Photo TR: Coaster Rhapsody trip 2005

We didnt use the manual brakes at all, but there is a braking mechanism built into the cars so there is a maximum speed. The first alpine coaster braked automatically in the turns when the speed was high enough. I think the cars tilted slightly causing some rubber parts or something to rub against the track. I have no idea how it worked on the second alpine coaster as there were many long, straight and steep pieces of track. I wonde how fast it would go if there hadnt been any brakes at all

There is also a comfort factor involved....

Yngve and myself shared a "car" (or whatever you call them) and on the last run when it started to rain, it was going too fast round the corners the laterals throw you into the side of the seat which is no taller than 6". This gets quite painful at high speeds considering how cramped the cars are and considering your only wearing a lapbelt which also digs into your body.

5 minutes of strong laterals really do take their toll and you do get beat up. On the 2nd Alpina coaster due to going too fast and collisions (yes, we hit each other on purpose) the plastic seat belt buckle fell apart.

They are really not designed for the thrashing we gave them, most other users were using the brakes quite heavily as told to by the signage and staff.

Still amazing though... but sadly smack back in the middle of nowhere... this was a stop off while travlling between parks, the rest of the day was spent travelling in a bus for hours upon end in the Austrian alps.

those alpine coasters look absolutely amazing!!

thanks for the nice pics!

I found the link to the onride video of the second alpine coaster we rode on the trip http://www.hochserles.at/index.html?/soromovie.php

That...looks amazing! When you first mentioned alpine coasters, I figured you were just attepmting to get credits on alpine slides. After seing the pics, I had doubts..but THIS POV? Definately a credit in my book, and a magnificent attraction. The US needs some more of this kind of rides..I've only been on one, and it was just a slide... i hope your having a good time out there...Nice job on the TR so far

Some guy kept giving me his defination on why it was a slide and not a coaster. Even though I kept telling him I didn't care!

Wheels, track, gravity = one awesome ride! Keep in mind while you watch that POV that you're only secured by a lap belt and the cart you ride on is about the size of a plastic lunchtray!

Thanks for finding the video Yngve!

-Don

Sorry about the delay folks! I havent forgotten about this topic quite yet

Next update coming tomorrow. No park pictures, but a nice bunch of pictures from day 5 in Venice!

Okay heres the update from day 5 of the trip. Ive been busy with other stuff (like being lazy) so this update is *slightly* delayed.

This was our resting day on the trip. I was somewhat excited about Venice as there are no other cities like it in the world as far as I know. If you for some reason dont understand what Im talking about you will when you see the pictures. Its a very beatiful city, but it was way too crowded and everything was really expensive. I think I paid something like 4-5 euros for a drink in one of the more crowded areas. It was also VERY hot that day.

On the way back to Verona we drove past the Zamperla factory. The ride on the bottom left looked like a small inverted mouse coaster. There were also a Power Surge and some sort of Halfpipe ride there.

Me, Phil and the two other Norwegians on the trip decided to head out to one of the smaller, quieter islands after spending only a few hours in the city centre.

Greg & Andy being roasted alive in the boiling sun.

Ahh this is better!

Too.... much......people!!!

The famous bridge again.

Luckily this was before the birdflu reached Europe. If not, Greg would have been in serious trouble.

A beatiful building with something that looks like a massive queue outside it.

We finally got off the bus-taxi-ferry thing. As you can see the city was very crowded.

This is what Venice looks like when its slightly tilted.

Its a bridge. Be amazed!

More gondolas.

Heres the main street....uhh... I mean main river.

Yeah Venice is nice.

You could hire these gondolas but it was really expensive. But I can understand them as long as the tourists pay for it.

I belive that bridge was famous. Dont ask me why...

Its a *surprise* building!

You know you are in Venice when you see these funky boats..

Day 6: Canevaworld

This day we went to a Canevaworld, which is a big resort complex with a HUGE waterpark and a moviepark with several cool attractions. I didnt bring my camera with me since we were gonna spend half of the day in the waterpark, so if you want to see any pictures from the park I suggest you look at Robb's pictures from his Europe last year. I added a link at the bottom of this post to save you all a few seconds.

We started the day in the moviepark, which was very small but still cool. Most of the park was nicely themed. This good impression suddenly changed though as we discovered that the only attractions that opened with the park were the Terminator 2 show and the Haunted House walkthrough. We did Terminator 2 first, and I really enjoyed. Any show with plenty of fire and loud bangs are okay with me.

Next was the walkthrough attraction. You start by going up (I think) in an elevator and at the top you are greeted by some sort of special forces which points you in the right direction. This attraction was really scary with bloody walls, actors jumping at you and a guy with a chainsaw coming out behind you just as you thought it was over. There was one room which was particularly scarier than the others. It had loads of bodybags hanging from some sort of track in the roof. As this wasnt enough, they started moving around at fairly high speed and you had to make your way through them. Needless to say, it was impossible to do without being hit by them.

After that we headed to the X-area of the park, but it wasnt open yet so we decided to do the Magma Excursion Tour ride instead. But that ride wasnt open either. We were told that it would open in 15 mins, but it took atleast half an hour before that happened. But once we got on the ride it was really fun. My favorite part was the high-speed drive down the bumpy road. We actually got a little bit of airtime in the back of the truck. Im surprised there werent any seatbealt as it could be fatal if the driver lost control of the vehicle. I wont go into details about the ride, but it included fire and plenty of water

The X-area had finally opened when we were done with our Magma ride. However, bad operations struck again as none of the rides were open yet. This area of the park really sucked compared to the front half of the park. I guess this is were they ran out of money. The area right below the X-section looked like a junkyard. The three rides there were a portable powered coaster, a log flume which looked like a multistory parking garage and a Polyp/Monster-style ride covered by a large tent. I also think these rides had the worst names ever. X-Speed??? X-Splash??? X-Spin?? It was nice to ride the log flume though as it was very hot that day. I wouldnt mind to get a bit more wet though.

We also did the backstage-monorail which stops at various places and shows you how different stuff works on the Magma ride and on the Rambo show on monitors placed along the track. It wasnt very interesting as everything was in Italian, but atleast the view of Lake Garda was nice. Im glad that this park is getting more rides this year as it has loads of potention, but there isnt really that much to do. Hopefully they will manage to open more rides with the park aswell because we spent most of the day waiting for the rides and attractions to open. I hope this park makes it, but they have to work hard with such a big park as Gardaland just 5 mins down the road.

We decided to skip the Rambo show and headed for Aquaparadise instead. This is a large waterpark with plenty of slides and nice theming. The place was a bit too crowded for my taste, but it was still cool. I did my first of those giant waterslides that goes down a drop thats near vertical. Scared the crap outta me. It wasnt very comfortable on your back either and its not something I want to do again. My favorite slide was the one called Black Hole, where you sat in a big ring and went through a long slide in complete darkness. A tad claustrophobic, but plenty of spinning which made the ride very fun. There were also a really cool slide where you went down a short, but steep drop and over a jump into the water.

Me, Phil, Andy and Greg decided to do Gardaland that night so we could experience in when it was dark as we would be leaving Gardaland early in the evening next day. The entry tickets were quite cheap, and it was really cool to experience such a fantastic park at night. I wont say more about Gardaland now. That will be in the next update

Oh and heres the link to Robb's pics from Canevaworld http://www.themeparkreview.com/europe2005/studiospark/studiospark1.htm

Ahh, no Gardaland teaser pics!

I totally agree with you on that verticle slide. I know I have ridden taller ones, but that was definatly the scariest one I have ever been on.

I think that it's minimalist design is what really did it for me. Summit Plummet at Blizzard Beach may be the biggest, but it's certainally much more stable looking. Also, it doesn't have that "Holy crap this thing is shaking so bad it looks like it can come down at any second" vibe.

Honestly after I rode it I still wished I hadn't done it, freaky!

The water jump though was awesome! 15 feet straight down and then off a ramp! Brilliant!

-Don

Day 6: Gardaland

Gardaland is one amazing place. It doesnt have any great coasters and Ive heard that several people have had bad experiences with customer service at the park, but the time I spent in the park was fantastic. With the exception of a small area at the back of the park, everything is themed down to the smallest detail. Its easily the most beatiful park Ive ever been to, and the atmosphere is just amazing.Me, Phil, Andy and Greg spent the evening the day before at Gardaland and a full day after that at the park and I was never bored.

Okay, onto the pics..

Bye bye Gardaland! I had an awesome time in the park despite the coasters being very average!

There were plenty of RCT-flowers here

The carousel

The train station...

Heres the old entrance. It was really beatiful and so were many of the other buildings in this area of the park...

Heres the view from "the tree"

Gardaland has the best kiddie area ever! Lots of fountains, cute rides and one BIG tree!

In true TPR-style:

GRRRR IM BIG EVIL GORILLA!!! NOW GIMME SOME CANDY!!!

Gardaland also had a jungle cruise in a very nice setting.

Heres the kiddy coaster with 6 lifthills. It was very smooth though, unlike most other kiddy coasters *coughZamperlaPinfaricough*

The second and biggest drop on the ride. As you can see, the theming was really spectacular.

The queue was long, but it moved very fast. There werent any shadow in the queue. but atleast the mist spraying from the trees was nice.

The ride itself was alright. The drops werent that exciting, and only the people in the front row got wet. That sucked as it was freakin hot that day. The ride also had the Intamin screeching sound through the turns.

The theming here was AWESOME!!!

The entrance to Atlantis.

These people seemed to be enjoying their ride. The extra helix was actually quite smooth.

The ride wasnt excactly smooth, but atleast it looked nice (didnt I say the excact same thing about the other vekoma coaster?) The ride looked like it had been painted the day before our visit.

Blue Tornado, the SLC-with-an-extra-helix, was next.

Heres the view from the top.

Gardaland also had a Flying Island. These rides are so much better than the standard observation towers. They look awesome and the ride movements are very smooth.

Heres the smallest Intamin droptower I have ever seen. The 'thing' at the top had no function at all, but the ride was awesome!!!

The pirate boat dark ride! Underneath that ship is a MASSIVE boat ride in the dark that takes you through pirate towns, dense jungle and many other awesome themes.

Here we are on the way to the most impressive ride in the park...

The ride kinda sucked, but atleast it looked nice

The entire area (like most other places in the park) looked really nice...

Magic Mountain, the Vekoma looping coaster, opened shortly after our ERS on Sequioa Adventure.

It was a fun ride, but nothing to write home about.

Greg and Andy getting ready for some serious hangtime.

The day started with ERS on Sequioa Adventure. This is a very rare sight in the summer as the park was fairly crowded both the days we were there.

Here we are at Gardaland! (again, as a couple of us spent the evening the day before at the park)

Day 7: Mirabilandia

Mirabilandia was the last park on the trip before going back home the next day, and what a way to end the trip. As a park it was no where near as good as Gardaland when it comes to theming and good rides with one exception: KATUN!!! This was one fantastic coaster, and really made up for the lack of other quality rides. The day couldnt have started better with ERS on Katun. I got 5 or 6 rides during the ERS, and a total of 16 rides on Katun that day. The rest of the day was spent having fun with all the great people I got to know on the trip. Im not good at writing long texts so once again I'll let the pictures do the most of the talking.

Heres one for you monorail enthusiasts. I hope you enjoyed my trip report despite the lack of replies towards the end.

The first drop is really good!

Me and Leon tried to get our busdriver to ride Katun, but not even a free icecream could get him on =(

Time for a few more pictures of Katun because you can never get enough pics of such a good ride. The station area had really nice theming.

Theres a boat somewhere in this picture. I didnt mind getting soaked in the boiling heat, but the brutal stop in the water was something that I dont want to experience again. I think one of the club members hurt his chest from hitting the big lapbar.

Any show with fire and explosions is okay with me.

The monster truck was cool, but they didnt crush anything with it =(

You just gotta love the sound of cars sliding on bare asphalt.

Mirabilandia had an awesome stunt-show with loads of impressive driving.

I was worried that Olov, Leon and Jim would end up burning up in the atmosphere, but this shot tower was very weak so they all survived

... and Katun. Phil and Olof kept rocking our cabin so we got two laps because they couldnt open the door when it was rocking back and forth (I want 15 mins of my life back, you two!)

Here you can get a good idea of the layout on Sierra Tonante...

Andy and Greg have their cameras ready.

They also had this big-ass wheel. It took about 15 mins to get around.

Mirabilandia also had a standard Vekoma family coaster. Not the most exciting coaster, but hey its a credit!

It may look impressive, but the ride sucks. It has absolutely no airtime, and its also very rough (but what do you expect from a woodie running Zamperla trains?)

Things got a bit silly on the way to Sierra Tonante...

It wasnt bad for such a small coaster.

Its the kiddy coaster with vegetables theming

Most of us rode Pakal next as it was the closest coaster. It was quite slow, and not the most comfortable coaster either. One ride was definately enough.

They let us out on the transfer area after riding. Luckily we didnt have ERS on train 2. because it was shaking alot more than no. 3. They never ran more than 2 trains that day.

After the MCBR the train goes through a corkscrew, then through a short tunnel followed by another corkscrew, which is showed in this picture. The ride ends with a nice and tight helix.

After going through a high-speed turn close to the ground the train enters the cobra roll with good speed. This one had the famous 'snap' at the top

A tall zero-g roll comes next. I just love how undersupported the zero-g rolls looks on B&M's inverted coasters.

A massive loop follows the drop.

It comes really close to the ground at the bottom of the first drop.

ECC'ers enjoying the drop.

The ride starts with a very steep first drop. Theres excellent floater airtime all the way down.

Andy & Greg getting ready to ride.

The day started with ERS on the fantastic Katun. I belive this is the second largest B&M inverted coaster in the world after Alpengeist.

Do you know who makes the water ride? Im guessing its Vekoma cause you said it has a huge lap bar, which both JPs do.

The famous bridge in Venice is called The Bridge of Sighs, FYI.

It was nice seeing pictures of the Italian Parks again, I'm sure we'll give them another chance someday!

Did you ride 'outside dark ride, that Jeff Johnson would consider a coaster credit' ride at Gardaland? I remember thinking that that one was a lot of fun!

As for Katun, yeah it's right up there with the other old school B&M's. I think that the first drop on it has the best airtime of any B&M non hyper coaster!

Outside dark ride?? Where in the park was it located??