Photo TR: Disneyland Resort, SFMM.....and some other stuff

[Purplepills]

So anyway here’s my photo trip report from my honeymoon to LA and NYC, basically covering my thoughts and photos of Disneyland/DCA, SFMM, and I’ll do a third section on the other things we did such as bits of Sea World and Coney Island.

 

Starting with Disney on 2 September - it was my first visit to Disneyland as an adult, the last time I went I was about 13 (I’m now 28 ), so didn’t really appreciate the effort and all that. Essentially I kinda thought although it was fun it was a bit lame, since the rides weren’t so thrilling as Magic Mountain or Alton Towers etc.

 

We stayed at the Cortona Inn and suites in Anaheim, which is about a 20 minute walk from the Disney gate, so we decided to walk there to save paying for parking. We only had one day to do everything, which was Sunday of the Labor day weekend, so got single day park hopper tickets online before we left the UK, and got there just as the gates were due to open at 9am. Expected long lines for everything throughout the day, but they really weren’t that bad, especially with a wise use of the fastpass system.

 

Ride count-

 

Matterhorn x1

Space Mountain x2

Splash Mountain x1

Indiana Jones x1

Star Tours x1

Haunted Mansion x1

Pirates of the Caribbean x1

Big Thunder Railroad x1

 

California screamin x2

Rapids x1

Maliboomer x1

Tower of terror x2

Sun wheel x1

Monsters Inc. x1

 

 

Which isn’t too bad for such a seemingly busy day. The subs had a 150 min line but then we wouldn’t have gone on them anyway. We also saw the ‘Dreams come true’ fireworks (presented by Honda!), which as I expected, were the best fireworks I have ever seen. After that we rode space mountain for the second time and left the park at about 10.45.

 

Overall a really great day, the park was packed yet still so clean, all of the staff were friendly and helpful, and the effort put into absolutely everything was amazing! A few breakdowns, especially in the middle of the day when apparently there was a small earthquake (didn’t feel it or anything), and about 6 or 7 rides went down, but we got on everything we wanted to at least once. California Screamin’ was down when DCA opened, but it was going by about 12 with a 5 min wait, and we just happened to catch the rapids just as it opened from some kind of problem, so only had a 10 minute wait instead of 60.

 

Anyway on with the photos…..

I did a video of the fireworks, by far the best one's I have ever seen. My camera ran out for memory 5 seconds before the big finish!! ARGHHHHH! Hope you enjoyed the trip report, SFMM next...

Bit blurry, but in a very large crowd waiting for the fireworks. They warned that they might cancel it, but decided not to. *phew*

Just before the electrical parade finished at DCA we left to go watch the fireworks at Disneyland. So did hundreds of other people.

My camera is crap at taking night shots of moving lights. But this one reminded me of home.

"Yeah I think you're right, the yellow hat does make me look a bit silly"

You'd think they might excavate the important find, not build a rollercoater around it.

Random bit of Thunder Mountain theming.

I only just noticed the 'best wiener in supporting roll' award.

Looking up the backlot area again on sunset bl.

Busy at the rapids that day...we only waited 10 mins, got there just as it opened possibly from a breakdown as it was about 3pm

Walkin away from the pier towards the tower, we got a fast pass for return between 8 and 9, saved us about 30 mins .

A different bit of the pier area. I love the effort put into the theming through the whole park.

Sunset at paradise pier.

"Here's a fast pass since the ride broke just as you thought you were about to be launched" Good job the line was only 5 mins.

View from the sun wheel. Didn't realise there were so many trees until we got up there.

We went on the swinging section of the sun wheel, which was pretty fun.

Just to prove I'm a bit of a nerd.

Random shot with some Toy Story construction.

When we returned later in the day Cali Screamin' was open.

I liked the little bridge over the entrance. Then I even found out the monorail uses it...as a bridge! Sort of.

Paddle steamer thing on the lake. 'nuff said.

I was amazed that they managed to find a famous actor for the films which looked just like the model in the ride.

I think this position would be difficult to achive for a long period of time for a mere human. But not for a pirate!

Some pirates doing what the do best....rocking back and forth.

Cap'n Jack sparrahhh arrr harrrrr me hearties...and all that.

The haunted mansion had a 10 minute wait...thought it was okay but was much more impressed when I was younger.

Yep....its the castle...

We look amazingly happy considering we just got beaten up by the ride.

They even tried to hide the little electrics(?) box. I spotted it though.

Matterhorn Mountain through the teees. And some people with strollers just for fun!

Saw this dude in the line. I'm pretty sure theres a waiting too long joke there, and I'm pretty sure its already been said.

Slightly blurry shot of Indy's temple. How on earth did they squeeze the whole ride into it? Its like the Dr. Who tardis only real.

It was BUSY in Adventureland!

Charlie infront the giant Sun fountain thing. Its pretty cool with the surf style wave going across from side to side.

So are these things like those cones dogs wear?

Yes they did! And they even made this authentic looking lobby too! Its actually really cool.

Thats Charlie my wife on the right. She's thinking 'GOD its big! They built all that just for a ride?'

But when we got to Cali Screamin' it was broken. So we went to do Tower of Terror instead, and I posed in the Hollywood backlot type thingy

Just hanging out.....those letters were pretty hot, plus it scratched my wedding ring...oops!

So it was off to DCA just after it opened to ride California Screamin'!

And there's the other droid. Please excuse me if I should be calling them something else.

Next we went on Star Tours. These droids were arguing with each other when I went 15 years ago!

My only shot of the inside of Space Mountain.....we went first thing for a 5 min wait

Is this an obligatory shot? I keep seeing it everywhere.

Now if we could just get through the gates.....

Nearly there! cue the magical music....and the bag searches!

[ebl]

Nice Photo TR. I took my daughter to the DLR back in April; it's time to return.

 

Eric

[TheRapidsNerd]

Man, that brings back good memories of my trip in July 2006. One of the best parts was the Dole Pinapple Whip thing.

 

Never got to see DCA so thanks for those pics and Grizzly River Run.

[Purplepills]

Six Flags Magic Mountain Thursday 6 Sep

 

So before we arrived at SFMM, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve read all about the poor operations, pickpockets, line jumpers, litter everywhere, poor food……I could go on.

 

It is actually pretty difficult for me to comment on many of these things, since when we visited the park it was pretty empty. All the kids were back in school, and I guess the majority of older people were back at work. Some rides had minor problems during the day, but other than that everything (or at least all of the major stuff) was open. I didn’t notice any litter anywhere, and on the way in as we went to X some guy was ordering 3 cleaners sweeping up leaves to hurry up and keep ahead of the ‘crowd’. I did notice the attitude of some of the staff was they were there because the had to be to earn money, not because they wanted to be. Having said that, there were also many staff who didn’t seem this way, looking happy and generally being nice.

 

We got there at 10.15 for opening at 10.30, and stayed until closing at 6. Anyway what follows are my reviews and ratings of each ride, some may seem strange….but I’m from the UK and not that well travelled in terms of coasters. We don’t have many ‘big’ rides over here, so anything with a drop over 120 feet tall is a nice change. Plus I tend to rate the rides more with the thought of ‘did I have fun on it?’ not ‘well such and such a coaster was so much better, so I’ll only give it a 5’.

 

We ate at Mooseburger lodge, which was pretty average, but air conditioned and the service was fast, and the waiter was nice.

 

Overall we had a good day at the park, and I actually think I reached a limit for riding as it was starting to take its toll on me a little. Most likely combined with the heat, and the fact we were either walking or on a coaster, there was very little waiting involved.

 

 

Ride reviews:

 

X - after a diversion to put our stuff in the locker, (which was $10 for the whole day, which is a bit steep since I am used to free ones over here) we headed to X. When we got there, we had 4 people in front of us in the line, and there was a train waiting to be dispatched. Clearly there were some issues, as the train was still there 5 minutes later. Anyway it was 20 minutes before we were sat on the train ready to go. That was the longest line of the day. And just for further information X was running 1 train, with a train leaving the station every 5 to 6 mins. I did really enjoy X but found the fly to lie sections the most painful experience on a coaster ever, riding it near the back and on the very front, in the outside seat both times. I think if I could be stapled in the seat it would be better, but the restraint hits the top of my shoulders long before it reaches my lap. It was the being pulled diagonally out of my seat and thrown back in it which sucked. I did bring myself to go on it twice, but wouldn’t go on it more than that…other than the pain I thought it was good…I’ll still give it 8/10

 

Tatsu – Tatsu was the only ride operating 2 full trains (see Batman), although this was first thing in the morning, by the afternoon it was only 1 train. I really enjoyed Tatsu. I’ve only ever been on one B&M flyer, Air at Alton Towers, which is basically really gentle, but still a fun ride. We rode 3 times, once on the front (15 minute wait) and in my opinion the front was the best row. Found the pretzel loop nicely forceful but not painful, the rest of the ride was just…..great! I liked the whole looking straight down at the ground at the top of the lift hill. Favourite in the park, gonna give it 10/10!

 

Viper – It IS just an old multilooper….but I still enjoyed it. Being from the UK we don’t have any large rides like this, and I don’t know that we ever will. I had to slouch in my seat since the pivot point of the restraint was below my shoulder level, but I did just about fit. It was a little rough but worth the 5 min wait. 7/10

 

Déjà vu – Another 5 minute wait, I was actually too tall for this ride at 76”. I’m sure I read the limit was 76” somewhere, but at the park its 75”. As you might imagine, nobody checked to see that I was within the limit. I wondered why the limit was there, then found out at the cobra roll when the car in front of ours nearly took off my knee caps. There’s about 2” of clearance there, although I think if you sit in the outside seats they are set back, so it shouldn’t be an issue. Quite liked it except for the scary kneecapping bit…give it 7/10

 

Riddler’s Revenge – My first stand-up coaster, which was a nice experience. Liked this one too, not a hell of a lot to say about it really….must have liked it if we went on twice. 8/10

 

Batman – It is another B&M Invert, a fairly decent ride, although it doesn’t ‘sound’ nearly as smooth as Nemesis, by that I mean it sounds like it needed new bearings or something like that. Ride itself was pretty smooth, and it actually brought a slight pain to my feet from the forces (we had walked a long way in the previous five days so my feet were sore). This ride was running 2 trains, although sending one out completely empty all the time. Why were they doing this? I’m assuming they had a good reason. 7.5/10

 

Scream – I hadn’t been on a floorless either, so this too was a first. We actually had a re-ride on the back row, since we were the only 2 on it, and when we got back to the station there were only 2 people waiting for our row. Didn’t really notice it was floorless until we rode the front row later in the day, but I do find having my legs dangle is very comfortable, as I always seem to have slight trouble squeezing into many coaster cars. We both really liked Scream, ok maybe it has no theming, but I really enjoyed it. 9/10

 

Colossus – My experience of wooden coasters is extremely limited, my ‘best’ memory prior to the trip was the Big Dipper at Blackpool, and having bruises on my thighs from being pulled out of my seat against the lap bar so hard. Colossus was okay I guess, kinda rough but then it’s a 1970’s wooden coaster so what do you expect. 6.5/10

 

Goliath – I was quite looking forward to Goliath, since it was going to be the highest drop I had ever done. And it was good! I had read about people blacking out and thought maybe they were over exaggerating, but, in the helix, my vision did start to go around the edges towards the end of it. That goes for both times we rode. Fairly cool, and actually nice views over the park to boot! 8/10

 

Revolution – Decided to go on this, it is kind of a piece of history after all. Didn’t really enjoy it, asides the loop didn’t notice a lot of force, and it was pretty damn rough! Had no want to return to the ride ever again. 5.5/10

 

Ninja – I had planned to ride Ninja if there was time, and well since the park was empty, there was time. So we walked up the seemingly endless hill, and there was a train waiting for us there. Never been on a suspended before, quite liked the swinging sensation, thought it was more fun than thrilling. 6.5/10

 

Superman – It was running the right side, if that means anything to anyone. Quietest ride all day, there was us and 2 other people in the car. Why the hell does it make SO much noise? Surely its unnecessary, especially if people have to work close to it. Anyway The first 1 second was okay as you got launched, but the whole rest of the launch run was pretty mediocre, and I’d like to know how fast it was actually going. A nice bit of backwards freefall, but I’d be annoyed if I had waited long to ride it. My worst in the park. 4/10

 

 

Log Jammer – It’s a log flume, just like the ones at Alton Towers and Thorpe park, where you sit in a log, look at the trees, then go down a drop and get wet. Mind you they’ve given the one at Alton Towers lots of yellow ducks, something to do with sponsoring I think. It was refreshing though, and there was no wait for it. One of the employees even smile and waved for us before we went down a drop. 6/10 since it was refreshing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ride count:

 

X x2, 1 in front row

Tatsu x3, 1 in front row

Viper x1

Déjà vu x1

Riddler’s x2

Batman x1

Scream x3

Colossus x1

Goliath x2

Revolution x1

Ninja x1

Superman x1

Log Jammer x1

We found Tweety when we were there. But didn't want to pay $14.50 for the photo, so I lifted it off the internet.

One last chance to try and be artistic.....

And that was the end of our day...a pretty good day too!

The pretty empty car park.

Should that electrical looking box on the right really be left open?

Without waiting around for what seemed like ages it was hard to get photos of the trains.

A few of Riddler's sexy looking curves.

Superman was running the right side today if that means anything to anyone.

We walked up the seemingly long hill to ride Ninja and Superman. Ninja was FAR superior. I thought Superman was mediocre. Can't be popular, only 2 other people in our car.

We waited 15 mins for front row of Tatsu, and Charlie is happy about it! They were down to one train by the afternoon.

I waited 1 train for the front row. Lots of people had the same idea as me.

X line at 3pm. Thats right, there's nobody on most of the other side.

Obligatory fountain shot.

Steve friendly Goliath line.

Now time for an English lesson. Repeat after me: Charlie is smaller than I.

Colossus line. This was somewhat rough, and only the 4th woodie I have even been on. Was fun though.

Scream, people....

I don't know why I really like this picture, but I do.

Just what I thought.....my favourite kind of line!

Looking busy at Scream also.

Whats that in the distance?! I see people! So we went and rode Riddler's, my first stand up.

Aha! there's people (a few anyway) on that one. Yep they were running a completely empty train, and one with people on. Why was this?

Damnit! more emptyness. Again we went to the station.

So we followed the crowds to Batman.

We went to the station anyway, waited for 2 more empty trains but no luck.

We wandered round to Riddler's....only to find an empty train going round. Damnit.

...and promptly found out here when the green bit from the car in front nearly kneecapped me.

Deja Vu was next, with me being 76" tall, I wondered why they had a maximum height of 75"....

...which I really enjoyed. A little rough but I didn't find it anywhere near as painful as X.

After Tatsu, we worked our way round clockwise from Viper....

They were actually running 2 trains, even though the line never even came close to the top of the steps.

Next up: Some flying action.

Alas, we're here! 4 pople in front of us and a loaded train! It still took us 20 mins to get on it.

The 'morning rush' for X.

Always the best way to remember your locker number.

I am amazed....I am thrilled...I am ready...I am here....no wait, I'm not thrilled yet since you wont let us in.

Six Flags Magic Mountain...hardly anoyne here yet and only 15 mins to opening...

Alas we made it to the place I was most looking forward to going.....

[haiderodes]

It amazes me how faded Scream is looking these days. The ride isn't even 5 years old yet!

 

Looks like you had a great time at the California parks. No lines at SFMM means always good time (if the rides are running that is).

[laqueefa]

Great Photos! btw that Superman car looks like it actually got some height on that run!

[Team Thriller]

Amazing pics. Truly one of the greatest. When I went to Magic Mountain, it was around like that.

Love it...

[ebl]

Sounds like you two had a great day at the Mountain! There've been times when I went out there and had almost no one else there. Small crowds and short waits make for a great time.

 

Eric

[Purplepills]

Thanks for the comments, feedback is appreciated

 

I have to agree that Scream does look very faded, but I also noticed a lot of the other rides are aswell. I haven't really seen as much fading before, but of course living in England there's a hell of a lot less sun, so the rides don't fade so quickly.

 

We did have a great time at the parks, and it was also great at SFMM that there was such a small wait for the rides. In a way though it seemed to be wierd in as much as there was no atmosphere atall. I'm not saying the park necessarily has a great one anyway, but even waiting for 15 mins, watching the ride snake about above your head adds to the whole excitement of the day I reckon. Saying that I would still choose to go on an empty day, purely to get more rides in.

[Groteslurf]

Nice tr's.

 

What is the plastic screen exactly for ? I've never seen that before on such an attraction.

??

[Nrthwnd]

^ I thought the "sneeze screen" was put there to prevent people from spitting on to the ground below. Just a thought on it....

 

Great TR! Man, I wish MM was like that (minor crowd size) when I was last there, a number of years back.

 

Disneyland of course, will always be busy, no matter what - although there are some times of the year... or so I've heard, heh heh.

 

Thanks for sharing your honeymoon tour pix! And congrats on your marriage, and Bright Blessings for Continued Happiness, always.

 

[Loco]

^^Scream shields. Since there are houses just outside of disney. It's the same reason why California Screamin' has those tunnels.

 

Awesome TR!

I've always wanted to go to SFMM with little crowds like that, but I always have bad luck.

[Purplepills]

Thanks for sharing your honeymoon tour pix! And congrats on your marriage, and Bright Blessings for Continued Happiness, always.

 

 

Thanks for the kind words....

 

 

I hadn't really thought too hard about why those screens were there, I just assumed they were there to protect the rider from something. But then they wouldn't do a very good job on the way up cos anything in the way (like a bird or whatever) would just get stuck in it so yeah scream shields seems like a pretty good explanation. And it would stop people spitting also (except for the REALLY stupid people).

[arrowfanman]

Great PTR! Thank you so much for sharing! Always interesting to hear the perspective of a non-local at these parks. Glad you seemed to enjoy yourself at all parks!

 

 

-Jahan

[PURE]

Superman – It was running the right side, if that means anything to anyone. Quietest ride all day, there was us and 2 other people in the car. Why the hell does it make SO much noise?

 

The steel beam in the middle of the track keeps the train on laterally. The bogey wheels that ride that beam are steel. So what you're hearing is steel on steel at 100 (well, 89.5) MPH.

 

One train running empty is simply for maintenence purposes. As soon as 1 guest gets on a train, it must (by law)be completely safety checked the next morning. By running 1 train empty and 1 with guests, maintenence only has 1 train to check the following morning, leaving more time to work on other things. Some lazy fool just didn't take the train off the track.

 

Nice photos, its always nice to hear about good trips to Magic Mountain.

[Purplepills]

Yeah thats what I meant about the train, there was obviously no point in using them both, since there weren't anywhere near enough people to fill up one. It seemed a bit strange they didn't just take it off. I was wondering if there was a technical reason for it.

[Purplepills]

Ok so the last bit I'll do in 2 sections since I'm a little short on time, hopefully it'll be up by this time tomorrow....ummm yeah so what follows it just random bits from Sea World, Universal Hollywood and other stuff. Its not as cool as the last bits but there you go!

Oh yeah, cos....I'm that mature. Anyway thats all for now, tomorrow I'll put up a few pics of Coney Island and the Cyclone to conclude the trip report!

And he looked so friendly too! Chinese theater.

I almost wet my pants with excitement when I saw this. Too bad it wouldn't have fit in the case.

No wait....DONKEYS!! thats it, sorry.

TPR: Theme parks, rollercoasters and MONKEYS!!!

I guess this was a stunt dummy or something, just left looking dead. It might be harrowing for some stunt dummy enthusiasts.

Beetlejuice told my wife to call him right after he belched at me. He was quite funny.

So you get fairly wet on this when it all comes down.

There are a couple of water cannon things that shoot loads up just before the boat comes down the drop.

Next we went on Jurassic Park. This was much more fun. It was very sunny so hard to get a decent pic.

So this had no line whatsoever. Which was good cos it wasn't much fun. A few nice pops of airtime but really, too short and just.....boring.

We found and old style English phonebox. I hope it stays there, there's hardly any left over here now.

Yeah, cos you've never seen this done before.

Atlantis from the Sky Tower

More watery goodness.

Splashdown on Atlantis. We got fairly wet but not soaked.

So we went to Sea World San Diego, and had a go on Atlantis. It wasn't anything special but was fun, as getting wet in hot weather usually is. I was impressed with the number of boats I got in action.

[Jew]

 

 

One train running empty is simply for maintenence purposes. As soon as 1 guest gets on a train, it must (by law)be completely safety checked the next morning. By running 1 train empty and 1 with guests, maintenence only has 1 train to check the following morning, leaving more time to work on other things. Some lazy fool just didn't take the train off the track.

 

Nice photos, its always nice to hear about good trips to Magic Mountain.

 

They have to check all the trains (by law), whether guests board them or not. The law requires parks to follow the daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly/etc. manufacturer guidelines for maintenance, and to properly document that the work is being done.

[Purplepills]

Ok so here's the last part of the trip report! Thanks for looking, and thanks to those of you who tolds me you enjoyed it, nice to know the time isn't wasted!!

And finally! Theme Park Review: Theme parks, roller coasters....and surveillance!!

Thanks for reading!

Grabbing the bull by the horns is SO last year. This may have been better if I had longer arms.

They have these cool 'flagpole style' hats for sale on Liberty Island.

There now follow some random shots! So if I played with this, does it count as a credit?

Anyway so the Cyclone made the 45 minute journey worth it! Here I am trying to be arty.

Potentially my favourite protected landmark in the world.

Health and safety didn't feature too much in the station, as the guy sat on the edge of the train to ride it between the drop off and loading platforms. They did check my hands for a camera though before we left the station.

They even had trees in the middle of the track area.

It was a bit rough, but it was almost as well padded as my couch at home.

Thie frist drop was the best, but I really liked the way you could feel the cars landing back on the track after going over a couple of the hills.

And it was FANTASTIC! I wasn't sure that it would be, but it kicked ass.

There was no wait for it...

Thats right, its the Coney Island Cyclone!! I was hoping it was going to be good.

Now THIS is why we came to Coney Island.

Another Astroland sign.

General view of Astroland

The baordwalk was in need of some repair, lots of these and many of the ends of the boards were curving up a good 2" or more.

And you thought Cedar Fair liked trashcans!!

Parachute thingy and the boardwalk.

....which sounds like fun, but there were hundreds of unbroken paintballs on the ground. So I figured the guns probably sucked.

Awesome family games! This was where you shoot a live human target with paintballs....

Loads of these games, a lot of them also looking pretty run down.

They have a Wonder Wheel, like the Sun Wheel at DCA, but at $5 each we gave it a miss.

We wandered to the boardwalk, here's the Astroland Rocket. There were news crews about, I think it was actually the final day of opening before closing for redevelopment. There were people protesting also for 'One more year'.

Our first glimpse of Coney Island when we got off the subway. Our first impression? What a craphole. I believe its being redeveloped, or at least part of it. It seriously needs it.

We saw the Westcoaster at Santa Monica beach, but didn't try and ride it. I think it was closed anyway.

[Hattuchili]

That was a nice photo-TR with lots of great pictures. It is always good to see some pictures from Disneyland. Thanks for posting.

 

--Soren

[CycloneMan]

Great PTR of Coney Island. I'm happy someone else on here loves the Cyclone. And that guy you mentioned in the picture, who stood on the side of the train is it rolled in, was my old gym partner last year in school . As much as I love the Cyclone, I will not miss Astroland when it goes. Once Astroland's gone, and the Cyclone is still there, maybe I'll operate it again!

 

-Dainan "Happy to see you enjoyed the states" Rafferty