RC98

I choose Holiday in the Park too! Being able to ride coasters in December sounds good to me

^ At that time I had been to the park twice but I only went on the kids' rides--the biggest coaster I rode was Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train! This looks like an interesting time for the park, since a lot of the older rides were still there (Flying Wave, Rotor, Music Express), mixed with the '90s rides (Rodeo, Autobahn, Chiller), mixed with the new (the B&Ms, Kingda Ka). Probably one of the only years it was this way before all the older rides started leaving

^^ They seemed to be trying to keep the single rider line moving once in the loading area, when there were no single rider openings for a while they sometimes paired single riders together to fill the back of a train. ^ I thought all the sequences started with a drop and then varied from there, I guess not! Here's the next part: Friday 2/20-Epcot The first attraction of the day was Test Track with a 30 minute wait. Parts of this were new for me since this was the first time I designed my own car. I thought the car designing was a lot of fun with all the details to customize. For the ride itself I liked the futuristic look it has now but it was sort of hard to understand what was going on since my car didn’t get scanned into the ride correctly for some reason. Next was a FP+ for Soarin’. I don’t know how they do it but somehow this ride is really convincing in giving the sensation of gliding despite being technically simple, and every time I ride it I leave with a big smile. This is my favorite non-thrill ride in Disney, I also liked all the scents (pine, oranges, etc) they use during the attraction. Next was the Journey Into Imagination ride, which is pretty good but negatively affected by FP+ since the wait time was almost 25 minutes because of all the FP+ guests riding when this attraction 2 years ago was a walk on all day with a crowded park. Living with the Land was next, with a less than 10 minute wait in standby. I find this ride interesting with all the advanced growing techniques they show. It makes me wonder how widely used they are outside of WDW. The last attraction of the morning was Mission: SPACE Orange with a FP+. I had heard so many horror stories about this attraction that I nearly backed out of riding it. It is a really well done attraction IMO with the multiple preshows and the assignments that each person is given. I ended up being completely fine during the ride itself, it was plenty intense but great fun, and at least to me not at all as bad as some others say it is. When I got back to the park in the afternoon the first attraction was the last FP+ of the day, Spaceship Earth. My favorite part was at the end when you get to pick choices on the screen in the car to form a funny video of your “future.” Apparently my future includes flying cars, vacations to outer space, and a robot to watch my dog when I’m not home! Next was the Seas with Nemo ride, which was ok but I had expected there to be more of the projection effects with the Nemo characters in the tanks. It was still pretty cool though since I remember when I was little and Finding Nemo was one of the first movies I saw in theaters. The last ride of the day was Sum of All Thrills in Innoventions East, which is in my opinion the biggest hidden gem in all of WDW. It starts with a preshow talking about engineering thrill rides, and then you choose between a bobsled run, roller coaster, or jet course to design on an interface similar to the one on Test Track. You then get to ‘ride’ your layout on a robotic arm with a screen showing an animation of your ride covering over the seat. I ended up designing my coaster with lots of hang time upside down, including an element that ended up a lot like the RMC zero g stall. Animal Kingdom is next, ending the trip report!

^ Evicted? Plus that article said they'd eject people from the park if they didn't comply? That's way out of line IMO. I hope this doesn't become a permanent change. Metal detectors at the entrance of a park I understand but at the entrance of every coaster it's ridiculous.

^ Yep, especially if it has coasters open like they said at Winter Adventure! I feel pretty much the same way about it. Even though I love forwards Batman because of how intense it is, the shorter backwards part of boomerang coasters can make me slightly dizzy, so I'm not sure if I want to try a coaster that is backwards for the whole ride.

Happy birthday Lauren!

After looking at the flyer again I noticed in the list of coasters that it says BTR will be closed during the event. Could that be a sign of Batman Backwards coming?

Thursday, 2/18-Disney’s Hollywood Studios The first attraction of the day was Rock n Roller Coaster in the back car. Since Tower of Terror wasn’t open yet the wait time was about 45 minutes at rope drop. I was expecting the launch to seem mild after riding both Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka but it was still fun, and so were the inversions in the dark. I ended up riding this again before the day was done. Next was a FP+ for Tower of Terror which had opened up by then. This is my favorite ride in WDW between all the advanced special effects and the repeated drops and rises. My drop sequence also started off differently than usual— the ride car stayed still for a second or two and then shot up instead of dropping immediately. Next we saw the Indiana Jones stunt show, which I liked even though it’s old since it was the first time I had seen it. I liked that I could know which segments they were recreating since they were from Raiders of the Lost Ark, as opposed to other stunt shows that have fictional stories. Then came the Great Movie Ride, which was a new attraction for me. Although I didn’t realize it at first, I got the western scene on my first try! This ride could really use an update for the ride scenes since some of the movies at the beginning were so old, even many adults probably haven’t heard of them. After lunch and a break it was time for the next FP+, Star Tours. I got the Wookiee planet segment which I never got before, and the transmission was from Yoda. It wasn’t quite as good as I had remembered it being but it was still a good ride. Next was MuppetVision 3D, the pre-show had an odd part referring to the most recent Muppets movie (with the Kermit look alike criminal) but the rest of it was better than I had remembered. This time I noticed other effects I didn’t remember from last time. Next was the last FP+, Toy Story Mania, which although I may be in the minority I feel is much better than Buzz Lightyear in MK since on TSM you have an easier time telling where you’re aiming since there aren’t dozens of people shooting at the same targets at the same time. My score was 115,000, the best in my car. Next I rode Rock n Roller Coaster again using the single rider line this time. The wait time was about 30 minutes, and again I got the back car. This time Walk this Way was the song playing during the ride, the ride was more fun since I knew the song playing. After dinner I decided to see Fantasmic even though it was only 40 degrees out since it was only 15 minutes before showtime and there were still seats open. I felt the water screens were a bit overused, but other than that the show was impressive. This ended the day at Hollywood Studios, Epcot next!

I will hopefully at least be there for Tuesday the 23rd, that day is loaded with ERT! This looks like a great event!

I agree with the flying scooters. I haven't gotten to ride one yet but they seem like the more fun ride being able to control them and have them snap and fly high in the air. I think one where the Enterprise used to be would be good if it would fit.

3-6 inches for me, plus a call home saying to expect an early dismissal! Hopefully it melts fast and then we can move on to warm weather!

Now that I think about it I can see that. I remember thinking that I was about the tallest a person could be and fit comfortably in those cars. That's exactly what I did, the third one was the one for Splash Mountain. Here's the next part: Tuesday, 2/17-SeaWorld Orlando We got there at about 9:15 and the first attraction of the day was Manta in the front row. I liked this coaster a lot, and way more than Superman. It was great to feel some forces again in the pretzel loop, and the rest of this ride was really fun, with the other 3 inversions and the splashdown effect. This wouldn’t be the only time I rode it today. The next ride was Kraken, which I sat in the second row for. I think of this ride as a much better version of Bizarro. I thought the straight first drop gave better air than the curved one on Bizarro, and it actually had a lot of strong forces throughout the whole ride—the forces in the second row were way better than Bizarro’s even in the back. This ride ended up as my #10 coaster, overtaking Kingda Ka. Next we saw the dolphin show, which was excellent. In addition to the dolphin tricks, there were also points where they let birds fly free around the theater which was really cool. We tried to do the Sky Tower next but they had just closed it due to wind. It was obvious why—the wind was causing the cables to loudly bang against the tower, which could be heard throughout the whole area. After lunch, the next attraction we did was the Antarctica dark ride. As soon as we got strapped in the ride went down and we had to sit in the loading area for a half an hour waiting for it to start. They gave people Quick Queue passes for having to wait. I chose the “wild” version of the ride, it started off really well with themed rooms and well-timed spinning but it seemed like they lost their budget halfway through the ride since pretty much the whole second half was played out on one big screen while the cars were parked in front of it. The “wild” cars bucked and twisted in place synced with the movie on the screen but the “mild” cars basically sat there and did nothing. Overall it was an ok ride but not up to the level of Disney and Universal dark rides like it could have been. By this point it was cloudy and really windy so we ducked inside for the ‘Pets Ahoy’ show, which was really funny with all the skits the pets performed. At the end of the show the trainers said that all the animals in the show were rescued and brought in to be part of the show. At this point it was raining, so we did the last new attraction, the Turtle Trek movie. This 3D movie was different from the ones in Disney since it was a smaller domed theater that you stay standing up for. On the way out I decided to try Manta one more time, but I figured there would be no way it would actually still be open since it was raining hard and puddles were starting to form on the paths. Sure enough, a train with people on it goes up the lift. I walked right up to a half full station and right into a middle row of the train. This time, I liked the ride way more than the first time earlier in the day, and it is currently my number 12 coaster. The best part was that for the whole ride time no one else got in line, so they had to open up the unused side of the dual station for us so we could get off! The ride was still open though, they were making the boarding announcement even though seemingly no one was there. If the rest of my family wasn’t waiting for me I would have tried for a solo ride. This ended the fun (and wet) day at SeaWorld. Thursday at Hollywood Studios next!

Since no one has replied in a while here is the next part: Monday, 2/16-MK Part 2 The first ride after returning to the park was our second FP+ of the day, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I sat in the back row and the ride was surprisingly good. I actually felt pops of air on the drop out of the station and on the main drop, and the rocking of the cars was fun too. It was a bit short, but still enjoyable. I just hope those crazy lines eventually go down a bit for it. Also we got stuck on the lift for a minute inside the mountain. They made an announcement saying that the train was stopped momentarily and then at the most a minute later they made another announcement saying that we were ready to go and then the ride continued. The next attraction was the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which was a new attraction for me. It felt like a more grown up version of the Crush show in Epcot. I found it to be underrated fun, lots of puns involved! After this was our last FP+ of the day, Peter Pan’s Flight. It was a good ride and the best of the Fantasyland dark rides, but a bit short. The scene flying over London is still great even over 40 years later. The rest of the ride was classic Disney, one of the attractions that has stood the test of time IMO. Both this and Seven Dwarfs were amazing to have FPs for since both had such long waits the whole day. The last attraction of the day was Mickey’s Philharmagic, a fun 3D movie that I liked a lot, especially the end when Donald was “thrown” across the room into the wall, complete with the animatronic that is revealed at the end. Somehow despite the amount of regular movies that are out in 3D in theaters, the 3D was still a novelty in this attraction. With that day 1 comes to an end but the next day was one of the most eventful of the vacation, with the biggest coasters of the trip and the only downpour the whole week! To be continued…

Nice trip report! I also got stuck on the second lift of Seven Dwarfs when I rode it. It was the first time I've been stuck on a lift of a coaster. I agree with the wait times on Pirates, I ended up having to skip it because the lines were so long the whole day, although going on Presidents' Day Monday probably didn't help.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one to notice it! Although it's not exactly the same, I found this after a bit of searching It's sort of a modern version of it Next part should be up tomorrow

This is the last year my school district is having a February break, so my family (mom, dad, little sister, and me) made good use of it by going to Disney World for the week! Our room was at Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary, giving great views of the Magic Kingdom and the fireworks every night! And with that the trip begins with… Monday, 2/16-Magic Kingdom I left at about 7:45 to get to the MK at the 8 AM park opening. Unfortunately, my dad had a problem with his MagicBand where the park tickets weren’t linked to it, so it took about 20 minutes to fix. Luckily this was the only problem we had with the bands for the whole trip. Once getting in, I went right to Space Mountain and rode twice, with a 10 minute wait each time. I got one ride on each track—the left side (Alpha?) seemed a bit more intense with a couple more big drops. After that the rest of my family met up with us and did the Barnstormer as a confidence booster for my sister. Next was Dumbo (sort of childish but whatever) and the Mad Tea Party (really fun to spin…madly). Both were about a 10 minute wait. Next was the Haunted Mansion, with about a 20 minute wait. The hitchhiking ghosts were cool—it’s fun to wave your arms around and see how they react! Big Thunder Mtn. was next, which ended up being about a 30 minute wait, but with all the interactive stuff to do in line it was ok. I sat in the fourth row from the back, it was pretty fun although not that intense. The small double down halfway through the ride gave a bit of air and it is themed really well. The last ride of the morning was our first FP+ of the day, Splash Mountain. I had been really looking forward to this ride since it was closed last time I was there. I liked it a lot—it’s a long ride, the theme and story are great, and as far as I could tell all the effects were working. The big drop was fun but what I hadn’t expected was that I felt a rise after one of the smaller indoor drops, like what our log flume originally had! It felt like this... And with that the morning at the Magic Kingdom is finished! To be continued...

^ It's interesting, I was at Disney during President's Day week and my thoughts about the system were exactly the same. Luckily I had no problems with anything but FP+ almost seemed sort of a backwards system to me knowing how it used to be. It would be a big improvement if they could allow the 4th FP to be made through the app. The MagicBand made a great free souvenier though!

What poll did we win #2 park in the US in? If El Diablo actually has those flame cutouts it would be really cool

They've started vertical construction in the area on one of the buildings, picture from Screamscape I saw it when I was there last week. Hopefully it will come out good considering the amount of time it has taken for them just to get to this point.

Happy birthday Pineracer!

^ Well that makes me feel lucky to be going to Disney this week, with highs in the 60s and 70s! I've had enough of this cold already, spring can't come fast enough!

GL wasn't rough to me, it was just painful because of the high forces being pressed down on the legs and feet. I guess I generally have a pretty high pain tolerance on rides since Skyrush, Arrow loopers, and the Coney Island volare all didn't bother me. If Thunderbolt is really as painful as GL then maybe Zamperla should stick to flat rides.

Since I've watched a bunch of those videos before let's see: Wooden coaster-maybe, it would probably be RMC if it happened Justice League-yes but in the old simulator building Hurricane Harbor new slide-yes Wing coaster-no, free spin-depends on if the wooden coaster happens, definitely one or the other should come, or maybe one in '16 and the other in '20 Huss frisbee-not by Huss but maybe by another company However I'd predict the bigger additions will be more spread out then the video had them. Honestly those videos are more just interesting to watch than anything else, they don't have any actual info behind them.

^ I wouldn't say it's just those 4. Batman, even if a clone, is an intense ride I'd take any day, and Bizarro is a fun coaster too. Plus I tend to ride SkyScreamer every time I'm there, even if it's not that unique a ride it's still fun and no other park in the area has one. I get what you mean though and I think we'll get something bigger next year, hopefully either a coaster or the Justice League ride.

^ Can you give any more details on that? I'm curious now... Personally I'd love to see Disney make a top-notch Star Wars land with an attraction that could be a true counter to Universal's new technologies in rides (harry potter stuff, spiderman/transformers, etc.). Something groundbreaking and unique to Disney