Photo TR: Bill's MexicOLE! 2013 TPR Tour

So, this tour (in late March) is really a quick one to report on, considering I had spent over three weeks (Sept.) in China and Hong Kong.... whew!

This tour had the awesomeness about it, that all happened in just one week, Saturday to Saturday. Firstly, that TPR tour to China (over 100 coasters ridden!) put me amazingly close to riding #600 on this tour. And it was easy, as I did just that in our first visit to a big park - Six Flags Mexico. The only question was, which coaster would be The One? The answer I would find out, soon enough, heh. I also had the randomness of how everything works, of turning 60 years Old, although this would happen on the day/ugh/morning I left (Sat.30th). But it was a kick knowing I was (ahem) Riding my 600th coaster, 6 days before I turned... 60!

So since this was an afternoon flight, compared to the usual early morning ones I have done in the past, lunch was had before boarding at Gate # ...... 53? Damn - put a '19' in front of that and you have my birth year!

Omen or Good Luck?

Hard to decide.

More to come, tomorrow, amigos.

Got through all the check in stuff just fine - and did a body scan! Trippy. Then to my fave eaterie and lunch - Caeser chicken salad. Very nice it was.

And there was my Boarding Gate, waiting for me... it feels very wierd when a number pops up that somehow connects to your life.

And for today's Mexican Holiday Cinqo de Mayo, a well enjoyed beverage at our last park of the tour.... Victoria beer and...Clamato Juice! Yummy, hmmm? Add to that....MAGGI sauce! Ole, indeed!

Sept.24/13 ~ Day 1 ~ Culture Touring Day

After everybody arrived the day before, we then set out on our first part of the tour. That being, taking in some local culture outside and in Mexico City itself. Robb and Elissa always try and include some non-park touring on their tours, whether it happens before, in the middle of, or after the main touring is done. Which is really awesome for them to do!

We first set out to explore some of the ruins that make up (I think) what Old Mexico was, long before westerners came and occupied the city. The Pyramides we explored were really something to see - and so spread out! And so many STEPS to climb! When it came time to going up the steps of the Pyramide of the Sun, a few of us opted (myself incl.) not to totally exhaust ourselves on the first day of the tour. So we went and toured through a museum close by that had a scale model of how the area all looked hundreds of years ago, and included wonderful artifacts, tools, statues and that were made and used during this long ago time.

Then everybody got back together and we went for lunch...

Here we are, all starting to gather in the morning.

And after we all finally got together...

We bussed to the Pyramides and then were devided into two groups with guides, and then started the tour

We started by entering through this building that had an ongoing film inside about the area and the history of everything around us.

Our guide showed us this outdoor map which laid out what everything was and where it was located.

And in the distance - the Pyramide of the Sun, later to be climbed by the majority of everybody... except those few of us who weren't quite sure about doing that.

This is where we headed for first, to get a full overview of the area.

Everybody getting ready for some 'stepping' lol.

And all of us did this, while going up was fairly easy, coming back down was another thing altogether. Cliff and Anth (and Gary in back there) have found a bit of an easier way to do it, heh. And in the middle, Kristen being a True Leader and guiding her Fraidy-Kat Parents down like the true professional stepper that she is!

Group shot, of sorts. Hi guys!

A group of other tourers in a prayer circle. Probably praying they can make it up and down all those steps.

My roomie for the tour, JC... and myself.

I loved seeing the vegetation everywhere we were. Especially the cactus!

And here's some of what the few of us saw, who took in the nearby museum, instead of climbing OMG a LOT of steps up another Pyramide. These were the tools for making food. Mmm all those tortillas.

Statuary and such. Such massive pieces!

This is the scale model of everything around us, as it existed so many many years ago.

Huge glass windows beyond the model, with a nice arrangement of (mostly) Agave plants, outside.

Some unearthed burial mounds on display in the museum. Group photo! (o:

Leftovers.

Beautiful.

So many magnificent pieces on display.

And just before re-boarding the bus to go to lunch, I saw this and had to take a pic. It's growing out of an Agave plant. Forget why. Just looked....interesting.

Day 1 contd...

Our first group meal together happened after touring the pyramides. And the restaurant was very close by, and had outdoor seating arranged for us, all in the 'shadow' of the Temple of the Sun, I believe. This was also a First Time Ever for most of us, not having had any kind of meal made including ....cactus. For a few of us, we mistakenly thought the 'green things' surrounding the chicken was green beans. But it wasn't. It was cactus pieces. And not bad, actually.

Then, before heading back to the city, we encountered a Bonus Credit in the form of a (what it was named) Crazy Worm, in a small city park, mostly children's rides, with a couple of thrills for the older ones. Credit whores all of us, each and every one!

And after that we did some touring of the old palace in the city, the surrounding areas including churches, and a public performance/prayer gathering located in a church square. Then on to our dinner location. And then....

Tickets were available to everybody for a performance that night of the famed Mexican Ballet Folk troupe which has been around for several decades. The venue they were performing in was a beautiful palace-like building, with lots of architectural stuff to explore, around it. Well, most of the group went. I declined as I had seen this group twice in Vancouver, from their tours.

So the plan was after the show, to be in front of the Sears building, noted for it's many many (omg) many windows on the side facing the theatre, the bus comes by, picks everybody up, back to hotel. Well when 11pm rolled by, and the few of us who didn't go, were sitting in the hotel bar, and wondering why the group was so late coming back.... Turns out the bus driver had a mis-communication in exactly where to meet the group, and was parked at the back of the theatre! So, after well over an hour+ later, the mistake was discovered, and everybody got back to the hotel albeit somewhat later than planned. Good times.

And then ~ the next day ~ Six Flags Mexico and my #600 coaster to ride!

Here's where we ate lunch at. And so - much - cactus!

With outdoor group seating for us all.

Tortilla soup. And it was only after we asked, that we found out the stuff on the small plate, went IN to the soup. It's a learning process...

And over there, overlooking us - The Temple of the Sun.

The Main Course - and there's cactus pieces with the chicken and sauce, tied up inside that thing there. It was good, too!

And back to some bussing through the city. This is a empty building that still looks pretty nice, hmm?

I love towers and such. How they're made, what they're used for, etc. Fascinates me.

CRAZY WORM BONUS CREDIT! That's all I got. And you can barely make out a train full of us sad people, riding it. Behind that umbrella there. Tsk tsk.

This was in a palace that contained many many (many) murals and paintings about the history of Mexico.

Some of those murals, here. It was impressive, and it was a - lot to take in.

Back out through the city again. This tower is leaning if you look closely. As is a good deal of the buildings around it, lol.

One of the churches in the city.

I did forget we were touring around the city on Palm Sunday, so there were groups like this one doing public praying rituals, and such.

After that, we were heading to our dinner location. And I always enjoy seeing a Canadian flag, from time to time, no matter which country I am in.

At the restaurant, this was framing over the entry door, inside the place. Very beautiful.

And there was music while we dined, too! A group of musicians serenaded the room, with many stringed instruments being used. It was great!

Table of TPR diners #1.

Table of TPR diners #2.

And - The Fabulous Four! (Well, they think they are, giggle.) Hi guys!

And after dinner, this is the theatre where most of everybody went for the Folk Ballet performance. Great building from the outside. Just as impressive inside, I heard.

And this is the SEARS building (so - many - windows) where the bus was supposed to pick up everybody after the show. Oh well, memories are made of these....things.

Another awesome TR! Can't wait for more!

Great job Bill! Can't wait to see the rest of the trip.

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We left all the information and cell phone numbers as we also didn't bother with the ballet.

Surprised no one tried to call us to help! Oh well, this is why you guys pay US to deal with this and run the tours!

Nice start tot the report Bill. I'm interested in seeing all the pictures from Mexico but I still have no desire to go there.

^Robb felt the same way and came back really liking the place and we're already planning another trip back. I think you should give it a try at some point!

I've made sure to tell everyone who gave me hard times that Mexico was unsafe and all that crap about how great of an experience I had down there. I would definitely go back.

Also, that night after the ballet waiting for the bus was great . Except for spraining my ankle when my big foot missed a small step.

Anyway, nice trip report! Always good to re-live it with pictures.

I myself must admit, I wasn't too keen on exploring either city (Mexico or Guadalajara) in the tour, separate from the parks. But everywhere I/we did go, I found people were nice and courteous, even if we didn't understand each other, no wierdness going on, that wasn't already part of the city life itself, heh. And I found Guadalajara to be more laid back in atmosphere than Mexico City.

But then, that could have been all that tequila in me, LOL.

I was happily surprised, and would enjoy re-visiting Mexico again. With TPR.

Now, when was that "Bullet" being re-built at Selva Magica?

(And thanks for the nice comments, guys.)

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Well, you just didn't have ME there, is all.

(Apologies to all who were there that night. BIGbearHugs.)

Here's a bit of a 'preview' of next week's postings.

When we went to Six Flags Mexico on Day 2 of the tour - and I hit my #600 coaster!

But first - the question is... what does the sign actually "read"?

So....6-0-0.... or G-O-D.... hmmmm.

I wouldn't mind visiting Mexico City myself, especially after reading the reports of folks on the TPR trip--looks like a lot of fun. Unfortunately, spring is a bad time of the year for me to be away from work (too many projects).

Nice start to your report, Bill--the food, in particular, looks great.

The food was really great on this tour. We have pretty good Mexican restaurants in Vancouver, but this was so nice to eat where all the locals (mostly) eat!

^ Thanks Chuck! Yes, you should do a TPR tour, for Mexico. I know the Alveys were quite taken with how much they enjoyed this tour even though "a few things went wrong" heh heh. And the country, too. And they derfinitely want to come back, if only for and extended weekend of sorts.

Stay tuned for that - and my Six Flags Mexico TR, starting tomorrow!

EDIT TO Add: I also think it/the great meals had to do with what we went through with the China tour back in September? All those group meals in places that essentially catered to tourist groups. Whereas, this tour had us eating in places where basically all the locals ate in. Which was AWESOME! (For myself.)

Day 2 ~ Six Flags Mexico

So I "heard" the deal is with this Six Flags park, is that it is considered one of The Best (if not The Best) in the SF franchise. Also, it has a LOT of coasters to ride, lol. So many that I knew that somewhere in that number was my 600th Coaster on this tour. I just wasn't sure which one it would be...

Management met up with us at the park's entrance, and took us over to Superman and we had a mini-ERT with it. After that, we went to The Joker which for myself had The - Best - Queue - Experience - Ever. Part of the lineup was going through a Funhouse type setup, that was very cool to go through, before boarding the coaster. Then we were taken over to where the (shudders) SLC was, called Batman. And - surprise - it wasn't too bad, considering all the *&%@# SLCs I have ridden around the world. A family coaster called Tsunami (?) was ridden, under a sort-of pyramid frame with lights all over the frame. Would have been cool to see all the lights on in the evening. There was a boomerang called what else? Boomerang.

And then - we were taken to what was going to be my #600 Coaster ... MEDUSA ... the woodie of the park! And although I found it rough in spots, the layout was pretty good all in amongst the trees and landscaping around it.

So after that, we had lunch in the park and more touring around in it. Eventually, it was back to the hotel and we were on our own for dinner. So a group of us found a Hard Rock Cafe within walking distance of the hotel. Food was good, I couldn't finish my burger order, so I took the rest of it back to hotel, where it eventually was thrown away, LOL!

Now, on to some Six Flags Mexico photos....

At the front entrance of it - we're here! Well, first we park, then we get to the actual entry gate and then....

This is a shot of Medusa from the parking lot - not knowing it was to be my #600 coaster!

Love these fan turns in Medusa's layout.

Just in case there were no maps of the park. But there were, and we got them.

The Joker, with the awesome queue though a Funhouse.

A look at The Joker, after I rode it. It was great!

Just me and a friendly hamburger buddy.

Batman - The SLC. And it actually wasn't that bad, considering...well it was an SLC!

Here we are. Medusa ... #600. And yes that IS the number 600, there. Not G-O-D, as some locals thought, lol.

Close up of the awesome entry sign. With coaster tracks as hair!

Gary! What are you doing here in my report? You need to get back to your own TR there, buddy. So I snapped my fingers....

And he was gone! Unfortunately, Elissa, Kristen and Cheryl (who were behind Gary) got "caught" in the magical...uh...."line of fire", and were "sent somewhere else" as well. Ah well, on we go.....

Day 2, cont. ~ Six Flags Mexico ~ Dinner

So, after my Momentous Occasion at Medusa (see previous post), we finished up the rest of the coasters at the park, and had a late lunch (Which was a rather 'okay' chicken burger & fries. Nothing too special.) We then went around and through the park a few more times, before finally ending the day, and getting back to our hotel, and dinner.

BTW, Six Flags Mexico is also where I discovered the the locals have a thing for mixing their beer (Corona or Victoria) with....clamato juice! And it was tasty, too! The things you discover on a TPR tour, LOL!

Dark Knight indoor mouse coaster. I think Cheryl is trying to read the Spanish, while JC is trying to decide whether to ride it, or not. They really did a lot on themeing considering the usual layout for this type of mouse. I enjoyed it.

Photo of Clown about to Swallow whole group of TPRers. Yikes!

Tsunami - family coaster - with a strange pyramid-like framework over it all. Which had lights on it, too. Not sure why they named it that name.

THE SMILER, indeed! (o; A boomerang, nothing more or less. Named.... wait for it... Boomerang!

Betty and Ryan took a spin in one of these. Apparently much slower than the one that was at Liseberg.

Lunch. With a Mexican chocolate bar ( ! ) and beverage, too.

Then of course, there's always BEER to be had at most of these Mexican parks. Hi Cliff! Happy? I know you are, lol.

After we ate, more walking around. Strange, I didn't ride any of the towers on this tour. Huh.

On site map boo-boo. Van Helsing is no more. Vampires Rule! The walk-through was good. Had it's "moments".

This was part of (pretty) poorly lit black light 'show' some of us took in. And a LOT of Michael Jackson....stuff. The women seemed to be "shown off" pretty good. Lots of.... undulating. Ooooo sexy.

This at least had the chance of looking interesting. But they came off the canvas, undulated, and well... that was that. Bye bye Six Flags Mexico!

And now... Dinner! A small group of us found a Hard Rock Cafe nearby, and decided to eat there. This is one of the HRC t-shirts for sale, in the tiny shop beside the entrance to it.

My dinner. Was very good. For a burger.

And Ginny here is totally overwhelmed by her fries! And the square "bread bun". With no crusts! Waytago Ginny!

And on the way back to the hotel from the Cafe, a final shot for the evening. Some of the hotels had really amazing sculptures in front. Like this one.

Great pictures! Looking forward to seeing the rest of them! I eventually want to get around to visiting this park when I find myself in Mexico. I've lived in Texas my whole life and I've never even been over the border. Someday...

Congrats on the 600 coasters, that's a LOT of rides! Happy to hear a good review of Medusa. The layout looks great and unique. I look forward to going down there some day (all those thrown out Anton rides!). Always thought the funhouse theme from the movie Funhouse would be great to have in a park today. I wonder what it looks like inside that Joker queue...

I couldn't believe the size of those Coronas at SFM. That whole park was such a surprise, even though that was probably the most 'meh' meal of the trip. Later that day we got tacos in the park and they were AMAZING!

^^^ Thanks. And...

^^Thanks! And the Funhouse queue at the Joker was mainly floor stuff, like puffy spots to step on, a few mirrors, I think a bit of actual "moving" floor parts...and then out on the loading platform! Lots of music, sounds, lights flickering. Great stuff. They sent us through it, one group at a time, and when the op saw one of the group exit, the next group went in. It didn't slow the line in any way, as most of the line was in front of the Funhouse entrance.

^Those SFX draft Coronas in the HUMONGOUS CUPS were goooooooood. Took my time with that one, heh heh. Then I discovered the "mixture" with the clamato juice (and spices of course) and I was hooked! Glad you found tacos! I just ended up drinking my vegetables... (and clam juice)

And here's a photo from my/our (Day 3) day at La Feria, in Mexico City... Posting it next week.

So many symbolic 'things' here. And scary, too! And it's with a coaster!

Day 3 ~ La Feria Chapultapec Park

This was our second park in Mexico City, and the First Awesomeness of it was that it was located a mere minutes from our hotel! The Second Awesomeness on this park, was that it had in it, one of the three remaining wooden mobius coasters in - the - world. The other two are at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Kennywood, yes? And I emphasize wooden coaster. Not steel. Big difference in how they run. And the Third Awesomeness of la Feria, was that BEER was sold and served here, too! Woo hoo!

The whole park is located at the edge of a much bigger greener park.... and a freeway, lol. Different levels in the park, and they had rides and attractions on the other side of the mobius coaster, so three 'passage ways' were created through the coaster! All very civilized, heh.

Lunch was again, no big deal, but that was okay. With More Beer it was great!!! And then more touring around the park...

Morning in Mexico City - from our hotel room.

I liked this arrangement (in the hotel lobby) and tried to get a good shot.

This is where the park is located, within the Bigger Park.

Before we go in, we can see this. Montana Infinitum ~ a Schwarzkopf looping coaster.

I get a kick out of signs at these parks. I mean, when they tell you something, THEY really TELL YOU SOMETHING!

Our entrance to La Feria.

Past some rather interesting waterfall adornments. And WHY is the grasshopper BIGGER than all the other animals? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Confused. But awed at the randomness of it.

This, although looking interesting from afar, didn't really attract any of us. We soon found out, one doesn't slide all the way down. There were ops up there to help push... You over the humps. Fun. But no thanks.

And there, in the distance, our main objective to enjoy... Montana Rusa!

Day 3 ~ La Feria, cont.

More importantly, this is all about one of the three last remaining wooden mobius coasters, in the world. The other two are in Blackpool and Kennywood. And this was my second one to ride, having ridden the one in BPB. This is about Montana Rusa at La Feria park.

It took the ride ops (and blue-coveralled workmen) some time to get the train going on the track and to the lift hill, but they got it done, and everybody got to ride the same train for two laps of the coaster's circuit, once on each side of it. And after we had ridden it, we noticed that they were running two trains at once, which was (I remember being told) they didn't do too much, any more. Maybe TPR showed them how to really run the coaster, hmm? Who knows?

Also to note - After some years of operation, the park decided to change the name of the coaster to something else. Angry locals DEMANDED that the park not do this. And happily, park management decided to go with what the locals wanted. Back to the original name! That's what I call GP Power, lol!

Here it is - Montana Rusa.

With quite the entrance station to it. Was so ornate and colourful.

And this is the way you see this central piece above you, in the queue's ceiling.

Turned around for a better view. Love the detail, although I had no idea what it represented. My loss.

Positions to sit - and not. I rather like the middle one, myself. Much more relaxing...

Like I mentioned before, blue-coveralled workmen pushing the train up to the lifthill. Kind of scary, but after that they didn't have to do it for every train, whew! I counted nine of them, there. How about you? (o;

Looking back to the front of the queue entrance. Yes, we're all in there, somewhere.

And right there in the station - a model of the coaster! A very nice one, too.

Here's the other side of the model. Very cool to look at.

Here's a good test of one's Spanish. Posted around where you boarded the trains.

The paparazzi have been notified and are ready...

And although this looks like the train was leaving with no middle filled up. It was. HI in back there!

Here's the Party Car in back. With Larry as the lookout.

And of course, our hosts for the tour. (Whatever their names are.) BearHugs to the Alveys! (And more park pix tomorrow.)

Seeing all the trip reports on Mexico makes me wish I had gone but circumstances prevented it. I guess I will just have to wait a few years until TPR decides to do a return trip.

^ You might not have to wait a few years, Bob.

The last park we visited in Guadalajara, Selva Magica, had all of what was called The Bullet dismantled in the back of the park. This was the coaster formerly at Flamingo Land in the UK and a/k/a Wiener Looping at Wiener Prater Park.

"The word we heard" while looking at all the pieces, was that the park was planning to get it put together and running "by hopefully next year."

I think then, TPR wants to get back to this park sooner than later, lol.

This is The Bullet, when it was all put together. Photo from RCDB.

Day 3 ~ La Feria ~ The Rest of The Park

Well, I was actually a bit wrong about when we had lunch during this day. It was after ERT-ing on Montana Rusa and after going through most of the rest of the park, did lunch happen. Early afternoon, actually. But it was good, as it could be - with BEER! (o:

Saw this 'parallel' in the two attractions. Looked like a good shot at the time. Did NOT ride either .

Mmm that Schwarzkopf. (Montana Infinitum) We got ERT on this too!

And that good old shuttle loop, too. (Cascabel) I love those things.

And of course the all-important spinning mouse (Raton Loco) This we had to line up for, but the line went quick.

The park's Haunted Walk-Through. I passed on it, due to (at the time) a long queue. Didn't hear much about it, from the others who did it. Got a giggle at the ice cream cart there, right at the exit of it, lol.

Anth is demonstrating the art of Reunion, as he should. Actually, a few of us thought this was a great idea, not having to worry about silly things, like coaster entrances, specific buildings, blah blah blah...

Saw a few of these around. Our lovely model Ginny is showing the obvious importance of these things.

JC told me this was also the name of a franchise in California. Just the name - not the building itself, lol.

TRY #1 - We all kept a lookout to see if the mobius' two trains would ever meet up with each other on the lifthill.

This was neat. A mini-monorail for the kids. Didn't have a huge layout. But it looked cool.

One of my fave shots in the park. Working with light and shadow, here.

The DJ booth ~ sponsored by a potatoe chip co. of course ~ wasn't "on" or even occupied when we were there. And the Bumpy Slide in back was hardly used, even by the locals. Things that make you go hmmm...

Eureka! I found something! On it! And moving on...

TRY #2 - Getting better here. I think this was actually the closest we ever saw the two trains, on the lifthill.

And there were groups of clowns or clown-like people, doing lots and lots of group shots with the visitors. Looked like fun.

"And ONLY 42 Calories!" They also list that this 'beer' had hardly any alcoholic content in it at - all. Oh well. I can dream of higher alcoholic %, can't I? BTW, this is the start of having lunch int he park.

Here's Jo and Ginny, doing the same. Or water, at least.

And here's lunch! The "Mexican" part was the beverage (Sangria that drinks like a Caeser! With no alcohol content whatsoever!)