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Photo TR: Robb's Trip Around The World!


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Forget about the credits, it's all about ice cream with a Flake! So simple, yet so awesome!

 

Then you would be happy to know that at McDonnalds in Australia, you are able to get your 40c cones and sundays with a flake. Just another reason for you to visit our fair shores Robb

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So glad you've been having a good time. I'm really really really pissed off I couldn't come down to thorpe in the end...parents wouldn't let me, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr . They like said that last night!! it's SO unfair. . I needa hug

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Quick Update!

 

Robb just called from Heathrow where he was in a 2 Hour Check In Line!!!

 

Some notes:

 

- 3 Hours of Sleep due to Non-German Tom getting in late!

- Nemesis Inferno is a lot of fun, not a forceless B&M, but not a Talon or Silver Bullet either!

- X:/No Way Out is still bizarre

- Colossus is not aging well...lots of vibration, but no head banging

- The two S&S rides were both running and really surprised him at how much fun they were! Especially the SWAT one!

- Park was not too crowded, longest they waited was like 20 minutes!

 

His flight just took off for Hong Kong! I'm so excited to see his pictures from there!

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Quick Update!

 

 

Robb just called from Heathrow where he was in a 2 Hour Check In Line!!!

 

Some notes:

 

- 3 Hours of Sleep due to Non-German Tom getting in late!

- Nemesis Inferno is a lot of fun, not a forceless B&M, but not a Talon or Silver Bullet either!

- X:/No Way Out is still bizarre

- Colossus is not aging well...lots of vibration, but no head banging

- The two S&S rides were both running and really surprised him at how much fun they were! Especially the SWAT one!

- Park was not too crowded, longest they waited was like 20 minutes!

 

His flight just took off for Hong Kong! I'm so excited to see his pictures from there!

 

See now that bothers me... I didn't notice any real problems with vibration when I rode it earlier this year.

 

I thought that the S&S Swat was a blast. Sadly the swing was due to open in a week when I went... I especially liked the Swat in the front seats so that you could see the other riders the other side. Also it didn't cause the whole blood pooling in every part of the top half of my body feeling. Seriously the first time I rode I was in the back on that bad boy and OMG it felt like my shoulders were the size of an NFL players shoulder pads... It also felt like my head might pop like a large zit but hey... Amazing amazing ride. Six Flags should definitely put some more in if S&S can solve the problems with the initial setup.

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^ Why does that bother you? Am I not allowed to have an opinion on something?

 

I rode it plenty opening year, and I rode it twice, once in front once in back yesterday and I can tell you that it DOES in fact vibrate and rattle a LOT more than it did in 2002. While I wouldn't consider it 'rough' it certainly does have that Intamin virbation that it seems just about every single other Intamin coaster has. All the locals that we met up with said that the vibration has been there pretty consistently for the past couple of years, sometimes worse, sometimes better, and yesterday's rides were on the 'better' side of things. No offense or anything, but I'm going to take the word of the guys that ride it every other weekend.

 

Not saying that I don't believe you that you didn't notice it when you visited earlier this year, and maybe you rode it the day after a train got out of rehab or something, but given the fact that I've been on just about every other Intamin coaster in the world, and they all seem to suffer this problem, some worse than others, Colossus being one of the worst offenders, it not surprising to me at all that it has this condition. Hell, even California Screamin', one of the soothest Intamin loopers has really hellish vibration through the loop!

 

But that all being said, the ride is still great, and I would ride it over and over again.

 

Anyway, I'm in Hong Kong now on my way to Ocean Park. The weather isn't looking too good right now, and from what I hear, Ocean Park has the "Knott's" attitude that they'll close pretty much everything in the rain. At least if I don't get on stuff tonight, I have a 2nd chance on Tuesday.

 

I'll post more photos later, but for now, here is what I see when I look out the window of my hotel room:

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I'll be able to explore the city more later tonight!

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Reminds me a lot of Tokyo....

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Hi, Robb

Explore Hong Kong => don`t miss a tram tour on Hong Kong Island. Very cheap and a good sightseeing tour, but watch your heat on the upper level.

You also have the chance to take a escalator ride. On Hong Kong Island you`ll find the world longest escalator on the way to the Peak.

Have a nice stay in the wonderful city of Hong Kong .

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3 Hours of Sleep due to Non-German Tom getting in late! [/b]:lol:

 

I was sitting in a queue in roadworks for 2 hours, and no one was even working on the road! Stupid cones!

 

When I finally got down there, I had a really good day out. Best one I've had at Thorpe. No overly long queues, coming off Tidal Wave still pretty dry, Nemesis Inferno was running well, Slammer was pretty awesome if a little uncomfortable, Rush was just ok, Vortex was better, Quantum was running a pretty crazy setting, Colossus hurt a little, but not too much, Detonator was good as always, Samurai wasn't bad at all, and Rumba Rapids was short and sweet.

 

I'll post photos later after I finish work!

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Hey everyone!

 

Here I am posting live from Hong Kong's Central Station! Here at the MTR (subway) station they have FREE internet access! Yay!

 

Just got done with Ocean Park and I'll write a more detailed TR later. I will say this. It's an odd place. Imagine two parks built on opposite sides of an island. At one side is a nice Sea World park, on the other side is a craptacular Magic Mountain (but with only two coasters.) And the ONLY think linking to two together is an AWESOME sky ride. You get the picture.

 

I'll post more later. And thanks to everyone who gave me tips on stuff to see, although this really is a 'work trip' not a 'fun trip' so anything fun I end up doing has to be something that can be done in very short increments of time (1-2 hours).

 

Heading back to the hotel now and I'll get some nighttime pics!

 

--Robb

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^ Yes, it kind of was....except that Geauga Lake (at least the last time I was there as SFWOA was a better park!) :shock:

 

Ok, so on to Thorpe Park!!!! So after only a few hours of sleep since Tom got stuck on UK motorways......

 

First off, let me say that this was a GREAT park day! This day really kicked ass! Thanks to Non-German Tom and Scott for showing up and helping not make the day boring, too.

 

The park was busy, but not a lot of people in the queues. Most rides were either a walk on or less than 15 minute wait. And to top it off, we got on pretty much ALL the rides the park had to offer! Even the rapids and all the flat rides. I think the only major ride we didn't do was the log flume, but I've done that before.

 

I'll do this in bullet point since I've had a long flight and been to another park between Thorpe and now, so this might be the easiest way for me to re-cap.

 

First we went to:

 

- Nemesis Inferno. I have to say, I wasn't expecting much. Of the last few recent B&Ms I've been on: Silver Bullet, Talon, Batman: Dark Knight, etc there haven't been too many that I'd rush right out and ride again. Not that any of them are "bad", they just aren't that great.

 

Nemesis Inferno was in what I would consider that "2nd tier" of B&Ms. It would be hard to compare it to another invert, since there hasn't been one I can think of to compare it to. I guess you can say it's like "what Talon SHOULD have been..." or a shorter version of Carowind's Top Gun, but what it actually 'felt' like was more along the lines of Wildfire or Batman: Knight Flight. It had a good layout, it wasn't too forceful yet it's certainly NOT forceless, and it had good themed elements. (the mist tunnel at the beginning was great!)

 

Overall, this coaster did NOT disappoint! (So those of you keep insisting I go around hating all new B&Ms you can eat this and my review of Shakira!)

 

Ok onto the rest of the park:

 

- Rapids ride - did this because there was no line. Nothing too amazing, I don't even think any of us got wet! But it DID have the damn wave machine you see in EVERY European rapids ride! (Why they aren't in the US is beyond me!)

 

- Drop Tower - This is one of those Fabbri Drop Towers and I remember really liking it a LOT in 2002, and it was no different today. It was GREAT!

 

- Tidal Wave. Scott and I didn't do this, but Non-German Tom did. He didn't get very wet, so we should have ridden, but oh well. I still really like the theming on this splash down boat.

 

- X:\No Way Out - What can I see. This ride is awesomely crap! I mean, it's so bizarre and so pointless that it's cool! This time, though, not only did we get sprayed in the face with air on the pitch black shuffling back and forth mid-course, but we were misted too! I think Non-German Tom got more wet on this than Tidal Wave.

 

- Screamin Swing (or Rush I think it's called.) It's a 16 seater version of the ride at Skull Kingdom in Orlando. Fun ride. It's a bit short, but still fun. They were only running one side, so when both sides are open this must push through a decent amount of people.

 

- Colossus - I wish I can say that the recent reports about this ride not aging well were false, but unfortunately they are true. Not that the ride has gotten bad or anything, but it has picked up that Intamin shuffle that XLR8R and some of the other Intamin coasters have. It's not 'headbanging' rough (at least not for me), but I could see some smaller people getting thrown around a bit more. Overall, it's still a really fun ride and I'd still rank it fairly high in my steel coaster list (it's a solid B category).

 

- Samurai - This is the Top Scan that used to be at Chessington. Great program! Not as crap as the program that Canada's Wonderland was running and nowhere near as insane as the "Top Buzz" I rode at the Goose Fair many years ago, but still VERY good!

 

- Vortex - I'm not sure what it is about these Chance Frisbee's, but I seem to remember them all spinning a LOT more at one point. Now they seem to do a lot more swinging and less spinning. Am I crazy or do other people remember this too?

 

- Slammer (S&S Swat) - I finally got on one of these! Last year the Astroworld one was broken, and this year I thought this would be a miss too since it was closed when we first got into the park. But good for Thorpe getting it open mid-day and good for us just happening to walk by RIGHT as it opened! Overall I really liked this ride. It reminded me a lot of a skyscraper except the cars don't spin. There are some really strong forces on it, and it was just a great deal of fun. I hope more parks get these.

 

- Flying Carpet - It was a flying carpet and there was no line. So we rode. No big deal!

 

We rode Colossus and Nemesis again because there were no lines and ended up getting three rides on Nemesis. Oh, yeah, there's an Intamin rocket coaster under construction there too. Lots of people moving dirt around and cement things with bolts sticking out of them. I guess the coaster bits and pieces go on there.

 

So overall a really great day! I set off just after 3pm to Heathrow for the next leg of my 'around the world' trip....Hong Kong! I got to the airport really quickly and I was at the British Airways check in by about 3:45. Then it took about an hour and a half to get checked in because there were only THREE people checking in this HUGE line covering 5 switchbacks!!! Overall it was worth the wait because I got upgraded!!! Yay! So I ended up in one of those chairs that turns into a bed for the 12 hour flight. I ended up sleeping for like 9 hours! The only weird part is that I had to face BACKWARDS. It's just the way BA did their business class section, but it seems to make a lot of sense.

 

Anyway, that was my awesome day at Thorpe, onto the photos....

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And if you didn't see it earlier, here's the view from my hotel room in Hong Kong...next up, Ocean Park photos!!!

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I'm stting BACKWARDS!!!

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So here is my 'airplace seat that coverts into a bed.'

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Oh, yes, of course, and a day at Thorpe wouldn't be complete without a trip to the "Intamin Throne." Guess what Elissa, you've been replaced by Non-German Tom! =)

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WARNING!!! WARNING!!! CONSTRUCTION PHOTO ALERT!!!! Yes, we took pictures of dirt. Someday there will be the worlds largest gnome here.

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We took one more ride on Nemesis since there was no queue and it's a really great ride!

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"C'mon, don't you want some too?"

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Ahh, the buffet! Was this open when ACE visited in 2002? I'm shocked it's still in business! =)

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Another "you may get slightly damp like a hair towel" water ride. I always thought the 'sunken' station was cool theming.

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X:No Way Out, totally bizarre. I LOVE it forwhatever reason! BTW, it *IS* pronounced "X-colon-backslash-no way out" just so you know! =)

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Slammer, or Sky Swat, or whatever...more S&S goodness that was really cool!

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Despite some rattling, the ride is still really fun!

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Here's Non-German Tom and Non-Shaven Robb trying not to rattle too much.

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Next up was Colossus, that record breaking mega loopy thing!

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The large sized Screamin' Swing. We swung, we scrum (scrum? Is that a word?)and we had fun!

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Hey Derek! This one's for you!

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While it's not themed anywhere near as well as Nemesis at Alton Towers, it does have the cool mist tunnel.

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From Dominator you can get an idea of what Nemesis' layout is.

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Here is Scott and Non-German Tom on the "you may get slightly moist, like a towelette" rapids ride.

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Nemesis Inferno - one of the better 'recent' B&M's.

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So we made it to Thorpe Park! Yay! And I even ate all of Non-German Tom's hair! Yummy!

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Hey Robb,

good to see you liked our Europen TV programs and had fun with it!

Okay, onto the photo update! It looks like you had a great day at Thorpe Park. I like the "Intamin Throne" picture! I am very curious what Elissa will say! Can´t wait to see the Ocean Park pictures!

 

--Sören

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Post Edited for Content...

My replies are in bold

Ok onto the rest of the park:

 

- Rapids ride - did this because there was no line. Nothing too amazing, I don't even think any of us got wet! But it DID have the damn wave machine you see in EVERY European rapids ride! (Why they aren't in the US is beyond me!)

Robb seriously how did you guys not get wet? I rode it early in the year and there were like waterfalls all over the inside of the shack and we got pretty wet on it. Were those not running or something? I am just kinda surprised after the experience I had.

 

- Drop Tower - This is one of those Fabbri Drop Towers and I remember really liking it a LOT in 2002, and it was no different today. It was GREAT!

I was a bit disappointed on Detonator... It was like all the intensity of that initial drop without any of time to enjoy it like on the Intamin rides. I was pretty excited but love those moments of freefall on the Intamins.

- X:\No Way Out - What can I see. This ride is awesomely crap! I mean, it's so bizarre and so pointless that it's cool! This time, though, not only did we get sprayed in the face with air on the pitch black shuffling back and forth mid-course, but we were misted too! I think Non-German Tom got more wet on this than Tidal Wave.

How was it running for you inside? It was absolutely killing me earlier in the year. It honestly was alongside the Boomerang at Elitches as one of the worst ride experiences I have ever had.

 

- Slammer (S&S Swat) - I finally got on one of these! Last year the Astroworld one was broken, and this year I thought this would be a miss too since it was closed when we first got into the park. But good for Thorpe getting it open mid-day and good for us just happening to walk by RIGHT as it opened! Overall I really liked this ride. It reminded me a lot of a skyscraper except the cars don't spin. There are some really strong forces on it, and it was just a great deal of fun. I hope more parks get these.

I couldn't agree more.

Sounds like a hell of a day anyway. Lots of fun. How was the sleep on the sleeper seat on the plane anyway?
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My first day in Hong Kong (Ocean Park pics still to come)

 

Ok, so my flight got in around 1ish, I didn't get to the hotel until around 2ish, my room wasn't ready until about 3ish, and I didn't get to leave the hotel until at least 4ish. So didn't get much time to see Hong Kong, just on the way to and from Ocean Park.

 

Here's a few things I've noticed:

 

- The place is like Tokyo and like London. I mean, it's obvious that it was a British colony up until recently. The only way I can describe it based on my past experiences is that it's like "what Tokyo would be if it was a British colony."

 

- The "Octopus Card" is cool! Do you remember the Speed Pass that Mobil used to (or still does) have? Basically the Octopus card is this little credit card thing that you buy and you apply money to it. For example, the one I bought I applied $100HK. And just about EVERYWHERE in Hong Kong seems to take this card. What you do is you leave it IN YOUR WALLET and when you go to pay for something, go through the train entrance gates, etc, you plop your wallet down on the pad and as long as you have enough money on your Octopus card, it deducts it! It reads the card through your wallet! It's very cool technology. And on the pad it tells you how much it took off your card, and how much you have left. You find them everywhere. They were at 7-11, McDonalds, even the Coke vending machines! Essentially, it seems to be the main form of currency here.

 

Too bad something like this would never make it in the USA. I stopped using the Speedpass because now to use it you have to key in your zip code. Might as well just use my debit card if I'm going to have to key in numbers.

 

- There is a strange mix of "Stuff" here. Like you see Pocky from Japan, but Kit Kat's from the UK. I know I've said it before, but I can't get over how much this place is like Japan and England mated and birthed another island.

 

- Disneyland stuff EVERYWHERE! There are posters, commercials, etc I see everywhere for Hong Kong Disneyland. Apparently the subway starts running tomorrow or something, so I'm going to go down there and check it out on Tuesday before I leave.

 

- Big Buildings! Like Tokyo, lots and lots of buildings! And at night, they even play a light show with fireworks to impress the visitors. It's all very cool!

 

Ok, onto some photos and then I'll do Ocean Park a little later:

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Not sure if this is every night or just the weekends, but they do a 'building show' where the skyline buildings light up different colors and they shoot fireworks!

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They make up for it by shooting off explosions from the tops of the buildings.

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At night, the view from my hotel room is a little different. While it's not as 'lit up' as Tokyo, it still looks very nice.

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How much American fast food can you find in this picture? (And no, the naked guy doesn't count!!!)

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Here's the taxi that took me to Ocean Park. Note two things: 1. All the taxi's are red and white. 2. The Taxi driver is wearing and ACE shirt!!!!

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Here's the FREE internet kiosk I used at the train station to post that message a couple of pages back.

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Here I am using my pussy to get on the train.

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Here's another reason Elissa would like Hong Kong!

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But yet there are these subtle little things that remind you of England.

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Just like in Japan, everyone's playing with the cell phones on the train!

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Hey look! It's a mini-escalator for Elissa! =)

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"Sunny Bay and Disneyland Resort" fit right in with names like "Kwai Hing", "Tsing Yi", and "Wo Hau."

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There are reminders everywhere that Disney is invading the country!

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You can even use the pussy card on the vending machines!

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Here are some people using their pussy cards to get on the train.

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Random Photo #1: Here is my Octopussy card and some Pocky. (If you want to know what the card is, you need to actually READ my TR!!!)

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Just like Tokyo, lots of buildings EVERYWHERE.

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You know your hotel is going to be swanky when there is a Rolls right out front!!!

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