Moose Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I don't remember the limited number of bullets being a problem. Thanks for continuing this Divv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 ^It was great, I think TPDave became TPEmpty in the second room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_roll06 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I really, really, REALLY hope the folks at M&D's are reading this! The park had such a nice charm about it and the hotel was fantastic. TPR Grand Prix was dangerously amazing! Sooooo much fun! Although spinny out was pretty scary with a bunch of kart coming head on towards you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steelinwood Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 The Entrance to Bon Bon Land looks amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share Posted December 15, 2009 Chuck and I never realised we had a limited number of bullets til about half way through when our guns stopped working. Luckily we were the only two in our car and there were two spare guns that we were able to take advantage of at that point! Thanks for the comments everyone! Sarkanniemi is coming up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share Posted December 15, 2009 Day 14: SARKANNIEMI Our second last park was Sarkanniemi, right in the heart of Finland. This was probably the park that I knew least about before the trip and so I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw here. The coaster line up is mostly good. Especially the Intamin SLC! There's a good selection of flat rides, some cool shows and an observation tower that offers really good views and really makes you appreciate the park's setting! All in all I quite liked this park am interested to see how it progresses as it adds new stuff! And that was Sarkanniemi! A pretty cool park that offered way more than I expected! Well we’re almost at the end, so I thank you for sticking with this TR this long! The final updates will be up soon! It may have been a bit tame for them but I think one of these will work pretty well in Chessington in 2010! Sarkanniemi’s new for 2009 attraction is one of those gihugic Disk’os! Erik takes a second to pay homage to his home, Ho Land. Sounds good to me! Mike does not like being the meat in an Erik and Brad manwich. At all. Yay, the Jet Star opened! So far every coaster of the trip has been open for us! Exclusive never before seen photo of Erik. After the incredible disappointment of the Parc Asterix dolphin show last year I really was expecting the worst from this, but no, it was very impressive! Those dolphins could move like SteveC! Only the most awesome dolphin show ever! Ooh, this looks exciting! What lurks in here? This is what I would look like if I was in an observation tower in Finland 500 feet off the ground. Oh look, the Jet Star is running, we didn’t expect that! Looks like we won’t be missing any credits on this trip afterall! Little did we know when we rode but we got this credit just in time! Best SLC of the trip! The non-coaster section of Tampere looked pretty cool too! Aww, I just want to reach out and pet it! Next we got an exclusive tour of the park’s observation tower and got to play some “RCT: Live”! It was a bit too wet for us to want to ride the log flume (Anth wasn’t in our group today) but it looked cool! Everyone! Attack Larry! This thing would have just about done me in. Glad I gave it a miss! Brad what’s with the cape? Didn’t you watch The Incredibles? Now for a tour of random flat rides! Sarkanniemi has a load of cool carnival rides. TPAbuse. "Tell me when Steve is coming round the corner!" Seconds before a TPSmash into the glass. Maybe not quite super. but a fun and happy pair of slides nonetheless. Erik’s getting good at that old Michael Jackson move. Translation – FUN HOUSE! If bats, bikes and lamp posts are your kind of thing then you’ll love this! Just for you, Dave Fudge – the lamp post ride!! Yup, sad and pathetic to the max. They had to limit the kiddie coaster to three of us at a time in order to get it up and over the lift hill! Everyone look away whilst Mike sorts his junk! REACH FOR THE STARS!!! (Craig, can you post that video?) Now for the GREATEST attraction in all of Finland – Peena Puu!!! Sorry, I know people hate coaster photos without the train in them but Tornado’s must be camouflaged or something. Now, has anyone seen the train? We decided that it would be best to just ignore the rain and ride lots! Aha, a ride that I have high expectations of! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such claustrophobic restraints! It was all a bit weird! I’m amazed there’s more than one of these things in existence! This was my first ever Volare experience. It was… interesting. Our day started out with some Half-Pipe ERT. I quite liked the ride, though after riding it I decided not to count it as a credit. How geeky of me! Our second last park of the trip is Sarkanniemi, right in the middle of Finland! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Random fact: Tampere is pronounced "TAHM-PEER-EH". I asked at the hotel. Good job on wrapping up this TR, Divv. Great memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Divv, awesome job again! The Toronto Maple Leafs goalie is from Tampere so that was kinda cool. Plus, the drinking there was fierce! Trying to add the clip again. Hope this works Divv, if not I'll try to fix it later. I'm sure Craig will have more optimal footage at some point haha Cheers, J Peena Puu at Sarkanniemi.mov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthFan Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Reach_pgal[/coastertube] There you go. Enjoy. -Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anac0nda Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I'm glad you guys liked Särkänniemi! Too bad it was raining, though... I'm surprised they were running Jet Star, as it closes even on the tiniest rain. And you could also enjoy the last sesason of Korkkiruuvi. I'm sad it has to leave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 ^Jet Star was closed most of the day. When we were at the top of the observation tower when Jet Star started running. Some credits whores left our exclusive access tour of lower level of the observation tower (another great bonus negotiated by the Alveys) to rush to Jet Star before it started raining again. Those who stayed a little longer atop the observation tower got to Jet Star just as it closed again. We waited in the queue for about 45 minutes (having a blast singing songs about "rain") before the rain finally cleared longer enough for the coaster to operate again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_roll06 Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 LOL! Peena Puu was awesome! Every park should have one of these (if not something similar). Tornado really lived up to expectations. Great ride, especially in the back seat. I'm sad theres only 1 TR left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Wow- so there I am - a boogie woogie - so BAD. TPR brings out the crazy in me for sure, so HURRAH! Thankfully there are more trips to do, so more awesome Divv reports to be seen in the future. Big Mike - I'm not sure what I would have done had I caught up with your hot bird! - probably a great escape for both of us (me and your bird that is, not you!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eBen Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Can anyone remember the track list of songs sung and theme while waiting in the bleak hope the Jet star would open after the tall scary exposed tower? Also I completely had no idea about the bat bicyle lamp ride. Where was that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I specifcally remember: Who'll Stop the Rain, Here Comes the Sun and Good Day Sunshine The Bicycle Ride was right across from the kiddie coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I remember Zippity Do Dah, The theme to Sesame Street, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Apparently all the TPR Mods have dedicated games at Grona Lund. Here’s Matt’s! (kind of!) Does that say Zoo? What are you saying about me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 ^ LOL! I just take the photos I'm told to take! Blame TPDave and Lou! --- Day 15: LINNANMAKI The last day of the trip is always bittersweet. On the one hand everyone's really sad about it all being over but on the other hand everyone wants to make the most of the limited time left by having as much fun as possible! Linnanmaki is a good place for having fun! The place doesn't really have one standout ride but most of what is there is good and there certainly is a lot in the park. There's a fun Intamin ball coaster, which I think we may have enjoyed even more if we hadn't been exposed to Insane earlier in the trip. That said, it was still good and we had some fun ERT on it. There's a Maurer Sohne spinner which didn't spin too much but again, it was good for what it was. Not in the same league as Dragon's Fury or Winjas but still better than most other spinning coasters out there. There's a huge amount of flat rides and some other cool random stuff. Plenty to fill out a day with. The other cool thing about the park is that it's one of those "urban parks". This one is right in the centre of Helsinki which meant we could get out and have a quick look around in the afternoon too. Here's a look at the final park of the trip... It's time to say goodbye to the theme parks of Scandinavia I’m afraid. Linnanmaki was really cool and another example of that fantastic concept of the “urban park”! One final update to come! Aha, it was with Ice Bat all along!!! Well the meal was amazing, but we were getting ready to say goodbye which is always a sad thing. We also realised that one of the mysteries of the trip had still not been solved… Just where is that SCAD TOWER? Well the rides of Scandinavia have been conquered. Including EVERY coaster! All that remains now is the farewell dinner! Now if only those water jets were on a bit stronger. Linnanmaki really has an impressive collection of flat rides. Which was good for us as the park was pretty quiet when we were there. Do you want to join Lou’s Basket Club? Come to Finland then! I don’t know why I took this photo or why I’m including it but I hope you appreciate it. Okay, I lied earlier. Here’s Erik’s final giant cone of the year! Note that I said “less chance”. This is the guy who frightens himself sometimes! Steve always enjoys slides when he’s on before the rest of the group as there’s less chance of him getting scared at the bottom! Linnanmaki has a fun house! Of course we couldn’t miss this! We see you in the back, Laq! 4D Kino? What could this be? Why is Finnish so hard to translate?! Mike wants you buy Smurffi for all your thirst quenching needs! Go get it now! I thankfully, was smart enough to avoid this one! This monstrosity was a challenge to even the most hardened spin’n’spew fans! Despite our grand plans of abusing Scottish Steve endlessly on these Dodgems the big pillar in the middle of the damn thing just ruined it for us! Damn! I don’t know how we did it but Mike and I somehow managed to squidge in here together! Yay, Egg Ride! Seriously! Andrew was convinced he’s be catching rabies from the thing. Mike was just jealous that it looked more “medium brown” than his beard. Tee hee, it says “fanny”! That’s quite amusing to us Brits! This is NOT how you eat ice cream. (Unless you’re Mike) Okay, this is how you eat ice cream. I feel really bad for taking so long to mention Tommi so here’s another photo of us! Tommi would have been the coolest “Divv shot guest” of the trip if it hadn’t been for Ice Bat. This was an emotional moment. Why? Because now, for the last time on the trip – Mike creams up. Brad decided that it would be a good idea to break out his “Ferry moves” again on DDR! I think Steve completely fluked his way to that Xbox in 2008 because he totally sucked at the stackers this year! Please feel free to have a feel whenever you please. Shirt buttons or bat-nipples? You decide! Anyway, we headed back to the park to get in our last rides of the trip. Hey look, it’s Tommi! I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to mention him seeing as he’s been with us for over a day now! Tommi’s awesome! This is the only place in Finland that Mike wants to stay. In the afternoon we went back to the hotel so people could get changed. Look at cute wee sleepy Scottish Steve! Aww. Despite the fact that I was mixing things up by riding spinning flat rides we were unable to trick Scottish Steve into checking out this Ghost Train. I was somehow coerced into riding this panther-friendly Enterprise. It was not fun. ...thin air and fell on his arse! Unlucky Larry! I'm sure it somehow wasn’t your fault! Larry hit… 250!!! There’s only one person who can beat this score... Larry! Next up was Mike, who was desperate to make up for his Go Karting utter failure. Just under 200! Good work Andrew! Andrew was next. He had drunk two pints the night before so we weren’t sure how well he’d do. Brad was first up and scored a respectable 200. The Zamperla punching bag allowed some of the guys to ignite their competitive sparks. One last giant cone for Erik in 2009. Every room was just an orgy of random circus stuff piled up! Awesome! That must be it! Mike clearly smells something a bit nasty. The creepy clown themed dark ride was a source of much amusement! TPEmo about it being the final day. Okay Junior Space Rangers get ready to blast off! The Space Corps needs me?! I’m in! The thing with the Finnish language is that it’s very difficult to even guess what things mean. So we had no idea what was in here but the entrance had us excited! Turned out it was the park’s indoor coaster! You should have stolen someone’s poncho Brad! Everyone else did! I was a whore enough that I took the drenching needed in order to obtain this credit. And I wasn’t the only one. Eek, I don’t want to be anywhere near this wave! Well it looks like the TPManorexia is well and truly on it’s way out! C’mon guys, make sure you do your best to ruin Lou’s self photography! The Mack E-Motion coaster was a bit of a WTF ride. Not in a good way. More in a way of WTF’s the point? I wasn’t the only one trying to get in on the Ice Bat action! Yay, the sun is back, Mike can cream up once again!! I forget why we attacked Craig in the first place but I do remember that it was completely justified. Note should be made of the fact that today was ICE BAT DAY! I was honoured to include Ice Bat in one of today’s Divv shots! Even tastier was the super hot ride op! Mmm, Salami POV. Tasty. Hi Ryan! Mmm, the Salami ride! It has the same layout as the version in Bakken, although this one didn’t seem as crazy. Next on our ERT schedule was the Scenic Railway. These really are perfect rides to shoehorn into small places. I can think of about 50 parks that could use one of these! I love that the cars just spin around freely the whole ride. Even on the lift! Brandrew are ready for some Intamin spinny fun. Speaking of twins… Hey look, it’s Insane’s little brother – Kirnu! Not quite a twin of it’s Stockholm sibling though. The bad news is that it’s the last day of the trip. The good news, however, is that we’re at Linnanmaki!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 DIVV'S FINAL THOUGHTS Well the trip is over and so is this TR, just about. There's just some photos from the last night and the journey home to show now. Before I do that I just want to say another massive THANK YOU to Robb and Elissa. I can't even begin to comprehend how much work you guys put into this trip (and every other one). The quantity and quality of ERT, meals and perks was unbelievable. I don't know how you pull it off but I don't think I've ever trusted anyone more about planning and executing a trip like this. I expect I'll be doing your trips every year for a long time to come! I should also say thanks to Andrew, Brad, Erik, Scottish Steve and Southern Steve for letting me steal your cameras and memory sticks on occasion. Those few extra pictures of yours I sprinkled throughout this TR really helped me tell the story of the trip. In conclusion, if you haven't done a TPR trip before then you're missing out. I hope TRs like this help convince people on the fence about taking part in trips, you'll never regret it! And if you're only going to do one TPR trip then you could do a lot worse than picking Scandinavia as it is home to one of the most amazing and unique collections of parks and rides. Finally, thank you to EVERYONE who came along on the trip! Here's the last batch of photos... And with this sad photo of me back in my flat seconds after returning I shall bring this TR to a close. If you’ve read through every update I thank you. If you’ve taken the time to comment on it I thank you even more! All the kind words have been appreciated. It’s been fun looking back at all the parks and antics of the Scandi trip and it’s got me even more excited for 2010! Hope to see some of you on a trip then! On our minibus to the airport we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take up the Brit Crew back row seats one last time. We’re nothing if not traditionalists! There we go, that’s something that brings a smile to everyone’s faces! C’mon don’t look sad! Let’s think about Mike at the Grand Prix! Yup, there’s nothing to do now but be sad and wait to go to the airport. All TPManorexia jokes aside, TPDave did a good job of staying in top shape after two weeks of non-stop booze and food! It’s the final morning and Lou’s sad to be saying goodbye to Jon. The rest of us miss you too Jon! Okay, they’re not Doritos but these look VERY interesting! We all appear to still like each other here so well done everyone for making it through this far! We spend our final evening reflecting and reminiscing about the past two weeks in Helsinki’s finest (and only, I suspect) Irish bar! Don’t worry if you can’t see any of the guys faces. As long as you can see Lou, my shoe and Steve’s hair we’re all good! I take that back, that’s awesome!!! Back in the hotel, Steve for some reason allows Lou to style his hair. What was he thinking? Hey everyone, it’s FINAL SNACK TIME!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Random fact: Tampere is pronounced "TAHM-PEER-EH". So, it's got a Canadian connection......eh? Great TR Divv. Thanks for putting it all up. And I thought it was amusing (at Sarkanniemi) how the hard core group held up in the Jet Star queue, waiting... and waiting and... singing Sunshine Songs, LOL! I kept wandering off, doing another ride, then coming back to check on how things were progressing... or not. And then - it OPENED! And then almost closed down again, drat! But, it was a false alarm, and everybody there got their Jet Star bliss, heh heh. (I think "Sunshine, On my Shoulder" {by John Denver?} was sung, too.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Thanks Divv! I really appreciate your kind words. We really just always try to provide the best we can for our participants and make the trip as amazing as possible! BTW, cheers for another amazing photo of Larry! Between his little midget hand, boob about to pop out, and another amazing face...Larry is pure photogenic bliss! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthFan Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Erm excuse me! Beating me down to the ground was not justified! Sticking duct tape on my face is not justified to have the entire Brit Group tackle me down! I think we should set up a poll to decide that anwser to that ! Also the aftermath of that was not great! Anyway another great update, it was a great way to end another great trip. Id also like to say thanks again to Robb and Elissa for another great trip! -Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meik Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Amazing job with this Divv, even if it did remind me of my constant creaming/go-kart/various other failures I made! Really was such a great trip. Happy (and some bitter) memories! SCAD TOWER. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryancrash Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 The attack on Craig was pretty damn funny. But Kristen didn't seem to think so - I remember she was so distressed by this, she cried until she threw up! (Now that's some love right there!) Linnanmäki was awesome - the perfect way to finish off such an amazing adventure. I wanna go back to Finland! (And Sweden... and Norway... and Denmark...) Thanks Divv for an excellent TR! Brings back so many good memories. And thanks Robb and Elissa for another incredible TPR trip! I'm sure looking forward to the 2010 trips - six more months until UK and Mainland Europe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 ^I know! Poor KT! I have to teach her that being mean to people is okay! She really liked Craig for some reason!? Well, I guess having one female on the planet like you is good huh Craig? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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