Gardaland

A visit to the Adventuredome

itemprop="discussionURL"0

Adventuredome

The Circus Circus is one of the oldest hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. In addition to the only slot machines where you can still play with coins in Las Vegas, the hotel is particularly famous for its artistry shows – but apart from that, there isn’t necessarily much else to do here. When the MGM Grand then announced the MGM Grand Adventures theme park to establish Las Vegas as a family-friendly holiday destination, this was followed in 1993 by the opening of the Grand Slam Canyon – today’s Adventuredome.

Sling Shot, Inverter und Disk’o

As soon as you enter the amusement park, you find yourself in the centre of the action. The small Sling Shot freefall tower rises up in front of you – which has an incredible amount of power and first shoots you upwards at full speed before you experience a no less intense fall downwards – and to the left are the ticket office and the two flat rides Disk’o and Inverter.

Sand Pirates, Chaos und Nebulaz

In the centre of the park is a large artificial mountain – modelled on the Grand Canyon – on which the two main attractions run. If you follow the path clockwise, you will eventually come across the Sand Pirates boat swing, as well as the remains of the Chaos ride and a brand new NebulaZ ride from Zamperla.

Extreme Ride Theater & FX Theater 4D

In addition to a generously laid out and pretty cool-looking adventure golf course, the park also has the Extreme Ride Theatre – a very shallow moving simulator on which the Angry Birds 4D film is shown – and the FX Theatre 4D, which shows two pretty good 4D films (Ice Age 4-D: No Time for Nuts and Scooby Doo) alternately.

Canyon Blaster

Since the theme park opened in 1993, the Canyon Blaster has been the main attraction in the Adventuredome. The layout with its two loops and corkscrews is based on the Carolina Cyclone roller coaster at Carowinds theme park – in Europe, the same layout can be found at Efteling’s Python or Shaman at Gardaland, for example – with slight variations in the transitions towards the end of the ride. Where ten years earlier all records would have been broken, the Canyon Blaster doesn’t really offer anything special if it wasn’t for the way it is embedded within the park and the trains used. Basically, this roller coaster thrives on the fact that you come quite close to the roof of the hall at several points during the ride. In addition, after the two corkscrews, you enter a helix that leads partly through the artificial mountain massif. The modern trains, which can otherwise only be experienced on the Corkscrew in the Japanese theme park Benyland, are also extremely comfortable. All in all, a very decent roller coaster.

El Loco

The second rollercoaster in Adventureland is El Loco – the somewhat different El Loco from American manufacturer S&S. After the ride on the extremely fast lift, the ride immediately begins with the entry into a very tight turning curve. At full throttle, we then shoot over the far too narrow crest of the first drop. Without making contact with the seat, we approach the hall floor in the oversteeped drop, which we only just miss in a bend. Back at a lofty height, a block brake follows and the familiar interplay from the other El Loco roller coasters of an outwardly inclined curve and a slow lateral turn to a headstand before we hit a half loop and rush towards the ground. After a steep ascent, the track then leads us into a block brake. Just above the station, we lean briefly to the left and then to the right until we are upside down once again. The final part is a heavily braked half loop, after which we are already in the braking section of the ride and our crazy ride is slowly coming to an end.

Pictures Adventuredome

Conclusion Adventuredome

The Adventuredome is a really well-designed and extremely well-maintained theme park with some pretty cool attractions. Although the selection of attractions is clearly limited, the quality of these is quite high, which is why a visit here is really worthwhile – even if a visit to the Adventuredome should rather be seen as a supplement to the big hustle and bustle of the Las Vegas Strip.

What is your opinion about the theme park Adventuredome?  Just write it in the comment field below this report!

Click here for the next report of the California Adventure Tour

Adventuredome / California Adventure Day 5 and 6

Off to Jumanji

itemprop="discussionURL"0

My last visit to Gardaland was a few years ago. At that time, the Kung Fu Panda Academy themed area was still under construction. Apart from numerous smaller changes, the opening of the Legoland Water Park, which was built in the middle of Gardaland for whatever reason, and the Peppa Pig World toddler area right at the entrance to the amusement park, the Jumanji the Adventure dark ride is the most important innovation of the past few years. 

Kung Fu Panda Academy

In the small themed area Kung Fu Panda Academy, everything revolves around the popular Dreamworks IP about the dragon warrior Po. As the area is very limited, apart from some gastronomy and a redesigned tea cup carousel, you will only find the small spinning coaster Kung Fu Panda Master, which takes up most of the space.

Kung Fu Panda Master

The Kung Fu Panda Master is a power mouse from the Italian manufacturer Fabbri. The small roller coaster offers several tight curves that put the car into a rather leisurely spin. In between, this is loosened up a little by smaller drops. But all in all, that’s about it. The ultra-compact installation fits perfectly into the available space, but not at all into the amusement park. Apart from the design of the gondolas, which looks more like a fun fair than an amusement park, the ride lacks capacity. Those who like to queue for up to two hours at an attraction, while the crowds at the large attractions in the park are rather small, are welcome to take a ride. The rest either queue up right at the opening of the ride or forego a ride.

Jumanji The Adventure

The Jumanji The Adventure dark ride replaces Ramses: Il risveglio. The large façade of the ride still reminds us in parts of the old Pinfari classic, but inside everything is new. The ride is based on the new Jumanji trilogy and thus not on the book and the associated board game. After a short pre-show, it becomes clear: we have to save Jumanji by putting the heart of Jumanji in its rightful place. 

Accompanied by Nigel Billingsley, we set off on a dangerous mission. After we have taken a seat in the 6-person jeep, the journey begins. A mandrill immediately steals the jewel from us, so we follow the animal. Nigel, however, loses his first life in the action. On our chase we come across a hippo and a snake, whereupon we almost have a crash. Shortly afterwards we meet Nigel again. At the gorge with the hanging bridges the mandrill awakens a stone giant and loses the jewel. Of course we jump right after it, secure the jewel and lose our first life. Our path then leads us through a stone cave where we meet the stone giant once more. But we lose our second life in a huge spider’s web. Finally arriving at the temple we manage to give the jewel to Nigel. Despite the attack of the stone giant, he manages to put it in its rightful place, whereupon the spell is broken and our journey ends.

Jumanji The Adventure is an extremely solid dark ride. The large sets and the skilful integration of the media content speak for themselves. The ride is extremely dynamic and has a few successful surprises. However, the clearly visible ceiling of the hall is slightly annoying, as is the seemingly reduced capacity at the moment, which always results in long waiting times. 

Pictures Gardaland

What do you think about Jumanji the Adventure and Kung Fu Panda Master? Just write it here under the review in the comment field or visit our social media channels:

          

Gardaland

How to Train Your Dragon

itemprop="discussionURL"0

Merlin and DreamWorks

The studio DreamWorks, which is mainly characterised by animated films, is an important partner of the Merlin Entertainments Group. In addition to their own studios Tour Shrek’s Adventure in London’s County Hall, they license theme areas in the group’s theme parks. While this had already been the case for some time in the Africa section in Chessington – World of Adventures with Madagascar, until recently the focus in Heide Park and Gardaland was on a show for the third part of the series. With the Kung Fu Panda Academy for Gardaland and Drachenzähmen – Die Insel for Heide Park, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon have now also been given their own consistent theme area.

Both areas were placed in already existing areas of the park, whereby the old stock was sensibly integrated or replaced. In the case of Heide Park, the work for Drachenzähmen – Die Insel was concentrated on the corner around the two leisurely water rides Kanalfahrt and Märchenfahrt, which were mostly unnoticed by visitors. While the Kanalfahrt was being redesigned, the space freed up by the Märchenfahrt was used to place two rides. Opposite the monorail station, a Zamperla flight carousel was also built.

Drachenzähmen – Die Insel

The first impression of the, quite generously laid out, area Drachenzähmen – Die Insel is extremely positive, even if it looks partly very bare. With the redesigned Red Baron Grobians Wolkenspringer and the Flying Fish Raffnuss & Taffnuss Wasserflieger, two very nice rides are offered, which surely had more passengers in the first season at this place than the Märchenfahrt in all the time before. Hicks Himmelstürmer also enjoys great popularity, but besides the uncomfortable seating position, it has a limited view due to additional nets.

Drachengrotte

The presumed main attraction is the boat ride Drachengrotte, where you are first forced to take part in the obligatory photo shooting. A procedure that is well known from the other parks and attractions of the group, but which cannot be skipped here. Such a nonsense; Merlin you notice it yourself, right? It may be that your photo contractor instructs his staff in this respect, but that was rude! The whole thing was just a waste of paper, as you can imagine when someone is travelling alone, right?

Afterwards my mood was already bad, but at least it didn’t take too long until the next boat. With this one we first go through a miniature version of an abandoned and halfway destroyed Viking village before we enter the forbidden caves. Shortly before that you change back into a normal sized perspective, otherwise the signposts only make limited sense. Instead of the former collection of cultic ancient animatronics, the bend below the powered roller coaster Grottenblitz leads you past some sculptures and a video projection. The right side of the bend is hardly used in this respect anymore. Thereupon the ride ends again.

Well, some things were better back then. But hey, you’ve got a great license, with a third part to follow soon, so you’ll have plenty of time to make a decent dark ride out of it, and while you’re working at it you might as well include the Grottenblitz. This year virtual reality, abbreviated VR, was on everyone’s lips and unlike the competitor Six Flags you can do it better from the beginning. You have already gained experience at Galactica in Alton Towers, so why not on the roller coaster next door? A fast ride on the back of Toothless would be suitable, don’t you think? Especially since a little movie of your partner might be in a different league than the competition and a redesign of the ride is not necessary (in fact you only have to turn off the lights in the cave).

Pictures Heide Park

 

What is your opinion on the theme area Drachenzähmen – Die Insel based on the movies How to Train Your Dragon? Just write them in the comment field below the report or in our social media channels:

 

          

Heide Park