Lou's Year In Review: 2007

[Carnage]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys, I much appreciate the love seeing as this is (shockingly, considering I've been around well over two years) my first trip report!

 

Well you've still got time to catch up on all those missed TRs. Have them done in a year and you should be able to pass Tom.

[Meteornotes]

No mention of how someone transported Oreos and other awesome gifts over the ocean for you?!? So sad.

 

Isla Magica also deserves two mentions for the 3D movie theater (with the totally screwed up second movie) and the horrible, horrible food that was served by what appeared to be the staff of a prison, at least in their demeanor.

 

But yeah, that Indiana Flintstones ride was indeed screwed up. We figured that one of the challenges was the line to ride, so we just have to figure out what the other two were...

 

dt

[Louise]

^ Dude, yes!! This is why I need to not leave it so long to do future reports, I forget these things!

 

I won't even touch upon the lunch thing, I actually seemed to be the only person who didn't mind the food, but that menu was damn confusing, and some of the hygiene practices left a LOT to be desired.

 

So bonus number one of the day: Dave arrived bearing gifts of Oreos (which are available over here but are stupidly priced), which I did really well not to open until I got home, whereupon they lasted about a day and a half... And it was a decent-sized box too! And also an awesome CD by a band called Freak Kitchen, who I urge you to listen to, even if you're like me and are usually scared by the sort of music Dave listens to! He'd introduced me to one track which I loved, and the whole album he gave me is all kinds of awesome, though Look Bored is still my favourite, with Walls Of Stupidity coming a close second just because of the message it sends. I think those lyrics sum up both Dave and my own's feelings towards daily life in general.

 

And a major thing I didn't mention: We didn't technically have any ERT booked at Isla Magica, though I believe they had scheduled to bring us into the park early so we didn't have to wait in line for Jaguar. Anyway, bonus ERT is always awesome, and they did take us straight into their 3D movie theatre, which was a double-feature, one of which was a really creepy and all-kinds-of-awesome movie about a cat in a haunted house (I think it was that one anyway, I must have seen 30 of these movies this year), and the second of which was that crappy environmental one that I think I've now seen in four different countries. They also led us over to their pirates shooting dark ride, which was cool too, even though I'm not a fan of that type of ride at all.

 

Should probably edit all this into my last post, but oh well, I'm lazy. My point is, Isla Magica's generosity rules. And so does Dave's.

[Moose]

Your post somehow reminded me that there was far too much cameltoe in this park. That one plump tween girl in pink is still burned into my retinas. shudder.

 

I still don't know why i was so sad in the pic. It wasn't even when someone said there were cows outside of the train and I missed them, which i was truly sad about.

 

 

Thanks for this I'm having a great time reliving the trip.

[RCFreak]

^but with the camel toe should come all the hot Spanish guys NOT wearing shirts cause it was so damn hot!

 

YAY I'm totally loving these pics Lou! WHo knows I might even attempt a TR of this sometime next year here lol.

[Ed]

Was that facebook photo after we ran through the fountains?.. And then got denied from the Chairswing!

All I seem to remember from this day is the heat, and plastic food..

 

All in all it was a fun and chilled-out arrival (excepting us getting lost..... Ed and I should NOT travel alone together, by the way), which we needed for the insanity that would ensue beginning the following day...

 

HAHA. I just found this little gem, and thought i'd promote the backstory to go with it..

 

So we get out of the airport and head for the taxi rank because we really have no idea how to get to this hotel of ours for the night, so we get in and tell the driver the hotel name, and he tells us to get out! So we were ushered out of the taxi and left bemused at the roadside..

 

The taxi driver said it was "just over there", or something like that in Spanish, so we tried to go where he pointed and were greeted with a motorway.

 

On the website for this hotel it says the nearest train station is Chamartin. Unfortunately we thought that meant the metro.. so off we went to Charmartin Metro station, got out.. Wandered around looking for this black & white building..

 

We eventually gave up and hailed a taxi where by the driver took us to the hotel. It was a good 15 minute taxi ride so we were way out..

 

And now a map..

Note the Taxi Rank, the closeness of our hotel to the airport, and where we ended up. The ghetto streets of Madrid!! Also I put on the rather large park we found and where the main Novotel hotel was..

 

 

 

[TheRapidsNerd]

Oh man. Wow. You poor folks, but a funny story all the same.

[Carnage]

We eventually gave up and hailed a taxi where by the driver took us to the hotel. It was a good 15 minute taxi ride so we were way out..

 

Hey, at least you didn't go to all 3 London Heathrow Holiday Inn's before ending up at the correct one.

[Louise]

OMG the girl in pink with the entire camel HOOF.

 

And Ed and I not being allowed on the chairswings because we were "too wet" and presumably might fall out. Hysterical.

 

I'm gonna end up with like 400 posts in this thread where I'm just responding with things that your responses have reminded me of!

 

Ed, that map is soooo funny. I've always said that my sense of direction is not so much poor as it is nonexistent, but in this case I really do feel like we were a victim of the circumstances, who would've thought that Chamartin train station and Chamartin metro station would be soooooo far apart! The website stated "nearest station" and didn't elaborate, and I just made the mistake of assuming Metro. Lugging those cases around the ghettos of Madrid for two hours.... LOL.

[Louise]

So my original plan was to post installments on alternate days, but it just dawned on me that if I do that, it will take me another two months to finish this. So we'll stick with daily for now.

 

 

Spain Trip Day Two: Parque de Atracciones (I'm spelling that different every time, I think it's actually right this time) de Madrid, and Parque de Atracciones de Zaragoza.

 

 

We spent the first half of the day back at PdA (that needed acronymising) Madrid, this time with the whole group, then in the late afternoon headed over to Zaragoza for the evening and dinner, staying at a hotel in the area before travelling towards Barcelona the following day for our stay at Port Aventura.

 

 

Parque Madrid was another surprise for me, as were most of the parks. I'd read about and seen lots of pictures for Port Aventura and Parque Warner (most Brits will probably agree that Port Aventura tv advertising is almost saturating during summer), but most of the other Spain parks were unfamiliar to me, and for whatever reason my expectations weren't all that high, so a lot of them really impressed me.

 

I despised G-Force at Drayton, so Abismo ERT wasn't exactly something I was looking forward to, but it had turned out on Day Zero that it's a kick-ass coaster!! I still think that while you're waiting for the back of the train to finish up the lift, a little *too* much blood rushes to your head as you're hanging upside down, but it wasn't uncomfortable in the way G-Force was, and the airtime hill was amazing! The restraints also didn't seem quite as painful as Drayton's, though I'm still not a fan. Robb, Kristie, myself, and a bunch of others ended up getting stuck lying on our backs on the thing, and mine and Kristie's restraints ended up bruising our hipbones, I'm guessing ours being more prominent than the men's made us easy victims, but God it hurt. That's a minor complain though really, the coaster was really awesome and will likely be a permanent fixture on my favourites list.

 

I've ridden four of the Maurer Söhne spinning mice, each one beating the last. Tarantula was the third... So I guess it's my second favourite. As always, weight distribution had a hell of a lot to do with what kind of ride you got, but even when all was pretty even and we didn't spin a huge amount, the coaster was still a lot of fun. This has to be one of the coasters on the trip I re-rode the most, which is always a good sign, as I'm not big on re-rides and even during an hours' ERT will quite often move onto something else a little over halfway through.

 

I warned you there'd be coasters where I just went "yeah, I don't remember". Tornado is one of them. I remember waiting in line for it, I remember where I sat, but I recall barely anything about the ride except that I felt it had a severe lack of supports and desperately needed more structure to it. [/sarcasm] I guess my lack of memory probably means I neither loved nor hated it. I only rode once, as far as I recall.

 

Other stuff.... The Small World rip-off which portrays Americans as cheeseburger-eating Statues-of-Liberty, Brits as Beefeater-hat-wearing people in red phoneboxes, and French people as prostitutes. A Ghetto Jungle Cruise with REALLY politically-incorrect tribesmen, and British explorers shouting "You dirty bastard!" while trying to climb up trees.... And Desperado. Which I can't explain except to say that you are NOT meant to shoot at your number, and you may be turned into a donkey if you do badly. I've now ridden this ride in Spanish and in Japanese... Some day I'll get to an English one and figure out what the hell the awesome moustachioed guy is saying to me.

 

Enough rambling, sorry! No doubt I'll ramble more when people jump in and remind me of things later! Pictures!

 

 

 

Early on at Parque Madrid, Kristen was doing this incredibly cute smile that I tried to photograph, but I wasn't quick enough and ended up with this shot instead. Incredibly cute, but my GOD it's freakish how much she looks like Robb here!

 

 

We were really early (I'm not complaining, way better early than late and we can always entertain ourselves), so I took a couple of arty shots while we were waiting for Tarantula to open for our ERT. I'm a big fan of reflections. The face is Kyle's, pictured in the glasses are myself, Jon, Chadlyr, Dave, Hector, Tomi and Ed.

 

 

I enjoyed watching Ron and Kyle bond this day over similar hobbies. I always enjoyed watching Ron show off how flexible he is! Amazing. I still say he's a twelve year old Romanian girl masquerading as a 30-something Californian guy.

 

 

I include this photo only as an example of why I don't take coaster shots. Ever.

 

 

I decided the flume had gotten me wet enough two days prior, and stood and watched the boys ride. Standing and watching them drag along in a tunnel and Hector get DRENCHED by a timed waterfall.... Funniest moment of my life so far, I swear. We all nearly wet ourselves laughing.

 

 

I guess Ron didn't hear me shouting for attention!

 

 

Perfecting the art of the stalker-shot. Kyle >>>>> anybody else.

 

 

If you think Miles is having fun *now*, you should see him in a few minutes when he and Jon, umm.... "collide".

 

 

This kids ride was like.... Well, don't ride it if you value your external genetalia. Serious pain, even for me. I still laughed at all the guys though.

 

 

I think this was the moment that Jon lost a vital part of his body.

 

 

*sings* Why don't you come to your senses....

 

 

AWESOME Frisbee!! Jon very kindly played photographer for me again, and caught a few great expressions on our faces! That's me, Ed and Dave in the green, red and blue respectively. As soon as Dave started laughing, I was off too. Much fun ride. Glad we did this instead of clapping on the top spin.

 

 

Ah yes, the shooting dark ride that scared the crap out of me every single time. Dave here is showing that TPDave in fact stands for "Total Pimp", and not "Thorpe Park" as everybody previously thought.

 

 

 

Aaaaaaaand onto Zaragoza. Thanks for your patience if you're still with me.

 

Zaragoza have three coasters: random kiddie mine train (with slightly dubious restrain in the backseat!), a non-looping Pinfari where I stupidly bruised my hand and which was damn terrifying riding with "the Brits" after dark, and Ramses, which is bizarrely fun. All you do is swing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, like a pirate ship on tracks, and yet it's amazingly entertaining. I have a theory that it's all about the seating, rides where you sit face to face and can see other peoples' reactions always seem to end of being all kinds of fun. As well as all that, the park had a *fast* and pretty decent (but unthemed) rapids ride (and they let us put 12 people in a boat!), a fun house, a HYSTERICAL mirror maze (can't wait to see video footage from that), a not-too-scary-but-very-dark ghost train, and.... BOUNCY BOUNCY.

 

(Bouncy Bouncy deserves its own paragraph.) The ride is actually named Quetzal, but to me, will forever be Bouncy Bouncy. I still have no idea what the actual model is, or who makes it, but that thing is still by far the most fun I've ever had on an attraction, and I doubt I've ever laughed so hard in my life. We rode another one in Korea but it was lame compared to the Zaragoza one. All I know is that something about the motion of that thing just cracks me up, and I couldn't stop laughing, especially the second time riding with Miles and Dave (Lawrence), whose laugh is so infectious that I literally cried on the ride.

 

The only other thing that really needs mentioning is the AWESOME treatment we recieved from the park. A lot of us talked afterwards and said it's the parks that go out of their way for you that you remember, not necessarily the "best" parks, and that's definitely true of Zaragoza, so if anybody from the park happens to read this, THANK YOU!! We were warmly greeted, chatted to by the staff, we expected a quick snack buffet-style but were given a three-course banquet, plenty of wine, and beautiful table settings, and to top it all off they threw in some goodies for Robb and Elissa to give out in trivia contests and the like on the bus. They even went so far as to arrange a pizza for a vegetarian member of our group who couldn't eat the food they provided. Great people who definitely made that park one of the most memorable of the trip.

 

 

 

The drive to Zaragoza. So much of Spain is like this, so arid and plain, yet strangely beautiful!

 

 

Hector looks hot even when he's blurred.

 

 

I love this picture. Miles and Ron both lipsynching along to their own iPods. I spent half the journey trying to read lips and figure out what they were listening to.

 

 

I ADORE windfarms and was thrilled to see they were everywhere in Spain.

 

 

The lovely tables they had set up for our meal.

 

 

Hector and I improvised placecards with our nametags. Notice the monogrammed crockery, clearly the park knows what they're doing with this!

 

 

Dave had REALLY demolished his meat.

 

 

Panthers + wine = Recipe for success!!

 

 

Mmmmmmmmmmm!!!

 

 

I actually like this picture not because it's a good one of me but because Hector is stealing the freaking show as usual!!!

 

 

Larry managed to polish off not one but *two* desserts!

 

 

The mirror maze contained not only mirrored walls but also walls of clear glass.... Cue Dave, Robb, myself, and pretty much everybody else, walking into not only each other and our own reflections, but also clear panes. Hilarity ensues.

 

 

Literally a millisecond after this picture was taken, Robb's face made a rather loud smashing noise against the glass.

 

 

"Are you real?!?!"

 

 

We're smug cos we made it out while the others were still lost inside. Credit to Chadlyr for getting Jon and I out in one piece!!

 

 

Kyle and I are pussies. I think he was genuinely scared on this one, and I was more than a little creeped out.

 

 

And I leave you with this it-would-be-brilliant-if-it-wasn't-so-blurry picture of Hector and Dave.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

[TPDave]

Where are the coaster shots Lou?!

 

Great stuff, reminds me how awesome the trip was...

 

"Total Pimp" Dave "Jolly Jolly Jolly time for high tea at threee quarters to half eleven" Wilson

[sfne2005]

Lou, why are there pictures of the same people over and over again? Oh wait, that's a different thread, sorry. Just kidding. It's nice to reminisce the trips....especially when there is a foot of snow outside my window.

[Moose]

I love these. But *ahem* I was the bag lady/ photographer for the disc thingy as they make me very ill even when only watching them. I am amazed I was able to get the pic and keep my lunch.

[Nrthwnd]

I love how the chairs are individually gift-wrapped.

 

And with a bow, too!

 

 

 

Great TR so far, Lou.

[Louise]

Lou, why are there pictures of the same people over and over again? Oh wait, that's a different thread, sorry. Just kidding. It's nice to reminisce the trips....especially when there is a foot of snow outside my window.

 

 

 

 

And I'm jealous of your snow. Far too much rain and wind here and not much of anything else. I love snow.

 

 

Oops, sorry Jon!! I remembered you and Kyle didn't ride because it was right after that that you guys fixed my bag for me (lol), I'll fix the credit now!

 

Edit: Fixed the broken quote tag.

[piers]

Hello dear, loving your review. Forgot to post this for you to explain the fountains at Isla Majica!

Enjoy

[Carnage]

^ Careful Lou, there's a beast behind you in the fountain that is going to get you!

[ebl]

Great review, Louise! Hopefully if you find yourself here in California we can finally meet up!

 

Eric

[cfc]

At long last, a TR from Lou. Can't wait for the next installment.

[RCFreak]

SQUEEE!!! I'm seriously loving these pics (and not cause I'm in a lot of them lol)! I should do a TR of them, but I'm lazy so I'll do them sometime in feb when no one expects it lol.

[Louise]

Piers, thanks for that, that picture's great... though I look about twelve years old!!

 

Eric, wait another week or so for my California update, I was there this summer! Kept it fairly quiet this time as it was a whirlwind visit and more about catching up with close friends, but I'll be back at some point in either 2008 or 2009 and look forward to meeting a bunch of new people!

 

Hector, your pictures were fantastic, way better than mine, you NEED to do a trip report at some point!

 

Just doing Port Aventura now... Thanks for all the comments guys!

[Louise]

Port Aventura

 

 

I'm a bit confused about how long we actually spent at Port Aventura and don't know what we did on each day, so I'll just lump it all in together. PA was definitely one of my favourite parks of the trip, I could have spent a week there and never gotten bored. I've spent as long as I can remember watching cheesy tv advertisements for the resort and when I started visiting Europe on my own in my teens always talked about going, but still didn't really expect the theming to be as amazing as it was. The areas are all beautifully done, we spent a good chunk of our first afternoon in the park just walking around (the place is freaking huge, by the way!) exploring. The food was good, the hotel was nice, bar was fun (though needed to be open later ), my only real complaint about the hotel was the internet access... I paid for 20 minutes one evening and it took 12 minutes to go to my email log-in screen and another 6 to log me in, leaving me with 4 minutes to read and respond to everything.

 

Furius Baco evoked interesting responses from people, and it seemed to very much be a love/hate coaster. I for one loved it, and created my own "I despise it but want to ride it constantly" or "I love it but want to destroy it" camp. It seemingly kicked the crap out of a lot of people, but I found it highly aggressive rather than rough, which I like in a steel coaster. Odd though, because generally I feel pain and roughness more than most seem to. But whatever. I loved it. Never quite got a night ride, I kept just missing it closing, so I guess I have a good reason to go back!

 

Dragon Khan was a lot of fun, and one of my most anticipated coasters of the trip. Your ride is DEFINITELY mostly dependent on what train you end up in though, the green(?) train was not a fun ride at all, yet I loved the ride in the others. My front row night-ride on Khan is a stand-out memory. The view going up the lift hill is incredible, I hadn't realised until then how close we were to the water.

 

El Diablo... I really remember nothing about this ride other than the "million" lift hills. I love the section where you go up a lift hill, drop, go around a bend, and then go up another lift hill. So pointless, but so funny.

 

Tami-Tami was actually a lot of fun, although that might just be because I rode it in Kyle's arms. This was the first coaster we rode in the park, figuring we'd save the great stuff for last, but it actually wound up being much fun! Didn't bother with a re-ride though I don't think, far too much other good stuff to do than return to a family coaster, fun or not.

 

Tomahawk, the junior woodie, was also pretty decent. Give me that over Stampida any day of the week. A few people rode Stampida on the first day, though I didn't, and warned me it was pretty brutal. The morning of our Stampida ERT was the day after I'd found out that I'd graduated from uni back home, so I was just *slightly* hungover after consuming rather a lot of Sangria in celebration. That, combined with my low tolerance for restraint-related bashing meant that I only managed to ride three times (and it would have been two, I was co-erced into the third one) before collapsing on a bench. I'd agree with Robb's assessment in the PA thread that inside Stampida somewhere is a great woodie, but those trains... That was what killed me. Many of us sported matching "Stampida bruises" on the outsides of our legs for the rest of the trip. Mine didn't heal for two weeks!

 

 

One of the most awesome attractions at the park (thanks Larry for reminding me of its existence) is Templo del Fuego. It's sort of the same basic idea (effects-wise) as Universal's Backdraft, only with an acted (and sometimes improvised) pre-show rather than a video one. I was told (but don't know if it's true or not) that it holds or held some kind of world record for manufactured fire being the closest to the audience. It's awesome, anyway, with a couple of surprising moments. Just watch out for the one cocky actor who uses the Spanish and French speaking audience members to make fun of the English. ::

 

 

As far as flats and miscellaneous attractions go, Hurakan Condor has to be the first thing I mention. It's rare these days for pretty much anything to give me a *real* adrenaline hit, but I got off that thing shaking from the rush. Incredible view, incredible drop. I loved all three sides but I think the floorless standing was my favourite. And the ride-ops deserve kudos for creating the finger-waggling "nononononononono" which became part of our repertoire. The splashdown boat was GREAT, with two drops, the second of which has the potential to drench the boat going up the first lift if it's timed right. Saturating flume too, which we rode frequently to escape from the heat, and since we had awesome front-of-the-line passes. The park also had a bunch of "meh" flats which were all run pretty tamely, though Larry Chris and Robb managed to damn near snap my spine on the teacups, a rubbish simulator with the funniest safety video EVER (somebody needs to post that if anybody has it), and a damn decent show over the lake in the evenings. Not quite up there with Disney, but a fab show all the same. Definitely one of my favourite parks now.

 

Oh, and the resort also has a waterpark. It's pretty nice, and the slides are decent, but it's not exactly huge, and really isn't anything too special. Definitely a nice enough place to spend a few hours in the afternoon though, I'm really glad we all went. Plus, we got a bonus striptease for FREE!!!

 

I took VERY few pictures at this park, in fact I only took my camera out of the hotel room on the first day we arrived. I was having so much fun that I didn't bother taking pictures, so it didn't seem worth carrying the camera around. Apologies that out of the few pictures I'm posting, half of them are from the bar.

 

 

 

Hector and I are happy to be at Port Aventura... And I'm happy to have my own Retarded Red Hat Club!

 

 

The first lunch. Everybody else ate from this Italian place, I went and got a giant footlong chili cheese dog.

 

 

The Panthers enjoyed meeting Woody('s girlfriend).

 

 

This picture REALLY doesn't capture how wet we are. From the ankles down and from the knees up I was SOAKED, with only my mid-legs oddly dry.

 

 

The awesome bar crew, who made it worth being exhausted every morning.

 

 

Hi Ed!

 

 

I find it funny how worried Robb looks by Chris's tongue... In fairness, it could have been ANYWHERE.

 

 

Me and Jeff in the bar on celebration night.

 

 

Kyle and I are hot... And I mean that in the literal sense.

 

 

SYNCHRONISED POSING.

 

 

Not only did I get a free striptease performed for me at the waterpark, but also back at the hotel... You whore.

[TexTitan01]

Spain looks like it was alot of fun, Its times like these, when everyone brings back memories of all the fun trips that went on over the summer, that make me think "I have GOT to do another one of these..."

 

Wow, I wonder how hammered Chris was in those last few photos,

[Ed]

Hi Lou.

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[larrygator]

Lou - a couple of things

 

I also enjoyed the food at Isla Magica (that was the park with all the families of adopted Chinese babies, right). I remember the dinner rolls being very tasty and borrowing others leftovers.

 

You can enjoy Desperado in another language at Bobbejaanland

 

I completely forgot about wolfing down that second piece of scrumptious cake in 10 seconds

 

You forgot to mention Templo del Fuego at Port Aventura.