Paul Arthur

I agree. The last time we visited, we had a similar experience as Jahan: we were done by 4pm, and we had done everything including all the shows [that were running at the time]. Some attractions twice. In hindsight, there just didn't seem to be enough there to warrant driving out and spending the money.

Seeing Big Thunder at Disney Paris makes me nostalgic.... we loved that version so much! The Roadshow's been so much fun to keep up with! Maybe I can make it to Worlds of Fun to meet up in August...

Honest question.... you say new ending. We went on it about 6 months after it first opened and I remember an ending fairly similar to the one you mentioned. Was there a different one at first? Anything has to be better than the ending we experienced... It was pretty bad.

Raging Bull was the surprise highlight of the visit for us as well. I agree about the American Eagle line... it seemed like it took forever just to get to the line. Iron Wolf was just as painful for us... a neat landmark for the coaster industry, but not a ride I'll be getting back on anytime in the future. At least not without a football helmet and protective cup on. By the end of the day, we were so tired of seeing those same few commercials and music videos in every queue with televisions. I used to like the song Superstition.... used to..... I grew up with the now departed Zambezi Zinger at Worlds of Fun, so the seating on Whizzer was like time traveling into the past. The ZZ didn't even used to have seat belts. And yes, these coasters are twice as much fun after dark. ZZ used to have a cave that was pitch black at night. I miss it so........

It was fun last Saturday. Not much trim and fairly smooth overall.

Haux: I wouldn't want you to not ride Dark Knight just because we didn't enjoy it. I do think it's important to always give attractions a chance, as everyone's opinions and tastes differ. It just wasn't our cup of tea, and in the words of Sly and the Family Stone "Different strokes for different folks"...

Not sure what your budget is... but the standard flash pass really helped us last week to ride what we wanted on a crowded day.

Regarding my review of the Dark Knight coaster... I acknowledge that all rides have strong points and weak points... In my opinion, the weak points of this particular ride overpowered the strong. I simply felt that the theming and story elements disappeared after the preshow movie ended, which I did like very much. We also felt that the actual ride itself, outside of theming, wasn't as new and thrilling as SF marketing led people to believe. I know for sure that we weren't the only ones to feel this way. In fact, I would say that over 75% of the people exiting the ride had the exact same comments that we did.

Part 3: Finally, the parking lot exit..... we sat in this same spot for close to an hour without moving. I'll take this last moment to wish everyone a fun and safe 4th of July holiday! We headed over to Superman for one last flight, even if the clouds do look like impending doom. Who needs a water park? Apparently not these two... Even with the lightning, Batman is still running. That doesn't look good... All of a sudden, a thunderstorm passes over and would stick around for 2 hours. It's such a fun, relaxing ride through the woods. I grew up with the sibling of this ride, Zambezi Zinger. The ZZ was my first and favorite ride as a child, until they ran into part replacement problems and sent it to Brazil. This was a big highlight for me... It surprises me how much I like Vertical Velocity... it doesn't look like it should be that fun. I'm not sure that Karaoke is a good idea unless there's a bar nearby... Up next was a very predictable ride on American Eagle... it seems that Red always wins. Still a fun ride, though. Rebekah poses with a very tall Marvin the Martian

Part 2 of our Six Flags Great America visit: But I still feel the need to take a cliche picture as we pass by. As we were still a bit banged up from Iron Wolf, we passed up Demon's Arrowness for a while... I was suckered into thinking that this ICEE stand would have Coke flavored ICEEs... alas, it did not. I'm not sure why this train looks so bored out of their minds... as all of our RB rides on this visit were fantastic. The new paint job looked shiny and beautiful! Now onto another highlight of the day... Raging Bull. Lot's of promotion for Disney/Pixar's Wall-E... We're in Six Flags, right? Not only did we both walk off with raging head and ear aches, but my ability to have children later in life is now in question. If you value your bits-n-pieces, think twice before riding. Next is an ill-fated visit to the Iron Wolf... I'm convinced that it's impossible for a guy not to look perverted while getting into the restraints.... see guy in Khaki shorts for example. Rebekah buys a new hat to take home and add to her collection. In case you can't tell... we greatly enjoyed it! We ended up riding 3 times that day... all in the front. Rebekah is a big Superman fan, in case you hadn't noticed... she would have given the big symbol a smooch, had it not also been a Six Flags walkway. BTW... this is the first time for both of us on a genuine flying coaster. We need something to boost our mood after the Dark Knight debacle. Rebekah has the right idea....

Rebekah and I visited Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois this past Saturday. The visit showed some promise, as we would be riding two attractions that were new experiences for both of us - one being Dark Knight, the new indoor roller coaster that is receiving quite a bit of press. Unfortunately, as I'll describe later, Dark Knight did nothing but disappoint all that mistakenly made their way through its entrance after a 2+ hour wait. But, that's not to say that there were some good surprises along the way too. So, off to the pictures we go..... So.... the ride pretty much sucked like a 10 gallon ShopVac. The show scenes were lackluster, animation and effects seemed non-existent, and the ride was just Rajun Cajun in the dark. Boo, Six Flags, boo. Our recommendation: if the wait is anymore than 5 minutes, don't bother... it's not worth it. Facial recognition screen that turns guests into Joker's henchmen. Hallway between the movie preshow and the load platform. Preshow movie featuring Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent... they spent a lot of money on this... why doesn't the rest of the attraction match in quality? The inside queue, which is housed in the old Theatre Royale. The theming in this area was pretty minimal and wasn't doing much to bolster my confidence in the ride. Also, remember that 120 minute wait sign? The aforementioned lockers are cleaned out every 2 hrs... so if you're experience takes 130 minutes for some reason, too bad... hope you didn't put anything valuable in there. Let me attempt to describe the insanity that was occurring when I took this photo. The door host is telling people with loose articles (every 3rd person or so) that due to the new Six Flags policy, the articles must be placed in a locker that costs $1 before they can ride. While these people jump out of line to go and rent a locker, the rest of the line gets held and waits for those people to return and get back in line. This means the line was stopping every minute to wait for someone to return. Rebekah and I were told that we both had to go and stow our 'loose articles' which were a small camera case that clipped onto my belt and her small purse which tied around her waist. After convincing him that they weren't coming off, he just waved us on through to the inside queue. The expression on everyone's face illustrates the story pretty well. Soooo.... here starts our miserable experience that is 'Waiting for people with loose articles' Note the 120 minute wait sign on the left. At least the front facade looks nice... better than the one in NJ, in my opinion. The Dark Knight entrance sits right next to the Superman entrance. There's a long line weaving all through the park... I can only assume it's for Dark Knight. "Yeah, we know there are like 3,000 people behind you in line for these... but we're only going to open 2 registers" You WILL watch this tutorial.... and you WILL like it. Luckily, we were within the first 50 people at the FlashPass pickup. FlashPass building.... prepare to be slammed. While waiting for the chains to drop, Rebekah scopes out the map to find the FlashPass building. What a beautiful day! I think those meteorologists were crazy when they said it was going to rain today. Rebekah prepares her pre-printed admissions. We see the Dark Knight show building behind Superman from another angle here. We thought we had found a fast exit parking spot, but they changed the exit routing at the end of the night, so we just got hosed. BTW... the back overflow lot [where we were] is now $15. What used to be the regular parking lot is now $25. Is it just me, or is this a huge ripoff? The Dark Knight show building hides behind Superman as we enter the parking lot. Rebekah has her pre-printed parking pass ready to go. After 2 hours of driving, we're finally there. Hello Sears Tower, we see you. It's early Saturday morning, and we're ready to make the 2hr drive towards Gurnee, IL. If you get the chance to see one, the Cirque tent tours are a lot of fun! On Friday, we stopped at the United Center to see KOOZA, the latest touring production from Cirque Du Soleil. Our favorite billboard of the trip. On our dinner break, Rebekah decided to pick up some Indiana Jones Legos and, of course, can't wait to put them together. Chicago, here we come. St. Louis and Memphis... you'll have to wait. We left Kansas City Thursday afternoon.

Both The Rattler at Six Flags San Antonio and The Boss at Six Flags St. Louis right after they both opened.

Here's a picture of that line halting experience I spoke of earlier.

We went on Dark Knight at Great America this past Saturday and it sucked as much as described above at Great Adventure. Rebekah and I got off both wondering how they expected people to be satisfied with the ride after waiting 2+ hours. It truly was the most pathetic ride experience we had both had in a long time. If Joker and/or Batman were featured somewhere during the ride, neither one of us saw them. I took some pictures of the line and load platform that I'll hopefully be able to post tomorrow in a TR. Also, the 'no loose articles' policy really put a damper on the whole experience. Long story short, they stopped the queue every 5 people or so to force someone to get out of line and go put stuff in a locker, only to hold up the line the whole time and wait for those guests to get back in the queue.

Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland Paris... the first time we went on it was such an awesome surprise!

No.......nothing can ever be that bad...... ever.

I work for a haunt industry company that has tried to sell WOF on the concept of a train haunt for several years now. I wouldn't put it past them to put the money into another Halloween attraction, as the haunt director for WOF is very high up in the CF Halloween chain. I will be there for a Halloween site meeting later this summer. Maybe I'll be able to find something out then.

I think it was an idea that seemed great at the time, but since there was no counter to ration how many were given out... it became kind of a mess later on in the evening when everyone returned to use them. I suspect that the fastpass return line was as long, if not longer, than the standby line.

This is very true... we spent a total of 10 days split between London and Paris before going to Disney. We had similar line problems at many of the Paris tourist attractions..... but very few, if any, in London. BTW Nemesis... We enjoyed our stay in your city very much and hope to return there sometime soon.

Awesome! Thanks Elissa...

Part 3.... Disneyland park continued... I leave you with a pretty shot of the castle all lit up. Main Street all lit up as we left. We finished up with one last ride on Space Mountain. As the sun sets, we got the first beautiful sky in 2 days. By the end of the day, the brick work was not finished. For dinner, we went to the all you can eat Plaza Gardens buffet on Main Street. One of the many overflowing trashcans we saw at the Disneyland park. These Lumiere 15 year anniversary figures were all around the center hub. This was the only time we saw Ratatouille characters out. You'd think that a popular and current movie set in Paris would be more promoted here. We caught the end of the 'Candlebration' show. Outside we saw what looked to be this guy dealing something looking like packs of drugs out to the girls. The hats just made this all the more strange. Under the castle is an animatronic dragon. You can easily miss the entrance if you don't look hard. As we exit the Labyrinth, we can't help but wonder if we're in Anaheim..... From atop this castle, we see the back of Sleeping Beauty castle and the Tower of Terror in the distance. This was closed all 3 days we were there. Distant view of Space Mountain. As you can see the crowds are getting bigger. From atop the castle, we can see the back of the Pirates show building facade. View from the top of the castle. The Queen of Hearts' castle. Back of the Queen of Hearts' castle. This very visible area was really attractive... Most of the pop up figures weren't working. The eyes spin around. Notice the kid freely climbing around on set pieces. Into Alice's Labyrinth. Many of the topiary figures had not filled out yet. I think this is a frog.... It's like dinner theatre... only with concession stand food and and more modern dance. For lunch, we headed in to see the Lion King show. One of the Tweedles came over to sit with Rebekah on the bench to keep her company. I like the expression of the guy sitting next to her. Jessie was pushed up against the same fence into a position that, I imagine, can't be comfortable. Characters get off the train only to be mobbed by children wanting autographs. Scrooge was pushed up against a fence to the point of crushing. This character train travels down through Main Street every hour. The first couple times, the theme is catchy.... after 5 times it really drives you insane. We checked out the Tarzan show... basically 30 minutes of group acrobatics and tumbling. There was a lot throughout the park that needed to be repainted. Refurbishing one of the brick walkways. This version features the better blasters that aren't attached. Buzz's nose was off from his projection. It was quite disturbing in person. Over to Buzz Lightyear. .....Two more people were treated for head bangs by park medics. As we were standing near the exit..... At the top of the launch, just before you go into the show building. Inside the tube, right before launch. I decided to give it one more chance... this time in the front seat.

There's still some more to come that wouldn't fit in that one...

Part 2 continued... This ride was no different... we sat in the back and both felt like we suffered mild concussions.

As promised.... part 2 of 3 of my Disneyland Paris Resort trip report. (This time in correct order ) This section features our visits to the Disneyland park over 3 days time, Tower of Terror advertising, and other miscellaneous 'stuff'. If you missed part 1, go check it out as it features the Studios park and other miscellaneous. I like the outdoor load platform... it really cuts down on light spill inside the main show building. Now for Space Mountain. Rebekah makes the grimace face, as the last time she rode this was extremely rough and gave her a major headache Just a friendly piece of advice... two grown adults do not fit into the Orbitron rockets without leaving traumatic and scarring memories. That didn't keep us from trying though. The Nautilus walk through is a nice break if you want to get away from the weather for a few minutes. Now, over to Discoveryland. As you can see, the fog hasn't burned off completely. They laid out a nice selection of cereal, fruit, meat, cheese, pastries, coffee, juice, and milk. The atmosphere was nice and the space wasn't crowded at all. Time for breakfast. Our hotel stay came with a breakfast each morning. You choose between eating at the hotel food court or one of the park locations. I highly recommend any of the park locations, as the one at the hotel was a nightmare of chaotic proportions. Some of the miniature sets are worth seeing... if the wait isn't too long. The Casey Jr. Circus Train This just makes me sad that it's only a restaurant and not the ride. Obligatory self photo on the Teacups. I think we take this every time we ride this at any of the parks. It was strange to see the teapot not as the turntable centerpiece. The Snow White queue features pro-rodent architecture. Behold the unbelievable... I feel unfairly represented in this scene... we're not all farmers in the Midwest.... While we were waiting for our breakfast reservation time, we checked out some of Fantasyland during Extra Magic Hours. The top of the castle got lost in the fog. The next morning, we woke up early to very foggy surroundings. Current Disneyland park map. When it's wet, the floor under the train station was like an ice skating rink. We watched several people get 'owned' by the floor. The rains start up again as we leave for the night. The views on this ride at night are even better! I highly recommend going after dark. As I said before... IMO, this version of Big Thunder Mountain beats out all others! There must have been some major issues with fastpass distribution for this ride, as the fastpass wait time was about 45 minutes. Here we see a 5th train being added into rotation. The storms quickly passed and we headed on to Big Thunder Mountain for a night ride. We took this little-known back hallway behind Main Street back to Frontierland to see if we can use our fastpass before leaving. There is one of these hallways that runs the entire length of Main Street on each side. They are usually less crowded during times of heavy traffic. Rebekah watches the sky as the crowds scatter to get out of the rain. Just after the parade, another storm stirs up. This lady was working entirely too hard to get a souvenir streamer for her kid. Though I'm not entirely convinced that Aerial's tummy overflow was because of an insulated suit..... The characters were all wearing insulated suits under their costumes, so they looked like they'd been eating too many pastries. Jessie had some trouble on the float. She got completely caught up in her leash. By the time she was freed by her wrangler it was time for the other characters to come back to the float. Is it just me or does the Army man face look like Harrison Ford? Time for the parade... This wasn't at Disney.... but rather at a bird market in Paris. It was the overall trip winner for worst toupee, of which we also saw many. Rebekah had to get closer to get a better look. Speaking of strange hairstyles... this was our winner for best mullet we saw at Disney. We saw many, but this one was fantastic! We saw several cast members with haircuts that would never be approved by parks in the states. This was really strange. They pull kitchen staff from the restaurants to do parade walk duty. Waiting for the parade, people just go wherever they want. They hop railings to stand in the grass, they stand on fences, and there are no cast members to pay any attention to this. I now present a rarity... a hand written fastpass. We enjoyed this version so much, we decided to go and get a fastpass. The cast member said they were out, but he was still hand-writing some for people who asked. The views from this version of Big Thunder Mountain are awesome! Being out on its own island really makes this ride a standout. There are some exciting surprises for those who have never been on this version. From the exit of Phantom Manor, we can see our next ride... Big Thunder Mountain! The view of the house after you exit. I know I bring up a lot of the problems this ride had, but don't get me wrong... I love Haunted Mansion in all it's incarnations... that's why I hate to see a version of it not maintained making for an incomplete guest experience. The singing busts are only a quartet here. Unfortunately, there was no audio at all in the Phantom Canyon scene. The doomed bride was a storyline that wasn't completely clear, as we had no doombuggy audio 2 of the 3 times, and the 3rd time was all French. I got the basics of the story... but it would have been nice to hear some of the details. The load area of this version is quite different. Unfortunately, the lighting change effect wasn't working. The less than patient French crowd that shared the elevator with us was finally let off and we enjoyed an uncramped minute in the gallery queue. You can see a portrait of the bride at the end of the hallway. Like Pirates, Phantom Manor was plagued by numerous mechanical and audio problems. On this visit, the elevator refused to move once the doors were closed and there was no audio track. Thus, we stood in the elevator for about 2 minutes with nothing to listen to and no lighting/blackout at the end. The hanging figure is so hard to see in this version, that it didn't really matter anyway. Waiting for the next group to load. This version enters through the front doors, like in Anaheim. Closeup of Phantom Manor signage. Phantom Manor was also a walk on. Good thing we're heading inside, since yet another storm is passing through. Heading over to Phantom Manor, we see a closer view of the Molly Brown. Big Thunder Mountain sits out on its own island in this park, which the Molly Brown circles on its cruise. From here we can see our next two ride destinations. Now over to Frontierland... The Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril coaster features quite a bit of a perilous temple... not so much (if any) of Indiana Jones. I was hoping they would be playing him up more since the movie's coming out so soon. Apparently this is where everyone is... we decided to fastpass it. From the treehouse we see our next destination... The views from the treehouse were pretty good. There are several walkways and caves to roam around in this section. Over the Adventure Isle bridge... It was pretty much a walk on... but that didn't keep this family from cutting under ropes and walking right past Rebekah. Inside we got shoved out of the way at least 3 times for people to walk past us. The ride has many parts exclusive to this version. Many audio cues were not playing throughout the ride and other mechanical effects such as cannon shots and splashes weren't working. More outside the Pirates entrance... Theming outside the entrance... Heading over to Pirates... You can really see here how empty the walkways were this day. Our first stop is Adventureland. The first of many storms is on it's way in. The clouds were moving really fast all day. Sleeping Beauty castle... Stage for 'Candlebration' in front of the castle. These banners line both sides of Main street. The 15 and the stars are internally lit and look really nice at night. The information board shows the really low wait times. Only 25 minutes for Peter Pan.... the park must be empty. This wouldn't last though... Days 2 and 3 filled up fast. This kid was cracking me up... he stood alone in the Emporium entrance with his finger up his nose sadly watching people walk by as his parents shopped. For early afternoon on Main Street, it was pretty deserted. They were having numerous problems at the turnstiles. This guy had to wait about 5 minutes while they figured out what was wrong with his pass. And as we found, the French are not a patient people. Heading under the hotel to the admission gates. The entrance plaza to the Disneyland park/hotel. ..... or right to the Disneyland park. Once through security, you have the choice to go left to the Studios park.... Closeup I took later in the day. Once through the bag check, we turn around and see the observation balloon. Walking towards the bag check, they had several mounted security personnel roaming around. More promotion heading toward the entrance to the parks. As soon as you get off the bus, you see promotion for Tower of Terror. Let's head out to the park! I can't imagine why.... wouldn't you feel safe at night knowing this was going on in a room next to yours. Rebekah is a little worried about a hidden door next to our room with a warning plaque on it. If you like sleepless nights on a bed that pokes giant springs into your body, then this place is for you. If not, then stay away! Oh, and the food court is pretty much a train wreck in the mornings. Arriving at our hotel.... the Hotel Santa Fe. I'm convinced that many of the French think all Americans are cowboys. Arriving at the Disneyland Paris Resort train station. We loved the Orangina machines that were on the RER and Metro platforms. This was definitely our favorite! Taking the RER out to Marne La Vallee Chessy takes about 45 minutes from the middle of downtown Paris. These buses were all over Paris. On some of them, the graphic wrapped all the way around the bus. These billboards were in almost every Metro subway station platform in all of Paris. There were also many television commercials that played several times a day on Paris stations. These exit doors were in several of the Metro subway stations in Paris. This billboard in London featured elevator doors at the bottom that closed and opened to reveal new faces each time that were sent via cell phone. We started seeing ads for Tower of Terror as far away as London.

Unfortunately, we never had the chance to ride in the observation balloon. The stormy weather was so unpredictable throughout our 3 day visit, that it was constantly 'downed' due to wind/rain. It also never flew at night, to our knowledge. This may change once the busier summer season starts. We could see the balloon when it was at viewing height from many sections of both parks, so I'd bet that it has a pretty good view. Regarding Knottslover77's response as to the accuracy of the times and facts I listed.... I simply relayed the differences between average wait times and availability of fastpasses for these two rides as we observed them on our 3 day visit. I'm not sure how this information can be incorrect. Anywho.... as Olimonn says... enough with off topic. I should be able to get part 2 of the report up by this afternoon, other work permitting .