Mark9

What it really needs is an X retheme.

600 is about right, it normally got 450 on average..

I'd expect it to work.

You stay and work.

Disney have learnt at a heavy cost at Magic kingdom that you don't ever eliminate queues, you just move them somewhere else. It levels the playing field on high demand rides like Space, Splash and Thunder. But on the other hand queues are far longer for rides that can't handle it like Dumbos and Winnie the Pooh. Thorpe need to be ever so careful with this if they insist on doing it. I don't want to start seeing things like the Teacups or Rocky Express with 30/40 minute queues for example...

Please note my heart loves Disneyland. It’s the original theme park and deserves to be loved for this fact alone. In saying that, objectively, the park has some crippling faults which if I wasn’t a sympathetic enthusiast, may have completely ruined my day. After our two days at Magic Mountain it was time to quicken the pace with the Disney parks. Gone were the five minute queues and here were the 30 minute plus waits to get on Haunted Mansion. Here is the grand daddy of them all, the park that Walt built, the park he held so much pride and love for. Here was where all the rules are set such as the iconic hub and spoke design of Main Street plaza or the idea of the rides as shows and the staff as cast members. He personally oversaw the cleaning of the park every morning so that every day the park gleamed and sparkled. It’s hard not to well up when seeing the train pulling into the entrance station or the castle appearing around the corner in all its glory. Well first thing is the castle is tiny. No surprises here, it was the first and built on a very tight budget back in the 50’s. It’s not its fault that it has been superseded twice over by Florida and Paris. And this is generally the theme of the park. And its the thing that does threaten to derail the day. Everything is on a smaller scale to other kingdom parks. That would be absolutely fine if it had the guest attendance to match but it doesn’t. For the past few years the park has seen 16 million people pass through its doors and at times it feels like the park is at breaking point. And what doesn’t help is the numerous refurbs going on. During our first part of the visit we had no Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, Alice in Wonderland or Nemos Submarine Voyage. Two of those are absolute Disney classics that eat through people like candy and two novelty rides that I hadn’t experienced anywhere else. On our first day every queue was spilling out of the respective rides entrances. Trying to walk through the minuscule Adventureland past Indianna Jones was a trial of patience and whoever put the Astro orbiter at the very entrance to Tomorrowland, basically on Main Street and then decided that Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear should be on either side completely blocking the pathway into the area needs shooting. It can create such a negative impression to just see crowds and no clear way through. So to end this negativity thats go on to some positives. Our first stop (as always is) was Big Thunder Mountain, recently reopened after a lengthy 18 month refurbishment. It looks absolutely sublime with its new track and new effects. It is much better themed then Paris and Florida and only loses to the Paris version because of Paris’s epic beginning and ending. I approve of the use of physical effects being added into the third lift hill area as it feels so much more real to have smoke and sound effects. The other two’s third lift hills are rather.. dull. So big thumbs up. We grabbed a fastpass for Indianna Jones and headed to the rather stately Haunted Mansion. I adore this ride in Florida and I love it even more here. Next was Splash Mountain which I didn’t like. I don’t mind water rides but this is too wet. Especially as its only really the front that gets soaked it feels like adding insult to injury. I was definitely not in the laughing place after this. Winnie the Pooh here is very unpopular probably because of its location in the park (always 45 minutes at Disney World). It was fine though. Time for Indianna (before our ride we grabbed another fast pass). Now I’m not really sure of the intention but I am guessing this is supposed to be far more comedic then the terrifying Dinosaur at Animal KIngdom. I recognised parts of the layout. I think some of my.. I don’t want to say problems but I guess thats what they are is that parts of the temple are very lightly lit up whether by fire or by spot lighting so I never truly felt at peril as I could always see the car in front of us doing its thing. Maybe thats part of the storyline, that we are part of an expedition. Amazing queue line though, full of details and interactive elements and some aspects of the ride such as the boulder are absolutely top notch. Sometimes it didn’t work or we just remained stationary under a hanging Indianna for 20 seconds. Stacking issues aren’t good people, just get on the damn ride. I hate to sound like I didn’t like the ride because I really did. It’s just not faultless. Next stop was the Jungle Cruise which I really enjoyed for some reason. I just seemed to be into the corny jokes when normally I want them to stop. Knowing Walt was the making of the ride probably helped. We had another go on Indianna then headed back to Main Street to grab our first time badges and have some lunch. At this point we noticed Space Mountain which was supposed to be closed was actually open. Hoorah! With this in mind we grabbed ourself a fast pass as it was displaying a 50 minute queue then headed to Fantasyland. This must really be the smallest area in the park. Eleven rides squished into an area that simply cannot cope. We decided to go for it (we had no choice really) and did them in anti-clockwise order. First was Snow White which is the same as Paris and the old Florida version, then Pinocchio which was the same as Paris. Yay for clones. I like these rides though, so charming and unassuming. And the queues always move very quickly. Our next stop was Casey Jr. Completely different to Paris, for example here we waited twenty minutes, there we walked straight on. Secondly this is more like a proper train ride through the storybook area. Its fine. We then headed to Mr Toads Wild ride. I’m not sure why this is considered such a classic. It’s okay in itself but not exemplary. We then chose to ride Peter Pans Flight just to say we’ve done it. I still don’t like any of the versions I’ve done. It zooms too fast through the story and misses out key moments. We headed off to Mickeys Toon Town to ride Rodger Rabbits Cartoon Spin. Wasn’t the biggest fan of this as it was a bit ZANY but lacking in actual fun. Ah well, can’t win them all. Eventually, after many attempts it was finally time for Matterhorn Bobsleds which interestingly is in Fantasyland and even more interestingly had a minor incident involving an injury to a cast member that very morning. This thing is just crazy with track looked like it was carved with a chisel. I was impressed that no supports seem to be in view, the track looks like it is part of the mountainside. And I also aproove of working yetis. I’m not sure if I liked either side though particularly strongly. I recognise its achievement and the technical know how to make the ride. Parade time, great parade some very interesting floats and choices made on characters liked. Anything involving the three Caballeros gets my thumbs up anytime. Not a fan of using Mary Poppins as the last float though, boring! Onto Tomorrowland after avoiding it all day. First was Space Mountain which was pretty laughable really. The music makes it seem like a cheesy vision of the future and space travel. People think this is better then Florida and Paris. I don’t agree with them, its a generic space travel themed ride with a high throughput. Nothing more. For something a bit (read a lot) better was Star Tours which is insanely popular here. We used fast pass to get our go and really enjoyed it. We both found this Tomorrowland really underwhelming whether its Autopia still existing, Nemo still closed or the remains of Rocket Rod Racers splaced around the place. It felt like it was severely missing something. With night-time starting to descend we had food in a New Orleans themed restaurant then prepared for the onslaught of Magical (The firework display) and then Fantasmic around the rivers of America. This is when Disneylands size really starts to buckle. We chose the fireworks first as we thought it would give us the best chance of seeing both properly. We were wrong. The firework show was fine, if a little boring. I liked Dumbo flying and also appreciated the use of songs and films from when Walt was alive. But then we tried to get to the Fantasmic viewing area. The park turns into a huge one way system as it is the only way to cope with the crowds. Frontierland becomes an entrance and Adventureland becomes an exit. If you visit, don’t bother getting a fast pass for any ride in this area as you will never reach the ride you want to go on. The only possible chance we got of getting a good view was to stand on a terrace far away from the rivers of America because it is the only place we were allowed to stand. Cast Members vigurously patrol the pathways meaning no one will stand in an area they aren’t allowed in. Most tedious. Fantasmic here is good but I don’t think it’s better then the one in Florida. I know some will disagree but I can’t help feel Fantasmic in Florida feels like a event, in California its just another show. The main real change is here instead of Pocahontas we have Peter Pan. The pirate boat is a great set piece but more crucially it isn’t that dynamic. If you are on either side of the lake you can’t see any of the action so you just get the soundtrack with random lines from the film played through. The odd gun shot fires but I didn’t find it that engaging. Lucking the dragon here is a beautiful piece of artistry, its head rearing over the fountains as if Maleficent really has transformed in front of your eyes. Its death is also fantastically done as electricity looks to spark through its body as it screams in agony. Great stuff and very entertaining. Rest of the night was a ride on Splash Mountain (where I got soaked) and then bed time. Looking back over what I’ve written it sounds far more negative then I actually intended. I think the criticism is warranted because the park realistically is not designed to cope with 16 million people like its East Coast and European brother is (and to be fair when it opened, 4 million was its original yearly gate figure). What doesn’t help is having four rides (one my absolute favourite dark ride) down for refurb and no attractions like Carousel of Progress, Philarmagic or Country Bear Jamboree around to spread crowds. They get eaten up as their unpopularity means they take up valuable space in a park that has very little of it. When it comes to it, expectation for a Disney park in unparalleled in the world. These are the grandmasters with rides that work harder then any other on the planet. If it sounds like I am being unfair I can only apologise because I really did have fun. Luckily 24 hour day was even more successful but thats not another story. For now its on and upwards to California Adventure.

Ratatouille cast member area uniform Thanks to random blog. Which brings me onto the most important topic of the day.. Best Disney uniforms? My vote goes to Towers or Haunted Mansion

1) So is Thorpe back to being a theme park now? 2) Amusement parks with chart music are fun though.

Samurai is out of Thorpes control really, it's dying on its backside and frankly we're lucky it is running at all.

As some of you may know, I've been over in California for two weeks embracing the west coast. In that time Chris and I visited five new theme parks and went on some of the most well known rides out there. So to start off with; Six Flags Discovery Kingdom I don’t know many people that have been to this park so for me, it would live or die based on how my trip was to go. The day started relatively badly. A heavy hangover from the Eurovision celebrating the night before meant some hangover coffee and food was required from Starbucks. Nevertheless, we sobered up and drove the 40 minute drive to one of two Six Flag parks in California. Now, when it comes to Six Flags, enthusiasts always come across as frosty. It’s reputation is near the bottom of the barrel. Reports of poor operations, rude and unhelpful staff ad dirty, littered areas are common complaints. I’m happy to report none of these came across on this particular visit. Access to the park was swift, we purchased annual passes (at $100 each including parking and discounts it was a steal!) and made our way over to our first ride and my first new B&M since Dæmonen last year, Medusa. Now our first mistake was to take our bags into the queue so unfortunately our first ride was actually my first ride as Chris sat it out to put bags in lockers ($5 for all day use in all lockers in the park, very good value!). Now, when it comes to the Floridian B&M’s they were very hit and miss. They are either large and overblown but over rated like Hulk and Montu or they little pieces of perfection like Manta and Kumba. Having already ridden Superman de Acero, Kraken and Dæmonen, I was fully aware that the floor less riding seat wasn’t the be all and end all of these rides. When it comes to Medusa I just took it for what it was; a glorified sit down ride. I have to say I really enjoyed it. It gets away with a few things though. For example it is as much of a car park coaster as Scream is at Magic Mountain. But that doesn’t effect the ride experience much at all. Secondly it’s oversized vertical loop, dive roll and zero g roll are a lot of fun. There is so much hang time throughout the inversions and it has that old style, B&M aggressiveness that some would say are missing from modern day Beemers. The Sea-Serpent roll which features exclusively to B&M rides on here isn’t that great but is the only dull moment on this ride. After the MCBR, the ride hots up with some very forceful helixes over the faded car park white lines. These are all taken at ground level and feel very quick. The corkscrews are also very quick and intense and the final helix is great fun. I have a feeling that Medusa was running so well because of the heatwave that California was having at the time. It was 37 degrees on our visit, (absolutely stifling weather) and all the rides were running fast. This helped Medusa in particular as it just seemed to have that extra wallop. It was running two trains the whole day and the staff were giving great guest interaction. I thought they were supposed to be unfriendly idiots and no interest in the guests. Not true here. I found their visual check spins quite funny as they put their arms at full length, say visual check and spin on the spot. So, first ride down, three rides done on Medusa (two in the back row, one in the front) and a fantastic start to the theme park trips. Our next stop was Kong, a Vekoma SLC. My only other experience with this ride type is Infusion at Blackpool. This wasn’t too bad although it was definitely a slight head banger. We had one front row ride on our trip, no more goes were required. Next stop was the weirdly named Sky Screamer, a glorified wave swinger that gave great views of Medusa and nothing more. This was closely followed by Cobra, a Zierer junior coaster which wasn't too bad, not too dull but nothing crazy. We stopped for a little bit too have some water and chill out and then head to our next batch of rides. Discovery Kingdoms entrance is weirdly placed between areas. On your left is Medusa and Kong, over the entrance is V2 and to your right is Superman:Ultimate Flight and Roar. So naturally our next stop was the other coaster corner starting with V2 Starting with V2 (Vertical Velocity), this is an Intamin impulse coaster that has a weird angled piece of track at one end and a vertical spike at the other. The ride launches you one way then the other then back again until you reach nearly the end of the track. Weirdly the zero g at one of the end is angled oddly so sometimes you get halfway through the inversion and others you make it the whole way through. Oddly, this never had a queue but this may be down to its poor reliability as it seemed to rarely run through our day. Next up was Superman: Ultimate Flight, a premier launch roller coaster that won awards a few years ago for its original ride design. I can understand that, it is pretty out there in terms of rides but it has a fatal flaw. It’s poor throughput means queues can rise quickly. Luckily it was relatively quiet on our visit but I can imagine long waits on busier days. So with that being said, how is the ride. Yeah its good, the constant launching back and forth through the station feels very good and the ride definitely has some good bum of seat action. It also features a good amount of air time and the sensation of speed is there in bucket loads. I just question whether parks can justify such a low throughput ride. Our final major roller coaster was Roar, a wooden coaster built by GCI, the masters behind Wodan at Europa Park. Before our visit, Roar was a very unloved ride, thrown aside by the enthusiast community (well.. TPR) for being rough and uncomfortable. Luckily, the ride had a slight refurbishment with track being replaced before our visit so the question was, could it take down Wodan. No it can’t. But it shares many characteristics with the German version such as the relentless sensation and the amazing sense of speed as you are thrown left and right the whole way around the circuit. The first drop was a particular highlight. The rest of the circuit kind of melted into one in my mind. Suffice to say we enjoyed both our rides on this ride even though it only ran one train. The other didn't seem to be around at all. So with the major rides all done it was time to kick back and enjoy the rest of what the park had to offer. A nice lake surrounds the park affording it a nice scenic view. We had some nice chicken and chips and then went around the zoo area. We were slightly surprised by how close we could get to the animals such as the giraffes and elephants. You could also pay to ride the elephants around a little enclosure. Next up was Boomerang: Coast to Coast or as I refer to it as, my first Vekoma Boomerang. I’ve heard the horror stories and the outlook wasn’t great. But you know what, I thought it was fine. Sure there was the odd jerky sensation but I’ve had worse. It certainly wasn’t uncomfortable. In the park is several huss creations such as a top spin (that had no water thankfully) and there was little roller coasters for the kids dotted around. Our final stop was a show with Dolphins called Drench. With marine life being a hot potato at the moment, what with the Blackfish documentary this show had a slight edge for me. The dolphins looked well looked after and seemed well treated so erm.. not much more I can add to either side of the argument. So to conclude. Discovery Kingdom. Done a large floorless or a decent woodie before? Probably not going to add much to your interests. But if you want to go to somewhere relatively ignored in UK coaster circles, somewhere that does have genuine charm and some cracking good rides then you can’t go far wrong then Discovery Kingdom.

Well deserved win!

As I am unlikely to ride it in the near future could you put in a spoiler box for me what makes it so amazing. Much obliged.

I am fine with this.

In it's early days it was pretty slow and force less. It didn't help that endless comparisons with Nemesis meant Inferno never had a chance to stand on its own two feet. These days it's run in extremely well and competes very well with some of the larger inverts out there IMO.

Agreed. I mean just because the park is time travelling and getting rides that it owned 16 years ago or getting back a cinema that was deemed too costly to run five years ago doesn't mean we should judge this on pictures alone. Although in saying that the pictures and promotional pics don't do this any justice at all.

Posting from Anaheim in California. Hi guys. Yea

Getting a great position for a Disney show only for the person in front of you to either put their child on the shoulders or to get out their iPads and filming the entire show. JUST WATCH THE DAMN SHOW AND PUT YOUR KID IN ITS BUGGY! I CARE FAR MORE ABOUT THE SHOW THEN YOUR KID!!!

Rode that version today and concur with Flipper. It only did one full height swing and it took a while to get itself going. It's probably an age thing as the two rides were built around the same time.

I hope you listened to her winners speech, that kind of bigoted comment is the kind of mindset she was targeting. It is an ugly coaster no doubt.

That ship sailed at the end of 2003 when teacup twisters became storm in a teacup and all the effects were turned off on Tidal Wave.

Pushing it a bit. It's people's choice to visit a theme park, it is not decreed in law that people have to visit and again you'd have to be an idiot to believe that fastrack is the only way to enjoy the park. I agree that it should be done after park closure but for the sake of balance it is one ride out of 25. As was said, the park was very quiet, it being a dead Thursday in the middle of May and publicity for the park (a show that goes out to 8 million people +) over-rules the 5000 people max on park that day. With all respect to the park it's not the greatest decision but let's not make out that it's daylight robbery.

SO close to warning you both for blasphemy right now.

I can imagine the Aqua Trax being all style and no substance. Another one of those Intamin rides that looks good on paper but is actually rubbish. Like Tornado and Furius Baco.

If they built their own Splash Mountain I would single-handedly get them out of their debt problem. A combination of Tower and Splash less then three hours away by Eurostar? It's a no brainer for Mark9