Liva Italia II - June 2015 - Trip Reports

[Ian]

After five super-hot days galavanting in Italy, the majority of attendees are back home resting up with the thoughts of pizza, pasta and most important of all, coasters, in their minds.

Of course there were the things that only those who would there would get, such as Trip Advisor man, Judgemental Green, B&Q paint, Fraser buying a watch, Robert De Nero calling, fire evacuation standards, Plus 1 Presentations, vibrating floors, taking the Pisa, insect bites, car singalongs, Ian's Katun Photo Service, favourite theme park noises, Italian Freddy Mercury, **** magic tricks and so on. There were also a loads of coasters and rides thrown in!

Over the next few weeks, we'll post our thoughts on the fun, faff and thrills, and all will become clear.

For a sneak peak, check out the CF Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Caio!

 

[Jordanovichy]

Looking forward to reading the reports when they're up. Judging but twitter and Facebook posts, you all had a blast!

 

[Mike]

I'll write a longer trip report with a few photos later, but I'd just like to thank everyone for such an amazing, fun and generally relaxed week.

Special thanks goes to Nic and Ian for all the organisation, and Peter for volunteering to drive.

This photo is still making me laugh, so until I write something longer I'll leave you with this...

 

[Rachel]

Can I just start by saying a massive thank you to everyone for making the past week so amazing! I was slightly apprehensive about what to expect from my first Euro Live but I can honestly say I had the most incredible time and haven't laughed so hard and so much in a long time.

Also a big thank you to Nic for the organisation, this trip wouldn't have been possible without her and everything was just spot on. Also to Ian who I know was involved in arranging some of the perks and for the fast passes on Raptor (I will buy you a drink at some point).

Lastly to the drivers (Peter and Nic), Italian drivers were the worst and I can't imagine how stressful it must have been at times so a big, big thank you!

This weekend has been a bit of a come down to reality and i'll get started on a more detailed trip report during the week, but for now i'll just list out some of my personal highlights:

Shock @ Rainbow Magicland
How do you pronounce Cinecitta?
Darkmare @ Cinecitta World
Tripadvisor / Facebook man
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Goon ABC
Favourite theme park sounds
Katun <3
Mirabilandia Rapids
The grunting man on the Raptor brake run
Magma 2.1
Airtime waterslide

 

[Ian]

Although Rainbow Magicland wasn't part of the Live, all bar Fraser visited so I might as well write a report about it. I didn't take any photos so I'll keep it brief by going through the rides. I can't remember all of the ride names, so bear with me

I visited RML when it opened in 2011 so I was keen to see how it has weathered.

Upon entering the park, it looked as good as it did four years ago. This was a good sign.

First of all we rode Shock. The coaster itself looked find, albeit slightly faded thanks to exposure to the hot sun. The ride was nearly walk on, we had to wait for two trains.

I rode in the front seat and loved it as much as I did in 2011. There's a lovely floaty bit of airtime as it goes over the top of the after the moderately-ok launch. My favourite part has to be the dive loop/immelmann type thing down to the left and then swopping up and left on the overbank. It really picks up speed at this point and gave me that lovely compressed spine feeling. I love those G's. It poodled through the inline twist and make me feel quite venerable thanks to the lack of OTSRs, but that element of fear is what it's all about. We rode it a few times throughout the day (it was walk-on every time) and I enjoyed every ride except one when I rode back seat. In the back it felt rough and painful. It's still a great ride though! Everybody seemed to enjoy it.

The Rapids followed. They were fairly moist but nothing exceptional. It still has the anticlimactic tunnel at the end. Would it hurt to add a little bit of theme?

Mike and I sat out of the Shoot The Chute whilst the others did it. It's still one of the most impressive looking Shoot The Chutes I've seen but I did find that half of the observation area was roped off and graffiti was evident.

The 4D Shooter Huntik was not as good as I remembered. I loved it when I rode it four years ago. Back them I had never experienced a proper 4D shooter with sexy video screens. Since then, I have been on several superior examples, plus the anticipation of the unknown had gone. The right side of the 3D wasn't working (like in 2011) so it wasn't the best visual I had ever seen. It also felt like some of the special effects were not working. And what's the point of the pitch black queue line? I was disappointed after riding Huntilk.

The Vekoma Mine Train was vile. IT DOES NOTHING! Well, it does manoeuvre around the track like a three wheel shopping trolly on gravel BUT THAT'S IT! No good forces, no cheeky thrills. The most amusing thing about it was Chris eating his ice lolly throughout the ride. The ride op was not bothered he was eating on the ride. The ride has not aged well.

Then we did the Indoor Spinning Coaster. I was hoping that since my last visit, they would have tarted up the ride experience with a few lights, lasers and a soundtrack. Nope. The ride building looked impressive from a far but up close it was starting to look tatty. I think that kind of sums up RML. Everything looks gorgeous from afar but quite tired up close. As for the ride experience, it was ok. No part of it made me go "weeee". And what's with the lift hill at the end? Could they have designed sit without the lift hill? I thought that the second lift hill would lead to an exciting section of track (I forgot the ride layout from the first time), but no, it lead to the station. Would it really hurt to tart it up with some effects?

We stopped for lunch at the self-service cafeteria, which was quite nice. Reasonably priced and quite tasty.

After lunch we did the Drop Tower. Utter **** operations meant we had to sit in our seats and wait for the ride op to close down each restraint before it sent us skywards. I was sat next to a "brave" Italian kid who had his entire group of mates cheering him from the exit. You're going on a safe ride, mate, not about to take on the gladiators and lions in the Colosseum. Get over yourself! I did chuckle at Mike, who sat out, as he mocked them by cheering and clapping us. It crept up and offered some lovely views of the park and surrounding area. One of the most gorgeous views I've ever seen. And then it dropped...about 10 feet! This drop tower free falls for about one third of the tower before the brakes kick in. Really disappointing.

We walked to the back of the park where we saw the fountain show, the new Splash Battle and what was once a pool of water was now a remote controlled boat thing without the boats.

I sat out of the extended Caterpillar Cred and the Family Coaster (both looked faded) and went on a quest for some ice cream. The rude staff in the ice cream shop seemed to ignore me and continued to serve anybody else who pushed in front of me. I lost my rag at this point and shouted something very rude in English before stropping out of the shop.

We did the Fairy Dark Ride which was unremarkable. I spent most of the ride being concerned about fire evacuation rather than what was going on around me.

We did the Observation Tower which didn't rotate like it once did. It offered some great views of the park. Again this reiterates that the park looks great from a distance. I almost wished I was long sighted and could walk around without glasses. When the tower returned to ground level, I jumped off before the safety ramp could be put in place. This lead to to some Italian shouting by the ride op, but as I didn't understand, I'm going to assume he was congratulating me on my brave and efficient way of leaving the ride.

Our final ride was the Mad House. I let out a well timed burp during the pre-show much to amusement of those around me. The actual mad house illusion didn't seem right. I didn't feel like the room had spun upside down. Inevitably I'm going to care it to the best mad house example - Hex at Alton - and it didn't hold a candle to it.

After we had rode everything worth riding and re-rode Shock a few more times, we decided to leave. It was nearing 4pm when the cheap tickets went on sale so we made a move before it got too busy. We stopped in the tat shop on the way out to find that the tat has gone downhill, with most of it being non-park stuff or awful stuff that I couldn't even give away!

It might seem that I'm being a bit of a negative Nigel here but everything seemed so mediocre (with the exception of Shock) that I found it rather amusing. Chuck in the added bonus of being part of great group and I did genuinely enjoyed the day.

I think it ambitious for a park to open such a wide range of rides in one go and I salute RML for doing so, but I'd rather have three solidly good rides than 10 disappointing-to-mediocre attractions. It might look a bit plastic fantastic (and it is - I need up tapping all of the walls and theme to see if it was fibreglass or not!) and starting to look tied, but RML has Shock and looks great from a distance. That alone is a good enough reason to visit.

When we returned to our hotel, we found out there was a bonus coaster cred in a place called Oasi Park, which was a 10min drive away. Oasi Park is a tiny town centre park but it's really adorable. There are lots of childish attractions and one coaster - it's a big apple coaster with a house feature instead of an apple. A plus one that cost less than €1!

We ended our first day at an isolated restaurant with delicious homemade food and pints of wine. Conversation was typically goony - with each of us describing and mimicking our favourite theme park sounds. Now that's the sort of twatty **** I love!
[tweet]http://twitter.com/ianmbell/status/612699753613234178[/tweet]

As I went to bed that night with a laughter-aching belly full of wine and pasta, I couldn't help but think that Cinecitta World would also suffer from being a new park. Expectations were low, which meant they could only go one way...

 

[ThomVD]

I started reading, but then I got too jealous and stopped :wink: Haha, I'm going to marathon the reports when I have time. Glad to see you guys have had a great time.

 

[CookieCoasters]

I agree with your opinion on RML Ian. Shock is the only thing I'd go back for really. The park is fairly nice, but it's a shame they haven't bothered theming the inside of most rides.

I liked Cinecitta World more. It doesn't have many rides, but the ones it does have are great. I'm very interested to hear what everyone thought of it and particularly what the crowds were like (it was absolutely dead when I went last October).

 

[mouse]

The rude staff in the ice cream shop seemed to ignore me and continued to serve anybody else who pushed in front of me. I lost my rag at this point and shouted something very rude in English before stropping out of the shop.

Please tell me you shouted "Don't you know who I am?!" and minced out, leaving the other CFers to explain what Coasterforce is .
Looking forward to seeing the rest of the reports!

 

[Ian]

The rude staff in the ice cream shop seemed to ignore me and continued to serve anybody else who pushed in front of me. I lost my rag at this point and shouted something very rude in English before stropping out of the shop.

Please tell me you shouted "Don't you know who I am?!" and minced out, leaving the other CFers to explain what Coasterforce is .

Yes, I did so whilst brandishing a copy of the recent Guardian interview I did and playing a selection of my recent radio interviews.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

I start by saying that Italy was an incredible trip!

Here is what happened, I hope you enjoy it.
I'll start with a few pre live things
My trip started at stupid o'clock in Stansted Airport.

I met with Rachel and Mike and we had a very meh breakfast

Then our gate got moved to the other end of the airport, after we were standing at the previously advertised gate.

Finally we made it to Rome and got on a bus:

After we got off the bus it started to tip it down, so we hid in a shopping centre until it stopped and went to our hotel. Then we set off on the metro for the Vatican, just for the country cred. There were tourist traps everywhere trying to sell tours of the Vatican, saying things like "it closes in twenty minutes, but on my tour we can stay for longer" and "you won't get in dressed like that, unless you come on my tour". After we encouraged these people to conduct their affairs elsewhere we made it into a very symmetrical new country!

I hope you enjoy my summer shirt.

On the way out of the Vatican, I stopped this

Ice cream was acquired

Next was the Trevi Fountain of spite:

At least they put a box with water so you could still throw a coin in, I didn't.

Next we went to the Pantheon, where an American tourist said "I think I've seen a bigger one somewhere else"...

Next was the Vittoriano Monument, we didn't know what it was at the time.

Lastly it was time for the Colosseum.

Then it began to tip it down, so we joined the scrum in the metro station, caused by absolute burdens and met up with Nic and John. We couldn't get into Hard Rock Cafe so ate across the road.

Sunday

Rainbow Magic Land!

All except Fraser attended this pre live park visit.
No squealing in the park!

First we rode

It was shockingly good! We had serval re rides. There launch is great and there is some great airtime. Shock became one of the rides of the trip.

Next up was the Rapids:

They were good fun
Then we rode the shoot the shoot:

We then did the 5D shooter ride:

Some of the effects were broken, it wasn't a very good ride.

Then we did the Vekoma mine train, it was very meh and uncomfortable.

The last ride before lunch was a dreadful spinner. It has a very dull and uninspiring layout:

Flat chicken was for lunch. Flat chicken became a popular lunch choice throughout the trip

Tasty.

The SBF Visa Group drop tower was next. It was 10% drop and 90% brakes, very meh.

Some +1s happened.

We then did this fairy dark ride. It was based on a tv show that was shown a few years back. If you are a young girl or know one, you made have heard of it.

It was turdio.

Next we did the Flying Island, we got some nice photos:

Then we got shouted at for disembarking too early.

We rode the turdio mad house

And I had a photo with a cat on a rainbow bench.

Then we rode Shock again and headed for the turdio tat shop. I'll will just leave these bear photos here. I can you find them bearable. Sorry for all the bad bear jokes, please bear with me though as they might get better*

*probably.

We then left the park and found a +1 in Rome:

Then it was time for food:

We spoke about goon noises over dinner.

I'll leave you with this:

 

[TilenB]

Oh, Vatican, basically one of the few worthwhile things I've seen in Rome back in March. Along with the other tourist crap, but sans creds </3. Meh, at least I have these things ticked off and can concentrate more on the parks the next time round.

Seems like you all had a blast in Rainbow Magicland, although the park really doesn't seem to be up to much... It kind of looks like the new Chinese parks that gavin has been doing **** of reporting on... Excited to hear what you've thought of Mirabilandia and Gardaland, the only parks on this trip I have some serious experience with!

 

[Peter]

Me and Rach are now finally back home, arriving at 4am this morning having spent a couple of relaxing days around Lake Garda and Venice after the end of the live!

First of all thanks to Nic & Ian for all the organisation and discounts. It all went very smoothly and was great fun along the way, so cheers. :thumbright: Adding to the highlights that have already been mentioned has to be Fraser on the rapids at Mirabilandia - hopefully John has been able to catch all of that on video!

We have nearly 5000 photos between the two of us so expect to see a fair few pop up over the coming days/weeks once they get sorted!

 

[EnigmaHyena]

Wow, what a week! Let me just start off by giving a big, BIG thank you to Nic for organising everything, being a fab driver (you know you're doing well when you get a slew of flailing arm and hand gestures from angry Italians) and keeping the trip running smoothly and another big thanks to Ian for helping out and getting us perks AND FastTrack using his Ian From CoasterForce charm. It goes without saying that Peter and Rach also deserve thanks for driving and of course THANKS TO EVERYONE ELSE for putting up with my stupid humour and making the Live - my first EuroLive at that - absolutely amazing <3

Now let's get started. My report won't be too in-depth otherwise I'll just ramble like a Nobel Prize acceptance speech and there'd be in-jokes aplenty...so I'll list my thoughts on various things while trying to stick to the right chronology. Oh, some pictures thrown in there too!

Day 1: Cinecitta World

My trip started a day after everyone else as I couldn't get time off work and I'd made the brilliant choice of listening to Sue's words of "Shock's fab but the park's not that great" and I'd heard the rest of RML isn't that great so to me the hassle didn't seem worth it at the time of booking - regretti spaghetti on my behalf now.

I was on the 06.50 EasyJet flight from Gatwick. I only got 30mins sleep at the airport Travelodge thanks to a mix of finishing work late and watching an awful film called Birdemic on Movies24 - it was so terrible I couldn't stop watching despite knowing I had a 3am alarm. The weather was miserable and I couldn't wait to leave for brighter skies and creds.

When I arrived there was a major holdup because EasyJet kept changing the bag collection point for our flight and some Italian guy had mistaken my own rucksack as his own because “It look so similar, it’s’a nice-a bag, no?”. Faff over, it was time to meet up with Mr Bell and be escorted to the Goonmobile and before long we were en-route to the youngest park of the trip, Cinecitta! (Pronounced ‘Chinny-chi-tah’ according to management).

The outside may look pretty simple but as you venture further...

...you're greeted with this awesome entrance.

THOUGHTS ON THE PARK
Immediately as you walk in you can tell that this is a park that pays attention to detail when it comes to theming – although it doesn’t stretch to every corner what is there is immersive enough. It was empty when we visited but there was still a nice atmosphere and the lack of crowds meant a lack of queues. The park staff we met with were brilliant, declaring themselves as fellow enthusiasts which definitely showed in their attitude and passion towards their park.

Ride-wise there’s not a huge amount currently but the quality of them, especially the coasters, is amazing. I can’t wait to see the park expand.

RIDES/ATTRACTIONS
Altair

The park's signature coaster, an Intamin 10 Inversion coaster like Colossus at Thorpe Park - but with lap bars! I was really looking forward to this as I enjoy Colossus and I won't lie I was super anxious going up the lifthill as you feel VERY exposed (as were many other CFers) but it turned out to be just as expected: brilliant layout enhanced by non-restrictive restraints and smooth track. The only letdown is it became really rough towards the end of the day, not entirely sure why. Still great overall.

Darkmare
No photos of this one as it's an indoors coaster but holy moly is this fantastic! I won't spoil too much as I want everyone to be as surprised as I was but I will say that the transitions are really smooth, weavy and snappy and it certainly DROPS a certain Alton coaster into the dirt Favourite at the park.

Aktium

"Is it a cred though?!" was the resounding question but it coasts, it drops and it's on RCDB so therefor it counts! A rather pleasant ride that has just the right amount of moistness and the airtime on the hill is nice. The theming is fantastic, especially inside the station! Loved this one and certainly welcome on such a hot day.

Enigma

It's an interactive indoors show that heavily relies on visual effects from the giant screen and the choreographed dancers. Sadly and rather amusingly for our show though the weird scary mask skin-tight suit alien dudes (complete with moose-knuckle) were a bit off-sync and some illusions didn't quite work as well as they should have, leading to the running joke of "#StillBetterThanEnigma". I did think the idea was cool though and I still thought it was pretty impressive. It had bubbles pouring from the ceiling, a top hat 'director' guy transforming into a werewolf and an opera lady growing to the entire height of the room so it was all good in my books.

Erawan

The token drop tower...but themed to an elephant! I don't usually do drop towers so I sat this one out but the rest of the group seemed to praise it. It's not Hurakan Condor tall but it still looms over the skyline well enough. Perhaps I'll ride it next time now that I've started braving more tower rides...

There was a submarine simulator I originally intended to ride but was put off by the ride's warning sign about claustrophobia which I suffer from badly so I thought it best not to risk it. The people that DID do it took FOREVER to emerge out the exit and they reported it was kind of turd. Oh well.

I think the only other ride we did (we obviously re-rode the aforementioned ones) was called CineTram (or as I called it "Chimi-Tramga) which was a simulator of sorts with a 360 degree (kind of) screen and moving ride platform. The story was a bit wtf, from what we could gather it's a tram flying through space that crashes into a ship (or was it the space rock?) then splashes into a water planet before ending abruptly. I...don't really know what to say about this one haha.

AND ON THAT BOMBSHELL...

Overall the park is great with a nice, unique set of rides and 'experiences'. The selection of food outlets is okay too, with me and a few others opting to eat at a traditional Italian restaurant/café while some ate at a very busy burger joint in the Western themed area. The service was flawless and the food was great, coupled with our waitress struggling to pronounce Dan/AttackHammer's meal saying it as "Borgir? Borger?". We couldn't help laughing but she at least mocked herself and saw the funny side of it. What a champ.

Thanks to the staff who guided us and gave us a special behind the scenes access for Altair and if you're reading this (which we KNOW now that you probably will ;D) thank you for making our day even better and treating us like friends instead of customers like so many other corporate parks do.

Amanda Thompson eat your heart out.

We left after making an obligatory visit to the tat shop and made a beeline for Fantasiland on the hunt for +1s, where we were greeted by a haven of glorious copyright infringement and typical knock-off poorly disguised Disney characters! One cred was shut (boo) with the exciting opening date being penned for August but we managed to nab the 'Dog With a Toothache' coaster...after pestering the ticket booth lady to wake up the sleepy ride-op. It was a bland uninspiring coaster with a crying dog on the front, that's about it. One and done.

We got to the hotel which was super swish, albeit stuck about 1000 years in the past. We dropped our stuff of and set out for dinner at a local pizzeria which was complete chaos as soon as we walked in. Us theorising that each loud rumble we heard was the staff running at eachother and morphing into a new member of staff (No two members were seen together at the same time), Ian and Nic shouting at a kid for kicking his ball into the restaurant and pushy man who pestered Dan for a good TripAdvisor report ("Treep-Visor! Treep-Visor!!!") all made for a manic night out. I've not laughed so much in ages. Certainly a sign of how the rest of the Live would pan out.

With our bellies filled and hurting from laughing we slithered back to our rooms to rest up for the next park, Cavalino Matto, which I'll report soon...

(Thanks for reading if you did, this is my first 'big' report!)

 

[Ian]

The first day of the Live proper began over breakfast where I presented to Nic a short presentation of where we could find some bonus creds. This involved me standing up in the middle of the breakfast room and giving Dragon's Den style presentation, where I wanted "four extra creds for just 45 mins of her time." Peep looked amused as if he would expect nothing less from me and Nic being twats, whereas Chris looked a bit bewildered.

After collecting Fraser from the airport ("The Llama has landed. Repeat, the Llama has landed") we headed to the a new park for all of us - Cinecitta World!

I love the entrance. It's like somebody with arthritic hands is welcoming me with open arms.

We were met by two members of the management team who kindly showed us around and gave us a little bit of info about the park. Both of them were theme park enthusiasts! The Web Specialist was noticed by the park during after he posted his photos online and they offered him a job! Having had the misfortune over the years to meet park staff who are nearly vacant, corporate mongs in grey suits, I absolutely LOVE it when a park is run by enthusiasts. I know I'm in good hands.

I asked one important question - how do you pronounce the park's name. Everybody had a different pronunciation. It is pronounced 'chin-a-cheat-tA World'. You have to do the flourishing Italian hand gesture when pronouncing the A at the end, too.

The entrance is is Gangs of New York style. Tbh, I wasn't overly impressed. It looked great (and none of this plastic stuff that you'd find at RML), but it's a bit old hat.

Soon enough it opened up into large area with attractions in every directions. There was a little water play area where people could chillax and a Pantheon styled restaurant. It's a bit cheesy but as the saying goes, "when in Rome..."

The chaps walked us to Altair CCW0204. The CCW0204 is the date when the company was formed. Ahh, I love the geeky stuff as much as I love riding! For those who don't know, Altair is nearly a clone of Colossus at Thorpe, but has a curved first drop and a no OTSRs. Lovely!

As the park was dead quiet, we walked straight on and before we knew it, we were pulling down our lap bars <3

I sat front row on the first ride (I'm calling IfC privilege!) and I have to say it blew me away! What a difference just having lap bars make. I felt so venerable (but of course I was perfectly safe). The train glided through the 10 inversions making me feel like I was about to fall out. I could wave my arms around as if I were trying to grab somebody's attention in a crowded shopping centre. It felt fantastic, so liberating. Of course this did put a little pressure on my knees during the heartline rolls, it felt like I was bouncing two elephants on my thighs, but it was worth it for the payday.

We rode it again later in the day and I sat near the middle. The was still good, but now I was starting to notice the ol' Intamin square wheels. My third and final ride which I had the very end of the day left me feeling quite let down by the ride. I sat near the back and it felt like somebody was slapping me with paddles throughout - and not in a pleasurable way. The lap bars certainly make it superior to Colossus at Thorpe, but after that novelty has worn off, it's perhaps a little too much on the thighs for comfortable multiple re-rides.

After the first ride, we went to the restricted area behind the coaster to take some goony photos <3

This is a nice shot...

...everybody agreed!

We were escorted to the other coaster - Darkmare. Tbh, I did very little research before visiting so I had no idea what to expect. Somebody told me "it's like Th13teen at Alton Towers", so I went on thinking, this will be ok but nothing to write home about. But hang on a moment! Pass me a postcard, pencil and a stamp, I need to write home about this beauty!

The queue line suggests that something terrible has happened. As we walked through I didn't have a chance to understand the entire story. Then again, who cares? It rides and looks great.

Huge video screens with faux rocks flank each side of the lift hill before the train plummets through a visual delight of projections and theming. The ride is mega smooth and has some incredibly delights moments. My favourite was the helix around a circular project wall followed by a slick section of trick-track (or whatever it's called, when the track snaps left to right and back again). It was such a wonderful sensation. The drop part, like Th13teen, was slightly underwhelming but well executed. It was well packaged up into an amazing dark ride meets coaster. I rode it again later in the day and I had just a good a ride as my first. My only regret is opting for Altair at the end of the day instead of the Darkmare. Darker is a perfect for re-rides. A cracking coaster.

Before the two lovely lads left us to our own devices, they took us on the shoot-the-chute water ride, which seems to be an Italian staple at the their theme parks. I sat out because I wanted a fag and wasn't in the mood for getting wet. It looked gorgeous.

The tat in the shop next to the ride was the best I'd seen in a while. I need up buying a mug with the ride schematic AutoCAD design on it. Really goony but I loved it. The two members of staff gave us a ride photo to keep, we capped them and did our own thing.

We split for lunch, some people opted for the American food restaurant in the Wild West area which looked fab.

Mike was on one of his water quests at this moment. As the park was quieter than a mouse creating across a rug wearing new slippers, hardly any shops were open so it was difficult to find water.

Dan was locked up, presumably for pissing me off by mentioning Trip Adviser for the millionth time that hour. You're on a CF trip, think about the trip report before giving something a mark out of five!

After lunch we decided to go to the theatre to watch the Enigma show. Here's Fraser standing under the Enigma sign with a shadow

I didn't really get what was going on, and if I'm honest, I took the opportunity to have a power nap. I did wake up at one point in the middle of the show with a lively "WTF, where am I?" feeling, so I grabbed a couple of photos. I couldn't tell you if it was any good or not. It seemed like a lot of flashing lights and prancing about to me, but everybody clapped at the end so it must have been good.

My favourite animals are elephants. My favourite flat ride is a drop tower. So I felt as pleased as, and as attractive as, Punch when this ride was next.

I did the tilting, floorless, stand-up side. It was like any other tall drop tower I've been on - full of fun, anticipation and a good chunk of stomach churning. Nothing aside from the big elephant themed station really set it apart from the others I've ridden. I wish I could think of something exciting to say but it really was run of the mill.

We did the 4D simulator. Erm, it was ok. It looked good but left me slightly underwhelmed. I find them quite nauseating.

Nic, Fraser and I sat out of the Submarine simulator, which was actually a submarine walkthrough. By all accounts, it was dull. I'm sure somebody who experienced it will fill you in.

After we did our re-rides on either of the two coasters, we realised that we had exhausted the park in about 5 hours, including stopping for a long, lazy lunch. We visited the main tat shop, bought lots of tat and left.

If I were to sum up Cinecitta World in one word it would be 'sparse'. Perhaps it was because we visited on a quiet day so we managed to do everything super quick, even with the typical CF faff. Everything is very clinical and nicely presented, in fact, perhaps it's a little too crisp. I felt like it was a missing an edge and a bit of personality. The two coasters are excellent and if I were in Rome again, I'd probably opt to visit CCW over RML. As I said in my RML report, I'd rather visit a park with a a couple of good, solid rides than one with loads of average stuff. I'm looking forward to keeping an eye on this park and I hope it has a successfully next few years, gathers a bit of grit and continues to make sound ride choices.

One the way to the hotel, we stopped off at Disneyland Italy, which was masquerading as a dumpy little park called Fantasiland.

Both of the two coasters were not open (the third is in storage), so using our impressive multi-lingual skills, we asked the Italian-speaking lady behind the counter if she could summon somebody who spoke English. The English-speaking Italian told us that the big coaster would not open until August but he would open up the smaller one, Bassotto. A dog with a toothache themed coaster.

With a plus one scratched into our coaster counts, we merrily left. Rachel needed the loo, so off she went. She soon returned asking if anybody had any tissues because their were none in the loos. That's hardly surprising seeing as the park is one big toilet anyway. I'd wager that the toilet was probably - and appropriately - a hole in the ground.

That evening we stayed in a quite fancy hotel with cushioned walls. There was a little square nearby which was rather pretty.

We sat and had a meal together. Throughout the meal, we heard a rumbling sound. After each rumble, a different waiter would return to our table. After the third rumble, we all burst out laughing when the young female waitress approached our table. This lead them to be known as the Might Morphing Pizza Rangers. You had to be there. At the end of the meal, the owner was instant that we all post on Facebook and Trip Advisor how amazing his restaurant was. We didn't understand what he was saying at first, which lead to him saying "Trip Advisor" many times. After which, it became a thing. It was worth it though as we had free dessert and cheap bubbly!

Phew! I think I'll wait for a few others to post before I get on with the next part.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

The first official day of the live:

We met up with two cool guys from the park, who were very goony! They were really nice and answered all of our questions.

We started the day on:

I rode it back, front and middle. Altair is such an improvement from Colossus. It is slightly rough, but in a good way. The inversions with lap bars were fantastic and the station is fab. The only bad thing to say about it is that the airtime hill does noting.

After our first ride we were led into the backstage area to take goony photos:

We then went on Darkmare, an Intamin free fall coaster. It had a goon board in the station:

The natural thing to compare the ride to is Th13teen, in truth Darkmare is so much better there is little comparison to be made.
The theming is incredible, the ride is well paced and the drop was better. It showed the potential that Th13teen had but never lived up to.

Next we rode the water coaster:

It was good fun.

Outside the water coaster, this happened!

After that we spilt for lunch and I had a chicken burger, pronounced borger by the nice waitress. Chicken borger sort of became a thing on the trip.

We then watched the highly recommended show, Enigma.
It was fairly turdio and the screens were out of time with the dancing.

We then rode the fab drop tower. The drop is 50m tall and the elephant is 17m tall #KnowledgeBomb

It was a very good drop tower, much better than the one at PA.

After some re rides, we went to the tat shop and then onto some +1s.

For a moment I though I was back in Florida:

We approached the ticket lady and she called over Leonardo, who received the ride key from her, opened the ride and sent us round straight away. The coaster was an absolute monster and my 200th cred. Here it is:

I got an Ian From Coasterforce handshake and held up my sign, which took hours to construct:

We then went to the hotel and out in search of food.
We ate at a place owned by some might morphing pizza rangers, as nothing gets past us we worked out what they were up to. Each time a rumble was heard, they ran into each other and morphed into a lady. As she came outside we all laughed, which seemed to scare her.
One of the mighty morphing pizza rangers insisted on us liking the Facebook page and writing a trip advisor review. As CF's resident TA review writing the task fell to me. The bloke was very exciting to see my review, he shouldn't be that excited as I think his place will get a 3 or maybe a 4, depending on how generous I feel.

We got some free wine:

That was the end of the first live day, I'll leave you with these:

 

[Rachel]

I'd wager that the toilet was probably - and appropriately - a hole in the ground.

Haha, surprisingly it wasn't, but it was still disgusting!

Anyway onto my report. I took way less photos of the park than I realised so sorry for all the writing.

So the first day for most of us was Rainbow Magicland. I'd heard it be called Rainbow Tragicland and so went in with low expectations, it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.

First port of call for the day was Shock. The launch took me by surprise and the airtime over the first hill was amazing. The ride is brilliant until after the corner of speed when it starts to become a bit dull.

Next we did the parks 2 water rides, the Rapids and the Shoot the Chute. Both were good fun and we got moderately wet.

The 4D shooter came next. I'll be honest, most of the shooters we did on this trip have kind of blurred into one and i'm finding it difficult to distinguish one from the other. This one if I remember rightly had a computer error message on one of the screens so a bit pants.

We rode the Mine Train next - dull. Then the indoor spinning coaster - even duller.

Lunch was had in the Self Service restaurant - it was actually really nice, I had some sort of kebab meat (beef I think) with Salad. Lunch was followed by the drop tower (probably not the best idea in theory), the ride op shouted at us not to pull down the restraints ourselves and then proceeded to staple us right in! The ride itself was crap - the brakes hit ridiculously high up.

Most of us did the kiddie/family creds which were unremarkable but a +2. This was followed by the dark fairy ride, luckily it didn't catch fire otherwise none of us would be here today :lol:

We did the observation tower next which offered some really nice views of the park and surrounding areas. It didn't rotate which was a bit annoying, but I still managed to take some nice photos.

We did a couple more re-rides on Shock. My opinion remained the same as earlier - great first half, average second.

We ended the day with the mad house. I tried not to compare it to Hex but I just couldn't help it, the illusion was nowhere near as good.

After a look around the rubbish tat shop, we headed to a small funfair type park to get a kiddie +1, followed by a meal in a fab little family run restuarant. Highlight of the night has to be the owners face when Mike started eating spaghetti with his hands :lol: .

I'd had a brilliant first day and was looking forward to what the rest of the trip would bring.

 

[peep]

Thanks Nic for organising such an amazing week and everyone else for all of the lolz. It was such a great Live. At some point I'll write up an over-detailed report that will take too much effort to read but you'll love it.

 

[Jordanovichy]

^We wouldn't expect anything else from a PeepReport.

Loving these reports so far guys, Cinecitta World looks alright from the photos but the Colossus clone-but-not looks fab <3

Looking forward to seeing more!

 

[Chris Brown]

Big thank you to everyone involved in the trip and of course Nic for organising!!!

Italy 2015 was my second ever coasterforce event so I was a little apprehensive as i'd only met a handful of you horrible lot prior to being thrown in at the deep end. Needless to say everyone was extremely welcoming and I feel like I couldn't have gone away with a nicer bunch!

I didn't take that may photos so you may notice a few familiar ones off facebook! Sorry!

Anyway the first day was Rainbow Magicland. I was feeling pretty tired for this one as mine and Ian's travel times hadn't allowed us to sleep the night before, however my adrenaline was starting to kick in as we pulled up to the front gates.



First impressions were good, a nicely themed entrance and main plaza with a beautiful view straight over the central lake. The weather was beautiful and the park looked great so it was shaping up to be a great first day. Shock can be seen from near enough anywhere in the park so I was keen to get on the one of my most anticipated coaster of the trip!



Shock.
Great ride and my first taste of proper airtime. The non inverting loop is floaty and the overbank after is incredibly forceful!
9/10





Indoor spinny coaster.
Very average, no theming inside and too much lighting coming in so it wasn't even properly dark.
4/10




Vekoma Mine train
Having never ridden a vekoma mine train before I jumped in to my seat with an open mind. It was awful. The only saving grace being that I was allowed to ride whilst eating my ice cream which was great.
2/10





Vekoma Rollerskater (I think)
I enjoyed this ride! Picked up more speed than I expected and was a pleasant experience in the back.
6/10




Kiddie ride.
Now when I first joined CF I promised myself i'd never be a credit whore or make a fool of myself riding kiddie rides...
2/10





So yeah about that... (im at the back in the glasses)

Other rides worth talking about;

Rapids,
Nicely themed but could have done with being longer.



Big splash,
Nicely themed once again and a good ride. Nice airtime in the back!




Shooter Ride 4D,
Im not a shooter fan but the screens were all good except one that had an error message on it.

Drop Tower,
I hate the anticipation that comes with drop towers and this one looked pretty big so I was a little sweaty palmed up the top. However this thing is rubbish. You freefall for around half of the tower and the rest is brakes. Poor.



And finally my unexplainable photo of the day, I'm the one clutching the unicorns horn.




After the park we headed to the first hotel of the trip, it was sleek and pretty posh with large rooms. We dumped our stuff and headed to a small park in the suburbs of rome for a cheeky plus one. The park was really small and had a really nice family feel to it. It was busy with locals and there were various shows and rides to entertain kids.






After the plus one we headed to an out of town restaurant where the owner was very proud of his own home made pasta. The food was great and the table talk was brilliant. A great first day. I knew I had an amazing few days ahead of me.

Day 2

After a good sleep (thanks to my earplugs which Ian had prepared me with) we packed and headed off to a brand new park.

Cineccita World.

We were welcomed at the park by two representatives. Both were pretty goony and one chap made the old fan website for the park and got offered a job at the park because of this! They gave us an interesting tour and let us get on with the rides. The park itself was beautifully themed but was almost ghost town like it was so dead. Made me feel kinda sorry for the park but im sure it gets busier at the weekend.







Altair xcx 19241842198
I was very excited for this ride and it didn't let down at all! the lapbars made the ride a million times better than colossus at Thorpe. However I do genuinely believe that the lapbars don't suit these multi inversion intamins as it just makes them too intense. I genuinely felt for my life going through the heartlines! I would much rather see these restraints on the blitz coasters (take note mirabilandia)
7/10






Darkmare.
The biggest surprise of the trip for me. The layout inside was great with some nice air and a twisty layout. It was themed amazingly and the horizontal drop was great. No pics though

Other rides worth talking about,

Atikum,
I believe this is the longest Mack Supersplash? Was a great ride and the little bunny hop was great. Very wet!



We got a free ORP! Im the cheesey grin at the bottom left.



Erawan.
A well themed drop tower with various seating options. Good fun!



Aquila IV
A Submarine walkthrough in which and Italian OP had to deliver her best English translation. We also got fancy hairnets.



Cinecitram.
A Tunnel simulator that didn't really do anything for me.

There were some nice fountains which became a blessing in the heat.




After Cinecitta rumours circulated about a possible plus 2 after word of Ian's pitch got out. We headed to the park and looked on at the immaculate ornate entrance. The characters seemed a little familiar but who am I to question the stringent Italian Trademark laws...



Once again i'd like to make it clear that I am in no way going to become a cred whore...







We were a little disappointed to find out the other cred was shut but after a great day we weren't going to let it spoil the mood. We then headed off to the walled city of Grosseto for a bit of culture. It was beautiful. The hotel was posh and the meal we had was nice. It all felt very Italian!





Day 3

Cavallino Matto

The setting for this park was very nice. A dense forest with a strong family ethic. The park itself wasn't great and it seemed as though they didn't even acknowledge CF.





Project 1.
An L&T systems coaster that wasn't horrendous. I liked the colour.
4/10



Gold Mine
Awful. I cannot stand these wild mouse style rides.
1/10



Speedy Gonzales
Good kiddie ride.
3/10





Cheese: The Ride.
2/10



Freestyle.
This was one of the rides I was most looking forward to, my first stand up coaster. Ive only heard good things about these togo's and to have it spite me after seeing it operational with people riding online was a low blow. The toys were out of my pram as I walked off in a strop.



Other rides worth talking about,

Colorado Boats,
A small log flume with disgusting water. Was fun because there wasn't a run off you just hit the water. Im in the back looking amused.



Shocking Tower.
An SBF drop tower that provided some beautiful views when above the canopy.



Yukatan
An Outside sitting Frisbee that was great fun. Was a good laugh watching the old OP dropping game on the hot young OP on the ride opposite even if it did leave us sat stationary for a while.

Alien VS Avatar Show
Who wouldn't want to watch this show?



After the park we headed to a small park with the possibility of a plus 1. My cred senses were tingling as we approached the park as I spotted a zyklon on the horizon. No one believed me but I knew my eyes had not deceived me. I knew what I saw. A quick check on a certain database of rollercoasters confirmed that what I had seen was an undocumented coaster. My palms were sweaty. My heart was racing. As we approached there was a flurry of activity as attack hammer 'sprinted' to snap up this devious beauty. Little did we know the park was shut and would be until 9pm.



A truly heart breaking tale of lust, deceit and spite.

Onwards we went with the promise of culture and hilarious photo opportunities.



And we saw some wonky tower.

Pisa was beautiful. I never realised how nice the surrounding area actually is. Its a shame that the building which failed to even stand straight steals the attention from the surrounding buildings. The architects must be turning in their graves.

Day 4 Mirabilandia!

This park was the park I was looking forward to most. I'd heard amazing things about Ispeed and Katun the parks star attractions and they certainly didn't disappoint.

I didn't get a map so no picture!



Ispeed.
A custom (now cloned) intamin Blitz coaster. Having ridden stealth I was really looking forward to ispeed. It was a fast paced ride with intense forces. A little more airtime would have been nice but still a great ride.
8/10





Katun
The big boy B&M of the trip. I must admit im not the biggest fan of inverts. They can make me feel pretty sick and I was a little worried that this would be the case. However I was blown away by Katun. The first drop, the airtime, the huge loop, the whole ride packed a punch from beginning to end.
9/10










Master Thai
Some odd racing coaster that had a good air time hill but rode like a bike with no tires.
5/10



Pakal
Another L&T systems wild mouse coaster. Truly shocking.
1/10



Rexplorer
A nicely themed Mack powered coaster. Not sure if it was a flying fish clone.
5/10

Allotment: The Ride.
A kiddie ride in an allotment.
2/10




Other rides worth mentioning,

Autosplash,
A good log flume that was nice and long.



Rio Bravo,
An excellent rapids that drenched Fraser.



Columbia and discovery,
My first S&S spaceshot. I loved it. Not as much as Mike mind you...



After a great day at Mirabilandia we popped into Bologna for a nose around. We saw various things and had a nice dinner.







I became a pro photographer and had a queue of people wanting me to work my magic.



Day 5

Gardaland!!!!!!!



Being a Merlin park I didn't expect much from gardaland. A few mediocre rides and some tacky themeing however I was blown away by the quality!



Sequoia Adventure
An S&S screaming squirrel. Why oh why?
3/10





Magic Mountain.
A Vekoma Looper. I tried to be as optimistic as I could with his ride but I really is crap. The queue is crap. The layout is crap and the restraints are crap. I felt like I was getting shot through the inversions in the back seat. My ORP will show my pain.





7 lift hills: The ride.
A kiddie coaster with 7 lift hills. Was fun.

Raptor
Thanks to Ian my first experience was one I shall not forget. Front row fastpass. An awesome terrain hugging beauty with nice airtime and floaty transitions. It may not be as big or as fast as Swarm but I preferred it.
9/10







Blue Tornado
This thing was my first Vekoma SLC. I genuinely didn't think it was that bad. Yes it beat me up. But the layout was so intense and fast. Im sure i'll grow to hate these things soon enough. But while my count is low i'll enjoy them!
6/10







Oblivion: The Glory Hole.
Having been on other Dive Machines such as Shiekra and Oblivion I was very excited for this. The ride looked beautiful and the theming was brilliant, especially the queue. The ride impressed, I just wish they could build them a little longer. Or even a little higher.
8/10






Mammut
After riding the mine train at Magicland I grabbed front seat and braced myself. How do they manage to make these things so rough? They don't really do much and don't really go fast but they still manage to ride atrociously?
4/10



Other rides worth mentioning,

Fuga Da Atlantide
A great splash ride that some people tried to pass of as a credit...
7/10



Colorado Boat
I didn't even realise there was a log flume...

Jungle Rapids
Didn't get a chance to ride these.

Anyway we ate at gardaland and headed back to the hotel ready for a last day.

Day 6

Movieland Park / Caneva Waterpark

Movieland was a great little park with some very strange rides.



Brontojet
A cool little Schwarzkopf city jet that really is a great little ride. I loved it and couldn't resist multiple re rides.
6/10





Brontoring was a tiny go gator type thing.

Diabolik
This invertigo looked like it was going to spite us. I'd heard rumours about it being shut for our visit and it was. However just as we got into the waterpark we had to make a quick dash back as it started testing and opened. I actually enjoyed this and thought it was extremely intense.
7/10



Magma 2.1 was an awesome tank style drive ride. It shocked me how well done it was and how dangerous the Italians can get away with being.

Submarine ride. We got wet.

Speedboat Ride. We got wet and spun around.

Terminator ride. My favourite shooter of the whole trip. I actually wanted to win on this thing unlike any of shooter ride.

The waterpark.

The waterpark was one of the best I've visited. The air time slide was second two none as me and Mike found out! The other rides were great and it was such a nice day to end the trip with.

Overall I can honestly say that Italy 2015 has been one of the best weeks of my life. I'd genuinely recommend a CF live to anyone. Thanks again people for making me feel so welcome! Until next time xxxxxxxxxx

 

[Jordanovichy]

Fantastic report Chris. Really enjoyed it. I love how you can appreciate you're not massively travelled and experienced as some people when it comes to creds, but that'll come with time haha

Looks like you had a fantastic time, some great photos. So jealous I didn't go in the end.

It's interesting what you said about Gardaland...

Being a Merlin park I didn't expect much from gardaland. A few mediocre rides and some tacky themeing however I was blown away by the quality!

I found this to be the case with Heide Park, I was expecting a mediocre park but it's fab with some great rides and it is stunning.