Photo TR: TPR 2014 SCANDI Tour - Bill's Awesome Revisit!

[Nrthwnd]

^ Totally agree, Bob.

 

06-25-14 ~ Fun Park Leads To >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Power Park!

 

Not a lot of time was spent at the mall where Fun Fair was. But that was okay.

Nobody expected this surprise credit, not to mention an added meal to the tour!

After eating, the credit, and a coffee, I checked out the "sidewalk sale" going

on, on the floor below us.

 

There, I found a great fall/winter vest to wear, while in Finland. Five years ago,

the cooler temp. was fairly easy to endure. Now, I was feeling the cold, and the

vest ended up being One of The Best Souvenirs...Ever, I have gotten from a tour!

 

More driving after this visit, then we arrive at the Power Park Resort, are welcomed

with evening ERT on their major coasters, back to the main resort bldg,. for dinner,

than BACK to the park, to close it, and Evening ERT!

 

It was a long, long day, but so worth it, from morning on the ship, to late late

evening, overlooking our race track for the Grand Prix the next morning.

A Finnish Food Park(mall) sign. And that word! RAVINTOLAMAAILMA.....!

Big Scary Size Daddy's...

Daddy's Diner...

Daddy's Coffee...

Daddy's New Vest. (o;

To those, I say... This Store! (Exit 2:02pm)

Somebody likes their Rice Krispie Squares, hmmm?

Which reminds me - THIS is what Elissa packed for our goodies/snacks times! I was SHOCKED when I saw this pyramid of yum! Once again, Thank You Elissa and Robb, for really taking care of our sugar needs. (o:

We arrive and mob the Power ark Hotel Entry Parking Lot. Is this not touristy or what???

One of the TPR mules has started her journey to where her cabin lies...

Up - or down? I can never remember shots like this.

Clearly, One of The Best Boomerangs I have Ever Ridden, From Around The World! Truth!

The new spinner was fun. Not sure what Cary is doing there...

Lots of kids stuff for...kids! And my beautiful BOOSTER on the right, there. Fave flat ever.

Wish we had this at my home park, than the Revolution a' la Up-charge. This one was included!

The Slowest ------ Turning ------- Star ------- Flyer ----------- ever.

But it is for families, so yes, it's probably the right speed. But still.

Nope. I will still not ride this thing - ever - again. Grona Lund, 2009 cured me of that, lol.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Nrthwnd

[larrygator]

The walk thru you reference as a shooting attraction looks like a laser maze. Even without understanding the rules, a bunch of us had a blast with one we did on the Japan Trip a few years back.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Agreed, it did look like some kind of laser maze, which would be easy for (most) groups to play. But our time there was very limited. Just enough to get some lunch, the coaster credit, a quick look around (hence my buying the vest) and then we were off! I'm sure it was no more than an hour being there, maybe a few minutes more.

 

But noted, thanks Larry!

[PKI Jizzman]

I love looking at the itineraries. We did a lot of driving in Texas, but wow there were some long distances between parks on this trip! But the bus/ferry rides make the trips unique

[Nrthwnd]

^ I agree. I hadn't posted any itineraries with any of my previous tour reports. So I thought this might be a unique way of showing those who haven't done a TPR Tour, how "our day" goes, heh. And remember, even this schedule had it's changes, alterations and substitutions. But everybody knew that was possibly going to happen. Even those who are on their first TPR Tour catch on real fast, and get into the schedule quite easily.

 

It was a good group tour this time 'round, speaking for myself.

[Nrthwnd]

From the "By The Way..." Dept.

 

As many of those on tour found out, I was smoking during the tour. I stayed within the boundaries that

parks set, mostly with set smoking areas, and others totally without (good for you Tusenfryd!). It's a

bad habit I know, but right now I have no intention of arguing this. I do it during (most) tours, and don't

do it at home. And these are a few shots I took, which actually feature how a couple of parks did treat

their smoking guests. And I think it's credit on the parks' part, who do something for these patrons.

 

So, hold your breath, and it's only four shots. And I apologise to those on the tour who accidently

"caught my breath," so to speak. My bad, sorry.

 

 

EDIT to add: Post #11111

My out-of-park time at the nice bar, outside Grona Lund.

What Grona Lund did in one area, near Twister, for smoking patrons.

My smokes and my liqueurs at Power Park. Ashtray was right there, outside. For my Midnight Cocktails.

At Sarkanniemi park in Tampere, Finland - just beyond where we had lunch.

Extra shot! This was taken in Liseberg, not because of it housing the Gasten Hotel, but because at the front

(of the back) there, was a designated smoking area (one of, and this was a quiet one) the park set up. Thanks!

[Nrthwnd]

~ After Check-In ~ Rides before Dinner!

 

Continuing on, enjoying the coasters and the other rides in the couple of hours we had,

before we started dinner back at the main building.

 

Thunderbird was just as fast and good as it eve3r was. And I still maintain that COBRA

is one of my Top Boomerangs, if anybody ever counted such stuff! Still smooth, five

years later. And I rode it at least three more times, absolutely happy with each ride.

 

The park also holds one of the more interesting themed shooting dark rides in a park.

Devils Hotel is a shooting dark ride, but for myself, the real joy of seeing this

attraction is from the outside, and how the park has worked these trees into it's location.

 

Here's the "Photographs Apres Dinner"....

The sign says THUNDERBIRD, and that's all you need to know, right now.

It's a great paint scheme on the train.

One way it's red...

Other way it's blue!

OMG How Crazy is That???

My Fave Boomerang-er. Cobra.

What's this? What's this?

I can't believe my eyes.

A shooting dark ride in the woods

That's all I can surmise. (o;

This puzzled me. They had smoking area borders ion the ground, I could understand. But this? Nothing.

Power Park is such an Awesome name, they named their bumper cars after the Park!

My booster, my booster. I really enjoyed this one. A few times, too.

Apparently, this used to be known as "POWERLAND".

Lots of motion and sexy curves in this shot.

A last shot (for now) of Thunderbird, while heading back to dinner. (8pm)

[805Andrew]

I second liking how you take pictures of the day's itinerary to show how jam packed each day is. Being out of hotels by 5-5:30 AM some days must not be easy. I had it pretty easy being out of hotels by 8 AM on the Mini East Coast Trip.

 

Going back to one of the smoking pics, did they serve Brooklyn Brewery beer there in Sweden, or did they just have that glass? I wouldn't expect to find that beer in Europe. Also congrats on finding Bob's lost Big Boy brother in Finland.

[Nrthwnd]

^ If you normally don't get up at those times - usually between 5 and 6/7 - it's an adjustment. But I've done the tours now a number of times, so I come to expect early early mornings, etc. Big surprise is when we actually don't have to get up really early, move luggage, etc. But that's a rare ocurrence.

 

I never really keep track of what beers I drink on a tour. I go for lagers, either in draft or bottle, where I can get it. What I have liked lately, through the tours, is Strongbow Cider. I like it when I can't get hy "home brew" BC Growers. Very tart and refreshing, in a cider.

 

The beer glass in question may indeed be holding the beer on the label. But I forgot.

[Nrthwnd]

Dinner ~ Followed by more coaster riding!

 

Dinner was supposed to start at 9. Some of us headed back to the main building for cocktails, then dinner.

To our surprise, they had everything ready for us before the 9 o'clock start! That was cool, so those of us

there, took advantage of the early start. Everybody eventually arrived, and the food kept coming and coming...

 

After dinner, we were let go to go back to the park, ride the rides, close the place out, and then have

evening ERT on Thunderbird! It was a great end to the evening.

 

And my late night cocktails, too LOL.

 

And here's a brief video of how these shot glasses and "cubes" I bought on the overnight ferry, look when they're in water. Psychadelic!

 

[coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=MVI_6326_0rla[/coastertube]

By this time in the tour, I had figured out the knack of making "meat salads." (o: And it was delicious!

Yeah! I am interested! What are you eating?

Overview shot of where we were all eating. But then, I fiddled with the exposure, and....

And there you are, Patrick! Got ya!

Sculpture over a small pond by the main building.

Another overview. Hi Jenn! How ya doing?

More people eating. It was a great dinner.

Random sculpture, overhead.

This - this I could enjoy!

Loved the car - love the park's logo!

Back to the park to ride the rides and stay till closing.

Then, Thunderbird ERT! It's a great coaster, to ride again and again.

Good photo shots from all angles of the coaster.

A bit dark, but it's there.

Final shot, before heading back to our room for the night.

Cocktails. In a brightly blinking glass!

10:57 pm

A quiet chat, late in the evening.

12:33 am Nighty night!

[Nrthwnd]

And here's what happens, when I dropped several "Magic Cubes" into a glass of tepid water.

An INSTANT DISCO in my glass!

 

Awesome. Enjoy it....

 

[coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=MVI_6327_h5f4[/coastertube]

 

Bought in the mall shop on the overnight ferry, Stockholm to Helsinki. At the cashier desk! Cool!

[thrillerman1]

Oh Scandi how I miss you. The '09 TPR trip was so incredible and your TR brings back a lot of warm memories, Bill. I love these updates and thanks for sharing!

[Nrthwnd]

^ My pleasure, in bringing back your warm memories of Scandi '09, Mark.

But now it's the morning of the....

 

TPR Grand Prix at Power Park!

 

This was my second time out on this thing. What eventually resulted, was shaving four seconds

off my last "fastest time", which was still at the back of the pack, LOL! Ah well.... It was

fun again, and eventually, winners were crowned. But Elissa made sure we all got medals for

doing the race.

 

Just like Disney!

Since this was taken at 2:30am, I figured it fit here in this day's report. (o;

The day's schedule - and note it was going to be a long, long drive to Tampere (and Sarkanneimi park).

Eggs, sorted! I always wondered what the timing difference was between the 2 eggs, offered at breakfast.

Where we put luggage, since we had checked out of the hotel. Note the German-like Oktoberfest building

inside of the Palace! It has indoor karts tracks, like outside here, but not as long.

Where to go. At 8 am in the morning.

Everybody gathering to go into the track building and 'sign up & suit up'.

Kristen guards the precious awards.

We get medals! That's so Disney, LOL. Thanks Elissa!

And a few others show their medals, as well.

You could see the main park from where we were in the Grandstand.

My sign in form. You could also upload a photo of your own from your cell phone, which several did.

How the groups were lined up for their go at the track.

Looking the other way.

Karts on Track!

The karts ran really fast against each other. Myself, not so much.

Finish Line Faces!

More Fun Finish Line Faces!

Um,, Holger it's okay - you won that round. And Jolie - WAKE UP! (more to come...)

[StealthFan]

 

As you can see in this picture there is me with my race engineer Garbles doing our pre race tactics meeting

[Nrthwnd]

^ So how did all that "pre race tactics meeting" work out for you?

[StealthFan]

^ So how did all that "pre race tactics meeting" work out for you?

 

Second fastest lap of the day AND I actually finished the race this time unlike in 2009!

[Nrthwnd]

^ Excellent! Glad you stayed on the track this time, lol.

 

More Power Park...

 

After the Grand Prix, we still had several hours in the park, re-riding the coasters, having a nice

lunch...then piling all the luggage into the busses and heading back south to Tampere, Finland.

How the Final Race was set up.

Winners! And why is Adrian already holding a trophy?

Ruben shows his third place trophy in true Winner Style.

Then it was second-place Adrian's turn, out of all his racing gear, lol.

And finally - The Winner - Ben accepts his trophy graciously from Kristen.

Winners group shot.

And now - Lunch!

I remembered this place from the last visit, so decided to try it out for lunch.

One of their main dishes turned out to be a delicious pot roast, with veggies, and a salad bar!

No. When Smith & Wesson Talks...People Die.

I finally figured out this word - "Entrance". Woo Hoo! (o:

Boy, this region of the world sure loves their marshmallow, in many forms and colours.

This was great! Perfect Ben & Jerry's themeing. But "something" was missing in this photo.

I played around with the exposure settings a bit, and....

Ta-dah! There she is, all smiling for the camera. The ice cream was great, too.

The parks Fun House in located way in back of the park, near Thunderbird.

It was okay. Lots of 'scenes' to view while going through it, though.

Beautiful coaster.

A Sexy Curve shot.

[Nrthwnd]

From Power Park >>>>>> Bonus Park & Credit!

 

More riding the rides in Power Park, and then it was time to head out, back south to Tampere.

But, not before we came across a Bonus Park that Robb and Elissa had arranged for us

to visit, along with a quick mid afternoon meal, too!

 

The park's name is Wasalandia, a small park with a number of flats, rides for

children...and a haunt walk through that was really a good one, I felt. They divided us up

into groups and then led us different directions, and rides, but eventually all ending up

at their coaster, Cyclon.

 

Here's some of the photos, both from PowerPark and Wasalandia...

Power Park had this "rustic small village" set in back of the park, behind Thunderbird. It was

actually built for a movie shoot based on characters of a well-known Finnish story. Then the

park decided to just leave it, for everybody else to enjoy looking through. This is the entrance gate.

You walked in, and the whole thing opened up to a central square area, and all the

various buildings around it.

It's a tree house! (o:

I love this use of discarded wood and pieces that wouldn't work in regular housing.

Looked like an outhouse, could be a dwelling, too.

Everything looked wonderful!

One of the biggest dwellings on the site.

Neo's Twister, the new spinning coaster for the park.

Ben & Jerry's ice cream break, of course. Then, we left the park, and went to get our

luggage ready for the bus, and continuing on to Tampere.

Inside the Palace - go kart tracks!

It's a pretty packed together layout.

Just before I left, I said goodbye to this nice young woman at the park's entrance gate.

Her name was Petra and she stayed there at the gate, all day! Thank you for our great visit, Petra!

And then whooosh! Here we are in Wasalandia, with a cool looking juice can ferris wheel!

We didn't get to ride it, sadly. It was a quick visit, along the way.

Nothing like getting your butt stuck in a kids swing, eh Neil?

Map of Wasalandia. The coaster is at the bottom of it, there.

Even the face looks just wrong.

Flume! Several took advantage of "maybe" getting wet. Most did.

Another splashdown. (More pix coming up soon...)

[Groteslurf]

Loving the updates Bill.

3 months have already passed. It seems like only just ago but at the same time, it's like ages ago. I really miss everything on the trip : friends, the parks, the busrides, the ferries, etc

[Nrthwnd]

^ Thanks Benny! I've going through all that about the tour being "so long ago" etc.

Oh well. It was a great tour while it lasted.

 

More Wasalandia park, lunch, then on to Tampere, Finland!

 

The park had a pretty nicely themed haunt walk-through, just beyond the kids' rides.

It sort of looked out of place, with everything around it, mostly for children. But that

was okay. The park people let us go through it, and I really enjoyed it. It definitely

had it\'s moments.

 

Then, we all went to the coaster in the park. And after that, we bussed over to

another place, where a quick mid-afternoon meal was had. And then - off to Tampere!

Tom was on hand, to make sure, the "not very wet" got "very wet." (o;

More splashdown.

One more time!

The spookhouse walk-through, with a pretty intense-looking facade to it!

This was a sort-of a Phantom of The Opera thing.

Dim light in a mirror.

Look what I found - boobs!

One half of the pirate ride. Hi guys!

The other half. And the only person looking at the camera, isn't one of our group, heh.

And up they went!

At the coaster, looking back to the rest of the park.

The coaster is called CYCLON

And it apparently has a laundry facility there.

Some of it.

Except for a rather sudden braking near the end, it was a pretty nice little coaster. Thanks Wasalandia!

Where we had our meal. The place was called Tropiclandia.

The meal. And then off we went!

I see you Sarkanniemi observation tower! Tomorrow...

Quick culture shot, before we reached our hotel for the night.

[Nrthwnd]

And now for something "almost" unrelated...

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Leonard Cohen!

 

Why post this is this thread? Simple. There are some parks around the world, who like to do

appreciative things for artists (and celebrities) who have performed at their park.

 

Like Liseberg, in Sweden. At first, they had the signature Sidewalk STARS that included

local talent as well as those far away, such as Michael Jackson.

 

The "LiseGarden" is something new for the park. And instead of slate stars, or footprints,

hand prints are saved here. Including one for the artist I took the photos of - Canada's Leonard Cohen.

 

So here's to you Leonard! Nice to see you appreciated far far Away. Like Sweden!

Does that really say LUST garden? My Swedish is terrible. (o;

Where he is among. I think Tom Jones is there, too.

They sign their plaque too, which makes me wonder what happened to that "r" in his name?

[Nrthwnd]

It's really close now, the end of this tour. But these last two parks we visited in Finland

are really two great parks with loads of rides and coasters in each. So first...

 

Sarkanniemi - TORNADO = Yellow & Orange On Grey!

 

Sarkanniemi is another one of those parks, like Tusenfryd, where a lot of walking can be involved.

Depending on how much you backtrack, etc. We also started to get some rain (horrors) near the end

of the visit, but that didn't hurt the tour at all. I had only one credit to get at this park, and it was

their newest one, Motogee. A launch coaster that was nice, but not worth a re-ride IMhO.

 

The new Angry Birds Land was a nice surprise, and had the older kids flat rides themed up along

side new flats brought in for the Land. It worked well, from what i could see, and I am sure the

kids were thrilled as they were constantly running around, screaming and just having a great time.

 

And by the way - do you prefer your Tornado in Lemon Yellow? Or Orange Freeze?

The schedule.

I liked this park's entrance gate. It looked so nice with the trees around it.

The New Flat! Down for Maintenance! Hmmmph.

The Map. Quite the walk from the park's Disko to the Children's Farm/Village area.

The Village was also new, like Angry Birds Land.

Yellow Tornado twirling through the loading station "bunker".

David and Gus on the orange train, with Gus showing me how he appreciates my taking his photo!

Yellow on the grey track!

Just in case you forgot what this coaster is called.

Orange Flip!

Yellow Flip!

Orange Flip Again!

Yellow does a twist toward the end of the run.

[Nrthwnd]

After arriving early at the park, and having ERT on Half Pipe and Tornado, we were let loose in the park,

reminded to show up for lunch, later on. Lunch was another pizza and salad buffet, but again, for myself,

it was a really good one and everything was hot, ready to eat.

 

(The Scandinavians seem to be pretty good at pizza buffets, I must admit.)

ERT on Half Pipe. I enjoyed it much better this time, without the rain hitting me (2009).

And I liked this shot, as one of my better ones taken, too.

Hmm. On first glance..... Dippin Ma Jones In It? I think I'm getting hungry for lunch.

EEP! Another 'sign'.

But first - a ride on my all time fave flat ride! The only one I have ridden, too.

Motogee, the new coaster. It was a fun ride. Nothing too special. Families would enjoy this, I'm sure.

Angry Birds Land! I had known about this re-do of the childrens' rides area for a couple of years now.

And now, seeing it for myself, it's really a a nice area for kids to let loose, ride rides, and have a good

old time with the Angry Birds! Hey, I even bought the t-shirt for it!

Here's Jake, awaiting permission to be launched at the pigs.

And Bob leads this pack of shameless credit whores on the ...uh.... long named coaster.

For kids. I have to admit though, I already got the credit in 2009 when we nearly broke it down. (o:

Lunch!

The setup for indoor eating. The buffet itself was up to the left of this area.

OMG Lauren - you know Gus! I'd recognize that hand gesture any where!

And there was outdoor seating as well, which some took advantage of.

After lunch - back to rides. But no, not this one. In 2009 I saw this having vomit washed off

of it. Not a pleasant memory and I won't ride it.

Back to Orange Flip! And another one of those fun "faucet" fountains.

It's a flat. It's a Shwarzkopf. But I don't remember the name of the flat.

And I totally forgot to take a photo. But... it's a Schwarzkopf! (o;

[Nrthwnd]

Next, I went up the park's Observation Tower and got a few overhead shots of the park.

Then back down, to catch shots of few groups of people on the park's raft ride....

Sarkanneimi's Observation Tower.

Going up.

The half pipe, new children's Village area, the farmyard, and the park's Raft Ride.

One end of the park, where the Disko is. And my fave flat! And the Volare coaster.

Tornado red train on it's run, over the log flume ride.

Angry Birds Land. Great place for kids and their families.

Now it's yellow train's turn

The sign for the raft ride. I liked the waterfall as part of it.

Hey guys! Wet, yet?

Nolan doesn't seem to be too worried about getting wet on this ride. The others, not so much.

Ryan and Tom making the best of a (probable) wet situation.

[Nrthwnd]

Near the end of our visit, there wasn't a lot of time to run back and forth across the park.

So I decided to take in something I'd not seen on the previous Scandi Tour....

 

The Dolphin Show

 

There were only two live dolphins in the show itself, a lot of stuff up on screens, a child getting to pet a dolphin,

and....uh....what looked like a really sort of "too close for comfort" relationship each dolphin and their trainers,

had. A but creepy, especially when they trotted out the heart shaped spotlights, music, etc.

 

So for that, once was enough, lol. And then, we were on our way back to Helsinki.

Me and a couple of friends waiting for....

The Dolphin Show! A lot of water, lights, film...and real live dolphins!

Here's one of them. I forgot it's name. Or even what sex it was.

This is the other. With the "child from the audience" scene.

Slow dance in the pale moonlight?

Now, is this a rejection or a "come hither" thing?

Some balancing and jumping happened, here.

A jump.

More touchy feely stuff. And then it was over.

Now Steve, what I have told you, again and again? No hands up, till the ride - is - moving. Okay?

Bye Bye Sarkanniemi! We had a great day in the park. Thanks!