The Off Topic Topic

[Cooper Olsen]

I rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journy yesterday and it was the best attraction at any theme park! It beats any Rollercoaster and shits all over our Aussie dark rides. Today is Six Flags Magic Mountain.

[djmcbell]

I have to confess, I only thought Harry Potter & The Forbidden Journey was "alright". It was all too much of a muchness, if you know what I mean. The ride itself, the way it's been put together is fantastic and it really does feel like you're in a film, but I couldn't follow the story and found myself being pushed up against a giant video screen all the time just got annoying, as well as the sudden jarring motions. In the end I decided to look to the side (you can *just* see around the side of the bench) and watched the other benches coming up the track to see how it worked.

I must say it did make me feel a bit ill - and this is coming from someone who's ridden Hulk 19 times in the same day.

[Cooper Olsen]

I can see where you are coming from but I think that they finish the ride just before it starts to get sickening. I thought the queue was just amazing, the capacity was insane! I still can't figure out how the robot arm can make you feel like you are going straight ahead when you aren't really moving around you are inside of a dome.

[westical]

Best ride ever although I did get a little bit of motion sickness at times. And that's the non-3D version. 

[Santa07]

8 hours ago, Cooper Olsen said:

I rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journy yesterday and it was the best attraction at any theme park! It beats any Rollercoaster and shits all over our Aussie dark rides. Today is Six Flags Magic Mountain.

What 'Aussie dark rides'?

Like, I can think of JL, but you definitely put that in the plural

[pin142]

Enjoy Magic Mountain. I already miss the greatness that is Twisted Colossus, the amazing Tatsu "pretzel" and the major WTF of X2!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

34 minutes ago, Santa07 said:

What 'Aussie dark rides'?

Like, I can think of JL, but you definitely put that in the plural

Well the Buderim Ginger Factory has an indoor flume ala Small World. I guess it depends on what you class as a 'dark ride' as opposed to say - a rollercoaster or whatever.

If we go with a broad meaning - Aussie World has the Rock n Roll Rebel, Scooby would class as a dark ride too. As you rightly point out - Justice League is up there. Even with broad meaning I would naturally exclude walk through attractions like LPS has, or even ZE at Dreamworld.. but then you have rides with inside\outside elements, which would expand to include Superman and Storm coaster. Of course as I said it depends on how you class it, but even with narrow definition, we've still got more than one so plural is definitely acceptable.

[Cooper Olsen]

I think I greyed out on Tatsu's pretzel loop, that thing was crazy and Twisted Colossus... Amazing best ride I have ever ridden! The ejector air and getting to do it twice was amazing with both racer might I add.

 

After today I think that B&M's are kinda overrated, they are really good coasters but I would rather something like Full Throttle or Twisted Colossus than a B&M. I think it's crazy that I rather Arkham Asylum over Batman: The Ride!

1. Twisted Colossus (Perfection x2)

2. X2 (Batshit Crazy)

3. Tatsu (Unexpected)

4. Full Throttle (Awesome)

5. Superman Escape (Fast)

6. Goliath (Fun)

7. Arkham Asylum (Long)

8. Riddler's Revenge (Weird)

9. Buzzsaw (Death)

10. Ninja (Weeeeee!)

 

 

[pin142]

Have to agree there is more to Tatsu than it looks. No POV can do that ride justice for the forces you experience. Colossus is great fun, we need something like it or Joker over here. Would take one of those over a B&M that's not similar to Tatsu.

[iwerks]

On 26 May 2016 at 2:15 PM, The_Ninja_59 said:

I thought you already knew  it's "The_Ninja_59"

Nice Facebook page name change. Fan of the game were we or just a coincidence?

Anyway, I think the change of name to Theme Park World will do you lots of good as that is the easiest way people discover new pages on Facebook. Congrats.

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

5 hours ago, iwerks said:

Nice Facebook page name change. Fan of the game were we or just a coincidence?

Anyway, I think the change of name to Theme Park World will do you lots of good as that is the easiest way people discover new pages on Facebook. Congrats.

Cheers iwerks  I will still use the Ninja name on here 

as for the page's name, it was  just a lucky coincidence  

[JaggedJanine]

You could have been Theme Park Ninja 

[Theme Park Girl]

^^^ this 

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

Theme Park Ninja hey? not bad  

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/15/alligator-two-year-old-child-disney-world-hotel-florida

Quote

A father fought in vain to wrestle his two-year-old son from the jaws of an alligator at the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida, police have said.

A massive search is under way for the missing boy, who was on holiday with his parents and two siblings from Nebraska.

Jerry Demings, Orange County Sheriff, told a 1am press conference how the family, who have not been named, were relaxing in a beach area at the edge of a lake on Tuesday when the alligator struck.

“There is a sandy beach area and the family was out simply relaxing ... and in the water along the lake’s edge at the time the alligator attacked the child.

“It’s my understanding the father was there nearby and the child was playing in the water, just a foot or so into the water, and the alligator came up,” he said.

“The father at some point struggled to try to get his son and was not successful and then alerted others to try and assist him in the process.”

<story continues - follow the link for more>

 

[Reanimated35]

^ Same story, different link. Not sure if one might be updated before the other  

http://www.9news.com.au/world/2016/06/15/14/21/alligator-drags-child-into-water-near-disney-park-in-florida

 

[grrofunger]

I cant fathom that, horrific.

I dont understand how it can happen, How can Disney be setup like that? Lets have a resort and events on a 'beach' next to Alligator waters...???

I understand that Florida is rife with them but in a Theme Park? Geeeez...

[djmcbell]

I did wonder that as well. I'm unsure, but I believe a lot of the waterways around Disney World are man-made (pretty sure the Seven Seas Lagoon is).

But in any case, it's a BIG lot of water to police, and the actual area of Disney World itself is big. Alligators could get in there easily enough, and have doubtless been in Disney World for years I imagine.

Very sorry for all that Orlando has been through in the past few days.

[JacobSibbald]

15 minutes ago, grrofunger said:

I cant fathom that, horrific.

I dont understand how it can happen, How can Disney be setup like that? Lets have a resort and events on a 'beach' next to Alligator waters...???

I understand that Florida is rife with them but in a Theme Park? Geeeez...

Walt Disney World is not bound by wire fencing. Instead, it has been established around and within a swampy land mass that can be compared to a nature reserve. Alligators roam relatively freely within the resort due to this reason.

[iwerks]

There's lots of wildlife that wanders through the resorts and the green space in between them. That's part of the charm, normally.

[grrofunger]

They have now killed 4 gators with still no sign of the child (who is obviously gone sadly)

I don't find the idea of wildlife roaming through the resorts charming at all, I think it's quite irresponsible, especially to hold events right on alligator infested waters.

I guess there would be signs around? and people would be aware of the risks. I've just never thought about it before or considered you would need to worry about being eaten by an alligator at a Disney resort.

[djmcbell]

According to the Daily Mail article (God help me), the waterways in Disney are regularly patrolled and alligators found are relocated. However, as they are quite shy creatures, some can slip through. Apparently there's also metal screening to try and stop them getting near tourist-heavy areas.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem all the safeguards were enough in this case.

As an aside, the article also points out that this isn't the first alligator attack in Disney World - back in 1986 there was a non-fatal incident at Fort Wilderness.

[iwerks]

10 minutes ago, grrofunger said:

I don't find the idea of wildlife roaming through the resorts charming at all, I think it's quite irresponsible, especially to hold events right on alligator infested waters.

Rabbits and deer are what I saw. The bird life was impressive too. To me, that's charming.

It sounds like the attack took place near the Grand Floridian which is around the Seven Seas Lagoon (which is huge). They often dress the lakes up to look like white sand beaches, but they usually have signs up warning guests to not go in the water.

Very unfortunate.

[djmcbell]

 

1 minute ago, iwerks said:

It sounds like the attack took place near the Grand Floridian which is around the Seven Seas Lagoon (which is huge). They often dress the lakes up to look like white sand beaches, but they usually have signs up warning guests to not go in the water.

Yes, I believe it took place either directly outside the Grand Floridian or just a bit further from it (but still within a minute or two walk). The shoreline in the area around the Grand Floridian and Polynesian hotels is made up to look like a beach, and guests at the two hotels will often go out and watch the fireworks from there (in fact, some websites say this is a good way to watch the fireworks if you're not going into the Magic Kingdom - my wife and I nearly did that one evening when we were there a few years back - park up at the hotel, grab a few drinks and head to the beach area).

And yes, they do have signs which I believe say "no swimming", but they don't mention anything about paddling/wading. A few decades ago, I believe you could go fishing on the Seven Seas Lagoon (which, as iwerks says, is quite large and has the Magic Kingdom, Grand Floridian, Polynesian, and Contemporary on its shorelines, as well as linking up with nearby Bay Lake, which itself is home to a few marinas).

As iwerks and JacobSibbald said, Disney World is quite huge and wildlife would be able to get in undetected quite easily. I can't imagine it's all fenced off (only the parks and important structures) and it's less of a giant, controlled area and more "a big heap of land that Disney owns".

[grrofunger]

fair enough guys, cheers