Mushroom
Goon of the Year
Some of you have been reading my Twitter/Facebook updates, and knew I have been in madrid for the 2 parks! So lets start where my Ireland trip report finished....
BEER!!!!
Well this was after a long day at work doing 4 flight, I just needed a beer and some food, a lovely Meatball meal from Frankie and bennys at the airport. Knowing my flight was delayed for about 1/2 hour, it was enough time to relax =] Got on the flight and set off for Madrid airport.
2 hours later I was at MAD airport (Yes that is the 3 letter code for madrid airport). And it was my home for the night...
After only a couple of hours sleep, I felt wide awake, and got some fresh air, instead of the air con
[imghttp://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs126.snc1/5410_142421242779_728732779_3404819_4703008_n.jpg[/img]
6am strolled along, and the metro system opened. €2 for a journey from the airport to anywhere, not bad =D Oh, they were air conditioned too with full mobile reception =]
I get to Parques de Attracciones about 7, so I had a few hours to kill. Went to local shops, tried my hand at spanish, and failed! I walked round the perimeter of the park which took me a while, and stumbled upon a couple of photo spots.
I heard a coaster chain lift ging, and they were testing!!!
The park opened at 12, i headed to this orange thing
Abismo was ok, I was expecting some airtime on 1 bit where it hit another drop at speed. Was a bit let down.
Next up was Tarantula, the spinning coaster. This was quite a large model and seemed very popular. It was a bit mediocre, couple of good bits not much to shout about!
<Warning>
Next up was Tornado, the only other Intamin Inverted coaster in the world (Yes I know about Volcano, but thats launched!). this was also going to be my 200th steel coaster! But due to restrictions, they have to wait for a total of 24 people before they can send it round, so it was a bit of a wait. Luckily I got front row.
On ride wasn't to bad, the 2nd loop was quite slow, but the corkscrew! OMG! Smooth and quite a good flick on it =D
So it was time for the new for 2009, the mack Wild mouse from Bobbejaanland. While in the queue, I was thinking why is this queue moving quickly, its a standard model. Got closer to the front and found that they have 4 cars stacked in the station, they fill them all up then send each one round when the other car has past through the previous block!!!! I was completely shocked! How can they operate this like it is. Just completely bad. The ride it self was ok.
I went around and had a look at the rest of the park, got some food. After I had that, and it was the heat of the day, I wet t find some shade, did so under a tree. Laid down and fell asleep for about an hour! Oops!
Brought some tat for myself. They it was time for the log flume. It was a good log flume, not brilliant. Then over to Tornado again, got on straight away. It was about 6pm by now, though the park was open till midnight, I don't think I could of lasted, so I went to around about where i would pick up the bus. So back on the Metro, just €1 for a single. Yes cheaper thats because when going to the airport there is a supplement of €1. ill very cheap! Got off the metro where I wanted and found a hotel.
In fact I saw a hostel AND a hotel. I decided to check out the hotel, a nice 3 star one to. Went in, asked how much the rooms were, and he sad €50. I took it! At that price I couldn't complain. It was a nice room, didn't care about the view I got. Got some food, watched some tv, then at 9pm i turned in for the night.
I will post day 2 later!
BEER!!!!
Well this was after a long day at work doing 4 flight, I just needed a beer and some food, a lovely Meatball meal from Frankie and bennys at the airport. Knowing my flight was delayed for about 1/2 hour, it was enough time to relax =] Got on the flight and set off for Madrid airport.
2 hours later I was at MAD airport (Yes that is the 3 letter code for madrid airport). And it was my home for the night...
After only a couple of hours sleep, I felt wide awake, and got some fresh air, instead of the air con
[imghttp://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs126.snc1/5410_142421242779_728732779_3404819_4703008_n.jpg[/img]
6am strolled along, and the metro system opened. €2 for a journey from the airport to anywhere, not bad =D Oh, they were air conditioned too with full mobile reception =]
I get to Parques de Attracciones about 7, so I had a few hours to kill. Went to local shops, tried my hand at spanish, and failed! I walked round the perimeter of the park which took me a while, and stumbled upon a couple of photo spots.
I heard a coaster chain lift ging, and they were testing!!!
The park opened at 12, i headed to this orange thing
Abismo was ok, I was expecting some airtime on 1 bit where it hit another drop at speed. Was a bit let down.
Next up was Tarantula, the spinning coaster. This was quite a large model and seemed very popular. It was a bit mediocre, couple of good bits not much to shout about!
<Warning>
Next up was Tornado, the only other Intamin Inverted coaster in the world (Yes I know about Volcano, but thats launched!). this was also going to be my 200th steel coaster! But due to restrictions, they have to wait for a total of 24 people before they can send it round, so it was a bit of a wait. Luckily I got front row.
On ride wasn't to bad, the 2nd loop was quite slow, but the corkscrew! OMG! Smooth and quite a good flick on it =D
So it was time for the new for 2009, the mack Wild mouse from Bobbejaanland. While in the queue, I was thinking why is this queue moving quickly, its a standard model. Got closer to the front and found that they have 4 cars stacked in the station, they fill them all up then send each one round when the other car has past through the previous block!!!! I was completely shocked! How can they operate this like it is. Just completely bad. The ride it self was ok.
I went around and had a look at the rest of the park, got some food. After I had that, and it was the heat of the day, I wet t find some shade, did so under a tree. Laid down and fell asleep for about an hour! Oops!
Brought some tat for myself. They it was time for the log flume. It was a good log flume, not brilliant. Then over to Tornado again, got on straight away. It was about 6pm by now, though the park was open till midnight, I don't think I could of lasted, so I went to around about where i would pick up the bus. So back on the Metro, just €1 for a single. Yes cheaper thats because when going to the airport there is a supplement of €1. ill very cheap! Got off the metro where I wanted and found a hotel.
In fact I saw a hostel AND a hotel. I decided to check out the hotel, a nice 3 star one to. Went in, asked how much the rooms were, and he sad €50. I took it! At that price I couldn't complain. It was a nice room, didn't care about the view I got. Got some food, watched some tv, then at 9pm i turned in for the night.
I will post day 2 later!
