AdamY

It was with great excitement that I set off with my mum and sister on the 25th July for our long-awaited summer holiday to New York, Washington DC and most of interest to me, Orlando! After going to Orlando last year I was very excited to return this year, and of course one significant addition is now present which wasn’t there last year…WARNING: I will be posting spoilers without any further warning. If you don’t want to see, skip my writing on that attraction.I doubt many are interested in the details of the first part of the trip, so on to Orlando! On the 30th we were off to Newark airport for the flight to Florida. We stayed in the same place as last year, so we jumped off the plane, dropped our bags at the apartment and headed straight out to the parks at what was now about 4pm. Somewhat unsurprisingly, our first port of call… Was Islands of Adventure As can be seen, quite a few people were already leaving despite the 10 pm closing time. This was encouraging, given the expected throngs in WWHP!^ Port of Entry is my favourite ‘main street’ style area in any theme park.So we headed through Seuss Landing and Lost Continent, and soon enough, there it was…The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter! Words cannot describe the feeling of stepping under the arch and into Hogsmede for the first time – it’s totally awe inspiring! I won’t show that many outside pictures now because the twilight made it difficult to get any decent ones. They’ll follow from our other day at IOA. So we started a clockwise sweep around the shops and sights of the village, and I have to say the detail is astounding. I’ll review the shops in detail later but for now I’ll just say the entire feel is just ‘right’.When we reached the Hog’s Head we decided it was time to try some Butterbeer – debate has been raging for weeks on which version is better – regular or frozen – so I decided to try regular first. I got the souvenir stein too The drink itself – very nice! It’s very sweet – I think if the serving was any bigger I’d struggle to finish it – but it’s great. The taste is hard to describe, the best I can place it is cream soda with butterscotch and treacle mixed in. It’s very smooth and goes down very nicely at any rate. The separately added ‘head’ is delicious, I hate to think of the calorific content!Afterwards, it was time to sample the crowning glory of the Wizarding World – Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.So much was expected of this ride. Will it live up to the hype? Will it be the new world’s best dark ride? In order to claim that title from most people’s current holder – will it beat Spiderman? First off though, let’s talk queue. I’ll go ahead and leave it to the pictures for a while.So yeah, pretty amazing detail. You start off in the dungeons, passing the Mirror of Erized among other things. There is a door to the potions room, from behind which voices emanate. This is the kind of thing which makes the WWHP seem so ‘alive’ and less staged – the tiny touches of life, like voices in the corridors. Coming outside, you emerge in the main cattle pen area of the queue – the greenhouse. This area is brilliantly done for what is essentially a people eating area. Mandrakes in cages are just one of the things to grab your interest. The ride ops constantly have to do announcements asking people to stay off the walls and railings out here, but even these are fantastic and in-character. The say things along the lines of, “Attention muggles! Please do not sit on the railings or walls! Also, please stow any magical artefacts in the lockers provided to avoid having them confiscated. Enjoy your tour of Hogwarts!” Just brilliant. Back inside and through the portrait hall – the effect of them talking to each other and moving in their frames is fantastic. Next up you’re in Dumbledore’s office. The musion effect of him standing on the balcony is very well done, and it’s great to have him standing there talking to you. His books, dusty desk, pensieve and cupboards of magical odds and ends are all present, correct and beautifully realized as well. Onwards, and we meet Harry, Hermione and Ron in the Defence Against the Dark Arts room. More exquisite details accompany this pre-show video, of which there are two versions. In the first, some thunder and lightning happen and some great light effects go off. In the second, Ron accidently makes it snow – and you actually get snowed on. The ride shut down for about 15 mins when we were in here, and consequently we got snowed on 6 times. After this you’re past the Fat Lady, through the Gryffindor common room and past the sorting hat into the Room of Requirement. After all, where else would you put a massive dark ride in the middle of Hogwarts?So finally, the ride. Firstly let me say – if you think you’ve seen it on a POV, they do not do it justice in any way. I was glad I managed to avoid any spoilers and videos, if I’d seen them beforehand I wouldn’t have expected much. So anyway, the soaring, swooping, dragon-evading, willow-whopmed ride is absolutely brilliant. Does it beat Spiderman? Resounding yes. For many people, that makes it the new holder of the best dark ride award. I agree. It’s utterly sensational. The motion of the Kuka arms is perfect for recreating the floating, bouncing style of movement we’ve all seen so many times when Hermione enchants something in the films.The ride scenes take the form of a mixture of screen-based film clips and real 3D props, all narrated by the trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron, which blend together seamlessly. Appearances by other characters such as Hagrid, Draco and Dumbledore are also included. The way you move from screens to real props is amazing, you literally get flung from a screen into the middle of the action – for example the scene where you end up on the bridge being attacked by the Hungarian Horntail is a seamless blend of animatronics, film and effects – all combining to give you a relentless ride experience from start to finish. The dementor-filled finale is also brilliant, combining animatronic dementors on their own Kuka arms with film clips and projections in smoke. You exit the ride utterly amazed at what you’ve just experienced, and my heart was racing. 10/10 doesn’t congratulate it enough.You exit though Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods – a great idea for post-ride gift shop. I bought some stuff in here.So, any criticisms? A few. The first is that the ride system is very noisy. The effects are turned up very loud anyway so for the most part it doesn’t matter, but in some of the more extravagant manoeuvres you can hear the Kuka arm straining a bit. Second, the slight oversight in the design of the attraction which enables you to skip the entire outside queue which regularly stretches down into Hogsmede. If you walk into Filch’s from the outside, you can go through to the locker room and dump your stuff, then cut straight into the dungeons because the TM in the area has no way of knowing that you haven’t just come from the queue into the lockers. I usually don’t do this kind of thing on principal, but so many people were doing it that it makes queuing outside pretty pointless. Lastly, the one everyone complained about from the get-go: the show building. Obviously it was hard to hide from all angles, but it is very visible in many places such as the back of Jurassic Park, Hogsmede itself and the greenhouse area of the queue. Such is life I guess. These small niggles do nothing much to detract from what is a mind-blowing attraction.Next up – the ruination of Duelling Dragons? I thought it might have been – I was wrong.Dragon Challenge is the re-imagining of DD as part of the Triwizard Tournament. Many thought it would destroy one of the best-themed coasters in the world, but I was pleasantly surprised. The queue remains mostly dark tunnels and castle-dungeon type rooms, with the obvious addition of the outside section and the Champion’s Tent. I was wearing my DD top, and the TM outside the queue said to me “I see someone’s already a fan!” I had my first ride on what was formerly known as the Ice side, now Hungarian Horntail. It’s a fun coaster, but I think Fire (now Chinese Fireball) is better.A bit more exploring around the village, like I said I’ll review the shops in my next WWHP part but I snapped a few pictures – it’s so atmospheric at night.We queued again for FJ, but it went down. After about 30 mins we decided to leave the queue – it was about 9:45. As we walked out of the gate between the gargoyles, we heard the announcement which just felt like a knife straight though me – it was back up. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never felt so annoyed in my life.We finished up for the night with a walk-on ride on The Cat In The Hat. A very different kind of dark ride to FJ, but I love it! The narration is great and the Cat says some very funny things! Shame that after the incident earlier this year the ride doesn’t spin as much any more.I’ll leave it there for now… Still to come: Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Uni Studios and the rest of IOA and WWHP. I’ll get it posted soon. Hope you’re enjoying it! The rest won’t be as long and boring as this part, I just had a lot to talk about

Just got back from holiday... PTR to follow when I get some energy back

Oranges all the way! Mars or Jupiter?

We No Speak Americano

Damn, thought I was going to be the first! I'll be going in the day after you get back

That's fantastic! I'd love it. I must admit I've often thought that a Maverick - esque Intamin Blitz would be pure awesome and we could actually get one - Maverick is only 105 ft and is one of the best coasters in America of recent years.

That concept art looks very pretty!I want one.

I just got tickets for Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour in October! I can't wait

Those pics are a bit old, on a later page there are some from late June though. Heide have long been rumoured to be getting a B&M Diving Machine, not the new prototype. People as far as Screamscape seem to be almost certain of that.

^ Granted, but you can't start it again! You're stuck in limbo forever!I wish for world peace! Too late

Fun game, which most people already know how to play... For those of you who don't, welcome to Corrupt a Wish! It works like this:One person posts a wish... Then the next person corrupts it! That person then posts their own wish... And so we continue! Try to be imaginative I'll start us off!I wish I lived in a mansion!

4D The Simpsons or Futurama?

Ke$ha :DRCT3 or Nolimits?

That is pretty shocking!!Oh and Outfit, the whole point of this thread is for people to let off steam. If you don't want to see that, don't read a thread dedicated to it.

Gaga! :DFacebook or Twitter?

Tangfastics!! Nom :DSweet or Salted (popcorn)?

So you've never heard of Superman, Batman, The Riddler... MJ.Peach or Mango?

I was thinking, are there not any plans knocking about for Gardaland's 2011 coaster yet? Surely by now there must be some somewhere... The plans for Busch Gardens Tampa's 2011 coaster were found months ago!

Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?

If there is another, Teeth. Love that song

Just had another thought - while I still think it will be B&M, it could be S&S' newer take on the 4D, the concept art which they showcased at Knotts Berry Farm during West Coast Bash this year. It was essentially a cross between their free fly and 4D designs - I'll try and find the pictures again.Edit: Free Fly X-Treme, that was it.Thanks to Westcoaster for the pics.

Those supports do look very B&M, and it would all fit with the rumours which have been doing the rounds for months now. At least this puts to bed the 2-coaster deal rumour with Gerstlauer which went around for a while after Saw -_-I'm very excited!

Just got back from week-long CCF camp (I'm an army cadet)! I'm absolutely knackered but it was great fun

When you make lists of merch to buy before you get there...

I must say it did un-nerve me a little the night I watched it, but that's part of the fun It is actually very creepy though - I find films like this far scarier than any Saw / Hostel slasher could ever be.