Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. Looking through the forums, there seem to be a lot of threads about "biggest disappointment" and "most overrated coaster", so I thought I'd try and spread a little positivity and make a thread about those rides and parks that exceeded expectations! So, what have been your biggest positive surprises? I actually have quite a few:
- Wicker Man (Alton Towers) - Now, during 2017 when Wicker Man was being constructed, I was probably more enthusiastic about it than most people. I thought it had the potential to be a pretty good family coaster, but I'll be honest; I wasn't really expecting it to be much more than that. I was just sort of expecting a Thirteen-esque thrill level at the highest, and I certainly wasn't expecting it to be my new favourite ride at Alton Towers by a long way. So imagine how surprised I was when I first stepped off it in March 2018 and it was actually a pretty fantastic wooden coaster! Even though the airtime was somewhat lacking, the pacing was fantastic and overall, I just thought it was a really fun and surprisingly forceful coaster! The thing that was even better was that I managed to have 3 rides on it during the course of the 2018 season, and it somehow managed to grow on me with each further ride I took, to the point where it is now my overall #8 and only 1 spot behind Nemesis in my overall rankings! So if I manage to grab a ride towards the back in 2020 now that the ride has worn in a little, I could potentially see it usurping Nemesis as my favourite ride at Alton Towers! Now that's an outcome I wasn't expecting in 2017!
- Slinky Dog Dash (Disney's Hollywood Studios) - I managed to ride Slinky Dog Dash for the first time in April 2019, and it was perhaps one of the biggest surprises of my entire 2019 season! I went in with quite low expectations, as the reviews weren't fantastic, but I thought it was a fab little coaster for what it was! Sure, there are some places where it could go a touch faster, but I found it to be surprisingly nippy and well-paced for most of the ride with some fun little pops of airtime! It reminded me of a mini Icon; I liked it a lot more than I'd expected to, and it does actually make the lower end of my top 25 coasters (#24, to be exact, out of 67 ridden). I may have preferred rides like Tower of Terror and Rock'n'Rollercoaster within Hollywood Studios, but if the queues had been shorter, I would have loved to have reridden Slinky Dog Dash!
- Kraken (SeaWorld Orlando) - This was another example of a ride that didn't have brilliant reviews when I went to ride it. I was expecting a very rough ride with little forces based on the reviews, but when I rode Kraken for the first time in August 2016, I thought it was brilliant! The ride had surprising power and pace throughout its long layout, and I didn't think it was anywhere near as rough as reviews suggested; I would probably have said it only had a slight rattle, and it was probably the smoothest of the 3 sit-down B&M loopers in Florida (Kraken, Hulk & Kumba). Overall, I enjoyed Kraken more than expected, for sure, and it still sits at #9 in my top 10! Combined with my overall #1 coaster in Mako, SeaWorld Orlando certainly has a strong one-two punch in Mako and Kraken, in my opinion!
- Shockwave (Drayton Manor) - Now, I went in to Drayton Manor with very low expectations for Shockwave. The standup coaster ride type doesn't tend to receive particularly glowing reviews in general, so I wasn't sure I'd enjoy my first standup coaster that much. However, while I did admittedly find the position strange, the coaster itself exceeded expectations, with the first half of the layout especially being stronger than expected! Admittedly, it did grow a bit shaky towards the end of the ride, but it was smoother than expected for the most part! Overall, while Shockwave was far from my favourite coaster (#33 in my rankings, to be precise), it certainly wasn't anywhere near as bad as I was expecting!
- Tower of Terror (Disney's Hollywood Studios) - Now, I had very high expectations of Tower of Terror before I rode, but it still managed to exceed those expectations! In terms of its acclaim as an immersive experience, this is definitely well deserved, as the theming is fantastic, and the ride sets up a wonderfully eerie tone that really immerses you into the experience from start to finish! However, the main element of surprise for me was in Tower of Terror's actual ride experience. With the drops on the ride not being overly tall and with Disney's usual effort to appeal to families, I was expecting some fun airtime and forces, but nothing too thrilling. How wrong was I! The raw shock I felt going down those drops is a feeling I will never forget; they were actually deceptively forceful, and with the very minimal restraint, the sustained airtime I got was outstanding! I was absolutely speechless getting off Tower of Terror, and as an overall experience, I'd say it was my favourite new ride I rode in 2019, my favourite drop tower by some distance and probably one of my all time favourite rides! I only got one ride on it, but I would have ridden it over and over again had I had the chance!
- Logger's Leap (Thorpe Park) - During my earlier years of theme park visiting, the types of log flume I was used to were rides like The Flume at Alton Towers, which was OK, but overly long and nothing particularly remarkable, in my opinion. So naturally, I went into Logger's Leap with quite low expectations, only expecting a light spray at best. However, I actually got pretty wet! The drops were really fun, the ride was just the right length, and overall, Logger's Leap was a very positive surprise, and it became a firm favourite in our family that we would be sure to ride whenever we visited Thorpe Park! Unlike The Flume, it's certainly a ride that I really miss, and I hope Thorpe Park eventually builds a new water ride that lives up to it in fun factor.
- Frozen Ever After (Epcot) - Now, I wasn't really sure what to expect from Frozen Ever After, as it's not really a Disney dark ride that's talked about too often, and I wasn't a massive fan of the Frozen film itself. I decided not to elevate my expectations too high, but I was expecting a reasonably good ride given this is Disney we're talking about. However, Frozen Ever After turned out to be an absolutely wonderful dark ride! The animatronics were fantastic, the theming was wonderful, and overall, I just thought that it was a real feel-good ride that was very well done, and a huge surprise considering I didn't particularly like Frozen!
- Hangover (Travelling) - Yet another drop tower makes my biggest surprises list, and this one was quite the surprise! When I was at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, I decided to give Hangover a try based on a recommendation from a forum member. I was looking forward to riding, but I decided not to raise my expectations too high, as it was only a travelling ride and I hadn't really heard much hype for it. However, it turned out to be excellent! Despite often hearing that taller drop towers lack force in comparison to smaller ones, I'd actually say that Hangover was one of the more punchy drop tower drops I've done, and I also liked how the operator varied the ride experience each time! Overall, I thought that Hangover was an excellent drop tower that really exceeded expectations!
- I only really have one major positive surprise in terms of parks, and that surprise was...
- Epcot - Now, I must admit that I don't tend to rate Disney parks as highly as some on the whole, and after hearing some people's reviews (including my own family's), I went into Epcot with quite low expectations. However, I absolutely loved Epcot! While Future World was a touch on the dated side, World Showcase was a simply wonderful area, with loads to look at! The park as a whole was also wonderfully landscaped, and it had such a lovely, relaxed, positive vibe to it! To me, it seemed like one of those parks where you could ride nothing and still have a lovely time! Overall, Epcot was probably one of my biggest surprises of the 2019 season; I went in with low expectations, and I came out questioning whether it was my favourite WDW park!
