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Emerald Park, 24 August 2024 After much encouragement by @Noxegon I finally made a quick (Well, if you are already in Europe) hop to Dublin for a weekend to visit Emerald Park. Guess I've wanted to check it out since they built Cú Chulainn Coaster , but then they announced the two new vekomas, they were in development hell for a while, covid, and they finally opened earlier this year, Fianna Force looked awesome and had rave reviews....Okay okay, I'm coming Time to see what cheap flying around Europe is all about. Dublin is great actually, Ireland is the last of the main Anglosphere countries for me, so it was fun hearing the random banter all around after a week of being in Austria and Poland with less chance to chat to locals. It doesn’t feel like a huge town, I’m struggling to think of a comparison. Turned up to Emerald Park in time for opening. Decided to start off on the two family coasters, which is probably a good strategy since they had posted waits of 60 mins later in the day. Flight School is a Zierer with the same layout as the one at Legoland Billund, so along with helices it has a couple of sections of slaloms which are pretty fun and generate a few giggles from the kids. The theming was well done too, with the station and queue in a large curvaceous modern building clearly inspired by Dublin Airport T2, and the airport theming is spot on, eg the ride photo counter looks like a check in desk, they have departure screens, the queue rails are tensabarriers and you even go through a faux metal detector, and the drinks at the shop are expensive. The other one is Dino Dash, a Vekoma with a new layout that is a bit more curvy (so a little more kick and more dynamic) than the standard model you see everywhere. Theming wasn’t as good on this one, they apparently had a Dinosaurs Alive type exhibit and they got a 2nd lease on life here, except they are falling apart. I do feel they could have leant more into the theme, eg the fencing should be more industrial galvanised mesh or faux electric fences like on other dino themed rides instead of the standard heritage green they seem to love using literally everywhere in the British Isles. So then it was time to take on Cú Chulainn Coaster, a huge wooden coaster that is akin to a spread out version of our Leviathan. Theres a nice bit of Celtic theming near the ride with a giant statue of the man himself, but otherwise it a standard open air cattlepen in the middle of the ride. Very good. Levi still pips it, this one feels a little more drawn out, but perhaps has a few more floater airtime moments (Which are probably the smoothest parts of the ride. It’s definitely more enjoyable towards the front, so aim there if you can. The main feature is the overbanked turn, which i was surprised to find is so tight it feels like it is right at the limit of what the train can do. The train hilariously bounces through the element, like a learner driver bunny hopping. But yeah long, fast, and it loops back on itself in interesting ways, so it feels more interesting than your typical up and back, but not batshit crazy like certain GCIs. The two new Vekomas weren’t open so we headed over to try out Ladybird Loops. Ridden speedy beetle at LPM? Good, then I dont need to review it. The kids area had heaps to do, but the presentation was a bit eclectic, you had giant toadstools next to wild west next to circus themed parachute towers. Someone looked at the SBF Visa catalogue, and said “yes”. Still, the greenery is very lush (A common theme around this part of the world, stuff just grows) Ok, time to head back to do the other coasters. But nope, interjection. Apparently Viking Voyage, their super flume ride gets massive waits, but it had been down all morning, putting paid too our plan to get it done early. But right as we were going past they opened up so we turned on our heels and go in line. The queue is very elaborate, with lots of Viking huts. And it was that day I learned that Ireland had some Viking history, its not just a Scandinavian thing. I’ll digress for a moment. You can begin to see some synergies in the park, eg they have a Viking themed flume and a Cú Chulainn themed woodie, so you have the makings of a themed land, but then in reality they have a random Zamperla spin n spew in the middle breaking it up. Or they have a Flight School themed kiddy coaster and a Zamperla Air Race, you could do something like Aviators landing at Carowinds, but again, theres some log cabin themed buildings in between and other stuff, so the opportunity to market themed lands in addition to rides is missed. I’ve noticed some of the Parques Reunidos parks like Bobbejaanland and Tusenfryd have started re-theming and renaming rides to create thematic zones, so something to focus on now the park has Matured and proven itself a success. So back to Viking Voyage, the original boats were replaced with the same boats as WWF though with this massive cross bar at the back to deal with the wider trough, and with similar throughput too. The ride has a couple of drops, including a backwards one, and one that has a wild mouse style turn halfway down that gives a lot of laterals (See the flume at Powerpark also) both very wet. The first lifts pass through a central mountain twice. After the 2nd drop we came to a halt on the turntable that straightens you out, and then sat, and sat. Could this be my first evac? Yes it was. A rather convenient affair given the catwalks in the turntable area (Actually, it looks pretty industrial inside the mountain) We were given exit passes for any ride due to this. We could have used them to do another lap and finish the full circuit and final drop, but given the wetness, i was happy to save my exit pass for another lap on Cú Chulainn. So, time for the last 2 coasters. Fianna Force, still not open, but The Quest, just had. Channeling some energy from Tripsdrill, they hadnt quite finished the theming on the precast concrete station for this season, but they had at least painted the internal walls, though anything around the back was left bare. Yes, I like this model (Have done Saven at Farup and Light Explorers at Energylandia), its nice and spread out, with lots of dips, turns and hills, so you finish a long way around the station instead of looping around a compact area like Boomerang at LPS. The station has the impressive feature of the zero g roll for Finanna Force passing overhead too. Given people hadn't quite realized Quest had opened, we looped around for a 2nd lap and were on 5 mins later at the other end of the train. By the end of the day, waits on this had blown out to 70 mins, so like the other smaller coasters, do this first. Yay, time for one of my most anticipated coasters of this trip, Fianna Force. Battlestar Galactica was somewhat of a false start for Vekomas new gen STCs, Hals Uber Kopf opened a couple of years after I went to Tripsdrill, and ever since then I've wanted to experience one of these you beaut inverts with lapbars and smoother trains and interesting elements. The queue is great, winding up and back most of the layout along a meandering path, even with a cool deck over a pond close to a point where FF and TQ interact. And they run this so well. No secondary belts, so they were easily sending a train every 70 secs, meaning a neat 1000 riders per hour, which is impressive for an independent park that hasn’t been around too long, but to be fair, even average parks in Europe usually have decent ops. The queue takes you into a themed room, where a well presented projection of a blacksmith/warrior tells the story of the ride. There was something about smiting a dragon, but to be honest, the audio is too quiet to be heard over the chatter in the queue line, emphasised by the flat walls causing a lot of echo. Time to ride, a speedy lift takes into a steep twisting first drop reminiscent of Oziris. You are just sent hurtling towards the ground into a trench. You pull up into a inclined Immelmann meets overbanked turn thing. Imagine Gumbuyas TNT, amped up, and if you've ridden you’ll know how fast it all happens. Next comes a strong pull of G’s down in a trench, followed a huge corkscrew, made better by being high in the air and going over The Quests rather large station building. A nice panoramic turn over the Quests outdoor queue before doing a long zero g roll through the station. Next is another hard pulling helix before rising up and doing another drop into a trench. From here the rides identity completely changes, with alternating quick turns, transitions, almost like an inverted version of Maverick. No chance to grey out or fill sick because the forces are always changing. And then there are even a couple of legit airtime hills that give pops of air, which is really rare on inverts (I can only think of Monster that also does it) With plenty of speed you smoothly hit the mag brakes. Whew, one of the worlds best inverts, and actually one of the worlds best coasters full stop. Moderately intense, fast past, great fun, and heaps of variation in the layout, which gets a big win for me. If I were to change anything, maybe a 3rd inversion right at the end as a surprise would have been cool. I took the opportunity to do lots of re-rides, given it never really felt longer than 20 mins, despite the long looking queue. And the presentation of this area at least they got done, fully landscaped too, lots of stonework. Looks like it has been in place for years. As for the rest of the park. Had lunch at The Lodge. Did you know in Ireland you can have a chicken curry served over chips instead of rice? Yep, you can. The place seemed popular, you could get plated meals like at the Ikea buffet. Wish a park here would do this, every Euro park has this. It’s nice to get something quick, but not a burger. Only other ride I did was Endeavour, basically a floorless version of an Enterprise. Well, I didnt get sick at least. Forgot what these were like, I only ever rode Reef Diver once. Youre not really pinned in your seat continuously, rather the g forces rise and fall with each revolution. It’s hard to describe, but your inner ear seems to interpret this as the flight path feeling like a pringle shape rather than a circle. Weird, but I dont think I’ll ride one of these again. They also have an animal park, and I saw bits of it, but to be honest, I can see zoos locally so didn’t care too much about missing it on this particular visit. They also had this celtic spiral mound you can walk up. Now that’s what I call crowd management. A park actually got me to consume 5 minutes walking in a circle and theoretically relieve pressure on other attractions. So overall, a good park, well run, and has quite a good mix of attractions for a park of its age. Considering greater dublin has 2.1m people and 670k a couple 150km away at Belfast, it demonstrates that you dont necessarily need a massive population to support a good park (7mil on the whole island, and I doubt many from the UK would bother coming over, its all local support, and they are on track to break 1mil visitors in a couple of years) Bad points. Ok, so when the park first started, they were doing a lot of small park things like ziplines, slides, cheap small rides (Im amazed Ladybird Loop wasnt the first coaster ahead of Cú Chulainn, but good on them for taking a gamble) and to an extent they are stuck with some of these things dotting the park, but since closed due to being unworkable in a high attendance environment. They really should demo these things and fully graduate into acting like a major park. Presentation varies, some stuff like Tir Na nOg and Viking Voyage are great, some like the kids area and zoo are fine, but there is a lot of bitumen, with rides and queue fences straight on this, so it can feel like a fairground in parts. Doesnt have to be this way, break out the big saw, cut out some garden beds from the bitumen, plant some stuff, and they’ll probably have a dense forest in like 18 months anyway. Also just nitpicks like replacing signage in older parts. Im sure they’ll get there, and Tir Na nOg set the standard, so if they keep doing areas like that, it’ll become one of the great parks of Europe. I guess in theory I caught them on an ‘off’ day for reliability, but they prevailed in the end and everything ran smoothly. On a closing note, such is the nature of the land holding, there’s an actual publicly accessible cemetery surrounded by the park on 3 sides. But aside from some noise, you couldn't tell there was a park next door (And when in the park, you cant see any of it either.)

In my personal opinion there's always more buzz around a custom layout coaster. (Jungle rush has way more buzz than WoO though that has great themeing so maybe that's part of the reason) but for most people who don't know rides are clones maybe the answer is different? Have no idea which option is more beneficial to parks. But I prefer option 2 though maybe option 3

Disney's Hollywood Studios https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/disneys-hollywood-studios (For more pics) Last but not least from my November trip. I ended up here on a couple of the days through park hopping. For the thrill seekers, the park probably has the best lineup at Walt Disney World. Plenty of new stuff to see here. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance An amazing attraction. I don't think there is much that comes close in terms of being a true start to finish immersive experience with a strong storyline. Haunted mansion is great for instance, but they still whack you on an escalator at the end of the ride for example. Big Thunder is pretty, but no story right? Harry Potter is a great ride, just make sure you stay looking straight ahead! But this, its so well thought out from start to finish. You begin in a reistance base, carved out in some caverns on the edge of the settlement, full of supplies and munitions. The first preshow tells you that you have to get off the planet since your current location is no longer safe. A cute BB-8 Animatronic whirls around in a concerned manner. You then head outside and board a transport ship. It's like a mild simulator ride, (not too strong since everyone is standing up), anyhow your craft is intercepted by the first order in a space battle, and you are dragged into the shuttle bay of a star destroyer. The doors open, and you are in a completely different location, the massive void of the shuttle bay! It's real wow moment, up there with that moment on POTC where you turn the corner into that huge battle. And you turn around and there your ship is, parked against the wall. From there you are taken into custody hustled down into holding cells and locked inside. Kylo Ren and General Hux try to interrogate you, but are distracted and wander off to deal with other issues. In that moment, some unseen allies come to your rescue, and burn a hole in the wall to bust you out. From here its into your next ride vehicle, a trackless transporter. From then on, the fun really starts. You start sneaking off through the corridors of the star destroyer, but within about the 30 seconds you are spotted by some storm troopers and they open fire. This is where the Disney magic really shines, with actual laser shots ricocheting around you, holes being blown in walls etc. From then on its several minutes of running for your life through different battle scenes. At one point you are darting around like mice under the legs of an AT-AT, at another point Kylo ren sticks a lightsaber through the roof and tries to cut you up. The only real downer was that on all my rides the last couple of scenes were running in B mode. None of the huge moving laser guns were working, so your vehicle sort of just moves back and forth erratically, seemingly dodging ghosts. The final scene had no Kylo Ren animatronic, so you just see him hovering outside in his spaceship before getting shot down, and you head to the escape pods without the rushing air effect of being sucked out into space. And then of course its a wild finale where your vehicle drives into a simulator pod meets freefall ride and evacuates out of the star destroyer, crash landing on the planet. What makes this cool is the unload area is actually outdoors, so the whole thing is wrapped up in a neat little package and you are back to where you started. Did this 3 times. Ah well, maybe when i return to one of the parks it'll all be going. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run I've done this back at Disneyland when the 'soft' opened their version of Galaxy's Edge and Rise wasn't ready yet, and then Covid happened and here I am finally seeing the rest of it in 2023. A huge recreation of the Milennium Falcon sits out front And you make your way through a well themed, but some what lifeless workshop themed queue. IMO they should have made it more like star tours with more things moving, though the soundtrack is quite humorous in this area if you listen in. And then after walking through a gangway, you board the faclon. On one ride, just before closing i had the most odd experience where I had an entire pod to myself. The ride is an on the rails shooter, with a bit of steering ability, and of course all your motion simulator fun, as you go off flying to steal some coaxium from another planet. A couple of of players shoot, a couple shoot and a couple do mostly nothing except hit one button at the right moment. So I got to take on the pilots position, with everything else being done on auto for you. Slinky Dog Dash Possibly the gentlest LSM launch in existence? The theming is quite fun, they have actually got this whole sub narrative that what you are riding on is a roller coaster kit owned by Andy, so the queue is scattered with spare bits of track and supports, as well as a lot of oversized toys. The first launch goes into a horseshoe turn and helix. Stops at the 2nd launch, which is themed a bit like a launcher on a hotwheels set. From there is a floater hill, a bunch of very mild bunny hops that would be right at home on a Japanese jet coaster, finished off with an S bend. When you are waiting on the brakes, squeaky penguin sings to you with his microphone, which was a nice surprise you dont see from the queue. This thing can get painful queues, but I tended to try and ride it later in the day and waited like 30-40 mins on both rides. Alien Swirling Saucers This is the same ride as Maters Junkyard Jamboree, several turntables interconnected so you move in a double figure 8 pattern, with some mechanism below the floor allowing your car to move from one turntable to the next. What is also cool is that your car is connected to the turntable by a springloaded tow bar, so your car drifts and swings wildly from side to side, not unlike the classic whip rides. Good fun. The "pizza planet" in the middle of the ride is a nice detail. Now why dont they have an ACTUAL pizza planet at Disney, it would be a license to print money Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy Fine for kids, but its Disney so its still decent. Imagine an animatronic Lighting mcqueen with a projection mapped eyes and mouth. Hey greets the crowd, moving about on his podium. He then demonstrates his speed, with a panoramic racing simulator on a giant screen behind. But his arch rival hacks in to try and beat him, but of course McQueen prevails. Tower of Terror Still excellent. As the prototype, this one actually has a section where your vehicle moves from one lift to another through a brief dark ride scene, with some cool optical illusions. Paris still wins out in terms of sheer intensity of the ride programme, and probably Tokyo has the best preshow. Rock n Roller Coaster Some embuggerance with this one, as it kept bloody breaking down. Surprisingly, one of my favourite things about this is how the whole loading area is themed. The preshow has you watching Aerosmith recording in their studio, and they invite you to join them at their concert via stretch limousine. When you step out the back door of the studio, you are in an alleyway, and your limousine is waiting in a multi level car park, but the theming is so immersive, eg the operators booth is inside the cashiers office, the secondary control panel is on the call box, there’s all sorts of other details like a motorbike being fixed, and even a low clearance height bar above the track where it leaves the station. The launch is powerful, and its a smooth, frantic layout full of positive gs, with a sea serpent roll, a lot of helices, and then a surprise corkscrew at the end. Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway This one is fantastic. You head into the chinese theatre, ready to watch a short film featuring Mickey and Minnie on a road trip, (Hmm reminds me of how the gremlins ride started out). On the way, they meet goofy driving a train, and an explosion on the train in the cartoon creates a real explosion in the theatre, creating a smoking hole in the wall that leads to the cartoon realm. You are invited to pass through, and inside, everything is done in the art style of the cartoon, with scribbled details on the walls, 2d props etc. The ride vehicles are a train of trackless pods behind a locomotive driven by goofy. Shortly into the ride your cars become detached from the loco, spinning out of control through a number of projection mapped scenes, often taking different routes. On the way you keep encountering Mickey and Minnie in peril. One scene had you caught up in a tornado, with very strong winds. Another was in a big city, where a jackhammering worker causes everything to shake. An impressive moment is where a room has faux rockwork and looks like a jungle, but when you return to it, it has transformed into an underwater environment. There’s also a nice moment where you end up in a dance studio run by daisy duck, and all the vehicles waltz side to side in unison. But, the quality of the graphics was something else, it just looks so bright and crisp, like a blacklight painting come to life, and they have managed to incorporate other moving props into it seamlessly. Did this a couple of times. I ended up timing it to try a few of the food items at the park. The Totchos from Woody's Lunchbox are a big ole bowl of carbs. Chilli con carne with corn chips and potato gems. But i think the 'blandness' of the corn chips overpowers everything. And i was sure to have booked in a drink at Oga's Cantina. I was recommended to try a Fuzzy Tauntan, which was rum and a few other sour flavours, but the foam on top actually made your lips go numb, like as if it had Lignocaine in it or something. The other drink i had was like a juice blend with coloured boba balls floating in it. They had a theatre showing newer Mickey Mouse shorts. Since when did it become like Ren and Stimpy? Overall, I think the park has one of the best ride lineups at Disney, and a mixed bag in terms of Immersive theming. Star Wars and Toy Story are great, but the rest of it is generic city streets and backlot theming, with a fair bit of the latter being under renovation. *****************************