Unpopular Opinions: Theme Park Edition

[Shaggy_Dog_]

Loup-Garou at Walibi Belgium is a very underrated coaster and once you learn to embrace it’s roughness it gives you a wild but great airtime filled ride that feels like it wants to fling you out of the seat.

 

[Rick]

Amazing ride.

 

[Zeock]

Despite the fact that everyone online seems to love it and some even say that it is better than Rise of the Resistance, I have to say that I found Ratatouille very mediocre and I would much prefer to ride Alton Manor.

 

[Burbs]

Despite the fact that everyone online seems to love it and some even say that it is better than Rise of the Resistance, I have to say that I found Ratatouille very mediocre and I would much prefer to ride Alton Manor.

I don’t think that’s much of an unpopular opinion… how on earth anyone could objectively rank Ratatouille over Rise of the Resistance is beyond me.

 

[Rick]

Is Ratatouille at EPCOT better / different than the Paris version ?

 

[Benzin]

Beyond being someone who DESPISES the newer trilogy I can't see how anyone would claim Ratatouille is better than Resistance.

A friends recent trip reminded me of my opinion that Goudrix is nowhere near as bad as its reputation makes it out to be. Beyond the Sad Butterfly I've been on far rougher and objectively worse coasters.

 

[Llama]

Does anyone actually like Ratatouille, much less would put it above any other similar ride?

I went on it once and have zero desire to do so again. If anything it was interesting when it first opened as it was one of the first examples of a trackless dark ride, but now that trackless technology is a lot more widespread and in use in plenty of better rides, it doesn't have much going for it. A shame as well because the movie is so good, they could have done a much better job with the attraction.

 

[Rick]

I thought it was just OK. I was expecting it to be as chaotic as Pooh's Hunny Hunt, but it just felt a bit incomplete.

 

[Zeock]

Is Ratatouille at EPCOT better / different than the Paris version ?

Pretty sure they're clones. The Ratatouille I went on was the Paris version.

 

[Burbs]

Is Ratatouille at EPCOT better / different than the Paris version ?

They are clones, even down to the language they’re in! However I much prefer EPCOT’s version, down to the fact that when you get off the ride you exit into Walt Disney World rather than Walt Disney Studios…

 

[Ian]

I can't see how anyone would claim Ratatouille is better than Resistance.

Does anyone actually like Ratatouille, much less would put it above any other similar ride?

I mean, try telling that to this guy

New Jersey Man Caught Smoking, Watching Porn, and Touching Himself on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in EPCOT - WDW News Today

A daily-updated resource for news and information on the Disney resort around the world.

wdwnt.com

Ohhhhh Remy…

 

[Matt N]

I’m surprised I haven’t made it back to this thread since coming back from Florida just under a month ago, as I did gain some potentially uncommon opinions on my recent trip! These include:

• Skull Island: Reign of Kong is awesome, and definitely one of the highlights of Universal Orlando’s dark ride lineup, in my view!
• Mako is still my favourite coaster in Florida even having ridden VelociCoaster and Iron Gwazi, although VelociCoaster comes in at a very close second. And to be honest, I’m sometimes not wholly sure whether I prefer Mako or VC… they were both sublime!
• Pipeline: The Surf Coaster didn’t really do it for me, and I wouldn’t say it was any more comfortable than an older standup coaster (however, my only frame of reference there is Shockwave at Drayton Manor; I haven’t ridden any of the older B&M ones to compare).
• Ice Breaker was fantastic, with some surprisingly excellent airtime and an overall brilliant ride experience! However, it should be noted that I rode without the comfort collars.
• The two Universal Orlando parks are comfortably my two favourites in the state of Florida, and easily ahead of any of the Disney parks for me.
• I comfortably prefer Gringotts to Forbidden Journey out of the two Harry Potter dark rides, and I dare say that Forbidden Journey was my least favourite of the three major IOA dark rides I did during the trip (Spider-Man, Kong and FJ).
• Of the “traditional” dark rides I’ve ridden, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man comfortably remains my favourite, even though plenty of newer dark rides have been built since. I’d say that Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios still clinches it for my favourite non-coaster overall, but that’s more for the brilliance of the drop tower aspect, and I wouldn’t really call it a “traditional dark ride” per se.
• Even though neither ride is anything spectacular, I don’t think Jimmy Fallon and Fast & Furious quite deserve the sheer degree of hate they often get. Fallon in particular is a perfectly fine, albeit unremarkable, simulator. I didn’t particularly rate F&F, although I still didn’t think that it was the absolute abortion that it’s often made out to be.

I may come up with some more, but those are just some of the ones I can come up with off the top of my head! I apologise if any of that is triggering or controversial, and if you want any further justification, just ask!

 

[jon81uk]

I’m surprised I haven’t made it back to this thread since coming back from Florida just under a month ago, as I did gain some potentially uncommon opinions on my recent trip! These include:

• Skull Island: Reign of Kong is awesome, and definitely one of the highlights of Universal Orlando’s dark ride lineup, in my view!
• Mako is still my favourite coaster in Florida even having ridden VelociCoaster and Iron Gwazi, although VelociCoaster comes in at a very close second. And to be honest, I’m sometimes not wholly sure whether I prefer Mako or VC… they were both sublime!
• Pipeline: The Surf Coaster didn’t really do it for me, and I wouldn’t say it was any more comfortable than an older standup coaster (however, my only frame of reference there is Shockwave at Drayton Manor; I haven’t ridden any of the older B&M ones to compare).
• Ice Breaker was fantastic, with some surprisingly excellent airtime and an overall brilliant ride experience! However, it should be noted that I rode without the comfort collars.
• The two Universal Orlando parks are comfortably my two favourites in the state of Florida, and easily ahead of any of the Disney parks for me.
• I comfortably prefer Gringotts to Forbidden Journey out of the two Harry Potter dark rides, and I dare say that Forbidden Journey was my least favourite of the three major IOA dark rides I did during the trip (Spider-Man, Kong and FJ).
• Of the “traditional” dark rides I’ve ridden, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man comfortably remains my favourite, even though plenty of newer dark rides have been built since. I’d say that Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios still clinches it for my favourite non-coaster overall, but that’s more for the brilliance of the drop tower aspect, and I wouldn’t really call it a “traditional dark ride” per se.
• Even though neither ride is anything spectacular, I don’t think Jimmy Fallon and Fast & Furious quite deserve the sheer degree of hate they often get. Fallon in particular is a perfectly fine, albeit unremarkable, simulator. I didn’t particularly rate F&F, although I still didn’t think that it was the absolute abortion that it’s often made out to be.

I may come up with some more, but those are just some of the ones I can come up with off the top of my head! I apologise if any of that is triggering or controversial, and if you want any further justification, just ask!

Not that unpopular, I agree with most of these. Mako is about equally as good as Velocicoaster, but they both offer different styles of experiance. Reign of Kong is fun if a little short. Ice Breaker is good fun. Universal parks are less stressful than Disney. Gringotts doesn't make me quesy like FJ does. Spider-Man is one of the best dark rides in the world and easily better than Transformers next door (but I agree Tower of Terror is one of the best overall rides in the world). Jimmy Fallon is an OK simulator, my only issue is that the in-jokes don't quite work for an international audience (and I miss Twister). F&F does suck though, why do a bus for a ride themed around high-speed??

 

[Matt N]

I apologise in advance, as I can sense that this may generate some anger, but I increasingly think that I have a highly controversial view on the UK theme park industry.

While I agree that the future of these two parks is very exciting and the current standard of additions shows a lot of promise, and I of course accept that everyone holds different opinions, I sometimes feel that the Paultons Park/Drayton Manor hype drive goes a bit overboard and that the Merlin parks receive an unfair amount of criticism.

Don't get me wrong, Drayton Manor and Paultons Park are doing a lot of things right at present. Paultons Park in particular was a park that I had a highly pleasant experience at on my one and only visit in July 2021; it's a very wholesome-feeling park with a solid selection of family rides and some very nice themed areas, with Tornado Springs in particular being brilliantly executed. Drayton Manor is also showing real promise at the moment, with the 2024 coaster sounding like a nice addition to the park and Adventure Cove and Vikings providing nice spruce-ups to their respective areas of the park.

However, it feels like Paultons and Drayton are currently held up by many as parks that are unquestionably beating Merlin in every aspect, and as saviours that can do no wrong, and I don't personally agree that they are necessarily matching the standard of some of the stuff produced by Merlin at this moment in time. I also feel that Merlin are sometimes unfairly criticised, and I do sometimes wonder if some Merlin additions would be far more positively received if they were built at either of these two parks.

For instance, I would raise The World of Jumanji at Chessington. This land is getting widely negative reviews, but while I admit that I have not yet seen the land in person, I think that it looks brilliant, from what I've seen of it. It looks like it has lots of little details strewn throughout, quite a bit of nice landscaping, some really nice theming and a huge 50ft jaguar statue that breathes smoke at its centre! On paper at least, it looks to me like quite an impressive and nicely executed land, yet it seems to be getting quite negative reviews. Rightly or wrongly, I can't help but wonder whether the reception would be the same had Paultons or Drayton built the land, as their new land projects are getting nothing but phenomenally superlative reviews despite arguably being less impressive on paper in some cases.

I also often hear people say that themed investments like Vikings at Drayton Manor and Tornado Springs at Paultons Park are "worlds better than any themed attraction Merlin have ever produced", and I must admit that I personally disagree. While I agree that these areas are very nicely executed by their respective parks, with Tornado Springs in particular being brilliantly themed and exhibiting impressive attention to detail, I still don't think that Paultons Park and Drayton Manor are producing themed attractions on quite the level of some of the stuff that Merlin have produced. I look at themed attractions like Wicker Man, The Swarm, The Curse at Alton Manor, Saw The Ride and others, and personally, I don't think that Paultons Park or Drayton Manor have yet produced themed attractions on that kind of level.

Before I ramble on for too long, my basic point is; while the parks' trajectories look bright and the standard of new additions is undeniably promising, I do feel that the hype for Paultons Park and Drayton Manor sometimes goes a tad overboard and that Merlin are sometimes unfairly criticised. This isn't meant as a dig at Paultons/Drayton or as an indication that Merlin are perfect, but controversially, I do personally disagree with the widely espoused rhetoric that Paultons and Drayton can do no wrong and are beating Merlin in every conceivable way.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

I also often hear people say that themed investments like Vikings at Drayton Manor and Tornado Springs at Paultons Park are "worlds better than any themed attraction Merlin have ever produced", and I must admit that I personally disagree.

Vikings is nowhere near the same level as Tornado Springs. TS is a fantastic quality themed area whereas Vikings is nice enough but nothing outstanding.

 

[Benzin]

Tornado Springs feels far more "complete" in comparison to a lot of Merlin additions.

Merlin for a while focused far too much on a central big themed object and some small surrounding features and the station building. The finished quality has been fairly questionable as well, with some questionable design choices that have led to things like the Smiler queue.

Even things like Sub Terra look great internally but the exterior and general design had a lot of issues. The Ghost Train retheme already has the old fashioned posters destroyed by guests as another example, not completely the fault of Merlin, but should consider guest behaviour when designing these things.

Add on the operational issues and there's definite flaws abound. That being said due to the black or white nature of social media leads to lots of claims and sides being taken with very little to no nuance to it. Leads to a lot of daft situations and rampant fanboyism.

 

[Zeock]

I apologise in advance, as I can sense that this may generate some anger, but I increasingly think that I have a highly controversial view on the UK theme park industry.

While I agree that the future of these two parks is very exciting and the current standard of additions shows a lot of promise, and I of course accept that everyone holds different opinions, I sometimes feel that the Paultons Park/Drayton Manor hype drive goes a bit overboard and that the Merlin parks receive an unfair amount of criticism.

Don't get me wrong, Drayton Manor and Paultons Park are doing a lot of things right at present. Paultons Park in particular was a park that I had a highly pleasant experience at on my one and only visit in July 2021; it's a very wholesome-feeling park with a solid selection of family rides and some very nice themed areas, with Tornado Springs in particular being brilliantly executed. Drayton Manor is also showing real promise at the moment, with the 2024 coaster sounding like a nice addition to the park and Adventure Cove and Vikings providing nice spruce-ups to their respective areas of the park.

However, it feels like Paultons and Drayton are currently held up by many as parks that are unquestionably beating Merlin in every aspect, and as saviours that can do no wrong, and I don't personally agree that they are necessarily matching the standard of some of the stuff produced by Merlin at this moment in time. I also feel that Merlin are sometimes unfairly criticised, and I do sometimes wonder if some Merlin additions would be far more positively received if they were built at either of these two parks.

For instance, I would raise The World of Jumanji at Chessington. This land is getting widely negative reviews, but while I admit that I have not yet seen the land in person, I think that it looks brilliant, from what I've seen of it. It looks like it has lots of little details strewn throughout, quite a bit of nice landscaping, some really nice theming and a huge 50ft jaguar statue that breathes smoke at its centre! On paper at least, it looks to me like quite an impressive and nicely executed land, yet it seems to be getting quite negative reviews. Rightly or wrongly, I can't help but wonder whether the reception would be the same had Paultons or Drayton built the land, as their new land projects are getting nothing but phenomenally superlative reviews despite arguably being less impressive on paper in some cases.

I also often hear people say that themed investments like Vikings at Drayton Manor and Tornado Springs at Paultons Park are "worlds better than any themed attraction Merlin have ever produced", and I must admit that I personally disagree. While I agree that these areas are very nicely executed by their respective parks, with Tornado Springs in particular being brilliantly themed and exhibiting impressive attention to detail, I still don't think that Paultons Park and Drayton Manor are producing themed attractions on quite the level of some of the stuff that Merlin have produced. I look at themed attractions like Wicker Man, The Swarm, The Curse at Alton Manor, Saw The Ride and others, and personally, I don't think that Paultons Park or Drayton Manor have yet produced themed attractions on that kind of level.

Before I ramble on for too long, my basic point is; while the parks' trajectories look bright and the standard of new additions is undeniably promising, I do feel that the hype for Paultons Park and Drayton Manor sometimes goes a tad overboard and that Merlin are sometimes unfairly criticised. This isn't meant as a dig at Paultons/Drayton or as an indication that Merlin are perfect, but controversially, I do personally disagree with the widely espoused rhetoric that Paultons and Drayton can do no wrong and are beating Merlin in every conceivable way.

Tornado Springs is a wonderful area. Vikings, on the other hand, doesn't look great.
As stated above, I think that Merlin have focused too much recently on one themed 'object' after the success of Wicker Man's theming, with Big Bob as the main centrepiece.
World of Jumanji feels quite empty of theming for me, especially in the centre. Tiger Rock is another example of this. There is next to zero theming on the ride otherwise.

 

[pluk]

I think my disagreement with you on this would come in 2 parts.

However, it feels like Paultons and Drayton are currently held up by many as parks that are unquestionably beating Merlin in every aspect,

I do personally disagree with the widely espoused rhetoric that Paultons and Drayton can do no wrong and are beating Merlin in every conceivable way.

While I can understand you projecting that sentiment from the rampant possitivity around other parks, especially Paultons, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say or even insinuate that. The ride hardware that Merlin has across its estate is by any measure or reasonable objective consideration the best in the country by far. There's no getting away from that.

But as I tell my wife, it's not what youve got but what you do with your equipment that counts.

As I've probably posted a thousand times, at Merlin I enjoy myself in spite of almost every operating and development decision they make, at Paultons and others the opposite is true.

For instance, I would raise The World of Jumanji at Chessington. This land is getting widely negative reviews, but while I admit that I have not yet seen the land in person, I think that it looks brilliant,

And this is the second part, and I don't mean to be personally critical, but your famous unrelenting possitivity seems to blinker you from seeing the negative in things. Unfortunately you can devalue your opinions value to others with that.

You don't see that area and think, that's a horrific throughput for a headline attraction, that's been designed so poorly they can't pre batch the ride, that's an odd lumbering coaster that doesn't do much for the money, that huge themeing doest really enhance the ride experience but looks good in an ad, that theming just stops at the edge with a construction site type fence, those support rides are the cheapest they could be and are operated horrifically, that theming is falling apart with holes it it after a couple of months etc etc.

The coaster itself might be fun for what it is, and it absolutely can be enjoyed on those terms in the moment, but to not see the huge avoidable failings in what this could have been as an experience and for the parks future requires some exceptionally sized blinkers. The enthusiast community is always going to take the wider view, and Merlin fall down badly under that scrutiny.



The biggest thing though is you really have to consider what resources these parks and groups have available, because really with what's available to them Merlin shouldn't be in a position where the developments at a small privately owned regional park are even in the same conversation, but they are, and in many ways the little guys are leading. They are going to get enthusiast kudos for that.

 

[Matt N]

And this is the second part, and I don't mean to be personally critical, but your famous unrelenting possitivity seems to blinker you from seeing the negative in things. Unfortunately you can devalue your opinions value to others with that.

You don't see that area and think, that's a horrific throughput for a headline attraction, that's been designed so poorly they can't pre batch the ride, that's an odd lumbering coaster that doesn't do much for the money, that huge themeing doest really enhance the ride experience but looks good in an ad, that theming just stops at the edge with a construction site type fence, those support rides are the cheapest they could be and are operated horrifically, that theming is falling apart with holes it it after a couple of months etc etc.

The coaster itself might be fun for what it is, and it absolutely can be enjoyed on those terms in the moment, but to not see the huge avoidable failings in what this could have been as an experience and for the parks future requires some exceptionally sized blinkers. The enthusiast community is always going to take the wider view, and Merlin fall down badly under that scrutiny.



The biggest thing though is you really have to consider what resources these parks and groups have available, because really with what's available to them Merlin shouldn't be in a position where the developments at a small privately owned regional park are even in the same conversation, but they are, and in many ways the little guys are leading. They are going to get enthusiast kudos for that.

I’m not saying The World of Jumanji is perfect or that there aren’t flaws. I must admit that I have been disappointed by early reports of Mandrill Mayhem’s throughput (I’d hoped during the construction that it might be a fair bit higher), and I think that with some lateral thinking, the throughput could easily have been increased. I am surprised that they didn’t build full-height airgates or something to allow people to wait on the platform. I’ll admit that I haven’t personally seen the land, and I am mostly going off of videos and photos from around the opening day, so I may have missed certain finer points or rough edges.

In that passage, I was primarily talking about the finish of the land thematically rather than about wider factors like the throughput and such. Thematically, I think it looks really nice, and quite impressive in some regards, in my opinion. I should have clarified that better.

My point was more that I almost feel that if Drayton or Paultons had built the exact same land as Chessington did, the response would be far more positive. It feels like people are focused far more on the negatives when Merlin build something than when Drayton or Paultons build something.

People seem to pick at the flaws of every Merlin project when it opens, but not at the flaws of Drayton or Paultons’ projects. For instance, I would argue that Drayton Manor’s decision to centre Vikings around a 35 year old coaster that is showing its age and has previously been earmarked for removal could be construed as slightly odd or short termist, but I never hear people mention that in relation to the Vikings area, only focusing on the positives. I accept that context is key, and it does appear as though they painted up and refurbished Jormungandr to some degree as part of that project, but it does feel like people really dig in and focus only on the flaws when it comes to Merlin in a way that they don’t with other UK parks.

This is exactly why I was afraid to post this opinion, as I had a feeling I’d be proven wrong… I’m sorry for wasting everyone’s time with what looks like an increasingly invalid argument on my part. I know that I can have a tendency to be too prone to wearing rose-tinted spectacles at times, and that is something I’m trying to work on doing less. I’m trying to be more constructive and balanced, and I hope that shows through in my more recent reviews. It is hard not to take it personally when people tell me how wrong I am or how my opinions are less valid than everybody else’s, but I accept that I’m also too sensitive and probably need to develop a thicker skin.

 

[pluk]

This is exactly why I was afraid to post this opinion, as I had a feeling I’d be proven wrong… I’m sorry for wasting everyone’s time with what looks like an increasingly invalid argument on my part. I know that I can have a tendency to be too prone to wearing rose-tinted spectacles at times, and that is something I’m trying to work on doing less. I’m trying to be more constructive and balanced, and I hope that shows through in my more recent reviews. It is hard not to take it personally when people tell me how wrong I am or how my opinions are less valid than everybody else’s, but I accept that I’m also too sensitive and probably need to develop a thicker skin.

Hey, you aren't wrong if I or anyone else disagrees with you!!

Sometimes I'll have a strong opinion on something, someone will disagree with me, show me a different point of view, and I'll change my opinion. That's not a weakness.
Sometimes I'll still think they are just as wrong and that's fine too!

The positivity thing seems generational to an extent, a product of non-competative sports day and well done for trying upbringing you lucky young things have had. Being happy and content is no bad thing, enjoy it.