Mushroom Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 A little while ago myself and Shockwave decided to goto Ireland to ride their coasters! 12th August After a late finish the previous night from work, and only getting about 2 hours sleep, I find myself at Stansted airport awaiting for my flight to Dublin. But first was breakfast at 4am! Well I polished that off =D And a nice brew After a little bit more of a wait to be allowed to check in, I got through security and straight to the gate. As it was the first flight of the day, the plane was here, and on time! Here is the beast that is taking me to Dublin. Not much later we were in the sky Thats Baldock down there Also passed over Bedford, but the batteries died as we were going over =[ But I thought this was nice Now in dublin! On time too. And bye-bye plane! I had to hang around in arrivals awaiting for Tom who was coming in from Manchester. Once he arrived, we went to get our hire car from Hertz. A nice red Fiat bravo. Then we were onto our first destination! it was onto Bettystown, home of funtasia. but we found the road signs a bit american We found Funtasia, and Tom did some awesome parking Welcome to funtasia! It has various arcade machines, but you can pay for them upfront with a card. And there were several rides indoors as well. We found out that the roof section which had their coaster was not open till 1pm! Which was not for another couple of hours. Bad times =[ We decided to get some brunch from the local shop and sit on the beach. There was this statue too It finally got to 1pm, the top section was open! There was some strange rides. And a bounce tower But we came for this scary thing! Decided no to sit at the front Mid ride Now we head back to the UK, specifically Northern Ireland, and some 'normal' signs Saw this just about everywhere! After a couple of hours of driving we get to Port Rush, and NI's only park! As we enter we are greeted by this... The Experience! There was a better sign of Barrys inside! Straight through, find out the prices and we hit the first coaster of the park, Pinfari looper! Tom is bracing for pain! Wasn't too bad of a ride, normal pain, and fairly slow! Now for the second wacky worm. But this one is a Big Apple! But it also comes with a frog! it is quite a big apple! Tom decided to do the Freak Out Now for another photo of Big Dipper Thats a crazy Freak Out! There was also a Ghost Train Scary! The rules! [/img]http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs176.snc1/6610_136760007779_728732779_3314316_7620097_n.jpg[/img] Tom was pleasantly shocked In Port Rush they had a sun dial Another nice Beach! Since we were nearby, we thought why not! There we go! Giants Causeway! Just very Rocky! But amazing! Time to leave, and a lot of flags on the houses! [im]http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs176.snc1/6610_136760122779_728732779_3314335_7973562_n.jpg[/img] There is no actual sign for the border, but it is around here! 100km back to Dublin! And we crossed a awesome bridge! After getting lost in Dublin trying to find our Travelodge, this is our huge room! Had a bit of a balcony As we were both tired after all the driving, we just crashed out and got some sleep before longer drives the next day! Day 2 coming soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megamatt Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Good TR so far! Ireland is such a beautiful place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 From what I understand, Ireland is quite affordable. I have a couple of friends that go there regularly, though not for the parks. Being part Irish, I should make a trip there sometime. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSpecial Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 From what I understand, Ireland is quite affordable. I have a couple of friends that go there regularly, though not for the parks. Being part Irish, I should make a trip there sometime. Eric After visiting Belfast a few times I must admit to wondering what Ireland has to offer in regards to theme parks and rides. Very interesting report - must admit I'm not sure I'd make the trip for the various credits on offer - but still, thanks for such an interesting insight in to this lesser documented location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamzyhee Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 oh this is cool .. i live in ireland by the way near port-rush in a place called derry youse prop haven't heard of it ! I was at barrys about two weeks ago great report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremefelix Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 Wheres all the GUINNESS??? I have one off topic comments about Ireland Parks: Irish Fun Fair circuit is 10000 times better than regular amusements. There's a travelling park called Funderland have 4 big venues every year. Their top ride is an old Looping Star that came from Italy, Luneur( Or something like that/too lazy to look it up on rcdb). One of the ride operators told me some interesting things about these particular coaster. He said that they managed to reduce the number of semi-trailers necessary to transport the ride.He also told me about some kind of an accident they had while building up the coaster once(didn't gave me details, I guess someone died). And that the ride is for sale, cause they don't have many places to go each year( I takes about 1 week to build it and unbuild it). If someone have 1 million euros heres the ad (RC46): http://www.interlink-lg.com/UsedRides/RC.html (Once again sorry for the off topic comment) Looking forward to read the Day 2! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mushroom Posted August 17, 2009 Author Share Posted August 17, 2009 Don't worry about the Gunniess =]We will get to that! 13th August We had some epic driving between Dublin and Galway, our next park LOL Finally got to Galway, and could see this in the distance! Its from M&D's! Welcome to Perks! First up was a Zamperla wild mouse! Tom is not looking forward to it Here we gooooo! Ugh, Standard sign! turn me round! Wee! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Hmmm, what is this? Can you tell yet? Any idea? If you guessed it was 1 of these wacky work/big apples Its actually a speedy Gonzales! This pace was sooo ghetto! Hmm what does this do... holy Crap! it spins and jumps! time for the long drive to Waterford! We stopped in Limerick for a bit and saw the stadium that Ireland played last night img]http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs196.snc1/6610_136760342779_728732779_3314371_1449888_n.jpg[/img] If you look carefully you can see people cleaning up. But it is mainly a Rugger stadium Back on the road and we went past the castle! I think this would do some damage if it was on the road! Concealed eh? Random town pics en-route Not far to go, and we enter some back routes for some fun =D Kinda reminds you of Alton =D But for miles! We made it to Tramore! Oh god! Noooo It spins! Another spinning mouse hitting the spin... Frisbee! Ahhhh, Classic! Another Big Wheel! Ok, its another one of these, but it is slightly different! Its a mine themed one! it did have wider seats =D Standard traveling Log Flume! Then there is this ol' beast Look at that goodness =D It gets my thumbs up before even starting! Loooooooooooooop Up it goes! weee Turn As it was sooo good, we went for a second go! Drooooop Enter the loop =] Down the drop Whole Ride After that we headed back to Dublin for a quick rest up But since we were in Ireland, we had to drink =D 14th August Last day was just traveling home. We killed a few bugs en-route We took the car back to the airport, and waited for the bus back to the airport Random Ryanair plane taking off Now back to the airport, this is the new T2 Before we went we got a drink from the bar at like 10am! Caught our respective flights back, and headed home for a nice long rest =D All in all it was good trip =] Oh, 1 last thing, we took these photos in Tramore Not forgetting =] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 I was so tired after the last long drive I spelled conquered wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSpecial Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Excellent trip report and you managed to find the Guinness as well - and what must be the only inversion in Ireland. Brilliant stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirouettes907 Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 A Schwarzkopf with a smokestack mine-train-looking front car? Schwarzkopf FTW indeed! I love reports like this that feature out of the way places you don't hear about often. One day I'll get to Ireland and enjoy gorgeous views like the one from the top of the first Wild Mouse you rode. ~Megan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca_boy69 Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Great Trip Report. I'd love to go to Ireland and now that i know they've got coasters, I want to go more. Robby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazazoo Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 I have been in the US for many years now, but grew up in Ireland, I remember the excitement of those parks as a kid. I lived in Buncrana, close to Derry that another TPR member is from. I was closest to the Portrush park, and we used to go in groups on old double deckers to spend the day there. Thanks again! Larry On the second last day of the West Coast Vegas extension Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noxegon Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 You missed another Crazy Mouse... depending on when you were here it was either in Limerick or Dublin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 ^I'd rather die of malnourishment than do another one of those. I hate them, hate them, hate them. Both bits of Ireland were lovely, I wouldn't mind going back and doing a bit more sightseeing. Dublin looked great from what we saw of it, and Limerick was quite nice the castle was in the centre of the town. Also saw Sean Kelly on a charity bike tour that was going through Tipperary and Limerick, they were all waiting in a lay by for the road to be closed off before they made their way through! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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