Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. Usually when riding a ride, the queue is the most monotonous part of the experience. One of the main things that critics of theme parks moan about is that “you spend all day in boring queues, often waiting well over an hour for a 30 second ride” or something along those lines. But have you ever been on an attraction where you prefer the queue line, theming and pre-ride build up to the actual ride itself?
I can think of a couple of examples that I’ve done:
I can think of a couple of examples that I’ve done:
- Cobra’s Curse at Busch Gardens Tampa - Now, it’s admittedly been nearly 5 years since my last (and only) ride on Cobra’s Curse, but it’s one of the few coasters where its theming is the main thing that sticks in my memory about it. From a theming/immersion point of view, I genuinely think Cobra’s Curse is quite incredible. The queue is absolutely awash with details, and is stunningly themed. There’s an amazing, Wicker Man-style projection mapped pre-show, where the Snake King is introduced to riders in quite spectacular fashion. Even during the ride itself, you have that absolutely spectacular 70ft snake statue, and the Snake King has various audio encounters with riders throughout the ride. I genuinely couldn’t fault Cobra’s Curse from a thematic point of view! However, the ride itself wasn’t quite as spectacular, from my memory of it. It was perfectly OK for what it was, but it was nothing particularly special or groundbreaking, even in terms of family coasters; I don’t really have any strong memory of it really wowing me as a coaster. As I say, it was a perfectly OK family coaster, but I’m afraid my praise doesn’t really extend much beyond “OK”, from my memory of it, even if viewed through the lens of it being a family coaster; the coaster itself wasn’t my favourite coaster, I’ll admit, and Cobra’s Curse was definitely a perfect example of a ride where the queue/theming stuck in my memory more than the ride itself did.
- Dragon Challenge (both sides) at Universal’s Islands of Adventure - Even though I never got to experience the queue for these coasters in its alleged “prime”, back when the coasters were known as Dueling Dragons in the pre-Potter era of IOA, I actually thought that the queue was really nice, with lots of details to really put riders within the Triwizard Tournament! However, I wasn’t massively enamoured with either of the B&M inverts themselves, if I’m being honest; while I didn’t hate either of the coasters, I wasn’t a massive fan of either, as they were surprisingly jolty, and I just generally found them somewhat forgettable. The coasters themselves were easily my two least favourite B&Ms.
- Manta at SeaWorld Orlando - The queue and landscaping for Manta is absolutely lovely; I absolutely loved the detailed aquarium queue, and the landscaping and general presentation of the area were top-notch! I particularly liked elements such as all the rockwork, and the water skim element that can be seen as you enter SeaWorld Orlando! However, I wasn’t a huge lover of the ride itself, simply because I personally found the ride a little too intense for my tastes. On my one back row ride, that pretzel loop was a very unpleasant element for me, and the rest of it didn’t seem to do an awful lot. Controversially, I actually preferred Galactica to Manta, and by a considerable distance.
- Antarctica at SeaWorld Orlando - The Antarctica area of SeaWorld Orlando is just stunningly done, in my opinion; given the 30+ degree climate of Florida, they did an incredible job of immersing you into a cold, snowy part of the world! The pre-ride build up of Antarctica is also very good, in my view; the pre-show does a very nice job of introducing riders to our penguin friend Puck, and there’s lots of rockwork and some really nice details in the indoor queue. Not to mention that the penguin exhibit itself is incredibly pulled off, in my opinion! However, the ride itself wasn’t my favourite; although the concept is quite cute, I found Antarctica quite a weird ride, and I’m not entirely sure on how well the concept translated into a theme park ride, in reality. The second time we did Antarctica, we didn’t actually do the ride element of it at all, and just skipped straight to the penguin exhibit.
- Saw: The Ride at Thorpe Park - Now, I’ve got to say that I really love how the theming was done on Saw! Once you get into the warehouse itself, there’s a surprising amount of details strewn around in there, as well as Jigsaw’s occasional voiceovers, and the indoor section of the ride is also excellently done, in my opinion; I love bits like the surprise drop with the axes swinging over you, as well as Jigsaw’s speech (depending on what car you’re batched into) and the roll over the bleeding man as you exit the building. I also like the voiceovers from Jigsaw just before you go up the lift hill, as well as on the brake run. However, in terms of the ride itself; as much as I like Saw’s layout, I’m not a fan of it at all, simply because I find it absolutely brutal. Admittedly, you could argue that a brutal ride experience is very befitting of the theme, but I find the ride very, very rough, and almost excessively intense in sections (I’m thinking the post-MCBR section with the dive loop here); as much as I want to really like Saw, I’ve had 3 rides on it now, and every single one of them has given me a pounding headache. As much as I can see why people love Saw, I don’t personally enjoy rides that leave me in pain; it’s not really my kind of coaster.
