#theme parks

[idreamofthemeparks]

I need you guys to help me prove something. Did anyone go to Disney World in the mid 2000s and eat a type of sour Goofy themed hard candy? I forget what they were called exactly, but they were sour and kind of chalky, the size of a nickel or so, and shaped like little Goofys. If you had these, please tell me if you thought they were good or not. I think they were great, my dad thinks they were disgusting, and I need to prove I'm right.

[dinohorror]

Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride

[fictionz]

Top attractions in theme parks I visited in the past year (with spoilers about the experiences):

Animal Kingdom Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

Now that's a killer attraction. It's a frenetic coaster with fantastic theming and design that rivals the Matterhorn at Disneyland. The rickety tracks add an unnerving feeling to it all. Perhaps most importantly, it has the loud and very aggressive yeti encounters. The depiction of the yeti that you see on the ride may vary from one journey to the next, adding a nice bit of randomization. I might've once considered Dinosaur for the top spot at this park, but with the closure of that ride earlier this year I'd say Everest takes it handily.

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Hollywood Studios The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

This was always going to be my favorite. Nothing else at this park can compete. My appreciation for this gut-wrenching drop ride is elevated (ahem) by the fact that they removed it from the theme park that is closer to me, so this is the only place I can experience the creepy abandoned hotel of my dreams. And, I mean, it's Rod Serling, it's The Twilight Zone, and it's an incredible feat to have adapted that into such a memorable theme park ride.

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EPCOT Spaceship Earth

I know this one is controversial, given all of the more fast-paced thrill attractions at the park these days, not to mention the fantastic work they've done at World Showcase, but I have a soft spot for a ton of animatronics all moving and talking to me on a chill dark ride. More importantly, however, is joy I felt when I discovered that not only does that giant orb have something inside, but it's actually a huge attraction. The ride track winds almost all the way to the top before it descends down to the exit. You can smell the decades of oil and wood in there. It's a feeling of something real, which is one of the great achievements of a theme park attraction. Since I always entered this park via the cable car near World Showcase when I visited, it means I get to save Spaceship Earth as the final experience way at the other end of the park, which is more commonly experienced as the entrance.

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Magic Kingdom The Haunted Mansion

Another easy choice. I'm not surprised that this park is so popular with visitors from around the world. It has all the classics that Disney fans would want. But knowing the West coast parks as well as I do, I can only think of Magic Kingdom as a diminished experience, with many of the rides that are present in Disneyland being divvied out to the three other parks in Orlando. Of the rides they did get, Haunted Mansion is absolutely my favorite. I like their elaborate mansion exterior that is themed to fit in with the colonial America design of Liberty Square, and the interiors are all just as detailed and moody as the original. If you haven't noticed yet, I prefer all of these attractions at night and save them as the final rides of my time in each park. With Haunted Mansion, I always squeeze in several ridethroughs before I'm done with the evening, and will hang around just for the vibe.

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Islands of Adventure VelociCoaster

I had a tough time here. The Incredible Hulk Coaster is an intense ride, and I considered giving Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure a fair shake but the J.K. Rowling of it all makes me basically loathe that I even rode it. Ultimately, VelociCoaster in the Jurassic Park corner of the park is a strong winner. If Hulk is intense, then VelociCoaster is heart-stopping. It's the certified fastest coaster that Universal has in Orlando and it doesn't let up for a second. My only quibble is the way it obscures the recreation of the Jurassic Park visitor center, but otherwise it's perfect, no notes.

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Universal Studios Florida Revenge of the Mummy

Now we have a real brawl. I shortlisted four rides worth considering for the top spot: Revenge of the Mummy, Men in Black: Alien Attack, The Simpsons Ride, and E.T. Adventure. Do I prefer the intensity of another coaster or motion simulator? Or the more slow-paced experiences of MIB and E.T.? MIB I can reluctantly remove, since I'm not as fond of that story as the others. I love the Springfield area and its ride, but the ride is not quite as strong as these others and the area isn't as good as the one in Hollywood. And while the E.T. ride holds the same kind of nostalgic wonder as Tower of Terror for me, it's just not on the same level of the winner: Revenge of the Mummy. It's a brilliant preshow, a fantastic fast-paced dark ride, and the false ending is one of the best moments you can find in a Universal attraction. It's unfortunate that the Universal Hollywood version pales in comparison to this masterpiece.

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Epic Universe Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment

This is what finally got me to go back to Orlando. The park opened a year ago, but I knew I would be visiting soon when I learned that there is an entire land themed around the Universal monsters. I had majorly gotten into both Frankenstein and the concept of a horror theme park in the last few years. Suffice to say, I was hyped. Imagine my shock when I found that the land and its landmark attraction not only met my heightened expectations but exceeded them in nearly every way. (I only wish it was bigger and there was more, more, more.) Monsters Unchained is like Haunted Mansion on speed. It's frantic, constant, and you're attacked by monsters at every available opportunity. The level of artistry and engineering matches and sometimes surpasses that of Haunted Mansion and it's so packed full of detail that it requires as many ridethroughs as possible to see it all. Although the Stardust Racers coaster is another fantastic ride in the park, it was a distant second to this amazing experience.

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Discovery Kingdom Medusa

This trip was a bit of a blur and I had to look over the attraction list carefully to make the call. Like all Six Flags parks, it's heavy on the coasters and thrill rides. Based on the details I've read, and the light theming that helps this ride stand out a bit more, I'll give the top spot to Medusa. The sheer number of twists and inversions, along with the top speed of 65 MPH, make this a wild ride that has to be up there among the top coasters in the country.

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California Adventure Incredicoaster

They've done a lot work to improve this park since the shaky early days when it felt like a park that was easy to skip in favor of spending the day at Disneyland. I was reminded of just how many great attractions they have these days, in particular Radiator Springs Racers and the Incredicoaster. While Radiator Springs has excellent production value and the theming is top tier, I have to give it to Incredicoaster for its surprisingly intense and fun ride experience. It's a rare proper coaster at a Disney theme park and not one that should be missed. As ever, it's best experienced at night when the boardwalk amusement park lighting is on full display.

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Disneyland The Haunted Mansion

Whuff. This is the toughest elimination process of all of the parks I visited. There are so many excellent and classic attractions here. Once again I have to swing between slower dark rides and more intense action rides, but my final picks come down to Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye or The Haunted Mansion (again). Both rides tell intriguing stories and have lots of captivating imagery, though of course Indiana Jones is a much more action-packed experience than Haunted Mansion, even if it also features supernatural terrors. If you told me I could only ride one of these for the rest of my life... it's Haunted Mansion. Of course it is! The facade may be the more quaint Southern plantation house that fits in with New Orleans Square, but inside it's all ghostly mood and that singular Paul Frees voiceover that creates the terrifying character of the Ghost Host, guiding you along on your brush with the spirits. They only want to socialize.

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Universal Studios Hollywood The Simpsons Ride

Perhaps it's sacrilege not to give this one to the Studio Tour, but when I think about this park and what I'm there to see, it's The Simpsons Ride and Springfield USA. It's a more expansive version of the experience at Orlando, including a "secret" Krusty the Clown room above the Krusty Burger, and in general the area has a more complete feeling to it, perhaps due to the fact that there's not a huge open lagoon across the way. The Simpsons Ride itself is certainly an antique in Universal park terms, rivaled only by the E.T. ride at Orlando since The Simpsons Ride was a reskin of the Back to the Future ride that opened in 1991. But it's a great time on the ride. The jokes making fun of theme parks still land and it's the kind of humor you would never see at Disney. We all dread the day when Universal has to give The Simpsons back to Disney for them to jam into their parks somewhere in a undoubtedly lesser capacity, but until then, I still happily return to Springfield in Hollywood any chance I get.

[idreamofthemeparks]

Funny enough Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage didn't trigger my submechanophobia in the slightest. Well, except when we passed the anglerfish whose show lighting was broken and I could just barely see its outline in the darkness and it was huge and right by the window. Not too big a fan of that.

[tinkemon2003]

I went to thorpe park! :DD gues what my fave rollercoaster is XD

[yupi-pawlett-72]

I was inspired by a height meter in an amusement park (the attraction itself was installed in 2005) and I thought that it would be cool to draw a girl from there.

Plus, here I tried a thick line instead of a thin one.

[altonkacey]

Land of legends was fuckin sick.

Got on every ride and a few waterslides - I even got onride videos and pictures for Hypercoaster and typhoon. Hypercoaster has those onride cameras mounted onto the front of the trains (I looked like I was gonna cry the whole time)

Was very sick of the queue jumpers though.