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Electerik

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Electerik last won the day on March 15

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About Electerik

  • Birthday 03/11/1970

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  1. Was really looking forward to going to Japan next year and not being allowed to ride it.
  2. I love Gröna Lund so much. Having said that, it would be nice if one of their 75 drop tower rides was an observation tower instead. I'm just saying.
  3. Särkänniemi is a city-owned amusement park with a great location and an interesting and varied collection of attractions. Its coaster lineup is perhaps a bit lacking, though, and there aren't a whole bunch of them. Which is okay by me, but maybe left a lot of my fellow trip participants ready to move on well before I was. Which is a shame, as there are sections of this park I felt like I really had to rush through, and some areas I never even saw. 24: Born To Boom Näsinneula Observation Tower & Tornado greet us as we enter the park. Also, some really pretty benches, all at weird angles to make sitting more challenging and fun! Tornado's station is impressively dark and spooky and carved out of rock. And one of its two heartline rolls similarly sweeps under mountain. Which is cool, because when I think "Tornado," I think "underground caves." A good ride, but a bit rattly. On the other hand, I exclusively rode on the much less full train, and those on the more heavily-weighted train did not seem to agree with my 'rattly' accusation. So take that for what it's worth. Tornado intertwines with the park's log flume, Tukkijoki--which means "log nonsense" (maybe). Also, that "floating" faucet would maybe be more convincing if they, like, tried. Is it better to boom before pizza, or after? No, serious question. The park wants to know. It's hip and cool and for the trendy kids. Except that it is actually kind of cool looking. Oh, wait, if I think it's cool, then it definitely isn't, because I'm old and decidedly unhip. So I don't know what it is. It's the Park Shop. Beware of smartphone zombies. These symbols actually spell out a word! See it? All aboard the hype train! See, because, the ride is called Hype. And it has a train. Stop in the name of burger. Also, take off. Piggy Town is Pouta Pig's hometown. "Pouta" means dry weather in Finnish. And that's good weather for a candy cane. Thus, this photo. If you look closely you can not see me. Because I didn't ride it. But you can see Smusty and Goldirt. I did ride--and very much enjoyed--this seaside car ride, though. "The ride is calm, although the steep cliffs can be a bit exciting." Järvikaruselli is a beautiful old Schwarzkopf ride that's very gentle but still really fun. To stumble across it felt like finding a rare coin worth way more than the amount printed on it. MotoGee is a Zamperla straddle coaster (no, seriously...is that what we're calling them??) It was...fine, I guess? I barely remember it. Anyway, here's a photo of some random Fins acting like goons because they're about to ride it. Love when park guests treat photo ops like benches. Yeah, you're number 1, dude. Hope nobody else is here to have fun. That's pretty great for a bumper cars facade. Going up the observation tower for big time looking at stuff. Yes, here we are at the top of the Näsinneula (or, "Eye Stabber") Observation Tower. Except we're not quite at the top, because there's a ceiling above us. And above that, another floor! Looking down on the rapids ride and petting zoo kids farm area. A group of us had lunch at the Observation Tower's rotating restaurant. Here you can see Misty doing that thing where you're so focused on making every other part of the photo work that you forget to pose yourself. Culturally, full-service dining in Finland is meant to be relaxed and unrushed--even more so than in the Netherlands. So the decision to eat here (admittedly, championed largely by me) certainly contributed to my having less time to explore the rest of the park. So at least some blame on myself for that whole situation. I do not remember what this was, exactly. But I don't remember anything not being good. Except for the first drop, you can see most of Tornado's layout here--among other things. The non-amusement park we visited in the last update can be seen off to the right across the water. Särkänniemi also has an aquarium, located at the base of the Tower. Slither Fish Koskiseikkailu, which means "butt splasher." No, I'm never going to get tired of these dumb translation jokes. See? Proof that what I said was true. The Doghill Fairytale Farm area of the park. I'm not sure if I saw all of it or not, but what I saw I liked. Raatiuone means "Town Hall." No, wait, it does actually. However, I believe it was a bakery or something. Certainly, there was no lively local political debate, much to my disappointment. Okay, loaded fries. And some kind of kebab. And um.... Okay, wow. And a vegan thing. Got it. This is like a haunted indoor play structure, or something? (A rather unkind description of me, but sure, I guess so.) Oh, Mr. Fancypants Child has to be led to the haunted play structure on a horse. Lad-di-da! I don't know what's wrong with me. But thanks for wondering! Sheeeeeeep! See, it's cute. It's a fun area. This area needs a dark ride. And by "this area" I mean "this park." But I feel that way about every area and every park. Sometimes I'm on a dark ride and I think, "Hmm, you know what this dark ride needs? A dark ride." Park Score: Um, I'm not sure? There are some rides I was interested in but never made it on. I dunno. 6 or 7? Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and go with 7. Next up: The final park of the trip!
  4. There were three total "travel days" on this trip, one of which was to get to Power Park, and one of which was to get away from Power Park. This is that last one. 23: Mixed Blueberry Feelings Traditional Finnish breakfast things and also beans to keep the English tourists happy. Goodbye, Power Park, my weird new friend! Stopped off at some random rest stop with fancy pay toilets, groceries, and souvenirs. And also they make cheese curds. Or I guess cheese. Both really. This photo is ridiculous. Anyway, here we are in Tampere, Finland--the largest inland city in the Nordic countries, and allegedly the sauna capital of the world. Plus, they have a Taco Bell. So that's exciting. Taco Bell's are a bit different in this part of the world. We arrived in Tampere just in time for Midsummer, which many Fins celebrate with human sacrifice and not being in cities. So that was interesting timing in that it meant that a lot of the museums and such were closed. Impenetrable. Not sure why this mermaid was crying. Probably because of something Bert did. Does this make drowning oneself easier or harder? Discuss. Oh, look where we all just accidentally ended up...! The park was still open for a couple of hours, but we were just here to take photo from across the water. In retrospect, I wish I'd gone in, considering what would happen the next day. But here, that just seemed like a waste of time, money, and effort. Bike lanes are complicated here. A sitty park across the bay. See what I did there? The same park, just at a smaller scale. Tampere was very pleasant to stroll around, and it seems like there are a lot of museums you could check out if you're there at not the wrong time. Incidentally, the name of this statue is "Memorial of the Shipwreck of Steamboat Kuru," in case that's not obvious. Okay, just two more parks to go! (And then like two or three more updates after that.)
  5. Echoing what Bert said. Hopefully it was insured in a way that will allow the park to rebuild it fairly quickly.
  6. Grew up with Monte. Hate to see it go. But it sounds like the park didn't really want to get rid of it, so I'll give them credit for that (even if I wasn't too excited by what they were planning to do to it). Considering the footprint left behind, perhaps one of those new Vekoma Super Boomerangs might work there.
  7. We actually didn't ride it...because you told us they wouldn't let you take photos!
  8. At the beginning of these trips, Smisty and I generally keep to ourselves, snarling and hissing at anyone who tries to talk to us. But, by the end, we usually loosen up and have learned the names of two or sometimes even three of our fellow travelers. I tell you this because I feel like the following trip report contains a slightly higher percentage of photos with other trip participants in it than I normally post--and also because I like writing a few sentences before the title. 22: The Happiest People in the World The "main" entrance to PowerPark. Look, don't worry about what the sign says. Nothing here makes sense. This park has two Gerstlauer infinity coasters, with the same color scheme, and the same trains, right next to each other. It's such a weird move that I actually love it. But I'm an enthusiast. I can't believe it's really a good idea when it comes to the general public, though: "Did you go on the green one?" "No, I don't like going upside down." "Dude, it didn't go upside down." "Shut your human face, garbage man. It most certainly did do the loop-de-loops!" "Wait...you went to PowerPark, right?" "Nah, bro, Powerland." "Apologies, sauce nugget. The fool is I." "No concerns, home entertainment system. Let us go have a milkshake and a game of chess." This is Junker. Everyone loved it. Well....almost everyone. Of course, I also had no idea what had just happened, because they wouldn't let me wear my glasses. So there's that. When my dog wants to leave the dog park, he goes and sits by the gate. Anyway, here's Misty having a sit by the Mexican restaurant sign. It was a buffet, where you try to make tacos out of whatever weird things the Finns think seem Mexican. It was okay, but mostly because I'm awesome. I tried to order the fanciest ice cream concoction on the menu, but ended up with the most basic one. Bit of a language barrier problem, I fear. Or maybe the girl just didn't like me. Hard to say. But what I can say is that "happiest" is not the same thing as "friendliest." This is the Kwai Bridge. Well, not *the* Kwai Bridge, I suppose. Just Powerland's version of it. Also pictured is Kwai River, which travels on the bridge. At least, for some of it. Look, it'll make more sense in the next photo. It really doesn't. But I'll try to explain: The super flume leaves the station, travels along the bridge for a bit, then dives under the bridge, makes a sharp right, and then drops again. It's kind of like a double down with a curve in the middle. It's pretty fun, but what it has to do with a bridge across a river in Indonesia and/or the associated 1957 academy award winning film is beyond me. Wait... Junker, Pitts Special, River Kwai...is this park secretly themed to World War 2? How wet is the flume ride? Well, that depends. Are you one of 6 Americans who decided to ride together? You may have noticed a wooden coaster in the background of a couple of the previous photos. That would be Thunderbird. While smooth, there was no airtime to be found. Of course, it was just me and Goldballs in the front of one of the first trains of the day, so it probably wasn't running at its fastest. It's worth mentioning that between the brake run and the station is a 180-degree turn and the transfer track. It takes approximately the same length of time to traverse these two sections as it does to do the entire rest of the ride. Which is to say that it's laughably slow. But, hey, it made me laugh. Bert and Smisty were on the train behind us. They got stuck on the brakes. Which is doubly hilarious when you realize that once their train got moving again, it still had to do the turn and transfer track. What must they have thought during that? While I didn't get any good photos, quite a few rides in the park have signs that basically say, "Hey, when this ride breaks down, just sit tight. Help is on the way." Which I found quite amusing. Oh, a fun house! Themed to construction workers...? Alright, sure. This spinning tunnel really should've been made to look like a cement mixer in some way. Come on, guys. Wait, what is Bert taking a photo of? (For the record, I did not mean that last caption literally.) Anyway, it's not Gröna Lund, but it is a fun house. So...yay! Here's something Gröna Lund doesn't have: a large forested troll village that was used to film a movie! Sure, you've never heard of that movie. But nevertheless. Smisty posing with Rölli the Troll (who is not, in fact, a troll...don't ask) and Mormon Zelda, who may or may not be a fair forest maiden, or rather an effeminate man. I did not see any signage indicating that you *couldn't* lay on the bed. I mean, I didn't. But just know that, in America, we call that an invitation. "By my dirty toes!" That's Rölli's catchphrase. Yes, seriously. Oh, an actual Technical Park ride! How exciting! You guys have fun! They said it was good. They're idiots. It's like Legoland except everything is made out of weird. Hawk & Doug having just enjoyed Neo's Twister. I'm not sure who Neo is, but the ride has a split lift and spun me whilst air-timing me into that metal seat divider bar in a way that was painfully funny. So, new mouse manufacturer credit for me here in Fabbri. The paradox of making a thing totally insane by trying to make it make sense. I nearly didn't ride Pitts Special because I didn't really like Junker, don't much care for Gerstlauer Eurofighters/Infinity Coasters anyway, can't stand vertical lifts, figured that I wouldn't be able to wear my glasses on this one either, and others in the group said this was rougher. But I really liked the look of the layout and was intrigued by the lack of inversions, so I gave it a shot. And, yes, I liked it much more than Junker. There was one fairly nasty jolt about halfway through, but beyond that I wouldn't call it rough, it had some nice airtime, and yeah...I just really liked the layout (other than the lift). "Enjoyable ride that gives you tickles you tummy with its' whirling and up-and-down motion. Fun and suitable for all!" [sic] [sick] Joyride. Also known as, the coaster this park chose to put VR goggles on for a couple of years until everyone came to their collective senses. A view from the Ferris wheel. Note the Road House in the upper left of the photo. Also note the Frisbee thing that slices through a house. Also note the mini golf course and the small yellow and green ride that's kind of like a spinning ball bit but is sadly only for children. Just note everything. Seems dirty. Inside the restaurant that the outside of was in the background of the previous photo. Sometimes I can't tell if English is nonsense or I just don't know how to use it. By the time we got to this area of the park, this was closed for the day. Which is a shame. I mean, I wouldn't have ridden it, as I rather enjoy having two eyes--but I would've liked to have watched other people fall off of it. Ah yes, the Devil's Mine Hotel. So...is it a hotel in a mine? Or a mine in a hotel? And the devil owns both of them? This dark ride is interesting in that every successful shot scores (only) one point, you have a limited number of shots (which is fairly high, but you can still run out if you just go crazy), and at one point (for no discernible reason and seemingly connected to nothing) you come around a corner and are greeted by an audio recording of Jim Carrey saying, "Alrighty then!" Regular animals *and* dinosaurs, but for some reason you're not allowed to take photos on this ride? The day was winding down and the park was getting ready to close. Which meant ERT on Junker for most of the group. But we wanted to play their mini golf course. Each hole had two suggested "solutions," one easy and one difficult. This proved to be rather misleading though, as almost every hole was quite difficult regardless of approach. Quite a pleasing course visually, though. And not without little challenges. Mini golf conquered (or at least survived), it was back to the Road House for dinner. Wait, what? As "Junker" looked unavailable, we ate at Boulevard Bistro, which was pretty good. certainly better than the food that had been available in the park. And this "brezel" ( a cross between a breeze and an Edsel?) belongs on the trip's Mount Dessertmore. Such a weird park. But, hey, it's me. Score: 9
  9. Mostly a travel day. But that's not to say it wasn't interesting. 21: Delicious Nut Cheese Remember: You can't spell Stockholm without ABBA. Yeah, that's cute. But where's our plane? If visiting other countries and seeing how they do things is a little bit weird (which is the point, of course), then Finland is another step up from where we've been so far. Not that this photo really shows that. In fact, this looks a bit like Germany. It's not, though. What are you accusing me of...? Arrived at our onsite hotel at Power Park. The story I heard is that there's a family that got rich running a power utility, but one of the kids grew up with no real business acumen, so they just give him money to play around with his theme park. Of course, I've also heard that this is the northernmost amusement park in the world, that the Finns are the happiest people on Earth, and that that there are people--even in the US--that actually like ABBA. So who knows what's true? We're staying in Baba Yaga's chicken-legged hut. But Texas was also apparently an option. This large modern-looking building next to the hotel seemed to be part convention center, part movie theater. We probably should've spent more time investigating, but Mr. Bobcorn scared me off. [Photo by Andy] The TPR Grand Prix was originally supposed to be the day after Power Park, but we made such good time here they decided to do it the day before Power Park instead. I say, "they" because Smisty, Goldballs, and I weren't too interested. Instead, we walked over to Road House. It's about 1 kilometer away from the hotel. Or, in other words, I have no idea. It rather looks like a grocery store from the outside, but it's more like a tiny mall. Okay, sure. Well, everyone needs to have their dreams. This is actually a really clever caption, as it's a quote from The Spy Who Loved Me. See, when Bond.... Nevermind. I'm not going to say who I think this is supposed to be, because I fear it will just make *me* look racist. As Scandinavia is to the world in its love of licorice, so Finland is to Scandinavia. Which is to say the Finns are *really* into it. Happily, the mall that looks like a grocery store from the outside does in fact have a grocery store inside. And I'm pretty sure the whole place is owned by Power Park. I may have mentioned this before, but at the start of the trip I was willing to try some licorice things. But by this point, I was in no mood for double layer licorice. Ta-da! I tried to look this up on google maps to see if this structure had a name or something. No luck there, but I did find the gas station, which has 5 reviews, the top one of which reads, in its entirety: "Good liquid." Now that's a skyline. Back at the hotel, the lobby of which is themed to...um...boaty stuff? TPR dinner and Grand Prix awards presentation. I don't remember who won. I just know I'm a loser. Wow. Dark. And also, why? Dinner was quite good, but very long. Turns out this is a Finnish thing. We encountered it in the Netherlands as well in 2019, but it's even more pronounced here. Fancy dinners aren't fast. If it's '69, you were expecting me! See, in Moonraker.... Every part of the hotel had a door or a gate with a code on it. It's like the world's most whimsical prison. Turns out we could've watched the Grand Prix from our room. Yeah, Finland. This is where the trip report is going to get good! Just kidding. It will never get good. And also, I do kind of like ABBA. Moonraker sucks, though.
  10. Collect them both! Stockholm is my favorite city--at least of those I've visited thus far.
  11. Achievement unlocked! Obviously, Blue Train is mostly just a collection of unrelated horror gags. But it makes me wonder: What if there was a ride with the aesthetics of Blue Train, but that had a more consistent theme, and a more cohesive narrative? Hmm, I wonder. (Psst, come back in like 5 updates if you wonder similarly!)
  12. ^ I had actually encountered him earlier as well! Unrelated to that, a bit of bookkeeping: To my chagrin, in going through photos for the next update, I've discovered the thing that I named update #14 after. Meaning that I named that update inappropriately by using that particular name far too soon. Therefore, I have gone back and renamed update 14, and will be using its previous name for the next update. I feel it's important to prepare everyone for this, since I am sure you are all paying so much attention, that to not inform you now would be quite jarring when the next update comes. You're welcome.
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