RaptorBoyASU

^Quaddy, you're looking much less quaddy in these pictures. Good job!

^I agree. I just happen to be a barfly when I'm on vacation

Dude the Burrito's kicked serious a$$! I don't trust your British judgement of Mexican food. They tasted good, but they weren't real Mexican.

Day 4: I love you Port Aventura, oh yes I do Ok, moving on through the trip. Today was a full day at Port Aventura. Plenty of time to hit the park, the waterpark, and even have a break for a TPR dinner. Good stuff. You'd think since we were staying at the park, it wouldn't be a very early morning for us, but Robb had ERT on Stampida, the park's large dueling wooden coasters, lined up for us. I seemed to have trouble getting up in time, so Lou and I got to the breakfast buffet with about 10 minutes until we had to meet downstairs. I scarfed it down. You could tell the resort really caters to the British based on breakfast. The side rooms had the typical Spanish breakfast items, but the main buffet in the center was full of those British staples. Fried eggs, beans, bacon, roasted tomatoes, etc. I had a little of each (and a fresh churro), and darted downstairs to make it in time. On to the parks' buses and to the back of the park (which involved driving like 0.5 miles away from the park and then around 3 roundabouts). They had both sides up and running for us. But they were only allowing people to sit in the backseats if there was a full train, well at least initially. What can I say about Stampida? It had good laterals and the dueling effect was neat. Oh, and it was the worst wooden coaster of the trip. I can only imagine how cool it was with the other trains and the lack of trim brakes. But now, it was rough, painful, and slow. Not fun. I took a lap on each side, and then took my hangover and sat outside the entrance until the rest of the park opened. I'd like these trains more Yah, I look way cooler than Don in the seat So here's the funny part. I didn't really take many pictures at all this day. So most of this update will be text. After everyone was done with Stampida, we headed over for some re-rides on Hurakan Condor, and then went to hit Tomahawk. Tomahawk is the junior woodie. It ran really smooth, and had a fun little layout. It was even timed to "duel" with Stampida. Great little coaster (and I liked it better than Stampida). Afterwards, we headed over to the Old West section to show Robb the true "WTF?" of El Diablo. We even sang the theme song..... Oh, and the panthers spotted this in line, so I got a picture. I split off from the rest of the group and just chilled on a bench with Robb and KidTums for awhile. I was feeling a bit sluggish, and had already been on most everything I wanted to ride. I ate lunch with those that had been in Templo del Fuego, rode a few rides on my way out, and then headed back to the hotel to rest. Lou must have had the same idea, because she was already there laying down. At 4pm, we headed out for the water park.....Caribe Aquatic park. We had to get tickets the night before since the place sells out every day. And after arriving it was obvious why. It was a very very small water park. There were 2 body slides, 2 tube slides, a family raft slide, a wave pool, and a lazy river in the outdoor section. The indoor section had two tube slides and a pool. That said, they were all pretty good. We were a bit disappointed at first with the family raft slide, the first 6 turns were a little dull. Then we hit the bottom 4 turns. AIRTIME from getting so high up the sides. In fact, on the last turn, Jon's knee went into my tooth (or vice versa), and I sliced my lip open rather bad (and my tooth broke skin on his knee). Insanity. We made sure to ride indian style on subsequent rides. Also while in line for the raft slide, we got a little show from one of the wild west stunt show actors. He was changing for the show, and happened to do so outside so the girls in the waterpark could see. He went as far as to change his underwear (back towards us) outside. What else about the waterpark? Hmmm.....oh, the indoor body slides were fun, but banged you up quite a bit with the quick turns. Oh, and there were far more board shorts than I expected for Spain. After the water park, we went back to the room, showered, and were off to dinner at the buffet restaurant at the hotel. It was an included meal, and it was "Mexican" night. I use quotes, because it really wasn't very authentic at all. The taco meat, carne asada, and desserts were good though. Oh, right before dinner, we found out our mascot was in the lobby El Taco eating a taco Ok, back to the park..... The queue house for Furious Baco We got another ride on Baco, this time I rode towards the front. It was a little better than the first ride, but still not all that good. Still not looking forward to ERT on this BEAST. We headed back through the Old West, and we made sure to hit all the water rides again. Somehow, on the log ride, there was a huge 5 minute gap between logs, so the first people in our group that got on, were arriving back in the station before we boarded. Robb, Chris, and someone else were in the boat behind us, and they kept gaining on us throughout the course. I had to laugh when they got stopped violently by the blocking system. Ooooh......Hurakon Condor in the dark (insanely more exciting) This thing looked so cool at night The blurs are the cars falling Entering China Jon holding up his "fake sign" in front of Dragon Kahn for coaster #100 Dragon Kahn was even better at night. We rode 2 times. And both were insanely good. The first ride was pitch black because the lights hadn't been turned on. There were fireworks going off in the distance. HOW MAGICAL! Isn't it gorgeous? While most of the group went here for a revival of the previous night, I ventured off to take a few more pics around the park. Sea Odyssey entrance The Polynesian show Mediterranean village near the front Back to the hotel for our nightly social hour at the bar Hey, hey, the gangs all here Lou and I trying to look sexy, but ended up just looking drunk (it was Sangria night) These two look sober (......right) Another ending to another great day. Next: Day 5: Kahn, Tibidabo, and Barthelona

Lovin this TR still Tom........awesomeness!

I didn't notice it....

Actually, it was quite comfortable during the drop, the only ball-crushing moment was when it first picked you off of the ground.

^What about teacups on UK

The drive to Salou, and a whirlwind tour of Port Aventura On to day 3. A late morning, and thank god, because Lou and I stayed up until almost 5am talking in our room. They had kicked us out of the bar shortly after 1am, well they didn't kick us out, but made it very clear we were to go. I've never seen someone get so surly without actually saying anything. The barmaid was slamming glasses down left and right. LOL. Today was a "drive day" followed by an evening at a park. It was actually nice to have a longish drive, and sit down for a while. More TV shows and TPR clips on the bus, as well as a game of trivia that I lost (stupid SLC question that I got wrong). We made a brief pit stop at a truck stop, and all the smokers went straight to the cigarette counter. It had been so tough to find cigarettes anywhere, so the smokers all loaded up and just bought cartons, that way it wouldn't be an issue anymore. Lou sporting her honorary win for the TPR trivia, a child sized red hat. For all of you that don't know what Spain looks like, here's a sample.... And another, this time with cute hillside village Ron prepares for Port Aventura upon finding out that they didn't offer child priced admissions based on height alone Another smooth check-in, and we were opening up the door to our LUXURIOUS room at Hotel El Paso at Port Aventura. It was a really nice hotel, all around. Lou claiming the top bunk I claimed the king I really liked the "table" look to the sink Making the hike towards the park My first impression of this park was quite positive. They do a fantastic job of theming along the midways to fully immerse you in the experience. We passed by a closed Baco, and headed into Polynesia, for our first PA Coaster.......Tami Tami. It was a pretty decent little roller skater (I think that's the make) Dave's head absorbed all my flash Woot for credit whoring Ok, what's next, how bout the next thing we see with Express Pass......Sea Odyssey. Ok, this is probably the most elaborately themed simulator I've ever seen. Beautiful entrance, crazy props in line. And the kicker that made this a great ride, the safety video before getting on. It was hilarious. Never mind the fact that sim itself was mediocre..... Basically you're following a dolphin with a translator around shipwrecks and stuff while avoiding a monster. Chadlyr is excited to see the entrance to the ride (even though we have no clue what it actually is yet) The queue area We had a quick lunch (mmm....pineapple topped burgers), and then continued on up the hill. It was really neat that as you came around a corner at the edge of polynesia, the giant palms and ferns suddenly became a bamboo forest. Welcome to China And the best part about China.....KAHN I think we're almost there..... HELL YEAH....this is the coaster I've wanted to ride for years (especially after getting my first Kumba ride and seeing how good it was) Mmmmm..... *DROOL* So what can I say? I loved this coaster. It was better than Kumba, which was holding on to my #5 steel spot when we started this trip. Great straight drop, great "bitch slap" zero-g, bonus loop, and flawless turns in the interlocking corkscrews. This thing has tremendous speed and doesn't let up from start to finish. Only negative that not all the trains were tracking as well as others. The green train was especially bad that first day. Probably my favorite scenery picture I took on the trip On to Diablo.....or WTF was that? We seem so excited in the queue It was probably the most pointless coaster ever. I mean they braked you on a downhill section so you could make the turn into a lift hill? HUH? Next up......the ride I had been dreading. As some of you may have read, I am a drop tower wuss. They terrify me, a lot. And this one was gigantic, an Intamin (which always get my stomach more), and also had tilting, floorless, stand-up seats. Hurakan Condor...yikes. I got in line, and convinced myself it would be ok, and I'd just get a sit-down side. Plus Dave, another professed drop-ride wuss, was giving it a go too. I was shaking by the time we got up there, and then I discovered that you don't get to pick which side you get, they assign it to you. And we were going on the floorless, stand-up side. It's insanely tall, if you zoom, you might be able to see the people at the top. Well, we boarded, and began to lift, which was the worst part of the ride because the ball crunch is quite noticeable. We got to the top, tilted forward, and then waited..... And then dropped, and dropped, and kept falling for what seemed like forever before the brakes kicked in and we re-entered the pyramid. I screamed like a banshee, and I was shaking like a mad-man when I got off, but I loved it. Ok, on to the Old West, and the water rides that inhabit it. Wait, is that Baco running? Yep, it's going So we got a ride next on this beast, and I do mean beast. I wanted to love it, but I just couldn't. It hurt too bad. I rode in an interior seat in row 4 the first ride, and was wishing from the first turn that I hadn't gotten on. The launch is great, the pop of air over the hill, and into the first turn was amazing. The rest of the ride, was hard to remember because of the pain I was in from the shaking of the train. I do remember the zero-g feeling really drawn out despite the speed we were moving. Upon my first ride, I had no desire to ride it again (and we had ERT planned on the thing). Ok, now to the water rides.... The flume ride and raft ride are both quite good at this park. The flume was very long, and provided quite a big splash. The raft ride was simply fast. Very fast. Decent amount of wetness too. Well, it was starting to get dark, so we headed back up to Dragon Kahn for a few more rides, and then hit the teacups on the way out. I passed because I knew what kind of sickening spinning they were going to attempt. It was hard to even get it on film. The two teacups of TPR folk were spinning at twice the rate of everyone else on the ride. We also managed to catch the fireworks show this first night. It was pretty well done. Lots of projections onto water fountains (a la Fantasmic), a boat Parade(a la Fantasmic), and fireworks (way more than Fantasmic). The only complaint is that the pacing of it was really slow. But it was still fun to watch. We headed back to the hotel, and went straight to the bar. Just in time for last call. Robb was updating the site from out there, and we stayed to see what fools we looked like On to bed around 2am, and ready for another day at the parks the next morning. Next: Day 3: Port Aventura and Caribe Aquatic Park

I just uploaded it........so here you are Let me know if you want the full size emailed to you. Look at all those tiny people down there

^FLIPPIN AWESOME

I might get one done this afternoon, if not you might be waiting until Monday Let the whining commence.

SFMM can be done on a weekday in 5 hours if you get there right at opening and hit Tatsu and X first and second, then head back to Deja Vu. I think you'll be fine. I'll be at DCI as well. With my group (Hawthorne Gold) at Div III prelims/semis/and hopefully finals. Then at the Rose Bowl to watch Div 1 on Saturday night -Kyle "I love drum corps" Miller

^^Here it is Day 2: Parque de Atracciones Madrid and Parque de Atracciones Zaragoza (aka Bouncy-Bouncy park) The 2nd official day of the trip, and it was a busy one. We started the morning fairly late with a full breakfast buffet, and a bus ride back out to Parque de Atracciones Madrid. We had ERT (exclusive ride time) on Abismo and Tarantula before the park opened, a few hours at the park, and then a bus ride to Zaragoza for the 2nd park of the day, Parque de Atracciones Zaragoza. Sounds insane, but it was a pretty comfortable pace since I had already been to the Madrid park on day 0. So I ended with going to bed at the end of Day 1 in my previous post, but I forgot I had a few pictures from that night. Is this Ed before drinking or after drinking? Inebriated elevator ride This is what this is for, right Lou? Ok, so the bus didn't leave very early the next morning, since the Spanish parks seem to open much later than us US folk are used to. In fact, there weren't that many early mornings for that reason, which was quite nice. The hotel had a full breakfast buffet laid out. Cereals, pastries, spanish cured meats, cheeses, bread, tortilla (the spanish variety, like a potato garlic quiche), bacon, sausage, eggs, etc.... It was really nice that we had this kind of spread at almost every hotel. I rarely eat a real breakfast most mornings (breakfast bar), so it was a nice change of pace. We packed the bus with our luggage, and headed out to the first park of the day, Parque de Atracciones Madrid, which about 1/2 of us had managed to hit on day 0 as well. Being as awesome as Robb is, he scored us ERT on both Abismo and Tarantula. Both are great coasters, though Tarantula really depends on the amount of spinning you get. I posted enough of these the other day, but here's on more. ABISMO! So I got 2 rides on Abismo during ERT, but I spent much more time over at Tarantula. I think I got 5 rides, 3 with insane spinning (and 2 with very little). I really failed at getting pictures of the track layouts at this park Hmmm...did Hector love it or hate it? Yup, he loved it Apparently Dave did too The part that surprised me most about tarantula was how fast the lift was. HELLA fast. That and I also wasn't prepared for how fast it took the course. It was my first "banked turns" spinning mouse. I loved it. This picture is why Lou is not allowed to point out guys for stalker pics..... not cute Ok, now on to what had to be one of the funniest, and most painful rides of the trip. So we saw that adults were allowed to ride the bouncy horses, and immediately piled in line. Basically they were horses that were powered around a track, and randomly bucked. Looked fairly gentle. Away we go. So far, so good What we didn't realize though is the seat was situated in such away that there was a ridge right below your balls. So every time the horse bucked back and forth, the ridge would slam violently into them. Hector and Dave have no idea what's in store How's come it doesn't seem to be bothering Miles? It sure seems to be bothering Jon *photo credit to Dave Lawrence* I don't feel the need to re-ride Spanish parks sure know how to do theming. This was for the splashdown boat REVENGE OF THE MULLETS For all you that like your boys slim.... I think he needs to eat something, but he has a cute face. Next on the rides left to hit is DESPERADO! Ok, really random ride. You go sit in this theater with a bunch of moving stools themed to horses. It's then a shooting dark "ride", where you try to shoot the outlaws in a western town on the screen. At the end of the first round, the leader has a spotlight shown on them and their photo shown on the screen. The player with the lowest score gets turned into a donkey. It was rather hilarious especially since no one understood enough Spanish to get the "plot" fully. After the first round there was a shootout on the street, a stagecoach chase, and a bar shootout. I didn't figure it out exactly until the last round, but still managed 2nd place. Still haven't hit the frisbee. I actually sat this one out. This model of frisbee spins too fast and makes me feel ill. Time for one more ride....and it's the "ghetto Jungle Cruise" It was actually fairly entertaining. No boat driver like at Disney, the animatronics were falling apart (you could see moving parts), and there was swearing in English in the soundtrack (well, just "dirty bastard"). It so rocked. Oh, it was another ride that used a cable to pull the boat through the ride. You could see moving parts through the gorillas neck Such a blatant rip-off They were wiggling their ears and blowing bubbles It was a pretty good length too, we had time to sit back and relax. Well, time to go. A 3 hour or so bus ride to our next destination. To pass the time, Dave explained Elissa Bingo! The object was to catch Elissa doing and saying certain things. All that stuff she does all the time (like skinning hot dogs). He passed out cards to everyone, and the game started right away. There were also spots for other people's idiosyncrasies (like Ed drinking, Lou having a fag, etc). I didn't end up winning, but it was fun to watch others on the lookout. Lou enjoying a fag Robb and Elissa also had lots of TV shows on DVD to watch during the ride (Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Robot Chicken, Creature Comforts, Colbert Report, TPR clips, etc). We made a short rest stop, and were in Zaragoza in early evening. Just in case you forgot where we were going So the best way I can explain this park, as far as layout is "Spanish Knoebel's", but instead of really good wooden coasters, they had random steel coasters. It was very spread out, had a bit of a carnival made permanent feel, and had a large swimming pool. And it was AMAZING fun! I didn't expect much from this park, and it blew me away. Nothing was insanely thrilling, but everything was so much fun to ride. Hmmm......I think I'll skip these this time The first coaster at this park was a small kiddie coaster. We all had a ride. I forgot a picture though. Onwards to their "big coaster".....a Galaxi My first Galaxi credit, and it was pretty good. I still prefer a good Wildcat. They also had a top spin (which I sat out since the ride op said he would run a special cycle, turns out it was pretty tame) The best coaster at the park.....RAMSES It was a huge surprise. It looked like crap. A pirate ship on a track, or a disko without the spinning. But it ended up being a lot of fun. It pulled you up one side of the V-shaped track with a cable, then let you go to rock back and forth for a long time. There was airtime on each transition to the upwards track, and the first drop had no warning. Great coaster for it's size and simplicity. We also got a ride on "Bouncy-Bouncy" and the rapids ride before it was time to eat. On to dinner. They really pulled out all the stops. They started us with a plate of tapas type foods. Prawns, smoked salmon, heart of palm, some sort of cheese, prawn salad torte, chorizo, and iberian ham. "photo courtesy of Robb" They also provided plenty of wine And then came around with calamari, croquettes, and some other little fried food "photo courtesy of Robb" Have I mentioned lots of wine? "photo courtesy of Robb" So we all figured that was the meal. Oh no, no, no. They then brought around skillets full of leg of lamb, and potatoes & garlic in olive oil. It was heaven. I'm picky about eating lamb, and this lamb was amazing. I could have loaded up on potatoes too. YUM YUM YUM. There was also a chocolate mousse type dessert. Now that we were all full, and slightly drunk, it was time to go do the mirror maze. Hi Piers! The maze was full of mirrors, but also clear plexiglass. I ran into one hard, hitting it with my forehead. And about 2 minutes later, so did Robb, as seen here. Mirrors are fun We also went in the funhouse and the haunted dark ride after dinner. Then on to the last few rides before it was time to leave. One more ride on the Galaxi (no lights), and then one more re-ride on the best flat ride of the trip. BOUNCY-BOUNCY!!! I never expected so much fun from such a simple concept. Basically the cars moved in a circle, and then the hydraulics kicked in. The cars bounced violently up and down. Throwing you out of your seat at the top, and throwing you around like a rag doll at the bottom. If you haven't watched the TPR video of it, you really need to. It's in the updates on the main page, under Zaragoza on the right side. I haven't cackled and giggled so hard on a ride ever. We gave a huge thanks to all the park's staff, and then headed to our Holiday Inn Express in Zaragoza. Lou assures me that this is the correct usage of this bathroom fixture A phone call home, and then down to the bar for a couple drinks. Jon is sure enjoying himself Wow Chris, are you that drunk already? So another fantastic ending to another fantastic day. The cool part as the trip went on is that we hung out with more and more people. We had a "group" that pretty much hung every day, but people moved in and out with ease. I think I got to hang out with almost everyone on the trip at some point. It really made the trip that much better.

DIE! God, I'm over being at work. It was so hard to come back after the trip. At least it's Friday.

Great Video Morgan. Wish I had gotten to meet you. The panthers in the last scene made me tear up a little..... I MISS YOU ALL!

The film was made as a joint project from the Efteling and WWF. Cool, I figured someone would know more. It had good music, I just thought the concept and the 4-d was a bit weak.

All the smiling ones are blurry. He moves too quick.

Day 1: Bullet Train, 105 degree heat, and the rise of the Pink Panthers Well, I went to bed about 12:30 or 1am the night before, and today, we were off to meat the bus at 6am. Woot for less than 5 hours of sleep. Oh well, we had a train ride, I'd surely be able to get some sleep then. Oh wait, I can't sleep sitting up. OH WELL! We all met up in the lobby, after a quick breakfast of pastries. Luckily, everyone made it in to Madrid before this morning. Many on the trip had to take alternate flights because of cancellations and such, some even detouring more than twice in the process, but somehow everyone was there (even if without luggage). Luckily I had packed 2 full changes of clothes in my carry-on, and with the TPR shirt I received, I had enough to last me until Sunday. When Jon came down, he delivered the good news that he had received his luggage last night, meaning his bags weren't in Miami like the Iberia folks had said (since the Iberia flight had yet to arrive today). They must have been going round and round on the wrong baggage carousel. Robb delivering the itinerary for the day, and instructions for the train station. There was a tour bus waiting to deliver us to the train station, much easier than the Metro insanity it would have been to get there otherwise (48 people, switch lines twice). And luckily, no one seemed concerned on where they sat on the bus. Once at the train station, we hung around for about 30 minutes until we could board the train. In this time I discovered I love Filipinos......no no, not the nationality, the chocolate covered donuts. And away we go Not sure why they're ducking, maybe there was an attack bird (they're quite common) We caught hippo (property of James, aka CanobieFan) taking in the Spanish countryside Turns out he was lonely for attention, and got quite randy with me and Lou It's ok Hippo, he never has to know It must be way too early, as Lou now thinks that the ring tone is coming from a pack of cigs Weirdest ad ever, "Sure, I'll open my imagination, but why do I have to play pattycake with a panda?" There was another coach in Sevilla waiting to pick us up from the train station and deliver us to the first official park of the trip.....Isla Magica. Wow, right off the bat this parks makes an impression, as JimmyBo gets molested by this guy The park itself was very pretty yet again. Lots of landscaping and vegetation, historic building the park was built around, and a good collection of rides, both old and new. Historic double decker carousel A building along the pathway We didn't have any coaster ERT lined up with the park, but they decided to give us ERT at their 4-D theater (two different shows), and on their pirate-themed shooting dark ride. Life is so much cooler in 4-D The glasses were ridiculously large. They looked awesome on Ed. So the first 4-d film followed a cat exploring a haunted house. It was very good, and very long. Decent effects, and there's nothing better than dolls and toys gone demented. It was actually very entertaining, and had no speaking, so we didn't lose anything in translation. The 2nd film however was freakin bizarre. It was some "conservation" 4-D movie, that barely had any 3-d, the effects came off as "trying to hard", and the panda at the end uttering "help" was just pointless. Everyone just kind of stared at each other with a "WTF?" when it was over. Ok, on to the pirates shooting dark ride, well as soon as Jon gets done demonstrating his cage dancing skills The entrance I forgot to snap any pictures inside (and on-ride wouldn't have come out anyways because it was so dark). Basically the ride sat 4 people in an outward facing circle. The car slowly spun as you made your way through the ride, shooting at pirates, sea creatures, and barrels. Of course you never knew when the target you shot at was going to spray you with water, adding an additional layer of fun to the ride. It was pretty good, not the best shooting dark ride of the trip, but not bad either. The park seemed to be built around an existing castle/fort. What's that off in the distance? Oh, yah, there's a coaster too. Ok, so not much to report on this one. Jaguar is a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster with a bonus helix, meaning it's a standard SLC, but you get a helix right before entering the brake run. It wasn't too rough, it wasn't too smooth, and luckily had really comfortable shoulder restraints (air filled rather than foam). Strangely, the helix was the smoothest part. It was getting hot out, so we headed over to Iguala, the splashdown boat, to cool off Oh, and as with any section of a park with water rides in Spain, every guy seemed to be shirtless. I LOVE SPAIN! I wanted to ride the llama ride, but it was for children only Back to that castle/fort in the center of the park So the other thing that happened today was the creation of the pink panthers. It wasn't planned, it just kind of happened. All the gay men just seemed to end up hanging out together at the park today (oh, and Lou). We had so much fun, that the group kind of just stuck for most of the rest of the trip (and the pink panther moniker started about 2 days later). TAKE IT LIKE A MAN Did I mention that it was hot, like 105 F hot. We were seeking out water rides any chance we could get. The best part about water rides, is that when Lou's hair gets wet, she turns into Curly Lou. Wait, why are you wearing your shirt near a water ride.....bad Spaniard Random bit of theming OMG, they have a Disk-O This was my first ride on one of these. OMG, so much fun. I think every park needs one of these. They're not too intense for the kids, and yet they're a lot of fun still for the adults. Awesome ride They also had the strangest drop tower ever. It ran different programs during the course of the day, and there was a sign indicating which time each program ran. Some gave you the full drop, some only did half drops, and one was only an observation tower program. For some reason I didn't take many pictures of the park today, and took many more of the adventures before and after. I guess you'll have to wait for Robb's official TPR update to get more of the park. Other things of interest: - Flume ride with 3 drops - Weird Indiana Jones type ride with "10 adventures" (we only counted 7) - Kiddie coaster with a triple down......sort of - Lunch with way too much fried food (including fish that looked like pineapple rings) - People playing in the fountains all over the park Time to get on the bullet train back to Madrid. Kristen (aka Kidtums) seemed very happy to be traveling with the group. Ed had passed out already, and we hadn't even started drinking yet I love trains, such a comfortable mode of transportation We hung out in the bar car for a while on the way back, but otherwise it was a rather uneventful trip back. We arrived back to the hotel a little after 11. My luggage was supposed to be at the hotel by this time. They assured me it was going to be on the flight that arrived at 7:30am, and then they would deliver it to the hotel. I was really hoping it was, since we were leaving the hotel the next morning, and would be all over the place before we got back to Madrid. I went up to my room..........NO DICE. I was so bummed. Just as I was heading out to go check at the front desk, Ben (BeatleBen) popped into the hallway to let me know that my luggage was in his room with his. HOORAH! Clothes, toiletries, etc.. I felt bad for others on the trip that didn't get their luggage until the last day (when we were back in Madrid) or not at all (James). I called Jeff, hung out at the bar for a little bit, and then hit the hay. Next - Day 2: Parque de Attraciones Madrid and Parque de Attraciones Zaragoza

^LOL, I hope you still feel that way if some "bad pictures" end up in one of these updates. I haven't been caring what I or anyone else really looked like in the pictures, I just want to share them all.

^^You mean the ball coaster at Terra Mitica, Inferno? Nope, wasn't open yet.

OMG, such an awesome picture. Sad I didn't get to see it in real life.

Yes, like every morning for breakfast, and on at least 3 sandwiches. I was kind of getting over it by the time I left. Though now I'm kind of craving it.

UGH, it's so hard to hear about the add-on, because I didnt' want to leave you all. In my mind, you guys weren't going to have fun, that way I wasn't jealous. But now to hear otherwise...AAARGHH Type A personality is going to make my head explode.

We were at Parque de Attraciones on June 29 and July 1 I believe.