Chuck's TPR Shameless Nostalgia Trip Thread

[bert425]

Fantastic update. . loving seeing all these pics.

[Dan]

One bonus photo--me sampling the awesome Texas Select! That's all for 2007 Japan. We will return.

CHUCK!! This is GREAT! You even got me to post... which is as unheard of as -- heck, I don't even know!!. I miss everyone. Except for Joey I miss the trips! So many of my absolute favorite memories could end up in this thread!

[cfc]

^Yes! Dan has surfaced! The amazing power of Texas Select! Wasn't that swill about $1.98 /six pack?

[Dan]

^Yes! Dan has surfaced! The amazing power of Texas Select! Wasn't that swill about $1.98 /six pack?

I don't remember! I just know we bought it as a joke -- we didn't expect anyone to actually drink it!

 

Good times!

[cfc]

Europe 2008

 

Who's ready to fly into Paris for another great TPR trip?

 

Yes we started and ended this tour in the City of Lights--a beautiful place with absolutely insane traffic. I got to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, cruise on the Seine, and hobnob with the gargoyles of Notre Dame (where I also had the best ice-cream cone ever at a little place across the street from the famous church).

 

And, of course, we visited a lot pf parks of all different kinds in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. I learned a number of things about European theme parks during this trip, too. For example:

 

1. There are parks that can rival and, sometimes, top the Disney parks. Europa Park in Germany is the best park in Europe (and one of the best in the world).

 

2. Paris Disneyland is beautiful and has a number of good attractions (particularly Big Thunder Mountain and Phantom Manor). But it's not the best of the Magic Kingdoms. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed myself there immensely, but when it comes to customer service, it's no Tokyo Disney. That being said, I'm looking forward to visiting it again, someday.

 

3. Walt Disney Studios, while hardly a great park, was a bit better than I'd expected. Now that it's had a chance to grow a bit, I'd like to visit it again.

 

4. There are worse coasters than SLCs in the world: Movie Park's Bandit and Walygator's Ananconda, for instance.

 

5. The food at most European theme parks, particularly Europa, is much better than the park fare in the U.S.

 

6. Some of the quirkier European parks offer plenty of opportunities to hurt yourself. C'est la vie!

 

On to the photos. Like last time, I'm sticking to the two-photo rule, with a few exceptions.

We kicked things off at Jardin d'Acclimatation, a beautiful little park in Paris. It had a few eccentric family coasters . . .

. . . and a few opportunities to injure yourself. This pattern will repeat as the trip goes on.

Next up was Parc Asterix, which offered some interesting views . . .

. . . and one of the worst crimes ever committed against humanity. (Well, we probably deserve it.)

Walibi Belgium was a bit "generic," but it did have some interesting merch, especially if you like ties that stare and smile.

The park also an enclosed Schwarzkopf shuttle loop, which was pretty cool, and a great shooting dark ride with fire (Challenge of Tutankhamon).

Let's not forget Adventure Parc near Walibi Belgium, . . .

. . . where I learned I'm not all that adventurous.

Remember, at Bobbejaanland, no one, but no one, messes with Speedy Bob's wheelbarrow!

This was also my first "Bench: The Ride" experience (aka, El Paso Special).

Toverland's Troy was one of my favorite coasters dueing that trip, . . .

. . . even though the Trojan Horse killed me.

Efteling was definitely a Disney-type park--with the size to match.

Lots of great dark rides, as well as Pegasus, a family wooden coaster that has since been replaced.

Someone want to get that dude a magazine? I think he's going to be there a while.

Formule X at Drievilet was a great launched coaster. Maurer Shone redeemed itself with this ride.

Why, we even had a hoedown to celebrate.

This is park is no longer Walibi World (just Walibi or "Walibi Holland"). But Goliath is eternal (and awesome).

But one mast take the good with the bad--in this case, El Condor, the first-ever SLC. It looks appropriately sinister in this photo.

Heide's Colossos was a great Intamin woodie (ran really well in 2008).

I like the Knott's Berry Farm vibe of the park's old log flume. Alas, it's gone now.

Yes, I felt transported to Hollywood at Movie Park, . . .

. . . especially when I beheld the animal perversions of the Ice Age boat ride.

If you were going to injure yourself, Schlossbeck was a good place to do it.

It's also had a rather puzzling castle full of odd dioramas. I felt I was in Japan for a moment. More to come.

Edited April 28, 2020 by cfc

[Nrthwnd]

4. There are worse coasters than SLCs in the world: Movie Park's Bandit and Walygator's Ananconda, for instance.

 

Preach.

 

Great start Chuck. Looking forward to more of that tour we did.

[cfc]

We're not done with Europe just yet. Not by a long shot.

Phantasialand offered a number of great attractions, in addition to the Dragon Bar at the Hotel Ling Bao. I liked Black Mamba a lot. The theming really makes this ride.

Silbermine was like Pirates of the Caribbean, only with Mexicans. Alas, it is gone now.

But you can still see King Kong attack a PT boat on the Hollywood Tour boat ride.

Tripsdrill had a winery to go along with its coasters and other attractions, . . .

. . . such as this death conveyance.

Expedition GeForce at Holiday Park is still in my top ten. What a great ride!

Sigh! Remember when this wench flashed you in Burg Falkenstein? She doesn't anymore.

Europa Park had my favorite hotel of the trip--the Colosseo.

Spaceship Eurosat.

Euro Mir has the catchiest theme music of any coaster ever built. It will stick in your head for days, nay, weeks afterward!

Here's a peek at the old Piraten in Batavia. I wonder if this pig-wrestling buccaneer will be back in the rebuilt, post-fire version?

Geisterschloss was a great Haunted Mansion knockoff.

Walygator had the worst coaster since Movie Park's Bandit . . .

. . . but, hey, Fatal Bazooka!

We ended the trip with a few days at Paris Disney.

I think there was some sort of special event going on, so the castle was decorated with Disney and Pixar characters--very nice.

I understand that their version of Space Mountain is much better now. Someday, I'll find out.

I liked the walk-through Nautilus tour in Discoveryland. Kinda wish DisneySea had it, too.

Phantom Manor was a unique version of the Haunted Mansion, with some extra gore--nicely done.

Walt Disney Studios was a bit better than I'd expected, but it was the weakest Disney park I'd ever visited.

Whoa! Are we back in California?

Behold the last remaining Catastrophe Canyon.

Crush's Coaster was fun, but that line . . . sheesh!

When in Paris, watch out for Geppetto. He's a bit of a perv! That's all for now.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Oh man, several good looking European parks!

[Nrthwnd]

Great stuff, Chuck. Yeah, the queue for Crush's Coaster was bizzarely long.

And boring. Until you got in the show building, itself. But still. Tres long.

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report!

 

With the new trains, Paris's Hyperspace Mountain was enjoyable for me. But I totally see how that would have been brutal with the old OSTRs since it definitely jostles you around.

[Nrthwnd]

^ I went thru riding Space Mountain in DisneyParis on several visits: 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2015....

It seemed to hurt like heck, every time I had those over-the-shoulder-restraints.... I believe

the initial riding, in 2002 was the best.

[cfc]

Great report!

 

With the new trains, Paris's Hyperspace Mountain was enjoyable for me. But I totally see how that would have been brutal with the old OSTRs since it definitely jostles you around.

 

I'm willing to give it another chance with the new trains. Vekoma has even made Boomerangs bearable with those.

[cfc]

Scandi 2009

 

Ah, Scandinavia! Can you not smell the salt air, salmon, and pickled herring? Do you not hear the battle cry of the Vikings? Let's go back to 2009 and the region that gave us Epcot's Maelstrom, er, Frozen Ever After.

 

Yes, vee haf passed zis way before, and vill pass zis way again (as the narrator of Epcot's Maelstrom might've put it). This trip started in Denmark and took us to parks in Sweden, Finland, and Norway (with a bit of time in Germany, as I recall).

 

You'll recall that we had previously visited Tusenfryd and Liseberg, but the remaining parks were all new to me. It was great to finally see the acutal Tivoli Gardens after experiencing the Japanese version. But the Japanese parks had nothing on the Scandinavian parks when it came to sheer weirdness.

 

We started in beautiful Copenhagen.

 

 

Our hotel was a short walk to the classic Tivoli Gardens, although that isn't where we started.

We started with Bon Bon Land, a magical realm devoted to cartoons and various bodily functions. Most of you will know this place as the home of the infamous Dog Fart Coaster.

But did you know that it also has the largest, creepiest Santa Claus ever?

It's easy to see why Walt Disney found Tivoli Gardens so inspiring. It's absolutely beautiful.

Tivoli's Rutchbanen was the first of three old-school wooden coasters on this trip.

But it was the only one to boast a former U.S. president as a brakeman.

Daemonen was just cutest lil' old B&M coaster ever.

Wait, who's that handing the brakes on Bakken's Rutchebanen? Oh my god, those poor people!

Bakken was also the home of Tornado, one of Intamin's more insane creations, which is saying a lot.

Hansa Park had a very impressive entrance.

Fulch von Novgorod, a launched Eurofighter with a vertical lift, as well, was also pretty dang impressive.

They opened the ride even though the theming, both inside and out, wasn't finished--and it was still a great ride.

They also had a nice old Schwarzkopf--Nessie.

Hmm--either it's pouring rain at Somerland Syd and everyone is wearing ponchos, or we've stumbled into a Klan meeting.

Yes, the rain continued at Legoland Billund.

But that didn't stop everyone from riding this rather RTC-like coaster.

I'm not saying that it rained a lot that day, but . . .

At Farup Sommerland, you can pilot your own speedboat. No tracks here!

Falken was a fun S&S wooden coaster.

But Lynet is the park's star attraction.

It was pouring when we hit Tivoli Friheden. Dropping into the net of their SCAD Tower was like plunging into a swimming pool!

Mr. Big boasted authentic American cuisine--that is, a hot box full of fried everything!

I didn't hit Tobu Zoo while TPR was in Japan in '07, so my first Intamin Mega-Lite was Piraten at Djurs Sommerland. It did not disappoint. And remember: Pirates don't say "whee," they say "arrr!"

Who would've thought that my first sighting of a monkey water skiing behind a croc would be in Denmark? Funny little world, isn't it? More to come.

Edited June 25, 2020 by cfc

[cfc]

Vee vill now pass zis vay some more.

I don't remember much about Tivoli Karolinelund, but it was nothing like Vegas.

I sort of remember this guy, though.

Tusenfryd in Norway is the home of some big rides, like Speed Monster . . .

. . . and wee, little rides like Teeny Weeny.

Welcome to LIseberg, which is having a very strange effect on Elissa. Must be some Swedish virus.

My god! It's catching!

Kanonen was a fun Intamin launched coaster, which has since been removed and replaced with a B&M.

Look! Donald Trump is at Liseberg!

Skara Sommerland is the only park with one of these bizarre S&S creations. It's an interesting ride.

No waterpark for us on this chilly day, although we did get to experience Swedish Mexican food.

Grona Lund's Insane does, indeed, look maniacal in this photo.

I love how this park uses the space it has--all kinds of rides crammed in here.

Here's a look at the old Spokhuset before Sally transformed it into House of Nightmares.

Jetline is still my favorite coaster at Grona Lund.

Power Park is Finland's northernmost theme park.

It boasted a shockingly decent Boomerang (called Cobra).

We loaded up this train with TPR's biggest guys and broke Thunderbird's speed record.

These are go-karts? Looks more like NASCAR.

Sarkanniemi features Tornado, an Intamin inverted coaster. Too bad more of these haven't been built.

They also had this huge Intamin Half-Pipe.

Linnanmaki in Helsinki was the last park of the trip--and our last old-school woodie with a brakeman. It was named Vuoristorata, which I guess is Finnish for "Rutchebanen."

Kirnu was Insane's not-as-crazy cousin.

My favorite attraction there was the dark ride--beware the wrath of the Lost Viking Skeleton of Linnanmaki!

The sign says it all! That's it for now.

[SharkTums]

I miss Scandi!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Nice photos! There's a bunch of beautiful Intamins in that lot! I still don't think I ever want to do one of those SCAD towers though....

[Nrthwnd]

I miss Tornado. And Thunderbird coaster. And pretty much, most of Grona Lund.

 

Great stuff you picked to show, Chuck. It all works nicely together.

 

And that SCAD Tower. Wow, to think I did that thing twice, in two separate tours!

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report! I knew Hansa opened Karnan without all the theming complete only to finish it later, but I didn't realize they dis the same thing with Fluch von Novgorod as well.

 

Question on Piraten, I've seen a few people say Piraten has a faster lift than Kawasemi (only Mega Lite I've ridden) and it makes a huge difference. I'm thinking it may be because Tobu Zoo is usually empty and the ride just doesn't get to warm up/run full trains. Do you think Piraten is way better than Kawasemi since I believe you've ridden it on an ERT session with a full train?

[HEADCHEEZ]

While I don't post very often, I've been here with you guys for a long, long time and it's been a fantastic journey! Thanks for the blast from the past!

[cfc]

I miss Scandi!

 

And the green bunny ears.

[The Great Zo]

Any report with Sweden is a good report, and I think I'm going to have to get to Denmark and Norway one of these years too.

[Alice Kane]

And remember: Pirates don't say "whee," they say "arrr!

 

" Well "Yarrr!"  I learned something new...thanks!  I always thought pirates said "arrgh."  But Google agrees with you.  They say "arr."   Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

 

Look! Donald Trump is at Liseberg!

 

Puleeeze KEEP him there!  "Shelter-in-Place" DJT!  (Sorry Liseberg, you don't deserve that.  Maybe just an itty bitty quarantine?)

 

Thanks Chuck for your 'nostalgia reports.'  Even tho I wasn't on the trip, I feel nostalgic.  (Denmark is beautiful.  Was there ages ago & I'd love to go back.)

 

Alice

[cfc]

^I think they also say "argh" from time to time.

[Dan]

^What he said

 

Any report with Sweden is a good report

This is a F A C T !!

[Nrthwnd]

^^ They also say this, apparently.....

Ghhrrr......? In Djurs Sommerland. (2014)