Southern California Trip Report

[map2]

So last week my dad took me on a trip to Los Angeles since I made a 3.9 GPA. The trip going did not start off too well because it was raining in Atlanta which delayed the departure of my plane for 2 hours. I also had a lot of homework, quizzes, and tests to take since I missed that Friday. So Thursday night, I arrived at the airport and got to Concourse D with my mom. We decided to get something to eat at the international concourse and so we walked over there. By the time we came back we just learned that out plane was delayed til 10 o'clock. So I sat down and started doing some of my homework. We then found out that the departure was delayed another hour, so I listened to my iPod to kill time. So once I boarded the plane, we sat the runway for about an hour. W were just taking off at 12:20 AM. The plane arrived at LAX around 2:30. My dad had a meeting in LA, so he just met me at the airport. By the time we got our bags and headed to the car, it was about 3:00AM. This definately killed my plans of arriving somewhat early. So we stayed with my uncle and aunt in the famous, luxurious Inglewood. By the time I got to bed, it was about 3:30.

 

That next day, I woke up around 10:00 AM and we did not get dressed til 12 or so. My dad had free tickets to Universal Studios, so we headed there first. I was actually pretty excited since this would be my first time going to Universal Studios Hollywood. As we drove to the park, I got a good camera phone picture of The Chinese Theatre and The Kodak Theatre.

 

So when we got to the park it was around 1:00 PM. We were not going to stick around for Halloween Horror Nights since I'm not so good with people jumping out at me. I wouldn't call it being scared, I just don't perfer to go through Haunted Mazes. However, the Scare Zones are pretty fun. So we got to CityWalk and I was plesantly surprised. To me, the Hollywood CityWalk is much better than the Orlando one. So we got to the park and headed for Mummy. I was surprised, however, of the escalators, I thought that was cool, and it gives good views of the valley.

So we got to the Mummy, and I was not expecting much since I had already been on the Orlando version. The ride did not blow my mind or anything, but it was ok. To me the ride just seems a little unexplained and short. The ride has a good motivator in the line, but when you get on the ride, all the hype and excitment seems to go away. I was real confused at the end of the ride when they made this "eclipse" thing and then the ride is over with. This part was not well explained and just seemed to be put together as a fancy way to turn a car around. To me you might as well just turn the car around with no extra special stuff. However, the mist effect was pretty cool. Also, I was surprised at the length of the backwards portion of the ride. It was much longer than the Orlando version. Overall I would say that the ride is about a 6/10. Like Isaid before, to me it has a good motivator in the queue, but once the ride is over with you're like "that's it?" It seems that there needs to be alittle more theming and a little more coaster portion. So the next ride we get on is Jurassic Park. I wasn't too surprised with this ride. It is pretty much the same ride with a little less stuff in one spot and a little more stuff in another spot. Although it seems like you get more wet on this version that the Orlando version. Overall I'd give the ride about 8/10. The next ride/show we do is Backdraft. Overall, I thought this was pretty cool. Itseemed like this was the equvelant tpe of show as Twister, where you learn some background information and then you get to experience it for yourself. However, I liked Backdraft much more than Twister. The whole idea of being in the middle of a backdraft seems cooler than being in a Twister. Once we were done with this ride it was about 3:00 PM and we decided to head up north to Magic Mountain. Overall, I enjoyed the park. However, I was surprised at how small the park was. The Lower Lot seemed to be squished together with Jurassic Park, Mummy, Backdraft, and the Extreme Stunt Show all being on the same pathway. But Iguess there is only so much you can do when you have a park that is on a hill that is HUGE. I would have to give the park a 7/10, since it had GREAT views of the valley, but you did not feel totally imersed in the ride. For example, you can see the parking garage and the tram tour while going up Jurassic Park. For a prehistoric ride, you sire see alot of modern things. Of course Universal tries its best to make these things as less noticable as possible, so at least they are trying.

On a side not, while at CityWalk, they had this great place called Popcornopolis. They had the best cheese popcorn I have ever had.

So we left the park around 4 and got caught in some traffic,. The traffic we were in was not as bas as I thought it would be. But while we were driving to Magic Mountain, we went under this underpass. All of a sudden, every car starts to honk its horn. This went on for the whole time. Then once we came out of the underpass, all of the honking suddenly stopped. There was nothing unusual going on in the underpass. Is this some sort of tradition? It seemed strange to me, but maybe it is some sort of local tradition.

So once we get to Magic Mountain, it was around 5:00 PM. We pass X as we head to the parking lot, and I was really hopeful that X would be opened. We asken the parking lot guy if the X was opened and he said no, but he did say that all of the other roller coasters are working. However, this was not true. Ninja, Gold Rusher, and Psyclone were not working and I guess it is just granted that when you say all of the coasters are working you are automatically excluding Flashback. After my dad debated to will call how we should get some sort of discount since he worked for Coca-Cola, we finally got into the park around 5:25. The park seemed like a ghost town with no music palying or anything. We headed to Tatsu to see how long the wait was. We got to the entrance and saw that the whole queue was filled. We decided to get back to it later. On another side note, I heard every swear word ever invented in the first ten minutes we were at the park. These stupid ten year olds were mad that Viper closed down and they must have been irritated enought o start to get on each other's nerves. This one girl especiall ysaid to her friend, "don't mess with me or I will curse you out." To me cursing someone out is so pintless. It does not get anything accomplished and it makes you look bad, especially in public. Anyways, excuse my ranting. So we then decide to go to Riddler's Revenge. On our way, we pass the Cyclone Bay area. This place was a ghost town, with no shops opened. To me, the fishnets on the buildings need to be taken down because they look worn out and disgusting. We arrive on Riddler's Revenge and that was a walk on. I thought this ride was just awsome. It has the right blend of Positive and Negative Gs. Overalll I'd give this ride a 9/10 for its smoothness and intesity. We then head up to Superman The Eacape, and that was a 45 minute wait. So we head to Goliath. Golaith was pretty good. The first half is awesome, but then the mid course break run kills the awesome speed built up at the first half of the ride. The second half is still good though with those nice swooping turns and those positive Gs. Id'd give this ride 8.5/10. We then decide to hit Scream. Scream was only running one train so it took about 45 mins to get on. Everyone always bashes Scream because it is built in the parking lot and still has that look, and how it lack originality and is just another clone. But personally, I think it is a good ride. It has its moments like the zero-g roll and the cobra roll. It has a good variety of elements, and is excititng from start to finish. I'll give this ride a 8/10. We then decide to hit Batman since it is so close to Scream. However, we had to go through a scare zone to get to it. The scaractors were fun, even thought they did not come to us. I could see apattern where they would go for the girls and the younger kids first. I'm guessing beacuse the scareactors get the biggest reaction from these people. The mist eefect was good since you could barely see 5 feet ahead of you. Also, the shovels seemed to get some criticism, but I thought they worked effectively and scared a lot of people with this. It is just fun to sit and watch the people who go through here get scared and run around smiling, but still scared. So we then hit Batman. I'd give it a 7/10 since it is like all the other clones. We then decide th head back to Tatsu and wait it out. We were there for about an hour and 20 mins until we arrived in the station. They had this weird holding pattern where they would let about 20 people or so head into the atation, and then hold everyone else in the queue for about 20 mins until the next group goes. This made the wait seem even longer since we did not move until the next group headed into the station. To me, I think the line would have been shorter if it were not for that holding pattern. So once we get to the front of the queue, my dad asked if they were only running one train. The guy says, "at the rate their going they should. These people are not running the ride efficently." We get to the station and realize they were running two trains. But at the rate in which the train left it semmed like they were only running one train. I looked at the crew, and it seemed more of a party rather than a station. Some of the crew members were just haning out talking to others instead of working. The other crew members were hard at work and seemed real tried. While in the station, I realized they did not have thr dropping floor. To me the dropping floor adds to the excitment of the train going into flight mode. That sound of the floor dropping to me is much more dramatical. Overall, this ride was great. The ride was much more than I expected. First f all, the fact that Tatsu is on the side of a mountain makes it much more fun than on the flat ground. I thought that riding at night was great because you will see the lights of the park, and then flipped over and you see the stars. I especially liked the pretzel loop. It was much more forceful and much faster than SUF. Overall I'd give this ride a 9.5/10. This was definatley the best ride of the day. We then headed over to Deja Vu for the last ride of the day for us. I'd give it a 8/10. It's another clone, but still fun. Overall, SFMM was a lot of fun. However, they need to have more rides opened. They depend mainly on the coasters as the entertainment here, yet they do not hav all the coasters opened. I'd ive the park 8/10

 

I will post day 2 with Magic Kingdom and California Adeventure later.