PTR: Paul's 2009 TPR West Coast Tour

[Paul_Hollibone]

Well Hello Again everyone. Time for another update? Sure, why not. At this rate, we will be finished sometime next year! (Technically thats quite accurate).

 

Day 7 - Sea World & Belmont Park

 

Well after another long drive the evening before, it was off to Sea World and Belmont Park. Now I will say, that whilst down south, Sea World wasn't exactly the park I was mostly looking forward to, I was looking forward to mostly Block-o-land, but still I left my mind open for Sea World since I had heard that Busch Gardens parks are very well done. Sea World did not let that impression down, it was a very nice park, despite there being a lack of rides. The themeing was top notch, the rides and animal exhibits were top notch, as was the park's appearance. Very well maintained looking. I got the impression that the parks management cared, which is always a good sign in today's corporate society.

 

We started off on the only ride in the park that was actually open, the SkyTower. A very nice ride, with some great views. My only complaint was the lighting that comes off the tower which ruined my shots.

I will say though that out of all the rides at the park, the SkyTower and Chairlift were the most disappointing. Not because they were "boring", but because they were up charge attractions. Now fortunately the park gave us 1 free ride on both attractions, but I just find it hard how they can justify charging extra for these 2 attractions.

 

By now the park was starting to open, so we checked out the Wild Artic ride. It was a very good ride, dated a little yes, and only a simulator, but still a rather good ride. For those who don't know, there is an Antarctic exhibit after the ride, which was very cool, with ice caves and other stuff for you to make your mark. I think we spent at least 30 minutes in that attraction, from riding the ride, to spending some time in the exhibit. After this we broke up as a group and went our own ways, Josh, Matt and I checked out the Dolphin's and Penguins before checking out the Shamu show. Shamu was alright, the story they made up for the show was a little corny, but the highlight part of the show remained untouched, the drenching of the people sitting in the front rows. Suckers!

 

After this it was time for Journey to Atlantis. In short, a very surprising and wet ride. Luckily though the park gave us complimentary Shamu poncho's to wear, so it wasn't that wet, which was very awesome of the park to do. It was here I re-discovered the fun of the 25c Water Jets, and just how addictive they are. Lots of fun. After Journey, we continued to look around at the parks other exhibits, which were all very nice.

We checked in for Lunch near Shipwreck falls, again I was just so impressed by the themeing of this restaurant, even though it wasn't a dine-in establishment, it really surpassed anything I had seen.

 

We also checked out the Shipwreck Falls river rapid ride, which again was very awesomely themed, and very wet. However thanks to Shamu, I kept dry.

After checking out some of the other Animal attractions, it was time to head over to Belmont Park for an evening of Fun.

 

Belmont Park

 

Belmont Park was a little like a smaller version of Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. This park had the classic woodie, it had the Seaside location, and had the history to go along with it.

We had our own private deck at the park (with security, i'd like to see others beat that!) over near the "Waves" area (right next to the Flowrider and Flowbarrel). It was here that we partied on throughout the evening, some more than others. Josh, Matt and I checked out the park whilst the others got settled in to the patio. Giant Dipper was pretty good for a coaster of it's age, but not as good as it's Santa Cruz cousin. I also had my first ever experience on a Chaos ride. We only have 1 or 2 of those in Australia on the Travelling Circuit, and it has always been a ride which I have wanted to try out. It was such a good ride, great cycle, and plenty of thrills. It was a ride we kept on coming back to. We also found those spinning dodgems that we previously encountered at Santa Monica, so ofcourse we gave these a whirl many times. The last worthy mention goes to the Frog Hopper, sure it's a kids ride, but it was something to do, and fun. The operator was also really awesome. It was on this ride that we tested "gravity" with various objects. This ofcourse was ok'd by the operator. No foul play here!

 

After the flowrider session, the night just seemed to drag on for quite some time, and we hadn't even got to the ERT on the Giant Dipper. Whilst most spent their time at the Patio drinking their alcoholic beverages, Matt Josh and I spent the rest of the night in the park portion of the park, running around silly like little school girls. It was quite hilarious, especially when we had security giving us strange looks, I however assured them that we had not touched a single drop of alcohol that evening.

 

Anyway, luckily for us, the park was rather empty, and it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves.

 

I will finish off by saying that whilst most during the evening spent most of their time on the Patio, it did make for one heck of an ERT session on the Giant Dipper!

 

Anyway, Belmont Park, a great little park, not enough there to sustain half a day, but still some great fun if your in the area. Combine it with other attractions and sightseeing things in the area, and you have one neat little entertainment centre.

 

Damn I wish he would stop talking and trying to be funny, and get onto the pictures!

 

Pictures are below, next up is the park I was looking forward to the most down south, Legoland!

 

Enjoy!

The Parks Midway.

That Frog Hopper is awesome.

Atleast the station is nice. No Air-gates here!

This coaster was quite difficult to photograph, so I do apoligise (no, I ain't putting the 'z" in apologise).

I have surprised myself though, I seemed to have done a decent job on the photo's of Sea World and Belmont. Here we have our gracious leader doing some flow-ridin. I hope you don't mind this one up here Robb, but it is quite a good shot I must admit.

More like Baby-rider.

And I thought the Flowrider was sick. This was awesome, unfortunatly the Session we had lined up for us wasn't for this, but for the Flowrider. Damn the Flowrider seems like a baby now.

Ahh, Thar She is.

Ever wanted to see what Mission Beach BLVD looks like? Well here you are!

After some magic (and a little handy driving by Larry) we finally arrived at Belmont Park after that terribly long drive from Sea World.

Thats where i'll finish off on Sea World. Sea World was a great park. Granted, I probably won't visit that Sea World again, I will however if I ever make it over to Orlando visit the other Sea World park, as I feel the San Diego park as being the "poorer" cousin.

Heaps of Pink birds.

This show looked awesome. It was a shame that they had a douche of a security guard who refused us a look over the fence after getting out of the fish exhibit. Douche bag.

On the Chairlift to no-where.

Are you serious? Is that what brings the water up? Thats awesome.

Even Australia is represented in the Fish of the World exhibit. Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!

Oooh, So Close, I can taste them!

Yummy, Humans!

What a great photo.

I love the way the boat is just skimming the water.

Goooing Doooownnn

Kersplash

Journey, but please tell me where we are going to!

He struck a little pose for me!

WAKE UP!

Very Cuddly, I doubt they like being petted though!

See what I mean though about being very well done?

The Wild Artic.

More Flags, More Fun?

This is where Shamu goes to sleep. See what I mean about the lighting ropes?

The one attraction that this park had that I was really looking forward to.

But hey, any park with a Whale-Themed VW is a win in my books!

Welcome to Sea World! I will say the Entrance to the park was very underwhelming. Is this normal for the US Sea World parks?

Flowers! Oh and there's a river rapids there also!

And finally, again I was really surprised at how awesome some of my photo's from these 2 parks came out. This one was also a surprise. Incase you can't work it out, it is of the Barrel-wave thing in the beach deck section of the park. Well this is the end of the this update, again thanks for reading. If you want any of the photo's i've posted in full res, just let me know, more than happy to oblige.

Anyway, as we get closer to the end of the trip, up next is Legoland. Thanks for reading!

[Speeddeamon128]

Nice update Paul! Yeah Sea World San Diego's entrance was pretty simple. Here is Orlando's & my favorite entrance to a park:

 

[themeparkman25]

I know it is kind of random and unrelated, but did you prefer SeaWorld Diego or Universal Hollywood?

 

 

I'm with you, Matt. SWO has one of the best entrances of all time, and when you walk in and have Manta staring you down, it is even better.

[Paul_Hollibone]

Wow, that's the entry to SWO? That's awesome! It's something about park entrances, a park just needs a good entry, it's almost important as having a great skyline, great first impressions set the mood for the remainder of the day.

 

USH or Sea World? That's a real tough one, it really depends on what we are comparing. USH's little ride selection certainly beats Sea World's, but IMHO, Sea World just had much better Themeing on their rides, it wasn't half complete like USH.

They both have their differences, but I think USH is the better theme park as a whole. There's no doubt, as a marine park, it rocks, very well done, but as a Theme Park, it ain't quite yet got the right mix of attractions and exhibits. It's close, all it needs is one or 2 big E ticket attractions and it's there, but not quite yet. I understand SWO is a different story though.

[Paul_Hollibone]

Well hello everyone, and welcome to 2010! I hope everyone's christmas and new year was everything they only dreamed it would be, and that everyone here had a safe christmas period break.

 

After taking a short break, it's time to start wrapping this Trip Report up, with only 5 more parks to review, we are almost there. So without further apu, here's....

 

DAY 8 - Legoland & Castle Park

I have to admit, Legoland was the park that I was mostly looking forward to down in the San Diego part of the trip, it has always been a park I have had some sort of interest in visiting.

The day started off with some ERT on 3 of the parks attractions, Project X, Lost Kingdom Adventure and Knights Tournament. Whilst we only got one ride on each, the effort the park went to for us is still appreciated, something which i'm sure everyone on the trip appreciated as the day went on, and the park filled with heaps and heaps of guests, boy was it a busy day!

 

Project X and Lost Kingdom Adventure weren't anything to really write home about, nothing wrong with that though, this park isn't exactly going in the Thrill-seeker direction, so it's understandable. Having said that though, what the park was lacking in Thrills was certainly made up in the themeing and the quality of the sculptures and other Lego stuff. Simply amazing. Knights Tournament was on the other hand one of those "Woah" rides, certainly the most intense ride on the trip in my opinion. We all opted to ride Knights Tournament on the most extreme intensity level, man did I feel the blood rushing to my head!. Now these days I don't usually think "Oh crap, what have I done" when riding rides, but it is certainly a thought that went straight through my head about 15 seconds into the ride. Yep, it's that crazy.

 

By the time we had finished on Knights Tournament, it was time for the park to open, so as a group we all went over to "The Dragon" coaster before the lines got long. This ride possibly is the BEST kiddy coaster ever! It has some great medieval themeing, a good dark ride section, and the track layout is simply fun. This is also possibly the best coaster in the park in my opinion.

 

After this it was time to check out the rest of the park, first up was the thing this park is famous for, Miniland USA! I was purely amazed at the amount of detail in these models, it was simply awesome. It was here that we met a staff member of the park who gave Josh and I 15 minutes of his time to talk to us about the park, models, pointed some stuff out that we would have otherwise overlooked, and happily answered any questions we had about the park, models and stuff like that. The staff at this park exceeded my expectations, everyone seemed happy to be there, were easy to talk to, and just seemed to enjoy what they were doing.

 

After Miniland, it was time to check out the rest of the parks attractions that we had available to us. I wasn't quite game to try out the Splash Battle attraction, it however was quite a bit of fun to interact with as a 'bystander'. We also checked out the Lego Factory Tour which was pretty cool, obviously it isn't the real lego factory and much more of a "Mock Factory Tour", but it was cool to see how they used to make Lego back in the early days. Also a big Hello goes out to Renate who gave us a small behind the scenes tour of the factory tour, even though it was a busy day, Renate gave us a personalised behind the scenes tour, gave us some extra free lego pieces, and even made us our very own lego pieces from the machine, so for that, thank you Renate. I encourage anyone who visits the Legoland in California to hop into the Factory Tour, and if you see Renate, give her a friendly wave.

 

A visit to Legoland wouldn't be complete though without a ride on the "Fun Town Fire Academy", it's a very fun and energetic attraction. In our glorious attempt at being the No 1 Fun Town Firefighter, we came second, so overall not a bad attempt.

 

Anyway as Legoland is more of a visually appeasing park, i'll leave the rest to the photo portion of the TR.

After Legoland, it was time to head up north to Disneyland with a stop at Castle Park on the way.

 

Castle Park

 

Castle Park is a quaint little park, certainly not a big park, but more of a Family Entertainment Centre, with one of the biggest and best Miniature Golf Courses I have ever seen! It took Josh, Matt and I around 2 hours just to get through one round of it.

Castle Park looked like it was at one stage a very nice and charming park, with some nice buildings and facades in the actual park section, but then there are some questionable Carnival rides which seem to have just been plonked down wherever they could find a spot for them. The park contained an assortment of rides, from a Shooting Dark Ride in the arcade portion of the park (or The Castle), to 3 Coasters, so they certainly did have a range to offer. I quite enjoyed the S&S Tower that they had, as I did the "Looping Coaster", but certainly the highlight of the park was the "Little Dipper", good times indeed! Best Coaster of the trip? Hell yeah!

 

Overall, not a bad little park for what it's worth (I'd kill to have something even remotely like it close to me, we have nothing here) however I hope one day that they do fix up the park, it is a little sad looking, and clearly deserves more.

 

Anyway, enough chat, I talk wayyy too much, onto the Pictures.

Up next is Knotts Berry Farm, Adventure City and finally Disneyland! Almost at the end..

 

If you lasted this far, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the pictures, I promise the photographs will be more interesting. Please stay, pleeeasse, I beg you.

Well thanks everyone for reading (and to those who skipped right to the pictures, i'm watching you . I hope you enjoyed them. Knotts Berry Farm and Adventure City are up next. Till next time.

But it still left a lot to be desired.

As was the miniature golf.

The Log Ride was half decent.

It had some very nice gardens.

In all honesty, it wasn't that bad of a park.

It seems to have some sort of charm to it.

Castle Park. After seeing the entry for the park, I had some reasonable hopes for it.

And as we say hello to Dr Jones, it's time to say Goodbye to Legoland, and hello to...

Project X again, a much better picture this time.

We waited 40 minutes for this ride, well we really only waited 20 minutes since the ride went around twice.

Have a Volvo as a consulation prize. What, you don't want a Volvo? Why not, they're good cars...

Oops, looks like we were too late. Hang on, your telling me there WASN'T a Fire here?

Because Fun Town wouldn't be complete without a Fire Service.

A little too wet for my liking.

The Pirate Splash Battle was entertaining to watch...

This was cute, if you pressed a button, a married couple would come out of the chapel and into the car. True story.

The Stratosphere! This exhibit rocked, even had push buttons to make the rides up top operate!

The Famous Mirage, looks grand.

Seriously, the Food at this hotel rocks, very crunchy.

Just imagine how small the beds are!

And a hop skip and a jump from New York, we are in Las Vegas. Seriously, I don't know what Larry is complaining about, it ain't that far between Las Vegas and New York, let alone Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

I mean, it shares some colours with the fruit, but no way is it an Apple.

Whoever said New York was the "Big Apple"?Looks nothing like an Apple to me, let alone a big apple.

The other being a model of the Sydney Opera House.

The First being the Australia 2 Sailing Ship that won the America's Cup some time ago.

Fortunately for me, there are 2 "Aussie Things" in this park. Can you guess what they are?

I mean look, very nice, but very small. It makes Disneyland's Castle look HUGE!

It looks much smaller than I imagined...

I bet you can't guess where this is?

Hang on, this isn't LA...

We must be flying really high, those people down there are really small!

Legowood, much better than Hollywood.

Many at work don't like working the Nascar races that we broadcast, I actually don't mind it.

Oh the Nascar....

Insane Experience, thats all i'll say.

Knights Tournament. I never thought though that Lego's would be able to withstand the heat of the fire from a dragon? Surely his mouth would have been melted by now?

I never knew Lego's were that old!

Thomas was in a wheeltable, but he still came out to say hello!

To Distract us from the parks construction, they got Darth and R2 to fight it out.

Bob assured us though that it would be finished before we leave.

You see, it was so early, they still hadn't finished constructing the park for us.

The Happiest Place on Earth...something isnt quite right with that statement...

Welcome to Legoland!

[Groteslurf]

That was a great day.

I was very much surprised that Legoland was such a fun park.

 

I can only see the last picture though. All the other pics doesn't seem to load for some reason. Tried Firefox and IE, but both with the same result. Anybody else has this ?

[hansrubens]

^

 

Same for me only the last picture will load.

 

 

---Hans

[Paul_Hollibone]

Well there we go, 2nd time lucky.

 

I swear, the TPR Attachment system does not like me at all!

 

We now resume normal transmission...

[Jds03]

That sure is some great "World Famous Log Ride"pictures.

 

I'm surprised you didn't get any pictures of me club swinging in mini golf. I can't actually remember how many how many times I whacked my golf ball into a deep void.

[Paul_Hollibone]

It certainly was a great day Benny and Hans, that wait for the Dinosaur coaster was certainly long, but was enjoyable with some good mates.

 

Josh, what's wrong with that Log Ride? If it hadn't been so late when we got to it, had it not been such a "wet" ride, or if you guys didn't break it I probably would have ridden it, it looked decent, and even had some themeing!

[hansrubens]

^^

 

Yeah that minigolf game was epic. If I remember you had a score over 90.

 

----Hans

[Jds03]

Josh, what's wrong with that Log Ride? If it hadn't been so late when we got to it, had it not been such a "wet" ride, or if you guys didn't break it I probably would have ridden it, it looked decent, and even had some themeing!

 

No, I wasn't being bitterly sarcastic, they actually called it "Castle Park's World Famous Log Ride"

[Paul_Hollibone]

Really, your pulling my leg aren't you Josh?

 

Anyway, this new TPR forum layout is kindof weird at first, I am sure we will all adjust eventually. Enough Chatter, lets bring this Trip Report Home, it's only been 7 months since the Trip finished!

 

Day Whatever - Knotts Berry Farm & Adventure City

 

Well after our day at Legoland and evening at Castle Park, it was time to head up north as the trip started to come to a close, but whilst we could all sit in grief about how this wonderful trip was coming to a close, we still had 3 more parks to visit. Yes thats right, it was time for Knotts Berry Farm, Adventure City and Disneyland.

The day was sunny, hot however there was no storm in sight, much like the day we have just witnessed...(tell me where that adapted quote comes from and i'll give you a nice pat on the back!)

 

Knotts Berry Farm started off with ERT on Xcellerator which was hardly epic. Don't get me wrong, it was a good ride, it was decent, but the rides operations were just terrible. For instance we were stuck on the brake run of the ride for at one point 5 minutes whilst they prepped the second train for launch. This was a common occurrence also, not just a one off which I was mildly disappointed about, but willing to forgive since we were getting this as an added bonus. Onto the coaster itself though, yes it was a good ride, and that air as you go over the top hat was insane, but I can't help by rating our Superman Escape in Australia over it. To me, Xcellerator was just a one trick pony with the Top Hat and Launch, after that it's just slowing down with style (tell me which quote this one is from and i'll give you an even harder pat on the back). Whilst not as fast as Xcellerator, Superman Escape seems to just have more going for it, from the pre-ride section, to the amount of elements it has which better Xcellerator, it's just a far superior ride (heavily anticipating to get bashed up here).

 

After Xcellerator ERT it was time for Silver Bullet, and after a 20 Minute wait for the ride that didn't even have much of a queue I will say it was better than I expected it to be, certainly not as good as Top Deck Flight Coaster at CGA, but it was still a well done ride.

 

Ghost Rider was next on the schedule and I will say much better than I anticipated. It was Josh's 100th coaster credit (or was it 200, it was a milestone anyway) Not only did the ride's staff members exceed my expectations, but in the front seat anyway it wasn't anywhere near as rough as I was expecting it to be. I can however tell that in some seats it was a rough ride, since the ride closed just before we hopped on because they had to clean up a "Bloody Mess" and no, that is not a joke. The staff members were however really cool, signing Josh's 100th Coaster sign he planned on holding up at the On Ride photo, and just being a fun team.

 

Pony Express was also a suprise for this park. I can't exactly say it was a ride I have been eagerly awaiting to ride, but having said that it left an impression on me. Sure the ride's course wasn't the most thrilling or the fastest, but it did beat our version of the Intamin Motorbike coaster at Dreamworld in almost every department, from the loading of the ride to the train's restraint system and lets not forget the layout of the ride, it certainly beat our "Mick Doohans Motocoaster" hands down.

 

During Lunch we were given Mrs Knott's famous fried chicken which I found no-where near as good as everyone talked it up to be, is it really that good or did we just get a bad batch? The bloody thing as dripping in oil...

After getting sick from the chicken, it was time for me to try our Calico Mine Ride. I was surprised with this ride, it was ancient, almost as if the park has attempted to keep this ride in it's original condition, and for that I applaud them. It was a worthy ride.

 

Following this it was time to checkout the rides in Fiesta Village and Camp Snoopy.

Sierra Sidewinder was quite a decent fun ride, despite it having somewhat low capacity and one of the longest line's we waited for in the park. Not only did that really get me down, then the ride operators had the hide to talk (and when I say talk I mean complain) about other guests infront of us. You know i'd expect that from your average run of the mill staff member, but what made it worse was this guy was some sort of higher up supervisor/ operator at the park. Complain in your own time buddy and not infront of guests. Now that's off my chest I will say the operator in the booth for this ride was really cute and was willing to acknowledge us, unlike the other 2 operators "on the front line".

Other worthy mentions go to Jaguar, man that has a long train, and Montezooma's Revenge, both equally old but equally good rides (and no line!).

 

It was time to head back to the Boardwalk section of the park to ride Supreme Scream and Boomerang. We chose not to bother with Perilous Plunge due to the overflowing queue line and the 1 boat operations. A shame because it looked like fun, mind you though I didn't exactly feel like getting soaked.

 

Supreme Scream was practically walk on, with 2 towers in operation. It was here that we scored some good operations with the ride's operator acknowledging us TPR members (it was only Josh and I at this stage) by our "Take the Tunnel" shirts and shouting over the rides PA system to "Keep our hands in the air if your a TPR Member". It was a different ride I will say, I think I prefer this type of ride system over the spaceshot ride system, it seems to provide a longer ride. Having said that though, nothing, I say Nothing beats the Giant Drop back home...

 

After all this it was time to get that remaining coaster credit, yes it was time for the Boomerang Credit, and Yes it was a 40 minute wait. I really do wish I hadn't of waited for this ride, a good ride that it is (I actually quite like the boomerang ride model) however 40 minutes was a tad too long, but nevertheless I wanted the credit, so waiting was the game I had to play.

 

After this it was just about time to head back to Larry's Bus as we head up the road to Adventure City.

 

Adventure City

For those who don't know, Adventure City is a small but really nice kids park just up the road from Knotts, it contains an old Aussie Mad Mouse coaster as well as a kiddie coaster, a petting farm, a small selection of flat rides and the "Rain Room" as well as a scale model of the White House in the Carpark.

 

I'll cut straight to the chase, we had an hour at this park, and whilst it was probably a tad too long, it did give us the opportunity to take the place in for what it's worth, and for what it is worth, it is a really nice park. Treetop racers however seemed like a death trap (I remember one of the operators asking Hans, who is a really tall European on our trip how tall he was, and was told to keep his head down ). I thought that if there was the possibility of every dying in the US, this ride right here would be my death wish, mind you I lived to tell the story so it wasn't all that bad. After the trip I found out that this ride was an ex Australian ride which I never knew excised, so there you go. Someone has loaded a POV of the ride onto Youtube, so here it is if you care to watch it, you can see the famous head chopper at about 1:01. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8TiwrnUg7o

After this it was time for the Frog Hopper which was totally worth the humiliation, I have come to the conclusion that Frog Hoppers rock! Followed by the Kiddy Coaster amptly named Freeway Coaster and the Balloon Ride.

This park, despite being better than Knotts down the road (a decision many on the trip agree'd to) was also subject to it's own "WTF" attraction. The attraction was called the Rain Room which was essentially this tent with water misters, yes a cool way to cool down in the summer without getting soaked, but a little "WTF".

 

Anyway, it was now time to head back to Anaheim for some Disneyland Madness.

 

Now folks, this concludes the end of our show, so thanks for Bearin with us to the Bear end, and barrel around to see us again. Tell me where that's from and you'll get an even bigger and harder pat on the back.

 

Well it's now Photo Time, for those who wish to continue on, see below, for those who just came for the words, well your crazy, but whatever floats your boat.

 

Up next will be Disneyland, not quite sure how I am going to do it yet, since I had 8 epic days at the Resort, so till then, enjoy!

Welcome to Knotts Berry Farm!

America's First Theme Park...Well I suppose they have to say that with Disneyland and all down the road...

First Ride, ERT on Xcellerator!

I don't know, I kinda prefer this ride.

Instead of saying "Zooom", this ride says "Xcellllllll".

Silver Bullet Goes "Clank Clank Clank"

But atleast it goes "I Think I Can, I think I can".

Stupid Support getting in the way. Who designed this ride anyway, didn't they factor in that one day I will be taking a photo from this angle?

Pony Express was better than expected, much better than Mick Doohan's Motocoaster. Not that hard I suppose.

I mean look at it.

Despite popular belief, Ghostrider wasn't anywhere near as bad.

Toot Toot...I was suprised they were running such a big engine for such a small track, sort of wasted if you ask me, but whatever floats their boat.

Snoopy Welcomed us for Lunch. It was nice for him to take some time out of his busy schedule for us.

Boot Hill...Why is it that almost every theme park with a Western Themed area has a "Boot Hill" cemetery?

I would have liked to have ridden the Screamin Swing, but I didn't like the extra upcharge price.

The Calico Mountain has been probed by the Scenic Sky Tower.

Zooooooooom.

Zoooooooooom the other way.

Sierra Sidewinder. Home to the Cute Booth Operator and the Supervisor who liked to whinge.

Spin Spin Spin.

Spin Spin Spin...

Zoomin and Spinnin.

Tall and Menacing. Whoever was our ride op on this ride for this day, I know your probably a TPR member, but hey to you to. I hope you kept your hands up whilst operating the ride for us...

This is what a Train and a bus look like when a train and a bus like eachother very much. I hope your learning something here Larry.

Some nice Mediterranean theming, I really felt like I was on a Pirates of the Caribbean set here.

It's a Boomerang because it comes back to you...But then wouldn't that make every coaster a boomerang then because it comes back to you? I am confused.

On the way out, Thanks Knotts for a Mixed day.

Hello Adventure City, Do you think your better than Knotts Berry Farm down the road?

A bunch of TPR members? Why how could you tell?

The Carousel, yeah this is one very nice little park which has been maintained very well.

Well that concludes today's edition. As it says in the Trip Report portion, work out where those references are from and i'll give you a pat on the back! Conditions Apply*

Thanks Guys, next up is Disneyland Resort as this Trip Report comes to a Conclusion.

[Paul_Hollibone]

Well it’s been 8 Months since the Theme Park Review West Coast Trip ended (really, seems like it was only last week) so I figured it’s time to bring this Trip Report home.

So without Further Ado, it’s time for the Disneyland Resort Portion of the trip, the trip closer and the Aftermath.

 

Disneyland Resort

Even with all the great parks that we visited on this trip, all the great locations I visited, and all the great rides I rode, there was still one part of the trip that I was eagerly anticipating. Disneyland has been a place I have been wanting to visit for many years now, and reading up about Walt Disney himself only made the wait till the visit that so much longer.

By the time we had got to the Disneyland portion of the trip, I had already had the opportunity to experience the Disneyland Resort twice, however both were only short evening experiences, and even then I was totally blown away by the experience, so you can imagine just how blown away I was by the park in a full day visit (there were about 7 whole days in the park that I had). I was simply just amazed by the small details in the park, and the amount of legacy left behind by Walt himself. Sure, the park isn’t as it was in 1955, nor is it the same park of 1966 when Walt passed away, and yes the park is certainly far from perfect, but it’s pretty darn close.

I will say that the only thing which I was disappointed with at the park was Tomorrowland, sure it wasn’t that bad, Star Tours was still pretty good (and a ride I actually wouldn’t have minded waiting to ride, that queue line is impressive) Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblaster’s was a great ride, and despite what people say I still think it belongs in Tomorrowland, Space Mountain was impressive, but I don’t think Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (good ride) belongs in Tomorrowland, neither do I think the Peoplemover in it’s current form deserves to be sitting there doing what it’s doing (that’s not a whole lot). I have mixed feelings about Innoventions, I was impressed with the house of the future, but was disappointed to see it was just a big advertisement for HP and some energy company, a big wasted opportunity for that building considered what has occupied that building in previous years. The land also had a very 1980’s feel about it, especially the Space Mountain plaza area.

Anyway, that’s all the negative’s I will say about the park, onto the positives.

I will say the cast members at the park were ofcourse the best park staff I have ever encountered, not only that but I was surprised at the age of some of the parks working staff members. I encountered one day a nice lady who was in her 70’s/ 80’s who was employed by the park in the front ticket booths enjoying the park with her mother, she told me she often comes in to visit the park on her days off because it’s one of her favourite places in the world, and a place where she grew up as a little girl. So yes, I was very surprised at the higher maturity rate of the cast members at the Disneyland resort compared to the other Theme Parks around the world, and I will say she wasn’t the only cast member I saw that was of a more mature stature.

Even though it was summer, the park’s crowds were somewhat acceptable, until ofcourse the Annual Pass blockout was lifted, that was when the Single Rider line came in very handy for many of the parks big key attractions.

Now so I don’t bore everyone with more boring details about the park most of us know about, I will bring on the pictures (because everyone loves pictures!) If you want these, you’ll have to skip down to the pictures before coming back up here to finish the report off.

 

Post TPR

After TPR’s West Coast Trip moved onto Las Vegas, it was time for me to continue my own Tour of Los Angeles. During this time I continued to spend time in Disneyland, and did an LA/ Hollywood Tour, visiting places like the first LA Firestation, the Farmers Market in Hollywood, and the Mann’s Chinese Theatre.

I unfortunately don’t have any photographic evidence that I visited these LA destinations because my camera was stolen/ lost at Disneyland, unfortunate to, it was a mighty fine camera.

Anyway as my holiday came to a close, it was time to head back over to LAX for a massive 12 hour wait for my flight back home on the flying kangaroo. It was originally only supposed to be an 11 hour wait, but due to a delay at New York airport, the plane was somewhat delayed. I said goodbye to the United States of America at 12:50am on the 23rd of August 2009.

So overall, it was a great trip, I had experienced so much, made so many new friends from all over the world, and I had an absolute ball. While I say goodbye now, this won’t be forever, I will be back, don’t you worry about that, you had all better watch out.

 

So there we have it, I have finally made it! This Trip Report is now complete!

Thanks to all those who have been following this report, I hope you have all enjoyed it because it has been a pleasure to relive this experience.

Now onto the photo’s

Welcome to the Disneyland Resort! Yay, I finally made it.

Compared to this though, that's hardly an entry!

And those California Letters are quite cool!

People complain that Disneyland's Castle is too small, but hey it's taller than Hans!

It's quite a pretty castle I say.

"Whats that Mickey? There's not enough Trash Cans? No, this isn't a Cedar Fair park".

So which one is Dumbo?

I really don't get why people complain about Its a Small World, I thought it was great, but can see why it gets complaints. But seriously, if you don't like it, why ride it?

Mickey's ToonTown was a Hoot, a great nod to Mickey and his friends.

A standard Roller-Skater themed to someone/ something I have never heard of. Atleast Six Flags Magic Mountain's will be themed to Mr Six! I know who he is, but Gadget? What the hell? At first I thought Inspector Gadget, but no, apparently not.

I'd very much like it if I could live here.

I peek a Matterhorn behind those tree's.

Tall and Intimidating.

Absolutely Beautiful.

Finding Nemo, great ride, I just can't see how it fits in the land of Tomorrow.

Great ride though, I especially loved the nod to Australia with the Australian Voice Over's on the ride (I will say the narration voice was indeed Australian, not put on Aussie).

Great sign, not a great attraction though.

The Majestic Space Mountain.

Simple yet effective queue line system. Thank for the lord for Fastpass!

Oh Mr Peoplemover Rod attraction track, may something one day run on your track once again soon.

Buzz Lightyear to Star Command, come in Star Command.

They must be so sick of Endor by now.

Back in the Hub.

The Omnibus!

I with a few other people were able to score a ride on the Lilly Belle Car which circles with one of the locomotives on the Disneyland Railroad.

It was like having a personal guided tour of the park. As you can also see it's very lavish in there.

On a separate occasion I was also able to score a ride with the Engineering Crew of the C.K Holiday. Being a rail buff, this was the icing on the cake for me. (Not My Photo).

Adventureland, a very Lavish land.

Atleast it isn't under new managment!

So I imagine this is what New Orleans used to look like?

I'd also very much like to live in there!

Hmmmm, Spooky Mansion.

Through the fence?

See Dreamworld, a victorian painted classy Paddle Steamer looks much better than your current "Multi-Colored" paddle steamer doesn't it...

Hello Mine Train through a Natures Wonderland!

Zippity Doo Dah, Zippity Ahy.

My oh My what a Wonderful day it was.

It's Hard to believe that the whole Rivers of America area turns into a stage at night for Fantasmic!

Day...

Night, complete with Speaker and Lighting Towers which pop out of the ground!

I can't say I was Big Thunder Mountain's biggest fan, yes it was a good ride, but it wasn't the greatest.

I was also able to score a ride in the front Nose Cone of Monorail Blue during my visit.

Moving over into California Adventure (because it felt so left out).

Overall, California Adventure is still a great park despite it's problems, it's defiantly something that would show our Aussie Parks how to do it right.

Don't you love those Sight Lines!

Lots of Doors, which one is ours though?

It's better than the real hollywood!

I tried staying here one night, the Toilet was overflowing though...

Soarin was one of my favourites in DCA, and thanks again to the Single Rider Line I was able to get many rides on this somewhat controversial ride.

Just look at that Theme though...

Coupled with the Sea World Poncho, this has to be the Best Rapids Ride Ever!

I loved the feel and the smell of this area.

Over here is this ride. Moving along...

Paradise Skate Bowl.

But the Real Star of DCA is Mr Potato Head.

A Bugs Land was cool, really cool. It's Tough to be a Bug has to be the best 4D movie ever!

The lighting on Mickey's Fun Wheel was very impressive.

I love how no-body cares if you take a photo of your on-ride photo at Disneyland. Over here for example not only can you not take a photo of it (ok so thats fair enough) but they entice you to buy your photo after your ride even though you aren't supposed to have your wallet or money on you due to the rides loose items policy!

This was the only dragon I saw on this trip!

Ever wanted to see what Los Angele's first FIre house looked like? Well there you have it.

On the way to the Anaheim Police Station to obtain a report for Insurance Purposes, I spotted this. Yep. Only in America were my thoughts also.

And with that in mind, it was time to head back home. This was not my plane by the way, but same model aircraft. Yep, I was that bored at LAX I took photo's of random aircraft.

In 50 years time this photo will be priceless!

So bored I even went for a random walk around the terminals, that wasted 20 minutes.

None of those are my aircraft!

Bye Bye LA. Will see you again sometime in the near future!

[hansrubens]

Thanks for the report Paul.

 

And hey I ain't that tall. I'm not even taller than Californian Castle.

 

 

---Hans