Yeah 7

Tivoliland is a dump. The park entrance makes it look like a prison, its the ultimate ghetto park. When I visited, it seemed every ride broke down. The Moser Move It type ride broke down every 5 minutes in weird places leaving people hanging upside down, the drop tower broke down leaving people at the top for about 5 minutes... and we were also evacuated from the Boomerang. The Pinfari had dodgy restraints, only locking outside of the station... The themeing was really weird, with random place plant pots. Unless you really want the credits, I'd avoid this park like the plague. This girl looks and was, very scared From the back row, watching the train being evacuated. Never laughed so much, until It was my turn.

It didn't apear in any fairs in Germany after Flamingoland. It would *have* to last longer than a few months if it did, as the level of investment to make it travel again would be massive. Cranes, trailers, tractors (trucks), staff, etc. I believe Bullet did, not for long mind. And yes, it (magnum/3er looping) would run 5 trains - When it first left the fair scene, i *think* the park it went to converted 2 trains to having shoulder restraints, leaving 2 with lap bars (unused - but used at flamingo) and using the 5th train for spares. At flamingoland, the remains of the trains that had shoulder harness' could be seen around the ride area along with other bits and pieces. I personally have mixed feelings. Dreier Looping/Magnum Force and Thriller/Zonga are only with us thanks to the parks who bought them after their life travelling the fairs in germany, but they are in alot worse state since leaving. I have a signed copy (wieland not anton) of the Schwarzkopf brochure from the 80's that features Himalaya Bahn (now Apina Bahn) on the front and Dreier Looping/Magnum Force and Wiener Looping/Bullet in the centre. I can post pics of the brochure if people like? Sorry for going off topic slightly

A few months? It was a travelling coaster for 12 years under the owner of Barth, who also owns Olympia Looping. Bullet or "Wiener Looping" was designed to travel, but didn't straight away. It went to Prater first, but had problems operating their due to nose i think, not sure if it ever opened at Prater. It went to the US, came back to Germany for modifcations and then it went to showman Goetzke who I think toured with it for 2 years. Lastly, Minebender isn't a clone of Dreier Looping/Magnum Force. It's taller, slightly longer, doesn't have a second lift, a mirror image of the original, has smaller trains and doesn't sit on a base frame - granted its near enough a clone, but not quite

^ It has. http://www.kleinpoppen.de/coaster/eng/dl.html Glad its saved, but it'll only ever be run the way it should be run at a German fair, and its sad to think it'll never run with 5 trains again

There is also a comfort factor involved.... Yngve and myself shared a "car" (or whatever you call them) and on the last run when it started to rain, it was going too fast round the corners the laterals throw you into the side of the seat which is no taller than 6". This gets quite painful at high speeds considering how cramped the cars are and considering your only wearing a lapbelt which also digs into your body. 5 minutes of strong laterals really do take their toll and you do get beat up. On the 2nd Alpina coaster due to going too fast and collisions (yes, we hit each other on purpose) the plastic seat belt buckle fell apart. They are really not designed for the thrashing we gave them, most other users were using the brakes quite heavily as told to by the signage and staff. Still amazing though... but sadly smack back in the middle of nowhere... this was a stop off while travlling between parks, the rest of the day was spent travelling in a bus for hours upon end in the Austrian alps.

Don looks like hes counting the nails in the wood Nice photos Yngve, I want to go back to those parks... do you have a video of Don, Olof or me on the slide???

^Except the pirate ride

Re: PTC there was a death at Port Aventuras Stampida where the rider, due to airtime, fell out... Again, his restraint was too high... but he did not stand up. (Back to my original point, I believe that when a restraint is considered "down", it should not allow anyone to leave the train. Intamin and PTC trains you can easily get out of the train on their highest position.) ...the trains have since been modified with higher seat dividers and they now staple riders. Also, the ride ops don't allow anyone to ride if the lap bar cannot come down past 2 clicks of the restraint aswell as trims down the first drop.

My view on the Intamin issues is that Intamin has a certain degree of responsability.... There are design flaws that allow mistakes to happen, the rides should be fool proof, but they are not. A few things.... - The train can be dispatched with the lap bars up. Compare this with the B&M lap bar where it *has* to come down so far before it registers on the ride system. We have all seen photos and even videos with the lap bars on Intamin rides that are too high. The ride system shouldn't allow it, but it does. Now many rides such as classic Schwarzkopf rides allow the train to be dispatched with the restraints up, so whats the difference? The fact that Intamin rides are pushing the boundries. The negative G's on these coasters are insane, no schwarzkopf ride compares (that i've ridden to date) in this department. Also, these (schwarzkopf) restraints could fail and you would probably stay in your seat due to the forces the loops pull. - Seatsbelts Not connected to the lap bar. If the lap bar did the "impossible" and fail, its going to fully open. Again, going back to OTSR type rides, on B&M's and other Intamins, this seatbelt connecting the seat to the restraint is going to save your bacon. The rider can loosen the seatbelt. Granted, it shouldn't matter as the restraint is there to keep you in, but as above.... if you can dispatch the train with the restraints up and the seatbelt doesn't connect to the lapbar, and the rider can loosen the seatbelt.... its a pretty bad. PTC have the same issues, and they too have had accidents. I really don't buy the story that Intamin are not to blame, as I think, to a certain degree, they are.

Alton Towers have a strict no loose articles policy and will stop trains on the lfits, etc if they see people with cameras or mobile/cell phones

For those that don't know, the Goose Fair is a traditional fair/carnival in the UK, held in the city of Nottingham, a tradition that goes back 711 years. Unlike most European fairs, it's a fairly short duration, traditionally just 4 days, with a 5th day added this year. Up to half a million are said to visit the fair, which attracts the UK's best rides... The atmosphere is fantastic and its a quite small site, so all the rides are tightly packed together and are really competeing for your custom. I visited on its opening night, which was Wednesday... and here is my video... It features a one of a kind KMG Move It 32, KMG Experiance and Afterburner (chance revolution), Reverchon Mice (both mid and larger version) and Rapids, Zamperla Power Surge, Fabbri Frisbee, Giant Wheel, Zamperla Tower Rides, Fabbri Boosters and much more http://www.yeah7.com/videos/goosefair.zip Enjoy Phil

IIRC, the cable on Goliath picks the train up at the bottom of the lift, not in the station like on E:GF, there is a slight jolt on the train when it engages the cable sled. Kicker wheels move the train out the station and up onto the lift where it engages.

^^Rita gives loads of airtime... And its Galaxy Express 999 which has lapbars that inverts

Hey Don I cannot believe they shut the turntable off to load/unload a rapids ride, thats lunacy! I'd be puling my hair out. As for closing all topscans, I agree with Don. You cannot close all world wide installations of a ride because of one accident, if thats the case, shouldn't all Intamin coasters be closed after the DCA accident?

Seeing as everyone knows about Liseberg, I won't bother with a photos or any kind of report, but my video can be found below... Not as good as the Gröna Lund video, as I was still learning how to use my camera... Clickly

3hr ride on a tilting train, then catch the number 47 bus (i think), but if there is a group of you, a taxi works out cheaper to the park than the bus. We booked our seats on the train before hand online and collected the tickets at the station.

The Fun House was a massive surprise.... Some photos of the fun house follow. The video of my day is also below Clicky Cheers Phil Greg disapears down the slide at the end, which was the highlight Olov masters the wonky room better than most Paul struggles to get into the fun house The entrance to the Fun House

Came back last week from a visit to Sweden where me and a group of friends visited Liseberg and Gröna Lund. Now I'm sure most of you have heard about Liseberg due to the hype around Balder, so I won't do a photo or video TR from that park, but I will Gröna Lund as its just as good as Liseberg, all for different reasons. Firstly, the park is in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, so if you are visiting Liseberg for Balder, why not take a train ride up to spend the night there? The park has the perfect location, right by the water front and being a city park, space is tight, so all the rides are really crammed together or built over water. The park just oozes atmosphere, everyone is here to have a good time and you can tell it works, with a excellent selection of rides from flats, funhouses (more on that later), coasters, dark rides and tower rides (2 of them!) There are 2 main coasters here, a classic 80's Schwarzkopf that really kicks ass and is now one of my top coasters. It's so compact and forceful and has a really fun layout with a tigh safetly envelope, so don't wave your arms around too much! It also has a awesome throughput, with trains being sent out every 30 seconds or so, this coater has a very short line! The other main coaster is a Gerstlauer Bobsled, buit in the structure of the schwarzkopf to save space. Incredibe and is a real work of art when you see the support structure for both of these rides. While its not as good as Klotten's or Tripsdrills, its still a fun ride. The fun house is a real classic and a dieing breed, you won't get many attractions like these being built any more! It's one of the most fun ones aswell, with a seriously good ending with a mat slide that has a fake low roof so you hit your head of on canvas (if you are tall enough). As for photos... The parks entrance at night. Sad to leave =( The topscan at night in its full glory, had a wonderful light package. From the top of the Intamin tower. Still impossible to work out the layouts. Note the boat in the top right hand corner.... Stockholm is a busy port with boats going in and out all the time. The park even has a entrance for boats! The park had a very strict rule on loose articles, how they smuggled those giant balls on is anyones guess..... ....They were not soft either! Paul and Andy swinging out over the water The wave swinger at night. This park comes alive at night, as do most great parks. The view from the top of Vilda Musen... trying to follow the layout of both coasters is near impossible Yes, the S&S Tower gets *that* close to Vilda Musen Jetline's second drop is just like the late Thrillers first drop... twisting and near vertical Schwarzkopf and Topscan - Two names that mean intense and fun!

Mind if i chip in here? The price for these sort of trips is always very difficult. Firstly, the club is a non-profit organisation, so no one is profiting from the trip in any way. They have to account for significant changes in the exchange rate, on previous trips it has become very "tight" after fluctuations. Secondly, everything has to be booked (and therefore paid, or at least deposits) well in advance (flights for those in Europe who are flying with the club), hotels, coaches, etc. I believe hotels are fairly expensive in Japan, so this is one of the reasons for the high cost of the trip. Thirdly, this is the first time any large group is doing an organised trip to japan. It's very brave of them, they'll learn alot doing it, and maybe the ECC will do another Japan trip in the future if it goes well enough. The wording on the invite is very different to any trip invite in previous trips, simply because the club doesn't want people moaning about things that are out of their control. While the comments may not be "facts", I'm sure they were done with the best of intentions. I really hope this trip goes well for them, Justin has been working on it for years now, and I hope his (and others) hard work is apreciated by those that go. To me, there is nothing worse than when people go on trips and moan (when they clearly saw the itinery before hand) or are ungrateful. Taking this back "on topic", again, I think its really brave of Robb and Ellisa to consider doing organised tours, I have alot of respect for those that are willing to put in time and effort for others. If they decide to go ahead with their event, then I hope it goes well and is hastle/moan free

Don, They are called Mad Houses' and are made by Vekoma. Check out this website for details of all the installations in Europe at least. Most are made by Vekoma, there is one Mack version (at Europa park). What makes Gardalands even more impressive is that it's underground. Considering if the ride was above ground, they have to dig a fair way into the ground to fit the drum and housing. I have a video of the workings of Hex on my website, they are very impressive and techincal. I believe the reason why the ones in America closed is that a fault was discovered in that if the fire alarm went off, the ride would stop, but would not correct the drum. Meaning that the doors would not line up, effectively trapping people inside. Quite a bad flaw in the system.

Excellent Don Have you seen my photos from the trip yet? Love to see the DVD...... One bit you missed off your reports was the check in at Holiday Inn, that was funny!

Whooo, i finally apear in one of your photos (I'm on the front of X-speed, with Yngve) Keep em' coming Don

Hey Don, Glad you got back safe and well, and its good to see your photos and reports going up Keep them coming! Phil (the guy who gave you a lift to your Luton hotel)