Photo TR: The Ray's do the TPR Europe 2010 trip!

[jray21]

^I loved what you said at the very end of that

[jray21]

Next up is Day 8, Phantasialand! The hotel here was incredible like all the others. Breakfast was extremely early, but it you made it it was extremely good. Lunch, see below, was incredible as well! We had an awesome day with tons of ERT, and a massive marathon ride on Black Mamba, and the world famous Michael Jackson Rollercoaster!!!! We must have ridden Black Mamba over 30 times without getting off. I had the world's biggest headache afterwards, but it was so fun. The ride itself was absolutely incredible.

Our incredibly themed African hotel.

The Black Mamba loop.

Renee was having fun playing on the equipment and walking the grounds.

Amy decides to buy some pottery from the saggy locals.

There is such a thing as too big.

Hitler Farted Here.

The China themed hotel was also impressive.

Must have been a mandated break time.

The second golf ball credit of the trip!

They had very high quality theming.

They even have Kermit the Frog eating the coaster

No animals, no 0/00 (?), and is that the Game Over picture on the lower left?

Time for the awesome Winja's coasters!

They have that "I am so exhausted and it's too early" TPR look.

Flying Dutchmen never sleep, so Hanno is all ready to go!

Cameron and Renee enjoy the ride!

Winja's probably had the smallest 'handle bars' out of any ride I've been on.

Larry - A. farted so went away from everyone, B. is plotting to kill Robb, C. is admiring a master at work, or D. thinking how much better that shirt would be without sleeves.

Taken for nobody in particular

No Jesus Juice when you ride this Michael Jackson! (yeah, that was a really inappropriate joke)

Riding Michael Jackson was a lot of fun.

Michael Jackson is more than willing to let you ride on the front.

Christine and Melissa are ready for River Quest

Eric has just had about enough of my picture taking. Alfredo has learned to just look away.

Andrew is amazed at the size of the thing Derek is hiding under his poncho.

Alfredo likes River Quest because there are no seat belts so he can put up his feet to keep them dry.

The lift hill was a massive elevator! Never seen that before.

The whirlpool 'drop' was fun and different.

Up next was Mystery Castle, a bouncing drop tower style ride. When you theme something this much it really does make a difference.

The entrance reminded me of Disneyland's Castle.

Next up was the incredibly warped and awesome Silbermine Mexican train ride! Kinda liked a Pirates meets Haunted Mansion meets Knott's Calico Mine.

Would have been better with blood.

Insert inappropriate Cock joke here.

I do not want to know what this guy is doing with his pig.

Let's play a game of guess what's under the basket!

Hmmm, this looks a little familiar. I wonder where they got him from.

I wonder if there is a basement at this Alamo.

This guy doesn't have a Pirates hat, and he is cross-eyed. Totally not a copy.

Christine is disgusted that Derek wet his pants on the ride.

Their signs are an American Lawyers dream. So if no line through it means not allowed, what does line through it mean? And can someone please explain what the 0/00 means.

Before the drop.

The drop.

After the drop. The ride had an acceptable amount of wetness.

This chick helped demonstrate the tilting room at the fun house.

Much better than World of Color, and it worked as a great air conditioner!

If you want to see the cheesiest magic show where half the tricks fail....but with a ton of g-string wearing hot chicks, this is the show for you!

Not too many of these left.

One of the very small meals that were included in the trip. I can't even begin to describe how incredible and delicious it was. (Thanks again Elissa and Robb!)

Amy's smaller, less adventurous, meal.

Did I mention the incredible theming in Europe parks yet?

The highlight (and one of the greatest rides ever) of the park was the extremely terribly wonderful Hollywood Tour! No pictures can really do it justice.

Alfred Hitchcock warns us of what we are about to see.

This ride was like the ghetto version of the Great Movie Ride. Up first were those old giant attacking insect movies.

Attack of the killer spider while the man with the broken neck tries to kill it.

A nod to the egyptian movies. All the animatronics had the worst movements. There heads would do exorcist moves, and random parts would just twitch.

Frankenstein's monster was just having a seizure the whole time.

10,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

The most realistic 'Ballsak' Sharks I have ever seen.

The professor has no arms, and the boy has 2x4's for legs.

Tarzan didn't just love Jane, he wanted to be her. The breast implants were phase 1 of that process.

For some reason, Dorothy talked with her head on backwards and her eyes closed.

Glinda was sporting a very new age goatee.

King Kong's bikini tan lines were showing as he attacked a Playmobil character.

This was a non-splash splash battle. You would just shoot at different objects, but not each other, and you don't get wet.

We don't need rules in Europe! I was so hoping he would fall in.

Putting the 'little person' to work in the munchkin/elves/leprechaun area would have made him a very rich person in the US.

TPR members realize that yes, this is all the ride does.

The famous double Buddha picture! FYI, Eric LOVES it when random strangers rub his belly, so if you see him make sure you do it.

The Geister Rikscha was like a Chinese Haunted Mansion.

They even had the singing busts.

Ok, so they had a little of Pirates in the ride as well.

The girl's sister from The Ring was there to scare the crap out of you.

Mick Jagger didn't quite fit with the theme.

A ghost will follow you home.

The fashionable muffin is almost done!

Picture time with Kroka....and an employee who has no concept of getting out of the picture.

Andrew approves of Kroka.

The absolutely best themed Top Spin in the world.

Not Dan approved.

Amy must really like this ride!

Goodby Phantasialand, Hello Efteling Hotel!

It stayed daylight for so long in the Land of Dutch. This was taken somewhere around 10 pm!

Time for the world's greatest haircut! The real reason we went on this trip.

The magical fingers of Piers can make anyone happy.

Oh Amy, your hair is terrible! This is going to F$@!king take hours!

Hanging out at the bar.

Fun times at Phantasialand and the Efteling Hotel!

[Meteornotes]

So glad to see that people checked out Hollywood Tour, otherwise known as the ride that is almost as awesome as Dinosaur!

 

dt

[cfc]

Hollywood Tour is the most awesome ride this side of Dinosaur.

[PKI Jizzman]

Joey, your photos are awesome! Can't wait for more

[gisco]

A very nice park with some great themed areas and some WTF? rides. The hotel and the rooms were very nice. Looking forward to going back some day.

[amyzoo]

Another great park, although I say that about every park on this trip. I did forgot about all the creepy characters in the rides.

I really liked the raft ride with the elevator, it was different, I've never done one with that. And another thing with the cheesy magic show was that is was Air-Conditioned!!!!

And I got the best haircut on this day, thanks Piers!

 

Larry - A. farted so went away from everyone, B. is plotting to kill Robb, C. is admiring a master at work, or D. thinking how much better that shirt would be without sleeves.

^I'm going to say D. is Larry's answer

[larrygator]

^Actually the answer is A, C and D

[vuurvogel]

^ I would say A, C, D and C again. But that is just personal taste

 

Like the photo's BTW, can't wait for Efteling

[STR8FXXXINEDGE]

I finally had a chance to go through and get all caught up on your TR. You've got some awesome photos and some funny captions!

Europa and Phantasialand are now two of my favorite parks. Europa may even be my favorite! There's not much that I wouldn't do to be able to do the whole trip all over again. Good times!

 

Looking forward to your Efteling update!

[jray21]

Last official day of the trip, but there are still 3 more days as a group of us as we head off to Paris and Disneyland Paris! Up next is Efteling in the Hanno land of Dutch! Derek was awesome again and gave us another guided tour! Like all the other parks in Europe, this place was incredibly themed and awesome! The ERT on George and the Dragon was incredible. Robb was filming, so we were 'stuck' in the front row for about 5 laps! It was awesome! It was still incredibly hot, but much more tolerable. The hotel was really nice and close by, and we had a massive TPR takeover of the restaurants. We were also introduced to the most greatest breakfast condiment ever.... De Ruijter Chocolate Sprinkles! They were so good and perfect with toast and Nutella! The park had some really cool stuff, like Spook Slut, the pooping donkey, and awesome billboards (see below). That night we had an INCREDIBLE farewell dinner, and an AWESOME night at the bar with Piers....but those photos will be posted later

 

On to the photos!

 

THANKS AGAIN ELISSA AND ROBB FOR AN INCREDIBLE TRIP!!!

 

Our Paris side trip is next!

On our way to ERT on a nice calm morning.

Isn't it supposed to be a Bull in a China shop? I guess this works also.

Oh, that nerd group is here? But it's not that fat nerd group. Ok, then we can open this ride.

What a fancy start to a fancy day.

I think this was a measuring device of some sorts

The line for De Vliegende Hollander (?) had you walking through pubs and the loading area was like a wharf town. Very cool.

TPDave is ready to go!

Sitting in the boat with the Kitty of Death.

Little Sploosh.

This was a little odd. You had to be over 120 cm (3.9 ft for us Americans) to sit in rows 1-4 & 9-12, and 110 cm (3.6 feet) or taller to sit in rows 5-8.

TPR approves of George and the Dragon!

The magical skills of Robb!

Hello (with an accent)!

We approve!

George and the Dragon gets a double sleeveless thumbs up!

The race is on.

The dragon was incredible, and breathed fire!

AAAAAAAAAHHHH! DRAGON!

Hey, its Bob the Ride!

Bob recommends you don't trip. Or maybe he's trying to get you to trip by having you look up and read the sign instead of looking where you are going.

We approve of Bob!

Now that's a vending machine!

The permanent yawning rubbish bins. SF needs to get these and have them yell, "You have a heart and did your part" every time you throw something away.

I wonder if that's one of the Santa Claw balls. I will be displaying mine like that.

We decided to take the scenic route.

No lines, perfect.

Puss in boots....and a garter belt?

I didn't know there was a Santa Pope.

Amy in front of Villa Volta. That entire house was just for a Mad House! Incredible!

This warped ride was called Dreamflight. This ride had fairies, animals, trolls, and ... Aliens?!?!

What else would you expect in a Fairy ride but a naked alien taking a shower.

Drew and Alfredo pose for a shot. Also, a nice view of the ride system.

For some reason they just seemed a little creepy.

This section was just as uninspiring as Spaceship Earth's section.

This 'room' was pretty cool and had these floating buildings.

More creepy anorexic fairies and old pedophile trolls.

I think this old man was from Villa Volta, the Mad House. Pretty good pre-show.

Unfortunately, Andrew got his face stuck yet again.

There were a ton of different pathways that you could get lost in.

This was another odd seating chart. 2 adults, or 3 kids, or 1 adult and 2 kids, or 1 adult and 1 kid and one... child molester?

Melissa enjoys Slug the Ride.

Family shot inside the slug.

This was the view from the kids ride! Best kids ride in the world. I'm sure this ride is Big-Mike approved.

*Sob* All I wanted was a Diet Coke and not a Coke Light. *Sniff* Is that too much to ask?

I think Alfredo likes this ride just a little more than Andrew.

That is one ugly baby.

And this ugly thing looks like the baby from Dinosaurs (the TV show for us older folk).

I would love to live in a house like this.

A cock, pussy, bitch, and ass all in one picture, and it's not porn!

Piers does a super fancy pose in front of Vogel Rock.

But then he remembered he is extremely shy.

TPR gathers together for lunch!

There were some similarities, and some differences, with Dutchanian food. It was still very good, and this was just my 'bread' dish!

Everyone, except Doug, was really excited for Carnaval Festival.

For some reason an employee sat on that box the entire ride.

Carnaval Festival translates to "It's a Small World With Huge Noses"

You can see how fascinated everyone is!

Grandpa?

Slippage, and it's not even the Superbowl!

I loved this theme. It's called Monsieur Cannibale, so your the main dish!

This maze area was pretty fun. Alfredo just barely made it past the acid trap.

Another random employee riding a bike through the park.

Just a reminder that on Fata Morgana, smoking and food are required, as is a game of grab ass.

I think I found Osama.

This would have been so much better if it did a massive roar. Your are so close to it as you go around the corner that I'm sure some people would jump out of the boat.

We want the red head. We want the red head.

I think those two nasty things hanging from his face are supposed to be hanging from somewhere else.

Next up was Derek's world famous SPOOK SLUT!

Creepy Jacob Marley ghost.

RIP Queen, we will honor you with a song on the Middle America Trip!

Spook Slut was like a moving diorama, with a really cool soundtrack.

This thing haunted my dreams for weeks.

I don't think they could be anymore clear.

I think more places should use these signs.

The best quarter machine in the world.

This was Andrews favorite place on the trip. The railroad models were quite impressive.

Much better than WOC, and no waiting for hours as well!

The most elaborately themed carousel 'area' I've ever seen.

Robb, but not Disney, approved!

The exhaustion of the trip is definitely setting in.

The 'fairy tale' area had a bunch of familiar stories like Hansel and Gretel.

and Tangled....I mean Rapunzel.

The dragon would scare the kids when they touched his treasure.

I don't know the goat lady story though.

...or the story about the man with the long neck. Thanks for an incredible day Efteling!

If you can't tell, we have hit extreme exhaustion.

Melissa and Eric are about to backhand me.

Face frozen yet again.

Even Alfredo is finally too tired to smile.

The beef carpaccio was amazing! I got three full portions because some people at my table were too leery to try it! Win for me!

Eric and Derek have a farewell drink!

Because the land of Dutch is so far north, it was still very bright at 10 pm! And yes, that is an AT&T iPhone that works around the world.

Piers started drinking a little early this evening, and he also won (I think I remember correctly) a bottle of wine.

He was already starting to phase out.

And he had a nice conversation with KidTums.

But KidTums was a little scared at Piers' different tipsy voice.

And this was just the start! More Piers pictures soon!

Edited October 14, 2013 by jray21

[ginzo]

Did anyone else notice the hardcore porn on the TV in the Efteling hotel? Yes, a hotel at a children's amusement park had hardcore porn on the TV.

[STR8FXXXINEDGE]

What a great end to a great TR of an even greater trip! I loved Efteling. Thanks for sharing all of these, Joey. I love being able to relive the trip by going through everyone's photos. I'm pretty sure my roommate is about ready to smash my computer cause all I do is show him everyone's photo's from the trip, haha. I can't believe it's been about 7 months already. It seriously feels like it was a month ago that we were on this trip.

 

Did anyone else notice the hardcore porn on the TV in the Efteling hotel? Yes, a hotel at a children's amusement park had hardcore porn on the TV.

Of course I did! I couldn't wait for my roommate on the trip to pass the hell out so I could enjoy myself some nice Dutch TV, haha.

[amyzoo]

It was the "raffle wine" that Piers won in a raffle. He was the only one that played, and I think no one else even knew there was a raffle at dinner.

[jray21]

What a great end to a great TR of an even greater trip! I loved Efteling. Thanks for sharing all of these, Joey. I love being able to relive the trip by going through everyone's photos. I'm pretty sure my roommate is about ready to smash my computer cause all I do is show him everyone's photo's from the trip, haha. I can't believe it's been about 7 months already. It seriously feels like it was a month ago that we were on this trip..

 

It was an incredible trip! Andrew, Alfredo, Amy and I headed to Paris after the trip, so there will also be a review of Disneyland Paris, and a video or two as well.

 

Did anyone else notice the hardcore porn on the TV in the Efteling hotel? Yes, a hotel at a children's amusement park had hardcore porn on the TV.

 

I was way too exhausted to watch any TV! I actually don't even remember turning on one TV the entire trip! I guess I misses some great 'shows!'

[ginzo]

I was way too exhausted to watch any TV! I actually don't even remember turning on one TV the entire trip! I guess I misses some great 'shows!'

 

I try to watch a little TV when I'm in other countries. It can be interesting. Though a lot of the time it's just American TV shows that are dubbed/subtitled in the local language.

[Powermage]

Nice report of 'our' Efteling.

It was fun to read how people from the USA think about our parks... most of the time we are just jealous because of the themeparks and rides that are in the USA.

 

If you like the music of the spookslot, it is called Danse Macabre

 

Also you liked the vending machine's, but did you try one of our 'Frikandellen' ?

[jray21]

^ I loved the Europe Parks, they were all pretty incredible. There was sooooo much more theming in the Europe Parks then here in the US. I actually bought the parks soundtrack, and it had the Spook Slut (I know it's Slot ) song on the CD. It's a really good soundtrack (I collect tons of theme park soundtracks). I think I tried the 'Frikandellen.' Was that the somewhat hot dog style thing? If so, it was pretty good. Of course I'm a Fat A--, so pretty much anything is good to me. Glad you enjoyed my review of your park!

[larrygator]

Joey - Do you remember where this vending machine was in the park? The first time I noticed these machines was when Erik pointed them out at the train station in Amsterdam going to Duinrell after the official trip ended. The Satekroketten he suggested was awesome, but then again Erik likes food more then you . Like a Spanish croquetta with peanut sauce.

Edited January 28, 2011 by larrygator

[jray21]

I don't remember where it was, but they were pretty cool. They had a ton of choices and they were really good. I wish we had them here, and by that I mean huge ones with good food, not those really crappy style ones they have here like in hospitals;). The Satekroketten sounds awesome! I will definitely try it next time, and everything else.

[STR8FXXXINEDGE]

^^ Larry, I think that giant vending machine was just outside the exit of BOB.

[gisco]

It was the "raffle wine" that Piers won in a raffle. He was the only one that played, and I think no one else even knew there was a raffle at dinner.

 

What raffle?

[amyzoo]

^ Exactly

[smells_like_team_disney]

Absolutely amazing recap, Joey... and the pictures weren't bad, either.

 

Efteling was truly a great park, with many "unique" characteristics (what the heck was up with the creepy fairies?! ). The Spook Slut was definitely a not-to-be-missed experience (especially for first-timers) only because I can't think of any place else where you can experience something like this. I'm not even sure if we have something close to a USA-equivalent. The beef carpaccio at the farewell dinner was beyond heavenly! My mouth gets watery just thinking about it! At this point in the trip, the fatigue had completely consumed me, and I was starting to feel the European death flu slowly take over. By the time we got to Paris, I was full-blown sick! Definitely a great trip, however, and I look forward to the next time TPR decides to go back to Europe.

[jray21]

I forgot about the sickness. You did get it pretty bad. I think a few people got a little sick.