Canada-USA-Netherlands – August 2018 {Day 18 - Summary}
- Thread starter Hixee
- Start date
Youngster Joey
Strata Poster
Nope. None of the probably 15 attempts of that photo came out nice. The lighting was just too ****ty 
Haha, I think I do get Cedar Point, yeah. It's not the prettiest park in the world, and it's not even close on the immersion side of things, but it's undeniably the daddy. Definitely up there in my top five (#3 at a guess - Silver Dollar City, Phantasialand, Cedar Point).And I have to say...you sure sound like Cedar Point is your home park with the way you describe it. You understand the place
I said it while we were there, but there is something kinda special about it not being my home park too. The novelty is there for me, and likely will be, as I only visit every few years (based on my last visit, it'll be 2026 before I'm back!).
You guys don't know how lucky you are.
You might wanna stick around for the next day too, then. There are some gems in the set to come.
Snoo
The Legend
Haha, I think I do get Cedar Point, yeah. It's not the prettiest park in the world, and it's not even close on the immersion side of things, but it's undeniably the daddy. Definitely up there in my top five (#3 at a guess - Silver Dollar City, Phantasialand, Cedar Point).
I said it while we were there, but there is something kinda special about it not being my home park too. The novelty is there for me, and likely will be, as I only visit every few years (based on my last visit, it'll be 2026 before I'm back!).
You guys don't know how lucky you are.
You might wanna stick around for the next day too, then. There are some gems in the set to come.
I do always think that is underappreciated from those of us close to the park itself. Most of those who aren't fanboys are in the same camp as you. Not the best place in the world but worth it at the end of the day because the park is special in the world of theme parks in general around the world.
Day 10 – Cedar Point (Day II)
The lure of Dianna’s for breakfast was too much for Marcus, Kevin and me, so we nipped out of the park for an hour first thing for breakfast. Suitably filled with classic diner food, we got back to the park, checked out of the cabin and parked near the Magnum entrance.
We did plan on hitting Maverick right away, but the queue had already stacked up pretty far, so we decided instead to go round to Millennium Force.
After a bit of faff testing, they opened the queue and within no time we were on our front row ride. Man, this is another brilliant coaster. The speed is just wonderful. Loved it.
Next door was Rougarou – let’s get that done now while we’re here.
I didn’t hate it, but it does have a pretty nasty shake at the high speed sections. I quite like the twisty bits though, spices it up a bit.
We walked round the back of Rougarou towards the entrance of Dragster. We hadn’t seen it testing all morning, so thought we’d go check it out on our way to Magnum. On the way, snapping a few pictures of Valravn.
This is a nice angle of this coaster. It does look great.
Dragster was kaput. No trains loaded on to the track, staff just cleaning the platform and later in the day a whole bunch of staff were standing around the catch car. We got lucky to have ridden it the night before, as it didn’t even test all day. A few days later I saw that they’d had to do something with the cable, taking the ride down for some time. Phew, glad we got that yesterday!
Even with no trains running, it’s an incredible looking coaster.
On our way to Magnum we decided to head towards the Dinosaurs Alive area, which affords some incredible (and the famous) views of Dragster’s drop.
You also get a good view of Millennium Force.
Okay, nerd boner over, time to ride another coaster.
Magnum was next. We got the magic row (car 1, row 3), and the airtime on the return bunnyhills is ****ing madness. It’s really good, old fashioned, hard ejector. On a couple of hills I think I nearly sliced by manly bits off with my belt! Amazing how well a coaster like that can still deliver a great ride.
While next door, we took a quick spin on Geimini, which was much better than I remembered it being. This is another coaster that just puts a big smile on your face, especially with the proximity of the trains to each other in the corners.
We’d been doing some reading the night before, and found out that Cedar Downs is actually super old and quite rare (two in the USA, three in the world, something like that, can’t be arsed looking it up). Looking for something of a different tempo, we thought we’d give it a go – and we enjoyed it! Tucked underneath Raptor, the ride is essentially a super fast carousel. It was really rather fun!
Some photos of the three B&Ms near the park entrance. We were going to do Raptor, the queue was a bit gross, but seeing as they’re going to be removed Wicked Twister [/stirring], we thought we’d give that one final go, before heading back to Maverick.
Save our legs, and for some new angles of the coasters, we took the train round.
Timing this is a bitch.
Queue was still fairly big for Maverick, but it moved pretty consistently and in the end took a little under an hour. Another coaster that I’d slightly forgotten how excellent it is. First drop isn’t that great, but the high speed switchbacks, airtime hills, second launch (no pause in the tunnel this time) and high speed Stengel Dives are all brilliant.
Both with eyes shut – excellent timing by all three of us here.
From the Maverick exit you also get this excellent view of Steel Vengeance’s zero-g roll. One of the highlights of the ride.
Right, back for one more lap on this bad boy. We started by heading in to the queue with our cameras to take some pictures. We asked the staff member at the gate (where they’re ‘forcing’ you to empty your pockets), and they said it was okay if another staff member came with us. Quite how they think I’d get on the coaster with a ****ing great SLR round my neck is beyond me. This whole policy is just hilariously misjudged. Anyway, we’ve been ranting about this enough elsewhere. How about a ****-load of pictures?
Love the cables here for stabilising the zero-g roll.
This is my least favourite bit of the coaster, and the only bit I’d remove if I could. It just doesn’t flow at all. They should have done an Iron Rattler style ejector hill.
Yes! If only…
Another arty one.
We got a front row ride and again the coaster was just wonderful. The view of the track snaking under the structure from the front row is easily my favourite part.
Happy goon with a new number one.
Until next time, Cedar Point.
We all had reasonably drives home now, and we felt like we’d had our fill, so we hopped in the cars and headed out of the park. Stopped at a Five Guys in Sandusky for one more meal before we parted ways. Marcus and Kevin headed off towards Columbus, with Joey and I making a move towards Buffalo. We stopped a few times, but made good time along the highway and were in Buffalo without too much pain.
Joey picked up his car, we said our goodbyes and as he headed back to Rochester I went over to the hotel a few miles down the road. Something suddenly very quiet being in the car, and hotel, on my own after the previous days of carnage!
I can only thank all the guys (you know who you are) for joining me on this trip and making the experience, again, so enjoyable. We’ve done trips together in 2010, 2013, 2016 and now 2018, and here’s to the next one. Just get your butts over to Europe!
Fantasy Island spite, Niagara Falls and Marineland tomorrow.
The lure of Dianna’s for breakfast was too much for Marcus, Kevin and me, so we nipped out of the park for an hour first thing for breakfast. Suitably filled with classic diner food, we got back to the park, checked out of the cabin and parked near the Magnum entrance.
We did plan on hitting Maverick right away, but the queue had already stacked up pretty far, so we decided instead to go round to Millennium Force.
After a bit of faff testing, they opened the queue and within no time we were on our front row ride. Man, this is another brilliant coaster. The speed is just wonderful. Loved it.
Next door was Rougarou – let’s get that done now while we’re here.
I didn’t hate it, but it does have a pretty nasty shake at the high speed sections. I quite like the twisty bits though, spices it up a bit.
We walked round the back of Rougarou towards the entrance of Dragster. We hadn’t seen it testing all morning, so thought we’d go check it out on our way to Magnum. On the way, snapping a few pictures of Valravn.
This is a nice angle of this coaster. It does look great.
Dragster was kaput. No trains loaded on to the track, staff just cleaning the platform and later in the day a whole bunch of staff were standing around the catch car. We got lucky to have ridden it the night before, as it didn’t even test all day. A few days later I saw that they’d had to do something with the cable, taking the ride down for some time. Phew, glad we got that yesterday!
Even with no trains running, it’s an incredible looking coaster.
On our way to Magnum we decided to head towards the Dinosaurs Alive area, which affords some incredible (and the famous) views of Dragster’s drop.
You also get a good view of Millennium Force.
Okay, nerd boner over, time to ride another coaster.
Magnum was next. We got the magic row (car 1, row 3), and the airtime on the return bunnyhills is ****ing madness. It’s really good, old fashioned, hard ejector. On a couple of hills I think I nearly sliced by manly bits off with my belt! Amazing how well a coaster like that can still deliver a great ride.
While next door, we took a quick spin on Geimini, which was much better than I remembered it being. This is another coaster that just puts a big smile on your face, especially with the proximity of the trains to each other in the corners.
We’d been doing some reading the night before, and found out that Cedar Downs is actually super old and quite rare (two in the USA, three in the world, something like that, can’t be arsed looking it up). Looking for something of a different tempo, we thought we’d give it a go – and we enjoyed it! Tucked underneath Raptor, the ride is essentially a super fast carousel. It was really rather fun!
Some photos of the three B&Ms near the park entrance. We were going to do Raptor, the queue was a bit gross, but seeing as they’re going to be removed Wicked Twister [/stirring], we thought we’d give that one final go, before heading back to Maverick.
Save our legs, and for some new angles of the coasters, we took the train round.
Timing this is a bitch.
Queue was still fairly big for Maverick, but it moved pretty consistently and in the end took a little under an hour. Another coaster that I’d slightly forgotten how excellent it is. First drop isn’t that great, but the high speed switchbacks, airtime hills, second launch (no pause in the tunnel this time) and high speed Stengel Dives are all brilliant.
Both with eyes shut – excellent timing by all three of us here.
From the Maverick exit you also get this excellent view of Steel Vengeance’s zero-g roll. One of the highlights of the ride.
Right, back for one more lap on this bad boy. We started by heading in to the queue with our cameras to take some pictures. We asked the staff member at the gate (where they’re ‘forcing’ you to empty your pockets), and they said it was okay if another staff member came with us. Quite how they think I’d get on the coaster with a ****ing great SLR round my neck is beyond me. This whole policy is just hilariously misjudged. Anyway, we’ve been ranting about this enough elsewhere. How about a ****-load of pictures?
Love the cables here for stabilising the zero-g roll.
This is my least favourite bit of the coaster, and the only bit I’d remove if I could. It just doesn’t flow at all. They should have done an Iron Rattler style ejector hill.
Yes! If only…
Another arty one.
We got a front row ride and again the coaster was just wonderful. The view of the track snaking under the structure from the front row is easily my favourite part.
Happy goon with a new number one.
Until next time, Cedar Point.
We all had reasonably drives home now, and we felt like we’d had our fill, so we hopped in the cars and headed out of the park. Stopped at a Five Guys in Sandusky for one more meal before we parted ways. Marcus and Kevin headed off towards Columbus, with Joey and I making a move towards Buffalo. We stopped a few times, but made good time along the highway and were in Buffalo without too much pain.
Joey picked up his car, we said our goodbyes and as he headed back to Rochester I went over to the hotel a few miles down the road. Something suddenly very quiet being in the car, and hotel, on my own after the previous days of carnage!
I can only thank all the guys (you know who you are) for joining me on this trip and making the experience, again, so enjoyable. We’ve done trips together in 2010, 2013, 2016 and now 2018, and here’s to the next one. Just get your butts over to Europe!
Fantasy Island spite, Niagara Falls and Marineland tomorrow.
Youngster Joey
Strata Poster
Glad to have you back in our neck of the woods and to help make this trip more enjoyable for you. Looking forward to seeing you in 2020
In all seriousness though, this was your trip, we just tagged along for part of the ride
In all seriousness though, this was your trip, we just tagged along for part of the ride
Day 11 – Niagara Falls & Marineland
Today was the trip back to Canada, but first stopping at Fantasy Island for the +whatever.
Woke up to a miserable view, absolutely pissing it down with rain and not looking good for the park. Thankfully was set to clear up later in the day though, so I felt reasonably confident that the rest of the day would work out.
Arrived at the park and sure enough the whole place was deserted. Quick check online and they’d posted out a tweet saying they weren’t opening today due to the adverse weather. Fair enough, I didn’t really want to ride in rain like that. I sat in the car park for a bit trying to suss out how much of a write off the rest of the day was going to be, but besides the odd pocket I stood a reasonably good change. Let’s move on.
Bleak.
Hey, at least I get a cookie!
Short drive later and I’ve arrived at Niagara Falls. Decided it would be silly not to do Maid of the Mist, you’ve gotta do some of the major tourist things sometimes.
The view from the observation platform (for want of a better word) is pretty good of the American Falls and up towards the Canadian Falls. Decent first impression. I love a good waterfall.
Head down to water level, don the poncho and we’re off. Pictures from here only on the small compact (wasn’t going to risk the SLR, although in hindsight it would have been fine – it’s been through far worse). The power of the water falls, both the spray and induced wind, are quite impressive.
Some people seemed reasonably clueless as to quite how wet they might get, though.
Approaching the Canadian Falls.
Pretty moist.
Once we’d faffed around right in the ‘mist’ (think more like sideways rain) for a while, they backed the engines off and we drifted out of the worst of it, before turning around and making our way back towards the dock. You get some good views of the boats heading the other way here too.
Hornblower is the Canadian version of Maid in the Mist. They’re essentially exactly the same and take it in turns to enter the centre of the main falls.
Rainbow Bridge, I’ll be crossing that shortly.
Weather was starting to break a little now, so I took a walk down the American side of the river, first past the American Falls, and then to the Canadian Falls. All fairly pleasant, really.
Perspective is good with a long lens here.
At this point the sky was clearing up nicely, so I made my way back to the car and headed for the border crossing. Some rude drivers (why are you so desperate to push through, we’re all joining the same queue!), and a fairly grumpy looking lady in the booth, but all pretty easy really. I was making good time, so decided to crack on to Marineland to get that sorted, so I could drop the car at the hotel and enjoy the Falls a bit more.
Marineland, then.
Parked up, paid my entry and parking ($55… $55!), and headed in. Good god this park is big. The landmarks on the map are essentially useless as the place is so big you can’t see any of them – I took the wrong fork and wandered for a bit before realising and doubling back. About 15 minutes later, I finally spotted Dragon Mountain, the reason why we’re all here. Walked past the bears on the way, good stuff.
The infamous bowtie is visible as you approach the entrance.
Once through the first entrance, you keep walking (over a bridge over the ride) to the actual entrance.
No idea what to expect from the station (didn’t take any pictures, doh!), but it was completely dead. Not a single other person in the station other than the three ride ops. Tentatively headed down to the platform, expecting the usual “we need more people”, but as I got near they jumped to life, seemingly excited to have someone else in the room.
Front row then, please.
Wow this coaster is weird. The double chained lift with the panoramic turn at the top, followed by two smooth loops is a good start. It does another big turn before a MCBR and the huge helix-in-a-volcano. Gradually building speed, but not really doing a great deal, it enters a tunnel and… great big straight-away. What’s that all about? Feels like an RCT join the tracks job. Crawl into the tunnel, turn the corner, down the drop and into the bowtie. Really feels like it’s going to stall at both of the high-points, but it rolls out and in to another sizable straight-away. Final corner and back in to the mountain for the final brakes. How odd. Smooth, bit of shuffling in places, but on the whole pretty fun. Certainly spent most of the ride smiling – I’ll come back for another ride shortly.
Decided not to bother sprinting back to the entrance for the animal show, so instead headed up the hill in the centre of the park for the shot/drop tower (it was running a shot-then-drop cycle).
Another one where they were dying for someone to talk to, and ended up riding alone. Pretty windy up top, but some good views of the falls, which you don’t get every day!
Also just about the closest you’ll get to a layout overview of Dragon Mountain (without Google Maps)!
Took another lap on Dragon Mountain, before heading for the kiddie cred. Some Beluga Whales first, then a lot of paths, then some Killer Whales. Yay, I suppose? Whole place was deserted really.
Finally got to the kiddie cred, simple, +1.
Okay, had my fill of this place now. It if wasn’t a 20 minute walk back to the coaster, I might have gone for another lap, but wanted to get to the hotel now.
Marineland: This park is in a bad place, I think. Considering how busy the rest of Niagara was, the park was dead. They barely have any rides, appear to have a crumbling infrastructure and the animals can’t be in the best condition either. There is a huge lack of stuff to do, but it’s still carrying the Niagara price tag. It would be great to see this place thriving, they’d make a fortune. I can see this place shutting soon, but I do hope they’re able to look after the animals. It’d also be a shame to lose the coaster, that thing is pretty fun, and certainly unique.
Checked in and dropped the car off at the hotel, before walking back to the falls. I had scoped the walk out (I was trying to avoid the most expensive central zone), and knew it wasn’t that far, but it was even shorter in reality. About 20 minutes later, I was back along the Canadian side of the falls. I walked the whole length, admiring the view the whole way. Very busy, as you’d expect, but I do enjoy seeing waterfalls and I was pretty happy strolling along. I’ll chuck a load of photos in now.
That’s pretty similar to the one before… maybe I should have only used one.
Abstract.
I’d spotted on the weather radars (whilst checking out whether Marineland was going to be a write off) that there was a sizable storm cell heading this way. By now it was pretty clear it was going to come down with quite some fury, so I made a beeline back towards the hotel for some dinner and to wait it out. Was a good call really, as the rain was pretty strong and lasted a good couple of hours.
You can see the brunt of the storm coming for us here.
Once it’d passed it was suitably dark, and I thought I’d go and have a look at the lightshow they do with the falls. Turns out it was really rather impressive! No tripod on this trip, so this is a mix of handheld and ‘put-it-on-a-rock’.
In case you’re wondering how you light up a waterfall like that, the answer is some ****ing huge LED arrays. Basically blinding to look at, but do a good job of lighting the falls up.
By far their favourite was the Canadian colours.
Some more.
Started making my way back to the hotel at this point, and ended up catching a firework show over the falls. I had seen this advertised around, but hadn’t really clocked that it was happening at that time. Quite a pleasant surprise, but definitely not that easy to photograph!
This is a composite of about 10 images.
Back to the hotel and off to bed. Only a bit more to go now before it’s back to Europe!
Today was the trip back to Canada, but first stopping at Fantasy Island for the +whatever.
Woke up to a miserable view, absolutely pissing it down with rain and not looking good for the park. Thankfully was set to clear up later in the day though, so I felt reasonably confident that the rest of the day would work out.
Arrived at the park and sure enough the whole place was deserted. Quick check online and they’d posted out a tweet saying they weren’t opening today due to the adverse weather. Fair enough, I didn’t really want to ride in rain like that. I sat in the car park for a bit trying to suss out how much of a write off the rest of the day was going to be, but besides the odd pocket I stood a reasonably good change. Let’s move on.
Bleak.
Hey, at least I get a cookie!
Short drive later and I’ve arrived at Niagara Falls. Decided it would be silly not to do Maid of the Mist, you’ve gotta do some of the major tourist things sometimes.
The view from the observation platform (for want of a better word) is pretty good of the American Falls and up towards the Canadian Falls. Decent first impression. I love a good waterfall.
Head down to water level, don the poncho and we’re off. Pictures from here only on the small compact (wasn’t going to risk the SLR, although in hindsight it would have been fine – it’s been through far worse). The power of the water falls, both the spray and induced wind, are quite impressive.
Some people seemed reasonably clueless as to quite how wet they might get, though.
Approaching the Canadian Falls.
Pretty moist.
Once we’d faffed around right in the ‘mist’ (think more like sideways rain) for a while, they backed the engines off and we drifted out of the worst of it, before turning around and making our way back towards the dock. You get some good views of the boats heading the other way here too.
Hornblower is the Canadian version of Maid in the Mist. They’re essentially exactly the same and take it in turns to enter the centre of the main falls.
Rainbow Bridge, I’ll be crossing that shortly.
Weather was starting to break a little now, so I took a walk down the American side of the river, first past the American Falls, and then to the Canadian Falls. All fairly pleasant, really.
Perspective is good with a long lens here.
At this point the sky was clearing up nicely, so I made my way back to the car and headed for the border crossing. Some rude drivers (why are you so desperate to push through, we’re all joining the same queue!), and a fairly grumpy looking lady in the booth, but all pretty easy really. I was making good time, so decided to crack on to Marineland to get that sorted, so I could drop the car at the hotel and enjoy the Falls a bit more.
Marineland, then.
Parked up, paid my entry and parking ($55… $55!), and headed in. Good god this park is big. The landmarks on the map are essentially useless as the place is so big you can’t see any of them – I took the wrong fork and wandered for a bit before realising and doubling back. About 15 minutes later, I finally spotted Dragon Mountain, the reason why we’re all here. Walked past the bears on the way, good stuff.
The infamous bowtie is visible as you approach the entrance.
Once through the first entrance, you keep walking (over a bridge over the ride) to the actual entrance.
No idea what to expect from the station (didn’t take any pictures, doh!), but it was completely dead. Not a single other person in the station other than the three ride ops. Tentatively headed down to the platform, expecting the usual “we need more people”, but as I got near they jumped to life, seemingly excited to have someone else in the room.
Front row then, please.
Wow this coaster is weird. The double chained lift with the panoramic turn at the top, followed by two smooth loops is a good start. It does another big turn before a MCBR and the huge helix-in-a-volcano. Gradually building speed, but not really doing a great deal, it enters a tunnel and… great big straight-away. What’s that all about? Feels like an RCT join the tracks job. Crawl into the tunnel, turn the corner, down the drop and into the bowtie. Really feels like it’s going to stall at both of the high-points, but it rolls out and in to another sizable straight-away. Final corner and back in to the mountain for the final brakes. How odd. Smooth, bit of shuffling in places, but on the whole pretty fun. Certainly spent most of the ride smiling – I’ll come back for another ride shortly.
Decided not to bother sprinting back to the entrance for the animal show, so instead headed up the hill in the centre of the park for the shot/drop tower (it was running a shot-then-drop cycle).
Another one where they were dying for someone to talk to, and ended up riding alone. Pretty windy up top, but some good views of the falls, which you don’t get every day!
Also just about the closest you’ll get to a layout overview of Dragon Mountain (without Google Maps)!
Took another lap on Dragon Mountain, before heading for the kiddie cred. Some Beluga Whales first, then a lot of paths, then some Killer Whales. Yay, I suppose? Whole place was deserted really.
Finally got to the kiddie cred, simple, +1.
Okay, had my fill of this place now. It if wasn’t a 20 minute walk back to the coaster, I might have gone for another lap, but wanted to get to the hotel now.
Marineland: This park is in a bad place, I think. Considering how busy the rest of Niagara was, the park was dead. They barely have any rides, appear to have a crumbling infrastructure and the animals can’t be in the best condition either. There is a huge lack of stuff to do, but it’s still carrying the Niagara price tag. It would be great to see this place thriving, they’d make a fortune. I can see this place shutting soon, but I do hope they’re able to look after the animals. It’d also be a shame to lose the coaster, that thing is pretty fun, and certainly unique.
Checked in and dropped the car off at the hotel, before walking back to the falls. I had scoped the walk out (I was trying to avoid the most expensive central zone), and knew it wasn’t that far, but it was even shorter in reality. About 20 minutes later, I was back along the Canadian side of the falls. I walked the whole length, admiring the view the whole way. Very busy, as you’d expect, but I do enjoy seeing waterfalls and I was pretty happy strolling along. I’ll chuck a load of photos in now.
That’s pretty similar to the one before… maybe I should have only used one.
Abstract.
I’d spotted on the weather radars (whilst checking out whether Marineland was going to be a write off) that there was a sizable storm cell heading this way. By now it was pretty clear it was going to come down with quite some fury, so I made a beeline back towards the hotel for some dinner and to wait it out. Was a good call really, as the rain was pretty strong and lasted a good couple of hours.
You can see the brunt of the storm coming for us here.
Once it’d passed it was suitably dark, and I thought I’d go and have a look at the lightshow they do with the falls. Turns out it was really rather impressive! No tripod on this trip, so this is a mix of handheld and ‘put-it-on-a-rock’.
In case you’re wondering how you light up a waterfall like that, the answer is some ****ing huge LED arrays. Basically blinding to look at, but do a good job of lighting the falls up.
By far their favourite was the Canadian colours.
Some more.
Started making my way back to the hotel at this point, and ended up catching a firework show over the falls. I had seen this advertised around, but hadn’t really clocked that it was happening at that time. Quite a pleasant surprise, but definitely not that easy to photograph!
This is a composite of about 10 images.
Back to the hotel and off to bed. Only a bit more to go now before it’s back to Europe!
Day 12 – Niagara Falls Tourism
Not a single cred today, but it was the last day of the trip over the Atlantic and I’d had my fill for now. I’d planned a pretty easy morning, then drive back to the airport for my flight home.
First up, the Skylon Tower. Really liked this, it gave some amazing views of the Falls and was dead quiet (I went up almost as soon as they opened). They also have a proper outdoor viewing platform, with a large wire mesh preventing anyone falling off. I liked this as the mesh was large enough that I could easily get the lens of my camera through, meaning I wasn’t fighting with glare from windows or the obstructions of a finer mesh. Good planning, Skylon. Here’s a load of pictures.
Pretty good, eh?
The light was good too.
Marineland off in the distance.
Maid of the Mist going in.
I took a quick walk through the ‘tacky’ bit of Niagara, which was… colourful. I kinda wanted to try the huge go kart track they have there, but the queue was already pretty big and I couldn’t really be bothered. Figured I’d probably end up with a load of special cases anyway. Didn’t bother doing anything else.
Then it was back along the Niagara Parkway for some more of the same, in terms of views.
And that was it! Walked back to the hotel, drove back to Toronto airport, dropped the car off then flew home. All pretty easy, really.
Canada was a new country cred for me, and I really enjoyed it. In many ways Toronto and Niagara felt quite American which I suppose is no surprise, but Montreal was much more European feeling. Food was great, people were friendly and it was easy to get around and all the usual stuff. As I always do, I had a great time in the USA, made even better by being able to meet up with the guys. Thanks to all of them for joining me! Can’t wait to come back.
The flight home was overnight, so I landed back in the UK the morning after. Once I’d got back to Bristol it was a reasonably quick turnaround for me, as the next morning I got up for a flight to Amsterdam to start the European leg of this little escapade.
Some small +1s and stuff next.
Not a single cred today, but it was the last day of the trip over the Atlantic and I’d had my fill for now. I’d planned a pretty easy morning, then drive back to the airport for my flight home.
First up, the Skylon Tower. Really liked this, it gave some amazing views of the Falls and was dead quiet (I went up almost as soon as they opened). They also have a proper outdoor viewing platform, with a large wire mesh preventing anyone falling off. I liked this as the mesh was large enough that I could easily get the lens of my camera through, meaning I wasn’t fighting with glare from windows or the obstructions of a finer mesh. Good planning, Skylon. Here’s a load of pictures.
Pretty good, eh?
The light was good too.
Marineland off in the distance.
Maid of the Mist going in.
I took a quick walk through the ‘tacky’ bit of Niagara, which was… colourful. I kinda wanted to try the huge go kart track they have there, but the queue was already pretty big and I couldn’t really be bothered. Figured I’d probably end up with a load of special cases anyway.
Didn’t bother doing anything else.
Then it was back along the Niagara Parkway for some more of the same, in terms of views.
And that was it! Walked back to the hotel, drove back to Toronto airport, dropped the car off then flew home. All pretty easy, really.
Canada was a new country cred for me, and I really enjoyed it. In many ways Toronto and Niagara felt quite American which I suppose is no surprise, but Montreal was much more European feeling. Food was great, people were friendly and it was easy to get around and all the usual stuff. As I always do, I had a great time in the USA, made even better by being able to meet up with the guys. Thanks to all of them for joining me! Can’t wait to come back.
The flight home was overnight, so I landed back in the UK the morning after. Once I’d got back to Bristol it was a reasonably quick turnaround for me, as the next morning I got up for a flight to Amsterdam to start the European leg of this little escapade.
Some small +1s and stuff next.
Day 13 – BillyBird & DippieDoe
So, off I go again.
Early, but easy, start to Bristol airport and then on to Schiphol. After navigating the fairly unnatractive main hall, I waited for @Lofty to land. He arrived, and we did the hire car faff at the desk. Shortly after @Ben and Sam arrived and we were on our way. Lovely little VW Golf awaited us. Not as nice as the Fusion from before, but happy enough with that. Beats the usual **** they give you in Europe.
Short drive later and we were at the first park, BillyBird!
Only one cred at this place, but it’s one of those slightly odd ones (less so now they’ve built a couple more for 2018) and what I’d always heard claim to be the most eco-friendly coaster in the world. Not quite sure I believe that, but I can’t really fact check that so…
We climbed the tower to the platform and decided to go for one car each on the first go. We were probably pretty close to the total weight limit, and we weren’t sure how this was going to ride, so played it safe the first time. Ben and Sam went first, followed in the next train by Mark and me. They didn’t really seem to care about loose articles, so got some pictures from on the ride itself.
Now this was a surprising coaster. It’s very smooth, and admittedly a little slow in places (suffers from the Eurofighter-type pacing issues), but the airtime hill and twisting hill before the MCBR (see the pictures above) are brilliant. Wonderful little pops of airtime, made even better by the lightweight nature of the trains. Quality.
We went straight back round for a second go, this time deciding to all ride in one train. Certainly pretty cramped, but a good laugh. The airtime hill made us squeal with joy.
Spitefully they had some of the access paths closed up – we assumed because the park was so dead they were essentially closing up for the winter. We walked almost back to the entrance, before being able to access the kid’s playground bit.
There was a great selection of climbing frames, assault course type obstacles, those ladders you have to try and balance on as you climb up, the whole lot. Totally deserted, thankfully, so gave us a chance to act like kids for a bit! We headed up to the end of this area to the giant inflatable bouncy castle thing. Awesome.
Didn’t get any close-up pictures, but you can see the scale a bit from here. It was HUGE.
Climbed the weird little mountain thing they have near the park entrance, with its various pissy caves and screechy slides, before taking a quick go on the water slides. Expertly modelled here by Sam and Ben.
Okay, that was this place cleaned out, on to the next one.
Next park was DippieDoe. The drive up to this one was a little odd, as it’s clearly in some sort of resort type place, but it wasn’t terribly obvious what anything was. Long drive around three sides of a lake (or at least, that’s how it felt) and we were there.
Parked up and headed in, only to be hit with the first genuinely puzzling experience of the trip. Tried to pay for the park by card, got rejected. Second card, also rejected. Third? Yup, also rejected. We only take Maestro. Maestro! We haven’t had one of those since we were teenagers and had our first little cash card. What’s going on? This is the Netherlands for ****s sake, not Timbuktu (no disrespect to Timbuktuvians). Maybe they’re just a small place and don’t have the means for a proper system (although as you’ll soon see, that wasn’t the case).
Thankfully, the lady took pity on us and after figuring out we were only there to ride the cred (the Wacky Worm was down) she decided we could go in for free. Between us we had the Euros for the parking token, so agreed we’d at least pay something.
The cred was ****. Moving on.
BillyBird: This is one of those parks that I bet would be amazing if you were a kid in the middle of the summer. It’s got loads of play equipment, a few decent rides, a huge beach and loads of facilities for a day out (most notably the gas BBQ picnic tables). For a cred run, it’s not up to much, but I suppose we’re not really who they’re trying to attract.
DippieDoe: This is much of the same, to be perfectly honest. I was expecting this place to have even more of those quirky rides and things to prat around on (don’t know why I thought that though), but I think it probably had a bit less if I’m honest. They did have a decent sized indoor area, although not suitable for adults. Boo.
Short drive on to the hotel, the rather curiously set up Carlton de Brug. It’s clearly meant as a sports/training facility type hotel, but the main hotel entrance is currently under refurbishment so you have to check in at the gym entrance and walk through the sports hall to get to the hotel. Some floors of the hotel are obviously still under refurbishment, but our floor was done and, credit where it’s due, it was pretty good. Room was big, sport themed throughout, and comfortable for the four of us. Best bit, however, was the pool and sauna that we could access. Now THAT’s how you finish a day at a park. Swimming, hot tub, various saunas and associated cold showers. Felt amazing.
We headed out for dinner down the road, which was very good, but again faced the same issues with paying by card. The host was able to explain to us a little better that outside of Amsterdam and the larger institutions, Visa/Mastercard simply aren’t accepted. Especially strange as Maestro and Mastercard are one and the same, really. We ended up having to pay cash at the restaurant. Really didn’t expect that from the Netherlands. Turns out it’s the same in a bunch of supermarkets and restaurants all over the place. C’mon guys, get your **** together.
Tomorrow Toverland, with Fenix ERT and more sauna time. Yes.
So, off I go again.
Early, but easy, start to Bristol airport and then on to Schiphol. After navigating the fairly unnatractive main hall, I waited for @Lofty to land. He arrived, and we did the hire car faff at the desk. Shortly after @Ben and Sam arrived and we were on our way. Lovely little VW Golf awaited us. Not as nice as the Fusion from before, but happy enough with that. Beats the usual **** they give you in Europe.
Short drive later and we were at the first park, BillyBird!
Only one cred at this place, but it’s one of those slightly odd ones (less so now they’ve built a couple more for 2018) and what I’d always heard claim to be the most eco-friendly coaster in the world. Not quite sure I believe that, but I can’t really fact check that so…
We climbed the tower to the platform and decided to go for one car each on the first go. We were probably pretty close to the total weight limit, and we weren’t sure how this was going to ride, so played it safe the first time. Ben and Sam went first, followed in the next train by Mark and me. They didn’t really seem to care about loose articles, so got some pictures from on the ride itself.
Now this was a surprising coaster. It’s very smooth, and admittedly a little slow in places (suffers from the Eurofighter-type pacing issues), but the airtime hill and twisting hill before the MCBR (see the pictures above) are brilliant. Wonderful little pops of airtime, made even better by the lightweight nature of the trains. Quality.
We went straight back round for a second go, this time deciding to all ride in one train. Certainly pretty cramped, but a good laugh. The airtime hill made us squeal with joy.
Spitefully they had some of the access paths closed up – we assumed because the park was so dead they were essentially closing up for the winter. We walked almost back to the entrance, before being able to access the kid’s playground bit.
There was a great selection of climbing frames, assault course type obstacles, those ladders you have to try and balance on as you climb up, the whole lot. Totally deserted, thankfully, so gave us a chance to act like kids for a bit! We headed up to the end of this area to the giant inflatable bouncy castle thing. Awesome.
Didn’t get any close-up pictures, but you can see the scale a bit from here. It was HUGE.
Climbed the weird little mountain thing they have near the park entrance, with its various pissy caves and screechy slides, before taking a quick go on the water slides. Expertly modelled here by Sam and Ben.
Okay, that was this place cleaned out, on to the next one.
Next park was DippieDoe. The drive up to this one was a little odd, as it’s clearly in some sort of resort type place, but it wasn’t terribly obvious what anything was. Long drive around three sides of a lake (or at least, that’s how it felt) and we were there.
Parked up and headed in, only to be hit with the first genuinely puzzling experience of the trip. Tried to pay for the park by card, got rejected. Second card, also rejected. Third? Yup, also rejected. We only take Maestro. Maestro! We haven’t had one of those since we were teenagers and had our first little cash card. What’s going on? This is the Netherlands for ****s sake, not Timbuktu (no disrespect to Timbuktuvians). Maybe they’re just a small place and don’t have the means for a proper system (although as you’ll soon see, that wasn’t the case).
Thankfully, the lady took pity on us and after figuring out we were only there to ride the cred (the Wacky Worm was down) she decided we could go in for free. Between us we had the Euros for the parking token, so agreed we’d at least pay something.
The cred was ****. Moving on.
BillyBird: This is one of those parks that I bet would be amazing if you were a kid in the middle of the summer. It’s got loads of play equipment, a few decent rides, a huge beach and loads of facilities for a day out (most notably the gas BBQ picnic tables). For a cred run, it’s not up to much, but I suppose we’re not really who they’re trying to attract.
DippieDoe: This is much of the same, to be perfectly honest. I was expecting this place to have even more of those quirky rides and things to prat around on (don’t know why I thought that though), but I think it probably had a bit less if I’m honest. They did have a decent sized indoor area, although not suitable for adults. Boo.
Short drive on to the hotel, the rather curiously set up Carlton de Brug. It’s clearly meant as a sports/training facility type hotel, but the main hotel entrance is currently under refurbishment so you have to check in at the gym entrance and walk through the sports hall to get to the hotel. Some floors of the hotel are obviously still under refurbishment, but our floor was done and, credit where it’s due, it was pretty good. Room was big, sport themed throughout, and comfortable for the four of us. Best bit, however, was the pool and sauna that we could access. Now THAT’s how you finish a day at a park. Swimming, hot tub, various saunas and associated cold showers. Felt amazing.
We headed out for dinner down the road, which was very good, but again faced the same issues with paying by card. The host was able to explain to us a little better that outside of Amsterdam and the larger institutions, Visa/Mastercard simply aren’t accepted. Especially strange as Maestro and Mastercard are one and the same, really. We ended up having to pay cash at the restaurant. Really didn’t expect that from the Netherlands. Turns out it’s the same in a bunch of supermarkets and restaurants all over the place. C’mon guys, get your **** together.
Tomorrow Toverland, with Fenix ERT and more sauna time. Yes.
Day 14 – Toverland
We’d spotted a while ago that Toverland were having a fan day, which included ERT on Fenix and a bunch of other goodies, coincidentally on the day we had planned to go. For only a marginal uplift in price compared to a normal ticket, it seemed like a no brainer!
We arrived at the park and made our way, following the crowds, towards the new park entrance. We tagged on to the back of the line of goons waiting to get their passes, and soon entered the park. We walked through the Port Laguna area, which was lovely, round the back towards Avalon and Fenix. Good first impressions as we approached the Fenix entrance. The Avalon area is absolutely beautiful, as is Fenix with its mesmerising blue track.
There they are!
They were running two trains for the ERT (later in the day they dropped back to one), which was good as it meant only a one or two train wait for most rows, and a few more for the front/back – it was exclusively goons, of course. Station is also quite lovely, although a bit of a pig to photograph.
Now this is a good coaster! There definitely feels like there will be a pre-show, or at the very least some additional theming yet to be built, but that’s the only bit of the ride that really feels like it’s incomplete. First drop is alright (I prefer the straight drops), but the following few elements is where this ride comes alive.
The airtime hill is magical, proper hard pop of floater all the way over, and the turn up in to the Immelmann is amazing. Especially in the back row against a blue sky, with the gold train twisting away in front of you. Helix is very intense, and again the flip in to the zero-g is surprisingly forceful while still feeling graceful. Rest of it’s just the usual smooth B&M twists. Really, really, good.
We took a few more laps during the ERT, trying out both back sides back row and one side front. I think I preferred the right side, as the helix is very low to the ground and flip out feels a bit more exciting.
Isn’t it just beautiful?
While in the area, and before the main influx of guests arrived, we decided to do the boat ride – Merlin’s Quest. Ride itself is okay, and the dark ride section is pretty charming (so much so that I wished it had lasted a lot longer), but the best bit is the views of Fenix that it affords.
Can I just take a moment to say how ****ing lovely the bridges are? They kept winding me up about it, but they really are great. Good work Toverland.
We headed off round the park to pick up the rest of the creds and other rides. A lot of this bit is either not terribly photogenic (looking at you Booster Bike), or is just generally not great for taking pictures (for example, Dwervelwind) – at least, that’s what I’m saying to explain the lack of pictures.
Dwervelwind was great, the on-ride audio really makes this. Booster Bike was poo.
This was next, though.
Don’t need another person gushing over Troy, but suffice to say it’s pretty good. Better than I remembered, in fact.
Time to head indoors and faff around on all the various indoor rides. Indoor cred, check. Fun house, check. Kiddie climbing frames, check. Flume, check. All good, Toverland-y fun.
Headed outside to do the high ropes course, which was rather expertly tackled by all of us. Highlight of this really though (I always wish these kind of things were higher and had a bit more ‘peril’) is the views of Troy.
We nipped back out to the car quickly to pick up some camera accessories, before making our way back in to Port Laguna and towards Fenix. Some more random shots of stuff on the way in/out.
Another couple of rides on Fenix, and then a little tour taking some more pictures. Quite pleased with some of these, so just going to get on with it. Enjoy.
Ben did love it. Some might say… too much…
Quick hop on the rapids (didn’t remember doing this other than looking at my LoG submission, so that says something, I’m sure).
Finally, Sam and I sucked up the queue and waited for Blitz Bahn (while Mark and Ben had a beer). Queue said 30 minutes, but in reality it was more like 20 minutes. We boarded our individual cars and off we went. Wow this thing is bloody great! It was down last time I visited and I was always a bit miffed, and rightly so. The speed is really quite exciting (you can’t really see any of the fast bits from the outside) and it twists plenty and has a good number of crossovers. Brilliant! Wish I could have had a few more laps.
There was evening ERT on Troy, but there were more goons in the group that morning (we’d been doing our own thing besides the ERT and lunch) than had been in the queue for Troy all day, so we’d have had a longer wait anyway. Decided to sack it off. Sauna was waiting for us.
Toverland: I do like this place. It’s got a funky vibe, with some surprisingly fun attractions (including the various climbing frames and stuff). Before this, they really only had Dwervelwind and Troy as anything genuinely good (not that they’re not very good rides), but now they’ve done Avalon and Fenix they’re on to something. The quality of both the ride and the theming (and the bridges) is outstanding, and shows that Toverland a serious about expanding. Next to Avalon there is a pretty sizable plot of land being prepped for something – it’s probably not long before something else is announced, which is very exciting!
Back to the hotel, sauna and Dominoes takeaway. It was a Saturday night, but the whole surrounding town seemed deserted. Shops and restaurants all closed (and like, always closed, not a special event). Do the Dutch just not go out? Odd. Anyway, pizza will do us just fine. Sorted.
Next up, Efteling.
We’d spotted a while ago that Toverland were having a fan day, which included ERT on Fenix and a bunch of other goodies, coincidentally on the day we had planned to go. For only a marginal uplift in price compared to a normal ticket, it seemed like a no brainer!
We arrived at the park and made our way, following the crowds, towards the new park entrance. We tagged on to the back of the line of goons waiting to get their passes, and soon entered the park. We walked through the Port Laguna area, which was lovely, round the back towards Avalon and Fenix. Good first impressions as we approached the Fenix entrance. The Avalon area is absolutely beautiful, as is Fenix with its mesmerising blue track.
There they are!
They were running two trains for the ERT (later in the day they dropped back to one), which was good as it meant only a one or two train wait for most rows, and a few more for the front/back – it was exclusively goons, of course. Station is also quite lovely, although a bit of a pig to photograph.
Now this is a good coaster! There definitely feels like there will be a pre-show, or at the very least some additional theming yet to be built, but that’s the only bit of the ride that really feels like it’s incomplete. First drop is alright (I prefer the straight drops), but the following few elements is where this ride comes alive.
The airtime hill is magical, proper hard pop of floater all the way over, and the turn up in to the Immelmann is amazing. Especially in the back row against a blue sky, with the gold train twisting away in front of you. Helix is very intense, and again the flip in to the zero-g is surprisingly forceful while still feeling graceful. Rest of it’s just the usual smooth B&M twists. Really, really, good.
We took a few more laps during the ERT, trying out both back sides back row and one side front. I think I preferred the right side, as the helix is very low to the ground and flip out feels a bit more exciting.
Isn’t it just beautiful?
While in the area, and before the main influx of guests arrived, we decided to do the boat ride – Merlin’s Quest. Ride itself is okay, and the dark ride section is pretty charming (so much so that I wished it had lasted a lot longer), but the best bit is the views of Fenix that it affords.
Can I just take a moment to say how ****ing lovely the bridges are? They kept winding me up about it, but they really are great. Good work Toverland.
We headed off round the park to pick up the rest of the creds and other rides. A lot of this bit is either not terribly photogenic (looking at you Booster Bike), or is just generally not great for taking pictures (for example, Dwervelwind) – at least, that’s what I’m saying to explain the lack of pictures.
Dwervelwind was great, the on-ride audio really makes this. Booster Bike was poo.
This was next, though.
Don’t need another person gushing over Troy, but suffice to say it’s pretty good. Better than I remembered, in fact.
Time to head indoors and faff around on all the various indoor rides. Indoor cred, check. Fun house, check. Kiddie climbing frames, check. Flume, check. All good, Toverland-y fun.
Headed outside to do the high ropes course, which was rather expertly tackled by all of us. Highlight of this really though (I always wish these kind of things were higher and had a bit more ‘peril’) is the views of Troy.
We nipped back out to the car quickly to pick up some camera accessories, before making our way back in to Port Laguna and towards Fenix. Some more random shots of stuff on the way in/out.
Another couple of rides on Fenix, and then a little tour taking some more pictures. Quite pleased with some of these, so just going to get on with it. Enjoy.
Ben did love it. Some might say… too much…
Quick hop on the rapids (didn’t remember doing this other than looking at my LoG submission, so that says something, I’m sure).
Finally, Sam and I sucked up the queue and waited for Blitz Bahn (while Mark and Ben had a beer). Queue said 30 minutes, but in reality it was more like 20 minutes. We boarded our individual cars and off we went. Wow this thing is bloody great! It was down last time I visited and I was always a bit miffed, and rightly so. The speed is really quite exciting (you can’t really see any of the fast bits from the outside) and it twists plenty and has a good number of crossovers. Brilliant! Wish I could have had a few more laps.
There was evening ERT on Troy, but there were more goons in the group that morning (we’d been doing our own thing besides the ERT and lunch) than had been in the queue for Troy all day, so we’d have had a longer wait anyway. Decided to sack it off. Sauna was waiting for us.
Toverland: I do like this place. It’s got a funky vibe, with some surprisingly fun attractions (including the various climbing frames and stuff). Before this, they really only had Dwervelwind and Troy as anything genuinely good (not that they’re not very good rides), but now they’ve done Avalon and Fenix they’re on to something. The quality of both the ride and the theming (and the bridges) is outstanding, and shows that Toverland a serious about expanding. Next to Avalon there is a pretty sizable plot of land being prepped for something – it’s probably not long before something else is announced, which is very exciting!
Back to the hotel, sauna and Dominoes takeaway. It was a Saturday night, but the whole surrounding town seemed deserted. Shops and restaurants all closed (and like, always closed, not a special event). Do the Dutch just not go out? Odd. Anyway, pizza will do us just fine. Sorted.
Next up, Efteling.
Do iiiiit.gonna be at least next summer I think before I get out to have a look at that myself tho
It's really very good. You may also get the pre-show theming finished. Well, not really a pre-show, just a pre-lift room that's very bare at the moment.My only criticism of Avalon is that's not really that big. It could do with another couple of rides, really. Give them time though, I suppose. Does have a nice web of paths and things, offering all those views.