viking86

^I'm glad that I, as a Norwegian, can use my background and knowledge to provide the one correct answer regarding Frozen in these controversial Disney times...

Good to see you have found motivation to continue with the project! I keep being amazed at your attention to detail, like your post above about the handrail on the first drop. Keep it up!

^Yeah, I'm sure lots of teenagers want to brag about it to their friends.

^Things do indeed have a tendency to become old news very quickly, and it wouldn't surprise me if more and more people go from "I'm never going on it again" to "how much longer is this going to be closed, I wanna ride".

Still waiting for summer to arrive. The last weeks not been too bad, we have seen the sun the couple of days and it hasn't been a lot of rain. Mostly cloudy though and temperatures in the 50-55*F range. May/June this year has been the worst spring/early summer in my lifetime. I guess it's nature restoring balance after we had the best summer in over 100 years last year...

Awesome report! As much as I miss Orlando and want to go back again next year, I may have to prioritize a trip through Germany and Holland as my 2016 "big trip". So many great parks I want to visit, and Toverland is definitely high on the list. I knew the park had some good theming, but I didn't know it was so extensively themed. Looks beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

Looking at these pictures and also having had a great look at the bungalows from the ferryboat, I would definitely love to stay there. Just need that lottery win to happen first...

Day 9 - Disney’s Hollywood Studios Day 9 meant a full day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This would be the last “new” park of the trip. Plenty of good memories from this park from my visit last year, mainly due to the surprise of going without knowing anything about the extended Frozen Summer Fun we got to experience back then. Not a lot of Frozen Fun this time (though there was some), but I still had a great day. Arrived at the park fairly early and got plenty of riding done during the day. In the evening I met up with the group, which was the biggest group of this trip. Joining me for this day was Robb, Tom and Jake from previous days, but also Banks Lee from Orlando Attractions Magazine, who was there with his family. Always fun to meet new people, and this was no exception. As for the park itself my feelings are a bit mixed. As a park I’m not overly enthusiastic about it, but on the other hand it has what is in my opinion easily the best ride collection in all of Walt Disney World. Tower of Terror and Rock’n Rollercoaster are both brilliant semi-thrilling rides, Star Tours if my favorite simulator ride and Toy Story Midway Mania is probably the best shooting dark ride I’ve been on ('ll gladly admit I don't have that much to compare it to though). But as a park it doesn’t have the same atmosphere as Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, and Fantasmic is also not on the same level as the nighttime shows in its neighbour parks. Still it's a great place to spend the day! Arriving early at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the last “new” park of this trip. Inside the gates and I already see something missing from last time. The hat might be gone, but the stage is back, just like last year. The stage all prepared for Star Wars weekends (and soon to be ready for Frozen Summer fun I assume....) With “only” 45 minute wait I went for an early ride on Toy Story Midway Mania! With “only” 45 minute wait I went for an early ride on Toy Story Midway Mania! The Mr. Potato Head in the queue line was pretty well done. Skipped the stunt show on this visit. Watched it last year, and didn’t really feel any need to watch it again. It’s a good show though if you haven’t seen it before. Cinderella photo-op in the street. I don’t know about the rest of the band, but I’m fairly sure the lead singer was the same guy I saw last year as the lead singer in “Icemen of the North” during Frozen Summer Fun. Speaking of.... YAY, FROZEN FUN! This gave me instant flashback to my 2014 trip! There was no way I was not going to see this show this time! (in addition Robb told me I HAD to watch it) *Excited* Anna making an early appearance on stage. As always Elsa looks fantastic both on screen... ...and on stage! Here's my video of the ending of the show! Picture came out crap, but I got a first score of 119,200. Overall I loved this ride, possibly the most fun I’ve ever had on a shooting ride. More Frozen?? YAY! I spy with my little eye... a tower! This was a very acceptable wait time for Tower of Terror. Love the theming in the lobby. Waiting for the lift. After riding Tower of Terror I moved on to Rock’n Rollercoaster. One of my favorite rides at Walt Disney World. Good launch, fun layout and a fairly smooth ride. After some riding I decided to sit down and watch Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage. I quite liked the show... ...although I cannot believe they left out the most iconic scene in the entire film (sort of). Hello Tower! After meeting up with the group (at least part of it) we went and met Hiro and Baymax. Happy Jake! Group shot! Not a Star Wars fan, but Star Tours is my favorite simulator ride of all time. Highly accurate reenactment of Jake being the rebel spy on our tour! Time for some more rides on Rock’n Rollercoaster. Jake, myself and Robb went into ultimate coaster geekiness, and Tom made sure to capture the moment. I got a cool shot though! “Oh no, Banks is lossing his glasses! Quick everyone, we must grab them!” Went for a second ride and the ride broke down as we were getting close to ride. This is how the station looks like with lights on. Shortly after they emptied the station and queue line and gave us an additional fastpass ticket each. I still suspect this guy had something to do with it. Time to head back to Tower of Terror again, with an even more acceptable wait time. (picture by Robb This is a perfectly normal picture taken on Tower of Terror. See? Perfectly normal... Went for a late ride on Toy Story Midway Mania, which also had a VERY acceptable wait time. (picture by Robb) As mentioned we were also joined by Banks Lee from Orlando Attractions Magazine with family. Was great meeting you! (picture by Robb) Robb and myself scored a pussy and a beaver, which is the best score you can possibly get on this ride! We ended the night watching Fantastic. With the park not being very crowded we walked straight in only a few minuters before the show started and got great seats. That’s the great thing about visiting the park together with locals, so you don’t do the mistake of lining up an hour before the show starts, as they reccomend. Plenty of fire right here! All the characters greet the audience. Overall I think the show was okay. In my opinion it relies to much on the waterscreens. Some parts were really good though, mainly those with lots of fire. I think Robb described it perfectly when he told me you sit through 20 minutes of 'okay' bits for 4-5 minutes of the good stuff. (picture by Robb) And one last shot of Sorcerer Mickey launching fireworks into the sky! (picture by Robb)

That owl cafe is so awesome, I would love to go there! Very fascinating creatures! And once again that food looks amazing...

"Brewed in the rain..."

The first part of the ride is far from pretty, but I love the long low-to-the-ground section and how there is a long continous section of high speed. Also the small hill looks like it will produce some decent airtime.

Well, judging by the concept art posted a couple of pages back the boat is facing Elsa on her balcony. Maybe she will use her icy powers to send the riders backward "over the falls"...

Wow that place looks incredible! I would have loved to do that when I was a kid (heck, I would have loved to do it now)! I'm particularly impressed by how extremely well-done it looks. Nothing appears to be done halfway...

That sure was a strange ride indeed. I have never had such a "quiet" ride on a B&M (or any other coaster for that matter). Thanks for meeting up with me, I had a great day! And with good reason, it's easily one of my favorite coaster elements. Heading up into the pretzel loop really gives you a chance to think about what's going to happen, and if you ride in the backseat there is some serious pull going over the top!

Got my ticket for saturday, very excited!

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/06/09/frozen-ever-after-an-exclusive-look-at-disneys-upcoming-attraction/ Well, put my in the officialy excited category, this sounds like it's going to be great! I'm very excited to see the audio-animatronic characters, I bet they will look fantastic! I also see a lot of hate in various comments section around. I can understand that some people are a bit reluctant because "EPCOT is not about cartoon characters", but I'm seriously struggling to understand what was so great about Maelstrom. Seriously, people are making it sound like it was one of the best rides ever! I guess it's the classic syndrom where when a ride closes it instantly becomes 100x better...

Oooooh this is going to be a fun report to follow! Really like what they have done with The Boathouse at Downtown Disney. I didn't check it out when I was there, but it looked great from the outside. And I must say that food looks fantastic! Really looking forward to see the pictures from "Frozen Fun" at Hollywood Studios! Oh I can totally understand that! I have only driven under it a handfull of times myself, but just thought of driving it under it again makes me feel like a little child again...

I have no idea, the sources are what Tusenfryd writes on facebook and on their website. I have not seen any details about Thundercoaster except what they're saying about "awaiting final completion from the supplier of the new trains". Edit: Looking a bit more on facebook I see that Tusenfryd writes on May 6th that Thundercoaster is up and running. Don't know why it now has been closed for several weeks.

One of my pictures from Magic Kingdom about a month ago. Because when you stand pretty much at the front to watch the parade you obviously need a selfie stick in order to take pictures.

Not been the best spring for Tusenfryd so far. Thundercoaster is still awaiting final completion with the new trains, SpinSpider has yet to open for the season as well due to the park having to wait for parts from supplier. Tusenfryd have not given any dates for when these two rides will be up and running. In additon Speed Monster has also been suffering from some downtime. Plenty of frustrating posts on their facebook page for the last month, which is understandable when you pay 400 NOK (50 USD) to get into the park and all three major headliners are down.

GoPro actually posted a picture on their official facebook a week or two ago taken by a guy with a selfie stick on New Texas Giant. They removed it shortly after though, as they were getting absolutely slammed in the comments section. I don't think I have ever seen that amount of common sense in a facebook comments section ever before! It was one of those rare occasions where faith in humanity was a little bit restored for a moment...

Fantastic report, looks like a great waterpark! And I agree with _koppen, that mat racer looks crazy! Thank you for sharing with us!

Looks like a great little ride! I love seeing more and more high-quality kiddie/family coasters appearing, really great for future coaster enthusiasts.

Day 8 - Sea World Orlando New day, new opportunities. Arrived at Sea World a little after 10 AM and met up with fellow forum member Zach (thepoint4life23) shortly after, for what would become another great day in Orlando. Some quick notes from the day: - Sea World has two excellent B&M's, and when Mako opens next year they will have a really strong trio of rollercoasters. - Excellent operations, two trains running on both Manta and Kraken even with both rides being walk-on all day. - Wild Arctic is the worst simulator I have been on! The concept and story is cool, but it's just soooooooooooooo dizzying! I refuse to ride this ever again. - Moving to the other side of the planet, Empire of the Penguin in Antarctica is another dissappointment. It's such a cool ride system that allows for so much, but I feel this ride misses so many opportunities to be great. Overall I really like Sea World and I sincerely hope that the addition of Mako will bring a brigter future for the park. They have some excellent rollercoasters, but I cannot help but feel that they are a bit behind when it comes to rides. Anyway, onto the pictures... Arriving at Sea World Orlando. One of the first things you see at Sea World is the “splashdown” turn on Manta. Very cool feature and it looks excellent! A true eye-catcher! First ride we did after meeting up was Journey to Atlantis. Didn’t go on this last year so it was new for me. I thought this ride was great fun, and had an acceptable level of wetness. We had some time to kill before the killer whale show so we went for a spin on Wild Arctic. When you get to this area you can be happy, as it means you have finished your ride on the most dizzying simulator ever and you don’t have to go on it ever again! Plenty of available seating for the show today. Jump around! SPLASH! Spectators on the other side about to be soaked. Kraken is a great ride! We rode in the front seat for our first ride. It wasn’t until we hit the brake run we realized why our ride was so quiet.... there wasn’t a single person on the ride behind us. Kraken monster ready for another summer of eating park visitors. We also watched the “Clyde & Seamore’s Sea Lion High” show. The show was pretty fun! Moving on to Antarctica. We took a ride on the “wild” side of Empire of the Penguin. I can understand the critizism that this ride has received. It’s such a cool ride system with so many opportunities, but the ride itself is severely lacking and you end up feeling very dissappointed when the ride is over. Penguins are cool animals, but they smell like shit! Literally! Look at those fat asses! Love the Manta sign! The first drop isn’t very spectacular, but it surely gets the ride going! This is the moment where all first-time riders go "Oh crap"! The pretzel loop is one of my favorite coaster elements ever. Such a unique sensation... And I’ll end this short report with a little more love for Kraken. Smooth, some good forces and overall a very fun ride. Overall it was a good day at Sea World, they have two very good rollercoasters and I’m sure Mako will be an excellent addition to the park. I definitely feel it’s much needed, because apart from the rollercoasters and Atlantis I feel the park is lacking a little when it comes to quality rides.

I think it will also depend on how long the ride will be closed for. If it becomes a lengthy closure, which I think it will be, I wouldn't be surprised to see people flock to the ride when it reopens.