Saturday 31 May 2008

Spinball Whizzer





We were a bit worried we wouldn't get to ride this as Spinball Whizzer was right at the entrance it was very busy so we thought we'd come back to it. Just managed to dash from Rita Queen of Speed before it closed :-)

Spinball Whizzer is a completely new type of ride to me... the closest I've seen to it is the Rattlesnake at Chessington World of Adventures. It's a small rollercoaster that only fits 4 people per car, but what makes it unique is that the car rotates around on top of the track (Think like a spinning top just much slower... it's sometimes called the 4th dimension) . It's a really weird sensation riding on it, especially as each ride is different because the rotation is totally random.

Rita Queen of Speed



I've never been on Rita Queen of Speed before as it was built since I last went to Alton Towers.

It's a accelerator rollercoster, which means that instead of it winching up a hill and then letting gravity do the work it is propelled along from the station using hydraulic rams. It's pretty fierce on the acceleration, you have to stick your head back or suffer some fatal whiplash.





The ride itself is pretty flat with just some sweeping turns, but the sudden acceleration makes it an awesome ride.

I've seen one other ride like this before in Florida The Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure, although The Hulk has loops it's no where near as fast as Rita :-)

Air






Air is a one of a kind (At least it was... but still is in the UK), I've never seen anything like it anywhere else (Yet... I plan on visiting the American Theme Parks again soon) . If you've never been on it you must go and do it now...





...right are you back? Did you love it?





For those that didn't just dash out of the office to ride air I'll explain why it's so awesome. It's not high, nor does it have huge g-force loops. It's the unique way you ride on it.






You get on like a standard underslung roller coaster, then pull a rather large shoulder restraint over that holds you tightly into the chair, your legs go into two slots which then close like a set of cuffs, then the whole chair pivots backwards 90 deg so you're now facing the ground :-)



Naturally in this position you feel a little like superman... unsurprisingly every photo that is taken by the ride has people doing the classic arm out superman pose. I wonder if the ride operators get fed up with it?

Nemesis




Nemesis was the first "under slung" (Inverted) roller coaster that I ever went on, so it holds a special place in my heart... if you've never been on a under slung roller coaster before you must try it... it's a weird feeling having your feet dangle in free air as you loop and roll, 2nd only to the feeling of freedom you get on the air roller coaster.

Oblivion




Oblivion is one of my favorite (If shortest) rides at Alton Towers. It's a vertical drop ride (Well nearly as it's a couple of degrees short of vertical to keep it on the rails). It really wigs you out first time you go on it, as it stops just above the drop peering over the edge for 3 seconds, then lets you go... it's quite a drop as the hole in the ground hides nearly half the drop... then as soon as you've screamed you're out the other side and creeping around to the station :-)

Frogs Again



Think it must be mandatory for theme parks to have a fountain with frogs in it.

Alton Towers





Well here we are at Alton Towers :-) I hope Nomi likes it. It's nothing like Efteling... But its a totally different type of theme park.



Friday 30 May 2008

Efteling Delayed Posts

Please be patient, I've got a lot to blog about mine and Nomi's trip to Efteling. So stay tuned and watch out for post dated posts.

Ball Pit

Guess this is the last ride before we return to England:



The port services were absolutely deserted... not even a cafe or anything, just a vending machine (With practically nothing left in it!)



So Nomi went for a play in the children's ball pit... I of course had to be the supervising adult :-)

LOL who am I kidding :-)

Our Ferry...

...shame we're not on it! Missed the ferry by seconds :-( tho at least we can get the midnight ferry... Time to waste some time at the port services.

Thursday 29 May 2008

De Halve Maen (Half Moon Pirate Ship)



De Halve Maen is almost as old as me (Built in 1982) and is the biggest swinging ship in the world (See Guinness Book of Records in 1988).
Nomi insisted on sitting at the back to get extra height... I'm no fan of these kind of rides (Don't know why). For some reason the ride was totally deserted so we had it all to ourselves :-)

Dream Flight (AKA Fairy Ride)




Dream Flight (AKA the Fairy Ride as me and Nomi dubbed it) is absolutely stunning... the photos and videos don't do it justice... there's so much animatronics involved in this not to mention all the beautifully crafted scenery and puppets that I dread to think how much it cost to build. But the effect is truly magical. I've never seen anything with so much detail before, and probably never will, unless Efteling makes more like it!

Flying Dutchman Again



Went back to the Flying Dutchman again... I so love this ride... sadly due to the weather taking a turn for the better the queue was 1hr+ (Before we practically walked on). Decided to give it a miss and go on something new.

Python




Eftelings only steel roller coaster is the Python it's small by UK and American standards, but it's got 2 loops and 2 corkscrews so it's far from sedate.

It's a wicked ride, tho do take some ear guards with you as you end up with cauliflower ear :-)



Here Come the Clowns



Nomi doesn't like clowns (Like a lot of people... but not to the degree of Coulrophobia... this snopes article, makes a good read on the subject... but I digress).

I know they're not clowns but they still unnerved Nomi a little... but her inner photographic tourist took over and demanded she got close enough to take a photo :-)

What an Entrance




Efteling has a truly stunning entrance (As we were hotel guests we get our own, but it's just a gate in the perimeter fence). Why they spent so much time and effort on something that people will just walk through I don't know... but it is a lovely sight none the less, worthy of us going out of our way just to take a few photos of it.







The entire roof (Save for the spires) is thatched... I would have loved to see the face on the thatcher that got asked to do that... I can see it now... "you want me to thatch a what?"









Inside it is no less impressive, all made using wooden beams it gives the impression of an old wooden barn.



You can't really appreciate how big it really is. This is a image from Google earth, you can gauge the size of it just by the car park in front of it.

It's a fantastic shape... kind of reminds me of a caltrop.

Kingdom Hearts Key?


In the background is a big chest... which is a ATM machine... How cool is that! The key that goes with it (Sorry can't read the Dutch) is embedded a la sword in the stone in a rock as shown above. Is it me or is it a dead ringer for the key(s) in Kingdom Hearts?

Gondoletta

After the Pagoda it was still raining so we took refuge on the Gondoletta... even in the short space of time it took us to run there we still got soaked:




Pagoda



Efteling has wonderful scenery... it's mainly green space with the odd ride thrown in, to illustrate this they built the Pagoda to provide an aerial view of the park:




Suffice to say it was still lashing it down.


Flying Dutchman in the rain

It's thunder and lightning outside so they've stopped all the rides... Thankfully we're indoors, listening to the Flying Dutchmen theme music from the front of the queue.

Wednesday 28 May 2008

Dance Macabre (Haunted Castle)

This is Nomi's (And mine for that matter) favorite scene in Efteling. Every time you watch it you see something different happening :-)

Pink Dove?



How on earth did this dove get this colour! Also spotted a blue and a green one too!

Bobsleigh

Yet another "first" for me... the bobsleigh is fiendishly simple... I wonder why we've never seen anything like it in the UK or US?

Simply it's like a log flume but without the water. The ride reaches 40mph running on wheels within a 1/2 tube. It's really cool, as it gives you a perspective of freedom that you don't get on rollercoasters.

Phone Box?



Totally random... there's an old red UK Post Office phone box in Efteling? I feel somewhat patriotic :-)

Flying Dutchman




This quite easily is my favorite ride at Efteling... I've never seen anything like the Flying Dutchman before... it's a strange mix of rollercoaster and log flume.




It's mainly on the water, but for the fast part at the end (and the drop for the plunge) you're going through the air on rails. It is totally awesome... I hope we get to go on it again tomorrow...



...and that we did. We joined the queue as it was raining outside (Most of this ride is indoors). However the weather really turned and because of lightning the ride has closed (Along with other tall rides in the park).

We decided to wait in the queue, as not only was we indoors out of the rain, but we was also at the front of the queue (Bloody typical).

That gave us some time to admire the scenery... pretty cool if you ask me... they even went to the bother of using ye olde glass and lead in the windows to add to the authenticness.



After a hour or so we got our go... damn the rain stings when you're going that fast!



The ride's been designed really well as you don't actually get wet when you land in the water (Which was good as we were wet enough already!).





The outside of the ride is also stunning... how on earth they come up with such beautiful designs I don't know. It really does look like an old sea port/fort.





You can see the ride itself in the video below... excuse my language :-)