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Mitchada04

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  1. Mitchada04
    It was the end of July, time for another trip

    Norwegian was really cool to fly with, comfy seats, free wifi and cheap. Gatwick to Landvetter, easy.

    After a very easy bus journey and dropping our stuff in the hostel, we were on park queueing for Balder

    This is possibly the smoothest Intamin I've been on. Made some pretty cool noises over the airtime hills too and the tunnels were fun especially at night

    Eh

    Liseberg banana train! This was really fun, especially in the rain where it gained some serious speed

    Swing on a hill, Rush but a bit cooler

    Some nice views

    A horrid device. Unless you ride it like a chairswing like I do

    The park then gets really nice at night




    The next day was really wet.

    So we went kid cred hunting

    And did their haunted house maze thing. Upcharge but cheaper if you have an unlimited wristband. Not very scary but very well themed


    The rapids were pretty fun. If a bit spinny

    This was torture. The queue was long and the ride cycle even longer

    And all the views were ruined by rain

    And then the sun came out.

    The park is littered with game stalls. But some are quite well done like this Balder ski ball one

    Loke

    And a photo of Helix

    Oh yeah, I won the group a 2kg Toblerone

    Was actually a load of mini ones, but still very nice

    Our final day we wandered the city

    Some of the buildings were lovely

    And historic trams!

    For our big like group meal we went to Hard Rock

    Which was cool and really large

    Including this virtual bowling alley

    And this

    Back to the lovely city






    A wall had to be climbed

    Gained some amazing views from the additional few metres


    Chilled in the harbour for a while




    And then it was time to get our bus back to the airport

    And that's Gothenburg.
     
    The city is stunning and well worth a visit especially if you're already out there. Liseberg, decent place but lacks a dark ride especially now the only they have is gone. But if you like flat rides and a few coasters you'll be fine!
     
  2. Mitchada04
    Purely for time saving purposes and the fact I've done a Plopsaland blog two years running I'm combining it with Plopsa Coo! Woo!

    After being spited by Heidi last year, and Bat and Rox Flyer on both visits, would this year be any better?

    For Heidi, yes! Cred 199. This great little coaster is fast, twisty and has good pops of air. In a lovely themed little area it is perfect for the park

    Lovely little area

    And this, the most random carousel ever

    Uncomfy, slow and has a minimum height restriction.

    The star flyer was also open! Now all we needed was The Bat to be open and finally, after 3 years we'd have completed the park

    And to our amazement it was open!
     
    Thus meaning, my 200th cred is The Bat; Left track. Yay much fun.

    They also ruined their amazing slide by giving it new mats that have higher friction, such disappointment.
     
    After a night near Leige where the hotel people were ironing in the café bit of the hotel, we ventured into the hills of Belgium

    PlopsaCoo!

    A stunning park

    With a chairlift up this hill to a watchtower thing.

    And the views at the top are amazing. On the right is the parks toboggan ride, but more on that later!

    Just the hills of Belgium! Has me even more hyped to go to Spa De Francorchamps next month!


    New for 2015 is the still new DinoSplash! A slide complex featuring the green one which is bog standard slide, orange one where you can pick a soundtrack and has lights and the blue wall air time hill slide thing. Much fun!

    Then one of the 2 creds, Halvar

    An odd vekoma single seater style ride that was actually pretty good fun!

    The park also has a hedge maze that was also an escape room with doors and codes throughout. Very confusing and not helped by the language barrier at the start.

    They randomly have spider monkey's too. Cos yeah.

    There was a free mini golf course where the lady doesn't trust you enough to have a ball each so you have to share in your group. Oh and there's only 17 holes in use as one of them just doesn't have a hole for the ball.

    Another star flyer but smaller and also operational. What joy!

    A free go kart track which was a good layout, decent number of laps just always had a long queue. And one random single seater car that was so much faster. We had fun commentating the races prior to ours!

    Then there's this. Vicky. Arguably the thing that made this park noticed a bit more by enthusiasts.

    It's just disappointment the ride in my eyes. Never held enough speed, didn't spin, just very lacklustre. And a horrid slow moving queue full of school kids (yes they are there permanently I asked and that's totally what they said)

    The facing in meant the cars do look very nice but the ride experience is lost.

    Now due to the weather of keep raining on and off we were going to be spited by the one thing I was excited for. They kept sweeping the track trying to dry it but nope.
     
    Then finally, without 2 hours to go the weather held up and boom! It opened

    The huge toboggan with a backwards lift!
     
    There were two tracks, both seemed to just like race until about 1/3 of the way down where the left one just vanishes off and gains endless speed. We did the ride twice and I only did the left as it was certainly the better track (Josh and Jack did both and they'll vouch for it). So much fun, so fast, such a gem in a gorgeous park.
     
    So Plopsa Coo. If you're nearby go, it's only £20 and a visually lovely park with a few quirks, don't go out of your way though.
     

    Our evening was spent in Cologne going to the Hard Rock and a bit of meandering in the city



    We went to Phantasialand the next day. However to save time and as Josh will no doubt do a Phantasialand one and yeah I've done one the last 2 years, the next report will be Movie Park!
     
  3. Mitchada04
    It's been a while since I've done a trip report but here we go. Another road trip which for me meant I would hit 200 creds! WOO.
     
    Where do we start? A French park with an inverted Vekoma boomerang cos why not.
     

    We left Dover on a meh British weather Saturday arriving in Dunkirk the Sunday morning. Before heading to the park we went into Calais for a meander as this is where we were staying. Apparently asking for a pain au chocolat is difficult even though it's how we both say it. Language barriers are great.

    Calais had this

    And this. Cos culture is nice

    Much nicer than the first thing you essentially see at the park.

    Bagatelle was an odd park. I don't know if I liked it or not. They had two coasters made by a company no one knows off cos they basically only made these two coasters.

    A bright orange torture device (that wasn't awful)

    A one adult per boat log flume which shows you the border around the park with local basketball courts.

    A pirate themed area aka a pirate boat, orange ferris wheel and a chain with a no entry sticker on to stop you leaving the park border.

    An actually okay rapids with moments of decent theming.

    An Autopia type ride but with a really good layout. Best ride here.

    A brand new air race with themed surrounding buildings on lovely fresh tarmac

    A normal sized log flume with stupidly fast lift

    One of these but allowing adults to ride

    And the 2nd of the 2 random coaster manufactures coasters.
     
    They also have; a monorail which leaves the park and shows you goats, a spinning wild mouse which was horrific, a single seater tea cups ride for kids, an awful simulator and I'm sure some more awful stuff.
     
    Didn't take many photos as the park entertained me so much I ended up watching the F1. So definitely visit. This put me on 198 creds. Yay.
     
    We did however have a nice evening in Calais

    I had alcohol

    There was this

    This stunning building

    And we played a few games of pool at the hotel with you guessed it...

    Alcohol. Woop.
     
    I will try and do the rest of the trip when I get time but it might take a while
  4. Mitchada04
    Welcome indeed!

    Now with added chocolate! Just in case I wasn't happy enough at this place

    And a Hard Rock. And boats!

    Let's start with the original

    It's still an ugly entrance street.

    And has the worst positioned ride ever. Not going to lie. This area needs work.

    Do still like this ride

    Woosh

    And Optimus is still warning us of something I'm sure

    They'll keep us safe though!

    The M.I.B will save us too

    San Francisco currently home to ZERO attractions.

    Do like this new viewpoint you can get too thanks to the Springfield expansion.

    Whilst we ignore KidZone here's Krusty!

    Home time already

    But I haven't been on The Mummy yet

    Ohh phew. It's the amazing Diagon Alley! New for my trip


    I'm glad this land has scared Disney. It is stunning. You can't see anything other than DA from it. Hidden paths, shows, endless shops, food, half of it is covered. And when the dragon roars 90% of people stop to get this shot. It is amazing. All lands need this level of detail and depth.

    Gringotts is stunning too. And the ride is great fun

    But I don't want to ruin it with photos. So we'll get the train to Hogwarts  

    And at Hogwarts we are!


    The key to Universal's current success.


    Fantastic Beasts

    And a hut to find them in

    Plus a castle for good measure!

    They also have this dinosaur place

    But more importantly, this lovely view

    It's such a beautiful park

    And now has another gorgeous thing to ogle at.

    It's so intimidating and awesome looking

    The queue line is creepy, the gates are amazing. It is a very good all round attraction. Could do with some tweaks in places but another start to finish ride with a brilliant queue.

    But again, don't want to ruin it with lots of photos. So here is Dudley Do Right.

    Yes this still exists

    And this looks awful. Especially now they've gone and done...

    THIS!

    Hulk is back in a modern techno way

    Sploosh

    Here's some sexy dusk shots



    Suess is still awesome for kids

    The entrance is also lovely

    Going to be interesting to see what the 3rd parks icon will be

    CityWalk is cool too

    And has a groovy mini golf

    Studios looks lovely at night (as does Islands but it closed too early each day on our trip)


    Universal just always feels so much more relaxed to Disney. Their current investments are great and show no sign of stopping. Yeah the parks have their faults, but are clearly being dealt with whilst the resort expands at rapid fire pace. To Disney, do compete. Competition makes this industry exciting, ride wars are what push the boundaries and it's great that Disney seem to be investing heavily with big new rides/lands again.
     
    Till next time Universal!
  5. Mitchada04

    Florida 2K16

    By Mitchada04,

    As its been a long time and I have some time over Christmas I thought I'd finally do this one, only got back like 4 months ago...

    This to me is a homing beacon. See this and boom, happiness!

    We had a lovely view of Hollywood Studios fireworks too. And as that's basically the only thing there, woo first park done.

    SeaWorld is a gorgeous park

    I love just walking around it

    Woosh

    A wanna be Manta

    I still love Kraken. Love the way it loops around the park corner...

    And has a new distant friend!

    And a new sealion show! Great fun, prefer pirates but probably just for the nostalgia

    But Mako is what draws you here

    It's a really good fun ride, looks great around the park

    And has some good theming in its plaza.

    Flippy Whales conjuring up a storm too...

    Time to leave I think!

    The tree of Intamin oddness?

    Oversized B&M

    Weird Mack cos that's the norm now


    More Intamin oddness

    Obligatory heat blurred Kumba pic

    A good Oblivion. And its red.

    A white tiger secluding himself from the orange ones. In this modern day politically correct world too. I'm sure PETA would have a fit

    And a Zierer. All about this one tbf. Look at it all green and that fence too.

    I liked this ornate structure too. Such a nice table

    We also did this, but it's Merlin so we won't go there.

    Oh, too late. This guy wants out

    That's better. Fun Spot is such a great bonus place. And we all had $25 to spend as a gift from our ticket supplier
     
    Now it's somehow known that 'I don't like Disney' so I apologise now.


    Could be worse though. I could have gone to a Disney park.

    Hang on

    Seems familiar

    I mean it's nice but...

    Oh it's alright. They have two of these. No big player then

    Oh no I'm at a Disney Park. Must be Animal Kingdom

    Can't be, it's night and they're still open

    And a nightime show that sucks in every way...

    It was Animal Kingdom all along. Oh no. I can only apologise for this mistake and will ensure the next one is Disney free.
     
    Coming later this week, a bumper Universal blog! Gotta balance the world out now you see.
  6. Mitchada04

    Europa Halloween

    By Mitchada04,

    This year it was decided we'd upgrade our trips in October and visit a foreign scare event. Europa was chosen having won the Scar award for the best international event the past 2 years.
     
    Tth
    But it wasn't just for their scare event, it was also for the entire park!

    There are pumpkins everywhere, it feels like a different park


    Pumpkin cake

    Halloween special parade



    Special musical for the season based on Ghost Castle. Rides had overlays from the Pumpkin Coaster (Eurosat), coffee cups completely done up, Pirates in Batavia had a Halloween overlay with the audio and speech, 2 daytime walkthroughs; Jack the Ripper and another one that uses part of the night maze Temple of the Undead. And with all the theming on park, music and everything it was just amazing. A proper Halloween do up.

    The park also looked stunning at night!


    A few more nice photos





     
    Horror Nights!

    28 euros for 3 scare zones, 5 mazes, loads of roamers, 3 rides, a VR experience, special ice show, a travelling ghost train and a brilliant atmosphere!.
     
    You enter through a scare zone, Dead End street. This was the best of the 3 with plenty of actors, fire, mist, theming and an interesting way to enter the park.
     
    Once in you have 4 of the 5 mazes laid out in a square shape with a stage in the middle.

    The mazes were literally big white tents. But inside they were themed amazingly! Big Shoe was a clown based maze with a casino scene, outside alley, crazy spinning tunnel. You had no idea you were in a tent. There were a few good scares but from the event it was clear they don't go for the jumpy scares but more interactive side. As we don't speak German, we had no idea what was being said but even with that they were still great.
     
    The other mazes: 10 was new for the 10th anniversary of Horror Nights, apparently based on previous mazes you went through portals into each new section. One was a Chinese restaurant, apparently from a maze they had called Takeaway!
     
    The Cave: Unleashed was stunning in how you really felt in a tunnel. However, this one felt really really short but had some great costumes and a brilliant puppet, like the snake one in Cellar at Tulleys.
     
    Nightmare: This was our least favourite, felt short again but had no flow or any idea what was going on, and from the queue you saw the finale of the maze so clearly when people were exiting. Again great costumes and theming though.
     
    Temple of the Undead: Good length and tricks for actors to jump out, one really dark corridor with string which gets some people, good use of strobes and quite disorientating.
     
    So overall the mazes aren't very scary, but they are a spectacle for what look like white tents on the outside!
     

    This Ghost Train was also open and included in the ticket. 3 levels, really old school in feel with a few staff as actors and a female Jigsaw doll. Great fun and just added to the excellent value of the event!

    An unadvertised live show on the centre stage. The standard dancing from the Europa ents team, but also a music set from Leon Fuller, who works on the music for the event and the Horror Nights 10 song. Brilliant atmosphere.

    Horror on Ice VII, a raunchy ice show with fire, foam, everything you could want from 30 minutes!

    There was so much to do that we only just did it all in 2 nights.

    Projection mapping on Poseidon's station made it look like it was dripping in blood

    Night ridesss


    And the satellite was having a rave too!
     
    Coastiality: Adventure Atlantis had a VR Halloween overlay where you thought demons and zombies. It worked really well, you'd tap on the headset to shoot and spin your vehicle like normal to move around the VR world. It was really popular too! This is my eyes is more what VR should be used for!
     
    So with all of this, and an already 15 hour day we decided to hit the Vampire Club. Only 5 euros and you get to witness the Poseidon station overlaid as a club with the EP ents team dancing on podiums, Leon Fuller doing live sets and a decent drinks menu at decent price. It was so weird to be dancing on a board that is over some Mack track.

    Not the best photo, but it was really good!

    Crazy to think.
     
    Overall the whole park looked great in the day and the night event was a brilliant scare event for the vast mix of things you could do, all the roamers, theming, costume quality. Brilliant value and by far my favourite event I've been to so far. Only niggle is 7:30-11:30 is not enough, they could easily stay open till 1am and you need it with all the stuff. If you go, you need 2 nights!
     
    As usual, Europa did great
     
     
     
  7. Mitchada04
    Can I have your attention please, due to some people climbing the lift hill the ride is currently unavailable. 

    We have E-Stopped the ride, padlocked it and thrown away the key! 

    And left the trains stranded.

    On Colossus, each wheel unit is inspected heavily every seven days. Fact

    Colossus is dirty, also fact  

    GEEK SHOT!

    And up we went! Trying to be all artsy but the ride was sinking which made it hard (fact! They blast air into the ground to stop this)

    I love the shots you get from these walks! Plus the VIP hosts are always lovely!

    The chain is actually huge. I always forget how huge

    The lift hill wobbles a lot too, which adds a great thrill element!

    Noisy antirollbacks

    Saw facts! The ride didn't have the lift system in place to evacuate at first, this was something Thorpe helped design with Gerst and is known as the Thorpe Amendment and is now used on all post Saw eurofighters

    There is also a hawk noise effect that sounds every 20 minutes. This was put in to try and scare off the pigeons. It doesn't have that effect, but the sound effect still works!

    London skyline just about

    The engineers decided to run a train on Inferno. For the fun of it clearly

    Hey Swarm!

    Sun breaking through and Ghost Train shed! Few things on it.
     
    They have a 6 year contract with DB then it will be reviewed. It's cost can't be published yet as it isn't finalised as they're still paying for all the delays, tweaks etc they're having to do. It initially was set out to be £25 million ish, it's more now due to the issues and could keep rising till next year! They also built a cherry picker into the building not on purpose. Good job. It can join Smiler's one.
     
    Other bits: IAC is on a 3 year contract so runs out end of 2017, possible retheme for 2018 attraction. Next year is probably a flat ride of some sorts. They have begun weight testing on the island behind Swarm for the next big ride and working on the plans. A coaster seems to be most likely apparently. AB contract is also up sometime soon but they want to keep that one, especially as the film got okay reviews! 

    Read and learn guys

    Night night Colossus!
     
    Next time... Florida  
  8. Mitchada04
    That's none of the above. But we're at Paultons! This bird is happy because of this.

    Paultons is lovely


    With some great landscapers!

    And a volcano!

    Want a really cool retheme of a section? Look no further!

    Simple, yet great

    Really wacky

    And fun which is perfect for families

    Themed staff area too

    And a little aquarium type thing

    Just really fun!
    Rest of the park is standard. The modern entrance is still nice with a HUGE toy shop, gardens always lovely, main street type thing cool, peppa pig really popular etc.

    And now this! 2 new coasters, a few new flats and a car ride plus loads of theming, animatronics etc.

    This dinosaur has a hard skull, to protect his head getting damaged and ending up spending so much money on stuff when you can get a real bargain

    Wooosh

    Oh no, water effect!!!

    Woosh

    Baby dinosaur

    Woosh

    I feel safe now!

    Dinosaur meet and greet!!!!

    Final woosh!
     
    Paultons is great. It's better than Chessington in my eyes, they invest wisely and are developing a lovely park! Dark ride and proper water ride please then we'll be good. Go Karts still look rubbish and are hardly used. The next thing though is going over by the back of Peppa Pig, next to the Meerkats. There are markings out there already, I've read it is going to be a small/medium ride, maybe a Peppa expansion (if they do then fair enough, they haven't done since it opened). Go visit is all I can say.
     
    Next up, my annual coaster climb, this year, Colossus!
     
     
     
  9. Mitchada04
    As we know, Walibi Belgium and Holland got new Mack's this year. Both new types of Mack's. 

    This is what Belgium asked for.

    It's really grand.

    Has a spectacular splash

    It's really cool


    And there's a cool turntable to improve throughputs and just be cool! Queue was cool too!
     
    So that's what Walibi get when they ask for a ride (and Mack are the company that choose to do it).
     
    Don't know what you want? Then roll up, today is your lucky day as Mack now offers mystery box rides! They'll tease the park over snapchat what they're building and just not think one bit. So what did Holland get from their mystery box?

    A loss of gravity. Seems like a great deal.

    Mack had some spare yellow and black track pieces floating in their yard and hoped it would all fit together

    And even though some of it doesn't look like it should fit together

    It all does

    Woosh. Now, because Walibi didn't know what they were getting, when they built the exit paths they had to slant these arches, or Mack told them it was necessary. Mystery box fun! 

    They also had some shipping containers that were cluttering the yard

    And a broken set of these

    And the cars are too wide for the track. Mystery box risks you see

    Fancy a Mack Mystery Box for your park? Then send a ? and your budget to sales@mackmystery.com

    Beware, they may cause you to drink in hope it'll ease the mind confuddling caused.
     
    Next week we'll go see some cobras, dinosaurs and critters  
     
  10. Mitchada04
    Phantasialand is a stunning park. Up there was one of my favourites, and definitely my favourite non Disney/Uni park. 

    Look at the stunningness. Everything is just so well done. Immersion is great. Rides are fab. Like Maus Au Chocolat. It just has so much magic going for it! Midway Mania sounds tacky compared to this. The fun house down Berlin street is odd for a theme park but great. 

    Destroyed Josh on our second go as well  

    It's a beautiful park.

    And the most well known top spin lives here.

    And a solid, well themed B&M. Mamba is an odd case. In the morning near the front it was lame. In the afternoon after some rain at the back it was top 10 contender. But it lacks consistency soooo much! For more park photos see last years report as nothing has changed. Winjas is still awesome. Nighthawk now has music, Hollywood boat tour still looks like it could have the scenery collapse at any moment. Wakabato was just avoided. Still don't get Mystery Castle, had an even shorter cycle this year! River Quest is hilarious. Mad house is an odd theme. 
     
    KLUGHEIM

    The area looks great!

    Intimidating yet deceiving as it's almost on level with the path.

    Looks like a village in a rocky mountain with a coaster.

    Woosh

    Watching the coaster fly all around you in the area is great

    And Raik which is so much fun with a brill station.

    This second launch makes one of the coolest sounds I've heard from a ride ever


    It winds all over the place.

    WIth a love of design, engineering and sheer immersion it was great to meander about.

    But that's it really.

    The queue moves fast and has a geeky view of the transfer track.

    But what about the ride?
     
    Well, Jack Josh and Matt knew when we came off first time it hadn't wowed me. I wasn't really joyous by what I just rode, I was quite mellow. I mean, there was nothing wrong with it. At all. Just, nothing made me go OMG. I love the dive into the second launch and up past the waterfall. That's the only thing that still sticks in my head. It felt like there were lots of lul moments, then crazy, then lul. But I don't feel it flowed in the right order to make a stunning ride. It's not a top 10 for me. Probably not a top 20. But that doesn't mean it's bad. It is a good fun ride, has created a hugely themed area secluded from the park. It is spectacular to watch, wander the little village with Taron roaring overhead. But the ride isn't standout in my eyes. For the next level of theming yes, as a ride, no. It is a solid ride that will do well against time. It won't be a fad. As long as it doesn't get Intamin rough, it'll always be a good ride. It also got me thinking though, why does every new ride these days have to seemingly be a top 10 ride or the next best thing. What's wrong with just building a good solid coaster that no one will dislike. I guess you could see it as Inferno in a way. Nothing special, but a ride that is always liked, pretty popular and serves the park extremely well. So yeah, Taron. Good.
     
    Now Chiapas however is special.

    A gorgeous ride

    Now with it's weird issues sorted so you can sit properly.

    Wacky ride.

    Crazy drop

    But a fun theme! Great music throughout, lighthearted nature, doesn't soak you so is always enjoyable. Definitely my favourite flume type ride, sorry Dudley's.
     
    Intamin will sell lots of these once they're confident it won't have multiple issues again. And Taron too, I'm sure they'll sell more launchers now with the new trains. 

    Go to Phantasialand! 9/10 park at least.
     
    In more serious news.

    If anyone spots Josh, please inform Phantasialand. He is currently trying to rip of the Chiapas rave room somewhere in Monchengladbach. That way he'll get banned  
  11. Mitchada04

    Paris Asterix

    By Mitchada04,

    Paris! Because mini breaks are awesome!

    With ghostly looking lighting

    This is the church in Madeline. Although the outside doesn't look as spectacular as St Augustin or Notre Dame, it is much grander on the inside

    View to the Concorde

    St Augustin

    With a mini version of the tower roof inside the tower roof. ROOFCEPTION

    Arc De Triomphe 

    Was a long way to the top

    Worth it for the views though! And, like many things in Paris, free for 18-24 year olds! 


    Because Mickey is everywhere

    IT's just a gorgeous place to walk about

    Army museum 

    The Grand Palais plus crazy french junctions!

    2nd floor of the Tower

    Oh yay. The Euros are on. So planned that...

    Let's look this way instead then.

    Just love the structure of it!

    And the football, obviously.


    Bridge of padlocks.

    New addition!

    Louvre

    Another free attraction for 18-24s

    The shpinx. Yup, THE sphinx. He's the one

    Thought Milo might have been bigger.

    Woo Mona Lisa. This is the pure definition of overrated.

    The opposite painting was quite spectacular though

    Notre Dame

    And the hunchback!

    Iron Man is also everywhere

    The very odd Grand Arch

    This view was amazing though! Perfectly straight down to the Arc De Triomphe!


    Trying to be artsy at the Louis Vuitton Foundation!
    Now no mini break would be complete without some cred hunting!

    Hello Asterix!

    This was really good fun!

    Wacky lift hill

    And dual load and offload! This is what these rides can be like. Not Storm Surge.

    Surprisingly this purple monster isn't the entrance to the ghost train but more the exit. The ride itself is good fun, some decent scare tactics but nothing to shout home about.

    This however was an excellent Mad House. The preshows were fun and the water one was fab. The mad house itself was like others, but cleverly used screens with the motion to make it feel like you were going sideways on a boat at points.

    It's Europe so there was of course a boat ride which was one of the better ones I've done

    Little Monorail type ride. This village bit you can see here has no rides. A few shops, a meet and greet but it was a lovely little walk through. As were two other sections of the park. It's a real shame Merlin and other parks want to cram rides in everywhere instead of having these little sections. It's nice to just wander about in a well themed area. Makes me sad Haunting in the Hollows isn't better. 

    Another example here.

    With an indoor bit that they used during one of the kids shows as part of the story.

    It's the little things that I love about European parks.

    Little things.

    Moving on. Goudrix. Not great, not bad.

    Looks filthy. Clean it up ta.

    Or scrap it.

    New for this year is another well themed Disko that can so easily be produced. 

    Throw in some pyro and water effects and boom.

    Nice themed entrance

    And you get yourself a relatively cheap but good investment! 

    There's also a huge Bobsleigh, a bumpy splash thing that just looked painful

    A log flume and a rapids which seem mediocre till cray cray tunnel

    This pure cred with a good themed queue

    This really ugly out of place flat

    And the two shout home about rides.

    Really hard to photograph as it's hidden, Zuess is a superb woodie. Proper old school with speed, rattle, harsh turns and ridiculous speed throughout.

    And then this. Oz'iris! In this photo you can see a little fountain show taking place which had some score from HTTYD playing alongside. 

    It really is a baby Montu, but better.

    It's stunningly beautiful


    The station building is amazing

    The first drop without the predrop is crazy in back row.

    The pacing is superb!

    Length brilliant! Forces on point

    Indoor queue gorgeous! There's so much more to it than this photo.

    The elements of the ride portrayed on this wall for you geeks (not the best photo ever)

    And this guy in the middles. Sums the ride up brilliantly. Well themed, but with a sense of humour and fun about it. 
     
    Oz'iris, people said when it was being built could it beat Nemesis. Unsure, but it's possibly the closest thing I've ridden that could. I don't think I've quite loved a ride this much in a long time. Definitely my favourite new ride since Manta, and it could beat that. I will have to seriously rethink my top 10 later this year.
     
    Parc Asterix overall is a well themed park with a sense of humour and fun about it. All the staff seemed lovely, efficient, and happy to help. On Oz'iris they were running around unbuckling seatbelts before the train had fully stopped so when the bars were released all belts were undone. I've never seen anything like it. There are a few areas of the park that need work, but that's the case with many parks. Recent investments show they're heading the right way and will no doubt sort out other areas in need. My only real niggle with the park, where's the ride merch??? Loads of Asterix stuff, but no seperate ride merch  Park rating: 8.5/10
     
    Oz'iris: 9.5/10

    Next trip: Belgerand Part2
     
  12. Mitchada04

    Europa Park

    By Mitchada04,

    Been a long time! But a busy few months lie ahead for me and theme parks so time to revive this blog! 
    Europa Park is one me and Jack had talked about for a few years, the place of dreams almost. Finally, it happened! This is one of those trips worthy of a realistic report, not some sarcastic attack at the park like I usually do.

    We arrived in Basel to get a 100+mph train into Freiburg, followed by a double decker train to Ringsheim and a short "bus" (was a coach) ride to the park.

    What a lovely sight to walk in on!

    Just looming in the distance

    Ed and Jack were ready!

    Water fountains were ready!

    Let's go!

    First up Silver Star. I like the Mercedes F1 tie in, it's intimidating, trims aren't as bad as I was expecting but the airtime just got repetitive, twists were great though!

    This twist though 



    Meanwhile over at Epcot, I mean the silver ball at EuropaPark... Eurosat sits around. This thing is bonkers, so glad it's hidden inside. Caught me by surprise each time we rode! Totally get why people wish X was like it.

    It's also huge!

    Cheeky bit of lunch in Greece. Food on park is great, so much choice and it's not hugely expensive for a theme park!

    I don't know why, but this is now such a guilty pleasure ride of mine

    Looks great!


    Theming!!!!

    Really nice station too!

    Meanwhile, in Portugal there is this. A ride that is newer than Poseidon, yet does less and does nothing for me. 

    It photos well

    But that's about it
    Annoyingly I didn't take any photos of Spain, other than the jousting show with added drama

    Bad guy drama


    It's okay, it had a happy ending!
    Whilst we're talking about shows. They have so many! Lots of 30-40 minute shows, this in itself takes over a day to complete. Plus, on the larger shows they have mimes entertaining the audience as you enter! 

    You had Bombay Nights in Holland with the Pirate's of Batavia ride going around the stage!

    A live action Italian film set stunt magic show thing

    An electronic bird show

    In the same room as a bubble magician guy who smokes as part of the show.

    A musical show in the Globe Theatre, because Shakespeare was known for his musicals.

    A dome screen show where you lie in sleeping bags! Plus, an ice show, flamenco, open and closing show, 2 4D films, a little French dance/magic show and a parade



    Ed being boss.

    Just this. Quality.

    What's this?

    A mine train that even with VR has a higher throughput than any Mack mine train over here!

    Bears for bare banter.

    Okay, I'll move on from that one.

    Anyone still needing a lift to any meets this year, there are two options. This. 

    Or Jack in his purple sportscar! Can seat another 2 people, it's speedy and laps Silverstone regularly so must be good! Feel free to get in touch with Jack for more details

    Then there was this thing. Odd is one word I suppose. 

    Next please.

    Yup, this guy looks like a trusty op. We'll do this then.

    I want them everywhere. This is ideal for family parks!

    Great coaster section! Fab dark ride.

    And great visual in the plaza of the kingdom. Lots of these please thanks.

    So many photos it's hard to fit them all in. So let's look at the hotels.

    Bell Rock is gorgeous.

    Colosseo really cool!

    The other 3 really cool!

    And not bad views from the bars

    Back on park this guy thought he'd set fire to his house. As you do, red fire and that.
    So that's it! Europa Park! Stunning park with great rides, operations, atmosphere, just everything! I have loads of photos so if you do want anymore just request in the comments and I'll post more  
     
    Oh, guess you want to see something else first though.

    Me and Jack with ED  that's why you're all here.

    Or maybe for what this is...


    Lots of artsy fartsy photos thanks to a back path that I think used to be an extension but is now open to public for photos, round the back of Wodan village.





    This inline is crazy. The little pops of airtime, fast changes of direction, it's all just great. LOTS more of these in the world please, I bow to our new Mack overlords.

    Wodan for me though was the best ride on the trip. The indoor queue has some great effects, and is just a really nice place to queue.

    It just looks intimidating.

    Has a spectacular entrance


    Just loved it!
    Bye bye Europa, it was fab. Should be back for Horror Nights!

     
     
  13. Mitchada04
    October is behind us, taking with it potentially the biggest time of the year for events all over the country! Each year I have slowly been doing more trips relating to Halloween events and this year was no different.
    Like previously, it's great to start off at Tulleys on the first Saturday of the month. Tulleys is a great, well established Halloween event and really shows where you can end up from starting with selling pumpkins (this seems to be a recurring story, more on that later!). Providing 8 haunts, 4 of which were new, one changed and 3 well knowns remaining untouched. They have such a mix, Colony which uses length, suspense, darkness, exterior and interior, just about everything. Hayride which mixes comedy with fear, Hellements which tries to be unique but is just bad, Haunted House which is a classic. Then there's probably the best conga maze going, The Cellar. Volt was different, the circus good and Chop Shop okay. But they constantly change their line up with fresh, new ideas. No story feels the same, they're all unique each year.
    Following week Thorpe's preview night arrived. Roll up roll up to an event that wasn't ready in time, filled with glitches and problems all over. It did get better over the week, Big Top was less of a flop, Containment a good concept just not a lot going for it especially at £10 a go, and the other mazes just felt repetitive with jump scares and screaming. I know people talk about cheap tactics, but Thorpe is one of the worst for this with simple tactics, no stories and rushed scenes. Big Top has so much potential, MBV is always a rush, Cabin is nice but can get old quite quick, BWP is the best improvement on park and Saw Alive was pretty good this year too (or maybe the others had got worse...) Either way, Thorpe needs a huge shake up next year for Fright Nights. It's a hugely successful event, they should boom with it, let it grow, go crazy! Not do the same old stuff. A maze with a really good unique story please next year.



    Park is pretty though (or should I say Stealth is).

    Was finally time for Scarefest!!!!! I'd been wanting to go here for a good 8 years but had never made it. And what a year I chose to go!
    Sub Species is the highlight of the Halloween season for me and I'm sure it is for many others. It pushed the limits, many different tactics of scares, suspense, great length. It was just fab in every way! Park looked great as well, Nemesis in the dark was worth the 3 hour drive alone. Scare zones were cool, Ancestors great and the kids stuff looked pretty neat too.

    Perfect

    Great event! Especially considering what the park is going through.
    Was time to round up the Merlin trio of Halloween events, Chessington and Howloween. Urm. Right, this event used to be great in every way, magical mazes, a brilliant park atmosphere. This year though, they might as well have just let the meerkats loose, that'd been scarier. Trick Or Treat wood is just dire. So surreal, but you don't come out laughing like some bad things, you come out thinking why. Just why. Maybe laughing at the fact people are doing it. Curse of Lost tomb was well, people hated on Krypt. You ain't seen nothing then. This was shockingly bad, story was building momentum and just died. We were told it'd be a 12 minute experience, 5 at most it was. Just oh. Chessington.

    Best thing about the event, this projection in the hotel lobby.
    It was time to end the Halloween season, ScareCon: Aftershock based at the Broadwitch Halloween event in Broadditch. The first half of the day was talks from other scare events such as Twisted Attractions and the Screamland team. Their events look great and are definitely on the hit list for next season. Also a few independent events that just take place over the half term week in one location with maybe a maze or two. Was quite cool as lots of these were just a small group of friends with a bit of spare money.
    Broadwitch started like Tulleys, selling pumpkins! That's it kids, sell some pumpkins and in 7 or so years you'll have award winning mazes. They do an event in the day for kids with two little walkthroughs, a corn maze and a tractor ride. We got to go through them all which was fun and showed an often forgotten about side of the Halloween season. But then it was time for the bigger stuff. 5 mazes, Spooky Castle which is their first like the Haunted House at Tulleys, Thirteen, Massacre, Edge which is new for this year and the SCAR award winning Biometrix. We got to go through them all bar Biometrix without actors to have a nosey at them and the sets, and Spooky Castle and Thirteen were already great in this format. Then the show lighting came on and the actors unleashed.
    Spooky Castle: Great maze with many many different rooms from this castle, lots of clever effects and smells.
    The Edge: Based on vampires, set in shipping containers, it utilised its tiny footprint brilliantly and there were some good scares. Theming was topnotch.
    Massacre: Set in the corn field, you are in the incestous hillbilly town or something. Pretty good, different from everything else.
    Thirteen: Based on 13 fears, some are quite funny like walking under ladders, a dentist room, plane crash, dirty toilets. Definitely a different take on fears, and it had some good scares but was more action based than scare based I felt.
    Biometrix: This maze is like Sub Species' test subject. Very physical, very different. Just brilliant and how touch mazes should be with larger groups. Not one of us was left out.
    So Broadwitch is great, only niggle is the actors are very scripted making it hard to reride without it being repetitive. They struggle to improvise and interact as we found out. Other than that a great event and great way to end the scare season!



  14. Mitchada04

    Efteling+Bob

    By Mitchada04,

    Although we were at Efteling for 2 days and the evening of Baron's opening I didn't take that many photos of the park. And of Bobbejaanland I took like 5 in total, so this report will have a Bob ending. Random fact, the name works because Efteling has a ride called Bob.

    We arrived at the village, checked in a walked to the park for one reason. It was 7pm, park closed at 8. Let's ride Baron I guess.

    First impressions, it is gorgeous. It's not a ride, it's a piece of architectural art! It looks great.

    Was kinda expecting it to look a bit bigger though, but I was open minded to the mini dive machine

    Unsurprisingly it had a queue of 60 minutes (as we waited for front too which was nice, they let everyone in that queue ride in that row although trains were going out with just one row being used towards the end)

    It was very slow moving. They hadn't quite grasped 3 train op on it so the next two days only ran 2.

    But it was pretty

    Nearly there! The whole queue is outside with inside all being preshows.

    Was alright. Story and experience great, ride just missed some punch.

    Detail was ridiculous

    Bird invading my photos.

    That night we went into Kaatshuvel, nothing was open bar one very nice kebab shop. After we went to the Efteling Hotel because their bar was still open. The guy in there was great and it looked like a nice hotel! We were in the village though, quite a walk but nothing bad.

    Next morning we went on the pagoda thing.

    Lovely area

    Coaster central

    I really liked this. Simple yet clever

    Vogel Rock entrance, great little indoor coaster with effects and fab music

    This show with a huge animatronic!

    Lunch at an amazing pancake place! Also had amazing profiteroles!

    More dragons

    Very rude to keep yawning though.

    This is the worlds largest pirate ship. Doesn't matter though, I've done Europes largest the day before so didn't see the need.

    Flying Dutchman <3 was really surprised by this ride!

    Sploosh

    More Baron

    Wood

    And a bigger fountain show!

    So much water

    Baron told us we were running late the following morning, especially after Peaj left Bucky in the room and we'd checked out.

    It's all I took photos of really

    This was the village entrance. Went back after our final day for dinner

    Josh loves napkins.
    So that night we went to the last hotel place. Had a free breakfast in the morning which was a cheese, meat and bread platter. Better than nothing!

    Rode this not so good ride

    Was just dragged out after the first loop

    Looks a mess too

    And here is broken Kong who found Bucky. Wish I'd taken more photos at Bob now as it would have made such a good sarcastic report. Possibly the oddest park I've been too... Oh well, that concludes Belgerand for me. Next up I've no idea, Wales
  15. Mitchada04

    Toverland

    By Mitchada04,

    Tadah! It's Toverland!

    Ticket booths (note these were taken at the end of the day, it wasn't quite this quiet)

    Chairswing with no chairs. Kinda closed

    CRED

    best Boomerang of the trip

    It's very pretty

    Like a mini indoor theme park

    Great for kids (also the dark twisty dingy slide is sooo cool)

    Teacups that tried chucking out Josh's bag

    And out we went

    Nothing to see here

    Log flume

    Lovely park

    Inside part of flume. Nicely done rock work

    Was very nice

    Lady said it was closed

    Some maths happened and it opened

    It's really cool

    Out we go to a Mack

    Dwirliwirlwirliwind or something

    Station is very nice

    It was all very nice

    And they had a pulley tower thing

    Waterfall of refresh

    booster bike of wee

    They're actually good fun

    Dive show construction

    Nothing here

    Zomg Scorpio! Apparently it reaches the highest angle or something of a pirate boat in Europe. I hate pirate boats, I've done Europe's largest supposedly

    Must be some bad guys living in there

    Such a clear blue sky!

    Oh, no some wisky clouds. Oh well moving on

    Yay Vekoma!

    Lots of wood, don't know why

    And grass.

    Look at Europe's largest pirate boat. Look at it, scary or what.

    Back indoors as there's nothing else outside they have a closed one of these

    And a rope thing we climbed, was actually quite hard

    Gave some good views

    Close up

    It's a lovely looking ride

    We watched the fountain show

    More Mack goodness

    Beautiful

    Was an odd spinner though that's for sure

    we'll end with this lovely photo of the sky. Can't remember what we were queuing for, can't have been very good. Oh well, Toverland is a lovely little park. I kinda started to give up taking photos after this though, so Efteling and Bobbejaanland will be in one report (and Efteling mainly focusses on a mine- please relate to JoshC.'s reports when he gets round to them)
  16. Mitchada04

    Phantasialand

    By Mitchada04,

    For a park to stand out to me it has to be really special. Not many parks do that successfully, give such a great balance of fun, imersiveness, magic etc. But Phantasialand is right up there for me with the great parks of Florida (probably my 2nd or 3rd favourite park I've been too). My only tiny complaint, there didn't seem to be a like big impact entrance. But that might just be they only have one and it's at the Berlin park entrance, not the mystery one (so many entrances and car parks).

    Not a bad thing to have at the entrance though (this was the only thing we saw over the trees driving to the park)

    Crazy rapids!

    It's just such a lovely park! Nothing opened at 9 that we saw so we did a bit of wandering and it's so beautiful. This is a madhouse. Yep.

    The Berlin street (with a brilliant funhouse in it!)

    Was now 9:30 so we went to our first ride, Maus Au Chocolat! And it's amazing!!!! Same system as Midway Mania and just so much fun!!! Highlight of the trip by far!

    Not knowing how busy it was going to be on park (8pm close and lovely weather) we did Chiapas.

    You don't get soaking wet, or really that wet at all but it's a sublime ride!

    Boat travelling the station.

    Hidden away in this area is Talocan. A really forceful topspin with brilliant effects, music. It was like a show to watch

    So much fire!!!

    We headed back through Berlin past this really cool looking chairswing!

    Simple but so effective!

    To find a hidden boat ride Hollywood Tour with Hitchcock.

    Could tell it was old but was still great with all the different sets. This is Amity.

    Kong

    Can't remember

    There's also a coaster up there called Temple of The Nighthawk. All enclosed, quite good but is a bit dragged out.

    Now was to try Winjas

    Now I won't spoil it but when riding it you think they're quite modern spinners with what they do. Surprisingly they open in 2002.

    Fury and Spinball could have been special

    Wooosh

    They had one of these. We did the one at Plopsa and got the dirtiest looks ever. Plus they're not that good so no thanks.

    Josh didn't want to walk under the bridge in the maze because it might get him wet.

    There was also an interesting splash battle. Might have been good if the effects worked but yeah. No. It was at the back of the park hidden away, I can forgive them like it almost wasn't real...

    It was time for the hyped up ride of okayness.

    It looks great with its surroundings. And you can't work out the layout one bit.

    But yeah. Even Jack points at it as a "oh I wanted that little bit more"

    Definitely not a bad ride. Not at all. Just overhyped

    So we had some Currywurst and watched a man through some ming vases around.

    Was time for Mystery

    With rapids

    The drops are ridiculous. If you're unlucky in your seating you get soaked.

    Again this looked amazing. Like sooo good!

    It's the only imposing thing on park

    It was just quite disappointing. Although we've now heard it has two settings and we caught the naf one.

    Having done the park we hit up some rerides. Jack and Peaj did Talocan again so me and Josh watched the show

    Bucky also enjoyed the show, shame it set his ears on fire

    Yes, lower Peaj and Jack into the fire

    We made sure we caught this.

    So I've now seen the show in English with no effects and German with effects. Wish I'd just seen it at Thorpe jeez

    I really like this ride sign! It's subtle, works with the theme and you get a great view of the ride in it!

    We went and watched the ice skating show which was pretty good. Was nice to be able to see shows at a park, added a lot more to the day than just rides.

    Their mine ride

    Again very good. I liked here how everything interacted with something else basically.

    More B&M

    More Jack

    Pretty

    Woosh

    Lovely view of China

    And here is the cake we saved from those mice on Maus Au Chocolat!
    This is the only park from the trip I really want to visit again. Was my favourite day, and the 11 hours were so easy to fill, we didn't even do that many rerides. We thought it would be our longest day, nope. Join me next time where we go to Toverland, and then dash off to Efteling to hit up Baron on its opening day
  17. Mitchada04
    Welcome to Walabi. This isn't the entrance but it has the logo so it'll do. Plus it's a thrill ride on park, the dodgems.

    Revenge of the Wallabies! Oh, no. My bad. Did have the classic Sally Corp gun noise which is annoying.

    Zomg serious cred.

    Wee! Thing even went backwards a bit

    Urgh. Pointless waste of space.

    Yeah... this thing spins... wasn't impressed.

    It's a very colourful park!

    And a good flume!

    I-Spy: The Queue line experience!

    Oh.

    This should have been at the entrance with cattlepen written underneath.

    Mad house of applause.

    Woo it didn't align properly and we're stuck let's clap!

    Until we were let off.

    Fun! Look at the people looking at all the fun

    Yeah it's not a Wallaby. It's a vampire.

    Nice SLC.

    But I am weird and do like them.

    Ooooo

    More SLC.

    Vekoma park or what. Choo choo

    good Vekoma

    Oh no water.

    <3

    Pure awesomeness! The sheer speed is amazing!

    Duck is more awesome though (not sure with the obsession of these random boat rides around lakes with ducks in)

    Look at them all!

    It's tall.

    Artsy slightly blurred shot

    Oh woop. Let's go underground.

    To get there we went upstairs.

    Impressive launch, urm that's it. Far too short, I don't like vertical loops backwards and it was just eh.

    Proper big style rapids boats

    There was a tunnel too which looked cool

    Yes more boomerangness.

    Don't ride wood. But that's the fun part says Fanta.

    Fine we'll ride boomerang.

    Rawr.

    Was very good. Not amazing, just very good. And it's vekoma too (which was odd for it to be quite smooth...)

    Yeah this was dead as well as Buzzsaw and some other stuff.

    Rock on! And that's Walabi. More school kids than Wallabies and lots of Vekomas. Off to the park I've always liked the look of next... Phantasialand
  18. Mitchada04

    Bellewaerde

    By Mitchada04,

    Welcome to the park down a road behind some houses on some grass where we parked next to a tree. Look who's in Jack's bag!

    No temple not open yet.

    Jack is unimpressed by lack of temple.

    Correction- the temple thing that's now a mine shaft is open!

    Correction- it's an awesome tomb!

    See the awesomeness.

    Temple of awesome mineshaft tomb with broken on board audio.

    Well I'm glad I tried one.

    Really doesn't feel like you tilt much at all on ride.

    The excitement!

    Look at the fun!

    the lion mascot, called Lion approves (although he approves of most things...)

    Shocked face!

    Probably what we all pulled when we saw this coming.

    Must be a shocking life

    The local enjoyed it!

    He was coughing spreading his Europeness... ewwww.

    Oh no.

    Aww

    Tigers are the best.

    The elephants laughed in disagreement.

    The Lion probably approves of this, they said it was magic, I think there was a wild animal in their once.

    called Houdini. They say he's dead, I don't think he is.

    There's Houdini! A real wild one!

    "Just you wait till you get round here..."

    "We'll move here so you still don't get too close"

    Houdini magiced us away to Niagra Falls.

    A water ride, of dryness. Seriously, are Europeans afraid of water?

    These guys weren't afraid! But they might be imported.

    Fire.

    This Leopard disapproved of the non natives.

    So we went to India to ride the traditional rapids you find there.

    The holiday in Mexico had ended when we got back though.

    Temple must have taken them. Oh well time for 2.5 hours of driving that should've taken one! Thanks you accident prone natives in your cars!

    Toot toot Brussels!

    Very nice place

    I'd play where's Wally... but it's too hard.

    Nice surprise.

    Nom nom! Dunno why but people love going to a restaurant to eat guitars.

    Till next time where we get stuck in more Brussels traffic!
  19. Mitchada04

    Plopsaland

    By Mitchada04,

    Much like a year of Britain, A Year of Europe looks to expand upon its predecessor by including some European parks (of which I already have gained 7). Aim is to end this around this time next year to start a further, worldwide one (one can dream). So, my first European park outside of DLP when I was 15, Plopsaland.

    It was an early morning when we left Dover (5:15am).

    To arrive before 9am at a park that opens at 10. Notice the oversized door, yeah we didn't understand why everything was so large until the end of the day.

    What do you do when you're early? Go for a mile walk. They have horses in Europe (must be near a Findus factory)

    Something the others had never seen were the war cemeteries they have. They are astonishing in size, and Belgium is littered in them.

    R.I.P.

    Just down the road though it was a birthday. My 15th birthday cake wasn't that big

    Lovely entrance area.

    Like stunning

    European trees.

    Apparently this is a ride station!

    And this is a queue line

    I thought we were invading a house and the owners were going to kick us out.

    See, have something protecting your house Anubis! Dragons are the way.

    Didn't work though, we still made it in.

    Lights were cool too!

    Zomg it's like home!

    Well half like it.

    There was a pedal thing.

    A Vekoma Roller Skater called... Roller Skater!

    With an oversized washing machine. From a dark ride on a boat we learnt that the Plops (a race of things) are very small people. Fair enough, why buy an already oversized machine? That will surely kill them.

    More random house invasions!

    Not even a mat for us to wipe our feet on.

    Pirate boat of forever. Like a 5 minute cycle.

    You could honestly race the boat from this splashing down to returning to the station with the pirate boat. Both took ages.

    Start your watches.

    Swan boats are faster.

    It's a big lake though. Jack and Josh are awful drivers.

    This duck agrees.

    Time for the Mack watersplashofdrynessthatgoesbackwardsunderawobblybridge.





    Sploosh.

    So this has a height restriction of 1.2 or 1.3 can't remember. Still, I'm pretty sure the Plops are smaller than that. Can't even ride a ride in their homeland.

    Luckily we could, was a very good ride.

    yay land of bees.

    Was all a bit overgrown if you ask me.


    This was good fun though!

    This was from the Plops water ride thing. I had no idea what was going on.

    Oh look a nicely themed hill.

    Wouldn't have even known the Disko was broken, can't even see it.

    Minus that... shhhh

    Splash battle! Was very welcome with the weather. Again though, the Plops so would not be able to reach the guns.

    So Plopsaland, a very nice park, just feel bad for the natives. Might have even stood on one accidentally if they're that small.

    Au Revoir Plopsaland, till next year with your GCI (just think about the height restriction yeah?)
    And off to Hotel Joly we went (yeah, wasn't Jolly like we were hoping...)
  20. Mitchada04
    Today celebrates the 25th anniversary of Universal Studios Florida (and in essence the entire Orlando Resort but more on that later). Instead of revising for my exams I've decided to share how the park has fallen, picked itself up hugely and become a real competitor to Disney.
    It started nearly 35 years ago with the idea of Universal building a theme park on the East Coast coming into managers minds in 1981. It was a big move, Hollywood was already in place as a working studios with the studio tour built to it and the theme park slowly around it. This time, Universal would have to build from the ground up! With Disney and SeaWorld in place in Orlando and doing well, it was decided the park would be built in Orlando and the original piece of land they wanted is what they have today. When Disney were looking at building in Florida, they had also looked at this plot of land (a section between the I4 and Florida Turnpike) but decided there wasn't enough land available, but Universal were happy with the size.
    During development between 1982 and 86, the park sought for other investors to help remove the risk. One company they approached was Paramount Studios (oh the irony of that today) and Eisner who was one of the executives at the time. He didn't take up the project but he sure did remember what he saw. Later in 1984, Michael Eisner became CEO of Disney and knew what Universal were up to. Disney had already been looking at a studios styled theme park but now plans were hurried along. In 1986, land clearing of the swamp land Universal purchased began and in 87 the park is announce with a proposed opening of December 1989. Although Universal had a years head start, MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) opened a whole year and a month earlier on May 1st 1989. Why? Disney has there own planning area/council that gives out building zone permits etc, the Reedy Creek Improvement District (basically why Disney can build what they want whenever).
    It seemed Disney had the upper hand, but Universal now knew that Disney were rushing through a studios park with the main component supposed to be a studio tour (which is originally what USF was going to utilise). Universal decided to rethink its move, and instead of making the studio tour the main aspect, it looked to the Hollywood tour for inspiration. On that, you go through Amity where Jaws makes an appearance to attack your tram. Universal therefore decided to use this one aspect and build the boat tours through the village of Amity giving Jaws its own ride. Working closely alongside Spielberg, the E.T ride was developed and Kongfrontation. All of these were going to push the boat out with ride technology and thrills. Spielberg also wanted a Back to The Future Ride which began development. In 1988 the park delays their opening date till 1st May 1990 and in 1989 MGM Studios open whilst Universal claim Disney and Eisner stole many of the concepts they originally created.

    Original entrance
    Now 1990, and at the end of January the opening date of USF is once again pushed back, this time to 7th June 1990. Soft openings did begin in late May but all the main attractions were still undergoing testing and fixing glitches. 7th June arrives, but the park is filled with technical glitches everywhere! Jaws, Kongfrontation and Earthquake all struggle so much so the park begins to give out vouchers entitling guests to a free visit when the attraction are finally operational.

    One of the first park maps (late 1990 early 1991)
    Jaws didn't feature on this map however, because the ride was fundamentally flawed technically. So much so, on 30th September 1990 Universal close the ride to fix it up. They sue the original company (Ride & Show Engineering) and get Totally Fun Company to completely redesign and create the ride basically from the scratch. In 1993 Jaws reopens and in the two years closed, Back To the Future, The Blues Brothers Show and Fright Nights (which was renamed Halloween Horror Nights) began in the park. With the park finally finding ground and critics admiring the highly advanced rides (that were now working) the park announces it expansion into a resort complex with a second park to be built.
    Before that let's take a look at a ride that is renowned and one I wish I had ridden, Kongfrontation! Based on the 1976 film and King Kong Encounter segment on the Hollywood Tour (which burnt down in 2008 to be replaced by King Kong 360) it was about escaping the Manhattan Island in these aerial trams as Kong is rampaging the city. Like many of the elder Universal rides, it relied on spieling as well as physical sets/effects to portray the story. I've heard from people who rode it that it was a brilliant experience, especially for its time when it opened and that the "Banana Breathe" King Kong animatronic was truly something!

    It was designed by Totally Fun Company who re did Jaws, and manufactured by Arrow Dynamics. Sadly, it only lasted 12 years before it was replaced with The Mummy. http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20141225/29776/5-things-you-never-knew-about-kongfrontation-universal-orlandoBrilliant article here on Kongfrontation and some secrets. Truly remarkable that Kong entered the ride car envelope which on most rides would cause an e-stop.

    Universal Studios in 1990 (the car park in the forefront of the photo is now IOA)
    Many of the parks original attractions now don't exist (only E.T, The Horror Make Up Show and A Lucy Tribute remain from 1990). Something I found out was the studio tour the park once had that went through the studios in use and the Nickleodeon Studios that were on the site that upon exiting the ride you went through the Universal Studios Store which still exists today in the same place!
    With IoA moving ahead (although construction which was meant to start in 1995 started two years late in 97) Universal continued to open new attractions, such as Terminator2: 3D, Twister and A day in the park with Barney (all of which remain today). More attractions were built up to 1998 like Woody Woodpecker, Kidzone and Men In Black along with the IoA preview centre by Kongfrontation. In 98, Disney also opened Animal Kingdom, once again the two giants were battling each other head on.
    May 28th 1999, Islands Of Adventures opens to the park with many new technologically advanced rides. At the same time, CityWalk, a replica of the restaurant district at Hollywood, and the first hotel opened making Universal a resort. Marketed as Universal Studios Escape attendance didn't rise as they had hoped. This was largely put down to people thinking Islands Of Adventure was just a new area of the Studios park, not a whole new park on its own! Disney are said to have had E-Ticket attractions ready and lined up for each of its parks in case Universal's attendance boomed but it's impact was non existent to Disney so these were cancelled. Beastly Kingdom was the planned one for Animal Kingdom but instead we got Camp Minnie and Mickey (soon to become Avatar... maybe Disney are battling Universal ride on ride, land on land).
    In 2002 the Resort is renamed to Universal Orlando Resort and Kongfrontation is closed. For the next 7 or so years the parks direction was often slashed by enthusiasts as investors didn't seem to do much that was new and exciting. Island's had NO major new attraction invested in until 2010 and Universal just replaced outdated attractions with modern overlays. The Mummy replaces Kong in 2004 and is a sublime coaster with brilliant effects (although it does stick out a bit). Disaster overlays Earthquake in early 2008 which doesn't go down to well, nor does the closing of the classic Back to the Future ride to replace it with a Simpsons simulator (which when it opened stuck out like a sore thumb). The following year the park opens Rip Ride Rokit. The public enjoy the coasters, as do I, but its structure is an eyesore and it feels cheap (especially with all the problems it had and still has). It doesn't seem to fit in with the park one bit. Whilst all this is going on though, Island's have announced they're building a castle, a special Hogwarts castle! And in the background, Comcast is buying shares of NBC Universal from GE. And in 2010, the Universal that operates today with its non stop investing began.

    Sure was popular
    Wizardirng World Of Harry Potter opened to the public and was a huge success! Islands attendance increases from 5.2 million in 2008 to 7.6 million in 2011 which was the first time the Studios park was surpassed by Islands (and Islands remained ahead for 2012 and 13). With the Comcast agreement battling on as they seek to buy out all the shares from GE, Studios announces the closure of Jaws at the end of 2011, Despicable Me opens in 2012 and Transformers in 2013. The park then announces its main plans, Diagon Alley on the old Jaws site with the Hogwarts Express to link the two parks for summer 2014. Springfield is also announced which makes the Simpsons ride fit in much more into an area instead of just being a ride.
    2014 arrives and Diagon Alley opens on July 18th in an attempt to put Studios ahead of Islands once more. By now, Comcast have 100% of the shares in NBC Universal and are investing left right and centre with a Springfield in Hollywood, Harry Potter in Japan and one in Hollywood for 2016. Diagon Alley is well received with its further immersion and realism to the films. Crowds flood to the park applying serious pressure to the star attraction (Gringotts) which opens on a reduced capacity and regular break downs.

    The queue times achieved make news globally. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2686145/Hope-brought-book-Harry-Potter-fans-wait-line-SEVEN-HOURS-new-theme-park-ride.html
    The 2014 TEA Theme Index report thing shows how Universal is booming evermore! Studios Orlando saw a 17% increase to 8.26 million causing it surpass IoA once again which is at 8.14 million (still nearly double the parks figuer of 4.27 million in 2009). The other Universal parks are growing well too though, with Hollywood having a 11% increase and soon a Potterworld of its own, and Japan's Potterworld opened last year giving the park a 16.8% increase to 11.8 million, making it the 5th most visited park in the world and jumping the 3 Floridian Disney parks that aren't Magic Kingdom. Comcast's persistence in investing may seem risky, but it sure is paying off majorly at the moment and why stop when figures are growing massively every year.
    Universal is starting a theme park revolution. It is going all out on an immersive experience write down to what you eat and drink. The battle is on between Universal and Disney with both parks continually announcing expansions and the next best thing! Disney open Frozen next year to Universal's Kong. Disney open Pandora to Universal's amazing new waterpark Volcano Bay.
    The Comcast era of Universal is one to enjoy. The company themselves say they'll invest in one major new attraction at each site every year for the next five years at least. With Kong opening next year, Volcano Bay in 2017 and potential rethemes of Twister or Disaster in that time as well, rumours are the Studios next big investment will be a further Potter expansion to replace Fear Factor Live. Although the Unviersal Parks division makes up a tiny amount of Comcast's profits, the company are happy to keep taking risks and invest big in an attempt to fight Disney. Will they ever win, no. But it's sure fun to watch and even better for new ride technologies as both chains plough money into developing the latest thing.
    "Theme parks, I think, when we first showed up, were something that came with the rest of the company, now they're right at the core of what we're all about and we think provide a tremendous growth opportunity."- Steve Burk, CEO of the NBCUniversal division of comcast at Comcast's 2015 analyst report
    So 25 years on from a park opening to take on Disney head to head on what was a swamp, the companies are finally clashing big time and the results are glorious! To the next 25 years!
  21. Mitchada04

    Painwood Hills

    By Mitchada04,

    Welcome to the last instalment of this blog before I venture off to Belgium in June So let's head to somewhere new and prepare myself for something I'll see a few times in Belgium.

    Sign lies. Puddle will get my shoes wet, I'll walk into the bin which will hurt. Already looks painful.

    KMG=Pain in my stomach

    Vecoma

    Schwartzkopf know for pain.

    Let's get it over and done with.

    Sure is difficult to understand. And rough, so PAINWOOD

    This is good.

    Like really good! So let's find some more pain

    Plainfully bare wild mouse.

    And I don't like swinging boat things. So pain for me.

    Ew it's still bare. Oh, and HyperDrive which I didn't photograph as my phone would have killed itself is painful. In sense it's so slow, you crash and you can't get off the wall and it's illogical. Weirdest investment ever!

    But this <3 Actually really good for a small park!

    Just dangerous low beams which will cause pain if hit.

    Urm... this is horrific. Goes on for an eternity and hurts your shins. No thanks. I'll pass on this pain.

    Chairlift is painfully slow it makes the park feel huge!

    The pain of the photo stands here. This one is placed away from the bottom of the slide so you have to squint to see anyone

    If I tried to ride these I'd be in pain.

    No comment yet.

    Swan boats. Shame I'm competitive my legs were in pain after!

    That KMG again...

    Rattlesnake... or snake in the grass. Either way, it vibrates so much! Pain in my ass!

    Bambi looks too happy...

    because she put humans in pain!

    Sharp teeth=pain.

    OOOOO old stuff.

    Look at this an operating carousel! Bet that pains some members who loved a certain one at Thorpe... This was better too

    Good show. Benches of wood and pain so PAINWOOD.

    Now this. It looks stunning! So well set in a beautiful area!

    Lovely weather!

    A cobra roll (of some pain)

    And a pretty loop (I really like Vekoma track).
    But wipeout wiped me out, hurt my head and was quite intense. Didn't really enjoy it and I'm not best pleased there's a few on my roadtrip. Oh well.
    YEAR OF BRITAIN OUT! See you in June/July for some Belgerand goodness! (Belgium, Germany and Holland)
  22. Mitchada04
    Lots of people always go on about wanting to go to the greats of Florida for Disney and Universal. More people are able to visit DLP but there's a little place in this country that makes you feel like you're at Disney or Universal. Thing is, I couldn't quite work out which company clearly secretly owns this park. Of course, it is the one and only Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach. So let me show you why I'm not sure if it's Disney or Universal.

    From the outskirts it doesn't look great. But hey, Universal don't theme their rides all the way around when they don't have too. And this path was cold along the beach so you wouldn't want to go there anyway. Think of it as a cast members rat run!

    Oh yes, Splash Metal Mountain! 3 lift hills, 3 drops in a metal mountain frame!

    Heck, that could even become the Universal globe on top of the structure.

    Cattlepen to deal with the huge crowds!

    And timed maintenance on off peak days so it can have full throughput for those busy summer days.

    Argh!!!! Watch out for Jaws in Amity!

    Right next to the land of Frozen! Hi there Olaf

    Oh my favourite the vehicles from automobile and automobile 2! It's the finale of the the FORMULE 1 between Thunder McKing and Chuck Hicks!

    Nice to see Universal using the old school Simpson characters again! You could learn a thing or two Orlando.

    There was a fun house! Probably Minion related.

    It's just like an inside version of Wishes or Dreams!

    Disney needs to use the Mulan IP more, glad to see it being used here.

    Truly a high quality ride by Disney

    Surprise!

    Ah Phantom Manor

    Frankenstein's Monster from Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue!

    Wacky Disney kids coaster. It's like Heimlich... or maybe it is!

    What's this down here

    Twister! Will be a sad day when it leaves Orlando but here at Great Yarmouth it keeps going strong

    As well as other Universal THRILL rides.

    Monorail to get you from one place back to that place

    With a Dr Seuss like tunnel.
    Lunch approached so we decided to take a walk from one park to find another

    It had a rollercoaster called Spook Express. Was in a mountain, had dark bits, basically space spook mountain!

    So nicely themed!

    And more minions!

    On ride photos taken by someone with a camera. True quality!

    Look at the little snail they had!

    Snails love airtime! I've no idea what Disney feed them but they love it!

    Clearly waiting the Puss In Boots layover for the Goose in the beanstalk.

    So Farm Cruise

    Watch out for the Pirates of the Yarmouth!

    Zoo Cruise.

    Pinocchio dark ride section with It's A Small world playing. So urm It's a small boy?

    Peter Pans not flying flight

    Evolution.

    Like the film as you can see.

    They also had a roller coaster with a flame spitting tower thing at the top (flame wasn't working)

    Prehistoric Twirl.

    So whilst you all scratch your heads wondering if Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach is Disney or Universal I'll leave you with some pictures of Roller Coaster




    Snail Always.
  23. Mitchada04
    For a few years now Towers has been subject to a mind marmalising force known as the Ministry of Joy and I think it's only time I reveal some of the hidden secrets after we persuaded a few Smile Assistants we want to help correct others. To do so we had to receive a grand tour of the correctional device. Be warned, what you see and read today is top secret and may correct you just by looking at it. It is your own choice to continue reading this...

    Before embarking upon the process we decided to analyse the mysterious goings on by the Ministry. Maybe if we could work out their ways we'd be able to avoid correction.
    However, it is very difficult to understand this mess.
    Some advocates were being corrected as we watched on.

    As we approached we were already being told to join them.

    We knew from the start, trying to find out how they correct people without being corrected would be difficult.

    Here is a vehicle to make you smiling advocates. Did you know, on Smiler they are called vehicles, Oblivion are shuttles, Air are crafts and the other coasters are trains. Random.

    It was time to reach the top and try and understand the mess.

    It seems to completely correct you it has two halves... must be two rides.

    Crazy.

    We were informed by the Smile Assistant Matt that this large tree in the middle is the height tree for X-Sector. Back in 1998 when the lord of Darkness was trying to force people to look down, the Ministry of Joy had to make the tree taller so put more ground under it. By doing so they could build Oblivion. However, in 2011/12 a storm threatened the trees existence so they chained it down because without it they may have had to close Oblivion and wouldn't have been able to build the correctional device that is Smiler. It is also 1 metre taller than Oblivion.

    Low and behold the device itself! In the background you can see Enterprise but originally that was meant to leave instead of Submission. Engineering got £10,000 to get Submission back to having its two arm working together which the Ministry couldn't wait for! However, some management people decided it hurt too many people and wasn't making them Smile so they got rid of it and spent the £10,000 on Enterprise.

    Under the twisted track is the queueing pen. It is made up of 6 areas, area 1 the Optical procedure room, area 2 the one outside that, area 3 has the shop alongside area 4, area 5 being the back corner and area 6 the new extension up to the toilets. Now, there are 3-5 ways of fully optimising the queue but you are meant to do it in order so 6-5-4-3-2-1 as much as possible so people can work out the queue time. Smile Assistant Dave told us of this time he made it do like 6-5-2-3-1-4 or something crazy and no one could work out the queue time... it has also never been replicated as no one can work out how he did it. In total there are as many as 20 possible queue line possibilities in some form.

    Here we see the first lift... the secrets lie within the tunnel.

    For the geeks.

    These arrows help you to know where correction is... not like you have a choice though.

    This door <3 There used to be a set of stairs here. The door is in the baggage room and it was meant for Smile Assistants to use in case a vehicle stopped on the brake run before the first lift. However, some staff took the fun too far and were opening it going boo, knocking on it and so on. So, they moved the metal staircase around the corner to which it now leads to nowhere and the door is permanently locked.

    The first of 14.

    So elegant. (I fear I'm starting to be corrected...)

    Ah the glass floor. Smile Assistant Matt told us it works better with the lights on and was meant to help correction. But, due to delays on the Swiss side of things the whole tunnel was rushed to completion. It was originally meant to continue the Optical Procedure but this never happened. They'd love it to get completed but don't think it ever will.

    Here is where you leave the station.

    If you wave at the Smile Op and they wave back at you with their foot, that is because upon dispatch they have to hold two buttons down for 5 seconds before Correction can begin. And you all thought they were just being weird (yeah they are).

    We then went into the pit. Yes, it is mainly made of concrete.

    And track.

    And muddy arrows.

    Confusing.

    The reason parts of the supports go into the concrete and others like this tiny one are encased in footers is because the support wasn't long enough (due to the groundwork issues) so instead of waiting for new pieces they used the materials they had (a lot of concrete obviously).

    The Marmaliser.
    It was all starting to get too much!!! So we went for a walk.

    We came across this chained up tree.

    On the walk a witch stopped us and said "You will either get corrected or for every geek who comes to visit this tree Nemesis will slowly be destroyed." I couldn't let this happen!
    So 7 goes later followed by a further 4...

    We were corrected.

    And Nemesis keeps going strong!
    So remember one thing guys,
    Smile. Always.
  24. Mitchada04
    The Castle is full of history. And Merlin.

    Welcome to Warwick Castle. Oh, follow these signs for the distances labelled and you can go to Merlin places of magic. Historic.

    Don't you just love being ticketed.

    Some decent shows. I really like the year round Annual Pass show at the Stables Ticket Office.

    So much rich history. First date though... 2015

    More NEW stuff! Very historical the year of 2015 is.

    Look it's old!

    Really old rope fence. 1340 that.

    Artsy shot of a thing that's old.

    Yes everyone's favourite thing! Merlin just have many of these everywhere.

    Is it a bird?

    Yes.

    Unlike Towers, they don't want stuff to catch on fire like some old skyride stations enjoy doing.

    Oh... it's 1100 years. My mistake. Use this old piece of technology that King Henry 8th used to find out more!

    I knew the automatic door was an invention of the 1200s!

    Merlinism!

    Josh and his new friend approve of such things.

    Whilst Jack has no idea what's going on (as per usual)

    So he is killed.

    This guy is trying not to laugh at the death.

    Let's look at some rich history.

    Firing catapult thingy.

    This looks old.

    It is 1350!

    Like these books. So old they've retired!

    This tree has given up it would seem.

    "I want to leave. Urgh Merlin"

    "Don't even mention Merlin, I'll peck you"

    "I'm sworn to like Merlin... Doesn't mean I do"

    "I see you looking at me. Please take me home!!!!"

    And this is what happens to the birds who diss Merlin. Warwick Castle won't have any left on show at this rate.

    Machinery fun!!!

    And it's not black.

    Towers.

    Warwick. There's no difference really. (And yes, Jack is now alive)

    Quick suit up!

    ATTACK!!!!

    Oh no... they've given him a weapon.

    He's too happy by that.

    Not a partner in crime as well! We are stuffed.

    Guess I'll just save the day.

    OFF THE EDGE!

    No one will find him down here.

    Nice view too.

    I'll end with this photo because why not.
    MERLIN CASTLE! PIZZA PASTA BUFFET OPENING SOON
  25. Mitchada04
    https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=TT (may be useful. Also any apologies to fluent German speakers, Google translate still doesn't do that well but it copies nicely back into Translate)
    Willkommen in der letzten Reisebericht des Jahres. Hierfür haben wir nach Deutschland in London reiste.

    Sieht aus wie Hyde Park.

    Englisch Wolken. (Nicht jetzt lila und blauen Stuhl, zurück zu Erlebnisinsel)

    Auch das Zeichen ist in Englisch. Es ist Winterwunder dumm!

    Ach, mein Lieblingshotel. Alpen. Der Barkeeper ist genial!

    Nur in Deutschland

    große Schaukel Sache. XXL.

    Es ist grün und rot, wie Weihnachten

    Nachtzeit kommt in Deutschland schneller.

    Lieben Sie die Wolken in diesem

    Hübsche Lichter. Oh und es heißt Sprungschanze

    Fliegen Sie über Deutschland

    Fliegen in der Luft

    Was ist das?

    Leitungen Turm 2

    Fantastische

    Und hier drüben ...

    WILDE MAUS XXL

    schauen, es ist die große Schaukel wieder. XXL

    hallo dort

    Luft. Sogar klingt besser in Deutsch

    ich werde verlassen auf einem Thriller. Auf Wiedersehen
    Wir sehen uns in 2015!
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