RollercoasterTigger

Even tho I am in the UK, I still haven't done most of the parks in Europe. Must admit we do find it quite hard with a 3 year old in tow. Troverland is one I certainly want to do. We are off to Europa this year for the first time in 8 years. Get photos from your trip. Hope you really enjoyed it

We are off to Liseberg for the first time tomorrow. Stopping overnight so we can stay for the 11pm close Really looking forward to it

We visited Paultons for the first time this week and it is a lovely little park but needs a little something more and I think this project for next year will certainly give them that

Got to ride Smiler on Saturday and it's a fun ride but nothing special tbh. The best bit by far is the bunny hops - airtime heaven!. We had an ERS on Nemesis in the morning 8-9 and the park recommended we headed over to Smiler straight after which we did. We were in the queue from 9.10am and they opened it at 11.40. We rode about 10 mins after it opened. The staff running it were making sure every train was going out full which was great to see. (Shame we couldn't say the same about Oblivion) Smiler has quite a bit of power and speed even tho it looked very slow during testing. It was fun but for me there were too many inversions one after the other and it was a bit disorientating. I found the last two inversions painful as I am short I sit quite low in the restraints so I got a nice whack in my jaw going through them. The general public seem to love it and I think it will do well for them even with all the problems they have had so far. I think it ran all day Saturday without stopping. (The q was a good 3 hours all day) The biggest surprise for my hubby and I was thirteen. Having not ridden it before Saturday we were expecting it to be quite bad however it is actually a great fun family ride and the drop was quite a surprise as I was expecting a much shorter drop than it gave. If Alton had marketed that for what it is then rather than how they did I think more people would of been happier with it. Lots of kids were coming off smiling and laughing which was great to see Overall we had a good day, it was busy due to the weather but we enjoyed ourselves which was the main thing. For those with young children, we can highly recommend the parent share that Alton run - the staff were great in guest services.

But I have a good reason! We have a new member in our household. Please meet Rebecca who was born in late March. Lucky for me I didn't miss much of the coaster season but I did lose out a bit when we went to Sweden in September but I had already visited the park so wasn't too disappointed

We are off to visit Alton next Saturday so will take some photos and hopefully be able to report back on what it is like. So far it has had mixed reviews.....

Alton Towers, next year I expect. Depends on when Baby shows up

After my short visit in May this year, my family decided they would like to visit this park. So we planned a 1 night stay to spend 2 days at the park. After a very early start to the day and an early flight we arrived in Sweden early enough to go and visit the largest Ikea store whilst we waited for Gröna Lund to open at 3pm. We headed across Stockholm city centre (which took about 45 mins from our hotel) and once we had our entry wristbands headed off to ride the two kiddie coasters first. On my last visit the park was so busy that I wasn't able to get the credit for these. The weather wasn't great (heavy rain for most of our stay) however, during our time in the park the weather was kind to us and it stopped raining on both days. We managed to get all the rides done within an hour as we appeared to be the only people in the park. We stayed for 3 hours and headed back to the hotel to find somewhere to eat in the evening. Our hotel was near a large shopping/entertainment centre so they had plenty of food choices for us. Next day was somewhat a repeat of the day before but we took all the camera so we could do some filming/photographs before leaving for the airport. Anyway, enough of me jabbering, photos...... Bye Bye Stansted airport Hello Soggy Sweden Big Ikea Nyckelpigan - the best kiddie coaster ever Tea Cup fun Jetline Jetline The back of Jetline More Jetline Twister - one of the best woodies Twister Insane Insane We saw this alot of the weekend - staff brushing the water away. Wouldn't happen in the UK Bulldog Challenge Having fun on the carousel (we only went on this as the ride op was so lovely) General Food area Kiddies area Concert area which has live music every day All wanting the same shot Being evacuated from Blå Tåget after it broke down (my first ride evacuation in 11 years) Inside Stockholm Skavasta Airport

I would have to find out from hubby as he was the one who found it

We can't watch it in the UK so we have managed to download it. Looked good and we had even been on two of the coaster show Thought it was quite funny that of the 8 coasters featured in the first 2 episodes 7 of them were B&M's

Roxy is so pretty

I wish they could cook - would save me having to cook for them most evenings. In the US i think they are called "pups" in europa we call them "kittens" (which can be quite funny as people think of baby cats and then see the rat and panic )

There isn't really enough new stuff over here at the moment for them to visit (at a guess)

GronaLund, Sweden Will be my 2nd visit but the rest of my group's 1st visit

Rat show info now here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=62924

Rat show info is here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=62924 I like Twister. I managed a back row and was quite surprised by it. It's quick and very smooth considering the tight space it is built in to. Can't say about Jetline yet

Following on from these two threads: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18478 http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=62908 I said I would explain to people what a rat show is and how it all works. Firstly there are rat clubs worldwide. The biggest one in the UK is the National Fancy Rat Society (http://www.nfrs.org) plus we have about 10 smaller ones spread across the country. In the US the main club is the American fancy rat & mouse association (http://www.afrma.org/) Shows are a big part of breeding here in the UK regardless of animals. We have attended large shows where dogs, cats, mice, rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Gerbils, Hamsters, lizards, snakes, spiders and even Fish have been exhibited. There is no prize money in the rat fancy (the is in most of the others). Most people will get a prize card and rosette if their rat won the class it was entered in In the rat fancy we have varieties (in dogs they have breeds) which for most have a standard which the judges have to follow. This will be based on the colour and markings of the rat. We also have to take in to account if it's a baby rat (kitten) or adult and the sex to decide if it has good type (this looks at head/eye/ear shape & position, tail length, body condition and shape). You do have to train to become a judge which takes about 2 years in the rat fancy (I believe it's up to 10 years for dogs) Anyway some pictures to show you the set ups The rats are placed in tanks so the judge doesn't know who owns the rat Stewards bring the rats to the table in a number order (which is written on the tank to represent the class the rat has been entered in). The scribe will write down the judges comments which go back to the owner at the end of the show Pet section being judged Rats in the tanks Reading the standards People who attend get a chance to catch up People can shop for toys for their rats and other small pets People who have never held a rat are given the opportunity to do so Rosettes for the winners We run a Curiosity table - the rat that touches the most items in 1 min is the winner Agility - rats are very good at courses like this Lots of information available on keeping rats as pets (this is my job) One of the big shows which includes Rabbits, Hamsters, Mice & Guinea pigs (London Championships) General show hall set up

Hope it's not down when we visit again on the 31st August!

Yes we did "crown" the best rat Best in Show I'll start a new thread about rat shows with some pictures - will make things a bit easier

At the moment mine is: 1. Black Mamba, Phantasialand, Germany 2. Nemesis, Alton Towers, UK 3. Expedition Ge Force, Holiday Park, Germany (only ever ridden in the rain ) 4. Silver Star, Europa Park, Germany (very special coaster) 5. Dragon Khan, PortAventura, Spain 6. Swarm, Thorpe Park, UK 7. Colorado Adventure, Phantasialand, Germany (I find this one so much fun) 8. Eurosat, Europa Park, Germany (crazy fun) 9. Stealth, Thorpe Park, UK 10. Megafobia, Oakwood, UK

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to visit Stockholm to judge a rat show for the Swedish rat club. Whilst there I was able to visit GronaLund for 3 hours before our flight home. The only downside for me was the fact that is was so hot (around 30 ish). The park is stunning considering how small it is. Jetline wasn't running so I didn't get to have a go. I managed a few goes on Insane which is exactly that - I couldn't work out if I liked it or not. Very much a much do ride regardless. Here are a few pictures that I took during my short visit: View from the footbridge Otherside Insane trains Insane Insane Insane Twister I really quite liked this. It is very compact. Twister Twsiter Kvasten Broken Jetline View from outside the park looking at it

We have 3 mini dachshunds - Xp (silver dapple), Nappy (Black & tan) and Drake (Chocolate & Tan). Then I have a few pet rats (around 50 at last count). I currently breed and show these in the UK and I am a show judge. Here are a few pictures: My special girl, Suzy Chuck Diablo (this is a new variety for the UK) Lucky Charm Lily some babies (around 20 days old)

5 years on and things haven't really changed for me. I tend not to ask any more and just enjoy taking pictures from the ground to use them on our website (since our computer crashed and we lost everything so I had to start it again). I would prefer to take some on-ride photos more than POV''s but I have no intentions of doing so any time soon. I enjoy the track walks and things that the clubs sometimes get and make the most of some photos from the more unusual places.

Since I am now at home, I'll post some photos. It was a cold day and very cloudy so they aren't fantastic A couple of general park shots:

We went to Thorpe with the ECC on the 31st. The park allowed us in early to have the first ride on swarm. We managed to get row 2 on the left hand side. Overall we weren't very impressed - the first drop is good and the bit over the station but it seemed slow and not much for it. We spent the rest of the day wandering around as we had a ERS at 6pm on Swarm so didn't see the point of. Q'ing to ride it in the day. Stealth running well, Saw seems better than when we last rode it, inferno is ok aging well, didn't attempt colossus as it look painful. All the coasters broke down at some point in the day. We had to wait for the public to leave before we were allowed on Swarm. We managed 7 runs and I have to say it was a completely different ride to the morning run. More intense in the middle section and the effects from the "spitting" fountains working. I really like it and rate it quite highly. Coasters for me should be fun and re-rideable and this one certainly is.