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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TKathke September 29, 2023 March 25, 2024 California Adventure Day 13 / Universal Studios Hollywood

Going on an California Adventure

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Disney California Adventure

Hollywood Land

After passing through the Buena Vista Street, which is modelled after Los Angeles of the 1920s, we soon enter Hollywood Land. This area of the park is home to the large Hyperion theatre famous for various musical performances. Unfortunately, the new production of Roger the Musical was only shown for a small period in summer, leaving this area quite empty.

Mickey’s PhilharMagic

One of the few attractions at the Disneyland Resort to feature the world-famous Mouse and his friends is Mickey’s PhilharMagic. The attraction takes you on a magical voyage through the famous movie scenes and their tunes, but Mickey is nowhere to be found. The star of the attraction is actually Donald Duck, who curiously took over Mickey’s role of conducting the orchestra and experiences the famous animated scenes himself, which leads to all kind of clumsy situations. The movie itself is well animated and a lot of fun.

Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sully to the Rescue!

Albeit being a smaller attraction at Disney California Adventure, a ride on the Monsters, Inc. dark ride is a great experience. The ride strictly follows the events of the film, with Mike & Sully to rescue the little kid Boo before Randall Boggs gets her. Especially, the scene with the doors is quite noteworthy.

Avengers Campus

After more than a decade of Marvel films, it does make sense to include the IP to a Disney theme park. Avengers Campus is a very modern and clean area, yet does have some interesting architecture. The area is home to various Marvel characters, a flying spiderman animatronic show and two very good dark rides.

Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure

The Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure interactive dark ride is of a different calibre. The Spider-Bots developed by Peter Parker get a little out of control during Open House Day on the W.E.B. campus and duplicate themselves like crazy. Contact with other substances in turn causes them to partially mutate. Now you have to stop the robots before they devastate the entire campus. To do this, you swing webs like Spider Man and free one location after the other from the little crawlers.

Unlike other interactive themed rides, everything here works contact-free, you just use your hands and shoot your nets through space with amazing precision. No wild flailing to score points – it’s more about purposeful movements, which can be quite a challenge. The team concept is just as motivating: you play together, which in turn positively enriches the ride.

Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure is definitely a blast of a ride. Everything has been done right here. The video quality is outstanding, the interactivity during the ride works really well and last but not least, the ride is incredibly fun.

Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission Breakout!

The Tower of Terror drop ride has always been one of the most interesting rides Disney has ever built. It is the second installation of the iconic ride and for years, it shared quite a lot in common with the version at the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris. Nowadays, both rides are located at the outskirts of the Marvel Avenger Campus area. While the Paris version offers a slightly darker take on the original, the ride in California Adventure is very positively bonkers. The tried-and-tested and still outstanding free-fall spectacle now features an awesome soundtrack and very funny screen-based action, based on the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, inbetween the drops, leaving all rider’s to cheer and scream at the same time. Its an awesome ride which fits in perfectly into the very modern area.

Cars Land

Probably the most stunning area of the park is Cars Land. It is a come to reality version of the small roadside town of Radiator Springs featuring all of the iconic buildings and three great attractions.

Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree

Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree is a fun ride, where you are constantly transported through several discs in a circle while the gondolas also swing sideways due to the constant changes in direction and lateral acceleration. It’s a great attraction for inbetween and a quite charming one due to Mater narrating the ride.

Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters

Similar to Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, a ride on Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters is great fun. Here, the cars all dance together. The ride has some weird motion going on while on ride, yet it looks great when all cars move in synchronization with the music.

Radiator Springs Racers

Radiator Springs Racers is the highlight of Cars Land. After a joyride through the beautiful landscape, we soon enter the dark ride show scene. Here we experience all kind of dangers before reaching Radiator Springs and get prepared for our race. What follows is a high-speed experience, which even features a bit of airtime when passing the hills. If you love the Cars movies, you will automatically love this ride. There is soo much to see and even more to experience. Simply said, Radiator Springs Racer is one of the best rides ever created.

Grizzly Peak

The Grizzly Peak area is located around the man-made mountain on which the Grizzly River Run rapids are located. This area is a rather quiet area that stretches along the Grand Californian Hotel.

Soarin’ Around the World

The Flying Theatre Soarin’ Around the World was long considered one of the best dark rides in the world. In the meantime, however, there are similar attractions all over the world and the technically impressive theatre is losing more and more of its significance thanks to its mediocre film. As in Epcot, the flight over the world’s landmarks is quite nice, but basically you just fly from one fade to the next. That’s a shame, especially since other theme parks usually focus on the nearby surrounding area and offer a much more rounded overall experience. Here, I would actually wish if they change the film back to the original one focussing on California.

Grizzly River Run

The Grizzly River Run is a giant rapids ride created by Intamin. The fast and fun ride down the current of Grizzly Peak is full of surprises. Especially the two drops can get you really wet. The ride does not lack in rapids either, so you might end up soaked.

Paradise Gardens Park

The area Paradise Gardens Park complements the Pixar Pier area and shares the same atmosphere. Together with Pixar Pier, it is home to a rather interesting collection of rebuilds of classic turn of the century attractions. In this area you can find the Golden Zephyr flying machines and the Jumpin’ Jellyfish parachute jump towers, as well as the classic wave swinger Silly Symphony Swing.

The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure

The little Mermaid dark ride gives us the opportunity to voyage under the sea. The ride is home to some of the best animatronics to be found anywhere in the world, especially the one of Ursula is seriously impressive. The ride itself is entertaining and great if you just need some minutes of rest, as the wait times are normally pretty low due to the high capacity of the ride.

Goofy’s Sky School

Goofy’s Sky School is the classic Wild Mouse roller coaster from Disney California Adventure. The Mack Rides ride offers almost the same layout as most Wild Mouse steel roller coasters, although the double drop finale has been made a little more family-friendly by replacing the small hill in the centre (and therefore the second drop) with a simple ramp. At least the ride offers a little bit of theming.

Pixar Pier

The Pixar Pier is dominated by the large Incredicoaster, which resembles an old seaside wooden coaster. The area is home to the second Coaster Wheel ever built, as well as two carousels and the dark ride Toy Story Midway Mania!

Pixar Pal-A-Round

The Pixar Pal-A-Round is the first rebuild of Coney Island’s classic Coaster Wheel. The ride offers two types of sensation – either you take a ride on the swinging gondolas or you enjoy a ride in a stationary gondola, which offers the classic Ferris Wheel sensation. Of course, I had to take a ride on the swinging gondolas which proved itself to be incredibly funny. The high extend of the rocking and the two laps in total took me by surprise.

Toy Story Midway Mania!

The Toy Story Midway Mania! interactive dark ride is one of the most popular Disney attractions in the world. The ride is like a visit to the funfair, where you play one game of skill after another at the individual stands in order to achieve the highest possible high score.

Incredicoaster

The Incredicoaster is the largest roller coaster at any Disney theme park. Opened as California Screamin’ in 2001, the ride was especially known for its great soundtrack. As part of Pixar Pier, the ride now tells the story of runaway Jack-Jack and his incredible family members which try to catch the toddler.

After leaving the station, the track guides us below the pier and soon into the ride’s launch section. After a brief stop, we are accelerated to a maximum speed of 55 mp/h (88 km/h). We then climb a large hill covered by a tunnel. Soon after we race through a very long valley, before entering a brake section. The ride then continues in a very wide righthand bend which with time gets steeper and steeper. After a change in direction, we then enter a large hill, which uses LIM to further push us upwards. Here too, the hill is partially closed by a tunnel. We then enter the largest drop of the ride, which then gets us into a very wide righthand turn. Now being parallel to the large LIM lift hill, we enter a small dip and soon after invert ourselves in a large vertical loop. After an incline, we then enter another brake section. The ride now continues with a large drop followed by another very wide turn and another brake section, before going into a series of smaller airtime hills. Finally, we enter a large helix and soon after the brakes.

The Incredicoaster is a very fine roller coaster for what it is. However, apart of the ride’s classic vibe, the launch and the looping, there is not so much going on in this roller coaster and due to the very wide turns it even feels a bit lengthy. The “Incredible” version of the ride is fine, but I think the original concept of the ride fits the overall experience a little better.

World of Color

The nighttime show World of Color is a great way to end your day at Disney California Adventure. The water show is one of the best nighttime spectaculars, I’ve yet experienced at any Disney theme park and therefore highly recommended.

Pictures Disney California Adventure

Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Break Out

The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure

Conclusion Disney California Adventure

Disney California Adventure is a great park with some very cool attractions. I especially enjoyed my time in the Cars Land themed area and in Grizzly Peak as these are the most immersive areas. When visiting the park, I highly recommend opting for the park hopping option, as Disneyland park is just a short walk away and both park’s in combination are a great way to spend a day while a visit to California Adventure might take a half-day only.

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TKathke September 27, 2023 March 25, 2024 California Adventure Day 11 and 12 / Disney California Adventure Park

Sea World

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Theme Park:	Sea World (since 1971)

Address:	Seaworld Dr.
	Main Beach QLD 4217
	https://seaworld.com.au/

Operated by:	Village Roadshow

Sea World is one of the Village Roadshow theme parks located on the Gold Coast. Opened in 1971, the sea mammal park hosts a very solid selection of roller coasters, shows and animal encounters.