Mega-Lite

Not in any order, first 10 I can rattle off my head. 1) Eagle Fortress - I stood and stared in person where it once stood, spite! 2) Terror Tomb - I was one year late on riding this one but spent most of my childhood pestering my friend who did ride it. 3) Toyland Tours - Never got the chance to ride this, always reminded me of Professor Burbs though and that's a very good thing. 4) Haunted House - Love Duel and it's probably because of how great the stuff that's left is, would love to try it in it's original get up. 5) Knightmare - If the rumours aren't true and it is going to pop up in Southport soon. 6) Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter (Disneyworld) - This strange attraction looked like something I would love. 7) Pre 2017 Dodonpa - As you all know the airtime hill of murder has been replaced by a loop and trim brakes, dumb. 8) Hypersonic XLC - Always intrigued me. 9) Tinkaboo's Factory Tour - Went to Pleasure Island a week before it closed to get the creds, didn't know this ride existed, it looks fantastic, I'm rather annoyed I didn't do it. 10) Dueling Dragons - Don't really like Harry Potter land stuff and it's such a shame they don't duel anymore.

Was Dragon's Fury designed wrong then? Winjas, Spinball and Tarantula all allow 4 adults, I'm aware Spinball goes down to 3 in the rain which arguably makes at least a small amount of sense. If all 4 coasters are built by the same company and all use the same ride vehicles then surely the block brake set ups are similar if not identical. I was always under the impression Fury was put down to 3 adults a car because Chessington feared it may skip a block one day but they had no proof of this. So then how did this 3 adults a car with the operator/host deciding, because they fear it may go wrong, maybe, once in a blue moon, become a set out weight with stupid weighing scales that RobF says means in some cases only 2 larger adults can ride in 1 car. The fact that the other 3 coasters are still piling 4 adults in and not caring makes me think it's not a Maurer issue but rather a Merlin/Chessington one. I'm intrigued now, all seems completely madness to me. A fantastic roller coaster now being operated so poorly there's never a good time to ride it, depressing really.

Been wondering for a while now, what actually made Chessington change from 3 adults at the host/operator's discretion to a stupid weighing scale that ruins further what was already a badly thought out station set up? I assume it's something completely stupid and it's going to make my brain hurt.

Day 3 The reason I needed to be up at 4am and the reason I only got 2 hours sleep was today we were flying to Japan. The reason for this weird 2 days in Korea, Japan leg and then back to Korea to finish, revolve around the Music Bank tickets, you had to be in and out of Korea Incheon airport in 72 hours if I remember correctly to quality, totally worth it! Took the shuttle train back to the airport with the phenomenal Korean train host bowing every time she entered the carriage. Off to Japan we flew, we flew with Asiana and they were incredible, really put BA to shame, then again Easyjet does that... We landed at Fukuoka airport, it was tiny, smelt like a hospital and had a long queue to get in but it was kind of charming in a way. Told the head of immigration when he asked "why are you coming here today?", "for your roller coasters", this put a big smile on his face and I bet he doesn't hear that often! Faffing about with stupid car hire over and done with (why do they hate us so much!) and we hit the roads of Japan. My friend drove and he deserves many rewards for doing it, we shall get onto that. Straight out of the car hire street and into a massive junction, took the wrong exit but finally found ourselves driving up a ramp onto the Japanese highway. Signs for a toll were approaching but no gates were down, maybe this one is free? I told my friend to speed up and just go for it, but then with music blaring and all windows up we hear someone scream "STOOOOOOOOOOOP", 1 emergency stop later and an eldery Japanese man walked over to the car, verbal murder incoming we thought, but no this is Japan and with a smile on his face he asked for the toll, no worries! But of course I paid him in Korean coins, if you know anything about Korean and Japanese history you'll know I screwed up but once again he smiled and helped show me which coins were the right ones, top bloke! As we pulled back onto the road we were all laughing so hard we almost crashed, hell I'm still laughing now. Despite being the country that blessed the World with my favourite car of all time, the Nissan GTR, the speed limits are stupidly slow in Japan, couple that with aforementioned tolls, of which there are many and they cost between 10 - 40 pounds on average and you wonder why anyone has a car in Japan! Greenland https://rcdb.com/4967.htm Pulled in the Greenland car park and paid the man at the gate the car parking fee, it wasn't much at all thankfully. While trying to find a good space among the seas of those weird Asian cube cars, I noticed the elderly car parking man was sprinting across the car park towards us, had I really made the same mistake again?! Of course I had! But like before he saw the funny side of it and after the right exchanges were made, he left and left me hoping when I'm an old man I'm this full of mobility. Because of faff at airport, faff at hire car, slowest roads in the World and getting lost a bit, we were now about 4 and half hours from park close, this park has a lot of coasters and the cred anxiety was real. This didn't deter friend's wife though, she spent 20 minutes going through all her bags in order to obtain something no one needed, women! First time buying entrance tickets in Japan then, had been warned by everyone I knew that the Japanese know hardly any English and everything would go awfully wrong, liars. Manned myself up and walked over to the ticket desk to be greeted by a beautiful and shy Japanese girl blushing and covering her face after everything she said, I think I'm going to like this country. All sorted, let's go! While looking for the building that coverts your entrance ticket to a wristband I hear running from behind, my new best friend from earlier was running towards me, blushing, bowing and giggling as she went. I had forgotten to take the equivalent of 10p in change from her and she handed it over bowing, no wait I'm going to love this country! This was a theme I noticed in Fukuoka, easily the nicest place I've been in the World people wise, everyone was so happy to help and it made this part of Japan even more amazing for it. While the park wasn't exactly landscaped or well themed everything was well presented, something I noticed in Japan with the exception of 1 park, the Japanese really do seem to care about their parks and their roller coasters which is lovely to see. Blackhole Coaster https://rcdb.com/3782.htm - I remember quite enjoying this indoor powered coaster, good cheesy fun. Goa https://rcdb.com/1212.htm - My first Japanese jet coaster, which mean it's 10,000 feet long, does nothing of note and is great at resting your feet and letting you remember, "oh god, I'm in Japan" Grampus Jet https://rcdb.com/1311.htm - While sharing the same layout as Dream Catcher at Bobbejaanland, this suspended coaster is quite good, Bobbejaan's one deserves a fire, nah Bobbejaanland as a whole deserves fire actually. Ladybird https://rcdb.com/1925.htm - That makes 2 powered twin helixes of this trip Milky Way https://rcdb.com/1213.htm - First Togo and I'm calling out everyone who slags them off for no reason, this coaster was great! The sit down side was good fun but it's the stand up side that wins all the love, yes I said it, I loved a Togo stand up. 10,000 times better train design than the Intamin one allowed for an actual feeling of openess, plus you were properly standing unlike Shockwave. Ejector air on your feet is something I never thought I'd experience, but I did! Nio https://rcdb.com/1211.htm - Not even Japan can escapes the clutches of the SLC, this one was fine, if you've done El Condor you can do anything. Sphinx https://rcdb.com/1924.htm - +1 Spin Mouse https://rcdb.com/1215.htm - +1 Ultra Twister Megaton https://rcdb.com/1214.htm - First time on one of these contraptions and it was quite good fun but nothing special. The brakes before the backwards section is the surprise highlight! Another amazing conversation, this time with 2 blushing shy Japanese girls, in order to buy tickets to ride the 400 foot ferris wheel (so many in Japan it's crazy), the views from up there coupled with the breeze blowing through the pod made for a great ending to our day. We rode everything we wanted to with the exception of the Bobkart, if it was listed on CoasterCount probably would of hit it just for the rare points but otherwise not worth the hassle. I really enjoyed myself at Greenland, it was a great start to the Japan parks. Hour drive back to hotel later and having only eaten a cream pastry for breakfast and it now being 9pm we were clawing at the walls. After discovering there was literally no shops or restaurants for miles, we kidnapped the friendly man from reception and got him to translate the Japanese only menu at the hotel restaurant. Ate my weight in fries and Chinese dumping things and despite how weird that combination is, it was fantastic.

So I was going to wait untill the weekend to start this trip report but screw it I'm in the mood. In late April this year, me, my best friend and his wife (who's also a good friend) went on a bit of a special trip to Korea and Japan and it was fantastic! For as long as I can remember I've wanted to go to Japan, the coasters there have always peaked my interest. Korea is a bit of a different story, my ba***rd friend, the same one on this trip, introduced me to Kpop in 2015 and suffice to say it's ruined my life, couple that with T Express and I had more than a good reason to visit. If I rant or moan or come across sarcastic at points let it be known I fully appreciate how lucky I am to be able to have done this trip. This is going to be a long one, hope you enjoy! Day 1 Our trip begin by boarding a BA (WHY?!) plane from Heathrow to Incheon (Korea) on the Wednesday at 12:30pm, due to crazy time differences and a rather (to say the least) long flight we arrived in Korea at 7:30am on the Thursday. This was my first ever long distance flight and it wasn't anywhere near as bad as people make them out to be. I was worried about going to sleep on the plane, my logic being our plane took off at midday (our time) and would land by about 9pm (our time) and that it would do more harm than good, so on the first day I pulled a rather long one! I watched Fantastic Beasts (it's alright), Moana (it's great), 2 American Dads, 2 Family Guys and then we were there, really wasn't an issue. The amazingly slow queue to get into Korea was thankfully broken up by beautiful airport hosts wearing "can I help?" t shirts, yes please. First ever stamp in my passport and we were in. Straight to the high speed airport - Seoul shuttle train, buying a T Card (the same T from T Express did you know?) on route. The T Card is an essential for tourists wanting to get around Seoul, it very similar to an Oyster card and offers tourists discounts on travel (mainly the subway), during the 2016 - 2018 "visit Korea YEAR", they must be using the same logic as Disneyland Paris on that one. Got to Seoul station and walked about 500 miles over awful floors in order to come out the wrong exit and have to walk 500 more miles during morning rush hour, Christ. Checked into our hotel, Kpop Hotel, which is meant to be 2 minutes from Seoul station if you aren't stupid and take the wrong exit, ditched our bags there and we went to get breakfast at Quiznos. We were meant to be going to Lotte World on this day but discovered on the morning via their website Atlantis Adventure was down for maintenance until the weekend, spite! Needed a change of plan then, while the other 2 finished eating I went and spoke to the offensively pretty lady on the help desk about the best way to get to Everland. She was fantastic and said she makes the journey regularly herself (really should of asked for her number I think), she booted up her laptop and printed me a map and told me all the details I needed. We topped our T Cards up at Seoul station, which is a joy for the record, in England when I had an Oyster card it meant going to an angry Indian man who'd shout at me for doing it wrong for 2 minutes, not here, all on machine and simple as anything. Took the subway to Gangnam (isn't there a song about this place?), walked outside and caught the bus. The bus driver was a complete asshole, my second time dealing with Korean money and paying for all 3 of us and he didn't have any time for that, starts driving and shouting while I'm paying and my friends are behind me leaning against the door, what the hell, ba***rd! He drove about as well as he dealt with people which in this case is a good thing because lack of sleep started catching up with me. Everland After driving for another 10 minutes after passing the Everland entrance sign we finally arrived at the park, oh wait we didn't, we arrived at the bus park - park entrance shuttle bus, come on! We used our T Cards to give us 30 percent off the entrance price, told you they are essential and we were in! Everland is located in a hilly area surrounded by trees and is easily the prettiest park in Korea, the park is very well presented and definitely has an almost magical feel to it which I'm sure I would of enjoyed more if I wasn't completely ruined by this point! The only graffiti came in the form of locals carving their favourite Kpop bands names into queuelines and I'm ok with that. It's a huge park with lots and lots of hills which is ideal if you've been awake about 70 hours but also a warning for you if you visit. After walking miles in the wrong direction and still not seeing T Express we came to the conclusion it had either been removed like Eagle Fortress (WHY?!) or we were so tired that we invented it in our minds, then we found it! Dragon Coaster https://rcdb.com/1340.htm - This powered (not a cred) twin helix (a lot on this trip, just wait) would have just been for the rare points if it wasn't for the 2 hyper active women operating it making it one of the best rides in the park. Herky & Timmy's Racing Coaster https://rcdb.com/2969.htm - +1. Rolling X-Train https://rcdb.com/1338.htm - This weird Arrow looping coaster holds a special place in my heart, not at all because it's good but because it's one of the funniest roller coasters I've ever been on. I'm not exactly sure why but me and my friend spent the whole ride laughing, to the point I couldn't breathe and he needed to run to the bathroom afterwards, not many rides can garner that reaction from me, I appreciate that! T Express https://rcdb.com/3938.htm - I knew this monster was going to be good but I didn't think I'd love it as much as I did. The first drop makes Wildfire's first drop cry in shame and Balder weep in the corner, it took me completely by surprise how intense it was. The amount of air time hills and the amount of them that actually work (looking at you Geforce), coupled with how long some of them leave you pinned against your restraint is crazy. Our 3rd ride in the dark, where the coaster had gotten even faster and you couldn't see the insanity coming actually made me cry with happiness and much like Karnan reminded me why I love this sometimes rather silly hobby. Live Hologram Theater - AOA, a previously favourite Kpop band of mine performing in hologram form, loved it so much, well worth the up charge. Mystery Mansion - Almost good it's so bad shooting dark ride, reminded me of Golden Nugget at Drayton. Rotation House - Madhouse attraction where 2 gargoyles shout extremely loudly during the ride section and then like the Europa one your under carriage is violated by something in the seat. Rapids - This rapids featured a velco attached plastic cover over every rider. It provided a sense of security but don't be fooled still got rather wet! We also did the zoo which was very good, first time seeing giant pandas! We rode the lost valley amphibious vehicle safari, think Zufari but much much much much better, with a hyper active Korean man loving his job and a pointless water section. About this time I should point out as well as not getting enough sleep on this trip, we didn't really eat enough either, at Everland after being awake so long I could only muster up eating 2 churros, probably not wise. Everland is a great park and deserves the recognition it gets as Korea's top amusement park, on Korean TV it features nearly weekly and rightly so. T Express is incredible, the Kpop hologram show is life changing and the rest ranges from average to hilarious, if you went to Korea and missed this place you have messed up. It's now 9pm, I've now been awake for god knows how many hours and oh it's bad. We jump on a bus that's heading in the direction of a subway station that's sort of near where we need to be, little did we know this bus was going to go the very long way to get there. 1 and a half hours later, during which all 3 of us were falling asleep at different times only being awoken by the driver almost crashing. Got the hotel, was fairly convinced I wasn't going to make it through the night at this stage but I did! Day 2 Late start today thankfully and after trying and failing to work out how wet rooms work, not well apparently, we went about our day sightseeing. We saw a palace (it's better watching Kpop idols visit there than going yourself), a weird building, a mall that closed at 5pm (madness), a food hall (where they even managed to ruin cheese rolls) and that's about it, I'm very cultural honest. The main mission for today and one of the reasons for the whole trip was going to Music Bank. Music Bank is a weekly Kpop music show where about 100 people a week can be in attendance while it's filmed live. We got tickets through the airport, as part of a plan to bring more tourists to Korea, oh it worked! Tonight's show featured performances from 3 of my favourite bands in the genre, Dreamcatcher, Oh My Girl and EXID. Explaining it to you won't do it justice but being about 15 feet away from bands you idolize is something I'll never forget, life altering stuff. After my life was changed forever we returned to the hotel and I couldn't sleep I was so happy, oh well I only need to be up at 4am tomorrow.

Day 3 Woke up at half 5 and checked out of the hotel swiftly, as we had a 3 and a half hour drive to Hansa (I'm almost certain I'm getting too old for this). The car park had about 50 smoking teens in it at 6am, I guess that's why the hotel was so quiet at night, they clearly were pulling an all night smoking session, each to his own. Music on, another breakfast in the car and we were soon on the autobahn doing 127mph in an Opel estate, amazingly this wasn't the scariest thing I experienced this day! Hansa Park We got to Hansa Park just before half past 9 and for the first time on this trip we experienced a relatively empty car park, seeing Karnan's tower from the car park made my legs slightly weak, so off to a good start I think! In Denmark everyone speaks English extremely well, which is great for stupid tourists like me, forgetting we had crossed countries we almost managed to completely confuse the poor man selling tickets (wouldn't be the first time on this trip), thankfully managed to sort it all out and can I just say I think the entrance price for Hansa Park is very acceptable. Almost as soon as I entered the park, which is beautiful for the record, I manage to experience a massive headache. Knowing I needed painkillers, something to eat and a Coke, I powered back to the car to get the pills, friend got me a coke and I ordered some chips, which I then proceeded to pour sugar on at the counter while the German lady exclaimed "SUGAR!!", oh well, the more sugar the better at sorting this headache. Now feeling better it was time to hit the park and oh boy it was great. Crazy Mine - +1 Fluch von Novgorod - Just yesterday I noticed this ride is in Benin's top 10, I'll try to play nice. As an experience this fantastically themed Eurofighter is wonderful. From the beautiful area the coaster is located in (the very area I sugared my chips no less), the fascinating story attached to the ride, through to the awesome looking buildings the coaster flies in and out of, it's all rather impressive. The queueline is awesome and let me tell you, when my friend ditched me later in the day and owing to the park being empty, I had to do it all by myself and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely on edge the whole time. The thing that will probably cause Benin to curse my name (and that's fine) comes now. At the end of the day it's a Eurofighter and in my opinion not one with a fantastic layout at that. The launch with the air time hill straight after is great, then the rest of coaster it just sort of rattles about doing nothing of note in my opinion. The enclosed lifthill only managed to confuse me and stop my breathing (I'm not joking I really can't handle vertical lifts in most cases), then a drop into the darkness for some more rattling, brakes, a weird hill and the final brakes. The experience as whole is very impressive, it's a shame the coaster in my eyes does not deserve such a fantastic premise. Kleine Zar - +1 Nessie Superrollercoaster - Only rode this once and it was during my headache so I don't feel satisfied enough to review it. Rasender Roland - Another freaking Vekoma Junior, sigh. Schlange von Midgard - Lovely little Gerts family coaster with a dark ride section, you get 2 laps and the dark ride section changes on the second, rather impressed. Schwur des Karnan - So it turns out the best coaster on the trip is a coaster that wasn't meant to be on this trip. Where should I begin.... Just look at it! This coaster shouldn't exist in real life, a near 300 foot fully themed tower structure with green track flying everywhere the eye can see, madness! The attraction both inside and out is themed to a standard that would make Disney blush, so much work has gone into it theming wise, it took my breath away and thinking about it now I'm getting shivers. I believe 6 different 15 minute mini documentaries are played throughout the earlier parts of the incredible queue line, explaining the story, which is based on a real castle located in Denmark (I really hope I've remembered this right). Once inside you are batched by magical forces (in one of the coolest preshow sections I've ever come across) into which row you will be experiencing this beast from, fingers crossed it's the back or front! You may already know what happens on the lift hill of Karnan but for those who don't I refuse to ruin this awe inspiring experience. While on the lift, with the music blaring, everything swaying, my heart about to explode from fear many thoughts crossed my mind, the best one being, this is why I love this hobby. Karnen uses tiny lap bars, the same as Karacho, the feeling of freedom on this ride is terrifying at points. As you crest the lift in the back row you are violently ejected almost into the side of the tower, scary stuff. From here on you experience an over 200 foot drop, relentless pacing, positive g so intense the seat tries to cut your thighs open from underneath, air time moments that attempt to break your leg from the top this time and one of the scariest inversions I can think of. The only flaw I can think of is, if you aren't sitting on the wheels over the track, as with most Gert's creations, things get rather rough. I didn't think I'd enjoy Karnan when it was explained to me but I've fallen completely in love with it, let this be a lesson, go out and ride this machine, see for yourself how brilliant it is. During the day we had a cheap and delicious pizza meal, our first proper sit down meal of the trip, it was great, we also did the observation tower, the park is just as lovely from above. Hansa Park then, it's fantastic, I'd put it right up there with Efteling and Tivoli Gardens for parks I could just stay all day at with a big smile on my face. The ride line is strong and Karnan is certainly World class and worth the trip alone. Bought the Karnan soundtrack, a couple ice creams and we hit the dusty trail for the long ride back to Billund airport (which according to the sat nav was a mans house 2 miles from the airport). Ditched all the liquids above 100ml in the car, don't feel bad for Sixt car hire though for having to clean because after we returned home we discovered they screwed us over and charged us about 60 pounds extra for something we didn't ask for, idiots. Plane was an hour delayed and at this point I'm starting to question if BA has any customers who swear by them anymore. Got home after a great little trip, hitting some parks I've wanted to experience for a while now and I fought the post trip blues by blasting the Karnan soundtrack on my ipod for the next couple of days. Thank you for reading.

When I visited a couple weeks ago Oblivion had the longest queue in the park, as Matt said it was down to only using one loading section. Add to the fact they were also batching and bar checking at let's say Chessington speed, it was rather frustrating, good thing I used my freebie Premium Merlin Annual Pass fast track on it. Does anyone know the reason for only using one loading section in recent times and why they are so slow at dispatching these days, did something happen that's caused change of operations or are they just being silly? As I don't really care for Oblivion these days I'm not really prepared to queue 60 minutes (while Nemesis is 5 minutes) just because operations on it are a shell of what they used to be.

There are probably worse things in the World than getting stuck on GForce, I just can't think of any at this current moment. After doing a bit of a Hex post "TLC" review, I think it's time to do one for the "new" Haunting. I don't know exactly when these changes were made as I try my best to not visit Drayton Manor more than once ever 2 years. I was very disappointed with these changes however and here's why. I really enjoyed the old Haunting, I know that the old Haunting was in itself a refurb of the original attraction but I digress, the last iteration of the Haunting was good fashioned cheesy stupid fun. From the preshow video featuring what I always assumed was the man from the Crystal Maze (would you start the fans, PLEASE!), the hilarious ghost corridor were no one reacted, the priest vampire animatronic who talked for hours while the floor bounced and the background music drowned the poor bloke out and the bats(I think?) escaping the crypt at the end of the ride section. It was completely stupid but I loved it. The new Haunting however, the new pre show video is a man pretty much implying the whole thing might or might not be just a hoax, the whole thing feels really cheaply done too, the old pre show was so over the top. The pre show room that used to feature the amazing vampire bloke, now just uses a very repetitive, generic and probably royalty free halloween song, while some projected ghosts float about the room and a man's face appears infront of you no less than 3 times saying pretty much the same thing each time, rubbish. The ride section has yet more projected ghosts during it and the hilarious bats(weren't they?) that escape the crypt are no more. To further disappoint me, just before the gift shop, you now have the chance to decide whether what you just experienced was a real haunting or a hoax, but pressing 2 huge stupid buttons. I really wished they would have left it alone, I want to say maybe kids might enjoy this new version more but I really don't think they will. It's all too sterile, heartless and lacks the silliness of the original. Oh well, one less reason to want to visit Drayton Manor is always a good thing I suppose!

Finally got back on one of my favourite dark rides a couple weeks back and it was a fantastic reunion, it's been too long old friend. Get the negatives out the way first, that stupid yellow tape all over the place takes away from it a bit. The generator wasn't producing sparks, I know it rarely worked properly before the "TLC" but I thought they might have sorted it out. The interior queueline is too brightly lit now in my opinion. Finally the audio in the cinema section was very loud and very distorted, the loudness of it was great, just hope they sort out the distortion issues, if this is indeed a whole new system it can't have been installed correctly. Niggles aside, I'll try to explain what I noticed as new or different than remember it from before the "TLC". It had a queue! Been visiting Alton Towers for almost 10 years now and never seen Hex with a queue, but this time I waited 20 minutes for it and I'm more than OK with that, great to see this wonderful attraction getting some recognition. Never had the chance to watch the queueline videos before so it was treat a to finally get the chance. Coaster, the audio before the cinema section was in operation when I went, it's now louder than ever and the lighting on the portrait of the naughty Earl works much better now, as in you can fully see the portrait. The audio in the octagon was louder than I recall and unlike the cinema it wasn't distorted. Lastly in the ride section I noticed things I'd never seen before, subtle things I can't really recall but things were different I'm sure. Easily the highlight of my return to Alton Towers to get to experience this great attraction again, Alton Towers isn't Alton Towers without this thing, never close it again! As far as I could tell Benin, it was indeed not parking correctly, music had finished and exit announcement playing before it finally touched down, I was too satisfied to let it bother me though!

I'm not going to deny the section after the drop wasn't extremely underwhelming, not a patch on the backwards section of 13 that's for sure. Think we will have to agree to disagree about Ghost though, the build up to the ride was quite impressive I must admit, but the ride itself, pass. Day 2 After a good nights sleep in the World's most quiet hotel, despite many teens lurking in the car park the night we arrived, it was dead silent, great! About an hour and half of driving later we arrived at.. Farup Sommerland You buy your park entrance tickets while still in the car from little admission huts either side of the road, first time I've ever seen this and I like it! Spent about 20 minutes glazing myself up in sun screen, all 3 days of this trip it was 30 degrees and I burn like nothing else on Earth. This park claims it's Denmark's best sommerland, I'll be the judge of that! Falken - My first S&S woodie, I wasn't expecting much from it and I came off very happy indeed. Fast, quite forceful, strong pops of airtime throughout and just the right amount of a beating to know it's a woodie but not enough to hinder the experience. Got 3 laps on it, good little ride this. If you forced me to place it in terms of a ranking, I'd say I prefer it to the Gerts and Vekoma woodies but it's quite a way away from the CCI/GCI/Intamins, great fun though! Flagermusen - Reverchon spinner with an amusing name. +1. Lynet - Was apprehensive about this Gerts launch coaster and I needn't have been as it was rather good. The launch is great and quite forceful and the rest of the layout is littered with great pops of airtime and smooth inversions. If this thing had the same restraints as Karacho and Karnan (lapbars) it could have been fantastic, but for now I'll leave it at great. Mine Expressen - Getting a bit bored of these Vekoma junior coasters now, oh well, got the cred. Orkanen - My first ride on the biggest of the Vekoma Family Suspended coasters and it was great. Definitely an improvement on the smaller model (Pterosaur at Paultons/Kvasten at Grona Lund), faster and slightly more forceful. The setting over the water, the theming and the fact it rode smooth as butter made it worth a couple of laps for sure. Pindsvinet - Don't judge me. +1 Farup Sommerland is a very good looking park with a lovely nature feeling throughout, the atmosphere was very nice and I enjoyed the coaster line up a lot more than I expected to. Is it Denmark's best sommerland then? Nope! Djurs is and leads me nicely onto. We had planned to spend a whole day at Farup but managed to finish everything we wanted with re rides by half 12, my friend jokingly said, "we could ditch this place, do Djurs now and go Hansa tomorrow", this was only a joke, but as our eyes met we both knew this had to be done! Hitting the trail hard and eating the remains of our breakfast pastries (as we left before eating) we made the almost 2 hour drive to.. Djurs Sommerland As we pulled into the car park, my stomach hit the floor, cars for as far as the eye could see, I promise you I am not exaggerating, that's it game over we thought. Walking up the main entrance with Piraten on my right and DrageKongen on my left I was both very concerned and completely overwhelmed. We bought our tickets and entered the park sweating, and not just because it was 32 degrees. Walked swiftly to Piraten and it was a 10 minute queue, as with Legoland I guess the masses aren't here for the rides and for that I thank them. DrageKongen - Oh boy, probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but I'm almost certain I haven't see anyone else even mention this thing online, maybe they are too ashamed to comment. We queued first time 30 minutes and the next 2 times 10 minutes for Djurs' brand new Intamin Family Suspended coaster. There is no denying this thing looks fantastic as does the Asian themed area it sits in, more parks need Asian themed areas in my opinion. On all our rides, every other train that was sent, a problem would appear to occur, with a slightly racist breakdown announcement playing and the engineer who was sitting behind the op jumping up to coax it back to life. The ride then, I'm so sorry to be the one to break this news, it's nothing special. Some people online seem to think because of this things size and speed it's going to either ride like either a family version of Nemesis Inferno or an inverted mega lite, it rides like neither. Remember Orkanen from Farup Sommerland earlier, that is easily it's closest comparison, however (and I hope it's a bedding in thing), the coaster currently rattles around the track, a rattle you can quite clearly see and hear, even offride. Juvelen - Loved this thing to pieces. First launch got me thinking this is a great family coaster, then you hit the second launch and suddenly things get real, intense, a lot faster than I expected but still extremely smooth. Fantastic family coaster, we need more of these things! I plan to do a trip report of my recent Asia trip soon (quite enjoying writing these I must admit) and Juvelen is almost as good as Atlantis Adventure in Korea. Piraten - Straight into my top 5 goes the incredible Piraten, I can see why (still don't like it though) this layout is a clone, it's perfection. There are absolutely no dead spots or pacing issues on this relentless little coaster, from the bottom of the first drop to hitting the brakes hard with your shirt half off your body and your internal fluids now external, it's non stop. Shames Expedition Geforce and Goliath in my opinion. The sideways airtime hills are some of the most intense airtime moments I've ever experienced, you literally don't have time to prepared yourself for them, even after 10 goes. On my 9th run it managed to make me loose vision in my right eye (being a pirate themed coaster, maybe it thought I needed an eyepatch?), my eyesight and my shirt in danger we ended at 10 runs, could ride this all day I reckon. Skatteøen - Mack water coaster, I count these, do you? +1 Thor's Hammer - Done too many of these damn things by now. Cobra at Paultons is still my favourite and the one at Tripdrill is my least favourite, Thor's Hammer was exactly average. Vilde Hønsejagt - Great looking train! +1 Rio Grande Rafting - Love a good rapids ride, this one was very good fun. Ørnen - My first topple tower, spent the whole ride laughing at how dumb it was, fun though. Djurs Sommerland is a fantastic park with a criminally good coaster line up, Piraten and Juvelen are World class, with Thor's Hammer and Skatteøen being very strong back up rides. I believe DrageKongen is a strong new member of the lineup, though I have to be honest I did expect more from it, oh well, gave me more time to injure myself on Piraten I suppose. Quick phone call to Hansa Park, which went something like, "hi, would it be ok to speak English please?", "I'll give it a go!", "at present are you likely to have all rides in operation tomorrow?", "yes!", fantastic. Off we went back to the hotel feeling extremely satisfied with our day, with me still nursing my sore eye, this hilarious injury with crop up again at Hansa.

Over the past couple of years I've really enjoyed reading trip reports on various forums, so I figured, for the people like me who enjoy reading these things, I'll take a shot. 3 weeks ago me and my friend went on a weekend trip to Denmark, I had never been to this part of Denmark before, instead having only done Tivoli Gardens (which I love) and Bakken (which I don't). This trip had been on the cards for a while and the opening of DrageKongen was the reason for waiting. Day 1 After a stupidly early flight out of Heathrow, with equally stupid BA we landed in Billund. Seeing Polar X-plorer from the runway was fun and got me to thinking, how many other creds can you see from runways? Do you guys know any? Very relaxed and calm security checks done and we were in arrivals. We went with Sixt car hire for 2 reasons, they were very cheap compared and they promised us if you entered details online, the wait at the desk would be short. After waiting in a 20 minute queue to get to the desk then another 10 minutes at the desk we soon realised this was all lies. We ordered a small hatchback, got an Opel estate, great.. Extremely short drive later and we were at. Legoland Billund Now let me start by saying, I really don't care for Legoland parks anymore. I've watched Windsor decline in quality for many years and turned down a trip to Legoland Japan because it didn't interest me at all. So why Billund one then? Simple, Polar X-plorer! We got to the park and began to get worried when the main car park was closed because it was full and we had to park about 500 miles away in the 2nd of 3 car parks owned by the park, spite! After walking the entire length of the park from the outside to reach the entrance, it was time to buy tickets. Now correct me if I'm wrong (normally am) but as a UK Merlin Annual Pass holder I assumed I got half price entry, I told this to the friendly man in the ticket office and he replied, "I think it's free for you with that pass", I tried my best to explain I didn't think this was the case however. 5 minutes of him searching through his paper work and phoning people, he gave up and told me, "I'll just give you a free ticket, I really don't know how this works", thank you sir! We were now in the park and it was heaving, elbows out levels of busy for as far as I could see, oh god. My friend who had visited before powered us over to a queue board, 30 minute queue for powered Dragon and rest was 10, I guess everyone else is here to get sun burnt for the fun of it then. I'm no good at remembering the order we did things in, so I'll just recap the attractions we experienced. Dragen - Powered version of the classic Legoland star attraction, the dark ride section before the coaster begins is in a much better condition than it's Windsor counterpart, as for the rest of it, meh. Ghost - To anyone wanting this to come to Windsor, go ride it right now, then please tell me if you still feel that way, terrible. Ninjago - Quite fun for what it is, but really didn't do much for me. Polar X-plorer - Great little coaster this, this is what Windsor needs, but I'm not sure it deserves it. The coaster section before the drop track is great fun, with some good forces and nice pops of air. The drop track section to me feels more forceful than 13 and you really do come out of your seat. Fantastic trains too. Had 3 laps on this and cherished each one. Temple - If you think Laser Raiders is bad (which I do), this is even worse. The whole ride is just a big circle, then back to station, with almost nothing happening. X-treme Racers - Been many years since I last rode Jungle Coaster but I don't remember it being this bad. Rough, slow and pointless, why do Legoland have so many of these things? Legoland Billund final thoughts? The park is much nicer than the Windsor one. The park is very clean, all Lego models in the park are still moving (unlike half of Windsor) and the staff are lovely (I put that one down to Denmark in general though). Polar X-plorer alone is worth the effort of visiting this park, however if this coaster wasn't here I certainly would not have made the trip. Tivoli Friheden About an hour in the World's longest car later and we were parking in the car park of the local baseball stadium for a couple minute walk to Tivoli Friheden. This park was something of a surprise for me. This was my knowledge before arriving, it was ghetto, it had a SCAD tower and the SLC had derailed. The park was only on this trip as a means of gaining more creds for the list but I walked away quite impressed with the place. Bisværmen - SBF Visa childrens spinning coaster, a bigger version of Whirlwind in Yarmouth. +1. Cobra - Certainly not the worst SLC I've ridden and the fear of derailing again, trust me it felt like it was trying, made this quite a funny experience. Dragen - Wacky Worm. +1 Orkanens Øje - Clone of Turbo on Brighton Pier, what more can I say, managed to have a conversation on this though. Tyfonen - Zamperla's attempt at a Reverchon spinning, not as good and for some reason our car didn't spin, weird. My friend did the SCAD tower, I opted to eat an ice cream and watch him fall to his death, he survived and told me it was a very fun experience. We then played mini golf which was brilliant fun, one of the more messed up courses, several moments of thinking the designers must of been on something with this one. Off we went hitting the dusty trail. This park is a lot better than I've ever seen it get credit for online. Sure it's a bit wacky in places and none of the rides are that impressive, but it doesn't matter. Friendly staff, pretty setting and everyone having a good time speaks more than enough for this place. Another short drive to Randers to our very reasonably priced hotel and thus ended our first day.

I must be quite lucky, as I've only come across 1 coaster I wouldn't ever ride again. Insane - hated every second of this awful torture device, but like Hex, the story didn't end there, I spent the rest of the day with a lovely headache and felt quite ill, all because of this stupid thing. I realise it wouldn't be very sporting to only shame 1 coaster though, so a few other honourable mentions, that I would ride again, for enough money. GForce - WHY?! Takes my breath away how bad this thing is, pun intended. Abismo - Can't breathe, can't breathe, can't breath. Upside down for too long while can't breath. Restraint tightens again, great. Rattling around, can't breathe. Back up vertical lift, where it holds you before reversing into station, still not breathing. Hate it. Tornado (Bakken) - Launched lift into an S bend, who needs a neck anyway? Then rattling around a warehouse for 20 seconds doing nothing of note. Can see why this is the only one in the World.

Long time reader of TPM forums, better time than any to join I reckon. What better way to start than to divide opinions and possibly trigger some people with my current top 10 list, enjoy! 1) Helix - In my opinion roller coaster perfection, the pacing, the setting, the length, the incredible air time moments, the bursts of intense positive g and the trains, oh god the trains. Came off of it first time and said aloud, "I'm not sure how this coaster could be bested", and it hasn't. Love it. 2) T Express - From the first drop that screams "I'm going to kill you", the many sustained moments of ejector airtime, the out of control fast pace, the beautiful setting and the fact it's the only roller coaster I've cried happy tears on, I can't help but love this beast. It's almost offensive it lives on the other side of the World. 3) Karnan - Newest coaster to grace my top 10. This roller coaster and the experience attached to it, cannot be done justice but me simply telling you what I like about it. One of the weirdest and most over the top coaster I've ridden. 4) Taron - If it wasn't for the trims nearing the end of it and a couple of parts that fell flat for me, this incredible coaster would have probably been fighting Helix for first place. The second launch on this thing is something every so called roller coaster enthusiast needs in their life, I know I do. 5) Piraten - I rode this coaster, until my body couldn't take it any more. The layout is perfection. A coaster that attempts to both murder you and steal the t shirt off your back is a coaster this guy loves. The sideways air time hills are so messed up and typing this is making me want another go. Expedition GeForce, bow down. 6) Wildfire - Probably going to be banned in my first post for saying this, but having ridden Wildifre, I'm not sure RMCs quite live up to the hype, sorry. While I really enjoyed Wildfire, expectations had me expecting something life changing, which it was not. Roll on Lightning Rod I say. 7) Expedition GeForce - Very over hyped, but still damn good fun. Moments of this coaster are extremely good, but too much darting around doing not much for my liking, Oh and the trims, WHY?! 8) Balder - T Express' little brother and a very fun little ride in it's own right. To it's credit though, it's goes even harder than Piraten in it's quest to remove clothes. 9) Flying Dinosaur - After years of Air trying to convince me B&M flyers are boring, sluggish and pointless. Japan graced me with this gem. Fast, very intense, fantastic. 10) Nemesis - Please don't ban me, I can't believe it either. Nemesis is wonderful, however the more new coasters I hit, the move it seems to slip on my twice annual Nemesis pilgrimage.