Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ft. @booksandrollercoasters - Reader, Writer, and Instagram Photography
93 Plays13 days ago
Immersive theme parks are about story — and Netherlands-based Instagrammer @booksandrollercoasters combines the physical stories with roller coasters! We chat about how she comes up with ideas for her photos, our favorite uses of story in theme parks, tons of Efteling things, and a lot about books and writing in our personal lives. We also announce a new "cohost" (aka Allison's new kitten), go through a couple trip recaps (that Jenn and Allison both forgot about), and battle some tech issues (of course).
Go follow her on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/booksandrollercoasters/
Allison's publishing company: https://www.instagram.com/fracturedmirrorpublishing/
And if you're interested in Allison's book: https://www.amazon.com/Pyrokinetic-Allison-Chernutan/dp/1735217190
Recommended
Transcript
Welcome and Introductions
00:00:00
Speaker
You are listening to the Inverted Creative Podcast. I'm Allison. I'm Brian. And I'm Jen.
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode. about to say this might be last episode of the year, but no, I we'll have one more probably. I think we have one more before the end of the year. So you guys get us one more time before the new year. is our first full year of the podcast.
00:00:31
Speaker
Yes, very exciting.
Meet Alpy, the Kitten
00:00:33
Speaker
ah We do have a fun guest with us for today for our interview, and we will introduce her in just a moment. However, i would like to introduce our newest, youngest little co-host,
00:00:45
Speaker
And it's my new kitten named Alpy, who's six weeks old. Yeah, very cute. We need suggestions for Talon name to call him, though, because Talon Cat's taken.
00:00:58
Speaker
Talon Cat 2. Talon Cat 2, very. That's fine. just as um Just as creative as Talon Cat 2. So Nemi, my other cat, we call him Demon. So now I've just been calling this one the littlest Demon.
00:01:15
Speaker
oh I don't know of another nickname for him. That's also roller coaster. um yeah Yeah, the story behind him is, so our friend of the podcast, Nate, who's been on with us for a few episodes, messaged our group chat last week. He's like, does anybody want a kitten?
00:01:30
Speaker
And we're like, explain. um But he rescued this little kitten out of the middle of the road in Indiana ah near some farmland. So we think he was a former farm cat and he just got a little bit too far away from home.
00:01:45
Speaker
um And we had been looking for another cat. So now we have another cat. and Yeah, perfect little guy. Tiny, tiny little thing. um His full legal name is Alpengeist Alan Kinzel.
00:02:02
Speaker
That's a lot for such a little guy. So Nemi's full name is ah Nemesis Anton Sandor. So we kept a similar ah name scheme.
00:02:13
Speaker
Nate got partial naming rights because he found them. um So Alan in honor of Alan Shilke, but also it's Nate's middle name. so Oh, cute. And um I am currently ah quarantined in a room with him because he's not allowed with Nemi yet.
00:02:28
Speaker
But he's very cute and I'm literally just playing with his paws while I'm recording. Literally. hope I can see that, but I'm just like... He's just so precious. He's just like...
00:02:43
Speaker
He's very precious. We'll have to share a picture. Yeah, I'll put a picture on a Instagram if I remember to. If I remember. I never remember to, to be fair. Yeah, he is our ah newest little co-host. He probably will not make any cameos because he is very quiet and just silent meows.
00:03:01
Speaker
That's okay. He's here in in theory, I guess. oh in theory it's ah No, theory. He is here. He's here. I'm doing great. not very He's not as ah vocal as Ahsoka.
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's tough to beat, though. um Yeah, so he's our our newest little ah co-host. He's here to help me. And by that, I mean distract me.
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah, but that's okay. That's okay. He has a coaster name, so. as Little Alpy. oh If we ever get an orange cat, the name will be Tally. Yeah, perfect. And then all three will be Talon cat.
00:03:42
Speaker
If Alpi was a girl, there was a chance the name would have been Katie. Short per Catoon in Italy. Oh, it's a me, Talon.
Thanksgiving and Holiday Adventures
00:03:54
Speaker
But we'll see what happens if we if and when we get another cat. You're just going to have your little apartment. Like, not little apartment, but you're just going to have, like, your your house for two people and then, like, a million cats. you've All named after being named Inverts.
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah. You've literally crossed into this um cat lady phase. g Listen. Mike's crossed into the cat lady phase. Oh, he's full on cat dad. Yeah, he's full on cat lady.
00:04:23
Speaker
i love it. But anyway. Yeah. And we have no trip recaps this week at all. We've been very boring ah time. Not really a boring time. i just haven haven't made it anywhere yet. We just had Thanksgiving.
00:04:40
Speaker
um i am enjoying four days off at home, not going to Europe this time. have friends who have been going to Winterfest, but I've been staying where it's warm with a cat.
00:04:51
Speaker
That's some Georgia girl stuff. um I was supposed to go to Hershey this weekend, but um my friend that I was going with had some car trouble, so we decided not to.
00:05:02
Speaker
um And I had some stuff to take care of, so it was a nice extra day to take care of that stuff. um Yeah, did i did I talk about Sesame Place?
00:05:15
Speaker
Yeah, right?
00:05:18
Speaker
I don't know. Did you get another snow ride on Vapor Trail? I did not get another snow ride on Vapor Trail. We actually just got our first snow today. um i don't think I did, actually.
00:05:30
Speaker
oh so we do have a trip recap. I guess we do have a trip recap. So I did go to the opening day of Sesame Places. i think it's called a Very Furry Christmas. That's what they call their Christmas event. um Very cute. I think that park is so adorable. I actually went with my friend and her 11 month old baby.
00:05:53
Speaker
So we did the like character... Buffet lunch and that they did like a Christmas opening dance and then came around and like met and all of the kids and took pictures.
00:06:08
Speaker
Um, and then we did like just little meet and greet stuff. We rode the carousel. It's a very, for anyone who hasn't gone, that park is extremely tiny.
00:06:21
Speaker
Um, and especially in the winter, There's like not, it's like half of the size. Like half of that park is the like splash pads in the water park area.
00:06:31
Speaker
So very, very tiny park. um However, it made for the Christmas decorations. You were like completely engulfed with them. They were really beautiful. um And then they also did like a tree lighting ceremony, like right at dark. They did this, like, Santa coming, you lit the tree, and then it it was really beautiful because everything was kind of dark, and then they lit the tree, and the entire, like, you turn around and the entire Sesame Place is lit up.
00:07:01
Speaker
um So very cool opening to their um night. And then saving the best part for last... Four visits later, i have finally ridden Oscar's Wacky Taxi. rode it like four times. All of my rides were in the back.
00:07:20
Speaker
um And that thing is is worth the wait. So um definitely if you can get there, i would recommend going. A little birdie has told me that they are trying to have it open much more than it has been previously.
00:07:38
Speaker
um at this point. So that's amazing to hear, considering most people have stories like me, where you specifically go to that park, and unfortunately it's closed. um So it should be open a lot more, apparently.
00:07:53
Speaker
Fingers crossed. um And well worth the ride. That thing is, a it's so little, but it's such an airtime machine. I was really, really shocked. And it's so smooth It was like, I don't know. i was shocked. That thing packed such a punch. Have you ridden it, Allison?
00:08:13
Speaker
Mm-mm. Dude, it's- I've been there once, and it was closed. And it was closed. It's literally the hardest credit to get. I think it might be a harder credit to get than Leap the Dips, and leaps the Leap the Dips isn't even open at this point. also don't have Leap the Dips. I don't have Leap the Dips either. um-
00:08:31
Speaker
but um Yeah, you have Skyline, but not Leap the Dips. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. So I think that it is the hardest credit to get in Pennsylvania, but well worth it when you can finally get it. It's a really incredible little ride. I wish i i wasn't shocked because so many people have told me that it's incredible. um But I was like very... For me to say that a Woody is fantastic.
00:09:01
Speaker
True. It's a good one. It's a very good one. Now we're just going to get you on voyage.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah. No, maybe. No, I'm not going to come out of that thinking it's good. Probably. We'll see. I didn't think I'd come out of Thunderhead of Dollywood or Woden thinking it was good either. So, but I'm not a wooden coaster fan.
00:09:28
Speaker
Our listeners know that I'm not a big wooden coaster fan.
Epic Universe Experiences
00:09:32
Speaker
Um, I have very select wooden coasters that I enjoy. so Yeah, so I think that brings us to the end of our trip recap. Actually, no, I was wrong. I did do a ah trip. Well, let's like I feel like we should introduce Anne so sheking she can engage. We thought we had no trip recap. I'm looking back, I'm like...
00:09:56
Speaker
Oh, I did have a trip in there. Yeah. So guys, today, before we do Allison's um side of the trip recap, we are going to introduce our guest today. Me and Allison are both extremely excited to have her on. um And this is Anne from the Instagram account Books and Coasters. Hi. I'm excited to be here. Hi.
00:10:22
Speaker
All right, so let's um have Allison finish up for her trip recap, and you're, of course, welcome to engage. That's right. And then we'll introduce you a little more in depth.
00:10:36
Speaker
I love that we both just, like, totally forgot we have trip recaps. I know. We were like, do we have to hop on early and, like, do a pre-recording with trip recaps? And I was like, no, like, I don't have anything going on. And she's like, yeah, me neither. Yeah.
00:10:48
Speaker
Completely forgot that I went somewhere like two days after we recorded last. Yeah. In that um I went to Epic Universe again. Oh, I forgot about that.
00:11:00
Speaker
It was such a blur of a trip once again. Yeah. Yeah, well, because you also drove down and, like, overnight showed up at the hotel at, like, what, 7 o'clock in the morning and then showed up at the park at 9?
00:11:13
Speaker
Something like that. oh yeah We left work at, yeah, as we just talked about Netherlands things being, like, an hour away from each other. um We go left to work at 3 o'clock on Friday and drove 14 hours to Orlando.
00:11:28
Speaker
my god yeah um well we don't have the flights were not working out once again um so we just decided to drive again because epic universe is worth it uh we got to dockside at about 6 a.m um checked into the hotel and our room was somehow ready so i could have slept I edited in the last podcast instead while Mike slept for like 45 minutes. I slept in the car. It was fine. um
00:12:01
Speaker
And then we stayed there so we could get early entry and get into the park early and use that to our advantage. um So I think we rode Stardust immediately and then went over to ministry. um We met up with a few people. It was mostly um we met up with Mikhail.
00:12:18
Speaker
did see that. He had his camera. He was. Yeah. oh he was doing yeah I was doing Mikhail things. Um, and then, uh, Mike's best man, Kyrie, and then, ah Tifa and their little girl, Kennedy, who was like year and a half old.
00:12:34
Speaker
Oh, fun. So it was a fun day. Just, uh, uh, Mark from the Netherlands, if you know him, also met up with us. Mark from the Netherlands. familiar a few other people yeah But it was, it was a good day. We were there open to close.
00:12:47
Speaker
I think we went back to the hotel part way during the day. um There's a cat on my knee and it's too cute. And I just got distracted. He's so cute. So intensely cute. Hey, um, know, we went back to the hotel partway through the day. i mean, it was a much more chill day. I know Mike went and road started us more.
00:13:10
Speaker
Mikhail and I just kind of like hung out. He took some photos. Um, I went back to the cafe in the ministry area and had like a nice little French brunch, which was very nice. who um Had a lot of drinks during the day.
00:13:24
Speaker
um Their drinks are top tier at that park. ah Did you have the pina colada from Celestiki? No, i'm I did not go to Celestiki. I'm not a huge rum person or like pina colada person.
00:13:37
Speaker
um So I did not. I went to the like bourbon like barbecue place. yeah um So that... Oh god, now he's walking across me. Yeah.
00:13:50
Speaker
We had heard about the pina colada. And so it was like a big frozen drink. Me and Mike split it and it still knocked like both of us down. It was so strong. When we split that and then we rode Monster. So that was an experience.
00:14:05
Speaker
Oh, um So that was a good day, eventful day. And then we went to Bar Helios again. i got the beef skewer, which highly recommend. It was so good.
00:14:16
Speaker
It was just a day of like food and drink for me. Yeah, that's how we had a really, like, when we were there, so we were at Epic the weekend before. Allison was there. And our day was empty. Like, empty.
00:14:34
Speaker
So we got everything done with nice pretty much no issue. So it was a very big food and drink day for us. I enjoyed it.
00:14:44
Speaker
I am dreaming of, I got this, so, um, as many of the listeners know, I, I'm gluten-free, and we all wanted to go to Pizza Moon, because Pizza Moon has incredible pizza, um, but I just was not feeling a gluten-free pizza. For anyone who eats gluten-free, you understand, like, pizza is not, I don't know, breads are, like, best to avoid, in my opinion, if you can. So, um, I got the salad that had, like,
00:15:14
Speaker
salami and cheese and pepperoncinis and it... I don't even know what else. It was the best salad I think I ever had. I've been dreaming of it for like every single day since.
00:15:27
Speaker
It was so good. i did Pizza Moon my first visit. Yeah. So I've heard that the gluten-free pizza is really good. It's just like gluten-free pizza isn't really my thing.
00:15:40
Speaker
um But I've also heard that in the ministry area, there is a gluten-free baguette that is like to die for. And anyone saying the gluten-free bread is fantastic, I'm sold. Gluten-free bread is awful.
00:15:58
Speaker
So yeah, it's not good. um So i I think that's on my list for the next time. Good thing I have a lot of tickets for the next time I go. I'm so jealous. Me too. have 14 days. Such a bucket list park.
00:16:15
Speaker
It's so good. Yeah, it's a beautiful park. But it's definitely a good food and drink park. Oh yeah, for sure. Honestly, just my favorite part about it. I also, even on a busy day, like I do, attraction wise, there aren't like a crazy amount of attractions. I feel like you have to like food and drink.
00:16:34
Speaker
happy day like At one point we spent like an hour and a half in this bar. It was like raining. So we were like, there's no, we're not in any rush. Like there's no reason to go run around in the rain if we don't have to. So we just sat down at this bar
European Park Explorations
00:16:48
Speaker
until it stopped. And we still had plenty of time to do everything we wanted.
00:16:54
Speaker
Yeah. We knocked everything out in our first visit. Minus like the two rides in, um, how did to turn Burke or whatever that are, uh, not really what we're going for. is Yeah.
00:17:06
Speaker
So it was just re-rides. i did I wanted to get a lot of rides on Stardust, but that thing who nothing messed me up. That thing is a little crazy. think it's like three rides on it, I think. Yeah, it's crazy. It's like... I think it's more intense than Voltron. It does not look that intense from from the videos, but... I feel like... Allison, what do you think? You've ridden both, too.
00:17:38
Speaker
It might be. There's some moments where it's kind of slow like on that turnaround. Yeah. I feel like it's more intense because it's higher off the track and then it's only two seats on the track. So everything feels more exaggerated than on Voltron. like I feel like Voltron feels a little more smooth and everything feels a little bit more exaggerated because your heart line so much higher. The wing seats on Voltron might be more intense.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah, i don't i I tend to avoid the wingsuits of Voltron. Me too, me too. My head. But but yeah, i I think that it's pretty intense. I tried to, I rode it when we first got there.
00:18:21
Speaker
I know I already talked about it. I had the best first ride ever. We literally, one train away, and it started pouring rain. Like a level of pouring rain that the people that came back to the station were soaked. So we split our our group two and two and had pouring rain rides where we could like barely see each other in the two different cars. It was crazy. But...
00:18:43
Speaker
but After those two rides in a row, I literally was like sick. Like I had to go get like I went and I sat down and had to like I ordered French fries and we're like baby eating French fries hoping that I didn't like lose it. I was like, oh, my stomach's not doing good right now.
00:19:05
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't have that issue. I ah did get a front row ride with Mikhail, I think on the green side. Um, We were next in line and it went down for like 15 minutes, which was really annoying.
00:19:17
Speaker
Oh, that is annoying. Apparently like multiple rides in the park were down. It's like some sort of like software thing. Oh, interesting. It was something like that. Apparently there were other rides down, but.
00:19:29
Speaker
Yeah. I almost missed the Yoshi ride when I was there and I went running back like right at the end of the day. I was like, oh hold on. I missed Yoshi. There worse rides to miss. I wanted to ride it so bad. It's so cute.
00:19:42
Speaker
It is cute. Except my, like, my buttons were broken, so No! But it was cute. It was cute. That's fine. But I was, like, running back. I'm like, I want to go to Yoshi.
00:19:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that was our trip. And then, um you know, drove 14 hours back home on Sunday. Stopped to visit my family in Jacksonville. Had a little meal with them again.
00:20:08
Speaker
oh that's nice. Yeah. It works out. Yeah, how could I forget that I went to Epic? Yeah, how? Oh my god. It's been like, I guess, three weeks since we recorded, so.
00:20:20
Speaker
Did you do Epic both days, or did you do? Just one day. And then what did you do? Did you drive home Sunday morning? Yep. Oh, okay. Because it's an all-day thing to drive home.
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah. Or on Monday. Okay. Yeah. I guess, do you also have, do have season and passes or an annual passes anywhere down there? No. Oh, that makes more sense. I would, I would have been like at Universal for it this Sunday. I'm also out of PTO for the year and I don't have much for next year because of the honeymoon. Oh, yeah. Which officially booked flights for that. So that's exciting.
00:20:53
Speaker
Yeah. how Oh, oh, oh, oh, heck yeah. Um, yeah, that's exciting. Yeah, that makes sense. I would have at least like been running in, ride Velocicoaster and leave. I would if I could.
00:21:08
Speaker
Yeah, I'm way too. The amount of times that I have like when I lived down there, I was like, I have to pass Universal and I just like pop in run into Velocicoaster. And then I'm like, well, now it's 12 instead of like nine.
00:21:23
Speaker
Oopsie. oopsie
00:21:27
Speaker
Yeah, but... I think that's it for true trip recaps now. Yeah, I think that's it too. We really didn't think we had any.
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah, but we'll have maybe some... I don't... I'm supposed to go to King's Island next weekend for Winterfest. We're doing a Friendsgiving next weekend.
00:21:50
Speaker
I think I'm going to make it to some kind of holiday next weekend. I have low light film in my camera that I want to get rid of, so I will be somewhere for holiday lights in my film camera.
00:22:03
Speaker
So, well, that's a good segue into photography. Yeah. on our guest
00:22:11
Speaker
Perfect segue. So now we'll make it into our actual portion of the episode. um So as i stated before, we have Anne with us. Hello.
00:22:23
Speaker
Yeah. Like to tell us a little bit about yourself. Yeah. Well, so I'm Anne. I have my Instagram account called Books and Roller Coasters. I've been doing it for a little over four years now. I'm in my fifth year this year. So there's an anniversary going coming up.
00:22:43
Speaker
I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but probably something. And yeah, I am based in the Netherlands and ah I don't travel around that much. So it's I mostly visit parks in the Netherlands, in Belgium, Germany.
00:23:03
Speaker
And I hope to expand a little bit more into France also, but I don't know when yet. yeah soon I mean I feel like the Netherlands, Germany and and Belgium you've you've got some really solid selections I know wait I'm very jealous yeah they're like some of my favorite parks yep we know yeah you guys don't yeah I don't need to tell anyone on the podcast no Efteling is just top tier yeah that's just waiting
00:23:40
Speaker
Yeah, Allison has not been to Efteling yet. no No, you have not been? no I've been to a lot of European parks, but I've not made it to Efteling yet. Yeah, I was like, so excited. i got back and I was like, we can do an Efteling deep dive. And she's like, no, we can't.
00:23:55
Speaker
Like, you and Bryant can. I was like, I assumed you have been there. no who I kind of vaguely mentioned in our group chat something. like Does anyone want to do a weekend trip to like Efteling and Toverland?
00:24:08
Speaker
Wait. Me. I'll do it. because She was so, you know, money and time off. We are spending a lot of money next year. so I found a really cheap flight to the Netherlands in January and I was like, I sent it to Joey and I'm like,
00:24:26
Speaker
What if I just went? And he was like, I can't go to the Netherlands that weekend. I was like, oh, okay. I didn't ask you. like It's like, what if I go to the Netherlands? I didn't say we. I know. I was like, what if I just pop into the Netherlands? I can do it. I can do it. Yeah. I'm like, i see we can go to Efteling and Doverland.
00:24:50
Speaker
Probably mostly F1. Yeah, I don't know. yeah if they I think Toverland will be closed after the holiday season. Yeah, they they don't open year-round yet, I think. Maybe I'm wrong, but... Yeah. i Also, Toverland's the one with Condor. Where?
00:25:06
Speaker
Is that Wallaby? is Which has Condor? Condor? Oh, that's Wallaby. Oh, Wallaby. Okay, so I could go to Toverland, but I really need to go to wallaby with Joey for the first time because I need to roast him. He rode that ride like 222 times in 24 hours for some fun. Well, Condor?
00:25:26
Speaker
no I was like, oh my god, no, that's a headache machine. Yeah, I have no idea how he did it. He was like 19 and rode it to there's literally an article where he's holding a sign. 222 rides. amazing I'm like, my head hurts thinking about this. I'm glad he survived.
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah, like, how is your head even still on your body? I rode it once and that was enough. Yeah, he was in, um, I mentioned this before, but he was in Bryant's Europa Park video, like, when I surprised Bryant at Europa Park, and someone commented and was like, oh my god god, that guy, that's Joey the Condor guy! rode Condor over 200 times!
00:26:10
Speaker
It's like the dumbest fact ever and I think it's so funny. Like this says a lot about your um your judgment. Yeah. yeah Yeah, so I have to... Toverland I could go to, but I think I have to be able to roast him in the entire duration of being at Wallaby. Well, Wallaby has some solid rights.
00:26:36
Speaker
It's not not the nicest part, but it has some solid rights. Yeah. I expect the Six Flags part. Yeah, yeah. it it It is former Six Flags, so... Yeah, so... It felt very six like former Six Flags walking through And also the fact that they have a Goliath.
00:26:54
Speaker
Yeah, they do. Yeah. Is Goliath the rock and roller coaster clone? No, that's Express. Express. Express, yeah. That one had a couple names, so I umt never remember. It had been Superman to Ride.
00:27:09
Speaker
Oh, that was it, yeah. Yeah. Definitely a former Six Flags park. yeah But yeah, Efteling. I just want to go back to Efteling.
00:27:22
Speaker
I always want to go back to Efteling. See, I'm exactly a year out from our little Thanksgiving weekend trip to Europa. Like I was at Europa a year ago today. And all of us in our group chat are just like, we need to do another Thanksgiving trip this next year. so maybe that's when we do Efteling in Toverland.
00:27:41
Speaker
Oh, yeah, because the Netherlands is like the Netherlands and Paris, I think are like the cheapest to fly over. Yeah, from the East Coast. So we'll see.
00:27:52
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I might be joining you guys. I really, really like the Netherlands. Honeymoon comes first and that's going to be pricey. So yeah, true. I reckon. Yeah. um Two weeks in Europe. Whoops.
00:28:10
Speaker
It'll be worth it. And. They chose Energylandia over Efteling. and Oh, wait, I don't know if I'm supposed to say that on the podcast. Sorry. um I don't know if it's a secret where you're going. No.
00:28:21
Speaker
I've talked about it before, I'm pretty sure. Mike's never been Energylandia. Well... I would always choose Efteling, but I've not been to there yet, so... So, um...
00:28:38
Speaker
they They count credits like pretty intensely. um like She's at like 800 credits. That's a lot. Yeah, so um given 19 credits versus like 4, for them I think it's a pretty easy yeah choice. Yeah, I can understand. if you If you're really a credit hunter like that.
00:29:03
Speaker
Yeah. i'm I'm not that much of a credit hunter myself, no. Me neither. I'm very big on, I'm very big on experience.
00:29:14
Speaker
Like I would go back to the same park 15 times and miss credits still. Um, if that park has really good vibes and good experience, like Efteling, I'll go back a million times over. It has like five credits and that's fine before I ever go to Energylandia. That's just like credit, credit, credit. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
00:29:35
Speaker
Yeah, I like to frequent a lot of the same parks. um Because that's also, like, where you get the best of them. Like, Europa Park, I feel like my first, like, four or five days there were so, like, go, go, go, go go that I couldn't really enjoy the park for everything the park has to offer.
00:29:52
Speaker
on And now, like, that park just has so many, like, chill, relaxing things to do. Like, it's just such a good variety. I really like that park.
00:30:06
Speaker
is like a huge, i don't know, like it grew on me the more I was there. I've only been there like once, like last month, and I was really overwhelmed the two days we were there. Yeah, so that feeling goes away.
00:30:22
Speaker
And then, like like, I've had days where we've literally just, like, brought a blanket and sat out on the grass by the train and just, like, had beers and, like, waved at the train going by. And then, like, maybe we would go and ride, like, I call it basement dino ride. um Like, maybe we would go and ride the dino ride, maybe hop on Voltron real quick and then, like, just hang out and...
00:30:45
Speaker
like The vibes of the park are really good. But it's too overwhelming those first couple of days. It's like... There's so much. Yeah, so much rides. But also food options. ah So much to experience. We did not do any show at all.
00:31:04
Speaker
I don't know. yeah There was just not not enough time. yeah But and I did see a lot of the the real twinl tranquil places. Like the the really...
00:31:15
Speaker
like with the trees and not that much people around. It was really nice. Yeah. Those are the parts like i I work like as long as I have my laptop, I can really work from anywhere. And i have like favorite spots. I'll literally like show up to the park right at opening. Maybe I'll ride something and then I'll sit down with my computer and work or like I'll sit if I'm not working and Joey's working. I'll like bring a book and I'll just sit and read a book. Where would you sit there?
00:31:43
Speaker
what what what What is your favorite place there? i have ah I have a couple places I really love. um One of my favorites to sit and read is like in the Croatia area, which seems really small.
00:31:58
Speaker
There's right outside of Voltron, as you're walking into Voltron, on the right there's like this little secluded seating area and then steps up to the Greece area. and other than the people going up and down the steps, no one really sits in that little cove.
00:32:15
Speaker
um I really like it in there. i also really like the upstairs of the coffee shop across from Voltron. No one's ever in there. It's very quiet, so you can just sit there and chill, have a coffee, watch Voltron.
00:32:29
Speaker
um I also really like Iceland... icelimed area not iceland i think iceland where snorri is yeah so there's it's also like the best known secret in the park um they have a real espresso machine in the fish place in this place it's like yeah so in the fish restaurant across from snorri like behind these fish sandwich place they have an actual espresso machine and it's a coffee shop
00:33:05
Speaker
But then you can like go upstairs and they have this... You have to get there right at opening because it gets like very busy. But they have this little patio that overlooks the rapid ride and like that whole section and and blue fire. Oh, that's so cool. Yeah.
00:33:22
Speaker
Yeah. So I like those spots. They have a lot of spots like that. Yeah, it's like you have to, like, go into restaurants, look around. There's also in, like, the Greek restaurant, if you go into one of the rooms there, um, there are, like, awnings that overlook the walkway to Voltron.
00:33:43
Speaker
So they're a little more chaotic, but very, like, very nice, because no one really goes up there. And in, um, I have so many. There's in, um,
00:33:56
Speaker
the switzerland area all of the upstairs so yeah yeah yeah i read about those too yeah yeah so i like those and then there's also a little hut if you it's only like one family can sit in there but there's like one little hut and it has charging ports light it's like nice and warm And you can look, there's a little window over the bobsled.
00:34:24
Speaker
So it's just like very quiet and secluded. Yeah. yeah There's a lot of really hidden spaces in that park um that you just have to like walk around and open doors and like, yeah. That's part of what I love about that park though. Cause if you do take the time to like not ride anything and adventure,
00:34:47
Speaker
I feel like they encourage exploration. So it's like you're opening doors that like, like at Disney, it's like if a door is closed, you're not going to go into the door, but there's like, if you open doors there, there's animatronics or you open a door and there's a whole entire hidden room that you can hang out in or like, it's just a very different vibe. Yeah. That's really cool. I could not really appreciate that the time I went, but now that you've talked about it, I,
00:35:16
Speaker
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to ah next time.
Books and Coasters with Anne
00:35:21
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. i I think that that park needs two or three days so you can build that time in.
00:35:27
Speaker
um And then once you get, um once you have the time to have just like chill experiences, that park completely transforms.
00:35:45
Speaker
Can you guys hear me now? Yes. Yes. We're doing great. So um we'll see how I end up editing this, but ah full disclosure, apparently I froze completely for a while and I had no idea because I could still see and hear both of them, but they could not see or hear me.
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah. We couldn't hear anything, unfortunately. um i was just waiting for her to come back and She did not come back. Yeah, I didn't even realize there was an issue until Jen was like, I'm going to go ahead and text her and see what's up. And I'm like, wait, do you mean?
00:36:24
Speaker
and She just thought we were ignoring her input.
00:36:30
Speaker
ah So that's fun. And I totally forgot where we were, but we'll go from here to um back to talking about Anne and her Instagram page. Not Europa Park.
00:36:41
Speaker
Yeah, we got sidetracked a little bit. So yes, let's talk a little bit more about the Instagram page, how you got started. well Well, it actually got started with with a book.
00:36:57
Speaker
and I have it here with me. I was i was working in a bookshop at them at that moment, like Five years ago, I've been working in a work bookshop since I was a student. I haven't, I don't work there anymore. Very sad. was a nice place to work.
00:37:14
Speaker
um And then I was just laying out some books and I saw a book. I have it with me here. It's called, Achtbaantester in English. It's called the rollercoaster tester. And you can see it had of it has a very big yellow Vekoma SLC on the front of it.
00:37:34
Speaker
And I was like, wow, that's cool. A book with a roller coaster. So I started reading it and it was a really nice story too. And then it kind of clicked like, wait, so you can combine books and roller coasters. Hmm.
00:37:48
Speaker
How would that turn out when I make pictures of it? And I just started making taking them with me on trips, I guess. Yeah. And that's how it all started rolling.
00:38:01
Speaker
That's great. Do you like, How do you pick which books are coming with you on on a trip? Like, do you plan out the pictures? do you have like... Well, in the beginning, I really wanted the the picks of the books to be really perfect. Like, ah so I really consciously looked at what books...
00:38:25
Speaker
fit, ah not thinking about if I liked the book or I just got it and I just tried to read it and I make made a picture of it. But later on I just discovered that i I also really like reading and I want to read books that I like. So the the aspect of taking the books It's not that very perfectionistic anymore. So it can be a theme or it can be a color scheme. ah Sometimes just a bit of a vibe. Like my last trip to Efteling, I just took some dystopian books. They don't really fit with Efteling, but the pictures turned out pretty good. So it can fit.
00:39:09
Speaker
i can make it fit. Yeah, that's true. i like I liked those pictures a lot. um Like the book stacks on the mushrooms. Yeah. I like those a lot.
00:39:20
Speaker
Yeah, I really thought for that picture, I just needed something red. And I know the mushrooms are scattered all over the sprookies bowl. So that was just instantly in my head. I do plan out the pictures because I take four to six books with me.
00:39:40
Speaker
per trip. Sometimes I plan them out. I plan all of the pictures out. Uh, but most of the time there were like two or three books that I'm like, Oh, I don't know yet. Let's just see. Yeah.
00:39:54
Speaker
That's pretty cool. Um, do the parks inspire the books or do the books inspire you to go to certain parks? If that makes sense. Oh, Oh God. Um,
00:40:08
Speaker
Well, I read more books than I go to parks. So it it goes a little bit both ways. Sometimes a part of ah a park or a roller coaster inspires me to pick a certain book. But most of the time it's the other way around. So I read a really nice book and I think, oh, I want to picture it, but where?
00:40:30
Speaker
And then I try to find a good shot. Nice. I know there was one that like I saw, I forget. I'm scrolling through your Instagram right now. um I want to say it was like maybe Condor where like the colors matched perfectly to the book.
00:40:45
Speaker
do you ever like look at a book and be like, oh, that looks like that roller coaster? Oh, yeah. Yeah. All the time. Especially with with with color schemes. Yeah.
00:40:57
Speaker
Yeah. or Or areas of a park, you know. Walibi is really loud with colors. So Walibi is really nice. Walibi Holland is really nice to take books, even though it's not my favorite of parks. But it's so screaming colors you know so there's a lot of really colorful books i can just take there and i know it's going to be nice former six flags park problems this is just very bright yeah yeah yeah very bright yeah there's nothing but black top and bright random colors mm-hmm
00:41:35
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, it goes it goes both ways. ah But yeah, I read a lot. So sometimes I wait taking a book somewhere because I just want it to be perfect. And sometimes I'm like, okay, I just want to take it now and I will and figure out a way to make a picture of it.
00:41:56
Speaker
What kind of books do you typically read? Like what are your favorite genres? I used to be like really fantasy-ish. I did read a lot of fantasy this year, but not like your typical, like very popular ones. You know, that the romantic genre is really popular. Well, that's not really my thing. I think I prefer like the older fantasy or the or older sci-fi. And when it is when it comes to like newer books,
00:42:26
Speaker
it just has to be something that that touches me in some way or form. Uh, sometimes I'm, I pick a book up and I'm like, okay, I don't, I don't feel anything. It's, it's kind of boring or then I would just put it aside and pick up another one.
00:42:42
Speaker
Yeah. yeah thanks But I like stories that are, ah somewhat unique. Like Jen, you, you, uh, Told me you liked Fahrenheit 451, if I pronounced that correctly. Yeah. you I looked into it and I just picked it up right away and I really loved it.
00:43:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's an incredible book for any of our listeners. It's my favorite book ever. I read it at least once a year and it is, it's so good.
00:43:16
Speaker
Yeah, I was so happy when you told me you read it and that you loved it. It's like... I have a really nice copy too. You know, i just looked at, found a secondhand one and it has like a not so typical design on it. I i really like this one.
00:43:32
Speaker
Yeah, the covers to them, they did come out with a movie of it. It's not a good movie at all. It does not relay the story very well, in my opinion. um And other than the the movie covers, the that book always has incredible covers. There was a point in time where where I had like five different copies of it because I wanted all the different covers.
00:43:54
Speaker
Oh, cool. cool Yeah, I had a whole bunch of them and it was my favorite. Unfortunately, they are no longer with us. They have burned, which is really like, ah it's really a... um What? they Oh, no. Yeah. So always...
00:44:11
Speaker
yeah so ah i always our listeners, I don't know if I've ever talked about this on the podcast. So ah all of my books used to be housed at my parents' house and they're like old house. And luckily this happened in my bedroom because I didn't live there.
00:44:25
Speaker
um but my parents' house had caught fire, um because of all wiring and everything in my bedroom was destroyed, including all of my copies of all of my physical books. Um, which is really ironic for Fahrenheit 451. That's so many copies were destroyed. um But yeah, so um they unfortunately burned. Terrible.
00:44:49
Speaker
But it's fine. We had five animals and I i always say this. We had five animals. All of our animals were okay. My room got the worst of it and I i didn't live there. It was just like stuff I had in storage. It could have been a thousand, thousand, thousand times worse. And the worst thing out of it is that I i lost my books. It's I think that that.
00:45:11
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that is okay So. Yeah. But ironic for that, those copies to be burned. Yeah. Which is, it's very ironic. And I had like five or six copies and I had some really like limited edition copies. Cause I literally any unique copy of that book I could find, I bought it.
00:45:32
Speaker
Um, that's how I know what to get you for Christmas. Yeah. I actually do not have a physical copy of that book anymore. I just bought my first physical, that the fire happened.
00:45:45
Speaker
eight years ago now. um And i actually switched to paperless, which I know is like some of the worst things to say to book lovers. I switched to a Kindle.
00:45:57
Speaker
Because i had this whole big, giant, beautiful collection of books. Books that I was really attached to. And all of them were gone in an instant. um So I switched to paper copies of books. And then there's this this little tiny bookstore near my new house. um It's called Wellington Square Bookstore in Exton, Pennsylvania. And I walked into that bookstore.
00:46:21
Speaker
and it made me fall in love with physical books again. So I actually bought my first physical book since the fire a year and a half ago. And now I have a nice little collection again, not as big, um but it like made me fall in love with paper um books again. So I do not have a copy of that one yet again, but I do now have another collection growing.
00:46:47
Speaker
As a publisher, this makes me happy to hear. Yeah, my little, well, I mean, I had a i had a reason. I spent yeah so much money on books over the years and what like they were all gone in an instant. um And it also, like I do still love the e-reader for some things. It's really nice to only have, like if you're carrying a purse, it's one small tablet um as opposed to like a large book.
Book Preferences and Inspirations
00:47:19
Speaker
So they still had benefits, but i have made my way back to some paper copies. o So, yeah. I used to read a lot on my phone, too.
00:47:32
Speaker
And I read a lot of audiobooks, too. Yeah. really like those. I like audiobooks, like, especially when you have a good narrator. Mm-hmm.
00:47:43
Speaker
They can be really good.
00:47:46
Speaker
Yeah. I'm not into audio only books I do are like memoirs.
00:47:55
Speaker
And like biographies like read by the author. It's like a lot of celebrities. oh So then I just feel like they're telling me their story. Yeah. I really like the, um,
00:48:09
Speaker
I don't listen to a ton of audiobooks, um but the Ahsoka audiobook, which if anyone's Star Wars fans, the Ahsoka novel is fantastic. I recommend it to everyone. I think it's, it's I'm a huge fan of Ahsoka, and the book is fantastic. And the audiobook is narrated by Ashley Eckstein, the original voice of Ahsoka. So...
00:48:32
Speaker
That's cool. I love listening to her. I love listening to her anyway. I i think she's an incredible person. um But it's really nice to so to have Ahsoka actually being read by Ahsoka.
00:48:45
Speaker
so yeah That's cool. That's really cool. Yeah, it's a good one. I figured an Ahsoka audiobook would just be your dog barking. yeah Yeah, you would think. You would think.
00:48:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. She's asleep right now. I don't know how much barking we're going to get out of her. So. Yeah, so that's a good one. Fahrenheit 451 is.
00:49:11
Speaker
i've I've not read it. I've told Allison to read it multiple times. I don't. Ironically, I don't read a lot right now because all of my like book time is dedicated to actually like designing the books.
00:49:24
Speaker
Yeah. so I don't have a lot of like books on the side that I've been reading lately. what What is your kind of gen genre? um I love like young adult urban fantasy dystopian kind of stuff. um That's what I typically read and write.
00:49:43
Speaker
um I did a little bit of sci-fi. I was reading the Expanse series for a while. But then I just kind of fell back on reading and never finished it. Yeah.
00:49:56
Speaker
I love a lot of like the mainstream stuff, like Maze Runner, Hunger Games. Yeah, Hunger Games is good. it's just just It's just good. Yeah. Apocalyptic kind of stuff I love.
00:50:09
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Have you read Annihilation? No, I've not heard it. Oh, Annihilation's a really good one. All right, let me Google. I haven't heard. Yeah, they made a movie ah but of it too, which was also pretty good. The book was better, but...
00:50:26
Speaker
um yeah Annihilation is a really good one I've only seen the movie it was pretty trippy yeah the book is trippy too like it's very but I only recommend the first one the I read the second and the third one and they're not as good but the first one is very cool But is it is it like then, is it a closed up story? Or do you have like loose ends in the end? Because it's a series, right?
00:50:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's a series, but it's it's perfectly fine to read the first one. And like like, you get enough of an ending and enough of a finish. There's not like, there wasn't much of a desire to read the second one and the third one.
00:51:05
Speaker
the And then when you actually go to read them, they're not they're not as good. um I don't think. I feel like they're kind of like the Jurassic Park series where it's like the they could have become a series depending on how good the first book was but then the rest of it's not really good because it wasn't designed to be a series. I don't know if that's the case but it feels similar. Yeah for Jurassic Park that's the case.
00:51:31
Speaker
Yeah exactly. It was not designed to be a series. And that's how it feels with Annihilation because the first one can stand alone very well. And then it feels like you're kind of like backtracking on things in the other stories. So it it felts fair it feels very similar. Like we're backtracking to make it a series after the fact because it was popular. So. um About Jurassic Park.
00:51:57
Speaker
I really wish somebody would take the book to Velocicoaster. I think I've asked it one time on my Instagram page if someone could please take a copy to that coaster because it belongs there.
00:52:09
Speaker
i do know... So one of my friends, um anytime we're at a park, he will bring a book that's related to that coaster and generally take pictures with the coasters.
00:52:20
Speaker
So he does have one like in front of the Mosasaurus roll reading Jurassic Park. And he'll do it... like um i can't think of any other specific ones but he will like specifically pick the books based on the park that we're at whoo who's that because i haven't seen it i don't know if he has like an explicit instagram account for his name is ricky um jan i don't know if you've met ricky i don't know if i have either we can also like i'm in florida all the time if you would like i can we can collab on one and
00:52:51
Speaker
I took a picture of my book in front of a Ossicoaster. That also counts. Yeah. yeah i love I love collaborations because I'm, yeah, I would love to go to America, but it's not in the foreseeable future that I'm coming over, unfortunately. But, ah yeah, i love I love to do collaborations. Um,
00:53:20
Speaker
I'm seeing if I can even find that picture. I don't remember when I did it. It was probably shortly after my book came out. Yeah. It's the last I'm met Universal all the time.
00:53:31
Speaker
So.
00:53:34
Speaker
And I think actually, dont I think I have that on my Kindle. Not on. What my book? No, the Jurassic Park. But that's one of my favorite books. So I would happily have a paper copy of it.
00:53:48
Speaker
Like some of my favorite books. I try to limit my paper copies to my favorite books. meet Me too. with With the copies that I keep.
00:53:58
Speaker
Because yeah, I buy a lot of books, but I don't keep a lot of them. I wish I could do that. I'm a hoarder. I hoard books. like If I purchase the book and I have it, unless I gift it, like i unless it's like not my favorite book and I gift it to someone and don't care if it gets returned, then I'm fine. But i will I'll keep books, even if I only read them once.
00:54:26
Speaker
I don't know. I'm like... it's I don't know why. I'm like very attached to my books. That's why i have, like, at this point, I have no reason to have these, like, really children's books. But I literally have, like, Dutch Peppa Pig books and Dick Dick books. And, like, at this point, I don't really have any reason to have these books other than every once in a while I'll torture joe Joey and be like, do you want me to read you a book in Dutch and read him, like...
00:54:57
Speaker
Peppa Pig. yeah but Dickie Dick is iconic. Come on. I love Dickie Dick. i agree We have a plushie of Dickie Dick somewhere, but I don't know where. It's somewhere in the house.
00:55:08
Speaker
I, um, Dickie Dick is the book that I use to, like, practice my pronunciation at first. Um, so I, like, Some of them, like, at this point I have memorized. Like, I have this, like, um Through the Seasons Dickie Dick book. And the first one is called Red and Crables. And I know, like, the first three pages without even looking at the story. Like, sometimes I'll be like, Joey, do you want me to read you a story? And just start reading it without even even going and get the book.
00:55:37
Speaker
Like, it's so bad. But yeah, like, i but I can't get rid of it. Because I'm, like, I'm a hoarder. I'm, like, I can't. I can't. Like, I was reading it. Now I have to keep it forever. Alison, do you know what Dicky Dick is?
00:55:55
Speaker
No clue. he's like he's a little He's a little orange cat. Wait, I have his book right here. Well, I think it's a chunky orange cat. He is he's a He's a fat orange cat.
00:56:08
Speaker
but It's cute.
00:56:12
Speaker
Yeah, he's a fat. I also have a look book with Dickie Dick. So my friend Sarah and Taylor were going to see um Joey and they were in the Netherlands and they were going to see Joey in like Belgium. And I was like, can you guys pick me up books? Like, and I told them, I was like, I need like,
00:56:31
Speaker
young child like chapter books and they came up with Dicky Dick. So now I just have this, but I won't get rid of it because I hoard books. No, it's just too cute. Children's books are too cute.
00:56:46
Speaker
Too cute. Yeah, I really, I really enjoy Dicky Dick book. This whole time I was looking for that picture that I took of my book in front of Velocicoaster.
00:56:57
Speaker
Oh yes, love this. Yeah, this is great. it's so good. so It's not Jurassic Park, but it was my book in front of favorite roller coaster. It's
00:57:10
Speaker
If you want, I can feature it if I read it. Because i've I've started reading your book. Well, thank you. And I will do a cheeky little review of it. and I would love that.
00:57:22
Speaker
I don't know if there's any fire-related coasters that you could take a picture of it with. but Yeah, Joris and the Draak. Yeah. I was going to say, I had the opportunity, literally now that I think about it, when I rode Fireball this summer.
00:57:41
Speaker
Fireball. Because I made that a milestone because I love fire. flip So I ah went and rode Fireball for my 700th coaster and then took a shot of Fireball outside of the park in honor of it.
00:57:56
Speaker
And I could have had my book if I was more forward-thinking enough. oh That have been really smart. It would have looked good. It would have looked great. But no, I did not think about that.
00:58:08
Speaker
What the heck? I was also like two days off of a Europe trip and I was very jet lagged and was not thinking. Well, another reason to return, right?
00:58:18
Speaker
Yes. I probably won't end up back at Fireball because that's very out of the way for a not great coaster. Yeah. Yeah, I told you, Allison, they do it they have a lot of credits. Like, a lot of credits. They do very, like, that's what that's where we left off on the episode, because I was like, they are, like, credit people, so they're gonna pick Energylandia for all the credits versus Eptaling for the five.
00:58:46
Speaker
No, I think it's, there's a lot of parks in that region that we still want to do. Yeah, that makes sense. we would turn that into its own trip at some point. Yeah. Yeah. You know you also want the credits.
00:58:59
Speaker
I have the credits. It's more for Mike. Oh, I didn't realize. Oh, I guess I did know that you had the credits. Yeah, I've been there. you have that picture with, isn't that where you have the picture of Jack doing a handshake or like the video of you guys doing a handshake? We did that at a lot of parks, to be fair. Oh, okay. I thought, i think I remember.
00:59:15
Speaker
but there's the picture of me drinking a bottle of wine on a trampoline under Zadra. No, I had no idea that existed. That's iconic.
00:59:27
Speaker
Please stand by. i will find because it's one of my favorite photos. That's amazing. yeah like all the minutes right but You have all the credits in Energyland yet? um I was there before the two new ones in Honey Harbor opened. Ah, yeah, yeah.
00:59:45
Speaker
Interesting. I don't know why I didn't think about it. Oh, that's a great picture. That's great. Yeah. Looking forward to reenacting that. Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:59:56
Speaker
Yeah, but married. yeah We're trying to get some friends to join for that part, too. Because it's it like the tail end of the honeymoon. so Oh, that would be fun. That would be really fun.
01:00:07
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah, sorry. derailed because all a sudden I was like, wait, this is what we were talking about because have the credits. Yeah.
01:00:18
Speaker
Yeah, we were talking about it. You you were really like credit hunting and ah Jen and I are more like vibes people. I mean, I still go for vibes for lot of them.
01:00:29
Speaker
Yeah, but would you go to Europa Park 32 times in a season instead of visiting a new park for credits? If I could. if I lived there, yeah.
01:00:43
Speaker
Me drinking my beer. I get the credits, I vibe more. like Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I reckon, yeah. And I will always skip a kiddie coaster to ride something that's more fun.
01:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, valid. I will too. Except if it's P-Flyers, then I'll steal a child and ride.
01:01:05
Speaker
I need to. One day.
01:01:09
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:12
Speaker
Alright, well... We can get back to our guest. this is it Yeah. yeah conversational interview. We keep derailing. It's fine. It's fine. okay You have very similar interests. yeah um Yeah. Well, we talked about your favorite genre. We talked about the start of books and coasters. So what was the start of you as a coaster enthusiast?
01:01:35
Speaker
ah That was the very first time I went to Fantasia Land. I think it was 2018. Well, I did like ah theme parks a lot
Fantasialand and Fly Experience
01:01:47
Speaker
when I was a kid. Growing up, I went to Dundrell lots, ah to Walibi when I was a teen, and Efteling, all those parks. But...
01:01:58
Speaker
And I did like roller coasters in particular also, but I did not know there was such a community around it. So in 2018, I went to Fantasialand with my boyfriend, now husband, and we went kind of on a whim.
01:02:15
Speaker
ah not really reading a lot about it. I only knew there was Tarum, but Tarum was closed for a big portion of the day. So we were a bit like, okay, now what?
01:02:30
Speaker
And it's like a labyrinth over there. So we were like, okay, ah where do we have to go? I don't know. um But at that moment, there was like a really huge poster that was announcing fly.
01:02:43
Speaker
And I was looking at that poster and I was like, what is that? What are they going to build here? Like, it was all about flying. And I was like, imagining what how how how? I did not know how they could reenact that, that feeling of flying. so ah And then at the end of the day, Taron opened and it rained like cats and dogs and it was really overwhelming ride but I was like oh my god coasters are really cool so uh after that trip I went online I was trying to look up in from all ah all information about fly and ah then I found forums and people on social media and then of course covid hit so I could only scour the internet about roller coasters. So that's that's kind of where it it started off.
01:03:33
Speaker
Just being on the internet and finding all those keyword creators and forums and finding all about fly because I still had no clue how they would do that flying thing. So I found out there were other flying coasters over the world. I was like, oh that's so cool.
01:03:49
Speaker
So deep dive into... manufacturers, all all the works.
01:03:58
Speaker
It sounds very familiar. Yeah, learned but very familiar. And have you been on any other flying coasters from Fly? No, no, still not yet. No. Yeah, but that's probably for the best. I have not been on Fly, um unfortunately, um but that's probably for the best.
01:04:17
Speaker
They're kind of like... They're like, imagine a B&M invert just even more intense. Like take the most intense B&M invert and it's like doubled.
01:04:31
Speaker
Yeah, is it really that intense? Yeah, they're like, that I have felt my chest crush under me in ways that I didn't even know was safe for my chest to crunch under me, especially Rest in peace. But especially on the Vekoma Flying Dutchman's. Oh, yeah. Yeah, those don't really look really smooth. yeah I'm and very sad that they're they're no longer here. But um that was like... I was... ah i remember getting off of that. And I was like, thank goodness that I am alive. And and and what about Galactica?
01:05:07
Speaker
that That sounds like a... Galactica was... very different of a sensation because it's more like graceful yeah you're on your back more often than a lot of the other flyers who oh i don't mean admired you're like most of the other flyers obviously you're like face down looking at the ground but yeah galactica is a lot more on your back it's very interesting i think that would be better because like it's i know it's not as natural of like a flying position like they're trying to emulate but A lot of where the intensity comes in the flyers is when you're facing the ground and then go into dives. Like that, that is such an unnatural, like, yeah, the, um, zero G rolls and heartline rolls, things like that weren't as intense. They were specifically when you're facing down and go into a dive. Pretzel loops.
01:05:59
Speaker
Pretzel loops. Yeah. The pretzel loops might be like the most intense thing that I've ever experienced in my life. It's weird. Yeah, they are like, for me at this point in my life, they are like a skip almost every single time. Yeah?
01:06:14
Speaker
Yeah. They're like a little bit too crazy for me. um i mean, I'll still ride it. I'll ride them every once in a while. um But also it's like, there are parks with like not great operations. Yeah. So it's like six or seven minute dispatches and... I'm like, not worth it.
01:06:36
Speaker
I will. I will see you guys later. Galactica had good ops. I will give it that. Where's Galactica? Alton Towers. Okay. I feel like Alton Towers, I haven't heard bad things about their ops. So that makes sense. No, it seemed pretty solid. Yeah.
01:06:52
Speaker
I feel like Tatsu is probably similar. Tatsu, that's a flyer, right? Yeah. I'm making sure that's not that. I was like, I know they have an invert too. yeah I'm getting on much together is the BNM inverts are also like what I consider in my talent group. And now I don't remember which are flyers and which are inverts.
01:07:11
Speaker
I hear tattoos are pretty good too, which makes it a little better, but I'm like, I can go get a beer in this 10 or 15 minute operations that you guys are going to sit through.
01:07:24
Speaker
Yeah, Fly is kind of weird. Like the first time I wrote it, i was like, okay, is that it? I don't know if I like this, but like the second time you just have to really relax into the harness and then then it's really good.
01:07:43
Speaker
i love Fly. I want to write it really, really nice. yeah I want to ride it so bad. a year or What's that? I love Taryn more, but I still love Fly.
01:07:56
Speaker
Yeah, at the time that I went, I was glad out of all three of like the big hitters there that Fly was the one that was closed, but like I want to ride it so bad.
01:08:11
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, you should. You should. You should go. I'll make it back it. I also really need to ride Taryn not in the middle of the winter. Like, I want to ride that when it's moving its quickest.
01:08:27
Speaker
mon Yeah. Yeah, I'm i'm a Taryn girly too. Like, that's my shirt. oh Yeah, I didn't even notice. Yeah, Taryn is just, like, such an incredible ride.
01:08:42
Speaker
I love it. It's all about the vibes and the soundtrack. Yeah, the soundtrack. Obsessed with the soundtrack. Not like I've ever mentioned that on the podcast before or anything. but I think I will only take Viking books there because other books don't fit the vibe. It's just like the Norse mythology Viking vibe. yeah Yeah, that's like the perfect that's like the perfect vibes.
01:09:11
Speaker
i Yeah. I also, when I went to, i really, really, it was my first visit to Fantasialand and I had no idea where we were going, but I've told this story on the podcast many of times, but I rode, um, I have never lost my glasses on a roller coaster and I don't wear glasses straps. I don't like, I've actually, I've lost them twice on a roller coaster, once on Iron Gwazi and once on Velocicoaster. And at both, at the end of both rides, I got them back somehow.
01:09:41
Speaker
Wow. They sat in the bottom of the train. i have no idea how it happened. Um, and Crazy Bats got my glasses. My first ride of the entire trip and Crazy Bats got my glasses.
01:09:57
Speaker
And... I went into the hole and of course I was like, I don't need contacts. Like I never wear my contacts. I'm just going to save space and not bring them. And so I was blind for the whole rest of the trip. So I also have to go. I have to go back to Fantasia land when I can actually see anything. Cause this was literally like, we got there at opening, got, went straight to crazy bats because we figured like capacity wise, it was the best option to start and glass is gone.
01:10:25
Speaker
Oh no. So yeah. Yeah. Crazy deaths of all coasters. I know. I like love to tell because I'm like, I lost these on Iron Gwazi. Iron Gwazi. Yeah.
01:10:37
Speaker
Come on. And i lost them for good on Crazy Baths.
01:10:43
Speaker
What a, what a tale. but Fun fact, Phantasy Land's only ah about an hour away from Toberland. I did know that. Noted. Yeah, because me and Joey, when we were coming back from the Netherlands, we were like, if we have an extra day. We ended up going to Efteling for an extra day because all of his friends were going there. But we were like he we were like, oh, should we stop somewhere along the way? Should we? Should we? And I was like, well, you know, well you know there is a theme park that we pass like right by.
01:11:14
Speaker
And he thought I was talking about Toverland. So he was like, do you really want to? And I was like, no, I'm talking about Fantasialand. let Let's go back to Fantasialand. And that's how I learned that they're like right on the way from the Netherlands to Europa Park.
01:11:27
Speaker
Both of them. Because we were like having a completely different conversation about two different parks. Both talking about Dogtail Park. Which, yeah, we ended up just Efteling another day. But I need to go ride fly.
01:11:43
Speaker
I need You should. Yeah. It's worth it literally broke the day. i i had no idea I was going to Fantasialand. Joey picked me up at Frankfurt and drove me to Fantasialand and I didn't notice until we were all the way in Cologne. um I had no idea. And the day before, something broke in the station on fly. So it was closed the day we were there. Sad.
01:12:09
Speaker
Sad. Wasn't meant to be. Maybe next time.
01:12:19
Speaker
Once again, we keep getting distracted. I know. This is like... It's just too nice to talk about theme parks and roller coasters, right? Yeah, theme parks, roller coasters, and books. It's like a very a very good topic episode.
01:12:34
Speaker
Yeah. Lots of ah creative avenues that we all have. Yeah. Do you write at all? Yeah. Yeah. I ah finished the first draft of a children's novel ah a few months ago.
01:12:52
Speaker
and I'm in the editing stage right now. But I hate editing. Editing is like the bane of my existence. It's every time I sit down, i edit like five to 10 pages and I'm like, done. Yeah.
01:13:07
Speaker
I hate editing because like I critique my own work so hard. I'm like, this is terrible. Why would anybody want to read this? Yeah. Yeah. And I overthink everything.
01:13:18
Speaker
It's really hard. The editing is really hard. So I started two new ah projects alongside it. And one of it is actually in English. So I'm really looking forward to making that something real and maybe... Publish it myself someday.
01:13:40
Speaker
ah Are they anything to do with roller coasters or just other? Well, there's like one major thing that connects them all together. And that's ah that theme parks are really heavily featured in all three of them.
01:13:54
Speaker
I love that. I love that. It's just, it's just like, I think my biggest inspiration at this point, just going there and then the vibes and then stories just, just,
01:14:06
Speaker
pop up, I don't know, or just you experience something like being stuck on Vliegen Hollander, like that's such a good scene. Like I had such a nice conversation with my friend who was scared at that moment. And I was like, just explaining to her like, no, this is okay because then you know the thing works.
01:14:26
Speaker
And that was just like such a nice scene that I just had to use it. Yeah. Oh, that's nice. I have that happen all the time where just an entire like book plot pops into my head and I'm like, how?
01:14:42
Speaker
How does that even happen? Yeah. Yeah. yeah That's the thing with creativity, creativity right? It's like, it's, it should pop into your head. If you, if you overthink it too much, nothing comes out.
01:14:54
Speaker
Yep. Sitting there staring at a blank page, like i want to write, but I have no thoughts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why I have multiple projects because sometimes I'm just stuck in one and then, oh, but I have a new idea. So let's go. Follow that ah trail wherever it goes.
01:15:14
Speaker
I do the same thing. I have so many just like unfinished manuscripts because I just keep getting more ideas. Oh, that's cool. Are there other other ones that that that you might think well you will publish?
01:15:27
Speaker
Mm-hmm. yeah Also benefits to working or, you know, founding a publishing company is I have the ability to publish through that. um So I have my first book out, which is Pyrokinetic working on that's going to be a four book series eventually if I ever finish it.
01:15:46
Speaker
um So I'd love to get book two out at some point. I have another book that is currently being edited through the publishing company. um And that one's kind of a cross between Hunger Games and Maze Runner.
01:15:58
Speaker
It's kind of the similar and that's a whole trilogy. And then I have other ones that I would love to eventually publish. So you write series. That's like, wow. I always think in terms of series, which is a problem because I just never have enough time to finish them.
01:16:15
Speaker
who But then I'm also just like, I have these entire worlds in my head, like multiple worlds. but That's just just so cool. You know, think it's really cool.
01:16:27
Speaker
And I think there's also why why why theme parks are such a good fit for books because in theme parks day they visualize those worlds. They just make it real. Yeah. And theme parks are always about like taking you out of reality, just like a break from reality to just have fun. And I feel like books are very similar for that. Yeah.
01:16:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. the The best books are also really immersive, in my opinion. Yeah, and that's why I love like fantasy kind of stuff too, because it's just entirely new places and concepts for you to visualize.
01:17:05
Speaker
Yeah, and have you have you maybe read anything by Robin Hobb? I don't believe so. No. She is really good at the character work, but she has like one world where she just exp expands upon every time she writes a book, and it's such a nice world. It's amazing.
01:17:26
Speaker
i'm not really I'm not really good at reading like long, long, long series, but this author has been with me since the beginning, I think, of of my Instagram page. And I read the books together with a friend of mine.
01:17:40
Speaker
So it's also like every time we dive into the the world, we dive in together. That's fun.
01:17:50
Speaker
Yeah. That sounds really cool.
Listener Questions: Coasters and Books
01:17:58
Speaker
I know we have a few listener questions. Do we want to dive into those? Yeah, we probably were going to derail again, I'm sure. It's like I have no idea what our time is at right now because I've had to start it and stop the recording.
01:18:12
Speaker
Yeah. We're not that bad. We're good. um Do you want to ask the first one, Allison? ah Sure. um So from The Book Assassin, what was your first roller coaster and what was one of your favorite books growing up?
01:18:29
Speaker
My first roller coaster, and already told Jen this, it's the frog coaster at Duinrail. ah It's like a cheeky zitter that's been demolished right now because they're going to ah yeah put another coaster in the same vein in the park.
01:18:50
Speaker
When I was young, it was it was kind of an incredible coaster because it it packs a little punch, you know? Yeah, it was all it was a lot more than I was expecting out of like a kid's roller coaster. It was kind of intense.
01:19:06
Speaker
And it's a long train too. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it has a long train. I hope they will bring the long train back. Yeah. hope they do. It was like, I was really impressed by that. I was like, it's not at all what I was expecting.
01:19:22
Speaker
cute. Crazy. Yeah. So that's that's for the coaster. And for books, I think the Narnia series. i grew up quite fundamentally Christian.
01:19:38
Speaker
So there were a lot of books I was not allowed to read. um Especially fantasy. Like a lot of big fantasy series were coming up at that time. But ah the books of Narnia, C.S. Lewis was a Christian, so I was allowed to read those, and that's a really expansive universe, so again, you dive into that world completely. Yeah.
01:20:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good series. That's a really good one, I feel like. And then, like, yeah, expanded upon in movies, and it's a very
01:20:20
Speaker
I'm trying to think what my one of my first books was that I can remember. like One of the earliest ones I remember loving was Holes. Oh, I read that recently, that one.
01:20:31
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not it's not really that well known in the Netherlands, but okay I thought it was a classic and yeah, it was really cool. I loved that.
01:20:41
Speaker
Yeah. um I remember in elementary school, I loved that book. I might still have a copy of it downstairs. Did you reread it when you were an adult? No, but I mean, I've watched the movie a couple times.
01:20:55
Speaker
Is it good? The movie? I like the movie. I think the movie is well done. It's one of those ones where like, I think the movie does a really good job communicating what's happening in the book. um You don't really miss anything out of it, um which is nice.
01:21:14
Speaker
It's a fantastic movie as well. Yeah. Yeah, that that's one of my childhood favorites too. I read it more times than once. I actually think I started to read it not that long ago.
01:21:26
Speaker
But then when I, like, I think that I might have started to read it and then stopped. I think maybe I started to learn Dutch and I stopped. But I do know I read the first, like, five or six chapters again.
01:21:40
Speaker
i can't remember why. um But yeah, that's a fantastic book. I... and Yeah, i really I really like the writing style of that one. It was like quite easy, but also with kind a lot of layers to it.
01:21:55
Speaker
yeah i was I was impressed. Yeah. I can't remember many that i read when I was like young. i feel like most of my memory with books is...
01:22:07
Speaker
um high school, but I i also really, really, i love Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It's another one that I've read um a whole bunch of times. That one came out, I think, when I was in middle school or high school, and um it follows an autistic child.
01:22:26
Speaker
um exploring like his father was in 9-11 he was in the towers when they collapsed and he found something he thinks belongs to his father so he like you follow him through exploring in new york city trying to find out what it means um it's just a really beautiful story um yeah i feel like when i was young that was a book that i really enjoyed
01:22:55
Speaker
And then, of course, Fahrenheit 451. That's what I first read, Fahrenheit 451. My first read of Fahrenheit 451 was in the ninth grade when I was, I guess I would have been 14.
01:23:06
Speaker
um And I've read it almost every year since. so Oh, really? Yeah. i Sometimes every other year, but I've read it probably 15 or 16 times at this point. Wow.
01:23:19
Speaker
Yeah. Because it's, it's, Allison, when you read it, you'll understand. But like, it's one of those books that are like hauntingly accurate. And yeah what's crazy is that like, even if you only have a year gap, it gets more haunting with every read. It's crazy. So I read that book every once in a while just to, not every once in a while, i read it like once a year just to like,
01:23:48
Speaker
be a little scared, I guess. so It's like a mirror. its Yeah. Yeah. it's an It's crazy. And the book was written in 1953. And yeah it's like for Ray Bradbury to have the vision that he had at that time and to watch it become very close.
01:24:12
Speaker
It's crazy. Yeah. Crazy. That is so weird about dystopian novels. I don't know how people can think of those scenarios happening and they really do happen, you know? Yeah, it's like... It's crazy. like To be able to think about something you're concerned with and like the progression of that thing and like predict what will happen and have it happen is crazy.
01:24:43
Speaker
Yeah.
01:24:46
Speaker
Yeah.
01:24:50
Speaker
Yeah, there's some good ones. um Let's see, we can go. Thirls on Film is next. She is asking... What's that? but who's that Who's that?
01:25:03
Speaker
Only LaurelXL200. um What's your favorite story told at a theme park, whether it be a themed land, a ride, or a show? Oh, whoa, that's a good question. That's really... And with your home park being Efteling, that's an incredible question.
01:25:22
Speaker
Ooh, yeah. but but what ah When it comes to themed lands, I think I will not choose Efteling. Yeah, themed lands, I can see. I really like the the fairy tale storytelling in Sproakish Boss, of course, because I like fairy tales, but they are like very...
01:25:40
Speaker
microcosms on its own like yeah tiny stories that everybody knows because they are well known so i might go I really love Avalon in Toverland okay Like the the Arthurian theme, the way it looks, the way the story goes through the land, every attraction you are in.
01:26:12
Speaker
i think they do their storytelling really well. Yeah, that makes sense. I have not been, haven't seen it. I think you would, you you know, it's it's just, it's just, it's incredible. they They added new attractions to it. And I was like, maybe that would become a bit crowded in terms of storytelling, but no, they did so well.
01:26:37
Speaker
Yeah. You know, when it comes to themed lands, I really, really love Roqueburg and Klugheim, but the storytelling there Yeah, there is a story, but it's it's not that much told that you see it.
01:26:52
Speaker
But there is not, like, a story you can follow that much, you know? Yeah, I do feel like when it comes to theming the lands, Efteling isn't.
01:27:05
Speaker
Like, because each land doesn't tell, like, a cohesive story exactly. who No, no, no. They do try it with a Vogelrock area, and you know, the little overall they did, but...
01:27:18
Speaker
That's about it. you know yeah it's but there were like I feel like when it comes to the attractions, that's where they shine. yeah yeah and And the Danse Macabre area is really well done when it comes storytelling. I was really impressed.
01:27:34
Speaker
Yeah, that was incredible. yeah that was really good I still have to read the book though. I'm really yeah looking forward to expanding the the theming a bit more.
01:27:47
Speaker
Yeah, so i I also have the book. I have not started it yet. um But i did get the book. Someone told me that it's not super, like, expanding on it. Like, it isn't standalone story that's just using the characters. Okay. um Kind of like the Baron book. That's what I was also told about the Baron book. Yeah, that one's not so good. Yeah, so...
01:28:14
Speaker
um I don't know. I'm interested to read that one too. I picked it up when I was in Efteling. The edition is really, really, really good. It's such a nice copy. The book they formatted it. it's It's awesome. the like That's what I was like, I want to pick up.
01:28:32
Speaker
a book for sure. and I saw that book in the store and I was like, this is just such a gorgeous book and like yeah everything. like Presentation, even if it's awful, like I would love to have this like on my bookshelf.
01:28:45
Speaker
It's yeah gorgeous. All of the Efteling books I feel like are really beautiful. like The Baron one, even, is really beautiful. yeah yeah and And their fairytale books are really good.
01:28:59
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I have a gripe with the fairytale books, though. They're so beautiful, except they have a paper sticker on the front. Yeah, like the the little illustration is like the a paper sticker. It's a paper sticker. yeah And I was like, because I was i was really about to get it.
01:29:16
Speaker
I was like, this is going to be, I'm going to leave with a second one because i'm really sad I did the Dance for Calvary book over the fairy tale one. And I went and I looked at it and the display had the whole entire paper sticker falling off.
01:29:28
Speaker
Oh no. And I was like, I'm not going to spend this money and and figure out room in my suitcase when the book, the sticker is peeling off. It made me really sad.
01:29:39
Speaker
oh yeah. Cause I'm like, it looks beautiful, but then the sticker is peeling. Oh, mine is still intact, but yeah, maybe it will fall off one day. i don't want that to happen.
01:29:53
Speaker
Yeah. I think my next visit to Efteling, I won't have a choice. Like i I think I'm going to end up buying. it So we'll see. um Do you have an answer, Allison?
01:30:04
Speaker
i was I've been sitting here trying to think of one. It's not like a character with like story or a story with characters per se. But I think of like, I love Untamed and like how it's kind of the story of, you know, these like festival lands that have been overgrown and then you get to the station and it's just the vibes are awesome in there with like the music and Overgrown Station.
01:30:29
Speaker
i don't know if that really counts as an answer, but that's so that's one that kind of sticks out in my head. Yeah, it it is visual storytelling, that's for sure. Like I said, not ah not a story with characters necessarily, but it is a story still.
01:30:46
Speaker
Yeah. feel yeah Yeah, I think... Just to bring it back to Efteling. Of course. Yeah. I liked Raveline. Is that how you say it? Raveline? Raveline.
01:31:00
Speaker
Raveline, yeah. It was, I think that was like in a for a show I know that ah I was told by many people apparently the old version was better.
01:31:10
Speaker
But I thought that show did incredible storytelling from walking in to like the pre-show of what was happening, the story during the show.
01:31:21
Speaker
um i think they did a really beautiful job theming that and telling a really interesting story. um I like that.
01:31:33
Speaker
I do have another one now that I think about it. Karnan. Oh, why did it? Yeah. Why didn't we think about Karnan? don't speak the language, so I didn't get it 100%, but I still could get the story from the queue. And the queue is like super immersive, very cool.
01:31:51
Speaker
Yeah, that's how I felt too. Have you been Karnan? No, I did. Absolutely no spoilers. that ist that Yeah, no spoilers, please. Right.
01:32:02
Speaker
But yeah, I agree. I had no idea what was being said, no idea what was going on, but still had a very clear idea of the story um based off of just general theming and like how yeah like just based off of what was happening around me, which I think...
01:32:21
Speaker
goes to show that the theming is top tier. Cause if you've never spoke the language and you can still understand fully what is happening, I think that that is a very impressive thing. I will also like honorable mention to, um, Nothgrad, Nothgrad. Yeah.
01:32:40
Speaker
Yeah. The other, yeah. yeah The other, um, Gertzlauer in that park, ah another one, incredible storytelling.
Theme Park Storytelling
01:32:47
Speaker
um told very clearly through oh I'm so glad you brought that up because I never would have thought about I don't know why I wouldn't have thought about Karnan and top tier I couldn't remember if you'd been on that one so I'm glad that I remembered correctly yeah yeah I did that was my first trip to Germany I went there um I also have to give out a honorable mention to Frontier City
01:33:15
Speaker
Frontier City. Frontier City is the little tiny Six Flags Park that no one really goes to. It has, like, um a couple little coasters. It's kind of just like an add-on if you go to over Texas. It's like an hour or two away. um However, it might be, hands down, the best Six Flags Park, theming-wise.
01:33:37
Speaker
Ever. Like... Incredible. It's all frontier themed. It's, oh my gosh, I love it. It's the best. And they have a Schwarzkopf. Oh, cool. Yeah.
01:33:48
Speaker
It's a pretty nice park. I love that park. And they have like a, um I don't know if there's any in Europe, but they have an aero shuttle looper. and don't know. no is They start like really high off the ground and then like dive into a single loop and then do the same thing backwards and just...
01:34:07
Speaker
But they're so intense for like no reason. They have one at Blackpool, which I was able to do. Oh, yeah. I was like, I know there's one. one Revolution.
01:34:19
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's one of those. So. I have another honorable mention because circling back to Efteling again, i really have a soft spot for Villa Volta.
01:34:35
Speaker
I know it's completely in Dutch, ah but the story and the the soundtrack, and it's just togo a Vekoma Madhouse, but it's so well done. It still holds up. I really love it.
01:34:47
Speaker
I can't go to the Efteling and not ride that one. So my um when I was at Efteling, Beren and Villa Volta were both closed. No! And my home park growing up, like the park that maybe an enthusiast had, Vekoma Madhouse, and it's considered one of the better ones in the States. Um, theming wise, I, I love it. And so that was like going dance macabre and Villa Volta. Like when everyone was asking me what I wanted at Eptaling and I was like Villa Volta, like I just, they're like, it's a Vekoma madhouse. And like but Villa Volta. And then the OG, it's the OG. Yeah. And it's like, I loved the Vekoma Madhouse at Six Flags Great Adventure has been one of my favorite rides for years and years. Like for my family, that was like a must do. Every time we walked into that park, the whole, it was the only thing the entire family would do.
01:35:42
Speaker
And I loved it. And they closed, like they shut it down for renovation, like maybe two or three days before we got there. No, all want is Villa Volta.
01:35:55
Speaker
love madhouses. They're so fun. They're so fun. And when they're themed well, like, oh, Houdini's so good. and I know Villa Volta is going to be so good eventually.
01:36:07
Speaker
oh that's like, that was my saddest thing I missed. Like, I'm okay. Bering's just a dive coaster. Like, I know it's themed really well. I'm very excited to see it. But like, give me the Vekoma madhouse, please. Yeah, yeah.
01:36:22
Speaker
Yeah, very... Good ones. I also think that even though I don't want to get into it because um spoilers, i have to say most of Epic Universe.
01:36:34
Speaker
Yeah. Most of Epic Universe is. Yeah. Yeah. Should be mentioned in this. Absolutely. But I don't want to go into detail because it's a still a new park that everyone is trying to avoid spoilers for. So, yeah, I did my best to avoid spoilers when I did my little recap.
01:36:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I don't know if there's any... i have one more. Sorry. Even though I don't like the coaster very much and, um, I don't ride it that often, um, Iron Menace.
01:37:11
Speaker
I think... That's true. Iron Menace is so incredibly themed. It tells a really good story walking through, especially when paired with the haunted house. Um...
01:37:23
Speaker
Just an incredible storytelling experience. um Just... The coaster itself is fantastic, but just the quality of the coaster is not my favorite, so... Yeah, I forget. I also forget a really important one.
01:37:39
Speaker
Like, Vliegende Hollander, come on. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, queue, the station, everything. Yeah. Why should I... Why did I forget? Well, okay.
01:37:50
Speaker
Vliegende Hollander, yeah. Yeah, that one is also, ah I just think all of Efteling takes this one, really, except for the lands. Like that one, you're definitely right there. The lands don't portray his stories very well, but the rides themselves are yeah unmatched with the way that they're telling stories.
01:38:08
Speaker
You know that it's good when they have, there's a feature on their app where they can translate it to like a bunch of different languages. Like they have that built into their app. Like, you know that storytelling for them is so important when they build that into their app.
01:38:23
Speaker
Yeah, that's their that's their core business. Yeah. Storytelling is their core business. Yeah, it's incredible. I can't wait to deep dive on Efteling.
01:38:35
Speaker
One day. One day. allison is You have to go. have to go, Allison. We need to crowdfund Allison's trip to Efteling. And Toverland.
01:38:47
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, Toverland's up there for me too. Trust me, in my head I'm like, how can I make Fantasieland, Toverland, Efteling trip work at one time without taking too much time off work? oh Yeah, that part's hard. Yeah. Yeah.
01:39:03
Speaker
This is a good question because I do really like some parks do storytelling incredible. Like the parks that a lot of parks don't do it at all, but the parks that do it usually do it very well.
01:39:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. With a lot of care. Yeah. um Oh, ah man. I'm going to keep going, but we got to mention Basement Dino Ride. Come on.
01:39:25
Speaker
Basement Dino Ride is an incredible storytelling experience.
01:39:31
Speaker
i favorite I haven't been on it. I think I missed it too. No! so I literally have a tattoo of it. Yeah, it's okay. It's literally like cat so good. it literally follows. There's like a having dinosaurs is like not allowed. And there's this little old lady who's hiding dinosaurs in her garden. So you go through her whole entire backyard and garden and they're just like doing basic gardening tasks and like, and it's so fun. And then you go through the kitchen where they're all baking a cake. And it ends at a giant but birthday party for the T-Rex. It's incredible. It's just such a good storytelling experience. It makes no sense. And I love it Okay. that That is going to be my highlight for when I go to Europa Park again. Riding that ride.
01:40:26
Speaker
you You have to. It's like the best ride ever. When I surprised our co-host b Brian, I was like tracking their location because I was the easiest part for me to jump in and surprise them was in France. So I ran into the park when Joey meant went and met them and I was like tracking their location and I just kept going like, can I fit in a basement dino ride? Cool. And I just kept, I literally was like lapping basement dino ride waiting for them.
01:40:54
Speaker
Jeez. Most people would lap Can-Can. Nope. I was very happy on Basement Dino Ride. It's almost always like you walk right onto it. It's incredible. I love it. Sorry. Okay. Now I'm done. I swear I'm done. This question was so good. It's just storytelling is like amazing. If it's well done.
01:41:14
Speaker
doesn't matter what the theming what the theme is. Like basement dino ride. Yeah. Okay. It sounds freaky or weird, but it's nice. Yeah. it's It's the most bizarre story ever. But to tell a biar bizarre story, like even if it makes no sense, like the effort to put into that storytelling is... Yeah. Yeah.
01:41:34
Speaker
Yeah. i I do like that like Six Flags Park, Cedar Fair Parks are putting in a little more effort for story and theming. like Obviously, like Iron Menace, but I think of like Siren's Curse is another one. yeah We're actually putting ah investing a little bit of time and money into creating that story.
01:41:51
Speaker
Yeah. i I definitely am happy to see the improvements um that are being made for some of those parks. um I think another good example is King's Dominion. like That whole Pantheria jungle section. Like Raptera.
01:42:11
Speaker
Yeah. they're getting again The ride experience isn't the best, but it's still cool theme and kind of continuing the story of what was on that plot of land before.
01:42:21
Speaker
Yeah. but a very The volcano and crumbles or whatever. Yeah. yeah a Very cool. Yeah. It's nice to see Park's Trying.
01:42:33
Speaker
Putting more effort into it. Because some of the best parks. Just do storytelling well. yeah And and we we don't even talk about IPs here. Right. So that's an all other.
01:42:44
Speaker
Part of storytelling. Yeah. That's. Yeah. That's really. i think that that's really important. That we haven't set a single IP. Because. yeah Yeah. One of my Biggest complaints about.
01:42:57
Speaker
um Disney at this moment. Is that every single thing is IP. And not original. Which is great to bring in young kids who know the IPs, but I feel like it destroys the charm of the parks.
01:43:11
Speaker
The original storytelling, to me, is, like, so important. um Yeah, so I think it it just is very telling that we didn't bring up a single IP. Yeah, i mean, we we mentioned Epic Universe, which is just entirely IP, but...
01:43:27
Speaker
Yeah, but okay, that's a new park. Yeah. yeah they do so It is incredibly IP. um It is incredibly IP, but I still think they do a better storytelling park. I still think with the IPs, they do better storytelling in that park than at this point in the Disney company's life in the US parks. I agree.
01:43:48
Speaker
Yeah. um I feel like we're getting a much more cohesive experience there. But, yeah.
Creative Inspirations from Theme Parks
01:44:01
Speaker
All right, so the last question is from Chris Leonard and said, what's been a park or ride that inspired one of your works?
01:44:09
Speaker
And one of my works, what it means, i think it means like pictures or? Yeah, I think I would say so. Or just like, what's your favorite book and coaster combination you've come up with?
01:44:24
Speaker
Oh, ah who that's a really good question. The first thing that comes to mind is ah the fantasy-inspired Norse mythology book I brought to Tarum.
01:44:41
Speaker
I think those fitted so well together. it was just... um i most Most of the time I s snap my pictures pretty quickly. It's like just when I'm standing around or i don't want to inconvenience people and it's just click, click, click, click done.
01:44:58
Speaker
So that one was incredibly quick, but it I just love the composition of it and it just fits with Gluckheim so good. So that one is one that comes up.
01:45:12
Speaker
Oh, this's this is a hard question. I think i'll I just... Not all combinations are like really, really, really good, but... Right.
01:45:26
Speaker
That one just clicked completely. Let me see if I can find another one that I thought it was really good. You know, sometimes you have a... ah Like with Efteling, the Baron book with Baron... Yeah, that...
01:45:46
Speaker
those belong together, but it's not really creative because you know, oh, I just snap a picture with that book with Baron because just because. So yeah, I prefer to come up with maybe some weirder combinations.
01:46:06
Speaker
The one you posted on Instagram, almost flying, I think that one was really nice put together too, because almost flying is is is ah is a ah middle grade coming of age, and also queer coming of age. And yeah, the coasting question is rainbow colored and it just blended.
01:46:29
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense. for that Yeah.
01:46:34
Speaker
ah Yeah. didn't realize that Stephen King actually had a book called Dance Macabre. Yeah, yeah, yeah. it But that's a nonfiction. So he writes about horror horror ah films in that book.
01:46:48
Speaker
Oh, really? i did not know that. Yeah, I had to stop reading because he's kind of spoilery about a lot of movies. And I haven't watched enough like 70s or 60s horror movies. So I had to decided to stop reading. Yeah, that's interesting. I didn't know he did any...
01:47:09
Speaker
um I didn't know he did any nonfiction. I thought that he was all fiction. um That's very interesting. Oh, yeah. He also has a book on on on the writing process.
01:47:20
Speaker
Okay. It's called On Writing, too. I didn't know that. Interesting. He's not, i have to admittedly say, where one of my favorite books is The Shining. And yeah, yes yeah, like, love it.
01:47:34
Speaker
I'm not a fan of Stephen King. He gives me such like, i I think he's incredible. But for me, he's so descriptive that he gives me such reading fatigue.
01:47:45
Speaker
Um, that after I like finish one of his books, I need like, a month or two break from reading. They're like very mentally taxing for me. Um, which is amazing because of how descriptive he is. If you can read them, they're awesome. But for me, he's so descriptive that I just get very like tired. I have a copy of Dr. Sleep that I've been waiting. I've been wanting to read it for years.
01:48:14
Speaker
And I can't bring myself to read it because I'm like, I know I'm going to read it and then not read anything else for a month or two.
01:48:25
Speaker
I like Stephen King too, sometimes. not I've been reading quite a lot of him, but this year I just stopped somehow. Maybe I will pick him up again. But when I do, I tend to take his books to a fun fair instead of a theme park.
01:48:46
Speaker
I feel like that would be a better vibe for them, yeah. Yeah. But that's just that's just the vibe I get from those books.
01:48:58
Speaker
and yeah I have taken a few pictures of books that roller at a King's Island now that I think about it. Oh, yeah. You did a whole entire trip. where you yeah well Yeah, I did a thing for um my publishing company where i was trying to get some like pictures of books in the wild. So I had a few books with me at King's Island and got some good photos there.
01:49:17
Speaker
Oh, cool. i'll I'll send you that post. I i want want to see them.
01:49:25
Speaker
No, it it's it's it's really hard to pick like the ones that I really felt like clicked because there are just some books that i did I go an extra length for and that's mostly for for indie publishers or indie authors or authors I know because I know how important it is for them to just have a nice picture or a nice post.
01:49:50
Speaker
and So I try to make the post even more nice for them. Let's see. I just sent one to you. That's the one that's like the most like. wo Oh, I like it. It's a carousel.
01:50:04
Speaker
Yeah. It's a book about like possessed German carousel horses. Okay. no I have to read it now. and i kind of want to read that too. I um i did one. i tried to do one like in front Beast, but they didn't really have any good clear spot I could do it.
01:50:24
Speaker
Yeah. um I'm sorry, I'm just gonna like spam you on Instagram real quick. You have to take the haunted carousel horse to the haunted carousel at Dorney Park.
01:50:36
Speaker
That book? You have to bring it to the haunted carousel at Dorney Park. there's a haunted carousel? Yes. The haunted horse is no longer on it and you're not allowed to take haunted pictures of the haunted horse. The haunted horse lives at the Cedar Point carousel museum who um or the s Sandusky carousel museum, but the actual carousel itself was moved from Cedar Point to Dorney Park and it's haunted.
01:51:03
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah. to Send you a copy of that book to take pictures for me. Yeah. I'd say take pictures with the haunted horse, but the whole entire thing is that like anyone who took pictures with the horse, there was like weird things that happened and things broke. And like a lot of the hauntedness is about taking pictures of the horse and That's interesting. Yeah. So apparently it was like the designer's wife's favorite horse or something. And so she haunts the horse. There's a whole entire website about it. And if you go to Sandusky Carousel Museum, there's like they tell the story about it. So they just go there, too.
01:51:38
Speaker
Yeah. They just removed the horse from the carousel and then sent the carousel to Dorney Park. That's so cool. Yeah. What is it with haunted carousels anyway? Like, I just read something wicked this way comes, you know, there's a really weird carousel in that one too.
01:51:57
Speaker
I've never read that book. I have to read it. It's been on my list for years and years, but I have not read that one.
01:52:06
Speaker
I had a nice picture with that one too. But that was when I had not read it yet because Ray Bradbury's writing style is a bit hard for me to get into. So i had a nice audio book because I really love his stories, but his writing style is just, I don't know. So, so lyrical or in some way.
01:52:28
Speaker
Yeah, I could see that. um
01:52:33
Speaker
It's funny that I've never read any of his... ah I think that I tried to read one or two of his other books like way back in high school and i couldn't really get into them.
01:52:44
Speaker
um I should try and read this one. Yeah, it's cool. I think I'm going to repost that picture because I read it like a few weeks ago.
01:52:58
Speaker
I finished it. So now now I can write a proper a proper review of it because the other one was like, no, I just stopped it. But here's the picture anyway. Yeah.
01:53:13
Speaker
That makes sense.
01:53:16
Speaker
Yeah. There are some good. There's some good. Yeah, there's some good. i can't get my words out at this point.
01:53:29
Speaker
yeah
01:53:33
Speaker
But I'm really interested in reading that ah Dream Thieves book now. it's yeah It's kind of a novella. Oh, even better. I love short-form novels.
01:53:49
Speaker
It's not like super short. I have all of our books. Right, by me. Yeah, it was fun designing the cover for it. But yeah, apparently it's a really good horror book.
01:54:01
Speaker
Yeah, so I do have it. It's cool. Yeah. The cover is really cool. I like it. I need to read more horror. I love horror movies, but finding a good horror book?
01:54:15
Speaker
Yeah, i feel like I feel like it's really hard to find.
01:54:22
Speaker
multiple horror books like I there's so many different styles a lot a lot yeah horror that I feel like it's really hard to find like a lot in a style that you like yeah um like Gone Girl is one of my favorite like thriller horror books I I love it I've read it a couple times and I've tried other like I've tried similar ones but they're just written in styles that don't read like that don't like hit me as well Yeah. and i don't typically read horror.
01:54:57
Speaker
No? No. Not typically. I'm trying to even think like the last like horror thing that I read. But don't know Would you love to read mine if it's done? Yeah.
01:55:10
Speaker
Of course. Yeah, we will happily be proof readers. Yay! That's nice. Yeah, I will especially take your Dutch ones because I'm always looking for Dutch...
01:55:22
Speaker
but i think I think you are going to love the first one. I think you especially are going to love it. I'm not going to say anymore, but I think you're going to love it. I'm very excited. I'm always looking for Dutch books to read. Yeah.
01:55:36
Speaker
Yeah. The last time I came back, the last time I came back, I came back with like six books shoved in my bag that was clearly too big for me to be traveling with and got stopped by like border control. And they're like, what is like trying to like ask me to go to like have my bag checked because didn't claim anything and I'm like I have a bag full of Dutch books like this is all I brought back like so was making me want to go back and write more at least yeah an inspirational episode yeah had my one like kind of theme parky book that I'd started writing and I have the whole like plot for it but it's not one that I'm gonna finish writing and I'm kind of sad about that
01:56:21
Speaker
Wait, is that the one you shared the thing with me? ah Probably. um yeah it was like a paranormal horror thing. um It was very inspired by the Haunted Mine Drop in Colorado.
01:56:34
Speaker
And then right as I kind of started writing it, the accident happened on that ride. ah yeah. Yeah. What bad timing. Yeah. okay i am sorry yeah yeah ah yeah what bad timing yeah yeah It was called ah A Capture of Caramine Park. I had a whole plot for it figured out.
01:56:56
Speaker
um I might try to do something different with it in the future. but Yeah, I feel like you can maybe adjust it a little bit. Something, yeah. and is The plot, i I read through the, it sounded very interesting. Maybe just some update the actual. Yeah.
01:57:12
Speaker
place that it happens maybe i did start writing a horror book even though i don't read horror i started writing one i sent you a couple things from that too jen i'm pretty sure um Yeah, you sent me two. I remember reading both of them. what what What's it about?
01:57:29
Speaker
That one is about... Which one? The horror one? The the latest horror one. um It's ah basically about a serial killer artist who uses murders to inspire her works.
01:57:45
Speaker
Wow. It's the one clip that... itin clip The one like excerpt that I had written was very dark. And I'm like, oh that's kind of spooky. you can i You know, with with the children's books books I'm writing, it's like very light. or Not really light, but it's like correct or nice. But it's really cool to now also write horror and just pour every dark thing on the paper, you know? like yeah Like puke puke it all out. It doesn't matter.
01:58:20
Speaker
I always want to like write some of these things, but then I wonder, like are people going to judge me and my thoughts for coming up with these stories? oh no no. No, I don't think so.
01:58:30
Speaker
Because a lot of people like to read dark things, because when you read it, it's it's not that close. you know it's It's like safe a safe way to interact with something dark.
01:58:45
Speaker
Yeah.
01:58:48
Speaker
We'll see if I end up doing anything with that. Again, too many stories, not enough time. Yeah. And it takes so much effort to finish something.
01:59:01
Speaker
It is such a And finish it in a way that you're proud of it, too. Yeah. Yeah. That you think it's actually good. Yeah.
01:59:12
Speaker
Good for the world to experience as well. Yeah. So, well done for writing... and publishing a book. You too, to be fair.
01:59:23
Speaker
but like but so not It's not published yet, so it's not done, but I was really happy when I finished my first draft. Yeah. Yeah, even know that's a huge accomplishment. Like that is figuring out the entire plot, all of the intricacies, like that's a huge accomplishment too.
01:59:42
Speaker
Yeah. Like whether you're published or not, you are an author. That's something i can't accept just yet, but it's true.
01:59:54
Speaker
I feel that. Yeah.
01:59:58
Speaker
Wow. We spoke about a lot of things here. Yeah.
Closing Thoughts and Reflections
02:00:01
Speaker
I know. we can also get like Yeah. We get ah into like, we have ah a good habit of derailing and getting into a lot of different topics yeah in an episode. um But yeah, I think this brings us to the end of the episode.
02:00:19
Speaker
Yeah. Feels like a good like circle. agree. Yeah. I think so too. We appreciate you coming on so much. You have no idea how excited we were to get you on and be able to pick your brain. Because as you can tell, we both really like roller coasters and books. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I feel so honored to be just asked to be on this podcast. You know, I've never done anything like this or like a podium to just talk aside from my Instagram where I just spew my thoughts. Yeah.
02:00:56
Speaker
So, yeah, this is really nice. Thank you. course. it It was a fun one. I like when it's just more of a conversation than an interview. Yeah, but that's that's just how how it goes sometimes, you know, when you you click on certain yeah stuff. Yeah.
02:01:15
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. I guess I need to do a shameless plug for myself. Go buy my book, Pyrokinetic. It's on Amazon or wherever. and yes we Whenever Anne publishes her book, we will ah post about that as well, for sure. ya Yes, and if you don't already and you have a Books and Rollercoaster interest, go follow Books and Rollercoasters to see Anne's posts as they come out.
02:01:47
Speaker
I'm excited to see you the next ones that you're going to come up with. yeah thank you. ah i take pictures of books And roll coast storie and also if you want to collaborate on a picture or that I repost something with a book that I will read then just give me a message.
02:02:08
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Perfect.
02:02:13
Speaker
Very exciting. Remember to always hashtag think inverted. don't know why I still do that every time. look up Because it's so good. Remember to hashtag think inverted. So cheesy.
02:02:25
Speaker
But we'll see you for the next episode. See you next time. Bye bye.
02:02:52
Speaker
Bye.