It's fecking cold - PTR

[peep]

Friday, 1st January 2010

I began my journey by getting a train around 9am from my local station into London. From London Bridge I got the underground to West Ham and then a train service straight into Southend. I had arrived in Southend very early, I noticed a Jessops which was open so I popped in and ended up having a 15-20 min conversation with the gentleman that worked there. I then grabbed myself a lovely hot chocolate from Costas and headed down to the sea front for Adventure Island.

The pathways were very slippery as most of them were covered in ice. As I got to the gate I noticed I was still early but by the time I finished my hot chocolate it was time to go in. I had already purchased my wristband online and so went to pick it up. I then headed over to Rage (which was the arranged meeting point). I didn't see anyone else yet so I went to ride Rage. Someone I know from other meets was already on Rage so I joined him and we rode about 3 times before getting off to do something else before peoples arrived. I find Rage quite enjoyable but it's really getting rough and it rattles like mad in one section.

We headed off in a particular direction and ended up riding the Archelon (chairswing), very bad idea. The wind was so cold I could barely feel my face when I came off. While we were riding we noticed Tina, Phil and Leigh so we said hello and went back over to Rage to see if we could see AeRo and Jack.

We bumped into AeRo and Jack on our way to Rage, we spent some time saying hello and catching up and watching Green Scream fail to get past the lift hill. We then went to ride Rage twice.

I think we then rode Over the hill, the quite awesome dark ride. The end scene still makes me jump like mad.

We then opted for food times. We ended up in McDonalds on the High Street. We spent well over an hour in there talking and eating. New McFlurry <3

We then chose to go to the other side of Adventure Island. First ride was Barnstormer, a little kids rollercoaster which is good fun, I love the helix on it.

We then went to ride Ramba Zamba but as we were going up the queueline to ride it we were informed that it had broken down. So instead headed over to Devil's Creek. A silly little train-type ride where you sit in barrels that spin while it goes round the track. It's rather lame but also quite amusing.

Upon exiting the attraction we noticed that Ramba Zamba was open again so we rode that, just a disk-o, nothing special.

Then we went back over to the other side of the park to ride Rage more. The area behind Rage where you exit was so icy though and most of us were slipping all the time. Then Matthew, Leigh and Jack rode the drop tower.

We then wandered around. A few peeps went on the spinny ride of doom, they seemed to enjoy it. We were running out of rides to go on now. However we noticed that Green Scream was now open so we rode that, amusement ensued. We then opted for another ride on Over the hill. I decided to try and do a POV, it didn't come out.

Meerkat approves of Over the hill

Phil and Tina wanted to do the miniature golf, whereas Jack, AeRo and myself wanted to make our way to Dover. We said our goodbyes and headed to the car.

Something I have failed to mention so far is that it was absolutely freezing, coastal wind with winter temperatures was not a good mix.

Anyway we were in the car now which was warming us up. Good times. There was some traffic getting out of Southend but we were soon on the motorway to Dover. We then arrived in Dover and was put on an earlier ferry

The ferry was really nice, quite modern interior. We sat and talked for the entire journey.

We got back into the car and as we were leaving the ferry we noticed lots of white stuff everywhere outside. It had snowed (and was still coming down) and was already very thick. AeRo was a bit nervous driving on the non-gritted snow roads. But after some time he had managed to get us very safely to our hotel for the night. An Etap hotel in Dunkerque.

Room

AeRo was in one room and Jack and I were in the other. I had the scary bunkbed of evil, which was comfy but the ladder felt very unsafe. Anyway we stayed up for a bit watching BBC 1. Yeah, I know, we were in France and watching British TV <3. Good TV too, Gavin and Stacey, QI and Live at the Apollo. Anyway we got some sleep ready for the early start the next day.


To be continued.....

 

[Ollie]

Sounds fun. Martyn and I did a POV of Over The Hill when we went last year and it came out amazingly well.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evpKLbXyEvc[/youtube]

Also you should of gone to KFC as there's a crazy woman there that likes shouting at people. Mushroom knows all about that. :lol:

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

^Ollie, stop being a goon and plugging your channel... :roll:

John, as I stated on Facebook not a few seconds ago, MEERKAT TIMES WIN WIN WIN!!!!111 :lol:

Ahem...

I look forward to your Phantasialand report the most out of this trip, hopefully it was awesome...

 

[marc]

That POV spoils the end as well.

Good report so far looking forward to the rest.

 

[Emmett]

Nice report Peep, fair play to you doing some parks in the crazy weather at the moment. I'm looking forward to seeing the other parks. I wonder if Toverland was on the trip seeing as Aero is there :--D .

Also Gavin and Stacey and 'good tv' shouldn't go together :lol: .

 

[Ollie]

That POV spoils the end as well.

Yes but as it's a dark ride the only people who would watch the video would be:
-people searching for it
-People who have already been on it
-People who live ages away and would never get to ride it.

They know as soon as they see POV it's going to be onboard the ride so it's their choice if the want to spoil it or not. Plus all you have to do is look at the ORPs as you walk into the queue and that gives away the ending as well.

Anyway looking forward to the next part of the PTR.

 

[peep]

Also you should of gone to KFC as there's a crazy woman there that likes shouting at people. Mushroom knows all about that. :lol:

KFC? You mad? I don't think any of us wanted to die from food poisoning.

Emmett, Gavin and Stacey isn't amazing or anything special, but it was watchable (mainly because it was in English )


Anyway. On to more interesting things...

Saturday, 2nd January 2010


It was a very early start, we left the hotel at 6:20 in fact. Why so early? Well, we had a very long journey ahead of us. The area had a massive layer of snow and made us quite concerned about the day ahead, I think it was still snowing too. Anyway we all got in the car and headed off. A little bit into our journey we found a motorway services so we stopped for food times.

There was only one staff member. She was friendly and her English wasn't exactly amazing (I didn't even know which country we were in at the time lol) which meant that AeRo ended up paying for all three breakfasts by accident lol. We had a good laugh about it.

Soon enough we were back in the car and on our way to Germany. What felt like forever and all of a sudden the Phantasialand signs started to appear

It was so strange, first off we saw loads of houses then a massive building which houses a few rides for Phantasialand, quite surreal. Then, a bit like Blackpool, we drove down a road to the car park which cuts through the park! It was so strange. Then I saw Mystery Castle, looks so much more epic in real life.

We got parked up and headed for the entrance. My lack of knowledge when it comes to the German language got me a little nervous about buying a ticket but thanks to Jack it all worked out ok lol. So, this was it, I was finally at Phantasialand!!!! What the hell do we ride first?

AeRo, with good reasoning, suggested Winjas as it gets silly queues (well, they would, they are spinning coasters after all). This sounded like a plan so we made our way to the Winjas building. We walked past a few of the themed areas which are just awesome. I didn't even know they had a little 'main street', was so awesome. Due to very cold weather the park had also put out loads of little bins with fires in them, great idea.

We finally got to Winjas. The building is absolutely amazing, I loved it. I got my first glimpse of Winjas going round and I got very excited. We got into the queue and AeRo said that he had never queued from the point we were, it was a very long queue. Turned out only the Force queue was open. Then a staff member opened up the Fear queue even though it wasn't open yet. We queued for well over an hour and then we were finally on. Wow, I'd heard of some cool things about this rollercoaster but it was just awesome, the only thing that disappointed me was the lack of spinning. Oh wells. Fear still wasn't open so we headed off for other rides and decided to come back later.

On our way to Black Mamba, hunger struck. We opted for a place at the end of their main street area. Sausage and chips, yumm.

Meerkat enjoys a soft drink

We then made our way over to Black Mamba but got distracted by a character, photo opportunity .

Anyway, Black Mamba. We couldn't hear it going round and as we got closer we couldn't see it going round either. We got to the queueline and there was a sign saying it was closed. Then again, we weren't too surprised as the track was covered in snow and ice. Still, major sad times occurred. I looked on the bright side of the matter, It'll either try and open later or it gives me a reason to come back

As we was near it Talocan times happened.

It was awesome. Unfortunately we were sat at the back but it was still a great ride. It was so smooth and forceful, I loved every minute and the music was so great, added such an amazing atmosphere to it. Add the water and fire effects on top and it's got to be the best flat ride in Europe (at least).

Another character photo

The staff member who took the photo was awesome and his English was way too perfect (including accent), I think he must've been British. Something I noticed about all the staff here was there great attitude towards visitors. Even if they didn't know the language they were just friendly and made the day that little bit better.

I think we then headed over to Mystery Castle. I didn't know too much about the attraction and I was shocked at how amazing it was. The theming was brilliant and the ride was thrilling and exciting. Bit too short though. Oh yeah, it was also walk-on

The exit is strange though, into a random garden and then you have to walk for ages to get to another attraction. We then wandered around for a bit and then opted for Silbermine. Quite an interesting dark ride. It is showing it's age but it is full of animatronics and theming, which was quite impressive.

We then wandered round to Colorado Express (AKA The Michael Jackson ride). It had quite a queue and it also started to snow which was quite surreal.

We finally got on the ride after quite a wait. It was quite a surprise, never knew much about the ride. It was really enjoyable, although one or two of the corners were a bit too sharp and they just caused pain. If it didn't have such a large queueline and the snow wasn't coming down as much as it was I would have opted for a second ride.

Next was the Asia area. Due to it being so cold and the snow coming down we opted for another dark ride, Geista Rikscha. It's a omnimover like Disneyland's Phantom Manor. However, it wasn't just the ride type that I noticed was the same. Loads of scenes were literally ripped out of Phantom Manor and given a more Oriental theme. I had absolutely no idea what was going on and the music was too quiet to be able to really hear but it was warm and at that moment in time was the only thing any of us cared about.

So, as we were in the area and it was still very cold out (not like this was going to change ) we opted for Feng Ju Palace. I loved the theming but it was a bit lame and the pre-show, I suppose, was too long. Still, the music was great and it was very toasty inside.

AeRo and I were getting hungry so we opted for food times. We saw a lovely looking restaurant but it had no prices outside and there was no way we were going to risk it, looked very expensive inside. We ended up going to a little noodle place. I've never had noodles before (apart from out the packet stuff at home) and I really enjoyed it, very filling.

So now we were full we had a little look around the Asia area. We had a little look in the shop which was really cool. Takes theming to the next level, you can buy stuff based on the area theme (not the first park I've seen do this but I still love the idea). Upon exiting the store I saw another character, photo time!

We then headed back over to Winja's Fear. It was now open but it still had a long queue. However, we queued. It's just as good as Force, if not, a little better (to be honest I forget which is which and we probably rode them the other way around ).

We then headed next door for Temple of the Night Hawk. An indoor Vekoma I didn't even know existed. I really enjoyed it, quite relaxing, although it made me feel like it was a better version of X:/No way out

We then went round to Hollywood Tour. Wow this attraction is dated. The animatronic of Alfred Hitchcock in the station is hilariously bad, looked like he was on drugs or something. I suppose it was great for when it opened but the park really needs to update it a bit.

We had ridden all that we could in the park and it was very, very cold so we called it a day. Before we left though we visited the main shop where I got myself a Phantasialand fleece which has already kept me nice and warm on the way to and from work).

Pretty main street place

Christmas tree of awesomeness

We said goodbye to Phantasialand and got in the car for another epic drive.

To be continued....

 

[Ollie]

Sucks that Mamba was closed. That ride is amazing.
And on Winjas Fear has the see-saw track and Force has the one that falls sideways.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Ohhhhh Phantasialand <3

Shame that Mamba was shut... But gives you reason to return in warmer days, especially for River Quest as well...

Have they done anything to the area on the left of the entrance opposite the simulator yet John? Cos the 1001 Nachts ride that was there was pretty cool...

Also, their fleeces are FIT, I have one and it is awesome...

Keep it coming...

 

[jokerman]

You have to go back simply fo River Quest. It is the best rapids ever!!!

 

[Ollie]

^YES!!! Simply amazing.

 

[peep]

Yeah, River Quest does look quite awesome.

...Still Saturday, 2nd January 2010

So, we left Phantasialand in Germany. We were absolutely frozen and slightly disappointed by the closure of Black Mamba but we had, overall, a good day with some fantastic attractions. We were now on our way to the Netherlands. I'm not sure how long we drove for but I think I accidentally fell asleep a few times throughout the journey (I always feel awkward doing this).

We were approaching our destination for the evening. We were hungry though and a McDonalds was spotted, therefore we went there. The queue took ages to go down, which was good as I took forever deciding what I wanted to eat. I ended up getting a speciality sandwich, something with chicken in. I also got a Magnum McFlurry, it was lush, I want the UK to get it.

Anyways, we were now full of food and we went to the hotel. We were really tired to pretty much went straight to bed. However we found a channel showing Ice Age 2 in English (with Dutch subtitles) so it had to be watched. It was quite amusing and kept us entertained for a while. The room was a nice size, the bathroom was massive and the beds were very, very comfy. Here are two pics (unfortunately none of the awesome bathroom).

Sunday, 3rd January 2010

We woke up around 8? and after getting ready went down for breakfast (a typical buffet). We were the only ones having food times for ages which was quite amusing. AeRo pointed out that the hotel must have been quite empty as only around 5 tables were set up, shame as it really is a lovely hotel.

Overnight it had snowed and was much thicker than what we had experienced so far on the trip. Quite worrying considering the previous day's events. Anyway we finished our breakfast, checked out of the hotel and got in the car. Up the road and we had arrived at our third, and final, park of the trip. We were early and were the only people at the park (apart from most of the park staff, who had started gritting pathways etc). AeRo also pointed out to us that the car thermometer was suggesting that outside it was -7.5 C. Feck, it's cold outside.

After a few more cars turned up and it got about 5 mins to opening we headed over to the entrance of Toverland

Meerkat can't wait to get inside

We purchased our tickets and AeRo renewed his annual pass

Everything inside was open but due to the snow the outside attractions were closed for the day

We decided to venture out into this snowy wilderness to take rare photos of the amazing Troy.

AeRo preparing for the cold

So we venture out into the freezing cold. One of the first things we notice is the lake surrounding the water ride, Backstroke, was completely frozen over. Jack threw a snowball at it which was amusing.

We continue onwards taking loads of photos. As the snow was so thick we couldn't tell if were on pathways or not which was amusing and, at times, quite scary.

A few pics I took

Anyway, it was freezing and we couldn't feel our toes, lol, so we headed back inside. We opted for a drink at the main cafe place at the entrance. We sat there for ages, we must've talked about something quite interesting

We had decided that we should probably do something. We ended up taking loads of footage of the indoor coaster, Boomerang. I decided to have a quick wander round Zauberhaus which is a house which belongs to the Toverland character, Toos (a child/teenage witch). You walk around the house with a wand and using the wand you can activate random things (turn fake ovens on/off, make things move etc). I love it, great for kids.

After some more photo taking and filming we finally rode Boomerang. I love this coaster, from the moment you feel like you're going to hit the ceiling to the fast, tight, corners and bends. Just so awesome.

We then moved into the Magic Forest area. The first thing we did was go round Villa Fiasco. It's a fun house which really is good fun.

Seeing as we were next to it and there was no queue we rode Woudracer which is something I never got to do on my previous trip as it had a massive queue. It was awesome. It goes outside though and at times travels quite quickly so it's absolutely freezing, couldn't feel my face when I got back inside. Still good fun

We then went above the conference room in the corner to take photos and do some filming. I took one or two photos...

AeRo and I then decided to ride Swampie's swing. It's the same ride type as Griffin's Galleon at Chessington. I love these rides, yeah they are very similar to disk-os but at least you sit in a comfortable position on these rides.

Somehow the park had managed to get the log flume, Backstroke, open despite it being covered in snow and the lake being frozen over. So AeRo and Jack decided to go on. I opted out as I am cursed with water rides (I always get drenched) and didn't like the prospect of getting moist in the horrible cold temperatures. They didn't get very wet though and seemed to enjoy it, turntables on log flumes are full of win.

We then found ourselves going back to the cafe at the entrance as we were quite hungry. I think I ended up getting a burger and chips (it was the only thing on the menu which I knew lol).

AeRo wanted to watch the show so he found out when it was. We didn't have to wait long so we went on the chairswing, Sim sa la swing. I found it really nice and relaxing.

So, time for the show. We were the first ones in which was quite sad But it did mean we got good seats (we sat in the third row). Soon after the kids started pouring in and they were so excited. Considering they are only park characters, these kids absolutely loved them as if they were massive TV stars. One girl even had something to give to Toos which was really sweet. The show made no sense to us but what they did in such a small performance area was quite cool.

We wanted to meet at least one of the characters so we waited outside for a bit. We then had a quick look in the shop. I got very tempted by a calender but nothing else really tempted me. We then headed back over to the theatre and we were able to meet Toos!

She was really cool, she also had a massive following of kids who didn't want an autograph or a photo, they just wanted a little hug, that was really sweet.

We hadn't really been in a 'let's ride everything loads' mood (I think it was mainly down to Troy's closure) and we were beginning to run out of things to do. We found ourselves back in the Magic Forest area and back on Woudracer. Still awesome and still very cold hehe.

I then made sure we went on Twist and turn. It's so quirky, I love it. I would love Chessington to get something like this.

It was good fun, very spinny.

We then called it a day and headed back to the Ferry.

Bye bye Toverland...

We were booked on the 10pm ferry but tried to arrive for the 8pm one. Due to masses of traffic on the motorway in Belgium we knew we wouldn't be able to get the 8pm one anymore so we stopped off at a services, which was very expensive so we just got some cake and a drink. I had a delicious slice of apple pie, it was very tasty.

So, back on to the motorway. After some time we had arrived at the ferry port. There was a ridiculous queue and it didn't really move. The boards were saying the queues were for the 10pm ferry. We were sat still for such a long time, people were starting to get out of their cars and walk up and down to see what the problem was. Then out of nowhere the boards changed to the 11:59 ferry. You could see the random look of panic hit all the drivers in the queues.

After what felt like forever the queues started to move. Check in said nothing, just put us on the midnight ferry, looked at our passports, gave us the ticket and told us to move on. So we did. Got to boarder control points and no one said anything, just looked at passports. AeRo had to ask what was going on, response we got? "An increase in traffic" Wtf? We needed answers but would we get any?

We went round to the area where you wait for the ferry. There was a really old building which we could go in for food, drink and toilets. After a while we opted to see what was inside. Lots of very angry people was what we discovered. We got talking to a family and a young couple. The family had two kids that had school the next day and were meant to be on the 10pm ferry. The young couple were also booked on the 10pm but like us had attempted to get on the 8pm. However, unlike us, they arrived at check in about 6:30, yet they didn't even get on the one they were booked on. How the hell does that work? What could make it worse? The only food and drink available was via vending machine and while we were talking the mother had tried to buy a coffee but the machine swallowed her money without giving her a drink. Harsh times.

We made our way back to the car. After ages of waiting we then noticed security checking ever car boot. It didn't take too long though and before they were finished they were letting people get on the ferry.

I have never seen so many people on a ferry before. Most of the bays for lorrys were occupied by cars full of people and it meant that people were sitting and sleeping anywhere they could. At one point we nearly trampled on someone's head as they were sleeping on a staircase.

The other bad story from this journey was when we went to get food from the restaurant. Now, we had gone there straight away yet all the tables were taken up by people, most with food but there were loads of people who just sat there and wouldn't move and the restaurant still had a massive queue of people purchasing food. When we got ours we couldn't find a seat anywhere and we looked everywhere. We spoke to a staff member who was awesome and got us into the special area for the truckers. Wow, this area is so much better than the rest of the ferry but it was empty (about 10 truckers and space for about 150). The staff member guarding the area was displeased with our presence though and gave us a bit of a horrible attitude, so we ate slower...spite As soon as we had finished we cleared our stuff away and told us to leave the area...which was empty! So we left an empty area to somewhere which was over-crowded and badly organised. Stupid ferry people.

End of rant.

We got back to England where it was snowing heavily, but it wasn't settling. We got to our hotel in Ashford pretty quickly and as soon as we got in we went straight to sleep (well it was like 1am). We then got up the next day for our separate journeys home.


Massive thanks AeRo for organising such a cool trip. Shame about the weather but I suppose, in a way, it is expected so early in the year. We all had a good laugh, rode some awesome rides and had moan times regarding the ferry. What a way to start 2010!

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Ohhhh ferry times

That sort of thing happened to me once, only we took forever to get allowed into Calais, so stuck out in the ocean for like, an extra two hours was not a fun game...

However, Toverland looks awesome, though the character? Ohhhhhh...

More peep trip reports for 2010 please

 

[Martyn B]

Awsome trip report. That really was a good read peep!

I'd be major peeved to go all that way and have them rides closed! You're lucky though, that you could see the positive side, I wouldn't have been able to! :lol:

 

[Martyn B]

Awsome trip report. That really was a good read peep!

I'd be major peeved to go all that way and have them rides closed! You're lucky though, that you could see the positive side, I wouldn't have been able to! :lol:

 

[Ollie]

Such a shame that so much was closed and the weather was so cold when you went.

 

[Ian]

Vekoma hat, camera round neck and I'm assuming a Ride Guide fleece as well... coaster geek alert! *sirens and flashing lights*

Shame on you, Mr Leslie, shame on you!

 

[nadroJ]

I'm sooo jealous peep, Toverland is one of my favourite ever parks! And you got to do Phantasialand =[[[ Looks like you had lots of fun though, trip report was amazing as usual, sucks you didn't get on Troy though. Oh well, Toverland isn't exactly hard to get to is it?

 

[Emmett]

Nice Phantasialand and Toverland reports Peep. Shame to see Troy shut but its does look beautiful in the snow. At least the indoor section has plenty to do anyway.