The Trip of a Lifetime (SFH)(7/23/02)
Associated parks:
None
“What do you call that thing?”………….
Today was yet another luggage day so we had to get up early and pack. Even with a trip into Amsterdam the night before, I felt well rested. After a quick bite to eat in the hotel breakfast area, I rolled my luggage out to the coaches. By 6:50am, we had pretty much everyone onboard with the exception of two people. According to the original itinerary, we were to leave at 7:30am but there was a last minute change. Tim Baldwin sent out the notification via e-mail to those attending the tour but it was obvious there were a few people that didn’t get the message, nor heard my announcement about the time change. Either or, they were only late by about 5 minutes or so and it didn’t effect our time at our next park.
Today we would be going to Six Flags Holland. This was the last of our Six Flags parks. I was impressed with what I saw and rode at Six Flags Belgium. I was looking forward to riding all the coasters at this Holland park, two in particular. The drive took us an hour and a half. As with a lot of the parks on the tour, the park sits in the middle of nowhere. Once again we were greeted with large windmills as we got near the park.
When we arrived at the park, a few people from the marketing department came out to welcome us. As we walked up to the front gate, images of Universal Studios popped into a few of our heads. The whole entry plaza looks very much like Universal Studios Florida with the large rotating steel globe that sits on a fountain, and a white stone archway that leads to the park. As it turns out, we arrived a bit earlier than expected so we had to wait a few minutes until the park was cleared for us to enter.
At 8:30am, we were allowed to enter the park and were once again told to walk to the coasters we had for ERT. Most people decided to follow the wishes of the park and walk, while a few others didn’t listen and were seen running to where they thought one of the coasters was. I could tell this didn’t thrill the park and I am sad they had to see it as it was a very poor example of listening to rules.
It took a few minutes to find it, but most us walked over to the side of the park to ride one of the coasters I was most looking forward to riding on the entire tour.
===Goliath===(#463)
While this coaster isn’t 200 feet tall, some may not consider it a hyper coaster. I am one of those people, although I don’t think it really matters. The point is that it looked fun. Very fun indeed! For ERT, the park was only running one train to run. This made the lines a bit longer than most expected, but I think everyone could have gotten in 5 rides or more if they tried.
The start of the ride contains a cable lift like Millennium Force, but was different. The actual cable sled didn’t come down into the station and grab the train. The train had to leave the station itself and crawl up the start of the lift, engaging the sled, and continuing up the lift via the cable. When the train grabbed the lift, there is a bit of a thud, which signifies the train has grabbed the cable sled. The lift doesn’t start speeding up until half way up, and then it only takes a few seconds before the train is cresting.
The first drop was very steep which seems typical of the newer Intamin Mega Coasters. The train flies down the drop and up into a very, VERY nice parabolic hill. The airtime while going over this hill was amazing. We dove down to the ground once again and curved a bit to the right. Up once again and into the “Stengle Dive” element. This rotates the train to its side and then dives down while it straightens out. I must admit, on my first ride, I didn’t think much of this element. Too much hype I guess? It was neat, but it didn’t feel to me what it looked like. I heard many people commenting on “that element” referring to the Stengle Dive.
The train then enters a helix before starting to head back to the station. On the return journey, we went through another helix and 3 bunny hops, which provided some nice floats. The end of the ride contains a nice left/right twist followed by a curve into the final magnetic brakes. I found the ride to be very fun but nowhere near as intense as I was led to believe. I wasn’t really disappointed with it, but I wasn’t exactly blown away by it either. One ride was enough for me before moving on to the next coaster for ERT.
===Robin Hood===(#464)
The second Vekoma wooden coaster of the trip. Once again, the trains were very comfortable and the ride itself was good fun. With a two train operation, there wasn’t a wait for this one. I got in a few rides near the back before trying the front. The ride wasn’t very wicked but it did have a few moments that surprised me. There were a few moments of airtime and some nice lateral sections, yet it didn’t beat us up because of the nice comfortable trains. This is the second Vekoma wooden coaster to have impressed me.
Our ERT seemed to go by too fast. We could tell judging by the cars already in the parking lot that today was to be a crowded day. I decided to head on over to Goliath and see if it was still running. When I arrived, it was closed so they could add a second train for the GP. I didn’t want to wait it out so I went and grabbed a quick ride on the Space Shot that sits near the center of the park. As with the drop ride at Thorpe Park, this one had a count down before the launch up. Out of all the Space Shots I have ridden, this one probably had the weakest launch, but I tend to look on the positive sides of things so I looked for something good. It did provide a nice view of the surrounding country side before falling gently back to the loading area.
The park was starting to buzz with people so I went back to Goliath to see if it was open again. On the way back I stopped to take a look at the Skycoaster. It was going through a testing phase at this time. I am not sure who built this one, but it was unlike any other Skycoaster I have seen. Just picture an arch like the ones found at Paramount’s Kings Island and Cedar Point. Split the arch vertically, move them apart, and you have the ride I was looking at. One half of the arch was used as the lift tower, while the other half was used to hang the riders. To make things even stranger, while in flight, the cable attached to the top would raise riders high above the ground as they were flying. I also was impressed with the fact that when you are towed to the top of the lift tower, riders are face down as usual, but when they pull the rip cord, you could do your free fall while sideways. It’s kind of hard to explain but I enjoyed watching it. I would have ridden it also but I wanted to ride all the coasters first.
I ran into Chris Trotter who was by himself. Together we walked around looking for things to ride. We walked over to a historic ride that a lot of people were warning us about.
===El Condor===(#465)
Folks, what we have here is what started the whole craze. We were looking at the very first Vekoma SLC. I actually wanted to ride this one for its historic points more than anything else. The ride didn’t look to be in the best shape and according to a few people we talked with while getting off the ride, it was really violent. We have had good luck with SLCs on this tour so far (IMO), why not give this one a ride?
My rule of riding only in the back seat for the smoothest ride was applied here as well. Chris was cracking me up with his facial expressions as the station floor would lower and make strange sounds. We didn’t have to wait long for this ride. I am sure most of you know the layout of a standard SLC so I won’t go into a play by play. Chris was making the ride fun by making fun of it while we were riding. He was saying things like, “Oh yes! This is fantastic! Can I ride again?” There were a couple of rough sections, but I didn’t find it to be totally offensive. Even Chris didn’t think it was as bad as some said it was. Time to move on.
===Superman: The Ride===(#466)
Another Vekoma creation and one almost identical to that of Rock-N-Roller Coaster at MGM Studios. However, this version is outdoors. Chris and I entered the strange entrance that was hidden inside a gift plaza area of sorts. The line took us inside some office building theming before going back outside. One thing that disgusted me with this line, as well as some of the lines at Six Flags Belgium, was the amounts of smoking that take place while in line. Being in an enclosed area with smoke like part of the Superman line was bad enough but there were cigarette butts everywhere you looked. Even Chris, who smokes like a chimney commented on how disgusting it was. Thankfully the indoor portion of the line didn’t last long and we were soon outside.
We boarded the train and prepared to ride. Once we were dispatched, we made a left turn into a tunnel and awaited the launch. It was strange being on this ride without a soundtrack like the MGM version has, but the anticipation without the soundtrack was good. The launch was pretty strong and too place in a long tunnel. We shot out of the tunnel into the twisted layout that includes 3 inversions. It’s a whole new feeling doing this layout with no theming. There were a few violent sections that caught us off guard but nothing terrible. I don’t think Chris was too impressed by the ride as he commented that one ride was enough for him. We knew there was another Vekoma coaster in the park. After looking at a map, we found it.
===La Via Volta===(#467)
This is a standard Vekoma Boomerang. There was no wait for this. Either the locals don’t care for this ride, or people can’t find it because it kind of sits away from other attractions in the park and didn’t have a long line. The ride wasn’t all that bad either, of course, one ride was enough at this time. Chris and I walked through the Bugs Bunny kids area before finding another coaster to ride.
===Road Runner Express===(#468)
This had a very similar layout to the various versions found at Six Flags parks across America. Added theming in the center of this Tivoli coaster made it kind of cool. We got in a few laps with one ride as in the other versions. Chris and I decided to wait for a couple of others that were on the next train out but they ended up getting stuck for a bit because the train overshot the loading station. We had one coaster left to ride.
===The Flying Dutchman Goldmine===(#469)
From the name, we thought this might be a mine ride or sorts. It took us a while to find this coaster because it was hidden well in the back of the park. We were surprised to find out it wasn’t a mine coaster after all, but rather a Mack Mouse. With a very short line, we were on this coaster in seconds. I don’t remember too much about the ride other than it ran good. I guess that is all that matters huh?
Sitting next to the coaster was a Frisbee clone. This version was a bit smaller than an actual Frisbee, and had a different program. Chris and I rode it with Mike Parker and a few others. It took a while to get going but there was a nice long section where we spun around very fast. As we got off the ride, we realized it was time for our meal so we went over to Ristorante Alfredo to eat. The park set us up with a nice dinner hall with some good food. However, we had to purchase drinks in a confusing manner. Once we got our food, we would walk over to the drink counter. The woman behind the counter told us that in order for us to get a drink, we would have to purchase tokens. The only problem was she didn’t sell the tokens. In order to get a token we had to walk to the complete other side of the hall, purchase a token, and then walk to the other side to get our drink. Why the tokens weren’t being sold at the drink end of the hall was a bit mysterious to me.
I ended up seeing my mother, Phyllis Withers, sitting at a table so I went over to talk with her. She was still upset about Tygr dying as I was. However, screaming my heart out on some of those rides this morning helped out a lot. She didn’t ride a thing. She did make a call back home though. She informed me that Tracy wanted me to know that my other cat, Smokey, wasn’t eating and losing weight. My guess was he was sad he lost his brother so he just didn’t eat. For a few minutes there, I had talked about ending the tour early and going back home because I didn’t want to lose another cat. I even went as far as telling Tim Baldwin there was good chance I would be leaving so he could find a replacement captain. After some thinking it over though, I decided to stay on the tour. I knew it would be hard to be in a positive mood for the rest of the tour, but I needed to try.
During our meal, several park people talked about how glad they were that we came here. Tim spoke a bit and gave them their official ECO Tour T-shirts before handing over the microphone again to someone from the park. The woman that spoke asked if she could find 18 riders to ride La Via Volta for a news photographer who was doing a story on us. While she was speaking, I looked around the room and noticed how many people were on this tour. There were around 220 people, but hardly any of them wanted to ride a Boomerang for a photographer. Tim asked me if I would ride and I told him I would.
After our meal, park personnel led us up the exit of the Boomerang. There were a couple people on the other side that started to boo but after glancing their way, we noticed it was none other than Kip Ross and Janna Rasmussen having a bit of fun. Once we were sitting in the train, the woman from the park that led us up to the ride asked us to “Act American.” We all looked at each other as we headed up the lift. How does one act American? We tried our best. Some people raised their arms, while some smiled with their thumbs sticking up. Needless to say it was a very strange experience. We only had to ride once. The photographer said she got exactly what she needed. I would have loved to seen that picture.
With only a couple of hours left in the park, I decided to go ride Superman a few more times. With each of the ride I got, I liked it more and more. I also wanted to give Goliath another try so I went over there. I ended up waiting about 25 minutes for a front seat ride with Flemming Cook. As we were walking up the stairs to go into the station, it seems we missed a line-jumping incident. There were a group of very large guys that basically pushed their way to the front of the front seat line. When confronted by people in line, they made a huge scene. A few ACE members were involved in this and tried to get someone from the park to notice but they didn’t have any luck.
Soon, Flemming and I sat in the front seat and prepared for our ride. While the only ride I got on this earlier in the day was fun, I was hoping this second ride would be even better, and better it was. Everything seemed to be enhanced. The second hill seemed even more powerful. The Stengle Dive was great and I finally “got” it. The return section back to the station was great as well with ejector airtime. . I was so blown away that I purchased my on-ride photo. The cool thing about a few of the parks in Europe is that once you buy your photo, you have to option of e-mailing it to 3 addresses thanks to a nifty little computer sitting next to the photo booth. I sent my photo to myself and two others.
I was so impressed with second ride that I went back in line for another ride. I ran into Larry Scott who wanted to ride in the front and asked me if I would join him. I accepted his wish and soon I was on another amazing ride. Larry loved it so much that he purchased his photo as well. I decided to ride one more time as we had to be on the coaches soon. I went for a very back seat ride for the last ride and once again was impressed. I looked down at my watch and realized we had less than a half-hour in the park before we had to leave. Joe Campanella decided to ride again even though we told him we had to leave soon. I made it out to the coaches with 15 minutes to spare. I thought there would be no way Joe was going to make our departure time but at about 2 minutes before we were to leave, he showed up. He even somehow managed time to grab a couple of souvenirs. Talk about lucky.
We left Six Flags Holland at 6:00pm for a 3 and a half hour drive to Hanover, Germany where our hotel was. Germany was the 6th country of the tour. We still were to go to some parks in France, but we drove through France on our way to Belgium so Germany technically was the final country of the tour. I honestly don’t remember too much about the hotel we stayed at other than it was difficult to enter our room (as with many other hotels we stayed at). Perhaps being tired had something to do with that? Naaaaa.
Tomorrow, we would be able to spend almost an entire day at a park again riding one of the largest wooden coasters in the world, which could be good or bad depending on your view.
Next up……
A new wave of wooden coaster design welcomes us to our first German park.
Thanks for reading,
-Sean
*** This post was edited by Sean F. on 9/23/2002. ***
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-Sean
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--Greg
"Now all I want is to find a way home, to warn Earth -- look upward, and share the wonders I see..."
My page
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Getting a B&M will always beat out having to take a BM.
Wow, I'm kind of disappointed for you that Goliath wasn't a bigger deal. It just looks too damn cool to not be killer start to finish.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure
So lets take a vote now! Who can top Seans TR's? For me, this is as good as it gets. You win the award buddy ole pal!
Thank you for staying on this trip, who would have written the TR's for the rest of the trip? No, seriously- It was very sad to see you and your mother walking around so depressed. IMO, this was the best place for you two, being surrounded by close friends who could keep your spirits up and keep your mind occupied. I know it was hard to go thru, but I dont think being home alone would have solved anything. Enough with sappiness- on to the photos!
Here you can see the entire entrance to SFH, with Sean being in the way!
The next few photos are of Goliath. For some of them, I had to walk all the way around ride, outside the park.Photo 1, photo 2, photo 3.
The last photo Im going to leave you with is something you might never see at a SF park in the US! ;^ )
Again, thanks for staying! Big hugs to Phyllis and you!
I just added this little info---I was looking at your photo gallery on pbase and came across a photo with an interesting title. Is there something you would like to tell me Sean? Do you have a problem with me? Ill be glad to stay home in Oct!
Just kiddin! Haa Haa! Man, I love you! (In a frat boy sort of voice!)
Matt
*** This post was edited by baclueless on 9/23/2002. ***
Matt: I agree Sean's TR's are the bomb! But I also look forward to your input. I laughed my ***off at the TITLE Sean gave you and Danni!!!!!I love your photos too. Can't wait to see all of them.
I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for helping Sean and I get through the difficult time on the trip. Being with friends was the best medicine of all. Plus, Sean got a new kitten from the Humane Society and we love it. Sean named it after Nigel (Ty Nigel Flaharty).
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Also Sean, did you visit Holiday Park to ride Expedition GeForce, I cant remember if that was one of the parks on your schedule or if you just visited Heide Park and Europa??????? BTW when is the europa park review, I cant wait to read that one ;)
Sorry to hear about your cats though Sean, It couldnt have been easy at a time like that to cope with that kind of news especially when you were over half way through the trip,having so much fun and then suddenly being told some bad news just like that. Personally I would have felt the way way as you, and would have probably wanted to come back straight away, but I'm glad you decided to stay otherwise I think I would have missed reading your trip reports :)
Sean, Greg, & Brian,
Thanks for the words. It was tough but I can't think of a better way to relieve some of that stress than to ride a few kick butt coasters. It really did help me out, that and being with a bunch of cool friends.
Jeff,
Goliath was a fantastic ride. My morning ride wasn't what I thought it would be but those afternoon rides were amazing. I really didn't want to leave the park after I started to be blown away by Goliath, but I had to go.
Matthew,
Thanks dude! Sorry about being in your pic. I didn't even know you took that when you did. As for the "ferry" photo, I was wondering if anyone would ask me about those. Out all off the people that did, look who it turned out to be. =:^)
Your pics of Goliath you included above are AWESOME! I love that POV shot of the Stengle Dive. Ahhh, the memories.
Phyllis (mom),
This is so strange seeing my mother post on here. I am glad you enjoy reading them also. Looks like you got censored though. Watch that mouth! LOL.
Paul,
Thanks. Yes, we went to Holiday Park and got to ride the mind-blowing Expedition Ge Force. That report is coming up soon as is the Europa report (yes, Matt, I know you want to read it also).
Reading these responses is really making the reports seem like they were really worth the trouble. Thanks to all those that are reading (including the lurkers that have e-mailed me). I have never written any reports this long before. It took me a couple of weeks to finish them up but as of last week, I finished them all.
-Sean
*** This post was edited by Sean F. on 9/23/2002. ***
Phyllis Withers said:
Sean got a new kitten from the Humane Society and we love it. Sean named it after Nigel (Ty Nigel Flaharty).
Congratulations on the new bundle of energy! I'm glad to see you went to the Humane Society -- both of my cats are rescue stories, as will any future "family members".
Sean -- your reports really are excellent. I thought my Week One reports were a lot of work, too, but the feedback made it all worthwhile. Your reports are even more fun...
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--Greg
"Now all I want is to find a way home, to warn Earth -- look upward, and share the wonders I see..."
My page
Sean, I've been enjoying your trip reports as well, and was going to wait until the last one to put in my comments. But as a major cat lover, I had to give my condolences, and congratulations on your new furry friend. After losing my Sassycat of 20 years, I also visted the local humane society and got two black kittens (Velvet and Velcro).
Your trip reports are excellent, and I was wondering if you might find a way to combine them all into one printable version. These reports would be a perfect "guide" for someone who might take a trip like this on their own.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
The woman that spoke asked if she could find 18 riders to ride La Via Volta for a news photographer who was doing a story on us. While she was speaking, I looked around the room and noticed how many people were on this tour. There were around 220 people, but hardly any of them wanted to ride a Boomerang for a photographer. Tim asked me if I would ride and I told him I would.After our meal, park personnel led us up the exit of the Boomerang. There were a couple people on the other side that started to boo but after glancing their way, we noticed it was none other than Kip Ross and Janna Rasmussen having a bit of
fun. Once we were sitting in the train, the woman from the park that led us up to the ride asked us to “Act American.” We all looked at each other as we headed up the lift. How does one act American? We tried our best. Some people raised their arms, while some smiled with their thumbs sticking up. Needless to say it was a very strange experience. We only had to ride once. The photographer said she got exactly what she needed. I would have loved to seen that picture.
That was Miles and me that were behaving badly. If I recall correctly, I think the GP started with the booing and we just joined them (but we didn't mean it:)). I also remember that they asked for volunteers who *looked* American too.
The second hill seemed even more powerful. The Stengle Dive was great and I finally “got” it. The return section back to the station was great as well with ejector airtime.
I really liked Goliath and wound up riding it myself when Miles burned out on me until it was time to leave.
I was so blown away that I purchased my on-ride photo. The cool thing about a few of the
parks in Europe is that once you buy your photo, you have to option of e-mailing it to 3 addresses thanks to a nifty little computer sitting next to the photo booth. I sent my photo to myself and two others.
I thought this was a really cool feature. Miles bought a photo of us and let me send it. I was also able to let people at home know all was ok with me (I hadn't contacted anyone up to that point).
As a cat lover, I was really sorry to hear about your cat dying on the tour. I don't know how you were able to carry on *and* be coach captain. I couldn't have.
Jann***
GregLeg said:
Congratulations on the new bundle of energy! I'm glad to see you went to the Humane Society -- both of my cats are rescue stories, as will any future "family members".
Bundle of energy is a good word to describe him, however, in this picture, he looks spent. =:^)
Sean -- your reports really are excellent. I thought my Week One reports were a lot of work, too, but the feedback made it all worthwhile. Your reports are even more fun...
Thanks Greg! That means a lot. I still can't believe there are people reading each report as it appears I went overboard. Wooops.
-Sean
CPLady said:
Sean, I've been enjoying your trip reports as well, and was going to wait until the last one to put in my comments.
Many thanks!
But as a major cat lover, I had to give my condolences, and congratulations on your new furry friend. After losing my Sassycat of 20 years, I also visted the local humane society and got two black kittens (Velvet and Velcro).
I honestly hate going to the Humane Society because it is so difficult to leave the place knowing there are so many other animals that need to be saved.
I went inside thinking I would fine many I would want to take home, but one stood out and that was Ty. He actually picked me. I was looking at a cat in the cage above his and Ty put his arm outisde the cage and grabbed my shirt. I asked if I could hold him and as soon as I picked him up, he started to purr and kind of rested his head on my shoulder.
How could I say no to that?
Your trip reports are excellent, and I was wondering if you might find a way to combine them all into one printable version. These reports would be a perfect "guide" for someone who might take a trip like this on their own.
I wrote them in Word and have them stored. I am putting together a CD of all the pictures I took as well as all the reports. Is that something like you mean?
-Sean
Janna said:
That was Miles and me that were behaving badly. If I recall correctly, I think the GP started with the booing and we just joined them (but we didn't mean it). I also remember that they asked for volunteers who *looked* American too.
So that wasn't you that started the booing? Woops. Sorry about that.
I really liked Goliath and wound up riding it myself when Miles burned out on me until it was time to leave.
I really did love that ride. It grew on me with each ride I took. Now I miss it.
I thought this was a really cool feature. Miles bought a photo of us and let me send it. I was also able to let people at home know all was ok with me (I hadn't contacted anyone up to that point).
Being greedy, I sent my photos to those that were on the tour and not to other family members. Yea, I know. That's lame. Here is the picture of Flemming and I riding.
As a cat lover, I was really sorry to hear about your cat dying on the tour. I don't know how you were able to carry on *and* be coach captain. I couldn't have.
Thank you Janna. It was tough. I had a lot of mixed emotions. One side of me wanted to have fun, but the other side made me realize that having fun was going to be difficult because I would be down. I didn't want to think about it but at the same time I didn't want to forget. Luckily, things turned out for the better.-Sean
Sean F. said:
I went inside thinking I would fine many I would want to take home, but one stood out and that was Ty. He actually picked me. I was looking at a cat in the cage above his and Ty put his arm outisde the cage and grabbed my shirt. I asked if I could hold him and as soon as I picked him up, he started to purr and kind of rested his head on my shoulder.How could I say no to that?
I know the feeling. My first cat picked me, as well -- I was walking down Craig Street near the Carnegie Museum, and this little black and white kitten came right up to me and started meowing. I went into a store, and when I came out he was sitting right there, looking at me. Hard to resist at that point, so even though I was allergic I just had to pick him up. I was miserable for the first week, then got used to it, and now I have two cats... (The second was an orphan under a month old when I got him from my vet -- he was so tiny we had to soften his kitten food with kitten formula. Yes, they make kitten formula... :) )
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--Greg
"Now all I want is to find a way home, to warn Earth -- look upward, and share the wonders I see..."
My page
Sean, yes, I would LOVE the CD including the pictures!
And it sounds like your experience at the humane society was very much like mine. Velvet definitely picked US.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
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