Tim's TPR Europe 2008 photo trip report.

[darklingscribe]

For those who haven't already guessed, my name is Tim.

 

When on the TPR trips I tend to take pictures according to my mood. This means that while I may have over 50 pictures of the Flying Dutchman at Efteling I have none of Vogel Rok (IMO a better coaster) located at the same park. Forgive me if the collection of photos I post of some parks in this Trip report don't seem as extensive as others.

 

I also prefer to take pictures of people, rather than rides. On a trip with 69 other coaster enthusiasts I felt like there would be enough photos of rides as it is, so I decided to turn my lens towards the group and general park antics. I have a pretty even spread of photos of everyone in the group.

 

On to the photos.

The Temptation was too much for Terrance, which resulted in this gem of a photo.

 

Stay tuned for Parc Asterix photos.

...reading a book under a tree, oblivious to the group gathering around him.

As we were waiting for the buses to pick us up Terrance spotted Bill...

"Okay. Now how in the hell do I get back down without killing myself?"

View from the top of the cable Pyramid.

Some TPR members were already making their way up it.

An awesome play structure you'd never find in an American park due to fears of litigation.

This park was also a small zoo with animal exhibits placed randomly around the park.

This tree just looked so strange, like it was some kind of weird monster that came out of Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop.

How you can tell if a person is a coaster enthusiast or not.

The third coaster at the park.

The second credit was one of the strangest Spinning mice I've been on. It didn't do much of anything, the only thing that even made it a mouse were the cars and the fact that none of the turns were banked.

Our first credit of the trip, if you count powered coasters that is.

I spy some rides.

The Park itself was really beautiful and had the feel about it of a large garden.

Just to remind everyone where we were.

We arrive at the day 0 park, right in the middle of Paris.

The elusive Hanno, caught in his natural environment.

The bus driver in question.

To which Lou responded: "Why are you telling me this?" Elissa then said "I though you'd like to know." To which Lou replied "Well, if I think he's cute he's probably gay."

After she was done talking to them she ran back over and excitedly told Lou that the bus driver was Cute.

The buses show up and Elissa goes over to check in with them.

Robb handing out detailed itineraries that would help us be on time for the next 12 fun filled days

Everyone waiting for the buses to show up to take us to our first park.

This was the airport hotel we stayed at for the first couple of nights.

[darklingscribe]

Parc Asterix, for me, was one of the biggest surprises of the trip. I went there expecting it to be one of the more mediocre parks of the trip and came away thinking it might be one of the best.

Hanno and Will (willmontu) getting in their kiddie credit for the day.

 

That's it for Asterix, stay tuned for Walibi

More great and humorous theming.

Craig (Stealthfan) demonstrating the proper way a person should react when being put in the stocks.

The theming at Asterix was exceptional for a non Disney park.

"So how was it Bill?"

 

The ride was running surprisingly well that day and once you got through the first butterfly element the rest of the ride was fine. This confused most of the group.

We were afraid to go on it too, but probably not for the reasons the park intended. Gouduriiiix's reputation in the coaster world for head banging is one of the worst.

The Story behind Gouduriiiix, is that a viking comes down from the north to speak to the Park's mascot, Asterix the Gaul. The viking claims that he does not know what fear is, Asterix responds by making him ride Gouduriiiix.

First Drop. Bill (Nrthwnd) and BeetleBen riding front seat second-to-last car.

Jeff, having ridden Gouduriiiix on a previous visit volunteered to be everyone's bag lady.

The most dreaded credit of the day.

Our ERT that day was on Trace Du Hourra (pictured) and Tonnerre de Zeus.

A shot I included for the MiniDV Camcorder enthusiasts.

Terrance gets his first official statue credit of the trip.

Robb, like any full blooded Italian American, would be completely unable to speak if he lost both of his arms. (I'm the same way.)

Melanie helping Larry adjust his hat to a more attractive angle.

On the ride to the park Dave handed out two of the most incredible hats he was able to find at the dollar store to Larry and Big Mike.

Everyone filing off the buses early in the morning.

[SteveC]

Tim - the pic of Terry with Bill reading is remarkable-I hope Hanno is jealous?? !!

[Big Mike]

Good job Tim.

 

Thanks again for letting me take a picture of your shirt at Asterix!

 

 

Peace, Big Mike

[darklingscribe]

Thanks Steve, it's one of my favorites of the trip. The candid of Melanie helping Larry with his hat is another favorite, I love the expression of good natured humor on Larry's face.

 

On to day two.

As you can see most of us were in awe. Others began looking worried...

 

I must now redirect you over to Robb's thread for ropes course picture goodness. Come back later for day 3.

What the place looked like the moment you entered their parking lot.

I don't have many photos of the ropes course, mainly because I couldn't carry a camera around and participate at the same time.

Most of the group by now was no longer riding the rides. We all sat around eating waffles waiting for the buses to leave for the ropes course.

Yes, we were in Belgium. So we had to get some Waffles. This is John (flossy) displaying his waffle.

We then did something really touristy.

The broken Vertigo's elevator lift. After that we got off. The wheel's ride cycle was only one rotation, and while that sucked, we were not all that surprised.

We got on the wheel, surprised that they were only loading six Gondolas on the entire wheel. Here is a shot of Loup-Garou I took from the top.

A shot for Ferris Wheel enthusiasts.

The park was swamped with school kids and by noon practically the only thing without a one hour line was the Ferris Wheel.

After getting off the flume somewhat wet, I marveled at what appeared to be a fish petting zoo.

Other TPR members waiting in line ahead of us seemed to be happy having finally gotten on the ride.

Next to turbine was the park's log flume. Which, when I heard it was a reversible flume, I had to ride. This photo was from after an hour standing in the line. you can see how crowded the ride was that day.

... and Turbine , a forceful indoor shuttle loop.

Our other ERT sessions that day were on Cobra, a standard Vekoma boomerang which was located right next to the park's indoor waterpark Aqualibi...

I was expecting quite a lot from Loup-Garou. The only previous Vekoma woodie I had ridden was Thundercoaster at TusenFryd which, depending on my mood, alternates with Balder as my #1 wooden coaster. Too bad. Loup-Garou was one of the tamest woodies I've ridden.

Our first ERT of the day.

Then Robb returns ten minutes later with the admission and a park representative who leads us over to the coaster/s in question.

The way most TPR trips work is that the group arrives 15 minutes to half an hour before ERT starts. We then wait while Robb goes to the group tickets window to sort out the details.

Walibi Belgium. This park was almost like the opposite of Asterix. I went in expecting to have a great time and came away thinking that I was glad to finally get out.

[caliraiden]

Hey awesome tr... love the candid pics... and the one with terrance n bill is classic... reminds me of one from the midwest.....

[Coastinmiller]

Nice pics Tim. Can't wait for the reat of them. It really was an awesome trip!

[darklingscribe]

Thanks for the compliments.

 

Day three was Bobbejaanland and Toverland. While I do have Photos from Bobbejaanland I'm missing all of my photos of Toverland, something I didn't notice until now. I remember taking pictures there, but have no idea where they went.

 

Perhaps after getting back my memory card from Robb I accidentally reformatted the card, forgetting to upload the pictures on to my computer beforehand...

 

Oh well, on to the photos.

And at last I leave you with a picture of this dumpster, which, after spotting it, I couldn't not take a picture of it. This should give you some idea of my childish sense of humor.

 

Next up day 4: Efteling and Drievliet.

When leaving Bobbejaanland two new buses arrived to come and pick us up. and instead of another regular bus and short bus. There arrived a regular bus and the VIP bus, rear poker table and all.

Having just gotten off their powered coaster, this Picture of Ryan gives some idea of how most of us looked.

Later in the day the clouds really opened up.

Though this photo is rather blurry it gives one the idea of how long ®evolution train was. 30 cars long according to RCDB.

In the distance was the building of ®evolution, what turned out to be the biggest surprise Bobbejaanland offered for me.

We next had ERT on some flats, which they were kind enough to run for us.

While a fun ride, Typhoon ranks below my first Eurofighter, Speed at Oakwood.

Part of Team Larry makes their way over Typhoon's past vertical drop.

Our first ERT for the day was on Typhoon, the second Eurofighter I've ever been on.

While other parks I have been to have a park water tower to display their name on, this was definitely the first park windmill I had seen.

Robb meeting with today's park representative.

The place we were supposed to meet at noon for our paid for lunch.

The only pic I have of the strange tree that sat in the center of the entrance of the park.

Today we had an included meal, and Robb was handing out meal tickets. The included meal seems to be different at every park we go to, sometimes we need tickets, other times our wristbands are enough.

This is Ryan (Ryancrash), with his awesome H. R. Giger sleeve.

We arrive at what I think is the Belgian equivalent of Dollywood. Bobbejaan Schoepen is a Flemish singer who, according to Wikipedia, was one of the people who introduced American country music to Europe.

Another favorite photo. Kidtums, rather than being shy in front of all the strangers around her, would often pose for photos on morning bus rides and commandeer the microphone from Robb and talk nonsense to the group on the bus.

[Nrthwnd]

I wondered where that pic of Terry behind me was going to show up...

 

 

I just wish my expression was more... um, less "negative"? Ah well. The delight of being caught "au naturel", lol.

 

Same goes for my "after expression" on Goudurix, heh heh. I mean, I actually didn't think the coaster was that bad, or as OMG-so-bad-it's the-worst-steel-coaster-in-the-world kind of bad. I would have even ridden it again, if we didn't have other stuff to ride, eat, ride some more, etc.

 

Great TRs so far, Tim. Looking forward to more.

[eBen]

I thought it was a good one - maybe I just over braced myself (or because I ate one of the energy tablets that I realised afterwards your meant to mix with water beforehand) but there was far less headbanging than smaller coasters on the trip like Super Wirbel at Holiday Park. Maybe people don't want to slate a park which has one of the best coasters or this bandwagon has softer seats but give this coaster a break! The station looks cool too.

 

And some advice to people viewing this site - go on one of the trips. It makes these trip reports much more sweeter, and so much happens you need these prods to your memory. Cheers for this one Tim!

[BlibBlab]

Awesome pictures so far dude. Big thanks for putting in the effort and uploading all these, really appreciate it as I would of loved to be on the trip

 

Keep up the awesomeness

[SteveC]

Bill, I think you fare well in that pic - you look more 'reflective' than anything - i.e. on the thought process "should I re read that entire chapter or just throw away this damn book and go ride?"

 

Tim - I thought Kidtums turn on the microphone was frequently more informative than Robb's and I am sure Robb would agree

 

(maybe....... )

[SharkTums]

^The funny thing about the microphone is the first week back we 'graduated' into the next level of Gymboree Music Class. Apparently they do some sort of microphone activity and the teacher says "Don't worry if she doesn't want to do this right away or does it wrong" I just laughed. Sure enough her turn comes around and she does her 'ahhh' right into the microphone!

 

See, the TPR Trips are educational!

[darklingscribe]

^ Educational and an intense, fun, 12 day workout, I'm still recovering. By the last day I was so exhausted that my immune system left me open to a sinus infection I developed on the flight back home.

 

I'm glad everyone likes the photos, Up next is Efteling, a park I've heard almost nothing about (except from the flying Dutchman construction updates a couple of years ago). I was pleasantly suprised by this huge and beautiful family theme park. It is sometimes nice to visit parks geared toward the 2 to 80 demographic rather than the thrill seeking crowd.

 

I've made this a multimedia update, because the Charm of Efteling cannot fully be conveyed through pictures as the sounds and music of the park play role as well.

 

After some experimentation, doing this requires me to break up this update in a couple of posts in order for the audio to appear in the right places.

Right when we entered we also encountered our first... I guess the best word for it would be, a framed talking statue. Every single one in the park had an open mouth and seemed to be speaking Dutch on a looped track.

Even without the rides running, this park was gorgeous.

Almost immediately the beauty of the park hit us.

We entered the park that morning though the back entrance reserved for hotel guests.

[darklingscribe]

Efteling part two.

Skipping ahead to 11:30, the Flying Dutchman was open and most of us got our credit.

This should give you an idea of how forested Efteling is.

This park can even make a Vekoma looper look inviting.

Next up was Python, no worse than the average Vekoma looper.

They were working on the ride for the moment. Trying to get it up and running before noon.

An excellent view of the Flying Dutchman through the exit of Pegasus.

The ride, while fun for what it was, was clearly designed for the entire family and offered little in the way of forces.

Pegasus's hidden entrance.

We past their swinging ship on the way. The detail this park puts even into their swinging ship is impressive.

A gaggle of geese. Despite the funny term I kept my distance. These birds, as I've learned in the past, can be vicious.

We were led to Pegasus, a considerable walk because this park is huge.

03 Holle Bolle Gijs.mp3

While I'm not sure if this particular sound byte came from the statue above, I'd though I'd include it to give an idea of the background atmosphere of the park. If you speak Dutch, I would be interested in knowing exactly what is being said.

[darklingscribe]

Efteling part three.

My only shot of Vogel Rok's building. It is in my opinion the best coaster at Efteling.

Our hotel off in the distance. Why don't more parks with height restrictions build a floating island?

On a field in the center of the park they were constructing a stage for a production of the Sound of Music. There were posters everywhere advertising this.

From above I could get a new perspective on some of their beautiful landscaping.

Up above I spotted Big Mike and crew below.

This was the first Floating Island I've ever been on.

Which is basically a rotating platform on an arm.

After Fata Morgana (which according to Yahoo's BabelFish translates to Mirage) I headed over to their floating Island observation tower.

Other TPR members waiting to ride, were happy to pose for some photos.

When bored in line I'd often try to get candids by holding my camera casually at waist height an pressing the trigger. A strategy Terrance soon caught on to.

Families had no qualms about just leaving their strollers unattended.

The Lines by now were getting fairly long, but luckily Fata Morgana was a dark ride on boats with a fairly high capacity.

Another example of the charm the park had to offer. If this park were to be built in the USA, this torch would have a light bulb in it.

I find this blurry picture oddly eye catching.

Some of the paths in this park felt very secluded. Somewhat reminding me of parts of Alton Towers.

Speeding through the final turn before the splash. I like this Photo because of the way that rider has outstretched his arms, as if flying.

The Flying Dutchman heading down it's first drop.

De Vliegende Hollander - Haven (station).mp3

This is the Theme to the Flying Dutchman. It was playing all around the building and in the excellently themed queue. It really made the place feel like a fantasy adventure from the movies.

[darklingscribe]

The last group of Efteling Photos and a few shots from Drievliet.

And quite a bit of hang time as well.

 

Thats it for now. Check back later for day 5.

Offered a surprising amount of airtime.

It was smooth.

Formule X was the surprise ride of the day.

On to Drievliet. I don't have many pictures of this small park. I guess I just wasn't in the mood.

They had a ride called Volk Van Laaf in a section of the park. It is just a slow monorail like ride that makes it's way around a children's play area. It's cars were shaped like snails and yet the ride ops were stacking the cars like crazy. I found it funny that the snails were going too fast through the course for the ride ops to keep up.

Another shot I took, trying to capture this park's beauty.

The Flying Dutchman from above, with Pegasus's train just cresting the it's lift hill in the background.

04 Vogel Rok.mp3

Vogel Rok, while a short ride, has some the best timed music I've ever experienced playing on the train's speaker. Every rise and change in the tune is matched perfectly with the dark effects the train passes though.

[terrancew_hod]

 

That little girl got on my LAST nerve. I was glad when she switched to the other bus for a few days!

 

Tim, I'll have to get the original picture of that pic with me and Bill to add to my iPhoto library. Classic! I hope I can get around to importing all my pictures by this weekend.

 

Terry

[caliraiden]

I would point out that Terrance has a habit of getting behind men but thats to obvious... I mean come on... look at the pic from the midwest last year and this year with Bill...

[terrancew_hod]

I would point out that Terrance has a habit of getting behind men but thats to obvious... I mean come on... look at the pic from the midwest last year and this year with Bill...

 

The difference is you liked it.

 

Please note the positioning... just offering it up!

 

 

Terry

[SharkTums]

When bored in line I'd often try to get candids by holding my camera casually at waist height an pressing the trigger. A strategy Terrance soon caught on to.

 

See, I'm pretty sure THIS EXACT TECHNIQUE is what people are 'creeped' out by. It's one thing to take candids openly and honestly like Hanno. It's a whole other to keep your camera by your side, pretending you're not taking a picture while you are!!!!

[terrancew_hod]

^Yeah, that's a technique you NEED to abandon.

 

I get enough of those people trying to take candids in the bathrooms at the clubs.

 

Terry

[darklingscribe]

Funnily enough I wasn't yelled at for taking pictures this way. It was when I was taking pictures openly that got people angry.

 

And by Disneyland I had already abandoned the waist high stuff, it was only something I did out of boredom and I agree it had too much of a paparazzi vibe to it.

 

Terrance, I'll email you the Higher quality photo of You and Bill.

[hansrubens]

The thing Holle Bolle Gijs is saying is something like this.

 

Garbage here, garbage here, Come on I like it so much, Come on now, Garbage here, Thank you, Oh delicious, Merci, Garbage here, Garbage here, Search some more, come on, Thank you, Delicious.

 

Now in dutch maybe you can hear it.

 

Papier hier, Papier hier, Vooruit ik vind het zo lekker jongens, vooruit nou, Papier hier, dank je wel, oech lekker, merci (french), papier hier, papier hier, zoek nou nog eens wat vooruit nou, danke schon (german), fijn hoor heerlijk.

 

This is one of the things De Efteling is famous for. Just like longneck and the Python. Everybody in Holland knows it.

[ELZ]

Efteling hotel was awesome, the bed especially, having a giant 'E' on the head board, something ive got to get at home