darkon Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 This park also suffers from the Italian anomaly of water rides that don't get you wet! (Except for the Splash Battle, which was just awesome!) Did you miss Niagara? Cause that one is a lot wetter than the splash battle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSous Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 ispeed looks amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Lou asked me to take a photo of this tree for Jon. So Jon, here you go. Please tell Lou more about this tree. Thanks. Um. Ok. Thanks Lou. It looks to be a deciduous tree, which would lose it's leaves in winter if there is a winter. It's pretty large which means it's probably fairly old. It's in an amusement park. That's pretty much all I got. Disappointed!! It had amazingly beautiful very unusual leaves, though sadly (and this is not an insult to Divv's photography skills, which are rather fabulous) they did not translate as brilliantly to film as I might've liked! I wanted to identify it so I could publicly praise its awesomeness. Cheers for all this Divv, brilliant report so far and tons of great photos for me to steal! I look FRIGHTENING in the flume photo, far too happy. The photo of Steve/Derek/Cameron/Larry on Katun is brilliant, and the one of me and Scottish being pregnant came out much better than expected! How the eff did Scottish hit his head on those rocks and Russ didn't?! I'm not sure if you realise this but Russ is tall... Can't wait for part 3! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 You don't have to wait for my PTR, although it is coming soon. Here is my response to Divv's photo in the Flying Island. and thanks for not getting sick in my luggage in London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekRx Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Great stuff so far, Divv, looking forward to Studios. Is it just me, or does the baby appear to be breast feeding from Lou via straw? If Scottish was a little bit closer to the sign it couldn't looked like he was feeding the baby like a bird would Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PortugePunk Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Katun has always looked badass and iSpeed looks furious. Awesome pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_roll06 Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 How the eff did Scottish hit his head on those rocks and Russ didn't?! I'm not sure if you realise this but Russ is tall... I believe I was checking my phone was in my pocket then BANG! Have you guys not realised I'm special??? Another great update Divv! I knew nothing about this place (except Katun) and was really surprised. Great park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad_G Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Great photo's again Divv. Katun was really something and defiantly the best suspended B&M I've been on, except for Nemesis. And selling beer for the same price as Coke makes the park even better in my books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themeparkman25 Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Hahahaha, that is hilarious, Derek. I didn't even realize that. You made a comment about not having real good iSpeed pictures, though. After thinking about it, there really wasn't a great area to take pictures of the ride. Most of it was either behind a tall fence or blocked by buildings. Maybe someone on the trip rode the monorail? Great report so far, definitely looking forward to the rest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted July 13, 2010 Author Share Posted July 13, 2010 PART THREE: MOVIELAND STUDIOS Now this park I really didn't know much about at all. For some reason I expected some really ghetto place with not much to do. How wrong I was! This place was fantastic! Granted, some of the rides are knockoffs and I don't think the park has licenses for any of the IPs that they use but this place has really done a great job! The park looks really good and most of the rides have a unique Italian twist to them! The park's small size is quite deceiving - there's so much do here. In our time in the park our group left without even thinking about checking out the water park because there were so many things in the main park that we wanted to do! I just hope that no major movie studio tries to come down on this place because I get the feeling it could disappear really fast if that happened. This was a fantastic way to end my jaunt to Italy. I knew the company would be good, I just didn't expect the park to be as good as it was! The park certainly had a lot of character. A great place to spend my 26th birthday! The final park in Italy – Movieland Studios! I really didn’t know much about this place at all beforehand. But I really expected some small ghetto place for some reason. That couldn’t be further from the truth! This park was awesome!!! Welcome to Italian Police Academy. I admit I haven’t seen any of the movies so I don’t know for sure but it looks like the park just got a load of Italian actors to take the place of the ones from the movies and threw together their own simulator! This father and son combo can’t wait to experience the latest in simulator technology! This ride knows its limits. It simulates being a simulator! The ride itself is basically one square room with two rows of cars back to back and two big screens. Nothing fancy about this! We didn’t have time to do Terminator 5D. I’m holding out for 7D. But hey, Terminator 5D does have FOUNTAINS!!! ITALY HOT. Movieland Studios instantly became awesome to me at this moment. Do you ever find yourself wondering "What ever becomes of Larry's sleeves?" Well now you know. CAUTION: OVERLORD AT WORK. Yes, that is a shag-pile carpet affixed to each car on the OCK-TO-POOOSSS! "I have tiny useless arms AND a horrible, horrible rash on my stomach!" I think this one car and furry constituted the park’s opening parade. Brilliant! Hey, its Morgan, Melissa and Christine! Enjoying Troncosaurus? Brad’s doing his best to keep dad dry on Troncosaurus. Like every other log flume in Italy, Troncosaurus keeps you fairly dry. If only the same could be said for other rides at Movieland Studios! Thie Italians are apparently very trusting people. This is where people leave their bags when they go to ride the log flume! The bat-signal makes any theme park show better. The Horror House was one amazing haunted walkthrough! Probably one of the longest mazes I’ve ever done too – it seemed neverending! Time for a piece of Divvia! Movieland Studios bought this Intamin First Gen Drop Tower from Loudoun Castle in Scotland! The ride never made it to Scotland but I’m led to believe that Loudoun Castle did buy it and sell it on when they were denied planning permission. Though I’m sure if it did end up in Scotland it wouldn’t have been called “Hollywood Tower” or feature the Twilight Zone theme right before the drop! Yup, this park blatantly rips off anything and doesn’t care! I love it! Magma 2 is the park’s “Backstage Tour”… It might not look much in the photo but these vehicles absolutely bomb it down these narrow roads! It’s pretty scary! The backstage tour also takes you on a quick look at the lightsabre factory. FIRE! The drivers like to freak all the riders out by having extremely close calls with approaching vehicles. I don’t think you’d see anything like this in the UK! How the hell did I survive this ride?! The Dukes of Hazzard restaurant serves you fast food pizza. Just like in the TV show! Yup, I had pizza in Italy. How cultural of me! Though this one really just tasted like any theme park pizza! So I was reading the park map and saw “U-571 – Submarine Simulator”, I wondered to myself “how the hell would that even work?!” Let me try and expain... Well, first of all you get sent into this hangar type thing where water starts firing from below, I’m guessing we’re getting bombed or something! Then some dude starts shouting at us all to get into the submarine as fast as you can! We get in the submarine, and don’t these two look a bit nervous? Well they had no need to be! Renee and I on the other hand got near enough drowned! I have never got more wet on any ride in my life! I basically had a hose pointed at me for three minutes. Good thing we’re in Italy, where it’s hotter than the sun! So it might be gone from Universal, but Back to the Future lives on as a ride in Italy! Any park that shows clips from Back to the Future in the line gets the Divv stamp of approval! Yup, that’s a monorail train themed to a Delorean! Rail? Where we’re going we don’t need rail! The monorail takes you over part of the park and when it reaches certain attractions it stops next to these scenes where this creepy Doc Brown puppet explains what you’re seeing! It’s hilarious! Damn you for drowning me, U-571!!! I searched the gift shops but sadly could not find a Doc Brown puppet for purchase. I totally want one! The monorail gives you a good overview of the backstage tour. I’m guessing that’s why they called it Back to the Backstage. Apparently the piston holds. I didn’t bother with the powered kiddie, but they did a nice job with it in the Dino section! Sadly this Schwarzkopf goodness was not completed in time for our visit. I’ll just need to ride it when I come back to Italy for Gardaland’s new coaster. That’s if the park hasn’t been shut down by six different movie studios by then. Look mum – I saw Lake Garda! This photo goes back to the backstage of a photo TR! Bye bye Movieland Studios. I did not expect this place to be anywhere near as amazing as it was! I didn't even make it to the waterpark either! I could have easily spent an entire day here! Bye bye TPR tour bus! You're all awesome. Enjoy your trip to Germany! Hello Milan train station! Italy does have some really cool trains! Europe rocks! Yay for more Italian culture! Actually this was a very scientific experiment in which I proved to myself that Big Tasty with Bacon in Italy tastes exactly the same as Big Tasty with Bacon in the UK. Train station culture! Here I am at the door to the beautiful Ryanair plane. Sadly this is where Divv’s Italian Adventure ends! All three of the parks in Italy I visited completely blew my expectations out of the water! I loved them all! Better than the parks was the opportunity to spend time with some of the fantastic friends I’ve made through TPR over the years. I met some really amazing new people too! Thanks to everyone involved, I had an incredible tme, I’m just sorry I wasn’t able to join in the German fun! If you got to this point in the TR then thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMorgan Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/image016_6.jpg Thanks for the great picture! Can someone please photoshop some more hair on my head? At least there is some cleavage close by to distract from my ever growing forehead Divv, you are hilarious! Reading your TR has made me wish we had more time at Moviestudios. I left soon after the kiddie coaster opened because I really was looking forward to the waterpark, (which was also reeeeeally great). I guess I'll be doing a Gardaland/Moviepark trip next summer, too. Bruno, we're coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik_73 Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Thank you for another great TR Divv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Divv, this is awesome! You hit it spot on about stuff in Italy. Definitely design first, function later. With the exception of some fine motor vehicles, so many things there are eye candy but but lack substance. I really felt let down by Gardaland in that respect (It is beautiful there) and would have chosen Mirabilandia, had I know it existed back in the day. Thanks for letting us follow along. Cheers, J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryancrash Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Great TRs Divv!! I too was impressed with the Italian parks (which were all new for me). Katun especially blew me away - I actually liked it even slightly better than Nemesis, which is saying a lot (that first drop was just so good...) And my compliments for being brave enough to bring a camera on U-571! (Hope it still worked after being submerged in all that water...) U-571 and the Horror House were both truly awesome. Gardaland was my favorite of the three parks - glad we had two days there - I look forward to returning in the future and riding the new coaster. We missed having you along for the rest of the trip, but glad you were able to join us for a few days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy T. Koepp Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Awesome TR Divv. Sorry to hear you got hosed on the U-571 ride. Do they just dunk the whole tube in a pool and let it fill up? My brother who used to be in the Coast Guard said that was what they used to do for the submarine evacuation simulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Awesome report, Divv! This picture is full of win..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LcHg5265 Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Awesome TR Divv. Sorry to hear you got hosed on the U-571 ride. Do they just dunk the whole tube in a pool and let it fill up? My brother who used to be in the Coast Guard said that was what they used to do for the submarine evacuation simulations. Getting hosed on U-571 is what made it so special...that and holding on for dear life to your loosely mounted torpedo seat as the sub tilted way passed 45 degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nay Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Great TR! Movieland Studios was definitely a unique park, and I will never forget the insanity of getting soaked on U-571. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galahad Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Didn't know where to post this but there are some news about Gardaland's NEW COASTER for 2011: http://www.gate2000.com/dem/2010/gardaland140720101606.htm If you click on the hilighted word "qui" that will bring to a questionnaire that shows some artworks and details about the coaster.. Looks rather interesting..! It more or less translate as: 800 meters of track length, 30 meters of height, a raptor-bird theme with 90 degrees banked turns, 2 inline-twists, radent passages on scenographic elements and a sweeping turn skimming a "lake" with water effects... If that s true that could be awesome.. I only wish It was a bit longer ( I'm a spoiled bratt !!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 ^I think I just voted about the name of the coaster or something. I don't really know because my Italian vocabulary consists of about 4 words, "Due cappuccini, per favore!" Those trains kind of look like a funky version of the B&M flyer trains. Is this B&M's take on the 4-D coaster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Presented by "the Munchies"? I bet this ride rocks when you're stoned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 ^I think I just voted about the name of the coaster or something. I don't really know because my Italian vocabulary consists of about 4 words, "Due cappuccini, per favore!" Those trains kind of look like a funky version of the B&M flyer trains. Is this B&M's take on the 4-D coaster? Prego! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Some new facts about the new coaster by B&M. With a new official render. But.... there's even more!! The official render! You can find the original photo of Furius Baco from RCDB http://www.rcdb.com/3430.htm?p=19980 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 ^Nice find, but it's just concept art. And, as we learned at Movieland Studios, the concept of intellectual property in Italy might just a suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment! It really is appreciated! Chuck, I'm pretty sure if anyone on that ride had the munchies it was the Doc Brown puppet. Awesome TR Divv. Sorry to hear you got hosed on the U-571 ride. Do they just dunk the whole tube in a pool and let it fill up? My brother who used to be in the Coast Guard said that was what they used to do for the submarine evacuation simulations. Thanks Guy! I'm not 100% but I don't think U-571 is even that advanced! To me it seemed like they had a few garden hoses fed through the walls and turned them up full blast whilst shaking the structure a bit! Definitely a "unique" experience! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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