Sarangel
<font color=red><font color=navy>Rumor has it ...<
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2000
- Messages
- 3,078
I got to visit the new Disney's California Adventure park over the weekend & thought I'd share my impressions:
The park is still obviously being worked on, you can tell that there are areas that will be improved as things go on, but over all, I found it very enjoyable.
The E-Ticket ride for the park will almost certainly be Soarin' over California in the Condor Flats area. This is the first new ride technology I've seen since Indiana Jones. There is literally nothing like it. The ride lifts passengers up over an IMAX screen & then mimics movement over scenes of California, but that hardly describes it. I saw people lifting their feet up to get them out of the way of a rock or a baloon & the entire group broke out into spontanious applause at the end.
The rest of Condor Flats needs work, but I enjoyed the detail in the construction, and the allustions to the history of Flight in CA. There's a lot of detail & I think a lot of it will be overlooked, which is a shame.
Paradise Pier is nowhere as bad as I had heard it made out to be & is actually very pretty at night. I'm not crazy about the carny games, but they are a part of the experience and there are only 8 of them. The California Screamin' coaster is an absolute rush. It's very smooth & never slows down once they launch you. I could have done it several times in a row, time permitting. I didn't get a chance to try the Muholland Madness coaster, but my friends say it's pretty jerky, but fun. The carousel is a carousel, and I don't much like the ferris wheel - most of its cars are on a seperate track within the big wheel, so that they slide as the main wheel turns. It also seems to have loading & unloading issues.
The Hollywood section is small, but entertaining. I'm in love with the new Animation exhibit - I could probably kill two hours in there alone. The main room is set like Fantasia 2000, with multiple screens of various sizes on all of the walls. From there, you can catch the Robin Williams/Walter Cronkite film about how animation is put together. Or you can fill in to the 'Animator's Office' and watch a live presentation on how characters evolve (co-starring Mushu). There's a bonus in this section, right now they're showing a longer trailer of Atlantis & I'd imagine that they'll start showing something else once Atlantis is released. There's also the Beast's Library, which will tell you what animated character you'd be if you were a toon, and Ursula's grotto which allows you do voice over your own little scene (which can be pretty funny if you mix voices - my boyfriend & I did one where he was Belle & I was the Beast).
The rest of the Hollywood section is much like Disney/MGM - there's a big theatre, a Muppet Vision 3-D, a stunt show, and the Superstar Limo - which is probably the lamest ride I've seen Disney put out. It's a dark ride, like the fantasy land rides but with a Hollywood theme. I was not impressed.
The Redwood trail & Grizzly Rapids were lovely, but not terribly special. Be warned that there is no dry well on the rapid ride, but there are lockers (free for 2 hrs) to put stuff in before you get in line.
There's a lot of stuff I didn't get to see (the California Dreams show, the parade, a lot of the smaller rides), and I know I'll be back because I had a really good time. My guess is that the park will be really crowded for the first couple of months & during the summer. It might be better to wait for the crowds to die down a little bit, or you might just want to brave them & see what all the fuss is about for yourself.
SarangelP
V
The park is still obviously being worked on, you can tell that there are areas that will be improved as things go on, but over all, I found it very enjoyable.
The E-Ticket ride for the park will almost certainly be Soarin' over California in the Condor Flats area. This is the first new ride technology I've seen since Indiana Jones. There is literally nothing like it. The ride lifts passengers up over an IMAX screen & then mimics movement over scenes of California, but that hardly describes it. I saw people lifting their feet up to get them out of the way of a rock or a baloon & the entire group broke out into spontanious applause at the end.
The rest of Condor Flats needs work, but I enjoyed the detail in the construction, and the allustions to the history of Flight in CA. There's a lot of detail & I think a lot of it will be overlooked, which is a shame.
Paradise Pier is nowhere as bad as I had heard it made out to be & is actually very pretty at night. I'm not crazy about the carny games, but they are a part of the experience and there are only 8 of them. The California Screamin' coaster is an absolute rush. It's very smooth & never slows down once they launch you. I could have done it several times in a row, time permitting. I didn't get a chance to try the Muholland Madness coaster, but my friends say it's pretty jerky, but fun. The carousel is a carousel, and I don't much like the ferris wheel - most of its cars are on a seperate track within the big wheel, so that they slide as the main wheel turns. It also seems to have loading & unloading issues.
The Hollywood section is small, but entertaining. I'm in love with the new Animation exhibit - I could probably kill two hours in there alone. The main room is set like Fantasia 2000, with multiple screens of various sizes on all of the walls. From there, you can catch the Robin Williams/Walter Cronkite film about how animation is put together. Or you can fill in to the 'Animator's Office' and watch a live presentation on how characters evolve (co-starring Mushu). There's a bonus in this section, right now they're showing a longer trailer of Atlantis & I'd imagine that they'll start showing something else once Atlantis is released. There's also the Beast's Library, which will tell you what animated character you'd be if you were a toon, and Ursula's grotto which allows you do voice over your own little scene (which can be pretty funny if you mix voices - my boyfriend & I did one where he was Belle & I was the Beast).
The rest of the Hollywood section is much like Disney/MGM - there's a big theatre, a Muppet Vision 3-D, a stunt show, and the Superstar Limo - which is probably the lamest ride I've seen Disney put out. It's a dark ride, like the fantasy land rides but with a Hollywood theme. I was not impressed.
The Redwood trail & Grizzly Rapids were lovely, but not terribly special. Be warned that there is no dry well on the rapid ride, but there are lockers (free for 2 hrs) to put stuff in before you get in line.
There's a lot of stuff I didn't get to see (the California Dreams show, the parade, a lot of the smaller rides), and I know I'll be back because I had a really good time. My guess is that the park will be really crowded for the first couple of months & during the summer. It might be better to wait for the crowds to die down a little bit, or you might just want to brave them & see what all the fuss is about for yourself.
SarangelP
V
