A California trip

[Mark9]

[As Blogs are currently not working, I'm gonna pop all my trip reports into one easily accessible area. Love you 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.

[Mark9]

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Everyone knows about Magic Mountain. From being the park with the most roller coasters in the world to the park that added one of the most technical rides ever built. It single handedly bankrupted Arrow and unashamedly threw a B&M onto a car park with no attempt at disguising what it was doing. Yes Magic Mountain has sure seen some odd times and after years of waiting, it was time to finally go there.

Despite all the talk of it being a dump, I kept my mind open. After all even if half the roller coasters were dogs (and we’re talking adult coasters here, not the kiddy ones) that still left another 7/8 that were properly enjoyable. To start though, some bad news for our trip was that Revolution and more importantly X2 were closed for our entire two days. This was a slight blow as I’ve always been intrigued about X2 and especially as it’s the first ride you see when you enter the car park it does feel bitter sweet not to have done it. On the plus side the majority of the other rides (with the exception of Riddlers Revenge and Full Throttle) were running two trains. This was good news as I’ve always head that Magic Mountain was notorious for poor operations.

With entrance complete our first stop was to the top of the hill onto Tatsu. I’m not going to lie, I love this ride. There are certain parts of this that I think are genius and for me it is the only flyer I’ve done so far that actually takes the flying concept and does it justice. For a start, Tatsu’s layout takes place mostly on the hill. This does it wonders as you always feel like you are soaring above the trees, something that has always been a slight bugbear with Air. Secondly the random assortment of inversions and turns feel properly intense and makes sense. Why would flying like a dragon be controlled when you have unlimited freedom in the air. Thirdly the placing of the pretzel loop is so good that it reminds me of Nemesis. I know there are those that find the pretzel too intense and painful but I love the sheer terror and adrenaline of falling from the air onto your back and over again. The fact that the element takes place over 3/4 of the way through the ride feels properly powerful. The final high turn over the entrance plaza is another great design feature of the ride and I can only applaud it enough and it takes its place over Manta as my favourite flying coaster.

With adrenaline running we attempted to find Ninja but with all the luck in the world and red track flying everywhere, we got lost and instead rode Apocalypse. This is another highly rated ride and I would agree if I had not ridden Wodan first. I think the main problem with Apocaylpse is that a) it’s too short, its original intention got lost when it changed from Terminator to Apocaylpse and c) it’s incredible start loses steam amazingly quickly. Don’t get me wrong it is a sublime ride and deserves full credit. It’s beginning drop and turns feel like the train just wants to break free of its track restraints and fly off into the trees. But it loses steam so quickly and spends the last part of the track slightly more idle then I would have liked. It doesn’t help that I rode Wodan first or other more air time sustaining rides like Tonnerre de Zeus or Megafobia. This was a ride that ran two trains the entire time but on day two only loaded one of the two trains.

Still trying to find Ninja we wondered about lost for a little while before locating the entrance quite close to Tatsu. Woops. The ride was currently unavailable so with heavy hearts we rode Superman: Escape from Krypton instead. Both times we walked on and both times we felt the same way. It’s a good way but having been succeeded height and speed wise by so many other rides this does feel like a bit of a novelty now. I’m not so sure what the backwards thing is about apart from not really knowing how high you actually launch now. It feels nice and fast though which is a positive. The main downside is the sheer noise it makes when launching and returning to the station. It sounds like a large aircraft is crashing into the park. No wonder it only runs one side, the racket it throws out would deafen everyone.

Back down the mountain we ventured onto Goldrusher, an oddly designed Arrow mine train. Better designed then El Diablo but I do wonder why Arrow were seen as such great ride designers as some of their rides are beyond belief. The trains just lose energy like its going out of fashion. Chris liked it though so thats something.

The next ride was the least looked forward ride in the park, Green Lantern, an Intamin 4D lite attraction. The track looks very beautifully designed, featuring a curved lift hill and track that bends over itself. The train did not feel me with much confidence though. Id encountered this type of heavy duty restraint on Tornado at Bakken and there I absolutely despised it. The pain as this horrible thick piece of fabric cuts into you at every opportunity was not something I was feeling fond of. Luckily Green Lantern doesn’t really corner or shudder from side to side so I should be thankful for small mercies. What follows on the ride could only be described as sheer terror. As you fall over the hill and underneath (like a Screamin Squirrel) the way the train is balanced means we just hung almost upside down at this horrific angle. The train once again flops underneath the track and over an air time hill sending us into this very quick spin. As it throws itself over the tiniest of hills it sent our train into another quick spin, throwing both our heads back violently into the back of the headrest. We both let out a large scream of pain before the train came to a complete stop. Dare I say it, I actually quite liked it. Unlike Baco which is just rubbish and Tornado which is annoyingly painful, this is genuinely frightening quite a feat when you consider the type of rides it is competing with at the park. Chris really did hate it though, but I had a fondness for it. Maybe Juvelen did me the world of good last year….

So.. my first B&M stand up roller coaster, Riddlers Revenge. Confined to one train for the whole time this was a strange one. I can see why stand ups arent built anymore as trying to get everyone into a comfortable and correct position must take the patience of a saint. The fact that it is such an effort for someone to do it themselves must be an over sight, those things are stupidly heavy and cumbersome. The restraints also lack the give or freedom or your typical B&M fare. Their triangle shape means more chance of cutting into your beck for example. I like the original layout though. Sure it takes up a lot of space, but its a good little journey the train takes you on. The inversion layout is also something great with vertical loops, dive loops, slanted loops, corkscrews and even a little pop of air time in there. I’m just not sure about the stand up part of this and can’t help feeling this would be a much better ride if it was a sit down ride. It would take less time to load so shorter queues and would add another impressive ride to Magic Mountains arsenal.

Next ride Batman: The Ride backwards. Now look, this backwards fad has to stop. Here is one of the most solidly rides ever built reduced to a silly gimmick that people don’t even seem that intrigued by. Both days it was running two trains (Much appreciated) and neither day did it ever go out with a full train. I have done a Batman clone before (La Fuga in Spain) and wasn't that impressed before. Here I could feel Magic Mountains one wanting to rip my face off but because I was facing the opposite way all I got was this odd floaty sensation. Even it’s super zoom zero g roll was only delivering weird sensations. I like the idea of backwards rides in theory but in reality they only neuter great rides. So Merlin if you are reading. Leave Inferno and Nemesis alone!

Around the circle we go onto Scream and Colossus. I love Scream. It is so unashamedly a roller coaster built on a car park that I can’t criticise, it is what it is. And what it is, is a very competent floor less coaster full of large inversions, airtime and intensity. Sure it does nothing particularly unique but it is a great ride in its own right. We got front row and back row seats and enjoyed each of our four rides. I’d say the Californian heat wave really helped again as it was running very well. The area around Scream has clearly seen better days though. Closed, worn down buildings, boarded over shows, water fountains not working. Even Scream itself could do with a lick of paint as it looks incredibly faded. Colossus however, blimey. It was running backwards for reasons unknown and was just insane. It doesn’t need to go backwards because you really need to see whats coming to brace yourself. We were thrown about all other the place. The feeling of speed was there, as was the airtime over the various hills but my god it was a hair raising experience. Turn it back round MM, it doesn’t need to be this way.

Following hot on the heels, was the well known Giavonla ride Goliath. Featuring B&M style track and two across seating it is relatively unique in the world despite the Goliath name becoming a go to for Six Flags whenever they build a largish ride. We both really liked Goliath. It’s quite a short ride but what it contains within is very fast and very intense, It doesn’t quite have as much air time as B&M or Intamin hypers but it does have the black out helix which knocks everyone for six. No wonder the MCBR trims the train so heavily as I would not have liked to be going at full speed into the helix. So yeah great ride.

Our final ride before lunch was Full Throttle (or YOLOcoaster). I’m not really sure what to make of this if I'm honest. For instance its launch isn’t that fast. Not a problem in some parks but here, with Superman next to it, it does feel like a peculiar decision. I like the vertical loop nice bit of hang time but then the train wanders about for a bit as it tries to find something interesting to do. It finds a tunnel where you come to a halt. You then launch backwards which feels a bit.. pointless and then zoom forwards and up over the top of the vertical loop. Everyone seemed to love this ride. Is that because it is the new ride at the park or is it because I just don’t quite get it. Either way we had the odd ride on it. Nothing too spectacular but not a dismal failure either.

After lunch it was time for Viper. I know many don’t like it but it really surprised Chris and I. It spelt trouble all over it such as that high loop oddly placed poking into the air. But it was alright. As was the first drop, very little head-banging. Even the next two vertical loops were fine. The batwing, no problem. The final two corkscrews taken at slow speed were good. Everything was okay. Maybe Ive been battered and bruised by so many dodgy Intamin rides that this old Arrow ride was a piece of cake in comparison. We enjoyed it, we rode it again. No problems encountered.

After another fab ride on Tatsu we finally got on Ninja. I love it, those old style trains jerking and heaving themselves awkwardly around this prehistoric layout. Each element of the ride features the train shunting itself around each helix and drop. It’s truly wonderful that this thing exists. I feel a sense of melancholy for the arrow suspended. With so few left in the world now (and the first few lasting only a couple of seasons) it feels like a piece of roller coaster history when I ride one. I urge anyone to get over to America or Canada, visit Magic Mountain or Cedar Point or even Kings Island and get on these things as time is running out.

We also rode the simple rapids ride which was quite literally a small oval. We liked it though and I was soaked through by it. I have a fondness for American rapids and it comes down to the social aspect missing from our UK ones. Americans are very social creatures and like to get to know where you’re from, how long your visiting and have you been before. They are on vacation and have no fears of social boundaries that the typical Brit may have. For this reason we had a great laugh as each of us got soaked during our ride.

After doing another round of the park (and another day come to mention it), I can come to one conclusion. I like Six Flags Magic Mountain. Contained within are some very intense rides, some very unique rides and a lot of fast rides. We encountered friendly staff, cleanliness, the odd bit of strange operating procedures. Our only downside was not getting on Revolution and X2. Still, thats okay, Ill just have to plan another visit

[Mark9]

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.

[Tom]

I think the Space Mountain's are impossible to actually compare seeing as though they're all actually completely different. I'm a fan of how fast and tight the final turns are in California; how 'matterhorn-y' Florida is; and everything about Paris

[Deleted Users]

Nah Mr Toad's is flawless. We can disagree on anything else.

Having Pirates, Small World and Grizzly down must have put some serious pressure on Splash. I really like Cali Splash because moving through scenes quickly, the burrow scene and how wet you can potentially get make it feel a bit more sinister.

[Mark9]

Disney California Adventure

Sporting a similar looking entrance to Hollywood Studios, the first impressions are that this park will be similar in tone and style to Florida’s third park. It’s only once you dive in that you realise it couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure it has the Hollywood Tower Hotel, Muppets 3D and the Pixar Play Parade (which was still around on my last Florida visit) but that is where the similarities end. This is an entirely new breed of Disney park and one that was a knee jerk reaction to failure. Back in the old days Disney’s California Adventure was a flop. With not enough to do and some odd design choices, the majority of guests saw the blue and white of CA and went straight into Disneyland. The Tower of Terror was added in 2004 to try and attract people over but this can only go so far. A massive overhaul was required, costing billions of dollars. We certainly saw the fruits of their labour and this is now one seriously impressive theme park. Space here isn’t a problem, pathways are massive, viewing areas for shows are large allowing everyone who is interested good views. E ticket attractions are dotted in every corner of the park just waiting to be uncovered.

Like a good sheep then our first stop was to grab a fast pass for Rocket Spring Racers. This is by far the busiest and most popular ride on the resort and therefore careful planning is required. The queue for fast pass tickets builds quickly and tickets normally run out by 12pm. With our ticket required we were so tempted to queue but instead chose to ride the Tower as it only sported a decent 13 minute queue, nice touch. It being exactly the same as the Tower in Paris I knew what to expect. No French, just nice English audio but here the staff weren’t great. The thing that goes hand in hand with the tower is the staff interaction. Even though France has a slight language barrier, the cast members are always in character as creepy bell tenders. It sells the experience. There was one occasion in California where a cast member didn’t even bother welcoming us back from our stay she just opened the door and continued reading her piece of paper.

The Tower though is just the best ride in the Western world. No matter how many times I’ve ridden, whether it’s in France, Florida or California every sense of storytelling and atmosphere has been poured into it. Florida is the best version but thats neither here nor there.

We next took on a Bugs Land, deplauded in Disney circles but we thought it was really good with little quirks throughout. Chris is a huge Heimlick fan so we had several goes on the Chew Chew Train during the visit. Nearly his favourite ride.

With time still to spare we went and collected a fast pass for World of Colour and then rode Soarin’. Here instead of a futuristic flight which embodies Epcots version, here is a much more restique version, celebrating the feat of flight. I don’t mind Soarin’ as much as others do. The enjoyment for me is how the ride is appreciated by the American audience. I wonder how Soarin’ around the world, the rumoured refurbishment will fare in comparison..

So it was now time for Radiator Springs Racers. We collected another fast pass which was now about five hours ahead. Firstly, Cars as a film isn’t that great. It appeals mainly to kids with its bright colours and primitive dialogue. But here, it is such a faithful and beautiful recreation of Radiator Springs. From the beautiful Flo’s diner to the blinking yellow light in the traffic light there is not an element of this area that lets it down. So with Radiator Springs Racer, firstly nice queueline. Sure it isn’t great in the heat but little touches adorn the ride such as the second cattle pen house adorning glass bottles in the wall or the signage saying, “Open, even when we’re closed!” which sells this attraction. In the station, cars are loaded four at a time, six people per car. On we get, upon our little yellow number and off we go. After a quick seatbelt check the car is dispatched. For those that don’t want to know, I’ve put in a spoiler box

The first trek of the journey involves a little roll through the hills, onboard audio building up to the unveiling of the waterfall. You then enter a tunnel and almost collide with Mack the red truck. With a swerve to the right then left you narrowly avoid two touring cars. Zooming towards train tracks you take a sharp right and are told to slow down by the local Sheriff. First we have to help Mater in scaring the tractor cows. With this done we are chased by the combine harvester into downtown Radiator Springs with all the cars chilling out. Lightening advises you to either get your wheels done or to get a new paint job. The track splits to prepare for race conditions. 6 times out of 7 we got the wheel change. You then get a bit of race advise from Doc Hudson before racing off with another car. The route is more of a figure of eight then resemblance to the films. It also involves some air time hills before you reach the finish line. You can now disembark.

The animatronics on this thing are seriously impressive. They truly take on their animated counterparts and genuinely look alive. Say what you want about Disney but they are truly at the top of their game. This is the perfect family ride, in fact a picture of this ride should be put next to its description in a theme park dictionary. Whether you’re a kid taking on your first big ride, a thrill seeking teenager, a parent or a grandparent it has something for everybody. I cannot think of a ride anywhere that I have ridden so far that has as much quality, design perfection or show control as this single ride. Every element has been carefully designed to evoke the film in such a way that I was taken away to this imaginary town on Route 66. It is that good. And it is a ride that works damn hard too. A car is dispatched roughly every six seconds. The throughput of this ride is a staggering 3,600 people per hour. That is a staggering number and the two hour queues show that the strength of this ride is its universal appeal.

Just perfect.

With a spring in our step, we took on Luigis tyres which is a very odd type of ride, similar to a dodgems but with none of the pace or control. We also rode Maters tractor ride which was a nice diversion. It was time to leave Radiator Springs for a while and hit Paradise Pier. Reminiscent of the boardwalk days this area features a steel coaster that tries to resemble a woodie, a ferris wheel with a twist, two dark rides, a wave swinger, a ride like flying machines at Blackpool and a mack wild mouse. Where to start? Well we grabbed a fast pass for California Screamin’ and headed for Toy Story Mania. Is it me or is Potato head oddly placed. He’s right at the beginning of the queue so you get entertained in the first five minutes and then nothing for the rest of it. Odd. TSM was pretty much the same as Floridas version. Kudos for the cool exit bedroom though, loved that! Now was Screamin’ time. I really feared this. It sounded like Colossus, had really clunky restraints that maybe deliberately sounded like Vekoma restraints. It didn't look particularly interesting either, representing an out and back wooden coaster. and a single loop in the middle.

So glad I’m wrong.

I think the effect of Juvelen from last year has really helped as all four of the Intamins on this trip have been better received then rides like Cheetah Hunt were. I loved Screamin’. It was the perfect mix of gentle air time, corners and g force to really hit the spot. The loop is taken at a very surreal pace for example. It was highly enjoyable to say the least.

With enthusiasm for this park still very high, we had a go on Little Mermaid. What can be said about this that I didn’t say about the Florida version. The two are identical. It definitely grew on us during the trip though. Dinner times were had at the odd Cone area in Radiator Springs. These were great, very affordable and very interesting design choices. Well recommended. We took our ride on RCR, grabbed a fast pass for Tower and then watched the Aladdin show. Somehow, this ended up lasting an hour. Yes, despite skipping most of the film, the genies improv meant that laugh scenes would go on for five minutes or so. He was very funny to be fair taking hits at Miley Cyrus, Justin Beiber and even Solange hitting Jay Z (very current two weeks ago!). With that ended we grabbed another fast pass for Tower (it doesn't get very far ahead here unlike that damn Paris tower) and rode it too. It was parade time, this one being about Pixar and choosing to get us wet. Because of the length of the route being so long there is ample room for people to be able to watch unlike the cramped Main Street of Disneyland.

With the day quickly drawing to a close we took on the Hollywood Studios(?) area of the park and viewed Muppets 3D which had Constantine plugging Muppets Most Wanted. We then rode the Monsters Inc ride which was odd to say the least. We headed over to the Pier again for food next to Goofys Fly school. We thought fast pass would have been long gone for this, but somehow it was still available and only half an hour later too. So whilst we waited we rode the Golden Zephyr which is Blackpools Flying Machines except much shorter and less interesting without the history. We rode Goofys Mack ride which wasn’t great, rode the Silly Symphony wave swinger complete with epic music before grabbing snacks for World of Colour.

Now World of Colour is the precursor to Paris’s Dreams. There are a lot of parallels to be drawn between the two shows and I hugely prefer Dreams. Now Colours is half an hour long and has some very impressive parts such as the Pirates of the Caribbean fire part. The 1200 jets of water firing into the air is a very impressive sight as well. It looks magical especially when its all lit up like a rainbow. But my problem with the show is that some scenes go on way to long. For instance, they feature the whale scene from Finding Nemo but instead of editing it down, the whole scene plays. It takes up a good minute of time in the show and whilst funny, you have to wonder why its so prominent. It’s the same with the bedroom scene from Toy Story. It just goes on and on. Other scenes such as the music from Wall.E work so well with the fountains that I do wonder why they insisted on whole dialogue scenes during the show. And then along came Brave…

For anyone that has seen Dreams, Brave features quite prominently with Merida proudly declaring who she is (as if anyone cares) and then bagpipes play and theres always a laugh with the roaring bear. The exact same scene plays in World of Colour! My god why, replace it with Wreck it, Ralph and be done with Brave. The show also decides to play some of Mufassas death from the Lion King too teach us that for every good there is equal bad. But love conquers all thanks to scenes from Princess and the Frog, Tangled and Cinderella. It’s a wonderful world of colour, the end.

With that it was home time. I was seriously impressed with California Adventure and after all that is one impressive line up. Tower, Screamin’, Radiator Springs and Soarin’ is a great line up. If Grizzly River Run had been open I am sure that it would be there too. For now though, it’s onto Knotts Berry Farm to fight some not so silver bullets and take on the worlds first accelerator coaster.

Chow!

[Benin]

Horray for California Screamin' love, it is a rather under-rated ride, whilst not perfect, it does fulfil the good old fashioned Disney fun criteria...

Need to go back, it's changed so much since my visit (Toy Story was being built)...

[Deleted Users]

Weird about the bellhops. When I went all bar one had their own slew of terrible puns and quirks, including ripping through one of the sets of elevator doors. Yeah Screamin' really shouldn't work but I love it and front row at night is one of the best experiences on the resort. RSR is the best thing imagineering have built in the West since Indy probably. What did you think of Mickey's 'Fun' Wheel?

[alexander]

"The throughput of this ride is a staggering 3,600 people per hour." Christ.

Amazing reports by the way, thoroughly enjoying reading them

[EC!]

"The throughput of this ride is a staggering 3,600 people per hour." Christ.

Amazing reports by the way, thoroughly enjoying reading them

And I thought Europa Park had amazing throughputs

[Matt 236]

Wow! The throughputs here make the uk's high throughput rides look like Boating School.

As for California Adventure itself, looks a great park there with cars land, screamin & the original mermaid ride and mickeys wheel. Certainly looks an improvements from its early days.

[Flipper]

Its hard not to love Screamin' it's just an Intamin that has every good bit of Intamin in one ride and everyone can love it.

I said it on your blog post, I'm gutted you didn't get on X2 as it's by far my personal favourite coaster ever although it is a marmite rollercoaster it gives you such a incredible adrenaline rush as you drop vertically the 180ft or whatever, whilst flipping straight over

California is very underrated too; considering you have two Six Flags, Disney, Knotts, SeaWorld, and endless 'boardwalk' parks like Santa Cruz to visit and try

[Topsyturvy15]

Great reviews!!!! I remember enjoying Goofy's flying school though, seemed like a decent addition to the park. Grizzly River run is fantastic, a shame you missed out on that :s Glad to hear you also enjoyed California Screamin!!!

[pognoi]

I'm going Cali in the summer, and by the sounds of things you've got a good taster of some parks. I'm only gonna be able 2 visit 2 parks, which 2 should I go to?

[Mark9]

Baring in mind we didn't do things like Seaworld San Diego, Universal Studios or Californias Great America I couldn't give you a guaranteed taste of what they are all like. But if I was to recommend it would be 1) Magic Mountain as it just so many roller coasters and the majority are very good quality (Tatsu is definitely fighting in my overall top ten coasters!) and it negates Discovery Kingdom (Scream - Medusa, Apocalypse - Roar, Full Throttle - Superman Ultimate Flight).

The second choice would be both the Disney parks. Knotts is basically Thorpe Park with less quality roller coasters. Silver Bullet just isn't as good as Nemesis Inferno and whilst Xcelerator is better IMO then Stealth, I couldn't recommend a trip on that alone.

[Mark9]

Knotts Berry Farm

This was my first Cedar Fair park. Unlike Six Flags which reputation has always been low, Cedar Fair either has raging fanboys defending Cedar Point to the hilt or negativity thrown for its zealous attitudes towards over the top safety procedures. Upon arrival at the park, a sign notified us that Ghostrider, the wooden roller coaster would be closed for the entirety of the day. Bummer. With heavy hearts we awaited at the park entrance where the park is opened with the national anthem and everyone looks to the flag, hand on heart. I can just imagine everyone doing that at Thorpe to ‘God Save the Queen’ I thought to myself.

Our first ride was Silver Bullet, the B&M coaster that is more red, yellow and green then Silver. Back in 2004 when I was a fledgling enthusiast, Silver Bullet was the only B&M being constructed and I followed this rides construction avidly. And I remember its opening in December 2004 well as it was met with a mixed reception. It is a reputation it has never really shaken off either unlike Inferno which is now seen as a good little coaster (read my blog for more details ).

Our first ride was on the back row, an obvious place to start. Unlike the other parks on the trip, this ride was on one train and it was quite clear that the second train wouldn’t be on today as bits of it were strewn all over the maintenance area. Also from the entrance, it was apparent that many school trips were in attendance, meaning kids galore. So anyway, Silver Bullet. Well that first drop is something special. There are some that like to kick you up the bum like Katun, there are some that lull you into a false sense of security like Nemesis. Here, Bullet is quite happy to casually travel merrily down its first drop and into a forceless vertical loop. It then takes on an over banked turn which isn’t too bad (reminds me of Tatsu) and then into a waste of time cobra roll. Honestly, it has no forces at all. Even an element which lacks on sit downs was great on Scream but here it just sucks.

The zero g is also slightly lax, as is the following turn around and corkscrew. The final jump and last corkscrew are pretty good, as is the finale helix which is full of force. The ride as a whole reminds me of Silver Star, eager to please but does nothing truly spectacular. We rode twice more (row 2 and row 1) and the ride did get better but from an intensity stand point it does nothing to challenge the Batmans or even Inferno’s of this world. It looks the part with its striking colour scheme but that really is about it. Fortunately we queued only about 15 minutes max for it.

Xcelerator was our next ride, the first of the accelerator Intamin coasters. It’s interesting to see the difference between the first one and the later ones like Stealth and Rita. For example, Xcelerator’s launch is much louder as is the sound of the catch car returning to the station. It also if I dare say it seems slightly crude. The lapbars here are welcome, the difficulties in getting into the train are not. There is no room to move to get across the car, especially if you are in the back of the train. With us strapped in (including unnecessary seat belts) we prepared for launch. The launch is very sudden with no real warning it is about to happen and it caught Chris by surprise. It feels quite jerky in a nice way with a proper punch as you go. It is nowhere as fast as Stealth is but I enjoyed the launch here more. The rest of the ride that follows is pretty boring, kind of like Rita but with no roughness which was a plus. For this reason I can see why Thorpe decided not to clone Xcelerator (although that doesn’t excuse the lack of effort put into Stealth). For this reason, Xcelerator was my favourite ride at Knotts. I can see why the accelerator took off (excuse the pun) as despite the faults, it is a good ride.

Our next stop was the new ride for 2013, the mack wild mouse called Coaster rider. It was boring and dull and reminded me of why I wasn’t upset to see Jungle coaster leave Legoland. Then it was the second Boomerang of the trip, this time a rather unpleasant and nasty one which I didn't enjoy. Pony Express was next and whilst not too bad, wasn’t long enough and ended up waiting in the break run for ages as the other train loaded.

Knotts is small, very small and it wasn’t long before we were back at the entrance again having done a half circle through the middle of the park. Sierra Sidewinder wasn’t available (a train was stuck on the lift) so we headed through Camp Snoopy and onto Montezoomas revenge. I really really liked this. It was the right amount of intensity, speed and airtime for a ride of its type. Next up was Jaguar which was like a really long Zierer thing that went off in all directions almost like its designers just wanted a lengthy ride in the park. It wasn’t bad and was running two trains (Yay). Back round we came to Sierra Sidewinder, a Mack spinning coaster that has a poor reputation in coaster circles. Both Chris and I really liked it. When we got it spinning it went mad and the good pace of the layout meant we were left wanting more. We did another round of the park taking in the KMG afterburner, the S&S shot tower and finally an odd show in the Majestic Manor.

The classic log flume looked really busy but we queued it anyway and it turned out to be a ten minute queue. Good ride and takes you on a really long adventure. Animatronics are in abundance and it is a really nice, classic ride. We didn’t bother with the Screaming Swing, $5 is a bit much for something I do for free at Thorpe.

In some ways this is very much a Thorpe from 2006. A B&M inverter, an Intamin accelerator, a KMG afterburner, a S&S Screaming Swing feature and there was a lot of ride downtime or rides only running one train and very few staff around. It strikes an uncanny resemblance to our UK park. It was an enjoyable place to be although it wasn’t as enjoyable as Magic Mountain or Discovery Kingdom.

We decided to call it a day an hour before closing as we’d done everything we wanted and the park had too many excitable, over the top school children dashing around in every direction.

[Benin]

You didn't miss much with Ghostrider fortunately, so that's a plus...

Knotts is exceptionally weird, there was a lack of atmosphere anywhere besides Camp Snoopy and the Wild West area, with the concrete areas that Cedar Fair are well known for these days...

[alexander]

Ghostrider must be really suffering, I remember riding it as a wee boy and falling in love with it, although christ that must've been 12/13 years ago now, Xcelerator was there so have no idea how long ago that was...

[Tom]

Ghostrider may be the roughest Woodie I remember riding, but like Alex it was years ago!

[Flipper]

I'm going Cali in the summer, and by the sounds of things you've got a good taster of some parks. I'm only gonna be able 2 visit 2 parks, which 2 should I go to?

I would recommend Magic Mountain and Disney too albeit they're both about an hour - hour and a half in opposite directions from LA. But Universal Hollywood is an incredible experience, and whilst I'd prioritise the other two, I'd still make an exception for it if you can as it's only ROT:Mummy as a roller coaster, Jurrasic Park as a water ride, and incredible shows and simulation attractions.

Re: Knotts. It's so weird, and it's a park I wouldn't care to visit again. Still the only theme park I've ever seen that openly sells guns and blades in a shop on the park.

[pluk]

Loving these reports, takes me back to 2009 when I visited but as always with American parks it's amazing how much has changed in that relatively short time.

Always a bitch getting spited by far away rides, I was a lover of ghostrider but its mental roughness isn't for everyone clearly. As for X2, missing that must be almost as painful as riding it. The damn thing is so unreliable though, I feel lucky for having got on and I think it is best to go expecting it to be closed. It was open for no more than a couple of hours the day I was there and that seems pretty normal sadly.

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