Photo TR: The Kiwis Do Texas Midwest 2013

[arby]

Great update! This reminds me we need to get back to WDW.

[Woodie Warrior]

Great report! I don't think there is one queue at WDW that doesn't have an excessive amount of details put into it.

[Mrlittle]

Even thought I've seen tons of photos of Magic Kingdom. I never get tired of seeing more and after reading your TR, its time for me to get back to WDW.

[Vtafro]

This just made me more anxious to get to Disney World this year.

[mike541x]

Great tr. I miss Florida already, can't believe it's been almost a year since I last went. I didn't visit Disney World on my last trip, however but I really need to go back. I bet so much has changed since the last time I was there (1999).

[mattnz]

Thank you TPR for putting my last report on the front page again and to everyone out there following along - it's been a long journey, but we're not finished yet!

 

After separate days at Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, our goal was to do the other two Walt Disney World Resort parks in one day. We felt this was a realistic goal judging by the number of things we wanted to do at each park, and by and large we felt successful.

 

First of all we knew Disney's Animal Kingdom closed earlier than the other parks, so we went there first. None of us are really 'animal people' but we enjoyed what the park had on offer, with Expedition Everest the stand-out attraction. The themeing is extraordinary, and it definitely became my favourite mine train-style coaster, even though the Yeti ain't what he used to be.

 

I have to agree with others out there mystified by Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama area. I read the backstory and 'get' what the park was trying to do but it just looks run down and very far below what I'd expect from Disney's Imagineers. On top of that Primeval Whirl is just two knock-off Reverchon spinning wild mouse coasters side by side. But of course I will take two new credits any day!

 

We found Dinosaur pretty fun and, despite the chance of a soaking, gave Kali River Rapids a spin. All in all we enjoyed our brief sampling of Disney's Animal Kingdom. It's a stunning park and I'm sure Avatar: World of Pandora will be a great fit for Disney.

 

Over at Disney's Hollywood Studios we found plenty to occupy the rest of our day. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was absolutely fantastic, the Great Movie Ride was a nice homage to (mostly non-Disney) classics, and I was shocked at the smoothness of Vekoma's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. It was a fun ride but definitely less intense than I was expecting from a coaster with three inversions. We also did Star Tours but it mustn't have left much of an impression on me - I was surprised to find photos of it!

 

The park's Hollywood architectural reacreations are well done but overall Disney's Hollywood Studios didn't feel very 'Disney' to me. I guess having a park that is basically a number of 'streets' with few trees and little shade took something away from the experience for me.

 

We rounded out our day at Downtown Disney which was absolutely packed. The place is consumer-central and we were ready to do a little shopping of our own but were quite disappointed at the stores, especially World of Disney, and ended up buying very little. Maybe it was too hot and crowded for us. Fortunately we found a nice little bar by the waterfront and knocked back a few margaritas before dining at Rainforest Cafe, a noisy but unique experience! There is nothing whatsoever like it back home.

We were up bright and early to hustle another day outta Disney but with more bang for our buck - park hopping across two destinations!

First up was Disney's Animal Kingdom and we were struck by the beauty of the park. Here's the amazing, sculpted Tree of Life.

The details on the tree were really extraordinary.

Our first port of call was Expedition Everest. I've been fascinated by this coaster for a long time thanks to TPR, e.g. I made sure I looked out for 'bird on a stick'.

The queue was almost as amazing as the ride.

Lots of details about the Yeti legend and artifacts to see.

Scary masks.

Boarding area. The train is really quite long - and, as always, Disney pumped the crowds through.

I was excited to ride!

The ride did not disappoint, even though I could neither see nor hear 'bird on a stick'!

Signature shot.

Next up was the weird DinoLand U.S.A. area.

Dinosaur queue.

I thought the ride was quite enjoyable - it 'did the trick'.

Moving on to Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama...

Hmm. I 'get' what they were trying to do in terms of the theme, but really...

I mean, look at this photo - cracked pavement, cheap caravan, drab carnival atmosphere. Six Flags could do a better job!

But I will never sneeze at not one, but two new credits!

Primeval Whirl experienced a couple of break-downs while we waited but we managed to get on both rides.

I think Disney need to re-imagineer this corner of the park.

Onwards to a nicer locale!

I liked how the park incorporated animal life into each themed area.

There was also a bit of 'culture'.

Beautiful buildings fitting the theme.

We lined up for Kali River Rapids.

Another amazing Disney queue.

The ride was interesting - especially the bit with the illegal logging operation!

It wasn't as long as I was expecting though.

But definitely wet! My TPR poncho blew up like a dress and barely saved the day!

Also - needless to say - the themeing was second to none.

We had an enjoyable visit to Animal Kingdom. I'll definitely try the jungle trek and safari next time I'm here.

We scheduled more time for ourselves over at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

The park was striking.

But it didn't feel very 'Disney' to me.

This was to be my second Tower of Terror after California's version.

I'm not sure I noticed that it was better than it's Californian counterpart, but it definitely packed a punch!

Some details inside.

The attention to detail really adds to the experience (for me).

Beautiful!

Moving on down another 'street' at the park.

The Hollywood recreations certainly looked authentic to me.

The Chinese Theatre was particularly impressive.

Inside looked equally amazing.

The theatre housed the Great Movie Ride. I liked the queue through the cinema.

The ride employed a "traveling theatre"-style ride system much like Universe of Energy (but smaller).

Singin' in the Rain - my favourite musical!

Mary Poppins...

Mary Poppins was followed by my favourite part of the ride - dedicated to gangsters and The Public Enemy. But my photos sucked. So here's John Wayne.

At certain points on the ride we stopped for a little live action.

The Alien section got me good!

After a few more stops we found ourselves in Munchkinland!

Unsurprising to many, I'm a fan of The Wizard of Oz!

The giant gift store at the exit had a lot of pretty good movie merch.

We stopped for a much-needed iced coffee. Did I mention it was another really hot Florida day?

The Streets of America section of the park.

New York!

San Francisco with...earthquake damage?

We randomly found an open door leading to nowhere!

This just doesn't scream 'Disney' to me...

Meh.

So apparently we rode Star Tours! I like the look of the Ewok Village entrance. I don't care what anyone says, when I was a kid the Ewoks were pretty awesome to me.

But I'm not a big enough nerd to tell you what this thing is called.

The 3D motion simulator vehicle.

Hey girl, hey!

The Sunset Boulevard area is home to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

What a shame Aerosmith suck.

The ride vehicles were very cool and the ride a lot of fun. Just not as intense as I was expecting!

The Florida skies opened on schedule for another stormy afternoon downpour, which was just in time for Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage.

I'm not usually a 'show person' but this was nicely done. Which takes us to the end of our enjoyable Disney park-hopping day!

Before I go on can I just say how incredibly cheap we found food in the United States to be. Even wine!

After a little supermarket shopping it was time to hit up Downtown Disney.

Which left us a bit exhausted after an already busy day.

Andrew's look kind of says it all.

Too...many...people!

But we found a nice spot to knock back a few margaritas.

World of Disney was too busy and a kind of disappointing...

When we emerged it was dinner time.

Rainforest Cafe was loud in more ways than one.

I have no caption for this photo!

Those are the only real animals you'll see...

Everything else is animatronic.

A LOUD dining experience, for sure - but in a good way, because it was fun!

Thanks for a great day Walt Disney World Resort.

[beatle11]

Great pics again! Loving this report!

[mattnz]

^ Thank you kindly!

[Mrlittle]

I always enjoy the Florida tower more because of one reason. It moves forward. Otherwise the rides are very similar. I totally agree on the Dino area of Aninal Kingdom. I get what they are trying to do but it still doesn't feel right. Great photos.

[gerstlaueringvar]

Your photos are amazing! Great TR, I think Florida's Disney looks better than California's.

[The Great Zo]

Matt -- another well done photo set. I agree with you -- those are the lesser of the two Disney parks, and not quite full-day experiences in their current configurations. I might go as far as to say that the Everest queue impressed me more than the ride itself, but then, I'm not huge on backwards coaster sections.

 

Finally, someone else who doesn't like Aerosmith! I do like the coaster (and it's outstanding for a Vekoma) -- but though I think the first third is fairly intense, it just gets boring after it. Aerosmith aside, the theming is pretty cool, and the station is one of my favorites anywhere.

 

I think I found a seat at the same lake-side place you did at Downtown Disney on my first night there in 2012. Nice spot! Can't believe how crowded that place gets, but obviously they're addressing that with the plans for the next few years.

[mattnz]

^ Thanks Andy!

 

Our next update brings us to Busch Gardens Tampa where the weather forecast was sunny with a definite chance of thunderstorms by mid-afternoon. We were told in no uncertain terms that there would be no refunds - not that we asked! So we got down to business right away to rack up the credits and get a good sampling of this beautiful park.

 

Busch Gardens Tampa has quite a different feel to its sister park in Virginia. Tampa's park is colourful, lush, tropical, expansive and flat - there's no need to get your hiking boots on here. Nevertheless, as in Virginia, you can get around by train or sky ride, which is a particularly good way to see the 65-acre Serengeti Plain.

 

The mixture of animal exhibits and rides worked really well, and I enjoyed the amazing themeing too. We started in 'Egypt' where we rode the powerful Montu, which became an easy top 10 B&M invert for me. There were no queues at all, which kind of made us regret buying the Quick Queue Unlimited passes - though we always purchase fast passes at parks that have them as a kind of 'queue insurance', so no harm done.

 

We enjoyed Cheetah Hunt which had enough fun elements to make for a top-notch family coaster, though I can agree with others that it's no Maverick and really isn't meant to me. Over in 'Morocco' we found Gwazi in its death throes, but I was still surprised at how rough this GCI woodie was! Continuing around the park we enjoyed two other powerful B&Ms in SheiKra and Kumba.

 

'Timbuktu' featured the Schwarzkopf creation Scorpion, which was absolutely amazing despite its small stature and short length. Anton certainly knew how to give parks maximum bang for their buck with his coasters, and I hope Busch Gardens keep Scorpion around for a long, long time (or forever!).

 

Unfortunately, as predicted, we were finally stormed out of too many re-rides today - and the park closed absolutely everything (and I mean everything, even a walk-through bird aviary!) when the thunderstorms came. It didn't look like they were going to let up, so we left quite early, but I still left with a pretty good impression of the park. Busch Gardens Tampa has so much going for it - and I'd love to come back and ride the fabulous-looking Falcon's Fury sometime very soon!

 

Apologies for the lowish quality of these photos. We were a little rushed today.

This is the sight that greets the giddy roller coaster enthusiast upon approaching Busch Gardens Tampa - a very famous B&M creation, Montu!

Having been to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, I was expecting great themeing here too, and wasn't disappointed.

Tampa's park had a very different feel to its sister up north, and certainly fit the tropical Florida climate.

The 'Nairobi' area featured alligators and crocodiles that you could observe up close...

Not a job for the faint hearted!

I liked this beautiful building in Crown Colony Plaza.

We went to 'Egypt' for Montu!

Montu was a great B&M invert made even greater but its interaction with the surrounding themeing.

It was intense...

...but also thoroughly re-rideable. To me, that makes for an almost perfect mix.

Next up, an Intamin coaster: Cheetah Hunt.

Despite reading plenty of reviews on TPR, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the ride.

I thought it was hands-up fun all the way. I loved the multiple launches and twists and turns around the (very long!) course.

The 'tree' was interesting.

Cheetah Hunt is similarly underrated as Verbolten at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Moving on to 'Morocco' for a ride I wasn't looking forward to...

Gwazi! (Minus one side of the track, alas.)

This was up there with some of the rougher woodies I've ridden.

The Quick Queue went straight over the former track of the 'Tiger' side of the ride.

Yep, doesn't look like this side is opening any time soon!

Where did Busch Gardens go wrong with this one? I thought this was even rougher than GCI's Wildcat at Hersheypark.

I think Busch Gardens are in very good hands with SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.

The bird gardens were a particularly lovely corner of the park (and the original section, opened back in 1959).

Yay, pink flamingos!

Craig joined us today for a bit of thrillseeking.

Sesame Street Safari of Fun was nice and shady.

This was one of the many walk-through animal exhibits.

On our way to 'Stanleyville'...

...home of SheiKra!

Loading the enormous train.

SheiKra was great, with better themeing than Griffon - I just wish I got to ride it more than once!

Stanley Falls is the name of the park's old school log flume.

The Jungala area replaced the former Python coaster.

More opportunities to get close to wild animals...

I loved this 'paint' sprayer! Great idea for such a hot park!

This was a good idea too...

I was looking forward to Kumba, the coaster that helped put B&M on the map.

They do NOT make 'em like this anymore.

This was a powerful ride that really knocked my socks off! Alas - again, we only managed to get one ride in.

But what a ride!

*No comment!*

I was looking forward to Schwarzkopf's Scorpion!

This really packed a lot of fun into a tiny footprint.

Schwarzkopf loop with lap bars only = absolutely awesome!

I want this coaster in my backyard.

The only downside was the tiny, tiny station, which made choosing a row impossible.

The rest of 'Timbuktu' had some great themeing.

We had to wait a while for Sand Serpent to open, but finally snatched the credit.

Just another Wild Mouse, really.

I am so intrigued to see how this frightening drop ride concept will work!

We rode the Intamin Looping Starship, a ride Andrew and I always love!

Stormy clouds were brewing...

We wandered by the elephant habitat just as they were walking out.

This was pretty cool.

The park keeps them entertained.

Amazing animals.

It really is an expansive park...

I was glad we got to experience the modified Rhino Rally, SBNO since just after our visit.

It was a fun way to get around the animal enclosures.

You got up pretty close too.

This felt like an animatronic.

I mean, we got REALLY close to this rhino!

Another truck passes by.

Little did we know this would be our last ride of the day.

When we got off thunderstorms were closing in. You know it's a bad sign when all the water is drained from the log flume!

Yep...

Florida strikes again!

So we had some water melon.

And down came the rain! With no sign of it letting up, we headed out. All in all, we had a good sampling of Busch Gardens Tampa. It's a beautiful park with some amazing attractions. I'd love to drop by again. Thanks for reading!

[WFChris]

Great report! I really need to get back to BGT...or A... there are just so many other places I would rather spend my money than Florida!!!

 

My one and only visit was also cut short by an afternoon thunderstorm...I remember we were heading back to the park entrance area, we saw a flash of lightning, then a huge crowd of people running back into the park area! It was pretty wild...being from Southern California its always wild when we see real actual weather.

[Mrlittle]

Glad to see you guys were able to at least ride everything once before the storm. BGT is truly one of my favorite parks.

[mattnz]

^^ Being from New Zealand, the wild weather always fascinates us! It really doesn't thunderstorm down here too often. I actually kind of enjoy it in a way!

 

^ We were definitely glad to get everything in at least once, though it occurs to me we missed the kiddie credit. Oh well, next time!

[gerstlaueringvar]

Great TR! I always hope I can visit BGT to see how good B&M's could be. It's lucky of you that you rode at least once on every coaster before the storm ( except for a kiddie credit)

[beatle11]

Thanks for sharing! That park has to have one of the best coaster collections anywhere.

[The Great Zo]

One of my favorite parks, with a small but truly outstanding collection of coasters. Then there's Gwazi...

 

Hard to avoid the storms in Florida in the summer, though! The "sunshine state" deserves another nickname from May through September.

[mattnz]

Sorry for the long delay between updates - but we're almost there, as this is our penultimate one!

 

Our last couple of days in Florida were spent at Universal Orlando Resort. I last visited in 2008 before Harry Potter moved in and absolutely loved everything about the place. It was my first major theme park - before any of our TPR trips - and I rode my first big coasters there. I was intrigued to re-visit all these years later after becoming a lot more seasoned, and having read some less than enthusiastic reviews on TPR.

 

With three newbies in tow I really wanted everyone to have fun, and was delighted when my fellow Kiwis were absolutely blown away by the place! I think our group appreciated the somewhat more adult-oriented attractions, further helped by how well Universal's (admittedly VERY expensive) Express system worked. The Florida weather also played in our favour, making for a very fun and enjoyable two days at the resort.

 

The new Potter area looks amazing and we loved Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Middling reviews had left me unprepared for how fun this attraction proved to be. Due to it not being on the Express pass, we had to wait in a very long queue, but it really delivered the goods (and screams from one particular Kiwi - right in my ear!). The downside of the area to me was how cramped it felt, and I'm not sure if it's down to lack of space or sheer popularity but it was a little hard to eat here or enjoy the myriad of shops (not that I'm a Potter fan or even a merch buyer really).

 

Over at Universal Studios Florida I couldn't help but feel the park didn't provide quite the same immersive experience as Islands of Adventure, and I felt very much the same way about Disney's Hollywood Studios. But the individual attractions are all very well done (who doesn't love Revenge of the Mummy?), and the new Simpsons area was a lot of fun.

 

One little gripe about our visit - the staff really didn't seem to care about queue jumping. It only happened a couple of times, but I was disappointed to see it happen right in front of staff, who did nothing even when we pointed it out to them. The queue on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was also a bit of a fail for me. You had to store bags in one particular area and were then encouraged to re-join your party further down the queue. This could have been down to the park trying to get lines moving better on the attraction, but it really didn't work at all.

 

Oh well, we had a great visit to Universal Orlando, and I really couldn't recommend the place highly enough. I'd love to visit during Halloween Horror Nights.

 

Onto the photos!

It was good to be back at Universal Orlando, with its many changes since my last visit in 2008.

First up, my favourite of the two Universal Orlando parks, the exotic Islands of Adventure.

Port of Entry plaza.

Of the two parks, Islands of Adventure is to me the more immersive, well-themed and beautiful.

Lots of attention to detail everywhere you look.

I see some changes on the horizon.

The Incredible Hulk was as fantastic as it was in 2008.

I love the unique launch and cobra roll over the lake...

And the HUGE signature loop!

No question a top-tier B&M ride, even if the second half fizzles out a little bit.

Moving on through Marvel Super Hero Island.

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man blew my socks off in 2008, and it was great fun to take some newbies on the ride.

Toon Lagoon featuring Betty Boop (she was all over the resort!).

I passed on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges in 2008, and did not make the same mistake this time around.

It was probably the best rapids ride I've been on, and we got totally soaked!

If we're going to get wet, we thought we may as well go for broke (in the rather claustrophobic queue for Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls).

This awesome log flume possibly got us even wetter than the rapids ride!

Our ponchos did nothing. Nothing!

Moving onto Jurassic Park, where you again feel immersed in the themeing.

Universal Orlando conveniently locate all their water rides near one another.

Jurassic Park River Adventure was another wet one!

Fortunately the weather was great today, and we dried out pretty quickly.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter wasn't too convincing in its theme today - as Britain has never been this hot!

The area looked nice though.

I also really liked the re-theme on the Vekoma roller skater.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey had the longest queue of our visit, with a very strange system of storing bags where staff encouraged you to split up your groups, then re-join them, effectively encouraging you to line-jump. Ahh!

The queue also went on and on...I think we waited 90 minutes.

Things got a lot nicer inside the castle.

The queue became quite interactive...

Yay, Dawn French! Anyway, we loved Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It was much more thrilling than any of us were expecting. All in all, one of our favourite attractions at the resort.

The merch was not quite our thing, however!

Moving on through the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we found it a little hard to enjoy the shops as they all felt cramped and crowded.

The butterbeer was great though.

The area just became a little tiring after a while.

A big change since my last visit was the entrance to Dueling Dragons - now called Dragon Challenge, but without the awesome fighting dragon entrance! Boo!

This was also different and disappointing...

Oh well, even without duelling, these coasters are still both awesome rides.

Sorry Ice, Fire is still my favourite!

The Lost Continent was a favourite area on this visit for us.

Party due to this!

Kevin couldn't pass up getting his fortune read. I had never seen this at a theme park before!

While we waited we checked out the amazing Mystic Fountain that entertained guests and was sometimes quite profound!

It was also very funny.

We wisely booked first thing in the morning to have lunch at Mythos.

You can see why its voted best theme park restaurant.

The food is also top-notch.

Looking over the lake.

I'm yet to experience Poseidon's Fury. Have I missed anything?

Seuss Landing was the final corner of Islands of Adventure.

I love Dr. Seuss.

I also loved the lack of straight lines anywhere in this area of the park.

We rode the very trippy Cat in the Hat dark ride.

But we got queue jumped again!

These palm trees were apparently bent out of shape by Hurricane Andrew!

Day 2 was mostly spent over at Universal Studios Florida...

...where the themeing just didn't do it for me. I mean, it looks authentic, but I dunno, maybe it just looks too much like LA!

I DO love Lucy though!

Lucy: A Tribute is basically a museum, but it helps that it's all about one of my favourite people in the world.

Lucy's Emmy awards...

Jewellery. (I love the Liz Taylor episode of Here's Lucy!)

Lucy was also a glamorous starlet in her pre-I Love Lucy days.

Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit was a new experience for me.

There is always something unsettling about vertical lift hills...

The drop was fun, then you do this funky non-inverting thing...

Which was interesting...

Not super high on thrills...

But I enjoyed the different elements and on-board music (though they need to replace Fergie and Limp Bizkit - urgh!).

We checked out the Horror Make-Up Show.

Psycho is pretty much my favourite movie (one day I'll have to visit the sister park in Hollywood to see the Psycho house facade).

It was nice to get out of the heat for a bit.

But the make-up show was very entertaining too.

Woody Woodpecker's Kidzone featured another junior credit.

It was a nicely themed one, and not too embarrassing to ride!

On my 2008 visit, the Simpsons Ride had *just* opened, and I didn't get to ride. Now it's been joined by a whole Simpsons area.

And it was a lot of fun!

Yay, Krusty Burger!

The food options were very funny. But aren't these supposed to be kinda gross?!

I can definitely recommend the Ribwich!

Yay, Duff beer!

All the buildings looked authentic to me.

I'm a cold fish!

The Kwik-E-Mart mostly had themed merch.

The whole area had lots of funny details.

Characters out and about.

I finally got to experience The Simpsons Ride.

"No finer way to waste three minutes!"

The queue and pre-show were very funny.

Universal trying to ape Disney?

I also skipped Men in Black: Alien Attack in 2008.

It was an excellent,interactive dark ride.

For some reason I did do this in 2008, and wisely took a miss this time round!

Looking back to Rip, Ride, Rockit.

I have to admit the details on the themeing of the New York area were really well done.

Oh my God they do psychic readings here too!

We rode Transformers: The Ride which was a great attraction for people who haven't done the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. (That's mean, I think I just hate those goddam Michael Bay movies!)

Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride was as amazing as ever, from its incredibly well-themed queue to the awesome ride itself.

These people seemed to think it was OK to smoke wherever the hell they liked. I shall say no more!

Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem was popular but the queue moved fast (but we still got line-jumped - sigh!).

Despite my minor gripes, we had an absolutely awesome time at Universal Orlando! I can't recommend the place highly enough. It should be up high on every theme park enthusiast's 'must-visit' list. Thanks for reading.

[kailisun98]

Is Mythos a little pricy compared to other theme park full service restaraunts?

[mattnz]

^ Actually I didn't think so. Good prices unless you start adding wine (which of course we did!).

[The Great Zo]

Another great report segment! Lots of detail in those pictures, and stuff I've never seen from those parks. Mythos looks pretty awesome, and I'm not even a Simpsons fan at all, yet I want to visit the Springfield area. Just looks really well done.

 

Did you go on Twister? It's probably getting dated, but I know I'd love to see it and laugh at it .

[beatle11]

Great pics again! I can't believe I still haven't gone back to Orlando!

[mattnz]

Thank you!

 

I went on Twister in 2008 and it was indeed quite hilarious. The actual twister recreation was pretty cool though. I forgot to mention in the TR how much I missed Jaws. Definitely glad I got to go on that before they took it out.

[mattnz]

I was trying to come up with different names for this last update of our 2013 US trip - 'The Curse of the Missed Credits' was one, 'Revenge of the Intamin Gods' was another, but I've finally settled on 'The Intamin Cable Strikes Again', because that's exactly what befell us at Knott's Berry Farm! After quite a few missed credits on our trip (Iron Rattler, New Texas Giant, Shockwave, Intimidator 305...) it was almost a comedy of errors to find Xcelerator would be down for our Knott's visit - by all accounts, an awesome coaster.

 

But I was delighted to find Montezooma's Revenge alive and well, and in a way would have been more upset to miss this over Xcelerator, as I had never been on a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop before. Needless to say I loved it. I thought it had a surprisingly powerful launch, the loop was intense, and the airtime on the back spike was amazing. A great classic and, without Xcelerator around, the best ride at the park.

 

Despite our disappointment we had a great time at Knott's. For one, the park has a lot of character, and though I've heard all about how Cedar Fair has stripped out the charm, there is still plenty on display. This is no generic Dorney Park (which I found totally devoid of charm despite its age) - a wander around the gorgeous Ghost Town section of the park revealed blacksmiths, saloon dancers, wood carvers, lots of trees and historic structures. I also found the newly updated Boardwalk area quite pleasant - the gleaming new rides looked good against the pools of blue water, and the streams of lights over the midway were a nice touch.

 

Knott's do have their share of bad rides - GhostRider (one hell of a rough woodie), Pony Express ($9 million poorly spent) and Silver Bullet (the tamest B&M I've ever ridden). But they also have some rather unique attractions, such as the Butterfield Stagecoach and Calico Mine Ride (the renovation will be welcome, mind you). Overall I think they have a great balance of rides, shows, shopping and food - Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant being a particular highlight.

 

Thanks to those who have followed my TR over the last eight and a half months - it was certainly an epic trip, and hats off again to Robb and Elissa for the amazing TPR portion. We hope to join along for some more fun with TPR in 2015 and beyond!

We finally made it to the last stop of our epic trip, and stayed at Knott's Berry Farm Hotel, just a short walk from the park.

Entrance beneath Silver Bullet's cobra roll. We'll get to you later...

Of course with Xcelerator closed we headed straight over to Montezooma's Revenge.

I was excited to ride my first ever Schwarzkopf shuttle loop. These contraptions are getting rare.

It did not disappoint! It had an awesome launch, and pulled some major Gs in the loop...

The back spike also provided great airtime in the back. All in all, a fantastic ride!

It over-shot the station a few times on our visit, but I was pleased to see the park work on it straight away and re-open the ride after about 30 minutes each time.

Next door is Jaguar, one of those long, kind of pointless but still fun Zierer coasters. The queue was nicely done too.

"Nothing to see here - move along!"

The Waveswinger (I see you Xcelerator!).

This is not exactly Disney-level themeing, but I was still happy to see the park theme their rides to the respective areas of the park, in this case the Fiesta Village.

Camp Snoopy occupies a lovely area of the park.

Beautiful!

I had never been on a Mack spinning coaster before, so was intrigued by Sierra Sidewinder.

It was fun, in fact I think I preferred this over the Gerstlauer spinners. (Am yet to ride a Maurer Söhne one - they look best of all!)

I had all about Silver Bullet, so wasn't expecting too much from this enormous B&M invert. I think the problem begins right away with the very tame drop...

It just sort of meanders around the course. In glass-smooth B&M tradition, of course.

This helix looked promising, but it too was utterly tame. This coaster sits at the bottom of the B&M heap for me, along with Hydra the Revenge, Patriot and X-Flight. (Patriot is a better invert too, IMO.)

Moving on to Knott's famous Ghost Town...

...where we got this out of the way! I could see how GhostRider was a great ride back in the day - it has an interesting layout. I just wish the park would do something to improve the ride experience.

Hangman's tree for GhostRider survivors.

I was really struck by the beauty of this area of the park.

Indian Trails.

An attraction I loved was the Butterfield Stagecoach.

I can't think of another park that has something like this.

Judge Roy Bean without 'The Judge' (the ride operator we loved at Six Flags Over Texas!).

Every Ghost Town needs a saloon.

And this one puts on a show!

This reminded me of Silver Dollar City.

And that is a good thing.

Another authentic-looking structure in the area.

In the corner of Ghost Town is Wild Water Wilderness, which hosts two rides that briefly interact.

First up, Pony Express, which was nothing spectacular. Again, I'm glad the park at least themed the ride to its corner of the park.

On-ride photo.

The rapids ride looked fun but very wet (so we didn't ride).

Photo op!

The Bird Cage Theater is apparently quite famous.

It served as the training ground for people like Steve Martin.

"Look at my booobs!"

We were a little hungry by this stage.

We tried a turkey leg, which is not something you ever see downunder. Not my thing at all - it was a little too sinewy!

Panning for gold - another thing you don't see at too many parks.

Time to move on!

The gorgeous Ghost Town & Calico Railroad.

I was excited to ride the park's famous Timber Mountain Log Ride.

It was fully refurbished by this point, and looking great.

A fun ride too!

Up there with Splash Mountain and Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls for me.

Another unique attraction at Knott's is the Calico Mine Ride, which has been around since 1960.

You can see from the queue the park wasn't too busy on our visit.

Some nice details in the queue.

The ride was a little strange but definitely fun!

The inside portions could have done with a refurb, so I'm pleased to see the park has this underway.

Screamin' Swing on the way to the Boardwalk...

So this was definitely the most generic Cedar Fair-ish portion of the park, but I still enjoyed the atmosphere.

The newest rides replaced the former footprint left by Perilous Plunge.

The Coast Rider wild mouse was a good fit for the Boardwalk.

It had a few breakdowns on our visit, but we got the credit!

Yet another Boomerang...I guess this is about as good (or crappy) as the former Corkscrew coaster.

*Sigh*

Seriously, what did we do to piss off the Intamin gods so much?!

Xcelerator looks like a good time.

We went up the Sky Cabin for some photos.

We didn't give Supreme Scream a whirl. I prefer space shots, and I believe all three of these towers are turbo drops.

L.A. was looking pretty good today.

I love the paint job on this thing!

New hotness.

We rounded out our day at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Great way to end a fun day and an absolutely epic trip. Thanks for reading!