Photo TR: A Germany-Netherlands Train Adventure!

[Solid Gold]

Hello all! A month ago I went on a trip to Germany! And I decided its worthwhile to post the pictures!

 

My sister has been living in Siegen, Germany since last September finishing her doctorate work, and around December my mom decided that the whole family should go and visit her there.The area is really one of the theme park hotbeds of the world, and I couldn't resist traveling early to visit some of the best ones. I bought a 6 day Eurail pass, got on my flight into Frankfurt airport, and was off on my first international experience,(back-pack in tow!).

 

The first stop was originally going to be Holiday Park to ride you-know-what until you-know-what happened, but I of course had to rearrange plans. The easiest park time-wise to get to after my arrival in Frankfurt at 7:20 AM was Toverland, though it was harder to reach than I expected...

Must be the Nashville Airport...

Looks like this airport would be KT friendly...if Nashville had a Theme park to visit.

Yay! First plane of the Trip!

Hooray! Hank Hill welcomes me to Dallas/Ft. Worth!

I thought these places only existed on maps and the Internet. You mean I can actually GO THERE?

Look...It's Deutschland!

Michael Ballack welcomes me to my new home, the Deutsche Bahn.

I hope I got from the Airplane to the correct train platform...

Success!

German ICE trains run at 200 kmh! While these are a little too fast for sightseeing, on slower trains you can really see some great countryside.

I've been traveling for 25 hours! But at least I've made it to the Netherlands.

Toverland's train stop is TPR-friendly!

So here's where I have my first problem. To get to Toverland you have to call for a bus one hour in advance and go to the bus stop a little down the road from the train station. I asked a group on the train if I could call the bus, they were very very nice and let me use their phone (They also asked me about the Nashville Predators, lol). When I called the number, all I got was a message telling me the number no longer exists! I got off the train and was pretty much in the middle of nowhere...

I wondered around for a little bit looking for a clue as to what to do, as the number I had for the bus was a fail. Since EVERYONE in the Netherlands has a bike, lots of people were riding by the bus stop I decided to ask the next people to come along, and this turned out to be a really good idea!

This guy, Hils, and his friend Neils, were incredibly nice to me. Hils told me to get on the back of his bike and ride to his house in Kronenburg, about three miles from the park. It was a bit uncomfortable, but the ride through the Holland countryside was BEAUTIFUL, and we all chatted about life in the US and the Netherlands(they were both totally fluent in English!).

I expected to walk the rest of the way and figure out how to get back later, but this crazy guy Neils told me to get in his car. He took me to the park, and then called the correct bus number and told them in Dutch when to pick me up after I'd explored the park! I wouldn't have made it without these two guys.

Yay! First international theme park!

Looks good from the outside.

Troy! I bet Brad Pitt hasn't ridden it.

Yay Toverland! I hereby claim the distinction of being the first person from Ooltewah, TN to visit you!

The chairswings are the first ride you see upon entering. They remind me a lot of Holiday World's.

Ooh, I think a few TPR members have been here before...

First credit of the Trip...A Vekoma Boomerang!

Wait, this isn't a Boomerang. WTF?

Why Toverland decided to name their Rollerskater after another famous Vekoma product I don't know. Maybe it's because Vekoma's homebase is so close to the park? An Homage or something?

Good thing more Vekoma is just a building away!

Booster Bike is really fun! Really short, but really fun! Like a Snicker's fun size bar, or a VW Fox, or Verne Troyer (or whatever other fun8short=things> you can thing of!)

Assume the Position!

VRROOOOM!!! SCREEECH! Hardcore Motocoaster Action!

Heading outside we can see the big drop on the park's log flume...

...And another big thing, TROY!

I will ravage and destroy your Windows computer!

Oooh...pretty...

GCI's signature move!

This line is DEFINITELY acceptable!

Troy...THROUGH THE LEGS!

Overall I liked the coaster quite a bit, it definitely has a lot of pace on it, but it's not as good as the other GCI coasters I've ridden. It did make it into spot #10 on my wooden list, just above Legend at HW.

Troy is adding a new ride! Scorpios, to open in July.

A month ago it was mainly a big pile of dirt.

Here is a building for the ride. Some sort of theming, I couldn't say.

Here's another small building. Looks like a Greek ticket booth. I think Greece is forcing Toverland to make Scorpios an upcharge attraction to help pay off Greece's debt. Yep, it's true.

Toverland needs lots of pipes and hoses for Scorpios, and the Mack Supersplash coming up next year.

This area looks much different today, just look at the Toverland thread.

Moving on, I think we've found another TPR favorite!

The "Survival" obstacle course is one of the coolest things I've ever done in a theme park. I'm very glad parks are starting to add this type of attraction in America (Adventure Mountain@Dollywood, SFGA's new ride).

I'm gonna die! The ride is built over a marsh for added fun.

Success! I managed to complete the entire course without grabbing the rope holding me to the cable, it was really fun!

Good luck man, you can do it!

Look at Beautiful Holland! Wait, That's just the PARKING LOT!? Wow, in Holland everything is beautiful!

GRRR I'M Really Creepy Spider girl!

Yoda? What part of the force are you smoking?

Holy Mcdonald's Playplace Batman! It's like Toverland took a normal playground and stacked 6 of them together!

Germany and Holland really like their giant metal slides. AWESOME!

I see you totally baked Yoda! Your log flume is awesome!

So Toverland carries a soundtrack with ride theme songs, because EVERY ride in the park has its own song. If you go to Toverland you will get seriously sick of the one for Troy and, if you go on it more than once, the theme song for Villa Fiasco, the park's fun house (which I did, in order to finally conquer one of those spinning barrels. I stuck my arms and feet out on the sides, completed one revolution, and was promptly yelled at in Dutch by the ride op. Lol whoops).

This is the only pic I got that includes the cool and unique Bobkarts, because I suck.

Along with the awesome log flume, Toverland has Tons of children's play areas, swings, hedge mazes, everything. It's more of a kid's park than anything.

Alas the Dutch Windmills beckoned me to leave as I had trains to catch in order to make it to Bremen, Germany for the night.

In the mood for some American comforting after a very eye-opening first day, I decided to get Pizza Hut in the Dusseldorf train station. It was here, however, that I first learned that asking for Water will get you a 2.40 Euro carbonated and super sucky water. Ouch!

However, Haribo gummi sweets will save the day!

Upon Arrival at Gasthaus youth hostel in Bremen, I have now traveled by Hired Van, Plane, Dallas Skylink, Train(multiple), Bike, Car, Walking, and Hired Bus. 35 hours, no sleep, one great park down.

After 7.5 very needed hours of sleep+shower, it will be time for Heide-Park! Thanks for reading Part 1!

Edited July 14, 2010 by Solid Gold

[Looty]

Nice report! I look forward to seeing more.

 

I think Dutch people are some of the nicest people in Europe. I have been studying (and riding roller coasters ) in the Netherlands since January and have yet to meet a single jackass! That's great that those guys were awesome enough to help you out. I ran into a similar problem with the Toverland shuttle on my visit and some nice woman let me use her phone.

[andyuk200523]

Great TR - made me laugh quite a few times, love the idea of the trip too, keep up the great work!

[hyyyper]

Hey, I recognize that face. I was operating Troy that day. I'm glad you had great time in Toverland!

[Solid Gold]

^That's totally awesome! I remember seeing you too after looking at your TPR trip pics. On one of the TPR trips to Toverland, you were working "Survival" weren't you? Awesome.

 

Thank you for calling me funny. I'll post Heide later tonight, then Walibi World tomorrow.

[Solid Gold]

Up at 6:45, I've got trains to catch to get to Heide-Park around opening. Bremen>Bucholz>Wolterdingen, in fact.

Bremen, I'd love to see more of you. You're very nice.

Hot Plaza Action!

So this is what the city of Bucholz looks like at 8AM on a Sunday. Umm, hello anyone?

Salamander? WTF? I have no idea...

Zweibels on a train>Funyuns on a plane

Alright, made it to Wolterdingen. Shouldn't be too far of a walk to Heide-Park. I mean, there's a sign and everything right?

Uh-oh. No park in sight.

Well, at least it's pretty and all.

TPR and UTK represent!

After 1.3 miles, I made it. And the entrance looks kind of crowded...

OMG LOOK AT THE LINE FOR TICKETS!

This face starts one of the most Crowded theme park days I've ever experienced. That's what I get for visiting on a National Holiday Weekend (Whit Monday).

Wow, I think the prettiness will make up for any line!

Hello, I won't get to ride you, I kinda have to wait 30 minutes for everything today. But we're still cool right?

Wow. LOOK AT THAT BUSH! It's incredible!

I like these decisions.

I choose Vekoma goodness! (and the only short coaster line of the day)

Even though I can easily step over you, I still respect you Mr. Teensy Backrow Airgate.

Statue of Liberty...THROUGH THE STATION!

You may think from this photo that the ride is aptly named Big Loop.

However, you would be totally wrong and lame! IT HAS TWO VERTICAL LOOPS! LIFE IS MEANINGLESS!

I really like this picture, though it is also misleading and only shows one Corkscrew.

I really liked Big Loop, after Deja Vu it's probably the second best Vekoma ride I've ever ridden. The transitions didn't kill me!

Next up was Bobbahn, the longest Bobsled coaster in the world! It also had a 30 minute wait, probably the longest in the world for a Bobsled coaster at that moment!

Yummm, opening Helix.

Twisty Bobsled Goodness! Schweizer Bobbahn was really good and long, but also really bumpy. It felt like I was riding on a gravel road.

Get on RCDB and look at the list of parks that have a Bobsled coaster. Notice a bad Park on the list? I didn't think so!

Schweizer Bobbahn is TPR approved! It has donkeys!

Guess which one of the five trains came after this one? USA! USA USA!

Exit theming! This ride has exit theming! European parks do this thing up right!

Next up was Limit, otherwise known as a terrible addition to any coaster collection!

The line for Limit is out the entrance. Honestly, this is too funny to make me angry.

These poor riders are all looking for their Penises.

This picture is the coolest thing that's ever happened to an SLC.

Still one of the coolest looking inversions in the world...oh well.

Moving around the park, we come to Mayatal, AKA Heide-Park saying "We clearly got a good deal from Huss on a bunch of rides, and we're not even going to disguise it!"

Seriously! Here is the Wave Swinger...

...Breakdance...

...Top Spin...

...Enterprise...

...Flipper(Yes,we're still going with this)...

...Magic...

....and Round-Up. Seven of these all directly next to each other in a circle. One of the strangest theme park areas I've ever come across. It felt right to skip all of these.

Alright, here's what we've travelled all this way for! Collossus!

Intamin Farting Noise WHEEEEEE!

Yummy yummy in my tummy!

Unfortunately, this is what the line looked like for Collossus. 105 minutes. I waited in it once.

Thankfully Heide sells an express pass for 9 Euro, good for 3 line skips between Desert Race, Collossus, and Limit.

Without the pass I probably would have only ridden once, which is totally unacceptable considering how far I've traveled and how long it may be until I'm back.

I have mixed feelings about Collossus. I wanted to love it, but the ride-ops really made it impossible. Each one of them put their full body weight into pushing down on the restraints, to the point where I was IN PAIN on my second run from how tightly squeezed the lap bar was on my thighs. The other two runs were good and exciting, with at least a little air, and I decided to rank the ride as my 4th favorite wood on potential alone.

Me:That's all for this update! I'll finish up Heide-Park tommorrow. It's getting really late.

 

Agent:But Matthew, you've already given up your best bargaining chip by showing them Collossus porn!

 

Me:Nah, don't worry, they'll be back! My Trip Reports are great!

 

Agent: Well it didn't work out for Van der Sloot, that's all I'm saying.

[ParkTrips]

"Even though I can easily step over you, I still respect you Mr. Teensy Backrow Airgate."

At least they had an airgate! Many rides simply have a line painted on the ground

[Solid Gold]

My last update ran quite a bit long, I'll try to keep this next part down to 40 photos. I'd love to know if the updates are too long, it seems like they may be. I'm going to post every photo I have to Facebook, I could link those if you guys want to see them.

 

Here is the second part of Heide-Park!

Desert Race is a really fun ride, it would belong in any park. However, knowing what Intamin is really capable of, it's kind of lame.

I used one of my express skips on it, foregoing the 50 minute wait. Great thing!

Yep. The line for the powered coaster is also totally out the entrance. Guh!

This guy is really excited to be a bubble pirate! WTF?

Wow, could they really make the Indian look any more sad?

Ka'ching! Another Indian abused .

Now that the coasters are completed, time for some observation tower photos!

Here's the new splash battle ride. Maybe bubble pirate guy is excited about this?

Really good rapids ride. It ran a ton of boats too, the line didn't stop moving. Win!

This ride is most excellent. Go on it with a boombox, and play Daft Punk's Robot Rock. You will go loopy inside!

Back half of Collossus+Front half of Desert Race+Windmill=crazy European fun!

Did I mention Heide-Park is very very pretty?

I mean seriously!

And they have cheap Currywurst mit Pommes! This was 4 Euro and I got a drink. Totally acceptable for a theme park.

And they have more Intamin goodness in the form of a really big drop tower!

'murrika!

The shops are interesting. They have "Max Satisfaction" batteries.

And...Yankees Merchandise?

Lots of Yankees Merchandise!

Maybe this is America: They have Yankees, the Statue of Liberty, Indians, and now Playboy!

This was the last thing I rode in the park. One awesome looking log flume! The whole thing is hidden except for this big drop.

This is why I saved it for last. The line stretched out the entrance and made it just past the entrance to Scream. I wanted to do the flume because it looked really really good. It turned out okay, the hour plus wait might have dampened my spirits.

Now for something NO ONE is talking about. Heide Park is CLEARLY building a new Rollercoaster for 2011!

Here's one large area behind that construction fence.

More of that area. It continues a little bit to the left, but I didn't quite get a shot.

A large grassy area directly across from the construction fence has these survey markings going across it.

You can see here that those survey markings connect the first area with another, larger construction zone just barely seen in the upper left.

Here is that area from the opposite side. Directly across from this spot is the other large area, to the left is the big lake in the middle of Heide. No ride I know of could take up the space of these two areas except a new coaster.

What could Heide be building?

We'll find out in 2011!

Here is another, unrelated, area of the park where some landscaping/construction work is being done.

Heide also has a huge amount of space behind the park for future expansion. If they own it all, there's enough room to double the park in size, or build a waterpark!

With all this picture taking(and waiting for Wildwasserbahn 2), I almost missed my train connections!

I planned to use a taxi to get back to the train stop, but the only one out front was totally crooked and wanted 13 Euro to take me 2.2 km! I had to run the whole length in about 12 minutes, with a backpack on, in order to make the train on time. Luckily I made it with about 30 seconds to spare!

Here's where my train adventure really kicked into high gear. I decided before the trip to go from Heide to Walibi World in one night. Here is my itinerary for the night. As you can see, it's a journey possibly never attempted before by man!

I arrived late night, back in the Netherlands, on the last train of the night to Enschede train station. I had a five hour layover, and decided to look for somewhere to sleep.

Here is the bed i made at the bus stop outside the now-closed train station. This is one of the craziest things I've ever done!

Will I survive the night? Find out in the next update!

[Guest]

Oh No! He didn't make it through the night!

I'm liking your report so far as I'm planning a German train trip this year!

[Trumple]

You got lucky you've chosen to sleep outside in the Netherlands. If you choose to sleep outside in Germany, you'll wake up without pants surrounded by 14 naked homeless staring at you. Facts!

[alexinla]

You got lucky you've chosen to sleep outside in the Netherlands. If you choose to sleep outside in Germany, you'll wake up without pants surrounded by 14 naked homeless staring at you. Facts!

 

Aehm yeah, or maybe not! What a stupid comment

[Trumple]

You got lucky you've chosen to sleep outside in the Netherlands. If you choose to sleep outside in Germany, you'll wake up without pants surrounded by 14 naked homeless staring at you. Facts!

 

Aehm yeah, or maybe not! What a stupid comment

 

Tss, if you never try you'll never find out...

[Solid Gold]

Haha, thanks everyone for the replies, I kind of stopped after the non-response of that third update. I will post a bunch of Walibi World pics tonight!

[Guest]

Yay! And more getting lost in random European fields!

[alexinla]

Tss, if you never try you'll never find out...

 

In Germany right now, considering the state would even pay your rent in case you loose your job, I think it is save to assume that a homeless problem(like you would have in the U.S.) is not really an issue out here(of course you will find random homeless people out here like you would find in the Netherlands, but that has to do more with the mental state of a person)

Your comment was just stupid and really not needed

[Trumple]

Tss, if you never try you'll never find out...

 

In Germany right now, considering the state would even pay your rent in case you loose your job, I think it is save to assume that a homeless problem(like you would have in the U.S.) is not really an issue out here(of course you will find random homeless people out here like you would find in the Netherlands, but that has to do more with the mental state of a person)

Your comment was just stupid and really not needed

 

Okay, you'll never enter my comedy club. You are ruining all my bad jokes.

[alexinla]

Probably not, cause comedy supposed to be funny..

[Trumple]

Probably not, cause comedy supposed to be funny..

 

You did it again!

[Solid Gold]

Well, I didn't die, and when I groggily awoke I somehow took one of my favorite pictures ever. Not totally because of the quality of the picture, but also the quality of the place and time.

 

Walibi World surprised the hell out of me. I expected downtrodden Six Flags, what I got was all the great that came out of the Six Flags bankruptcy era+excellent care, operations, and a few conditional circumstances that made this one of my favorite park days ever. Read on...

Goede Morgen everyone! 1.50 Euro for 1.5 liters of awesome fruit smoothie goodness. Epic win!

Directly outside of Harderwijk train station (which sells yummy yummy Goede Morgen juice), this very easy-to-find bus departs often. It goes to to-and-from the park and has a combo ticket for bus and admission 28.50 Euros.

That bus then goes over some incredibly beautiful river landscape, where you can also see about 100 wind turbines! This picture doesn't even come close to capturing them all!

Europe!

Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha Europe! This is actually the name of a town in the Netherlands!

Soon enough you see coasters! And...PALM TREES??? Aren't we latitudinally equivalent to Mid-Canada at this point? WTF?

Mr. Walibi is very excited that I came to visit Universal Studios today!

Wait...Universal, or Six Flags? I'm confused.

Okay, I get it now, we're in Australia. That explains how we can have walibis, Universal globes, Six Flags main entrances, palm trees, and giant Japanese-looking ferris wheels all in the same place. Anything can happen in Australia. Wait though, how can that explain this park having a great coaster?

Ropes drop, just like everyone's pants when they look at this photo.

OH MAN...

I'm the first one there! This has actually never happened to me before. Those two ride ops were there all day, and they were both AMAZING. Unlike Colossus the day before, these guys NEVER put downward force on my lapbar, enabling me at times to fit an entire fist between my thighs and the bar. The best airtime I've ever gotten!

This is me, after being on the first 6 trains to go out that morning. Goliath immediately shot to my number 3 spot for all coasters. How awesome is this coaster? So good that there are sections that I thought were kind of weak, and it STILL blew my socks off! It's really my number 2 after the Voyage, but I have had some AMAZING night rides with my best friends in the world on Millennium Force. Either way, Intamin+Lapbar=Win

Are you my Mommy?

Leaving Goliathplatz, which is tastefully located as the hardest part of the park to get to. Means less people end up here!

Off to tyrant-controlled 15th century England!

Hooray, Robin Hood will save us in his Merry Steed!

I, Russell Crowe, must save Sherwood Forest in my Merry Steed!

Argh, the Merry Steed has horrid restraints that lead to a mixed ride! Curse you farrier Vekoma!

Sherwood Forest is saved! Now to find Lady Marion...

Here she is! She sneaked off to the Roman section and was found a few hours later.

I quickly moved forward in Medieval history to ride more quality Vekoma products. And it turned out Mad Houses are pretty cool, even if this one was entirely in Dutch.

RANDOM

DUCK

PICTURES!

Actually not so random, because these ducks signify a REALLY important point when judging Walibi World: It's easily the most beautiful theme park I have ever been to!

Walibi World has FANTASTIC natural beauty. The entire park is full of big, mature trees, heavily shading everything. If you've been to SFGADv, it's like that, but this place is even nicer.

There are numerous ponds and waterways, as well as two large lakes, next to the Robin Hood coaster and underneath the Goliath coaster. And they all look as nice as this!

The rides are spread out because the park has made the excellent choice to leave areas like this. The effect is that it's absolutely as nice as some of the large city parks I visited later on with my family.

Moving on we come to this seriously good log flume.

Tow-Mater has snuck off to Holland apparently.

Craaaaaazy River has this airtime-filled double down, three drops, backwards sections, and plenty of length. I think this is the longest flume I've ridden!

Noted!

This onride photo-Not in America!

For whatever reason, Walibi World has put Jim Morrison in Jail???

Flying Dutchman Gold Mine is your standard mouse, but today it had no line!

Next door is this WILD frisbee. The operator ran a cycle that lasted about 6 minutes, running us in both directions at max speeds and height! We got to a point where a revolution took about 2.5 seconds! Couldn't commend this park's operations more!

The park's non-Looney-Tunes kidland is really nice and colorful.

And it's all run by THIS GUY!

I think I know what Rocky's Trucks used to be...

It's so Colorful!

Party bus to Amsterdam!

What is a Waanzin anyway? My best guess, judging by the theming, is that it's some sort of Chinese ACME-knockoff powered rickshaw.

Wok Umm...Introducing his nice butt?

The park recently added a splash battle. This one was aaaalmost nice enough for me to willingly take a bath with my clothes on.

Instead of drowning in battle, I decided to take pictures!

Riders enjoying their spin cycle. I think the final rinse is in that big tunnel.

Dude, I don't think those girls appreciate you pointing your big gun at them...

Nearby there's a small Italian section of the park.

There's a Wave Swinger...

...More awesome 5-6 minute cycle, all directions full throttle flat rides...

...A small carousel (there is another, larger one near the Giant wheel)...and also a fabulously unphotographed Italian restaurant.

The park is so nice, they went to the trouble of closing La Via Volta so I didn't have to ride it! Now THAT is service!

As you can see, the boomerang is missing its running stock. Word is they might be getting those fancy new Vekoma "Open Air" trains.

With that I've made it back to the front of the park.

Which means It's time for Xpress! No, that's not the park's fastpass system, it's the parks second-best coaster!

Xpress has retained and reworked all of the old Superman theming.

I believe its now themed to a high-speed train, which makes sense I guess.

The park has used this space to advertise park merch. Anyone got pics of what used to be here?

COOL STORY: While waiting in line, park operators decided to move the ride down to one train (totally acceptable considering the one train wait-time). However, one of the new operators accidentally pressed the wrong button and sent the other train waiting in the station flying backwards out of it! I was like, WTF THAT CAN ACTUALLY HAPPEN?

So I asked the ride-op next to me what was going on, and she actually bothered to explain what had happened and that maintenance should be there in five minutes to re-clear the coaster for operation. While she was being so nice, some little Dutch kids in line noticed I was a foreigner and started communicating with me through the ride-op.

The kids had very little knowledge of English, but we started calling each other names like "Monkey" and "Donkey Princess" and "Little Elvis." They begged me to ride Xpress with them a few more times, and we actually saw each later in the day and rode some other rides together, including the strange experience of cheering for the Dutch football team Ajax on the pirate ship! As for this photo, it's from the entrance to the rapids ride, but I had to finish my story!

I saw this guy in line for that rapids ride, and I almost died. Yes, we are in Holland!

I saved the best/most horrifying coaster credit for last! First ever Vekoma SLC!

I fully expected this to be the worst SLC ever, and its safe to say this ride exceeded expectations!

Vekoma Brace Position!

It was kind of interesting though, because the ride is so old it has lots and lots of grown up landscaping around it. Also, they played super-loud super-awesome dance music in the station, aaalmost making up for the fact that it is one of the worst coasters in the world!

Awesomely enough, the park has a SOMBRERO themed scrambler. Awesome!

Horribly enough, the park sells Poop slushes! Ick!

Why is this S&S shot tower so awesome?

SRLFTW! I got to skip the 15 minute wait-totally not necessary, but totally awesome park operations!

I spent the next 2 hours grabbing more rides on Goliath. I ended up with 22 rides for the day, which was the point where I finally decided I was satisfied. I could have ridden more, but it took 22 rides for me to say that I had fully comprehended the coaster's awesomeness.

I finished the day with a few re-rides, and ended up being dragged into the petting zoo by those kids again.

I got to annoy an Ostrich!

This llama got super pissed and chased us all around the zoo, grumbling and spitting!

Seriously, what other park looks as good as this? It's just, really natural and nice.

I ended my day at the park with a photo every TPR member must take.

Why don't they sell these in America? They're awesome!

I took trains that night to Amsterdam Centraal and walked to The Winston Youth Hostel in the Red Light District. That night and next day was a fun/rest/culture day. I'll post a mini-update tomorrow of that, then back to more parks!

[walibi owner]

COOL STORY: While waiting in line, park operators decided to move the ride down to one train (totally acceptable considering the one train wait-time). However, one of the new operators accidentally pressed the wrong button and sent the other train waiting in the station flying backwards out of it! I was like, WTF THAT CAN ACTUALLY HAPPEN?

 

lol, this is normal, the train in the station is supposed to go back, the operator, did not know that en pressed the e-brake...

 

waanzin is dutch for madness,

 

Argh, the Merry Steed has horrid restraints that lead to a mixed ride! Curse you farrier Vekoma!

jep i hate them to stupid kumback.

 

As you can see, the boomerang is missing its running stock. Word is they might be getting those fancy new Vekoma "Open Air" trains

yes they do.

[Trumple]

If you like the natural look of this park, you will adore the look of the Efteling.

 

Fun fact: the area whereupon Walibi World was built used to be a sea till about sixty years ago. It's the world's largest artificial island.

[MrMorgan]

This has been an extremely entertaining PTR! You are very adventurous! Or maybe just crazy. I'm not quite sure yet.

 

Are you coming back through Hamburg on your way to Hansa Park, for example? If you need any help planning anything or advice on what to do or where to go in Germany, just let me know.

 

Looking forward to more craziness.

[WFChris]

I am loving this adventure.

[Nosferatu]

Great TR. I was in Walibi World before it became Six Flags, and I remember that flume ride. My cousin wanted to sit in the back seat, because you got least wet there according to him. We were in for a surprise

 

Looking forward to the rest!

[Solid Gold]

Thanks everyone for the support I'm getting for these. It takes a while for me to write them, sorry it is taking so long. Also, for anyone offering help for trip planning, thank you very much, but I am done with the trip. The theme park aspect was a week-long pre-trip to a larger family vacation through many of the cities of Germany.

 

From Walibi World I took a day off from theme parks and went to Amsterdam for some cultural activities. I'll keep this update picture-limited, caption heavy.

I really didn't know any of the history of Amsterdam, so I decided to take a walking tour from Sandeman's New Europe that met right in front of the National Monument. The awesome deal is that the guides on this tour work for tips only, so I got away much more cheaply than if I had gone with another company!

One of the only pictures I have of my guide Gheert (pronounced H-phlegm-ear-tuh): The guides wear nice, obvious red shirts and provide lots and lots of history about Amsterdam, as well as answering any questions about sex, pornography, pissing, marijuana, and Ocean's Twelve that you could come up with!

My guide told us early that he had a sore voice today because of the fun he had the night before at a Drum n' Bass party. I asked him where he had been, and yes, he was at the same party my hostel threw the night before!

Amsterdam has taken several steps to combat late-night drunk people and their peeing. This is an open male urinal. There is a female version. That is indeed a pool of piss that just sits there...Gheert knew the full history of all of this.

Seemingly every street in Amsterdam looks like this: Canal, Trees, Bridges, Low Houses. It's nice, and I did only stay for a day, but I think there are more beautiful places.

Here are the steps leading up to the highest street in Amsterdam! If there is ever a giant tsunami heading towards Amsterdam, Zeedijk street is the place to go.

I chose not to photograph the RLD of Amsterdam, but I nabbed a shot of this growing marijuana plant to let you all know that yes, it IS everything it's cracked up to be.

We stopped to rest at the Neue Kirche after two hours of touring the RLD and learning tons and tons of stuff about Amsterdam.

The tour company had a deal with a Cafe (not coffeeshop, lol) nearby where you could get a free brownie with any drink purchase. Gotta say, I prefer processed fake American sugar to the real sugar of Europe. Tastes Diet-y to me.

Gheert tells us the story of Dutch freedom writer Multatuli, whose statue lies on Amsterdam's largest canal bridge.

In view from the largest bridge is one of the world's thinnest houses! The house is that size the whole way through!

Once the three hour tour was over, I rented a bike for half a day so I could reach some destinations too far for walking. Did you know that the canals of Amsterdam are full of bikes? They are discarded for being broken or thrown in by drunks! Sometimes sweepers must come through and drudge the canals deeper or remove and recycle the bikes, because boats cannot go through!

Bike riding was super easy through the streets of Amsterdam, and in no time I was coasting the very large urban park Voldelpark.

I could post all my photos of Vondelpark...

But I think your eyes might explode...

From the sheer niceness of it...

So I'll just show you a picture of me.

After riding and shooting the park, I moved on to the Museumplein. This is where 70,000+ Dutch fans were saddened greatly by their world cup loss.

Here is the semi-famous I Amsterdam sculpture with the Rijksmuseum in the background. No one was there to force me to go to an art museum, so I skipped it!

I finished off my day with a visit to the Anne Frank House. It is very sad, and very interesting because they let tourists walk through all the rooms the Frank family lived in.

Out of respect for the place, I didn't take any touristy pictures of anything in the house except for this Oscar won by Shelley Winters in the movie "Diary of Anne Frank." It was a really random artifact for the building to have, and now I've seen a real Oscar!

I bid farewell to Amsterdam and to the Netherlands at the top of Centraal station, taking this panorama of the seaport.

A great find during my time searching routes on Deustche Bahn.de was this City Night Line train running from Amsterdam to Zurich. Night trains are fantastic, and while I had to get off at Freiberg Germany at a little past 5 AM, it was a great way to travel so far without using any valuable time. Next update (posting it late tonight) will be from the very awesome Europa Park!