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Yeah… disappointing. Appears to be no external vendors and only a slight variation to their normal offerings. I guess this is why they’ve dropped the “street” and only refer to it as “food festival”. There originally was high hopes of this event soon to be on par with Disney or Seven Seas… not any more. I think it’s time to drop the event altogether, back to the drawing board for something new.

If no roller coasters are opened - everyone should be offered a return for free pass at the gate. No questions asked. It’s embarrassing - I can’t recommend anyone go there. You either go in peak school holiday season when you’re lucky to get on 4 rides during their piss weak operating hours - or go during the off season when it’s not even possible to line up for a ride. Pathetic. Heaps of parks (even Disney) offer to return for free if the rides are closed due to circumstances they can’t control (weather) - Movie World are in complete control of their maintenance schedule and they still choose to charge full price.

If this is true, then this looks amazing. Better than I expected. Looks to be up to standard with the big chains (Universal/Disney). I am very happy both Village and Coast are starting to get into the immersive land business. One thing I hope will happen is the Scooby elevator gets painted over, it will be weird seeing a land with very immersive theming and there is a white rectangle in the middle of it.

Epcot 14/11/2023 https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/epcot for heaps more pics. Epcot is undergoing a bit of work, and they are really leaning into their retrofuturism, particularly with the renovations of some buildings in the hub, a new sculpture at the entrance and new icons for each attraction. And you know its kinda fun. They acknowledge the place is a timewarp, much like tomorrowland, but they are leaning into it. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Woweee. Did this twice, again by getting an early boarding group via the app by refreshing at 7am, plus forking out for a one shot lighting lane. An amazing achievement and a massive coaster. The queue ties into Epcot by posing as an exhibit about the planet Xandar. Xandarians have come to earth to teach us about their planet, and are even inviting us up to their mothership via teleportation. The teleportation is done well, a similar effect I think to the old Poseidon's fury at ioa where you go into a room, the lights go out, and the walls are lifted up to reveal a bigger room surrounding you. Of course, something goes wrong when a bad guy steals the cosmic generator from the ship, and before you know it you are loaded into trains to chase after him. The ride uses controlled spinning, and the building is divided into two huge halls with long screens running the lengths. The "preshow bit of the coaster" passes a few big screens, before you are rotated backwards and sent down a long launch with electrical effect's. The track twists and turns along each room, and the battle plays out, moving along the screen with you, and even distorts away as the track turns away from the screen. The rotation of the car keeps you focused on the action. I got "Im gonna getcha getcha getcha" on one of my rides, I forget the other song. No miami disco for me. Mission Space. This one has has a slight facelift since last time, with new films for both the extreme and gentle versions. For those who don't know, you sit in a simulator pod, suspended from a centrifuge, allowing for strong Gs during the ride. The gentle version has the centrifuge deactivated, so is just like a normal simulator and has you doing an orbit around the world, with some of the most cliche commentary ever...."soon we will pass over Japan, the land of the rising sun....below you can see Paris, the city of light. Things get a bit energetic towards the end where there is a storm as you come into land, throwing your space shuttle about. The extreme version.... Damn i forgot how intense this is, or maybe Im getting older. The ride is based around a mission to Mars. The bit during take off has quite long periods of sustained Gs, like a powerful rotor type ride. There a breather in the middle as you go into "hypersleep" for a few months to reach mars. And then an exciting sequence for Landing where you almost go off a cliff! Skipped Soarin because they were running the darn old Californian film (I'd wanted to try the new one!) Test Track Ehhh, I liked the old one better. The previous version of the ride was themed like an actual crash test facility, with your car swerving around cones, over rough surfaces, through a heat chamber etc. very fun and practical feeling. The new version tries to give the impression you are in a "sim car" , and all the interior theming of the ride is like tron. This is tied together with a preshow where you craft a car on a touchscreen, and yeah its fun coming up with some sort of abomination. I tried to do a car like the one homer simpson designed but gave up. But now i think the computer theme makes it too farfetched and sterile feeling imo. Still the outdoor section at high speed is pretty exhilarating still. Ratatouille This one I thought was better than the one in Paris, because the cars were able to shake slightly, which was deactivated in Paris for some reason. It made the motion on the screen have a bit more feel, kind of like the seats in a 4d cinema. The motion isn't Spiderman/Transformers level, but still pretty good. Journey into Imagination is quite silly. Typical Disney dark ride with rotating cars, but this one has them in trains, with a few dips in the track too. The ride is themed like an institute for inventors. The queue passes various office doors with punny names and odd things going on inside The ride takes you on a tour of labs, but the irritating dragon figment causes mayhem and sings a song Frozen Ever After The queue for this is a bit hellish, with streams of lightling lane users and then 3 or 4 people from standby, so spent about an hour stuck in this nicley themed, but crowded town square themed queue line. I haven't seen the film so can't really comment. One thing that struck me was how dark it is inside. Its not so much a white snowy wonderland, but a lot of blacklight theming and dimly lit scenes, which to be fair give it a real nordic dark winter feel. Journey of Water - Inspired by Moana This is quite nice, a walkthrough with all kinds of interactive fountains, including waterfalls that shut off right as you walk through, ones that respond to your hand waving, a water harp, pop jets for little kids, and a spectacular one that simulated waves crashing against the shoreline. My only comment would be why isn't this at Animal kingdom where it would fit in better. I guess it's supposed to be educational, but a strange fit for the future world area. Spaceship Earth I have hazy memories of because last time I was here i was jetlagged and fell asleep on it because it was nice and dark lol. The ride is edutainment, taking you through the history of the world and communication, so you spiral up through the spherical building, and pass through scenes of people in the ancient world keeping scrolls, through to people in the 70s using magnetic tape computers. On reflection, its the same type of ideas as Carousel of Progress over at MK. The final part has dated a bit. Your photo is taken, and on a touch screen you are asked questions about what you are interested in and your lifestyle, and it whips up a quick animation about what the future might be like, based on your inputs. The food and wine festival was on when I was visting. There was a muppets food lab where you could get a pickle flavoured shake. I opted to see what their interpretation of Australian food was. Lamington was nice but the coconut wasn't desiccated it was big soft strands, but the wine was good :} The weather was somewhat bad on the day so I was ducking for cover a bit when going around the world showcase. Another thing worth checking out is Coca Cola Club cool, where you can try free soft drink samples. The infamous Beverly is a clear but very bitter drink that tastes like drinking liquorice. My personal favourite was Joy, a korean peach pear lychee sort of drink I could have sipped all day. A few of them are just fizzy tropical flavours, so its a good go to if you dont want to pay Disney drink prices. Overall, still a great park, If I had one more day I could have really spent more time in world showcase and seen a few shows.

I visited France back in June and visited a few parks over the course of 3 weeks. Might as well get one of the easier ones out of the way, with Walt Disney Studios. https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/walt-disney-studios I had a two day pass which was the right amount of time for Disneyland Park / Walt Disney studios. But for the purposes of this TR I'll just go attraction by attraction rather than a recount of both days. Getting to the park is easy, about 40 mins from Central Paris on the RER, then through the security checkpoint into Disney Village and the two parks. When you arrive, the main street is actually a sound stage, with plywood sets forming the shops and restaurants. Crush's Coaster Recommended to start on this one since it draws long queues. I frequently saw it reaching 120 minutes. It was broken down when I arrived, so I hung around for 20 mins and got on as soon as it opened. Really good! An indoor marina themed station (complete with seagulls chanting "mine") leads into a short lift hill, a couple of turns outdoors before heading back into the building. From there are a few dark ride scenes where you are going with the sea turtles to ride the east coast current, a jellyfish field, and finally a lift hill in the hull of a ship with sharks chanting "fish are friends not food". From there it's into a very dark show building with the standard Maurer SC2000 layout, with a few scrims with projected flowing bubbles to simulate riding the current. Much darker inside than scooby. The coaster is zippy and good fun. My only criticisim would be that too many coasters at Disney Paris rely on being in a big dark room with a few effects. Avengers, Crush's and Space Mountain all rely on it, so thats half the coasters. A tip, the single rider queue time lies. I saw it advertised as 50 mins, walked in and there were 3 people waiting, so it was more like 5 mins! Worth using since there is nothing worth seeing in the standby queue. RC Racer Similar comments to the one in HK. I really like these compared to the spinning halfpipes because the beyond vertical spike creates this great sensation where you are floating, but also being forced forward in your seat (much like the beyond vertical drops on GL/Abyss), combined with the launches picking up speed. Again the single rider queue is the way to go. Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin Missed the one in HK so did this because it has a short queue. Most gentle matterhorn ride ever lol, but the theming looks great. Not sure who makes it, but I suspect Intamin because it looked like the cars actually run on Intamin track. The theming is great, with a pile of dog toys on a bowl as a centerpiece. Ratatouille Hmmm, a bit underwhelmed by this one sadly. I love trackless and 3D dark rides, so was really looking foward to this, but it falls a bit flat. The vehicles can spin, but cannot do the full range of motion like you get on rides like Spiderman or Planet of the Apes or the Justice Leauges at Six Flags. You ride in large rat shaped cars that seat 6, and scurry around through the kitchen, being chased by angry kitchen staff, with a mixture of oversized sets (including going under a stove, into a fridge, through the wall cavities), interspersed by scenes in front of giant screens. For some reason I thought that despite the reduced range of motion the vehicles would still maybe scoot around a tiny bit on the spot or rotate a bit from side to side in front of the screens to give a little feeling , but nah you're just parked there in front of a giant screen for 30 seconds watching a giant movie, with things popping off but it feels strange and muted without any movement. The best part probably is the giant sets. A nice touch is when you are under a giant waiters trolley, and as you roll fowards the castors either side of you rotate as well. In this area they had a food festival going, with very permanent looking stands selling food from different regions of France. I tried this cheese and potato thing but it was a bit pungent! Spider-man WEB Adventure Ok, so it wasn't until shortly before I went on this trip I found out they built an Avengers campus at WDS (For some reason I thought it was just Rock n Roller coaster being re themed with other stuff coming later)....Cool, means I don't feel guilty about skipping DCA! This is another 3D dark ride, with vehicles that track the movements of your hands and allow you to shoot webs. Can tell you ahead of time there is nothing special enough to see in the standby queue, so by all means do this with single rider...You still get to see the preshow either way . The ride is themed like an old brick warehouse that used to be "Stark Motors" that has now been taken over by a tech startup called the "World Engineering Brigade" . The preshow is set in a research workhop and uses a few layers of scrims, and has Peter Parker showing you his new spiderbot . The spiderbot is able to mine materials and 3D print it's own replicas, which sounds cool until they start cutting holes in the walls and replicating out of control. That's where you come in to start hunting them down before they replicate into the millions, by blasting them with webs just like spiderman. The ride reminded me of a long lost relative of toy story mania, with large back to back vehicles travelling in front of game screens. The bits in between were probably better themed, and in this case yes they did take advangage of the spinning of the vehicle to get a bit of wild movement between scenes. I've heard this ride bagged out a bit, but I had a great time. The graphics and the gesture tracking was super crisp, and each scene had heaps of ways you could interact with it, eg shoot webs at the spiderbots, or you could fling a web at an oil drum, then sweep your hand a across and cause it to fling across the room and cause a massive explosion. Avengers Flight Force This was a rethemed of Rock n Rollercoaster, with a snazzy, but perhaps sterile queue set in Avengers HQ. Think lots of stainless steel and chamfered panels, like an Apple store without the wood. Simple storyline, some missiles have been sent towards earth by the bad guys, all the other avengers are busy with other missions, so its up to you to help Captain Marvel and Iron Man by flying in a manner that draws the missiles away from earth. There's a really good Iron Man animatronic in the preshow. Another touch I liked is the pulsating lighting tubes throughout the queue that all go haywire from the power surge when the ride launches. The coaster, again, excellent, with flashing red lights on the launch, followed by 3 inversions taken smoothly in the dark, with the odd curved screen with the two heroes shooting beams etc in the battle. The finale is a huge panoramic screen where you see the baddies missiles blown up in a spectacular green explosion, coupled with a cresendo in the music, all at full speed, before finally hitting the brakes. Pym Test Kitchen Forked out for Sit Down Meal for a change. This restaurant was a buffet with novelty food items that were either bigger than smaller than normal. The theming reflected this. Eg for burgers, you could get sliders, or get a slice from a burger the size of a hubcap. There was a bit of scientific mixed in too, eg blue coloured salad dressing, things in test tubes, this really nice lemon dessert that had an crystaline atomic structre pattern on the top etc. 49 EUR, ouch! Tower of Terror This thing is wild. I've done other TOTs in Cali, Florida and Japan but this one has the best most intense ride cycle and its not even close! Right from the first pushback, you are rocketing to the top forcefully. No slow lifting floor by floor, just several sustained ups and downs, all the while a creepy girl at each floor tells you "not to scream, it will only make it worse". I get the feeling Europeans are a bit tougher in terms of thrills, so they get a better cycle as a result. The queue is the same as the others. Gorgeous. Cars Road Trip Urrrgh. This is unashamedly a filler while they build the Frozen area. It was the studio tour, it has been cut short due to construction work in the park, and they kept the catasrophe canyon bit, and stuck it in with this utterly rubbish road trip thing where you look at 3D props of roadside landmarks. Think lame stuff like a giant spanner, billboards, the Tyre-ful Tower. But then the catastrophe canyon bit is ham fisted too becasuse they took the tanker that blows up and put a cars face on it, so you're literally watching a setient tanker getting burned alive with a look of mild concern. Walk on queue said it all. Tapis Volants You know, out of all the Disney rides I've never done one of these Dumbo/Orbiter type things, time to rectify that. It's themed as if Alladin is being filmed as a live action movie. You can move the carpet up and down with a little lever in front of your seat. Supposedly the other lever makes you tilt back and forth, but despite reaching back and trying it did nothing? The viewing area was nice too. Cars Quatres Roues Rallye. Same sort of ride as Patricks Jellyfish Frenzy, a figure 8 motion demolition derby, but with Cars theming. The queue predates cars land, so it's like a mini mish mash of Radiator springs. Despite having two of the rides installed side by side it still must get long queues. Final thoughts The park is pretty good, though a lot smaller than every other Disney Park. The offering is about 1/3 of Disneyland next door. I did appreciate the thrill rides here, probably the most 'intense' lineup of any Disney park. Perhaps what it lacked was strong themed zones. The whole front of the park is this open bitumen area with a lot of plain looking studios and food trucks. The bits around Avengers Campus, Ratatouille and Toy Story felt immersive, but then the rest of the park is a bit mish mash. Perhaps once frozen is finished it will feel a bit more consolidated. At the moment, even the orignal DCA is better! The park seemed popular, with crowds and 30-60 min waits all day. As always, photos are here. https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/walt-disney-studios

One thing Disney in particular seem to be building into their rides is a "B mode" - a backup for when a primary effect isn't working. A notable example is the RoTR Kylo Ren animatronic being hidden behind a wall when it's broken, replaced by Kylo appearing "outside" (via some windows/screens) in his ship. So rather than an effect appearing obviously broken the ride still seems relatively complete. Given that VRTP have aspirations to be like Disney, hopefully they're paying attention and incorporate something similar in these new rides, where it makes sense.

Disney do projection mapping very well. Just watch any of their Main Street/Castle nightime shows where they use projection mapping very well. My favourite use of it at a Disney park is on Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland as they use it to give the impression the tnt is igniting on the lifthill and it's about to explode as you leave the mountain. I think on Scooby: Next Gen they over promised and they either couldn't get the projection mapping to work/ran out of money or they too were confused at what it actually is. I do hope with FOTWW they execute it well and use it in a way that adds to the story/experience, rather than it just being a gimac that gets overlooked and when it breaks they don't repair it.

On October the 10th, 2020 Fox Studios Australia has officially been renamed to Disney Studios Australia. Fox Studios becomes Disney Studios, welcomes next 'Planet of the Apes' film - IF Magazine Disney Cruise Line recently announce that it's bringing even more to Australia by adding two cruises World's Seventh Disney Theme Park Gains Traction, Could Appear In South of Country - Inside the Magic As early as two weeks ago, multiple news related stories detailed that Disney had been looking at establishing itself in Australia, a push was made for Disney to be established in South Australia and at one time, the Gold Coast, Australia. World's Seventh Disney Theme Park Gains Traction, Could Appear In South of Country - Inside the Magic With the above mentioned and what appears to be an increase of footprint by Disney into Australia, could Disney be scanning possible locations for a Singapore sized Univesal studio version of Disney Theme Park. Gold Coast, Queensland seems to be the logical geographical location although SA as has been referenced as a potential. With Olympics quickly approaching in Queensland, with the Gold Coast being the mecca for Australian theme park and with new infrastructure being constructed and planned for the Olympics, the Gold Coast with its weather and tourism magnate, seems to be a more pragmatic choice. Warner Bros. Movie World during recent school holidays had good visitation, it is debatable as to whether Dreamworld was able to attract the same number of foot traffic. Ardent Leisure has significant excess land holding and may/could be looking to divest as per a recent ASX announcement. On face value, it may be possible that Dreamworld and its surrounding land may be viewed by Disney executives and being a potential acquisition. However, this is pure speculation, but would seem to make sense should Disney Theme Park be a real possibility.

Pico Play have also shared this article about the project Pico Play to deliver full theming solution for Dreamworld’s new Jungle Rush roller coaster An ancient temple, filled with twisting tunnels, mysterious chambers, mystical artefacts and exotic creatures is taking shape in a state-of-the-art fabrication facility in the Vietnamese city of Hai Duong. Pico Play, a global leader in the planning, design, development and construction of world-class themed attractions and entertainment, is busy working on an ancient temple, filled with twisting tunnels, mysterious chambers, mystical artefacts and exotic creatures in its state-of-the-art fabrication facility in the Vietnamese city of Hai Duong. More than 75 artists, sculptors, engineers and production workers are manufacturing the temple which will become the centrepiece of Jungle Rush, a brand-new rollercoaster coming to Australia’s theme park Dreamworld in 2024. Pico Play director Darren McLean says the company is delivering a fully integrated solution to the theme park that includes all theming, show sets and audio-visual effects: “We’ve taken the concept and developed detailed designs through to fabrication drawings and then, of course, the fabrication itself at our Vietnam facility. In addition to the physical theming and show sets, we’re also developing a custom soundtrack and developing lighting, storytelling and animatronics to deliver a seamless, integrated and exhilarating experience.” At $35M, Jungle Rush is Dreamworld’s largest investment in a single attraction and the crowning jewel of Rivertown, the park’s new immersive land. Billed as a family attraction, Jungle Rush is a switchback rollercoaster, featuring the world’s first inclined turntable, different track paths and the ability to travel forward or in reverse. Pico Play is manufacturing 520 pre-cast glass-reinforced concrete (GRC) panels in its Vietnam facility to build the centrepiece temple and has sourced an ex-military dual-engine propellor plane to ‘crash-land’ into the theming. “We’re working very closely with the local architect, engineer and builder and using detailed 3D modelling to ensure our pre-fabricated pieces sit perfectly into their major infrastructure works,” adds McLean. “We’re developing an immersive experience that will take guests on a mysterious journey from the moment they enter the temple to when they exit the rollercoaster. “We want to offer guests more than just a rollercoaster ride. The experience is more than the ride itself, there’s a story, there are characters, there’s excitement and there’s anticipation and entertainment leading up to the ride.” Jungle Rush marks the 10th collaboration between Pico Play and Dreamworld with past projects including the newly opened Ocean Parade expansion, Steel Taipan rollercoaster and the Sky Voyager “flying theatre”. Dreamworld CEO Greg Yong visited Pico Play’s Hai Duong facility in early 2024 and was impressed at the efficiency and skill of its workers, including a large team of experienced artists and sculptors. “They’ve got a super talented group of people doing the work and it was really great to see the artisans and thank them in person,” says Yong. “I walked out of that experience in Vietnam feeling 100 per cent confident and really comfortable in how Pico Play was handling the project.” Nominating Pico Play’s global reach as a competitive advantage, Yong adds that the firm’s Queensland presence also contributed to the enduring relationship between the two companies. “They know the site and understand our vision with this project and how important the stakes are – this is not just another attraction, this is a meaningful part of Dreamworld’s story and recovery.” Yong explains that Jungle Rush is located in one of the park’s foundation areas and fittingly offers a nostalgic nod to Dreamworld’s history: “Jungle Rush is all about the theming; we’re bringing back a lot of traditional effects that people may not have seen in a theme park for a long time. Technology is so pervasive now that we wanted something ‘analogue’, something that is so completely immersive that you put your phone away and just get caught up in the quality of the narrative and the scale of the theming.” The Rivertown project is the final piece in Dreamworld’s $55M capital investment, with approximately $35M invested in the immersive Rivertown land. The project’s construction and theming phase is set to create more than 1000 jobs with the precinct expected to open in late 2024. At the end of last year, Pico Play announced the appointment of Kate Rogers as senior art director. Rogers has worked on some of the most innovative and beloved theme park attractions on the planet, including Universal Orlando Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort, Universal Beijing Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Melbourne Zoo. https://www.pico-play.com/news-articles/pico-play-to-deliver-full-theming-solution-for-dreamworlds-new-jungle-rush-roller-coaster?fbclid=PAAaa72cG-6XAKEMstjUQ4fYQT39AFyuEo6YZRZsV6B_NC0Njqrd4i85NzZaI_aem_AfVrHVFLd2eQFxGicDVNWPcdcdovIoCHym6Vlf1s9SKKQClWxNnfUjRAdUd7VeqBveY

If they can pull this off, WOW WOW WOW. This render actually gives me Disney/Universal vibes in their concept artworks. The detail in it is amazing and I truly hope they can pull this off because this will revolutionise theme parks in Australia and I honestly never thought it was going to be Dreamworld that did that. In my mind, Movie World (and maybe even Sea World) has always been the park to do that. In recent years MW hasn’t leant into that immersion and I hope with Wizard of Oz that changes. Sea World did a good job at it over ten years ago with Castaway Bay (when it opened) and Leviathans queue and station has also stepped things up a notch (it’s a shame that Atlantis as a whole didn’t). And to give Dreamworld some credit, when Dreamworks first opened, they did a good job with it. And I think Tiger Island is still the most well themed area of any Australian theme park, but based off what we’ve seen, if Dreamworld go all out with the story and detailing of the whole land that is Rivertown, this could be unlike anything we’ve seen. We already knew this from the lands plan, but it’s great to see (in a concept artwork) the two attractions interacting with each other. It will be such a joyful moment to be driving on of the cars and having the coaster travel past you. And having massive set pieces like this plane will be spectacular. The last concept artwork of the Jungle Rush entry was impressive, but looking at it again a few times, I definitely think it’s underselling what it will actually be (which could be a good thing). Hopefully they aren’t overselling with this concept artwork, and maybe it is if the budget begins to get blown, but I truly hope they go all out because this land will become the flagship attraction for Dreamworld, maybe even for the Gold Coast theme parks.

The fact it says ‘rooms and surrounds’ doesn’t seem to me like they’ll be connected accomodation, as well as there not really being much need/space for another VRTP example of that post-MW’s hotel. Maybe, instead, there’s a plan for something similar to a Paradise Resort, various Disney hotels, things like that, in which it’s a family-oriented hotel/resort, centred around an IP that VRTP has the rights to (Nickelodeon, DC, etc), that’s got enough self-contained activities for park visits to not be a necessity (but, ofc, offering shuttles to & fro). They have experience with similar, though less self-contained, locations with Sea World Resort. Though, granted, they didn’t construct it, experience with it’s operations could mean they have ideas as to how it could be improved if they were to construct one themselves. As to if anything comes from it, we’ll have to wait and see, but I’m guessing that’s moreso what’s being eluded towards.

Realistically this is the best option. There’s no reason Mad Max shouldn’t be at movie world, it’s a perfect IP for village to integrate and something they already own. But there’s no logical fit in the park. You could maybe get away with having it next to West but the best option is to have it take up that arena on Main Street. You don’t even need a current ip - Waterworld is a movie that came out in the mid 90’s that the vast majority of people who go to watch the show at universal have probably never heard of let alone watched (throw backdraft in there too when it was open) I’ve never personally watched stunt driver 2 but I did watch police academy and the original stunt driver and thought it was memorable. Based on what I’ve read it seems the stunt show is in desperate need of change. Shows have their place in parks, they disperse crowds around, and having a good one can determine the difference between massive lines and not so massive lines (Waterworld or Lion King at Disney come to mind). Gut everything after all the major projects are done and while lantern & doomsday are limping, and build a mad max show, have some explosions, falling stunts (which mad max lends itself well to) and make it memorable.

If the Indiana Jones rides at Disney are anything to go by id say the theming improves with a bit of weathering too. An ancient temple facade with slightly overgrown vegetation looks even better than when new

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.