Photo TR: WFChris's Mexico Trips!

[WFChris]

¡Bienvenidos a mi Trip Report!

 

------This is my Thread Index------

Page 1: Touring around Mexico City, Six Flags Mexico (you are here)

Page 3: La Feria de Chapultepec, Divertido, Mexico City, DF touch this

Page 4: Parque Bicentenario, Queretaro touch here

Page 5: Selva Magica, Guadalajara, JAL touch this

Page 6: Touring around Tequila and Guadalajara, JAL touch here

Page 7: Feria de la Ciudad De Mexico (Mexico City Fair), Mexico City, DF touch this

Page 8: Touring around Mexico City, Frida Kahlo Museum, Mexico City, DF touch here

Page 9: Mundo Divertido, Tijuana, BC, Castillo de Chapultepec, Mexico City, DF touch this

Page 10: Xochimilco, Mexico City, DF touch here

Page 11: Completely random pictures of Mexico City, DF tap this!

Page 12: Six Flags Mexico with Medusa Construction pics! hit me!

Page 13: La Feria and Vive Latino Music Festival! smack that!

Page 14: A quick update from Mundo Divertido in Tijuana, BC. Touchy me

Page 14: Back to Mexico City for Medusa Steel Coaster! Hit it!

Page 15: Guadalajara, Zoologico, Selva Magica, The Bullet! clicky

-------This is the end of my Thread Index------

 

Hello all,

 

Today I woke up feeling inspired to feed the TPR content kitty with a Photo TR of my adventures in Mexico. This was my first 'real' trip outside of the US, and this is also my first Photo TR. So bear with me

 

So 2013 turned out to be the year I fell in love with Mexico. It all started when TPR offered the Mexico Trip, and after years of my friends bailing on doing anything adventurous with me, I decided 'screw them, I'm going on a trip with TPR.' I've always wanted to and Mexico was perfect because I really wanted to experience a TPR 'first time' destination. So in went the deposit and the wait began. I decided to land a day before the trip and then stay an extra 4 nights after the trip ended. I know myself, and I need some 'me' time when I visit a new place. Turns out a few of us did the one day early thing but I was the lone man doing the post-stay. I figured if Mexico was as scary and evil that everybody likes to think it is, I can just hide in my hotel room or something.

 

Anyway, I'm Chris. TPR member since whatever it says <---- over there.

ooooh onride photo tisk tisk! oh wait Robb took it.

This is the international baggage claim at Mexico City Airport. You can tell because it says Banda.

The US Government told me to take a 'Sitio Taxi' (pronounced C - T - O). So you get one of these guys, and then they lead you to a waiting taxi. 197 pesos is about $15 USD.

This was my first impression shot when I was all like 'holy crap I'm not in Kansas anymore. Or California. Whatever.

In Mexico they remind you that smoking is evil, however I was somehow compelled to try to collect all the different packs. Cancer de boca yay!

And this was my first meal. About $8. Rolled tacos, pozole, mexican coke, and habanero salsa. Aka heaven.

This is the Angel of Independence. It was right around the corner from my hotel the first night.

The outside of my hotel. Awesome, trendy boutique place right in the middle of the gay neighborhood, Zona Rosa. Which bar should I go to? Macho or Papi? In case you're wondering, Gay Marriage is totally a 'thing' in Mexico City. Take that, Red States!

Ended up going to Nicho. I took this picture because it COULD be a super fancy place in the US with ridiculous prices. I mean, it could.

These guys climb up the pole and then swing around it all the way to the ground while they play music. Culture is important.

This is the Museo Nacional de Antropologia. I'm not much of a Museum person, but the other dudes wanted to, and well, Mexico City has a crapload of Museums so basically its a requirement when your there. Besides, there was some pretty cool stuff in there.

While TPR may be obsessed with boobs, I managed to entertain myself with other body parts.

This is the Aztec Calendar. It's a very special picture because I'm the only one in it and that in itself is a huge accomplishment and great honor.

The museum goes all around this courtyard. The roof is held up by that single column. Obama did a speech here.

Historic protection?

The first homo is extremely important. That's why you can read about him in a museum.

Size is important in Mexico.

See?

I wanted to know what was going on here, but they didn't have a sign in English. I'm pretty sure I have it all figured out correctly in my head.

Giant shrimp. I ordered the Diablo variety, but this place clearly catered to the white man and it wasn't very diablo. Still, they were huge!!!!!

The next day was the official start of the TPR tour. Everybody arrived the previous night and did whatever they felt was culturally appropriate in the hotel lobby. We started out by leaving Mexico City and heading out to Teotihuacan. These low income neighborhoods were incredibly dense and fascinating to look at.

This random stray dog made for a cool artsy photo. Or just a photo with a dog and ruins. You decide!

This was a deceivingly steep staircase. Photos make us look like wimps but you must believe me. That being said, I was not part of the 'Sit my way down the stairs' group.

TPR swag plug!!!

This van had approximately 18 people in it.

So this is the big attraction. You get to climb to the top. It was also hot out and you can see the huge amounts of shade. TPR went from white to pink on day one of the trip regardless of if you were wearing sunscreen. By the way I didn't have sunscreen, and this proved to be an adventure in itself to solve.

You cant just wonder up though. You must endure (as coined by Robb) Line The Ride. Good thing it wasn't hot out or anything!

I was told to take this picture of somebody else taking this picture. I'm new to TPR trips so I did what I was told.

I made it! You can also tell that I'm an eagle scout because I opted for the large bottle of water. Totally worth carrying it.

They fed us this chicken and cactus dish. It appeared again at the end of the trip 'fancy style.' The good eating in Mexico continues!

You have to turn the little knob on the toilet, then turn it off again. It's the little things that make travel awesome.

This IS a TPR trip, right? The first credit in Mexico for many of us was a Wacky Worm. This was also my first Wacky Worm ever.

This was our tour guide. He was awesome. After we left the National Palace, you had to follow his Mexican Flag On A Stick. If you failed to do this, you would be lost forever in the Zocalo, and eventually forgotten stateside.

Yes!!!

Mice!!!!!

Most of us opted to see the Ballet Folklorico. We were tired, but I mean, YOLO! Beautiful building, beautiful show. Totally worth the extra energy and money. The next update will have more flags, so clearly it will be more fun. PLEASE COMMENT! This is my first PTR!!! Suggestions welcomed!!!

Edited March 31, 2015 by WFChris

[GwaziBSRider1]

Great TR! Brings back some great memories of that tour! I wish I would've been able to go to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, but I just didn't have the time.

[WFChris]

I know TPR doesn't really care about culture as much as THEME PARKS so I wanted to get some coasters going in this P:TR! That being said, lets get going!

 

My home park is SFMM, the crown jewel of the Six Flags chain. Even though I'm on a TPR trip, my exposure to theme parks outside of California and the Busch parks is actually quite limited, so Six Flags Mexico was actually my second Six Flags Park ever. I have to say that I loved it...it reminded me of a hilly version of Knotts Berry Farm and was really a beautiful place. Anyway, I'm just posting these photos in the order I took them so they kinda jump around a little bit.

The entrance plaza. Already looks far more promising than the beauty that is my SFMM.

Bienvenidos!!!!

Yes, that's right. A Pase Anual is $490 pesos. That's $37 USD.

From the outside of the park, Medusa Wood Coaster looms high above and makes for a cool setting.

Our first ride of the day was Superman but wait a second....

Holy crap!!! This IS a Six Flags park, right?!?!?!

No way. It can't be. It looks too good.

Superman's station. The ride is kind of separated from the park making it difficult to photograph.

But their new ride, Joker, was right in the middle of a midway and looked really nice. SFM managed to make it look much better than it did in California.

That gun in the center spins. Just like the coaster cars. We live in the future.

This is what it looks like from the queue, if you actually decided to wait in it. We got lead on earlier in the day with a minimal wait.

Superman! The only Hyper coaster in Mexico.

My first chance to finally say it: Superman THROUGH THE TREES!!!

And Joker again.

This is Batman, but you may not recognize it because in Mexico, it's disguised as an SLC.

This is my first SLC and well, other than the obnoxiously huge restraints it wasn't that bad of a ride.

In the same way that I thought Flashback at SFMM wasn't that bad of a ride. That's superman behind it.

Batman's twisty loop thingie and Superman's second hill.

Medusa Wood Coaster. It rattled at the bottom of the drops but was really enjoyable.

There go a bunch of happy TPR members!!!

When the train went around the turn at the top of this lift, the whole structure swayed like 6 feet. I may but under-stating that, too.

If you haven't ridden it yet, too bad. You never will. Instead you will have to ride it in it's newer more badass form as an RMC caoster.

Dark Knight. Apparently it's the same as the other ones. Mouse in a box.

Another one for good measure. I want to say the cars kept moving through the station but I just don't remember.

This is a picture of an un-gated exit, because Mexican theme park goers are much smarter and respectful of rules than Americans.

The first Boomerang ever ever!!! This is my 2nd boomerang, after the one at KBF which was also painted the same way when I rode it.

Boomerang and their S&S Combo Tower (?) Kilauea.

Ha! Caught her!

These balls have seen better days. There's a joke in there somewhere.

That pyramid thing is over their Tivoli coaster. These green arrows are everywhere. They are emergency exit routes for earthquakes and no matter where you are standing, by law you have to be able to see one. Los Angeles is going to die in the next big earthquake.

Uh oh, broken sign!

But being Not Magic Mountain, this got fixed immediately.

Woohoo! I finally made it out of the country!! I am so freakin happy!!!!

We got to do Vampire Infestation for free. It's normally a 50 peso upcharge. It's a typical haunted walk-through with people yelling at you and what not.

German themed Chinese food.

The games area was fun and more affordable than Magic Mountain.

I don't know why I took this picture. Probably because I was still in shock that I was at a Six Flags park that looked so nice.

The tag says Six Flags Mexico. But obviously I had to take a picture. I'm a medium stateside but apparently a Mexican XL and I just can't do that to my ego.

Dolphin Show...these are popular at theme parks. Really too bad there was no shade in the stadium.

It was hot, so we did this. The crowd at Six Flags Mexico was all so happy and having so much fun. It really was like stepping back in time to a place where people still enjoyed themselves at theme parks. So this raft ride, like many others, teases you the whole way through, only getting some of you wet. At the end, it just goes right through a waterfall...oh, and it slows down to a CRAWL before you go through to ensure nobody gets off dry.

SFMM -> Tear out the tree. SFM -> Figure out a way to keep the trees!

This sign had us confused. We wanted the $15 locker and not the $350 one, but it turns out that there is no $350 locker and you pay the $15 after you are done renting. Whoops.

People having fun waiting in line for the crooked house. We were in line for Boomerang and people were singing to pass the time. We saw this more than once. I'm not kidding when I say that everyone in the park was there to have a genuinely good time.

Why KBF Why?!?!?!?!

While it was nice to see a crooked house again, 95% of it was listening to this dude talk really fast. We understood nothing and just kind of huddled in the back praying that he wouldn't call us up and make us look really weird. He didn't.

Woohoo! Beer was available everywhere, people were drinking, and still no jackassery. I think this was $90.

Kilauea and theming.

The brake run on Medusa as seen from the exit path.

Yes, this officially licensed Six Flags shirt says 'TRASH.'

Another 'wow this park kicks all kinds of ass' ambiance shot.

Look how happy everybody is!!!!

So I asked the lady behind the counter what 'Longaniza' is, and she comes around, holds my hand, and takes me to the kitchen area. She showed me the meat before it was cooked, then had somebody prepare some so I can see what it looked like done. Of course I ordered some and it was great! A lot like chorizo but larger chunks and...well, different. I grabbed some salsa and started eating, and the same lady looks over and sees that we didn't grab any jalapeno or seasoned carrots and got them for us. UNREAL service. Oh and by the way the food was really good!

I found this little place about a half mile from the hotel the previous night and took some members over after Six Flags. I asked the concierge 'where would YOU eat' and this seemed to get me exactly what I wanted. I'm really not interested in tourist-oriented food and this was delicious. Next update is La Feria, which I'll post as soon as there is a page 2 to post to. So please COMMENT!

[djcoastermark]

Excellent !! That was one of the most fun trip reports I've seen. You really managed to convey how much fun your trip was. I was laughing the whole time reading all the little stories you told with your captions!

[WFChris]

^Thanks! That means a lot to me! The trip really was life-changing for me. Can't wait to share more!

[larrygator]

I like the manner in which you are presenting your photos and story. Very genuine and matter of fact without forcing humor when it's not there.

[WFChris]

Thanks Larry! Just telling my story in my own, sometimes weird, words

[PKI Jizzman]

Great report! And so many photos, too, thanks for uploading them. I'm not a fan of shrimp but I still have to say damn those looked good; and are huge!

[simon8899]

Great TR from a beautiful park - I guess all SF parks would look like this if Efteling would take them over. Not a bad thought overall...

[Nrthwnd]

Great start to your TR, Chris! Very funny in a lot of captions you posted with the pix.

Looking forward to more of the visit - and when can we tour Mexico again?

[TheSchwitek]

Great trip report! Brings back so many awesome memories! Can't wait to see the rest.

 

Fun Fact: I have been meaning to do my own trip report from this trip, but I'm pretty sure we took all of the same pictures. Maybe I'll just copy and paste yours.

[alilstronger]

Awesome trip report!! Six Flags Mexico looks like its really pretty.

[robbalvey]

Fun Fact: I have been meaning to do my own trip report from this trip, but I'm pretty sure we took all of the same pictures. Maybe I'll just copy and paste yours.

Yes, but we all tell slightly different stories. I love reading other people's trip reports, even if they are from the same trip!

[Meteornotes]

Great report! Loved the story about the woman at SFM taking you into the kitchen to show you the food. You would NEVER get this sort of service at any US Six Flags park. And I'm not sure I'd want to be taken into a kitchen at SFMM or SFA...

 

dt

[FreeFaller]

Great TR! I love reading these trip reports when I actually should study for an exam! Well done! Mexico is one of those countries that are on my wish list! I hope I can do the next TPR Mexico trip there!

[Yamez]

This really makes me rethink how I view Mexico as a travel destination, thank you so much for posting this! I look forward to seeing the rest, this is fantastic

[mattnz]

Fantastic TR. Six Flags Mexico looks great, and doing 'culture' with TPR is definitely a fun experience too!

[DiegoCC]

Great TR! I'm glad you liked Mexico!

 

Loved all the stories! Can't wait for La Feria de Chapultepec TR.

[Gnome]

Great report! A tad bit jealous you were able to catch Medusa before the conversion.

[WFChris]

Wow, thanks for all the kind words everybody! And the front page! Wow! La Feria is coming up...

[vuurvogel]

great report. Really funny. Makes me want to go to Mexico. That and RMC. Keep those pictures coming!

[Philrad71]

I think I also figured out what they were doing in that museum!

 

Too funny!

[WFChris]

The 2nd day of the tour brought us to La Feria de Chapultepec which is a smaller park that's closer to the city center than Six Flags. It's quite a bit less expensive than Six Flags and kind of feels like a permanent fair with a giant mobius woodie in the middle of it. I'm more for words as captions so here we go!

If you don't normally see this many buttons in your elevator you probably haven't travelled with TPR yet...

This is Montaña Infinitum. You saw this picture in other TR's because its the first thing you see when you get to the park.

...that park being La Feria de Chapultepec, or just La Feria.

Chapultepec means Grasshopper in spanish, and Chapultepec is the name of their large urban park (like Central Park but bigger)

Pretty standard...sorry insulin users...oh and Taquilla with TWO L's means ticket, not 'little building with shots in it.'

Security at the park wears those 'we dont f- around' hats.

Everybody on the trip has a shirt with a green stain on it now. This thing took like an hour to dry.

WTF is that?! Looks dangerous and AWESOME!

Montaña Rusa from the entrance to Montaña Rusa. Montaña Rusa means 'Roller Coaster' in Spanish. It literally translates to Russian Mountain, but it means Roller Coaster.

This coaster was a real draw for many participants on the trip, including myself. I have this old tacky book called White Knuckle Ride which I got when I was younger, and ever since seeing this ride in there I have felt like I will see it someday.

That day finally came! Who knew it would be on my first international coaster trip!

The front half of the park from the Moñtana Rusa queue. That pink castle is a mirror maze.

Montaña Infinitum. We heard it may not open for us.

To wake Montaña Rusa up, they pushed the cars to the lift hill, then just jumped in the train and took a ride. So awesome.

Turns out Montaña Infinitum was indeed going to open for us. Which made us all very very happy

No sitting like a sassy lady!

Monaña Infinitum is a Schwarzkopf triple loop, kind of a slightly smaller version of that one in a mall in Canada.

Infinitum is a phone company in Mexico. I'm not sure if the name of this ride has anything to do with that.

This is Cascabel. A shuttle loop.

The queue for Cascabel is basically a zig-zagging grandstand.

I'm sorry, but your purple friends can't....do....something.

Typical TPR Trip queue length...

There was some braking in the station on the backwards bit, but still a solid ride.

The last coaster of the park was my worst nightmare, a spinning mouse. My first spinning mouse. Oh, La Feria is a Pepsi Park. Hooray for rarities!

Raton Loco is a typical spinning mouse. Raton Loco means Crazy Mouse. Fortunately we had a balanced car and I survived.

They had a pretty cool flume ride. It went behind the dolphin show and under the coaster. No line skipping though and unfortunately we didn't have time to ride it. It looked like a soaker.

I asked for advice from my friends before visiting DF (thats short for Mexico City), and one of them said 'don't eat the hot dogs.' I stuck to his advice.

The logo for Montaña Rusa.

I really only saw myself coming here in my wildest dreams. This is such a cool day!!!

You can photograph Montaña Rusa from basically anywhere in the park. Doesn't mean it'll be a good picture, but it will be there.

I don't even think Jeff Johnson counts this....

Brave souls!!!!

They wouldn't race the trains...they would come close, but there apparently was a policy against actually racing them.

I don't know if this is a picture of the ride or if I thought the guys in line were hot. LoL who am I kidding.

The potato chip DJ booth is apparently new.

OMG the clowns in this park...super weird...we'll get to that in a minute.

Condor. You know, things happen, and I REALLY wanted to ride it but I didn't trust my stomach this day so I had to pass

Got it!

Probably the same train...

Seriously. Never thought in a million years that I would get this photo. Thank you TPR for getting me out of the USA!!!!

Park logo on the ground near the entrance...

OK So were hanging out, and this group of clowns walks over and one gestures to take my camera (iPhone) from me. So I hand it to him and he hands me his umbrella. He then proceeds to take this picture

And this one....

And this picture of a random little boy lookin all 'wtf?'

And the only picture on my camera of my roommate. Hi!

And this picture....and maybe 5 others but you get the point.

You may not be able to read it but 'No se hace responsable' should really be the gist of it...

Those evacuation arrows I mentioned at Six Flags Mexico lead to these areas painted on the ground. These are considered safe parts of the park and this is where you wait for further instructions if something crazy is going down.

So yeah this turned out to be my favorite coaster of the trip. SOOO Intense!!! And the 4 point harness seatbelts added a nice element of being in for something serious. For real though watch the videos this ride is OMG serious. Keep it far, far away from SFMM!

We ended our day at La Feria and packed up on the bus. This is an area of food venders right outside the park. Culture shot with 2 different Schwarzkopf coasters in it. Not bad, right?

Edited December 2, 2013 by WFChris

[WFChris]

We left La Feria to head to a park in a mall. I'm from like, the valley, so I was all like 'omg like, the mall! Get me there now! Omg I need a new pair of shorts because my striped shirts all look tacky with my plaid shorts so I totally need some solid shorts!' Seriously. I thought that.

We took a long route around the outskirts of Mexico City to avoid traffic. These neighborhoods are fascinating.

They just keep going and going and going and going...

No doubt that this is the largest city in North America. It's LA sized with NY density.

Hooray! We made it to the mall! Valley girl is satisfied!

The park is called Divertido. It's actually in the State of Mexico, and RCDB seems to think it's called Perimágico.

It had this unique flat and for the most part a bunch of children's rides and games.

Huracan was the big boy coaster. A Tivoli.

Magic Firetruck in a mall.

This was the other credit in the park, our second Wacky Worm for the trip.

We must make sure the Wacky Worm is well documented.

This one is unique for the sake of our trip in the fact that it was our only coaster ride IN THE RAIN!!!!

Worms get REALLY wacky in the RAIN!!!!

This outdoor section had a few more rides, including a larger pirate ship. I think they inflated those balls in the pool just for us. I kinda felt bad when we all scurried back inside after the Wacky Worm, but I mean, I don't think any of us had any interest in playing with two giant balls in a 15'x15' pool.

Probably the largest flat ride in the entire park.

Entrance to the indoor coaster. This ride was really hard to take pictures of so that previous one and this sign are just going to have to work.

We don't have much of this in California so it was really a novelty for me.

hahahaha. Vicky Form....I feel like I've kinda seen this somewhere.

Somebody told me I wouldn't see any Easter Bunnies in Mexico. They were wrong.

I had never seen a random train driving around a mall before. This made me happy.

The prices in that Cinépolis were VERY reasonable. Like, you can take your whole family to a movie reasonable.

You can take them to see Oz El Poderoso....IN 3D!!!! That's it for today. We hit the road in the next update! Post your COMMENTS and we can discuss random things in the meantime!

[IronWolfman]

La Feria looks fun! Seems like a pretty solid park, excluding the reported ridiculous height limits.

I like the Tivoli in a mall, seems cool enough.