Garet

Have they finally stopped balancing the ride on purpose to stop it from flipping? People talk about the other Zacspins with positive reviews when it's unbalanced, did SFMM do something different to theirs that is making the flipping uncomfortable?

Intamin uses Indrivetec. http://www.indrivetec.ch That looks to be a subsidiary of Intamin AG, which would classify Intamin's LSMs/LIMs as "in-house". Unless it isn't a subsidiary, in which case, ignore my comment! Looked at the intamin site to see if there was any mention, I had no idea Intamin had an office in Korea not too far from Gangnam (from the song Gangnam Style). I must have walked past the building 20 times and had no idea Intamin had an office there. It's really close to Lotte World, which makes sense considering the number of intamin rides they own

Mass Effect = EA Oops, for some reason I had it in my head that bioware had worked with ubisoft.

With the recent announcement for Great America, I wonder if we'll see a clone of the Mass Effect ride at this park.

No saki for Mickey?

The new funhouse/play area I pictured above will open soon, unlike the old fun house this one will probably be children only. Source

Though the roller-coaster is not going away, and we've yet to see any B&M coaster be destroyed, are those the first ever used pieces of B&M track to hit the scrap pile?

Looks more like an advert for the 4th movie than a tease for the ride based on the time when HRRR was being constructed.

But a lot of these rides for Intamin at Cedar Point were new at the time or pushing the boundaries, I think people forget when they see a new B&M somewhere like Cedar Point or elsewhere that there have been a few others of that type to iron out a lot of the bugs. I remember when B&M tried something new with their flying coaster. I was at Alton towers a few months after AIR first opened and I remember a lot of reports of it being temperamental leading up to that and sure enough it was closed when we drove up to try it out. It was on and off throughout the day and luckily we were there when the line opened but it was 4 hour waits after that with a lot of down-time. Another example with AT would be the smiler that had a lot of issues which was new and that was Gerstlauer. I think it's a little unfair to say it's only Intamin at Cedar Point when their rides were trying new things as opposed to the other companies building things that had been done before.

I attached a picture of the old trains from my last visit. It looks like you have a lot more freedom with the new ones. I agree Sea Paradise was a surprise highlight for me. I thought it would be one of those parks I visit once and then it hits the low priority pile on return visits but it always ends up being one of the highest for me when I go back to Japan. I need to visit Cosmoworld with TPR, on my last visit I ran out of momney after the two coasters, flume and big wheel. I'd love to see them one day get a one pay wristband. These were the old trains on my last visit.

I think he means this part but I agree I don't think it's a corkscrew. I think the angle of the photo makes some of the supports look almost like they could be attached to inverted track but to me I just see an overbanked turn. If I squint hard enough at the 2 supports I can see where it would look as if the train enters on the left and corkscrews over coming towards the spot from where the photo was taken from. I think this is the bit he's referring to from another angle

This comparison shot was posted earlier, but that's it: https://twitter.com/made_in_USJ/status/646152504258924545

If it hadn't been Frozen, a lot of people would have just complained it wasn't Frozen. No matter what somebody wouldn't have been happy.

Everland is getting pandas for 2016: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1585731#p1585731 and a new fun house: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=70969&p=1633612#p1633612 Whatever is going on in Global Villages building could also be 2016 with the timing of when it was shuttered but it could also be 2017. I'm thinking 2016 since the flume ride had a similar replacement schedule last year. Also a hotel resort in 2017 to replace Eagle's Fortress whenever that thread opens up.

Speaking of adding Frozen to things, I was always curious why Mickey's Philharmagic at the other parks never got any additions or upgrades as new films came out. Is it just a case of if it isn't broke, don't fix it? It still looks fantastic but looking at how great the animations is on some of the newest films like Tangled and Frozen, I'd always thought that ride would rotate out segments. It always seemed like an easy way to keep that ride fresh. Maybe I just really want to see Disney do a 4d segment for let it go.

I mentioned in a photo above that I'd read in some Korean newspapers that Everland had closed down their version of it's a small world after 30 years of operation but I hadn't seen any official confirmation, and that it was just shuttered in the picture. My wife managed to find the confirmation though: The translation in the top left corner roughly translates as: come back to find a new look. Makes it sound like we could be seeing a new theme to replace the existing one of "it's a small world" or maybe like the super-flume being an updated new ride that was pretty similar to the old flume, perhaps a new ride very similar to the old one is going to replace the existing 30 year old one? It's nice to see it's not completely going away, though I wasn't a big fan, it never had too long a queue and the ride building was a lot cooler than other rides/restaurants in the park so it always made a great rest-stop to escape the crowds and hot sun during the summer seasons. I also forgot to mention that Everland now sell their own version of glow with the show headbands for the night-time show. Unfortunately even though we arrived before opening, with Halloween being busy we ending up in one of the shuttle buses car parks so we didn't fancy staying until park closure and seeing the show and having to wait out the shuttle buses since traffic was already heavy that weekend due to thanksgiving preparations, we were taking the back-roads and didn't fancy closing traffic.

2 photos of a wider view of Thunder Falls entrance that I forgot to post since I didn't take my camera on the ride, they were on my Iphone and I forgot about them.

I just caught up with this TR now. Great updates, makes me really sad that my Japan trips have never been with TPR. You guys manage to cram in so much more than when I hop over by myself.

I added some of your Super Flume Thunder Falls photos. Thanks, its probably going to be my last Everland update for a little while.

Hey Larry I photographed the new stuff at Everland. However since it's mostly just the new stuff and not park-wide and also pretty negative and references one bad experience as opposed to the park itself I decided not to submit it to the PI but if there's anything you can use, feel free: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=70969

Part 2: Thunder Falls, Miniature Garden and Halloween The other 2015 addition An overview of the queue area Going down.... ....and..... .....sploosh A rarity for Korea, a water ride that actually gets you wet. A look at the boat, the stickers on the back of the characters are starting to peel off already from the water. Interestingly enough I noticed this when I got off, could this ride be the next one to drop the standby line and adopt a reservation only line in the future? Managed to catch a boat on the backwards drop at the same time as the main drop. This had opened 2 days before we visited: a small miniature Everland in the gardens. The gonodolas actually move over the water. A static T Express And Lost Valley. There's also a little train, you can see the trackss at the bottom. Interestingly enough the trail was the original red train and not one of Thomas that currently circles the gardens. A mini version of Everland's big wheel. Unlike the real thing, this one actually turns. The halloween decorations are pretty kid friendly. There was a garden more aimed for adults near T Express. The parade was just finishing as we arrived. This area becomes Walking Dead Square at Halloween. Does anyone remember the skeleton with a bow-tie episode? No? It's probably in season 6. Maybe the area comes more alive at night because all we saw was a couple of pictures like this. There were a couple of zombies, but more Zombie nurse or Zombie soldier outfits than walking dead zombies. The sign where they normally display information about T Express's reservation. The Horror Mazes are ticket based at around 5 dollars each, they can sell out quickly. I believe Everland uses the same 3 attractions each year.... Horror Maze I Horror Maze II and Horror Safari. Since this one can only run for 2 hours it can sell out pretty fast. A quick look around the zombie garden next to T Express. In October on certain Fridays and Saturdays it becomes a paid entry area for the Horror Club with guest DJ's. You do get a nice view of T Express when you trek up to the top.

So we had some friends come out to Korea who hadn't been to Everland for almost 7 years and wanted to go out and visit. I decided to quickly grab some photos before they arrived. Since Halloween is normally quite busy, it's not something i've photographed for TPR before. I went to try out the new Super Flume ride but unfortunately had a really bad experience with a queue jumping family. The Korean man and his wife decided since they had young-ish children (the height restriction is a meter) that they could let some of the family (including adults) wait outside the ride and then rang the family when they had waited out the 70 minute line to increase their group (I understand a bit of Korean being married to one.) Despite all the signs saying no queue jumping, once they got to the end of line they rang the rest of the group who pushed past over 1 hour of switchbacks and when they got to me (about 2-3 mins from riding) I refused to let them pass. The man started screaming at me (in broken English) that it was none of my business, I had to be a gentlemen, that this was Korea (I pointed out the signs that said no cuts in Korean and also a world-wide policy of theme parks) and then using the excuse the little girl had needed the bathroom and calling me out on that. The man then was screaming at me to shut-up when I said no and tried to jump the fence to hit me. This was all right next to the station where the operators and staff did nothing. Here's the thing though, if I'd seen some people with children leave the queue to run them the bathroom, of course I would have let them back in. Some-one not going before they get in line happens sometimes but for the whole line nobody went past me to leave and they were using their phones to constantly inform the rest of the group where they were in the line. They had never set foot in the line and even if it really was the younger ones needed the bathroom that's not an excuse to then skip the complete whole line when so many other families are patiently waiting. With the guy getting more and more angry and wide-eyed and only one young girl on the staff trying to defuse the situation, I ended up apologizing to him and giving a deep bow that I hadn't let his family "go to the bathroom", I didn't want to see some-one like the staff get hurt because of a situation I made and it seemed like the only way to get him to calm down even though the people had already gone past me by this point that he wasn't going to stop. The staff then put the group on the next boat and tried to put me right behind them so I had to ask to wait a few boats because I didn't want the guy waiting for me at the exit. Being in Korea, i've got used to a lot of line jumping but to deliberately time it to skip the whole line was not something I was OK with. It was also disappointing when my wife spoke to management later that although they apologized for the staff's lack of action in a violent situation, they informed her that they hand out passes when people leave the queue to let them back in and that they'd asked the staff at the station about the incident who had said the people had a pass which 1) nobody left the line in the first place so how did they get the pass that said they left? 2) if that is the case and whole groups can leave for over an hour for the "bathroom" why have signs throughout the line saying you cannot cut in line? and 3) They had nothing like a pass when they tried to cut. It might have been taken away at the entrance of the ride instead of the station but then why did the station staff say they saw a pass when we spoke to management? Everland management have promised to email me sometime this week though, so I'll see what they say but was I in the wrong? Should it be different for a family that cuts than groups of teenagers? Anyway I've been too negative and this is probably going to be my last Everland TR for a while. I'll still do TR's for the other Korean parks but I feel like after 6 years of doing these TR's and with pandas for 2016 and a hotel for 17, I feel like I've photographed everything that needs to be seen. It was funny having our friends out from 7 years ago to find out that nearly all the new additions were either things that were already there in other attractions (the new safari ride's animals including the white lions, zebras, giraffes and elephants were originally on the original safari) or things the park already had. (another chairlift, another two 3d/4d rides etc) To counter my negativity, I would like to say that the park was running fantastically, you've probably seen from some of my previous TR's we've had some opening hour headaches or rides that we couldn't go on for most of the day due to selling out very fast. For the first time in forever, T Express had no reservation system which meant I could use the single-rider line more than once. It was having a few hiccups due to them letting 2 trains worth of people onto the platform, that by the time they spotted a single-rider seat the gates had already swung shut. Groups moving around also meant a few empty rows that could have sped up the main queue but the T Express crew were hauling and trains were constantly flying out and our group only ever saw 1 or 2 people using the single rider line which meant we never waited more than 3-4 trains so it was definitely worth it. The 4 other bigger rides of the park: Hurricane, X-Train, Double Rock Spin and Let's Twist also didn't seem to have anyone else using the line, so if it's thrill rides you want, you could have all 4 done in no time at all. Most of the other rides and safari rides don't have it so it may be best to hit those first in the morning when you visit. This weekend was also the last weekend for the outdoor section of the water-park and with temperatures of 23C, lines sat at 20 minutes for almost all flumes so timing it for that weekend would be good. The weekdays were walk-on but half of the slides were also closed. The water-park was at capacity most days in the summer with lines of 2-3 hours so trying to time it for end of season is definitely the way to go. Halloween is always one of the busiest times for Everland Updated to include the new mascots The tree all decked out for Halloween This was new this year, I wasn't sure if it was temporary to celebrate the 70th anniversary since Japan but it seems pretty permanent It had sold out by the time we passed again in mid afternoon It's mostly some interactive screens The main floor This used your body for a cannon battle A korean game where you take a "test" I failed, seems about right. An example from the third round The VR room These screens made you use your arms and jump to take a picture. My wife took it seriously. Whereas I went for Korean Regal Harry Potter with a beard. Once your time is up in the museum you get shown a 4D CG film called Pride In Korea of a famous king (who could catch arrows out of mid-air and fire them back at the enemy) and some-one else. It had English subtitles I headed up to see what was left of Eagles Fortress It was a lot more visible than my June update It's all been cleared out now The size of the clearing This was where the station once was. I'd seen some Korean bloggers mention it but the pictures confirm it, a hotel resort is Eagle's Fortress's replacement. A few weeks ago some newspapers reported that Global Village had been retired permanently. I was going to post it but waited to see for myself. It's listed as closed on the sites schedule and it was shuttered when we visited with no signs offering any clue. They could put up a sign saying refurbishment but that worked out so well for Eagle's Fortress for 7 years There's a new fun house/playground to replace the old OZ one after the accident. Construction is coming along nicely. It was just a blank concrete pad when we were here in June. Speaking of updates, here is the panda exhibitions construction site.

I understand what you mean for smaller parks but for some of the bigger ones I respectfully disagree. Maybe i've spent too long in Asia where the crowds can be huge but I don't think for some of the biggest parks it is "horrible guest service" but more a necessary evil sadly especially when they already have 11-12 hour opening times. Tokyo Disneysea, on one of my trips still had 3-4 hour lines after Fantasmic and they wouldn't let people into the lines after the fireworks. I didn't see it as a bad thing, disappointing for me, yes, but understandable that they have to close it an hour or two earlier than the park because the "line is long." Surely in that case it's necessary to ensure smooth operations, I mean they leave the quieter rides open. If all these people exit stupidly late and can't get buses/subways it would cause a bit of a problem. Kind of curious which people would like better: if a busy park such as TokyoSea is used to running 8-10 but gets 3-4 hour lines, is it better to advertise opening hours as 8-8 and keep lines open until 8pm but close everything at 8pm and let people filter out once they've joined their final queue/watched the fireworks or advertise as 8-10 like normal with the bigger rides having to shut down earlier than the park due to lines but let people grab souvenirs, some food or get as many of the quieter rides as they can etc? Besides I've seen far stranger policies in Asia, Everland last season would only open 1 ride in each area for the morning and keep another closed and then rotate in the afternoon. Sometimes the top scan literally opened for 10-12 and then the top spin would run 1-10. Everland even now gives each ride different opening hours for every single ride in the park which can be different depending on when you visit, with them posted on the app/entrance of the ride.

I'm just excited to try out these VR glasses on the ride, I heard the graphics look so real you'd actually think your on a roller-coaster in the middle of Cedar Point

The one at Everland only uses them for decoration too.