Tag: Python

A visit to the Adventuredome

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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.

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Click here for the next report of the California Adventure Tour

Adventuredome / California Adventure Day 5 and 6

Off to Jumanji

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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

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Gardaland

This was the bad boys’ first trick, But the second follows quick

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Efteling’s Max + Moritz

Every now and then, a roller coaster that you have grown fond of has to say goodbye. After 34 years of operation, this happened to the roller coaster Bob – one of the rare Swiss Bob coasters of the manufacturer Intamin. The end of the coaster was very predictable, after all it was one of the few roller coasters allowed for smaller children – but due to its low capacity it could not compensate for this, so there was always a longer queue. Since Efteling also became more and more popular, something new was needed. Probably the most family-friendly roller coaster on the market for decades has been the Powered Coaster from Mack Rides. If you double the number of trains, you also get a very high capacity, which leads to additional fun by using two lanes. The result was the roller coaster duo Max + Moritz.

Typical for the theme park Efteling, this roller coaster can also show a very affectionate design. Here, the two rascals from the well-known story by Wilhelm Busch try out their self-built ride gear, which leads to some chaos.

The ride on Max

The ride with Max (the blue lane) begins with a small hill on which we gain some momentum. Close to the ground, we now drive through a few alternating right and left turns, and at the same time we gain a little height in the final right turn. Now we cross Moritz’s track once and spiral in a tight helix towards the ground. In the process we meet Moritz. The train now leads us with momentum through a right turn and a turn to the left before we gain height in a helix. A short turn to the left and a tight right turn later we enter the station building. Here we meet Moritz and start the second lap.

The ride on Moritz

Moritz (on the green lane), meanwhile, is well on his way and so we immediately enter a wide left turn. In two swerves we approach the ground gradually, whereupon we immediately dissipate our energy again in an outward spiral. Above Max’s lane we now take a left turn. Here we meet our brother. After a ground-level turn to the right, we gain altitude within a tight helix once again. Another right turn and a left turn follow before we approach the station on a longer straight and slowly lose speed.

Conclusion Max + Moritz

Max + Moritz are clearly excellent roller coasters for smaller children. In this respect, there is absolutely nothing to criticise. However, I personally find it a great pity that you only really meet in two places during the course of the ride. If both tracks went in the same direction, the roller coaster would definitely be a bit more exciting. I also don’t consider either roller coaster to be a dignified replacement for the old bobsled ride, but only a functional one. Admittedly, the colourful ride with its great design and terrific soundtrack fits much better into Efteling than Bob ever did; however, my conclusion is clear: children will have a lot of fun on both rides, adults might ride them once or twice.

Pictures Efteling

 

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Efteling