#falconface

This past week I had a chance to revisit Busch Gardens Tampa.  I actually visited them last year too, but I somehow forgot to make a post about it.  I think I had put so much into a previous post about Sea World that I had overlooked a return trip to BGT altogether.  This recent trip was more or less like my previous one, except they now has a new ride open: Falcon's Fury.

This new kind of drop tower is located in the Pantopia section of the park, which saw a colorful makeover last year.  Fury itself is now the one of headline attractions for the park and stands at 335 feet, making it the tallest ride at Busch Gardens, and one of the tallest rides in all of the Southeast.  It's also a very unique kind of drop tower that features technology never used before.  Falcon's Fury was supposed to have a grand open, first rider event, but due to technical problems (i.e. a part of the ride flying off during testing) that event was postponed indefinitely and the ride eventually just saw a soft open.

So what makes this ride so unique?  Like any other drop tower, you start off by getting dragged to the top. Once you reach the top, however, your seats fold backward so that your face and stomach are now staring straight at the ground several hundred feet below you.  You end up hanging there for about 5 seconds, and then you get to experience what it's like to be a human dive bomber.  Before you reach the bottom of the tower, the seats lunge outward again and then your heart rate is able to resume normal patterns.  Strangely enough, many riders report that the drop isn't all that bad, since the feeling of weightlessness is negated by the laws of physics or some garbage like that.  Rather, the anticipation of the drop is what frightens riders the most.

I've been able to successfully persuade two of my friends into riding thus far, although one of those occasions nearly cost me the fingers on my right hand.  If you are planning on tackling this ride, make sure to take someone with you!  If you can come to terms with the fact that the drop isn't so bad, but are still afraid of the height, try closing your eyes for the first time.  The views are pretty amazing though from the top, though.

Busch Gardens has also seen other changes recently with the addition of an African Penguin exhibit.  While not as cuddly looking as emperor penguins, they are still cute in their own right.  Sadly, the Gwazi wooden racer was closed down permanently, and its queue has been re-purposed for BGT's first ever food and wine festival.  The ride still stands, but there are currently no plans to reopen it.  I believe the trains have already been sent elsewhere, too.

On the bright side of things, the park recently announced that a new attraction is coming for 2016.  Many believe it to be a new spinning coaster and the park stated that the Serengetti Express train will see some downtime while they work on this new ride.  I don't know yet if it will be going in Gwazi's place.  I hope that one day Gwazi will be able to re-open, perhaps as a steel hybrid like many of its cousins.  Unfortunately, I don't think BGT really has the funds to undertake a project like that right now.

Busch Gardens is always a nice getaway from the Orlando crazy, and the park has a lot to offer in terms of rides, shows, and animal encounters.  Hopefully the years to come will bring prosperity for this park, and we can expect great additions in its future.

Thinking Wishfully

Just like I promised from my previous post, this installation will be dedicated to international theme parks.  While North America has all kinds of great theme parks and attractions, the rest of the world has quite a bit to offer, too.  It was hard to narrow down my wishlist to just 5 parks, but I'm trying to be at least somewhat realistic in places I may eventually get to visit. Admittedly I may not even know very much about each of these parks, but that's half the reason I want to visit them.  Let's get right into it!

Number 5 Nagashima Spa Land

I mean, come on! How could you say no to Spa Land? Roller coasters and relaxing messages? Sign me up!  Not to mention, their website features images of pokemon-esque creatures and sponsorship logos from 7 Eleven!  Okay I'm not exactly sure what this park is all about or even if they have a spa, but they do have roller coasters.  One in particular piques my interest:  Steel Dragon 2000.  No, it's not a Godzilla-themed ride, although that would be amazing.  When it opened back in 2000 (go figure), it was the tallest and longest coaster in the world.  Then stratacoasters became a thing.  But it's still the longest coaster in the world at 8,133 feet.

The ride originally came with some very unfriendly-looking trains that must have been manufactured by Arrow Dynamics or something because apparently they were extremely painful and rough.  Thankfully B&M came to the resuce (13 years late) and brought newly-designed trains to the Dragon.

<== Fugly Old Trains ew





        Sexy New Trains yasss ==>










Is it fickle of me to want to go to a theme park just to do one ride?  Maybe.  But if I had to pick just one ride to do anywhere in the world right now, Steel Dragon 2000 would definitely be at least in the Top 10.


Number 4 Alton Towers, United Kingdom

Alton Towers is a unique theme park in that it's permanently themed to be dark and haunted.  It'd be like if Six Flags did Fright Fest all year round.  But despite the gloomy appearance, this place is very much a family park with all kinds of stuff to do.  Aside from all the family-appeal garbage, it also has quite a few interesting attractions.  One of them is called Thirteen and has a ride element unlike any other.  What is it you ask? Well, I don't want to spoil all the fun.

One of the creepiest attractions at this park is called The Smiler.  It opened back in 2013, but almost immediately had to be closed after several technical malfunctions.  The ride is now up and running as normal, but there's just something very off about it all.  Needless to say, I really want to check it out for myself.  It has like 14 inversions, so if you're prone to motion sickness, don't watch THIS video.  

There's another park in the UK called Thorpe Park which is very similar to Alton Towers in terms of themeing.  Ideally I'd like to hit up both in the same visit, but that requires me to first get to England...

Number 3 Heide Park, Germany

Der Rollercoasters and schnitzel and stuff!  If you know me, you probably know that getting me to travel into Europe would be asking A LOT from me.  England is kinda pushing it even, but I figured that it would't be too crazy since I'd already know the language.  But Germany? really? What the heck would I do there?  I'd go to Heide Park, that's what I'd do.  Then I'd let the Colossos coaster rip my face off.  

Then I'd head over to the Krake and get raked by the Krake.

Then, after all that, I'd stroll on down to the Flug Der Damonen and watch as my damonen gets straight flugged up!

          

So who wants to go to Germany?

Number 2 Canada's Wonderland, Mexico

Just to clear things up, Canada's Wonderland is actually in Canada.  Out of all the parks so far, this one would probably be the easiest to get to, so it gets ranked as Number 2 due to feasibility of me actually going there.  This park is actually owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment and falls into its international park category.  Six Flags also has two international parks:  one in Canada and one in Mexico.  

Wonderland has lots of great rides, including 11 roller coasters.  The newest attraction is actually a crazy coaster-shooter hybrid called Wonder Mountain's Guardian.  It has received a lot of great reviews and sounds very interesting to say the least.  Imagine Toy Story Midway Mania but on an actual coaster track.  Trippy.  Additionally, Wonderland also has some pretty intense mega coasters like Behemoth and Leviathan.  Combined with a lot of other classic ride types, Wonderland is a pretty solid park overall.

Number 1 Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea, Japan

I could have easily just put every international Disney park on this list, but I instead decided to just pick one for the number 1 spot.  While there is a part of me that really enjoys Disney magic now, there's an equal part that just wants to go to crazy thrill parks all the time. Some Disney parks do have some pretty awesome rides, but overall they are generally more low key.  Regardless, Tokyo Disney Resort still stands as the international park I'd like to visit the most.

This resort is made up of two parks: Disneyland and Disney Sea.  While Disneyland is more akin to what you might find at Magic Kingdom or Disneyland in Anaheim, Disney Sea has all kinds of attractions unique to that park alone.  Some of these rides include Journey to the Center of the Earth, Storm Rider, and Raging Spirits.  Of course, I'd like to check out the Japanese renditions of Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountain, too.  

Over the next few years, Disney Sea will be seeing a new addition in the form of an Arendelle port.  I was going to explain what Arendelle is, but I figure that 99% of the people reading this already know.  The other 1% can look it up.  I think it actually makes sense to build that there, too.  It should go nicely with the ocean and harbor themes for that park.

So there you have it, the top 5 international parks-that-I'd-like-to-go-to-but-probably-will-never-have-enough-money-for-ever.  If I had to save up for something though, it'd definitely be for a trip to Japan.  Spa Land sure does sound nice...

Wishful Thinking

Working at the Magic Kingdom, your sense of holidays and seasons becomes drastically blurred. You literally spend months celebrating the same holiday 3-4 times a week.  So when Christmas Day actually comes, it's kinda lost its charm.  But luckily you have friends and family who work outside of Disney and will let you know when it's ACTUALLY Christmas.  This was my second year spent in Florida for the holidays, and I spent it working (just like last year).  But honestly, it's much better to be at work my with my friends than at home by myself.  So I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of my wonderful co-workers and friends that have made the holidays special.  

With the new year just around the corner, I've been considering what kind of changes I want for 2015.  There's always resolutions like "lose weight and stop eating multiple cheeseburgers in one sitting" and "get a different job where I don't have to yell at foreigners for violating my taped-off viewing areas", but I want to instead focus things I want to do in the coming year.  Since I obviously love theme parks, I want to try and visit some parks that I've never been to before.  

For this entry, I want to just focus on domestic parks.  Realistically, I may be able to visit a few of these parks in the coming year, but I definitely don't have the resources to try and hit up any international parks.  I plan on making an additional post to discuss my international theme park wishlist, so be on the lookout for that in the coming weeks.  The parks on this list, however, are all right here in the United States.

Numero 5 - Carowinds, South Carolina

Carowinds is part of Cedar Fair Entertainment, the same company that operates parks such as Cedar Point and Kings Island.  This park is just a few hours away from Atlanta, GA, which is also home to a Six Flags park:  Six Flags Over Goergia.  I visited SFOG as a child, but never had the chance to go to Carowinds.  I only live about 9 hours from this park, so a weekend or three-day weekend trip up there is actually somewhat plausible.  

Carowinds is a pretty solid park with lots of coasters and flat rides.  I've heard a lot about some it's headliner attractions like Intimidator and Nighthawk, but I'm also very drawn to its upcoming attraction.  In 2015, Carowinds will be opening a new mega coaster called Fury 325.  It's been a long time since anyone has built something this big, and it's exciting to see parks that still want to build big, expensive rides instead of short, gimmicky coasters. According to Carowinds' website, Fury 325 will stand at 325 feet tall and reach speeds of 95 mph.  Additionally, it will have a ride time of 3 1/2 minutes, which is almost unheard of nowadays.  With Carowinds not too far away, I hope to be able to take a trip up there sometime next year.  

Number 4 - Holiday World, Indiana

I know it sounds crazy to want to go to a place called Santa Claus, Indiana where it's literally Christmas all-year round (especially after my opening paragraph), but Holiday World just has way too much to offer to turn it down.  Many of you reading this have probably never heard of this theme park, since it's not park of a major chain like Six Flags or Cedar Fair.  Admittedly, I myself know very little about this park.  But Holiday World is home to some very interesting and very appealing rides.  

As far as wooden coasters go, The Voyage is one of the top rated rides on coaster polls every single year.  It boasts all kinds of airtime and speed while zooming through a beautiful forest.  I'm a sucker for a good woodie (don't take that out of context) and so The Voyage is definitely on my list of must-dos.  Holiday World also has a huge water park with some of the wildest and longest water rides in the country such as The Mammoth and Wildebeest.  

Like Carowinds, HW will also be opening up a new coaster in 2015: Thunderbird.  This coaster will actually be the first steel coaster built at this park and will be the first of its kind, too.  The ride itself is a B&M wing coaster like X-Flight and Gatekeeper, but it will feature a launch to start the ride, which hasn't been used on any wing coasters thus far.  I'm really excited to see how this ride plays out, resulting in me now following the ride's construction via Twitter @HolidayWorld #orangeisthenewtrack

Three - Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Virginia

I've been to Busch Gardens Tampa a couple times, but I really want to head farther north to check out their Virginia park.  Unlike it's Florida counterpart, this park is in a more forested area and is more themed to North American and European nature.  BGW features rides such as Apollo's Chariot, Alpengeist, and Loch Ness Monster.  Like Holiday World,  I don't really know a whole lot about this park, except that I really want to go see it.  I've also heard a lot of great reviews about one of their newer coasters called Verbolten.  I don't fully understand how the ride actually do, but it's a coaster that goes fast and that's enough for me.  BGW used to have a suspended coaster called Big Bad Wolf that was very highly praised, but it was demolished to make room for Verbolten years ago.  

Number Two - Hershey Park, Pennsylvania

Since I'm a roller coaster junkie, Hershey Park has always had a strong appeal to me.  This park has lots of great coasters, including some very unique ride types.  As a kid, I remember first learning about Hershey Park through the Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 video game.  For whatever reason, RTC3 decided to partner with Hershey Park to have their unique ride designs and attractions featured in their game.  So when I was able to see and virtually experience rides such as Storm Runner, it fostered a desire to go see that ride in-person.  

Out of all the parks on this list, Hershey Park is the one i'll end up most likely visiting in 2015.  A very good friend of mine lives close to this park, and he's already invited me to head up there in the spring to check it out for a few days.  Needless to say, I'm more than excited to take him up on his offer.  

Numbah Won - Disneyland & California Adventure (duh)

Okay so i'll probably get lynched for this but I've never actually been to Disneyland before. I've been to Six Flags Magic Mountain many times and even Universal Studios Hollywood once, but I've never made it all the way into Disneyland.  We once even drove to Downtown Disney in Anaheim late at night, but failed to even get a glimpse of the parks.  But in my defense, I wasn't a huge fan of Disney Parks at the time.  Disneyland always seemed to be like a smaller, more disappointing version of Disney World.  Since I had already visited Disney World a couple times, I figured Disneyland wasn't really worth it.  It wasn't until I started working at Disney World that I realized how wrong I actually was.

I feel like the odd-man out here in Disney World whenever people start to talk about Anaheim and the great Mecca of Disney Parks.  They talk about how magical that park truly is, and how the atmosphere is so much different than the extremely crowded and overrun Florida parks.  They talk about how the rides are more detailed, more well-kept, and more unique.   They talk about how Disneyland's version of a certain ride is so much better than Disney World's version.  They talk about how the presence of Walt can be felt.   And after all this talk, all I want to do is jump on a plane and fly out there for a week.  And so that's what I'm going to do.

I've already got about 10 days of approved vacation time in September 2015, and I sincerely plan on making a trip to California during that time.  I'll probably make stops at Magic Mountain and maybe even Universal Studios, but my main goal is to finally experience Disneyland and California Adventure for myself.  I suspect that all-in-all I will still end up liking Disney World more, but I desperately want to see what the original park has to offer. Oh yeah and California Adventure, too because of Cars and stuff.

So those are the Top 5 Parks I want to visit in the near future.  If you've been to any of those parks, I'd love to hear your opinions on them, whether good or bad.  Be on the lookout for my Top 5 International Parks Wishlist coming soon.  Thanks for reading!

Grim, Grinning Goliath

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to return to Six Flags Great America.  For those of you who don't know, I participated in an HR internship at that park back in 2012 before finishing my senior year of college.  Great America is near and dear to my heart, since working there solidified my desire to make a career in the theme park industry.  It was good to see old friends again and check out the new additions to the park.

During this time of year, Six Flags parks host their Fright Fest event.  The parks become fully decorated with all kinds of corpses, ghouls, and ghosts.  Many of the rides and areas also get morbid makeovers, as seen in the pictures below.  Most parks also have a variety of haunted experiences, usually at an upcharge.  Great America had some pretty cool haunted houses and themed areas, but it wasn't exactly terrifying.  But for those who live nearby and want to try it out, it's worth a shot.

Over the summer, Great America also opened a brand new attraction: Goliath.  This ride is now the new record holder for the world's tallest, fastest, and steepest wooden coaster (180 ft, 85 degree drop, 72 mph).  As impressive at that sounds, you really don't get the full effect until you've actually ridden it.  It's a non-stop thrill as you fly down the first drop, up into huge banked turns, and then into some pretty awesome inversions.  Goliath also features a new type of ride element called a zero-gravity stall or zero-g stall. Although it may be a little hard to tell from this picture, the track piece immediately to the right of this text would place the train completely upside down for a few seconds.  It's a crazy ride experience, since you basically just hang out of your seat until you finally twist upright again.  

Total ride time on Goliath isn't very long (about a minute), but the intensity and creativity of the ride make up for it.  Great America also had a fairly limited amount of room to build this attraction, and I feel like they capitalized on the land available without removing other nearby attractions.  There actually used to be a different coaster in this spot, but that ride was disassembled and moved to another Six Flags park a few years ago.  Yay for recycling!  

If you get the opportunity to visit Great America, definitely check out Goliath.  Wait times were a little harsh during the day, but the night proved much less crowded, especially as people went to the haunted houses.  Six Flags has also started implementing a single rider line, although they haven't exactly figured out the best way to do it yet.  So if you want to avoid waiting, maybe try single rider.  I'll also a post a ride POV video from the SFGAm Youtube Channel for those of you who realistically may not get a chance to visit the Chicago area any time soon :)

Heigh Ho!

As promised, I want to do a quick write-up about the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at the Magic Kingdom.  Yes, I know it opened like 4 months ago, but in the Disney "World", attractions are considered new for up to four years.  That's because the average guest will only visit once every four years, and so attractions built anywhere in that time period will be new to them when they visit. You can most likely expect to see "New" Fantasyland promoted for at least another two years.

The Mine Train took over the space previously used for the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage ride.  I never had a chance to experience this attraction since it closed down in 1994.  However, it seemed to be a fairly immersive attraction with some pretty interesting ride technology.  It was also a very large attraction and so it's a little confusing as to why Disney waited 20 years before finally turning that precious, unused space into something useful again.



New Fantasyland opened in phases over the past few years, with Enchanted Tales with Belle, the Be Our Guest Restaurant, and Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid as some of the earlier offerings.  In 2013, the Princess Fairytale Hall opened as a new permanent location to meet lots of Disney princesses.  On any given day, you could meet Snow White and Cinderella or Aurora and Rapunzel.  All of that changed when the fire nation attacked, I mean, once Anna and Elsa took over. Several of the princesses were relocated to outdoor locations where they are free to stand in the sun with all their admirers while the popular newcomers enjoy the blessings of AC.  Oh yeah, and then this happened:

The final phase for New Fantasyland was the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  The ride area itself is very well detailed with lots of foliage, rock structures, and cottage/mine-like buildings. The ride vehicles are also very detailed, and they even sway from side to side.  Like its predecessor, it takes up more land than anything else in the area and must be circumnavigated to reach the other attractions.







Despite the multi-year process of landscaping and ride construction, the Mine Train only has a ride time of about 50 seconds, discounting the indoor dark-ride portion.  For many enthusiasts, this was a major disappointment after waiting so long for it to open.  Although it is a roller coaster, it has a very low thrill threshold and is easily outdone by Big Thunder Mountain on the other side of the park.  Don't get me wrong, the ride is fun and I do enjoy it, but it's just not what I was expecting it to be.  For what it's worth, the animatronics are very impressive and accurately capture the look and feel of the classic film.




If you are visiting Magic Kingdom, expect wait times for this attraction to run between 40-70 minutes on average.  Personally, I would never wait more than an hour for this ride.  For kids that are looking to try something that's a step up from the Barnstormer, this would be a good option.  Regardless of the actual thrill-level of the ride, it is a beautiful addition to the park and obviously fits right in with Fantasyland's theme.  Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled at the end of the ride for a few surprises!