Photo TR: TPR's Italy/Europe Trip

Wow seems like this was a fantastic trip! Awesome update Im gonna have to go on the next trip!

There's an Acrophobia clone?! OMG! Loving this report, keep it up! The food, hotels, parks all look incredible. I can't wait 'till I'm done with this last semester and I can finally go on an international trip.

Movie Park is the only park in my homeland I've no drive to visit. Germany has great parks with a good coaster line-up like Europa-Park, Tripsdrill, Phantasialand or Hansa-Park. But only looking at the model and make of Movie-Park coasters makes me shivver...

^Completely understand. It's just a stop for the credits and then move on.

^Neil, it's not just for the credits, it's also to visit with Thorsten.

^I miss him! Haha

All right. Time for the next park of the trip, Phantasialand. This was a very interesting park. It didn't really have too many rides, but all the rides that they did have were really good, really well themed, and blended in with the park beautifully. The park has some good coasters with Winjas, the best spinning coasters ever and Black Mamba, a fun B&M Invert with some really good theming. And of course, there's the Ling Bao Hotel and the Dragon Bar, which consisted of so much craziness in general that it was impossible to not have a good time. Anyways, onto the photos.

All right. We have arrived at Hotel Ling Bao, which is Phantasialand's 5 Star On Site Hotel.

So much crazy stuff is gonna happen here.

Dude, this hotel is so f*cking awesome. I mean, just look at this view!!!!

Dude, this hotel is so f*cking awesome. I mean, just look at this view!!!!

"I trust that you are all responsible adults who can handle this beer." And from here, I'll just let your imaginations figure out the rest of the story from here.

Our morning started out with ERT on the parks new for 2012 Dark Ride. Maus de Chocolate.

It used the same technology they used for Toy Story Mania. And hey, its an awesome dark ride with an awesome theme.

Yeah. My score sucked as its much harder to score than on Toy Story Mania, but its still just as good. The theme is great, kind of reminds me of Ratatouille, and the entire time, it smells like a bakery.

ERT continues on as now we have Black Mamba ERT!!!!

Black Mamba was a very intersting B&M Invert.

It was a sh*tload of fun, and the theming was incredible. But it felt too reliant on the theming. If you took it and plopped it in a parking lot like Scream, it'd be pretty lame. But hey, the theming makes it kick ass.

And now to top off ERT, we are now heading to one of the best spinning coasters in the world.

There are so many cool things this ride does that I'm not gonna give away. All I'll say is that some pretty funky sh*ts gonna go down in that darkness.

And on top of the special effects, it spins really well!!!

Thank you Phantasialand for the great ERT sessions.

Now if you thought Winjas was great, you have to check out the awesomeness of Temple of the Night Hawk.

There's really not much to say about this ride other than its pitch dark, doesn't do much, is a credit, and lasts for like 10 minutes.

Dammit!!! Stop morphing into Epcot!!!! And stop painting Spaceship Earth!!!

What the hell is that thing?

Time for us to get the final credit needed here, The Michael Jackson Thrill Ride.

Hey, its actually a really good mine train. I'd even say its the best Non-Thunder Mtn or Thunderation mine train ever built.

This thing was just flat out insane. By far the best, craziest, and wettest rapids ride I've ever ridden. Definetly one of the best water rides out there.

Yeah. This used to be where their log flume was.

And this is what'll be replacing it for 2013.

Definetly one of the crazier drop towers out there. You have to ride it to figure out the secrets of this ride (Or be a lameass and google it and spoil it for yourself you loser).

Hey, another really good lunch. What is it with all the Europe parks having better food.

Um yeah. The Silber Mine Train sounded like a good idea. And yeah, it was fun.

"THIS HERE BE THE WILDEST RIDE IN THE WILDERNESS!!!!!"

"QUICK!!!! EVERYONE TO THE RESTERAUNT FOR SHELTER!!!!!"

Yeah. It decided to rain on us today. And it didn't just rain, it rained HARD and pretty much became a thunderstorm.

Umm, I think its safe to say we've gone beyond rain and are now experincing a flood. I mean, the path has become a freaking river!!!

Well, the storms now over. Lets head over and check out more rides.

Yeah. I'm in Europe all right.

Yes, there are fountains on those chairswings. And if you try, you can get wet from them.

Now if you're looking for one of the highest quality dark rides ever, you have to check out the Hollywood Tour.

Best shark animatronic ever built. It looks so real.

OH NO!!!! DUCK!!!!!

"BRAINS!!!!!!!!!"

BEST TOP SPIN EVER!!! Great Theming, Great Program, just overall great ride!!!!

I've tramautized several poor German kids and angered their parents. Meh, just hang out with me for a day and see how crazy I am."

You know a place is sketchy when they call themselves Quality Burger. Thanks for reading, post any comments you have, and Parc Asterix Photos will be up next.

Their burgers are supposedly quite good. I think a friend of mine ate their once on his trip.

Their burgers are supposedly quite good. I think a friend of mine ate their once on his trip.

Mhé, It's a 'Quick', the france/belgian fast food burger restaurant. I prefer Burger King ore Mcdo . Btw, Maus Au Chocolat is new from 2011, not 2012. Overall nice tripreport! I love Phantasia! Glad that this park is only a 2 hours drive for me, I've to visit it back for Chiapas this year, and just also because this park is just pure awesome.

All right. Story Time. We drive up to this place and the park is closed as you can clearly see. Robb goes in and tries to bribe whoevers there to get us on the ride. At first, the security are not amused, and oh, did I mentioned that they were carrying a gun? When they didn't take Robb's bribe of €100, I was sure that that was the end of getting this credit. But Robb gets the bribe up to around €300 before they start to take him seriously. They said that they could open the Galaxy for us, but they couldn't open the Wacky Worm since they didn't own that ride and whoever owned it weren't there. But hey, Robb did manage to get us one of the credits I was certain we weren't going to get!!!!

This is one of the million reasons why going on a TPR trip is absolutely worth it! Robb and Elissa always go the extra mile for their trip participants.

Loving this TR!

Dude, Hollywood Tour is better than any of the Universal Studios rides COMBINED! Ken had to be a wuss and sit in the back, away from the waterfall, lol.

Wow, I'm amazed, I was actually there on this trip, it seems like a dream.

^Ha, Hollywood Tour, it's like Universal Studios Pigeon Forge.

Did everyone do the haunted walkthrough next to Krake? That was bizarre and very dark (literally).

I've got to say that the hotels at Phantasialand are an epic adventure in themselves, I felt like Indiana Jones in Hotel Motumba on the 2010 tour.

All right. Well the time has come. Its time for the last official park on the TPR Italy/Europe Park. And our last park that we'll be visiting is Parc Asterix. This was an interesting park and while I enjoyed the park, it wasn't nearly as awesome as the other parks on the trip and here, my feelings for Parc Asterix are much more mixed. While there were aspects of the park that I liked, there were plenty of aspects that I didn't like so much.

First off, their coaster selection. The coaster selection at Parc Asterix was decent. While it had some fun coasters, the coasters that were fun were not that memorable (OzIris and Toronne de Zeus) and the coasters that were memorable were memorable for all the wrong reasons (Gouderix). On the positive side, the park is fairly well themed and all the theming does make the park more fun. I'm not too familiar with the Asterix comics that the park is based off, but I enjoy it. On the negative side, the crowds. HOLY SH*T!!!! It was CROWDED today!!!!! Luckily Robb got us all the Fast Pass which made this day tolerable. From what I heard, the park was hesitant to sell them to him because they don't sell them to groups, so he just bought them for us individually. WORTH EVERY PENNY (or Euro)!!! Without those fast passes, we all would've spent 3.5 hours in line for Toronne de Zeus and another 3.5 hours for the Caveman Bobsled and that would've been the entire day. So again, Thanks for those MUCH needed fast passes. Anyways, now onto the photos.

Oh, and just in case any of you have any doubts about how bad Gouderix is, I highly suggest you watch this POV which will show you just how terrible of a ride Gouderix is.

Sadly, the time has come. We're on the last official park of the TPR Mega Europe Trip. But hey, we're gonna have a blast at Parc Asterix.

All right. Lets get the party started with some nice Morning ERT on Oziris.

Am I at Busch Gardens Tampa? No seriously. This rides theming is nearly IDENTICAL to Montus!!!!!

And yeah. This has one of the best themed lines I've ever been in. It seriously reminds me of Dueling Dragons with all the cool stuff to see and the fact that it goes on forever.

Enjoy this view of an empty station at Parc Asterix. You'll never ever see this again.

All right. ERT is over and the park is open and it is PACKED today (And I mean PACKED)!!!!! So in a mad dash to get all the credits not on the Flash Pass, we start off with SOS Numerobis. The Tivoli.

Quick. Before it gets a line!!! Lets do Transdemonium!!! The dark ride everyone praises but isn't on the Flashpass!!!

It was a fun dark ride and all, but nothing to crazy over.

Holy Crap!!!! Look at that line already!!!! Its already grown to 30 minutes!!!

Hey, its not a bad ride. Kind of reminds me of what Jaguar would be like if it had bobsled seating.

Its a fun ride, but definetly not worth a 30 minute wait.

Yes, we rode this pathetically small kiddy coaster. But whats even more pathetic than us riding this...

Is how long we waited for this credit!!!! HOLY CRAP!!! I turn away from rides like Goliath and Tatsu when they have lines like this. And if this is for the parks (kiddy) kiddy coaster, I'm terrified of the rest of the park.

Glad I did Transdemonium early in the morning before all the crowds attacked it.

Thats got to be at least a 45 minute wait for the pirate ship. Somebody help me. =0

Well, luckily I got all the non-Fastpass credits. And thank god this thing has fastpass because this horrible ride had a 3 HOUR WAIT!!!!

After Robb filmed his lipstick mounted POV for TPR, he gave me some of his duct tape so I could take a POV of the ride. And yeah. It's a really clean G-Rated POV that shows just how wonderful this ride is. (If you haven't seen it, its right at the top and see just how bad Gouderix is for yourself.)

Though seriously, this has got to be the worst coaster I've ever ridden. Yes, even worse than Dragon.

I mean look at it!!! Do those elements even look natural!!?

Don't be fooled by its pretty looks. It'll try to murder you.

Gee, I had no idea the French were also creating weapons of mass destructions. Guess they're trying to create some good weapons so they don't have to immedietly surrender all the time.

Seeing a three hour line for this monstrosity really makes me question the intellegence of the French.

All right. Thats enough sado-masachist talk for now. I wanna ride something good.

Ooh!!! Bobsled!!! And its themed to cavemen!!! This has got to be good!!!

By far, the best of the three Mack Bobsleds I rode on this trip. Why can't Mack build more of these!!? They're really fun rides!!!

Quick!!! Grab the hat!!!!!

Time for lunch at the Fruit Hat Resteraunt.

Yes, it was a full service sit down resteraunt, and we ate here for 2 reasons. 1, it was included in our meal voucher, which is awesome. And 2, its OK to have a 2 hour lunch when everything in the park has a 2 hour line to kill time.

Hey, it was really good. We even ordered dessert.

All thats left for us to ride is Tonnerre De Zeus, the parks wooden coaster.

I've heard a lot of good things about this ride and how its one of the best coasters in Europe, so I was really looking foreword to this ride.

Well first off, a complaint I have is that the operators have no clue about the Fast Pass. We show it to them, they aren't sure if its legit, they talk to their supervisor, then they keep trying to put us on, but always forget to let us on, then when they do, the guests get angry. Well, at least it was...No. It wasn't. It just sucked.

So was it as good as I heard?

Sadly, no it wasn't. I mean, it was a very fun ride. Comparable to say, Ghostrider or Excalibur, but those aren't Top 10 Rides. And like Ghostrider, you can really tell that it used to be much more insane, which is a bummer. But hey, its still a really good wooden coaster.

"GRR!!!! I'M THE ALL MIGHTY AND POWERFUL ZEUS!!! FEAR ME!!!! WORSHIP ME!!!!!!"

I don't fear anyone who wears those panties.

Hey. Lets take another ride on OzIris. Why? Because we can get on immedietly, and anything not on fastpass isn't worth the bat-sh*t crazy wait.

I'm not sure who it was that said OzIris is a return to the old school B&M Days, but they were flat out wrong.

It's pretty much just Silver Bullet with Montu's theming. Its got those same flowy inversions, smoothness, and even the same overbank.

But hey. Its a really fun ride and a great fit for Parc Asterix. And it has a much better first drop than Silver Bullet.

Anyone else wanna ride in that guys ass?

We all did Le Defi Ceaser as a group as its the best Mad House ever.

First they put you in Ceaser's Army.

Then you all march off to fight for Ceaser. Its by far my favorite Mad House.

"Umm, Can't you see I'm peeing here. How about some damn privacy!!!?"

We decieded to leave Parc Asterix early since we rode all the flashpass rides as much as we wanted and nothing else had a waitable wait. So we just leave and have fun hanging out in the French Village of Roissy En France, in the outskirts of Paris right by Charles De (Terrible) Gaulle (Worst Ever, Yes, even worse than LAX) Airport.

All right. Lets start out by having Japanese Food in France for dinner at Delicous. (Oishi is Japanese for delicous.)

Notice anything about these Chopsticks?

I must say. It was a great meal.

Hey, we decied to just wander around the town and found some really fun things.

That church gives the town a really nice look. I like it.

No No No. Don't worry about it. That's perfectly normal. All the signs here are dented like that.

A: Is it me or does anyone else see an Evil Mickey in the trees? and B: Is it ironic that I found this the day before I go to Disneyland Paris?

Found a random spinner in the town. I love these things and it still bums me out that our local park in Ventura took this out.

Hey, I love finding random playground equipment in the town. Thanks for reading, Disneyland Paris will be up next and leave any comments you have.

Transdemonium is a credit, dammit! Anyone who says differently is a dirty liar!

The zombie Mickey tree was one of the craziest things I've ever come across. The fact that it was looking stormy when we saw it made it even more creepy, haha.

I'm pretty sure we got you spinning at a cool 120mph on that playground thing, too!

^Not only is Transdemonium a credit but lets not forget it had that fake ending just like Mummy at Universal!

I thought Parc Asterix was a decent park but with it coming after some of the best parks in the world it didn't quite stand up. Not to mention the crowds... holy crap!

Just read this Europe TR. Wow, one of the best non-official TRs I've read in quite awhile. I really got the idea of what the Italy / Europe trip was like. A lot more German parks are on my radar now (Europa Park was before). The German parks have beautiful settings/surroundings (raining a lot must help keep them green) and that drive through Switzerland must have been amazing. Movie Park Germany and Parc Asterix look mediocre compared to the other big parks you went to. Gouderix is one of those rides that look nice in theory but is poorly executed. From that picture it looks like after the lift hill and drop it did five loops in a row which must be nauseating - it needs other elements and/or a MCBR in between those loops like Viper at SFMM has. I bet the reason it has long lines is because people like the way it looks (it stands out) and haven't be on it before. For most people it's going to be a one and done. As for the crowds, it's got to be due to the proximity to Paris. Parc Asterix looks like a locals park for those that want a day of rides but don't want to pay the price of Disney - a la the Knott's Berry Farm of Paris. I hope you got the chance to the see the beautiful city of Paris (at least for a day or two) and not just the mediocre CDG airport (which I still thought was better than LAX - at least the Air France terminal I was in). Again, great TR - well representing the 805.

All right. Sadly, the time has come to post the last update from the Italy/Europe trip. Now the trip has officially ended, but we're still gonna have one last blast exploring Disneyland Paris. I was gonna go explore Paris as well, but time constraints made me cut it short. Oh well, at least I had visited the city before and I'm sure I'll be back fairly soon. Now as for Disneyland Paris, it was a fairly interesting park. Now the WDW Resort in Florida is by far my favorite of the 3 Disney Resorts I have visited so far. But Disneyland Paris is still a cool park, even if Europa Park seems more Disney-like than Disneyland Paris.

The resort has a great selection of rides, housing my favorite Thunder Mtn, my favorite Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom Manor, which is the best Haunted Mansion so far, it has the most unique Space Mtn (wouldn't call it the best though), and it has a clone of one of my favorite Disney rides, Rock'N'Roller Coaster. All that, plus my favorite castle. This should be great. The only problem with Disneyland Paris, is that the clientele, is...not exactly top notch. Now they're not outright horrible. Trust me, I work at SFMM, so I know how bad it can get. But compared to the other Disney parks, Disneyland Paris seemed to need the most improvement in staff and guests. But like I said, its still Disney and still much better than most parks out there. All right. Now lets get onto the photos as we wrap up the last update of the trip.

Oh, and if you've ever wanted to see a video of an evacuation of French Big Thunder Mtn from the underwater tunnel, that happened to us and I managed to get video of the experience.

Yes, the Mega Europe Trip has technically come to an end, but I'm here, and I'm not gonna waste this oppertunity to head on over to Disneyland Paris.

We're off in the Disney Studios Park as we're here...

To get this damn credit as it always has a long line, no single riders line, and no fastpass.

Hey Disneyland Paris. A long line, lots of empty seats, how about investing a single riders line for this ride!!!

What have I been waiting in line for for the past hour?

Hey, its a fun spinning coaster. But compared to Winjas a couple days ago, not nearly as impressive.

Well on the bright side, that stupid line for Crush's Coaster was the perfect thing to kill the time for my Rock'N'Rollercoaster Fastpass.

"Guys, do we really need to put any effort in our show when our audience is just some dumbass Americans?"

Hey, its a great coaster in Florida, and its great in Paris as well. Big win for Disney.

Hey, speaking of really good Disney rides, lets head on Tower of Terror.

Ugh. No fastpasses are left. Guess I'll just have to suck it up. =(

Am I in California or Paris? No seriously!!! Can you tell the difference?

Much like California, a total lack of theming in the hallways is also there.

New for Disneyland Paris last year was the new Toy Story Land.

Hey, it looks really nice and very much like Toy Story.

But this is the real reason I came into their new area.

Wow. I'm in shock. It appears Disneyland Paris does understand the concept of a single riders line. Now about Crush's Coaster...

RC Racer is pretty much a non spinning half pipe.

You know, I was expecting this to be a really stupid and pointless ride, but I was actually pleased by it.

Wee!!! Hangtime!!!!

Knowing the film geek inside me, I had to check out their Animation Studio.

I'm a big fan of the California Animations, so I'm hoping that the Paris one is similar.

It wasn't quite as cool as the California version, but I still thouroughly enjoyed it.

An example of Pinnochio going from storyboard sketches to a fully developed frame.

GAH!!!! I'm gonna have nightmares of this Timon/Captain Hook/Jane from Tarzan Hybrid!!!!!

More fun at Disney Studios.

Hey, the Stars'N'Cars Parade was just rolling by and it was only 5 minutes. So hey. Why the hell not watch it!!?

Well thats about all I need at Disney Studios.

Yep. Thats a wrap here. Onto Disneyland Paris.

Ooh. Pretty Fountain.

Flower Mickey now welcomes us to Disneyland Paris.

3 Disney Parks down, 2 left to go.

HOLY CRAP!!!! THEIR CASTLE LOOKS SO NICE!!!!!

All right. Lets start out with French Space Mountain. This is by far the most unique of the Space Mountains with a launch and inversions.

Now I've heard many bad things about this Space Mountain. I've heard about its rough as hell and beats your skull to peices. Hey, it can't possibly be any worse than Gouderix.

I really liked it. Yeah, it was rough, but not unbearable rough. And it had some cool lights and the inversions were fun.

Hey!!! What the hells up with Indiana Jones!!!?

Yep. Indiana Jones is down for maintenence. Damn. First missed credit of the trip. =( Luckily, it was on the last park and the only missed credit.

"Hey!!? I thought the French liked to smoke!!! So why are smoking areas empty!!?" Well, its simple. Nobody enforces the smoking rules and everybody just smokes all over the place. Luckily, Second hand smoke doesn't really bother me too much. But I'd still like to have these smoking areas enforced. But hey, whatever.

This place may not be that great for dinner, but its cheap and they play Disney cartoons inside, so I'm satisfied.

All right. We decided to check out Phantom Manor, which is basically Disneyland Paris's version of Haunted Mansion. And its by the best version of them all.

First off, it has a great story and a great theme.

They even managed to connect it to Thunder Mtn. Yep, Disneyland Paris connected their Haunted Mansion to their Thunder Mtn. Thats why the graveyard is western themed. Go check out the full story. Its pretty interesting.

Hey, if their Haunted Mansion is that great, I wonder how good their Pirates of the Carribean is.

By far the best of the Pirates. It mixes the ride up and adds more to it and puts in more detail. I loved it.

Oh no. Somebody's balloon got stuck in the sky.

Now if you really want to check out something unique to the Disneyland Paris Resort, be sure to check out Alice's Curious Labyrinth.

Yeah. Its pretty much just a maze, and man is it fun as hell.

Warning. You may very well get wet in this maze.

Here. Have a puff and see all the wonders of this maze.

"Oh man dude!!! I'm tripping out so hard that I see a castle in the rain clouds!!!!"

"Hey buddy!!! The slides closed!!! Move along!!!"

Ok. I can see why they closed the slide.

Yep. We rode It's a Small World here in Disneyland Paris. And honestly, I enjoyed it. I was mostly amused by how they portrayed America here.

Hey, now that the park is suddenly dead, we can check out everything!!! We even managed to ride Snow White.

Hey Florida!!! What happened to your Snow White Ride!!!? =P

Yeah. We had time for yet another Fantasyland Dark Ride.

Disneyland Paris is the only Disney Park to not have upgraded their Star Tours ride. So it actually felt really cool and almost nostalgic riding the original again.

Nice Wall-E Statues you've got there.

Hell, we even had time to through the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Walk Through.

Can I please take the squid home with me?

There's really not much to see here. Its just another Aladdin Walk Through.

All right. Time for us to get the last credit of the trip. The Paris Big Thunder Mtn.

Umm, can somebody please explain why we just stopped in the middle of the tunnel for no reason!!?

Well it broke down, and HOLY SH*T!!!! WE'RE GETTING EVACUATED!!!!!

Well this was certainly a memorable experience. If you haven't seen the video I posted of us getting evacuated from Big Thunder Mtn, its right at the top.

"This may very well be the happiest moment of my life."

I even managed to top off the night by seeing Disneyland Paris's new show. Disney Dreams.

This show can't decide if it wants to be in English or French. So it alternates between the two languages.

But seriously. This show was incredible. It really reminded me of a cross between the normal fireworks and World of Color. You can tell that they really did a great job. I'm impressed.

This is where I stayed for the night. Hey, it may have been a pain to find, but it was nice and it was like 1/6 of the price of staying on Disney Property.

Hey. Where are all the crowds!!?

Well, we first started out on Thunder Mtn since we got fastpasses to come back since we got evacuated last night. Now I don't have to worry about the question of does it count as a credit if you have to get evacuated in the middle.

Hello duck. Hows it going?

Who's the super whore whos making us ride the psuedo credit!!!?

After all the cool powered coasters such as the ones at Europa Park and Heide Park, I am not impressed.

They also have a Storybook Canals here. And yeah. They have all the typical stuff and all the typical princess castles such as here is the tower from Tangled.

Hey, we just decided to hop on the train and take a lap around the park to relax.

Oh yeah. When at Disneyland Paris, don't forget to check out the dragon underneath the castle. Its pretty cool.

Yeah. We had lunch at the Earl of Sandwhich. Hey, its a good chain and I'm glad they're opening their first store in California sometime soon.

Congratulations to 20 years Disneyland Paris.

Why is it that I always skip Buzz Lightyear at my Non-Home Disney Parks? It was one of the few things I didn't bother doing at the Walt Disney World Resort and I didn't bother doing it here even with all my free time. =/

I decided to settle with a ride on Space Mountain to be my last ride of the trip.

And yes. Sadly, my Mega Europe Trip is coming to an end. ='(

I really don't want to get back on the plane to L.A. =(

Well, at least I was in first class for the 14 hour flight. And yeah. That was my Crazy Mega Europe Trip and I loved every last minute of it. Thanks for reading my Photo TR and I know for sure that I'll be doing the TPR Scandinavia Tour for 2014, so at least it'll only be one more year before I'm back in Europe with TPR.

What an experience you got being evacuated out of Thunder Mountain. I got evacuated out of Journey to Atlantis at Sea World San Diego several years back but it wasn't nearly as interesting as this. Our boat stopped right before the elevator lift after the first drop and a few other boats piled up behind ours. We were given front of the line passes to return later in the day as well.

By the way, how were you able to afford flying first class being a SFMM employee at age 21? Excuse me if I'm being too personal with that question. I'm glad you've seen the city of Paris before being you didn't see it on this trip. I've been to Paris twice and have yet been to DLP. Next trip, I promise myself. Thanks for sharing.

By the way, how were you able to afford flying first class being a SFMM employee at age 21?

Cashing in frequent flier miles. Glad you enjoyed the Photo TR.