Tag: Sally

A visit to the World of Jumanji

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Room on the Broom – A magical Journey

Where the goblins once caused mischief in Hocus Pocus Hall, the nameless witch is now searching for her hat, bow and magic wand. In the process, we meet some animal helpers who gradually join us (just like in the children’s book). All in all, Room on the Broom – A magical Journey is a successful attraction for the youngest visitors to the animal and theme park.

Croc Drop

Where the Croc Drop now rises into the air, the HUSS Top Spin Rameses Revenge used to stand. The ride on the SBF Visa Drop’n Twist has no real sense of momentum and is therefore mercilessly insignificant compared to the more typical representatives of this type of ride from Zierer. It’s a shame that the old HUSS attraction has been replaced in such an unworthy manner.

World of Jumanji

One year after Gardaland unveiled a surprising and wild dark ride with Jumanji – The Adventure, a new theme based on the classic cursed board game is coming to the park in the World of Adventure. The World of Jumanji consists of the Mandrill Mayham rollercoaster, the Mamba Strike Miami ride and the Saltamontes Ostrich Stampede. While the roller coaster is from B&M, the other two rides are from SBF Visa.

Ostrich Stampede und Mamba Strike

Merlin Entertainments has been buying from SBF Visa a lot in recent years. The Italian ride manufacturer generally offers mass instead of class, and so the rides on these two rides offer a lot of wasted potential, as well as the uncomfortable seats and restraints that are typical of the manufacturer. As filler attractions in the World of Jumanji themed area, they are quite nice to look at, but a ride here is only worthwhile if no one is actually queuing.

Mandrill Mayhem

The big top dog in the World of Jumanji is B&M’s Mandrill Mayhem rollercoaster, which completely encircles the themed area. In addition to two smaller launch areas, the coaster consists of an overbanked spike right at the start of the ride, a long roll and an upward spiral around the towering jaguar statue.

The Mandrill Mayhem ride starts with a short backwards ride out of the station. With momentum we go through a dip and then up the overbanked spike, which is a very nice introduction to the ride, especially in the last rows. Shortly after, we pick up speed again and leave the station in a left turn that takes us straight into the ride’s rollover element and over the entrance portal to the World of Jumanji. In a turn we pass the Ostrich Stampede ride and after a short turn we approach the upward spiral to the Jaguar statue. Once we put the Jaguar’s Eye jewel back in its place and call out Jumanji, the curse is broken and everything goes back to normal. Including us. Now we go through the short chicane again, turn upside down in the inline twist and then enter the station again.

Mandrill Mayhem is a very fun coaster. Similar to Maximus – Der Flug des Wächters at Legoland Deutschland, the ride is rather short, but scores with its staging and integrated elements. Despite two roll-overs and numerous launch sections, the ride is very family friendly and a great introduction to roller coasters.

Pictures Chessington World of Adventures

 

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Chessington - World of Adventures

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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Click here for the next report of the California Adventure Tour

California Adventure Day 14 / Legoland California

A short visit to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

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Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a pretty cool amusement park. Located directly on the Pacific Ocean, the park exudes a lot of charm, which is mainly due to its 99-year-old wooden rollercoaster, which takes up almost the entire park. The individual rides are located to the right and left of the boardwalk.

Undertow

The Zamperla Disk’o Shockwave and the Maurer Spinning Coaster Untertow are located on the roof of a larger arcade. As always, it’s worth getting on the SC2000 backwards, which means you actually experience the first drop backwards before the spinning function is released after a climb and a short curve. Thanks to the subsequent hairpin bend, you’ll be well set in rotation so that you can usually experience the Immelmann Turn with a view of the sky or the ground. The subsequent track consists mainly of smaller bends and a fun straight with lots of swerves before you hurtle down a helix for the grand finale. All in all, a really great rollercoaster, especially if the waiting time is kept to a minimum.

Double Shot, Pirate Ship, Sky Glider und Typhoon

A ramp and stairs take you down to the boardwalk. Here you will find access to the Sky Glider chairlift – which was unfortunately not in operation on the day I visited – and three larger rides. In addition to the Typhoon looping ride, you can also take a ride on the classic Pirate Ship boat swing, before the more daring can take a ride on the S&S Double Shot, which is a great way to shoot yourself in the shoulder restraints.

Giant Dipper

Passing the fantastic façade of the Haunted Castle ghost train, we now move on to the park’s 99-year-old wooden rollercoaster, for which I had to adapt the tour over and over again, as the park unfortunately only rarely opens its rides in September; the Giant Dipper.

The ride on the Giant Dipper begins immediately with the entrance to a slightly longer tunnel, after which the ride’s lift is reached. After the first descent, which is around 20 metres high, we head straight into a large turning curve, which, however, offers a fairly steep entry and exit. Immediately afterwards, we race over a large hill and straight away over a double up. With the best view of the Beach Boardwalk, we now ride over a straight just above the braking section before gaining momentum again in an increasingly steep bend. Parallel to the track we have already experienced, we now race over a series of the finest airtime hills before changing direction again. At a constantly high speed, we race through the beams again and over a number of excellent airtime hills before coming to a halt in the braking section.

Even though I had already heard beforehand that the Giant Dipper is a really first-class wooden roller coaster, I didn’t expect it to mercilessly steal the show from my favourite 100-year-old wooden roller coaster to date – the Big Dipper from the English amusement park Blackpool Pleasure Beach. This ride is simply a class of its own and my favourite wooden roller coaster in the United States to date.

Rock-O-Plane

Passing the Afterburner Fireball, the path now leads us to a gem of American engineering: the Eyerly Rock-O-Plane from 1954. This ride is very reminiscent of a classic American Ferris wheel; however, thanks to the locking brake, you can hold your gondolas in position here, which also makes looping rides possible, or you can use the brake and shift your body a little to rock the gondola further and further, whereupon it is also possible to perform several successive somersaults. Great fun, which unfortunately cannot be experienced like this in Europe.

Logger’s Revenge

The second major attraction on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the large Arrow log flume Logger’s Revenge, which acts as a kind of backdrop for the rear area of the park and plays a key role in shaping it. There are several rides below the elevated track, including the Moby Dick and the Round-Up Cyclone. The entrance to the Sea Serpent children’s roller coaster is also located directly below the log flume ride.

Sea Serpent

The small Sea Serpent roller coaster is a real thrill ride, mainly due to its sloping location and the ride being adapted to the terrain. Typical of American children’s roller coasters, the track mainly consists of tight bends and pretty crazy hills.

Cave Train, Ghost Blasters und WipeOut

Interestingly, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is home to many dark rides, two of which are located one level below the boardwalk. In addition to the classic Cave Train, the interactive dark ride Ghost Blasters can also be found here. Access to the indoor Break Dance WipeOut is also located on this level.

Pictures Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Conclusion Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was a pretty cool start to my rollercoaster tour through California and Nevada this year. The park has a similar vibe to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and a pretty cool atmosphere, which made me really like the park. While I unfortunately only used a few tickets on this visit, I would love to come back for a day at the beach with a wristband for the theme park.

 

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California Adventure Day 1 and 2 / Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk