Massive Europe TR (aka: US Airways is lamer)

willski2002 · #1 10-22-2005, 10:03 PM

So, I finally went on my big Europe vacation last week (10-12 through 10-19). This TR will compile pretty much everything that happened on that trip (which included Amsterdam, Paris, and Normandy), so not all of it will be about Walibi World (only most of it).

After leaving school right after taking the PSAT, we headed to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for our 2:50 flight on US Airways to Philadelphia. After arriving at the gate around 2, we were informed that the aircraft was delayed in Philadelphia, so we headed out to the observation deck on Concourse E to watch a few planes land and take-off. Finally, at 4:30, our CRJ-200 pulled into the gate, unloaded its passengers, and proceeded to sit there for the next hour before we were allowed to board. During this hour, my dad decided that it would be a good idea to yell at the gate attendant who was trying to kick us off the flight (it was overbooked by 4 and there were, of course, 4 of us).

Finally, we boarded the CRJ and headed out to 27L, where we were stuck at #2 for take-off until nearly 6 o'clock (ATC let at least 12 planes take-off by entering from the taxiway across the runway from us). At this point we were pretty bummed, because our Philadelphia-Amsterdam flight departed at 8:20 and we would probably miss it (in fact, our only other way to get to Amsterdam the following day was a Delta flight that just so happened to be one of the planes allowed in front of us). Our flight took less than 2 hours to reach Philadelphia, but we were then placed in a holding pattern for an additional 20 minutes.

We quickly deplaned after a super awesometastic flight attendant asked everyone to remain seated so we could get off the plane first. It was 8:13, and we had 7 minutes to get all the way from Terminal F to Terminal A-West (not to mention flights usually close their gates 10 minutes early). Could we make it?

The answer tomorrow............

Montu Man · #2 10-23-2005, 12:41 AM

The suspense is killing me. I bet you make it on the plane within those magical seven minutes due to your departing flight getting delayed.

willski2002 · #3 10-23-2005, 10:28 AM

Sorry for the lack of detail in this segment, I just wrote the entire thing and my computer froze, so I can't bear to do it all over again with such agonizing detail.

After exiting the plane, my dad asked the gate attendant to call A24 and tell them to hold the flight. She told us we'd have to hurry, as they probably wouldn't hold the flight. I ran down F Concourse to catch the shuttle, which I only just managed to get on. After exiting the shuttle on the ground floor of A-East, I trucked it down the moving walkways to A-West. Our gate was, of course, at the end of A-West, so I tried to flag down a golf cart to take me to the end, but the driver kept on going. I started sprinting, passing gates left and right (A13, 14, 15, 16, 17, etc.) and eventually passing the golf cart. I reached A24, and looked desperately out the window, following the jetway out into the night, expecting only empty space. The jet was still there! w00t w00t!

I ran down the jetway after showing my passport and boarding pass, and was surprised to see that the plane was 2/3's empty. I put my backpack and bag in my assigned seat and staked out a middle row (3 seats wide instead of 2) with 2 pillows and a blanket. After dinner, a gross one consisting of pasta or chicken (and Knott's Berry Farm for dessert, w00t!), I finished watching Fantastic Four and tried to sleep. Just as I fell asleep, I would jerk back awake every time as a result of some random noise, like the pop of a canned drink being opened. After only and hour's sleep in maybe 4-5 hours, I took a window seat and enjoyed the Atlantic sunrise. Since our approach to Amsterdam was turbulent, the flight attendants decided breakfast was a bad idea and instead gave each of us a stale, dried up danish with no drinks for breakfast. After landing, we headed to baggage claim and on the way we saw some 747-400s, a cow sculpture, and a concrete apple. Our bags were, of course, the first ones to come out, since they had been the very last ones to get on the plane.

We headed into the nice central terminal and bought a real breakfast (chocolate croissants, mmmm....) and also train tickets into Amsterdam. After a short ride on a cool double-decker train, we arrived at Centraal Station (yes, that's how it's spelled) around 11. After waiting for my dad to get some Euros, we headed to our hotel, the Owl Hotel, for a much needed shower.

Energized by a Coke and a shower, we set off for the Dutch Resistance Museum, followed by a general tour of Amsterdam on the public transportation system. After a late lunch of grilled cheese croissants (notice a pattern here with the croissants?), we headed over to Westerkirk and the Anne Frank house, which we discovered was closed since it was (durrr....on our part) Yom Kippur. We headed down the street a bit to the Pancake House, which had some fricking huge pancakes (think 15+ inch diameter). After eating two of those, I was stuffed, and ready to sit down. So after a bit of a walk, we boarded a canal cruise. The cruise was an out n' back cruise, so on the return run I slept.

We headed back to the hotel exhausted. It felt like 2-3 am instead of 9 pm. I quickly fell into a well-deserved sleep.

Pictures:

1.Knott's
2."The Flying Dutchman" 747-400
3.Uhhh......yeah
4.I almost got hit by this thing, it was going fast.
5."Car" pancake that had a random car that they reused (they asked to have it back after my brother ate the pancake).

willski2002 · #4 10-23-2005, 01:49 PM

The next day, we woke up around 10 (just in time for the free breakfast at our hotel). After breakfast, we headed over to the Anne Frank house, and managed to get in line just as it opened. After a 1 hour tour, we left to find that the line was well over an hour. We then headed over to the Rijksmuseum (I hope I seplled that correctly, but probably not) to look at some paintings (whee

). After seeing a few interesting paintings that I had studied in AP Euro (including Night Watch and Girl with a Pearl Earring), we headed over to an Indonesian restaurant called Sama Sebo that my parents had eaten at 16 years earlier.

After some very, very spicy beef and a few pieces of chicken that were gross, we headed to Hertz (all the way across town mind you) to get our rental car. We were supposed to get an Audi A4 or a BMW 3 Series, but as the only 3 Series was in the back of the garage behind 20 or so cars, we got a Volvo S40. After fixing a problem with the A/C (it smelled like something had died in the system) which turned out to be a bad filter, we checked out of our hotel and headed for Walibi World.

MapQuest said 1 hour, but it took nearly 2 hours because of the horrible traffic. It took us nearly an hour to get out of Amsterdam (and not even at rush hour, it was 2:30 pm), but after an uneventful and very flat drive across Flevoland, we arrived at Walibi World around 4, our only park of the trip.

Having missed the overflow lot(s), I thought that the park was near capacity, as we were directed to the back of the main lot, with a great view of Goliath roaring through its Stengel Dive, helix, and first twisted bunny hop. We continued to drive through the parking lot until we arrived near the front, where there were many empty spaces. We parked in one, bought our tickets, and headed into the park. Walking down the covered main midway, the obvious first choice was Xpress (formerly known as Superman: The Ride), because its queue line begins off the main path. Walking through the well-themed queue, I began to wonder how long the line would be with only 1 train (Walibi World has signs telling you how many trains a ride is running). After exiting the well-themed queue, we walked down a series of faded red and blue ramps to the boarding area, which was fairly open on all sides. Incredibly (or so it seemed), there were only 6 people in the station (4 for the front and 2 for the 2nd row). We immediately hopped on in the back car, pulled down our OTSR's, and off we went.

Xpress
The ride starts off with a 90* left turn into a tunnel, where the train stops, rolls back, and then launches. I found the launch to be rather weak, but still fun. After exiting the Sea-Serpent, the ride meanders around, goes through an MCBR that has no brakes, and then goes through a corkscrew, the roughest part of the ride. The ride then goes into the MCBR, and executes a 360* left hand turn, all the while moving up and down trying to produce airtime (it fails miserably) before hitting the final brakes. Although Xpress isn't rough, it's not the smoothest coaster in the world, and I found it rather boring in the back.

Xpress (1st impression): 7/10

La Via Volta
We then headed over to La Via Volta, a Vekoma Boomerang, also with a walk-on, but this time it was for the front seat (no one was in the station). After taking a seat in the odd Vekoma trains (they have a protrusion in the crotchal region that can be quite a pain on the first lift), we were hauled backwards out of the station, and dropped with a slight bit of airtime. Next came the Boomerang, which was mildly rough but fun, followed by the loop, which was a loop (yawn). We then went up the second lift and got better airtime on this drop before doing the whole thing backwards. Overall, I enjoyed my first Vekoma boomerang, but I would much rather have Deja Vu over a standard Boomerang.

La Via Volta (only ride): 7/10

Wok's Waanzin(a.k.a. I am a credit whore)
We then walked through Walibi Land and past a ton of witches who were taking a smoking break (in the kiddie area no less-only in Europe). With a 20 car train, Wok's Waanzin was of course a walk-on, so I got a car to myself towards the back. It was a suprisingly decent kiddie ride, with good first and last drop, two circuits around, and smooth as well.

Wok's Waanzin (only rides): 6/10

We then left Walibi Land for the Wild West and Tomahawk, an inwards-facing Frisbee (first inwards-facing Frisbee for me as well). It ran a mild program, not even swinging 90*, but had a long ride time, so it was pretty fun.

Tomahawk (only ride): 6.5/10

The Flying Dutchman Gold Mine
Next up was The Flying Dutchman Gold Mine, a Mack wild mouse identical to Ricochet at PC. This one was much better, with only 1 brake engaged on the entire ride, just before the big drop (and it was only on lightly at that), providing for some great air and lats. At one point, the line was so short that each member of my family had their own car. Also, this ride had only 1 operator, which I didn't know was possible. I'll post our on-ride picture on here later.

Flying Dutchman Gold Mine: 8/10

After Flying Dutchman, we decided to head over towards Robin Hood, which looks fairly close on the map, but due to the stupid path design, you have to go all the way back to the center of the park (Ferris Wheel) to get to Sherwood Forest. On the way there, we passed a pretty cool looking log flume with a double drop finale. I was going to take a spin, until I noticed the exiting riders were drenched, and it was 55* outside. Moving into Sherwood forest, we passed a Scrampler type ride that tilted as it spun and also a Top Spin running the lamest program ever. After 3-4 minutes of loading, it raised up, tilted 90* and faced the fountains, which didn't even come close, and then it flipped once through the fountains, but the back of the vehicle hit the water, so no one got worse. That was it. So needless to say, I didn't ride it. Next to the Top Spin was a Vekoma Inigma in a castle that ran once every hour it seemed, so I didn't get a ride on it. At last, we reached Robin Hood (running 1 train of course), the first non-walkon ride.

Pictures:
Self-explanatory except #2, which is Wok's Waanzin and look at the girl in front of me-she's yawning, lol.

VekomahangNbang · #5 10-23-2005, 02:40 PM

Sounds fun. Which was better, the naked Rockin' Roller Coaster or the regular one at MGM. I wish i could go on a non-trimed wild mouse in the U.S., but no, the parks here say they are too intense/rough.

willski2002 · #6 10-23-2005, 03:28 PM

Robin Hood
After waiting 10 minutes for Car 4, Row 2, I took my seat and promptly stapled myself with the heavy steel and hard rubber restraints (at least there were no seatbelts). After going around an alarmingly rough downward turn, we engaged the slowest lift ever. Down the first drop we plunged, with some great air, then over a turning hill with no air, only lats. The train roared up and over a slight crest with some nice air, then screeched around a tight left hand turn with great lats, followed by a drop with massive and painful air (remember, I was stapled), and then another turning hill with no air. Next the train went over another crest (this time with no air) and around the main turnaround with nice lats again. The drop off this turnaround had some great air, as did the next two bunny hops. The on-ride photo was taken after the next turn/drop combo, and was followed by another bunny hop and then a rising turn into the brakes. Overall, Robin Hood had some nice air, but was a bit rough at times with the 3-bench Vekoma trains.

Robin Hood (1st time): 8/10

After Robin Hood I decided that it was time to head over to El Condor, Space Shot, and the main attraction, Goliath. I made a stupid mistake by not taking the shortcut between Robin Hood and the Space Shot (I thought it was the entrance to the water ski show, but it wasn't).

Space Shot
So after much backtracking, we arrived at Space Shot, which had not fog machines, but smoke machines. They producing some big time smoke, which was really smelling up the loading platform and making everyone working the ride wheeze and cough. One of the ride ops opened up a trapdoor in the floor and went down to turn the machines off, but he soon came up looking quite oxygen deprived. The ride (despite the coolness of the smoke seeping up through the wooden plank loading floor) was really tame, and only offered a bit of air on the first shot. Later in the day, the ride would close for 30 minutes while the mechanics shot the tower over and over to keep the smoke dissipated while a worker went down and turned the machines off.

Space Shot (only ride): 6.5/10

Now, it was time for a venture into Mexico, which loooked to be the largest of the well-themed areas (although I only went in a little ways). After getting my brother off the Falling Star (it was his 5th consecutive ride and he was the only rider all 5 times), we headed over to El Condor, the first ever Vekoma SLC.

El Condor
El Condor was themed pretty well, with overgrown Mayan ruins and heavy vegetation around the ride. It's too bad the ride itself is a POS. After boarding in the front row (with no line whatsoever, the ride-ops looked really bored) and my poor parents opting for the back (not too smart, considering the situation), we were off. After a pretty smooth first drop, the problems began. The top of the roll-over element begins too quickly, jerking your head around painfully. After the painful rollover, the ride enters the "pain zone". The sideways hill, Immelmann, helix, and most of all, the double 0-g rolls, were all incredibly painful. The ride's ending, a goofy miniature S-turn was also painful. The turn into the station also banged our heads. El Condor is now my least favorite ride ever, I still get a headache just thinking about it.

El Condor (only ride): 1/10

And now, it was time for the ride I had been anticipating for 3 months, Goliath. As I passed Space Shot and the Go-Karts, I could hear the theme song (all great steel coasters have a theme song, so you know this one is gonna be good) and every trashcan was labeled with the same Goliath logo. I came around a bend in the path, and straight ahead was the massive, golden-orange sign reading GOLIATH. Sweetness.

Goliath(a.k.a. Pwnage)
I ran through the shortened queue and was happy to find that there was no line apart from the one in the station, despite the one train operation. I found the closest empty row, the back of the 5th car (out of 8 cars), and boarded the coaster. I fastened my seatbelt, pulled down on that awesome Intamin T-bar, and sat back, ready to go. I noticed that the catch-car for the cable lift didn't come in the station like on MF, but instead sat waiting near the base of the lift. The drive tires engaged, and away we went. The cable lift pulled us up silently and swiftly, quickening its pace once the entire train had cleared the station. Soon, the track began to curl over into the 70* first drop. I was surprised at how fast my car was moving at the lift peak, and before I knew it I was being flung down the first drop with massive floater and ejector air. "Awesome!", I said, just as the heavy g's of the pullout took hold on my body. The train soared up into the sky, and then "it" happened. By "it", I mean the ejector airtime of the second hill, which has got to be the best hill ever on a coaster. Four solid seconds of massive ejector airtime, before being gently set down and then roaring around a low curve at over 60 mph.

The train was sent skyward again, this time into the Stengel Dive. Just before the train tilted, the floater air began. This floater was to be found throughout the whole element, and there was a really cool feeling of being gently tipped over and back by the train, all while floating. After a rather rampy drop, the train progressed into the low 270* helix, which provided some nice speed, forces, and a good picture form the parking lot. The train then curved up and to the right, again providing some sweet floater before changing directions (down and to the left). The "most whippy" part of the hill was taken while weightless, which makes for another cool feeling similar to the Stengel Dive. The train roars into the next helix, which provides some cool headchoppers and decent forces before heading into another twisty hill (with the exact same feelings as the first twisty hill). The train then goes around a slight curve and WHAM!, your body is flung out of its seat with massive ejector air once, twice (picture time!), and a third and final time before heading into an S-Curve followed by an intense 180* turn (watch out for your hands on the right side) into the brakes.

After my first ride, I sauntered down the exit ramp to check out my picture, while 8 or so kids ran through the queue again. Instead of getting right back in line, I took a seat on one fo the benches and watched El Condor and Goliath take a circuit or two. For the first time in 4 years, I had gotten an adrenaline rush from a coaster (the last time I had an adrenaline rush was on Kumba, the last coaster I was ever scared on), and I was shocked by how incredible Goliath was. Usually, when I go on a coaster trip, I hype a coaster up beyond what it really is, but then I adjust to it after a bunch of rides. This time, a coaster had actually lived up to the hyp I had given it. I was impressed, and I was ready to ride again. So I did, again, and again, and again. Only after 13 rides for the day was my thirst for thrills quenched.

Goliath (13 rides total): 10/10----->New #1 Steel Coaster

After 5 rides, including an incredible one in the second row (and no waiting at all), I left Goliath and headed back to Robin Hood, where I took a less than stellar ride in the front row. I ate dinner at Friar Tuck's, which was quite nasty, especially the burger. By this time it was dark, so the Halloween characters were out in force (Walibi World does a great job with their Halloween actors and overall Halloween celebration, the actors are really good, including one evil clown that chased me across half of the park.

Robin Hood (2nd time): 7/10

The evil clown was hiding in a pile of hay bales and would jump out and scare people. So, being the bright person that I am, I figured I would "scare the scarer" and snuck up behind him. I lightly smacked him in the back of the head with my palm, and it scared the bejesus out of him. I started running towards Goliath, and he was haulin' ass right behind me. Once I got in line for Goliath he walked away, but for the rest of the time I always felt like he was stalking me, but it was great.

Once I was back at Goliath and had calmed down from my clown chase, I realized that the line was out of the station becasue so many poeple wanted to wait for the front. I walked through the crowd and found the rest of the station had no more than a 1 train wait, so I took 6 more rides before meeting back up with my parents. After a sweet back seat ride, I was ready for my last ride of the day on Goliath in the front. As we climbed into the darkness, the green ride lights were turned off, making my last ride truly in the dark.

Goliath (last ride): 10/10----->Definately my #1 Steel Coaster

I headed over to Robin Hood for one final ride with the lights out in the very back. I managed to not staple myself, making this one a great ride with nice air and seemingly out of control lats.

Robin Hood (last ride): 8.5/10

On our way our of the park, we also rode Xpress, which still had virtually no wait. We hopped on in the front row, and the ride was much better, as the launch was pitch black and the entire ride seemed much more intense.

Xpress (last ride): 8/10

Overall, I really enjoyed Walibi World. I wish I had more than 5 hours at the park, but that's just how the trip worked out. It was a nice park with a good collection of water rides, flat rides, and coasters. It also has some really nice theming, but some of the rides and buildings could use some new paint.

Walibi World: 8.5/10

willski2002 · #7 10-23-2005, 03:34 PM

Vekoma, I'd have to say they're not really equal. RnR is a lot better. The launch feels more intense, plus the theming and music help as well.

Xpress is kinda blah and it needs a paint job and a re-theme badly.

Joseph · #8 10-23-2005, 03:39 PM

Thanks for the great tales from Holland. Sadly, we don't get to read these too often so its a wonderful treat

Goliath and even the Vekoma woodie sound great, I'm probably going to visit the park in 2008 so I still have a long time to wait

Nice photos, nice SLC bashing... all around a great report.

willski2002 · #9 10-23-2005, 03:41 PM

^Thanks for the compliments. Walibi is a great park, and the Vekoma woodie is really good for a Vekoma. Oh, and when you go there, unless you want the credit, I'd advise you to skip El Condor

.

Hopefully by 2008 they'll have something new.

EDIT: New pics in the 2 Walibi World posts. Argh, the picture quality is distorted, but it's not my fault. It's the 800x600 limitation.

Ta2KX · #10 10-24-2005, 12:57 AM

Your first boomerang . . was not located within the continent in which you live. Ok, good show, hope you had fun over in Europe, it's great to see that Six Flags didn't damage Walibi, and Goliath does look sweet. Thank your parents for that trip, mommy and daddy weren't ever that kind to me. But I can't fault you, because what I learned is take advantage of absolutely everything while you're young, because the world rips every joy and hope away at about 18. Past years I'd take in first time rides on about 30 or 40 coasters, and even as many as 110 before a season was up, this past year, though, fewer than 10. When you get a car, go to every park you can and as often as possible.

koasterkid14 · #11 12-05-2005, 05:23 PM

that seemed to be an awesome trip and i like the descriptiveness. goliath just looks...wow. after millenium force (which i was slightly disappointed with) goliath just looks amazing. millenium, even thought that drop is absolutely undescribable, i was upset with the lack of hills and airtime. most of the airtime is in the drop, but its still my number one intamin coaster. i cant wait to got to europe and ride all those wicked euro coasters.

VekomahangNbang · #12 12-05-2005, 05:28 PM

^Well no wonder it dissapointed you because MF is built mainly for speed and not airtime.