Benin

After the show, it was time to continue the car theme and head over to the park’s 2nd big coaster...iSpeedApple naming rights aside, iSpeed has a well done atmosphere around it even though you can’t see most of the ride from the outside or the queue... But what you do see is the trains dashing around madly refusing to lose pace at any point in the ride...After a dull shaded queue, we reached the station and this is when I realised this was not a hydraulic launch, but rather LSMs, making it a lot more like Maverick than I thought it would be...After a quick speil the launch happens, and boy is it fast... No wonder Intamin thought the hydraulic launch was a bit poor now, fast and powerful and barely needs the same amount of space as the others... The top hat provided a great dose of airtime as did the hill afterwards, even with the trims attached onto it...The rest of the ride is a complete blur, with twists, turns, loops and dives coming at you thick and fast... It’s amazing how it keeps the speed on it throughout the entire course all the way to the random MCBR above the station... Also random was how the final turn swooped up into about 2 feet of brakes which then went down into MORE brakes... Why did THAT happen?However, as great as the ride and layout is, there is one major issue... And just like Maverick, it’s the restraint system... Intamins just do not agree with my neck and corners with their OTSRs, and iSpeed was no exception... If they could fix this issue this (and Maverick) would make it into my top 10 no question, but because I need to constantly brace myself in order to enjoy it fully, it loses marks for that... A real shame that it’s so easily ruined...9/10On our way to the next attraction, we discovered a ride which perked our interest so much we had to experience it...Crazy HouseMost random experience on a flat ride for a while... Spinning, talking and random effects are the order of the day here, and it was worth it just for the sheer randomness it produced... Great fun and I think more parks should have these... Could be easily modified into some rather interesting concepts and themes...8/10Distraction aside, it was time to head towards the only dark ride of the park...ResetReset is so far away from the rest of the park it’s unbelievable, indeed, it could easily be classed as a car park dark ride as it’s closer to that than the park itself... It does and doesn’t work with the theme, as the apocalyptic theme works as you wander further away from the hustle and bustle (with some great music Swarm needs to be inspired by) but it’s just so out of the way it didn’t have much of a people atmosphere, which at a theme park is sometimes needed...However, into the dark corridors we went and straight onto the ride, where the weird shooting system annoyed me as well as the lack of story... It is apparently explained in tv form in the queue, but as one didn’t exist, we knew not why the world had ended, or what we were meant to be doing... Even a Portal Personality Core couldn’t help matters... Probably not helped by Huntik’s awesomeness two days before, but it just didn’t seem to have a really engaging narrative and seemed even more mish-mashy than Duel... Just didn’t enjoy it as well as I thought I would...6/10Walking back from Reset, we noticed that Depth Charge’s clone had no queue, so we went on...Blu RiverIt’s Depth Charge, only you can’t ride by yourself... And I lost my hat on it into the channel, however, this did work in my favour as a soaked through hat was bloody amazing in the hot weather...6/10We then did iSpeed again where we met the wonderful FABio ride op, who ensured that idiots trying to jump into the shorter normal queue from the longer front row queue were sent to the back, always like seeing staff do their job effectively even on empty days... Well done...After bracing myself, it was time for some more water ride action...AutoSplashAn unique Log Flume theme here which perhaps could have a lot more going on for it... With only two drops and a random tunnel between them it’s definitely not the best version of it’s type, especially as it suffers from the first drop being wetter than the final drop, and the tunnel actually has absolutely nothing in it... But still the water was well received in the heat...6/10

Day 4 – MirabilandiaSo after an entire night of being excited about Katun it was time to head over to the park, however, on the way there, the Italian Rozzers pulled us over to do one of their random checks... This seems to happen a lot and nothing was wrong, but you still can’t help feeling awkward and worried...Check over, we were set on our merry way down the road and getting closer and closer to the park, and then, we were there...After a short while the turnstiles opened to the sound of Queen... Or at least, Mira’s cover of “We Will Rock You”, certainly got us pumped for the day and worked nicely with the walk into the park...Of course, there was only one ride we were going to ride first...KatunSometimes you come across a ride that doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves... Katun is certainly top of that list, even though it appears in Mitch Hawker’s top 10, very few enthusiasts talk about it in the same way as say Nemesis and a few of the more well known rides... Even the park doesn’t seem to go on about it, feeling rather modest about it’s existence and how good it is...The ride is all Aztec themed and is really nicely done, with the lift dominating the nearby area for all to see... We headed straight for the back row and once the train was filled to the fullest, we were off up the lift hill...What followed was quite simply the best inverted first drop I have ever encountered... It truly was remarkable how the turn just whipped the entire train out to the right as it dived right towards the ground and the massive loop... This part alone just made the ride awesome, and the rest of the ride needed to keep this up...It does... The inline that followed was taken perfectly, as was the brilliantly designed turn into the Cobra Roll and the helix that followed... This was built in 2000, so was definitely built at the right time, just before B&M started going more ‘safe’, but the way the ride is designed is perfect... Even the MCBR doesn’t make it lose speed, and the two corkscrews and finale helix make the ride THE complete package, and sent it soaring up to number 2 on my top 10, just narrowly behind Nemesis...They are similar, yet opposite sides of the spectrum... But Katun deserves more recognition, as it is just as good as Nemesis if not (in some circles) better than it... Completely different rides, yet just as good as each other... Damn perfect ride, just only thing missing is an amazing soundtrack to go with it...10/10A second go on Katun later and we decided to hit up some other coasters just in case the park got busy, so it was time to experience the dodgy Chessington clones section of the park, starting with...ExplorerRunaway Train but without the theming and a rather strange train design for what is really a Mack... Plus the exit is actually longer than the actual queue... It made little sense and wasn’t particularly good ride experience... Distinctly average and the way in which it slowed down mid-way through the second lap was just pointless... Give me Chessie anyday for this...4/10PakalThis strange Rattlesnake clone was again a lesser themed cousin of Chessie... However, a slightly different layout and smoothness in the first section made it rather enjoyable... The lack of brakes in the second half however made the ride become rough and generally insane... A rather interesting ride but it serves a much better role than it’s English cousin, especially with better throughput and ride in direct comparison, although better theming would make it really good...6/10After this, we headed towards the new coaster...Max Adventures - Master ThaiThis family mobius coaster had suffered some delays with construction from Preston, and it certainly shows in the ride portion, as the excellent entrance and station theming doesn’t extend all the way through to the ride itself... It’s also a rather weird ride as you get to do both sides without getting off, which is a plus as you don’t have to get off and queue again, but it also makes the ride itself seem a bit weird and paceless...Either way, the ride itself is cool, you can see the ideas behind it were sound, as the racing/duelling aspect does work even if out of sync, and it has a lot of speed and airtime on what looks like a rather meh ride... If it had better theming it would be a solid family ride but it’s certainly different and enjoyable...6/10After the Drakkar incident from Rainbow we elected to head towards the Rapids here a lot earlier than last time, so next up...Rio BravoSet alone on it’s own island, you see very little of these Rapids when off-ride, hence much is hidden away and becomes much more of a surprise when you ride it, and these were a surprise as they were rather good fun... Less themed than Drakkar but still very good fun, getting John wet as per the norm...8/10Wetness over, it was time for the smaller coasters of the park to take over, starting with...Family AdventureAt first I thought this was to be similar to Hansa’s Roland, but I was surprised to see it was just simply a larger version of Bomborun with older trains... Rode exactly like Bombo as well, just slightly longer and had a few head choppers throughout it... Was certainly a fun enough family coaster...6/10Lepretto ExpressThe vegetable patch themed coaster was a real surprise... Probably the best kiddie coaster I’ve ever been on as it was full of airtime and had a good amount of forces and drops for what it was... Completely threw me off and was actually really enjoyable... 7/10After that, we realised that the Stunt Show was about to begin, so we headed in, grabbed a Cornetto and watched it... Police Stunt ShowThe beginning of this was rather bland, full of boring slow language based sections that to me aren’t always great on an International scale, hence why Moteurs Action is poor in my eyes yet Asterix’s stunt show was epic...However, once stuff started happening, it was pretty epic, and deserves some points for that alone... Plus it had a CHOPPAAAAAAAAAAAA!7/10

Day 3 – Driving to RavennaSo after 12 hours of a busy Magicland we needed to begin our trek across the country north towards our next destination and park, so leaving at 12 with car packed up we began the 5 hour journey towards Ravenna...The first half was pretty uneventful, as the roads were empty and as signs for cities were more regular than Magicland’s, we were able to keep track much more simply... After about 2 and a half hours, we reached Perugia, which was elected as our stop-off point...We were all rather hungry, so the search for food began down a long and winding hill, where we eventually arrived at...Yep, it was time for Italian McDonalds, whilst not too different from our own versions, it’s always nice to have a bit of familiarity in your food, as well as some differences...Pistachio McFlurry looked VILE...We trekked back up the hill to our car and began the second half of the journey, where I decided to actually take photos this time...Along our way, we were diverted off the dual carriageway onto the most mountainous road I have ever experienced in a car... It made the route to Towers look flat, and was as beautiful as it was nerve-wracking... We did realise then why so many drivers come to Italy to just drive around, because it’s such a nice countryside and can be extremely relaxing...Eventually we arrived at Ravenna, but not before we got some glimpses of what awaited us on the next day...

Busch Gardens there DEPISE Intamin for whatever reason... Hence why their new drop tower (that does everything Intamin do) isn't one... Reputation proceeds them perhaps but they just point blank refuse to work with them... And considering how often their shoulder restraints attempt to behead me (iSpeed being the latest) I never am excited for Intamins like that...In other news, the Golden Tickets have been announced, like they ever change in 90% of the categories...http://goldenticketawards.com/award_winners.html

Did someone say bird's eye view?NOM NOM NOM!

Oh bleh, I thought that was on the thing... Meh...Yeah, it has LAP BARS <3

Found a press release for it actually, it's already better than Cheetah Hunt purely for one stat...

Who was good tonight...Shame the next one has James Corden

Teaser for potentially the strangest ride of 2012, Busch Garden Williamsburg's Verbolten...

All major rides bar the water ones done, we hit up the Main Street quickly to browse, as well as photo Shock as it is such a photogenic ride (and it wouldn’t be the last one)...Time for some Rapids then...Drakkar90 minutes I’ll never get back... An awful queue of just constant cattlepens which lead onto the WORST loading procedure for a Rapids ever... Since the dawn of time they have used rotating platforms, so why Rainbow thought they didn’t need one I have no idea, loading 2 at a time and unloading 1 is bad enough, but when the boat coming off the lift literally crashes into stationary boats and causes people to fall, there’s a real issue there...However, the ride made up for itself quite well, with plenty of effects and drops getting us sufficiently wet to enjoy it all... The tunnel finale was very much an anti-climax, again can only hope something (like a Dragon perhaps as inclined towards in the ride’s name) gets added in there... Hell even some fountains would do...Whilst the queue didn’t mar my enjoyment, I’ve marked it down for the poor use of the cave (even Excalibur’s had moving things originally) and the stupid loading/unloading... The ride itself is awesome though...7/10After that long queue of doom, we lost a lot of time, so elected for dinner first before more rides, and I had my first piece of pasta on the trip, Penne... Was good...Then it was decided we would do Huntik again, but as we reached the front of the queue, it broke... DISASTER! However a natter with a ride staff who was brilliant (told us why it was broken, how long it could be in English, and tried as hard as he could which I thought was good to see), gave us 30 minutes to find something to do... Shock was packed so we elected to do the shopping then and return... But not before taking lots of night photos...Straight on through the exit, and once again it showed off, such an amazing ride and is a real gem in Rainbow’s crown of rides...After getting an on-ride, we headed home on the dangerous roads, leaving the fireworks behind and able to muse about the park itself...It has a lot of potential, and whilst some parts seemed to have suffered to ensure other rides are a classy as possible and working, I feel that the park will solve these issues as soon as possible in the future, and hopefully expand to have more transport links, hotels and rides... As it does lack a quality high throughput coaster here... Maybe a B&M? Italy does those well...Next up, Driving to Ravenna...

After this we elected to buy some ice creams/lollies from the nearby shop and sat on the opposite side of the lake from the entrance, before deciding on braving the rather pink children’s area for the kid’s coasters... Firstly was...AmerigoIt’s a Big Apple... Without the apple, or multiple circuits... Even for those, it was turdio...3/10Recently the park opened up it’s final ride, so we went to experience it...Maison HoudiniUnfortunately, this had a boring and long queue... Constant cattlepens in front of the house meant entertainment was short, so much we resorted to Marvel Top Trumps (old school version) just to keep going... It also seems to have a throughput issue in that the ride holds more than the pre-shows can, which is really bloody confusing to me...That said, the pre and post shows were rather cool, the pre-show especially, even if the language barrier causes some issues, similarly on the ride itself, but it does enough different compared to other versions for me to like it... Though the music doesn’t build up to the ending, and a few other niggles, it’s not the worst but not the best...6/10Hunger had set in after the burdenous queue, so we headed off to find something to eat, eventually choosing the simple fast-food place near the Flying Island...All this effort for just a restaurant... I really love the park for this, making sure the effect isn’t lost in the long run... And as each one had it’s own personality it never felt forced or contrived... So good...Back to the kid’s area we went, for the final dark ride of the day...BelievixRainbow’s attempt at Peter Pan used the Winx Club IP, which I think is quite popular amongst the girl population over here, and evidently in Italy, as this had 50 minute queue to endure outside some fake trees...The ride itself only allows two adults, which isn’t to the ride’s audience an issue, as it’s a family ride, and also makes very little sense... I think as well many of the models inside were meant to be animated, rather than static, but at least it’s better than Charlie... Shame it lacked a narrative...5/10And then the final coaster of the day, the Vekoma Junior...BomborunI liked the trains on Ben 10, so I was surprised that they are to be found on all new ones it seems... Already a good point on what is essentially an average ride... Another IP but barely any theming on this... A shame that the park constantly contrasts so much between things...Still, enjoyable ride...6/10

Katun is MILES better than Raptor (CP) and Montu... There is NO comparison... It IS awesome... etc...Though more on that later Have something to tide us over...Day 2 – Rainbow MagiclandEver since I first found out about Rainbow I’ve followed the construction with interest and a hint of desire, indeed, solely based from the concept art it looked like a brilliant park with grand theming and some good rides to start with, even if it the rides weren’t themselves world class from look, why put all your eggs in one basket and risk closure (looking at YOU Hard Rock Park)...Indeed, a small minority seem to feel like this park won’t work for whatever reason and think it will be brought out by a larger company in the future...I say that’s wrong, from spending 12 hours at the park (10-11 opening times) and seeing that it was well and truly packed on a Saturday, if they can keep up these gate figures and merch sales, I see no reason for it to fail...So what about the day? Well after a hour long drive from Rome along a rather dull and boring road (we didn’t use the tolls, so perhaps those routes would be easier/quicker/nicer) and straight away your eyes are drawn towards Shock, and remain so throughout the shaded parking, ticket booths and turnstiles all the way along... If anything, Shock (and a few other buildings and rides) is a brilliant focal point to the park...After getting in and walking down the Main Street it’s really obvious what park the Rainbow company were inspired by, see if you can guess from the pictures...That’s right, it’s Islands of Adventure... But if you’re gonna rip-off a park, you might as well do a good one right? And besides, whilst it holds similarities between the two parks, they are different enough to provide completely different experiences, mainly as Rainbow has a much wider pathway to accommodate the crowds it does (and will in the future) get...At the end of the pathway, we were greeted by the park’s mascot and an awesome little dance number welcoming us all into the park...I love it when park’s do this... It makes it much more of an event rather than just opening gates and letting people run off into various directions, it really gets people pumped for the day and needs to be something that the UK parks need to look at a bit more...Show over, and the attention turned back to the big red number staring us in the face, time for the first coaster of the trip...ShockThis was only really my second Maurer X-Car coaster, and since the only other one was G-Force at Drayton, Shock didn’t really have to do a lot to make me list it higher... Whilst the nice entrance belies the unthemed queue and station, 15 minutes wait for not to be ignored on it, with a potential 5/6 cars being able to go onto the track, hopefully in the future the park will use all of them if they need be...Once off, the ride goes off for a meander around the grass in front of the station, possibly the first example of the time and budget cuts Rainbow suffered in order to open the park on time, hopefully the future will hold something interesting to go in here, otherwise it’s quite a pointless piece of track and a waste of money and steel... Then the launch happens and you forget straight away about the pointlessness... I discovered earlier in the year on Fluch von Novgorod how good rolling launches are, and Shock was no exception, the sudden acceleration hitting quickly as you reach the crest of the massive airtime hill, lifting away from the car before back down into the rather strangely designed non-inverting loop, keeping it’s speed well whilst exiting into the tiny overbanked turn, arguably the best part of the ride, purely based on the speed it takes it at... So fast it could easily cause issues in the future, but damn it’s worth breaking the cars for it...Lifting back up into the MCBR before a long sweeping 360 helix into the inline before hitting the brakes and providing a short and sweet kick to the morning...It’s a rather simple ride and layout, and certainly is short but sweet... Some parts are lacking with the station, queue and pre-launch, but maybe the future will provide these little things to make it a more complete ride... 8/10After a good start to the day we elected to walk towards the park’s second biggest coaster and the only indoor one, the Maurer Spinning coaster...CagliostroThe very impressive Impressionist style building sets a very high standard for the ride, although the completely external queueline manned constantly by a security guard is a right shame... After about 20 minutes though, we were walking straight onto our purple car and quickly off up the lift hill, popping quickly outside before the inky blackness of the massive building again...Here in lies the ride’s problem, why have such a massive ditch AND building, when most of it won’t be used? The layout in outside is rather small and compact, and really doesn’t do anything of any worth or value... Indeed, when you’re finale is a lift hill to the station, you know something’s up... I have heard that there is meant to be things inside, but it would need a lot of these to make it worthwhile... 4/10Another short walk led us to our next ride, and one I was looking forward to the most, the dark ride known as...HuntikOnce again this park produces a brilliant building to house something in, a recurring theme throughout the place, but Huntik is something extraordinary, with the massive Ox and Crocodile statues guarding the ride’s entrance, a sense of awe and wonder already sets in before the queue even begins...Inside, it’s like Laser Raiders at Legoland, a massive load of cattlepens in a single room, UNLIKE Raiders though, it is wonderfully themed, with artwork, ruins and tv screens explaining the show and ride perfectly... Yes this is an IP ride, but is certainly proof that these things can work when you have the full support and effort put into it... Whilst this may have caused other parts of the park to suffer, it’s so worthwhile in the end product...Not going to go into details because that would spoil the surprise, but needless to say, the stream of effects, animatronics, 3d and the interactive element work together seamlessly to create a world class ride right up there with Spiderman at IOA...The only issue is the vandalism already caused on it by the guests... But as that’s not the park’s fault itself, I see no issue in it gaining full marks on a ride that has so much going on that to get it as near perfect as it is now (it does have minor faults which are most definitely first year issues), is an amazing thing...10/10Minds blown, it was time for the 3rd coaster of the day, the Vekoma Mine Train...L’Olandese VolanteHaving never done another other version of these outside of Disney, I was curious as to how it would ride... The answer was awful... How a brand new ride can rattle THAT much was beyond comprehension, it was rougher than some SLCs that I’ve experienced, which is certainly something for a Mine Train...Add that to the distinct lack of theming aside from the relatively cool volcano thing, it was certainly nothing worth writing home about... Maybe another victim of the budget cuts...4/10Another walk past the high diving show on the lake (which we briefly watched end, it looked cool what with jet skies and other elements) led us to the rather multi-coloured Drop Tower...MystikaThis is a weird tower and no mistake... Not sure who makes it, but I can certainly say it rides a lot better than it looks... Loading and dispatch is James May slow, and whilst it brakes early, it helps remove a common problem amongst taller drop towers, in that it loses the thrill midway through the actual ride...Good amount of theming on it as well, especially the garden centre queueline... Very enjoyable in my view... Lots of happy faces means it works well, and it probably the third best ride at the park...7/10

The great thing about all these buildings is that they’re all on one street as well, so you only have to point in a direction and walk and be amazed... I cannot get over how nice Rome is... Especially when Gelato is involved... So delicious... Even if it melted quicker than I could eat the thing... It was so bloody hot all week, even up to levels of unbearableness at some points, but we survived at least...Back to the buildings... Hints to the next day were abound as after a bit more wandering we decided to make use of our 4 euro Metro ticket and head over to the Vatican... Another really nice area, and because it wasn’t too busy when we went it was rather peaceful and enjoyable to just sit and enjoy the sights... Whilst I refuse personally to pay to enter a place of faith (especially one of my own), it would maybe have been nice to see the Chapel, but due to time constraints was never going to happen... All the more reason to return really... When the evil looking monk appeared we thought it would be a good time to go and headed off to find some food... In Italy you have to really search if you don’t want pizza or pasta, so if you don’t like those, don’t bother going over there... EVERYWHERE does it... And often in large sizes... And to complete this part, is John and his tumour pizza (a Calzone)...Next up to Rainbow (RAINBOW) Magicland...

Well after a rather epic week away, I’m back with tanned arms and tales to tell of B&M awesomeness, so why waste any time chatting when we can get down to business... Letsa go!Day 1 – Flight to RomeAn early 4am wake up call produced 4 tired heads as my Dad gave us a lift to Gatwick, where at check-in we were greeted with our first queue of the trip, which moved slowly and annoyingly as it got closer and closer to the flight time... After eventually bursting through into security, the unexperienced flyer amongst us didn’t know about the liquid/cream regulations in hand luggage, and provided even more faff and forced us to run to the plane once we eventually got through the checkpoint...A 2 hour flight later and some relatively simple passport control and baggage reclaim, we attempted our first conversation in Italian to get our hire car... It eventually worked, and we walked over to find our chariot for the week... Car achieved, we drove off to our hotel, encountering the craziness of the Italian road users... Indeed, signs and cars mean nothing to them, moving lanes and places without warning or anything, it’s mental and will really sharpen driver’s senses when you’re over there... Fortunately Mark was really up for this and whilst it took time to gain confidence, by the end of the week he was driving like a proper Italian... Another thing I discovered is that the roads in Italy are really confusing, two different exits for one junction on the motorway, the road names were hidden away in the traffic lights and could only have a worse font if they had used Comic Sans... We got lost practically every drive on this trip, so advice here is a Sat-Nav... Get one...Regardless, we (eventually) found the hidden hotel, and after some chillage we walked to the Metro station nearby to begin the trip proper, with some sight-seeing in the rather beautiful Rome... And after a quick journey in the lovely airy trains, we were greeted by this...Absolutely stunning, this really epitomises Rome in itself, brilliantly sized buildings that might be in ruin, but are still amazing to look at and wonder about how they were actually built... Quite a cool thing was that in the Forums they were openly doing digging and other work, which was interesting to watch and provided some real care to the history of the place... Tbh, I could probably fill an entire page of posts of Rome alone, the place is THAT nice to photograph... So many buildings to look at is just amazing...

Whilst I'm not adding a post of any substance now (that will happen tomorrow), I'm going to forewarn people that there will be LOTS of images in this topic... Especially of B&Ms... Cos they're sexy... <3

See you soon Raptor babes

Would love to have this on my MP3 ready for riding this next week

Don't care about the double post here, but this needs a bit more attention...Due to Hurricane/Storm Irene, two parks have been flooded in America, Knoebels and Hersheypark... It's quite bad...Scary stuff... Hopefully these two will bounce back once it's sorted, so much damage can be caused by flooding...

Trying to think which Florida park would build one... It's tricky when only 4 parks would build a ride like that, it wouldn't fit into the Studios, so maybe Gringotts themed Indoor Wing-Rider?Busch or Sea-World could build one as well... Those would be my favourites...EDIT - It seems Warner Brothers Movie World Aussieland is getting an El Loco from S&S...http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=3444http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=3445

I highly doubt Towers didn't know their own height limits...It was most likely a bulk order, like with the spinners and the recent B&M boom...

Won't take two weeks to do... Will take a tad longer than that...

Euro Montu of JOY!

Nick Varney after the press release...

Going East now it seems... Rather unmined resources atm so potential is around... Source