Hilltopper39

I've seen a couple of reports of this place since it opened and it continues to impress me. The park looks great! The entrance reminds me a lot of Port of Entry at Islands of Adventure. Even though the park s incredibly well themed it is a little odd that the station for the coaster is so bland, just a platform with almost no themeing at all? But great pictures, and that looks like a great new park!

I'm still fairly optimistic about a park like this (or Orlando Thrill Park) actually working out. I know as someone who used to live in Orlando and who is still fairly local to the area (about 2 hours away) I come to Orlando fairly often to visit family, go to the outlet malls, fly out of the airport, shop at IKEA, go to concerts, see a Magic games etc and more often than not I don't have a full day to dedicate to a park but I usually have a couple of hours to kill. A small park with decent woodie, a few water slides, couple of flats, mini golf etc for a a reasonable price would be perfect place to kill a few hours. I don't have an annual pass to every major park in Orlando because I'm not close enough anymore to justifying needing a one, but I do travel to Orlando enough that if a place like this were open I would definitely spend some money there a couple times a year. Also season passes to some of the Orlando parks are not cheap (and for the most part neither are some single day tickets even for Florida Residents), and for a lot of families in the area a cheaper park like this might be a great alternative. Everyone knows there's no way this place can compete with Blizzard Beach/Wet N Wild/ Aquatica but if done right it might not have to. I guess in my mind the success of this place all depends on what attractions they actually build, and what kind of pricing model they decide to go with.

Does anyone know if this Avatar expansion is going on the site of where beastly Kingdom was originally intended to go (Camp Minnie Mickey) or are they building it on a different piece of land elsewhere in the park? I guess replacing Beastly Kingdom makes sense but then again if they built Avatar elsewhere then Beastly kingdom could conceivably come to life sometime again in the future after Avatar is completed. (I guess part of me still wants to see Beastly Kingdom)

Thanks Robb!! Can't wait to see what's in an official TR Bag Of Crap!!!

Fixed

Great pictures Steve, looks like BGW does a great job with this event! I always thought that Sea World Orlando put on a great Christmas event, and it looks like they do the same in Williamsburg. And Verbolten is going to be great!

Yeah, Chadster may have this thing in the bag (of crap).

I think I have about 15 more parks I can review before I'm out of credits but I'll post all I've got! I'll have to keep my fingers crossed for the drawing, or maybe Robb could send me a catalog or 2 as a consolation prize.

I'm about out of parks that I can remember, maybe the automatic immunity bag of IAAPA crap isn't worth competing for .

I'm trying to decide if I should respond to this before it gets locked......

I edited my original post to include 20 of my review for my official contest entry but I'm going to try to add some more before the weekend. I'd like to eventually post a review for every park I've been to. GIVE ME IAAPA CRAP!

I'd like to give Holiday World 4 stars (and the Voyage post 2008 1.5 stars ).

edit* Finished my 20 reviews and am trying to add some more 1) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=29 -Beech Bend 2) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=53 -Busch Gardens Africa 3) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=54 -Blizzard Beach 4) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=252 -Aquatica 5) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=93 -Kennywood 6) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=122 -Holiday World 7) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=52 - Mt. Olympus 8) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=50 -EPCOT 9) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=33 -Indiana Beach 10) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=81 -Knoebels 11) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=40 -Animal Kingdom 12) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=224 -Carowinds 13) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=184 -Dollywood 14) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=41 -Timber Falls 15) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=204 -SeaWorld Orlando 16) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=78 -Universal Studios Florida 17) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=58 Six Flags over Georgia 18) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=59 - Kentucky Kingdom 19) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=450 - Wet N Wild 20) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=43 -Six Flags over Georgia 21) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=116 Magic Kingdom 22) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=115 -Hollywood Studios 23) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=1 -Kings Island 24) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=42 -Busch Gardens Europe 25) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=157 -Lake Winnie 26) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=118 -Discovery Cove 27) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=83 -Cedar Point 28) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=369 -Island of Aventure 29) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=198 -Hershey Park 30) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=421 Old Town 31) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=74 Boomers 32) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=117 Typhoon Lagoon 33) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=542 Fun Spot USA 34) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=172 Miracle Strip Amusement Park 35) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=155 NASCAR Speedpark 36) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=61 Riverview Park and Waterworld 37) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=44 Six Flags over Texas 38) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=47 Six Flags Fiesta Texas 39) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=23 Six Flags Magic Mountain 40) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=201 Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk 41) http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/park.php?pageid=46 Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

I was always very impressed with SeaWorld's Christmas event and the addition of this show it looks like this years event should be very strong again. The Polar Express overlay is always pretty cool, and the the ice skating show at the Stadium was always very entertaining. I personally wasn't a huge fan of the Shamu Christmas Miracles show but know a lot of people that absolutely LOVE it (I prefer Shamu rocks), but the late night shows always meant walk on or station waits for Manta and Kraken which is a plus.

Awesome, a virtual queuing system at a busy water park could easily turn a miserable day into a great day. Glad to see six flags is taking advantage of this technology. Wish Aquatica and Wet n Wild would look into this....

These interactive games are popping up everywhere and seem like a lot of fun. I also probably wouldn't take the time to play them but if I was a local and had a chance to visit the park on a regular basis I'd try it out just to see what it is all about. The game isn;t going to be an upcharge is it? Seems like Disney has never been a fan of the upcharge attraction other than special tours. At first I didn't even notice BTMR was missing it's cross ties in that picture, but after I noticed it it does look a little strange, hopefully they get replaced like Adam said during the rehab. I'm sure the Fantasyland expansion is going to be great, but I just can't get very excited about it. Hopefully the 7 Dwarves mine coaster will be a surprise hit but my expectations are fairly low for it being anything other than just a fun but fairly tame family coaster.

February is right around the corner.... Even if your not a fan of Nascar it's worth it to attend a live race once just to see it, especially at Daytona. I went to the Nationwide race on Saturday last year for the first time and had blast!

I've always been a closet fan of B&M Floorless coasters (I think Kraken is incredibly underrated) and this looks pretty good with a unique layout. Also the location of this thing right on the side of an oceanside cliff looks amazing and may quietly give Wild Eagle a run for "most scenic coaster location" in the world.

^Yeah those plates are sweet, looks like it should be a plate for Florida or something. ^Truth

Orlando area bash event sound awesome, count me in!

Great report, really enjoyed following this thread. I think I mentioned it in someone else's cruise report but that new port in Falmouth looks great. I went to Jamaica on my honeymoon earlier this year and we left the resort one day and ventured into Ocho Rios to Margaritaville which was right next to the cruise port. Maragaritaville there as okay, the but port was a dump.

That's a little different situation, they kind of had to keep Simpson the same as back to the future because they reused the same building and the same ride system. They were fairly limited in with what they could do. Transformers was a brand new ride from the ground up that had more possibilities. I know it's not the same layout or programming but it sounds like a fairly similar experience to Spiderman, not that it matters since neither park has a Spiderman like ride and it will be a unique experience to the audience at each park. I guess the ride nerd in me was hoping for something completely new and unique with amazing space age life like animatronics and a completely new ride system but instead it kind of sounds like Spiderman 2.0. Not saying it won't be good, I'm sure it will be awesome, but I got a feeling it is going to feel a lot like Spiderman. Almost like Test Track and Journey? Journey is (according to most everyone) much better than Test Track, has a different layout and theme, but is kind of a similar experience. Much better but similar. (I hope I eat my words

Just from a quick read through of the spoilers it sounds like the ride is VERY similar to Spiderman, not that that is a bad thing, but I was kind of hoping for a little different overall ride experience. Can't wait to hear some official reviews, I'm sure it's still going to be a kick a$$ major new attraction.

^Yeah, that prototype just kind of did a single drop in the video, I expect the ride itself might have a multi drop cycle of some type similar to thirteen (I hope so atleast).

Great coverage again Robb, you guys area really taking this thing to the next level this year! That video from Zierer has me REALLY excited about Verbolten, that drop section looks to be a little more intense and exciting than Thirteen's does. I also wonder how they are going to theme the installation at Legoland so that it looks like you are on a frozen lake instead of on "bridge like" structure. Both attractions should be great, welcome to the big leagues Zierer!