DaptoFunlandGuy

Not every day - only when they don't expect a big crowd. Holidays etc they'll run everything full cap. Dreamworld is always busy - yet they still manage to get away with having rides closed for half a day alternating runs.

LOLZ if the night events aren't an "upgrade to your pass" but merely just a cheaper price. We've all been screaming for the park not to give this stuff away - we can't very well get grumpy at them now that they've decided to make it tiered staggered premium pricing for the same stuff. I think they finally realised that people will buy a VIP pass without being given $70+ of extra stuff... oh - except the free ticket for a friend... whoops.

Rappa hit the nail on the head with what I was getting at. The better example of an unnecessary OTSR would be abyss... of course it does have inversions... and of course the exception to the rule in Buzzsaw... but what i meant was the unnecessary 'extra' systems employed on Aus rides that other countries show are unnecessary. Cue the response about the lower incident rate in Australia... but my point is we're very much nanny state when it comes to rides.

I do remember a train trip through the plantation... didn't think it was a monorail though... are we talking monorail as in Sydney Sea World Disneyland type monorail or just a ground based tracked tour through the bananas?

Fair point Richard, and as i've said a couple of times, i'd expect guest services to know these things. You rightly point out that an annual pass processing centre should know these answers too. My only issue with that part was that it came across as rude. As Joz said though - benefit of the doubt, and i'll take that one on board. The bulk of my discussion, however related to this: Do you expect a toilet cleaner, burger cook, security guard, flashy crap seller etc. to be able to tell guests whether the park will release a premium annual pass offering at some time in the future - especially before the spinning of the Marketing Departments Mystery Wheel?

They had a monorail???

^in a Park (and country) where rides like Verbolten have only lap restraints and no OTSRs though... I didn't mean whether they COULD do it, moreso whether our risk-averse safety regime would permit it.

It'd be a lot of work, and probably not worth it - but i'd like to see a hydraulic element installed on the bridge to have it 'partially' collapse as you approached... a la the old Universal collapsing bridge in LA. Don't know whether they could achieve that as it is 'overhead' the ride path and may have issues unless it could be made completely 'failsafe'. All we can hope for in such well themed rides in AUS is that they maintain the current theming and not let it deteriorate like Bermuda and LTRR.

As I said - i'd expect all staff to be able to tell me where to go to find "x". They should know the park they work in backwards and forwards. I wouldn't expect every cast member to know the admission cost of every adult, pensioner, child, group combo ticket, add on Outback Spectacular upgrade and future park ticketing offering. If every cast member was expected to know all this, then we could do away with guest relations and just let each and every cast member handle that role. They SHOULD know the CURRENT offering (which would include the current VIP renewal offer) but as at that time the Gold upgrade option hadn't been announced - why should any of them be REQUIRED to know. They might have received a cast newsletter suggesting it was coming, but as you said - if noone in marketing has spun the big wheel - how can all park staff be expected to know these things? I think you've misunderstood me, and for the first part of my response - see above what i've said to Joz. I expect all cast could tell you where to find "x" in the park, but when it comes to ticketing enquiries (and more importantly - ticketing not yet advertised) all i would expect any cast member to do would be to direct me to guest services, and whilst i'd expect guest services to be able to tell me, i would be totally understanding if a GROUP ticket option not yet advertised was as yet unknown to them - in which case directing people to the call centre is the next logical step which is precisely what was done. As for Big W - would you pick an item off a shelf, hand it to the nearest staff member, and tell them to put it on layby for you? Would you ask the guy working in sporting goods for a refund? Would you take the latest PS4 game to the girl in the fitting rooms and ask her to unlock the case? No. Because in that store there are certain people who do those things, and so long as those staff directed guided held your hand and walked you to the appropriate layby customer service desk entertainment counter, they'd have done their job. I'm not aware of the background of the 'pass renewals' staff, but i'm fairly certain they aren't your typical cast member. I would expect they're either casual staff hired on for the job, or admin staff temporarily assigned to processing passes. they'd be shown how to process the pass purchase, take the photo, enter the member info and print the pass out. I'd hope they'd be 'fully inducted' into the park, but if they're in desperate need of those staff quickly, they'll shortcut to get things sorted. So long as those guys know how to direct you to guest services (which they apparently do) i'd be (frustrated, but) happy with that.

I really hope you mean "Team Bonding" The ski slope, and the ice rink are in fact two different operations - set about 200 metres apart. The slope is built down the hillside whereas the ice rink has a nice flat spot with a large open carpark...

For someone who is constantly banging on about other people's rudeness, it sounds like you were quite rude to the guest services folk. I also find your expectation that ANY staff member in the park should be able to answer questions about ticketing offerings purely ABSURD. Ride operations cast members have a lot of things to remember to ensure your SAFETY... and you want them to be able to tell any guest that might ask what ticketing options are planned for two months away? You want cleaners (who are typically the bottom of the ladder in a park and paid the lowest too - note i'm not saying this is the case in MW, only generalising) to be able to do the job of guest relations? NEWSFLASH - Guest Relations staff are the only people who should know the answers to those questions... However there's something you've missed here - you were asking about a multi-park ticket... and this is where multi-park staff (such as the call centre, or the website) come in... because the staff at each park cannot possibly be expected to know everything about every park within the company. I would never expect a park photographer to be able to tell me (reliably) whether the park would offer a premium ticket commencing in 2 months time. I'd expect them to know the showtimes for the street and stage performances on the day... I'd expect them to have an idea of which characters were appearing when... and i'd expect them to be able to tell me where (and when) I could collect my photos, and roughly how much a single print would be. I'd expect most park staff to be able to point me to the nearest toilet, locker, and major attractions... I wouldn't expect anyone except guest relations to be able to talk to me about ticketing, and for group wide ticketing, i'd expect the local park guest relations to know, but totally understand if a yet-to-be-released product was as-yet unknown to park staff, and totally understand if they would suggest calling the call centre to find out further info. I'd also totally understand if the call centre wasn't able to answer these questions yet - the company may not WANT people to know that it was coming yet - perhaps because they're planning on NOT offering free VIP gold upgrades this time around, and hoping to get most of the 'budget-passholders' onto a regular VIP before upcharging for VIP Gold like they used to. All I can picture is a petulant enthusiast stomping his foot in the middle of guest relations about how THEY should be able to tell him what the company is planning to do about tickets BEFORE the company has decided to release that info to the public. What makes you so special?

It's a sorely needed revamp for that whole area... but i can't help but wonder what the park can actually offer right now to earn their single-day ticket price...

Day 2 - Disneyland (wednesday) Part 4 - Grizzly Gulch The three new lands in HKDL take little time to get through, so this part of the TR is likely to be quick (although verbose as I am it'll probably be just as long!). Grizzly Gulch is a merging of several concepts from Disney parks - Frontier Land and Critter Country, but the main theme being a little "big thunder mountain". Its main only attraction is the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. The area is well themed as a western town, the concept being a mining community founded when they struck gold. It is pleasantly themed with rockery, and as you walk through the land (with the coaster weaving all around you) you really do feel 'westernised' (I'd like MW to take a look at this about how to do a western area properly - even if you only have one ride!). Even little touches - like horse-shoe prints embedded in the concrete, alongside wagon tracks. This land yet again struggled and showed the park expected low attendance, as demonstrated by a single food outlet being opened, again mainly offering Chinese fare and some snack food like corn on the cob. Several food carts were placed out and about, but obviously closed. The attraction listing for Grizzly Gulch also listed the Grizzly Gulch Welcome Wagon Show - sadly this wasn't on the showtimes today and was obviously a sign of low park attendance. Also listed on the 'attraction' list was 'Geyser Gulch' - yet another water play area for people to cool down in the Hong Kong heat. At a pleasant 27 degrees - this wasn't of much interest to most people - except the kids bashing away on the 'bellows' which had a water cannon attached aimed at another set of bellows across a pathway - surely a good place to have a water fight - if only the guns would actually reach. We passed several other outlets and carts, all shuttered and clearly HKDL wasn't interested in getting our money - at least in this land anyway. We headed into the Mine Cars, where an elaborately themed queue line took you on a journey past incredibly well done mining theming (if WWF is to get an upgrade - they should check this out). Quite genuine, with photos of "miners" here and there - taken in front of actual parts of the coaster course. My only complaint is that too many switchbacks were unavoidable. The ride clearly was a walk-on, and yet the queueline was easily a few hundred metres when it didn't need to be. The actual result of such a queueline was that the ride would hold waiting for people in the last 100 metres of the queueline to walk their way to the front. I like that Disney do their queues well, and one should always have the option to walk through it if one should wish, but there should be a shortcut line for riders who just want to keep riding to be able to queue back up without walking a half marathon. The storyline for the coaster (and herein lies the critter country connection) was that bears were wreaking havoc around the mine. You depart the station quite quickly into a downhill corner and ride up and down a few little hills before the first lift, where near the top you discover the first of the bears causing problems - this one scratching his butt up against a lever that switches the track from the 'green' track to the 'red' track marked with danger signs. Of course... we're going down the 'danger' track. What followed was a leisurely run through some more hills and valleys without much thrill except the occasional headchopper. Eventually you find yourself on a track up a hill where a chugging steam engine drives the wheels that run the lift hill until at the very last moment the cable visibly snaps, flying into the air and sending you backwards through more well themed canyons and valleys, past 'geyser gulch', unfortunately extremely sedately, slowly and smoothly. You slow down further as you back into a cave, where overhead more bears are playing with explosives. Naturally (after the necessary time for the switch track to lock in), the bears blow the dynamite, and a burst of compressed air, bright lights and smoke sends you launching out of the cave again, this time for a much more enjoyable, fast run through even more canyons, with more impressive headchoppers until very quickly (too soon) you arrive at the brake run back into the station - where you again see the bears who have crashed their own mine cart through a wall looking very happy with themselves, before rounding a corner back into the brake run. From a speedpace perspective - I'd say the launched section was similar in speed to Jet Rescue. The other sections were slower than that. The ride overall was enjoyable, but i feel it lacked some of the excitement that it's Big Thunder counterparts have. I cannot praise the theme of the ride enough, it was very well done - the coaster itself, whilst enjoyable, just seemed to be a bit of a let down compared to my expectations. I feel like the 'local touch' has played a part here, downplaying the ride experience for the sake of the local market and tastes.It could have been so much more than what it was, but considering the market it was targeted to, i'd say they've done a stellar job at making up for the lack of thrill with an incredibly well done theme - the whole area was akin to Radiator Springs Racers in terms of it's desolate theme and well suited queueline.... However RSR had more thrill to it. Next up - Mystic Manor

^Precisely - you refer to a court case almost 20 years ago. LPS in it's current form was born again around 2004 when Wonderland closed - a lot of WL park staff jumped ship over to them when they took up operations again. As Jobe says there has been far more action on the legal front since 1996, with most of it settled in the favour of the park. As I intimated in my last post - i'm sure LPS wants to do as much as they can to 'keep the peace' with whinging neighbours, whilst still developing the park... which they have every legal right to do provided they meet the necessary planning and development obligations (something they goofed with Hair Raiser)

I don't think he was serious, but then again - this is what VRTP have conditioned us to - giving away the gate - I wouldn't be surprised if they had a BOGOF promotion on them... it just doesn't make sense.

I think the courts have settled that issue though. I'm fairly confident if Leighton were to propose building a new coaster, provided the necessary consultations and considerations were made, they'd get the go ahead. I don't honestly think a few whinging residents would be able to stop it if thats what leighton wanted to do. They do need to built a decent coaster as a drawcard... but keeping peace with the neighbours is important...

Discovery Passport was released a year or two ago. I do consider it to be the 'new' gold VIP pass since they trashed the original gold... but that said i've not been a VRTP passholder for over a year now - they lost my business with several less than fabulous decisions and no new offerings to tempt me in, as well as devaluing what they did offer that i was interested in. After a year with no passes, i think i'll be buying DW passes - but mainly due to a particular event coming up in the next 6 months.

Day 2 - Disneyland (wednesday) Part 3 - Adventureland We decided to skip fantasyland for the moment and trek across to Adventureland. Compared to LA, Adventureland is a bit of a disappointment - It has all the hallmarks of a 'classic' adventureland layout, but lacks substance. Adventureland's only major attraction is the Jungle Cruise, however it takes the place of the 'Rivers of America' one would be familiar with in that region of Disneyland. The Jungle Cruise circles an island before delving into the animatronic zoo that is the cruise. Hong Kong offers the Jungle Cruise in 3 separate languages - English and (i presume) Cantonese and Mandarin. The three queues work well and the groupers do a fine job of keeping each line moving at roughly the same pace. As I've read on other blogs (and from my past experience at the park) the bi-lingual skippers sometimes leave a little bit lost in translation. Thankfully today's cruise had a skipper who appeared to have reasonably mastered English and the delivery was reasonable, and the humor was at least understandable. The finale of the cruise is definitely a step up from Disneyland's, and a nice addition - but i'll not spoil it for anyone who hasn't yet seen it. Adventureland is also home to 'tarzan's treehouse'. Unlike other treehouses with a 'swiss family conversion', HK's version was built as Tarzan right from the start. It has several nice little touches - a crib rocking up in the treetops, some nice animatronics of some major animal characters from the film. Throughout the tree tour there are little 'books' that tell part of the story of the film as you progress through the tour.The tree is quite realistic, and also affords a nice view over the Adventureland end of the park. The treehouse is built on what would be Tom Sawyer Island in California - this is the island that the jungle cruise circles, and unlike California, the treehouse is the only activity on the island. It requires a raft to cross the river, and to be quite honest it seems like a waste for them to have inserted the tree on the island - inaccessible except by raft. The tree does provide a great focal point to the land, but I can't help but think that a better use of the space might have been a Fantasmic-esque stage. Another Adventureland "attraction" is the Leaky Tikis. This is a small water play fountain type attraction that in most other parks wouldn't even rate a mention on the 'attraction guide' but this park somehow makes it an attraction on level with Jungle Cruise... showing the severe lacking of attractions in this area. Of course - HKDL have stayed true to form on 'local design elements' by installing another show in Adventureland - and what would be more fitting, than "Festival of the Lion King". It's been said on many Disney park blogs that HKDL's FotLK is a standout to the others as it remains true to the original film. Although I haven't seen any others, I have to say I was quite impressed with how the show was put on. The show features 4 large animatronic floats - featuring a Giraffe, an Elephant, a float for Timon and Pumbaa, and a Pride Rock float with a very impressive Simba animatronic atop. Actors then re-enact the entire Lion King film in costume from start to finish - an impressive and well rounded performance featuring many of the songs from the film... A multi-levelled stage morphs and changes from scene to scene and is well utilised for best effect during the show. Once again Adventureland hosted several different food outlets - however again - most were closed, and the only fare offered within was a sit-down Chinese affair. Adventureland is sorely missing something - another anchor attraction to tie it all up. What it has is quality - but it needs more. Next up - the three new lands - Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor and Toy Story Land.

Day 2 - Disneyland (wednesday) Part 2 - Tomorrowland After securing our dinner tickets, we headed for Tomorrowland. Being that Space Mountain has been my favourite since my first Disney Park in 1996, it's also been one of Casey's favourites since she first went to LA two years ago... naturally that had to be our first stop. SM has a fastpass option, however - it isn't needed. You start at the outdoor queue, where one or two staff carefully point out to you that you are about to enter a roller-coaster attraction. This is the local non-thrillseeking influence... Riders walk through a turnstile where they are held in an indoor pre-show area whilst a multi-lingual video runs on a continual loop. Groups are admitted into the loading area roughly the time of the preshow video - which is about 2 minutes. The video carefully mentions again that the ride is a high speed indoor rollercoaster in the dark. The ride also has a single rider queue - but the requirement for you to watch the 2 minute video (and then wait for the main queue to also finish the video) means single rider actually takes a little longer on a ride that has such excellent capacity. There's not much to be said about the ride itself - a classic Disney SM experience - of course all are slightly different - and the audio guy in me cringes hearing the poorly extended looped soundtrack to fit the track, but every other part of it as good as always. Casey even decided HK's version was her new favourite... I have to agree with her when compared with the 'current' version in LA - however the original SM in LA prior to the retracking and refurb is still my favourite. We took the opportunity with the minimal 2 minute queue time to re-ride several (5) times before moving on to our next stop... Autopia. Unlike LA - the HK version runs entirely electrically, and has only one pedal with an auto-stop when you take your foot off of it. The dashboard has a neat little speedometer effect that ramps up when you accelerate - suggesting one may be doing 130-150km/h (while in fact only walking). Engine sound effects, revving, screeching tyres and other effects triggered by your enthusiasm on the accelerator complete the picture to simulate the action. The landscaping was nicely done (as always) and I would have to say I think this was the biggest queue longest wait in the park on this day. The benefits to the wait time however was the chance to get a glimpse over the construction hoarding (yes - here too) for Tomorrowland's newest attraction being sandwiched in between Autopia and Buzz Lightyear - the "Iron Man Experience". Not much to see except concrete slabs and some walls starting to take shape, but it will be interesting to see what they've come up with when it opens. Buzz's Astro Blasters were next - and here was a perfect demonstration of how a shooter should be done. Efficient omni-mover loading system, two riders to a car - it was fun, with the added bonus of being able to spin the gondola 360 degrees and shoot from all angles. Not sure why Casey seemed to be managing to outscore me by several hundred thousand points - at one point maxxing the ride system out at 9999999. Having been on both HK and LA's version of BLAB, I think HK does it better. We chose to move onto other rides here, instead of Stitch Encounter as the attraction runs 3 languages and our timing was off... Fortunately we got the last English show of the day later in the afternoon (as the next day in the park it didn't run english at all!). Stitch encounter is similar to 'Donkey Live!' in USS or Turtle Talk with Crush in DCA. Having seen both of those, I had high expectations for Stitch (however I haven't seen the movie - so had no background on the character)... so of course I was one of the people singled out by Stitch to have a chat. I tried as hard as I could to make the interaction difficult for him - and he shone through with flying colours. I'm still very keen to understand how they achieve the combined effects seamlessly all at once. Unfortunately we lost a lot of time in the show when Stitch singled out a group to talk to who didn't want to talk... because they didn't speak english. Turns out that out of all the languages Stitch offered, English was their best language - and it was still very painful. Wrapping up Tomorrowland was Astro Orbiter - a space themed Dumbo attraction which we decided to give a miss as the queue was pretty long. I don't think i'll ever begin to comprehend or understand the locals and their lack of thrill-seeking nature, but the good part about it was all the good stuff had minimal waiting times. The central area of Tomorrowland offered extensive seating, which seemed a bit of a waste considering the seating areas offered nearby at both food outlets. The park's design shows it was always set up to cater for massive numbers which just never seem to eventuate. Tomorrowland also featured a few snack stands, a western 'fast food' outlet, an asian 'sit down' restaurant, and a popcorn cart... with only the last two of those actually open. Seemed like we were destined to be stuck only with Chinese food options in the park, and although it was by now pushing lunch time we decided to head over to the other side of the park to Adventureland and seek out something else. Later today - Part 3 - Adventureland

The FoF survey did ask for views on whether it should be an outdoor or indoor attraction... seems outdoor was more popular...

Whew! After a whirlwind trip through Hong Kong this past week, the wife and I are exhausted! I'll focus on the major attractions we visited, but i'm going to post this in pieces. Photos to come a little later on. Hong Kong is our closest Disney park - at around 8 hours flight out of Brisbane. I first visited HKDL in 2009, and found it a little underwhelming. Being that Space Mountain is one of my favourites - I was ok with the rest of the park's mediocre offering, but it was clear the park needed more. From what I understand, the original design for HKDL was targeted at the locals - who like less thrill, and more entertainment - So the park was built heavily around shows, character appearances and photo opportunities. The park had only one major thrill ride - SpaceMountain, along with Disney staples like Tea Cups, Small World, Jungle Cruise, Autopia, Astro Blasters, Dumbo and Tarzan's Treehouse. My first visit I caught Mickey's Philharmagic, but skipped Festival of the Lion King, Stitch Encounter and the Golden Mickeys. This time round, I was able to catch everything in the park, including the park's three new 'lands' - Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor and Toy Story Land. Day 1 - Flight Day (tuesday) Thanks to heavily discounted flights, our only choice was a daytime departure, which saw us arrive into Hong Kong at around 6pm. After clearing a very efficient customs hall, we walked across the concourse directly into the Hong Kong MTR Airport Express station. After picking up an Octopus each, Casey and I boarded for the 25 minute trip to Kowloon Express station. At HK$90 (about $16) it's not the cheapest way to get from Lantau Island to the Mainland (or HK Island) but it is the best value - with other options taking more than an hour. After disembarking at Kowloon Express station - we again crossed a short concourse to waiting shuttle buses (free of charge as part of the Airport Express) where various routes took you to most major tourist hotels. We stayed at the Eaton Hotel - a fairly popular recommendation by our Frequent Flyer program as well as trip advisor and several local guidebooks. It wasn't lavish, but it was good value, comfortable (if somewhat small) and offered all major amenities. New travellers to Hong Kong should bear in mind locals prefer hard mattresses, and hotel rooms are likely to be half the size of what you're used to in a region where floorspace is at a premium. After a reasonably priced 'pub meal' at the hotel, and a short walk down Nathan road to the Yau Ma Tei MTR station to check out the route we needed for tomorrow - we crashed for the night. Day 2 - Hong Kong Disneyland (wednesday) Part 1 Thanks to a 2 hour time difference, we were wide awake at 5am local time. We decided to check out Jordan MTR station (down Nathan Road in the other direction) in search of a decent coffee. Alas our only options were McCafe or Starbucks - the latter of which did not open until 7am. We killed another 20 minutes waiting and settled on a passable cup of joe to take back to our room to try and wake up before we departed. Just before 8am - we headed for Yau Ma Tei. Morning peak hour seems to go for about 5 hours, and trains run every 1-2 minutes during that time so we waited very little before boarding a fairly packed train up to Lai King to change trains to Sunny Bay on Lantau Island. From there we crossed the platform to the Disneyland Resort line where 4 minutes later the Shuttle train arrived to whisk us away 'to the magical world of Hong Kong Disneyland'. For anyone who ever wonders why so many people rave about Disney so much, all one needs to do is see the station and train at Sunny Bay. The platform was upgraded specifically for Disneyland and presents far better than any other station on the network. The trains, with their Mickey shaped windows, bronzed statues positioned all the way down the train, Mickey shaped overhead handles, starry night motifs on the roof, classic photos of Mickey and Walt riding original Disneyland trains, and a Tinkerbell themed announcement at the start and end of the trip. The station at Disneyland Resort is even more opulent, in classic 'Main St USA' style (albeit with lifts and escalators) total trip time from Hotel to Gate was about 40 minutes - 10 of which was the walk to Yau Ma Tei. HKDL's entrance is similar to DL california's current entrance, sans California Adventure - from the station you walk down a promenade towards a large bronze fountain featuring the classic Mickey and Friends characters, with Mickey surfing atop a giant Monstro statue. The park itself is a right turn at the fountain, with the path layouts hinting that Disney have left the design open for a second gate arrangement similar to that in California. We arrived an hour early than needed - mainly through overly cautious planning than any desire to sit around a fountain listening to back-to-back disney classics, but it was pleasant enough and gave plenty of time for some photos, as well as time to notice 'the little details' that Disney is known for. We'd purchased our tickets online in advance (which are discounted), and a very efficient online ticket collection station was set up on one side inside the gates, which opened 30 minutes before the park - where all you needed was the original purchaser's credit card to collect. We then started the first of many queues (we thought) at the front gates for some more waiting. A nice little ceremony for park opening where an Aussie kid and his parents were taken inside, did a few photos before the boy and his dad used a mickey key to unlock a mickey padlock at declare the park open at precisely 10am. I was surprised that the Disneyland Railroad had not arrived at the main station at opening, and we soon discovered it was closed. I'd read ahead for maintenance and knew that the Emporium store was under renovation (pretty much the entire left side of Main Street) - but it was still open and trading. A very clever construction hoarding was set up around the entire store, which had been covered in an image of the very store it was covering. The effect was infinitely better than plain white hoarding, but the artificial nature of the hoarding was disappointing. It was then that we rounded the corner, and realised the Emporium wasn't the only structure under renovations. Sleeping Beauty Castle was also under maintenance. The result wasn't fantastic. What do you think? I walked towards it thinking "well at least it wasn't plain boards or hessian cloths covering it" but I realised later that it was both good and bad... more on that later. We headed straight for the plaza inn at the top of main street keen to see if the Fireworks Dinner had any vacancies. We needn't have worried as there were precisely Zero reservations. At $328HKD (About $60AUD) the restaurant offered a classic Chinese menu, followed by reserved seating in the middle of the hub for the parade and fireworks. Although Dinner came much (obviously) later in the day - since the menu is here - i'll say this - it was "interesting" to try a cuisine that was alien to us, and there were good points and bad points on it overall. Everything was quite tasty, although several ingredients put us off eating it all. Overall it was good to experience traditional Chinese cuisine (and probably much safer in Disney than on a street corner) but not something we'd do again. Given the price of other food options in the park - it was only marginally more expensive than anything else - but as it came with the VIP seating area for the fireworks and Parade, it was worth it, not to have to reserve our spot hours in advance like many others. End of part 1 - Tomorrow i'll bring you (fittingly) Tomorrowland!

i have a vague recollection of a freefall type ride when I visited the US in 96 - kind of an 'elevator' type lift tot he top, then it slid you forwards over a 'chute', before freefalling into a gradual slope that brought you back down to ground level lying on your back... is this what you're talking about with a 'first-gen' ? I must admit I didnt think much of it at the time but in retrospect it does seem very much a death trap...

Having just been to Ocean Park this week, I'd like to endorse this suggestion. It was a great family coaster for what it was - and capacity on it was awesome!

Am I on the right board? Flower Poster WTF?

Yeah - because the Giant Drop can't even hear it. Besides - how many guests do you think would complain about the noise of a ride they've come to ride? Unlikely. I recall having to wait about an hour at the park to ride it one time as it had rained, and they had to dry out the modules track before they could launch... I imagine covering the track would reduce the amount of issues the weather would have on the ride.