The Great Zo

Me too! And yet after reading every word of Larry's NeuroGen review, I still have no idea what in hell it's actually about. I kind of assumed we were listening to the crazed ramblings of a broken man ... but actually, that's basically what NeuroGen does to you, isn't it? As for D&D, if you could combine Duinrell's nice setting with Drievliet's cute theming, you'd have a pretty killer family park. Both parks definitely had their bright spots, and a few fun rides too. I hope you journeyed into Old MacDonald's barn. It was quite the experience. Great updates Larry!

There are some past TPR trips in which people have intentionally queued up 10-20 minutes for solo rides during ERT sessions, and I got one here purely by accident! Not Barry's finest moment. Or maybe it was! One thing I like about Troy is the straight floater-air hill about halfway through the ride, which is a rarity on GCI coasters. I'm definitely more in the camp that puts Troy near the top of the GCI list, and though I enjoy Joris, I think Troy's better. Enjoyed your photos of Fenix and its surroundings -- I didn't end up getting much from over there so your stuff is nice to see. Agree that Toverland's a fascinating case of a park growing both organically and responsibly. I suspect there may be some contrast to that later in the trip report...

I suddenly feel better about my own photography habits.

Ouch. Very much enjoyed your, er, alternate history version of Stockholm. It is one of my favorite cities in the world and it was great to see someone else's interpretation of it! Congrats on finishing the the TR, it was a good one.

That's gonna stick. I'm never going to be able to call that coaster by its regular name again. Bringing back some memories of the Twister ERT. It was running a bit rough, but we were having a blast anyway. Fun times. Another great update!

This is the kind of in-depth park analysis I read a Larry TR for... ...and this is not. Great write-up. I enjoyed this park on my first visit in 2016 and I think I liked it even more this time around. Good weather and reasonable crowds always help. I missed one of the three side-quests on Symbolica, but as you mention, those weren't the best part of the ride anyway. The first room and the whale room are really spectacular.

Yeah, in all the discussions about crappy kiddie coasters and shoddy theming, it really shouldn't get lost as to just how awful that dark ride was. It wasn't just bad, it was world-class bad. Stacy and I kept trying to load in, and then the car would randomly move up a bit. We'd back up, walk over to it, try to get in again, and it would move forward again. I thought I was going to get get run over and lose a foot. And then you've got Bazyliszek over at Legendia, which is the complete opposite experience in every possible way.

Have been looking forward to this video! This was one of my favorite coasters on the Europe trip. My coaster-nerd review was "mini-I305 with a GeForce drop and RMC-style inversions." I didn't even complain about the vests! Seriously, they were pretty comfortable. Now we wait for more of these to get built...

Got some great pictures of the coasters, and several angles I didn't find! Nice work! I love the indoor section of that ride. As a coaster, it's meh, but the dark ride portion is so good. The donkey has some, er, consistency problems, and most of us failed because of it! Kid shouldn't have been standing at the end of the slide!!! I hear he's usually trying to stay out of photos, but that's near-impossible on a TPR trip, so even he gives up after a while.

Make-your-own hot chocolate? I could have used that on some of those chilly pre-trip days!

Congrats on surviving your encounters with both Python tracks! And yes, I think "70% less racist" is about right.

They definitely still have some work to do -- based on what we saw from the newer developments at Legendia, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those older / broken rides are on their way out. They aren't the full package quite yet, but they're on the right track. Whereas Energylandia jumped the rails, if there even were any to begin with.

I think most of us enjoyed it, but it just wasn't necessarily for the right reasons... like when something's just off by a little bit and you can't quite pinpoint why, but it makes you laugh anyway. Legendia was a pleasant surprise, and your trip report does a good job at pointing out their "very specific noun" ride names, which I also find quite amusing.

I love the theme. I love the colors. This thing is going to look fantastic. I look at Orion like I look at Valravn and Yukon Striker. Two insanely marketable rides with features that the general public is going to eat up. Whether it's the drop angle or the height and the speed, it's something for people to wildly anticipate and maybe even fear just a little bit. But when they get on the ride next year? It's going to be fun and exciting, yet it isn't going to feel like it's trying to kill them. It'll be a hit for your average park guest. My Twitter feed has far more southwest Ohio locals than coaster enthusiasts, and the reaction is universally positive. No one is talking about the brake run or the dictionary definition of a "giga" coaster. And I mention that because the enthusiast side of me does share some of the concerns that have been brought up. I also think this coaster defied my expectations a bit based on how I thought Kings Island would expand and evolve in a long-term planning sense. But I'm not their target audience, and if I want to ride something crazy that might kill me, I'll go do ERT with TPR on bathtub coasters in Poland or something. If there's one thing we can all agree that Kings Island could do better, it's live-streaming. There's potato quality, and then there's Irish potato famine quality...

Here's a few more pics of the "hole in the ground" at Gröna Lund. It's neat how they basically found a way to keep it covered up for the operating season.

Your report really brings out the odd mish-mash of the quality of theming at Bobbejaanland. I feel like that's something a lot of European parks have gone through as they modernize and become more serious (Phantasialand is a great example). Bobbejaanland is heading in the right direction for sure. Honestly, I would have preferred that.

Anyone want some Taiga pictures? A small batch from my visit on July 30. (there will eventually be more in a full trip report some time down the road)

I'm wondering why Walibi Holland didn't hire him on the spot as their new pitchman.

Here's Naga Bay. First picture is what I guess is the ride sign, as it's near the station and perhaps near where the entrance used to be? Second picture is the archway at the actual ride entrance.

Yep. EU also, which makes sense, considering they basically own the place.

^ Can't really disagree with any of this! Here's a couple Zadra pics I threw on Twitter after our visit. Nothing new, just sharing a few from when TPR was there.

Some great points about how the Fury / Land of Legends theming really screwed up the queue entrances to Naga Dizz Bay and Typhoon. I hadn't thought about it at the time, but it's pretty obvious now that you bring it up. Fury, however, is fantastic. It's by far the best ride in the park! This was definitely a day where I felt kind of bad for the people who were trying to get all or most of the credits, because there's some cool stuff (monorail, flume, ferris wheel, and just enjoying the scenery) I know a few people missed out on. Stacy and I bailed on Revolution because the queue was just as awful as you indicated. Overall they've definitely made some nice improvements since 2016 though, and I'm anxious to see how they follow up Fury! Great start to the report, can't wait to see more.

Great start, Larry. Now that I've seen a lot of the Netherlands I hope to spend some time in Belgium in the future, so I'm enjoying the view of Ghent and looking forward to seeing Bruges.

More trip reports! This is going to be a heavily-chronicled trip. Which is good, because it was an awesome trip. Bikes in the Netherlands are really scary as a pedestrian because you have to worry about getting run over, but they're even scarier when you're driving around because you have to worry about not running them over. Because that would be bad. I must be the only person who didn't go to The Butcher, though I visited Foodhallen where they had a location, but chose not to eat there after seeing a dude in a The Butcher shirt leave the restroom without washing his hands. Pannenkoeken is pretty great. Stroopwafels are better. Great work getting this started so quickly!

Chuck, I have no idea how you get a TR started so quickly after a trip. But suddenly, I want some poffertjes. (A+ on the Solvang reference, btw) Can't wait to re-live the experience with the rest of your report!