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Theme Parks & Roller Coasters |OT| The Happiest Place on GAF

Went out with some business colleagues to Universal CityWalk and got drunk on hurricanes. Good times, good times. I love that you can take your drinks with you. It's awesome.

JP needs another ride, but Cartoon Lagoon has two very solid water rides. If those aren't your thing then I can understand not liking it, but for me, there's nothing quite as satisfying on a 95 degree summer day in Florida as getting soaking wet on a water ride.

Water rides are a no-go for me, unless it's the very last thing I go on. (And even then I don't care for them that much.) I really hate the feeling of walking around the park wet. You feel even grosser than you normally would.

Cartoon Lagoon just feels really tired. It's based entirely around comic strip characters that nobody gives a shit about anymore, as evidenced by its emptiness. I felt bad for the people that had to work there.

The lack of a really great thrill ride in Jurassic Park feels like a colossal oversight, especially more than a decade after IoA's opening. How on earth they've let it go on without adding anything substantial is a real head scratcher.

The comic book section is great. I love that it's based around 90s era Marvel animation. It's a good nostalgia kick.

But again, I do wonder what will happen when Disney gets greedy and decides to pull the plug on Marvel stuff in Universal Studios. I'm not sure how long the current contract goes on, but I'd imagine it's inevitable. However, perhaps Spider-Man can stay in some form, since I believe Sony's rights to Spider-Man extend beyond films and into other forms of visual media.
 
Jurassic Park feels like a colossal oversight, especially more than a decade after IoA's opening. How on earth they've let it go on without adding anything substantial is a real head scratcher.

The comic book section is great. I love that it's based around 90s era Marvel animation. It's a good nostalgia kick.

But again, I do wonder what will happen when Disney gets greedy and decides to pull the plug on Marvel stuff in Universal Studios. I'm not sure how long the current contract goes on, but I'd imagine it's inevitable. However, perhaps Spider-Man can stay in some form, since I believe Sony's rights to Spider-Man extend beyond films and into other forms of visual media.

Word on the street is that Jurassic Park is next in line for an expansion after Diagon Alley. Rumors of an amber mine coaster were floating around recently.

The lack of expansions could be attributed to Universal's very poor management for a number of years. Harry Potter at IoA was the first significant thing they did with the park and it payed off big time. Comcast bought out NBC/Universal recently and is gouging money into the parks. That's why construction is starting to really pick up.

It'd be interesting if Disney offered Universal a fortune for the Marvel rights and Universal accepted. I wonder if Universal could get DC in that case, considering their deal with Six Flags. The original plans for IoA actually involved DC and Looney Tunes, but Universal cheaped out in front of Warner Bros. Retheme Spiderman to Batman and Hulk to Superman and there you go.

Always fun to think about.
 

Branduil

Member
Port of Entry is fantastic. After rereading my initial post about it, I feel like I don't give IOA enough credit. Marvel, and the Comic section have the worst theming, and by that I mean worst in the park, which is still great.

The comic section is lame mainly because it's a bunch of old second-tier newspaper comics no one cares about. It's like something out of a Simpson's parody in how irrelevant it is to its target audience.

Oh, I see Bertram already said that.
 
The comic section is lame mainly because it's a bunch of old second-tier newspaper comics no one cares about. It's like something out of a Simpson's parody in how irrelevant it is to its target audience.

Sell Marvel rights to Disney for a shitload of cash, buy Warner Bros. rights, retheme Marvel Island to DC and Toon Lagoon to Looney Tunes. Bam, done.
 

Branduil

Member
Sell Marvel rights to Disney for a shitload of cash, buy Warner Bros. rights, retheme Marvel Island to DC and Toon Lagoon to Looney Tunes. Bam, done.

Warner Bros would probably be pretty reluctant to sell those rights, Six Flags doesn't have anything else whatsoever in terms of theming besides DC and Looney Toons.
 

Chucker

Member
While it falls far short of Disney at variety and theming, and far below a place like Cedar Point in the variety and intensity of thrill rides, it's still a very nice pair of parks. However, I don't know if I buy it as a vacation destination in the same way as WDW. I got through both in one day, and I'm confident a large family could get through them in no more than two.
My wife made the mistake of giving us 2 days at WDW and 3 at USF for the first trip because she didn't think I'd like Disney as much because it didn't have thrill rides.
We were done with USF in a day. Still went the other days, but we didn't get as much as we would have wanted to at WDW.

My biggest problem with the two parks compared to Disney is the lack of convenient transportation. That should be fixed a little bit with the addition of the Harry Potter train next year.

I don't think this is a legit complaint TBH. We walked from Hard Rock to the parks several times, and at the end of the day would take a boat, or just mosey around City Walk. When we rented a car and drove from WDW we didn't have any problem either.

Just IMO of course.
 
PREPARE TO FORFEIT YOUR SOULS!

I remember the first time we rode that during the soft open and the everybody was screaming, so good.

Would have loved to have been there for that! Only soft opening I've been a part of, was the soft re-opening of Spaceship Earth. xD
 
My wife made the mistake of giving us 2 days at WDW and 3 at USF for the first trip because she didn't think I'd like Disney as much because it didn't have thrill rides.
We were done with USF in a day. Still went the other days, but we didn't get as much as we would have wanted to at WDW.

The problem with Disney is the overall higher crowd levels and how spread out everything is. Universal just makes it way easier to get stuff done with the close proximity of both parks, express passes, and onsite early entry. Universal could add one or two extra E-tickets to both parks and they would still be doable in a day.

Honestly I can get most of the stuff I like at Disney done in one day by just doing Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. Animal Kingdom and Epcot are pretty underwhelming besides Expedition Everest and Test Track.

I don't know if Six Flags would let go of the Looney Tunes license

It's a pipe dream to be sure but I'm envisioning Disney giving Universal a shitload of money to buy them out of Marvel and Universal taking a good chunk of that money and negotiating with Six Flags. The best case scenario would be Disney giving Universal so much money for Marvel that it sets them up for anything they want to do in the future.
 
Six Flags is a horribly run company that will probably go bust at some point. (It's amazing that it hasn't already.)

Once that happens, WB/DC stuff will be up for grabs.
 
Six Flags is a horribly run company that will probably go bust at some point. (It's amazing that it hasn't already.)

Once that happens, WB/DC stuff will be up for grabs.

I have a very very strong disdain for Six Flags for purchasing Sea World Ohio (Yes, Ohio) Then being in way to damn deep in over their heads and having to shut it down less than 2 years later.

Thankfully Cedar Point did the decent thing and bought Geauga Lake back, but the damange had already been done. :(
 
I have a very very strong disdain for Six Flags for purchasing Sea World Ohio (Yes, Ohio) Then being in way to damn deep in over their heads and having to shut it down less than 2 years later.

Thankfully Cedar Point did the decent thing and bought Geauga Lake back, but the damange had already been done. :(

As an Ohio kid who adored family trips to Aurora to Sea World, I'm with you.

Miss that place so much.
 

aparisi2274

Member
Will that fire-breathing dragon sitting on top of Gringotts banks really be there? I figured it was just a bit of artistic fun, as I’m 99% sure the fire-breathing dragon will be present within the Gringotts bank attraction itself… but according to a report by the Orlando Sentinel, one of their sources indicated that the dragon really will be there, atop Gringotts. Universal on the other hand will not confirm that it will be in that spot, only that the artwork is intended to be “a good representation of what our guests will be able to experience within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley.”
I’m more willing to take that as a nod that the dragon will be in the ride and maybe there will be a scene in the Gringotts ride that will show the dragon escape from the depths of Gringotts up to the outside world as seen in the film… but I have serious doubts we will see an animatronic fire-breathing dragon perched atop the building 24/7. Then again… maybe they’ll have a way to have a dragon pop out once an hour or so, howl and breathe fire then go back inside.

I can not wait to see what this expansion looks like when it is done! It's going to be insane.
 
Magic Mountain should stop with the coasters. They need to focus on smaller rides and really go all in on the park's themed areas and the ride's themed station/area.
 
JP needs another ride, but Cartoon Lagoon has two very solid water rides. If those aren't your thing then I can understand not liking it, but for me, there's nothing quite as satisfying on a 95 degree summer day in Florida as getting soaking wet on a water ride.
I have seen the concept art for 2 completely different rides for the section.
J1.jpg


Havent been able to find the other art in a few years but it was for an inverted coaster.

Six Flags is a horribly run company that will probably go bust at some point. (It's amazing that it hasn't already.)

Once that happens, WB/DC stuff will be up for grabs.
Universal should build that Batman park they wanted to before IOA.
http://seasonpassforums.com/archive...heme-park-concept-before-ioa__o_t__t_561.html
If Six Flags lost the DC rights though I don't think I would go much anymore. Gotham is the best section of the park.
 

Vyer

Member
We will be making the trek (a drive from Texas) to Disney in a few weeks. I have not been there in nearly 30 years. I have no idea what to expect.
 
As an Ohio kid who adored family trips to Aurora to Sea World, I'm with you.

Miss that place so much.

YW9ixCm.gif


Right there with you! Growing up there, the Shamu laser light shows. So good. Best was Captain Kid's Pirate ships, and the HUGE Cargo nets you could climb! There was a whole huge section of nets that would never end! It was so cool. :(

I really need to get to cedar point.

Yes, you do! Gatekeeper sounds like the real deal! Maverick still too good.

We will be making the trek (a drive from Texas) to Disney in a few weeks. I have not been there in nearly 30 years. I have no idea what to expect.

Which Disney? You're pretty in the middle there to both. lol

Universal should build that Batman park they wanted to before IOA.

I would like this. ;)
 

Nelo Ice

Banned
Magic Mountain should stop with the coasters. They need to focus on smaller rides and really go all in on the park's themed areas and the ride's themed station/area.

While I love that they keep getting coasters, yeah their theming is complete ass and well there's not much to do outside of the coasters. Haven't been there in like 5 years but I've never bothered to do anything besides going on the coasters. Though I've seen that they revamped the Gotham backlot to DC Universe and that's exactly how they should start theming the rest of the park. The place actually looks fun to go visit and see.

Also can't say I cared to do anything but power through from coaster to coaster since there wasn't much else to do. When I went as a kid there wasn't much outside of that small looney tunes area and meeting the looney tunes.
 
Magic Mountain should stop with the coasters. They need to focus on smaller rides and really go all in on the park's themed areas and the ride's themed station/area.

I very much agree with this assessment. Having grown up in the Ohio area, then lived and worked in the Orlando area, themeing to me is such an important facet to any park. There's a good balance, and unfortunately less focus is placed on Themeing in other spots not Florida or California.
 

Vyer

Member
Which Disney? You're pretty in the middle there to both. lol

Ha, true. World. I've never been to Disneyland.

Though, honestly, it's been so long I don't remember anything so it's like I've never been to either one. When we reserved everything and I was told to book restaurants 90 days in advance I thought that was pretty crazy.
 
Ha, true. World. I've never been to Disneyland.

Though, honestly, it's been so long I don't remember anything so it's like I've never been to either one. When we reserved everything and I was told to book restaurants 90 days in advance I thought that was pretty crazy.

Awesome! I was hoping you'd say World. You're in for a surprise! Animal Kingdom wasn't even there last time, MGM Studios is now Hollywood Studios, and you're just in time for Magic Kingdom's greatest expansion in New Fantasy Land.

You were told JUST 90 days in advance? My friend. 180 days is the earliest you can do that. For certain places you pretty much have to do this! Hope you were able to get some great ones. Cinderella Castle is a fantastic atmospheric dining experience.

Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios is IMO the best nighttime show out of the 3, Wishes is always magical, and Illuminations has a beautiful theme and I love the music.
 

Vyer

Member
Awesome! I was hoping you'd say World. You're in for a surprise! Animal Kingdom wasn't even there last time, MGM Studios is now Hollywood Studios, and you're just in time for Magic Kingdom's greatest expansion in New Fantasy Land.

You were told JUST 90 days in advance? My friend. 180 days is the earliest you can do that. For certain places you pretty much have to do this! Hope you were able to get some great ones. Cinderella Castle is a fantastic atmospheric dining experience.

Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios is IMO the best nighttime show out of the 3, Wishes is always magical, and Illuminations has a beautiful theme and I love the music.

Hmm. You might be right (as far as remembering how long I was told). I just remember it was crazy early when we could start reserving.

I'll have to look up what restaurants we ended up selecting (from what was available). We're excited (my son especially) but I'm a little concerned it may be a bit overwhelming, lol.
 
A week. Well, five days to be exact.

You should be OK then. Disney can be quite hectic and overwhelming when you don't have enough days and have to spend time travelling between the parks. With your schedule, you can hit one park per day and be fine. Definitely don't forget about the Fastpass system, though. It will make your life a lot easier.
 

Vyer

Member
You should be OK then. Disney can be quite hectic and overwhelming when you don't have enough days and have to spend time travelling between the parks. With your schedule, you can hit one park per day and be fine. Definitely don't forget about the Fastpass system, though. It will make your life a lot easier.

I was going to ask about that (Fastpass). How exactly does it work? Do you sign up each day for it or something?
 
Hmm. You might be right (as far as remembering how long I was told). I just remember it was crazy early when we could start reserving.

I'll have to look up what restaurants we ended up selecting (from what was available). We're excited (my son especially) but I'm a little concerned it may be a bit overwhelming, lol.

There's definitely a culture shock, right when you get to those gates at Magic Kingdom. I definitely recommend you guys take the Ferryboat to MK the first time, take the Monorail later. Trust me!

Also, please share what you find! How many days are you staying, are you staying on property? Also, do you guys have any gameplans? I love hearing other's Disney journeys and such. I miss the place so much!

Edit - I see you said 5 days. Take your time around every park. Do not rush, please! It definitely takes the enjoyment out. Just find out what you want to see the most, and don't be afraid to live in the moment while you're there.

Fastpass is built in to your park admission. This is both an up and downside to the Fast Pass system. This means the most popular rides get Fast Pass return tickets exhausted fairly early. Add that to the fact they enforce your return time it says on your ticket, they're not as relaxed about this anymore, so you sometimes have to drop what you're doing to save a long wait some place.

Recommendations for Fast Passes

Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain.
Character Greetings Main Courthouse by Main Entrance

Epcot
Soarin
Test Track

Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Mania!
Aerosmith's Rockin Roller Coaster

Animal Kingdom
Kiliminjaro Safari
Expedition Everest
 
I was going to ask about that (Fastpass). How exactly does it work? Do you sign up each day for it or something?

It's very simple. Find a ride you want to go on, then find the ride's Fastpass distribution kiosks (usually located right next to the ride). Insert your park ticket and the machine will spit out a Fastpass. The Fastpass will have an hour time window in which you can use the Fastpass to get in a special line for the ride. The Fastpass line will be much shorter.

So the idea is to get a Fastpass for a ride, then go off and do another ride until your time windows comes up. The Fastpass ticket will also have a time that indicates when you can get another Fastpass (you can only have one at a time). Liberal use of Fastpasses will allow you to experience more during your day.

edit - to add to the above suggestions, you want to get Fastpasses for the rides with the highest wait times. I'd add Splash Mountain and Peter's Pan's Flight for Magic Kingdom, and Tower of Terror for Hollywood Studios. Speaking of Hollywood, the first thing you should do upon entering the pack is grab Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania. Fastpasses run out uber quick and the ride has the longest lines of all.
 

Chucker

Member
You should be OK then. Disney can be quite hectic and overwhelming when you don't have enough days and have to spend time travelling between the parks. With your schedule, you can hit one park per day and be fine. Definitely don't forget about the Fastpass system, though. It will make your life a lot easier.

Yup, abuse fastpass. Also, get the official WDW Ap, if you have a smartphone. Check wait times and attack accordingly!
 

Vyer

Member
Fastpass is built in to your park admission. This is both an up and downside to the Fast Pass system. This means the most popular rides get Fast Pass return tickets exhausted fairly early. Add that to the fact they enforce your return time it says on your ticket, they're not as relaxed about this anymore, so you sometimes have to drop what you're doing to save a long wait some place.

Recommendations for Fast Passes

Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain.
Character Greetings Main Courthouse by Main Entrance

Epcot
Soarin
Test Track

Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Mania!
Aerosmith's Rockin Roller Coaster

Animal Kingdom
Kiliminjaro Safari
Expedition Everest

It's very simple. Find a ride you want to go on, then find the ride's Fastpass distribution kiosks (usually located right next to the ride). Insert your park ticket and the machine will spit out a Fastpass. The Fastpass will have an hour time window in which you can use the Fastpass to get in a special line for the ride. The Fastpass line will be much shorter.

So the idea is to get a Fastpass for a ride, then go off and do another ride until your time windows comes up. The Fastpass ticket will also have a time that indicates when you can get another Fastpass (you can only have one at a time). Liberal use of Fastpasses will allow you to experience more during your day.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I'm looking forward to it.

There's definitely a culture shock, right when you get to those gates at Magic Kingdom. I definitely recommend you guys take the Ferryboat to MK the first time, take the Monorail later. Trust me!

Also, please share what you find! How many days are you staying, are you staying on property? Also, do you guys have any gameplans? I love hearing other's Disney journeys and such. I miss the place so much!

We are staying Monday-Friday. We booked the Art of Animation value resort (I resisted the urge to spend money on the bigger resort hotels so I can use the money elsewhere but I hope I don't regret that decision). We definitely plan on splitting the days up, probably spend the last two at Magic Kingdom.

I should point out too that I'm not much for coasters and we'll have a few toddlers with us, so we are trying to get a good mix when it comes to rides/things to do without missing out on too much.
 

SmithnCo

Member
Definitely hit Fastpass for Toy Story early if you want them. That ride can have insane waits. Test Track has a single rider line so you might want to prioritize Soarin.
 
Yup, abuse fastpass. Also, get the official WDW Ap, if you have a smartphone. Check wait times and attack accordingly!

Yep, official app is great. They have big billboards at the parks that show wait times, but the app seems to update it pretty fast now.

Oh, also, Club Cool: Cool Drink Lab at EPCOT is the best thing ever. Free drinks!
 
I should point out too that I'm not much for coasters and we'll have a few toddlers with us, so we are trying to get a good mix when it comes to rides/things to do without missing out on too much.

You're welcome!

As you have small ones, I'm sure you'll want to meet the characters/princesses, they have a fairly new fastpass to meet the characters exclusively at Magic Kingdom. Just ask a cast member where they have it, every one there is super friendly. It was just past the character hall last time I was there!

The parades are great, but to get great viewing, you may have to wait an half an hour or more. so about 2:30 for the parade at Magic Kingdom, and grabbing a good spot for Main Street Electrical Parade is also a must. Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios also have a good parades.
 
good to see a topic here I won't make my own ot for that. Here's my story :

never been to a real roller coaster because I was too young for the Space Mountain in Paris (yeah, that was the ultimate ride at that time for my friends). Fast forward 15 years, my friends are in Seoul visiting me and wants to try a theme park. My gf takes all of us to Everland and they want to put me on the T express


Here's some random numbers for you :
Height 183.75 ft (56.01 m)
Drop 150.9 ft (46.0 m)
Length 5,383.8 ft (1,641.0 m)
Speed 64.6 mph (104.0 km/h)
Inversions 0
Max vertical angle 77°
Steepest wooden rollercoaster in the world they say.

reminder : I haven't been on a rollercoaster for 15 years, so let's say I have NEVER been on a roller coaster. Also, heart problem. Not blood pressure, so I guess I'll be a bit (or a lot) shook and that the first drop will be scary as shit but after that, it will be only parabolic acceleration and fun turns. So we do a small water ride first and the small drop are okay to me. So I decide that I should be fine on a just bigger train.

Yeah, no.

I kind of forgot what happened when you drop in a rollercoaster and that really silly habit your heart has to jump into your brain when you drop.

Long story short : I shook like a leaf and like a baby for the rest of they day. I had trouble sleeping at night for 2 days. Never again.

and I had to wait and watch my friends queued for all the other roller coast that day. Seriously, I understand why people love it (extreme feeling of speed and fun in the right parts of the rollercoaster) but the counter parts are too big for me. I guess theme park aren't for me. I tried again once but I guess I'm good for another 15 years.
 
good to see a topic here I won't make my own ot for that. Here's my story :

never been to a real roller coaster because I was too young for the Space Mountain in Paris (yeah, that was the ultimate ride at that time for my friends). Fast forward 15 years, my friends are in Seoul visiting me and wants to try a theme park. My gf takes all of us to Everland and they want to put me on the T express


Here's some random numbers for you :
Height 183.75 ft (56.01 m)
Drop 150.9 ft (46.0 m)
Length 5,383.8 ft (1,641.0 m)
Speed 64.6 mph (104.0 km/h)
Inversions 0
Max vertical angle 77°
Steepest wooden rollercoaster in the world they say.

reminder : I haven't been on a rollercoaster for 15 years, so let's say I have NEVER been on a roller coaster. Also, heart problem. Not blood pressure, so I guess I'll be a bit (or a lot) shook and that the first drop will be scary as shit but after that, it will be only parabolic acceleration and fun turns. So we do a small water ride first and the small drop are okay to me. So I decide that I should be fine on a just bigger train.

Yeah, no.

I kind of forgot what happened when you drop in a rollercoaster and that really silly habit your heart has to jump into your brain when you drop.

Long story short : I shook like a leaf and like a baby for the rest of they day. I had trouble sleeping at night for 2 days. Never again.

and I had to wait and watch my friends queued for all the other roller coast that day. Seriously, I understand why people love it (extreme feeling of speed and fun in the right parts of the rollercoaster) but the counter parts are too big for me. I guess theme park aren't for me. I tried again once but I guess I'm good for another 15 years.

That's a bummer. My friend has a similar problem. Although this would mean you can't really do Thrill parks, not Theme parks.

Places like Disney or Universal you could still have tons of fan at, as much as I love Cedar Point which is constantly voted best Thrill park on the planet, I much prefer a great Theme park like WDW or Universal/Sea World have to offer.
 
That one's good, I really like Mezzo Mix though I think it's just coke with some orange flavor. I wish they sold the stuff there but loitering and drinking it for free is fine too, lol.

YW9ixCm.gif


You get one now. haha. Club Cool is a life saver. A few times I was there with no dining plan
ALWAYS GET DINING PLAN
This place quenched my thirst more than a few times on very hot days!
 

Branduil

Member
Epcot could use an upgrade. Soarin' is still great, but I can't help but think with recent tech advances how much better it would be if it was high frame rate 3D. And the Test Track redesign was pretty lame. They should probably add some new rides to the World Showcase as well.

The new stuff added to Spaceship Earth is funny but it's still Spaceship Earth so no one even tries it.
 
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