Cal

Connecticut
 
 
Day 1 - 5
Due to the fact that this week has been lounging around meeting relatives there is very little in this week that I find entertaining and alot of it I'd rather keep private then sharing. Anyway....
 
These first five days included lots of fighting, thunder, fishing and rolling around with a giant dog. These first five days I found quite relaxing, and almost useful to get into the American spirit of getting into things. I haven't yet gona a day without eating ice cream. That is awesome.
 
I saw this on the way to my uncle's house. It looks like 3 little cars have all been squashed and reshaped into a motorbike. Yes.

Right so this part of the report will have no order whatsoever. I just chose a pile of the semi decent pictures I took that just about sum up my 5 days here.
My uncle's house sits on a little cove that links up to one of the 2 major rivers that runs through connecticut. He also has a boat, and a rubber wheel with rope attached to it. I bet you can't guess what I did...

It's called tubing. I'm sure if you look it up on youtube you'll see a bunch of skater doods making it look really insane and awesome. It feels that way but when you watch it, it just looks like mannequins tied onto a red board bumping up and down in the water.

These hershey drops were disgusting. They were encased in this plastic like shall, that tasted of nothing. I'm gonna stick with the bars and kisses..

Here's the mall where I went and spent my six flags ticket money. Six flags ended up being further away then I thought, and the man in the sky clearly wasn't in a good mood as he was throwing bolts of electricity and crying his eyes out. In the end only one day was actually ideal theme park weather. More on that l8r. (Everything mainstream clothes wise in America is really really cheap. I bought 2 hoodies, 4 shirts and a pair of shoes for around $120, which is about £70)

I lost my famiry in 'idiot's sports shop' so started taking selfies with mannequins. This is Chris. He's quite quiet to be honest.
 
Another good thing about being in America is that everyone is over the top stupendously lazy and rich. My good ol' unk's had a truck cart just to travel the 70m from his garage to the lake. And I got to drive it.

The lake this evening was so picturesque. Every other day I took a picture but this one turned out the best. I guess it's because it isn't green with algi and it isn't raining.

I caught some big fish aswell. Here's my biggest, an 18 pound carp. It wasn't very friendly and cut my Dad's leg with its fins, aswell as whacking me in the face about a second after the photo. It was very restless which is why I'm pulling a nervous face in the photo.

I said about Ice cream right? Between 5 of us we've eaten 20 pints of Ben and Jerry's Ice cream. In 5 days. We embrace diabeetus with open arms.
This is one evenings pudding. Flavours include:
Mixed up! Core ice cream. Chocolate fudge brownie and vanilla cookie dough
Vanilla cookie dough
Chocolate fudge brownie
Coffe toffee bar crunch

Just down the road was a driving range and a batting cage. I hadn'y hit a gold ball in a year or 2, and I could only dribble the ball with a driver. I hit a couple 170's with an iron though, but my little brother was hitting the back net with every hit (which was 270 yds with a driver).
On the other hand, I was the only one who could hit home runs in the batting cage on fast ball. We all had fun and gained some blisters from it too!

After all the pooey weather, we got a beautiful sun set last night. It was stunning to drive back from a friends BBQ to this:

Finally, I leave day 1-5 with this picture of my little brother casting his line for fishing 'crappies'. This species of fish are hilarious to make jokes about when people want to know more, without being rude. 'You need to go catch yourself some crap'. 'Woah, that's a big crap you got there!' 'Holy cow, that's the momma crap!' etc etc, immaturity etc...

 
 
 
DAY 6 OMG A TWIST WUT
The weather finally settled, and I had to choose where to go. Six flags, Quassy land or Lake compounce. I cancelled out Quassy immediately. Whilst I'd love to ride wooden warrior, the rest of the park lacked interest. Six flags is a 2hr 30 journey from this house, and other then bizarro and batman, again, the other rides didn't serve much interest. so I chose Compounce.
We left a little late because my Dad was supposed to be working and had to do a couple conference calls in the morning, alas, we left at midday and arrived soon before 1PM.
When I saw this sign my belly tingled a little. I haven't had butterflies for a theme park or ride in ages.

There was no queue, and the parks small car park was reasonably filled. We went in and bought our tickets, and had a look round, puzzled as to what we should do next. We turned left at the entrance and headed over to crocodile cove. On the way, we spotted this sign. I didn't realize this place was America's oldest amusement park

The light this day was amazing! 
Crocodile cove was jam packed, the lighthouse flumes queue was humungous and all the lazy rivers and pools were sardine full.

So rather then getting wet, on this not too hot day, we headed in the opposite direction after grabbing a bite to eat. (the food queue was the longest queue of the day) So I told my Dad about boulder dash, which you can see poking in and out of the trees. He said let's do it, why not.

None of the queues were longer then a half hour, which was great! 
Everyone seemed to be getting upset with angry bird signs, so I thought I'd show you this. 3-D NESSS AWESOME WOW.

They have a board of facts next to the entrance aswell, which saves me from typing too much.
 
Here's a really blurry picture of the ride flying through the first bend after the drop. It's very very very fast and rattley, but surprisingly not so rough.

First time, I rode it 4th row from back. I accidentally queued up for the back half of the ride, because they have a splitting system just before the station where you queue for either the front or back. We didn't see the signs and just went with the flow. My first ride to be honest, I wasn't overly joyed with it. I mean sure the ride looked great, and had a couple points of good air time, but most of the time you're getting flicked about in quite a nauseous manner. Maybe it's better if you sit in the very back row.
Any way, being my first wooden coaster ever, I went and purchased the picture! 
 
Just opposite the first drop on Boulder dash is a Screamin' Swing! Anyone who knows me from the meets may know I have a rather large appreciation for rush, so I was over joyed to see that Compounce had my 'bae's' Broski. 

And to be honest, again I was slightly disappointed. They reopen the restraints if you lock them down yourself, have seat belts, and the hosts do what thorpe are starting to do and push them down from the side so they lock down as far as possible. I tried every trick I knew to try and catch some air time, but honestly, I got next to none on it. So that made me sad, but increased my appreciation for rush.
 
Zoomerang was just round the corner, so we joined the queue for that. Having never ridden an inverting vekoma boomerang before, this was another experience I had been waiting for, for a while. 
 
The ride was very slow through the loop, but the cobra roll was great! Back row on it was just great fun, even if you get held upside down on a very shakey loop for a few seconds.

The queue died down so I rode it again in the middle. Same experience just not so much of a delay in the loop to be honest.

Zoomer's, a guided car ride curves itself round zoomerang, and again had only a small queue. So we jumped on that.

Das ma ride.

The ride was very well landscaped. You also get great views of zoomerang. It was the ride with the best theming, with a garage like station, and this terrain scaping.
 
After we headed over to down-time. The drop tower. Which had down-time, so we didn't go on it, because when down-time opened it's queue was coming out of the pen.

Besides... It's a drop tower. Ew gross.
 
Wildcat was next door, so we jumped in the again short queue for that.

The rides signage is very flat, but the ride itself has a lot of history behind it. I took a picture of the panel with the info on it to again save me rambling on.

The ride was very very rough. Not much air time, but all the same it was nice to ride a little slice of history. After the first drop and turn, you drag through the hill. Here I yelled to my Dad, 'It's surprisingly smooth!'. After the ride he was laughing at me, and just replied 'You should'nt've said that haha.'

The carousel was opposite the exit and so we headed over there. The ride is considered a historic monument seeing as it's the oldest standing ride in the park. It was very grand, with one of those orchestra-in-a-box things and lots of mirrors. But it lasts way to long. It was nice to admire a piece of old engineering like this. Especially seeing dunkin' donut's cups being used as weights in the percussion section.
We did the pirate ship, the disko and a couple other rides. All of which were a bit meh. There was nothing special about them, even Chessington kicked them out of the water. It was getting close to closing, and people were piling on Boulder dash to do for a last ride.. so we decided to join them!
Front row, green train, was the best ride experience I've had in a long time. On the chain lift the carriage falls back a bit, and makes you feel like it's gonna topple. Then at the top, you get the most incredible view of the literally cliff hanging drop. It is so steep so quickly! And then, on the first curve, by God it was like riding stealth but quicker. Honestly the wind was blowing in my face so fast I couldn't see without it being blurry. all the hills pulled off incredible insane air time, especially the final one before the ARB hill. That one got me virtually standing up. I'd definitely ride it again now, but only in front row

Finally, we headed over to the pirate ship again. The queue was nil, but was still the meh it was earlier on both back sides. Warning, this picture has been instagram'd.

And then, here's the view you get from the entrance.

Overall, baring in mind I only spent 6 hours in the park, and it was a hot summers day, it was still fairly quiet. This is a busy day for the park. 30 minute and down across the board. I was fine with that.
I'd love to come back, especially baring in mind my unk's lives so close.
 
Restuarant count:
26 Dunkin' Donuts
15 McDonald's
13 Starbucks
11 Subways
6 Burger King
2 Wendy's
2 KFCs
 
Off to the finger lakes, Niagra falls and finally New York before the next update!
 
  Yes Baseball, soft ball and rounders... They're all similar with miniscule differences.  My Dad finally gave up the act and took me to one to shut me up.  Aaand hopefully this report was better for you? Ain't much bold round here.     Nice! I'll have an eye out.        I hope this 'hey I'm going here' on my topic doesn't become a thing... I didn't do it in anyone else's :/       Thanks Kinny! I haven't been to 10 starbucks, but probably that many DD's.       Wait this is food based? I didn't know that   YOUR COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED AND WILL KEEP THIS BLOG TYPE THING STUFF GOING!!        

They're REALLY comfy and simplistic, with just a seatbelt over your lap holding you in... Combines the freedom of no restraints with the fear of falling out rather nicely I thought...
 
 
Day 4 – Grona Lund
The final day began with a long journey to Stockholm from our hotel. There were many weary souls staggering out of the hotel that morning, but we all eventually made it to the final park.

We met the rather fab Annika who told us how the night before the park had closed due to the storm, with Eclipse (the 400ft StarFlyer) being struck around 3 times, which meant it was playing the spite game.


We were then taken to Twister, the Gravity Group woodie for an hour long ERT. Before we entered the park it had been explained to me as “like Blackpool with class”, which in the long run means that many of the rides intertwine with each other and there’s not much space for huge rides. Twister is perhaps the epitome of this factor in the park’s design process, as it crosses over not only itself (26 times apparently), but also over and under other coasters that come within the vicinity, and the gaps certainly aren’t big enough.
It also has the Timberliner trains, which are equally weird and fab with their Maurer Sohne esque lapbar system that comes over, only without ANY of the pinning that those suffer from. Absolute result.
The ride itself is pretty much a blur still, even after 10 goes. Tonnes of airtime about though, especially when on one-click bar operations from the staff where I spent most of my time standing up throughout the course. Some highlights do include the teaser airtime hills, which lull you into expecting tonnes of airtime, but don’t provide one, before promptly giving you another change of direction and an airtime hill to make you feel better.
It was at the end of the hour, a rather suited 400th coaster for me, and I want to see more parks pick up these little bundles of joy as they are getting quite highly rated.







ERT over, we headed back into the rest of the park, starting with Vilda Musen, which is actually a Gerstlauer Bobsled. I usually find these good fun rides, but there was just something about this one which I couldn’t put my finger on. A strange thing, given the interaction available with Jetline on numerous occasions, but perhaps Twister had taken all the love I had to give that day.



Jetline was then next with some classic Schwarzkopf action. It was alright; quite rattly it must be said as well though, and it is vastly improved by the interaction with the other rides nearby. I find myself struggling to remember most of it if I’m quite honest here too. A bad sign if ever there were one.



Continuing the quest for creds led us all over towards Kvasten, one of the newer Vekoma Junior Inverts. The station building is beautifully themed it must be said, inside and out. It stands rather weirdly amongst the mess of the rest of the park, this rather majestic wooden house, but it’s so damn good to look at. The ride itself was fun if lacking anything remotely forceful, because family coaster. We need the trains on Vampire though, because they are the comfiest Vekoma trains going.





Opposite Kvasten was the highly rated Ghost Train, Bla Taget. And it’s utterly fab, which is pretty high praise from someone who doesn’t usually do such rides. It has LOTS of effects, ranging from fab to UTTERLY FAB, makes absolutely zero sense (in the same way that the original Towers Haunted House didn’t), has a decent pace and is just generally a good attraction. This certainly puts the goal high when other parks refurb old dark rides.



After that it was time for Insane, potential death cred ahoy! This was to be my first Intamin Zac Spin, and after watching this go around a few times I had my doubts as to whether I would enjoy it or not. Luckily I was able to get into a balanced car due to the odd number of us who had entered the queue, and I am very glad for that fact.
Me and Intamin restraints don’t have a great history, usually with my neck. Insane decided to punish my stomach for a nice change of pace, with some of the spins/drops throwing me into the restraint quite hard; it’s not too difficult to see how someone could fall out. I did not find it enjoyable, and I now have another Intamin creation to glare at in anger.






It was time for the kiddie creds, which consisted of a Zierer Tivoli Small in Ladybird, and a Zamperla Mini Mouse in Tuff Tuff Taget. Both were, as predicted, nothing worthy to write home about.



Lunch was called, and I managed to watch a Pirate themed show as well as some roaming dancing gorillas right by the next meeting point.





The meeting point was set outside the Lustig Haus, which is perhaps one of the best park based fun-houses ever. It had pretty much everything token in a fun house and more besides, with the particular stand-out being the conveyor belt slide, which when 20 odd people ride it there’s some bad times ahead, but in a fab way. It all ends with a massive slide back down to the bottom as well. Fantastic.










We popped next door to the Tunnel of Love attraction. Which was a random dark ride in a boat thing, the scenes looked nicely done, but we were far too interested in creating a convoy of boats to care (we got 6).



After that faff the group split up as it was nearly time to say farewell. We found time to shop for tat, enter one of those crappy corridor of mirrors things and even have ice cream.




And that was that, we all bid farewell to each other and the park. Grona Lund is pretty nice really, with some decent rides in there. Unfortunately Eclipse was being spiteful due to being struck by lightning numerous times the night before but that’s the only ride that actually seriously spited us over the course of the trip, which can only be seen as a positive. Sweden is lovely and the people are as well, so I must advertise the fact that it’s so easy to get to two of the parks there, why aren’t people going? Gothenburg is 2 hours away! That means Helix is arguably closer to London than Towers is! Why aren’t you visiting?

Really? Helix gets involved and no comments? Fail
 
Day 3 – Skara Sommarland
 
A long drive to the next park from the outskirts of Gothenburg lay ahead (2 hours), but it passed by reasonably quickly, and before long we arrived at our next destination ready for more ERT. The song of choice on arrival was the James Bond theme, which definitely confused the Swedes who were already waiting for the park to open.
 

 

 

 
We were eventually let in and strolled towards Tranan, the world’s only S&S Free Fly coaster. The majority of the group who hadn’t ridden it were all pretty intrigued about the ride, the unique idea and design of it would certainly be an interesting pull and provide a slightly different family based ride experience.
 
We found that the ride is incredibly fun and enjoyable. Whilst the layout is dreadfully short, the ride as a concept/idea is actually quite good. The rotating motion of the seats work well in tandem with the ride layout, and I think it’s a shame that the ride hasn’t had bigger cousins built overall. Must be a cost thing, but I’d like to imagine what a full inline would do for the ride. Just good fun really (the right side was better though).
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
After 4 goes the ERT came to an end and we popped next door to the imaginatively named Spinner, a Maurer Sohne Spinning Coaster. It was a strange Wild Mouse style layout, and really, really crap. I don’t really understand the point of it to be honest, as the park could have gone for something a bit more expansive due to the tonnes of space they have, or just gone for a normal Wild Mouse instead.
 

 

 

 

 
Massive faff ensued from this point, as many wanted to go on the Go-Karts, so the group split and the remainder sat on some benches and chatted away and had ice cream. A few of us went to watch the race unfold as well, but the drivers weren’t particularly impressed by the course in the end.
 

 

 

 

 
Upon their return the Faffle happened. Some fantastic tat was on offer, and I was very pleased to win the Knoebels Carousel Music Volume 6 cassette tape.
 
Faffle complete, the call of the 3rd cred of the park was strong, so we began walking towards it, being distracted by fountains and fish in the lake along the way. Eventually we arrived at Gruvbanen, a Mack Powered with hot shed action. It was pretty dull and the shed was just made of whyyyyyyyyyyy.
 

Scanning for fish!
 

 

 

 

 

 
On the way out we passed some Dodgems which were fab because of the large group that rode them. Then Nelson, the Aquatic Mammal themed log flume was next, which was a slightly more entertaining singular drop flume than the one at TusenFryd. A handful of us also did the Moser Drop Tower Fyren and the Rodeo Breakdance, both of which were pretty average flat rides.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Lunch was called at this point and I had a burger that made Merlin’s recent offerings look like a 5 Michelin star piece of work, before we all met back up and headed towards the attraction of the day.
 
Vattenskidjon is one of the most stranger attractions you’ll see in a theme park. The idea? Get on some skis, hold on to a rope which then connects to a powered overhead system and try not to fall in. As a spectator sport I don’t think nothing else can beat it. You cheer those who succeed and laugh at those who end up face first into the lake with the fish. 4 brave people from our group took on the challenge and all failed in varying degrees, but well done to all that did attempt it. Probably fill it under “Would never happen in the UK” though, which is a shame, and if it did occur in the UK, it certainly wouldn’t be free with entry.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
During this time another storm was encroaching, as we all split up again as some wanted to do the Water Park. Due to the weather I decided against this and joined the many who had taken residence in the bar instead for chatter and banter. After some time those who were in the water park returned, and the weather really took a turn for the worse as we all got into our cars and ran off to the next destination.
 
Skara is a barren place it must be said. It’s nice but can’t imagine I would spend an entire day there under normal circumstances. It does have a lot of space though from what I could tell and I just wonder what the park could do with that space. It is owned by the same people who own Grona Lund and Kolmarden (who are getting Wildfire), so maybe some fab expansion plans are on the horizon. I hope so, because the park could do with a real fab landmark/icon coaster (and a few more other rides to boot).
 

Sounding a bit derogatory there to be honest. I see nothing wrong with saying what I did about Saw. The roughness DOES work in the theme's favour, just as people can say Colossus DOES now fit the theme with its rustiness. It may not be deliberate but these things sometimes just happen and work out.
I know it's personal preference but I would take a rough Saw, Colossus or Smiler over a super smooth ride like Air or something any day. Actually, that makes it sound like I'm hating on it, I'm not, but when I go on a ride I want to feel like I've done something intense and frankly brutal. I certainly don't want to relax in complete comfort.
As for the IP, I see no problem with it, it helped pull the crowds at launch and the ride is still going strong. Does a horror film IP have to be current then? I don't think so. It's a well known IP and will remain so for a long time.

Hi all, thought I'd sign up as I am a regular at Thorpe and Chessington.
My name is Dave aka Huzzellio. I'm 36 years old and have been visiting Thorpe since the days of Cinema 180 and Space Station Zero.
Personally have a love affair going on with Rush at the moment, can't get enough of Saw and still walk around the Swarm in awe of the theming.
Anyway, hello!

Worse "I'm in America" boast post ever...

Nothing wrong with adding a picture to the discussion.. Also helps put things in a bit more of a perspective; the Fungle site is quite large after all. If all the trees end up being tagged, I'd be more inclined to think that there's a future development due to happen there then just some work on trees.
Perhaps I should have put 'more trees are being tagged' though, since we knew some had been.

Day 2 – Liseberg
 
So this was what the trip was all about. Liseberg, and by extension, Helix. Having been driven past the park by our airport bus and seeing everything for the first time is amazing. The design of Helix damn near perfect with its location and pops away from the terrain, but more on that later.
 
As it was the first official day of the meet, we all arrived outside the main entrance to the park, said our hellos and introductions as we waited for the management to come pick us up for the ERT on Helix.
 

 

 

 

 

 
We were taken through the park away from the plebs towards the back entrance of the Helix/Atmosfear building, and left to our own devices until 11. The ERT was shared with other people (I think hotel guests, but never found out), but none the less with 3 trains running at a decent efficiency, there was no real queue to speak off aside from at the airgates themselves. The queue-line itself is reminiscent of Westminster’s Jubilee Line area, with Escher references and the odd Goon-Window for goons to pry into the mechanical workings of the ride.
 

 

 

 
Like Blue Fire and Alpina Blitz, the seats are incredibly comfortable; however the stapling from the ride ops is unfortunate to say the least. A considered warning for those planning to go in the future.
 
Long story short, the ride is fantastic. I adored it from the word go (many were rather meh towards it after the ERT), and it’s straight into the top 10. It does all the things it does well, including the airtime hills and inversions, it has good pacing, it has a lovely style. It is a coaster made by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts. And Liseberg and Mack both deserve applause for it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
After 3 goes during the ERT, the park had opened and we received our wristbands for the day before heading off to our next destination, Balder. I’m not a fan of Colossos at Heide Park, I found the ride dull and lacking a soul 3 odd years ago, so I wasn’t particularly excited for Balder like many were around me.
 
However I found myself pleasantly surprised from the experience. Perhaps it was because I thought the layout was akin to an old style Scenic Railway, with airtime hills going in and out of tunnels, or just because it was full of airtime. The corners are dull as though, which to me is what prevents it from being a real top ride in itself, there were also others who were not enamoured with the ride at all, so it certainly seems to have a divide about it.
 
It also has a theme regarding the local football team, who play in red and blue, like all the best football teams in the world do. Bonus point there for random theme that needs to be explained but is randomly hilarious.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Right next door to Balder is Kanonen, the tiniest Intamin Accelerator you ever did see (unless you’ve been to Italy). It includes a launch into brakes/BROMS, a top hat it barely makes it over, painful Intamin style turns and the inspiration for Blue Fire’s finale inline. It seems a strange addition to the park, as it’s quite clearly been plonked into available space with no real rhyme nor reason, being located on top of a building over dull lifeless concrete.
 
It was rubbish. Slow, dull, painful turns. Stupid Intamin.
 

 

 

 

 

 
After Kanonenenenenenenen, there was call for the Rapids, but they were busy so some people went to the scare attraction. The rest who didn’t had drink/ice cream/dancing times in the pavilion. There were also photographic opportunities to be had to show how gorgeous Helix is.
 

 

 

 

 

 
After all had returned we headed into the kid’s area for the two coasters there. First up was Rabalder, which had an awesome Roomba thing that mowed the lawn for it, as well as the fabled “Tree of Silence” in the queueline. The ride itself was pretty plain and uninteresting, although the ride ops were pretty fab and interactive with everyone on the ride. There was also a bucket of water dripping over the station entrance which was more burdenous than praised.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next door was Stampbanen, an even SMALLER kids coaster which did even less. It was however well themed and had comfy seats (indeed, most Swedish kids creds seem to have wider trains to accommodate two adults/goons, must be deliberate). We passed the time in the queue watching the nearby show and having character times.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Lunchtime was called, so after trudging through the heaving park trying to find somewhere we headed back up the hill to take Helix based photos.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Meeting back up with the group, some elected for more Helix times whilst others went on Atmosfear, the non-rotating Gyro Drop Tower. It was dull for me as I find the taller towers just lack much in the way of thrills after the initial drop, and I’m not scared of heights. The lack of rotation was also disappointing to me. Queue was themed quite nicely though and you could watch people’s reactions whilst queuing, which is ALWAYS entertaining.
 

 

 

 

 
After that we ventured back down the mountain towards Lisebergbanen. The queue moved quickly but alas, not quickly enough, as when we reached the station the heavens open and a fierce storm raged. This closed everything major and we were left to evacuate down a fire exit into a game stall. Conor managed to win a massive box of KEX chocolate which was then used as shelter from the rain.
 

 

 

 

 

 
We eventually moved out towards the Fairy Tale Castle attraction. It was a cheap European dark ride and included music from Efteling’s Droomvulcht. It made me want to be at Efteling, but we weren’t.
 

 

 

 
After the rains officially stopped we headed back to Lisebergbanen, and got to see some hot transfer track action. The Swedes were bemused by the cheers as the 5th train appeared slowly into circulation, causing the ride op to give a little bow as he finished. The ride itself is excellent fun, as it treks up and down the hill in giant swooping drops and turns. It features some faff before and after the triple helix action and has BROMS. Fab.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
It was then called that we do Balder again because of the storm. It was done and it was certainly faster, but still had dull corners. Ah well, it was still good though, with wilder airtime than in the morning.
 

 

 
Some people opted to do the Rapids at this point, before food was called for and Sue and I played the Balder themed racing game. Sue won and was incredibly proud of this. Many people also did the Log Flume whilst I elected for tat times, though the selection was quite poor it must be said.
 

 

 

 
 
We started our venture back to Helix for night ride times but were distracted by the Space Shot of Halfway Up. It was silly because it didn’t use the entire tower, which is why they also have another S&S tower ride, because S&S are crap.
 

 

 

 

 
And so we were to finish our day where it began at Helix. We spent the queue investigating the Helix game app, which is incredibly fab and is incredibly goony. Free to download on Apple and Android devices now!
 
The ride itself was good in the morning, and at night it got even better. It was pushing around the course like tomorrow was not on the horizon, and the overbanked turn drop was fiendishly whippy. It shot Helix above Blue Fire in my top 10 as a result (which I think it might have done anyway, but the night ride confirmed it), and it was just utterly fantastic. The lights along the train provide an even better viewing experience for non-riders, especially given the relatively lack of brighter lights in the surrounding areas where the ride goes (as opposed to Swarm’s brightly lit plaza).
 
Honestly fantastic. If I could I would sit on it all day (and it’s a ride where that is actually doable as well).
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
After some more tat faff it was time to leave, Liseberg is a nice park I’d say; probably prefer Tivoli Gardens to it on a presentation point of view, but it’s still of a very good quality. Helix is an outstanding ride, whilst Balder and Lisebergbanen provide some suitable support to it, with a fantastic kid’s area to boot as well. It perhaps misses a big dark ride out of the mix, but for an inner city park to look as good as it does (the harbour themed area is top tier quality), it doesn’t matter too much.
 
Random night shots because pretty park is pretty.
 

 

 

 

 

 
We left the car park to Ride of the Valkyries booming, thoughts of Helix still fresh in our minds. We can only hope that a major company rides it and realises the potential of it further still.
 

They also posted this photo in 2010, you have to read the caption though  - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=363730235866&set=a.363728885866.201094.27217550866&type=1&theater
 
Dirty Thorpe  

I know it's not a YouTube video, but it's a video and I had no idea where to post this. I have no idea what Thorpe was thinking when they posted this been in 2009, but it's rather disturbing
 
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1200189566592&set=vb.27217550866&type=2&theater

Rode Air Race for the first time yesterday. Everywhere needs an Air Race. Fantastic rides. Zamperla have constructed the system perfectly from restraint system to ride motion... The sensation of slowing down upside down rapidly creates a feeling I can only describe as 'ejector hangtime.' Though I must admit it would be cool if they ever decided to make one where you can control the arm spin speed / direction yourself...
 
& Brighton adding a quality DiscoSmash sound system just finishes their Air Race off wonderfully. Love love love it to the point of taking 12 cycles on it on & off throughout the day. Amazing value for £15 unlimited rides wristband!

What does everyone think of the Extasy ride? I think it looks fab and I want thorpe to get one like this with music and custom sound effects! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FTua058t3Zg

In the dome toilets, hand in hand.

"Use a picture of me by a wooden rollercoaster. That'll really annoy the fanboys."

I know it's not a YouTube video, but it's a video and I had no idea where to post this. I have no idea what Thorpe was thinking when they posted this been in 2009, but it's rather disturbing
 
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1200189566592&set=vb.27217550866&type=2&theater

Well the 2 days I was there, my family just showed the friends and family ticket and they were aloud in no problem.

Rush with sprinklers would actually be great

If you're talking about the friends and family tickets, yes  

N.B. The Blog seems to dislike the majority of my pics, so have a pic-heavy topic instead!
 
Day 1 – TusenFryd
 
The hype for this jaunt to Sweden had built to unbelievable levels. A massive group of coaster goons, 3 Swedish parks, with Helix at the forefront of this trip, meant that the flight to Gothenburg went pretty quickly.
 
We start our report in Norway though, as a few of us turned up for the weekend trip early for cultural times (of which there are no photos, but Gothenburg is alright), and Norwegian creds.
 

 

 

 
First thing you do notice about TusenFryd is the location and surrounding area. Its hill-side forest setting gives the park overall a lovely bit of presentation, however in a fair few areas this doesn’t extend to the park internally, which is disappointing (Speed Monster’s area being a real bad example).
 

 

 

 
Up the entrance escalator and straight towards our first ride of the trip, Speed Monster, an Intamin Accelerator that created the Norwegian Loop. We took over the 12 seater train and we were off, with the launch feeling quite weak in comparison to other bigger variants on the Accelerator, the loop was quite decent though, but in typical Intamin fashion as soon as it did any form of tight transitional turns (2 in a row as well </3) the restraints ruin everything. A ride of two halves really, as the start until the first twisty hill is quite good and enjoyable. But then it all goes to pot. Shame really.
 

 

Minimal theming is, minimal
 

 
We then headed further into the park to find our next coaster, the world’s smallest one in fact, Den aller minste. Coaster enthusiasts generally have little shame in getting kid’s creds, and usually ones of this size generally frown upon adults riding without kids. Indeed, the man operating it took one look at our group and clearly knew why we were here; his exasperation wasn’t hidden in the slightest.
 
At least the seats were comfy and spacious, a rare thing amongst kids creds. There’s little else to say about a ride which is literally a flat oval.
 

 

 

 
Up next was Thundercoaster, the first wooden coaster of the trip, and it was to be a Vekoma. Yay? Actually I did like Loup-Garou back at Walibi so this one being slighty bigger and using the terrain slightly more intrigued me. The burdenously long queue that we walked through did not impress me though (I.e. no shortcuts </3).
 
It’s certainly a ride that when you come off you know you’ve been on one. Which might be a bad thing for some people; it was certainly flinging itself around the track in a wild manner. I found it neither awful nor amazing really, just a reasonably decent ride in the end of it all, with some good airtime about, with the irony that the recently retracked section was probably the roughest part of it all.
 

 

 

 
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/q71/s720x720/10417707_10154455377210220_4140049616716512199_n.jpg?oh=6e867f81457b3371fddc86f9e81621e5&oe=54560BFA[/img]
Cows on a cred!
 
There was a bit of faff as the area at the bottom of the giant hill where the Supersplash and Thor’s Hammer are located (think Legoland Windsor style) opened at 12. We eventually headed down the long walk which was awful due to the weather, and headed straight into the cave of Thor’s Hammer.
 
This was probably the second ride I was most excited about on this trip. A dark ride themed to Norse mythology using a cheap version of the Spiderman ride system set in an actual cave (no sheds here). The theming within the ride is gloriously beautiful, unfortunately not everything comes up to that same high standard they set themselves. It was really, a disappointment to me and others who were hyped for it, for the ride has a few small flaws that prevent it from being amazing. This are namely down to broken screens; a lack of urgency from the speed of the ride car; a lack of ‘extra’ effects (such as water sprays/heaters) and the odd bit of non-sensical positioning from the car (Why are we still falling on the screen before continuing? Why are we flying?). This was probably the biggest shame of the weekend.
 

 

 

 

 

Sue was excited because there were rocks
 
Next door to Bore’s Hammer was Supersplash, which I think was actually the first Mack Supersplash in the world, hence why it doesn’t have any turntables or funky lifts or stuff.
I also think it basically has the whole “if you’ve ridden one, you’ve ridden them all”, it’s still fun though, but not really reaching the spectactular.
 

 

 

 

 

 
We then broke for some lunch, before heading back towards the entrance to pick up another stray goon. I watched a Spongebob themed show at this point, which made zero sense to me, having neither watched the show in the first place and it also being in Norwegian.
 

 

 
We rode Speed Monster again which was still yay to meh in 10 seconds, before popping over to Loopen, an old Vekoma Tornado (I just looked it up, apparently 3 were built). It had a curved station, of which there need to be more of them because reasons, and the ride itself was mercifully short, though also one of the more smoother classic Vekomas in the world. One and done.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The heat of the day was getting to all of us, so the Toomerstupet was done. It was a singular drop Log Flume with mincy bit in the trees prior to the drop, and one boat got stuck in the dual loading station of random necessity. Was certainly required though.
 

 

 

 
We started the long walk up the main hill (more hills than Towers this park) and diverted at the SpinSpider, a MASSIVE Frisbee ride that has a Danish cousin at Bon-Bon Land. It was (like Bon-Bon’s) a brilliant ride, where the ridiculous height prevents a large level of intensity from being built up, and it just becomes completely enjoyable.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
At the top of the hill, antics were had, as was a character photo!
 

 

 

 
We then continued to the Western themed area to hit up the last coaster, Western Expressen, which had been moved from Mirabilandia in Italy a few years back for some reason. It was meh and unexciting.
 

 

 

 

 
We headed BACK UP the hill and rode Space Shot, their S&S Launch Tower which was ok. Some people did SpinSpider again on the way back down the hill before we went through the Eventyrstien kids playground, which helped us get back to where we wanted to go in a much more enjoyable (and shaded) fashion.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We found ourselves back at Thor’s Hammer so a few of us re-rode it, where it still suffered from the same issues as earlier. We then went back to Thundercoaster, which was running a bit rougher than it was earlier in the morning, many of the group did not approve of this factor in the ride either, but it didn’t bother me too much.
 

 

MEATBALLS!
 

 
Some people wanted to ride Nightmare, which was an apparently better version of Vengeance with a long wait in a hot pre-show room. Some of us didn’t, and we discovered a brilliant way of cooling down in the weather.
 

 
Finally Speed Monster was done once more, and we headed back to our cars for the long drive back to Gothenburg.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Overall TusenFryd was a mixed bag of a park. It had an ok line-up of attractions, some awful ones, some mediocre areas in amongst the woodlands and LOTS of hills. I wouldn’t necessarily be running back desperately to the park it must be said, although that might be an opinion spoilt by other rides that were done later on the weekend. Good, but not great really, and some areas of the park need a LOT of work done on them.
 

 

The only way the Spring Clean idea could work is if Thorpe Park made an investment in capital gaining events such as Concerts, Clubbing Nights, and so on...to a higher marketed level that is. 
 
I.e. promote Late Nights as THE thing for 2015, as well as all sorts of artists performing...if that makes any sense. And to be honest it would be nice to have something like that rather than just a small ride. 
 
I think if they made the Events new for 2015, it could attract a substantial crowd, especially if they were on far more regularly next year. 
 
Personally I think Thorpe miss tricks on like Pool Parties, Foam Parties, etc in the summer during the day. 
 
As well as perhaps a totally new stunt show for the summer, or water jet/speed boat show. I did even think about this a while back, but if Thorpe Park were trying to attract the family market, perhaps an air show during the summer would be an excellent idea...(yes I know certain rides, and heights, etc) but imagine, the views around Thorpe Park to watch an air show would be fantastic, a lake and an island, and this would certainly draw in the family market. Perhaps a little premature here but you could go as far as to get competitions, although the Red Bull Air Race is unlikely, similar smaller competitions would be fantastic. 
 
 
Furthermore there are areas that Thorpe Park could have Pleasure Rides on Speed Boats, a cost effective thrill...obviously Health and Safety would have to be assessed. But it does surprise me there is no Ski place, Bannana Boat, Ringo, etc, etc. Not least for Hotel Guests now! (Whether this be a paid extra or included is debatable). Personally it is very frustrating to have a beautiful lake, and it is not capitalised by the park...lets get some Ski competitions, Pleasure Rides and anything else!
 
However these are all suggestions, that could potentially boost capital and popularity...making the park not just about rides...it would be excellent for the long haul as well, to promote the multi functional Thorpe Park Resort! So there you go that's what I think should be in Thorpe Parks Resort 2015! 

Up to 10 people is ridiculous, thought it was only 3 people? Defiantly won't be trying this out in the summer then.

I know it's not a YouTube video, but it's a video and I had no idea where to post this. I have no idea what Thorpe was thinking when they posted this been in 2009, but it's rather disturbing
 
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1200189566592&set=vb.27217550866&type=2&theater

Zodiac was only open because the beach was closed and it's in the same team so they just switch to another ride

Dun dun dunnnnn 
 

(From TPG)