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It's long been spoken about (but I've not come across anything concrete and public from Disney themselves) that Disney parks aim for an '8 attraction rule' - the idea being that guests leave satisfied if they can do 8 attractions in a day (attractions aren't just rides). Now, we always say 'but this isn't Disney' and I accept that, but at the same time, human mentality is going to have similar expectations everywhere else. I think 6-8 would be a good solid number of rides and attractions. Joz's bad planning gets 5, so it's probably achieveable at our parks, if you think and plan hard enough. This problem with that is that we all well know guests check their brains at the gate. And you shouldn't have to plan to hit 6 attractions in a 7 hour operating day. I agree - MW's capacity sucks, and i hope Oz contributes towards this, but the park we remember from 20+ years ago is no more - capacity monsters like LTRR and PASS, Effects show and stunt show that people would happily do multiple times in a day just don't exist, and no amount of roller coasters (family or otherwise) can possibly replace that kind of capacity. Since the discussion is the validity of Google reviews, most parks these days don't hand out paper maps and showtimes, with the expectation being that you'd go online to get that sort of information. Dreamworld also has screens (at least in Main Street) with showtimes posted on a slideshow basis. Guest services can also provide a copy of showtimes and details like this, and it sounds like this person just waltzed into the park and expected someone to glue a copy of the showtimes to their forehead. (i'm aware this appears in contradiction to my previous comments about leaving brains at the gate, but in a modern 'theres an app for that' world, loading the park map \ app \ showtimes on your phone is a bare minimum expectation.) ETA: since they're capable of using Google - here's the first result for "Dreamworld Showtimes": Dreamworld | Daily Shows

The family-orientation was an assumption based on their recent announcements plus other park changes but you're right that it's likely just expanding the line up to ensure that everybody has something to do. Genuinely, I'm not sure. I still think that Steel Taipan was a good call despite marketing woes, and I believe that the new expansions accompanied by proper marketing should create an enticing package when it's all completed, but I guess time will tell. I wonder what example they could follow by overseas, but I've been thinking a lot about how people on here mention that the Gold Coast is a completely different beast compared to the rest of the world, and the more I think about it the more I genuinely believe that's true. I think the Gold Coast theme parks in their entirety are in a weird place thanks to the one-two punch it experienced over the last decade. The incident looked to have forced a lot of expensive change alongside a dramatic reduction of capacity across the board, and then the pandemic came along and basically hit them whilst they were down. Now we have parks sent a decade backwards in terms of capacity that are trying to keep up with modern experiential spending demands. Not only this, but the Gold Coast is becoming more expensive to both live in and travel to, and the closer that price gets to international travel prices than the more likely people might be to consider just going overseas instead. As an interstate visitor I've seen prices continually hike year by year and whilst luxury options continue to pop up for people to stay in the area the affordable options are becoming worse and lesser. If it becomes a choice between the Gold Coast parks or somewhere like Tokyo Disney than I know where I'm going.

BRO it’s not Disney.. it’s not even slightly Disney stop comparing it. It’s never gonna be Disney!

I’m fine if they do that - but do it the same way Disney did it. After the ride was closed to the public.

Hi! My fiancee and I are currently planning our trip to Walt Disney World in Florida for our Honeymoon in September 2020. We have booked most of our accommodation, plus tickets and flights. I am wanting to hear suggestions/tips/strategies - basically, anything you like about how to navigate the parks and our time there. We are starting with 3 nights at universal, then 4 nights at Port Orleans Riverside, 8 nights at B Resort, and then 2 nights in a moderate or deluxe resort (the only bit we haven't booked). We found an awesome deal on a 14-day park-hopper, so we have the ability to jump between parks. Both of us have never been to the U.S, so any help is greatly appreciated

Yiiiiiiiiiiikes. Trademarking a porn star's name was one thing, and then naming your kid's land after an abandoned Disney knock-off theme park is another, but now we've got snake killer the ride. With Dreamworld's history (not to mention it's also part zoo with a strong conservation message attached to it), I wouldn't touch any word or theme remotely close to the idea of death or killing animals/people/things with a 395-foot freshly painted steel pole. Looking forward to all the stans who will inevitably try and justify such an obviously bad name.

Probably a few weeks at least. Idealy a few months. Disney (I know, on the opposite side of the scale) recently announced RnR's closure from Feb 20th on Dec 29th.

I’d like to see it set up in a way that they could do a Christmas overlay for white Christmas. Like Disney do with Haunted Mansion and Small World. there was a Scooby Doo Haunted Holidays Special!

The 'best' DW is the one you grew up with. For me, around Tiger Island opening and pre tot was the best by some margin. As good a ride as it was, it totally ruined the feel of the place and what I liked about it as a kid. If you built ToT right over the top of frontier land at Disneyland, people would say it ruined the place. In 30 years there would be a generation of people who grew up with it who consider it peak Disney. Again, it's all subjective and personal to you. Having said that, there's a moderator who incorrectly thinks that Claw opening was peak DW. Gross.

Hi All, Thank you for inviting me to complete a trip report on my recent trip to LA - it's my first time doing a trip report, so hopefully I do okay! My husband and I recently flew Qantas to LA - departing 27th (and to our surprise, arriving the 27th) and we left on the 5th Jan. We spent 2.5 days at Disney (a day cut short due to illness), 1 day at DCA, and 2 days at Universal. We stayed at Disneyland Hotel for 3 nights, and then moved to the Kimpton Everly in downtown LA, about a 7 minute drive to Universal. Disneyland: I've never cried at a theme park until our first day at Disney! What a magical (and overwhelming) experience. I've never been to America, and have only been to Hong Kong Disney as a kid - so I did a lot of preparation for this trip, so I knew my way around the park and how to use Genie+ confidently. I'm also a massive Disney parks nerd, so my husband was constantly bombarded with 'fun facts' on every ride. We had honeymoon and first visit buttons - and we loved the attention. Cast members were so beautiful in acknowledging them and occasionally giving us a bit of extra magic (some extra Genie+), we even had Belle stop to welcome us on our first visit, and a wonderful stranger at DCA gifted me a Minnie Mouse handbag (that interaction made me cry). Genie+ was a success - we didn't mind paying for it, we found it a great benefit to our trip. We didn't end up waiting much the entire trip, as most attractions we use Genie+. We also purchased a lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance twice - my husband is a massive Star Wars fan so he needed two goes on the ride to really take it in (he did cry!). We also purchased Magic Bands, which are new to Disneyland. They were helpful for tapping on for lightning lanes and obtaining photos taken by cast members, but a little disappointing they aren't yet integrated to pay for food/merchandise and for opening your hotel room like you can in Florida. Hopefully, this comes in the future. We found the parks to be reasonably busy on our first two days there - but on the half day (we went from 4pm) we found it much quieter due to the rain - which didn't bother us in the slightest! Contrary to the blogs I had read, we actually rope-dropped and headed to Tomorrowland - it was basically dead, and we smashed out Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours before the park had even opened. We then hopped over to Adventureland and New Orleans Square for Haunted Mansion (this was the ride I was most excited for - slightly disappointed I didn't get to ride it in its original capacity as it had the Xmas overlay, but still wonderful). We then headed over to Galaxy's edge for ROTR and then spent the rest of the day/night going to various rides (I think we ended the night on Indiana Jones). We caught the fireworks show and watched it from the river (I cried) and then had dinner at Blue Bayou, which was an amazing and delicious experience. We jumped on the monorail back to the hotel, which I think our feet appreciated. DCA: Our second day was spent much the same way, we took a break at lunchtime for a nap, and met up with some friends to play mini-golf nearby. We then came back to the park that evening and had our first dole whip (YUM). We then hopped over to DCA, as we had booked tickets for the World Of Colour Dessert Party. While the view of the show was incredible, I'm not sure I feel the experience was worth the money. You got unlimited drinks (which was great, as they bought us two cans of soda to take with us), and then food was a little container with cheese, crackers, grapes and a few sweet treats, including a mickey rise krispie treat, a chocolate cheesecake, and a shortbread cookie. It was yummy, but at $80 a person, I feel a little overpriced. After the show we managed to snag a Genie+ for webslingers, and then jumped in line for Radiator Springs Racers right at closing time - a posted 50-minute wait but I think we only waited 30 mins. Our third day was spent in the rain at DCA - which again didn't bother us (we live in Victoria and are used to the rain now!). We didn't manage to do every attraction, but did as many as we could, including Soarin, Monsters Inc, Incredicoaster, Midway Mania, Little Mermaid - and my favourite, the animation drawing class! We had lunch at Flo's diner in Cars Land, and I think my favourite ride of the day was Guardians of the Galaxy! Our fourth and final half day at Disney was quiet as I was still unwell (recovering from a stomach bug I managed to get on new years eve), but we did ROTR again, as well as Winnie The Pooh and my favourite ride of all time, Peter Pan (which I cried again, you'll see a theme here). Universal: Moving onto Universal, our first day was lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed the tram tour, and we ended up doing it twice. Harry Potter world was by far our favourite - we are both MASSIVE HP fans so this was incredible - and I'm told it's even more amazing in Florida. Sadly, my husband wasn't able to ride Forbidden Journey due to size which was disappointing, as he had had no issues at all at Disney. This was the only ride at Universal he didn't fit on though, which was okay. Flight of the Hippogriff was closed both days sadly. We also rode Simpsons ride (both massive Simpsons fans so this land was great!). The park was quite busy the first day, and we didn't purchase the queue jumping thing (we found it quite expensive for only two days), but also didn't feel the wait times were as long as some were at Disney. Our second day rained NON_STOP and we were drenched after 5 minutes in the park - but we didn't let that stop us. We rode the Mummy, Jurassic Park and the Tram Tour again, and also watched the special effects show. Lunch at the three broomsticks was delicious, and then we decided to make our luggage much heavier by spending big in Hogsmeade. The park was VERY quiet this day due to the rain - most attractions only had 5 minute waits! Sadly due to the tummy bug we didn't see much of LA - only seeing the stars and the Chinese Theatre. But looking forward to going back in the future (maybe with less rain) and see more of LA. I hope this report isn't too long (sorry if it is) - I'm happy to answer any questions if you're looking to travel to Disneyland or Universal soon :)

Hey Whombex! Thanks for the questions 1. Pretty good - lots of guests again congratulating us on first visit/honeymoon. And the interaction of a guest giving me a purse was beautiful. I did find the amount of guest on ECV's (the electric scooter vehicles) really surprised me - they were just everywhere. That and the amount of prams/strollers I found detracted a little from the magic - moreso at Disney than Universal. But, it's a part of life and so I just learned to look past it. Seeing people dressing up in robes at Universal for HP world was beautiful though, that really added to the atmosphere! 2. We did! We enjoyed breakfast of chocolate croissants (and average coffee) at Jolly Holiday for two mornings - lovely service and hardly any wait. We also ate at Flo's Diner in DVC which is quick service. We did mobile order with Flo's which was quick but no cast member interaction. I definitely preferred table service - much more attentive, chatted with us - just a nicer experience all round. 3. We did! My husband's screen name for lots of things is GeneralHSolo and so Han Solo is his favourite character - so to see a full size millenium falcon sitting there, and then being able to go in was just unbelievable! We only had the chance to ride it once - we both got engineers. We just ran out of time to do it again and try and be pilots, but maybe on our next trip! 4. YES! Always Bright Suns which was lovely, and when I asked how much extra kyber crystals were (as my husband did Savi's workshop and made his own lightsaber) I was told "18 credits" which I loved! It was just that attention to detail that made galaxy's edge that little bit more special 5. No we didn't - we have just finished watching Andor and we hadn't seen it then (we are very behind :D) - we will have to try that next time! 6. I think the homelessness problem really took me by surprise - once you leave the Disney bubble, the real world hits you and it was sad to experience the way many people live. While homelessness is a problem even in Australia - I think that because making tents/camps on the footpaths is legal in LA, the problem really kind of smacked you in the face and was more noticeable. But, I also enjoyed how friendly people in LA were - the first place we ate was In and Out Burger, and the staff there were so friendly, and upbeat and excited, it was a great experience! Even when I went to a CVS, the staff were very helpful. CVS was an experience - very different to an Aussie chemist!

These new gondolas look identical to the Disney World \ Singapore cable car gondolas, which ticks all the accessibility and capacity boxes mentioned, and if so, will definitely be a nice upgrade. Having done the zoo many times, I know I wouldn't like the idea of visiting without the cable car to get to the top - I imagine the park might see a significant drop in attendance until the new one is opened.

What the heck has happened to all the background music around Movie World? Walking around the park yesterday, the only area that had decent working audio was Main Street. All other areas were either dead silent with no music playing whatsoever or had so many broken speakers that it could hardly be heard. I know this may seem like a somewhat unimportant issue in the scheme of things (and that I’m being a little picky). However, it made for a very dull experience overall and caused many of the areas to feel pretty bland and lack atmosphere. Music is such an essential part of theme parks, helping to create an atmosphere, immerse you in the attractions and assist in making your time within the park a little more exciting, magical and special. Movie World has historically been extremely good at this, with themed music appropriate to each area of the park surrounding you at every turn. However, since 2019 things have taken a noticeable turn for the worse (and they’ve only gone further downhill as time’s gone on). Here’s a quick rundown of the current audio situation (from what I’ve observed) within the park: *Superman Escape’s external music - not working, hasn’t played since 2019. *Green Lantern’s queue music - not working, hasn’t played since 2019. *DC Rivals entrance music - playing, however only one speaker is functioning correctly. *DC Rivals queue music - playing, but only the speakers behind the murals and in the station unload area are working. *Scooby’s external music - not working during my visit yesterday, only seems to play half the time depending on the day. *Doomsday - playing, but multiple speakers are clearly damaged (sound very distorted and lacking bass or treble) *Wild West area - not working, hasn’t played since the WWF upgrade in 2021. *Looney Tunes area - not working, hasn’t played correctly since the RRRC upgrade in 2021. New speakers were added around the tree in mid 2022 and the area music briefly played through them for a while. However those are no longer operating either and the land is now back to complete silence. *Road Runner queue music - not working, hasn’t played for about 4 months. *Main Street locker area - not working, hasn’t played for about 4 months. So yeah, as you can see, barley anything is playing at the park right now and the fact that some areas (like outside Superman Escape) haven’t had working audio for over 4 years at this point is pretty ridiculous. This would never happen at any of the Disney, Universal and other “world class” parks out there. I actually managed to ask a maintenance worker I bumped into what the deal was with the lack for audio. He told me that “Superman’s outdoor mushroom speakers were stuffed” and they “were having trouble replacing them”. I’m not sure why they would have such trouble, considering they’re just speakers that sit on the ground (and I discovered that they can be purchased locally from this place in Robina, literally 20 mins up the road): https://www.scpaudio.com/LS-21-Garden-Speaker-30W-100V-3-Taps In any case, surly it doesn’t take over 4 years to fix something as simple as a basic audio system with a few speakers. As to why the new speakers around the tree in the Loony Tunes area have been turned off again, the worker informed me that they were “clashing with the sound of the carousel”. Considering the carousel and the area music have always played side by side with no issues, I’m not sure why it’s suddenly a problem now. The carousel wasn’t operating during my visit, meaning nothing was playing at all. However, it would have to be blasting pretty loud to effect the audio by the tree. In addition, all of the broken, neglected mushroom speakers in this area have still not been repaired and continue to sit there in silence, rotting away as they have done for years now. I understand I may sound a little overly negative here. However, to me music has always been such an important part of the experience of visiting Movie World (or any other theme park for that matter) and it’s incredibly disappointing to see it become so neglected by the park. In my opinion, VRTP have done a pretty good job with MW recently, turning it around and breathing new life into it (through actions such as tidying up the park, refreshing attractions such as JL, improving their annual events, announcing/building new attractions ect.) and they deserve praise for that. Yet despite all of this, the audio problem has persisted and continues to get worse and worse. It’s become so bad that even friends I visit the park with have noticed and commented on it. I’m hoping Movie World will continue the good work they’ve done in other departments and return the auditory experience of the park to its former glory, thereby assisting in making the overall guest experience the best it can possibly be.

I guess slides can have different layouts, and some are much better than others. Re Tornados for example, the ones at Jamberoo are a genuine step up from the one at WnW. With water parks, I'll make an effort if it's a slide type I haven't done before, or if the park has particularly nice theming or a unique setting. Within Australia, I'd go to most water parks "Because I can". Overseas, where I'm more limited for time, I'll pick and choose. Thinking back to the ones I've visited overseas. -Wild Wadi: Because of all the interconnected masterblasters -Wet n Wild Orlando: A few of the slides had some interesting theming, particularly Disco H2O -Typhoon Lagoon: Because it's Disney, and for the theming. -Aquatica: Wanted to try out the transparent slides through the dolphin tank, and they had just installed a Proslide Topsy Turvy. -Splashin Safari: At the time had one of the first TornadoWaves, and of course Wildebeest and Mammoth water coasters. -Carowinds: They have those really large threatening looking turbo tunnels, and I'd always wanted to do one. -Galaxy Erding: Heaps of unique Wiegand and Klarer slides, including the infamous Ski Jump slide. -Miramar: Had a double looping water slide, a rather savage drop slide, and a few quirky ones with special elements. -Kokpunkten: A very cool setting -Super Aqua Club: Had the worlds only rocket blast / flying saucer at the time. Otherwhise, a lot of the more generic SF Hurricane Harbour parks I wouldn't bother with since they have the same slides as within Australia. There are still a few I'd like to visit overseas, notably Atlantis, Siam Park and that one in Qatar and probably Soaky Mountain. Would go out of my way to try a Slidewheel too.

Thank you! I think I would have spent more time planning our days - not down to the minute, but other than seeing what we could get with Genie+ and the odd dining reservation, we didn't really have a plan. We also got tired and sore and didn't take many breaks, which means we often got burnt out, and as a result missed out on things. I really wanted to see the Enchanted Tiki Room, but missed out because we ran out of time. The biggest surprise was just how LOVELY the cast members were. It took us by surprise! When comparing to the Gold Coast parks, I often feel like the staff there consider it "just a job" and don't enjoy working there. The cast members at Disney (and somewhat at Universal) just seemed to love and enjoy every minute of working there, and it really made our trip even more enjoyable. We sadly missed Fantasmic - we had planned to see it on our last night - the night I wasn't well and I was just too tired, and I was desperate to ride Peter Pan and see the Lincoln animatronic before we left, so they took priority. We are hoping to get to Florida next year, so hopefully get to see Fantasmic there.

The rumour may have come from this Jaggs video, where he does some speculation by Superman. Would Surfrider even fit in there? Disney refers to their RC Racers rides as Coasters. Same ride system!

Phantasialand doesn't have any hyper coasters - they're height limited, so everything is built low by necessity. 95ft is the tallest coaster, and that's only because it was built below the ground level. Just look at Silverstar - and incredible coaster inside a immaculately Disney level themed park- and the station is too.. but the coaster outside of the station, while navigating the carpark is completely un-themed... and it doesn't need to be.

I think the SFNE's kinda shows that themeing a big outdoor ride is pointless. Adding junk around a coaster is just adding junk around a coaster, its not creating an immeraive experience. Even when Disney tried it with Incredicoaster it was shit

This is pure speculation but a couple ideas (the 1st one is a bit more rooted in educated knowledge): 1- If the ride was running 2 trains, something may have delayed the train on the brake run being brought into the station. This would cause the lift hill to time out and stop. I'm not sure what SWs Ops procedures are but if they aren't allowed to re-start the lift (its not standard ops mode) with people on that would be an evac. Alternate possibility is something in the station faulted causing the ride to require maintenance mode to reset it. They can't do that with guests on so this would also require en evac. I guess what I'm saying is that it's possible to have an evac on the lift when nothing is actually wrong with the lift at all. 2-A wooden coaster, the maintenance and checks of, and all that's related is totally new to the park. The late openings are more than likely due to a late handover from maintenance to ops. I think we'll find as the brand new to this maintenance team finds their groove with the ride the late openings will be less and less frequent. Thats just my 2 cents on those two matters. I have nothing to add about why it may be stopping during the day, but could be part of the above. Our rules here are pretty strict, something as trivial as a fault reset in other parts of the world, requires an evac of guests here and entire restart of daily opening checks. Where as Disney will pump trains on and off a ride at will by the operators, in Australia this requires the maintenance team and a ride shutdown. There are pros and cons to both, it may seem like over the top and a capacity killer, but also it means you don't have an incident like on the Smiller at Alton Towers happening.

Does anyone else think the prices are outrageous? It's cheaper to get a skip queue at Disney World.

Snort - who goes to the Gold Coast theme parks on Boxing Day? Ha ha, silly people. Wait. That’s us. We went to Disneyland Paris during French school holidays, AND on Halloween - a very popular time at any Disney park. We didn't have much choice, and I'd planned to get a quick pass or two to help with the crowds. Mrs and I jumped on the Metro in the dawn light (7:30am sunrise in late October) and took the short trip to Les Halles, a big station that combines Metro and the next rail service up from that, the RER. The cool thing with being on the right platform there is that the stops on the way flash as the train approaches and waits. If the Marne-La-Vallee - Chessy light's flashing, jump on that train. Despite my forward planning, we snagged an earlier train than I had planned. We jumped on our train and began to notice lots of people dressed up for Halloween. At 8:00 in the morning. They were coming to Disneyland Paris as well. As the park gets decorated for Halloween, guests are welcome to dress up as well. Best part about it was that most of the people dressed up, were in some kind of spooky theme. A 50 minute train ride later and we had arrived. Having been 9 years earlier, we knew the process of security and ticketing, but even though we had arrived before rope-drop, there were still significant lines. This was the point I realised it was going to be a very busy day. As the place is split up into two parks, Disneyland Studios and Disneyland Park, I had availed myself to a few game plans to fit in as much as possible, especially those in the thread here on Parkz. So it was to be into the Studios park first, as there was many new, and a few missed attractions since last time. Queue-jumpers, may you engage in unsatisfying bedtime encounters with yourselves. People had been lining up for over an hour (we were lining up 45 mins or so) and people just forced themselves in. Arrgh. Once in DLS, our first stop was the Ratatouille ride, as it wasn't yet there in '13. We had agreed that part of the best way to fit in as many things as we could, was to go in the single rider lines. You miss a little bit of the queue theming, but you’re not waiting 45min - 2 hours! So we were almost a walk-on at Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, which if you're not familiar, is an indoor trackless car ride, as a rat joining Remy in the kitchen and restaurant. Some scenes are screens with you using 3D glasses, others involve being in oversized rooms themed to the fridge or serving trolley. Well worthy of being regarded as one of the best dark rides in the world. Luckily, Mrs and I were put next to each other, even though the single rider queue is meant to put one person at a time on rides to fill seats, and separate groups doing what we were doing. The way the ride works, with 3 trackless cars that often change spots in their group, works really well. Adding water and smell effects really enhanced the experience. Walking to our next attraction, we passed where the new Arendelle land is going in - a whole new land themed to the combined universe that Frozen and Tangled are set in. Will be a great new addition to the Studios park, which needs one big new area to round it off. Allegedly it was a tough decision between Arendelle and another Galaxy's Edge, and I think they made the right call. This will make an attraction unique to this park for visitors to come from all around the world. We next moved over to the Hollywood Tower, a Twilight Zone ride we didn’t do last time with a 9 year old. In the zig zag exterior line I started composing my daily recap of the day before for my Facebook post to the family back home...but with head in a phone screen in an outdoor mouse maze queue, the 30 mins went quick. The old early 1900s theming was perfect, moreso when waiting at our 'elevator'. The hotel bellboy who sorted our ride and checked our seatbelts made the pre-ride so enjoyable. Unlike Movie World these days, it’s great to see park where ride operating cast being in character absolutely adds to the experience. He was creepily aloof, yet eerie in his engagement with people. Perfect. When at DLP/DLS, you quickly adapt to the rides, staff and signage being bi-lingual in French & English (often adding Spanish as well based on who is in your ride group). On this ride, you really didn’t need to understand what was being said by the scary ghost girl in the elevator - we were in for a bad time with the hotel’s spirits! The poor kid next to us who was conned onto the ride by his dad was beside himself - to me the story was quirky, but through the right eyes, it's quite scary! Just around the corner is the new Avengers Campus, with the re-theme of the Aerosmith coaster skippable I’d been on before, and the new Spider-Man W.E.B ride which had a single rider line. The general queue had a 90 minute line, and the single rider 45. Again, absolutely worth it. The tricky thing they did was taking the whole single rider queue in at once to the pre-show. You wonder why so many people go to go in, until realising the exit of the pre-show puts you into another single rider queue. Well done. Well done. For the pre-show, you join Peter Parker in the Stark WEB lab (a converted Stark Motors factory), where a prototype self-replicating spider-bot has gone rogue. The whole pre-show is in French (great French by the way, Tom Holland!) but is easy enough to follow. He ‘goes to get Spider-Man’, and you rejoin the queue (now within sight of the station), where you hop on board the ride with 3D glasses. You use your hands to launch webs to either catch the bots or use the environment to help destroy them. You’re joined by Spider-Man and team up top defeat the bots. Great fun ride that is made more fun with your interaction. Luckily Mrs and I were grouped together again! Of the 4 people in our car, I had a come-from-behind win in the points issued to the riders. I'd figured out how to make combos by using explosive environment assets to take out more bots at once. This ride is move to a screen, action happens, move to next screen, but it works really well. We wandered through the Avengers Campus next, waving at Captain Marvel. It doesn't matter who or how old you are, if a character as a Disney Park interacts with you, you play along! Pym’s restaurant was booked out and the Stark one didn’t impress, but we found a retro 50s diner in the area and sat down to have an early lunch of New York sandwiches. Limited menu, but not pricey either. While having lunch I opened the app and bought Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain over in Disneyland Park, as it was the main ride I'd missed out on back in '13. You get the pass as a scannable code you use at the ride entry via email and the app, so it was quite flexible. It was very helpful being able to book a fastpass for a ride, even though I was in the other park. On our way out of the Campus we watched a gathering of many Avengers on an elevated platform, including Black Panther, the Dora Milaje, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Captain Marvel. Cool to see if you’re into the Avengers stuff! The super heroes are likely rotated through based on staffing and whatnot. At the end of the performance, they waved and walked away, except Spidey, who did another lap of the platform in a playful way. 10.MOV I'd forgotten to check in advance if there's an animatronic Spiderman slinging over the Campus in DLS, or just in California Adventure Campus. I couldn't find an area similar to the version in LA, so we continued on. Having done mch of DLS on our last visit, our plan was to spend the rest of the day in Disneyland Park, so we decided to try our luck at Ratatouille again before leaving. The single rider line was almost as short as the first time, but this time we had to ride it separately. Still, a fun and exciting ride, and this time I noticed small water and smell effects much more knowing when to expect them. With real estate a bit of a squeeze, this is one of the few rides at DLP/DLS where the gift store isn't directly part of the ride exit, but certainly in the themed area of the ride's exterior. We made our way out of the Studios which were still filling up, and crossed over into the main park. We then noticed plenty of signage outside between the parks that stated the place was a sell-out AND there was no entry without tickets & bookings. When was the last time a GC park had a "sold out" sign out for something other than a special event..? Upon entering DLP, we wandered down Main Street, jaws agape at the Halloween theming - lots of trimming on buildings, many statues of scarecrows and ghosts, but in that fun Disney way. The 30th Anniversary decorations are still in place as well. We entered Frontierland, with the Halloween theming now that of Coco. Many static characters from the movie were along the paths, all in the land of the dead style. The fast pass line for Thunder Mountain was further along than the main entry, and the line looked huge in the general queue. We had our passes scanned, and used the fast pass queue that had its' own queue to the station, joining alongside the general queue near the platform. We were about 2 trains worth of people away from riding - before the ride had either an e-stop or breakdown. With the fast pass ($18EU each) we’d only have waited 10 minutes, but for the big line of people waiting over an hour, the feeling of the lines being cleared out must have been very frustrating! At the fast pass entry they re-validated our pass for anytime later in the day we wanted. I had taken the kid on Phantom Manor last time (as Mrs had done the Californian one before), so this time I wanted to ride it with her. We had seen the Muppets Haunted Mansion special last year so I was keen to ride it - unfortunately so did many other people who had exited the Thunder Mountain line. The theming is always on point at any Disney park, even in the zig zag overflow queue for Phantom Manor. I continued to compose my day-before-recap while in this queue. When we finally got on after our longest queue of the day, the best part of 80 minutes, the ride had a stoppage just before we boarded. We were dreading the potential ride close twice in a row - I’d have laughed at the situation, then it restarted and we boarded… unfortunately the ride stopped and restarted 3 more times while we were on it, breaking the immersion. Still, it’s one of the classics of Disney and worth a ride every visit. As we exited the ride, Thunder Mountain was running empty train tests, so we quickly returned to the fast pass line as the ride reopened, with the head for the general line already growing quickly, it was still worth the pass. We had a great time on the ride, with three separate hill climbs it certainly feels like a couple of rides in one! The pitch darkness parts as the ride goes to and from the island its on are crazy fast. With my bucket list of rides done (from the '13 ad this visit), I turned the day over to the Mrs and we went straight to the castle (and Fantasyland) and explored places we hadn’t last time, including the tower, themed to sleeping beauty. By this stage it was well into the arvo, and we popped into and out of the dozenth shop by this point (they merchandise so well!). Gifts for the family were certainly on the menu. Most haven't been to a Disney Park before. Passing back through the castle, we encountered Maleficent herself! Her grace and eloquence at giving park guests a bit of slander was amazing. We caught the back end of the Halloween parade, and then made our way into Discoveryland to ride Star Tours, the Star Wars ride. It had been re-themed since '13, and was great. No spoilers, but the droid you're expecting to 'fly' your ship isn't flying your ship! A very well known droid from the Star Wars universe is flying by accident. Being a Star Wars fan (most sci-fi in general), the gift shop after was an exercise in restraint! We grabbed burgers for dinner from Hyperion as it began to drizzle outside. A addition since last time here in '13, inside the same building as Hyperion and the stage show area, is a room full of power points and a hirable phone charging locker. We sat, plugged the phones into a floor plug, and ate. The room was a bit darker, with blue-ish ambient light and simulated stars. The perfect place for someone who might need somewhere if they we having issues with sensory overload. Then, it was on to the fireworks and evening show- The only big downer of the day was that by the time we got close to where you could watch it, the staff were already funneling visitors towards the front of the park and out the gates. If you weren’t plonked somewhere well beforehand, you kinda weren’t going to be able to watch it at all. The Park was to reopen that night for the special Halloween event, so it sadly made sense for them to clear it out as son as they could. Other than this, we had an excellent day there. The plus side of leaving just as the show was ending, was that we snagged some seats on the train back to Paris. Questions welcome of course. I hadn't planned to document the whole day, so that's why there's very little pics of rides such as W.E.B and Thunder Mountain - apologies.

You can do DLS & DLP in a day when it's quiet, but you're losing the wandering around marveling at everything, which is a must-do at any Disney Park.. Again, I went on one of the busiest days of the year. This said, two days there would be much better. If we were able to do two days, I'd certainly have ridden the Avengers Coaster again, and added Crush's Coaster. DLS is still not a full day, not until Erendell opens at least. Our trip was not able to accommodate another day at the parks. I liked how they were able to blend both the 30 years and Halloween theming. It was seamless.

When I went, it was possible to do both in a single day with careful planning, though that was in 2014 before Ratatouille opened, and with two coasters down. We arrived at 4pm, did two hours in Studios (which was all we needed, and it closed at 6), then two hours in Disney (closed at 8), then the next day at Disney from opening until 4.

Excellent report! Amazing how much more ornate some of the theming is in Paris compared to the other parks. I'm surprised you skipped the Avengers coaster. Even if you've done it before I reckon the preshows Disney do make it worth a look. Did you go back for a 2nd day? Or is it possible to do both in a single day? DLP (Along with Asterix) is a park I've been wanting to get to, but I've been saving it for a longer trip so i can spend a solid 3 weeks in France.

Linnanmaki 25th July 2022 https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/linnanmaki Linnanmaki is the #1 park in Finland, located just 2km north of the city center. And its for a good cause. The park is run by a not for profit and all proceeds support child welfare work. In fact, if you arrive in Helsinki via boat (I caught the night ferry from Stockholm) you can quite clearly see the skyline of the park in the distance. In particular, the skyloop really stands out, but you can see the white painted drop tower, and even the tophat for Taiga if you really squint to the left of the striped crane. Various tram lines serve the park from either side, so it’s easy to get to, but the park itself is located on a hill in the middle of a public park so there is a little bit of an uphill walk to the front gate. In terms of size, the park is about 250x250m, so it’s about ¼ the size of say DW, but has heaps of rides packed in. It's definitely an amusement park, though most of the kids rides have a circus sort of theme, and most of the bigger rides have vague themes/names based on Finnish mythology. Turns out I misjudged the entry time so was there an hour before rides actually started, so took the time to wander around the outside and get some photos. Linnanmaki offers wristbands for 45 EUR, or individual ride tickets at 10 EUR each or 45 EUR for a 6 pack. (So for most visitors you’d clearly get the wristband, I mean I did 16 separate rides, plus some re-rides so it’s easy to get your moneys worth) Tagia has a deal that if you use two ride tickets, you can skip the line. But if you already have a wristband, then a single additional ride ticket allows a skip. So later in the day I forked out 45 EUR for a 6 pack, reasoning that 7.5 EUR a pop was a good deal to get plenty of rides on a top roller coaster that I probably won't be back to ride for at least a decade or more. When the gates opened i made a quick beeline for Taiga. What to say? This has to be pretty close to the world's best launch coaster (Haven’t ridden Velocicoaster though) Such a varied layout, great pacing. Beats Maverick, beats Taron. From the station there’s a decent initial launch into a zero g winder, which is like this 90 turning corkscrew but it banks outwards at the top so heaps of hangtime. Then you pitch sideways into a big curved drop down a hill, and some snappy jet rescue style transitions between some turns, a good start which lines you up with the 2nd launch. Then it really kicks into gear, hitting 100km/h along a launch that dramatically crosses over a major pathway. Then into a great tophat with great views due to being at the edge of the hillside. Following that is a long zero g stall, quite unusual travelling upside down for so long but magically floating in place with the train. Floater soon becomes ejector as there is a tiny dip at the exit of the stall which doesn’t look like much in POVs but is as aggressive as some of the airtime on Skyrush. A 3rd inversion, an immelmann follows, before another big banked turn, a snappy transition then a helix above the station. A brief moment of respite as you do some s bends high in the air, but that all goes out the window with an aggressive dive back down the hill, that really catches you off guard. At full speed at the bottom of the hill is a bit of a wave turn giving some unexpected air. You finish off with a long drawn out corkscrew that dunks you out of your seat like the final inversion on ST, then you cruise around the final turn into the brakes. What an adventure. It’s a tangled mess like Taron so it’s hard to follow which way you are going to go. Switches between thrilling and outright furious, and the gentle moments in the course are set ups for quite aggressive moments. At the exit is a nice gift shop, positioned on the edge of the hill with some big windows I heard Salama can get long lines so i went there next. A custom Maurer spinning coaster. Had heard it was underwhelming but i thought it was fine. Had a suitably confusing layout, combining several high banked turns, quick drops and so forth. The track layout was good but it could have perhaps spun a bit more. Visually its not the prettiest thing since it was built above the existing rapids ride, so it has a lot of heavy supports spanning over the rapids below. The rest of the rides, in no particular order.... Tulireki Ugh, turns out Mack can occasionally have a stinker. This is like a wild mouse with banked turns and a helix, so it’s like Mack were trying to replicate a Gerstlauer bobsled. But it has the “e-motion” suspension system, which just makes it rough, and in particular at the bottom of the drop clunks down so you get a nice bit of spinal compression. One and done for me! Ukko A Maurer skyloop just like Buzzsaw / Project Zero. Do you need me to review this again? As a bonus as soon as I joined the queue they called for a single rider so I was in and out in 5 minutes. Apparently the name is the Finnish god of the sky and thunder, but then the theming was this hippy yellow submarine type deal which made no sense but looked fun. Kirnu These free spin / Zacspin coasters can be polarising, but if you have misgivings, this ride is the one for you and is nowhere near as intense. I think what helps is that its a lot shorter and the main curved drop is much more drawn out, so you get a fun flip, but not the repeated sensation of being thrown up and down and shoved back and forth. (Now i dont mind the full sized ones of these btw ) The feeling is really like being swept around on a top spin and doing a single flip. Made sure i got 2 rides, left facing foward and right facing backwards. I think forwards leaving the station is a little scarier because you cant see the first drop. Vuoristorata Your spine can get readjusted on Scenic Railway, but this thing is brilliant. It's a classic wooden side friction coaster with a brakemaster riding onboard. The layout is a fairly standard layout, an oval with a cross over in the middle so it makes a double figure 8. The airtime is variable depending on your brakemaster. On one lap i sat at the front and we must have been going a little too fast on the double down and i was well and truly chucked out of my seat. And its just a fixed lap bar so a momentary freak out when it happened. Was running 3 trains quite efficiently so I got a few rides. Linnunrata An indoor family coaster built inside an old water tower. The queue line reminded me of those 90s lasertag places or watching escape from Jupiter. But you were made to wait outside and rushed through this part, likely 'due to covid' The ride is one of those Zierer family coasters with a very long train (like this) and it had two lift hills, so was a reasonable little journey, and was quite dark for many parts so was actually not half bad! On the way were quite a few strobes, and big foam planets hanging from the ceiling, the usual space coaster stuff. Did a couple of laps because it was good. Panoraama Rotating observation cabin. Clean the windows please! Pikajuna A powered mine train type coaster, but if was a bit naff, a fairly basic layout with a couple of helices, though they did make the effort of making the station look like a giant train (So is it meant to be like the train is giving birth to a baby train, who knows?) Hurjakuru Under Salama is this rapids ride. Normally the top of the hill would be the last place you'd build a rapids, and what was even crazier is that the high point of the ride was at the lower side of the hill, which meant the end of the course was essentially in a huge ravine. Yeah it was ok, the foggy tunnel at the start with viking theming was probably the highlight, and i guess being in more of a deep gorge for the rest of the layout made it feel like more authentic rafting. Kingi Another moser drop tower, with rotating seats. These are a little weaker than the intamin counterparts because the brakes start so high up the tower, so you dont get as much freefall, and the braking is more drawn out and less forceful. The theming was great, this curtsey medieval look. The staff had no hustle so the wait felt longer than it should have. Kammokuja This was a spooky walkthrough, but you wore a special type of chromatic 3d glasses that would make all the blacklight murals appear to 'pop' off the walls. Hocus Pocus Hall at Chessignton was like this too. No actual scare actors, though a couple of basic animatronics would jump around when you walked past the trigger. Was ok. Kyöpelinvuoren hotelli This was a ghost train/haunted hotel, but it was a bit newer than the classic ones many parks hold together with duct tape. Given it was newer, the quality of the theming was a bit better, the lighting had more polish and it had some nicey animated projected screens too. A solid B+. Rinkelli A big ferris wheel, with great views of several of the coasters. Seemed very popular so a bit of a wait. Taikasirkus This is a family dark ride through a circus, so if you have clourophobia or globophobia steer well clear. The vehicles were little 2 person 'eggs' suspended from an overhead track, and these could rotate just like the disney omnimover, so you would face certain scenes. The scenes were all quite cute and well done, basic movements in the characters brought them to life. I got a giggle from the clown sweeping up elephant dung. Maisemajuna A mini monorail that does a lap around the park, so another good opportunity to take some photos. Overall, it’s an excellent park with a lot to hold your attention. I rode heaps and heaps but still only did less than half the lineup, so it represents excellent value for money. If you are in this part of the world Helsinki is a nice city, and Linnanmaki is worth the effort. No i didn't ride this. Also, I should give a special shout out to the food, they had a proper indian restaurant. And the taco place near Kingi was decent too. Almost 300 photos here: https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/linnanmaki