TRIP REPORT: Rockin' Disneyland Resort 01/25/07

[spacemtfan]

Yo! What’s up everybody? My name is spacemtfan (15 years old). I live in San Bernardino, CA and I'm a big Disney theme park fan! My dream is to go to every single park around the world! However, being that I'm only 15, the only two parks I go to is DLR and Knott's. I have no pictures of the trip because I do not wish to reveal myself or my family.

 

On Thursday, January 25, 2007, my family and I went to the Disneyland Resort (for only one day) to check out Rockin' Space Mountain and Rockin' California Screamin'. Here’s a brief look at my family. My mom is a Disney-lover, that’s where I inherited my Disney love from . My sister is the crazy one. She’s willing to go on any roller coaster ride! My little brother is the opposite of her. He’s always in a bad mood and he hates roller coaster rides.

 

We arrived in Anaheim around 12 noon. My mom drove up to the Lion King Parking lot. Since we were going on Thursday, the parks were dead! Only the "Mickey and Friends" Parking Structure was open. This was a very good sign . When we were driving behind California Adventure, my little brother rolled down his window and...he can hear the soundtrack coming from California Screamin'!

 

Anyway, we parked on the first floor of the parking structure. Usually when we go to Disneyland, there is always a huge line for the trams. Today, there was none what so ever! There also wasn't any line to get into Disneyland or California Adventure, and there were only 3 turnstiles open at each park. Another good sign .

 

The first park we went to was Disney's California Adventure. After getting through the gates, my little sister wanted to see the Aladdin show. The next show time was in about 30 minutes! So, we booked it to the Hollywood Backlot section.

 

We still had about 20 minutes before the show, so my mom and brother went on Monster Inc. while my adventurous sister and I went on...The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror! Now I'll admit, DCA's ToT isn't as good as the WDW one, but I like DCA's Tower because it's more straightforward. I'm glad that Disney has a lot of cool effects to show off on the Disney World Tower, but I just want to get to the elevator dropping!

 

The ride had a line of 15 minutes. After we breezed through the pre-show, they send both of us to the middle shaft, which was already loading! We were able to breeze through the ride in about 10 minutes!

 

After my sister and I got our bloods flowing on the Tower, we met up with my little brother and mom at the Hyperion Theater for the 12:45 show. My whole family was lucky enough to get the front row of the show! We waited in the blazing sun for about 15 minutes (seemed longer). As for the show itself, it’s always one of the best! The acting and singing is very well done. And Genie…who doesn’t love the Genie? The best line in the show: “Al…you kept your promise! You are so going on “My Top 8” from Myspace!” That was after Aladdin freed him.

 

ROCKIN’ CALIFORNIA SCREAMIN’ REVIEW[/color

After the show, we…well; my sister and I headed for Paradise Pier for……Rockin’ California Screamin’! This is a big deal for me because this was not only my first ride on RCS; this is going to be my first launching coaster and my first coaster with a loop (I’m a wuss compared to everyone else on TPR )!

 

To stretch the point that the music from RCS is so freakin’ loud, when my sister and I were crossing by the Ariel’s Grotto Restaurant, we can hear the music from the train going down from the lift hill.

 

My heart was racing since I never been on a looping coaster before. To prevent me from chickening out, my sister forced my head down to the ground so that I couldn’t “see what scares me.”

 

The line was only about 5 minutes long, but it was moving pretty slow since there was only one station running. The music on RCS was so loud that it the whole station was vibrating to the loud beat coming from the train coming into the station! “Whoa,” my sister said. “I’m excited to ride!” (She’s a big RHCP fan).

 

Finally, we were sent to front row of the very last car. My heart was ready to explode from rapid heartbeats. Our red coaster train was ready for us. The safety gates opened. I was so nervous that I had a hard time pulling down the restraints. Then………the brakes were released and the train moved forward. As the Ghost Host on the Haunted Mansion says, “There is no turning back now!”

 

We hit the station switch. The new “rocking” music then came on. Yay! The sound system works! It first played some weird banjo music, then classical music, next was music that can be heard from some old Disney cartoon. “Get ready screamers! Head back face forward and hang on!” When the train stopped on the brake, it finally played rock ‘n’ roll music. My little brother and my mother were watching us from the pier. My mom got a picture of me praying to God that I survive the ride. My sister continuously advised me to keep my head back in the seat.

 

“Launching in 5…4…3…2…1!”

 

The train launched up the first hill! That was the best feeling I ever had! I loved the G-forces coming from the loop and the launch! The turns were so smooth, the airtime was great, and the music was very good! My little sister wanted to know the lyrics to the song! She loved it too! She wishes that Disney will keep this music!

 

Now…here are my pros and cons for RCS:

PROS :

-Still the same coaster from before. That’s not a problem, since I never rode the old CS before. Many people complain that Disney didn’t do much to the coaster. Well…what do you expect? California Screamin’ isn’t in the dark or anything!

-For once, the damn speakers work! It’s still a little bit scratchy, but scratchy music is better than no music. It was pretty clear halfway through the ride.

-Other then the music, the ride was left alone. All of the turns and hills are the same. Launch is the same.

CONS :

-Disney really needs to turn down the bass! The music was clear from the start, but after the loop, it was a little static-like. We loved the beat at the end of the ride, but it was so much boom, that Disney’s going to blow the speakers like that! What’s weird is that…the music was clear when the ride was done. They sounded blown out at the end, but when it launched for the next group of people, it was clear again! Interesting.

 

OVERALL GRADE: A-

 

After that wild ride, my family and I had lunch at the Pizza Oow Mow Mow! While we were eating, the music from California Screamin’ was shaking the place up. When I was done with my pizza, I quickly used the single rider line on Mulholland Madness. I don’t care if that is some Wild Mouse coaster. It’s a fun, but short ride!

 

We breezed through Grizzly River Run area, admiring the sights of the Northern California scenery. We enjoyed watching everyone getting soaked by a geyser. After that, we walked over to Soarin’ over California, which had a line of 20 minutes! I love the ride, but Disney could clean up the film a little bit and make a little brighter.

 

So…that’s it for the DCA part of the trip report. I’ll post the Disneyland part of the section hopefully by tomorrow. And be sure to check out my review for Rockin’ Space Mountain. Until then, later!

[Xtreme-me]

Glad to hear that they turned it on and way up. When I was on it in October, at the beginning of the day, you couldn't hear the music untill you were in the break run at the end and when I went on it just before the park closed at Six, the music was completely off on all the trains.

[spacemtfan]

Continuing from where I left off…

 

After we rode Soarin’ over California and covered most of California Adventure…we park-hopped over to Disneyland!

On Main Street, we got several great photo ops of Minnie, Pluto and Goofy. We would have taken a picture with Donald, but he was already leaving when we were there. Mickey was leaving too, but he has a house in Toontown. We’ll see him later.

The first thing my little brother and sister wanted to do was ride the Indiana Jones Adventure, the second best ride in Disneyland (next to Space Mountain) and the now third best ride in the whole resort (behind Space Mountain and California Screamin’). The park was so dead that Main Street was actually un-crowded! We checked the ride boards, and we headed straight for Adventureland when we found out that the waiting time was 15 minutes!

We got in line for the Indiana Jones Adventure. Despite the fact that the line was only 15 minutes, the line was backed up all the way to the entrance of the Enchanted Tiki Room! The CM’s were taking a long time to move the line. After 10 minutes of the line not moving, my mother decided to forget about the ride and keep going. After we left the line, then the line started moving! But…it was too late.

We moved to my sister’s new favorite ride, Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, a walk-on, which is surprising since Johnny Depp really made the ride very popular. The ride, even with the new POTC changes, was still a favorite with everyone. I don’t really notice any difference between rides, other than Johnny Depp and Davy Jones.

Next up, Big Thunder Mountain! I love the ride…if I’m not sitting in the front. I’ve gotten over the 09/05/03 accident, but still…I’m still a little anxious. I was able to enjoy the ride since I was given the last row of the second row. I finally got to try out the goat trick! Kind of cool…I don’t see what the big idea is supposed to be, but it was fun.

We walked from Frontierland to Fantasyland. I wanted to do something that I haven’t done in a while…Peter Pan’s Flight! I’ve haven’t been on this ride since I was baby. Anyway, the sign said that the line was 10 minutes. That was how long it took to get under the façade. I think we waited a good 30 minutes! They had quick dispatches but really slow loading. The ride was better than any other Fantasyland dark ride! Too bad it’s so short that it didn’t justify how long the line was. Plus, I though that they had 2 rows instead of one. I hope they refurbish Peter Pan so it includes an extra row. That would really increase ride capacity and speed up loading.

We walked into Toontown in hopes of getting on Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. The worst part…it was broken when we got there. I was so disappointed, but I did like how from inside the ride, you can hear clanking and steaming noises, signifying that the ride was broken. Really cartoony. Oh well!

Since we were in Toontown, we thought we dropped by and see the big cheese himself! His house was so empty that it wasn’t even funny! At least we got a picture of Mickey in his Fantasia outfit, my dream come true!

After Toontown we headed into Fantasyland. We did several rides that we haven’t done in a while, Mr. Toad, Casey Jr., Dumbo, and the Mad Tea Party. We were going to ride the Matterhorn Bobsleds, but it was too long of a line. I found out later that they were only running one station and one track. Kind of disappointing, but there’s always next time!

Next, Tomorrowland! Of course, since it was a limited time only and being the devoted Space Mountain fan that I am, we figured that we should see Rockin’ Space Mountain.

 

MY OFFICIAL REVIEW FOR ROCKIN’ SPACE MOUNTAIN

Normally, everyone would give this ride a bad review. But…since there are already hundreds of you who hate the overlay, I’m giving it a good review. We walked up to the ride’s white spire structure. The scary thing about Space Mountain………the wait time was 15 minutes! Never, in the 16 years I’ve been going to Disneyland did I have to wait in a short line for Space Mountain. The line was always 70 minutes (busiest), 45 minutes (normal day), 35 minutes! But no…it was 15 minutes! I guess the Rockin’ overlay isn’t doing wonders, but at least there’s a short line now!

We climbed up the stairway to the line. There were a few people waiting in line, but it still felt like a 30-minute wait. I was psyched for Rockin’ Space Mountain. I’ve seem videos and previews of Rockin’ Space Mountain. Many people (including some VF members) gave the ride bad reviews, but I want to see if it was really bad as many people think.

We entered the inside queue. This is where the big disappointment starts…the queue line remains the same! The safety video’s same too! I don’t get it! Why would Disney keep the “spacey” effects if the ride was about Rock ‘n’ Roll? That’s a letter grade down.

The station was the same too. I did not notice the giant video screen since I love to watch the rockets coming back to the station. I love to see the faces on the people who have just had a first-class Disney experience, especially those who are not from California. I could kind of hear "...rocked the universe" part coming from the rockets returning.

Oh yeah, speak of the devil, one rocket train coming into the station was full of haters. They were booing and cursing. They said stuff like, "Bring back the other Space Mountain."

"You killers!"

"That sucked!"

Another rocket train, however, loved it. The kids were even smiling! We board the rocket. Anyone else notice that before every ride, the sound system gives off a quiet, humming noise? Huh. Anyway, the rocket moved forward into the safety check. After the safety spiel, the rocket was dispatched into the ride. The new “rockin” soundtrack came on. The first chain lift was the same as before, except in a calmer blue instead of red. Joe Benson was a nice addition to Space Mountain. But Cosmic Ray from Rockit Mountain had more enthusiasm. Joe Benson still works however.

The strobe tunnel was not changed at all! The only difference is that the rockin music wasn’t really good compared to hearing the “whooshing” noise. Another point off. The second chain lift had a major change made to it. It featured music waves and sound bars. That was cool, but it was darker than I expected. I was expecting the red sound bars to completely fill the lift with red, but it was pretty dark.

In the main ride itself, everyone was not lying. It was bright! We looked down and we can see all of the ride supports. It was funny when everyone got freaked out when a rocket rain sped past us. The ceiling had some cool projections. I would’ve used lasers, but this is okay too. The ride was still as fast as I can remember. And I always wanted to ride with the lights on, but I guess Rockin’ Space Mountain is as close as I can get to do that. The music from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was synchronized to every move of the ride. The light effects made me feel like my brain is on drugs. LOL!

 

So, here is my final grade:

PROS:

-I always wanted to ride Space Mountain with the lights on. So, RSM is probably as close as I can get to doing that.

-It's always fun seeing the other rockets zoom by you and below you.

-The music was pretty cool.

-Shorter lines!

-Cool, collectible on-ride photos

CONS:

-Some lift effects are disappointing.

-Station and re-entry remains unchanged.

-Not as good as the regular Space Mountain.

 

OTHER OPINIONS:

Sister: "It was awesome! RHCP knows how to use an electric guitar!"

Mother: "It's okay. But the other Space Mountain was much better."

Brother: "That sucked! The music’s different, but everything’s still the same, track and all!" (Then again, he hates the other Space Mountain too. Bad childhood experience)

 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

So there! I like Rockin’ Space Mountain and Rockin’ California Screamin’! I don’t care if you guys hate it or not. We’re all entitled to our own opinions. But that’s mine. For some reason, I have a tendency to hate what other people like (ex. I hate Myspace, MTV, most blonde girls, etc. I like RSM, RCS, etc.).

 

Even though this overlay was great, I still do not want this to be a replacement for the Space Mountain I love! I miss flying through the darkness of space and the regular soundtrack. When I get on Space Mountain when it returns April 27, I’ll feel like it’s my first time riding it!

[dino]

Nice TR. And I'm glad to see that there is someone else out there that doesn't "hate" RSM and RCS. While I do prefer the original space mountain hands down, the soundtrack is pretty cool. I also like it for california screamin'.