Canobie Coaster

Thanks! I almost didn't ride Ripsaw Falls this past Sunday. I had a toe injury and was under doctors orders to keep my bandage/toe dry. I ended up wrapping my feet in trash bags. I don't care how ridiculous I looked, but that made the ride way more enjoyable since I had dry feet afterwards. As long as you enjoy water, it's fantastic. There is no way to come off dry since you have the splashdowns, an unavoidable waterfall, and blasters.

Plus Cyborg feels like a superior version of it anyway.

Does this make Great Adventure's Twister the last Huss top spin in the US?

Islands of Adventure If you missed my previous report on Hagrid's, here's the short version. We waited 3 hours for Hagrid's. The ride broke down. The queue was evacuated. We got Express Passes. The ride reopened immediately after the queue was evacuated. We loved the ride. We rode it a second time. Then the line was closed. Hey look it's Dueling Drag...Motorbikes. Hagrid's was open for 3 hours and broken down/closed for 8 hours. For the irony, I decided to wear my Dueling Dragons t-shirt to the park. And I lost count how many employees complimented me on my shirt. Even further, most wished the ride were still standing! What does that say? I figured the shirt would make for an amusing photo op by Hagrid’s, but it had a surprising benefit. An employee working the Incredible Hulk Coaster saw my shirt and escorted both Emily and I up the Express Line. Thank you Jordan! Some women wear low-cut shirts to get free drinks at bars. Meanwhile, I wore this super nerdy coaster t-shirt and got to skip the line. Back in 2017, I raved about Hulk. I believe I said it was better than Kumba and the best coaster in Orlando. That wasn't the case on this visit. The launch still packed a punch, the zero-G was whippy, and the cobra roll had me greyout. But the rest of the ride felt slow. The loops were still forceful, but nowhere near what I remembered in 2017. The same could be said about the corkscrews and final few turns. That being said, Hulk is still running smooth and it has a unique layout. 8 out of 10 Hulk starts with a bang. But sort of hit a lull in the second half. I remembered it being forceful start to finish back in 2017. Hulk angry. Hulk smash. Universal has a ton of great dark rides, but my favorite is probably Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The robot arm ride system is spectacular. The range of motion is incredible and it results in a very unique ride experience. But the most underrated part is the physical sets. As you’d expect, the ride does have a fair amount of screens, but it also mixes in grand set pieces like the dragon, Dementors, and Whomping Willow. Forbidden Journey tells a great story and adds in some exciting thrills. 10 out of 10 A toast to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Our first day had a massive rainstorm, so that was the perfect time to ride Ripsaw Falls. I mean, we couldn’t possibly get any wetter, right? Wrong! Ripsaw Falls is arguably the most drenching log flume on the planet. Beyond the drops soaking you to the bone, you have a freaking waterfall and dozens of sprayers that nail you in the face. But it’s all worth it since the drops are fantastic. The final one in particular is better than most coaster drops. Oh and the ride does tell a story. It’s nowhere near the level of Splash Mountain’s animatronics, but the cartoony style is maintained throughout. 9.5 out of 10 If you hate water, you'd be better off jumping in the ocean than riding Ripsaw Falls. Popeye’s was down for maintenance (at this point, Emily realized the universe conspires against her riding river rapids rides), so we made our way over to Jurassic Park River Adventure. I still find it ironic this is easily the driest of the park’s water rides even though it looks like it should be the most soaking. As good as Ripsaw’s drop is, I think I prefer the drop on Jurassic Park. And it’s a better overall ride thanks to the impressive dinosaur animatronics. It also helps you don’t get unpleasantly drenched. 10 out of 10 I made sure to appreciate the iconic gate scene just in case Jurassic World comes to Orlando as well. We then walked onto Skull Island: Reign of Kong. I think the 3D tunnel is a neat ride system. Having action on all sides is overwhelming. And that King Kong animatronic at the end is stunning. 8 out of 10 The only downside was that the 3D glasses kept falling off. I thought maybe I grabbed a bad pair, but Emily had the same issue. We ended up having to hold them against our face the whole ride. The sequel (Skull Island) isn't as good as the original (Kongfrontation), but it's still quite good. Our second day at Islands of Adventure was brief. We spent more time on the Studios side. But we did park hop for two of the dark rides we missed- Cat in the Hat and Spiderman. It was tempting to get another ride on Hagrid's, but we just didn't want to deal with that queue line again. I honestly don’t remember the last time I rode Cat in the Hat. It’s a fine ride, but there’s a lot of empty space between animatronics. The spinning is a neat touch though. 7 out of 10 No Mike Myers Cat in the Hat in sight. Thank goodness! Last but not least, Spiderman is still awesome. Everything about the ride works so well- the ride system, the 3D effects, the film quality, and the sounds. It truly is one of the best dark rides in the world. 10 out of 10 I know the resort is named after the studios side, but I honestly think Islands of Adventure is the superior park. Islands of Adventure has one of the strongest and most diverse ride lineup of any park. And it will only get better once Hagrid's operational quirks are behind it (still was a disaster on my visit on Sunday) and the new Jurassic Park coaster opens.

Nice report! Sorry to hear about your mom. That was not the section of the park I expected the air race. I was expecting it to be over by the boardwalk for some reason.

Dragon Wagon at Sandy Lake Amusement Park (RIP)

Bob at Efteling (RIP)

^ When I've gone in the winter months, I've only seen Superman open once. Usually they have the midway for the ride closed off.

I was at Universal riding Hulk so my phone was in a locker when the story broke. I returned to this news. Shocking and sad.

The ride began with a 3 hour delayed opening and had a few shorter breakdowns throughout the day. But it did stay open until closing, so I was able to get two night rides on it.

^ That could make it problematic park hopping or trying to fulfill a dining reservation. I was of the mindset that I wasn't leaving Hollywood Studios until I got on the ride, but I did get lucky with two good boarding groups (62 and 10).

^ I'm heading back tomorrow, so I can let you know if it's running better. It seems like it from QueueTimes and people I've talked to.

The real importance of getting there crazy early (5:30) now is if you want to rope drop either Slinky or Millennium Falcon. Since a ton of people are getting there for the boarding pass lottery, walk-ons are hard to find in the AM at Hollywood Studios. As you can probably expect, I wanted to ride Slinky. I have no regrets since I was on the second train of the day and the line was back to Voyage of the Little Mermaid by 7:10. The line was without any breaks from Slinky's entrance to Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

The one at Anakeesta is easily my favorite in the area. It has no banking on the turns and some super steep drops. Anakeesta does require more of a time commitment since you need to take a tram atop a hill, but I think it's worth it for both the ride and the views.

Thanks! I had never heard of that company.

From what I've noticed, they've shrunk the number of guaranteed boarding passes. There could be several factors for this. One of them could be the reduced park hours and there's only a certain number of people willing to get up at the crack of dawn. They are still distributing a boatload of backup groups, so maybe Disney doesn't want to keep giving out day tickets and Fastpasses if someone's boarding group isn't called. On a side note, Rise of the Resistance is fantastic. It was worth all the hoops I had to jump through, but it does stink people aren't even guaranteed to ride it.

I was not expecting the 4 car train. I love how the back two rows haven't even started going over the drop when they're held over the edge.

Thanks! I'm planning on going back to Universal on Sunday and it seems to be running longer and more consistently. At last. Thanks! If you hate Fallon, this is not the ride for you. I don't mind him and find it ok. It's definitely zany.

^ Call me crazy! There's also nothing like a night ride on Slinky to start the day just to show how early we're there.

Just a note to anyone going, Hollywood Studios opened the boarding pass a minute early today. This meant boarding passes were pretty much gone before the official time they were supposed to be available. I had been testing it out at home before getting to the park and it always seemed to open at 7 on the dot.

^ I think you mean that they hate the park in general.

Islands of Adventure- Hagrid’s Line from Hell Once upon a time, there were two amazing inverts called Dueling Dragons. They were absolutely beloved by guests. One day, they stopped dueling. R.I.P. Dueling Dragons. Then along came the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and JK Rowling. The dragons held their ground, but they met their untimely demise in 2017. And from the ashes, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure rose. For those who just want to read about the ride itself, feel free to skip ahead. The next several paragraphs are going to talk about just how frustrating it was to ride Hagrid’s. I think it's doing better nowadays, but this is how difficult it was to ride back in September. Queuing Experience Normally I’d rope drop the popular new attraction, but we chose to sleep in. It's not like Hagrid's was guaranteed to open with the park anyway (it actually did open with the park, but quickly broke down). We just needed to get there by 3 pm, a fact Universal put in small print on the park map. Hagrid's operated briefly in the morning before breaking down. Once the ride reopened around 12:30, we hightailed it over to Hogsmeade and entered the Line from Hell. Note, this photo was taken after we rode. Hence the wait time being "Ride Full" The wait was posted at 90 minutes. The queue was well themed and we hardly stopped moving. After about an hour, we reached the final room of the queue. That’s where it all went wrong. “Class is delayed. Class should resume shortly.” 15 minutes later, the message became grimmer. “The motorbikes need more tuning. This will be an extended delay.” This was followed by another 3-4 different recorded messages announcing delays. I don’t know if I should be impressed or disturbed they had this many pre-recorded messages at their disposal. It’s almost as if they knew the ride was unreliable… At least we had time to appreciate the fine details in the queue line. Like this picture of a unicorn. Exquisite. Eventually Emily had to use the restroom, but she was willing to hold it. She didn’t want to wait through this line again. Thankfully, Universal was providing bathroom passes, as long as one person held your party’s place in line. By this point, the ride had been delayed 2 hours (bringing our total wait to 3 hours). People were getting stir crazy. I did feel bad for the employees. They were constantly asked when the ride would reopen. And I know this was a daily occurrence. It’s not their fault Universal rushed the ride open. Then an employee spoke over the mic. “Hagrid’s is closed indefinitely. All guests must leave the queue.” You could see the employees burying their face in their hands. They knew the sh*tstorm that was about to occur. Thankfully, Universal did compensate everyone with two Express passes. One was good for Hagrid’s. The other was good for any other ride. I guarded this with my life. But here’s the odd part, Hagrid’s was testing as the queue was evacuated. WTF? Through Hell or high water, we were getting on Hagrid’s. So we hung around Hogsmeade. And we’re glad we did. Not even 15 minutes later Hagrid’s reopened…and the app wasn’t updated to say it opened. The smart decision would’ve been to go standby, but we weren’t messing around. We weren't chaning the ride going down again. We were getting on Hagrid’s no matter what. So we used the Express Pass and beat the standby guests to the load platform. And since we were the only guests there, Universal let us choose the front. Normally you’re assigned a row. After our first ride, we got right back in the standby queue. Universal did update the app, so a steady stream of people were entering the queue. Our wait started just after the preshow, which is really far back I might add, and took about 30-40 minutes. We contemplated riding again, but Universal made up our minds for us. They had already closed off the queue for Hagrid’s. The queue started in the indoor portion, so it was no longer than an hour in length and the park was still open for another 4.5 hours. That’s embarrassing. If you’re keeping score back home, the queue line for Hagrid’s was open for about 3 hours all day (9-10, 12:30-2, 4-4:30) and closed for 8 hours. It’s also worth noting you could wait 3 hours and not even get the motorbike seat. Universal does not let you wait for a row. They also do not let parties split up so everyone gets a motorbike (we saw people ask on multiple occasions). There is a single rider line, but it’s not appealing for three reasons. One, you can’t access it until you’re about 1/4 through the queue. Two, it looked very long. Three, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get the side car unless the person you're paired with miraculously doesn't want it (and they have priority since they waited in the main queue). Ride I also should say this review has some spoilers. The launches, all 7 of them, had way more power than expected. Even the little ones had a kick to them. The final launch in particular was surprisingly powerful. Hagrid’s is no Mack launcher, that’s for sure. The ride is a blur of turns and dives. There isn’t any real airtime, but a few hills have you feeling weightless (the backwards spike in particular). But the real stars are the turns. They are taken fast and are surprisingly forceful. They feel even wilder if you’re on the elevated motorbike seat. Going in, I knew Hagrid’s had a drop track. Universal proudly proclaimed it as the first freefall drop track in America…since apparently Verbolten isn’t a true freefall. Drop tracks have the potential to be just a marketing gimmick, but the one on Hagrid’s is integrated well and good for a quick thrill. The animatronics along the course look fantastic. But that leads into my one complaint with the ride. You hardly get to see them. It’s really unfortunate you only see each figure for 1-2 seconds since they were quite impressive. I had forgotten just how good Universal can make a non-screen based ride look. Once we got on (no small feat), both Emily and I loved Hagrid’s. It was our favorite ride at the resort. It’s just pure fun (when you finally get on it). Hagrid’s is ridiculously long and still manages to feel fast-paced despite all the brake runs. 9 out of 10 I hate myself. I feel dirty for even saying this. But I liked it more than Dueling Dragons*. Make sure to try the motorbike seat. The turns feel much wilder with the higher center of gravity. At least the replacement ride sort of duels. Hagrid's is just pure fun (when you finally get on it). * That being said, I do wish Universal found a way to add Hagrid’s without losing Dueling Dragons. I also wish they waited to open the ride after it was ready. Simply put, the ride’s operational status was inexcusable. I get that rides can have a rocky first few weeks, but we rode Hagrid's a few months after it opened. Hopefully the ride's operational issues are behind it because it's a really fun ride.

If I only read the quotes, I'd assume the ride wasn't approved.

Who even manufactures these things?

^ You may be the only one lucky (or unlucky) enough to ride it. I think they were open for a week tops.