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The POV has been released for Tiana's Bayou Adventure, and it is not looking good: First off, there is a lack of story. Where is the villain? Where is the danger that you commonly see on rides like these? Splash Mountain had a clear and cohesive story, this only mentions the story a few times, it is mostly just listening to animals singing and suddenly you are about to get to the party. Also there is much less animatronics and characters overall, in some areas there is only one animatronic and lots of greenery. Also a lot of it is just listening to music, with a large section lacking any story or dialogue. And where did the suspense go, as I mentioned earlier? Splash Mountain had Brer Rabbit about to be skinned by Brer Frox and trying to trick him into throwing him down the mountain. The lift hill up the mountain is supposed to be suspenseful, instead this is just "Let's get you to the party" with happy music playing throughout. Compared to Jurassic Park - Jurassic World at USH this is a huge downgrade compared to the original. While USH properly updated the ride to a modern standard while keeping a coherent story, this just feels off with the lack of story. Not to mention this seems targeted only toward young girls, and a problem with that is are young girls the right target for a ride like this? A lot wouldn't want to ride it as it may look "Too Scary", and young boys wouldn't want to ride "The Princess Ride". Splash however wasn't targeted to a specific age group, the whole family could enjoy it. They have wasted a lot of money on this, they should've kept this the same like Japan.

Magic Kingdom - Walt Disney World https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/magic-kingdom I actually kicked off my 3 days at WDW at Magic Kingdom. Plenty of new stuff to see. Things are a bit more high tech at Disney these days, you can load your ticket into google wallet and tap in at the entrances, entering Lightning Lanes (the new name for fast pass) , and the app is pretty comprehensive in terms of being able to check wait times and order food, and credit to them this aspect is all very tight. The more recent points of contention is Genie Plus and Lightning Lanes and Boarding Groups for certain attractions. Basically, fast pass is no longer free, that's an extra cost to use per day, and the service is branded through the app "Genie Plus" I did without it on 2 of my 3 days since crowds seemed light enough and I could game single rider a bit. I swear though they inflate wait times to encourage people to use it. On certain rides you can also pay to skip the line on a one shot basis and enter via the Lighting Lane, and well, I ended up doing this for Tron and 7 Dwarves mine train, more on them later. And finally, boarding groups. At the time of my visit, due to their newness and popularity, Tron and Guardians (At EPCOT) both require you to go into a ballot for a time to board the ride. They do one drop at 7am, and another at 1pm. It does make it a little stressful because who wants to come all that way to ride the new stuff and have it come down to luck. Personally I think they should still offer standby. If someone wants to wait 2-3 hours to ride the new thing, more power to em! I did witness a couple of people at the entrance who were not familiar with the system a bit annoyed about being unable to ride and the complexity of it. But it turned out not to be a worry. If you are on the app at 7am and refresh as soon as the clock ticks over, you can pretty easily end up with a timeslot to ride in the morning. Despite this, I still also bought a one shot lighting lane for tron just because I wanted a guaranteed re-ride. I rocked up early: I had a plan to rope drop Seven Dwarves Mine Train, but it was broken down so I started on Goofys Barnstormer Standard vekoma roller skater but the theming is really really well done. In fact, I had never ventured into the whole circus area before, but I loved it. Under the Sea - Journey of The Little Mermaid Also new to me. An omnimover dark ride with some really detailed theming right from the start. The beginning is pretty cool, with Scuttle the seagull trying to explain Airels story in a confused manner, before your ride vehicle goes downhill and 'under the sea', with projectors used on the walls to create a sense of dropping below the waterline. The ride is fun and colourful, with a huge scene of fishes dancing to "Under the Sea". The ride kind of skips over the whole epic battle with Ursula and just has Ariel transitioning to human and getting married to Prince Eric. Very well done, and I can imagine kids would find it magical. A certain foodstuff I had wanted to try was LeFous brew from Gastons Tavern. It's basically frozen apple juice, topped with passionfruit foam, which was the most tart thing ever, it was like straight passionfruit cordial mixed with wizzfiz or something. With some time to kill until my TRON timeslot I reacquainted myself with Space Mountain. I still reckon the HK/DL/DLP versions are better, just lacks something without the music IMHO. The layout is a little tighter on the MK version and feels like a wild mouse. The exit route has way more theming than my last visit, with various cheesy displays of futurism. Finally it was time for TRON Lightcycle Run. The scale of this ride is enormous, with a huge canopy and broad elevated walkways leading to the entrance, with trains thundering overhead regularly. Once you get inside its a whole bunch of black corridors with neons and backlit graphics. The coolest feature however is a little preshow room with switchable glass with a projection. After a bit of fluff about being "scanned into the world of Tron", the glass turns transparent, revealing the trains launching below and some seriously cool looking theming. The double sided locker system works well, and has hundreds of bays. The trains have you hunkering down a lot more compared to your average straddle coaster, it's practically like being on a flying coaster. Some people have commented the ride is 'short' but its 1km long. I think what happens is people mentally dont count the outdoor section, and focus only on the indoor part. The indoor part is pretty cool, with you racing through glowing checkpoints, plus the occasional wall projection of other lightcycles racing against you. One thing that sets it apart from other indoor coasters is the turns are a lot larger and more sweeping. It's not like they have tried to cram a spaghetti of track into a box, its more like a full sized launch coaster that happens to be in a building. Impressive ride! No sign of Seven Dwarves being open on the app so I decided to try a few other tomorrowland attractions I've never done. First Astro Orbiter, which offers some great elevated views over the land. Then Peoplemover, which also offers moderately elevated views, interspersed with a few little dark ride scenes with a bit of a silly space age feel to them all. I had never done Carousel of Progress so gave this one a spin too. It's a rotating theatre, and during the show you stop in front of animatronic dioramas of a family in the 1900s, the 1920s, 1940s and so on, with the patriarch of the family talking all about all the latest and greatest developments in the world, eg the 1920s talked about how you could travel coast to coast by train, and how Babe Ruth was hitting home runs, and how their house now had brand new electric lights. And then you get to the 2000s bit and it was like 1990s mixed with back to the future. At that point it was time for my paid re-ride on Tron. First ride was in the back, so I took the front this time (It's never a long wait to request a front seat at Disney I find) Back is better if you want to see all the projections on the wall and more of the theming, but front is better if you want to stick your hands out and pretend to fly and feel the wind. What other new stuff was there for me to see. Never had done Country Bear Jamboree so that was a must. Loved this detail on the floor of the foyer. The show takes the piss out of rednecks, with the bears in the show singing drunkenly, having buck teeth, and even alluding to dressing in morally questionable (For the 1900s) mannee. Entertaining, I imagine the local audience would probably get more out of the stereotypes. When It came time to ride Big Thunder Mountain it started raining heavily. Fortunately the queue is all undercover, and they have added various themed interactive things in the queue, like Zeotropes, and fresh air monitors with displeased canaires inside. And yeah, Big Thunder running in the wet rocks! Swung by the conversion of Splash Mountain into Tianas Bayou Adventure. Enchanted Tiki Room was up next (Geez Im having a passive day!), a colourful animatronic show with four main singing birds, each with a stereotypical accent (French, German, Spanish, Irish), plus hordes of other birds that are lowered up and down from the ceiling for duets and choral sets. Its funny how times change, at the time it opened people were mesmerised by singing birds, but I guess today it feels like a room full of those novelty singing birds you get a tobacconist/gift shop. The sets are beautiful though, and the actual lyrics and storyline are entertaining. Swiss Family Treehouse is always worth a stroll through. And I couldn't pass up a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean, still the benchmark in terms of being the most immersive classic Disney ride IMHO. At this point, Seven Dwarves was still not open, and they had even put out a push notification to everyone apologising for the extended downtime. Another food I wanted to try was in Adventureland, Cheeseburger and Pizza Spring rolls (You get one of each). Still wish our parks had more gimmicky snacks like this on rotation. A total surprise to me was discovering they had a Christmas overlay of Jungle Cruise called Jingle Cruise. Most of the fun of it seems to come in the form of extra christmas theming in the queue with a tropical twist. During the ride itself, the jokes are just as corny, but of course with Christmas related puns. Further Christmas decorations on the way too At that point in the day I realised there was one other attraction on my hit list I had wanted to check out, Enchanted Tales with Belle. I was thinking it was more of a walkthrough, and it has a little bit of that, but by and large its a kids meet n greet that has a fancy beginning and some cool animatronics. The main thing I wanted to see was the magic mirror effect they have, which appears to magically grow larger on the wall in front of you and open up to reveal a direct portal into the Beauty and the Beast castle that you walk through. It's a pretty cool trick how they achieve it, and there are YT videos showing how they do it, so I wont spoil it. Surprised this hasn't been used on other attractions. Once you get inside they have a talking wardrobe, and most impresive, lumiere the candle, with actual moving flames on his 'arms', which fully move and gesture as he talks. But yeah other than that they get the kids up front and give them cardboard cut outs to 'act out' a scene from Beauty and the Beast, and then Belle turns up and meets the kids, so yeah not really worth it unless you have young kids. But, finally, Seven Dwarves Mine Train opened...And I was still stuck in this thing! The wait times were already building up, so I bit the bullet and paid for another lighting lane to get on it. Good Thing I did when I arrived at the entrance, the standby wait time had blown out past 90 mins, and even the lightning lane entrance was backed up. This ride has intrigued me since it has swinging cars just like Orphan Rocker at Scenic World, so it was good to get a glimpse at what it would have been like. Actually great fun, and the theming is really detailed, particularly halfway through where you go into the gem mine and all the dwarves are singing 'hi ho hi ho its off to work we go', with full projection mapped faces on each one of them, and lighting effects from all the glowing gems. The cars do actually get a a decent swing going 2 or 3 times during the run. I was expecting Disneyfied toned down intensity, but nah this was good! And I think that's all I did. I was still a bit jetlagged so felt there was a high risk of falling asleep If i did something like Small World, so park hopped to somewhere a little more energetic..... Did you know the streak down the middle of the street Liberty Square is meant to represent raw sewage of the olden days.

Hey guys, a bit of a long question but I have three questions about Wonderland Sydney: 1: What was Wonderbuzz in regards to WS as shown in this Seven News report at 0:25: 2: What did the Wonderland website look like and do any of you have pictures of it 3. What did Wonderland look like from the M7?

With Volcano Bay and Islands of Aventure out of the way its time to take a look at Universal Studios Florida https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/universal-studios-florida (For all the pics) Again, I spread out my entries over about 3 days. I made it there one evening when it was an absolute downpour. This meant the crowds were light, and outdoor rides were closed, so a good excuse to knock out indoor stuff with minimal wait to start with. Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts Wow, this one really impressed me. Universal have copped some flak for doing a lot of screen based attractions, but this one did the 'ride' part well too, and the theming was fully immersive right from start to finish. In short You are on a tour of the bank vaults but are caught in a battle between Harry and Voldemort. After making your way through some well themed bank corridors, you catch a lift down to the underground vaults, which used a cool vibrating floor to give the sense of the lift shuddering and siezing up on the way down. Eventually you end up in a grimy underground tunnel system with stalectites hanging from the ceiling, where you find the load area.The ride is a roller coaster system, but the cars can rotate to any position, and there are some pretty nifty special track sections used throughout. Right at the start of the ride, the evil Belatrix attacks you, and the whole track tilts like a Vekoma Tilt coaster, but only to about 45 degrees. From here you are released down a first drop, theres a brief s bend (a very minimal amount of coaster!). The next couple of scenes are in front of screens, with the ride vehicles actually rotating quite powerfully in time with the on screen action. I recommend back seat on this ride since both the tilt track and the rotations feel more intense up there. Another section has the train actually stop on a section of track with a full motion base underneath it (must have to be as strong as anything!), and again the ride vehicles jostle a fair bit. The final showdown takes place in front of a wraparound screen, with you being hooked up behind a dragon to escape the vaults. There's a small launch and turn (another brief bit of coastering) and you are back at the station. I think it did all the dark ride and screen based bits perfectly, and the motions are really good, I just think the coaster bits at the start and end could have been just a teensy bit more fleshed out . Obviously doesn't have to be as substantial as revenge of the mummy, but it should be more than 1 turn! Hogwarts Express Did this in both directions on my first night. It's a train ride connecting both parks, but it does have limited capacity (only 2 trains, operating like a shuttle), so during the day I saw waits of 40 mins or more, at which point its quicker to walk between the parks. The stations at each end are well themed, particularly the whole Kings Cross complex at the USO end. There's a neat feature where guests appear to pass into a solid brick wall to access platform 9&3/4, done by having a well positioned mirror and a wall you walk around. In practice, it means you watch the people ahead of you walk through the wall, but when its your turn, all you end up seeing is a black painted opening in the wall on the other side of the mirror. Cool that they at least managed to fake the effect though! Onboard the train, you are locked into a well themed carriage, with a screen showing the outside world (no real windows, since the track has to travel through all the back of house areas between both parks...the commitment to immersion is impressive!) There's a different film depending on which direction you are travelling. Personally I thought the USO>IOA direction one was better and more dramatic. Diagon Alley Should touch on this, much of the same ideas seen in the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter....A pub selling british food, quirky shopfronts with animatroinic displays, a bit of a 1910s look to everything. Just substitute the village for laneways of London. It all does look superb, with plenty of details, and all buildings having this slight wonkiness to it. And they did nail the whole instagram moment, with the dragon wrapped around the rooftop that regularly spits fire. I did stop in at Florean Fortescues ice cream parlour. Wouldn't have minded trying a few flavours, but at about $8 usd a serve, I limited myself to the pleasant tasting "butterbeer ice cream", which tasted caramelly. Fast & Furious Supercharged Much like Kong, this is just a clone of immersive tunnel part of the Studio Tour in Hollywood. The queue line is well themed, through some car workshops, but the preshows were kind of lost on me. Apparently we are going to a party on a bus, but now some bad guys are closing in on us? The lady presenting the preshow was taking the piss a bit, repeating "Family" every time it was said on the video. Guess you'd have to watch the films to really get it? The buses you ride depart from a back alley themed loading dock, and go around a corner into a warehouse, where a large transparent screen shows crowds of people partying. A CIA agent turns up and shuts the party down (?), some words are said, and then all of a sudden you roll out of the party and are in the middle of a high speed car chase with various guys in cars and helicopters shooting at you. (Achieve by having two long screens either side of the bus, with a motion base underneath) They get around the fact a bus is slow by having two allies turn up with supercharged tow trucks that you are attached to with cables, allowing you to escape at high speed. The visuals here are good, racing through an arid LA themed environment with freeways and oil refineries. Of course, one of them is blown up, with you feeling the splash of fuel onto you. It's still worth a ride for that simulator sequence, just dont expect to understand anything else prior unless you have seen the films. Race through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon Better than expected. It's a simulator with a large curved screen like Sky Voyager, but you sit on a more conventional motion base in front of it rather than the whole multi level, leg dangling arrangement seen on an actual flying theatre. The queue is quite attractive, themed like NBC studios, and the preshows are done as if you are going on set for a real tv production. The ride is imagined like a zany challenge on the show where the audience races against Jimmy Fallon. Its zany and unrealistic though, as in you end up going to the moon, underwater, through subway tunnels (and of course familiar sights like Times Square, Statue of Liberty and so on). Good motion and animation, but the park already had 2 standalone simulators anyway.... Villain Con - Minion Blast Shooting dark ride, but instead of riding in cars with guns attached to the seat with a cord (Like JL), you are given a handheld laser tag type gun, and you stand on a moving conveyor belt that travels through scenes. For those of you who get intrusive thoughts about jumping on the baggage carousel at the airport, your dream just came true here! The queue theming is a lot of fun, imagined like a trade show for villains, with various booths selling products geared towards villains, like weapons, underground lairs, dangerous animals and getaway vehicles. You are then invited to take on the "Vicious 6" , and board the 'ride' One of the coolest things i saw was you grab a gun off a rack that works like a dry cleaning carousel, synced to the boarding speed of the conveyor, so as you pass, a gun is right there ready for you to grab. Each scene has a bit of theming, and one large screen, so you are shooting at animated targets on screen...Kinda felt like every Triotech thing ever, though a bit hard because theres 20 other people shooting, so you really have to concentrate to note lose sight of your icon amongst everyone elses. Was OK. Transformers Always a solid attraction, but perhaps feels less unique in Orlando with Spiderman next door. Still one of my favourite dark rides, with very well integrated 3D screens and set designs. For those of you unfamiliar, you are on a mission to protect the Allspark and chaperone it out of the city, but are intercepted by Decepticons. The ride vehicle spends brief periods parked in front of 3D screens, with the areas in betweeen done as real life sets and walls. The screens are positioned to work into the environment, for example you might be looking down a corridor, and the screen at the end appears to carry the perspective off into the distance.A few of the screens are full 180 degree curved screens too, and these are used for sequences where you are being chased, or flying. Some really ways to tie this all together, for example at one point you are racing along a street and pass under a bridge, your vehicle spins out and is thrown into reverse, and you transition into the next scene, but in the transition space they have built a recreation of the bridge you just saw on screen, and before you know it, you are now in front of a different screen. The Bourne Stuntacular More screens, this one is actually a pretty innovative use of them though. Imagine a stunt show, where the entire backdrop is a screen, and its all indoors. In a normal stunt show you would have people running or driving around in a set area, eg like what happens on HSD. But here, the screen is used for beautiful panoramic shots and moving backgrounds, and they bring physical things in front of it. For example at one point there is a car chase, the cars are sitting static on the stage, but the background is moving behind them, giving the illusion they are racing along at high speed. One of the most impressive things is where they somehow get a whole facade of an apartment building about 3 stories high to slide in from one side of the stage, a guy jumps off the balcony, and grabs onto a cable hanging from a helicopter. As the helicopter starts moving, that whole apartment building moves away into the distance. Pretty full on, I'd like to see shows like this at other Universal parks. Springfield USA Around the simpsons ride, they have built a whole food court with places from the show like Krustyburger, Moe's, The Frying Dutchman, Luigis Pizza and so on. Tried a couple of items but found them both to be a bit of a miss. The Flaming Moe is pretty much just fanta with some dry ice in it to make it bubble. I was hoping for some sort of faux cough syrup flavour as in the show, but this is what we get. They also had the Ribwich at Krustyburger. Though it wasn't really like a mcrib, but rather a few big chunks of marinated pork on a bun.F Flith. Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem I'll just copypaste my previous review of the Hollywood one. "I was expecting to be meh about this one because Facebook ruined minions (apparently adding a picture of a minion to a meme makes it relatable) But it was actually funny! Basically you are shrunk to minion size and sent on a training course, so it feels like you are in a computer game level, with minions falling over a d being knocked over by obstacles." I think that's all the new stuff since last time I was there, so onto the rerides. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit All the music has changed since last time. I did Darude: Sandstorm, which really worked well in terms of reaching a crescendo before the first drop. The ride still shakes and bangs around waaaay too much, so it was 1 and done for me. ET Adventure Hehe this one is fun. The queue is themed like a forest, and you ride on flying bicycles back to ETs planet, which is dying. ET uses his healing touch to bring it back to life, so most of the ride is pretty trippy, with alien flowers blooming aroud you, fountains spouting and so on. Revenge of the Mummy Still holds up well, with some good fire effects, animatronics, and a forceful indoor coaster sequence. Has a great gag where you believe the ride has come to an end, but this is followed by even more coaster! MIB Alien Attack Justice League style dark ride, with you shooting at aliens. This one has some extra spice, with two tracks. at one point you are shooting at the other vehicle, which makes them spin out of control, making it harder for them to get points. *********** Final Thoughts. I think the Diagon Alley area, and Bourne Stuntacular are excellent, as is the port of Transformer but in some way it feels like the park has had a bit less love compared to the calibre of attractions they have opened next door at IOA. Do they really need to have added so many simulators?

Hidden I know it's from Germany 🇩🇪 not from Gerstlauer it is other ride manufacturer and the number complaint and it was a fan favorite and why was spray paint was on ground or paint between the go-karts and the entrance near the fence but Kraken got the old one but or zamperla ride

Little adventure world has so much room to build new things so this could be put basically anywhere. Rampage spot is open, so is where the castle used to be, and so is the pirate ship spot if you want to make a statement at the gate. They sorely need dry rides, they’ve lost two (might be three soon) in the last 10 years and gained one in that span of time. I’d love to see them get an air race or a screaming swing personally, inferno’s getting pretty old and a sky roller would work super well at the top of the hill.

I totally get this, and used to film experiences like this frequently until one day I took a step back and realised I rarely watched my own recordings - sure, I might open up the hard drive and trawl back through old stuff every so often - I still like to re-experience them every now and then, and believe me I wish more people had recorded rides we've since lost to history, like at Wonderland, or even LTRR, Bermuda, etc....but online POVs on YouTube now do a much better job, and with much better equipment than I have, so i've stopped holding the camera up so much, and just try to take it all in outside the confines of a tiny screen. I really enjoy the time and experience (and the look on the little guy's face) much more that way - i'd encourage you to put the phone down and just enjoy it - someone else has definitely already done a POV that captures it much better than we ever could!

Yeah i probably have recency bias on Indy at DS via DL. I rode Indy at DL 25 years ago, so whilst my memory of it was that it was amazing, i couldnt accurately highlight the differences between the two (aside from the language change, which of course is real difference). I also have no memory of the outside/queue of Indy at DL. we paid for it twice (once on each day of our visit) - mainly because i wanted to film it the second time to re-live long into the future as the first ride i was just taking it all in and blown away. I haven't ridden mystic manor, so for me B&TB is the ceiling in my experience of dark rides - but given yours and others reviews, i cant wait to one day do MM.

Oh sorry I understand what you’re saying. Good point. I guess I just find it strange given the massive waits in that sauna of a queue. Would make more sense to me if they just closed one of the queues and only ran one departing option, to run the slightly shorter cycle. All that aside it was disappointing to see such slow ops in the queue after the world class ops we’ve seen in the last month. They were beyond slow. Had they been making the same effort on dispatches that we’ve seen recently the queue would have been half the length. Even with just one train. The dispatch was taking as long as the ride itself. It really was ‘village slow’. I’m assuming it was an unavoidable reason the second train was out of action. I’d hate to think it was a decision that was made.

I definitely agree being able to access WWW from DW would be a smart decision, particularly when they offering deals like they currently have where it’s $99 for a one day ticket to access DW, WWW and SkyPoint. Being able to set yourself up in WWW for the day, then pop in and out of DW as you wish would be perfect. It could even just be during school holidays if there isn’t as much of demand in general weekends. That store was a great way around having to staff someone at the gate to the right of the former Flowrider. I believe that store was utilised by the temporary Trolls attraction and is now just used as storage. As we all know, the back of Ocean Parade is a bit of a mess and needs a lot of love to bring it back to life. When that time comes, I definitely think they need to look at a way to open the access between the parks once again, while being able to also close it off during WWWs off season.

The closing of the thoroughfare between the parks has been mentioned before. (and we all agree, it sucks) The gate was original located in the Flowrider shop which made sense, because the staff of the shop would let you through. DW have since created a dead area at the back of the park, which have created challenges with accessing WWW from DW. DW had a staff member on a gate to check passes. DW removed staff member and DW & WWW became one park. DW went back to staffing the gate. DW locked the gate. If the arcade was moved to the thoroughfare location, where guest from DW & WWW could utilise the arcade and the staff of the arcade, could control the movement between the parks, this might work.

Almost always. Yeah we've been trying to get our parks to move away from leaving things SBNO, so that alone is enough to disagree with you there. The manufacturer doesn't support it. SFMM - which has far more money to spend than Dreamworld does - is still cobbling together parts to keep theirs running (and not very well, I might add). It's not like an accelerator coaster where theres plenty of installs around that could be retrofit - bringing a company in to design and install a new launch system would literally only benefit two parks in the entire world, one of which was cash strapped enough that they took their old parts to cash converters. No. Nobody is reviving the reverse freefall coaster. It was built for one purpose - to break records. Its a one trick pony and while it hauls ass, that's really all you can do with it - and modern coasters do the exact same thing, but with loops and top hats and all sorts of far more rounded experiences. The ride design is dead and as soon as the last remaining drives die in Valencia, it's done. How many people you reckon drive the M1 after dark? And that's why you're not in charge of a theme park.

I’ve been having this thought. If Warner Bros Movie World could bring one attraction from Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi to their park which one would it be?

Visited WWW yesterday for the first time since 2010! Wow where has the time gone? I think it was definitely a wise choice to focus on DW first, it was in a much worse state and WWW although its not perfect its still ‘good enough’ to put on the back burner while they focused on the main park. The Green Room is still the superior slide imo and I enjoy it more than Tornado at WnW. The rip really struggles to keep a moving line and you get the feeling it really needs triple vortex firing to keep it from being blown out. Temple of Huey tower is still great with something for everyone. The bro is still awesome, and being a bit heavier I get some serious speed on him, always fun. Fully 6 was a little disappointing, if only the tubes were a little faster. 2 and 3 look fun, and it leaves a sour taste knowing they will probably never reopen. Another chill people mover like a family tube ride like mammoth falls and a lazy river would be the first investments I would be looking at for new attractions. They really need to remove Wedgie, being a slide that aesthetically trumps everything thats open and is permanently closed is just a bit of a let down. A bar closer to cave of waves would be a really good move, bit more like the WnW set up. A facelift on cave of waves to improve theming would also be awesome. Looks cheap and dated up close. Finally returning the back gate near gold coaster for easy park hop would be awesome. Considering their main marketing for WWW is two worlds in one day it makes little sense to make guests exit DW to enter WWW. This would be great if they ever decide to return ocean parade to its former glory and have a nice transition from that into WWW.

The thing isn't cultural. I've encountered this in many places the world over where they ask you how many people are in your room so that they can ensure the room they allocate to you will accommodate them. Some rooms only offer a double bed, which can accommodate two smaller adults, but sometimes not comfortably. Some rooms say they accommodate 3 people, but this can be only with bed-share (a very asian concept we discovered) and they expect that parents will share a bed with their 12 year old child. And especially in Japan - the home of the Business Hotel where some rooms only have one single bed - it's important that your host knows how many people are with you. Many places i've been to (including around Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States) ask how many people are in the room, and they aren't doing it for fun. Some charge for the second guest, some say 'up to 2' guests are included in the price but charge for a third - but if you're travelling with 2 people, put down two people? If the second person is free, it doesn't matter if you tell them one or two, so the only reason why you'd specify 'one' on a booking you intend to have 'two' for is to try and avoid extra charged or cheat the system - neither of which is something that they'll allow you to do in Japan (and something many other places in the world would consider theft if you'd avoided extra charges in their hotel). The fact that Hilton had an offer that said you wouldn't be charged doesn't then mean that every other hotel in the world just asks the question for fun. The link you provided is specific to the one hotel chain - that's how Hilton have decided you get to use their rewards program benefit - but that doesn't translate to everywhere else, and even Hilton has exclusions to that offer which can negate it on their own properties too: (And just to be clear - Japan has a hotel occupancy tax applicable in many prefectures which is payable on a per person basis, which based on the above would specifically exclude the Hilton offer from applying). Your opinion, sure - but this just doesn't make sense to me - you found the park to be absolutely jammed, but didn't see value in the express pass offering? By your own admission, you screwed up your 1.5 day ticket, which clearly outlines that it must be used on two consecutive days. This makes sense then as to why you didn't get the express pass - because you had to 'spring' for a second day ticket after you wasted your first, and express passes would have been sold out for that day - especially as it was also on a weekend (which is the absolute worst day to go). Overall this is probably the best thing to share to anyone visiting Japan, but especially Tokyo. We have this image of a city like Sydney or the Gold Coast and most people cannot fathom just how LARGE the Greater Tokyo City area is. People plan to visit multiple things in a day because "it's in tokyo" without realising that the distances between things are akin to moving from Brisbane to the Gold Coast. Their transport systems are incredibly efficient, but they move so many people that the time it takes to get to a platform is necessarily longer than we're used to here. When we planned our Tokyo days, we mapped everything we wanted to do and then grouped those things that were really close by. We avoided travelling across the city, or more than 'a couple of stops' or 'one line change' for that reason as we saw google's predition on how long things would take to get to. It's a great tip for others when planning.

I do believe the rocking launch with the spike will be a better ride experience. The nerfed comment just means it's less powerful. Accelerators kick you up the arse but are generally one trick ponies.

I’d cough up the $20 for a fastpass for beauty and the beast above the toontown coaster every day of the week. One of the best trackless dark rides out there in my view. Nagashima is from my experience rarely busy outside of the peak summer period. I also went on a weekday around the same time and the park was pretty much empty, so could do everything I wanted many times over. Hakugei and Steel Dragon are outstanding and don’t forget to do the classic stuff (unfortunately the 1st gen Intamin drop tower and shuttle loop they have was closed on my visit)

For your reference, even though the express has a timed entry for the Wizarding World, it isn’t actually required and you can enter and explore the land whenever and as much as you like. Hollywood Dream has very long lines, so I would priorities doing that first. Having done it on my first visit to the park, I did find it to be a pretty mediocre B&M and wouldn’t suggest waiting anymore than an hour for it. Then go for Space Fantasy because it isn’t too far away, then Minions Mayhem (again don’t wait more than an hour for this) and then Jaws. Jaws had about a 90 minute wait majority of the day, but it’s single rider line was about 10 minutes all day (so I would suggest doing that if you’re party doesn’t mind with possibly splitting up). I didn’t get to ride it because we didn’t go to the park, but from what I’ve heard the Beauty & the Beast ride is the best in the park. I would honestly make that the major priority (or pay for the Priority Pass if you can get one).

*Pic heavy thread* Hi all! Whilst in Melbourne, I decided to visit Funfields theme park to wrap up 2022 and figured I’d share my thoughts here. For those who don’t know, Funfields is located in Whittlesea (about 40 mins from Melbourne’s CBD). Opening in February 1985 as the “Alpine Toboggan Park” (that’s right, this park pre-dates Wonderland) it was rebranded as Funfields in 2005 and has seen rapid expansion ever since. The park no longer offers printed park maps, however a large sign containing the map (as well as a QR code that links you to a digital copy) is located near the entrance. As you enter the park, you are greeted with a large outdoor picnic area complete with barbecues. Funfields allows (and even somewhat encourages) guests to bring their own food and drinks and camp out on the lawn (multiple people even brought tents which are also allowed). Turning left leads you to the first themed land in the park; “Mystic Kingdom”, a children’s area with a medieval theme. The area features some impressive theming, including an interactive animatronic tree. The land is home to a series of flat rides for the youngsters, including an SBF mini drop tower, an SBF Airborne Shot, a ferris wheel, carousel, spinning balloon ride and a teacups ride re-located from Australia Zoo (most of which I forgot to take pictures of, opps)! I love the way this operator’s booth is themed. The “Burnout” (formally the “Stingray” from Dreamworld) was also located in this area, but has since been retired to the car park (apparently it’s for sale). Continuing through this area leads you to “Amazonia Falls”, the park’s interactive water playground with a jungle theme. Manufactured by Wizard Works, this attraction is quite unique in that it’s completely solid-state and uses a computer to activate the water effects, rather than relying on the traditional mechanical valve technology most water playgrounds use. This also allows for some pretty interesting effects such as motion activated fountain jets and “TNT detonators” (where pushing the plunger will cause water jets hidden in the surrounding splash pool to suddenly activate, soaking unsuspecting guests). The structure also has a “tipping bucket” of sorts, though it’s not really a bucket at all. Instead the “treehouse” simply dumps water on guests every 3 mins. A smaller, more traditional water play structure by Whitewater West called Birdy Cove is also located nearby. This attraction is designed for children under 6. Private cabanas are available to hire in this area as well. Moving further up the hill, we arrive at the Tiki Bay Bumper Boats (manufactured by J&J Amusements), one of the older attractions at the park, having been installed in 2004. Still as popular as ever. Behind Tiki Bay is the Typhoon, a Proslide Cannonbowl water slide advertised as being the longest of its kind in the world when it opened in 2013. Despite the many expansions and additional investments Funfields have made after its launch, Typhoon still remains one of my favourite slides not only in the park, but in the country! The sheer amount of speed you pick up in the enclosed section never fails to take my breath away. You absolutely FLY through this thing! That combined with the drop into the typhoon bowl itself and the suspense of not knowing if you’re going to complete the final drop facing forwards or backwards creates an incredibly fun and intense ride experience. A must do attraction when visiting the park! Next up is unfortunately the first stinker in the Funfields line-up IMHO, the Splashdown in-ground water slides. A flashback to the old “Alpine Toboggan Park” days, these slides were installed in the 80’s and quite frankly, that’s were they belong. Whilst they may have some historical significance, I wouldn’t mind seeing them be replaced with something a little more modern. Next are Wipeout and Blackout, two slides manufactured by Australian Waterslides and Leisure and installed in 2009. While they may have been somewhat overshadowed by their newer Proslide counterparts, these are still decent, fun slides that are worth checking out (especially Wipeout which lives up to its name. It has a tendency to launch riders over the final splashdown pool, providing a pretty thrilling finale). Now we reach the ride that started it all, the Alpine Toboggan. Despite being installed in 1985, this attraction still holds up extremely well today. The carts were speed-limited a few years ago due to multiple accidents when guests ignored the warnings to slow down on corners. Some believe that this has negatively effected the ride experience, however I was still able to get my cart up to a decent speed and had a very enjoyable ride. Perhaps it differs from cart to cart? Between the Wipeout/Blackout waterslides and the toboggan is a path that leads to the rear section of the park. Following this takes you to…The Voodoo! A very highly themed Zamperla Discovery Revolution. Funfields really went all out with the theming for this attraction and the attention to detail is amazing! The basic storyline is that your are exploring an ancient temple, looking for lost treasure. However, the treasure is guarded by an ancient Voodoo spirit named “Tawhirl”. Signs throughout the queue combined with an ominous soundtrack help to set up the story and prepare you for the experience ahead. Many props (lost items from previous explorers who attempted to grab the treasure and failed) are scattered throughout the queue and around the ride area. I love the attention to detail in this rock work too! It’s supposed to look as if the gondola has smashed through the middle. Then, as you enter the site of the old temple (or board the ride) Tawhirl becomes displeased with your presence and unleashes her wrath, picking you up and throwing you around (the ride swinging you around) to keep you away from the treasure. The ride experience is a perfect balance of being fairly intense, but still something the whole family can enjoy. A perfect addition to the park with simply excellent theming and a well executed storyline. I also really love how the theming from nearby Volcano Beach in the background perfectly matches up with Voodoo’s theming in the foreground here. Seems the park actually thought about sight lines which is pretty impressive! Speaking of which, Volcano Beach is the park’s wave pool and another very well themed area. I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking here: As you can see, it’s probably the most immersive and highly themed wave pool in the country. I absolutely love having the volcano as the centrepiece and that there’s plenty of shade around the beach area to relax in. It pumps out some pretty decent waves too! A cafe is also located in the area offering takeaway food such as chips, burgers and pizza as well as ice creams and lollies. Salads and even coffee is also on offer here (a larger cafe near the front of the park carries a similar menu too). Private cabanas surrounding the wave pool are also available for hire. Behind Volcano Beach sits the newest addition to the park, Supernova! It’s a shame this attraction has been largely overshadowed by the opening of Gumbya’s new coasters, as it’s the park’s biggest investment yet and is by far the best water ride they’ve installed to date. The pacing on this slide is fantastic. From the very beginning of the ride, you immediately pick up quite a lot of speed and navigate the first few turns at a pretty fast pace (this speed is maintained throughout the slide). The “Supanova” colour effects in the tunnel are very impressive and the fact you pass through them at fairly high speed really adds to the experience. Then comes a pretty intense drop into the main tornado (not sure if the drop is any steeper than other tornados, but it certainly feels that way) before taking one final turn and finally ending the ride in the splashdown pool. It may not come across in this write-up, but the slide is actually quite long in length and would have to be one of the most intense water slides I’ve been on (aside from maybe some drop slides). If I was to nitpick though, I would say the most disappointing aspect of the ride was the first “bowl” element near the beginning (not sure what it’s officially known as). I was expecting that you would spin around in this bowl or do something exciting. But nothing really happens. It’s just sort of there and you simply glide past it on one side and that’s it. Not really sure what the significance of it is TBH. Apart from that though, this is a sensational slide overall that is fast and thrilling and not to be missed! Next to Supernova is 2017’s Gravity Wave. I must say, the two slides weaving around each other looks very impressive from the tower. While Gravity Wave is definitely a decent attraction, I do unfortunately think it’s a bit of a one trick pony (at least compared to Supernova). The ride starts out incredibly slowly and meanders around until the main drop. While the main drop is still incredible and definitely worth checking out, Typhoon is still the superior slide overall IMHO, with Supernova beating them both by a mile. Still, having both Supernova and Gravity next to each other works really well and adds to a solid line-up in that area of the park. Next to Gravity wave is the Kraken Racer, a 4 lane aqua racer from Proslide. Another good addition to the park. The park is also home to Thunderdome Speedway, a go cart track installed in 1997 that still pulls in decent crowds today. Heading back towards the front of the park leads us to Treasure Cove, a pirate themed mini golf course. One of the holes even goes through a tunnel! This cemetery area reminds me of Movie World’s Boot Hill. In front of the mini golf is Sea World’s former Pirate Ship, Blackbeard’s Fury. Manufactured by Huss and added to the park in 2009, this attraction still rides beautifully and is well maintained by the park. It even has additional theming that wasn’t present during its time at SW. That covers all of the major attractions the park currently has on offer. All up, Funfields is a very impressive park that is well kept, well run and features a fantastic line-up of rides with decent theming and a great atmosphere. Other factors such as themed audio throughout the park, decent food, friendly staff and great operators add to a fantastic overall experience. I do feel like the addition of a coaster is very much needed to complete with Gumbya, though there is plenty of room for expansion, so hopefully this will come later. The water rides on offer are far superior to what Gumbya currently have though. So they easily have them beat in that regard IMHO. All in all, Funfields is definitely a must do park while visiting Victoria and is easily one of the best regional parks in the country!

Really nice, as someone who is going to Universal on September 26 this is helpful. Probably won't go to Wizarding World right on opening, we will have a fast pass which includes that, SNW and the JW rides with the first two having timed entry. We're hoping to get the other 4 main rides done first (Space Fantasy, Hollywood Dream, Minion Mayhem and Jaws) before doing the others. We unfortunately can't go to DisneySea as we're only at the main park from 3-9 on either October 4 or 5, which is a weekend. One of my family members wanted to see the castle so we're thinking of spending the afternoon there, I'm only hoping to get Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and the kiddy credit in ToonTown done. Also going to Nagashima on October 3, hoping it isn't busy so I can get all the credits. Hotels and flights are booked so we can't change plans around, we're going September 24 - October 7 and staying September 24 in Singapore, September 25-28 in Osaka (includes day trip to Hiroshima), September 29-October 1 in Kyoto, October 2-3 in Nagoya, and October 4-6 in Tokyo, flying out on the 7th.

Yes, but I want to be with family on this trip: I would already be getting new credits at Disney/Universal anyway so it isn't a big deal if I miss out on that, I can always come back alone and get them. Plus we may be using public transport to travel down from Tokyo to Osaka rather than a rental, so we don't want to get too lost with one going one way and the others going the other just for a credit.

Looking at it it does look very intense: I would want to ride it when I go to Japan but unfortunately I am going with family and cannot go their myself (only renting one car) and they don't want it to be just about theme parks (looking at going to Tokyo Disney/DisneySea for three days and Universal for one/two)

Another one bites the dust: Log Ride joins Dreamworld's long list of recently closed rides The Log Ride joins Tower of Terror and Wipeout as the third major ride to close at Dreamworld in twelve months and one of many in recent years. Click here to continue reading

I know that, for MACK at least, the seatbelt thing is a manufacturer requirement - this is because if a seatbelt is done up prior to ops check, then their 'push-pull' check is only testing the seatbelt, not the hydraulic locking mechanism. Operations push-pull on the harness to ensure it is down and locked, and then do up the seatbelt as it is only the supplemental restraint. I don't think Intamin is about to revise their procedures this late in the accelerator game, and judging by other reports, it wasn't a requirement at other times. It is plausible that the operator who we're discussing here was having a busy day and accidentally spieled their Rivals spiel instead of their Superman spiel. it's easy to do. They possibly got ribbed for it by the other ops after dispatch. They aren't completely unnecessary, and I believe we've discussed the superman seatbelt previously - the receiver has wiring going to it. Presumably ops can tell if a seatbelt isn't done up. It may only be in the station, but it could also be at the launch track too For Rivals at least, see above. As for the view that "we did it for years, so why change now" - that sort of thinking leads to killing people. If you identify a risk or experience an incident which leads you to review your current processes and decide to change those processes to reduce or eliminate that risk, you should. When you don't, you end up with a home-made ride built in house that relies on one operator to oversee massive amounts of moving parts, with failing infrastructure causing regular shutdowns, and a history of the exact same incident occurring in the past, without taking any actions to prevent possible fatalities that did unfortunately eventuate. Putting it all very simply - All rides have to have a redundant restraint system. Many manufacturers ship their attractions with a dual hydraulic lock - essentially two separate cylinders that both lock, so if one fails, the other will hold. That qualifies as a redundant restraint system in most of the world. Australia however considers that the secondary restraint has to be of a different type to the primary restraint - ie: they can't both be hydraulic locks. The reason why is because of a perception that the potential failure to one hydraulic cylinder could theoretically happen to both cylinders simultaneously given that the equipment is the same age, is put through the same forces, is maintained by the same people using the same replacement parts, etc etc. For example (and this is just a napkin hypothetical, i'm not a hydraulic expert), it is possible that contaminated hydraulic fluid could enter both systems and block a valve or develop a slow leak or similar. While extraordinarily rare for that to happen twice and at the same time, it's possible. Having an alternate locking method that can't fail in the same way as the primary restraint is technically safer as something that can cause one system to fail is unlikely to cause the other to fail.

And for the first few years of operations Rivals never really had an issue with just two trains. In peak periods they operate both and in off-peak they operate with one. The dispatches were efficient which meant the queue would move quickly and there wouldn’t be stacking (or at least it would be minimal). Throwing more money at the ride to get a third train ain’t going to make things any better. Dispatches won’t be any quicker than either two trains. And yes having a third train will mean they always have at least two trains available, but what the park needs to do is have better management with their maintenance to ensure they always have the spare parts required and to never have the second train unavailable during those peak periods. Village threw more money at Wizard of Oz to try make it better ($100 million if anyone needs reminding) and look how that’s turned out. Throwing money at things ain’t always the answer… take Dreamworld over the past 4 years for example.