Having set up camp in Busan for the next couple of days, we took one of their very efficient intercity buses up to this park in Tongdo. It rained on and off along the way, but upon arrival and following the 15 minute walk to the park entrance, the weather seemed pretty reasonable.
There was a lot of activity in the resort hotel car park but absolutely nothing in the main car park. All the ticket windows were closed, only a little guest services building to the side showed any signs of life. In we go.
“What’s the situation?” We were pointed to a piece of paper with today’s available attractions listed on it. It had around 4 or 5 items on it, a couple of kiddie things, carousel and a haunted walkthrough. “I see. Any chance of the rollercoasters running?” “No. Not at all.” It was a weekend, it was opening time, they were open until 9pm that day, but because it had rained earlier that morning, they had already completely given up on life. Sigh. I should be used to this by now, but it never seems any less stupid.
Jumped on the next bus back to Busan to try our luck on something else.
Geumgang Park?
This potential +1 was another reasonablly significant walk from a nearby metro station, which got quite hilly near the end. It reminded me of the Chinese city parks with their greenery + amusement section combo.
There was a help yourself insect spray dispenser near the entrance accompanied by a warning sign filled with all manner of awful looking creatures. Better be quick then.
Powered up to the powered dragon and found a man in a hut. “Can we ride the cred?” “Nope, it rained earlier.” K.
Drowned our sorrows with album shopping and food then found a nice observation deck on top of a mall for the evening.
This is ‘Breathtaking Busan’. Not sure on that yet.
Here we go, back to my favourite part of the world.
Flew into Seoul with Asiana Airlines, who from my previous short haul experience with them could have been world beaters but they were a bit underwhelming this time around – the entertainment selection was miniscule and the default offering of beverages was a whole 2 times in 11 hours.
Had a Seoul 밤 (night) in the old faithful hotel from our last trip with the heated floor that nearly killed me. Then took the morning Train (not all the way) to Busan, no zombies included.
Daegu KTX station was a bit of a spite, having less big boy lockers than the nearby metro station which, with a lot of luggage in tow, managed to save the day for us.
Day 1 – E-World
Thought we were immediately screwed, as there was what looked like a closed ride sign at the ticket desk with pictures of a couple of creds. Too early for that disappointment, but what choice do we have other than to proceed.
Hmmm.
#1 Magic Castle
Magic Castle was a laugh. Always start strong on these trips with something high quality. It actually was, as they were sticking to the Korean tradition of female ride operators singing while kid’s rides are in action.
Highlight: Dangerously low clearance on the spiral lift hill. Lowlight: Somehow ended up with grease on me.
#2 Boomerang
The welded Boomerang was up next. Hiding well in the foliage makes it slightly less of an ugly sight. The most unpleasant part I find on these is when the train does a hideous stopping itself dead within the length of the station when you reverse back in, which seems to be a more modern feature. The ones that overshoot the station again and come in forwards are fine, which this one did.
Highlight: Surprisingly smooth. Lowlight: Just another Boomerang.
Poor operators.
Some intense swearing in dance music was occurring in the queue for Camel Back, which was somewhat amusing. Where’s the K-Pop though?
#3 Camel Back
I liked this thing. It has the common features of a Jet Coaster but packed a bit more of a punch than usual, with some sharper than average dodgy transitions and a rather significant layout. Might have even been some air time in there.
Highlight: Somehow being run like Tivoli Rutschebanan, with crazy locals on their feet and leaving the train while it was still coming into the station. Not something you’d usually see out here. Lowlight: No singing.
#4 Hurricane
Final cred in the park is Hurricane. False alarm on that sign out front it seems, everything running as expected.
The common Asian loop screw layout from an obscure manufacturer. It rode alright but it’s even more overgrown around here and I actually took a tree to the face during the ride.
Highlight: Tree to the face. Lowlight: Tree to the face.
This isn’t usually my sort of thing, but for some strange reason (seeing it on a Korean reality show) we decided to give it a crack. It was both hilarious and terrifying at the same time.
I don’t do well with being held upside down for long and on the odd swing it just hangs there for what seems like forever while I’m shouting “please stop.” When it clears the top at a pace the result is quite intense and it’s a long old cycle. Sort of enjoyed it, could have been far worse.
Hit the log flume for some fun. The splashdown effect from the boars looked pathetically weak offride, but it had better theming than Tiger Rock.
Grabbed some food and headed up towards the big tower at the top of the hill. It’s situated outside the park as a separate attraction, where there’s a secondary entrance/exit gate, but they gave out a set of vouchers with the park tickets that can get you in for dirt cheap.
For the benefit of tourism branding, Korea like to stick an adjective in front of all their cities to give them a bit of a buzz.
This is ‘Colourful Daegu’, and that does actually make sense. Look at all those rooves.
There’s a 400-odd foot fall on your face in a harness attraction up here but it costs ~£50 and after watching someone else, I managed to tell myself that it looks a little overly controlled rather than freefall, like one of those shot and drop towers. Perhaps the most intense part is the fact you have to make the leap yourself, the moment of truth isn’t done for you. So no. SCAD was enough for me.
Took the cable car back down over the park just as it started to rain. Bit of a lucky escape.
I liked E-World enough, it had a general degree of charm to it, even though the rides aren’t anything to write home about. Not a bad little place for a cred run.
Pago Land?
Jumped back on the metro and headed to a reasonably nearby station before taking a leisurely half hour stroll in search of a powered dragon.
Some sights on the way.
It was a wasted journey in the end though. The ‘park’ was a weird little place on the side of a road claiming to be part of a major tourist resort and a complete ghost town. There were a couple of staff milling around the area giving us the usually Chinese look of ‘wtf are you doing here?’ Undeterred as always, we walked up to the cred, money in hand. The guy sitting on a plastic chair with his feet up on a second plastic chair in the station indicated something along the lines of ‘why should I bother getting off my arse to run the ride?’ And that was that.
So this trip wasn’t consciously planned around the opening of Valkyria. It was more of a case of I’m always looking for an excuse to come here (have I mentioned how much I like the place) and oh look, the new ride is here too.
These days I’m firmly in that mindset of ‘oh, how uninteresting’, when these B&M dive coasters get announced and this one was no exception. It’ll be better than Kanonen, but not excited at all.
Valkyria
So here we are. Nice looking station there. The area has changed quite a bit, particularly during this halloween time as there was a scare zone directly in front that doesn’t quite tie in – a crashed bus and some zombies.
Bags aren’t allowed in the queue here, so they’ve got a free locker system in the shop below. It’s a quick and easy system. These things always make me think of Arthur and how much of a farce that was.
(Western Regions Heaven – Happy Valley Chengdu)
Clearly they missed out by not investing in one of these though.
We had our free fastracks from booking park tickets online for this on both days so didn’t spend much time in the main queue. It’s got a little shop and some household objects. There’s a dedicated front row queue towards the end, splitting off from row 2 & 3. Seemed pretty popular in this quiet period, being the same length as the main queue but obviously moving at half the speed.
A few features in the station – some nice looking fiery pots and shield on the wall. There’s also a shadow projection of wings flapping on the far wall, which looks pretty neat. A final check for loose items is carried out while you’re at the air gates, they can take a tray of your smaller stuff to the other side for you, so you dont really have to bother with lockers if you’re bagless.
On to the ride then. Is it good? Yes. I was pleasantly surprised in a number of ways.
It’s got pace and purpose to it. The bigger dives have that slow lumbering feel to them, spending an age in each dull inversion and mincing around giant corners.
As soon as the drop is over on Valkyria, it hauls arse through everything else in the sequence at a noticeably different rate and that makes a big difference to me. Even the lift hill is weirdly quick. It reminded me most of Krake. The punchiness of that, but with a more significant and superior layout.
The vest restraints, which worried me, don’t hurt the experience at all. No restriction on the air time of the drop. No weird tightening halfway through. No uncomfortable hanging in the inversions. There’s hope for this lot as well.
The view from the top is pretty unrivalled (with Liseberg bias) and the interaction of the drop is insane. It’s a busy area, with pathing between the two cleverly shaped holes and if you’re sitting on an outside seat, it feels like they’re standing directly under you as you fall. I said Draken was the first time I’d felt so up close and personal with the main drop on one of these, but Valkyria took it another stage further.
Really liked it then. My new favourite dive coaster. Well done Liseberg.
Loke the Gyro Swing was also new to me, the park sure have been busy since last time.
It’s really good of course. Lap bar effect on a stupidly massive swinging arm, great views all round, both upside down and otherwise. Well done again.
Balder has a new sign and a new entrance through a different part of the structure. The old queue has turned into express pass. It still has the old TVs playing the instructional videos, but now that it’s trying to blend in with its new friends, there isn’t the interesting mix of music in the station and barely any horn action on dispatch.
Think this ride has suffered in my eyes from this visit. It’s still a lot of fun, but the formulaic Intamin layout bugs me a little too much now. 90% waiting for air time to happen, 10% air time happening. If that’s all you’re into, then it’s perfect. I find myself sitting there with way too much time to think about how laughable the corners are and how the design process went down: “How many hills can we fit in this between this corner and this corner? 2?” “Nah just 1 here mate, stick an extra bit of straight in, that’ll do.”
Aerospin was new to me as well. Another great flat ride with incredible views.
Lisebergbanan hasn’t suffered. Still a stupidly good adventure of a ride with stupidly good throughput. Watching one of the 5 trains going past every 20 seconds is a great way to spend a mealtime.
We got one of those perfect runs where you race a Helix train along the hillside as well. That hill bit with Uppswinget… pretty much my favourite area of any park ever.
Some other random thoughts:
– Didn’t know the dark ride had gone, went round the corner looking for it only to be confronted with grass and more Valkyria. Then laughed.
– Already being a fan of Max in Sweden, them replacing Burger King is a vast improvement.
– I’ve never really got into Halloween at parks, but damn they make it look amazing. Easily a million pumpkins distributed, but plenty of subtle touches as well.
– Everything was pretty much walk on all weekend so, you know, awesome as always. Can’t not have a good time at this park.
I’ll leave you with some Helix porn. Still the next level.
Been thinking how to fit this place in for a long time – dedicated trip? Nah, not worth it. Ferry from Denmark? Nah, bit mad. One way car hire from Sweden? £400… You what? Hang on, it’s only a 3 hour drive from Gothenburg. Easy.
Arrived in the car park to confused teenage staff staring and not talking or directing. It wasn’t until the end of our visit that we discovered we were supposed to show them our parking ticket on arrival.
With no clear instruction, we had parked up and put the ticket on the dash instead, narrowly avoiding reversing off a cliff. Parking sensors won’t save you now.
A bit of a queue had formed at the entrance. I like the framing of Speed Monster here, plain escalators must have looked pretty bad before it was built. Discussed how cool an entrance it would be if they announced the park opening as a train launched. Wishful thinking.
#1 Thundercoaster
Headed to the Vekoma woodie first, with a rough idea that it got the bigger queues, due to only owning one train. Didn’t know that one train was a Timberliner though, so that got me excited again. What hurt Loup Garou most for me was the uncomfortable restraints (Robin Hood just sucks regardless).
Well there we go, set complete. It didn’t do much on the first go. Had an amusing shake throughout that drowned out any other feeling.
Gave it a second chance later on and things had greatly improved. Some proper out of the seat moments, occasional rather than constant, but much more in line what I’ve come to expect sitting in one of those trains. It’s the unsuspecting hills that do it. Ones that don’t look much as you approach, they hide under the structure, but then they get much steeper than they should. Great stuff.
Walked back over to Speed Monster. Worryingly hadn’t seen it move since our arrival, even though there were people in the station. Joined the queue. Engineer standing on the track, staring at the brakes. Staff clearing out the queue. It’s Intamin, what can you do?
#2 Loopen
Here comes the Loopen. The Norwegian coaster scene was perfectly summed up by the glum expressions on the faces of guests returning to the station on this beast. I’ve never done this ‘travelling’ layout before, so that was a novelty at least.
The gate to the Western Expressen area was closed while they faffed with Virtual Reality headsets. A crowd was gathered, clearly excited. For some strange reason they weren’t riding this while they waited, even though it was right next to them.
#3 Dvergbanen
One of those rides I look at online and think I might not even get in it, but looks can be deceiving as there was room to spare with 2 adults in the car.
Wanted to head down to the Viking area for the next cred, the dark ride and the Hafema rapids that I was really looking forward to. But it was all closed, cheers for that. It’s Parque Reunidos, what can you do?
#4 Western Expressen
At least the other cred had now opened. Standard Vekoma junior, not much to look at. They’ve split the queue in two and run one train with VR as Steampunk Hunters and one without as vanilla Western Expressen.
Did both for the hell of it. VR was quite hilarious. It includes an interactive part on the lift at the start and on the brake run where you can shoot some robot bugs by aiming your face at them, which I thought was brilliant. The headset itself was probably the most user friendly I’ve come across, particularly with headphones being involved. The movement synced terribly with the ride until the end of the lift, but then it was fine and tons of crazy visuals were going on – some woman on a hover board, mine shafts and volcanos. Losing the plot as always.
Did Nightmare, which was great. Who remembers the short lived Vengeance at the London Dungeons? It’s that ride system, but much more mental. Themed to zombies and filming? in a very confusing and comedic fashion. It might just be a really self aware ride, but not understanding it I don’t know if it’s a joke or not. You can’t tell if you’re meant to be shooting half the time and whether it’s actually doing anything. Several of the scenes have the ‘shootees’ just standing there looking at you for a good 15 seconds before deciding to come at you. It does has the moment of of bringing up scores halfway through to show who’s doing well and who needs to play catchup, but all the pictures are unrecognisable and you’re losing to characters that aren’t real. Some other great effects in there too. Loved it.
Back over to camp out Speed Monster. Oh good, it’s fixed.
#5 Speed Monster
It looked cool, but I wasn’t expecting much from it. Intamin, restraints, all that business.
Really surprised me how good it was, so there is still hope for these sorts of things.
You can feel the launch end abruptly before the end of the flat section, which added a bit of character.
Norway’s Norwegian Loop is a fun start, Sweden did it better though.
Got a good air time hill and two more twisty ones in there as the train winds its way back down the station, one of which seems to overcompensate itself in banking and then adjusts awkwardly afterwards, with a rather amusing sensation.
Most importantly the restraints didn’t really hurt it at all. More great stuff.
Went to have a pizza at this point and ended up waiting 2 hours for it. Everyone was kicking off about how slow the shop was being and they all had a fancy phone app to tell them when their meals were ready, while we were the only people on the day given the old fashioned lump of plastic that buzzes, not knowing if it was ever even going to work. It’s Parque Reunidos, what can you do?
It bugs me to no end that we didn’t manage to finish the place due to closures, but that’s become a tradition for us at every park in this chain now. It does have some quality rides, but can’t see myself busting to go back there and finish it for a long time. Never know, they might get something new one day…
So that monumental waste of time for food cut down on our re-ride opportunities, also irked me massively because I could physically feel each second eating into our time at Liseberg. And that’s just not acceptable. Got a couple more laps in and hit the road.
Liseberg
Only park in the world I get giddy with excitement to return to and it really showed here. Was my third visit and it just gets better every time. Went straight to the bae (Helix) and it’s still the best thing ever by a significant margin, 600 creds later. Also previewed the brand new #6 Valkyria and it was really impressive, more details tomorrow. Oh, what a wonderful night it was.
I said I’d be back, so here we are. An attempt at a more relaxed day at Magic Mountain. Priorities: Still need X2 and the kids creds, TC til I bleed.
All started very familiar. The long walk, the security scan, the staring intently at X2 not running while waiting for the gates to open.
Took exactly the same route to find it still wasn’t running. But “it should be open later.” Ok.
Tatsu while we’re up here then? Nope, not open.
Oh good, Ninja again then. S’alright.
Superman is closed for the ‘weather.’ Well isn’t this a strong start. Yes it was a lot quieter, but what good is that when nothing is running?
Gold Rusher – Closed.
Riddler’s Revenge – Closed. Well I’ve achieved nothing but leg pain in the first hour, let’s get some +1s.
#1 Road Runner Express
+1.
#2 Speedy Gonzales Hot Rod Racers
+2.
Canyon Blaster – Closed.
Tried my luck on Magic Flyer – Denied.
Scream! – Closed.
Had a couple of laps on the magnificent beast that is Twisted Colossus to lighten the mood.
Was equal parts pleasant and depressing to walk straight onto Goliath after that 2 hour queue last time. Only ever sat near the back of the train for that drop, think it’s best to keep it that way.
And Full Throttle completes my mostly unsuccessful lap of the park. Wait a minute. I see a 4D coaster going up the lift hill while I’m stuck on the brake run for this. Yes! Let’s go let’s go.
Ran all the way back up the damn hill to hear on approaching the entrance: “X2 is currently experiencing a delay in operations, not sure how long but we recommend you stick around.”
What a tease. Joined the queue anyway, waiting about half an hour at the splitting point with a handful of other guests who all eventually gave up. It could have been some sort of incident rather than technical problems because people came out of the station much, much later, one girl in tears and being consoled by her friends. Then the queue (just me) was cleared – “come back later.” Not the best of signs.
Tatsuuuuuuuuuw was open now and seemed more intense in the front row, so that’s a plus.
This was better on a middle seat and knowing how to prepare a little. Still not great, though I admire the scale of it and how long the layout goes on for.
Preshows were no better knowing how to prepare a little. Stand closer to the door? Everyone else was doing that as well. They clearly all feel the same way.
After that little detour X2 was now open. Again.
#3 X2
Is everybody in? I’m going to stop saying that now. I’d built up that soundtrack way too much in my head and instead the station was in complete silence with zero atmosphere. All I got was confused. Where can I put my glasses? Oh too late now I’m sitting on the ride. Well that’s worrying. Bloke next to me has them on too: “You sure about that?” I ask. “I just bend them round ma head.” “Yeah but these are like the most intense rides ever.” I say with concern. No reply.
To be kind – it’s not very good. The glasses stayed on fine. It lacks the sheer insanity of the other S&S 4D coasters somehow.
Never thought there’d be a deadspot on a ride of this nature but it really crawls through that corner over the station, in the upright position with no rotation, giving you time to think. And I’m not comfortable with that time to think. The best thing about these models usually is having absolutely no idea what’s happening to you from the moment you hit the bottom of the first drop until the brake run. What else in the world can do that to you? And if this can’t, what’s the point?
It’s rough in a different way to what I’d experienced before, repeatedly slamming your calves into the seat towards the end (legs are taking such a battering in this place), instead of throwing you up and out of it in a playful/terrifying manner. The back row of one of the trains was completely closed off, with engineers and perhaps even someone who had been externally called in scratching their heads and lingering between the brake run and the station, taking the brief window of opportunity to have a quick look at the seats and play with the restraints (which were taped down) between dispatches. I said it wasn’t a good sign.
The fire is cool. Can’t help but think it would have been nicer to turn the layout around and have something like that as a spectator moment for offride guests too, rather than in the middle of nowhere. Shame, but set complete.
Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnope.
Noooooo.
No no no.
There we go.
Spent the rest of the day seeing how much more bruising my legs could handle. Only downside to this RMC is a lack of picture opportunities.
And so ends the trip really. Was gonna do Universal but ran out of steam by the last day and couldn’t justify the cost of ~£110 per head for a whopping TWO ‘new to me’ attractions and nothing else exciting. There’s always next time. Cheers for reading.
Summary
New creds – 53 Total parks – 12 B&Ms – 8 (don’t know what else is typically American) Current savings on car parking costs – $221 Best coaster – Twisted Colossus Spites – 8/61 (13.1%)
So here we are, back on resort. Another unnatural 8:30 start at a theme park to beat those crowds, let’s kill it again. This was looking to be a very different task to the other resort gate as I cannot deny the impressive number of attractions I had on my list for the main park, which sounds even better when most of the clones of rides I’ve done in their other resorts weren’t included in the list.
#1 Space Mountain
Powered to Space Mountain where I got another confirmation that something at Tokyo was actually wrong and it wasn’t just me. This one runs properly and it’s amazing. Music? Check. Effects working? Check. So dark you can’t see the track? Check. Hauling arse and actually a decent ride? Check. Sad it stayed busy and never got back on it.
Not a fan of Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. The way it’s presented makes it quite clear that they’ve slapped another IP on an older ride and not really done much with it other than a few screens and some obnoxious movie quotes. Easy win for 20,000 Leagues.
This looks exciting though. Until it broke down. Turns out it’s a tad temperamental. Grabbed a fastpass while they fixed it and then got stuck outside Toon Town. Didn’t know they did staggered openings here, but this area was roped off for a few more minutes.
#2 Gadget’s Go Coaster
The few minutes was worth it, allowing us to get the +1 with maximum efficiency.
Didn’t particularly need to ride Roger Rabbit. Went to have a look anyway. Also broken.
#3 Matterhorn Bobsleds (Right)
The Bobs are back and they’re good fun. The animatronic yeti slithering out at various moments was rather amusing, as was the tracking of the ride and the way it manouevred itself endlessly downwards in a clunky fashion. Had to ride a bit defensively with a bag in tow but that added to the enjoyment. Didn’t expect the splashdown at the end. Ahead of it’s time.
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was new to me. Old school style dark ride crashing through cardboard cutouts at a million miles an hour. Not sure why it was in London, he lives in the countryside doesn’t he? Had a good moment of recklessly driving down a pier which reminded me of Santa Monica the other day.
Couldn’t find the entrance to Alice and the park was starting to get faffy with a million pushchairs in the way at every turn. That’s enough of Fantasyland for now.
#4 Big Thunder Mountain
Ol’ Big Thunder. Can’t go wrong with them really. Good effects on lift 3, good interaction with other trains and lots of other little details. Still tamer than the Paris version. Grabbed a fast pass for Indy before moving on.
Christmas strikes again. Tokyo gives me a sub-par ride cos it was the first week in SEPTEMBER… and now this one is closed so they can get rid of Christmas. Annoying. I want to ride an actual Haunted Mansion.
Well I’ve not come across a Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh that starts outside. This could be different. It has the hilarious Twilight Zone effect when he falls alseep while I wasn’t paying attention. But not a patch on the trackless one. Better than the copy paste one?
Splash Mountain is sponsored by Ziploc here and I got given a ton of free themed bags. Ride wasn’t as fun as I remembered and then the boats were all stacking really early at the end, repeatedly crashing into each other, hard.
Another Disney another Pirates of the Caribbean. Looks like I’ve stopped taking pictures of them. Almost identical to the last, just the bonus Jack animatronic was on the left rather than the right. Obnoxious locals spent the whole ride talking loudly and making dinner plans. It’s fun what you remember.
Jungle Cruise again lacks the spectacle of Hong Kong, but also now the acting talent of the Japanese. At least the non-stop dry humour jokes were kinda funny.
Indiana Jones Adventure was disappointingly not as good as I remember either. Having only done each one once I couldn’t say how different they are or what was off about it other than lack of the hilarious smoke blowing bloke and the ending not getting me at all like it should have.
Found the entrance for Alice in Wonderland. Can this be as good as Blackpool? It’s a hard comparsion, but the latter’s charm of playing the wrong music and having crude characters ride in the car with you cannot be denied. S’alright.
Storybook Land Canal Boats was a thing. You get a live guide, but with little to no enthusiasm.
Think that was everything ticked off except the other side of Matterhorn (+1). Got up to the same place as the first time we tried to ride and it broke down again. This was a more severe one as they instantly cleared the 90 minute queue and gave everyone a free re-entry fast pass on their ticket. I admire that efficiency.
Time killing time then. Waited a ridiculously long amount of time for the low capacity monorail that was only running 1 train and they don’t force people to use as actual transportation (so they don’t ever get off) meaning hardly any seats are ever available. I don’t admire that efficiency.
Downtown Disney still haunts me. Had an Earl of Sandwich cos I remember it being one of the best things about Paris and knew it wouldn’t give me MERS. Didn’t disappoint.
Back on the monorail. Waiting got so bad that there was some form of incident kicking off and staff had to ‘escort’ a guest somewhere. Could have opted to walk back to the park, but when in Rome.
Bobs was back. Had to be that strange person and request the other side, but it worked (#5 Matterhorn Bobsleds (Left)). Yeti on screens on the lift featured more than I remembered the first time and the track was even clunkier.
Fastpassed some other random attractions for a laugh. Had absolutely killed the time management again, Monorail being by far the longest wait, everything else being too easy.
Thought Star Tours would be the same as ever but then Darth Vader rocked up and tried to choke us and Boba Fett was chilling in orbit where his dad died. Don’t remember that before. I have now learnt that there’s loads of sequence combinations you can get including some really new stuff, so it’s always worth a shot if you’re a fan. Crait! I want it now. Might actually get me excited about the ride.
Thought Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters would be the same as ever but then it was.
Baby castle.
Baby castle by night. Not projecting on that are we?
Previously on my trip reports: Normally these shows are pretty special right? A magical moment to end the day, a world class spectacle, lots of big tunes and tears. Disney at it’s finest. What followed was hilarious, but quite possibly the death of Disney. They’ve got the usual song tying it all together about magic and dreams come true and life is a party and all that, but it came across as way too far up its own arse when it’s so specific to a day at this theme park and not just the brand in general. Mickey is titting about as always but the highlights were, in no particular order: low resolution footage direct from the Star Wars simulator, a celebration of the paddle steamer(I lost it hard at this point) and some flat rides no one cares about. The actual highlight? Probably saying ‘Yay, the Pirates of the Carribbean theme’, because it reminded me of Shanghai. No, it was the paddle steamer, that was the defining moment. The moment it couldn’t recover from. There were no fireworks, very few special effects, a couple of pyros and zero interesting graphics which were also steppy and of poor quality. It ended to absolute silence. And then everyone left, probably all thinking ‘where was Let It Go?’
So this was the stage for the evening show that I was becoming skeptical about. Tokyo’s was such a massive disappointment and this looks… different. The staff were claiming it didn’t contain fireworks and the viewing areas (if you hadn’t got a fast pass, for a show? eww) were complicated and restricted at best. We camped out what looked like the best spot for peasants. They used the forcing people to stand method nearer the time, but had staff around doing Disney trivia questions (not nearly international enough for my liking) and giving out stickers so that made the time pass much less painfully. It really was the prime peasant spot until some Mexican kid tried to barge through and nullify our 2 hour patience. The sun’s getting real low.
Well they’ve done it. Words cannot describe how good this was. Not being at the castle allows for a lot more physical events to happen so you’ve got a stage show with hugely elaborate props and sets. The theme here was imagination, and I’ve got one hell of an imagination, so I can relate this time. There’s also the water in front of the stage so lots of awesome water projection an-OH MY GOD THERE’S A 200FT PIRATE SHIP sailing towards us out of the smoke with 50 actors on it doing crazy stunts. It’s got Rapunzel with actual boat and song (I’m allowed to have a favourite princess). It’s got a massive physical dragon and tons of fire. It’s got fireworks (so they knew all their trivia, but didn’t know that). It’s got the damn steamboat we were meant to be ‘celebrating’ in Tokyo and there’s 100 characters on it dancing. I’ll celebrate it here. And I’ve got goosebumps thinking about it now. Best ending show in any park by a significant margin. Faith restored.
Strategically had a Big Thunder booked for just after the show to let the crowds disperse and have a fun little night ride. I like the way this town section lit up at night, but the camera didn’t.
Strategy worked and that was that. Just need Florida now to complete the Disney set. How basic.
My 4th and final visit came in the form of attempting to beat the morning rush. They spited me by changing the designated car park on this day and making me walk further to get into the park. They also must have been spiting me with some sort of hotel guest Exclusive Ride Time on GhostRider because it ALWAYS has a queue – 30 minutes at park opening. Got my back row ride at last with a guy from King’s Island who was disappointingly unphased by my knowledge of his park. I guess ‘What’s in the shed?’ really did make national news.
Slithered over to #1 Timberline Twister (the real reason for the visit?). Until now it had always had too much of a queue to face being turned down from this kiddie ride for height reasons. I generally don’t try my luck if there is a physical sign saying ‘we actually have a written rule here, so not a chance, you strange person’, but after a bit of quick maths this maximum 69″ is almost achievable. I think I’m 70. Managed to get on by trying to look both small and casual at the same time. It was easier to climb into than both Coast Rider and Electric Eel. My first Bradley & Kaye and proud. Park complete.
Goodbye Knott’s. I’ll leave on that happy note.
Time for some sightseeing.
Some sign. Don’t see the fuss.
City looks quite nice though.
Some star. Don’t see the fuss.
Chinese Theatre looks quite nice though.
Captain America texting behind his shield & the bloke from the Hangover loitering with Pennywise. Don’t see the fuss.
That thing looks quite nice though.
Ended up in a Home Depot after this for reasons I forget. Turns out we could have just seen the Hollywood sign from their car park.
Not much to report here. Spent some time in Koreatown checking out the local music shop scene for some Kpop albums I needed, then moved on to here:
Day 10 – Pacific Park
Driving on the wood of the pier was fun. Parking was at a premium and other drivers would seem to have preferred if I ran some pedestrians down over spending any precious seconds giving way.
#1 Santa Monica West Coaster
Storm clouds rolled in to greet us just as I got to the ticket window. Got the standard story about stopping in rain – no refunds, but the card is good any time. Not too much to lose then.
They were seriously thinking about it, but it didn’t rain too hard. Got a couple of wet laps. Uninspired layout of course with the double ended helices of doom. The couple of humps in the middle are decent enough in the back. Job done.
There’s the beach. I believe it’s usually a little busier.
And there’s the sea.
More Knott’s
The rain continued into the evening and I thought I’d chance another quick stint at Knott’s – only 1 lap on the woodie in 2 days had left me wanting more. It was quiet and not particularly wet, but almost everything was closed. Got a very rude response from the staff to a status enquiry at the entrance of Ghostrider.
Hangtime was the only thing running so spent some more time getting acquainted with those nightlight rides. It was suffering as the only work horse of the evening. Broke down twice in an hour, once with me on it. Got to see some engineers scratch their heads and play with the manual block releases while the station roof dripped on my leg for half an hour.
Just like I never got DisneySea, I never clocked that this place was a Berry Farm until the station audio said Knott’s… Berry Farm. I’ve been saying it Knotts-berry Farm all my life.
Thanks to the late night preview, I had some sort of a plan for the following morning. Hit that mouse first. Don’t want another CGA situation.
#1 CoastRider
Well this was terrible. The local obsession with shin bars has made its way to one of these and the result is rather uncomfortable, to the point where a guy in front of me said “nah I’m not doing this” as soon as they put the bars down and got them to let him out. You haven’t thought this one through have you boys? It’s that Legoland layout as well – crap.
Xcelerator was still doing an Intamin, so jumped back on Hangtime while it was still quiet at this end.
Hangtime (#700)
I like this thing. They’re not trying to be the best thing ever, but coming out with some good solid compact layouts now with proper trains.
The hang on the holding brake with so little area of contact between yourself and the restraint is just fantastic for those who appreciate that sort of exposed feeling and probably quite terrifying for your average guest.
Other than that it’s like half of Smiler (which I enjoy) with proper trains, including the crazy speed hill between inversions. Disorientating fun.
Obviously the night rides were better. The lighting package they have inside the track that syncs up with music in the station was a real spectacle to behold. Not that it isn’t pretty in the day as well.
#2 Xcelerator
They fixed it. I once sat next to a random guy on Stealth who loved it but said it was short. “It would be better if it did up and down and woop de woop” (gesturing other manoeuvres with his hands). “They have those in other parks” I said, agreeing that it would probably be an improvement.
This one isn’t. The corners do nothing and you sacrifice the fun hill-nnnnnnnnnn-brakes moment. Yawn. So what’s up with half the rides at this place not having enough air gates for the number of rows? I got spited several times by some terrible batching with guests and staff not understanding the concept. Only 2 of 4 people have moved forward into these 4 seats, but I won’t search behind that gate for a 1 or 2, I’ll start calling for people at the other end of the train. Highlight of the ride was helping out some Korean girls who were confused by the front row queue system.
Montezooma’s Revenge
+1ed this Shuttle Loop the previous night and never went back for it. I like the way the lights go out half a second before the launch. Makes a satisfying set of noises. Other than that, Shuttle Loop.
#3 Jaguar!
Jaguar time. The rare custom Tivoli. Nice to try a unique layout and the interaction with other rides was fun. Imagine that indoor queue can get pretty grim if it’s busy.
#4 Pony Express
Only this Zamperla Moto(Horse)coaster was left cred-wise (not true, but that can wait). It broke down as we got to the station. Nothing major, camped it out for completion and after everyone else had left the queue, it re-opened. Didn’t even need testing.
Ugh, Motorbikes. Seating position seemed slightly less offensive as a horse. Layout was very short and didn’t do a whole lot, but probably a better simulation of what you’re supposed to be doing than the standard Zamperla/Golden Horse layout.
Dark ride time. I like the fact that Voyage to the Iron Reef was trying to link itself to the park in the storyline but it soon got massively confusing and suffered from that issue where having to shoot screens distracts from storytelling. The fact the guns shot ice and it built up on things over time was kinda different and cool.
Better dark ride time. The website sold Calico Mine Ride as something special and it actually is. An actual train ride though the mine – what a great idea. Loads of detail and interesting scenes, effects, smells too (who knew dynamite smelt so nice?). Only complaint would be sitting awkwardly sideways dodging other people’s legs and hurting your neck to see some of the scenery.
Timber Mountain Log Ride was nearby and only down as a maybe on my list, but that was a mistake. Didn’t expect more lengthy and intense dark ride scenes akin to a cowboy Splash Mountain. I believe it actually inspired it. Definitely not one to miss.
Did the train cos it looked nice. Route and views left a little to be desired around the back of the park, when you just run the perimeter fence and either stare out at the road or the back of sheds. Appreciate the live actors doing a little comedy train robbery scene mid-ride though.
The big coasters were all holding their queues, so couldn’t really be bothered for any more laps on this day. Jumped on the observation tower for some views and then headed out early.
Guess I’ll talk the rest now.
GhostRider
It was a pleasant surprise to see new GCI trains on GhostRider. I only knew that it had had some work done on the track. If the ride was bad before, it’s definitely paid off.
It’s got a weirdly mixed layout that makes for a great ride. A couple of huge air time filled drops, questionable flat turnarounds, joyful bouncy twisty sections that appear out of nowhere (my absolute favourite thing on woodies) and the hilariously intense lateral section through the structure. Also just goes on and on. Really solid stuff, favourite wood of the trip.
Silver Bullet
Silver Bullet is weak. Think that shallow first drop has somewhat of a reputation and it is definitely a bit of a joke when you’re on it. The train had a dodgy shuffle (probably from not taking anything fast enough) and the ride provided none of the signature strong positives or snappy transitions that make a B&M invert special. If a back row at night can’t sell you on one of these, you’ve done something wrong.
Shame, looks nice.
Sierra Sidewinder
The Mack spinner was unfortunate. Never got a decent spin on it. I loved it as the Spiderman incarnation and this still had the overly intense helices (better than the invert) but otherwise fell a little short.
Another park of mixed feelings really. It took me 4 separate visits to get everything I wanted out of it (popped back in another couple of times after this) so it was always too busy to get a real judge of the place. Quite often the operations didn’t help that, the single rider idea only existing on 1 ride for 1 hour on 1 day was a bit of a tease and some other incidents just plain sucked. It has a couple of nice areas and unique attractions, but none of the creds are amazing enough to provide much pull to me for the future.
Turning up to this park felt like a real chore rather than something to look forward to due to the stupidly extortionate price and knowing I was in for a spite. I just can’t say no to Mack rides (or more specifically achieving the full set of their launch coaster layouts, for a few months). Had a better time than expected thankfully, even if this report won’t show it.
They half-arsed the rope drop leaving some people to get cut in half while surging forward. Essential cleaning needed.
Having to do another Premier Sky Rocket was the main chore, not gonna put up with queuing for a second one of these.
#1 Electric Eel
It’s so obnoxiously worse than the original. The ‘comfort collars’ on the restraints are just so impractical you can’t even get into the train properly. I don’t see the point in them and they pretty much ruin a semi-decent ride. Well done to the world for finding multiple ways of doing that.
#2 Manta
On to better things.
Sigh… lockers. Mack make a great little baggage holder for their rides don’t you know? But of course that would take away a source of revenue that makes your customers feel more ripped off.
Back at home in the best trains in the world. Let’s see what you’ve got Manta. I don’t know how this runs normally, but the launch section was under a poor projection screen with a few snowflakes on it and Santa is saying “ho-ho-ho lets slow this ride down for Christmas.” Someone replies “we can’t slow it down.” And off you go. Quality.
I wasn’t expecting a huge amount from this and came off equal parts pleased and disappointed. It does have good moments and it is a fun ride, but whose idea was it to put trim brakes directly before the 2nd launch? It’s like when I couldn’t build multi launches properly in RCT2, only someone commissioned this as a final product. Well done to the world for ruining that sensation.
Let’s have another Mack track porn session then.
Nope, stop, the flamingos have killed it.
Never done an Orca show before, so slithered in for that. To answer the question in the picture – no. But I know more now.
Not 100% on how the line goes. Jump Free Willy?
Journey spiting. Expected.
Rapids spiting. Unexpected. These guys were in the same place just staring both times I looked, about 4 hours apart, so it’s obviously broke.
Did most of the other animal stuff.
There was a weird simulator ride called Wild Arctic before the arctic exhibits, it didn’t make much sense. I appreciate the way it was themed to taking you to the exhibit as if it was on location, but fairly sure they said we were in a helicopter, a helicopter that crashes underwater during the journey and comes out of it alright. Huh.
I like the way this staff member has been working with penguins so long that they now stand like one.
I’d rather climb into and lie down in the ‘touch the shark’ exhibit than pay this park upcharge for rides like the observation tower so our time here soon drew to a close after that.
Knott Sea World
It was time to drive back up to L.A. and there were a few spare hours in the evening so had some more Cedar Fair season pass fun and popped into Knott’s for a preview.
Glad I did this as it took a lot of pressure off the main visit tomorrow by ticking off all the big coasters (#3 – #7 for the day) bar Xcelerator, which was doing an Intamin. It was also the only time of the trip that GhostRider was spontaneously running a single rider queue, if only for a few brief minutes.
