Freyjadour
Member
Well shit, didn't notice that. We'd kind of wanted to take advantage of the coast-to-coast pass to do a shit load of trips in 2014 when New Fantasyland was done.
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Theme Parks & Roller Coasters |OT| The Happiest Place on GAF
- Thread starter Goldrusher
- Start date
Well shit, didn't notice that. We'd kind of wanted to take advantage of the coast-to-coast pass to do a shit load of trips in 2014 when New Fantasyland was done.
aparisi2274
Member
As a NY'er, I always like to hit up Coney Island every summer, get my yearly ride (or 4) in on Cyclone, and so when I saw this video of Zamperla's newest edition, coming summer 2014, I was quite excited.
Now, I would've preferred if they rebuilt the original, but this looks to be a decent steel coaster.
Thunderbolt Reborn
Now, I would've preferred if they rebuilt the original, but this looks to be a decent steel coaster.
Thunderbolt Reborn
Goldrusher
Member
ThemeParkReview went to Taiwan's Discovery World... you know what that means!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=aA4_BjmHzAM
Great footage!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=aA4_BjmHzAM
Great footage!
Full Throttle pov is up. It is such a dumb gimmick coaster. Largest loop, then you go over it!! I'm sure the loading times are longer than the actual ride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge2y0ekinXc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge2y0ekinXc
The Xtortionist
Member
Short trains too. Looks like a capacity nightmare. I think the backwards launch is what kills it. Can they even run two trains? Lol
KidA Seven
Member
Not sure what you were expecting. It seems like a fun small ride. Not everything has to be flashy.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the idea, but it's rather lame that they end the ride immediately after the hill, wasting all the momentum gained from it.
Jailer of Hope
Member
You're telling me. Just got back from my WDW trip a couple days ago. I got pretty screwed by the price increase because I'm normally a DLR passholder but it expired a month before my recent trip so I opted, and paid-in-full, for a WDW pass to upgrade since you just can't straight up purchase the coast-to-coast pass unless you're at one of the two resorts and I don't live in neither California or Florida. Of course day tickets and annual passes across the board received minimal price increases except for the one I needed to upgrade to, a week before my trip. I decided not to upgrade since pulling an extra $130 (on top of the previous year difference of $150 that I prepared for) out of my budget was out of the question. Which is unfortunate because I already have set-in-stone plans for DLR in October so hopefully I can upgrade then and I wont run into problems upgrading a WDW pass in DLR. I'm preparing for the worst case, though.
I like DLR better than WDW.
Based on reviews and impressions of people who have actually rode it looks aren't everything. People that thought it was just a gimmick actually enjoyed it and while not a gamechanger, it's a damn fine addition to the park. Can't wait till the day I finally head back to Magic Mt.
Wow that looks like a Roller Coaster Tycoon thrill ride an eight year old would make in the best way possible. What a quirky ride! Smiler and this ride are refreshing.
Also Full Throttle is a cool homage/child to the Revolution next door, the first modern steel looped coaster.
I'll be testing it out in two weeks or so. I actually thought it looked good based on the footage.
Freyjadour
Member
They both have their quirks. Our last trip was our first time to DLR after years and years of WDW trips. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in the Adventure Tower (and got to briefly look inside the Adventureland Suite), and absolutely loved the proximity to both parks and being able to walk outside the room and be on the monorail in seconds. That ride into the park itself is something else.
DLR did seem to cater a LOT to locals though. So much so that it felt like Six Flags at times. The entry systems were broken as all hell and could delay getting into the park by up to an hour. Crowds seem unpredictable and if anything interesting is going on you can count on enough locals pulling their children out of school to make an otherwise calm day a nightmare.
WDW obviously needs help in the way of major attractions bad though. The parks are unbearable in peak season now, record breaking attendance year after year. Magic Kingdom is pretty much the only park not in need of major attention and even it really should have gotten another small scale dark ride with the recent updates.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
ThemeParkReview went to Taiwan's Discovery World... you know what that means!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=aA4_BjmHzAM
Nope
I've always had issues with heights so I've never been a big coaster guy; this summer I discovered I now get motion sickness pretty badly. Sadly this means I'm not going to be riding many rides at all anymore. Freakin Star Tours almost made me I'll. 
Some quick thoughts after going to WDW for the first time in 30 yrs.
- I will try my hardest never to go in summer again
- The 'value resorts' are fine, but travel from them sucks, especially during such a crowded time. So much time spent dealing with buses. If I stay at a Disney resort again it will be worth it to me to spring for the big ones that are closer to the parks.
- sit down meal plan isn't worth it, particularly if in a big group and pressed for time. Food is great and you could spend, but it was an average of 2 1/2 hours every time we went to a sit down restaurant. I'll stick with the quick service plan next time.
Still, kids had a blast. Learning experience for the adults. Next time I will be much better prepared.
Some quick thoughts after going to WDW for the first time in 30 yrs.
- I will try my hardest never to go in summer again
- The 'value resorts' are fine, but travel from them sucks, especially during such a crowded time. So much time spent dealing with buses. If I stay at a Disney resort again it will be worth it to me to spring for the big ones that are closer to the parks.
- sit down meal plan isn't worth it, particularly if in a big group and pressed for time. Food is great and you could spend, but it was an average of 2 1/2 hours every time we went to a sit down restaurant. I'll stick with the quick service plan next time.
Still, kids had a blast. Learning experience for the adults. Next time I will be much better prepared.
vagabondarts
Member
This is one of my favorite threads on GAF.
I usually dread coming to non-gaming side but then I see this and the hobbit and J.R.R. Tolkien threads and see its worth the trip.
Thanks for keeping it going
I usually dread coming to non-gaming side but then I see this and the hobbit and J.R.R. Tolkien threads and see its worth the trip.
Thanks for keeping it going
bucknuticus
Member
make sure you get in the ejector seat for the Magnum! Row 3 of car 1, you get insane air time in that seat.
Jailer of Hope
Member
It was my first time there and while I did enjoy myself, that was largely how I felt about it. We had a particularly bad experience in Future World two days in a row when my party and I were returning to Test Track during our Fastpass window. It was midday and the ride was closed and we spent about 2-3 hours walking around Future World before we were told by the cast that they would honor our passes the next day because we had a dinner reservation at the Japanese Pavilion. Unfortunately, when we returned to Epcot the next day, the ride was still down and we had plans to spend that day at Magic Kingdom and quite honestly I had enough of Future World. So we talked to guest relations and asked if they could write us a group Fastpass for use in Magic Kingdom but the one cast member we talked to was rather rude and said he can only write a group pass for Epcot. I didn't believe him because a few days before, the guest relations at the World Showcase entrance wrote us two group Fastpasses and asked which parks we wanted each of them for, for a pricing mistake with the military tickets that two of my cousins seemed to overpay for at the base they bought them at (it was nice that they noticed this as we were trying to add hopper options on them). Anyways I was pretty livid because he basically said that "you can use them on Soarin' and I thought "and that's it" because lines elsewhere were 10-15 minutes tops. That's not the kind of ride concentration that I'm used to at DLR. It was thanks to those earlier group passes that we were able to experience Test Track on a previous day that week.
Although, I do love the amount of restaurants and hotels at WDW because I always stay on-site at DLR. For this trip we booked a club-level room at the Boardwalk Inn, right on top of the bakery, with a view of the boardwalk lagoon. It was absolutely beautiful, especially at night. The close proximity to the World Showcase was great too since that was my favorite part of the whole trip. We prioritized attractions that were not at DLR or maybe just a little different and that made each trip to Hollywood Studios rather short because we decided not to stress over Star Tours or Toy Story. If I had to choose Magic Kingdom or Disneyland park, I would definitely choose Disneyland park, but Magic Kingdom really is a great park on its own. I even lucked out and got a reservation to Be Our Guest two days in advance and that was phenomenal. I would definitely go back while I have an annual pass and maybe try a different approach. My cousin is pretty dead set on staying at the Contemporary.
Exterminieren
Banned
Going to ride The Smiler later this week. Super excited.
thezerofire
Banned
it looks like they need to take out that backwards launch on Full Throttle. Also they start braking you on the way down from the drop? That's pretty lame
Valkyr Junkie
Member
720p/120 naturally.
Freyjadour
Member
Getting any sort of help with Fastpass is out of the question everywhere now unfortunately. They've really cracked down on the return times and what not in recent months due to abuse of the previous policies. While staying at DLR one night we dashed into MK to grab Space Mountain FPs, then back to California Adventure for a few rides and dinner at Carthay. Unfortunately Carthay ran a little late and we missed our Space Mountain window by 10 minutes. I was hoping for any kind of sysympathy from the CM as it was our last night, but she quickly glanced at the FPs as told us "you KNOW that we enforce the windows now". Well, no not really. Put a bit of a damper on the night as the parks were filling up for some kind of Annual Passholder event.
I really liked the uniqueness that DLR has and the dedication to old rides that WDW seems to have given up on in favor of meet and greets, restaurants and gift shops, but I'm still partial to WDW as long as the empty months stay empty. I can't imagine we'll keep footing the bill if attendance keeps booming without a strong plan from Disney to combat it. Universal is looking better and better every trip.
Jailer of Hope
Member
At Be Our Guest, I asked for a prompt check to make a Space Mountain fastpass window and our waitress said to show them the dining receipt in case we didn't make. We did make it on time, so I'm not sure how the cast members at the fastpass entrance would have reacted if I did such a thing but perhaps it's standard practice? Other than that, supposedly, cast members are on close watch when accepting late fastpass arrivals so they can't make any more accommodations unless the ride was down previously.
The Xtortionist
Member
WDW's problem is that the good rides are spread too thin between the parks, and the parks themselves can be a hassle to move between. DLR and Universal Orlando both have two parks full of awesome rides that are ridiculously easy to get around.
I don't think I'll ever go back to WDW unless they build something radical like Avatar. DLR covers most of WDW's greatest hits with several plused attractions (Pirates, Space) while having some unique rides of its own (Mr Fucking Toad, Indy, Matterhorn). All with much greater convenience in getting around.
Florida is generally easier to get to in my current situation and imo UOR's attraction lineup dominates Orlando. With Gringotts and Hogwarts Express coming next year, I don't see how Disney will ever catch up. Spider-Man already had them beat in 1999.
I don't think I'll ever go back to WDW unless they build something radical like Avatar. DLR covers most of WDW's greatest hits with several plused attractions (Pirates, Space) while having some unique rides of its own (Mr Fucking Toad, Indy, Matterhorn). All with much greater convenience in getting around.
Florida is generally easier to get to in my current situation and imo UOR's attraction lineup dominates Orlando. With Gringotts and Hogwarts Express coming next year, I don't see how Disney will ever catch up. Spider-Man already had them beat in 1999.
DHS 2.0 with Star Wars Land and Cars Land is likely to be announced very soon, so it'll be interesting to see what Disney have in store for us. I'd also love to see further announcements to MK and the other parks, but I doubt they'll show anything anytime soon (aside from Avatar Land).
Also I actually personally like how far apart all the parks are, since it just takes you more into the world in my opinion.
The Xtortionist
Member
I'm very interested in the Star Wars Land E-ticket if it wont be value engineered to death but rumors are saying that DHS Cars Land will get a nerfed Radiator Springs Racers without the race section. Disappointing if true.
I'd trade a bit of immersiveness for convenience, though a good park should be completely immersive regardless. At least with Disneyland Park, the moment you walk under those train tracks, the outside world ceases to exist.
Freyjadour
Member
Star Wars Land needs to be big to fix Hollywood Studios. You already have a great attraction there, but the park needs several more E Tickets, not another huge piece of real estate dedicated to a single E Ticket. Varied areas with distinct and exciting (not another spinner) attractions as the focal point.
Unfortunately I see it being focused around Star Tours with maybe one additional D Ticket.
Poor Man's Cars Land isn't really very exciting either. I'd much rather see the Monsters Door Coaster in one of the studios adjacent to Toy Story and the remaining land dedicated to making Star Wars Land something truly impressive and unique.
After that, fix Future World, add another E Ticket to World Showcase, figure out Avatarland or whatever is going in over there (I'm actually okay with Animal Kingdom, it might could use another E Ticket to even things out, but it's not nearly as troubled as HS and Epcot). 5th Gate can't be too far on the Horizon with crowds like they've been though.
Goldrusher
Member
Thorpe Park teasing a new ride?
That's just it. It WAS built to be flashy and nothing more. It performs its big stunts (with one extra flip in between) and then ends. World's largest loop, flip preparing for bullet point #2, launch over loop wheeeeee - okay get off. Just like that.
The Xtortionist
Member
Some interesting Universal Orlando rumors were released today by user hatetofly of Orlandounited.com. He was correct about the Simpsons Kang and Kodos spinner when other sites reported that it would be a ferris wheel. Some tidbits:
-Rockit trains currently receiving new chassis for a much smoother ride. One train is done, another is in progress, and the rest will be done in 45-60 days. The onboard soundtrack options will also be updated in the future.
-Gringotts ride system is being worked on by both Premier and Vekoma. Ride aspects will include flight simulation, practical effects, AAs, 4K 3D screens (including screens purely to sell the environment - think floor projections of bottomless chasms, etc...), sudden drops (vertical, perhaps?), tilting motions, and acceleration. Sets inside the ride will include rockwork as tall as five stories. A scene featuring a dragon was suggested to easily be the most impressive moment in any dark ride.
-An original King Kong attraction will be replacing USF's Disaster in 2015 for the park's 25th anniversary. Unclear what the ride system will be but the info indicates that everything in Disaster will be replaced: queue, pre-shows, ride vehicles, ride track, etc...
-IoA Jurassic Park E-ticket for 2015 as well.
-2013 HHN houses include Resident Evil and The Walking Dead, among others.
If the info holds, Universal continues to fucking kill it.
-Rockit trains currently receiving new chassis for a much smoother ride. One train is done, another is in progress, and the rest will be done in 45-60 days. The onboard soundtrack options will also be updated in the future.
-Gringotts ride system is being worked on by both Premier and Vekoma. Ride aspects will include flight simulation, practical effects, AAs, 4K 3D screens (including screens purely to sell the environment - think floor projections of bottomless chasms, etc...), sudden drops (vertical, perhaps?), tilting motions, and acceleration. Sets inside the ride will include rockwork as tall as five stories. A scene featuring a dragon was suggested to easily be the most impressive moment in any dark ride.
-An original King Kong attraction will be replacing USF's Disaster in 2015 for the park's 25th anniversary. Unclear what the ride system will be but the info indicates that everything in Disaster will be replaced: queue, pre-shows, ride vehicles, ride track, etc...
-IoA Jurassic Park E-ticket for 2015 as well.
-2013 HHN houses include Resident Evil and The Walking Dead, among others.
If the info holds, Universal continues to fucking kill it.
Leeroy3101
Banned
All of that<Star Wars Land, Cars Land Orlando, Monstropolis, Avatar Expansion, and whatever is in the pipeline for EPCOT.
The Xtortionist
Member
Aren't DHS' Cars Land and Avatar going to be nerfed? I was hearing Radiator Springs Racers would be a shorter dark ride with no race element and Avatar's flagship attraction would be a 3D Soarin', accompanied by a slow-paced flume ride. And how long is that all going to take to open?
Monstropolis is nice if the door coaster concept surfaces but Disneyland Resort is already the best theme park experience. No arguing that.
Well damn, if I ever get a chance to Visit Orlando, totally going to Universal. Before I always wanted to go to WDW but based impressions here, it's not nearly as good as Disneyland and I live in CA. To think I was always jealous Orlando had WDW since it was so much bigger lol but instead I wish USH had more of Orlando's attractions.
Roller coasters are so cool and I'm always infatuated by them. But man whenever I go to a theme park I don't go on anything because I'm a little scared baby! When I do go on a coaster I really enjoy it! But just thinking about the hight and feeling in your gut makes we dizzy lol. One day I'm just going to be like...dare I say yolo lol.
KidA Seven
Member
It has the record breaking loop and that's it. Everybody is saying it's a good fun ride.
The Xtortionist
Member
Disneyland and California Adventure together will give you most of what you'll get at the entire WDW resort, with several plussed attraction (Pirates, Indy, Space) to boot. WDW won't offer you much aside from the far superior Tower of Terror, slightly superior Haunted Mansion, Everest, and Rock n Rollercoaster. The latter two don't compare to Universal's coasters anyway, imo. And you're going to have to navigate all four parks to see everything. Universal's parks are within five minutes walking distance from each other and if you stay onsite you get a free water taxi to and from the parks, and an express pass which acts like an unlimited Disney fastpass with no time restrictions. Highly recommended.
I'd also recommend Universal for Spider-Man and Forbidden Journey, which you can't get in California (also my number 2 and 3 rides in the world behind Transformers), along with the vastly superior Mummy (my number 4) And that's not even considering Gringotts next year which seems like it will render damn near every other dark ride in the world completely obsolete.
Also, another tidbit I forgot to mention. The info on King Kong indicated that Kong himself would make an appearance "in the flesh". An AA? Take that as you will.
At the very least, the motion base aspect was patented by Universal a while back. From what I recall, they patented technology which allows a section of the track (a traditional coaster track) to detach itself. Under the detached section of track would be a motion base that would allow the track, along with the coaster train on top of it, to tilt and rock much like Spidey and Transformers. As I understand, the ride should end up being basically a hybrid of Spidey/TF and Mummy, with productions values (set size, effects, etc...) beyond anything we've ever seen.
aparisi2274
Member
Thorpe Park teasing a new ride?
I dont know where Thorpe Park is, but that coaster in the photo is El Toro from Six Flags Great Adventure.
Lionel Mandrake
Member
That's a shame. I really liked Disaster/Earthquake. I guess it's run its course though.
Harry Potter
Banned
Edit: NM, found what you were talking about.
The Xtortionist
Member
It's all rumor at this point. Here is where some info was originally leaked over a year ago. The concept seems to be the same with the info I linked to tonight, though the actual ride sequence may be different. Tonight's info indicated that there would be 14 show scenes while the original link only mentioned 9.
edit - I thought you might have meant official info.
Damn, yeah one day I want to visit the Orlando parks but looks like Universal is going to be at the top of my list. It's going to be long while before I ever can afford going though. Also did not know about possible Monstropolis being added to California Adventure, damn hope that and the door coaster is greenlit. Also at least Universal Hollywood is getting HP land and Forbidden Journey. Of course the Gringrotts Coaster and Diagon alley sound like they're going to be completely insane and of course will make me hope once again hope Hollywood gets it too.
Anticitizen One
Banned
Star Wars Land is literally just redressing the Backlot Express Cafe into a Cantina theme and putting Jedi training academy for the kids indoors. You might see some additional theming around the area but that's it. There not doing anything ambitious.
I was thinking they would announce a version Cars Land at D23 in August but now i'm hearing P&R isn't even having a keynote and WDI people already said there will be no new announcements. So that sucks. Honestly it would be a disappointment either way because Cars Land should stay exclusive to CA and they should build something different but of equal quality in Orlando to give people incentive to visit both parks.
Unfortunately they just won't do anything ambitious anymore especially not in Orlando.
The Xtortionist
Member
Harry Potter
Banned
Thanks. The wife and I are planning a trip there next year. Sounds like Dan wants no part of filming anymore Potter stuff. I wonder if they will use stock footage or get rid him altogether. Helena and Rupert have filmed some stuff I guess.
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
I kinda barely remember El Toro but I think they made it a lot easier than your typical wooden coaster. The wooden rollercoasters at SF over Georgia are brutal on your neck.
Just finished up a trip to Six Flags over Georgia. They have a lot of the mainstays from SF Great Adventures. Superman is the best but Batman and Goliath (pretty much Nitro) are great as well.
Nothing beats that elevation in the seat of Goliath (Nitro) at the top of the hills, as well as the seat configuration.
I kinda wish I could make it to Magic Mountain for Full Throttle. I only got a few rides on Kingda Ka and loved that acceleration.
Either way, now that my 9 yo son loves rides, we are suckers for the fast pass. Such a ripoff but it's worth it to not have to wait.
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