Category: Tours

A visit to the original SeaWorld

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SeaWorld San Diego

Shipwreck Rapids

Not far from the entrance is the Shipwreck Rapids, a very nicely designed rapids ride from the manufacturer Intamin. While I was lucky not to get too wet on most of the rides on my trip to California, the Shipwreck Rapids really got me down.

Orca Encounter

For a few years now, the focus of the big orca shows at SeaWorld has shifted more towards edutainment. The main aim of the show is to splash the guests in the soak zone with as much water as possible by an orca. Apart from that, the Orca Encounter presentation is a very rewarding experience as long as you keep your expectations low.

Bayside Skyride, Sky Tower

Since 1967, SeaWorld San Diego has been home to a Von Roll cable car, which took visitors to the SeaWorld Atlantis restaurant on the other side of Mission Bay until 1988. Nowadays, there is no stop and you only enter the station on the other side briefly, only to turn round again straight away. Like the large Sky Tower observation tower, however, the ride is not included in the admission price.

Manta

The Manta roller coaster is also located in the front part of the park and is therefore also very well embedded in the gardens of the theme park. The ride on the Mack Rides Mega Coaster begins after a quick right-hand bend with a short show in the launch tunnel, which is, however, very dark. With a little momentum, we are then sent on our journey. After a steep right-hand bend, we first race over a water basin, whereupon we take an equally steep turning curve. A left-hand bend is followed by a series of smaller hills, which are repeatedly interrupted by short bends. However, as we are slowly running out of breath, we approach the second launch section, where we are slowed down briefly. After the launch, we immediately rush into a left-hand bend and then over another hill. A dip is followed by a turn into a fairly intense helix. This is followed by a fairly wide right-hand bend, which takes us into the final bend of the ride, whereupon our ride soon comes to an end.

Manta is a very nice family roller coaster. Here and there, the coaster lacks a little dynamism, which is particularly noticeable at the point before the second launch. I don’t understand why it was necessary to slow down here and not accelerate straight away. Nevertheless, a great ride.

Dolphin Adventures

As expected, the Dolphin Adventures presentation at SeaWorld San Diego was very entertaining. With the best view of the theme park’s rollercoaster skyline, the dolphins performed numerous tricks, always focussing on the edutainment character of the show.

Electric Eel

There is a Premier Rides Sky Rocket II in almost every park in the SeaWorld group, including here at SeaWorld San Diego. The name Electric Eel is reminiscent of the great Steel Eel roller coaster from SeaWorld San Antonio. As is so often the case nowadays, comfort collars are also used on this roller coaster, which are designed to simulate the use of shoulder restraints in order to offer passengers a greater sense of safety. As the Premier Rides Sky Rocket II fortunately does not offer any real curves, the ride comfort is in no way restricted by the use of the harnesses – only the entry is a little more annoying than usual.

The first launch on Electric Eel largely resembles the initial acceleration of a modern boat swing. After changing direction, the ride is admittedly much more powerful and we almost reach the apex of the non-inverted loop, where we can briefly enjoy the view of the neighbouring Journey to Atlantis roller coaster and the amusement park’s car park. With plenty of momentum, we are now accelerated a third time, whereupon we reach the top level of the ride after a 180° turn without any difficulty. After a very short breather, we enter the ride’s inversion, which is clearly visible from afar, where we experience a very pronounced hangtime. Shortly afterwards, we dive into the non-inverted loop once again. Another encounter with the apex of the element then heralds the finale of the ride, whereupon we come to a precise stop after another run through the station and our wild ride comes to an end.

Journey to Atlantis

This is the third time I have been on a Journey to Atlantis roller coaster and once again I am surprised by a completely different layout. As in Orlando, the ride here is a water coaster from Mack Rides, but instead of a dark ride section, the ride begins immediately with the first lift hill. Once at the top, we approach the ride’s big shot ride in a wide right-hand bend with a small dip, which we tackle straight away. Slightly soaked, we bob along a little through the canal, getting closer and closer to a building. This contains the large vertical lift of the rollercoaster, which transports two boats upwards at a time. After a short stop with the best view of the amusement park’s car park, we immediately descend a large steep curve and then immediately ascend again. After passing through another braking area, we descend steeply once again, initially heading slightly to the right before taking a left-hand bend that takes us directly into the next pool of water. Completely soaked, we then return to the station and our entertaining ride slowly but surely comes to an end.

Emperor

The Emperor is the largest roller coaster at SeaWorld San Diego and dominates the sky-blue skyline of the theme park from afar. The 46 metre high dive coaster starts in the classic way with a turning curve at a lofty height before reaching the ride’s vertical drop, where we are held in position for several seconds in a holding brake with the best view of the abyss in front of us and the brand new Arctic Rescue roller coaster. After a successful drop, we are immediately drawn into an oversized Immelmann, where we change direction. After a turning curve – reminiscent of a cutback – we are pulled into a wonderful roll, which immediately turns into a steep curve and releases us into an oversized corkscrew. After another right-hand bend, we reach the final brake of the ride and our great ride draws to a close.

Arctic Rescue

It’s really something different to know the project manager of a rollercoaster in person. Accordingly, I was on a mission at Arctic Rescue to take the best possible pictures for him. A mission on which I unfortunately failed miserably. It doesn’t really make sense to me why they put their latest and greatest roller coaster in an area that is almost 100% protected from view (you can actually only see the roller coaster from Emperor or the Sky Tower) and don’t even set up a stage or something similar so that others can also take part in the hustle and bustle of the roller coaster. That simply makes no sense! Luckily, as a single rider, it was my turn quickly and I was immediately able to take a seat in the last row of the rollercoaster.

After a left-hand bend, we reach the ride’s first exit, whereupon we speed over the first turn at full speed. This is followed by an extremely successful sequence of rapidly alternating right and left turns before we reach the second launch and increase our consistently high speed once again. After a long left-hand bend close to the ground, we climb the second large hill of the rollercoaster – which includes three short changes of direction. Once back on the ground, we whizz through numerous tightly timed bends on the way to launch area no. 3. Once again at speed, we are then drawn over a long turning curve to the park boundaries, where we then endure two extremely daring manoeuvres. The path then takes us over a series of smaller hills, whereupon we find ourselves on the final brake of the ride.

Arctic Rescue is a bloody good rollercoaster and is reminiscent of the absolutely fantastic Juvelen rollercoaster from Djurs Sommerland in Denmark or Yukon Quad from the French theme park Le Pal, only without the slow hills towards the end of the ride. The extremely dynamic ride and the constantly high speed define the ride like no other; there is virtually not a single quiet second from start to finish.

To wind down a little at the end of the ride, it is worth visiting the neighbouring Wild Arctic area. This is home to several large enclosures for beluga whales and walruses and is very well themed and absolutely worth seeing.

Pictures SeaWorld San Diego

Conclusion SeaWorld San Diego

SeaWorld San Diego is probably the best located SeaWorld theme park. The location on Mission Bay is impressive, as is the portfolio of the animal and theme park. Together with a visit to nearby Belmont Park, it is well worth a visit.

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California Adventure Day 14 / SeaWorld San Diego

A short visit to Legoland California

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Legoland California

Legoland California is the third oldest (existing) Legoland in the world. Accordingly, the park has a lot of charm and differs from the newer Legoland parks worldwide due to the large number of attractions. The park also has a very impressive water park with a large number of water slides.

Miniland USA

The centrepiece of Legoland California is Miniland USA. Here you will find sights from nearby San Diego as well as buildings from Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas, all of which have been impressively staged. As always, Miniland is the real highlight of Legoland and should definitely not be missed.

Lego Ninjago World

Lego Ninjago The Ride

Lego Ninjago The Ride is the first interactive dark ride where passengers use only their hands to aim. The ride system uses a series of sensors to detect the movements of the hands. Depending on the height of the hands and the angle to the sensor, the hand movement is interpreted and a coloured dot appears on the screen so that you know where you are aiming. The whole process is not very intuitive and so confused hand waving is actually a good way to score a lot of points. The movements can be refined on the many screens you pass, or while standing directly in front of the screen during a longer film sequence.

Overall, Lego Ninjago The Ride is a very solid dark ride. Although the technology is not as sophisticated as the Web Slingers in Disney California Adventure, this system works really well for a prototype.

Imagination Zone

Lego Technic Coaster

Passing the Bionicle Blaster teacup ride, we head straight to the first highlight of the theme park, which, despite the prominently placed Project X Test Track sign, goes by the rather generic name of Lego Technic Coaster; this is a bit of a shame, as it’s not just visually that the coaster has a lot in common with its sister ride from Legoland Germany. The ride on the large Wild Mouse coaster is also very similar; there is a big drop right at the start before the hairpin bends are negotiated, just before it goes over a few more hills towards the end. Overall, the ride is slowed down quite a bit and is therefore a little more gentle.

Land of Adventures

Lost Kingdom Adventure

The interactive dark ride Lost Kingdom Adventure is a nice little themed ride that uses individual cars and, thanks to the large number of rooms and the somewhat narrower route, tells a little more than the comparable Temple rides from the other Legoland theme parks around the world.

Castle Hill

The Dragon

In addition to The Royal Joust horse ride, the Castle Hill themed area is best known for its rollercoaster The Dragon. As at other Legoland theme parks around the world, you first experience the dark ride through the castle before reaching the rollercoaster section. After the sighting with the dragon, however, we first ride a little longer through a tunnel before reaching the ride’s lift hill. Once at the top, we first go through a slightly sloping right-hand bend before we start the big drop of the ride. With momentum, we now ride several laps through a long Bavarian curve. In a long right-hand bend, we then cross the ride’s lift before approaching the lowest point of the ride in a tight helix. This is also the fast-paced finale and after a short climb we land in the final brake, whereupon our entertaining ride comes to an end.

Lego City: Deep Sea Adventure

The Lego City: Deep Sea Adventure dark ride combines two of Merlin Entertainment’s core brands: Lego and Sealife. The ride through the aquarium is therefore quite impressive and a cool way to watch the goings-on in the large water basin around you.

Fun Town

Fun Town is home to many classic Legoland rides and is the real centrepiece of the theme park alongside Miniland USA. Here you will find the Junior Driving School, the Kids Power Tower and the interactive team challenge attraction Fun Town Police and Fire Academy.

Pirate Shores

Almost next door is the pirate area of Legoland California, where young pirates can take on Captain Cranky’s Challenge on a Rockin’ Tug before going on a wild water battle on the Splash Battle.

Pirate Reef

The main attraction in this area is the Shoot the Chute Pirate Reef. The water ride, which looks quite cute from the outside, has a lot to offer and gracefully soaks all the riders down to their pants. Unfortunately, the ride, which was built by Whitewater, was already closed for the season when I visited.

Lego Movie World

In addition to the large Flying Theatre Emmet’s Flying Adventure, Lego Movie World is also home to Queen Watevra’s Carousel and the two nice family freefall towers of Unikitty’s Disco Drop.

Emmet’s Flying Adventure

Instead of the usual flight around the world, the Flying Theatre Emmet’s Flying Adventure offers the opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of the second Lego Movie. Here, Emmet’s triple-decker couch takes you on an adventurous and, above all, very colourful race through numerous adventure worlds.

Explorer Island

Coastersaurus

The Explorer Island theme area is home to the small Coastersaurus roller coaster. As in Legoland Germany, the family roller coaster from the manufacturer Gerstlauer impresses with its extremely abrupt first drop, in which the passengers are simply pulled to the right, and the overall great ride.

Pictures Legoland California

Conclusion Legoland California

Legoland California has a really nice atmosphere and offers some really nice attractions. I, at least, am glad to have visited Legoland California, even though I hadn’t planned to thanks to the extremely high entrance fee. Fortunately, the park is included in the Go City Pass San Diego, as is a visit to SeaWorld San Diego or Belmont Park – all of which I visited on the same day. The park is quite cool, even if I think it’s a damn shame that the Knights Tournament (a ride with Kuka robots) is no longer there.

 

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California Adventure Day 14 / Legoland California

A visit to the original movie park

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Upper-Lot

WaterWorld

The entrance to the WaterWorld stunt show, which is based on the film of the same name, is located directly at the entrance to the theme park. The show features an extremely interesting villain, plenty of action, lots of fire and a crashing aeroplane. Enough elements for an amazing and absolutely entertaining spectacle.

DreamWorks Theatre Featuring Kung Fu Panda

Meanwhile, in the DreamWorld Theatre at the end of Main Street, a Kung Fu Panda film is shown instead of Shrek 4D, where we go on a wild ride down the river with Po, his father and Shifu before being attacked by pirates. Towards the end, there is an impressive fight that even takes place on the walls to the left and right of the actual screen.

Minion Land

The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test the fairly new dark ride The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash, as there was no longer a Virtual Ticket that would have entitled me to a ride and I honestly didn’t have it on my radar at all. The ride itself is a classic dark ride that I would have loved to have experienced.

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem

The Despicable Me films are among the most successful animated films of all time, which is mainly due to the funny Minions. In Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, we become Minions ourselves and are sent on a crazy journey to test our suitability as Minions. At the same time, the three children lose their gift to Gru and now it’s time to get it back. The ride in the simulators and the film shown are extremely entertaining, which is why I can highly recommend a visit to the Minions.

Super Silly Fun Land

The Super Silly Fun Land is an amusement park from the first Despicable Me film and features a large water playground in addition to a large-scale carousel. Interestingly, one of the theme park’s large car parks is located underneath this area.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Flight of the Hippogriff

The Flight of the Hippogriff roller coaster is the newest roller coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood to date. The 300 metre long family roller coaster from Mack Rides offers a wonderful 540° downward helix at the beginning of the ride, several beautiful turns and numerous curves close to the ground, which make the ride somewhat more interesting than its Vekoma counterpart from the other Universal Studios theme parks. Unfortunately, the ride ends after just one lap.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

The wild ride through Hogwarts begins with Hermione’s generous use of floo powder, which we soon find ourselves in the observatory. In the observatory itself, we join Harry and Ron and experience a fabulous ride over the rooftops of Hogwarts towards the Quidditch match. Meanwhile, we meet Hagrid, who asks us if we have seen the dragon, only to meet said dragon a few moments later. Pushed by the dragon, our path leads us into a bridge, where the dragon is waiting for us as an animatronic, but we manage to escape.

Shortly afterwards, we find ourselves in the Forbidden Forest, where we immediately encounter Aragog. Hermione rushes to our aid and chases him away while we continue our escape. More spiders get in our way, but we manage to leave the forest. The whomping willow awaits us in the clearing, although we manage to avoid it quite well, it does eventually catch us and we are thrown into the Quidditch stadium. So far so good, after all it was our goal and we are right in the middle of the action – which is much cooler than the trendy muggle sport.

When Slytherin, of all people, scores a goal against Gryffindor, dementors get into the arena and Harry escorts us out. We are separated from Harry and soon find ourselves in the Chamber of Secrets. Another Dementor chases after us and even Lord Voldemort gives us the slip. We manage to escape, but a horde of Dementors is already waiting for us. It’s getting cold, the gondola bearer’s movements are noticeably slow and a heartbeat can be heard from the subwoofers on the benches. At the last possible moment, Harry chases the Dementors away and we follow him through the collapsing entrance towards Hogwarts. In the main hall leading to the grand staircase, we meet all sorts of students and teachers and, last but not least, Albus Dumbledore, who uses floo powder to transport us to the Room of Requirement, i.e. the ward of the ride, and the still very good ride comes to an end.

Spingfield, USA – Home of the Simpsons

The Simpsons Ride

One of Universal Studios’ most iconic attractions was Back to the Future: The Ride, where you went on a hectic journey through time in replica DeLorians to bring Biff back to the future. The ride was replaced in 2008 both in Hollywood and at Universal Studios Florida by the Simpsons Ride – an IP that was still very relevant at the time. The ride is quite impressive due to the simulators used and the pre-shows are very entertaining. The film itself is hectic and overloaded. Furthermore, the 3D look doesn’t really do the familiar characters from the series any favours. All in all, however, the ride is definitely entertaining; now that the rights are with Disney, you should definitely take a ride while you still can.

Lower-Lot

Revenge of the Mummy – The Ride

Revenge of the Mummy – The Ride has been the rollercoaster at Universal Studios Hollywood for almost 20 years. After a dark ride section that is absolutely worth seeing, Revenge of the Mummy gets you going via LSM. A bumpy climb is immediately followed by a very steep left-hand bend that takes us to the bottom of the hall. After a sweeping climb, we then enter a wide combination of left and right-hand bends. We then reduce our speed slightly on a long straight before taking a steep climb and coming to a halt in a cul-de-sac. After a whole host of scarabs appear, our only option is to flee backwards. We now head backwards over numerous small, gently rolling hills. After a slightly longer bend, we reach the brakes. In another scene, we are quickly turned back in the direction we started, just before a curtain rises and we immediately find ourselves in the station of the ride.

I would never have thought that the ride on Revenge of the Mummy would be so different from its sister ride at Universal Studios Florida. There are several launches, but no real height difference and the ride itself is also much shorter. Nevertheless, a ride on Revenge of the Mummy is highly recommended.

Jurassic World – The Ride

The Vekoma Shoot-the-Chutes Jurassic World – The Ride is also one of the best rides of its kind. The ride through the modern dinosaur park has been one of the most famous water rides in the world since it opened as Jurassic Park – The Ride.

After leaving the station, a short lift hill takes us to an intermediate level. Up here, the path leads us directly into the stunning Monosaurus Aqaurium, which offers all kinds of surprises. After a short trip through a cave, we travel through a tropical enclosure where we encounter a Stegosaurus mother and her baby, as well as a Parasaurolophus. At the predatory dinosaurs we then learn that the Indominus Rex has escaped from its enclosure. Of course, the path then leads us straight to the Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom. After we have climbed the lift, the big showdown with the Indominus Rex follows, as well as the iconic encounter with the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which introduces our fast-paced shoot-out from the building.

Jurassic World – The Ride offers some impressive new features compared to the original version. However, the ride is now less rounded, as the focus is more on the action than on a consistently told story. 

Transformers: The Ride 3D

Like The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Transformers: The Ride 3D scores particularly well with the ride system used. The ride offers a successful mix of film sequences and very well staged backdrops that take the action-packed ride to a higher level. As in the Transformers films, there is hardly a quiet second during the ride. There’s shooting, fighting and cool jokes thrown around wherever possible. Every few seconds, the next scene begins, with the transitions taking place absolutely smoothly, leaving an extremely coherent overall impression at the end – in other words, Transformers: The Ride 3D is an absolutely awesome ride.

Super Nintendo World

Super Nintendo World is currently the hottest thing when it comes to areas in theme parks. The rather small themed area is reminiscent of the levels known from Super Mario World and has all sorts of gimmicks to offer, for which you need a power-up band, which you have to purchase beforehand. Basically, the themed area looks really good, but if you can’t get an early reservation for the Toadstool Café and the interactive games are of little interest to you, then it will be really difficult to spend a long time in this themed area. The Yoshi dark ride is also missing compared to the Japanese original.

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge

The main attraction at Super Nintendo World is the Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge dark ride. The queue alone is a dream and offers lots of little allusions for Nintendo fans, which makes the waiting time pass very quickly. The Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge ride offers an entertaining augmented reality experience, but it has little to do with the actual Mario Kart. Although you drive in karts and shoot the virtual opponents in front of you with items, there is never a real racing feeling apart from the start.

Basically, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is a very solid interactive dark ride with an unprecedented driving system. The use of augmented reality makes the ride feel very lively. However, it lacks a little narrative depth. Also, Mario Kart was never a competition of good versus evil, so why can’t you just drive as Team Bowser? You have two lanes, so it would have been easy to compete with the other lane for more points, similar to the team competitions in Mariokart Tour.

Studio Tour Plaza

Studio Tour

The main attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood is certainly the Studio Tour. The tour offers an insight into Universal City, where many of the well-known Universal blockbusters are filmed. In addition to the informative ride around the studio grounds, you will also drive past some of the scenes built especially for the Studio Tour. Here you meet the Jaws, experience King Kong fighting dinosaurs and finally find yourself in the middle of a Fast & Furious scene that is just as outrageous as the entire Fast & Furious Supercharged attraction at Universal Studios Florida. All in all, a really great attraction and the main reason to visit Universal Studios Hollywood.

Pictures Universal Studios Hollywood

Conclusion Universal Studios Hollywood

If it weren’t for the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood, there would be no real reason to visit the park at all. With the exception of the dark ride The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash, there is nothing here in the park that you can’t also experience in the other Universal theme parks. These are also significantly larger and simply offer far more experiences. Universal Studios Hollywood lacks a unique selling point; a gap that the new Fast & Furious will certainly close in two years’ time. Thus, we can be curious.

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California Adventure Day 13 / Universal Studios Hollywood