In August of 2015, the TP&T team hopped on a plane and flew out for an incredible adventure in California. The visit included visiting several of Southern California’s incredible list of theme parks and learning about the history of the Walt Disney Company. In our visit, we went to The Jim Henson Company, Walt Disney Studios, Imagineering, various Hollywood attractions, and the Disneyland resort as part of the Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic tour. After the five day tour, we continued our journey as we visited Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and Six Flags Magic Mountain before returning home. In this article and several other articles full of photos, we invite you to join us in TP&T’s California Adventure! So sit back, relax, and get ready to journey into the Wonderful World of the entertainment industry!
For those of you first reading this series, welcome! I strongly recommend reading some of the previous articles. Links are below!
Part 1 – Hollywood – We visit several Hollywood destinations as our Backstage Magic tour begins! Enjoy photos and information from Disney Studios and our fantastic visit to Imagineering. You can find the article here!
Part 2 – An Evening in Disneyland – In this trip report, we journeyed through endless traffic on the Los Angeles highways and wound up at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland! This article will take you within the gates of the original theme park as we spend a very exciting evening in the park. You can find the article here!
Part 3 – A Day in the Happiest Place on Earth – With this photo update, you follow us into the original theme park as we venture through a park filled with hidden finds and awesome attractions. Oh yeah, we also went into the Dream Suite (and I have pics)! You can read the trip report here!
Part 4 – Disney California Adventure -We walk up to Disneyland, and for some reason choose to walk through the gate on the right. All of a sudden, we’re in Disney California Adventure. Here’s the link!
BONUS – I’ve got a Fantasmic! video up on the YouTube Channel! You can view the video here!
In the previous four sections of our California trip series, we ventured throughout Disney history, but now it is time to journey through the rest of Southern California’s theme parks, the first of which came from humble origins and emerged as a premier thrill destination…
That’s right, it’s Knott’s Berry Farm! Knott’s was created in 1920 by a family of the same name. By 1934, the family began building attractions at their farm in order to bring more visitors to buy their berries. It started with simple things such as a chicken restaurant and a small ghost town, and turned into the thrilling park we see today. One more fun fact, the boysenberry was invented by the Knott family!
One of the first sights upon entry to Knott’s is Ghostrider. Driving under the park’s wooden coaster is a fun thing to do!
After passing by a number of different gift shops and restaurants, which were very well placed in-between the parking lot and the park entrance, forcing guests to walk buy and be tempted to enter and exit, we finally went through the gates of the park!
Like some of its Cedar Fair counterparts, Knott’s has a massive B&M flying over its entrance (although not in as prevalent of a manner).
Our first stop in Knott’s was Ghost Town! We decided we should make our way through to get the worst ride out of our way.
Ghost Town was literally a ghost town when we visited. The hot weather and possibly the first week of school for California kept the crowds away.
The nerves were high as we walked up to one of the most hated roller coasters in the United States.
In the Ghostrider queue, and I believe a few other queues at Knott’s, there was one of the best safety videos I’ve ever seen at a theme park. Wild western characters demonstrated how to properly seat yourself on the ride.
Upon ascending the lift hill of Ghostrider, I once again began to question my choice to ride.
And once the ride got going, my nerves only increased. Ghostrider was definitely an extremely rough coaster, but nevertheless it was a kind of “fun” rough. I was expecting the roughness, but not in the way Ghostrider provided it. My bones were literally vibrating as we travelled through the course.
At the end of Ghostrider, I was truly terrified in a way that I rarely am on rides. It’s visible in my on-ride picture, which we did purchase but I am not going to show here. All I’m going to say is that it was a good one!
In the distance from Ghostrider, we could see two more members of the tall Knott’s skyline!
To get back on the topic of Ghostrider, the ride will likely be great with next year’s Great Coasters International renovation. The new millennium flyer trains should do wonders for the ride!
Another notable memory was the beauty of some of Ghost Town’s plants!
Our next stop in our visit to Knott’s was Silver Bullet!
Silver bullet was a fantastic B&M invert! It was smooth and it even had some elements I don’t think are particularly common on B&M inverts.
All of the inversions were fun, but what was probably my favorite part was the overbanked turn early in the ride!
And the ride also had a simple, but nice logo, which is now on a shirt that I own!
The station gave us a nice view of the surrounding sections of the park! This view must look a lot different without the Screamin’ Swing!
I have to say, Silver Bullet was probably my favorite ride of the day at Knott’s. I love a classic B&M invert!
And I’m so so sorry Ghostrider, but I did not like you very much!
I bet this view will look even better with the new stage that will debut in the Screamin’ Swing’s place next year! It will be highly themed based on the concept art!
Also, from the Silver Bullet station, I got a glimpse at a ride experience that I had never encountered in my theme park adventures, the Pony Express! It was not time for this yet though!
A little morning B&M always brightens your day!
This was going to be our next stop of the day, especially since it was already in the nineties outside!
Knott’s has a lot of interlocking roller coasters!
Jaguar is literally everywhere in the park!
I see Montezooma’s Revenge hiding in the back of this picture!
The Tower of Power… I mean… “Supreme Scream.”
Like most other parks, Knott’s has a beautifully decorated chairswing attraction! Although we did not ride at Knott’s, these are always fun to do!
We passed this incredible looking Intamin on our way over to the log flume!
After riding, all I have to say is wow! That was a fantastic log flume!
The theming in Timber Mountain was extraordinary, Knott’s did a fantastic job with the recent refurbishment of the attraction.
Here’s one of the ride’s animatronics!
Although I loved Timber Mountain, I have a shameful confession to make about the visit to Knott’s. We did not do the Calico Mine Ride. Feel free to send us hate emails for this despicable crime.
Well, we may not have done Calico Mine Ride, but we did head over to this wild ride next!
Xcelerator was Knott’s Berry Farm’s 2002 addition. It was Intamin’s first ever hydraulic launch coaster. This installation launches riders to speeds of 82 mph. Essentially, this was the experiment for two even faster coasters which came in the years after the debut of Xcelerator, Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka.
From the highest point of Xcelerator, there is a great view of the surrounding area!
Essentially, Xcelerator is a good ride, but it’s way too short. That’s the best way of describing it and its counterparts of Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka.
The launch and top hat are very fun parts of the ride.
But unfortunately afterwards the ride is a mediocre series of turns which end very shortly. It’s fun overall, but it’s not the best coaster in the park. That honor goes to Silver Bullet.
I say this way too frequently, but I LOVE the look of track close-ups!
The Knott’s Skytower loomed above!
Wait, what’s holding up the roller coaster???
Okay, this is one of my few complaints about the day, and it’s going to sound terrible, but FastLane on Xcelerator was awful. We went through the Fastlane entrance, but it was behind the end of the actual line, so essentially the FastLane did nothing. It was not a big deal, but it was a bit disappointing.
Another complaint was the lack of shade in Xcelerator’s queue. It was way too hot not to have shade there.
By the time we got off of Xcelerator, it was time for lunch. We then walked down the Knott’s Boardwalk in search of an air conditioned restaurant.
The recently redone land looked very good!
This was the only eyesore though. Although this was not operating, I avoid these while I’m at the parks. I’ve heard terrible things about them (I’ve never rode one though).
The park was still empty, but inside at Johnny Rocket’s, it was packed! All I have to say about the restaurant is that it was a fantastic break from the hot weather! It offered some great discounts for Cedar Fair passholders too!
After Johnny Rocket’s, it was time to get back on the rides!
The first of which was the now closed Knott’s Screamin’ Swing!
Although they are fun, the Screamin’ Swings have one flaw, the rides are too short. If they were another thirty seconds longer the attractions would greatly improve. It was not really worth the extra fee on the Knott’s version.
After the swing, it was time for the latest innovative attraction to come to the park, Voyage to the Iron Reef! Iron Reef was a fantastic attraction. It was well themed, the 3D was amazing, and it was simply fun! After riding, I really want a Triotech dark ride to come out to my home park of Kings Dominion!
Our next stop was Pony Express!
Although there are some who disagree, I found Pony Express to be one of the most fun coasters at the park. It was something I had never experienced, and I found it to be quite an enjoyable attraction.
My only complaint about Pony Express is the ride’s length, I wish it was a longer ride. Luckily, larger models of the motorbike/steeplechase coaster are popping up in other locations such as the soon to open Shanghai Disneyland!
Although we did not ride, Knott’s appeared to have a nice river rapids attraction!
Shortly after Pony Express, some members of our group sought relief from the hot weather of Knott’s, so they went to see the Snoopy Ice Skating Show. I was told it was not very good.
I decided I would go and ride the remaining Knott’s coasters while they saw the show. The first of which was Sierra Sidewinder, which unfortunately was not operating when I arrived, so I decided to save it for later in the day.
Making my way around the loop of the park, I stopped at Jaguar next. Jaguar was a very good family coaster that gives you a nice view of the park. It’s not tall or anything, but it’s a rather fun attraction.
After Jaguar, it was time for Montezooma’s Revenge. Montezooma’s Revenge was another fun ride. With almost no wait, you got a fun and relatively intense experience. You pull a lot of G’s in portions of the attraction.
Next up was Ricochet!
Honestly, I mainly rode Ricochet for the credit. It was nothing special, but still a decent ride. You can find similar wild mouse attractions at most theme parks.
Boomerang was unfortunately the next stop…
Although it may have a nice paint scheme, Boomerang is not very good. I gave it a chance because there are some very nice versions of the popular clone at parks such as Carowinds and Hersheypark, but with the older restraints like at Knott’s this attraction is just not worth it.
I like how the Knott’s skytower has the “K” on top. It differentiates this one from other installations of the common attraction.
It may be nice looking, but don’t ride Boomerang.
After meeting up once again with the group, we made our way over to Sierra Sidewinder to give it once last chance. Luckily, the Mack Spinner was open!
Although there are some terrible spinners out there, this one was fantastic! The banked turns are what made all the difference in my opinion. It was definitely a nice way to finish our visit to Knott’s.
We may have missed some essential offerings of Knott’s, which included exploring Ghost Town more and the Calico Mine Ride, but I still found our visit to be quite enjoyable and exciting. The park has several fantastic coasters, some nice theming, and continuously improves with its parent company Cedar Fair investing heavily in the park. In the past few years alone the park has received a fantastic dark ride, a completely revamped and fantastic boardwalk section, and now is working to improve it’s historic ghost town. The already fantastic park has a bright future in store, and next time I am in California, it will be a must-do theme park.
After our day at Knott’s, it was time for the worst part of the entire trip… driving on Los Angeles’s freeways to our next stop in Universal City. It took over an hour, but we finally reached the Sheraton next to the park, but to hear more about that you’ll have to see the next installment of TP&T’s California Adventure, where we will visit Universal Studios Hollywood and Six Flags Magic Mountain!
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In August of 2015, the TP&T team hopped on a plane and flew out for an incredible adventure in California. The visit included visiting several of Southern California’s incredible list of theme parks and learning about the history of the Walt Disney Company. In our visit, we went to The Jim Henson Company, Walt Disney Studios, Imagineering, various Hollywood attractions, and the Disneyland resort as part of the Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic tour. After the five day tour, we continued our journey as we visited Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and Six Flags Magic Mountain before returning home. In this article and several other articles full of photos, we invite you to join us in TP&T’s California Adventure! So sit back, relax, and get ready to journey into the Wonderful World of the entertainment industry!
For those of you first reading this series, welcome! I strongly recommend reading some of the previous articles. Links are below!
Part 1 – Hollywood – We visit several Hollywood destinations as our Backstage Magic tour begins! Enjoy photos and information from Disney Studios and our fantastic visit to Imagineering. You can find the article here!
Part 2 – An Evening in Disneyland – In this trip report, we journeyed through endless traffic on the Los Angeles highways and wound up at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland! This article will take you within the gates of the original theme park as we spend a very exciting evening in the park. You can find the article here!
Part 3 – A Day in the Happiest Place on Earth – With this photo update, you follow us into the original theme park as we venture through a park filled with hidden finds and awesome attractions. Oh yeah, we also went into the Dream Suite (and I have pics)! You can read the trip report here!
BONUS – I’ve got a Fantasmic! video up on the YouTube Channel! You can view the video here!
Just in case you couldn’t tell from the title, our next leg of the California trip brought us to Disney California Adventure. After our long day in Disneyland, we got some sleep, and woke up early the next day to meet with the Adventures by Disney group. After getting ready, we had a character breakfast at the Grand Californian, and made our way into the park!
It was early in the day when we entered Disney California Adventure, which meant that the Grizzly Peak section of the park looked beautiful with the light!
We were unsure of where we were going, but our Adventure Guides took us over to Grizzly Peak Airfield.
I have to say, the area looked like an airport, but it was not the best themed Disney land.
In the distance, the glamorous 1930s Hollywood soared above the park.
Soon, we were told we would be riding Soarin’ over California!
The buildings were nicely themed and fit very well into the land as a whole.
We talked with a member of the Soarin’ maintenance team, and then the group was escorted into the massive building.
We rode Soarin’, which had been updated with new 4K projectors as part of the ride’s recent renovation. As always, it was a fun attraction that fit very well into the area. It was also nice that we didn’t have to wait for it like we did in Florida! Afterwards, we were told to stay in the area, so I got this unique shot of what it looks like above Soarin’.
Soon, we were escorted behind the projector for the ride! Although I was unable to take pictures, I did find this picture via InPark Magazine
Vekoma also had a good picture that could show what we experienced back there. They let us stay down there during a ride through of the attraction, so we got a nice view of how it works. Although the ride has minimal movements, it really creates an immersive experience. The cars appear to travel up and down a little bit and tilt from side to side. That’s all it took. A few tricks are also used on the ride to create the illusion of flight, one of which was that when tilting to the left, the car on the right is highest, and left is lowest, which adds to the effect.
Next, we went into the backstage areas of Soarin’. Inside, they showed us the chemicals they use to recreate smells and showed us the erector kit model that the ride was based on. The chemicals come in a salt-like form from what I remember. When Soarin’ Around the World flies in next year (read that last sentence again if you didn’t notice the pun), I expect to smell all around the world!
After soaring over California, it was time for everyone’s favorite place, the restroom! By that point in the day, we knew about an unannounced Disney ride (at the time), Soarin’ Around the World. That’s right folks, I reported it two whole days before it was announced (we were at DCA August 13th, it was announced August 15th)! Anyway, now that I’m done bragging, I’d like to share my thoughts on the coming attraction. It will be great in Shanghai and Epcot, but terrible in DCA. The ride is in a park themed to California, and the land was just renovated to fit even more closely to many of the places featured in the ride (Sequoia/Yosemite). I’m sorry, but I think that explains it all.
Anyway, I think that concludes my Soarin’ rant. Everyone’s said what I said before, but I just thought I’d say it too. I loved the rock work in the land. It looked fantastic in the morning light!
The buildings were the perfect colors and style too. I think the renovation looks fantastic.
While waiting in Grizzly Peak Airfield, I caught a glimpse of our next destination, Carthay Circle.
In the park’s “hub,” guests were starting to pour in.
Standing up above was the beautiful Carthay restaurant!
The decorations on the building for Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary looked fantastic!
Inside, we took a long tour of the restaurant. Inside, there are a number of pictures of Walt and interesting details hidden throughout. Just look at the tabletops, you may notice something in the wood!
After a while of touring the restaurant, I was yearning to ride something. It looked like we were done, but we had another stop on the restaurant tour.
We entered DCA’s exclusive Club 1901, which is what the Adventure guides described to us as “Platinum Level Club 33.” Although the inside was beautiful, I needed a thrill (or a soda, but they weren’t giving us food/drink because it appeared to be closed).
Finally, after an hour of touring the restaurant, we began our walk to the next attraction!
The moment we got here, I was incredibly excited!
We entered the beautiful Radiator Springs, which is one of the best theme park lands out there (and that’s coming from someone who hates the movie Cars)!
The land looked as if it was straight out of the movie, assuming you replace Cars with people, and stick about quadruple the population of the town into it.
The Cozy Cone was one of the nicest looking buildings in town, I just wish they’d made it a real hotel!
Flo’s Cafe looked just like the one in the movie.
It reminds me of a nicer version of Sonic. 🙂
I wonder how many people have tried to knock down this tower?
Overall, Radiator Springs was a beautiful land. Disney added several little details to enhance the land as they always do. Some of the most noticeable details were how the stoplight flashes slightly longer one time than the others, and when night comes the land lights up slowly in segments.
Finally, it was time for an attraction! Half the group went backstage while half of us walked up to Radiator Springs Racers! The “Paddle of Power” photobombed my shot, I tried three times and I missed getting an unobstructed picture for different reasons every time.
The queue for the ride was beautiful!
On my one ride, I filmed a mounted POV of Radiator Springs Racers! I do not recommend doing this unless you are experienced with filming rides. I used a GoPro Jaws Flex Clamp mount and attached it quickly and easily to a bar on the ride. I am saying this because this is probably the easiest and only way you can do what I did. There was nothing in the rules of the park at the time saying this was not allowed (and as far as I know it still is allowed), and our Adventure Guides found out afterwards and did not say it was bad, but instead said how awesome that was. As far as I could tell, everything was okay, but I urge not to film without experience in that manner (I’ve done a couple of mount tests before on a car).
Here’s a fun game, is it Radiator Springs Racers or is it real?
How about this one?
Last, but not least, this one! Be sure to comment below or send us your answers on Twitter!
Radiator Springs Racers was an incredible attraction. It brought Test Track to a new level. The racing aspect, rock work, indoor theming, and a course that wasn’t just a circle all combined into a fantastic ride!
Shortly afterwards, we were escorted behind the ride and into the machine room of Radiator Springs Racers. Inside, we learned bit about what they do for maintenance and how the ride works. Essentially, these cars are a disaster for maintenance. Frequently, they are taken into the shop and are completely rebuilt (I believe this is every nine months, but I can’t remember). After the extensive rehab, which takes weeks, but used to take much longer than it does now, the cars return to regular circulation. There are SEVERAL cars on the ride and in maintenance at once.
Radiator Springs Racers also has one of the most detailed control panels available in its maintenance shop. The televisions within display every aspect of the ride for the crews to view. The animatronics frequently break and are repaired overnight. I believe two of them were down by the time we rode.
After the backstage adventure, we walked through cast member only zones and into Paradise Pier. There, we waited for the remainder of the group before our next attraction.
That next attraction was Toy Story Midway Mania. The entire tour group was brought onto the ride. Due to the fact that I was sitting next to an Adventure Guide who helped expose some of the secrets of the game for me, I proudly beat the rest of the TP&T crew!
While in Paradise Pier, California Screamin’ was down (it was testing in this picture).
Since we were getting hungry, we decided to go grab some lunch!
The hot California sun didn’t help our thirst either as the tour group dispersed (with five any-attraction fastpasses)!
Using the Disneyland app, we found a nice sit down restaurant in the white building.
The Cove bar had delicious food with a beautiful view of Paradise Pier. Food options were mainly appetizers, but the sliders, pizza, and spinach and artichoke dip were all delicious. The service was very good too!
Mickey’s Fun wheel was one of the few attractions I wished I had rode, but didn’t get to ride while at Disney California Adventure.
Testing continued throughout lunch, that ride has a lot of trains running at once!
During lunch, the ride reopened, and waits instantly soared up to thirty minutes or so.
I love the California Screamin’ logo!
California Screamin’ was one great Intamin! It really is what ties Paradise Pier together as a land. It was a very smooth, long, and flat out fun ride!
Speaking of California Screamin’, I filmed a POV of the awesome coaster! Unfortunately, my GoPro mount broke (literally, the main container holding the GoPro) before I got on. Unfortunately, I had to hold onto the camera throughout the ride, but luckily the footage still turned out pretty good!
I have to say, the new DCA is just a beautiful park. If Hollywood Studios looks like this once it’s complete, my excitement will be through the roof!
Across the way from California Screamin’, it was time for us to venture Under the Sea!
I thought The Little Mermaid was a fun attraction. It essentially summarized the entire movie for guests, but it is definitely a good dark ride for the little kids!
The building also had some beautiful architectural details!
After riding the Little Mermaid, we walked our way around Grizzly Peak trying to get into Hollywood. I’m not sure why, but we did take that long route!
Grizzly Peak reminded me of Yellowstone!
Even the plants fit in perfectly with the rapids ride!
It almost looked like a hot spring back there.
Passing through the hub again, the crowds were noticeably lower than before.
Overall, Hollywood Land was a decently themed area.
The facades looked great, with designs that look much better than those of actual Los Angeles.
Even Disney Junior fit well into the land.
The only problem with the land was this. I think the painting is very well done, but it just doesn’t fit well enough into the landscape of the town. I understand doing this at a place like Hollywood Studios, where the Streets of America represent a movie lot, but they should have placed an actual facade here.
It was time to be terror-fied! 🙂
We entered the queue, went through the pre-show, and entered the service room for the hotel. All of a sudden, we were going upstairs into a second service room above. It was strange, but it made sense to increase loading capacity. The ride started with a move backwards into the ride’s scenes. Eventually, you make your way up, and quickly transition into the drop sequence (unlike the Florida ride, which features a forward moving section of the drop tower). In this version, I felt like the drop sequence was longer, which is great. I love the drop on these rides, and they are the only drop towers I’ve ever enjoyed.
It was getting late and hot that afternoon. While some members of the tour took advantage of reserved seating at the Aladdin show, we went for a ride on Monsters Inc! Like Ariel, it was another fun ride that essentially summarized the movie. These two rides bring the classic dark ride into a modern context.
Since we were going back for a break in the hotel, we walked down through Grizzly Peak.
Using one of the fastpasses, I got one soaking and fun ride on the park’s water ride! I loved it! In my opinion, it was very comparable to Animal Kingdom’s Kali River Rapids (although I haven’t been on that in a while). I liked the overall theme more, and would rank this slightly above.
As it got late in the evening, we relaxed in our room for a little while before returning into the park for dinner and some more fun! Included in our tour was a meal at the Carthay Circle restaurant (as you recall, I “loved” touring it). Unfortunately, the service was slow, but my meal was okay. I had one of three items listed on the limited menu they gave us, the chicken. The meal just took a lot of time (and if you don’t have my diet coke out within fifteen minutes from me ordering it, that brings you down several points in my book).
We finished the meal, and moved on to Paradise Pier for the evening’s showing of World of Color! Meanwhile, our friends from Extended Queue also happened to be in the park that night (sadly, we didn’t bump into them). Adventures by Disney then brought us to a reserved area with a great view of the show. Overall, it was a decent show. Essentially, it was a very long Disney commercial. I wouldn’t say NPH ruined the show, but I would say that it wasn’t as good as some of the other shows at the Disneyland Resort due to the nature of it. It had a high emphasis on Frozen (we were “privileged” to listen to the entirety of “Let it Go”) and otherwise it was mostly a Disneyland commercial. Not particularly exciting.
Afterwards, it was almost time to go. While the rest of the group went back to the hotel, I got one more ride in on Soarin’ before I left. Although the people surrounding me on the attraction were rude and annoying (leaning on me, swearing loudly with young kids near them, and swinging the car while cast members requested for them to stop), it was still a magnificent ride. It was a great way to end my visit to the Disneyland Resort. The next day, we’d head down the road to what was once a family owned berry farm!
What did you say for the questions earlier in the update? Let us know by commenting below! Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! You can also find us on Periscope, YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr! TP&T is now available on Apple News! Just search “Theme Parks and Travels” in the app, and hit the subscribe button!
In August of 2015, the TP&T team hopped on a plane and flew out for an incredible adventure in California. The visit included visiting several of Southern California’s incredible list of theme parks and learning about the history of the Walt Disney Company. In our visit, we went to The Jim Henson Company, Walt Disney Studios, Imagineering, various Hollywood attractions, and the Disneyland resort as part of the Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic tour. After the five day tour, we continued our journey as we visited Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and Six Flags Magic Mountain before returning home. In this article and several other articles full of photos, we invite you to join us in TP&T’s California Adventure! So sit back, relax, and get ready to journey into the Wonderful World of the entertainment industry!
For those of you first reading this series, welcome! I strongly recommend reading some of the previous articles. Links are below!
Part 1 – Hollywood – We visit several Hollywood destinations as our Backstage Magic tour begins! Enjoy photos and information from Disney Studios and our fantastic visit to Imagineering. You can find the article here!
Part 2 – An Evening in Disneyland – In this trip report, we journeyed through endless traffic on the Los Angeles highways and wound up at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland! This article will take you within the gates of the original theme park as we spend a very exciting evening in the park. You can find the article here!
BONUS – I’ve got a Fantasmic! video up on the YouTube Channel! You can view the video here!
After staying in Disneyland until shortly before closing time, which meant we left around 10:30 or 11pm, we went to sleep only to wake up around 6am. I woke up in my five foot long bunk bed not ready to go into the park. We wandered down to a place I honestly am not a fan of, Starbucks. Luckily, my hot chocolate (I am not a coffee person) was actually good (it had enough chocolate in it for once) and helped me wake up and get ready for an incredible day in Disneyland! Shortly afterwards, we continued our trek through Downtown Disney as we made our way to the gates of Disneyland, where we entered before anyone else!
We were the very first guests to walk through Disneyland’s turnstiles that day!
Upon entry, it appeared that I found a hidden Mickey! 🙂
Disneyland 60 decorations looked fantastic on the train station!
It’s amazing what a simple banner can do in terms of aesthetics!
Here’s another beautiful decoration at the train station!
As always, the decor of Main Street was beautiful, but the lighting of the sunrise gave it an even better glow.
Here’s Elias Disney’s window! 🙂
As we were walking down, there were a number of items that we were not allowed to take pictures of. Staff was cleaning, so I only took pictures of the buildings. Here’s the Crystal Arcade!
Eventually, I was able to get a shot of the castle!
I love the way the sun looks in this shot!
I wish every town in America looked as good as Main Street’s facades do.
Decorations for the Disneyland 60 celebration were lining several of the buildings on Main Street.
This shot almost looks like an illustration (it was edited to look that way).
Here’s a shot of the famous partners statue. If you look behind it you can see filming of what I believe was a RunDisney New Balance shoe commercial at the castle!
The members of the Adventures by Disney tour were the only people on Main Street! It was fun to see it so empty!
The California sun looked beautiful over the Plaza Inn!
The filming of the New Balance commercial halted for us to get pictures in front of the castle.
The decorations on the castle looked fantastic!
The decorations were detailed and beautiful, I love the look of this tower.
Again, simple banners go a long way!
Another castle shot!
Off to the right, you could see the first ever steel coaster!
The park was still closed as we got ready to walk over to breakfast.
Poor Peoplemover, I wish you were still operating!
As we explored the hub, a Disneyland ambassador came over and talked with the group for a minute.
Next, it was time for a character breakfast at the Plaza Inn! We were the first in the restaurant and had a Mickey Waffle buffet to start our day. As always, the waffles were delicious and we met several characters who I rarely see, such as Max and Rafiki. Eeyore was there too! 🙂
After breakfast, we walked over to Adventureland!
It was time for what was one of the most anticipated attractions for me to ride, Indiana Jones Adventure!
Indiana Jones Adventure was our first backstage experience for the day! We went into the machine room and got an incredible tour of the area. The highlight of the tour was when they allowed us to take a vehicle which was in storage at the time’s motions into control. We launched it up and down and jerked it from side to side! It was an awesome experience!
Afterwards, we rode the ride. It was INCREDIBLE! The theming was amazing, the ride was thrilling, and it was all out fun! I liked it SO much more than Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom, which was not operating correctly when we rode and resulted in us getting stuck for 45 minutes and eventually evacuated from the ride. We unfortunately got stuck in the downhill moment seconds before the Dinosaur ended, and we were the last to be evacuated. It was uncomfortable and not fun. On the other hand, Indiana Jones took the ride system and put it on an incredibly higher level!
Shortly afterwards, we passed by the world famous Enchanted Tiki Room, but we were not going there yet.
Instead, our group walked its way down Main Street USA.
Crowds were beginning to rise as we walked back down Main Street.
Does anyone want some ice cream?
The Disneyland 60 banners looked great!
Does anyone know what’s up there, because it was our next destination!
While waiting to go up into Walt’s Apartment, I got some shots of some little details on Main Street. I love all of the tiny textures on the Main Street buildings!
Just look at the curves bordering the window!
So many little tiny elements combine to form a beautiful land!
Next, we entered the apartment. It was small and we could not take pictures in it. The inside had designs to the tastes of Lillian Disney.
A light always shines on the inside of this window in honor of Walt.
While the other half of the group toured Walt’s apartment, we toured Main Street!
Again, I love the Disneyland 60 banners!
DIAMONDS!!!!!!
“To all who come to this happy place: Welcome.”
he crowds were definitely high by the time we were on the tour.
As part of the tour, we went into one of the buildings (I believe it was Town Hall, but I’m not completely sure). Inside, there were a number of interesting Disney historical artifacts!
The coolest artifact was this early Disneyland model!
Fantasyland
Main Street, Adventureland, and part of Tomorrowland.
Tomorrowland
Frontierland
This window on Main Street is a tribute to the previous owners of the land Disneyland sits on.
So was the one above it (I think, it has been long enough that I am uncertain of this).
It was 10:23ish and I was getting ready to ride an attraction. As much as I love history, I like riding things much more!
After our Main Street tour, we made our way back to New Orleans Square!
New Orleans Square is just as detailed and beautiful as Main Street!
Ooh, the leaves are beautiful in this shot!
In New Orleans Square, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean again with half of the tour group while half of the group was touring the Disneyland Dream Suite above. I’m happy I got to ride Pirates again, it is an amazing experience at Disneyland and my camera ran out of batteries the original time. Shortly after riding, we walked into the exclusive suite!
The suite was elegant and beautiful. Every room had hidden surprises.
In particular, Walt had “goodnight kisses” installed to several of the rooms.
At the flip of a switch, the rooms are transformed into different environments!
The picture changed to include a mermaid.
The Dream Suite had a fantastic view! Soon, this view will completely change as the Rivers of America are changed forever!
It’s the Mark Twain!
There’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!
Again, I was reminded how amazing Fantasmic is!
Below, we observed guests eating their meals.
By far the coolest room in the Dream Suite was the Wild West themed room. It was incredible to watch the room’s goodnight kiss, which featured a train and several western themed items zooming around the room on shelves above!
After a delicious lunch at the French Market Restaurant, we took the Disneyland Railroad around to It’s A Small World!
The facade on Small World is beautiful, it’s much nicer than the version at WDW.
Another shot of the beautiful art!
The only bad thing about Disneyland’s Small World is when you get stuck trying to get back into the station. The California sun is HOT!
This was one of the only times the Disneyland Railroad has been re-routed.
This small world exits into a gift shop.
Shortly after our independent Small World adventure, the group was set to meet again in Mickey’s Toontown!
This land is a very wacky, but cool land. It is one of Disneyland’s biggest differences from WDW.
The land was so cheesy it was fun.
For those who are wondering if we got the credit, no we did not.
What were we in ToonTown for? We were meeting Mickey Mouse himself!
After meeting Mickey Mouse, we were escorted backstage.
Backstage, photography was prohibited, so the following backstage photos are from Google Earth. We walked backstage and eventually, we arrived here. This is where Disneyland launches their fireworks! We were fortunate to meet with the man in charge of launching the fireworks (I forgot his name). Once every few months, the buildings surrounding the fireworks launch zone, which is pictured, or possibly other buildings such as Small World, catch on fire. This tells me that Star Wars Land, which will not be too far from here, will be catching on fire a lot. Okay, back to our normal talk! After chatting with us, we had the privilege of watching as they did the daily test of the fireworks system! It was a fun experience that very few get to do!
Here’s what ToonTown looks like from backstage (via Google Earth). I forget the exact number, but that wall cost Disney a lot to build!
After our backstage adventure, we decided it was time to do one of Disneyland’s FastPass free attractions (we had five passes valid for any attraction that accepted passes at any time). What is it? Well, it’s what was the first ever steel roller coaster, the Matterhorn!
I have to say, the Matterhorn might have better animatronics than Expedition Everest after its renovation. It was a fantastic experience!
The Matterhorn Bobsleds were a very fun attraction. I was going to do a mounted POV of the ride (it’s not against any Disneyland rule from what I saw when reading the rules on their site), but my GoPro didn’t actually charge the night before. Luckily, I happily used my regular camera!
After riding the Matterhorn, it was time for another Disneyland exclusive attraction, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride! Mr. Toad was a fun attraction. I had never been on it at WDW, so I really had no idea what to expect, but I did definitely enjoy it!
It’s definitely a unique ride compared to other theme park attractions.
Shortly after riding Mr. Toad, we hopped on Pinocchio because why not? Then we walked back around Big Thunder and into Adventureland. I love the look of this Big Thunder shot!
In Adventureland, I went in the Tiki Room for the first time ever! That may be an old attraction, but I loved it! I wonder where we went next?
It’s somewhere in Tomorrowland – The land with SEVERAL abandoned attractions in plain sight!
The answer, it was time to ruin WDW’s Space Mountain forever!
After riding, WOW! With an overall better ride, fantastic soundtrack, and more noticeable stars, the Disneyland Space Mountain was SO MUCH BETTER THAN at WDW! It was a great attraction!
Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we decided to go back to the hotel room for a short break. Later in the evening, we walked out to Downtown Disney feeling refreshed and ready for an evening in Disneyland! After grabbing some dinner at Downtown Disney’s Mexican Restaurant, which was delicious, we walked down to the park and rode Star Tours. As always, Star Tours was a fun simulator. Next, we made our way to the hub to get reserved seating for both Disneyland Forever and Paint the Night! Disneyland Forever was a fantastic fireworks show. The fireworks were spectacular and projections on the Castle and Matterhorn were cool. Paint the Night was alright, but I’ve realized I’m not much of a fan of the parades. It was enjoyable, but not as good as Disneyland Forever and Fantasmic. What probably didn’t help was the emphasis of Frozen on the parade. Finally, to end our night, we went back into Tomorrowland to ride a couple more rides. Since it had no line and one member of our party wanted to ride it, we rode the most claustrophobic attraction in any theme park, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. That ride was awful. I felt almost as sick as I did after Mission Space. If it were bigger and had better A/C, I would have liked the ride, but it just wasn’t good for me. To end my night at Disneyland, I used a FastPass to hop on what could have been my favorite attraction in the park, Space Mountain. It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful night! I ended up leaving the park after closing, which is something I had not done in the past! We went back to the room, I hopped into the bunk bed (I cringe thinking about how cramped it was), and got to sleep! After all, we were going to have a California Adventure the next day!
A few weeks ago, we visited the great state of California. Our trip began with an Adventures by Disney tour, which brought us to places such as Disney Studios and Imagineering (to hear more, you can find the article here). After an incredible visit to Walt Disney Imagineering, we hopped on the bus and drove to our next destination, Disneyland! When we arrived to the Grand California Hotel, we went to our room for a few minutes, and got ready to head into the park. After meeting in the lobby, we began the walk to the famous park.
The moment we exited the hotel, Frozen appeared in the California sun.
As we walked through Downtown Disney, I noticed a distinct difference from the other theme park shopping centers, it has a different look. The Grand Californian combines with it to make a nice design. It definitely makes the area feel different than your average shopping center.
I love the sculpture outside of the World of Disney store!
As we arrived at bag check, I spotted the world of the future! Just a warning – if you don’t have a bag you can’t walk ahead of those with the bags, security got a little bit mad when I did so (I didn’t know, no other park has that policy).
When we passed through the bag check, Disneyland was on the left and Disney’s California Adventure was on the right.
This is one of the most beautiful sights on Earth, the Disneyland train station!
I love how intricate all of the buildings on Main Street are. So many details that you don’t initially see!
The sun was already starting to set when we walked into the park.
I love the 60th Anniversary decor on the train station!
The train arrived as we were taking pictures in the plaza.
Next, our Adventure Guides took pictures of us in front of the train station.
Finally, it was time to leave the world of today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy!
Main Street is so beautiful!
Crowds were pretty high when we entered.
The Emporium is a beautiful building.
Next, I got my first glimpse of the castle. Here’s my first impression as someone who’s only been to WDW – It’s so small. I mean, I knew it was smaller, but not that small!
Main Street USA, featuring the glorious Adventures by Disney Paddle of Power in the bottom left!
There’s the Crystal Arcade!
More Main Street Architecture!
Look what we have here, the world’s first steel coaster!
I just love the look of the sun with the buildings of Main Street.
The DAZZLE was everywhere!!!
Wow Disney, isn’t trash in the lake more of a Six Flags thing (look towards the bottom of the plants in the water).
We had no idea where we were going, but all of a sudden the Paddle of Power took us into Frontierland!
It was packed in Frontierland!
The sunset cast a beautiful light on the landscaping of Frontierland.
Of course, I also love the look of the Frontierland buildings!
Here comes the Mark Twain Riverboat!
Soon, we arrived at our destination, the River Belle!
The River Belle was a great restaurant with good service and good food. The chicken was delicious, it was also nice that it was included in our tour!
The only bad thing about the restaurant was that there were no bathrooms anywhere near it. You had to move through large crowds into Adventureland to find some.
On the ceiling I found what looked like a hidden Mickey!
After dinner, the sun was starting to set.
Pirates looked fantastic in the dark!
The sunset over Tom Sawyer Island.
I decided to turn my camera into a better mode for the night. It’s not a great night camera, so the pictures are blurry, but still okay!
Next, we ventured into New Orleans for a little bathroom break before a “surprise.”
New Orleans Square was a new land for me. I definitely enjoyed walking through the land as a first time visitor!
In the distance I could see one of the Disney mountains!
Next, our Adventure guides surprised us as they announced that we were going on Haunted Mansion!
As we entered, our Adventure Guides recommended we sit down and feel our descent because our group had a private elevator, but unfortunately the ride ops wouldn’t let us do it.
I’m not sure which Haunted Mansion I like more. The only real difference between the two is the facade and that Disneyland’s has a real elevator.
After Haunted Mansion, we tried to make our way over to the Tiki Room before Fantasmic, but we didn’t make it over there. As we tried to find our seats for the show, I got a shot of Splash Mountain at night!
Next, I saw Fantasmic for the first time! I loved the show! It was probably the best show I’ve ever seen in a theme park! I took video of it, so stay tuned on the YouTube channel! It should be up within the next six months (sorry for my slow editing).
Afterwards, we joined a new friend on Pirates of the Caribbean! So much better than the WDW version! I love the caves in the beginning of the ride!
After Pirates, we went on Big Thunder Mountain! I’m not sure if I like the WDW or DL version more, the show scenes were better at DL, but I like the station and swinging of the cars on the lift hills at WDW.
*EDIT – I forgot to mention that we had a very fun ride on the original Jungle Cruise!
After riding Big Thunder, it was getting late. We began to head out of the park. We rode Buzz Lightyear (I lost, TP&T Kate took control of the spinning of our vehicle), and then we got stuck in the park during Paint the Night. Afterwards, we left, and got a few hours of sleep. The next day, we were going to have an early start, to find out why stay tuned on our site!
Last Wednesday, we went down to Kings Dominion for a little fun before my birthday. As always, I brought my camera to get some shots of any construction and changes to the park. I am happy to share that we had construction and changes in preparation for upcoming events! So, sit back, relax, and read our Kings Dominion update!
As usual on a Wednesday, Kings Dominion was nearly empty. The crowds were dying down as some Virginia schools began session (most don’t start until after Labor Day due to a law created to help bring Kings Dominion to the state).
Out by the entrance, Kings Dominion built signs displaying the 2016 attraction, Delirium. Sorry for the tilted picture, people in my group love to block my shots.
International Street was decorated and looking good for the UCI Championship bike race, which will begin within the park.
To me, the park was looking particularly nice. It felt like there were more flowers than usual.
Here’s some proof that they like to block my pictures. Lol
Later, we went over to Flight of Fear. It was interesting to see that they had the lights on in the queue.
Here’s why they had the lights on in the queue, Haunt preparation. I’m not really a Horror fan and I haven’t been to the event, so I’m not sure what this Haunt will be, but it’s still exciting to see a Haunt within the Flight of Fear building.
UPDATE – The Construction in the Flight of Fear queue is for Kings Dominion’s new Lockdown maze!
Another haunt has taken over the bumper cars. This is a yearly house, but I’ve never seen it with these decorations out front.
Now, let’s move over to Shockwave. The exit for Shockwave is now blocked with a chain fence and the queue is covered with this Delirium sign.
On the ride, the trains were still on the track. They are covered for preservation.
Demolition has not begun on Shockwave. There was absolutely no activity.
From what I’ve heard, the demolition of Shockwave will begin this week. This path will be widened and a new Mondial Revolution will stand in place of Shockwave.
The permit is currently in the Hanover County database and I can’t wait for construction to start!
Besides the closing of Shockwave’s area, some landscaping, and a little bit of Haunt construction, nothing much has been going on recently at Kings Dominion. On another note, we rode the wooden coasters for the first time in a while. Hurler was awful, Rebel Yell was great, and Grizzly was okay. Hurler definitely needs some rehab. I believe the Carowinds Hurler received it recently and it was running very well. Also, we decided to go ride the Go-Karts for the first time in years. They are an okay ride, but it’s really hard to pass some slow people on the curvy course (cough cough TP&T Kate).
Are you excited for Delirium? Let us know by commenting below and be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! You can also find us on YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr!
A few months ago, we began thinking about where we would go for our summer vacation. After thinking for a while, I came up with my idea for a dream vacation. This “dream vacation” was to fly out to California and visit as many theme parks as we could. After researching just a little bit, we found an Adventures by Disney Southern California tour. The tour would teach us more about Disney history and take us to the Disney parks. Shortly afterwards, we booked our Adventure and added a few more stops to our trip. After months of anticipation, we finally left for California. We woke up early in the morning, hopped on the plane, had a rather enjoyable five hour flight on Virgin America, and finally landed in California. That’s where this update kicks off. In this update, I will talk about our trip before we even arrived at any theme parks. So get ready for to hear about Disney and Hollywood history along with a ton of non-theme park fun!
So, we finally arrived in California. Just seconds after getting on the plane, the first “sign” of what was to come looked right at us.
Oh look, there was another sign about what was to come! Speaking of this billboard, it was gone by the time we left California.
Next, we got our bags and hopped in the car that Adventures by Disney provided to us. After a 45 minute drive to the Loews Hollywood Hotel (thanks LA traffic), we finally met our adventure guides, Rhiannon and Lauren. They were very friendly and always happy. They were some of the nicest people we’ve ever met.
After arriving at the hotel, we got some pizza in the shopping mall that is Hollywood Boulevard. Since we had the afternoon on our own, we walked down to Madame Tussaud’s Hollywood. It was a very fun attraction. I love how they let you come so close to the figures. After visiting this attraction, we had dinner with the group. Ironically, during dinner we were told that we were going to visit Madame Tussaud’s as a group for the evening. It was a great surprise and we had more fun the second time. One last thing, there’s another sign of what was to come! 😉
The next morning, it was time for a Hollywood tour. The tour started in the mall next to our hotel.
This mall is also known as Hollywood Boulevard.
These elephants were actually props in an old movie. I’m not sure which one, but they are definitely cool statues!
Here’s another cool detail on the columns.
Across Hollywood Boulevard is the El Capitan theatre. This theater is one of the three main theaters for premiers in LA. The other two are the Dolby Theater and Chinese Theater, which are just down the road. At the time they were playing Inside Out, but we won’t talk about that until later!
Next, we walked over to the Dolby Theatre. This is where the Oscars are hosted.
The red carpet literally runs through this mall on its way into the Dolby theater. Tip-If you want to avoid Hollywood Boulevard, which is a complete nightmare, there was a lady with an 8 foot long snake on it, you can sneak through the mall. There are entrances by the Loews Hotel, Chinese Theater, and in-between.
Next, we walked down Hollywood Boulevard to the Chinese Theater.
It is a really beautiful and detailed facade!
All of a sudden I’m thinking about Hollywood Studios.
And now I’m missing the hat again (I know someone hates me for that). Thanks Chinese Theater!
The theater is just as beautiful on the inside.
The screen in there was HUGE! We got to sit down, eat some popcorn, and watch a short film about the history of the theater.
This is probably the coolest feature of the building, the roof of the theater.
After visiting the Chinese theater, we had a few minutes until our next event. So, we were given a little scavenger hunt on the walk of fame. We had to find several Disney related stars. This is by far the best one! We were the first ones to complete the scavenger hunt.
Our next stop was the Jim Henson Company, which was formerly Charlie Chaplin’s studio.
At the building, we saw a demonstration on how they film the puppets. We also viewed their soundstage, but I wasn’t allowed to take pictures for most of the tour. Currently, the Jim Henson company makes programming for younger children and largely uses animation instead of puppets.
Following our visit to the Jim Henson company, they took us out to Tam O’ Shanters, which was one of Walt Disney’s favorite restaurants. The Fish and Chips were delicious! Next, we hopped on the bus and drove out to Walt’s Barn.
Walt’s Barn was a great surprise. It was not on the itinerary, but it was the highlight of the day. The barn, which was the center of Walt’s backyard railroad, is currently a museum that celebrates the history of trains at Disneyland. There were several great pieces of Disney history within the barn. Also, it is now the home of one of the original Disneyland Railroad cars.
For the afternoon, we had the freedom to do what we wanted, but Adventures by Disney had a couple of surprises for us. The first of which was an Ice Cream party at the Disney/Ghirardelli store. We had some delicious shakes before dinner on our own at In-N-Out. It was a delicious burger restaurant, it lived up to my expectations.
The night’s final surprise was over at the El Capitan theatre, where we were provided tickets to see Inside Out. Inside Out is such a great Pixar movie. We had seen it already, but we were happy to see it again. The best part is the cat at the end!
The next day, we went over to Disney Studios! I found where the hat went! 😉
The water tower was under construction when we arrived.
Studios are a strange place. They are like office parks that you can’t take too many pictures in.
The one thing that I could see was in production was The Muppets! I can’t wait to watch the new tv show later in the year.
Yep, the Muppets were filming at Disney Studios. They aren’t part of the Jim Henson Company. Look, Oswald is in the back!
Here’s a Mickey topiary that Michael Eisner brought from Walt Disney World to Disney Studios. There a complex watering system within the plant itself.
Here’s a shocker, the studio has its own store. The day we were there, if you answered a Disney trivia question they gave you a free Inside Out button. I got the question right! 🙂
This special street sign was actually a movie prop from the movie “The Reluctant Dragon.” It was intended to be removed, but it still stands today. Here is the IMDb page for the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034091/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt
This looks like it came straight out of Saving Mr. Banks!
The next stop on our trip was animation!
Across from animation is the on-site theater. Oh look, it’s my “favorite” movie.
Here’s another shot of the animation building.
The hallway of the building is filled with Disney memorabilia and concept art for the animated films. Inside, I even saw a couple of signs for what was being created. The most noticeable of which was the Alice in Wonderland sequel.
After walking through the hallway of the animation building, we took a tunnel under the road and into the inking and painting building. This tunnel was built to preserve the quality of film being transported between buildings.
After our walk through animation, we went into the Frank G. Wells Building, which is the home of the Walt Disney Archives.
I was really excited for the archives, but I was rather disappointed. There were books that we couldn’t touch (SO many awesome Disney Parks books that I wanted to read) and a few displays to look at. I think most of the artifacts were in the back, which was not an area that we visited.
After our Archives visit, we explored outside of the main Disney headquarters building.
The seven dwarfs are the pillars of the building. They are very detailed!
They had a Partners statue facing the building.
They also had this famous statue!
This is the third and final statue from the plaza.
Now, here’s one thing I forgot to mention earlier, this is the Disney Legends plaza!
All of the Disney Legends’s handprints are within the plaza. Shortly after our visit, a few more were probably added!
After visiting the Disney Legends plaza, it was time to leave Disney Studios. We passed by Walt’s office on the way out!
Disney Studios was a very interesting stop on the trip, but it was not nearly as cool as our next stop, Walt Disney Imagineering. So, we drove over to imagineering, had lunch there, and then got ready for our tour of imagineering. Dave Fisher was the imagineer who took us around. He is the head writer for Shanghai Disneyland (I think that’s what he told us, I know he wrote the story for Mickey Avenue). We started by meeting Lucky the Dinosaur, who still works and lives at Imagineering. We even got to take some photos with him! We then got to hear a bit about how animatronics work, some history of the building, visited the sculpture studio, and walked over to another amazing place at imagineering. This “place” was their virtual reality room. They had it set up so that we were virtually walking through the Magic Kingdom. You could walk around the same model that exists on Google Earth in 3D. Only one person at a time can see the complete experience (they wear a special hat that controls the projections based on location in the room). It actually feels real. It was really cool. Here’s an article about it that came out the week after we visited! http://fortune.com/2015/08/13/disney-imagineering-vr/ By the way, this technology isn’t going to be used in the parks anytime soon. It’s only possible for one person at a time to walk around in the virtual reality. After our imagineering tour, the group would visit Mickey’s of Glendale, but it was being set up for the D23 Expo. They did give us a special pin that was exclusive to the store as compensation, but I would have loved to go. Next, it was time to go to the happiest place on Earth, but you won’t get to see that until later!
We had a great time in Hollywood and at imagineering! If you have any questions for us, comment below and be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! You can also find us on YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr! Thank you for visiting Theme Parks and Travels! Be sure to follow us here on WordPress and share with the buttons below!
A couple of weeks ago, we hopped in the car, got on the road, travelled through traffic, and after hours of driving, arrived at Knoebels. We hopped out of the car and prepared to visit a theme park full of unique and classic thrills. As always, I took tons of photos and even some video! So sit back, relax, and enjoy our pictures from Knoebels!
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we brought Charlie with us! Knoebels allows pets!
As we entered the park, we were greeted by a number of unique rides.
One of the most unique rides was “The Looper.”
The Looper is a ride that is only found at Knoebels. It was very fun, but you need a partner to ride. Since we were in a group of three, I was alone. Luckily, someone stepped up and rode with me. Sadly, we weren’t able to get it to flip upside-down (I wasn’t controlling it). The other two people in my group did, and they had a ton of fun on it.
The Looper is right next to Flying Turns. We wanted to ride, but the line was about one hour long. I had heard okay, but not particularly good reviews of it, so we decided to get some lunch instead.
Here’s one of the rides we passed on the way to lunch. I’m sorry for the dark pictures so far, my ISO was not on the right level, but luckily I will fix it later.
Next, we got some lunch at Cesari’s Pizza.
Cesari’s had a pretty big menu for a theme park restaurant. It also had big lines. The staff waited until the group in front of you got their food before they took your order. When the group in front of you orders something that’s not ready, you end up waiting a lot longer than you should have.
In the end, we ordered a Cheese pizza. It was delicious, especially compared to what you can get in your average theme park.
Next, we decided to ride the park’s signature ride, The Phoenix!
Phoenix has a great story. It started out in Texas at Playland Park. In 1980, Playland Park closed. Luckily, in 1984, Knoebels purchased the ride and reconstructed it. Today, it ranks as one of the best wooden coasters in the world.
After riding Phoenix, I couldn’t be more impressed. This ride is one of the best wooden coasters that I’ve ever been on. It has so much airtime and it’s pretty smooth too. Phoenix was fantastic!
Here’s a shot of the drop tower. We didn’t ride it, I’m not a fan of drop towers (with the exception of Tower of Terror), but several riders seemed to be enjoying it.
Next, we rode Wipeout. Just a warning, don’t sit on the outside. Just get your own seat. It’s fun, but get your own seat!
I can’t wait until one of these comes to Kings Dominion! We skipped it due to a long line, but they are always really fun.
After all of that, it was time to ride Twister!
Twister was a very fun wooden coaster. It wasn’t as good as Phoenix, but it was a pretty good ride.
One of my favorite things about Twister is its unique double lift hill. It allowed Twister to fit into a more compact space and added a unique element to the ride.
Twister definitely “twists” you everywhere. It was definitely a fun attraction.
There was so much wood!
Next, it was time for Flying Turns. We got in line at the right moment, because after we arrived a ton of people showed up to ride it. When we arrived, the wait was 45 minutes, but it quickly went up to 1 hour.
Flying Turns was Knoebels’s 2014 new ride. It took seven years to build, since everything was built in house, and is the only wooden bobsled coaster in the world.
In the queue for the ride, and outside of the ride, you really can’t tell what is going to happen. The track and supports block the view.
Based on other bobsled rides, I wasn’t expecting it to be a particularly good ride. None of the bobsled rides that I’ve been on excite me. They kind of meander through their course, they don’t really use the walls of the ride.
Usually, these helixes don’t feel intense at all. They just feel like lame little turns.
As we waited, my expectations weren’t very high. What little I could see wasn’t very convincing.
Here’s a look at the vehicles. The seats were very comfy, at least for me, I wasn’t sitting with anyone. They weigh you before you get on the ride to make sure you have the right seating configuration.
Luckily, I got front row, and we headed up the first lift hill with my GoPro chest harness strapped on! As we went through the course, I was surprised by the ride. It was way better than any other bobsled coaster. You really got up on the sides of the course. I had a lot of fun. The only problem was that it was way too short of a ride, I wish it had lasted longer.
By the time we got off of Flying Turns, it was getting relatively late (5PM with a 3 hour drive back). We started walking towards Impulse. On our way, we rode the Galleon and a few other flat rides.
Eventually, we made it to Impulse.
The line was pretty long, but it definitely gave us a great view of the ride.
Here’s a look at the underside of the Impulse trains. Bright green wheels are a nice little detail!
Impulse has a beyond vertical drop. Zierer made a very nice looking roller coaster.
The elements of the ride looked crazy. The cobra roll in particular looked insane!
Knoebels picked a really good first steel coaster. I could tell before riding it. It was really quiet as it went through its course.
This inversion looked great from the queue. I could tell that we would get hung upside-down for what would feel like forever.
After riding, my expectations for this ride were met. The inversions were fun, especially the barrel roll, and I thought it was a great ride. Knoebels and Zierer did a great job with it!
After riding Impulse, it was about 7PM. We decided to leave. On our way out, somehow we wound up at Disney World! 😉
We also passed by the ferris wheel. I wish we had time to ride it and the Haunted House, but we arrived later than expected and had to leave relatively early.
Here’s the final shot I took before we left. Bye Impulse!
We had a really fun day at Knoebels. It was surprisingly crowded for a weekday, but as the day went on it felt less crowded. The coasters were all fun and staff was very friendly (they loved our puppy). I also loved the unique feel of Knoebels. The gravel paths, classic rides, and nice people all helped us have a fantastic day. I think Knoebels is one of the best parks out there. I also can’t wait to see what’s in store for their future!
What do you think of Knoebels?Comment below and be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! You can also find us on YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr! Thank you for visiting Theme Parks and Travels! Be sure to follow us here on WordPress and share with the buttons below!
Recently, Kings Dominion announced that they will be closing Shockwave. For those who don’t know, Shockwave is the park’s stand-up roller coaster. The ride opened in 1986 and is currently the world’s oldest operating stand-up roller coaster. It is one of two Togo roller coasters left in the United States, with the other being the Manhattan Express at the New York New York hotel in Las Vegas. Shockwave is an iconic roller coaster for Kings Dominion and is going to be missed by several fans (not me, I hated it).
The good thing about Shockwave going is that Kings Dominion is going to bring something better to fill the hole in their lineup. The only question is, what could this be? Some have said another waterpark expansion, some have said a flat ride, and some have said a roller coaster. So far, nothing at all has been confirmed. In this article, I will show you what we have seen and I will tell you what it leads us to believe.
Intimidator Possible Name Change Update – Recently, Kings Dominion’s Intimidator and Carowinds’s Intimidator both began sales on merchandise from the gift shops. They both started at 40% off and recently Carowinds’s increased to 60% off. The moment the sales started, rumors began to spread. The current theory is that the rights to the name “Intimidator” will expire and won’t be renewed. The Kings Dominion sale is still only at 40% off. That’s all for now, but stay tuned on social media for changes.
Kings Dominion 2016/Shockwave Replacement Update – Now, let’s move on to the Shockwave replacement and 2016 project. Below, I have some pictures of flags that have a high possibility of being markers for land clearing near Shockwave. There were two types of markers as seen below.
So, those are the two types of flag markers. The first one was larger, and I only could see one marker like it. The lower image shows a smaller flag. There were several of these in the woods behind Shockwave and even some next to the Blue Ridge Tollway attraction. These small flags seemed to be next to individual trees and may signal the removal of trees, but this is unconfirmed. The larger flag definitely seems to mean that something is going to happen, but we are unsure of what.
Now, I know I’m saying a lot of things about location, so below is a Google Earth Image featuring markers of the locations I am referring to. The star was about where I was standing, which was on a pathway from the Eiffel Tower that travels between the circled areas. In green is the location of the Shockwave coaster. In yellow is the woods behind Shockwave. In pink is the Blue Ridge Tollway, which takes up a lot of space for an attraction that not too many people actually ride. So, the large marker is located within the yellow circle and smaller flags are within both the yellow and pink circles.
Rumors have been swirling and most have been guessing that they will put flat rides such as a slingshot into Shockwave’s current place. That, and possibly a few other thrill rides would mash together very well in the space, and would be great additions to the park. Unfortunately, that would mean that Kings Dominion will go seven whole years without a new roller coaster (2010-2017). Others want Kings Dominion to build a Triotech dark ride. Sadly, Cedar Fair’s CEO claimed that they don’t have any of these in the works for 2016 (he might have been trying to mislead us).
For those of us hoping for the park to build a roller coaster, we still have some hope. The Shockwave location is large enough for a S&S Free-fly roller coaster or something similarly compact, but I’m unsure that Cedar Fair currently has a good relationship with S&S (I don’t think they’ve build any S&S rides in a long time). If the park were to clear the areas of trees, they could easily fit a new roller coaster into the space. By removing the Blue Ridge Tollway, Shockwave, and possibly the nearby theater, Kings Dominion could fit in a large B&M roller coaster with room to spare. To show that the park could fit a roller coaster within the space, the following images are of rides that would fit very well at Kings Dominion from similar altitudes (I’ve also posted the Shockwave area image so you can compare it with the other images).
The two roller coasters I’ve pictured are Montu at Busch Gardens Tampa and X-Flight at Six Flags Great America. These two roller coasters are possible rides that could easily fit into Kings Dominion’s lineup and the pictured amount of space. Some may think that Busch Gardens Williamsburg has a contract with B&M that won’t allow B&M to build coasters at Kings Dominion, but I personally don’t believe that one bit. Besides, if the contract is real, the rumors point to it ending this year. To get back on topic, a B&M Invert or a B&M Wingrider could fit into the space Shockwave and the Blue Ridge Tollway currently sit on.
Another big Kings Dominion rumor comes from artwork on the Cedar Fair website. The picture shows a mysterious green and orange B&M hypercoaster (it is the exact same design as Diamondback from a similar picture of Kings Island, but recolored) in the back of the park. Now, this could easily be artistic embellishment, but I can see it as a possibility for the future of Kings Dominion.
While climbing up the lift hill for Intimidator 305, something bright caught my eye in the woods behind Kings Dominion. The fast lift hill doesn’t provide much time to look, but I can confirm that there was a bulldozer in what looked like it could be a freshly cleared piece of land (I can’t guarantee that it was freshly cleared land, but I can guarantee that I saw a bulldozer). Since I didn’t want to sneak a camera on I-305, I took to the top of the Eiffel Tower and Windseeker to get a glimpse of the clearing, but it wasn’t visible from those spots.
The clearing is somewhere behind the waterpark and Intimidator 305, but I couldn’t find the exact location from the Eiffel Tower. Here’s about where I thought it was (somewhere in the trees).
When you look at this picture from Google Earth, there are clearings back there, but something tells me that the land was cleared recently. Somewhere within the yellow circle was where I saw the bulldozer. If Kings Dominion accesses this area, they could build pretty much any kind of roller coaster that you can imagine. The green circles are possible entrances to this new ride. If the bulldozer is not just sitting in a field waiting to demolish Shockwave, which it could easily be doing, then I can see Kings Dominion installing anything from a hypercoaster to a wingrider in the back of the park. This is great news for those of us hoping for the park to receive a new coaster next year. Now, I can’t confirm that Kings Dominion is going to build a roller coaster, but the bulldozer is a definite sign of an ongoing land clearing project or one that is about to start. Either way, this means something new will most likely come in 2016.
That was our Kings Dominion update. Are you excited for 2016 at Kings Dominion? Do you think they are getting a roller coaster, or do you think they will get something different? Share your thoughts with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! You can also find us on YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr! Thank you for visiting Theme Parks and Travels! Be sure to follow us here on WordPress and share with the buttons below!
Last week, we were in Ocean City for an event. Although there were long days at the event, we also had some time to visit some of Ocean City’s attractions, which include three amusement parks along the peninsula. In our days in the beachside town, we visited Jolly Roger Park, Trimper’s Rides, and Jolly Roger at the Pier. These three parks are all smaller and lesser known parks with a surprising amount of largely undiscovered thrills. From a Go-Kart Coaster to some Wacky Worms, we rode a large number of awesome rides in Ocean City. So sit back, relax, and have a taste of the thrills offered in Ocean City!
On our first day in Ocean City, we decided to head down to Jolly Roger Park. Jolly Roger Park is also the home to the Splash Mountain Waterpark and Speedworld.
First, we went over to Speedworld, which is the home to the “World’s Only Go-Kart Coaster.”
The Go-Kart coaster may not have been an actual roller coaster, but it was a unique twist on the classic style of Go-Karts.
The ride consisted of two upwards spirals and a couple of straightaways. It is a very twisty track. The turns were very fun to ride on, but they made it very hard to pass others.
The Go-Kart coaster is a unique addition at Jolly Roger Park’s Speedworld that I have never seen anywhere else. The ride was very fun and made a great new addition for 2015.
Here’s another shot of the downhill spiral. The spiral does allow you to gain some extra speed due to gravity. This segment is the closest thing in this go-kart track to an actual roller coaster.
Here’s a panoramic shot of the ride.
After riding the “Go-Kart Coaster,” we decided to ride the Xtreme Zipline attraction. The attraction was a fun series of ziplines that soared just feet above the go-kart tracks at Speedworld. It had several different cables, a rope bridge, and also a unique “Leap of Faith” element. The Leap of Faith was an auto-belay system. All you had to do was jump off the platform and trust the machine to catch you. It was a unique and fun element of the zipline course.
Speedworld was a very fun attraction. Even though we only did one of the tracks, the park had a wide display of different tracks for different levels of drivers, all of which looked very fun. Speedworld is definitely worth visiting while in Ocean City.
After going to Speedworld, we decided to go over to the main section of Jolly Roger Park.
On our way over to the main park, we passed by their Splash Mountain waterpark. The complex contained several slides including a modern aqua-loop, a mega-wedgie ride, and what appeared to be a master-blaster. We never made it to the waterpark, but it looks like a very fun waterpark.
When we walked into Jolly Roger Park, nobody was there except for a few employees. We asked an employee if they were open, and apparently they opened at two. There were no signs letting us know this, so we were VERY irritated. Luckily, they had a mini-golf course, which was open for us to enjoy!
The mini-golf course was very fun and had some nice pirate theming.
Oh yeah, I got a hole in one on hole one! 🙂
The lake and waterfalls were a delightful backdrop in our mini-golfing adventure.
The lake even had an alligator, which in my opinion looks scarier than actual alligators.
We had a fun morning at Speedworld and some of the other Jolly Roger attractions. By the time we were done with mini-golf, we were hungry for lunch and the main park hadn’t opened. So, we went down the road and ate at the Blu Crabhouse, which had delicious bayside food.
After lunch, we had a little bit of free-time before an event, but Jolly Roger Park still wasn’t open. The forecast called for rain and we wanted to play at one of Ocean City’s mini-golf courses, so we went to Old Pro Golf, which has an indoor mini-golf course.
The indoor mini-golf course was themed fantastically to the ocean. With everything from a sunken submarine to Shamu, this course was very fun to play on.
The next day, we had another event to go to. After the event, we had some time, so we decided to go to Ocean City’s Boardwalk, which is the home to Trimper’s Rides and Jolly Roger at the Pier.
First on the agenda was Trimper’s Rides. They had a wide array of rides for a small space. The headline attraction was “Tidal Wave,” a Vekoma Boomerang which opened in 1986.
On our way into the park, we passed the Himalaya ride;
We bought our tickets and made our way over to Tidal Wave.
Tidal Wave was just a Vekoma Boomerang. It was the same ride as always, but it had older restraints which caused an increased amount head-banging. The newer padded restraints on other Boomerangs allow for a much smoother and more comfortable ride.
We rode Tidal Wave and made our way over to the next roller coaster, which was simply called “Spinning Coaster.”
“Spinning Coaster” was the park’s 2015 roller coaster. The SBF Visa Group roller coaster was featured at IAAPA. The roller coaster put a fun “twist” (sorry, I had to use the pun) on your classic family ride. It was smooth and fun. It was actually the best spinning coaster I’ve been on.
Afterwards, we walked back across into the main stretch of Trimper’s Rides, which spans over a few blocks at the bottom of Ocean City’s peninsula.
The main section features a number of family rides such as this little ride, which was being enjoyed by several young children.
In this picture, the park looks like it is a carnival, but it’s a fully stationary park.
This is what tells me that it is a permanent installation.
The park had a small kiddie coaster, but we didn’t need a credit enough to go ride it. It is one of several family rides at Trimper’s Rides.
The balloon ride is a favorite out of the park’s 35+ attractions (yes, they have 35 attractions).
This is one of Trimper’s Rides’s classic attractions. The park has been operating for over 100 years and has some very rare rides.
Next, we decided to go get dinner on the boardwalk. We passed by the park’s Wacky Worm, which we would come back to later.
The “Freakout” claw ride was very fun looking. We didn’t end up riding it, but the line for it was longer than any other attraction at Trimper’s Rides.
Here’s another Wacky Worm shot!
This was an interesting carnival game. I’ve never seen a game where you shoot fake animal targets. It was another thing unique to Trimper’s Rides.
Next we wandered down the boardwalk looking for a sit-down place to eat.
We went a block off of the boardwalk and found Fat Daddy’s sub shop, which was a yummy and quick meal.
Since it was on our way back to Trimper’s Rides, we decided to go over to Jolly Roger Park.
Jolly Roger at the Pier contained a Slingshot ride. I wasn’t in the mood to ride an extreme ride such as it, but guests seemed to be enjoying it!
Right next to Jolly Roger at the Pier was Ripley’s Believe It or Not, which was the home of Bruce.
A long time ago, I think ten years ago, we visited Jolly Roger at the Pier. We rode this ferris wheel, which had a beautiful view of the surrounding parks, city, and the ocean. We didn’t want to stay too long, so we skipped it, but it is a necessary stop while on the pier!
The pier had more flat rides than I remembered. It was jam-packed with ride after ride after ride!
They had thrill rides and family rides such as this carousel, but we were there for their main attraction…
The Looping Star!
The Pinfari looping coaster was very smooth, especially compared to what I was expecting.
The ride was good for people of all ages. I have to say, it was a fun ride. I have been on B&Ms that were rougher than the Looping Star.
After the Looping Star, the sun was beginning to set.
On our way out, I saw Power Surge, and I decided that I had to ride it. I never saw this kind of ride and I had a lot of fun riding the unique thrill.
Afterwards, we ventured back to Trimper’s and rode their Wacky Worm and their Zipper. Unfortunately, my camera died on the way over, so I have no more photos. The Zipper was a unique experience for me. I had never been on a Zipper, so I had no idea what to expect, but I hated it. The ride was sketchy, rough, and a little bit painful. I even felt sick afterwards.
A couple of nights later, we went back to Jolly Roger Park.
The park was home to three roller coasters (again, I only rode the bigger two, so not the one in the foreground).
Here’s the ticket prices.
This park was a bit more like a regular theme park. It had some larger rides and was not built on top of a parking lot.
We rode the Wacky Worm, which was a nice family coaster that was nothing special, but was as fun as always. Who doesn’t love Wacky Worms? 🙂
The ferris wheel was lit up into beautiful colors as the night went on.
Finally, we rode Wildcat, which is a relocated Schwarzkopf roller coaster which originally operated at Cedar Point. It was yet another smooth and fun family coaster.
After our ride on Wildcat, our trip to Ocean City was over, the next day we went back home to DC. We had a fantastic time visiting Ocean City’s three parks, which each had unique and fun rides. Trimper’s Rides and the Jolly Roger Parks were both fun small attractions. Have you been to these fun little parks? Do you want to go? Share your stories and thoughts with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! You can also find us on YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr! Thank you for visiting Theme Parks and Travels! Be sure to follow us here on WordPress and share with the buttons below!
On July 7th, we got up early yet again, got in the car, and began our two hour drive to Carowinds. We went to Carowinds to ride its newest creation, the Fury 325 gigacoaster. We also went to ride one of the park to ride one of its oldest creations, Thunder Road, which will be closing soon. While we were there I took over one hundred photos of the rides, and here they are! So sit back, relax, and enjoy our photos of Carowinds!
As we began our drive, the sunrise was beautiful over the Greenville, South Carolina area!
A couple hours of driving later, we were greeted by Fury 325 as we pulled up to the entrance of Carowinds!
Since we arrived at the gates before they opened, I got out of the car and took some shots of Fury 325 and its amazing looking twists and turns!
There’s so many over-banked turns on Fury 325!
Intimidator was looking picture perfect too!
Intimidator is one of too many great B&Ms at Carowinds. It was my 100th roller coaster when I rode it last year!
Carowinds’s skyline is getting more and more crowded. The Slingshot is another new ride that debuted this year, further crowding the Carowinds skyline.
While we waited, Fury 325 began its morning test runs!
Watching the car go through the banked turns and airtime hills made me even more excited to ride Fury 325!
They opened the gate and we pulled into Carowinds’s new toll plaza. It looked very nice!
Here’s a shot of Fury 325’s lift hill and first turn.
It’s hard not to be impressed with this as your view when you enter the parking lot!
The 90 degree banking over the entrance is pretty awesome too!
This turn just looks fantastic!
Who doesn’t love the view of a B&M flying around you?
I hadn’t even rode this ride yet and I already knew it was going to be fantastic!
I just love seeing a roller coaster car hanging sideways!
Beautiful, just beautiful.
The new entrance plaza looked great! It was modern, clean, and had a roller coaster flying over it. What’s not to love about that!
Hanging over the drop.
We waited for the park to open and went in at 9:20ish. After a bathroom break, we made our way back towards Fury 325 for Season Passholder ERT!
Since I took most of my pictures before I rode it, here’s my review. Fury 325 is the BEST roller coaster that I’ve ever been on. I love the mix of banked turns and airtime hills. The best moments were the 90 degree banging above the park’s entrance and the banked turn into the drop under the entry pathway. They were my favorite parts of a great ride. Stalling sideways over people and looking out into the world sideways is a sensation only found on Fury 325. The smooth, fast, and fun Fury 325 narrowly edged out Millennium Force and I-305 for my new favorite coaster!
Here’s another shot before we rode Fury 325. The park was empty as we entered!
After riding the fantastic Fury 325 twice, one time in the front and one time in the back, we decided to go to Thunder Road. The back part of the park was still closed, so I took some shots of the surrounding rides. Here’s Ricochet!
Here’s Hurler, which is a better ride at Carowinds than at Kings Dominion.
Here’s Vortex, Carowinds’s stand-up coaster.
There it goes!
Into the vertical loop!
The Carolina Skytower was shooting above the park!
Carolina Goldrusher Nerd Shot!
Here’s Carolina Cobra, which is a very good Vekoma Boomerang!
Carowinds definitely has a naming theme, Carolina ________. 🙂
This crate, which is under a waterslide in Carowinds’s waterpark, has something to do with their 2016 “Big Splash.” What do you think it could be?
Thunder Road was closed, so we ventured over to Flying Ace Aerial Chase, which was a quick little credit for me! 🙂
Flying Ace Aerial Chase was a nice family coaster, which was fun for all ages!
Although it is a little rough, I had fun on it!
It was right next to the Xtreme Skyflyer, but I wasn’t in the mood for that!
Here’s one more shot of Flying Ace Aerial Chase!
Next, it was time for Intimidator!
It was a great ride, and with the stadium seating on the cars, which makes them heavier, the back row feels very fast on the first drop!
After Intimidator, we decided to see if Thunder Road was open. We began our walk back towards Thunder Road and passed by Nighthawk on the way.
Here’s one more shot of Flying Ace Aerial Chase.
And another of Nighthawk’s corkscrew ending.
We passed by Boo Blasters, which is a great shooting ride, which we would ride later.
We also passed by Afterburn, which is one of so many fantastic B&Ms at Carowinds.
It was time to ride Thunder Road and get our commemorative buttons. I’m sorry for the picture that cuts of half the sign!
Thunder Road is closing later in the month after giving millions of rides over the last few decades. The ride has become a favorite for Carowinds visitors. Are you sad to see it close or are you excited for the “Big Splash” that will replace it in 2016?
Here’s another shot of Thunder Road. It definitely is getting old, but I’m kind of sad to see a classic like it go.
Here’s the special Thunder Road button that I got. The first 100 riders each day until it closes will get one of these.
After getting our commemorative buttons, it was time to go ride Afterburn!
Afterburn is a fun and intense B&M invert.
When I say intense, I also mean rough. It is a relatively rough roller coaster, even in the front row. Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is definitely smoother, although I’ve heard accounts saying otherwise.
I do love the fighter jet that stands in front of it!
The batwing element of Afterburn is one that’s not found on too many coasters.
I like the birds on the cars!
After riding Afterburn, we decided to get a good view of the park on Windseeker. On our way over, we passed the photogenic Carolina Goldrusher.
After Windseeker, we went over to Nighthawk.
Although some may disagree, the corkscrew ending on Nighthawk is more fun than the endings of the other Vekoma Flying Dutchmen coasters. I find it much more fun and intense, but not rough.
I love the look of the Flying Dutchman track!
These Vekoma flying coasters look so unique. Especially in these turns!
The loops on these are another intense and fun moment!
This one goes out to all the Flying Dutchman brake nerds out there!
And this one goes out to the Flying Dutchman wheel nerds out there!
If these two rides had a baby, it would be Skyhawk. Hey, isn’t that a ride? RIDE CONSPIRACY THEORY! 😉
Next, we ventured to the Carolina Skytower. From the tower, I got this shot of Vortex.
Carolina Cyclone was going in the distance!
Carowinds seems to have a big and nice waterpark. I wonder what they could add to it next year? Could it be a log flume? A slide? Let me know what you think on Twitter and Facebook!
Here’s another shot of Thunder Road, which is a beautiful coaster!
Nighthawk was looking good down there!
Afterburn was standing tall and proud!
And Flying Ace Aerial Chase stood out with its bright colors!
Those lucky riders were about to reach the peak of Intimidator!
Of course, I couldn’t leave Fury 325 out! Here’s a shot of one of the best elements of it!
That over-banked turn is so fun!
I have only one complaint about Fury 325, I wish I didn’t have to get off it!
This picture summarizes the best moment of Fury 325.
Here’s a shot of Hurler.
Let’s not forget about Fury’s airtime. I may talk about all of the banked turns and hills, but this is a great part of the ride too!
Vortex
Carolina Cobra
Windseeker
I just love seeing Carowinds from up high!
What’s a better view than a B&M?
They are clearly a bunch of satisfied riders!
Here’s some more Fury 325!
Ugh, I think my Fury Fever is coming back after looking at all of these photos!
Well, I guess I’ll have to come back to cure my Fury Fever! Oh No (I say like it’s a bad thing)!
The drop on Fury 325 is amazing too, the clamshell restraints allow you to fly out of your seat!
Once we were back on the ground, I took another picture of Nighthawk!
And on our way to lunch I couldn’t help but take pictures of Intimidator!
After eating a quick lunch at Chick-Fil-A, which is by far the best restaurant at any Cedar Fair park, we walked over to Planet Snoopy.
We rode the Woodstock Express, which was a good kiddie coaster!
Afterwards, we made our way around the back of Carowinds and rode the Carolina Cyclone.
Although it wasn’t my favorite ride, it was pretty good for an Arrow.
I kind of like how it changes colors through the course, It helps give the ride a unique look.
Finally, we walked back towards Hurler.
We decided to ride Scream Weaver, which is an enterprise ride.
Scream Weaver was my first Enterprise, and I loved the ride. I had a lot of fun riding it!
After riding Scream Weaver, we used our Fast Lane passes to ride Fury 325 three more times, two of which were in the front row.
After riding Fury 325, visiting the gift shops, and getting food and drinks for the car, we decided it was time to leave.
On my way out, I took some final shots of Fury 325.
This is what I love about it, leaning 90 degrees and looking at people below you. That doesn’t happen on any other ride!
To end off the update, here’s one last shot of Fury 325!
We had another amazing visit to Carowinds. Fury 325 is a great new addition to the park and I’m sad to see Thunder Road going! Do you want to see even more updates from the parks? Check us out on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! You can also find us on YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr! Thank you for visiting Theme Parks and Travels! Be sure to follow us here on WordPress and share with the buttons below!
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