ZZZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzz...........
*snort*
Huh? Oh! Hey there! :}
I was just taking a nap. I fell right to sleep after Vidampark. Looks like we're making a pit stop on our way to Vienna.
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| FOOOOOOOD! |
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| Here's Jeff with his favorite roller coaster-riding expression, "MERCY!" |
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| Snack time! That Peach Fanta was absolutely wonderful. |
After another nap we arrived at our hotel in Vienna. We quickly deposited our bags into our rooms and made a B-line for Wiener Prater, one of the largest tourist draws in all of Austria!
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| Do you know what's going on here? I do. :} |
The Wiener Prater operates like an enormous permanent funfair. Each attraction is independently owned by a different vendor, all of whom compete directly for the business of the park patrons. This keeps quality and throughput up considerably higher than a typical amusement park. Over 100 rides call Prater home, and NONE of them were broken.
Prater offers a service called the "Prater Fun Card". It works like a rechargeable gift card that you can put Euros on for use at the ticket booths. While not all rides accept the Prater Fun Card, the ones that do offer discounted ride rates!
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| One of Prater's signature rides is knee-weakening Prater Turm, a 377ft Funtime Starflyer. |
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| The only ride owned by the Prater itself is the Wiener Riesenrad, the oldest Ferris Wheel in the World & one of Vienna's key landmarks. |
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| Prater has 10 roller coasters. Their collection doesn't look like much on paper, but it's a surprisingly potent group. |
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| For lunch our group ate at the fine dining establishment underneath the Wiener Riesenrad. After my meal, I promptly fell asleep face-down on the table. When I woke up, I forgot where I was & panicked for about 5 minutes. |
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| We'd be back for a ride on this tomorrow. We've got some credits to hit first! |
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| First up is the Super 8er Bahn (or Prater 8er Bahn), an enormous 1-of-a-kind Pinfari coaster. |
Fearing the worst from previous experiences with Pinfari coasters, we braced ourselves for this one. However, it ended up being a blast! Prater 8er puts all Looping Stars and Zyklons to shame! Credit #63 of my Year of 100 New Coasters is the best Pinfari ever!
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| Smooth, swift, and laden with transitions & airtime! |
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| Next up is a garden-variety spinning mouse. |
Or so we thought. Prater's Dizzy Mouse spun like crazy even though we had an even weight distribution in our car! A delightfully-dizzy credit #64.
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| Bumper cars are a cultural phenomenon in Central Europe. Prater & the funfairs all had no less than 3 full-sized bumper car rides. |
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| The hairy, infected wart on Prater's ass is the Zamperla Volare. |
I've ridden 3 of these monstrosities now, and Prater's is easily the worst. The ride experience simply has no shred of redemption. Credit #65 is a big "F-you".
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| However, seeing this sign in the station somehow made it all worth it. |
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| We then rode the first of Prater's 3 ghost trains. All were good, but none seemed exceedingly remarkable after the ones we rode in Dusseldorf. |
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| Eisberg is Prater's shooting dark ride. |
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| It's no ordinary shooting dark ride, however; the weapon of choice is a DSLR! On Eisberg, you traverse arctic and oceanic landscapes to capture stills of wildlife! Fabulous ride with some great gags and visuals! |
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| More ghost train action! |
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| And some Vekoma love! (lol) |
Mega Blitz is a tall, compact, helix-laden family coaster with some nice drops & great g-forces. Its only counterpart in the U.S. is the smaller Hornet coaster at Wonderland in Amarillo (formerly Mayan Mindbender at Astroworld). Funky, intense, shockingly fun credit #66!
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| As we'd come to find on this trip, Vekoma really seems to have a way with family coasters. |
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| This one was a little weird. We like weird. :} |
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| Geister Bahn turns you into a ghost! |
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| Woah! Talk about a pimped-out ride! |
Make no mistake, Wiener Prater's Boomerang is no ordinary boomerang. With its over-the-top lighting package, special effects tunnel, and custom lap-bar only trains, this is without a doubt the most remarkable boomerang ever! Credit #67!
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| Enter: BLACK MAMBA! The World's only double-axis booster ride! |
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| Black Mamba is simply the best flat ride I've ever ridden. Wild airtime and Gs, crazy flipping, insane speed!! And it's pretty stunning for the spectators, too! |
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| This was my first experience with any kind of booster-style ride. I suspect that any traditional booster I ride now will feel completely inadequate. |
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| Yes, Prater Turm. I know you're excited that I don't totally hate you. Calm down. |
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| Now for a classic! |
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| Sadly, Prater's Toboggan lacks the attractive slide attendants that Dusseldorf's featured. |
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| The top of Toboggan provides a great view! |
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| Now for Prater's most chaotic funhouse, SuPeR tOp DaNcE! |
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| Super Top Dance is so ridiculous that stopping to catch your breath is a must. Luckily, 5 stories of extra-potent funhouse gags can make for some pretty nice views! |
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| Super Top Dance boasts this never-ending spiral slide. There's even a few surprises at the bottom! |
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| We screwed up. Apparently, you're supposed to do THIS and then do Super Top Dance! |
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| Goodnight, Prater! We'll see you bright an early tomorrow! |
Heading back to our hotel was the ultimate culture credit. We traversed a gauntlet of loud, rowdy prostitutes that stretched the entire length of the park! Most were very friendly & keen on developing acquaintanceships with passers by. One of them popped out from the bushes and screamed at me like a ghost train prop! I asked her if she took the Prater Fun Card. :}
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| Good morning, ACErs! Who's ready for some ERT? |
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| Good morning, train! You're up bright & early, aren't you? |
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| It's now time for Hochschaubahn, our 7th and final Prater Credit! |
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| Hochschaubahn was built in 1950 to replace the original Hochschaubahn that burned down during the war. |
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| Hochschaubahn is populated by cheeky gnomes! :} |
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| Okay, boys! Who's ready for a double ride?? |
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| Weeeeee! :D |
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| Taken from the break run! |
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| Towards the end of the ride, the Hochschaubahn gnomes shoot water at you!! |
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| It's the paparazzi! |
Hooray for Hochschaubahn, our last Austrian credit! #69.
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| After our ride, we got a backstage tour of Hochschaubahn! |
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| It was neat being upside it as the trains rumbled by. |
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| Parts bin! |
After ERT ended we went towards the front of the park. Since nothing else was open yet, we went shopping!
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| Ooooooh! |
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| Riesenrad jewelry! :D |
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| Riesenrad super balls! :D :D |
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| Riesenrad tea set! :D :D :D |
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| I bought lots of stuff, including this orange-pinapple chocolate dipped twin pop. :} |
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| And now for powered-coaster goodness! |
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| Truth be told, Der Zug des Manitu was one of the highlights of the park for us! It was an ACE party!! |
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| The ride is basically a big, flat double helix with no banked turns. It's a great way to get to know your ride partner! |
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| Next was the Tagada, another hilarious party ride! The simple concept of a circular bench that spins/bounces really delivers! There was a lot of nearly being thrown on to the floor! |
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| Fantasy train ride! |
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| The fantasy train ride had a collection of porcelain dolls for sale! I bought the two little keychain ones. :} |
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| Next up is Blue Planet, another elaborate dark walk-through. |
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| Fans of Jurassic Park would really appreciate Blue Planet. |
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| It's quite the enveloping experience! |
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| We had to ride Boomerang again because it's awesome. |
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| Now for another funhouse! It's time for FUNBALL! |
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| Enter the portal to chaos! |
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| Unlike Super Top Dance, Funball is a non-linear funhouse. Once you're inside, you can stay as long as you want & play around! |
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| Big climbing nets and slides! |
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| Funball is serious business! |
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| We were in Funball for at least a half hour. We kinda got lost.....lol. |
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| Time for a nice Ferris Wheel ride. :) |
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| With your admission to the Wiener Riesenrad you get access to their diorama hall! |
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| Each diorama is a depiction of Wiener Prater in some capacity. Here's Prater in 1944. |
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| Each diorama is housed in a ferris wheel car! |
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| Here we go! |
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| Prater Turm looks bigger during the daytime. |
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| The park's spinning raft ride will be one of our last stops, since we anticipate some wetness! |
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| Almost to the top! |
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| What you're seeing here is only about 1/3 of Prater. This place is just massive. The building in the bottom right corner is Prater's THIRD wild mouse, which was finishing up construction. |
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| *plays Roller Coaster Tycoon* |
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| The park's entrance plaza has a chairswing integrated right into it! Love it. |
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| Rapid slide time! Here we are on the ride's elevator lift! |
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| This thing spun and spun and spun and spun and SPUN! It was absolutely ridiculous! |
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| We still had some Prater Card Credit left, so we took another spin on Mega Blitz! |
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| On our way out we walked around the kiddie land, which was the last area we hadn't covered. |
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| There are some ADORABLE kiddie rides here, including this WWII biplane ride |
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| and the 1-of-a-kind Auto Bergbahn kiddie coaster! |
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| This kiddie coaster is strictly kids only! The ride's breaking system consists solely of the ride operator catching the car as it rolls to the station! |
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| It's literally one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Right up there with the kiddie coaster at Rye Playland. |
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| With Prater thoroughly conquered, we went into town! |
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| It was a beautiful day to look at beautiful buildings! |
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| This is a palace. I don't remember anything else. |
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| John in the rose garden! |
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| They had roses of every color! |
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| Now I can say, "I stopped and smelled the roses in Vienna!" |
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| After lingering in the flowers for a bit, I continued on to the other buildings. |
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| Oh, hello. :} |
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| Here is a library. Again, that's all I remember. |
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| I like this statue. It reminded me of Disney's Haunted Mansion. |
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| The fountain is rather fowl. :} |
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| It even has a duck ramp! :} |
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Dog: *yap yap yap*
Duck: My duck brethren and sistren, we will not be harassed by this brutish beast! Come forth and protect our fountain! |
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| We stumbled upon a great deal of commotion taking place in front of this cathedral. As it turns out, they like to play movies here during the summer! They even set up an international food fair for it! |
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| *dies* |
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| Shrimp & pepper udon noodles, veggie gyoza, and lychee nectar! |
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| Can't forget desert! Chocolate banana Nutella crepe a la mode! |
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| One of the best meals of the trip! |
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| Here's a church with a Coca Cola add on it. :P |
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| Back to the hotel! What a great day! |
And so ends our time in Vienna. Tomorrow we set off on the first official German park of the tour, Bayern Park! We also make a stop at World-famous Hofbrauhaus in Munich! Stay tuned. :}
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