PTR: larrygator's 2010 European Travels

[DerekRx]

Hooray, I'm a nerd again! Full circle has been achieved! Great stuff so far, Larry. I'm loving how my biggest debate right now is with myself as to which is better, Katun or iSpeed. They're both just so amazing in their own ways!!

[ginzo]

People voted to leave to return to Gardaland?

 

We were staying at the Gardaland Hotel, which was really nice and had great A/C, a bar, etc. The bus dropped some people off at the park, but the rest of the people went back to the hotel. I imagine the heat, jet lag, and the like played into the decision to leave Mirabilandia early. But, really, I'm a huge wimp about heat and it wasn't that hot.

[larrygator]

Jason - My plan was to hit up the water park, but Movieland Studios was better than expected and most rides had a 30 minute wait.

 

Derek - thanks for the heads up in your PM. iSpeed surprised me because I hadn't read any reviews before I rode it.

[Moose]

Lou - Yes, I fail for not pointing out the Condor, it was semi hidden and hard to see behind some trees. Then I double failed in having to ride one alone at the last park of the trip. And thanks for saving all my dull pictures.

 

I would totally have got on a plane and flown to Hungary or wherever the hell you were to ride a Condor with you! It must be love!

 

That Condor (at Vidampark) is the only themepark ride to ever make me actually hurl. I have never ridden one since.

[larrygator]

You can all stop holding your breathe, the next installment is here.

 

The bus pulled up to Movieland Studios in the morning and I had full intentions of hanging out at the park for 60-90 minutes and then heading to the waterpark. However, the park had some unique rides and when coupled with less than stellar operations I needed more than 90 minutes and decided to spend the whole day at the park.

 

Horror House was one of the longest walk throughs I've ever done, U571 is the oddest (and wettest) simulator and Magma 2 Studio Tour is something you'll never see in America.

 

In the end I'm sort of glad that Cobra never opened at Connyland or else I would have missed most of this park.

I figure it is about time that I started a post with a proper park entrance sign.

Do you want to know what everyone is standing around looking at? Well they are all just trying to stand in the only shaded place area outside the park entrance.

This shows an example of the park's less than efficient operations.

Powered Coaster - Whoop - De - f'n - Do

Erik - I was amused in watching the World Cup finals as the commentator was a former Dutch player who pronounced this word the same as you when referring to Paul the Octopuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus

Not only did they serve me the worst pizza ever, they are using Tom Wopat's image without his permission. My mom's cousin's ex-wife's brother golfs with Tom's former nanny's father.

Magma 2 presented by Lou!

The Brontojet was not ready for us to ride, but that's OK, all's well.

I love the detail that went into the theming of the dinosaur themed flume.

The parks has about a half dozen famous cars from film and movies. However, if you read the plaques on the cars it is clear these models never appeared on film.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

On the Magma2 Tour the driver takes this ramp way too fast to ever be allowed in America.

No silly, it's not really toxic, it's just water.

What's that white thing I see from the monorail?

Oh it's the simulator where you sit in an unstable environment and get sprayed with a garden hose.

Nuns just want to have fun!

Edited July 15, 2010 by larrygator

[Erik_73]

Erik - I was amused in watching the World Cup finals as the commentator was a former Dutch player who pronounced this word the same as you when referring to Paul the Octopuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus

Paul the Octopus... we (the dutch) hate him after his final prediction!

[larrygator]

The journey from Movieland Studios to the Colesseo Hotel at Europa Park was our longest drive of the trip. The ride through the Swiss Alps was picturesque and included some of the world's longest tunnels. Just so people could claim Switzerland as a country credit we stopped for dinner. OK, we stopped for dinner in Switzerland because European coach drivers have restrictions on how long they can drive continuously, but don't ever let facts get in the way of a good story.

 

Even though we got to the hotel late, that didn't stop some people from exploring the resort's bars. Europa was one of my favorite parks after the last visit in 2008 and the addition of Blue Fire and Whale Adventure only makes the park more complete. This this time spent a full day at the park and a couple of hours the following morning.

LDV watches over you as you sleep

This incredible facade serves as a viewing area to watch the fountain show. Unfortunately the fountain show was toned down as a lot of electrical equipment was in the courtyard for World Cup viewing.

From the front entrance of Hotel Colesseo you can see the other Europa hotels.

Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Hotel Colesseo. It's true, I read it on Wikipedia.

Looking up at the higher floors of the hotels from the lobby.

After ERT on Blue Fire (if you want to see Blue Fire pictures check out Hanno's thread) Robb and the site moderators were treated to a backstage store. At many European parks the workers travels through the parks on bicycle.

Derek goes BOING! It must be love.

and even though Piers was hungover he got a wetty when he saw this.

If you are driving in Germany and see a Rettungsdienst in your rear view mirror, let him pass.

Behind the scenes shot of Poseidon.

Hi, BeemerBoy!

Poseiden water coaster POV

A true water "coaster" look at all the track.

A Mack Mad House with a surprise.

Boobs

Ryan and Lou about to have a throwdown.

A bad picture, but these three idiots jumped off those rocks right into the water, no more than 7 feet from Atlantica Supersplash's track.

This Renee's bag, I took a picture of it for a reason, but now I don't remember why.

1/3 Larry + 1 Lou + 1/2 Scottish Steve = (I don't have a witty answer)

1,300+ pounds in a log.

Alfredo and Russ enjoying the rapids.

EuroMir - I like it, some love it.

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto!

Big Orange!

One Thousand Flowers couldn't cheer up this duo.

Scottish Steve practicing "The Robot"

Europa is such a huge park that even after two full days at the park you can still find things you have never seen before like this bench.

and the workshop where it was made. While others rode EuroMir again I explored some buildings right near EuroMir that housed the workshops of Russian craftsmen.

One guy was making "Russian Mastroschka".

I don't make this stuff up.

This guy was making stained glass and there were a couple of other craftsmen also.

This little guy drank too many JagerBombs last night.

Lastly, I'll leave you with a huge foosball table. Next stop is Olympia Looping at the Wurzburg Fair.

Edited July 16, 2010 by larrygator

[Moose]

Oh Larry, dear overlord of the Park Index, you have got the watercoasters at Europa bass ackwards. Poseidon is the water coaster (that you showed us the coaster track of) and Atlantica Supersplash is the... wait for it... supersplash, that the ever-so-smart teens jumped in the water mere feet from the track. (egads)

 

This has been a service announcement from Moose, who gets a wetty from Poseidon.

 

 

Great update of an awesome park!

Edited July 16, 2010 by Moose

[larrygator]

Oh Larry, dear overlord of the Park Index, you have got the watercoasters at Europa bass ackwards. Poseidon is the water coaster (that you showed us the coaster track of) and Atlantica Supersplash is the... wait for it... supersplash, that the ever-so-smart teens jumped in the water mere feet from the track. (egads)

 

This has been a service announcement from Moose, who gets a wetty from Poseidon.

 

 

Great update of an awesome park!

 

Thanks Jon. I'll correct my captions. I knew there was a good reason we were considering you to be a minion to the Overlord.

Edited July 16, 2010 by larrygator

[cfc]

1/3 Larry + 1 Lou + 1/2 Scottish Steve = (I don't have a witty answer)

 

Sounds like the recipe for a particulary interesting martini.

[ParkTrips]

^ I think the answer he was looking for is "= someone doesn't take pictures very well"

[larrygator]

It was an interesting day, as sadness set in leaving Europa Park knowing the TPR Europe trip was past the halfway point.

 

Around noon we left Europa Park to head to the Wurzburg Fair.

 

In my opinion, this was the most awesome save in theme park coaster trip planning history. For those that don't know, this trip was cursed from the start. First there were problems with ringracer and Nurburgring had to be removed from the itinerary, then the unfortunate accident with EGF with Holiday Park and finally the last minute announcement that Cobra at Connyland would not be ready for us.

 

With so many people looking forward to EGF, Robb & Elissa did an incredible job finding a suitable replacement in the one of a kind Olympia Looping from Schwarzkopf. It was a little uncomfortable at first but luckily Karl told me a little trick to greatly reduce the grip of the restraints (thanks Karl). I ended up riding for most of the ERT session even with the intensity and grey outs.

 

But then the real fun started as we sat in the beer tent waiting for the beer tapping ceremony. The food and drink took a little while to arrive but that's to be expected when you arrive before the event is open. I was grateful that our tables in the shaded tent were available to keep us out of the sun's rays. The food and beer were awesome and then it was time to sample to rest of the fair.

What are we here for?

It's a real shame Joe isn't here to enjoy this.

I'm Eric Johnson, dammit. That other guy is the "other Eric Johnson"

Don't worry Joe, you're not missing anything.

Never in America. I'm not talking about the open gate, I'm talking about Olympia Looping.

"Loopy, Loopy, Loopy, Loopy, Loopy" or "Fruit Loops" - I can't decide on a caption so you get two for the price of one.

On to the beer tent.

Don't worry Joe, nothing you would like here either.

Unless you answer to the name "buckethead", these pretzels are bigger than your head.

My table in the beer tent and somehow Lou fails in her attempt to be a "Lou"mor.

Where the chickens go to roast.

My meal: Kaesespaetzle (German macaroni and cheese) and a big a$$ potato dumpling and a liter of beer.

In traditional German Fair fashion the first tapped keg is free to the crowd, if the mayor chooses to give you a glass.

Are you an American? Are you nice?

For our last 90 minutes in Wurzburg Cameron,

Renee

and I decided to explore the rest of the fair.

The Psychedelic Fun House was groovy man.

We rode the very good Ghost Train - Geister Villa

Renee and Cameron rode the Ferris Wheel but I passed.

The Bubba Gump Breze stand sells all types of pretzels: Cheese Pretzel, Chicken and Cheese, Broccoli and Cheese, Broccoli and Mushroom, Salami and Tomato, Hawaii Style ...

Salami Chicken and Pepperoni Pretzel, Salami Chicken and Mushroom, Salami Chicken Broccoli Tomato and Mushroom

Cory and Dominique (I knew I had a picture of them somewhere) the quality free agent pick-ups from Gardaland play a Fascination type game where you race the clock versus playing against others. When you win, the machine starts spitting tokens at you.

This guy was here for a bachelor party and to fund his honeymoon he was charging One Euro to take a picture with him to finance his honeymoon. We told him he should be paying Renee to take a picture with her and we haggled him down to 50 Euro cents

The Flip Fly was the intense ride at the fair that had a lot of downtime, but a few trip participants exhibited patience and got to ride.

I don't think anyone tried the "fish on a stick"

We head out as night descended on the park.

Hanno told me that if the Dutch beat Brazil he had a present for me, and gave me this hat which matched the little orange puppy a won at the fair.

Seriously, Joe would have hated this place. Next stop is Phantasialand

Edited July 17, 2010 by larrygator

[nay]

Yay, the German fair was one of my favorite parts of the trip! I love the bunny man.

 

Are you an American? Are you nice?.

 

Bwahahaha!

[darkon]

Oh, looking at your Brezel comments i see a missunderstanding on your side.

 

"Schinken" does not translate to "chicken", its ham.

[larrygator]

Oh, looking at your Brezel comments i see a missunderstanding on your side.

 

"Schinken" does not translate to "chicken", its ham.

 

I should have remembered that as I did order hanchen schnitzel for one meal during the trip.

[cfc]

Shall we send Joe a sympathy card for missing out on Olympia Looping? Hell, I should send myself a sympathy card. That day at the fair looked great.

[ParkTrips]

^ I don't know, but that Joe person would probably be PISSED if he saw he was being fun of by Larry.

 

Can't wait for September

[larrygator]

^^No you didn't miss out on anything. NO ONE has any fun at all at the fair. You would have needed to enjoy either coasters, food, beer or kitschiness to enjoy the fair. NO FUN was had.

 

^We all know you are going to bail on the Octoberfest Trip to file papers or something.

 

We arrived at the Phantasialand's Matambe Hotel late at night, even though the bars were closed that didn't stop some people from using their Euros to purchase beer from the hotel vending machines.

 

I was more impressed with the rooms at the Matamba than at Phantasialand's Ling Bao. Phantasialand might not have the greatest coasters or highest quantity of rides but is extensively themed which many rides close to each other. Sometimes with the theming you don't even know how close you are to another attractions.

 

I was a little worried with being bored as this was my third trip to Phantasialand but I still had a great day. Who wouldn't with WInjas. This was also the first time in my three trips to Phantasialand that I had a more extensive Quick Pass, I was able to use it after ERT when the queues filled up.

I know many have seen it before but here's the Matamba entrance.

From inside the Matamba courtyard.

The sink in one of the Matamba's public restrooms, I thought this was awesome. I know it's pathetic to be excited about a sink.

Robb thinks he is riling up the crowd for Winjas ERT (and don't tell him this) but we are already pumped.

Winjas - still as much fun as I remember. Extremely re-rideable

Wolke's Luftpost is one of the new rides.

If you see Anth smiling...

It must be a water ride.

There used to be a monorail here.

I played "bag lady" while other rode Talocan.

The carousel was moved closer to the entrance to the park creating an open courtyard area for a new show.

Dave Thomas - this picture is for you

The new monorail also was not ready for us.

There was a different dragon in each kingdom in the park. This is Drago. Kroka was in Africa, Wang was in China, Schneck was in Germany, Quetzal was in Mexico and Phenie represented the Fantasy kingdom.

Lou is quite excited about Wang.

The Wakobato splash battle is purposely designed to not get you wet. WTF?

Mystery Castle had more scare actors than I recall seeing previously.

We spent about 30 minutes inside the Mystery Castle building during a thunderstorm.

Here are some of the scare actors.

and here is the ride.

Another scare actor.

In additional to water rides, scare actors who give Anth candy also make him smile.

GIMME SOME CANDY!

So for the last 20 minutes in the park I caught DRAAK'IUM, the spectacle with the 6 Dragons that Phantasialand is promoting to year. Here one of the participants enters the battle.

In the end, the battle between three dragons was not a battle at all, but a dance off and acrobatic prowess where all the dragon kingdoms learned that teamwork and cooperation wins out.

Not even any fire, only streamer cannons. LAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lou, I got your Wang right here.

Edited July 17, 2010 by larrygator

[cfc]

"Hello? Is this Moe's Tavern? I"m looking for a guy named 'Wang,' first name 'Lon.'"

[Louise]

LOL Larry, this whole update was amazing, thanks!!!

 

Yay Phantasialand. I still just adore that park, even though as time passes I get more and more confused by my own adoration. Kinda like how I feel about Larry... This was a really great day.

 

I'm so glad you got a picture of Wang, after "I" (note: I actually did not care about finding Wang) spent the day chasing him!

 

Also YAY for the Hollywood Tour picture, which Dave needs to be notified of immediately as it was seriously taken just for him!

 

 

I'd also just like to point out that referring to Dominique and Cory as "quality free agents" in the German Fair update made me laugh out loud. I love those guys and that is a perfect description in so many ways!

[nay]

Ah, I couldn't remember who took the group photo of us in front of the Hollywood Tour sign! Yeah, that was an interesting ride.

[larrygator]

Bad News: We are visiting the last park of the European Tour. An awesome job of planning and negotiations by Robb and Elissa made for another incredible vacation.

 

Good News: We are at an awesome park with ERT on a brand new dueling GCI woodie, our first wood coaster of the trip. Joris en de Draak is a typical GCI woodie, very solid throughout and a lot of fun with a dueling aspect.

 

We stayed on site at the Efteling Hotel which is built to resemble a floating castle. Efteling is a beautiful and expansive park. Sometimes it is a 5-10 walk before you get to a cluster of rides.

 

My apologies to anyone I didn't personally say good-bye to in the bar that night, I'm not a good-bye person.

Hanno without a camera attached to his head, an unusual sight.

The amazing Efteling Hotel.

Noted

Most people took one or two quick rides on Flying Dutchman before heading to Joris en de Draak ERT. Unlike our visit in 2008, all of the effects in the dark ride portion of the Flying Dutchman were working. On top of the magnificent queue and loading area, this greatly enhances the ride experience.

It's the theming that counts

This is the vending machine area in the queue.

You can't have a dueling woodie without two lift hills.

Ryan and Renee seemed to enjoy the last ride during ERT. Cameron is just being his typical grumpy self.

Efteling's got boobs!

The free agents are enjoying the Bobbahn.

Site moderator gisco is appalled as all the young ones cut the line.

 

 

 

They are not really cutting the line, as that is unacceptbale behavior that TPR does not condone..

What's that? Anth enjoying a water ride!

I like fish!

Cory needs a nap after eating too much at lunch, we convince to go on some mellow dark rides where he can continue napping.

Lou makes some new friends. Not quite as funny as Elissa being molested by Orci or JimmyBo getting the same treatment as Isla Magica.

A lot of buzz is in the air about Raveleijn, which is being built.

A lot of us love Mad House, even though we don't understand the pre shows in foreign langauges, but at Villa Volta we get the back story.

On Villa Volta, Cameron does the right thing, unlike his actions on Flying Dutchman. Russ also tries to levitate himself.

The harmless looking carousel ran at Derby Racer type speeds.

This is the entrance to Spookslot and it is not anywhere near as bad as Elissa will tell you. In this situation, it is perfectly acceptable to not listen to her opinion.

To end out day at the park, our group took the train which offers unique views to some rides.

Exclusive shot of Joris en de Draak's final brake run and lift hills.

Last ride of the trip was reserved for Lou on the spinning cannibal cups. But I failed to take a good picture of thhat ride so hear is the mini himilaya ride.

Bye everybody. Although the TPR portion of the tour has ended, I still have 6 more parks to bring you.

My remaining itinerary on the train.

[smells_like_team_disney]

Great trip report, Larry! Some absolutely amazing pictures! I really can't think of one highlight to this trip, as there were many good times (ERT on Joris en de Draak definitely being one of them). And while I, too, wasn't able to say good bye to everyone, I look forward to meeting up with all of you on another trip!

[nay]

My only complaint about Spook Slot is that there were no seats! I was half-asleep and had no idea what was happening, but I'm glad we weren't yelled at in Dutch.

 

I wish someone had a photo of Steve in the Europa mad house!

[larrygator]

^I wish I had a picture of the woman sitting next to him not knowing what to think of him.