ECZenith Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Part 1/5: The Disneyland Resort Sooo the transition of me moving from a quiet to New England town to California's 951 is almost complete... I've been visiting my friends in SoCal that I'll be living with as of next month and of course, hitting the theme parks whenever I'm in the area. On this July trip, I ended up visiting Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure, Legoland, Knott's, Universal Studios Hollywood and Pacific Park. I leave you with a picture of the scary-ass sunwheel. Thanks for checking out the photos and legoland will be posted next! Let me ask you something, when the ride comes into the station and the music comes to an end, do you hear a really creepy, weird last line of music? I heard it last time but not this time... Am I hearing things? I don't miss the Rockin' soundtrack at all. Into the tube so we can keep Anaheim nice and quiet... It just looks so cool. What can I say? Get ready screamers... Let's not forget the best ride here and it's great single rider line! Construction shot of Midway Mania, can't wait to see how Disney does Spidey technology. Our group split up here to take advantage of Soarin's single rider line, otherwise a 45 minute wait. Rumor has it Orange Stinger is going bye-bye so I took a spin, oh yeah, plus it's a fun ride. It really does smell like animal crackers! They should use the onboard TVs for more than just the beginning of the ride. After a quick runthrough of the animation building, we checked out Monsters Inc. DCA time! We waited only about 5 minutes for my beloved Tower Of Terror. A shot of the castle, it looks a little bigger in this shot... not really... but whatever. Matterhorn gave us an absolutely insanely faster than normal ride, we thought we were going to derail! Haunted Mansion was a walkon, and a GREAT ride as always. My first time riding the Cali Pirates... WAY better than WDW's, wasn't expecting the drop! Area 51... I mean 33... And wouldn't you know he said yes! 3 minutes later we were boarding our EMV. So Indiana Jones Adventure, which is easily the best dark ride on the planet, has an hour long wait. We take a shot in the dark and ask the fastpass collector if we can have a fastpass... (they always have extras apparently) Coming into the station platform. Wheeeee! The mountain itself. "Just missing" the t-rex bones! Seeing as I never seem to get photos of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, I really laid it on thick this time... Space thingy... My favorite ride at Disneyland: Space Mountain, only a 10 minute wait plus a fastpass for later. I liked the ride alot! I don't think it was overhyped at all and it was definately alot of fun. I respected the park's no-flash rule and snapped only this one photo of the crabs at the unloading dock. Getting closer to the loading platform... and getting more and more excited to finally ride the subs! Plenty of time to take some decent photos! The line for Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage was about an hour and a half upon park opening and we hit this ride first before it got busier. To this! Just thought I'd throw this one in here... It amazes me that in a span of only a few months we've gone from this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted July 14, 2007 Author Share Posted July 14, 2007 Part 2/5: Legoland I had never been to any of the Legoland Parks so I thought this would be a good stop on my trip. The Stratosphere Tower complete with working rides! The new Las Vegas addition is very impressive. The detail in Miniland USA is amazing! Here's New York The model shop where all of Legoland's complex structures are built. New this year is Splash Battle, it was pretty good, my first time trying one of these out. More of the Kuka Robocoasters We did the 5th program which is quite intense. Knight's Tournament was my favorite ride in the park, what a surprise! The last of the three coasters is Coastersaurus, which is more of a kiddy coaster. Riders go around the circuit twice, a credit... The zigzag portions of track Project X Project X is a fun but overbraked mouse coaster One of The Dragon's trains The Dragon is a family sized coaster that begins with a lego character dark ride segment. Here you can see its elaborate station. The entry gate to Legoland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted July 14, 2007 Author Share Posted July 14, 2007 Part 3/5: Knott's I got into Knott's with late entry with the intent of hitting the rides I missed last time I visited. Unfortunately, the log ride was still closed but I finally got on Ghostrider and the new Sierra Sidewinder, as well as some rides on Xcelerator, Jaguar and Silver Bullet. I managed to squeeze in a night ride on Xcerator and one last ride on Sierra before heading out. I had a much better visit this time compared to March when many rides were closed for refurb. No Supreme Scream this time, this was a strictly coasters and Calico hit of Knott's My favorite element on the ride Silver Bullet's vertical loop My first ride on Ghostider, it was rough but way better than I expected in the thrills department! Fun but short sums it up pretty good The new Sierra Sidewinder Inside Calico Calico Mine Ride is a long unique dark ride, one of my favorite things about Knott's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted July 14, 2007 Author Share Posted July 14, 2007 Part 4/5: Universal Studios Hollywood My first time here as well, USH blew my expectations away and is on par if not better than the Orlando Park. The tram tour was amazing and the year round House of Horrors is a great touch! The dropping Jeep scene Bad dinosaurs... Nice dinosaurs... Being a fan of IOA's River Adventure I couldn't wait to try out the original JP. The loading platform for Mummy, the single rider line will fix that 45 minute wait in no time. I definately prefer the Orlando version but I'm thankful the two rides are different. The dark ride scenes in Hollywood are really good IMO! The Earthquake scene Makes flying home a little uneasy The backlot tram tour was a nice 45 minute ride with several show scenes. I really miss Kongfrontation in Orlando so i t was good to see it again here. First stop, the new Universal's House of Horrors, could have used a few more actors but a great walkthrough in July was not expected. Really well themed and some good scares! The famous Universal Studios globe Walking down Citywalk to get to the park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted July 14, 2007 Author Share Posted July 14, 2007 Part 5/5: Pacific Park After Universal I took the short drive down Santa Monica Blvd for a quick spin on Westcoaster as it was closed in March. One last shot of Laguna Beach, random, but thought I'd drop it here. Thanks for reading! Onride photo on WC The bunny hill run Around the first helix The small hill before the helix Pacific Park's ferris wheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtizzle Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Really nice TR. Good photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealTinkerbell Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Oh, when did you visit Universal? I probably saw you(I work on Revenge of the Mummy). You're one of the few lucky people that actually get away with taking a picture of the loading platform. But I'm glad you enjoyed it! Great TR!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kraxleRIDAH Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Nice photos and TR's. Honestly, did you or did you not made a visit to Laguna because of that MTV show? I know some people that were in the third season of that show and they've mentioned how much tourism (in a bad way-- increased traffic, etc.) and out-of-town lurkers has skyrocketed because of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandaman Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Quite the well-rounded trip! I desperately need to get out to California one of these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted July 14, 2007 Author Share Posted July 14, 2007 Actually not one person said anything about me taking a photo in the Mummy's station, guess I got lucky! As for Laguna, I've heard of the TV show but I've never seen it, not really a fan of MTV's recent shows... I wanted to go because I heard it was the most beautiful beach in Cali, and I'd be surprised to see if there's one nicer. I really liked the artsy feel to the town itself, just an overall great, alive atmosphere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Great TR of the SoCal parks! All of the parks (except Knott's) looked great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealTinkerbell Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Actually not one person said anything about me taking a photo in the Mummy's station, guess I got lucky! NICE! And I do have to agree with you, the Florida one kicks our butt...JUST A LITTLE BIT! Because they have fire...and two launches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted July 15, 2007 Author Share Posted July 15, 2007 I wasn't expecting the launch both times I rode and I really liked the mummies that dropped down right before the launch, they scared the hell outta me! One thing I liked about the Hollywood version was the longer more coasterish backwards section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpenguy Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Matterhorn gave us an absolutely insanely faster than normal ride, we thought we were going to derail! I love riding Matterhorn A with a really heavy sled, it's just so outrageously bumpy and fast. You'd really think it's going more than 20mph... Did I just call you fat? ...seriously though, nice TR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBen Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Wow! From one of the Knott's Mine Ride photos, I can't believe one of my old coworkers is still there...two years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 Here's another photo from the same ride, is that him? You have some good eyes my friend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBen Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 ^ Yep, that's him lol! See, Knott's has a notoriously high turnover rate so I'm kind of surprised that he's still stuck with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Great TR, seemed like a great time. I'm planning to go to universal next month , haven't been there since the mummy opened . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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