Brad2912

Well something is blowing air towards you in that area. There is definitely some form of oscillating airflow be it fan, air con or whatever. The point is it’s comfortable and cool

If that’s what it utilises it works. The area before the station has mounted fans, and it didn’t feel hot in there at all

Got to experience JR today for 3 rides. the queue is fantastic and evoked memories from Indy at DisneySea. The atmosphere is great, the use of sound, the rumble/vibrations are felt when the train passes through etc. my only complaint would be I’d like to have seen the large snake have an animatronic involved to bring some movement to that area, but the water features and detail are fantastic and set a standard well above anything DW has ever delivered on. loading is simple and efficient. There are signs to direct you to one of 2 queues for either forward departures or backwards departures. Grouper lets through 2-3 cycles worth into the station so it’s quick and easy. great attitude and energy by staff, “get ready for jungle rush” etc by the main ops in the booth. the ride itself is a heap of fun. Won’t describe it in detail but the dark ride sections are fun, I think I personally prefer the backwards departure but understand there could be some level of variation depending upon the day/time etc. really punchy on the corners make for some rib tickling on the side of the train if you are an arms up rider. Did I mention a fully inside queue, air-con and fans? Because I should have, as it made all the difference to the guest experience ride photos were a bit problematic with the screens not refreshing which meant keeping track of time and heading to the photo place at the exit, but it’s still in tech rehearsals so I won’t complain about that. the clear winner by daylight in terms of the new GC park additions

Fantastic venue and akin to something you would see in good theme parks worldwide. Lots of theming and small details, and they haven’t skimped on things at all with the theming running right through to the bathrooms. service was a little slow but you can understand people still getting on top of things so I wouldn’t be too critical food quality for price was great for our group. Everyone enjoyed their meals and it’s was a relaxing, and cool environment to spend torn in. Will no doubt be our regular food option now at DW.

So time to share my impressions Munchkinland/Forecourt the entrance photo op statues look great. Little close to the brake run for SE imo, but I get they working with limited space so will ignore it. The walkway down to the forecourt is great, the rainbow effect is great and the transitional music change is really good. The theming in the forecourt is great, and in the 50mins we were there there was photo op with Wicked Witch, a Dorothy performance, and a photo op with Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. All great, however I’d like to see how regular this becomes or even if it still exists in off peak Emerald City Lighting and design is decent. They’ll want to keep those wall projections functional (unlike other projections in the park) or it will be bland and boring. The wizard projection is quite good, though would have been fantastic to have it have more random or lengthy dialogue sets as it does get a little tedious being so short and just on repeat. Flight of the Wicked Witch The internal queue is fantastic with the room of Poppies and then the enchanted forest. You feel immersed in the story, and even my son said “wow this is like a Japan-level queue” and then boom - you walk downstairs and you are in an outdoor cattle run with no shade, and ridiculous slow ops and burning to a crisp in the sun. I can’t overstate how much the experience is wrecked by this. The immersion is gone and you just want to get it over with. You enter the castle for the final part of the queue which does look good, but it’s not air conned so there is no respite from the baking you’ve just had. They only let 1-2 groups into the castle at the time. The ops just seem entirely haphazard. The 2 cycles where I could visually see what was happening has 4-5min waits between guest disembarking and next guests being let onto the platform simply because the sorter is also the harness checker and they didn’t start sorting until the previous ride disembarked. The entrance to the ride gates is in such a close proximity to the entrance, they have to fill gates 4/5 which are directly in front of the entrance last as you wouldn’t get people past them otherwise. the ride itself is punchy and smooth, and a much better experience than similar coasters I have been on, so gets a big tick on that. There is a short jolty break mid final turn prior to the full break run which is a little strange in terms of forces, and the ride photo for mine is far too late in the ride, but aside from that no complaints. Kansas Twisters I could probably copy the same as the previous tbh.. the starting internal queue is great, immersive and fun. Then you are outside. In the sun. The grouper, who is deciding whether you get in the yellow or the orange train queue, had absolutely no concept of counting. We were told to join the orange train queue, which is on the opposite side of the station so you have to head up and over the track inside the barn. After a couple of cycle, it was blatantly apparent he couldn’t count as we were probably 3-4 cycles from getting on the orange train, and there was only 6 people waiting for the yellow. Cue us excusing ourselves back past another 10 plus people and jumping the rail to join the yellow train queue. Did I mention it was hot? And the barn had no air con or fans? Who designed this place? the ride itself is fun on the forwards cycle, but to be honest I found the return journey just too slow to really consider re-riding again. You walk off to look at chain link fencing and the 30 year old back of house offices. We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto… i also didn’t mention that there was no announcements over the speakers on either ride, no “enjoy the ride” or “you’re about to take flight on blah blah”. The only thing said by staff was yelling “don’t touch the seatbelt, we will do it up. Don’t touch the seat belt” on FOTWW. overall if they spent $100m they need their better people making the financial decisions for the park. Whilst it’s clear nothing is going to change short term, they need to drop some money into this thing before next summer to at a minimum have some shade sails over the queue line, and put some air con or fans into the internal queues. Then they need to sort out their ops. promises so much, but just misses the high mark it set for itself unfortunately. It’s not a fail by any stretch, but if it’s a 2 horse race between Oz and Rivertown - DW has is won by the length of the straight

Gates opened 9:55am but only to the rope under the arch. Rope down at 10:01am. Twister queue opened 10:08. witch opening now at 10:11

Back this morning to check out Oz after no luck last night. I do find it crazy that even if the rides open at 10 that they don’t open the park gates at 9:30 to let people in. Queues out to the roadway for all gates and it’s already bloody hot in the sun.

Should be available for existing pass holders at a nominal small amount as well….

Correct

I do have to give them props for trying to fleece guests… when you buy tickets to the buffet (which is the quietest I have ever seen it -half tables are empty) there is pop up that asks if you want to add a Bugs bunny Christmas sack for $10, usually $20. I passed on it as I’m a little past Santa sacks. Lo and behold, you arrive at the buffet and your “free” gift is said Santa sack. i’d be pissed if I had paid for it also kudos on removing self service soft drinks from the buffet… certainly cuts down consumption when you have to get in a line at the bar to get a refill of your coke… no character visits either..

You on VTPs payroll now? it’s disappointing because they had a chance to do something that would have give thousands of people a great experience and chose not to.

Makes no sense. The more people that experience and love it will increase uptake in annual passes and increase positive word of mouth. in saying that, we’re now at 5 plus years of JL not functioning beyond 50%, and today there is no air con in the show building which makes for just fantastic fun… VTP more interested in GCB fluff pieces than giving people a great time

Why? Because it is now officially open, you have a sold out event and having it opens makes for a much better experience for everyone - and last time I checked the guest experience is their key metric (or so we are told). Having hundreds of people being told at the entrance to the rides it’s closed after allowing them to all walk down the pathway and into the land etc is just disappointing people.

WoO not part of WC this year. Pretty rubbish given it’s open now officially. WWF closed too And spaceshot…

Big fail not keeping WoO open for white Christmas