L.A. or Orlando?

[xRazzBerryx]

Hey guys! Just got back from LA last week & thought I'd post my review in here (don't want to start a new thread). There may be spoilers of some rides below!

We landed on Monday morning at 6am and I didn't get any sleep on the plane. I find it hard to sleep on a plane ? Anybody have the same problem? Anyway, I powered through the day somehow and stayed awake until 9pm. Got a good night sleep and was awake nice and early to get ready for Universal Studios

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Universal opened at 9am and we got through the gates at 9:01am. Love the feeling of how they have staff greeting you and are always happy. We heading straight down the escalators which surprised me. I never thought there were that many! ? Thought there was only like one! Anyway, we arrived down at the lower lot & got a few pictures with the dinosaur & Transformer.

We then headed into the Transformers ride, which was a walk on. Such an awesome ride! Love the Missile/explosion part of the ride. Next ride was The Mummy & yet again, walk on. Awesome dark ride & loved the effect when the bugs were on the wall! Next ride was Jurrasic Park & again...NO LINE ?. Stupid dinosaurs got me more wet than the actual drop! ? Cool ride but sucks when you ride in winter! Was freezing! Hahaha. We went back up all those escalators & lined up for The Simpsons ride. Cool ride & loved the smell effect when you get put in Maggie's mouth! 

We felt a bit hungry so we headed to Krusty Burger & had a bite to eat, then headed to the Water show. Got seats BEHIND the wet zone! Would be great seats in Summer though! Awesome show & great stunts. 

Checked the map and saw the Despicable Me ride, so we decided to head there. No line again! Glad we saw this one on the map because it was very enjoyable

Finally we headed to the studio tour. Only about a 10 minute wait. Such an amazing tour! Loved the King Kong 360 3D & also the Fast & Furious Supercharged section of it. 

When we finished we checked the lines for the lower lot again & they were up to 50 mins so we decided to call it a day. Did the whole park by 3pm which was awesome! Definitely recommend going as soon as the park opens for short lines! 

SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN

The next day (Wednesday) was Magic Mountain. The park opened at 10:30am. We went straight to the back as we thought most people would go to popular & newer rides, and we were right.

First ride was Green Lantern & holy crap I was not ready for that! ? Very short but a great rush of adrenaline to start off the day. The next 3 rides were Batman, Riddlers Revenge & Scream which all had no line. Different style of rides but they all felt very similar. Are they all B&M? Scream was my favourite out of the 3. After these rides our 'no line' luck was up as Goliath had an hour wait. Definitely worth the wait though! Love that first drop.

We then got a bite to eat and then walked around the back of the park. Walked past Apocalypse & up to Tatsu. The line for Tatsu was about 45mins. Such a crazy ride & loved the loop, if you can call it a loop? ? After Tatsu we headed for X2. The line being an hour and a half ?. Worth the wait tho! Such an amazing ride & thrill, my favourite of the day. Finally we headed to Colossus. My first wooden coaster I've ridden and it was awesome. The fact you are racing the train next to you was so cool. 

Unfortunately we didn't get to ride Full Throttle or Apocalypse as we were out of time  This was definitely the most insane theme park I've been too & would easily go again! I recommend going early as line were shorter in the morning.

KNOTTS BERRY FARM

Unfortunately we only had about 3/4 of a day here but pretty much got to ride everything which was good. It was a Saturday so we were expecting long lines but they weren't too bad. Arrived at around 1pm and lined up for Sidewinders. Cool little ride that made me so disorientated ? After Sidewinders we lined up for Silver Bullet. Great ride & loved the tight turn over the water at the end. Next ride was the Log Ride which had a great ride experience & loved the drop in the dark! 

We then lined up for Voyage to the Iron Reef, which was an hour and a half wait. Probably not worth waiting that long ? Didn't enjoy it that much but kids would definitely love it. We then headed to Xcelerator. Was very keen on this one! The launch was awesome! So fast I can't remember much of it ? 

We then walked our way to Montezooma's revenge. Great launch & felt weird doing a loop backwards! ? Finally we lined up for Jaguar, which had no line  cool little ride.

Awesome park with some pretty cool rides.

DISNEYLAND/CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

Day 1

We arrived at the park at opening time (9am) and headed to Matterhorn Bobsleds, which broke down as we were in line. So we then headed to Splash Mountain, getting a FP for BTMR on the way. Splash mountain was an awesome log ride with great drops. We then hopped into Haunted Mansion. Great animatronics & awesome how you could smell the room when you went through the dining area place. 

We then lined up for Pirates of the Carribean. Cool boat ride, I feel the drops would have been better at the end but was still a fun ride. We then used our Fast Pass for BTMR. Love how there are multiple lift sections which builds suspense. The final lift section has some awesome effects! 

We then headed to Indiana Jones. Wasn't expecting much, but it was actually one of my favourites. Such an awesome experience! Then did the Jingle Cruise. Definitely relaxing ?

We then headed to Matterhorn Bobsleds, which had reopened. Very awkward seating position but a fun little ride!  We then did Buzz Lightyears Astro Blaster which was fun & then headed to Finding Nemo. It was a cool experience, the seats were a bit cramped tho ? 

We then headed back outside the park to get a bite to eat. We then had to rush back to Space Mountain as our Fast Pass was about to expire! Luckily we got in  Loved Space Mountain. Very fast in a tight space and sharp corners. After we headed to Star Wars Tours. Reminded me of Batman at Movie World  

California Adventure time! We headed into CA & went to Soarin over California. The time was about 6pm and was amazed that there was hardly a line! Great ride experience! It's amazing how real it actually feels. 

We then headed to Paradise Pier and went on all of the little ride around that area. After all of them it was time to head back to Disneyland for the Night Parade. 

Took us a while to actually find a spot for the parade! Make sure you get in early if you want a good spot. Awesome parade. Love how they have a dancing routine aswell, gives the parade a lot of life. We then headed to its a small world to view the fireworks. Great viewing area for them, I highly recommend it. The fireworks were the most amazing I've ever seen. The finale was awesome. 

DISNEYLAND/CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE 

Day 2

We headed into CA to start off the day. We were told to get a FP for cars straight away, so we did. We then headed to California Screamin. Great ride & loved the second drop. We then made our way to the Grizzly River Rapids. No line, as it was freezing but we didn't complain.. Until we got wet ? 

We then walked all the way down to Tower of Terror. The line was about 10 minutes. Awesome story of the ride and fun drops. It's amazing how they use seat belts for most of their rides. 

We then went back to Disneyland and killed a bit of time by going on little rides (Snow White, Peter Pan). Once our FP was ready we headed back to CA to ride cars. Amazing ride and was fun racing the other car at the end. Definitely worth getting a FP for it! 

Once we finished this ride we pretty much wanted to kill as much time as we could until the water show. We did pretty much all of the smaller relaxing rides. Ferris Wheel, Little Mermaid, It's a Small World and many more.

It was about an hour until the water show, so we decided to do one last ride on Indiana Jones. Once we finished the ride we headed back to CA, only to realise the park closes at 8 & you need a Fast Pass to see the water show?!?! I guess it said that you needed a fast pass somewhere, and we just didn't see it, but still was disappointed we didn't get to see the show

Anyway, still had an awesome time! A 2 Day park hopper was perfect for us. Would probably recommend 3 days if you have kids or if it is peak season. 

This was my first LA trip and definitely won't be my last! Would love to do it all again! If you have any questions feel free to ask them and I'll do my best at answering them

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Pirates needs the drops at the start to get below the berm and out into the show building.

Kids or no kids - you should have at least 3 days at Disneyland\California Adventure - always... Otherwise you miss things - a lot of things.

Six Flags you're pretty well on the money - going in winter obviously helped with queues though - and anyone who only has one day at that park should always invest in a flash pass.

Knott's - no ghostrider? no mystery lodge? Knott's is an awesome 'little' park and being just down the road from Disney - it's a no brainer for anyone staying in Anaheim.

Sounds like you had a great time, and whilst i realise your review isn't a blow-by-blow, it sounds like you were trying to squeeze a lot in, and - consequently missed a lot of thing little things that make many of these parks great... in the end though - that just makes you want to go back and do it all over again!

thanks for the report!

[Santa07]

Ghostrider is closed for refurbishment isn't it?

[downunder]

^Yes, it's being re-tracked by GCI and getting new trains and some re-profiling (and they're taking out the mid-course brake). I got some good photos of the work when I was over there in October.

Glad you had a great time. I feel fortunate I only had to wait 15 mins for front row on X2, I still really like it - I wish I could have taken a POV including the audio of my mate on the ride, it was hilarious. I've got a Six Flags season pass now, and I intend to get my maximum value out of it next year.

[rappa]

Did you see waterworld?

Shame you missed World of Color. You normally can still get viewing without the fast pass. They just won't let you in until just before the show but I've never seen an issue. 

[xRazzBerryx]

Unfortunately Ghostrider was closed  it looked like a lot of fun! 

I know we may have missed a few things here and there but I was very happy we got to do all of the main things in the short amount of time we had at the parks. Our trip was very non stop! ? We did a lot of things other than theme parks aswell. 

Disneyland/CA's longest line was about 20 minutes. So that helped us get through pretty much everything in 2 days. 

Do you mean Waterworld at Universal? If so, yes we saw that  

We walked up to the front gates of CA, and they said that we weren't allowed in to see World of Colour unless we had a fast pass ?

Oh well, every thing I missed at the parks makes me look forward to doing them when I go back

[downunder]

^Virgin is under a $1k Sydney - LA return at the moment, it's only a matter of whether I could get time off work.

 

[rappa]

Ah yes if you enter after close you'll need a pass. If you're in the park already they'll let you in to see the show. 

Best options for both that and fantasmic are the dinner and show packages. 

[iwerks]

On 10/12/2015 at 8:35 PM, xRazzBerryx said:

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

 

Universal opened at 9am and we got through the gates at 9:01am. Love the feeling of how they have staff greeting you and are always happy. We heading straight down the escalators which surprised me. I never thought there were that many! ? Thought there was only like one! Anyway, we arrived down at the lower lot & got a few pictures with the dinosaur & Transformer.

Was the dinosaur anything like this one I saw at USS recently?

MVI_6804.MOV

Edited December 13, 2015 by iwerks

[downunder]

^That was a cool little thing they do in the lower lot. We did the early entry for Halloween Horror Nights and caught a bit of the last outing for Mr Raptor for the day. It's so simple, but really works.

Edited December 13, 2015 by downunder