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Do you have basic reading comprehension? It’s quite the opposite these days They’re clearly going for something similar to the Indy rides at Disney with jungle rush and Rivertown more generally. That said the ride doesn’t look very tall (given the turntable has been testing in the Netherlands) so you don’t need a tall show building to enclose everything. The one in Japan is outstanding so I’m quite excited to see Dreamworld having a crack at the adventure theme

This was the taste left in my mouth after our visit to USC. Felt like everything was a sim. Its interesting though how US/Disney have kind of flipped though with the new line up of attractions with US putting in more coasters and Disney more simulators/self tracked installs. After reading your post though it seems we missed a couple of attractions, ET, Mummy (was closed at the time I think), Villan Con, Bourne. We conciously skipped Supercharged being it was a yawn fest at USC. RRR was rough for us too, closed for the morning but opened in the afternoon. I selected Kick Start My Heart - Motley Crue, I think that made up for the roughness

2 for 1 deal in this trip report. For photos of both parks, see: Fun Spot Orlando https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/fun-spot-orlando Fun Spot Kissimmee https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/fun-spot-kissimmee Both of these parks are quite "amusement parky", with travelling flat rides, multi level go kar tracks buildings that are mostly sheds, and a couple of worthwhile coasters that make it worth a stop. The Orlando branch is right near Universal, and the Kissimmee branch is not far from the entrance to Walt Disney World, they both are open till midnight, so I guess they tend capture a bit of business from their proximity to the majors. They are both also a fair bit cheaper, in a way catering to a secondary locals market who might be outpriced by the majors. They also offer a deal where you can visit both parks in one day, but my schedule didn't really permit that. Interestingly, both parks had some of the same rides, for example both had a screamin swing, both had a kiddy coaster named Sea Serpent. Interesting that they didn't try to give each park more of its own identity. You can buy wristbands or pay by the ride. I was dog tired when I went to each (On separate nights), so just did individual rides, even though it would have only been a few dollars more to upgrade to a wristband. Orlando: The Vekoma SFC Freedom Flyer was HNFT, so clearly no rides to be had on this one: They've also got a Sea Serpent kiddy coaster from Miler. Basic turns and dips. But the star of the show (And actually one of the best coasters in Orlando!) is White Lightning The perfect compact wooden coaster. Runs very smooth, a decent first drop leads into much smaller hills and turns, keeping the pacing strong. There's also a nice high banked turn at one end, reminiscent of what you see on Thunderhead at Dollywood. Also a cool double up and double down for the airtime fanatics. Interesting how they proudly promote it's a GCI Kissimmee They have the worlds tallest skycoaster, and some interesting looking go kart tracks with multiple levels, but with jetlag biting i elected to just stay for an hour or so and do the coasters. Galaxy Spin is a standard Zamperla spinning coaster (Near identical to the Reverchon ones) Another Sea Serpent kiddy coaster, though with a different layout to the others. (If you are wondering about the photos, I happened to grab brekky next door before heading to Disney one of the days, so went for a wander around. The whole place is open air. Hurricane is a type of coaster I've never encountered before, like a really bizzare travelling layout that feels like a mix between a Galaxi and a wild mouse, but a lot more interesting. Up this end of the park at that hour it was dead, there was just one operator floating around between 4 or so rides, so he just powered it up for my cycle. Looked janky as hell. But pretty good actually. Interesting to think that the likes of Space Mountain are actually pretty similar to this in terms of elements. What a difference some theming makes. This brings us to Mine Blower, probably the best worst wooden coaster in the world. The ride has had a reputation for being rough, even from the day it first opened. In some sections they have replaced the wooden track with a type of steel track from RMC. All I can say is thank heavens for that, I can only imagine how bad it would have been without this retracking. The ride shakes like hell on the wooden bits, and clatters around the track and when you see a particularly tight set of turns or hills coming up you feel like you're about to get brutalised, but like magic, it's those parts where it transitions onto steel tracks. These parts run very loudly. but at the same time makes those bits bearable. It's probably one of the craziest wooden coaster layouts out there, with a steep first drop, an actual zero g roll over the station, then heaps of dives, s bends, and little hills, and even an overbank turn at some point, so its a bit of a blur and when you hit the final brakes you wonder what the hell happened. I gave it a couple of rides. Totally worth a stop to experience because its so unhinged, but be prepared! In conclusion, yeah if you've got the time and energy, its worth dropping in for a lap on the wooden coasters, I'd even say White Lightning is somewhat of a must do when in Orlando.

Universals Islands of Adventure https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/islands-of-adventure (For all the pics) Ah, nice to be back at one of my favourite parks. Well themed, good mix of dark rides, water rides and thrills, and pretty well considered in terms of having plenty of things for kids scattered throughout. I've been here before, so less urgency to see everything (I skipped over the water rides), that will make this trip report a bit shorter. For those unfamilar with the park, it has a few themed lands: Port of Entry. The "main street" of the park, with a bit of exotic explorers theme, with plenty of gags. Marvel Super Hero Island: Built before the whole MCU thing / Disney, its a real animated looking area with oversized cutouts and stylised buildings. And because of the terms of the licensing agreement, Disney cant use these characters in their parks lol. Toon Lagoon: Errr, more comics I guess, but these are the ones you'd see in newspapers, like the Phantom, Popeye (But no Garfield or Peanuts it seems!) Jurrassic Park, needs no introduction, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Islands of Adventure was a good park, but just didn't get the attendances it needed. Potter turned all this around. Lost Continent. The only non IP zone in the park, but part of it was swallowed up by Potter, and the two attractions it DID have are now closed. Hopefully this gets redeveloped. Seuss Landing. The most kid friendly area of the park, wonky and full of colour. But lets cut to the chase, everyone probably wants to know about Jurrasic World Velocicoaster Yep it lives up to the hype, a highly themed, properly intense launch coaster from Intamin that is just a polished experience from start to finish. The story goes that in their quest to further thrill guests, Jurrasic World have decided to build a roller coaster in a raptor pen, where you can see them up close. The queue is well themed, a highlight being the medical room where a couple of raptors are in a crush getting their daily check up, and the room actually smells like antiseptic. There's also windows onto the launch track, with transparent screens showing raptors chasing each launching train. Just before the station you have to put your stuff in a locker, activated with your park ticket (and if your ticket is on your phone, they give you a card with a barcode to use instead. The final bit of the preshow is hilarious, with Owen the raptor trainer ranting about how the whole concept of a coaster in a raptor pen is a terrible idea and you should all leave, and Claire the manager saying it will all be fine and perfectly safe. There's a separate queue for the front row in the station, with not too much extra wait due to the speed they dispatch, so its worth doing once or twice. My tip, front right is the best seat, because on a few of the elements that side seems to get banked up more. As for the coaster. Before the launch is section with raptor pens either side of you, with screens showing them thrashing around inside, bumping the cage walls etc and workers keeping them at bay with cattle prods. A good launch leads into an Immelmann with strong airtime at the top (think DC rivals loop), dive down steeply into a rocky tunnel (and the rockwork on this ride is really good, with sharp spiky bits that you feel like you're going to hit. Next comes a dive loop, followed by a bunch of quick twisted turns, transitions, and a couple of airtime hills all crammed in. You are constantly rising and falling and avoiding rocks, so there's a real element of surprise as you work through this section. There are a few raptor statues perched on the rocks, but they sort of blend in, so you really have to look for them. Eventually you hit the 2nd launch, which really spices things up. A top hat with ejector leads to a steep drop, a high speed S bend at ground level, and then a very long zero g stall which has you hanging upside down for a few seconds. Next comes a 720 degree helix, but the 'helix' is interruped with elements, so theres this fake out reversed banked turn, then a wave turn (imagine a sideways airtime hill) And then for the wild finale, a speed hill over a lake, followed by the "mosasaurus roll", which is like a more agressive version of the roll on ST, really dunking you down and throwing you to the side, so you cant help but grab the bar. A quick couple of turns and you hit the brakes. I think the name of the element is a gimmick though. I get the feeling the intent was that there was supposed to be a jaws style animatronic jumping out of the water when the train goes past. They totally should do that. Pretty awesome overall, the two halves have their own character. Fast transitions and confusion on the first half, big grand elements on the 2nd half. Hagrids Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure A real 1-2 punch with the park having this as well. Imagine the fun of Jet Rescue spread out over 1.5km of track. The park is onto a winner, with it consistently having a a posted wait of 60-90 mins. Again though they tend to overstate, i saw a wait of 70 min but it was more like 45. The first bit of the queue is themed well too, full of magical creature classroom stuff. By magic they have duplicated flying motorbikes for everyone to join hagrid on for a lesson on magical creatures in the forbidden forest. The final room in the queue I thought was clever, Imagine standing under a deck, with people riding motorbikes and doing doughies above you. They used some form of projection to simulate this. Ocassionally too you'd see silhouettes other creatures like giant spiders appearing to walk above you. Loading is done by a moving conveyor, so this ride really does have huge capacity, its just that demand is high too because its a good ride. The first bit has a short launch then a drop down then a bigger launch, and a few quick turns at ground level. Eventually the track enters hagrid's hut, when a blast ended skrewt (imagine a giant double ended scoption shooting fire out of its ass) shoots smoke at you. With that you launch again, up into an airtime hill through a castle ruin, down a curved drop into a tunnel, more ground level turns, another launch, and even more turns. Already at this point the coaster part has been pretty substantial but there is more to come. The track continues into a short foggy tunnel through a rocky outcrop, with a crashed car on it, surrounded by cornish pixies. Well they have designed the sightlines well here, because the shape of the outcrop is good enough to disguise a vertical reverse stall, like a little baby tower of terror. Obviously you get to go up higher in the front seat, but i never got that sadly. You travel backwards, with a high speed track switch sending you up into a helix, and by the time you have had a moment to process all that you have reversed into a show building. In the show building, the walls and ceiling appear to be writhing with devils snare vines all around you. Great concept, but you can see the shed roof and trees ''cutting off" at the ceiling line quite clearly here, which undoes some of the immersion despite the money they would have spent. But a couple of seconds later, the whole track drops a few meters (Much like Thirteen at Alton or Namazu at Vulcania), and you exit the darkness into the open air. Then one last launch, the most powerful of all. The coolest feature is a trail of light and smoke along the side of the launch, giving the impression of rocket fuel (or in this case "dragons breath" giving you the power needed to accelerate. A couple of final high speed turns and you hit the brakes, and join a conga line of 3 or 4 trains rolling into the unload station, also with a conveyor belt. Overall this ride is excellent. Good level of intensity on the coaster bit, and the way it hides both the reverse stall and the drop tracks as suprises on the way, integrated seamlessly into the pacing works really well. The level of theming is high for the most part, aside from perhaps the indoor show building (from the outside it looks like a shed too, guess it needs more trees to cover it?) As a final note, I saw perhaps the most chaotic good, but non condonable behaviour ever at a park. On one of my rides i was in the singles queue, but it was moving slow. You get most people in even groups, which can make this line crawl. A group of people ahead of me decided to cut into the main queue sneakily. I was thinking they were just line jumping, but of course, I was not going to cause a scene and complain. But, the plot twist came when they were at the front. When the grouper asked them how many, each of them said one, one, one, one. Net result, was that 8 people got cleared from the singles queue in the space of a minute lol. Skull Island: Reing of Kong This is the only other 'new' ride for me was this. It's an immersive tunnel attraction, or rather a few of immersive tunnels in sequence. You ride in a tour bus that stops in long cylindrical rooms with screens either side. There's also a motion base, so at each of these points stuff happens on screen, before you drive off into the next. The studio tour at Hollywood has an abridged version of this (Where the tour shuttle will drive into a building shake table with screens either side) The queue is well themed, through a dark temple. A highlight is this giant worm in a glass cabinet moving about, a taste of all the other mutant things you'll see on Skull Island. You board your tour bus and from there set out on your jungle expedition. The next few minutes can be described as various battles and attacks from giant creatures, with a liberal amount of water being squirted at you every time something gets decapitated or shot, ugh. Overall, decent I thought, but I think the limitations of the bigger vehicles and the longer time spent at each screen makes it feel a bit less frantic than other screen based dark rides like Spiderman or Transformers. Incredible Hulk Coaster Tell a lie, technically this is 'new' since they replaced all the track since I last visited. The queue has been totally refreshed and looks great, with lots of neon scientific equipment, too bad you cant take pics, since the lockers are before you enter the queue, so no phones. Onboard, the launch tunnel has been fitted out with LED screens, showing energy pulsating around the train before you launch. Forgot how darn intense this ride is, with positive G forces that dont let up, and huge elements. And of course that zero g roll straight out of the launch tunnel is a great start to the ride. Cat in the Hat A bit of a sleeper hit. This ride goes through the story of Cat in the Hat, with the words being recited, with each scene being an animated version of a page of the book. A real delight actually. **** A note on food. I had the "Green eggs and ham". Basically potato gems, with scrambled eggs (with chives to make it green) and diced ham and some cheese. Actually a filling breakfast option. Amazing Adventures of Spiderman Always a favourite, and now in 4K (I've done the 4K version in Japan, good to experience it in English) Still holds up well, and the re animated sections have more background gags to spot. Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey A great ride from a physical standpoint, after all, being flung around on a robotic arm whilst following a track is real technical achievement. But since then, the newer Harry Potter rides have done a bit better in terms of storytelling, leaving this one feeling a bit chaotic. I guess you cant blame them, this was the first HP ride ever built, so it seemed like they were trying to fit as many things in there as possible. Quiddich? Dragons? Dementors? Still a great ride, just wish more parks would do them, and with more themes (At this point, I think its only WB World Abu Dhabi that has done one) **** These days you can now get 'warm butter beer' in the area, but I thought it tasted like white hot chocolate mostly. I had a laugh that Heathcliff was mentioned....Heathcliff comics are absurd: And thats IOA for another decade likey.

@CR4ZEyou may be disappointed if you believe every queue at Disney is a Garden of Eden. I've spent many an hour queuing in the sun at Disney.

In short, yes. Disney queue line theming is best-in-class, so at the very least you're thankful to be not standing out in the sun surrounded by topiary and shrubbery and walking up to at a shed. Although, I'd probably have to fork out on line skips if I was on limited time. Sue Bob Iger. Granted though, this is a bit of an oxymoron. I would leave my enthusiast mindset at the front gate and just enjoy the experience for what it is. Honestly and FWIW, Sky Voyager was one of the highlights of my Dreamworld trip last week. An amazing day can be had of experiences like that, especially if they're on that Disney level. Still would be pumped for Tron, Rock'n'Roller etc. Would depend on how good the value is in a package deal. It probably is but I haven't looked into it. I wouldn't see myself losing sleep over missing Animal Kingdom or the water parks tbh. @franky that's a shame about your Busch experience. How was Iron Gwazi? It'd be really interesting to pit it against Zadra, particularly with their respective wave turns and inversions.

I've observed some ops that are just clearly dead inside. I often wonder whether it's the idiot guests or the draconian management and company culture, but it matters not. it happens. you have to hire the right person to work in a theme park. When you aren't attracting the right people, you're not offering enough, and you end up settling for bums on seats, so to speak. But i've also observed some ops who absolutely bust a gut to deliver the best guest experience they can. they are shining stars in a sea of darkness. A long time ago I stopped offering negative feedback about poor experiences with cast members as I just couldn't be sure I knew what that person was going through that day. Instead, I try to make an effort to identify anyone who is delivering a great experience, and I offer a cast compliment whenever I can to recognise them. Disney makes it easy as you can do it there and then on their app. I try to stop into guest services on the GC on my way out to offer the same sort of feedback, but i'm not sure what they do with it. Hopefully those cast are recognised or rewarded in some way, though clearly it is not enough of an incentive to revive the others back from the dead.

I agree with Guest, you've travelled about 20 hours to get there, might as well make the most of it. We had 14 days in Orlando in 2022. 1 day for each Disney Park. Even with G+ and Lightening Lanes our days in Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom felt rushed and we didn't really have a chance to absorb the atmosphere. Missed the opening of Guardians by a week so maybe that will make Epcot a busier day too? 5 shorter days in USO/IoA due to a ticket promo they had at the time. Could probably have made it work with 1 day each park I think, maybe 2 for IoA due to the long lines for Hagrid's. 1 day at Busch Gardens. We hired a car and drove down to Tampa, the bus times were a bit late to leave and a bit early to return for us. No quick queue, didn't ride every thing; ops were slow and I wasn't feeling well (turns out I was +ve for COVID at the time). Next time I would consider buying quick queue. 1 day at SeaWorld. No quick queue, didn't feel rushed but ops were slow. If you're heading over that way the Kennedy Space Center was a day well spent. For us it was the day before coming home, but it would make for a bit of a lazy day if you need one.

If you've gone so far to go to Orlando my recommendation would be to at least try to get to all the parks even if only for a little while. If you plan it well you can do a majority of the attractions and night time spectaculars across WDW over three days. Disney and Universal just do things differently and it's something worth experiencing at least once.

For Disney and are a thrill seeker, probably EPCOT and Disney Hollywood Studios (Since you have Rise of the Resistance, TOT, Rock n Roller Coaster). Magic Kingdom is good if you like the classics. Animal Kingdom is nice but probably has the weakest attraction lineup (Which isn't saying much because all the parks are good) I found on Tron it definitely pulls some strong positive Gs, since a lot of it is large dipping turns on the indoor part. The launch is pretty reasonable too.

@CR4ZEare you can handle the long queues at Disney I once queued from 11:45 pm to 5am to ride a previous version of the star wars ride and the ride ended up sucking big time.

Great pics and summary! Gives me major FOMO that I've never been to a Disney park. I suppose there's no "off-season" and it's busy year-round... If I'm in Florida, you bet USF/IOA, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens are top-priority, but I think I'd have to bite the bullet and do the Disney thing too. If I were to set aside, say, two days, would you say Epcot and MK are the must-dos? Also, what are the linear/lateral forces like on Tron? I imagine those LIMs aren't too intense, but in the POV it looks like it packs a bit of a punch.

Normal operations at the Gold Coast parks make Six Flags look like Disney, and in the past few years the parks have consistently taken steps to make them generally slower still. While nobody should be surprised to find the parks busy during school holidays it’s unfair to blame guests if adequate crowd control/mitigation measures aren’t in place.

I was really disappointed with how Navi River Journey turned out. The artists impressions when it was being built looked great, but as soon as I saw the small size of the show building under construction, I knew it was going to be underwhelming. Could have become another classic Disney dark boat ride, but it's quite far from that

Disneyland Paris https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/disneyland-paris So, the other half to my trip report for Walt Disney Studios Both days I visited I went into the park in the afternoon. This probably makes sense because there’s not really anything you want to ‘rope drop’ in Disneyland, it’s all quite high capacity attractions (aside from Peter Pan, which I ended up skipping both days, just couldn’t be arsed waiting 90 mins for it. Most rides seemed to be around 30-40 min waits, so no problem visiting a wide variety of attractions. Overall impressions is that it is very nice, you can really see how they went above and beyond with the theming here in order to impress the well cultured European market. The castle is ornate. They have nice arcades behind main street. More details in general. I also felt that Paris has the “better” version of many of the classics. Their big thunder mountain is better, Pirates of the Carribean has a better themed queue and facade, Phantom Manor looks a lot cooler than the haunted mansions, and of course who can forget their more thrilling Space Mountain. Only downside is I don’t think the park has enough ‘unique’ rides (Aside from Space Mountain being very different). It’s like how Tokyo has Monsters Inc or Beauty and the Beast, or HK has Mystic Manor, or MK has Seven Dwarfs mine train. The main unique thing Paris has is some additional themed walk throughs. So Paris is good if you are a fan of the classic E-ticket rides, but you’ll have to go next door to the studios for something more unique. On to the rides! Indiana Jones - Et Le Temple du Peril Ugh got this one out the way early. It’s like a bigger version of Nitro Coaster type layout, a glorified galaxi with a loop, but built by Intamin. Rough as guts, and the theming is decent (But not a touch on Raging Spirits) The queue line is down under a canvas tent and you go up a grand stone staircase to the ride, which is built around a temple. It does get points for how well they position a stone arch that hides the structure of the loop, so if you are not paying attention you might not be aware it goes upside down. Star Tours Yeah, this one is always nice for its well themed queue. The storyline we got was a bit older, it was the pod racing sequence and then ending up on Naboo, which I think debuted when the new 3D version of star tours was launched. The last time I did star tours in Tokyo in 2019, it was a brand new film based on the last Jedi Space Mountain This was perhaps the one I was most hyped for. When they would show Disneyland Paris on shows like Getaway as a kid, Space Mountain would alway feature prominently. The outside looks gorgeous, particularly the enormous cannon pointing up the side of the mountain. It’s a shame they deactivated the whole mechanism where it woul roll close and recoil when fired. It was such an iconic thing. Maybe one day they will bring it back, and delete the star wars overlay in the meantime. The first bit of the queue is outdoors, before going through some plain corrugated metal corridors inside. Eventually you reach the well themed open air station. It has the new Vekoma trains with onboard audio, so comfort wise it was fine. Out of the station is an enclosed turn, drop and then incline which gets you onto the catapult launch. Despite not being the fastest launch, the fact you are pushed back in your seat going uphill gives it a bit of force. Inside, its like a more drawn out version of RNRC / Avengers Flight Force. Starts with a big drawn out turn that does a lap around the ride building, eventually leading into a sidewinder and a couple of tighter turns, mcbr, then a drop into a corkscrew. From that point the layout peters out a bit, with a regular lift hill towards the end, some more turns and helixes, and vekomas early attempt at an overbanked turn. All the while the audio is playing chaotic star wars music and there are projections on the wall of tie fighters etc being blown up. It’s a Small World What can you say about this ride? Does anyone other than kids enjoy it? Do people just ride it for tradition? For its infamy? Because it has a shortish queue and it gets you out of the sun for 15 mins. Possibly all of the above. I think all the kooky imagineers get put on the design team for this, with all the stylised design sets depicting various countries. Molly Brown Riverboat A moment to relax. I rode this in the afternoon which allowed for some awesome shots of Big Thunder. Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast A ride I secretly enjoy and will always ride at Disney. There was a 30 min wait for this one, so I actually googled how do get a high score. A couple of the secret targets are very hard to to hit, but i was able to spam some of the difficult triangular targets and at least get a score in the hundreds of thousands rather than the tens of thousands. Pirates of the Caribbean This is proper POTC. Other versions have you going straight out from a New Orleans area into this pirate boat ride. Meanwhile this one has you going into the actual corridors of a pirate fortress, so big points for having an actual themed queue. All the scenes were the same, including the pirate battle and the burning town. What made this version better was how the layout was on a few levels and had a few crossovers, so youd get views through to other scenes from a higher level before actually arriving in it a few mins later. Phantom Manor Another Disney classic, and well executed. It looks a lot more spooky having the house sitting up on a hill by itself, surrounded by overgrown gardens. There were a couple of scenes unique to this version. In the load area there is a lonesome bridge, staring out a huge glass window with a thunderstorm raging outside. At the end of the ride you go through a haunted mining town (to tie in with its location in Frontierland), and that part was reminiscent of Fire in the Hole. Still, my favourite part will always be the floating head in the glass ball. Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. These fantasyland dark rides are a bit ‘blink and you’ll miss it’. You speed through a quick retelling of the story in what feels like a couple of minutes, so only have a brief moment of time to appreciate the scenes before crashing through the doors to the next one. Nice enough, but I struggle to think of a single moment in the ride that really sticks with you or where I was like ‘woah how did they do that’. Ok there was one memorable thing. The ride control panel is themed like an old open book, and the buttons are on the pages. Les Voyages Des Pinnochio Similar Comments to the above. Mostly UV black light painted sets. Autopia Big Ole car ride through some pleasant pine trees, and a handful of billboards with advertisements for space destinations, and themed bridges to give it that Discoveryland feel. If you are short on time you could probably skip this, but again, not much of a queue so I gave it a go. Big Thunder Mountain Ended up saving one of the best for last. There was an intial false start. The ride needed an evac so they emptied the queue and i came back an hour later. The paris one is different because the coaster is on an island in the middle of the river, with the station on the mainland. This means you have a pitch black tunnel at both the start and end of the ride to get over to the island and back, which bookends the experience nicely with thrilling moments. So from the station you drop down into a mine, and it feels like you go really quite deep underground. I’d just about say its a better tunnel than Oblivion. From there it’s classic Big Thunder, with themed lift hills (including one with projection mapping involving fuses burning towards a stack of TNT) and helixes, but also a lot more random drops, and it seems to maintain speed better than the others, rather than hitting a lift the moment you build up a bit of speed. The end of the ride has you go into a themed tunnel, but then the track starts diving deeply and getting darker, and then you just keep diving and diving and go around a huge underground banked turn, and head back up a lift hill. The train practically makes it to the top before the chain finally catches and you rise out into the daylight and coast into the station. So one thing you must know about Paris is that it has a handful of well themed walkthroughs. This seems to be a European ‘thing’ since you see similar attractions at Efteling and Europa Park. Adventure Isle A series of bridges, caves and passageways and great themed sections, like a grotto full of pirates treasure, and a skull shaped rock you could look out through. Needs more slides La Cabane Des Robinson Not Far from Adventure Isle, and another Disney Staple. What I find notable is the way it uses a lot of visual distraction to still maintain the reveal of different parts. From a distance, all you see is this giant tree and a couple of platforms sticking out. When you get there, you basically just see a staircase disappearing up into the tree and the famous water wheel. Quite unassuming considering all that is going on above. When you are up there in the tree canopy, you can see walkways going everywhere, above and below you, and the bits of the treehouse perched in different parts of the tree, so all you can really do is follow the walkway along and be guided through the labyrinth. Thematically its one of my favourites. La Cabane Des Robinson Not Far from Adventure Isle, and another Disney Staple. What I find notable is the way it uses a lot of visual distraction to still maintain the reveal of different parts. From a distance, all you see is this giant tree and a couple of platforms sticking out. When you get there, you basically just see a staircase disappearing up into the tree and the famous water wheel. Quite unassuming considering all that is going on above. When you are up there in the tree canopy, you can see walkways going everywhere, above and below you, and the bits of the treehouse perched in different parts of the tree, so all you can really do is follow the walkway along and be guided through the labyrinth. Thematically its one of my favourites. Le Passage Enchante d’Alladin This has a few dioramas behind glass telling the story of Alladin. Havent seen this film since about age 5 when we watched it on the last day of term before school holidays, brought back memories, ended up watching it again on the plane home! Les Mystères du Nautilus Probably my favourite of the walkthroughs, and I almost missed the best part! From a small building next to lake in Discoveryland you go down a spiral staircase and through an underground passageway into the interior of the Nautilus submarine (You see the top of the Submarine poking up through the water next to the entrance. All the rooms are ornately themed, with a cool engine room full of moving equipment. The main room I strolled straight through, but when I looked back i noticed a crowd of people gathered around a small circular window. Went back to have a look, and all of a sudden the window expands like an iris / camera shutter, revealing a much bigger circular window looking out of the submarine. The iris opens and closes every few mins, revealing something new each time, eg a pod of whales swimming by. Amazing bit of imagineering to build that mechanism. La Belle Au bois Dormant I found out about this one via the Imagineering Story. They did some really ornate stained glass windows in an area in the ‘foyer’ of the castle, so definitely take the time to check this out. La Tanière du Dragon Under the castle, there is a damp cave with a dragon that occasionally wakes up and roars. Easy to miss if you dont know about it. Alice’s Curious Labyrinth A large hedge maze with statues from Alice in Wonderland. You eventually reach a small castle, but its bloody narrow and crowded up there, though its a great vantage point for photos over the park. Disneyland Paris Railroad I thought this was going to be closed for my visit but it ended up re-opening late afternoon day 2. They've designed the carriages to only load from one side, so most of the views are designed to face into the park…If you are riding, sit on the side closest to the platform. For those of you not familiar with the Disneyland Railroads, you dont just do a lap around the park, a couple of times you pass through other ride buildings, and through a couple of indoor sections with actual built sets (The latter too hard to get photos of in the darkness. The other “train” Casey Jr Circus Train was closed on my visit, so no powered coaster for me. So final thoughts. Nice park, superb theming, but perhaps it just feels middle of the range compared to the other Disneylands since it’s all ‘classics’ and the last new ride they got was Buzz Lightyear. More photos here: https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/disneyland-paris

Korea Generally: If you get a hotel close to Line 2 (green line) you can get to pretty much anywhere in Seoul quickly. Download the Jihacheol (지하철) app for subway routes before you go so you can choose a hotel close to the things you want to do. Have cash. Korea doesn't really use tap-to-pay. They still use swipe or chip/pin with signatures, and merchants (especially at Lotte World Mall) will offer to do the currency conversion for you and will sting you 5% - sometimes the staff will just accept this on your behalf and it adds up. If you've got a 28 Degrees Mastercard or something with no foreign fees, it can help. American Express is usually the most limited. Mastercard is usually fine and Visa is ok too. Korea is a very safe country, so you can carry some extra cash without having to worry. Subways are the best way to get around. You will need a T-Money card and can load money onto it at every station if you need to. It also works for local busses if you're brave enough to catch one. You don't need to tap-off with the bus though. The bus is a fixed-fare system, so you tap on and it's the same amount regardless of travel distance. There is a T-Money card for tourists called M-Pass, but only get this if you're going to be travelling by train a LOT during a single day. It's 15,000 Won for one day with up to 20 trips. This can be a saving if you use it, but most people won't use that much. It's better to just get a regular t-Money card from a convenience store for 3.500 Won or at a station and then charge it as much as you think you'll need. From Incheon Airport - The airport is quite far (an hour) from Seoul. If you're staying at any of the major hotels in the city (or near them) don't bother with the train, just get a KAL Limousine bus. You can buy tickets at the airport, or if you fly with KAL you can buy them on the plane from the duty-free catalogue. They will drop you directly at the main hotels, and you can walk to another place nearby if you like. It costs about $12-15 but is worth it. The seats are very wide and comfortable, there is free wifi and aircon, and you don't need to fight for a seat. When returning to Incheon Airport, if you're flying with KAL, Asiana or a few other airlines, you can use the 'City Airport'. It's not really an airport, it's just a check-in desk and immigration at Seoul Station (and possibly Coex Mall, but I think that is closed at the moment). You do the same things as you would at the airport, check/drop bags, get your passport scanned, get boarding passes. Then you buy a Limousine bus ticket and travel to the airport. Your bags will follow you on the bus and will get loaded straight onto the plane. The best part is you get to skip the security line and go through the 'diplomat' line, which has almost no wait. You'll need to be there at least 3.5 hours prior to departure, but you'd need to leave that early to get to the airport anyway. It's very convenient and I don't know why more cities don't have it. Lotte World is at Jamsil (pronounced Jahm-Shill) station on the Green Line. Get there early at opening, plan to stay until closing. It's going to be a massive day, but it's a great park and it's worth it. We were there from 9:30am untill 11pm and there were still things we didn't get to do. There are a lot of hidden areas that are really nicely themed - like the kids area is Disney-level. The lunch-time parade is ok, but the evening light parade is incredible. Better than Disney parks IMO, so don't miss that. It takes place above and around the ice rink. The ice rink is technically not part of Lotte World, but you can go there for a second day if you're just visiting the area. It's not too expensive, you get proper leather lace up skates, and when I went, foreigners got 30% discount - which is roughly equivalent to free skate hire. You need to wear gloves on the ice, but they cost about $1. Get there as soon as the park opens and IMMEDIATELY go to Atlantis. Do not wait, do not look around, do not look at a map. Know where it is and how to get there and go straight from the entrance. This is the best and most popular ride in the park and within 15 minutes of opening it will have a wait of 90 minutes to 2 hours or more. You will have a lot more time to enjoy the park if you're not waiting for Atlantis. The line for Comet Express is deceptive. The outside line is just a queue for the inside line. It's a pretty basic indoor spinning coaster. The Gyro Drop and Gyro swing are fun, but have scream guards to keep the neighbours happy. so don't expect to get wind in your hair. Also, don't vomit. French Revolution now has VR. It sometimes fails so you could get a VR experience or you could get a blindfold. The mystery makes it even more fun. There are a lot of small 4D simulators and shooting theatres that are actually pretty cool and you should check them out. They can be a bit hidden out of the way on the lower levels of the indoor section. Everland is a great park but it's very spread out and there is a lot of walking so be prepared. T-Express is one of the world's greatest wooden coasters. It might even be worth getting a local hotel and getting a multi-day pass. There is a water park and speedway there also, and you can spend a lot of time looking at the animals. It's also quite far from Seoul and depending if you need to get to a station for a shuttle, it can take a couple hours or more. You can get shuttle busses directly from various subway stations including: SOUTH of the river: Sinnonhyeon (line 9 exit 6, Gangnam (line 2 exit 6), Suwon (Line 1 exit 6). The return bus leaves at around 7pm, there is only one. NORTH of the river: Hongik University, Sinchon (don't confuse with Sincheon), Seoul Stationn, Myeongdong, Dongdaemun. There are usually two return busses for some of these stations at around 6:30pm and 8:30pm. You can take the subway. It's a lot of transfers though and if you're not familiar with Korean Subways it can sometimes get confusing, but if you've traveled a lot and understand transfers and can navigate the Jihacheol app, you'll be fine. The shuttle is easiest, but the train allows you to stay later if you want. According to the Jihacheol app you need to go from: Gangnam Station (Line 2, Green) > Jeongja Station (Sinbundang Line, Dark Red) > Giheung Station (Bundang Line, Yellow) > Jeondae Everland Station then take a free shuttle bus. There is parking, so if you're renting a car you can drive there, but good luck driving in Korea. Seoul Land is just outside of Seoul. It was built for the 1988 Olympics and it looks like it. The coasters are old but fun and weave around the forest and the park, but they're hard to squeeze into if you're over 6ft. They're a but like an old arrow or Thunderbolt if it was taken care of. It's a large park with a decent amount to do - especially if you have young kids - built between a couple of mountains in the Seoul Grand Park. Of all the theme parks in Korea, this is in the most beautiful location. It's also fairly cheap and has a lot of great, cheap food options inside. It's about 50,000 Won ($60) for a full day ticket - you can sometimes find discount tickets online for entry after 12pm. I enjoyed the day there, especially some of the dark shooting rides and the double-down log flume. Lines can get long though, so be prepared and have an extra phone battery. This is definitely a park you'll want cash for. You can get there by Subway - take Line 4 to Grand Park and Seoulland station - exit 2. There is an 'elephant' bus that you can pay to drop you at the main gate, but otherwise it's just a pleasant 5 minute walk. Easy to get to, not as well themed as Lotte World and not as big as Everland, but it's a fun and beautiful park. Gyeongju World - this is down near Busan. It's a small local theme park with a standard clone B&M dive coaster. Probably not worth the trek unless you're down that way anyway. Korea is a great place to visit. Not too expensive compared to Japan and much more English Friendly. Lotte World is a great day out, Everland is a hike to get to, but fun and generally more chilled if you don't mind a lot of walking. Seoul Land is a mix of Royal Show and Dreamworld but is worth a visit just to have some fairly classic rides with beautiful scenery.

Could it maybe be an extension for Nickelodeon Land? Looking at the qldglobe site it shows the location of the slab in-between New Atlantis and Nick. Maybe a new flat or two with some of Nickelodeon's new properties (Paw Patrol etc.) to update the area like with Marvin at MW? Whatever comes there, I would like for the white sheds at Leviathan (maintenance/station) to be covered up. Maybe paint it green to match the surrounding area like what Disney does?

Hi All So we've bit the bullet and booked our first overseas family trip! It's been a long time coming (i haven't left our shores since 2000). Despite saying i wouldn't take my wife and son to any other Disney park for their first taste of the magic until they had been to Disneyland itself, i went back on that given the ridiculous Aussie dollar, and the opportunity to travel with friends in a large group which is great for the adults, and the kids. It's also my first trip to Japan. We are in the country for 2 weeks, starting off with 3 days in Osaka - 2 of which will be spent at USJ. Already booked the 7 attraction express pass for one of the days (hello to a $1000 day out for 3 people). We're staying at the Universal Park Front hotel right on the doorstep which will make the early start a little easier. We'll be doing the aquarium one night too as cant pass up the chance to see Whale Sharks in the flesh. We're then off to the snow for 2 days in Hakuba (again something none of us have experienced) Before heading to Tokyo for 9 nights. We're staying at Hilton Tokyo Bay, so not an official disney hotel, but a partner hotel not far from the park. I've penciled in 4 Disney days (2 at land, 2 at sea). Open to another day at one of them if need be. My partner has a mild disability so being on her feet all day wont be an option, so there will be plenty of resting time, potential hire of a wheelchair etc, so we may not be as quick around the parks as others. Bummed they dont offer multi day hopper passes like DL/CA do, you can only buy single day tickets to one or the other park. We have a heap of other things we want to cover off while there - Harry Potter Studio Tour, TeamLabs, animal cafes, pokemon centre/cafe, shopping etc BUT would love some suggestions on some theme park/rides/attractions in Tokyo itself, or any other must see's if people have anything they'd like to personally recommend. I'd love to get out to Fuji Q if we can score a free day, but it's not the highest on the priority list given the travel needed.

https://travel.nine.com.au/latest/disney-cruise-ship-coming-to-australia-new-zealand/9a963f98-1fe8-4cfc-aac2-696c2ca0c862 For the first time ever, Disney Cruise Line is sailing Down Under with 2-, 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-night cruises from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Embark on an unforgettable voyage immersed in the magic of Disney storytelling—from award-winning entertainment, festive deck parties and spectacular themed events to world-class dining, imaginative kids clubs and beloved Characters throughout your sailing. The inaugural sailing of this limited season in Australia and New Zealand departs October 28, 2023, from Sydney. Bookings open to the general public from Thursday September 29, 2022 at 8am AEST / 11am NZDT. For more information, visit disneycruise.com

So it has been announced in the last 24 hours that Bob Iger has stepped down as Disney CEO, being replaced by Bob Chapek who had been chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. Iger is to remain at Disney as an executive chairman till the end of his contract (expiring end of 2021); focusing on creative content within the company. Chapek will take control of day-to-day operations of the business, with Iger acting as a mentor to Chapek during this transition. Iger worked for the company for 27 years, with 15 being at the helm of Disney. During his time as CEO, he was involved in the acquisition of Pixar, Marvel, LucasFilms, 20th Century Fox, and launching Disney Plus. News article talking about this announcement is linked below: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/25/21153317/bob-iger-disney-ceo-steps-down-chapek-kevin-mayer-parks-products-succession I would like to gauge parkz members reaction to the news, and how they believe Chapek will impact/shape Disney theme parks globally. Reading several other online forums (i.e. micechat, reddit), many share a negative opinion about Chapek, stating that he has a focus on pushing IP's within parks rather than creating original experiences. According to these forums, he has also been responsible for implementing demand pricing at the Disney Parks, reducing the range of park merchandise, reducing live entertainment, cheaply re-skinning Pixar Pier, GotG ride (previously Hollywood Tower), and cutting budgets to the Avatar and Galaxy's Edges lands which has resulted in a shortened navi river ride, and less interactivity at each of the lands respectively. In my opinion, its hard to know with a lot of the decisions, how much input was from Chapek himself, and how much was passed down onto him by Iger. I respect that Disney is a business, though I wonder if Chapek will turn the Disney Parks into IP shopping malls and focus the rides on the IP's rather than creating genuine and immersive experiences.

“It’s a kids area” is not a valid excuse to explain away abject laziness because there’s no longer licensing standards that the park is bound to. People will walk past that ocean parade section to get to serpent slayer & tiger island it’s not just kids. Neither is the “not Disney” excuse our parks in the 90’s did what Disney could for half the price. I suppose Nickelodeon Land doesn’t exist either and you’ve conveniently forgotten that

I doubt kids are walking around pointing out the roofs. It's a kids area and still the best themed one in Australia. Remember this isn't Disney and the key demographic they are targeting is kids.

I don't think it's necessairly a bad thing though. I think Gumbuya did a great job with TNT. Theme, story and presentation has been executed very well. So it should make want VRTP to step things up a little and make their version 'world class'. But from Gumbuya's perspective, it should make them feel like they are able to compete with the Gold Coast parks despite them being a (regional?) theme park in Victoria. We see copies of attractions all of the world, there are small parks that will have the same/similar attractions as the big guys (Disney, Universal, etc), but the difference is they step it up and take theming and story to a whole new level, which is what makes it a better experience. Because it was a poor choice of ride and was originally picked without much thought, but was a way to boost attraction (and thrill ride) count up to compete with the guys down the road. Long term that thought process back fired and ended up costing the park way too much to operate/maintain, hence why they sold it off. And attraction like this is why the current management take a lot more care in selecting attractions and who is the manufacturer of that attraction. They did a lot of culling, which has hit hard on their overall attraction count. But eventually we should start to see that number increase to make the park feel more complete once again.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories/torture-disney-world-guests-gripe-of-brokendown-rides-filth-as-prices-soar/news-story/fced2286db6c350eae1a4ee612f8dc0a Lol great decision.

Man, I really regret not doing more of those parks when I lived on that side of the world (UK). The only European theme parks I did were the Disney's and Portaventura (before the Ferrari bit).