believe this one was Science and Math. The following photos are great views from Oxford. This monument was made for the 4 priests (Martyrs) that came to Oxford and established it. I think. If I am wrong, sorry, but I never claimed to be smart. It is all I can remember. Too many roller coaster facts in my head to add any history. We're in Oxford! That's the view of the castle from the freeway. We couldn't believe how small the streets were. I don't know, some random train. time to hustle through Windsor to our bus. Our tour is over... This is the view from up there. The queen lives over in that part of the castle. This is the church at Windsor Castle. The flag has yellow on it. That means the queen is there. Well we're here for the changing of the guards too! Let's see what's going on over here. The queen lives there. They say that she calls Buckingham Palace her office, but this is her home. That makes sense... Wow! Here we are at Windsor Castle.

http://www.coasterfanatics.com/sec_forum/default.asp This is Ted's website. He is a forum member too. His screen name is CoasterFanatic. You can also click on the box and that will direct you to someone's ridelist, which will also put you at the Coaster Fanatics website.

July 11th Back in London! Our tour today was to Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, and a little tour around the West End of London. Aside from a little rain...yep we’re back in London, it was a neat tour. The changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace was different. Our tour guide took us to 3 different stops to show it to us. We ended the day with a little pub crawl. Final stop, the Duke of York. I was thinking that the BACT team would be proud of the 3 pubs. I think that if Derek, Heath, and Kevin were here, that we would have "crawled" to a few more. The final update will have Windsor Castle, Oxford University, and Stonehenge. I hope you enjoyed this! Second stop, the Albert. The start of our pub crawl. First stop, Sanctuary House. This is the Westminster Abbey church. There were services going on also. Pariliament Big Ben, once again! I think Terry would be going crazy with all the statues and monuments... We walked through White Hill and started to explore the West End. The horse was getting upset because people would jump out into the street to get a "good" picture. The police kept telling them to get back, even to the point where someone asked, "do you want us off the street?" No, we don't, that's why we're screaming it! They were going up to relieve the "old" guard. Just for some proof that we were there. Buckingham Palace! The lady with the yellow umbrella was our tour guide. I called her Mary Poppins. Insert National Lampoon's Animal House quote here... Here they come! The video turned out rather well. We saw the changing of the Guards. This was our first spot. We went to 3 different areas to see it. Our next stop was Buckingham Palace. No pictures or video are allowed inside. We had a guided tour through. Even with our hotel room, and bathroom, we don't look any worse for wear, do we? We're at Saint Paul's Cathedral. Next tip, make sure you get a bathroom that is bigger than this! I couldn't believe that the shower floor only had a "lip" before the floor of the bathroom. It is a learning experience, so learn from my mistake. Gyendolynne was a trooper! Random hotel picture. Decorated nicely, but I don't know if it is all that great inside...

^^Erik, it should be easy to get there, as Matt explains, there are a number of ways. ^^^I can't believe I missed out on the post office of the Eiffel Tower! We asked people while we were there where we can mail postcards from to get the stamp. They directed us to that box! The French make me so mad sometimes. Now I totally feel stupid. ^Thanks for reading the report and posting Matt!

^Hey Kyle, We did everything through public transportation as well, except for the tours. I would definitely do the hop on/hop off tours again, especially in Paris. I don’t read or speak french. The tours helped out quite a bit. Since we booked a couple of other tours (London Eye, Saint Paul's Cathedral, etc.) through AAA, we were given a free hop on/hop off tour in London. It also comes with a cruise on the River Thames. I think we could have gotten around through the underground quite easy as well. It was great to be on the top of the tour bus for the views though. I would do at least one day of hop on/hop off to get adjusted, then I would travel through the tube. If you are doing really good, take the doubledecker bus. I wouldn't be going that good. When Gyendolynne was in Amsterdam, she did a hop on/hop off tour and really liked it too.

^^Hey Melissa, I hope you have as good of a time as we did. If you're sight seeing, my advice would be to get your tour tickets before you go. The exchange rate out there is terrible. The other tip, which was probably the best one, is to get to the Tower of London by 9am to see the Crown Jewels. The beefeater tours start at 10, but you'll be able to see the jewels before the tour. This will save a lot of time once everyone else gets there. Have a great time! If you have any questions, please let me know.

July 10th We did more sight seeing today with our Hop on Hop off tour. This time we would get out at Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel tower for some up close photos. Our tickets had us leaving Paris in the evening on Euro Star to go back to London. The coach we were in though was totally hot. No one could stand it and we sat on a seat in between the cars of the train. A little different, but hey when in Rome…or Paris, or London, you get the picture! When we got on the train, our car had no air in it. They were giving away free water, but we couldn't stand it anymore. We sat in between two of the cars. The air was better there. I am having a beef jerkey and a beer. Back to London for our last 2 days. The train station was so hot that I had to put ice on my head to cool off. Back to our hotel. Some things I just find amusing. There are some great flower, and fruits and vegetable stores in Paris. The HRC tip bell looks like it has been worked a little bit. I wonder if the bell at Legend at Holiday World has the same chips? We made one final stop at HRC for lunch before getting back to our hotel and heading to the train station. A Gap store, in Paris...Why? They also had a STRONG military presence there. Scott (BeemerBoy), here is your postcard. Did it make it? Does it have an Eiffel Tower Stamp? Big Mike, did your postcards that you mailed have the stamp? Did you mail them from this mailbox, or the one on the other side? Is there another mailbox? So many questions... Alright, now for the moment you all have been waiting for. The mailing of the postcards! There is a mailbox beneath the Eiffel Tower. Legend has it, that it has an Eiffel Tower stamp. Must...Get...Artsy...Photo.... Man, this place was crowded. We didn't walk up the steps like our hero Big Mike did though. well that's a dead give-away! back on the bus...to where? Hi Gyendolynne! I'm here too! The next set of photos are brought to you by Gyendolynne. I hope you enjoy! Unknown soldier, everlasting flame... After wandering around like an idiot, we found where to go under the road. It is a tunnel! Hooray for us! Hey, that's us! We got off at Arc de Triomphe. I know I have seen this somewhere before, on someone else's trip report... The River Seine We're here again waiting for another 10-15 minutes while our driver is boarding people. The driver behind us got so mad, he came out and kept pounding on the back of the bus to get going. This affected our overall time to the sites we wanted to get out and walk through. Here is that building that looks like it had a couple of shots to it. There is one up a little higher on the left. I am not saying this for certain, it is just a guess. yep, Notre Dame! I think I know what that building is... Across the River Seine...again. If you look through here, you can see Arc de Triomphe in perfect line with this. Yes I know, I have said this before... This is a hop on-hop off spot, but our driver stayed here for around 20 minutes! The next bus had already pulled in. We wish we would have known because we wanted a neat picture in front of the following picture's structure. Oh well... You enter through one of those archways to get into the Louvre. It is pretty cool to see a bus squeeze inside. We are entering the Louvre again. This street leads up to the Opera. We are driving away from it. Well that's me with the side of the Opera building behind me. This is the Opera, for everyone that wants a little culture. As I have said before, if I know what we took a picture of, I will post it. Otherwise, this might be blank. I never claimed to be smart. I would guess that this poster is of Dark Knight now. We're walking since the bus had issues. If this was America, you would probably see an empty beer can, or bottle, but in Paris you see a cork on the street! It is very efficient compared to walking each bag up some stairs. Gyendolynne got a kick out of this guy using a lift to bring up the cement. Our first stop, though, was for a morning coffee and Diet Coke...or is it Coke Light? Heading to our Hop on Hop off pick up site. BTW, the bus came late, let us on, then kicked everyone off for some reason. We walked to the main area to ride the correct bus around Paris.

^Hey Chuck, It is good to hear we have the same opinion of Euro Disney and their rides. Did you go up the castle? We both thought it was great to be able to do that. There are some good views from up there.

I'm going with 5 rubber duckies Mike. I was expecting to see the rubber duck with the underwear ladies as well. I also like the pink fuzzy hat. That must have come from Europe too. The team Larry shirt is a classic! I would assume the C on it is for Captain, correct? After viewing this trip report, September can't come soon enough. Great job as always!

I want to thank R&E for putting this on the front page. Thanks so much guys! Hopefully I can finish this trip report up today. There's only 3 days left. ^^^^Hey Kevin, yep we were gone for a little while. Maybe I should post a few of those Pub picks in the beer thread. As for the London Eye, I believe it is $32. You can get package deals, or do a fast track, but the basic "flight" price is $32ish. Great to hear from you! ^^^I'm glad to see you found out about it too Mike. I will have a question for you once I post. ^^Maybe we rode the bus together from the Staines station? The rain was terrible that day. ^No problem Andy.