Alastair
TS Team
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- Rise of the Resistance
Trip Report: California
Having just got back from a 2 week holiday in California, and having in that time visited all 5 parks in the LA County area (Disneyland, DCA, SF:MM, Universal and Knott's); I feel that I should write a trip report to review the parks/some of the attractions.
Firstly I should state that, having visited Florida in 2012, my hopes for the parks in California (particularly the Disney parks) were high. I personally didn't think that anything could match Florida in terms of quality parks/quality rides within a certain area, and therefore although my hopes were high, I tried not to expect too much from them.
I'll organise the report in terms of parks overall, and then select individual rides. Bear in mind that I was only at each park for the day, which was sufficient for some but others could and probably would benefit from multiple day visits.
First: Disney California Adventure
Having just got back from a 2 week holiday in California, and having in that time visited all 5 parks in the LA County area (Disneyland, DCA, SF:MM, Universal and Knott's); I feel that I should write a trip report to review the parks/some of the attractions.
Firstly I should state that, having visited Florida in 2012, my hopes for the parks in California (particularly the Disney parks) were high. I personally didn't think that anything could match Florida in terms of quality parks/quality rides within a certain area, and therefore although my hopes were high, I tried not to expect too much from them.
I'll organise the report in terms of parks overall, and then select individual rides. Bear in mind that I was only at each park for the day, which was sufficient for some but others could and probably would benefit from multiple day visits.
First: Disney California Adventure
This park is one of the two parks within the Disney resort, located in Anaheim - a city south-east of LA (the other being Disneyland itself). The Disney resort as a whole is a lot smaller than its counterpart in Florida , and therefore parking is in a huge multistorey car park rather than on flat land. Entry to the park is still via the classic "tram" (ie. a huge tractor style thing pulling 10 or so big cars chained together behind it) - and the journey isn't a long one up to the entrance plaza. From there, you can choose to go far right into Downtown Disney, right up into DCA or left into Disneyland (the two park entrances directly face each other).
Our first trip however was into Disney California Adventure. This park is essentially the combination of Hollywood Studios and EPCOT from Disney World - with features and rides of both being present (although slightly more biased towards the studios theme). There are a few effective clone rides at California and Florida - the main ones being Tower of Terror and Soarin' which I won't go into as they are essentially the same exact rides.
The park as a whole is classic Disney, clean cut and aesthetically stunning. You enter into a recreation of 1920's LA, with lots of overt Art Deco styling and of course not a single unthemed patch in sight. From there, you can go in any one of a number of directions. Left takes you to Hollywood Land and Tower of Terror, right goes around towards Soarin' and then the Grizzly Peak area, whilst straight on takes you first to Cars Land and ultimately to Paradise Pier at the back of the park.
Undoubtedly it's the latter two areas which make this park. Cars Land firstly, is breathtaking. What other themed area literally fills your entire field of view from such a distance as you enter? The sheer scale of this area is mindboggling, and that's without discussing the ever present street entertainment via the "Cars" from the films themselves driving around and interacting with guests.
The main attraction of this area is Radiator Springs Racers - a test track inspired ride based upon the film. This ride without a shadow of a doubt lives up to its purported $200m price tag. Whilst the racing element of the ride (where you actually race against another car outdoors and indoors) is incredible, it's the animatronics and indoor sections that really make this ride. There are numerous points where you interact with the characters from the films, and it's here that Disney excels in making them more than lifelike. They've somehow managed to perfect in the real world what was an animation on a screen in the film. Other than to a point Expedition Everest, there's also no other ride where you can travel at such high speeds outdoors and still be completely immersed in the themed environment - the ride is genuinely completely self contained.
Walk a bit further down the park and you'll eventually reach the Paradise Pier area. Along with Cars Land, this is definitely the park's signature area. The landscape of the area itself is so perfect that only Disney could have created it - no other area in any theme park looks so naturally formed, as though it is a real place and not a theme park. It's inspired in part by the Santa Monica pier, and having visited both places the resemblance is clear. There isn't an angle from which it doesn't look stunning, and that's before you even ride anything!
The main attraction of the area is California Screamin' - an Intamin launched steel coaster designed to look like a classic wooden coaster. It is also incidentally the longest coaster in the world to feature an inversion. It's somewhat of an odd ride to be included in a Disney park, but one that they manage to pull off. The ride itself is fun but never overly intense (even the loop isn't that intense), and it's always trimmed just as it could get really fun.
The fact that it's so long means that two trains can be on the track at any one time - resulting in numerous moments of 'duelling' and interaction with the other train. This is also without a doubt the fastest operated coaster I've ever seen - with dual stations and 24 seater trains dispatching in sub-30 seconds per train; resulting in over 2000pph throughput (and consistent queues of 5 minutes in a pretty busy park).
The area also includes other classic amusement park rides, befitting of the area's theme - including the distinctive "Mickey's Fun Wheel" - a unique ferris wheel featuring swinging and stationary gondolas (you can feel a little nauseous on this if you don't look in the right places!) There's also a standard Twirling Toadstools, some Flying Machines and a mini Mack Wild Mouse in the corner (is this the only Disney park with a coaster not to feature a Vekoma?) All of course immacultely themed and integrated into the area.
The middle of this area also features a lake on which numerous fountain shows take place throughout the day, culminating in a main big show at the end of the day which unfortunately we didn't stay to see. The area undoubtedly is up there with the best in any theme park though.
The other remaining big themed area of the park is Grizzly Peak, themed around California's wilderness (the great thing about DCA is how true the theming remains to the theme of California). This features one main ride in Grizzly River Run - one of the longest and tallest river rapids in the world. It's very odd for a rapids in that it has numerous proper drops, and you actually spin through them which makes for a very odd and possibly wet experience.
The area is once again almost perfect in execution, with a classic piece of theming visible from a long distance out to mark its presence. The natural feel of this area is once again really a plus point, with waterfalls, rocks and trees aplenty - similar in style although IMO superior to the Kali Rapids at Animal Kingdom.
I could go on and on about this park for ages, however I'll conclude that this is probably the second best themed park I've ever visited (hint hint I hadn't by that point visited the first). The only letdown for it is its lack of shows, however the park across the way more than makes up for that deficit!
Our first trip however was into Disney California Adventure. This park is essentially the combination of Hollywood Studios and EPCOT from Disney World - with features and rides of both being present (although slightly more biased towards the studios theme). There are a few effective clone rides at California and Florida - the main ones being Tower of Terror and Soarin' which I won't go into as they are essentially the same exact rides.
The park as a whole is classic Disney, clean cut and aesthetically stunning. You enter into a recreation of 1920's LA, with lots of overt Art Deco styling and of course not a single unthemed patch in sight. From there, you can go in any one of a number of directions. Left takes you to Hollywood Land and Tower of Terror, right goes around towards Soarin' and then the Grizzly Peak area, whilst straight on takes you first to Cars Land and ultimately to Paradise Pier at the back of the park.



Undoubtedly it's the latter two areas which make this park. Cars Land firstly, is breathtaking. What other themed area literally fills your entire field of view from such a distance as you enter? The sheer scale of this area is mindboggling, and that's without discussing the ever present street entertainment via the "Cars" from the films themselves driving around and interacting with guests.

The main attraction of this area is Radiator Springs Racers - a test track inspired ride based upon the film. This ride without a shadow of a doubt lives up to its purported $200m price tag. Whilst the racing element of the ride (where you actually race against another car outdoors and indoors) is incredible, it's the animatronics and indoor sections that really make this ride. There are numerous points where you interact with the characters from the films, and it's here that Disney excels in making them more than lifelike. They've somehow managed to perfect in the real world what was an animation on a screen in the film. Other than to a point Expedition Everest, there's also no other ride where you can travel at such high speeds outdoors and still be completely immersed in the themed environment - the ride is genuinely completely self contained.



Walk a bit further down the park and you'll eventually reach the Paradise Pier area. Along with Cars Land, this is definitely the park's signature area. The landscape of the area itself is so perfect that only Disney could have created it - no other area in any theme park looks so naturally formed, as though it is a real place and not a theme park. It's inspired in part by the Santa Monica pier, and having visited both places the resemblance is clear. There isn't an angle from which it doesn't look stunning, and that's before you even ride anything!


The main attraction of the area is California Screamin' - an Intamin launched steel coaster designed to look like a classic wooden coaster. It is also incidentally the longest coaster in the world to feature an inversion. It's somewhat of an odd ride to be included in a Disney park, but one that they manage to pull off. The ride itself is fun but never overly intense (even the loop isn't that intense), and it's always trimmed just as it could get really fun.
The fact that it's so long means that two trains can be on the track at any one time - resulting in numerous moments of 'duelling' and interaction with the other train. This is also without a doubt the fastest operated coaster I've ever seen - with dual stations and 24 seater trains dispatching in sub-30 seconds per train; resulting in over 2000pph throughput (and consistent queues of 5 minutes in a pretty busy park).

The area also includes other classic amusement park rides, befitting of the area's theme - including the distinctive "Mickey's Fun Wheel" - a unique ferris wheel featuring swinging and stationary gondolas (you can feel a little nauseous on this if you don't look in the right places!) There's also a standard Twirling Toadstools, some Flying Machines and a mini Mack Wild Mouse in the corner (is this the only Disney park with a coaster not to feature a Vekoma?) All of course immacultely themed and integrated into the area.


The middle of this area also features a lake on which numerous fountain shows take place throughout the day, culminating in a main big show at the end of the day which unfortunately we didn't stay to see. The area undoubtedly is up there with the best in any theme park though.
The other remaining big themed area of the park is Grizzly Peak, themed around California's wilderness (the great thing about DCA is how true the theming remains to the theme of California). This features one main ride in Grizzly River Run - one of the longest and tallest river rapids in the world. It's very odd for a rapids in that it has numerous proper drops, and you actually spin through them which makes for a very odd and possibly wet experience.
The area is once again almost perfect in execution, with a classic piece of theming visible from a long distance out to mark its presence. The natural feel of this area is once again really a plus point, with waterfalls, rocks and trees aplenty - similar in style although IMO superior to the Kali Rapids at Animal Kingdom.
I could go on and on about this park for ages, however I'll conclude that this is probably the second best themed park I've ever visited (hint hint I hadn't by that point visited the first). The only letdown for it is its lack of shows, however the park across the way more than makes up for that deficit!
