ECZenith's Huge California Photo TR

[ECZenithGood to the last drop]

Part 1/4 - Old Friends, New Coasters
Knott's Berry Farm
May 17, 2006 (Wednesday)
Weather: Fair, Warm
Crowds: Moderate

My girlfriend Ali and I arrived at LAX approx. 11:30am from Providence, RI the previous day (Tuesday). After checking into our Days Inn right in Beuna Park, it was time to check out Knott's. This was my first trip to California, and also my first time even out of my time zone... so I was pretty psyched. The hotel was within walking distance of the park so my friends Tim and Veronica joined up with us and we headed across Beach Blvd and under Ghostrider to the front gates.

Ghostrider was unfortunately closed for the week for maintenance and we didn't get to ride. I heard the coaster has seen better days and being mostly a steel coaster fan, I wasn't too bummed out with a B&M inverted as well as an Intamin accelerator jutting into the sky up ahead. We headed right for Silver Bullet and apparently so did everyone else... It ran one train while we waited the half hour in line. As soon as it was our turn to board, they added the second train which only took 10 or so minutes and made the line shorter later in the day. We sat around the middle of the train for our first ride and were pleasantly surprised by a smooth, fast coaster ride with a unique overbanked turn and one of my favorite elements-an inverted cobra roll. I really like Silver Bullet's placement over the water with the cobra roll over the entrance gate... but I still can't believe the ride is called Silver Bullet with no trace of silver on the ride itself.

Moving on, we hit Jaguar!, a long but tame Zierer Tivoli coaster. The theming around the ride was pretty cool and the second lift was a nice surprise. Also hit in this area were Montezooma's Revenge and La Revolution (Chance Revo) Montezooma was my first Schwarzkopf shuttle coaster and I found it to be just OK... The lack of OTSRs was a relief and it's neat how Jaguar! crosses through the vertical loop. Revolution was a nice flat ride. I like these better than the KMG Afterburners. Neither of these three rides had any line to speak of so they were done pretty quickly.

After Tim took a dramamine break... It was time for the real reason we came to Knott's-Xcelerator. I've been on the other three American accelerator coasters and was looking forward to something more than just a launch and a bunny hop on this rocket coaster. There was about a 25 minute wait plus another 10 to add and test the yellow train for any seat but the front. The trains are REALLY nice on this ride and the car parts scattered around the ride are a nice touch and a decent attempt at theming the coaster to drag racing. Xcelerator surpassed my expectations and is definitely one of the more interesting rocket coasters. The launch is so intense and the view from the top hat is stunning. We ended up getting a couple rides on this coaster as it was more than worth the short wait.

While my friends ordered lunch from Johnny Rockets and we were waiting for our food, Veronica and I stepped out for a quick ride on Riptide, a Huss floorless top spin. Being a huge flat ride fan, I couldn't wait to try out this remake of one of my favorite flats. They ran a really great program where I got 4 and a half consecutive flips. It's run much better than my home park's Twister, standard Huss top spin. The fountains are cool under the ride structure but seemed to be for show only as I did not get wet at all. It did get very close though! While I really love this flat ride, it's too bad they had to get rid of the Hammerhead (Zamperla Roto Shake) I believe all US installations have been removed recently and I was hoping to ride one while I could! Are there any left on the planet?

It was starting to get hot out so decided to cool down on Perilous Plunge, an Intamin giant flume with an extremely steep drop. They were only running one boat which resulted in a 20 minute wait. I found it odd that you had to strap in as well as wear a lap bar before dispatching but I understand this must have been because of the accident some years back. We were seated in the front row much to the displeasure of everyone else in my party. This thing is huge and the drop is pretty insane for a water ride! We were completely soaked and completely thrilled. This is one of my new favorite water rides, I'd love to try out the UK version which I believe is taller.

Calico Mine Ride was next which was a walkon. This unique dark ride takes powered mine trains on a long, twisting course through a mock mountain complete with animatronics and some pretty impressive scenery. Towards the middle of the ride, the train climbs a bit of a lift hill and goes down a little speedy ramp which was a surprise to me. I was actually pretty impressed at how much ride they squeezed into the mountain so long ago. This ride is one of a kind and should not be missed when visiting Knott's.

On the other side of the mountain was the log flume which was also a walkon. This ride also featured some cool special effects and scenery and lots of dark tunnels. The big drop gets you slightly wet but not completely soaked like Perilous Plunge. Another unique and extremely fun attraction.

We had to hit Xcelerator one more time before the place started really getting busy so we hit that again as well as get our credits on Boomerang. Boomer wasn't too rough, not as bad Flashback aka Vampire at SFNE. The last new ride of the day was Bigfoot Rapids which had a about a 10 minute wait. It had some scenery and was set nicely in the trees. Very good for a rapids ride but not nearly as good as Grizzly River Run which I rode the next day at Cali Adventure...

The crew spent the rest of the day checking out the buildings in Ghost Town and the dormant Ghostrider. The very last thing Veronica and I did was hit Silver Bullet one more time, in the front seat. Ali decided to sit the ride out and missed out on an even better ride experience. Definitely preferred the front seat. Overall a great first time at Knott's. It's great to see such nice theming balanced with a nice selection of flat rides and coasters.

Not many photos for Knott's but there will be tons for the other SoCal theme parks.

Check back soon for Part II: Disneyland

[coaster_type_of_personI know more about donkeys than women!]

I actually enjoyd reading that one. and you are definetly right about the insane airtime in the back seat!!! Going down that drop in the back car is amazing because you are ejected from the seat. Great TR, and I seriously can't wait to read and see Cali Adv. and Disney!

[NoobitizerThe best thing about TPR is the donkeys.]

I remember you guys! LOL. I was the ride opp at Riptide. If that one pic was about an inch over then you would had me in the shot. Nice to here you had a good day in the park.

[rollermonkeyMy That's A Big Drink!]

You heathen!

You just now finally found your way on a shuttle loop?

You only found it OK?

How can you consider yourself an enthusiast?



I forget is that a weight drop or flywheel example? One is much better than the other.

I can't wait for the rest of your pics, you actually have a couple in there that weren't the 'standard shots'.

[socalMAN123This 16 year old puts you to shame]

I can't agree with you more than with the airtime on the back seat on Xcelerator. It's total ejector airtime, whenever I ride it, I'm practically standing up. Anyways, great TR and photos, can't wait to see the DLR ones!
---Brent

EDIT: Chris, it is a flywheel shuttle. I don't know what the difference between that and a weight drop is.

[ECZenithGood to the last drop]

That's funny you were my ride op. Need to get myself one of those TPR tees so I can meet more of you by accident.

Rollermonkey, glad you enjoyed the pics. You can thank my girlfriend Ali for the unusual shots, we like to make sure we get some original stuff in.

Y'all are gonna like the other ones, I assure you.

[rollermonkeyMy That's A Big Drink!]

Hey! Wait a second! I know that sign off line!
Are you on Rollercoaster Talk at Yahoo?

[ECZenithGood to the last drop]

Nope, this is the only theme park website I really go to. The saying is from the "No Fear" apparel brand.

[ECZenithGood to the last drop]

Part 2/4 – The Original Theme Park
Disneyland
May 18, 19, 2006 (Thursday/Friday)
Weather: Fair, Warm both days
Crowds: Moderate/Heavy

I just wanna say thanks a ton to my girlfriend Ali for taking all the great photos...

First off, I really like the way the entire resort is set up. While I appreciate WDW's spread out layout and infinite room, DLR has Downtown Disney, the hotels and the theme parks all adjacent to each other without the need for bus/monorail transport. Downtown Disney was OK but not nearly as good as the Orlando version. I was able to pick up some theme park ride pins while in DD while my girlfriend Ali bought some pearls from a nearby stand. So before even entering the theme parks, my wallet had suffered a little damage. I also got to experience for the first time-Wetzel's Pretzels-and they are bomb.

OK, now onto theme park goodness...


Finally... the wait is over. I'm a huge Disney fan but I've only been to Walt Disney World. I had an idea of what to expect but there's something special about this original Disney theme park. I ended up liking it a lot more than WDW's Magic Kingdom for multiple reasons as you'll read below. Thanks to tips from SoCal TPR members, we headed down main street and down to Adventureland for Indiana Jones and the Temple Of The Forbidden Eye. The wait time was about 15 minutes so we decided to keep our fastpass access for the next ride. I had heard great things about Indy and I had been on AK's Dinosaur which I really enjoyed. To start with, the queue was incredibly themed and rivals Dueling Dragons'. The line moves very fast, winding through the temple, past skeletons and booby traps until you reach the bridge where you cross over to the loading platform.

The vehicles are Disney's very own EMVs, known on this attraction as “troop transports”. After we were all strapped in, and a quick seat belt check, we screeches off into the ruins ahead. According to the storyline, an idol inside the temple will grant visitors unearthly rewards as long as you do not look into his eyes. Of course, within the first few seconds of the ride, someone has broken the rule and the idol sends us on a doomed journey deeper into the temple. My favorite part of the ride was the bridge, where the idol blasts at you with a laser, the EMV rocking with the “impact”. There's some awesome animatronics including Indiana Jones and a massive cobra which looked incredibly realistic in person. The rolling ball trick at the end left me scratching my head as to how they could reset such a huge trick so frequently. Indiana Jones ended up being one of the best rides I had been on-period. I'm a fan of the movies and the EMV ride system so this was a real winner. We ended up with a total of three rides after two days at the resort. This ride is absolutely not to be missed.

Also thanks to tips, or rather warnings-we left Adventureland and booked it to Tomorrowland for a ride on Space Mountain, recently reincarnated as Space Mountain: Mission II. We fastpassed it two out of the three times we rode it due to the line getting up to 40 minutes on Friday. I like how you wait outside around the middle of the mountain itself high above Tomorrowland. The queue inside is also pretty cool, I noticed that some of the images showed Mission: Space's shuttles flying around Space Mountain. The trains are pretty nice and seat two across unlike the Florida version. Also unlike WDW's SM, there is only one track inside this mountain. This ride was VERY dark, fast, and never let up from the top of the third lift to the final brakes. The special effects and music went along perfectly with the coaster. Vekoma did a great job redoing a Disney classic, it ended up being Ali's favorite ride on the entire trip and scored very high points with me. We didn't get to try out Rock-It Mtn. As we weren't around at night but there's always next time. While we were in the area we checked out the Nemo Subs which haven't changed much from the last photo update I saw posted here. Can't wait to come back and try them out.

On Friday we hit Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. We have both at WDW and they were both pretty much the same ride. Pretty cool and worth a visit. For the next coaster rides, we hit both tracks of the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The exterior is highly impressive with the waterfalls and snow and it's neat to see the coaster cars buzzing around inside it. Both tracks are almost identical aside from some different turns. They were both very good and deserved multiple rides. I'm a little spoiled seeing Everest's yeti on the travel channel so it made the old yetis inside Matterhorn a little unimpressive. Overall a cool attraction with a short wait (5 minutes) well worth it.

Also in Fantasyland, my girlfriend wanted to ride It's A Small World, and I promised I would go with her. Seems longer than magic Kingdom's version. Not much I can say about this one-really never cared for it much but I did think the exterior was a lot nicer on the DLR version. While we were in Fantasyland I had to ride Alice In Wonderland as it's my favorite animated movie of all time and my favorite childhood movie. The ride wasn't too bad and had a lot of appearances by my favorite Disney character-The Cheshire Cat. It was neat how the cars went outside for a bit as the caterpillar cars slide down what looks like giant leaves. Definitely glad I experienced this odd little ride.

For a shameless credit, we headed into ToonTown and waited 15 minutes for Gadget's Go Coaster. Typical Vekoma junior coaster but Ali liked the “cute” theming. While we were in ToonTown, we also did Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin. I was actually a little let down by the scenery in this ride but it was unique and worth the 25 minutes we waited for it. We wanted to ride some of the other Fantasyland dark rides but by the time we left ToonTown it was an absolute mob scene. Leaving Fantasyland was when I noticed how different the left side of DL is different from MK's. We were expecting to bump into Haunted Mansion next but to our surprise Big Thunder Mountain came into view. We waited about 10 minutes and took a spin on another great Disney classic. I liked WDW's version alot better as it has its own area and more track near the water. I hear Paris has the best one.

Now we were starving and treated ourselves to some McDonald's fries before finally reaching Haunted Mansion. HM was actually a walkon on Thursday but had about a 20 minute wait on Friday. Very good, seemed almost the same as WDW's. We didn't get to ride Splash Mountain until Friday and it was the only other ride at DL where we needed FastPass. On Thursday the standby wait was 40 minutes and 60 minutes on Friday-which was actually the longest line I saw at the entire resort. While waiting for Splash, we rode Pooh which fits nicely in Critter Country. I didn't care for the ride at all but at least Critter Country has another ride. SM is nearly identical but they have an extra scene at the end before the big drop that WDW doesn't have, making it slightly better. The scene is kind of dark story-wise and I can see why they may have cut it from MK. DL also seats riders in a single row rather than the two seats across that WDW has.

Last ride of the day (Friday) was Jungle Cruise which had no wait time. I still laugh at the skipper's jokes even though they aren't any different. Our skipper Jeff was really good at what he did, makes the ride so much better with a great cast member. I noticed the new piranhas which seemed a little cheap... spinning around on a wheel, but it's better than not getting any updates at all I suppose. I think I remember WDW's version having an indoor temple scene that DL didn't have, making me like WDW's slightly better. My impressions on Disneyland-Better than I expected it to be. Miles ahead of Magic Kingdom with just Space Mountain and Indiana Jones... Friendly staff, great atmosphere, perfect selection of rides.

Check back soon for Part III: Disney's California Adventure

[ECZenithGood to the last drop]

Part ¾ – Not too shabby...
Disney's California Adventure
May 18, 19, 2006 (Thursday/Friday)
Weather: Fair, Warm both days
Crowds: Light/Moderate

To sum up California Adventure in one word, I'd have to say underrated. This was my first visit to the entire state and most of the rides at Cali Adventure were new to me, so I was completely pleased with my visit on both days. We headed all the way to the back of this little park to Paradise Pier and one of my most anticipated rides of the entire trip: California Screamin'. Where do I begin on this ride? A unique-layout Intamin with a boardwalk theme, LIM launch and an LIM lift hill, vertical loop halfway through the ride, some slight airtime in the back seat, single rider line... Damn near perfect. Tied for best attraction at DLR for me along with Space Mountain and Indiana Jones. I ended up with exactly 10 rides on California Screamin' thanks to the single rider line. My girlfriend wanted to go on the sun wheel rather than join me for the screamin' marathon. It took here about a half hour to get on leaving me plenty of time with this crazy Intamin. The launch is pretty mild but its setting right on top of the water is excellent. It's got a couple of good drops and after it swoops around Maliboomer, it does this great carving turn I haven't seen anywhere else.

Also in Paradise Pier, we hit Orange Stinger which was pretty neat, “very cute” as Ali said. Orange Stinger is a basic swing ride enclosed in a giant peeling orange. Best swing ride ever just because of the theming but ride-wise nothing special. The Golden Zephyr was a neat old-school rocket ride with some great views but the ride cycle was SO short. Ali really liked the Sun Wheel and took two rides on it. In case you don't know, Sun Wheel is a very rare “coaster wheel” that has cars that slide down and around rails as the ferris wheel turns around. Completely bizarre. The whole Paradise Pier area was my favorite “land” between both of the Disney theme parks. I love boardwalk amusement piers and the theme really did it for me. I wish I had seen the place at night.

I also hit Maliboomer, the park's triple space shot. It had a single rider line which helped as Ali was still waiting for Sun Wheel. I love Space Shots and it was themed pretty nicely as a carnival strength game. They were only running one of the three towers on Thursday but had another one up on Friday to keep the lines going. Time for the biggest surprise of the day... Mulholland Madness was running! MM was scheduled to be down the week that we were in California but we were happy to see this bonus credit cycling around without any signs of closure. It was a nice little mouse but the hills were very rampy compared to some of the Mack mice I've been on. Not really a Disney quality ride but a credit nonetheless.

We continued clockwise to Golden State, noticing that there isn't much in between here and Paradise Pier. Ali skipped Grizzly River Run not wanting to get wet. Once again I took advantage of the single rider line and hopped right on. This was hands-down the best rapids ride I've ever been on. One HUGE lift hill and two good sized drops, along with geysers and waterfalls make for a great ride experience. Add to that the fact that it's built onto the beautiful Grizzly peak, DCA's sole mountain. Grizzly was another great surprise on the trip, just plain fun-perfect setting in typical Disney fashion.

We didn't get to Soarin' until Friday (wanted to save something to do that day!) and enjoyed it thoroughly. For some reason I liked it better than Epcot's. Must have been the fact that the exterior and surrounding themed area of Condor Flats was really nice where Epcot's seems a bit out of place squeezed into the land pavilion, and themed to California in the middle of Florida... Seems like I noticed the smells better at DCA because I don't remember them working at Epcot. Easily the best simulator type ride I've ever been on. It really seems like you're VERY high off the ground inside that building. Good to see Disney still coming up with completely new ideas for rides.

A Bug's Land/Flik's Fun Fair didn't really interest us at all and we passed right by it on the way to the other side of the park. We had already been on Animal Kingdom's “It's tough to be a bug” and it was just OK... Next up was The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror-comparison time... I like DCA's exterior better for some reason but WD Studios has the whole street leading up to it. The shape of the building is pretty nice, Disney Sea's looks the best out of all the one's I've seen so far though. Ok, now that we're inside. The lobby was done pretty well. Cast members/bellhops didn't seem as “into it” as they do in Florida. They were just kind of standing around talking to each other at the ride's entrance. After the library, there are six loading areas, three on the bottom of the boiler room and three upstairs. WDS definitely has the better boiler room-DCA's seemed kind of cartoonish with the boiler with the face and the weird lighting.

There were some good bellhops in character once inside the Tower to add to the ride experience. I now notice what everyone's saying about “the hallway”. The doors opened and there it was.. yuk. After boarding the elevator and the doors close, the car pushes back and there is the one scene WDW doesn't have-the mirror trick. The rest of the ride is the same aside from the lack of the 5th Dimension hallway. Doesn't have the random drop sequence of Florida yet, and the lightning effects didn't even touch WDS's. Still a great ride, one of the best at the park, but I agree with most of you in that it's not even close to Florida's. Disney Sea's should be interesting with the new storyline.

Last ride of the Disneyland Resort was Minster's Inc. - Mike & Sulley to the Rescue. Actually better than I thought it would be and the necessary dark ride that DCA so desperately needed. The animatronics were pretty good, and there were some cool effects like the doors, and Randal changing colors was pretty impressive. This ride, along with everything else beside the Sun Wheel and Soarin' had no wait. So yeah... I loved DCA but agree it needs a few more quality rides to bring it up to where it should be. Hopefully the rumor of them getting the “Cars” version of test track is true as I can't think of a better ride to be put in DCA. Also, I should add that I really like the California theming of the entire park, you have to admit they did a great job consistently theming the place.