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Really nice, as someone who is going to Universal on September 26 this is helpful. Probably won't go to Wizarding World right on opening, we will have a fast pass which includes that, SNW and the JW rides with the first two having timed entry. We're hoping to get the other 4 main rides done first (Space Fantasy, Hollywood Dream, Minion Mayhem and Jaws) before doing the others. We unfortunately can't go to DisneySea as we're only at the main park from 3-9 on either October 4 or 5, which is a weekend. One of my family members wanted to see the castle so we're thinking of spending the afternoon there, I'm only hoping to get Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and the kiddy credit in ToonTown done. Also going to Nagashima on October 3, hoping it isn't busy so I can get all the credits. Hotels and flights are booked so we can't change plans around, we're going September 24 - October 7 and staying September 24 in Singapore, September 25-28 in Osaka (includes day trip to Hiroshima), September 29-October 1 in Kyoto, October 2-3 in Nagoya, and October 4-6 in Tokyo, flying out on the 7th.

I’ve just spent almost three weeks exploring Japan and along the way visited several theme parks. Two of which we had already planned to visit and two others that we ended up visiting in the moment. This includes Tokyo DisneySea, Universal Studios Japan, Fuji-Q Highland and Suzuka Circuit Motopia. I first visited Japan 9 years ago and at the time only visited Universal Studios Japan; you can read that trip report here: Tokyo DisneySea This was the first park of the trip and my third ever Disney park (Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studio Park being the other two). We didn’t have enough time to visit both Disney parks on this trip, so opted for DisneySea because of how highly everyone talks about this park (and for Fantasy Springs). We arrived at the park at 8:30, with the park set to open at 9. We’d heard that the process to get in was pretty quick even when the lines are long as the staff are efficient… this was not the case. We didn’t get into the park until almost 10 (not a complaint, just something to note for anyone planning to visit). Once we were through the gate, I immediately jumped into the app and started trying to book passes to jump the queues for as many rides as possible. The first impression enter the park under the hotel is one of the most mind blowing first sights I’ve ever had walking into a theme park. It is so beautiful, so detailed and it makes me want to see it all at once. We began exploring the park in a clockwise direction towards Port Discovery. Walking to this land, it honestly didn’t feel like you were in a theme park, everything looks so well considered, amazing sight lines, detailing, atmosphere, it’s all just incredible. Our first ride was Nemo & Friends Searider. I didn’t really know what this ride was, but my wife is a massive Finding Nemo fan. The ride was essentially a 3D simulator ride and made you believe you were shrunk down to the size of a fish and go on a journey with the characters. A well executed ride, but nothing out of this world. We then ventured to Mysterious Island to ride our first free past pass ride, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. To access this ride you have to enter into the centre of the volcano, which alone is absolutely insane, but then you work your way down towards the water and under the volcano. The ride itself was really impressive and give you the impression you are actually underwater and see all of these underwater creatures, very immersive and enjoyable ride. We then had our first paid fast pass ride, Toy Story Mania. This was only our second ever shooting dark ride (Justice League being the first) and my god this was so much more enjoyable. All of the mini games were very fun, the queue and station theming were great and the shooting system (while tiring by the end of the ride) was easy to use. From here we had to make the very long journey to the back of the park as we had our first fast pass (This was the fast pass we were able to secure as soon as we entered the park) in Fantasy Springs, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival. Fantasy Springs was by far the area of the park I was most looking forward to and I had stayed spoiler free for the most part. The first impressions as you enter into the land is mind blowing, it’s just beautiful. It really does feel like a fantasy. The music starts to change, the landscape changes and you become fully immersed into what they’ve created. When your within the land you can’t see anything else but the land you are in. We headed to the right into Rapunzel’s Forest. The queue for the ride was really well executed and the loading procedures were so fast, organised and effective. The ride itself is a boat ride that doesn’t have any drops or lift hills and takes you on a very shortened version of the Tangled movie. The animatronics and execution of the scenes were unlike I’ve ever seen in person, it actually creates emotions. And that final lantern scene was beautiful and made me feel like nothing else in the world mattered in that moment. Sadly the major downside to this ride is it feels like it’s over before it’s begun, it’s way too short and should’ve been at least double the ride time, but it is still absolutely worth riding and paying for a priority pass. As it was nearing lunch time, we decided to stay in Fantasy Springs and eat at the Royal Banquet of Arendalle. The menu wasn’t massive, but its offerings were very enjoyable. To enter this sit down quick service restaurant you had to do a mobile order and show the order at the entrance when it was ready. Then once you’re inside it tells you what counter to collect your order from and that’s it! It was a very simple and fast process and didn’t require any waiting. The dining area had a massive amount of tables, so there was no issue finding somewhere to sit, and it was a really pleasant space to sit and relax amongst the craziness of a Disney theme park day. I’d highly recommend anyone visiting this park to visit this restaurant for lunch and a place to relax. After lunch our ride was Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This was the ride I was most looking forward to, but with a 4.5hr standby wait time, my only hope to ride it was with a fast pass (thankfully I managed to secure one while we were sat down for lunch). This ride is set within the volcano and takes out on a journey deep into the centre of volcano exploring what lives within. I had stayed relatively spoiler free for this ride, but knew it had a similar ride system to Radiator Springs or Test Track and there was a massive animatronic. Before we had even boarded the ride, the queue line was mind blowing. It has so much detail, effects and the use of an elevator to give the impression you are dropping deep into the volcano. The ride itself was incredible and ended up being my favourite ride in the park. It wasn’t necessarily overly thrilling, but the suspense, animatronics, darkness and use of smoke and fire made the experience unlike anything I’d ever been on. And that last massive animatronic before you are launched out of the volcano was incredible. This ride has to be a must do for anyone visiting this park because it will blow you away. When then explored the ‘Mermaid Lagoon’ and ‘Lost River Delta’ lands and like the rest of the park was really impressed with the level of theming and the rides on offer. Mermaid Lagoon is the only dedicated kids ride land in the park and offers a great variety of flat rides. I was really hoping to ride Indiana Jones, but with a 3 hour wait, the single rider line closed and being unsuccessful in getting a fast pass, sadly we had to miss out on this. We then ventured into the Arabian Coast to ride Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. This ride had the shortest wait time in the park at only 15 minutes. I had heard this ride was an enjoyable boat ride and generally always has a short queue and after riding it, I don’t know why because it is really really good. It’s a gentle boat ride filled with hundreds of animatronics, music and effects and is probably the longest boat ride in the park. It’s just a classic and fun ride. After this we headed back into Fantasy Springs because how could we not! We wanted to explore even more of the land while we tried to get priority passes for the other rides. This land really feels like its own seperate park and you could honestly just spend the entire day in here exploring every corner and detail. We were lucky to get a fast pass for Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey and it was for in 15 minutes after purchasing. And wow what a ride this was. The story telling, detail, effects and animatronics were unlike anything else. This ride was fantastic and was easily my second favourite of the day. And the length of the ride really allowed you to get fully immersed into the story, which is what Rapunzel’s ride unfortunately lacked. Unfortunately that would be the last ride of the day as the weather had dramatically changed and was now very very windy and cold. We originally wanted to stay for the nighttime shows, but these were cancelled due to the weather. Generally speaking, we did eat at many different food outlets and stalls throughout the park to try different things, but the only place we dined was within Frozen. And for merchandise, we didn’t actually buy anything because there wasn’t actually anything within any of the stores that was of interest. The merchandise we found to be very much targeted to the Japanese market (for obvious reasons), so there wasn’t even a magnet or tshirt that appealed to us. Overall, what a fantastic day and easily my new favourite theme park. However, while using the app and booking passes is a simple process, it’s does make the day pretty stressful, especially when you’re trying to make sure you get on everything you want. Any opportunity I had I would be in the app refreshing it to try and buy or secure passes for various rides because most attraction waits were between 1 and 4 hours. Throughout the day I was trying to get a Standby Pass for the Fantasy Springs rides, but had no luck, which is why we had to buy the Priority Passes to be able to ride them. From the start of April you no longer require a Standby Pass for Fantasy Springs attractions, but that means the queues are now up to 5 hours for the majority of the day. Fuji-Q Highland I’ll be upfront about our visit to this park, it wasn’t originally on our list of places to visit due to time constraints. However, we do manage to spend about 1.5 hours wondering around the park for reasons I’ll explain shortly. We hired a car for the day from Tokyo so we could go and explore the northern areas of Mount Fuji. To get her via train can take over 4 hours, but driving was only 1.5 hours. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to see and explore Mount Fuji, but doesn’t necessarily want to stay a night out there. As we arrived in the area, we actually drove directly past Fuji-Q and the views you get of the park and awesome. Getting to see these coasters in person made me realise why people make the trek to visit this park. We explored the Lake Kawaguchi region in the morning and because we had some spare time over lunch we decided to stop in the Fuji-Q before heading to the Chureito Pagoda. Part of our reason to justify visiting the park for only a couple hours was because it is actually free to enter to park. The park has a pay per ride system, or a ride all day option that basically makes it like visiting a normal theme park. As we drove, it was ¥2,000 to park and then get a free entry ticket from the ticket booth, which we had to scan to be able to enter the park. At this point it was around midday, the park had been open a couple of hours and the car park appeared to be relatively empty. This made me think that there might be a change I could get to go on at least one of the coasters (spoiler alert, this was not the case). The first area of the park you walk through is ‘La ville Gaspard et Lisa’, a French inspired street with good theming and plenty of eateries to choose from. I didn’t know much about this park, but this level of theming made me think maybe the whole park was like this…. I was very much wrong. There was some theming in Thomas land, but otherwise that’s about it. And maybe it’s not really necessary because you visit this park for the insane coasters and the incredible backdrop that is Mount Fuji. We decided to do a full loop of the park to see what it had to offer (in terms of food and to see what the wait times were like). Very quickly my hopes to possibly get on a ride or two became a dream because despite what I deceived to be very low crowds, every coaster had a wait time of a minimum of two hours. I had heard that this parks dispatched times were bad, but wow they have to be some of the worst in the world. I couldn’t even tell if they were running multiple trains because they had dispatches of over 5 minutes between the trains arriving into the stations and leaving. If you thought Villages were bad, think again. The wait times also didn’t help because they now only have 3 major coasters in operation, all of which have decent ride times. Do-Dodonpa closed several years ago now and all that remains is the loop and only a couple months ago Eejanaika also had an incident and now very much looks like it could be closed for some time. Obviously it was a little disappointing I wasn’t going to get a chance to ride anything, but it wasn’t originally in our plans to even visit the park, so I was happy to just be there and see it in person. In terms of the rest of the park, it did feel run down and I don’t know if I had set the park too high because I had always heard good things about it, but it was underwhelming to walk around. With two major coasters closed amongst 4 or 5 other flat rides closed and the operating flat rides looking like they need some love, everything was a bit meh. Don’t get me wrong, the operating coasters did look like a fantastic experience and really these are the main reason to visit this park. But for anyone who is planning on going, don’t expect much else outside these coasters, the incredible backdrop and the food was decent for theme park food. And after witnessing the dispatch times, it could honestly take you all day to just ride the 3 coasters even on a quiet day. On our way out we stopped by the Fujiyama observation deck, which for about $15 allows you access to a lookout with amazing views of Mount Fuji and the park, but is surrounded by the track of Fujiyama. After the first drop, the train ascends up to the rides second highest point because looping round this lookout; a very cool experience and you don’t have to renter the park to access it! Universal Studios Japan This park I was able to visit nine years ago during my first trip to Japan and was very excited to visit again particularly for Super Nintendo World, to get to go on the ride within the Wizarding World and to go on some of the attractions I loved last time. Before visiting, I had the main goal to get the Universal Express Pass 7 because I wanted to make sure we could actually achieve everything we wanted to because of how busy this park gets. And with Nintendo still requiring an entry time, this express pass guaranteed entry and every ride. Anyone who is wanting to visit this park, if you can afford it I highly recommend you get this pass. They sell out very quickly, but to fully enjoy your single day that I’d say it’s a must. For us entry tickets were $100 each and the Express Pass was around $250 each. This made it a more expensive day than at Disney, but far less stressful! We visited the park on a Tuesday, which isn’t the busiest day of the week for this park, most major rides had wait times between 2 and 4 hours. We had timed entry for the Wizarding World for 10am (this land doesn’t require an entry pass like Nintendo). The park opened at 8:30, but we didn’t arrive until 9:30. Unlike Disney’s security system, Universal’s was a lot more efficient and while the line was almost as long as Disney’s, it took us half the amount of time to get into the park. Once in, we headed straight for Hogwarts. My wife and I are big Harry Potter fans and while I’d been here before and we’d done the studio tour in London, we were very excited to experience this land to its fullest (something I didn’t get the chance to do last time). I love the entry into the Wizarding World at Japan; to my understanding it’s very different to the entries at both American parks, but walking through the forest and (almost) separating yourself from the rest of the park was very well executed. We headed straight for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a ride I unfortunately missed out on last time. And having never visited the American parks this would be my first ever time experiencing this ride. The wait time was around 2 hours, but with express you skipped straight to the lockers and then join the regular queue, making the wait around 15 minutes in total. Having read all about this ride, but having never watched a POV it was still very much a surprise even after the ride opening over a decade ago. What an impressive ride this is, especially with the immense amount of technology involved (particularly considering how long it’s been open for). The loading procedures were so efficient, it’s impressive how high capacity this ride actually is. It’s filled with screens and practical sets and effects that all blend very well together. The ride system was unlike anything I’ve ever been on and it did make me feel a little nauseas (which I’d heard some people feel after this ride), but it was only brief while getting off the ride. My wife wasn’t able to ride this (due to a recent surgery), but last time I visited they offered a Hogwarts Castle walk-through experience, where you walked alongside the rides main queue, but you bypass the rides station so you don’t have to ride it. This was great because it allowed you to experience the immersive detail of the queue and it never has a wait. Sadly, we asked about it this time before the staff said they don’t offer that anymore. I’m not sure how long they haven’t offered it, but it’s a real shame they’ve done so. Next up was Flight of the Hippogriff, which had one of the longest lines in the park the whole day. If you don’t have express pass or don’t get to this ride first, it absolutely isn’t worth it. It’s fine for what it is and they have two trains operating, but it just isn’t a high capacity ride. We spent the next hour or so experiencing the entire land, checking out all of the stores and detailing; it’s so enjoyable to just walk around this area of the park. Earlier I mentioned this land almost separates you from the rest of the park; the reason it almost does this is because with Donkey Kong Country open, that land backs directly onto the Wizarding World, so you can see parts of that land behind the Hogwarts Castle. Heading out of the land we made our way anti-close wise around the park, so next us was Jaws. I remember absolutely lovely this ride last time and I enjoyed it just as much this time. It’s such a classic ride and I wish there were more rides like this around the world because even though I couldn’t speak the language, the story was clear and it’s such a gem. I truly hope USJ keeps this ride for as long as possible, since it’s the last. We then ate at the Boardwalk snacks for lunch before heading to Water World. This was the fourth time seeing this show (USJ once before and twice at USS) and it’s still just as good as the first time. I’d happily watch this show any time I visit a Universal park that has it because it’s so well out together (like how Police Academy was). We made our way through Jurassic Park (we come back here later) to head towards Minions Land. Last time I visited this park it was the Back to the Future ride, so I was interested to see the change and how they modified the ride to suit Minions Mayhem. The land itself was really well executed, with lots to look at, a couple of stores and a variety of food options (I highly recommend the Minion steamed bun). We had an Express Pass for Minions Mayhem and it was the first time ever expressing this ride and other than a simulator style ride, I didn’t really know what to expect. In summary, it’s fine; a one and done; you can skip it if you aren’t sure whether or not to ride it. I don’t know if the setup for the ride differs to other versions of the ride (would be interested to hear from anyone who’s ridden different versions), but the setup and ride system was exactly the same as what Back to the Future was. So much so, it seemed like they were still using the original dome/screen because you could seen all of the panel joins and it was pretty distracting. The ride experience I did find a little nauseating too, almost more than Harry Potter. We then continued our loop around the park through New York and Hollywood. I had hoped to ride Space Fantasy, but this wasn’t included in our Express Pass, the wait was 2 hours and no single rider option. With the closures of Spider-Man and Backdraft, this area of the park did feel pretty lacking, which is a real shame because both of those were great attractions (Spider-Man remained my favourite ever ride before this trip). We explored the many stores in these areas and found the merchandise offerings a lot better than Disney. It could be because it was more of what we were interested in, but it felt like there was a lot wider range of products to choose from. It was later in the afternoon at this point and there still a few things we wanted to do before our nighttime entry into Super Nintendo World. We made our way back to Jurassic Park to ride what still remains as my favourite coaster, Flying Dinosaur. I first rode this when it had only opened a few weeks prior to my first visit and was interested to see if it still had that well known B&M smoothness and if it still scared the hell out of me. The answer to both those questions is yes. There are only two rides that I’ve ever been on that genuinely scare me, The Giant Drop and this! The intensity, forces, speed and just the whole damn layout are insanity. But my god it’s so much tun. I was lucky enough to get front row on this ride so I could see everything we were about to face. Surprisingly this time I didn’t grey/black out (last time I didn’t many times), so I could truly appreciate every aspect of the ride. I would honestly visit this park just to ride Flying Dinosaur! And the efficiency of the load and unloading has got to be the best in the world. They have two stations and three trains always in operations. There is no stacking (unless there’s an issue), so this means there is always a train load, a train out on the track and a train unloading. Hats off to the team that operate this because it’s incredible to watch and experience. We then made our way back into the Wizarding world to have dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. The line was this restaurant was almost an hour long at lunch time, but for dinner it was only 5 minutes. They offer English pub style food and it’s an enjoyable meal for the pride you pay. At this point it was now dark, so we spent a bit of time walking around the land to enjoy its lighting and ambiance before making our way to the land we’d been most looking forward to, Super Nintendo World. We’re of the age where we grew up playing these games, so to be able to experience it in real light was very exciting. We’d obviously seen photos/videos of the land online, but the feeling of walking through the pipe into princess peaches castle and into the land was unlike anything else. There was so much to look at, it was very overwhelming but I just wanted to stand there and take it all in. I can see why this land could over stimulating for some people, but for us it was just pure joy and excitement. We made our way through to the land to ride Mario Kart. The scale of entrance into the ride was so impressive, but it just got even better as we made our way through the queue. The detailing and scale of everything was mind-blowing and we probably could’ve spent a long time just looking at it all. You collect your Mario hat that the AI googles connects too at the end of the main queue area before heading into two different rooms; once shows you how to wear the hat and the next explains how to play the game during your ride experience. I’d heard the game aspect usually took people a few rides to get the hang of, so I was sure to play close attention because I was only getting the one opportunity to ride. Now I had watched tried to POV or two of the ride when it first opened, but they honestly don’t do the ride experience justice. If you wanted, you don’t have to wear the googles and you could just sit back and enjoy the sets because they are really well executed, but the game aspect was so much fun. To be able to play MarioKart in real life made me feel like a little kid again, it was so much better than I had anticipated. The ride takes you through a blend of all of the iconic MarioKart tracks and it’s all executed so well. During the ride’s explanation they suggest that you should aim to collect over 100 coins and that I managed to do, so I felt like I picked up how to play the game/ride pretty quickly. We then made our way to Yoshi’s adventure, which is just a slow moving tracked ride that allows you to see the Nintendo land from a new perspective, with a show scene halfway through the ride. We enjoyed it for what it was, but definitely isn’t a must if the wait time is too long. Because we were entering the land at 7pm and the park was closing at 9pm, we didn’t see value in spending $50 on the power up bands to experience all of the mini-games. But honestly, you could probably spend your entire day in this land just playing all of the mini-games and you’d have a great day (if that’s your sort of thing). It was now time for Donkey Kong Country and the ride I was most looking forward to riding at this park, Mine Cart Madness. The Donkey Kong land itself isn’t massive and is mostly taken up by the ride itself. But like the Super Mario area, the detailing and Easter eggs were everywhere. Again, so much to look at and do, with lots of mini games, food options, a store and a Donkey Kong meet and greet (sadly it was too late in the day for an appearance). It was 8pm at this point and Mine Cart Madness was still listed at a four hour wait and the queue went all the way back to the entrance of this land (the ride entry is all the way at the back of the land). Even with Express Pass the wait was still about 30 minutes, as the ride vehicles only seat 4 people, but that is a crucial part to the ride experience. The station does have a moving platform and the vehicles were only spaced out around 15-20 seconds on the course, so the throughput is very high. The ride itself was so much fun! I’ve read mixed reviews online with people saying the ride it way to short and is rough, and while yes I wish the ride time was longer, it already takes up the majority of the land and due to the vehicle being attacked to an arm that extends down to the track, they don’t want to ruin the illusion when you’re off the ride. The ride itself isn’t necessarily rough, because it does run smoothly, but it does throw you side to side at a few moments on the ride, but I perceived this as being on purpose. You are riding a Mine Cart, that is jumping track and is turning on two wheels, which in reality wouldn’t be a smooth experience; so it all just adds to the narrative of the ride. There are water and smoke effects, animatronics and show scenes throughout the ride and all of it coming together made it a really fun overall experience. It’s not worth the four hour wait, but I’d wait an hour for sure. It was almost time for park close, so we began to make our way to the park exit after an incredible day and a greater appreciation for how awesome this park is. However, with now only a 10 minute wait (actually just a walk on), I had to get a night ride on Jurassic Park. This ride had been closed for 18 months as part of a massive refurbishment and had only reopened earlier this year, so I was excited to ride it in what should be in perfect condition. Because it was a cold and windy night in Osaka, I opted for the back row as the ride-ops said this is where I would get less wet (they were correct). It was so great to ride one of my favourites again, particularly at night and in such great condition; a perfect way to end the night. Suzuka Circuit Motopia The reason we got to visit this park is because we attended the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix. As part of your entry into the event, you also get unlimited access to the entire theme/amusement park, which is integrated into the race circuit. This park is a little tricky to get too, so it’s definitely not a must visit on your Japan trip, but it has a good selection of rides. It is a free park to enter and you just pay per ride, or can purchase an unlimited ride ticket. On our first day at the F1 we entered into the event through the Main Gate, which is also the main gate for the park itself. The park it split into multiple lands, which include a water park, kids area, a driving school type zone, but the main area we walked through was called GP field, which is right alongside the race track and features the parks main coaster, GP Racers and a giant Ferris wheel. GP racers is a Hoei Sangyo (Japanese manufacturer) coaster that has duelling frack with ride vehicles only seating two people per vehicle. The track is less than 500m long, so it’s a relatively short ride experience, but like Motocoaster at Dreamworld, offers a motorbike style ride experience (with a lift hill). This ride experience is so much more comfortable than Motocoaster, because you sit sit like you are riding Jet Rescue, but the ride vehicles are like a bike so it offers the same sensation as Motocoaster should do without all the pain! Still a fun little coaster and glad I had the opportunity to ride it. Conclusion Overall a fantastic trip to Japan and after 9 years, still enjoyed it just as much if not more. The theme park highlights obviously being DisneySea and Universal Studios, with Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Fantasy Springs, Flying Dinosaur and Super Nintendo World being the major highlights from both parks. Obviously the massive crowds play a major part in the experience and can dampen it if you don’t have express passes. While we found the overall quality of ride and the theme park itself to be better at DisneySea, we ended up having a better overall day at Universal because it was less stressful and we didn’t have to worry about being on the app to secure ride passes, otherwise we’d be standing in line for hours and wouldn’t really achieve much.

There was a fair amount of lights not working, DW might be changing, to a light, that is more reliable or cheaper to replace when it stops working.

The new lighting is just another feather in the cap for me when it comes to the in tune decision making DW leadership are making for the park. Not something they needed to do, but they have. It might be a small thing, something that's likely to go unnoticed, but you take a dozen small things and its start to become ongoing meaningful improvement.

I'm not sure if it's due to the current light works, or winds but I did note the fountains were not running on Sunday.

Looks like the lighting is actually begin replaced entirely and will be much more suitable for the ride and the park as a whole. I think it should’ve been like this from the beginning, but great to see they’ve made the change.

And for the first few years of operations Rivals never really had an issue with just two trains. In peak periods they operate both and in off-peak they operate with one. The dispatches were efficient which meant the queue would move quickly and there wouldn’t be stacking (or at least it would be minimal). Throwing more money at the ride to get a third train ain’t going to make things any better. Dispatches won’t be any quicker than either two trains. And yes having a third train will mean they always have at least two trains available, but what the park needs to do is have better management with their maintenance to ensure they always have the spare parts required and to never have the second train unavailable during those peak periods. Village threw more money at Wizard of Oz to try make it better ($100 million if anyone needs reminding) and look how that’s turned out. Throwing money at things ain’t always the answer… take Dreamworld over the past 4 years for example.

I can see everyone else is trying to explain it but feel like it could be made clearer. During two train operation one train faces each way. On departing the station, each train enters the turntable. each train departs the track on the loop-back that returns it to the turntable. The turntable then drops the train onto the final leg back to the station. Each train returns to the station facing exactly the same direction it left. Train 1: Forward>Backward>Forward Train 2: B>F>B During one train operation only one train is on the track. In order to offer the alternating experience, the train must return to the station facing the opposite way to how it departed. In this course, it leaves the station, enters the turntable, departs onto the loop-back circuit into the turntable again, however in this situation the turntable drops the train back onto the loop-back circuit for a second time, before dropping onto the final leg. As it completed an extra loop back, the train returns to the station the opposite way. In one train operation, due to the extra leg completed, the ride time is longer and you get to see the loop-back section from both directions. Train first dispatch: F>B>F>B Train second dispatch: B>F>B>F I feel like if you experienced one train operation first, I can understand why the two train operation experience feels 'less' because the ride time is shorter. For everyone who rode under two-train ops, getting to ride the one-train circuit feels like a 'bonus'.

Let's just be clear here - modifying rivals is never going to happen. The ride is approaching 8 years old. It is still quite popular. The main reasons rides get retrofitted or upgraded are either a defect on opening, or a refresh to drive ridership to an older ride that is losing popularity. There is no reason to throw any money at it at this point as there is unlikely to be any ROI. It would be nice to see the parks invest in capacity and efficiency in their next attraction - however given WOZ, I don't know that they're interested in that. We may have to wait for a change of management \ ownership before the focus shifts.

Is that last straight part before the station flat, make it an unload station it will help speed up the load, then because we are now spending money money money… like new ride level of money then let’s add another block on the transfer turn to hold the trains for if they have been unloaded before they are ready for dispatch… no trains waiting except for empty ones

Having done both, single train ops is awesome, longer ride experience. But either is great, just a fun ride altogether.

2 train ops shortens the ride duration in comparison to when they're running one.

Exactly that. each train is running a certain direction. In doing this, the cycle is cut shorter compared to when it's running on the single train.

I’ve yet to ever visit when it’s on single-train operation and never been disappointed. What differed between the 2? Whether on single or dual train, the experience shouldn’t differ that greatly really. One circuit backwards , one circuit forwards ?

Very much this considering they havent maintained the digital wait time sign at rivals.

Thoughts on MW installing dispatch screens similar to Toutatis or Rapterra to 'help' with dispatches? A part of me thinks it would help if they have realistic fast dispatches as the benchmark however, knowing VRTP they'd pour lots of money into it, fail to maintain the screens and before you know it they're all off and not working.

At least you’re sitting down!

I went on Jungle Rush again today, The only time I had previously been on it was around pre-Christmas, and was running on a single train. I assume how it operates on two trains is the standard operating mode, but it's a much shorter experience and feels much less complete, and I left pretty disappointed. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Some do it without compromising safety because it's possible to do. Your clear inefficiency? it's not really an efficiency because it isn't improving throughput. You need to identify efficiencies in your busiest days, not your quietest ones. This particular suggestion sounds like you're having a sook about having to re-line up. The trouble here is that it breaks 'normal'. When you start doing things outside of normal, you can forget things because they aren't in muscle memory. Did I properly check his restraint before his next re-ride? Can't remember. Whoops. Additionally for your suggestion on loading flow - it also breaks normal. Why? You said yourself "in many cases it's not a safety issue" but in some cases it is. So ops who run different rides have the added complexity of trying to remember which ride they're running to determine when to open the gates? I think it's a shit system, but because a ride \ some rides require the gates to be held, it is better to hold all the gates because then there is only ONE rule to follow. One of the biggest criticisms of the TRRR accident was the number of administrative controls put into place by the park to manage risks, as the operators weren't capable of maintaining so much oversight of the ride system and better controls (elimination as one example) weren't considered first. Adding complexity to a ride ops job description by giving them different procedures for different rides is a sure-fire way for someone to forget which ride they're on and do the wrong thing. The metal detectors don't change. the x rays don't change. the rides do. and this is why your comparison is shit.

Bit of a strange find over the weekend... It appears that one of those 'Human Powered Pedal Roller Coasters' has popped up in the Rydges Resort in the Hunter Valley, around a 2 and a half hour drive from Sydney. These are Chinese-built and have been popping up all over Tik Tok and Instagram over the last year or two. From what I can find online, it was built in 2023 alongside a number of other rides at the resort. It doesn't look like it has operated in some time however, as there was quite a lot of rust on the track. Still a peculiar little find nonetheless.

I'd hope anything in Woz land would still be covered by warranty, but we don't know how long they've been sitting in storage before installing.

Instead of having one train waiting for the train in the station to be loaded, you now have 2 trains waiting. Sounds like a great idea @Dean Barnett

The point isn’t that airport security and theme park operations are identical—it’s that they both involve moving large volumes of people safely through bottlenecks, and some do it far more efficiently than others without compromising safety. Everyone still goes through metal detectors, bags are still X-rayed, and staff still intervene if something flags. The key is smart systems and layouts that maximise throughput while maintaining safeguards. Now compare that to VRP where processes feel designed for friction. One clear inefficiency? Not allowing re-rides on dead days. If there's no line, no operational constraint, and guests are willing to go again, it’s absurdly inefficient to offload and reload the same train unnecessarily. That doesn’t improve safety—it just wastes time. Same goes for loading flow. Why wait until the unload platform is totally clear before even starting boarding? In many cases, that’s not a safety issue, it’s a procedural flaw. I fully agree with you if it’s implemented smartly. For a ride like Superman, universal-style metal detectors after the main queue with free double-sided lockers would be a game-changer. Keeps pockets empty, avoids last-minute dispatch delays, and doesn't punish guests with extra fees just to follow the rules. That’s the kind of ops thinking that actually improves both safety and efficiency.