Erik Johnson

If anyone has any comments or questions, be sure to post them.

I was lucky enough to attend Wild Adventure's media event this past Saturday (4-17-2010) and I wanted to share with all of you what the park shared with me. This is now the 2nd full season that Herschend Family Entertainment has owned the park and they continue to make huge improvements to the park. Just like my visit in 2009, all of the attractions were open and staffed with cheerful employees. Last year, the main focus of the park was to expand and improve the waterpark as well as fix many broken attractions. New for the 2010 season: 1. Three new attractions include a new coaster (Viking Voyage), flyers (Falcon Flyers), and a scrambler (Whirling Wildcats). 2. Hundreds of trees has been planted throughout the park as well as 350 tons of concrete have been removed for additional landscaping. 3. Cheetah has had a million dollar renovation. 4. The old tiger show, "Amazing Cats", has been replaced with a new tiger show called, "Tigers of India". 5. Added many more concerts as well as to have a more diverse selection of musical acts. For me the biggest surprise of the day was Cheetah. Cheetah used to be near the very bottom of all wooden coasters I have ridden. It used to be a VERY rough and unpleasant to ride. Now I can say that it is now one of the smoothest wooden coasters I have ever ridden. I was able to spend some time with park general manager, Bob Montgomery, and in the video included with this report he explains on what it took to bring Cheetah back to its now amazing level. They did look into the possibility in using the trains from the defunct Ozark Wildcat as well as looked into the purchase of a brand new Timberliner trains from Gravity Group, but in the meantime they have stuck with the older Gerstlauer trains. I normally really dislike the Gerstlauer trains, but honestly they were running really well after all of the track upgrades. All of the new landscaping really helped to improve the overall look of the park. I have always felt that Herschend parks aspire to be the most beautiful parks in the country, and it is great to see them incorporate this philosophy into Wild Adventures. I think that landscaping is much more preferred than random slabs on concrete, don't you? Did you know that one of Jack Herschend's lifetime goals is to plant one million trees? During the off-season, he personally visited Wild Adventures specifically to mark spots where he wanted trees to be planted. He ended up marking close to 600 spots all around the park. I really think that Wild Adventures is heading in the right direction. I am sure that they would be happy to hear that, several times during the day, I heard guests commenting on how much better the park looks. Many guests were also getting back in line to re-ride Cheetah as well. I also overheard many times that guests thought it was really cool that the park was featured in the hit movie Zombieland last year. Several new and exciting attractions will be coming in the future, but they could not reveal any those plans at this moment. If I could make a couple of suggestions. They really do need one more large attraction (A Intamin Mega-Lite would be perfect......okay I can settle for something more along the lines of Powder Keg or Mystery Mine) to really put themselves on the map. Also I recommend that they have more Canadian bands as well as Blue Oyster Cult for the next concert season. Anyways, onto the photographs. (Some photographs were taken by Wild Adventures as well as Ken Johnston.) Wild Adventures Promotional Video and Interviews [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Wild_Adventures_Media_Day_5wgn[/coastertube] Good morning Wild Adventures! Let us check in, shall we? Meet Micha Hogan, Public Relations Coordinator for Wild Adventures. Just look at how many concerts there is for this season. You can go see them all at one low price with the purchase of a season pass. Want to check out a few attractions? We did not have to walk very far to reach our very first new attraction for this season, Pop-Jets. The Pop-Jets should keep people cooler during the upcoming hot summer. Bug Out has been renamed this year. It is now called Go Bananas! Another new sign. Here is a closer look at the new logo. All throughout the park, they have planted hundreds of new trees. Once they fill out it will really help to make it a much nicer park. Anyone notice anything new on the park map? New for 2010, Falcon Flyer. Falcon Flyer's ride rules. Flyers are my all time favorite flat ride. Here it is in action. Another new ride is Whirling Wildcats. Every park really should have a classic Scrambler. Last but not least is Viking Voyage, which is located near the area where Mine Train used to be. Rules of the ride. Viking Voyage used to be at Celebration City where it was known as Jack Rabbit. This coaster is an E&F Miler Here is a closer look at a train. The coaster really has quite a few moments of air-time. Viking Voyage stands 52 feet tall. The first drop really is quite intense. Air Time! The new sign for Cheetah makes it much easier to find the entrance. The majority of the track has been replaced for this season. Cheetah is one of the smoothest wooden coasters I have ever ridden. Lots of new landscaping all over the park. The Smoke House is new for this year. The Bar-B-Q is really good here. This is a brand new upcharge attraction. Looks like fun! The old Double-Shot, now called Firecracker, is now enjoying celebrity status due to the release of Zombieland. Aaron Radatz returns for a second season. Aaron is one of the most well traveled magical entertainers around. Aaron has a lot of humor when it involves his show. I thought that the Banana segment was very funny. Everyone loves the classic strait jacket trick. "Ummm, what are you doing back there?" "Not Too Tight Please!" His escape does not take very long. The pigeon release is a really unique attraction. You first receive a pigeon out of this cage. Then you get to release it. It is so easy, I can even do it. Up. And away! Elissa's favorite ride in the park. The tiger show has been revamped for this season. This happens to be its opening weekend. The cage has been redone this year. This is what it used to look like. The tiger show is always my favorite thing to do in the park. Nice Kitty. The new show is now more centered on educating people about tigers, rather than having a series of tiger tricks. I think these set of tigers are simply amazing. These variations are also very rare. Awww...... Ok, one last tiger photo. I want to thank Micha Hogan as well as Bob Montgomery (General Manager) for a wonderful event. Everyone is happy about all of the improvements in the park. It is now sunset, that can only mean one thing. Its time for Styx! These guys sounded really great. Bonus points if you can remember the name of the other band that Tommy Shaw has been involved with. Most of all the classics were performed that evening. REO Speedwagon played next. It really was a night of a lot of classic rock. Kevin Cronin still sounds exactly the same. And we leave you with a photo of the Boomerang.....at night.

New Wild Adventures #2 for park index. Bug Out has a new name. New upcharge this year. Missing Ride Sign

Hopefully these can finally fill out what you need for Wild Adventures. FYI, Venus Fly Trap and Inverter have been removed from the park. New Cheetah sign. New Cheetah Sign

Giving this a bump.

Thanks for the video John. Based on the video this ride really looks disappointing. As everyone has said the pacing is really out of whack as well as it is simply way too short.

Now I wished that I have cable.

Here are a few more pictures from the past. Old Dueling Dragons entrance. This is all in the dumpster now. Totally a collector's item! Old Logo. F.U. The ultimate in roller coaster mechandise. Sigh.

Nope, I have been quite a few times now, but there is always a few things that I have never done.

Six Flags Over Texas and Adventuredome La Fiesta de las Tazas Adventuredome Canyon Blaster Sign.

Casino...Frontier City Casino at Frontier City.

I found some photos for you Larry! I will be going back to Wild Adventures a week from Saturday so I can all the rest you need. I am sure Aslinterperter can get a few better ones of Cyclone Sam's than I have, as well as something more of Autobahn, since all I have is the entrance. Worlds Of Fun: Autobahn entrance Flying Dutchman entrance Flying Dutchman La Carrousel Cyclone Sam's entrance Cyclone Sam's warning sign. Better Sign photo of Zulu. Zulu

Space Mountain is basically the Magic Kingdom's version of Matterhorn hence why it has two different tracks. Space just happened to prove to be very popular so they ended up building a version in California as well.

We did ride Indy on two different occasions. I had no idea that you were there. Oh well.

As always I had a great time going out to California for West Coast Bash 2010. Along with those parks I was able to manage some time over at the Disneyland Resort. I will start with this trip report with a few random Disneyland and construction photos since we are all into that....right? Good morning Disneyland. Good morning tiny Space Mountain. Still not enough time! We see you DCA, we will get back to you later. I still have yet to ride the monorail here, I wonder if I should later in the day. It is all about Disneyland this morning. Castle joke #45,623,526. Getting closer now! Castle hungry....nom nom nom. It is always good to get through Fantasyland first thing in the morning. This would be Storybook land. Yay, new ride credit for me. Its bascially a boat ride tour through many different storybook lands. See, this would be our tour guide. This may be Cinderrella's castle. I honestly can't remember for sure. This one is pretty easy though. Pinnocchio's Village. The Little Mermaid is living here...for now. Here is a better look at one of the boats. We have departed our boat to let another group of riders enjoy Storybook Land. You can enjoy Storybook Land via another form of transportation. However, you do not get a real live tour guide this way. It does have a lift hill though. I can never remember what signs Larry needs for the park index, so I took a few. Still the best Fantasyland ride of all time. This would be Florida's Space Mountain's great grandfather, The Matterhorn. Yeah, its a close up of a coaster sticker. Ready to ride? I totally hear someone calling me "nerd" while in the Matterhorn area. It is a rather clunky ride, so getting a good photo can be rather tricky. I like these 15 minute waits for this now. Exclsuive Nemo/Matterhorn photograph. This would be our boat. I. like. fish! Divers. This is when you go under the waterfall. This is the blue fish from Nemo, I can never remember her name. Autotopia! Come on Matt, this version is actually good. This would be the creepy version of Splash Mountain. Speaking of creepy! This would be one angle of the Haunted Mansion. This would be another angle of the Haunted Mansion. For a moment, I felt like I was back in Florida. It is still one of the classic scenes of the ride. Everyone loves the train, right? Well, maybe not Matt. Any ride that almost blasts through Small World can't be too bad. The people here sit weird. Roar! Drunk Dinosaurs! Disneyland, don't forget it. Train Go Down the Hole. Those water shortages can be a killer. So, are you saying you can sail the Mark Twain without having to look where you are going? I always have to get my usual, "Bulldozer in the Lake" photo. I really do miss Roger. He needs to make more movies. At least the dark ride is a lot of fun. Afternoon, Benny. Random duckies. Random Duckie. Here is a random, just-in-case, attraction sign for Larry. Well, I guess it can make the movie a bit more interesting. I forgot to get a picture of the Dole Whip sign. How about a random trip over to DCA. Guys, I expect this to be gone next time I am here....ok? They just removed the tarp off this one....pretty. Can anyone find the hidden Mickey? The swings are most certainly a big improvement without the large orange. I see it! I see it! Whoopie is gone! The Little Mermaid is moving here next year. Here is the new map, once everything is finished. This must mean we are now in Bug's Land....This can only mean one thing!!! Heimlich's Chew Chew Train!!!! Woot! Seriously, this ride is awesome. Juicy Watermelon....Nom nom nom. Animal Crackers....Nom nom nom. The new path between Tower and Bug's Land rocks. Back on over to Disneyland so we can go visit Michael. The new dancing theater was amazing. We see you tiny Space Mountain. Matterhorn at night is the best. So is the monorail. World of Color is testing. I had not seen the Electircal Light Parade in 25 years. All I can say about it now is, quaint! No, we did not forget to do something. And we leave you with the Castle....At Night!

I really enjoyed myself this weekend, thanks to all who were involved. As always the Q&A sessions are among my favorite activities.

Should be interesting to see if anything transpires there... I was surprised no one pointed out in that link where it mentioned Kumba looks like it is going to be down for most of the month of May. If they give this coaster a little love and a new paint job, this could be bigger than the news of Gwazi adding the Millenium trains! Kumba actually got a brand new paint job about three years ago. I think it just needs to be cleaned since the track is stained from coaster oil/grease.

Oh yeah, now that makes a lot of sense.

Ok, that was pretty cool.

13/20

Is this the first extensive review of Sum of all Thrills? It might be.

Islands of Adventure Update 2/21/2010. Jurassic Park is under an extensive referb. The castle is shaping up pretty well. Since we are here.... Warning! Random Hulks Photos. This loop is not photographed as much as the other one. Hulk again. TPR first! Markers under Hulk. Maybe they will finally add that dueling Captain America Hyper coaster. Through the fence! Now with Castle.....Well almost. Q is much cooler than J. Side shot! I hate green friendly Universal. It looks like Mythos finally got beat. Here is the current menu. I guess I can add a few Harry Potter photos, even though there already has been many updates already. For you train buffs. Quite a bit has been added since my last update. A little further back. Any idea what the sign will say? I wonder what they are going to do with this bridge once the new area is open. OK, here are a bunch of new photos. Dark Ride Building. The rumor is that Dueling Dragons closes next weekend for the finishing touches of its Potter transformation. Since the main queue is closed, they pulse crowds over to the coaster loading area. It actually works pretty well....considering. The pulsing is similiar to when a two-way road is under construction. Here we go! Stay on Target! There it is! It looks like the flag holders are in place for "Dragons Challenge". This is the current entrance/exit for the ride. Maybe Universal should have a design contest for this logo. Future Photoshop contest? This is inside the Dragons loading area. How often do you wait in line to exit an attraction? I miss F.U. Yeah, more Potter. When does it open, late May? Welcome to Juras........awwwwww. The Potter warehouse still needs some work. It looks like they are putting brickwork on the side of the show building. This would be Cedar Fair's version of Jurassic Park. Isn't he a TPR member? Themed Disappointment #2 Yep.....Certainly not open today. I did not notice anything else new or different so we now finish with a photo of the IOA sign.

It has been a long while since I have updated this thread. So....... 2/21/2010 Update! 2/21/2010 Update for Universal Orlando Parking prices really have gone up over these past two years. I am glad that digital cameras help to remember where you parked your car. The moving walkways are almost an attraction itself. The Color Purple? Really? I see castle! Fast Food....At Citywalk. Random Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit banner. Just a few more months to go. There are new ticket prices/options now. Almost Disneylike options. More information about AP passes. So the Lotto drawing is considered an attraction now? Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit with Banner 2.0 Drat....Not open yet. Yay! I see coaster train! Testing coasters usually means that it will open soon. Coaster Signage. The non-inverting loop is rather strange looking. However, it is a really fun part of the ride. Instructions on how to pick your song. This large screen samples many of the songs you can choose from. The moving platform is now operational! It really makes a big difference on dispatches. Movingwalkway.MOV Here it is in motion. Another shot of the lift hill. Trains were being dispatched on an average of 40 seconds. Airtime can be pretty good here. I really like this section of the ride. You really do pull quite a few G-forces here. I am glad to see the coaster run as well as it did today. The new stage. Yes, it is real astroturf. Mummy is still my favorite attraction in the park. Themed stroller parking. Themed Disappointment #1 I wonder if Fear Factor is gone for good now. All the signs have been removed. Since we are here..... I honestly think the best thing about the Simpsons ride is the attraction waiting room. Hee hee hee. I am glad they found a use for these things. Here is another one. Ok, here is some more random Rockit photos. Random! This is taken from outside the park. This would be an underneath shot of a coaster car. Blue Man Group Theatre....now with Rockit. One last shot. I am glad that it is now running. Islands of Adventure update coming soon!

If Disney is going to keep going backwards, I wonder how long until Magic Journeys comes back.

Is that Plasticman on the cover?