Photo TR: Divv's European Adventure

Your 'retro' TR is so good as I get to remember forgotten moments - like the unbelievably lame Dolphin show. Had we worked out it was the last show of the day and they had already had so much fish thrown at them they were just 'yeh - whatever, bring on the Beluga or we ain't doin' nothun!'?

The Dolphin show went in reverse order, starting with the grand finale and then not much else. Hurrah for ice-cream balls

^Death Machine was not so bad - worse was to come!

Nice trip report Divv, it brings back a lot of good memories.

the poor little girl who ended up sitting next to Erik!

Divv, I have some pictures of the Moviepark Germany day, do you need them to for your TR, or do you skip that day

^Do you have any pictures of your luggage covered with Divv's special birthday surprise?

^Do you have any pictures of your luggage covered with Divv's special birthday surprise?

LMFAO!!!

Another Divv trip report that I wasn't a part of! GREAT! Yet another opportunity for you to make me jealous and rub in all the extra credits you've got.

Can't wait to see the rest of this! You're inspiring me to get a move on finishing my Behemoth Bash update, as well as do my Orlando trip one. They're also being posted in "Lou Time".

(Who, in fact, does NOT remember the "Cretaceous Period")

Senior moment

Thanks guys. Maybe I should just skip over any references to Movie Park Germany and pretend that day never happened!

And Shawn - YES - get on with those TRs!!!

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DAY 2 - Part 1:

WALIBI BELGIUM

This park was PACKED! Thankfully Robb & Elissa sorted us out with some fantastic ERT in the morning which meant getting all the available coaster credits wasn't a big problem. They even scored us the elusive kiddie credit as long as we proclaimed our sadness and patheticness to TPR DVD buyers worldwide.

Of course Vertigo just sat there as a big lawn ornament and we spared a beating form the SLC due to the lift hill being out of action so there were five credits to get. The mine train was fun, even if it didn't quite match up to some of the Vekoma mine trains that awaited us later in the trip. Turbine was great, the enclosed loop is really cool!

But the real star of the park is the shooting dark ride. That thing was all kinds of awesome. Somehow our group managed to see the extra scenes at the end (I tend to suck at shooting things so someone did really well in our car to make up for me!).

With the credits and dark ride conquered and massive crowds descending upon the park our options for what to ride got somewhat limited. Taking the heat into consideration we went for the rapids. We waited two hours. Why we did this I have no idea, but we did have a laugh with each other and it really didn't seem that long. And so the Rapids Crew was born. Some of the group decided that if we were to wait two hours for a rapids ride at Walibi Belgium then we'd have to justify it by riding every rapids on the trip!

Onto some photos...

Moments after Steve fell off his seat on the rapids. That moment made the whole wait worthwhile!

It appears Erik thought being in a crew that meant a very special bond was being forged between him and Steve!

Two hours later and the rapids crew is born.

Yes, we're quite the crowd of idiots.

Lets wait two hours for the rapids instead!

I think we'll pass on the three hour boomerang line thanks! Good thing we had ERT!

That was not my hand that went into the water and soaked everyone in our train! Honest!

The mine train was our last credit of the day. They really churned the people through this thing. A rare showing of efficiency from the park!

The shooting dark ride was fantastic. Somehow our group managed to score enough points to see the secret ending!

Big Mike is sad and pathetic and doesn't care!

Turbine was the best coaster in the park. The building it's in really sets it apart from similar rides.

Nothing like some Boomerang ERT to start the day! It's just a Vekoma! Right, Erik?

It wasn't amazing or anything but I was surprised at how good this ride was. It's a shame that Vekoma don't make woodies anymore. I'd have loved to have seen them evolve.

The ERT started with some Vekoma woodie fun. Erik was VERY excited!

Day 2 and we're at Vekomaland!

I love Walibi! The crowds were insane but we got to do pretty much everything we wanted at the park thanks to wonderful TPR planning. Plus, we got to laugh at Steve too so that makes for a good start to the day!

Off to climb some trees and dangle from ropes next!

We might not have got to ride this but at least we got to see it standing!

Did I mention the park was PACKED?

Yes it was stupid crowded that day. You had to push the kids out of the way just to walk down the midways. ERT really saved us that day! Thanks again to R&E for getting us that exclusive kiddie coaster credit.

What's coming up next, Aventure Parc, was one of the very best parts of the trip.

Great TR Divv! Walibi looks like a cool park, even if a bit crowded.

Looking forward to the rest!

I'm making it a point to ride every flume/rapids ride out there! Maybe I'll make it to the Rapids Crew some day...

Can't wait for more updates, Divv!

-JZ

Turbine and the shooting dark ride were definitely the highlights of a somewhat underwhelming park. (The shooter was one of the best dark rides of the entire trip.)

That was a GREAT day as I spent the whole day with my best bud Beeja

Peace, Big Mike

Great trip report, Divv! Looks like you all had alot of Fun! I have to ask...

What ride is this?

It looks like something I would be holding on for dear life and getting into my "focus" or "Oh ****!" zone!

I also love the picture of Erik with the Vekoma

"It's just a Vekoma!" I remember that phrase on the Mid West trip each time we rode one. Sometimes even more than once!

Good times!

That was a GREAT day as I spent the whole day with my best bud Beeja

 

 

Peace, Big Mike

Big Mike and Beeja sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g!

The best part of the day at this park after the ERT was leaving it to go do the rope couse. I know this park is probably better than my opinion of it due to the crowds. Any park would be miserable when inundated with all those kids. It was my worst nightmare of being surrounded by teenagers and preteens.

Best birth control ever.

If i needed to worry about that sort of thing.

Roachman that is Vertigo there is a thread about it here.

Nice update Divv.

The best part of the day at this park after the ERT was leaving it to go do the rope couse. Any park would be miserable when inundated with all those kids. It was my worst nightmare of being surrounded by teenagers and preteens.

Quoted for truth, this park is my least favorite (along with Walygator) of all visited on the 3 TPR trips to Europe. I'm glad I got a chance to experience it (even without seeing the secret rooms in the shootng game), but I was so happy to get out of there.

But the second part of the day at the ropes course was awesome.

^

I agree. I really don't care for Walibi. Every time I go there there is something always wrong that is SO wrong and easy to fix (Opening the single rider line for Loup Garou for example) and pissed me off SO much I feel mad the rest of the day. The park is dirty, smells like fish, horrible ride ops and staff, WAY to over priced for food that tastes horrible, and not that nice of a collection of 'unique' rides. And the coasters are mediocre. And that day was so freaking crowded the only thing I rode was the bumper cars with Big Mike. Other then that I just hung around in the shade with Robb, Elissa, Hanno, and Dave, which IMO, is 100X better then ANYTHING at that park. When I have money, I usually take the train to Bobbejaanland cause that park at least has there act together and has some very good coasters. And TONS of unique rides.

That was just my two cents. Great picture though. Cannot wait for more updates.

--James

I see some bashing on my own home park But hell its true they need to do something about it quick or it won't be worth visiting anymore. Fun fact is they didn't take pictures of the 3funnest rides in the park, namely dalton terror, Vampire and Flashback

Maybe the mysterious yellow B&M is for this park(praying like hell)

It's sad, because this place was so much better when we visited in 2005. It was overrun with school kids that day too, though not to the extent it was last summer. We had an insanely difficult time finding places to get food/drinks. You'd think as busy as the park was, this wouldn't be a problem, but it was. Seems like this park could really use some new management.

dt

Seems like this park could really use some new management.

That's the problem with all Walibi parks, even the one with "Good Goliath".. The parks are run by Companie des Alpes, wich is a keeper of ski-resorts, that's probably why they bought Vertigo, 'cause it was built by a Ski-lift manufacturer..

They never insert any money in one of their parks, they only take things out of there, like the Boomerang in Walibi World.. The only thing they "bought" for Walibi Belgium is Vertigo, wich appears to be a present, for being a prototype..

Great stuff so far Divv!

The credit whore days are always a bit of laugh. And I'm glad to hear that Zeus hasn't cut up too badly either, that was running really well when I rode in 2005.

I had a great time at Walibi Belgium in 2006, so it's a shame that it was really busy the day you went. Seems there were a lot of things working against you, but it's good that you got the things done that you wanted to do thanks to the great planning, even with all the school kids. I've always tried to avoid going to parks near the end of school summer term for exactly that reason. Even with ERT or fastpasses, They're not the most pleasant of days.

Great trip report, Divv! Looks like you all had alot of Fun! I have to ask...

 

What ride is this?

 

It looks like something I would be holding on for dear life and getting into my "focus" or "Oh ****!" zone!

 

It was Vertigo; but on that day, it was just some form of modernistic sculpture.

Yeah Walibi Belgium didn't leave a particularly nice taste in our mouths. Thankfully we had some real fun in store in the afternoon!

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DAY 2 - Part 2:

AVENTURE PARC

This was a masterstroke by Elissa finding this place. It really was a great way to mix up the trip and get us away from the crowds at Walibi. The ropes courses were really tiring but a whole lot of fun. I spent a long time out on the courses. I only missed one of the medium difficulty ones that I would certainly have attempted if I hadn't run out of time. Still five out of six was pretty impressive for me. I didn't expect to get much further than the easy ones

Here's some photos (thanks to Ben who walked around with my camera and got these shots!)

This was an awesome day! Thanks to Elissa for finding this place!

More Belgian fun up next.

Somehow I managed five out of the six courses here. I was buggered by the end of it but proud that I managed it. I needed a few beers this night!

How attractive am I?

Of course the photos don't show you that he just dangled here helpless for two hours.

For a venue that has its own bar I was amazed Steve spent as long as he did on the ropes.

See?

Yes, I'm totally willing to kill myself out here!

Here they dress you up as car mechanics and let everyone laugh at you.

Somewhere in the middle of a big load of trees in Belgium lies this little place.

Bobbejaanland coming up...