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Rhein Airtime (Germany Live) Trip reports!

WOW what a week! 28 new coasters with such fantastic company, it was a hell of an experience!

First of all, massive thanks to the drivers Marc and Mushy, you did brilliantly (despite my attempts to sabotage you with my dodgy satnav Marc :p), and equal thanks to the navigators - I know I'd have probably ended up lost without Peter's superb navigation :D.

And then thanks to everyone else for just being awesome :p.

It effectively started for me on Monday with myself and Leighton driving down south to collect Peter and Ollie, and then dropping into Thorpe on the way to Stansted and meeting up with the gang! Shame about the thousand coaches of schoolkids :lol:.

Up at 03:45 on Tuesday, got over to the parking, got to the airport 10 minutes early and everyone was already there! I was really impressed, AND the plane was on time XD.

Zoomed over the Dusseldorf, sorted out the hire cars (not the one's I'd booked *obviously* but a Jeep and 2 Golfs was fine), then the fairly easy drive over to Movie Park to meet up with Harvey (costar).

Movie Park was easily the lesser of the parks we visited, the coasters were either rough (MP Express was AWFUL) or fairly boring. Lovely trains on the Vekoma family coaster though, and thanks to thunder thighs Richard I had about 2 ft of space on the restraints on the wild mouse - at one point I left the car!

As Mark said the rapids were closed, which was a shame on a nice hot day, although none of us wanted to brave the Spongebob Splash Battle XD (apart from Will). The two properly enjoyable rides were the Frisbee - fantastic forces on it! - and the wonderfully random Bermuda-Triangle-Aliens-Ate-My-Grandmother water ride which had us all screaming :p.

The drive into Dusseldorf was fine until we got near the hotel, if it wasn't satnavs getting confused it was dodgy car parks or the hotel being fussy, and we were all a little strung out by then!

No time to hang around though, we had a fair to get to :).
 
I didn't really enjoy having to get up at half past three on Tuesday morning, and when we got to the airport 25 minutes early, I was expecting us to be the only ones there, but everybody besides the Slayed-mobile and Stone Cold were already there. Awesome!

The airport wasn't as stressful as I was expecting (or as it was on the return flight - more on that later!), and despite having to get felt up by the security guy, it was fine. Some people them got some food (Boots meal deal <3) and some supplies, and then we were on our way.

Dusseldorf Weeze was pretty cool, and the toilets there were awesome. We had a bit of trouble with one of the hire cars to begin with, the Mercedes GAY Class didn't have a parcel shelf, so we swapped that for another Golf, and then we were on our way to Movie Park.

The journey was pretty painless, but the park's car park was less so. We were in the overflow car park, which was effectively a huge field a few minutes walk away from the park's entrance. We were all excited for the park though, so it wasn't too bad. The weather was really nice, and the entrance area of the park was too, so I was looking forward to the day.

To start with, we headed over to the junior suspended coaster, but it had a 90 minute queue(!), so instead we went over to Bandit, the park's woodie. It was shocking. I was in the penultimate row on the right hand side, and it was so rough. There wasn't on smooth spot on the ride. Some people enjoyed it though, and there was some debate about whether the side you were sat on affected the smoothness, as the people who enjoyed it were all sat on the left. But they're stupid. :p

MP-Express, the SLC was next, and that was crap too. Definitely the worst one I've been on, and the less said about it the better. The logo was cool though.

I can't really remember the order of things from here on, but I'll just give my thoughts on a few of the rides. I really didn't like the extended Disko. It bounced over the hill, and was very uncomfortable in my gentleman's area *ahem*. I much prefer the smaller Disko, and I'm not much of a fan of even those. I thought the Frisbee was awesome, though. I really like them, and this one was no exception.

The wild mouse was fairly average, but it did have some decent pops of air over the hills. Moreso than the usual Maurer affairs. Next was the Vekoma Rollerskater. My 100th coaster, yay! It was rubbish, though!

The big surprise of the day was the Jimmy Neutron coaster, though, it was really smooth and the seats were awesome. It wasn't really long enough to properly be enjoyed though. Alien Encounter was awesome, as was the Shrek 4D show.

It's a shame that these were the only couple of good rides in the park. I think if the rides were good, the park would be worth going to, but as it is, it was a bit crappy, and I really wouldn't consider going back to it.

I didn't take any photos because I was planning to do a video, but I only took some footage on this day, so if anybody wants some extra footage, just give me a PM.

I think I've rambled on enough for now, I'll talk about the kickass fair a bit later. Woo!
 
Sorry, we didn't take many photos of Europa Park, the layout kept changing so we thought it would be pointless ^.-

Big thanks again to Mark for organizing the trip and to the drivers, Mark, Marc and Mushy! :D
 
I am insanely jealous! I should be like some other theme park enthusiasts group managers and have everybody else pay for my trip!

Glad you all got on, looked like and ace trip! Any gossip? Any annoyances? Anything we could could to make Euro group trips easier/better in the future? Did Will I Am take his radios?
 
Yes there was one annoyance but we can not really say on the topic but other than that everything went really well could not have gone better.
 
^ Probably Ryanair :wink:

I don't want to hijack the trip reports but any feedback is appreciated. I'd also like to pat Slayed on his bald head and say job well done!
 
He did a fantastic job I just hope he enjoyed the trip as much as the rest as he did have some stress.
 
Day 3 Holiday Park.

Well the park is nothing to write home about but it has EGF and what a great coaster this is. We all queued up for the front train and have to say the 1st drop is something else, I never shout on coasters but I did on this best 1st drop in the world. The coaster gives lots of air time just wish the trims were off.

The rest of the park has nothing really apart from the roughest Cork Screw I have ever been on.

I sat out that very high swing thing but done the drop tower sat next to Slayed, he bought the ORP and when you see my face you will see how I did not like it lol.

The rain then fell and boy it really pissed down and caused a shut down on EGF and we went for cover it was that bad. We thought our ERT had gone but at 13:35 the rain stopped and Slayed went to speak to the ride ops, at 13:45 the person who arranged the ERT with Slayed informed us it was on and we should follow her. I must say the timing could not have worked better, the ride opened just for us. She was fantastic she took pictures of us and the whole thing was so good. We had 3 goes and we could move around before the next one. Thanks to the park and Slayed for arranging this :)

Alot of items were bought by the group in the EGF shop some of which would come back to hunt us the next day.

We then left the park.

Tripsdrill

Well we went the long way there but we thought no problem as the park was open till 18:00, only when we got there we found the rides shut at 16:00 we got there at 15:50. Slayed had problems at the gate and informed us to run to new coaster which we did but could not find it as the park map and paths were not clear.

We finally got to the coaster at 16:05 totally worn out and Joey and I begged the ride op to let us on, he did to a big cheer. The whole of the group got on as he gave us 3 goes. The coaster was ok a good family coaster.

We missed the Log Flume though which was a shame as it looked good.

We did the other coasters which I can not remember the name of, one of them was ok provided some fun.

I then fell in a bush and got a thorn stuck in my bum which Slayed found very funny.

We did this spinny ride which seemed to go on for years and we had no idea where we were lol.

The park is nice well themed and well kept, saftey though is poor to the point some rode coasters with the bars up.

I would go back again to see it properly.
 
Day 1 - 2
Our trip began on Monday at Thorpe, After collecting Peter and Ollie we arrived at the park at around 2.30, only to be greeted by around 200 coaches and a very busy car park.
Inferno had a very large queue, but it seemed like a better idea than queuing 3 hours for stealth.

By the time we had a ride most of the school trips were beginning to leave the park, so the queues did die off, I can’t remember the exact order we did things, and I won’t give a whole park TR, since this is about Germany not Thorpe, it was something like Inferno, Colossus, Stealth, Inferno.

We left the park and made our way to the Travelodge to pack stuff, and sleep ready for the departure at some ridiculous o’clock.
We arrived at the airport to find that 90% of the group were already there, the obligatory faffing occurred, then we made our way through security.

Luckily the flight was on time (and actually turned up at all) despite a lot of people leaving it to the VERY last minute to board the plane. Grrrr!

Arrived in Dusseldorf, Mark Mark and Marc sorted out the hire cars while we faffed about. Soon it was time to leave for Movie park, after a reasonable length car journey we arrived at a field which was actually the 3rd overflow car park.

After a brief hike we got to the park entrance. I was quite liked the atmosphere of the park, and the generic movie studio theming was quite impressive. The ride theming was present but in quite small quantities.
Bandit was quite a good ride, despite being quite rough, and the trains trying to rip up the track :p

Jimmy Neutrons Vekoma death machine was actually quite boring and really needed a longer layout, the new trains are actually amazing and really comfortable. I would have been very disappointed if we had originally queued 90 minutes for it at the start of the day.
MP express was actual death and is quite possibly the roughest coaster I have ever ridden.

The other two or three (lost count) coasters were also quite dull and don‘t really warrant a mention.
The Huss Frisbee was moderately intense throughout the cycle followed by a large burst of insane speed for the last 30 seconds! Clearly the best thing Movie park has going for it.
They have got a Gyro drop which is apparently quite harsh on your gentlemen’s area, unfortunately it went all Intamin on us and died quite early in the day :p

After leaving Movie park we checked in at the hotel, and spent 20 minutes trying to negotiate a car park designed for a Mini in one of the largest vehicles on the road!
The concrete pillar got off a lot better than the rear door of the car :p

Dusseldorf station is MASSIVE!!! After some minor faffage we boarded the train to take us to the fair, first impressions :shock: OMG it was huge!!
I would be very surprised if fair was not larger than the size of Thorpe.

Alpinabahn was a very good Swartzkoph coaster, it had airtime in all the wrong places, and was incredibly forceful :D It was a bit rough but that was to be expected from a coaster that is repeatedly dismantled and moved.
I don’t think it is quite good enough to substitute for Eurostar though.

Hollenblitz was easily the best coaster of the trip! As someone described it is a Waltzer on a track, accompanied by amazing effects like waterfalls, splashdowns with air cannons, tunnels, fire, lazers, lighting, music and I was very impressed with the front façade and the way the 3D tunnel seemed to merge with the 2D design.
The Christmas trees covered in lights didn’t work too well though.
Still gets 10/10 for being absolutely amazing and insane!!! It just shows that if that sort of thing can be achieved on a portable coaster, it can be achieved on a ride in a fixed location.
Hollenblitz’ 90ft waterfall worked flawlessly all night, none of this silly Valhalla **** where it works for like 10 seconds of the day!

I missed out on a Maurer Sohne and Reverchon coaster after my 2ft bratwurst sausage thingy topped with curry sauce. I was not feeling particularly brilliant, but I decided to brave the XXL afterburner, I did come close to being sick at one point, but I was ok afterwards :p It was an amazing experience though!
After the fair we made our way back to the hotel to collapse on the beds xD
 
Ian said:
Anything we could could to make Euro group trips easier/better in the future?
Click to expand...
An obvious one: avoid booking 2 parks in 1 day. Although we got what we needed out of Holiday Park in the 4-5 hours we were there, it gave us precious little time to experience Tripsdrill, which was a shame as it's a unique little park. It's not really worth rushing them.

Ian said:
I'd also like to pat Slayed on his bald head
Click to expand...
I prefer a gentle stroking action :p.
 
Everyone check your cards mine has been cloned. I just got a call from the bank and someone in Germany has tried to spend £198 and another £300 in India. Not saying anyone will have a problem, just keep an eye on your bank balance.

The last time I used the card was in the airport before we left.
 
EDIT: Holy **** Marc, sorry to hear it, :eek: Never used my card abroad though, cant think of when that could have happened?

Anything we could could to make Euro group trips easier/better in the future?
Click to expand...

Defiantly no more two parks one day thing, made Tripsdrill a bit of a rush and more time there would have been cool. Nightmare to get to too! :D

Apart from that everything went smoothly, apart from some ultra downpours when we were at Phantasialand and Holiday Park - totally pissed it down at HP and they had to close EFG because of it!

On another note, we need to see more Giant Afterburners, it doesnt have the airtime of the smaller ones because of the speed it spins at, but XXL at the fair was totally insane - I was LMFAO the entire cycle, great ride!

We need to go to Oktoberfest.
 
Pointers????

Other then what has been mentioned, nothing I can think of. The changing cars thing worked nicely but it did seem like an extra effort for Slayed to rota, as with hotels.
 
I would also like to praise Ryanair for their timely delay, never in all my life have I heard such a cheer at the announcement of a plane being delayed, and by the by, Baden Airpark is a crock of **** with appallingly rude staff members.
 
I feel like I know everyone a lot better after this. Both Harvey's, who I previously didn't know very well at all, are awesome and I hope to see them more in the future.

There were a couple of inevitable disagreements, but everything was sorted almost instantly after and there was no awkwardness. It really couldn't have run much smoother.

I think Tripsdrill was awesome and It's a shame everything was closing as we went, but I don't regret leaving Holiday Park for it... And looking back on it all, the rushing around was actually good adrenalin pumping fun. I just wish we'd had more time in that deathly playground area at Tripsdrill to get a proper bruise. :lol:

I think 4 days of early mornings, walking around all day, not eating properly and getting into bed late in a row is enough. Any more and I'd seriously consider not bothering. My feet were killing me by the last day and I'd lost my voice by the third.

Getting to the hotels was EUGH, but I don't know how it could be avoided. Driving around in a city you don't know looking for the hotel car park whilst the sat nav shouts to you where the hotel entrance is (or, in Mark and Marc's case, where Japan possibly is) was frustrating.

The "free for all" nature of queueing in the ride stations pissed me off. It was frustrating to not be able to get us all on the same rides sometimes.






Day 2, Phantasia-awesome-land.

I knew I'd like Phantasialand, but I really had no idea it would be THAT good. Nothing there was crap, It was all awesome and the visual details just cannot be captured in any photo. It kind of reminded me of the Dark Crystal in it's somewhat over the top fantasy settings.

We faffed a bit at the start of the day and queued front row for Mamba, which I was a bit "bleh, I'll do what everyone else does" about, but It was so awesome I'm glad we did. I thought Mamba would suck. The pov looks so dull, but it's forceful and fast... fun and whips you around far more than I expected. The setting is actually the cherry on the cake, and I thought it would be the opposite. The zero g was the first one I've been on which does it's job. It was superb.

I don't actually remember what we did In order, but Colardo Adventure was just amazing too. The seats were uncomfortable and are in danger of actually ruining the ride, but it's intense and fast and fun and long and ...lol.

I did not ride the Rapids. I was going to, but a down poor just occurred as we were in the queue and not being a fan of water rides anyway I felt it would do my mood better good If I dried out a bit and had a chat with Will and Marc. I ran around getting a jumper and ponchos for people too, which they better have appreciated. :lol: I don't regret not going on the rapids, but that down poor put a bit of a bleh damper on the day.

Mystery Castle had a big queue which wasn't reflective of the product, but It was still good. I hate dark rides and their bloody long queues.

Winjas were AWESOME! Hahaha, I doubt re-rideable but I enjoyed them so much. They were weird, surprising and okay, so the actual rides weren't that good, but the trick track was just great and the tilting lift awesome. Fear was better, but we broke down on Force which probably didn't help.

Temple of the Night Hawk was awesome too! It needed to have something going on in there... But it went on forever and was great fun.

Oh, there was one **** ride, the log flume. That was awful.

Talocan looked more awesome than It was... That was expected. But the area was crammed and not really designed for looking at. Still, it was good. I don't like flat rides, but I thought it would good. So it must be...?

Out of all the parks, Phantasialand is where I'll be wanting to return too. I was well impressed with Mamba. Best coaster on the trip.

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For the rest of my crappy Phantasialand photos... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6 ... =644541270
 
Harvey that was funny just felt bad for Mushroom after all the help he gave us they would not let him priority board even though he is staff.

And thanks Joey for that picture of me dropping my food not appearing any where :)

This is Slayed trying to be a bird :)

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