Photo TR: Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain

Hey everyone!

 

As part of our transatlantic cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Barceola, Spain, one of our ports was Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The island is home to lots of interesting historical stuff (and of course still the worlds most deadliest airline crash) but it is also home to "Loro Paqrue."

 

The park is kind of an odd mix between a zoo and Sea World. In fact all four of their killer whales were born at Sea World in Orlando. And of course the park is also home to a roller coaster, the ONLY coaster in Tenerife!

 

If you're into animals, you'll love the park as it is really nice, if you're not into animals (and honestly, we're not big nature/animal people) it's fine for a short visit. We stayed about 3 hours (although 40 minutes of that was waiting for the coaster to open, which opened late) and we took in a couple of the shows.

 

The shows were the perfect length for both someone who likes this kind of stuff and who isn't that much into it. I think the dolphin show was about 15, maybe 20 minutes long. Just enough to watch some giant fish jump through hoops and do other wacky tricks but not too long to where

you'd get bored.

 

The killer whale show was even shorter (probably right at 15 minutes) which was fine because they didn't let those giant guys do too much.

 

Anyway, the coaster was interesting for a kiddie coaster in that it literally was buried deep within the surrounding shrubbery! Seriously, if you stuck your hand out, you'd get bush. Hmmm... Maybe that's not so bad after all!

 

Ok, enough babbling, onto the photos....

 

See! We are on a cruise ship!

 

The girls are just too cool for our bus to Loro Parque.

 

That giant mountain is actually a volcano. Let's hope it stays put for the day!

 

Oh, goody...not too much farther now.

 

The entrance to the park...yup.

 

That is one pissed off looking bird!

 

"You have to pay 5 Euros to see the rest of this Alligator."

 

Lunch Time!

 

Here was the "Loro Show" aka the Parrot Show.

 

Yes! We found the credit!!!

 

The sign says it opens at 10am, but it actually opened about 10:40.

 

Oh, yeah, and it's an upcharge of 1 Euro.

 

Elissa and KidTums get this random, off-the-beaten-track credit!

 

If you sit anywhere but the front seat, all you see is fin!

 

Note how the coaster is completely surrounded by shubbery!

 

Put your hand out and you get bush! (Ohh, yummy...I love bush...and

I'm not talking about the plant-like substance either. I'm also not

talking about the ex-president. I'm talking about bush. Plain old

"I can smother my face in it for hours" B-U-S-H. Is there any guy

where who wouldn't put his hand out for some bush? Ok, so maybe

there are *some* guys, but even still, it's quite tempting isn't it?)

 

 

OMG! OMG! OMG! COASTER TRACK! *JIZZ* *JIZZ* *JIZZ*

 

Yup, the coaster was cute. Cha-ching. Credit conquered!

 

YES! This park gets points for having tortoises!

 

YAY!!! Jumping fish! (Yes, yes, dolphin enthusiasts I know they are mammals, just bear with me here...)

 

KidTums is mesermized by them! "Mommy, they aren't going to kill us like in the Simpsons, are they?"

 

They jump through hoops.

 

Wow, they jump through a LOT of hoops! It's kind of like being at work!

 

"Look, dude. You're a dolphin...not a human. Now get back in that water

 

In the "Never in America" department, they took a kid out of the audience,put him in a boat, totally unsupervised and let a dolphin pull him and jump all around him!

 

And then the kid was allowed to have all sex with the dolphins! Awesome!

 

Yay! More giant fish that can eat you!

 

While we waited for the giant fish to jump around they taunted us with videos from the new water park.

 

Next time we'll go there...had to get the credit first!

 

"Hi, I'm Mr. Whale. I was born in Orlando and now I'm here jumping in the water."

 

Killer Whale or Cruise Ship enthusiast...you decide!

 

Yay! Planet Penguin!

 

These guys are BAD ASS!

 

KidTums says "You guys are cool and all...."

 

...."but I'd rather be playing on the penguin slide!"

 

This is the ugliest fish I've ever seen!

 

"I'm a sad monkey..."

 

We will close out these park pictures with... "MONKEY BUTT!!!"

 

Yup, there is our ship.

 

Time to say goodbye to the Canary Islands! Bye Bye Tenerife! Good luck with that active volcano and plane crashes!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

--Robb

That park looks very nice. Looks like you all are having a great time in Spain!

That coaster looks just like Shamu Express.

 

--James

Nice place! Also props for the awesome kiddy coaster foliage!

That's a nice little park, just a nice place to spend a day I guess....

With the "Shamu Express" type coaster being an upcharge attraction, was it on the honor system or did the turnstyle not operate unless money was put in?

 

The pictures make the park look like a SeaWorld Orlando clone in any ways, just different color paint!

Woo-hoo, obscure park!

 

I wonder how SeaWorld feels about this place?

 

Thanks for the TR, Robb!

I totally rode a dolphin like that at Hershey when I was little. Granted that was over 20 years ago and I dont think they do it anymore. Lets call it never again in america.

Looking at the picture of the kid being pulled around brought back memories. They used to do that up here at Canada's Wonderland, and one year I was lucky enough to be that kid. I think about 2 years after I did that they stopped...

 

Great pics as always though.

You and Elissa remind me of my wife and I... you're always taking cruises and hitting parks where you can find them.

 

How many cruises have you done so far? We are up to 5 now.

Next time we'll go there...had to get the credit first!

Aww, you couldn't get to Siam Park? Was it a bit out of the way for the time you had to stop over being on the other side of the island, or is really credit > amazing water park?

Woo-hoo, obscure park!

 

I wonder how SeaWorld feels about this place?

 

Thanks for the TR, Robb!

Well, they must be ok with it because there were a lot of references to Sea World made in that the whales (and it would appear some of the dolphins) were trained at Sea World and then either sold or on load to Loro Parque.

 

I'm guessing that one of the "services" that Sea World offers is birthing and training the giant fish for other parks around the world because there was footage of the whales being born (which was kind of bloody and disgusting, actually) from Sea World.

 

--Robb

Next time we'll go there...had to get the credit first!

Aww, you seriously passed up Siam Park? Was it a bit out of the way for the time you had to stop over being on the other side of the island, or is really credit > amazing water park?

It was really credit > water park. Honestly, go look at the line up of slides at Siam Park. Other than the place *looks* great, they really don't have anything that special or unique that you can't find at other water parks.

 

We did look into both places, and Siam Park without a credit just wasn't a draw for us...at least not with the limited time we had. On another visit to Tenerife (which is very likely) we would skip Loro Parque and go to Siam, or had Loro not had the credit we would have gone to Siam.

 

We are not "Water Park Enthusiasts" as much as we are "Roller Coaster Enthusiasts" so therefore the coaster won out.

 

--Robb

 

Did someone say bush?

So what is your current count Robb, after this obscure credit?

Well, I actually don't keep an exact count (Elissa does that for me) but I know I'm over 1,000 on my terms (I don't count powered coasters, re-located coasters, or water coasters) but I think I'm at like 1,200 something by coastercounter's definition.

 

Elissa keeps a more accurate count and I'm sure when we get back she can tell you guys the exact number!

 

--Robb

I love Tenerife! Glad you guys had a good time there! I've never been to Loro Parque, Is it in the North?

Cool, if you go to get your Diamondback credit this year, please post ahead of time. Will buy you dinner at a classic Cincinnati landmark. Which just recently opened in Columbus too. Yum.

 

Great TR, all I can think about looking at the pics on the cruise is the hours I would also be spending on the treadmill.

on the picture of kidtums on the slide, what is that weird thing the kids come out of? I thought it was ummm how do I put this nicely, special lady parts in the lower region.

^ LOL! It was actually a picture of a penguin...it just didn't show up well on the photo!

 

^^ Not sure when we'll get to Diamonback. It won't be this year for sure and not even sure if it will be next year! I'm not too worried, I have a feeling it will be around for a very long time!

 

--Robb

Is there any place in this world where you can touch a Killer Whale?

^^^That's what I was thinking!!

historical stuff (and of course still the worlds most deadliest airline crash)

 

I love how you threw that little bit in there. They should put that on brochures to visit Tenerife. I would visit just to see the famous runway.

Wow, you traveled all the way to Spain for one kiddie coaster credit!?

Here is a short clip of the famous plane crash if anyone is interested.

 

^ haha I've watched it before. Good video. And also read books on it. Went through a disaster craze a couple years ago.