BigDipper 80

Some new custom supports added to the lift hill.

Beware the double dip!

After boarding the water launch, we arrive at the Disney Village. The brown, uniform buildings are from the original phase of the project, evoking a style similar to the original Lake Buena Vista Village. Looking back toward the boat dock (white building) The Watchtower Building is currently home to the Aloha Isle restaurant. Next door is the south entrance to Aquatopia, and just past that is the WDW Village plantation house and Village monorail station. These newer, more colorful buildings opened with the waterpark, and they evoke a playful, tropical atmosphere, in contrast with the simple, 1970's-modern architecture of the monorail station and the South End of the Village. The newest stretch of buildings opened on the opposite side of the monorail tracks, allowing the trains to run through the village instead of next to it. It is home to more shops and the Cinema. Welcome to Aquatopia! To enter the park, one must pass by the sundries shop located in the pink plantation house and cross the bridge over a small creek. The Tidal Twister slides are always a big draw. Aquatopia is located smack where the Grand Floridian is located in real life. Hurricane Hattie (a tube slide) and Reef Rider (body slide). The monorail passes through the heart of Aquatopia. The water-coasters are named Pineapple Plunge and Banana Blitz, while the other two slides are Waikiki Wave and Tahiti Twirl. There are some fantastic views to be had from the upper platform of the slides. An overview of the Village and the waterpark. Next, we shall hop aboard the monorail and travel to Discovery Island!

I don't entirely know why, but I love this photo! You really do have some completely awesome and unique stuff!

^Can't wait to see those shots! I've always found Arrow coasters to be very photogenic.

Our tour begins in the parking lot, where one can get a good view of the monorail station and the Grand Ceremonial House. Let's head inside, shall we? A look toward the main staircase. Beyond is the Boutiki gift shop and the resort restaurants, including Kona Cafe, Captain Cook's, and 'Ohana. One of the more popular ways to travel around the resort is by monorail. We, however, have some more exploring to do before heading to the Disney Village! Nothing quite like a beach stroll along the Seven Seas Lagoon. The more secluded of the two resort pools. This is the boat launch, where we shall hop on one of the resort steamers and begin our tour of the Disney Village and of the Aquatopia waterpark. Stay tuned!

I've actually had this project completed for some time now, but it was only recently that I finally sat down to film, edit, and photograph it all. I'll release a few updates documenting the resort, waterpark (yes, there is a waterpark) and animal exhibit located around the Seven Seas Lagoon, which will all be explained in due time. This project is one of my more detailed along with my Indiana Jones Adventure (also to be released soon!), now that my computer actually has a graphics card that can handle some of my more "complex" micro-parks. Like all of my projects, it contains no custom scenery save for the parking lot, as it's too difficult to build a good-looking NCS parking lot . Until then, have a look at the video below, which gives a good overview of the Resort.

Windows Live Movie Maker is the biggest piece of s**t program ever made to edit video. Twice now it has stopped responding, causing it to somehow show all the video clips in line, but being unable to access or edit anything without freezing up the entire computer. Thank god I went ahead and saved a final copy to my drive "just in case" it froze up again and forced me to remake the entire video again.

^Worlds of Fun's Corkscrew also ran those same trains at one point, when it was named Extremeroller. I'm pretty sure that E.X.T and the Mine Train were the only two times Arrow ever tested out the stand-up concept. LINK Photo courtesy of RCDB.

I'd assume that that's because of the prevalence of squat toilets in Japan and the fact that it is possible to retrofit a Western toilet to allow the user to squat on it. Even knowing that, I still laughed at that picture! That's what's so awesome about different cultures-even something as universal as going to the bathroom can seem strange and hilarious to someone not accustomed to it.

The thing is, at least looking at the Facebook page (BIG mistake on my part, I know, seeing as how many people post stupid comments there), the GP isn't familiar with the whole priced line-jumping idea at all. They all use Fastpass' free-ness as an example on how $50 is overpriced, and I don't think Flash Pass has been brought up once. That area doesn't have any SF parks nearby, so I suppose very few people in the Cincinnati-tristate area have any idea about the Flash Pass prices, which is why they assume $50 is exorbitant. Hopefully people will realize that this is, in fact, a GOOD deal and will warm up with it once they get used to the idea that every chain outside of Disney charges for line-jumping.

$50 doesn't actually look so bad once you see that the basic Flash Pass is $45, and from the way the press release made it sound, you can loop through the Fast Lane queue on the rides as many times as you wish, without having to wait for a return time as you would with the Flash Pass or even Fastpass. If it's for 10 rides, that's only $5 to skip the line ONCE. And if you can do it as many times as you want in that seven-hour window, that really isn't all that expensive. I would be MORE than willing to pay $5 to skip Firehawk's god-awful queue even once. Hopefully this system works out nicely for KI.

Honestly, I have no idea why the framerate dropped so low during screenshots! I promise you it runs normal speed in the simulator! And, by the way, I have uploaded Son of Beast to the Exchange! Like I said before, not perfect, but I'm glad to have it added to the Exchange. Go download it! LINK Also, here's a Youtube video of it for those who don't have NoLimits:

Brilliant update, as always! As a bit of a Haunted Mansion nerd, I remember reading somewhere that Tokyo's Mansion still has a "purple shroud ghost" in the seance room even though MK pulled theirs years ago. The mix of retro Disney and modern awesomeness at this park is incredible. Love it.

I finally got my trip to visit my friend in Fredericksburg scheduled! Visiting a friend I haven't seen in ten years plus Kings Dominion equals one awesome trip!

I'm heading to the park for the first time next August, and under the season pass perks, "Walk on Wednesdays" were mentioned. Could someone possibly clarify as to what in the world that means? I assume it's a sort of line-jumping offered to passholders on Wednesdays, but of course I could be wrong.

^That is incredibly awesome right there. I absolutely love the little details like that that are abundant at Disney parks, and, obviously absolutely everywhere at TDS . What did you think of the Monsters Inc ride? It doesn't seem as mind-blowing as, say, Pooh, but the Sulley AA looks really cool!

The only reason I went about building this was because there wasn't one in the Game Exchange . I highly doubt it's the best one out there, but it serves its purpose. I'll put it up on the Exchange when I finish tweaking a few things with it.

I love the seemingly-random mishmash of the pieces and parts from the two US parks and how they all manage to work together somehow. I love TDL's castle's paint job! Every time I see it I smile, and I probably like it better than MK's.

Why does Shiriki Tower's awesomeness have to be in Japan? The world can be a cruel place. But! Still awesome pics as usual!

Not particularly obscure, but Arrow seriously considered putting that corkscrew onto a suspended coaster. EDIT: Could someone fix the Youtube link for me? I can't seem to get it to work. ADMIN EDIT: You got it.

I have the whole of Pet Sounds on a pretty much continuous loop on my iPod right now.

Wow. TDS is just an absolutely incredible place. Moreso than nearly any other place in the world, I want to go here. Of course, thanks for the awesome pictures!

^Not to mention that whatever was in there would slightly obstruct and take some of the visual excitement away from the top hat.

From the Sandusky Register: There is also a video interview of Ouimet on the Sundusky Register website: LINK