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bert425

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bert425 last won the day on March 17

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About bert425

  • Birthday 04/25/1967

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    bertimus-maximus-mermaidus

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  1. he wasn't mentioned (or shown). . but since they are naming a ride after him (it's a Nebulaz). . .and all other "named" rides have statues of the characters in front of them (even Kid Flash). . . I'd expect we'll get a statue, and a character meet opportunity. (pic from yesterday)
  2. I REALLY think this is a Generic GL ride. why I think this? Here's the slide Jeffery shared in Jan. at Winterfest for the new Character interactions in the DC Universe when the new sections open: Jessica Cruz, Hal Jordan, and John Stewart are all walk around GL's
  3. ^ I think the GL ride is not specific to WHICH GL. . . so that will count to cover all. (unless they slap a giant Hal Jordan on top - currently it's just the pole, so I'm assuming a big GL Logo symbol will go there)
  4. SFFT is currently spending a huge amount of $$ retheming the Kid's area into a huge expansion of the "DC Universe" including naming the new dueling racing coaster, Kid Flash. Repainting (awesomely, by the way, it looks AMAZING) zoom jets, into Green Lantern. And Skyscreamer into "Supergirl" and the new area will have the "Metropolis Railway" monorail. the DC characters are not going anywhere.
  5. so. . I just got an alert thru the Six Flags app. . the Speedy Parking is now FREE for my level pass (Diamond). all I had to do was sign up for it, and I have it for free for the rest of the year (thru Jan 1st 2025). I have to assume that the upcharge pricing for it was a big flop. . . but hey, I'll take it! was super easy to sign up, just need to give them your license plate, and good to go. tho it means less folks at the booths when coming in. . .
  6. and here's Swag from Grona Lund & ABBA museum Magnets from Grona Lund: Magnets from ABBA museum (and I bought sets for a friend too) stuffed monkey gift from Matthew and T-shirts from ABBA museum:
  7. Day 18: Tuesday, June 20th part 3 (of 3) - back to finish off the night at the fantastic Grona Lund On the way back in, stopping to snap a pic of the park map. it LOOKS way smaller than it is, because things are just piled up on top of each other. the big green area in the bottom right, is the parking lot the park announced plans in 2023 to expand into. of course, my first stop on the way in was the Carousel. . . Big Mike had other plans tho, he was missing the kiddie credit, "Tuff-Tuff TÃ¥get" (Choo-Choo Train). So while he went to do that. . . Didier and I rode the Carousel. my happy place. his too, apparently for such a small carousel, it's just lovely, and appears hand painted. after my Carousel ride, I went over to the coaster to get proof of Big Mike riding it, in talking to the ride op - who was a total hoot! - she said it's a ride that's way more fun than it looks, as the sharp turns give a "whip" effect. She encouraged us all to ride it. sooooooo. . . (and she was right, it was way more fun that I had looked. and she let us ring the bell as we exited the station). back over to Vilda Musen for a "water free" ride, and we bumped into Hans and Matthew walking along the outside of the park, to get a different view of Twister and a crane across the lake, painted like a Giraffe. for some reason. Sweden! by going around the outside, we were gonna end up in the "haunted" section. . . and had also bumped into Andrew, sMisty, and Erik. . so we all headed that way together. that's Kvasten ahead of us, the Vekoma suspended coaster. whee. . . in the SPOOKY section now.. had to stop for a photo op, tho apparently we were boiling nothing for dinner. the flying carpet ride (not operating today) is over here for some reason. . . maybe they are tying in the Genie in the center of it with the spook/magic vibe of the area? Gotta ride Blue Train. . this thing is SO messed up. insanely silly, and with some needless nudity, and scary pop ups. . I adored it. rode this sucker at least 4 times on our trip. the name is brilliant. it's BLUE. . and it's a Train. see???? ooo. .scary! that creature has got "lady parts" !!! Scary!!!! so silly, and so much fun. every park should have a ride like this. and Grona Lund has several! the Starflyer doing it's thing from underneath Kvasten. we were in line for the very well done walk thru Haunt. I do believe that this is an upcharge attraction, but Elissa had arranged for us to all get admission (hence most of the group showing up here at a certain time). they send you thru in groups of 6-8, and said pictures were ok, as long as it didn't hold up the flow. it's got an outdoor section. . that's a group going thru the house up there on the balcony. fly, bird, fly !!!! now that bird knows what Fabio felt like, I suppose. my group's turn. . . howdy! ready to be a scared. . . nice mix of props, and live actors in here. great effect. . . choose your door carefully! he's coming to get you, Barbara. . . time for a birds eye view of the park on the starflyer. they are VERY serious about no loose objects on this ride. so only got pics from the queue, and before the ride started (with permission) it really is in the middle of everything. . surrounded by Coaster track on all sides that's Icarus doing it's thing back there. . Jetstream ,the Bobsled, AND Insane, all with cars on the tracks in one pic. that's a huge win for me, as I usually end up with no trains on the tracks hard to see in this pic, but Icarus has now tilted at the top, and the riders are hanging face down. a stage for musical performances. . . but we next headed over to the dual drop tower: Frit Fall & Tilt Hans & Matthew (and a very intense man who was wondering why I was taking his picture) chose to ride the "tilt" seated sides. while Big Mike and I (and a terrified girl), chose the stand up "Fritt Fall" side. it truly IS rather terrifying. and of course they have a camera on this side to capture it. I bought a magnet version, that came with a digital copy. glad I did it, but never again. walk around entertainment as well in this park. Not a LOT of it, but we were there on a weekday. in addition to lunch, snack, and dinner coupons, the park had gone all out and also gave us booklets of game coupons. the games were mostly hard, but there were some easier ones, and I think most everyone won some sort of prize. while they played that ping-pong game, I went into the bathroom next to it. . .and made a discovery. down a dark, bricked pathway/tunnel. . . there's this. just lovely. and when you go to wash your hands? yup. . a haunted toidy! gah! different mirrors have different creatures. . . LOL I had waited long enough, I was ready for Ikaros - the face first drop tower. again, some lovely art deco designs all around it. all the way up to the top. . . then, tilt forward. . so you will be hurtling face first towards the ground! gahhhhhhhh. . . . .it truly is a terrifying experience. and I absolutely LOVED it. we got some ERT on it at the end of the night - along with the operator making us sing ABBA and other disco songs as we ascended - and I think I rode every cycle I was able to get in on. scary, but THAT good. and you get pretty close to the ground before the seats swing back out to "normal" position even tho I know I'm a klutz, and the funhouse is a disaster waiting to happen for klutz'. . .I went ahead and did it. it's a really good funhouse. .and really ways to hurt oneself. I didn't get a pic of the entrance, but it's a "moving" ladder, that you have to climb up. . potential for injury right from the start! but it's full of whimsical, and fun obstacles. . that one really can't go around. you MUST go thru. bouncing walkways. . pitch black infinity rooms. . . truly confusing mirror mazes. . . yeah, all in one funhouse! and this is how you exit (the only option). . . you get a mat. sit on the mat, on the platform. . and the platform tilts, and shoots your ass down the slide! um.. . . . whee ? the view from the bottom. . . and yes, that IS an airtime hill at the bottom of the slide. I told you, it's trying to kill you! some of the prizes offered at the games. . . .I sucked at most of them. but lots of people won. here are some of them. and Matthew ended up gifting me that pink monkey, and he hangs out in the comic room now I used a snack coupon for this ice cream. . but I was so full from lunch still (earlier I had sushi and Chinese food from a floating barge/restaurant on the side of the park). oh remember that rooftop Himalaya across from Jetline? yup, I did go back and ride it. very loud music, and fun. with some nice, views of the Twister refurb going on. ok then. not sorry I missed THIS boat. I mentioned some rides were on floating platforms connected to the park? the octopus is one of them. Blackfisken ? LOVE that name. and it looked amazing. . very steam punk. that it "rocked" along with the waves as the pier moved made it that much more fun. Erik & sMisty, goldballs, myself, and John say "wheeee!" I think this pic is courtesy of Big Mike perhaps? but he doesn't ride spinny stuff. . so maybe Matthew? a better view of Icarus doing it's tilt thing from the side and an offride pic of Fritt Fall / Tilt heading up with folks in the standing position. and yes, we did go back for the indoor Breakdance. not the most intense cycle on one of these I've ever been on (that would be the carnival in Belgium last year). . but inside, with loud music? it sure felt intense and fun. oooo..caught a "parade". . . at least rainbow mermaid bubble cart guy looks to be having fun! and was happy to see me this isn't the star flyer, but rather the flying Carousel that was on a floating pier. (see that fun ticket booth in the background). it's a nice pic, one of my faves from the trip. the dinner was also excellent, in a restaurant built next to / into Monster - the supports for Monster go thru the restaurant and the train zooms really closeby outside. wasn't super hungry, but what I had was good. couldn't finish it tho. after dinner another couple of rides on the relaxing "Blue Train" and the Tunnel of Love. . . or "Karleks Tunneln" freaky. . I imagine this is what a camera doing a Colonoscopy sees. . . . still naked. . still blurry. . LOL. .. you'll just have to imagine! hey..I found Gene Simmons in a stairwell. I guess KISS played the park at some point in the past? as evening set in, the dancehall started filling up. I swear this seemed to have the most people anywhere in the park this evening. another bathroom with theme. . this one seems to be people who played the park. seems someone tried to peel off Marilyn Manson, tho without much success hey! I finally won something!! I found a game that was relatively easy - guns shooting corks at targets. if you got a high enough score, you won a prize. Barry, Didier, and Big Mike also trying out the cork guns. makes sense, if Bert can win this one, must be fairly easy! see? LOL. . .Didier really wanted an animal to bring home, and was having no luck, so I gifted him my bear. (I think that's why Matthew offered me his pink monkey later). . . I didn't mind tho, as I didn't really need another bear stuffie, I already had one from this trip from Tusenfryd awwww. . . Barry and his bear. (totally should be his profile pic) and then it was time to meet up for evening ERT over at Jetline. (interesting, in this pic you can see the one drop tower I didnt' go on, operating. it was the shortest of the park's offerings, so I didnt' mind skipping it, but it hadn't been running earlier when I went by it). this made me laugh - especially since the "Knight Butt" painting was "backstage" earlier. this is a lenticular, and depending on where you stood, Adam & Eve were more or less naked. yup. .just on a wall in the middle of the park. would have bought this in a second if on a magnet. but made sure to snap a pic so I could print it out and make one. ending ERT on Jetline . . got another group pic (thanks Robb).. then we headed over to Ikaros for some ERT. (since I rode so much, my phone stayed put away in my bag. . so no pics) then on the way out of the now closed park, we stopped for a group pic in front of Monster. all in all, an EXCELLENT day. I was wiped out tho, in the morning we had to get up and would be traveling all day - including a flight to Finland. so we took the short walk across the street, and I showered and crashed hard.
  8. Day 18: Tuesday, June 20th part 2 (of 3) - Voulez-Vous; off to the ABBA museum! getting to the front of the museum, we were met with this sign. sadly a pipe had burst overnight and flooded a lot of the museum (kudos to the clever wordplay and how quickly they got the sign up. . .tho it does make me wonder if this happens a lot??). So probably 2/3rds of the Museum were closed to the public, as they did clean up and repairs. as this was our only time to visit - and as they were offering a pretty substantial discount to enter (and I really mainly wanted the gift shop access anyways), we went ahead and decided to do it. Tho with so much closed, what would have taken probably 2-3 hours, only took us about 40 minutes to do. still. . worth it for the ABBA nerd in me. one exhibit hall that was open was the whole section about the VR ABBA "the Voyage" show in England. with lots of props, and info about how they scanned the band members in for the holographic performances. yes, the fashion nerd in me (it's the gay gene) was all verklempt over these. .the sketches and the finished costumes. Then downstairs to the main museum. . tho really all that was open were the final two rooms: the "after ABBA" sections, really. the stage sign from the final tour. . . only half lit, due to the water damage issue that took out power for much of the museum. at least the B is lit. . . B is for Bert! assorted licensed ABBA merch display. and then it was onto the Post-ABBA rooms. . . starting with a photo op from the Land Rover from "Mamma Mia!". . no, really. no other option than to be Benny here. . but oh well. . . wall of gold/platinum records a wedding dress from the film. . scale model of the main film set. . Meryl Streep's ass sat here! it was roped off, but could peek into the prior room of the museum, that was all about the breakup and reason's why. then onward to the separate sections about what each of the members did once the band split. Pretty large, and interactive sections. so this was quite interesting. (tho only one minor mention of the big hit from this show "One Night in Bangkok" which was surprising to me) Agnetha's "Grammi" she won in 92 for a solo album More Mamma Mia! stuff. . including the dress in the poster. the layout of the full museum. . basically only the left 3rd of the map was open. so I didn't get the Arrival Helicopter photo op. oh well. . when I next go back to Grona Lund (and I WILL at some point, I hope), I'll do the rest of the museum. a Potty break before heading back to the park, revealed rock n roll restrooms - themed to the backstage dressing rooms. baby, I'm a STAR! heh. . covid signs.. better than singing Happy Birthday. up into the gift shop. . where I would spend way too much money! But at least could run right upstairs and drop it in the room and not have to carry around the park. not gonna lie. . I TOTALLY wanted this Mumu dress. . but it was silk, and they wanted way too much for it. dressing room, again forcing you to be Bjorn. . . and with a quick stop to the room to drop off purchases, we headed back over to Grona Lund! to be concluded.
  9. Day 18: Tuesday, June 20th part 1 (of 3) - the magic place that is Grona Lund woke up a bit giddy today, as today was the full day we'd be spending at Grona Lund! (after seeing it every day from our hotel across the street, and getting just a taste on the night we arrived in Stockholm, with that surprise ERT on Monster). we were met before park open at the front gates by one of the park owners (a SUPER nice guy), and handed off to a couple of guides who would be with us this morning for a while, walking us to certain things to get some rides in before park open. we went in via, what I assume, was the original main gate to the park. Over in the section with the smaller family/kiddie rides, and lots of games. the original ticket booths for the park, I believe. . . just inside the main gate. classic carousel. . small, but with some lovely carved animals. seeing this pic, I realize, I never came back to ride this. . LOL. . I totally forgot it was i the park, as there are SO many other things to ride. a mini drop tower. . if we count this one? Grona Lund has a staggering FIVE drop tower rides. a flying elephant ride. . this area really is lovely. but we were headed up the stairs (a clever "bridge" that goes over a street) into the much bigger section of the park. . with all the thrill rides! and "Mexican" food.. which sadly, I didn't try. I was SO full from the snacking, and the wonderful dinner we were served, I just never got back to it. but I do love the added touch of the painted grate, so the place looks open even when it's sealed up tight. our first stop was going to be some morning rides on Monster! (we hadn't ridden it in the daytime yet, so a wonderful first stop). thru the Jetpass line, of course, even tho the park wouldn't open for a couple of hours yet. whee! I mentioned the other day, what's so amazing about Grona Lund is how the rides are all built seemingly on top of each other. there are four different coasters in this pic. . main track is Monster, the white track is Insane, the blue track is Jetline, and the yellow track at the bottom of the pic is Vilda Munsen after a few rides, I stepped out to take pics while others continued to ride. Rarrrghh. . I'm a monster Insane. . the tunnel of love ride at the park. . that ended up being SO bizarre (one of several strange and bizzare rides at the park), that I rode it multiple times today. the exit to the "it really WILL try to kill you" / "NEVER in America" funhouse. looks harmless! in this pic you can see two of the drop towers on the right, and the Starflyer on the left. and Jetline's 1st drop. Funhouse on the left, tunnel of love on the right. and Insane lurking on the upper right. play with Grona Lund's famous Woody? oh My! the Monster station is underground. . and I absolutely adore how they themed it to a subway stop. even doing some great tilework on the part of the ride the General Public can see, as the train comes back into the underground station. Morning ERT on Monster done, our guides walked us over to Insane. . . lovely scenery around this coaster. it looks like an S&S freespin on steroids (oh, it's much, much worse). I rode it twice, only. the first time I really disliked it. so rode again to make sure. . and yup, I did not like that much flipping that's not sustained. I mean, I LOVED Arashi at Nagashima Spaland (an S&S Freespin), but that's pretty consistent spinning. Insane does a lot of spinning, with a bunch of rocking back and forth in between the spins. and the forces due to the design simply weren't comfortable for me. glad I rode it, but yeah, not for me! random theming viewable from the Insane station. very pretty park! all smiles - prior to my 1st ride. stepping out to get my "land legs" back after my 1st ride.. snapped a few pics of others riding. it really IS pretty photographic are they having fun or screaming in agony? as noted, the setting for the park is just lovely. . . turning my back to the ride, and enjoying the view some rides at the park are built out onto piers - that seem to move with the water. . made for some fun ride experiences. I believe this is thanks to Elissa - edit. . it's actually from Chuck! Thanks CFC I don't appear to be in pain, and hell, it kinda looks like I'm having fun. this is my 2nd ride, and I think perhaps Jon and I are laughing because we sat together on one side, and Ryan is by himself on the other. . so we were pretty off balance the entire ride like this. HA!!! wonderful design for the old ticket booth (I guess the park used to be individually ticketed, as several rides had boarded up ticket booths by them). I believe this is Icarus - the face first (no really) drop tower. but here's where we were headed. . . Vilda Musen. (and the Starflyer starting to test behind it). we were gonna have some fun on this Gerstlauer Bobsled. . . TPR was gonna do the "water challenge" a look into a section of the park that would open a bit after the main park opened. that coaster is Kvasten (Broom). . a Vekoma suspended coaster that's themed to Witches flying brooms. That whole section was "scary" with Blue Train, and the Haunted House located there as well. before heading into the queue for the Vild Musen, I snapped a pic of the other drop tower that was across from us. this is "Frit Fall" - a STAND UP drop tower on one side, and "Tilt" a tilting drop tower (think Acrophobia at SFOG for the angle of the tilt) on the other 3 sides. again. . great theming everywhere! and no. . this Queue Line stantion is NOT why I loved Grona Lund so much. . . . but it didn't hurt. . . LOL lots of cool art in the station for the Bobsled tho you really have to be quite slim for this queue (luckily we were there before park open, so bypassed the squeeze). but I love how you can see the cars going up the lift hill via the windows in the station. sure! let's hold open glasses of water while riding this to see how much water is still in the cups after each ride. looks smooth! looks like most of them did well. . . Sarah is smiling, tho Steve looks like he's got an empty cup. looking down the entrance way from the queue. stuff to look at everywhere! I guess Jon lost. . . . not everyone chose to participate. . . tho Jere sitting behind myself and David was a poor choice! LOL. . hey, I never said I'd be good at it. end result of our ride was hella fun, despite my face.. . and every time water hit Jere I was laughing. . . (again, thanks either Elissa or perhaps Andy for this pic) ha! just realized Robb is in this pic. I think I was trying to get the ironwork design of the sign. the park was about to open, but our guides wanted to get us on one more coaster before that. So we headed over towards Jetline, the park's custom Schwarzkopf ooo. . very art deco over here. what is "Rock Jet"? Why it's a rooftop Himalaya with lots of disco lights, of course! I'd come back later for this. . . and yes, it looked AMAZING at night. retro cool Jetline entrance - thru a repurposed Diner car. the woodie in the background here is Twister - it was closed for refurb work during our visit, so I'll have to go back to ride it. Per the TPR Videos Robb has posted, it looks like a really fun coaster. shiny/glittery trains. . .loved it! (wish it showed up as sparkly in the pics) oh.. forgot to mention that Barry has rejoined us! I love the fact that even injured, he was determined (with Doctor's approval) to ride roller coasters. SO MUCH twisted track. whee! Briefly stuck on the brake run. I blame Hanz . . . this really was such a great coaster. I rode it multiple times this morning, and also in the evening when we got a bit more ERT that first drop is pretty steep, hence hanging on - tho I tend to hang on anyways. I guess I should mention, that Jetline has been closed since just after our visit last year, due to a terrible accident where some folks were injured and killed. I feel terrible for the park owners, and workers. they are all such wonderful people, and I'm sure the accident weighs very heavily on them. seeing these pics are a bit of a reminder to me to enjoy every day to it's fullest as you never know - the accident happened, I think, just 4 days after our visit. great coaster. . hope it reopens. end of ERT shot courtesy of Robb! but before we were cut loose in the park (which was now opened), our guides asked us if we were interested in a workshop tour of the Insane Maintenance bay. of COURSE most said "yes please!" so we headed back over that way. what is this??? very musical in the windows outside. is it a Rock and Roll store? Nope. . an indoor, disco Breakdance! oh yes.. would be coming back for this too. but first? behind the scenes at Insane I love going "backstage".. we get to see all the cool stuff that the park employees get to see. such as this amazing view. the maintenance bay for Insane is *under* the ride. the sections of track (with a car on them) remove and drop down into the bay so they can maintain the ride, cars, etc. very cool to see. How many TPR group members does it take to tune up an Insane train car? (the world may never know) Ha. . as noted, I love seeing behind the scenes and what the workers like to leave laying around for fun. Noted! "Nermal" in Swedish is "Niemand" ! HA! wonder where this used to be in the park? Knight butt. . . . Moana???? yes, it's time for the Tunnel of Love. . which is themed (I think???) to gnomes/fairies/witches/smurfs? living in harmony. . . or something. it's just fucking weird! and yes, I LOVED it. Hi Didier! me being sad I'm going into Tunnel of Love all alone it's a slow moving log flume, basically. . . with fairy titties. I didn't blur this on purpose. . the log seemed to speed up when I passed it. . . and then suddenly, the fairies are gone, and there are gnomes baking. for some reason. . . and then it gets a bit Greek. .. and Medieval. like I said.. it's fucking weird. see?? what was that??? let's ride again! awww. .a lil fairy house. hi Big Mike!! so we did ride again, but then Big Mike and I had something else on our agenda that we simply had to do while we were in Stockholm. yes, we stepped away from the park, crossed the street back to our Hotel, and visited the ABBA Museum (sorta). coming up next. to be continued. . . .
  10. ^ I'd guess you're not getting the emails because you're a tier well above the minimum they want to charge. . so gonna leave y'all alone. but see? THIS is why I just buy a season pass. pay once, and done with it. yes, the parks do frustrating things - such as right now SFFT is offering buy a pass and get updated to Diamond (all parks) free. . after I paid almost $200 for it late last year. . but whatever, I paid what I thought was a deal, so not really mad about it.
  11. yeah. . not a good look. I would guess a Chaperone Policy is gonna be announced sooner, rather than later, to make the General Public feel "safer" tho not sure how effective that would be regardless as not all Teenagers are the same, so they end up punishing the good kids along with the troublemakers.
  12. that does give them space for a giant pendulum. I notice on the map it shows the Frisbee "Temporarily closed"
  13. ^ 100% the changes to Superman queue is because they are routing the Supergirl exit thru the giftshop. I suspect that the Superman line entrance will be in the gift shop on the far right, and they will deepen the store - getting rid of the lockers in back, and a few rows of queue - which Supes RARELY fills, as that ride is a people eater. What is currently the Superman Entrance will become the Supergirl Exit.
  14. no way was that a wrong decision to do lunch. . it was a FANTASTIC meal. yeah, it cut into the time, but it was a fantastic meal. based on my picture I took of the menu (and i have a similar pic of that dish, so we must have had the same "Finnish Price Fixe" meal). . that was Hazlenut Ice Cream with a Celery topping over hazlenut crumble.
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