Now That's Just Gay: Theme Parks

Showing posts with label Theme Parks. Show all posts

Last week I was chatting about some of the theme parks I really want to visit which you can view HERE. This week I thought I would talk about rollercoasters that I have ridden, specifically, My Top 10. From what I remember, having a Top 10 Rollercoasters list is something that all enthusiasts do, and they will passionately defend their list and the coasters on it. Obviously, every person has a different set of ‘measurements’ for what they love about rollercoasters and what they think makes them awesome. Just like each individual top 10, the process in which a person determines their favourite coasters varies from person to person and in itself can be cause for debate. Some people will favour coasters that are pure speed machines and others will favour ejector airtime. There is a really wide range of factors that you can look at when thinking about your favourite rollercoasters. For me personally, when I think about what I love about rollercoasters I immediately think about speed, intensity, airtime, theming and nostalgia.

Nostalgia may seem like a very odd bar to measure a rollercoaster on and I do think that sometimes, some coasters are regarded as still being world-leading rides for purely nostalgic reasons. I am not saying that is right or wrong by the way. I’ve seen commentary on social media in the past that implies that we should move past that nostalgia to be ‘fairer’ in how we view a coaster. I disagree, when you get down to it, nostalgia is a very specific individual preference. I do think that nostalgia can play a massive part in how you shape a Top 10, for better or worse. I’m not afraid to admit that some of the coasters on my list may not necessarily be the best in the world (although I would still argue that they are up there amongst the best for sure), but they have always retained a spot in my Top 10, in part, because of that sense of nostalgia.

For some of the best rollercoasters out there, you will always remember the first time you ride them and the impact it had on you. Obviously, it is impossible to replicate that ‘first-ride’ experience, because the element of surprise and the unknown is now gone. However, to an extent, that first experience clings to our memories and there is a degree of longing to repeat the sensation. Some coasters, while they can never live up to that first ride experience, they still deliver all of the thrills and excitement you are hoping for, time and time again. While on the other end of the scale, there are some coasters you can repeatedly ride and actually tarnish that first impact. A great example of that for me would be ‘Winja’s’ at Phantasialand, Brühl, Germany. The first time I rode that Maurer Spinning Coaster I thought it was easily the best spinning coaster ever. I enjoyed it so much. Of course, I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t ridden it but there are some surprises along the way. Unfortunately, once you have ridden it and the cat is out of the bag (not one of the surprises), it changes the ride experience. I remember returning years after riding it for the first time and being so excited to ride it again because of how much I loved it on a previous trip. Perhaps I should have managed my excitement and expectation, but I came off of it being really underwhelmed because outside of the few surprises, it is actually a pretty standard spinning coaster. I’d probably rank ‘Dragon’s Fury’ at Chessington World of Adventures, Surrey, (UK) above it.

Why am I rambling on about all this? Well, as I have said, how you rank your favourite coasters (or anything for that matter) is a very personal thing. There is no right or wrong answer, no matter what any elitist, gatekeeping enthusiast might tell you. For me personally, nostalgia definitely plays a part in my Top 10. Some coasters are high on my list that I long to ride again because they remind me of a particular time in my life. Whether it was a holiday, a specific day or even a friendship (yup, some coasters make me think of certain people), re-riding those coasters brings back some great memories and always will do, so I enjoy those coasters that much more, regardless of whether that particular coaster is considered ‘better’ by technical standards. Besides, isn't one of the key selling points of any theme park to create incredible experiences that live on in your memory for years to come ie. creating nostalgia?

Naturally, I will explain this further when it applies in my own Top 10. Of course, I haven’t really been to very many theme parks over the last few years, so there is an element of my Top 10 that is somewhat ‘dated’, for want of a better word and if that isn’t an example of nostalgia in itself then I don’t know what is but anyway, enough rambling, let’s get on with my list.

‘Colossus’, or as it is now known, ‘Colossus – Kampf der Giganten’ was at one point, my absolute favourite wooden coaster in the world. At the time, it was probably the tallest and fastest ‘woodie’ I had ever ridden. I remember it being relentlessly fast from the first drop through to the end. I love a rollercoaster that maintains the thrill and doesn’t die off in its final sections. This fits that bill perfectly with a ridiculous amount of airtime thrown in to boot. Unfortunately, after returning to Heide Park several years later, it dropped down my list a bit. While it still had that glorious speed and airtime, the time had not been kind to it and it had gotten rough enough that both my husband and I came off with headaches. This is a perfect example of how nostalgia can have a negative impact. I’d definitely been vocal on the trip about how amazing Colossus was, only to come off feeling a little cheated. It was actually ‘standing but not operating’ (SBNO) for from 2016 to 2019 due to ‘technical track issues’ so that certainly goes some way to explain the bad experience I had. That being said, I really want to go back and ride it again after the extensive refurbishment and retheming work and see whether it has returned to its former glory.

California Screamin' - Disney's California Adventure

Today, this is now known as ‘Incredicoaster’ after it was rethemed in 2018 to include characters from Disney Pixar’s ‘The Incredibles’. I haven’t ridden it with the new theme so I can’t really talk about what impact that has on the overall experience of the ride. In its original form, it snuck onto my Top 10 and is probably the one that is least expected here. As mentioned already, I love a nostalgia trip and visiting those early amusement parks. As ‘California Screamin’’, the coaster was themed, with a certain element of rose-tint, to evoke those old boardwalk amusement parks. Despite being a steel coaster, the entire layout is themed to look like a wooden coaster, which for me, is aesthetically a cool choice and quite an effort too. I’ve always championed ‘Screamin’’ as being a really solid overall experience. For me, it has it all. It has the experience of both an impactful launch and an adrenaline building lift hill, it has a single inversion and it has little pops of airtime along the way. In some ways, it rides like typical steel coaster but it also has similarities in layout to traditional wooden coasters so that is a win-win. It is still amongst some of the longest coasters in the world so there is no danger of getting off feeling short-changed. It is not excessively intense, but it isn’t tame either. It is in a Disney park, which naturally means for me, it adds to the positive experience and finally, it has (or had) an absolutely brilliant onboard audio score that was perfectly written to match every manoeuvre throughout the ride. It is an ‘incredible’ overall experience (see what I did there) which retains a high level of re-rideability.

If I was asked to suggest a non-uk theme park for any UK theme park lover to head to, Liseberg in Gothenburg, Sweden would be up amongst the very top of the list. It is a stunning place that actually has a few pretty awesome coasters, another of which features on this list too! ‘Balder’ is another Intamin ‘woodie’ like ‘Collosos’ that has had its fair share of acclaim. It is fast, filled with airtime but is more chaotic than ‘Collosos’. My only criticism of this coaster is that it can depend on the time of day you ride it as to what experience you get. If you ride when it opens, you may find that while still very good, very quick and has some airtime, it doesn’t come anywhere close to the type of experience you will get later in the day. As this coaster warms up it takes on a whole new level experience which feels so much faster and with so much more airtime. Everything about riding it at night feels amped up. It still amazes me how much a rollercoaster experience can change from when the wheels are cooler at the beginning of the day through to when it has truly warmed up. ‘Balder’ is a very good example of that.

The first B&M inverted coaster on my list (well, of course, there was going to be an appearance from a certain other UK monster) was a bit of surprise if I am honest. Having now ridden quite a few of these B&M inverts there is an extent to which I find them a little samey and a bit predictable. That is in no way saying that they are bad coasters at all, any park that chooses to purchase a B&M is onto a winner in my opinion. I’ve always said that even a ‘bad’ B&M is better than most other rollercoasters out there. They are certainly consistent. What elevates ‘Black Mamba’ for me was that it has a wonderful overall ride experience, but it is also absolutely beautiful to look at. The theming throughout the ride and the surrounding area is superb. The coaster takes its name from a species of snake which is native to sub-Saharan Africa. Naturally, the location is all themed to be that African village location and the coaster is the snake, winding its way around the village. Obviously, a snake can’t perform the inversions that you experience on the coaster but there are elements of the layout, particularly in the later sections of the ride where the coaster actually feels like you are snake slithering in and out amongst the rocks. A large portion of the ride is also built below ground level, much like ‘Nemesis’ at Alton Towers, UK, so you are diving in and out of tunnels with a lot of terrain interaction which makes it feel that much faster too. I’ve been lucky enough to ride this several times on separate occasions and it is definitely one I can’t wait to get back to and ride again along with many other world-class attractions that Phantasialand now has, I’m looking at you Taron!

We are heading back to Sweden now for the first Rocky Mountain Construction coaster on my list. It is kind of telling that I have only ridden two of their rollercoasters and both of them landed solidly in my Top 10. I think it says a lot about the type of ride experience I favour for sure. ‘Wildfire’ is a relentlessly fast and chaotic wood and steel hybrid coaster and was the first I ever rode. Naturally, the growing reputation of ‘RMC’ for creating world-class coasters certainly had me very excited to ride one of them and ‘Wildfire’ did not disappoint. One of the things I love the most about wooden coasters is how they seem to retain speed and intensity throughout the whole layout and ‘RMC’ seem to have perfected this feature. There is something unusual and almost ‘dangerous’ about the idea of a woodie that inverts and actually pulls off manoeuvres that would seem physically impossible. It bends in ways that very few coasters, if any at all, have ever managed. The inverted zero-G stall is one of the most unusual but awesome elements I have experienced on a coaster. It is packed with airtime hills and ‘near-misses’ with track supports and terrain that help keep the adrenaline pounding although while it does maintain really good speed in its latter section, it does seem to tail off in terms of the bizarre manoeuvres and becomes more like the end of a more traditional coaster which may be a critique for some. I personally love it from start to finish but I can see where some people may think it falls off towards the end.

I spoke in my previous article about how X2 was unlike any other single rollercoaster experience I had ever had. For some, this may be a little bit of a ‘controversial’ choice. I think it is fair to say that the coaster doesn’t exactly have the best reputation. Originally opening to the public in 2002 called simply ‘X’ it was the first Arrow Dynamics 4th Dimension prototype coaster. As a prototype, it was plagued with technical issues and extended downtime. Unfortunately, on our first visit to California on in 2008 it was closed and undergoing a major refurbishment and the installation of new trains and effects. I remember being absolutely gutted at the time because I was literally at the foot of this beast looking up and not being able to ride it. It is probably the most harrowing experience of being ‘spited’ by a closed rollercoaster I have ever had. If you don’t know what being spited is, it is essentially attending a theme park intending to ride all of the coasters except one or more of them is closed. You get spited. It's spiteful that you are going to having a missing line on the checksheet. I'm sure you get the gist but it was a phrase that a friend of mine came up with and it stuck and I was very bitter about missing it the first time ok!

Anyhow, we returned to California in 2017 and this time it was not closed. To this day I remain adamant that there really is nothing like it (apart from those of the same type that have been built since I imagine). ‘X2’ is insanity in rollercoaster form. It is absolutely brutal. For some that brutality is not a good thing but I loved it. I felt like a rag doll being thrown around in a washing machine on a spin cycle and there were times I no longer knew which way was up. It twists and turns in the most unusual ways and just doesn’t let up. It was fast, thrilling and intense by the bucket load. If I was to wish for any coaster type to turn up the UK, I would obviously pick an ‘RMC’ (everyone seems to) but I would really want to see a true 4th dimension coaster so I didn’t have to go so far or so long between visits.

Twisted Colossus - Six Flags Magic Mountain

Sticking around in Six Flags Magic Mountain and over on the other side of the park is the only other Rocky Mountain Construction coaster I have ridden, ‘Twisted Colossus’. I had been lucky enough to ride the duelling wooden coaster ‘Colossus’ back on our first visit and I actually really enjoyed it. It wasn’t necessarily Top 10 material, but it was definitely thought of fondly. Like many traditional wooden coasters around the world, especially of an older generation, ‘Colossus’ had been operating since the ’70s and was ageing. I may be wrong, but I believe it was not the first time that ‘RMC’ has been brought in to give a wooden coaster a new lease of life and it certainly wasn’t the last. Giving it a new lease of life is an understatement when it comes to ‘Twisted Colossus’. Much like ‘Wildfire’, it maintains a fantastic speed throughout the circuit of literally twisted elements. The added ‘bonus’ here is that at times you find yourself duelling with another train on the circuit. As mentioned previously, the original ‘Colossus’ was a duelling wooden coaster meaning you would pick which side you wanted to ride (if they were both open of course). When RMC came in, they kept this duelling element but actually turned into a single coaster, essentially, taking in both layouts. On a good day, you have a train on the first ‘layout’ while another is on the second half of the track which provides some really cool duelling and racing elements like having another train invert right above your head. A ‘duelling’ RMC is certainly a spectacle to behold!

“When you ride Nemesis, remember its history. It is awesome. There is no comparison. This is the legend but don't try to understand, don't try to come to terms with it, don't even try to think about it.
Nemesis at Alton Towers. Sit back. It's fright time!”

I really don’t need to say too much about this coaster that I haven’t already said in my article about the 25th Anniversary of the coaster last year but I am going to anyway. With its terrain hugging, extended acceleration and sustained intensity, ‘Nemesis’ is still my favourite Rollercoaster in the UK and by some margin. There have been many in the UK and even around the world that has tried to match just how incredible ‘Nemesis’ is, but for me, nothing even comes close to it. In my humble opinion, it still stands up as a world-class attraction and came about as ‘happy accident’. The nature of its layout was born out of the legal requirement for Alton Towers to keep the coaster below tree height which meant the designers had to be incredibly creative and innovative when designing this one and in reality, it created a beast of a machine. I still remember my first experience of ‘Nemesis’ in 1998. It was the first major, world-class, level coaster I had ever ridden. At that point, my only other experiences were The Vampire and The Rattlesnake at Chessington World of Adventures. Nemesis was a massive shock to the system and was the first time I had seen the type of coaster more typical in the USA on UK soil. It, along with the ‘Pepsi Max Big One’ at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, sparked a resurgence of coaster innovation in the UK back when they opened in 1994.

Absolutely, nostalgia comes into play here. When ‘Nemesis’ opened 26 years ago it was unlike anything we had ever seen in the UK so it was totally new, exciting and fresh. It was quite easily the best coaster in the UK simply because we had nothing else like it whatsoever, there was no comparison. Was it actually a great ride experience though? Yes. Undoubtedly. Is it still, 26 years later, a great, world-class ride experience? Yes. Undoubtedly. In 26 years of rollercoaster development all around the world, ‘Nemesis’ still stands amongst the giants. To a certain degree, it is STILL my yardstick by which I judge and measure all other coasters even though some are in no way comparable. ‘Nemesis’ never fails to remind me, in all of its intense glory, why I fell in love with rollercoasters in the first place and yes, that comes with a massive dose of nostalgia.

Given my passion for and love of ‘Nemesis’, you may be wondering how on earth can anything stand up against it but there are just a couple of coasters that have managed to impress me even more…

Heading back over to Liseberg in Sweden now for another of their incredible rollercoasters, ‘Helix’. To a certain extent, ‘Helix’ shares a few similarities with ‘Nemesis’. Being built on the side of a rather large hill meant that the designers were also challenged to be creative and innovative with the layout to actually make the coaster work. An additional 40 Million Kronor was spent on rock blasting to carve out the terrain for the coaster! I had never been a particular fan of Mack Rides rollercoasters in that most of what I had ridden was just ok. There was nothing spectacular. ‘Helix’ was most definitely a surprise. Where many of the coasters in my Top 10 have that relentless speed, I found ‘Helix’ to be more graceful. It just seems to glide effortlessly around its circuit at great speed. It rides very smoothly and has some impressive inversions and the launches give just the right punch without being obnoxious about it. Whilst sharing some terrain similarities with ‘Nemesis’, it is a completely also a different ride experience but in the best way. For the longest time, I was in two minds about which of the two was better. Ultimately there are a few things that helped me decide which some might consider inconsequential. ‘Helix’ won out for having almost double the length whilst still maintaining a fantastic ride experience. Of course, being longer doesn’t in any way mean a ride is better but ‘Helix’ makes every last foot of track count. Another factor was the lap-bars. Over the shoulder restraints, whilst are perfectly fine and do a very good job in the name of safety (certain coasters simply wouldn’t exist without them) can sometimes be quite restrictive. Having lap-bars gives a sense of being more risqué so to speak and coupled with those impressive inversions and launches it gives a really unique and exciting ride experience. Oh, and it is damn stunning at night!

I can already hear the potential groans of a dozen enthusiasts (if a dozen even read this) the moment they saw that banner and realised that ‘Expedition GeForce’ is my favourite rollercoaster in the world. I’m well aware of just how many people disagree with me about how good it really is. Still. Where do I start with this one? Well, I first rode it back in 2005 on what was my first ‘lads holiday’ which in itself was a big deal for me. I never ever thought I’d even go on one of those types of a holiday! Of course, this was in no way a conventional lads holiday so I wasn’t entirely wrong about the type of holiday because we were taking a 400-mile road trip through Germany stopping at theme parks along the way. It was a big deal for me and will always be one of the most memorable trips of my life, so there is a whole chunk of nostalgia just for that trip right there.

Anyhow, at the time ‘Expedition GeForce’ had been voted the number 1 rollercoaster in the world a few times in a poll which some have since argued was flawed and easily influenced by a certain large coaster community. At the time it certainly set an expectation. In my mind, from everything I had been told, this coaster was going to better than ‘Nemesis’!

Much like ‘Nemesis’, ‘EGF’ feels like a happy accident. Residing in what was a little park, with only a small number of other attractions, none of which you could consider world-class, there was a great big Intamin Mega Coaster. You could say that a park like this had no business having a coaster like this. I’m not entirely convinced that they truly knew what they were getting when they ordered it! For a time, it was the tallest coaster in Europe and for two days, it was also the tallest I had ridden. Until Silver Star at Europa Park a couple of days later that is. Entering the park, you would never have expected anything at all spectacular to blow your mind in the way only a rollercoaster can. I most definitely say that there was a balance between hearing about its glowing reputation whilst simultaneously existing in the most unassuming setting whilst built a level of expectation and excitement. I was so unbelievably excited to ride Expedition GeForce for so long before I even got anywhere near it. It did not disappoint.

Even the lift hill was exciting to me as it was using a newer cable lift technology which gets you to the top so much quicker than with conventional chain lift rollercoasters. It felt odd, yet exciting as we comparatively hurtled towards the top of the coaster before taking what I still consider to be the best first drop on a coaster anywhere. The train almost feels like it is going to completely flick off the track as it turns down that first drop, like the back of the train is just going to keep on going sideways. Of course, a coaster needs to be more than just a first drop and ‘EGF’ delivers a very fast, airtime filled experience. Much like what I love about ‘Helix’, there is a smooth and graceful way in which ‘EGF’ hurtles around its circuit. One particular element where you experience a pretty good dose of ejector airtime at the same time as a very swift change of direction still sticks out as one of my most favourite ‘elements’ on a coaster. More of them should do that because it is awesome. Overall, the layout is fairly simple and arguably unremarkable, but it absolutely makes up for it in speed and airtime. So much airtime.

The trains themselves are up there with the very best in that it feels like you are sitting so close to the track. We joked at the time it was like being strapped to a tea-tray on wheels. I’m a massive fan of those particular Intamin trains. The seats are very comfortable and there is also the added bonus of unrestrictive lap-bars. I absolutely love every element of this coaster experience.

I’ve since been back to the park a couple of times, once on a very wet day where the coaster opened up late and like I’ve already said about Balder previously, it was running cold and not as quick as my prior experience, for a little while I was of two minds about whether it still sat at my top spot. Another time was possibly the hottest summer I’ve ever experienced in Europe and it ran so incredibly that overall, I still feel like it is the best rollercoaster in the world. It certainly reaffirmed its place at the top for me.

I’ve heard many say that ‘Expedition GeForce’ is overrated and overhyped and to a certain extent I do understand that. For a good few years, it was really raved about which builds a massive level of expectation, an unachievable level. For me personally, riding it takes me back to a time where I was quite literally living my best life, with a couple of my best friends, at the height of my coaster enthusiasm. With that in mind, I will absolutely concede that nostalgia plays a part in why the coaster ranks so highly for me. However, as I’ve already said that I disagree that nostalgia shouldn’t play a part in how you rate a rollercoaster.

I did wonder whether I would still get that same adrenaline rush and excitement on subsequent visits and I can honestly say, I still did, so much so that Holiday Park is still a place I long to return to. In this almost post lockdown world, if there was any coaster I could go ride again right now, it would be ‘EGF’. Both because I know it will evoke some of my happiest memories and because I know I will most definitely get an incredible ride experience all over again.

So, there you have it. My Top 10 favourite rollercoasters. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Drop them in the comments below or we can even carry on the conversation over on Twitter.

Thanks for stopping by and reading.

As the world very slowly finds itself in a new normal, many of us will be thinking of how we want to do things differently in future. After being pretty much housebound since March 2020 I have certainly had time to think and reflect. One of the biggest things for me is the whole notion of ‘Live for the moment’ and the plethora of uplifting quotes that spring to mind. Lockdown and its impact are so widespread that I think a lot more of us will be working even harder to live life to the fullest. It has got me thinking about all those places that I really want to visit but just hadn’t got around to yet. We all have a ‘bucket list’ like that right? Granted, I could have visited a lot of different places for holidays over the years, but we choose to return to Walt Disney World again and again. I do not think we will ever stop returning to Orlando of course, it is our happy place. Still, 17 weeks (we had 1 extra because we were already self-isolating before lockdown began) of not being able to go places has definitely given us a sense of perspective and a renewed determination to visit new places too.

With the recent resurgence of my interest in theme parks, I have been thinking specifically about the theme parks around the world that I always said I wanted to visit but still haven’t and I thought I would share that list with you. At this point, I should say that there is a whole crop of theme parks that we have visited previously that now have sparkly new attractions I want to ride. That in itself is a whole different list. Today I will just be talking about the parks that are still totally new to me that are on my bucket list.

The heritage lover in me has always wanted to visit Coney Island. Strictly speaking, Coney Island itself is not a theme park so I am kind of cheating already. It is actually a residential and commercial district in Brooklyn, New York. At Coney Island, you will find Luna Park and Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park along with some other rides that don’t belong to a specific park. Luna Park is home to the ‘Coney Island Cyclone’ which is one of the oldest wooden roller coasters still in operation in the USA. The coaster is a New York City Designated Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I’ve ridden the oldest operating rollercoaster in the UK, the ‘Scenic Railway’ at Dreamland, Margate which opened in 1920. The ‘Coney Island Cyclone’ was built in 1927. There is a certain romanticism for those really old rollercoasters. By modern-day standards, they are very tame but that doesn’t take away from how important they are. In their opening years, they were the cutting edge of rollercoaster technology, well, to an extent, they were the birth of it. At the time they were the most thrilling thing that the general public had access to. In addition, New York City is pretty high up on my bucket list of places I’d like to visit all on its own.

Fuji-Q Highland, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan

To be fair, there are actually a few Japanese parks that I would love to visit and in all honesty, I just want to visit Japan. I absolutely love the idea of visiting a part of the world that is so culturally different. I picked Fuji Q because it is quite literally near the base of Mount Fuji and the location looks incredible. It also has ‘Eejanaika’, the second ‘4th Dimension Rollercoaster’ ever built. I have ridden the first, ‘X2’ at Six Flags Magic Mountain and to say that I loved it was an understatement. That coaster was unlike absolutely anything I have ever ridden in my life ever. It was a little brutal, to say the least, but in a good way. There were points around the circuit that I literally couldn’t tell which way was up. If there was any coaster-type that I would like to see more of in the world, it is these because they are just so ridiculously mental. I swear, whoever came up with the concept and designed it was on some mad trip or something. I need to try ‘Eejanaika’ just to be sure of course. In short, the combination of Japan, the culture, Mount Fuji and ‘Eejanaika’ is enough to make this list.

If you are not a theme park enthusiast, you might not know this. Not to play into a stereotype or anything but if you are a gay man, you should know this. Dolly Parton has a theme park! Well, she co-owns it, but the point is. Dolly. Parton. Has. A. Theme. Park. It’s called Dollywood for heaven’s sake! That in itself is enough to make me want to pack up the cowboy boots that I don’t yet own and get on the plane. Dolly is a legend and an icon. On top of that, she actually has some pretty cool looking coasters in her park. It is HER park, don’t argue! There is ‘Lightning Rod’ which is a Rocky Mountain Construction wood and steel hybrid. I’ve already ridden a couple of the RMC coasters and I would say that both of them were world-class. I have yet to see anything that would suggest that ‘Lightning Rod’ is anything less. ‘Wild Eagle’ the Bolliger & Mabillard ‘Wing-Coaster’ also looks pretty cool too. On top of the rides, the park looks absolutely stunning, set in the natural beauty of the Knoxville-Smoky Mountains. And in case you didn’t pick up on it, DOLLY PARTON!

Tokyo Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort

Did you really think you were going to get a list of bucket list places that did not include Disney? Granted, I am cheating here a little bit because they are three very separate resorts. I have lumped them all together because my husband and I have often discussed and dreamt about a holiday where we take on all three resorts on the same trip. I don’t really need to get into the specifics of why we want to visit these resorts. They are Disney and that speaks for itself in my book. If we ever did get out there to visit all three, we would be able to say that we had visited every single Disney resort around the world. I’ll accept that this probably wouldn’t be a big deal for very many people but for me, it would be an achievement; a level-up of my Disney obsession.

With 17 rollercoasters currently operating, Cedar Point is probably the theme park capital, no, Mecca, of the world. I don’t think I know of a single theme park or rollercoaster enthusiast that doesn’t dream about visiting this park if they haven’t already. The park currently holds the record for the second-greatest number of rollercoasters in a single theme park. Six Flags Magic Mountain currently has the most at 19 operating coasters, but I have already been there twice. Adding another 17 coasters to my ride list or coaster-count is enough in itself to make me want to visit. Sure, there can be an argument made for quality over quantity. It would be a bit pants if all 17 of the coasters were the equivalent of a Wacky Worm or worse, a Vekoma SLC (sorry Vekoma :-P) but from what I can see, Cedar Point has a very eclectic bunch of rollercoasters to try, many of which are regarded as being the best of their type in the world.

At the very top of my list is ‘Top Thrill Dragster’. There isn’t an enthusiast alive that doesn’t know about this one. For a time, it was the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the world, only being beaten by the slightly bigger version ‘Kingda Ka’ at Six Flags Great Adventure. I’ve heard it argued many a time that TTD is still a better ride. If you are in the UK and in no way a theme park enthusiast and these names mean nothing to you, you might know of ‘Stealth’ at Thorpe Park. Now literally double that in size. That is pretty much ‘Top Thrill Dragster’. A 420ft tall monster of a speed machine. It opened in 2003 and I’ve been saying that it’s on my bucket list pretty much ever since. 17 years later and I still really want to get out there. And look at that, 17 years… 17 coasters… 17 weeks of lockdown… perhaps it’s a sign?

They also have ‘Maverick’, which looks like a beast of a coaster all on its own, its reputation for being brilliant is well noted. ‘Steel Vengeance’ is another Rocky Mountain Construction wood and steel hybrid coaster that from what I have seen and heard is relentlessly fast and chaotic, which is just how I love a woodie (behave!). Chuck in ‘Gatekeeper’ and ‘Millennium Force’ and you have 5 coasters that I would absolutely travel out to Ohio for, in a heartbeat. That’s without all the other attractions.

I also have the added desire and further excuse to visit as the park is just a ‘short’ 2.5hr drive from another of my bucket list locations. This one is totally non-theme park related but given how close to Cedar Point it is, it would be downright rude not to include it. BrewDog DogTap Columbus is the first-ever US BrewDog Outpost and even has its own hotel – The Doghouse, the world’s first craft beer hotel. I could quite literally stay at this hotel, tour the brewery, enjoy some of the best beers in the world and it would be a perfect base camp for the pilgrimage up to Cedar Point. On paper, this sounds like pretty much the most perfect holiday for me right now. It has the potential to rival any Disney Resort holiday. Those who know me well enough will know that is never something I would speak of lightly! Granted, doing it with a two-year-old in tow might not be ideal but I do know a few others, well, in particular one person, who would absolutely jump at the chance to join the pilgrimage. I think it is time!

What about you? What are the theme parks that you have been saying you would visit for years but still haven’t? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by and reading x

It has been an awfully long time since I have written an article, or anything for that matter, about a rollercoaster. My passion and enthusiasm for rollercoasters has not really been as strong in recent years. That said, I was having a good 'ole reminisce this morning, listening to my archived collection of theme park soundtrack scores when the music for the legendary Nemesis came on. I have always loved the extensive backstory that was created for the ride which was also superbly narrated by Tom Baker with an eerie but epic soundtrack:

Nobody knows where it came from. Nobody knows what it wants. There are theories, and then, there is the legend. Nemesis comes from another dimension. A dimension beyond our imagination. Its tragedy is that it has no home. It has suffered rejection throughout the solar system. It could not communicate, or make itself understood. No civilisation anywhere in any galaxy would come to terms with its awesome power, its brooding unpredictability, its mind.

Bewildered and afraid, mentally tortured by not knowing its origins, people turned against it, they fought it, they used everything against it but Nemesis has no fear. They were mere irritants to Nemesis, to be swatted away like flies. It left, to seek sanctuary but it searched in vain. Unwanted, it was jettisoned towards Earth two million years ago. It has remained here ever since, drawing its energy from the Earth's core.
For centuries, people were drawn to the mysterious place where it was thought to lay buried. They paid homage to the power. They brought gifts. They gave their souls! It's resting place became a mystical place, a place of worship. Few pilgrims returned to lead a normal life, such was their disturbance, such was the gravity of what they felt. Often these meddlers met mysterious ends, crazed by their findings, driven mad by the force. Some simply disappeared leaving only their fear. Nemesis was too disturbing, it defied scientific explanation. It was left to brood in peace. Unexplained, its existence denied. Sanctuary at last. Until today.
Nemesis was discovered during routine maintenance work in the Forbidden Valley at Alton Towers. A group of workmen complained of dizzy spells, of an uncontrollable force drawing them towards a place where the shadows of two giant oak trees met. The force was overpowering. They were compelled to dig, to seek the source. What they discovered, defies description. The Nemesis had been disturbed, the sanctuary it sought for so many millions of years broken. It was awake. It thrashed crazily in the earth, removing all before it. Like a giant excavator, it sent trees and small buildings hurtling skywards, dementedly it released its anger at being discovered. Crazy, it formed the pit that you see today.
A security silence fell over Alton Towers while archaeologists and historians nervously investigated. Eventually, they described their worst fears; This was, Nemesis! Nemesis had to be controlled. It took 250 tonnes of steel and 200 men. Not ordinary men, not ordinary steel. Pinned down by this massive structure, it tries to escape, steaming anger. We, merely irritants, now ride it, fuelling its annoyance. It is controlled but not tamed.
When you ride Nemesis, remember its history. It is awesome. There is no comparison. This is the legend but don't try to understand, don't try to come to terms with it, don't even try to think about it.
Nemesis at Alton Towers. Sit back. It's fright time!

It wasn't until after I had written out the story in a particularly nerdy twitter stream and chatted to a friend did I spot that actually, Nemesis had opened on the 19th March 1994. 25 years ago today! With that in mind, I figured I would write something up. Nemesis has always been one of my favourite UK rollercoasters. I can't think of any other UK coaster I would place above it if ranking them again. Granted, there a couple of other newer coasters around the UK that I haven't ridden yet, namely 'Wicker Man', also at Alton Towers and 'Icon' at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Call me a fool, but I don't think either of them is going to steal the crown.

Nemesis has always been a rather spectacular feat of engineering and creativity. It is a known fact amongst the rollercoaster enthusiast community that Alton Towers, itself being a historic site, is placed under many restrictions when considering new attractions. Alton Towers are not allowed to build attractions that are taller than the tree height. This is so that the rides are not seen from the neighbouring villages. It is totally understandable, considering the parks setting in amongst the hills and picturesque countryside of Staffordshire. It must be quite the task when it comes to designing and building the next world-class attraction with such a limit in place but I think it has led to some truly unique and wonderful creative choices for the park.

Back in 1992, designer (and a personal hero of mine) John Wardley was looking at the concepts for a new, exciting and unique ride experience to feature at Alton Towers. There were two other concepts considered before Wardley became aware of a brand new style of rollercoaster being designed for Six Flags Great America in the USA. Six Flags had proposed a concept that was, at the time, considered impossible; An inverted rollercoaster (train suspended below the track) that also inverted (took the riders upside down). The Swiss company Bollinger & Mabillard, or B&M as they are commonly known, took on the project and Batman: The Ride was created. Wardley was able to ride the new attraction shortly before it opened and wanted one for Alton Towers.

But what makes Nemesis so special?

Well, if you take a look at the vast majority of rollercoasters, especially those created back then (and excluding the more modern launch coasters), they all begin the same way. The train leaves the station and then climbs a hill up to it's highest point. Once the train disengages the lift hill, it is normally a long drop back down, under gravity, to the rides lowest point. This means that the train reaches its peak speed as it hurtles past the bottom of its first drop. From here on in, the rollercoaster train loses acceleration and speed as the kinetic energy dwindles and this is where Nemesis is vastly different.

Due to the height limit constraints at Alton Towers, it was decided that the rollercoaster would be built in a sizeable pit. Of course, the park could have just excavated and flattened the land for the whole ride to sit on top of it but that would have been incredibly costly. Instead, the 'pit' would be designed as an interaction with the ride. The rollercoaster and the landscape are completely integrated. In order to keep the excavation costs down, the track was designed to be 'tight' around the terrain. It would twist and dive, navigating closely around the rock faces which had been excavated for the ride. It makes a ride on Nemesis feels even faster as you hurtle through the terrain and all the more thrilling as your mind wonders whether you might actually hit the rock edge. Also, with its 'tight' design, the twists and turns are taken at a higher speed than you would usually experience on a rollercoaster meaning that those manoeuvres feel all the more intense.

Its lift hill would stand at only 43ft however its total 'drop' would be 104ft. The rollercoaster would navigate this new terrain and would not reach its lowest point until around two-thirds of the way around the track. For those that are interested, Nemesis reaches its peak acceleration and speed at the bottom of the vertical loop. This means that the train would be accelerating throughout a large portion of the ride and that feature is unlike almost any single rollercoaster anywhere in the world.

The nature of its terrain hugging design, coupled with the extended length of acceleration means that the overall intensity of the experience is sustained far longer. How many rollercoasters have you ridden where the fastest moment is literally at the bottom of the first hill and the experience tapers off from there in as it decelerates? Not on Nemesis. It blisters around the track getting faster and faster, furiously hurtling through its turns and inversions. Certainly, at the time and perhaps even now, it can be considered one of the most intense rollercoasters in the world. All of this, came as a result of the tough restrictions that Alton Towers have to adhere to, almost like some kind of happy accident.

Of course, no rollercoaster is designed 'by accident' but the restrictions it was created under, gifted it a most unique experience and the ride has since become regarded as a world-class attraction. Even now, Nemesis still ranks highly when it comes to industry awards. If I was told that I could only ride one ride at Alton Towers, Nemesis would be my choice. For me, no visit to the park is complete without multiple rides on this absolute beast of a coaster.

In the last 25 years, many newer, more advanced attractions have opened both at Alton Towers and across the UK, but none of them has ever really matched the awesome and unique experience that Nemesis possesses. If there was ever a case of 'lightning in a bottle' for rollercoasters, Nemesis is most certainly it.

Happy 25th Anniversary Nemesis!

Thanks for stopping by and reading x

PS. Did you enjoy this article? Would you like me to talk about theme parks and rollercoasters more often? If so, let me know in the comments below.

It would seem that I was beginning to adjust to the time difference at long last, since we had planned to get up a little earlier and this morning I was struggling. Although we did have plans for the day, it felt really unusual to not have our time planned out for us and to have a whole group of people to meet up with. Today was the first day in our adventure when it was just the two of us, left to our own devices.

Thankfully, we already had plans and we were going to be hiring a car and driving up to Six Flags Magic Mountain. To be honest, this was some rather poor planning on our part, since Magic Mountain is North of Los Angeles so we were basically going to be driving all the way back past where we started, however in terms of planning, this was the least of our worries.

Given the number of car rental sites around the Disney Resort the husband thought that pre-booking a rental would be unnecessary. This didn't work out well though, we ended up wandering around Anaheim going to different locations before we found somewhere that actually had a car available. It really was third time lucky when we were able to get a car. By the time we got going we were already behind our planned leaving time by a little over an hour.

Now, you may have already heard about the traffic in L.A. You may have heard that it is a myth. I swear to you, it is not. For almost the entire journey on the interstate we were sat in traffic. All told it took just over 2 hours to do a journey that is only 61 miles.

At least we had finally arrived and parked up. Getting out of the car you could feel the effects of the park effectively being in what I would probably consider the desert. It was around 12 degrees hotter than the weather we had experienced so far which was far from mild already. It was scorching and was only going to get hotter throughout the day.

The first thing we needed to do was collect our fast pass. Six Flags operate a premium fast pass service called a Flash Pass where you can book your ride times on a special device they give you for the day. You simply select the attraction you want to ride next and it gives you a time to return, essentially reserving your space in the queue. The device then beeps and gives you a nudge when it is your turn to ride. Once you take your ride you are then free to make another selection. There are different levels of pass you can buy too which dictates the number of attractions you can use it for. We had opted for the platinum pass to make sure that we got on absolutely everything we wanted to on that day. Naturally there is a price per person for the privilege which depends on when you go. For us, we had visited the park before and missed a few attractions so it was absolutely worth the price to make sure we did everything.

Once we were in and our Flash Pass had been assigned we put it to good use to ride the attraction that we were most looking forward to. On our last visit, we were sorely disappointed because it was closed for upgrades. Thankfully, this time around it was definitely open so we made a beeline for X2. X2 is what they call a 4D or Fourth Dimension coaster. It gets that name from the fact that as well as being a rollercoaster, the seats also pivot and flip over adding a whole new dynamic to the ride experience. There are actually very few of these around the world and so we were glad to finally be getting the opportunity to ride one and thanks to the Flash Pass, we didn’t even have to wait the 60-minute queue time either!

It is incredibly difficult to explain just how insane X2 is or even how it works, so here is a video so you get a real feel for it…

The video really doesn’t do the experience justice though. It is like The Swarm at Thorpe Park dropped some LSD or something. It felt furiously fast, aided by the fact you had no idea which way you were going to end up facing next. I have not been an active member of the rollercoaster enthusiast community for some time now so I have no idea what is thought of the coaster or where it stacks up in other people’s opinions but I ‘flipping’ loved it – pun intentional. It is a beast of a machine which really offers a point of difference to many other coasters out there. I truly wish there were more of these around the world. In fact, I think it would really suit an adrenaline fuelled park like Thorpe Park. Perhaps I think it is so brilliant because it is so different to every other coaster I have ridden. There are only two other fourth dimension coasters in the world and they are in China and Japan. I genuinely loved the experience and I hope to see a few more of them crop up one day despite the fact that they come with a huge price tag. In my view, they are definitely worth it!

As is customary, especially when riding something for the first time, we decided to purchase the On-Ride Photo. We decided to pay the small amount extra and get the Photo Pass which would enable us to pick up On-Ride photos for all of the other attractions around the park as well as character meet and greets. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a waste of money as we were unable to find any other coasters that actually had the on-ride photo option which was very disappointing. When we questioned this with staff their attitude was that we could have had character pictures too but I will be honest and say we didn’t actually see any character meet and greets either.

Nevertheless, we had a great day blitzing around the park riding coasters again. X2 was definitely a highlight, along with Twisted Colossus. We had ridden the original wooden rollercoaster Colossus back in 2008 which was a pretty good ride but in 2015 it was given a massive overhaul to become Twisted. This overhaul was carried out by a company called Rocky Mountain Construction who have a knack for creating hybrid wooden and steel rollercoasters which have a reputation for being incredibly fast and performing ridiculous manoeuvres. We are lucky enough to have ridden another of their creations over in Kolmården, Sweden, so we were both very excited to see how this one shaped up in comparison. It most definitely did not disappoint. I think the thing that impressed me the most was its unrelenting speed. It simply doesn’t slow down and provides ridiculous levels of airtime and inversions. After riding, we both commented on how it had pretty much everything a rollercoaster should have. Check out this awesome video of it…

Again, the video doesn’t really do it justice, but then, when does a video ever do a rollercoaster justice. You have to ride them for the full effect to be truly appreciated. I would actually recommend Six Flags Magic Mountain for this and X2 alone, without the other 17 rollercoasters that they have. Mainly because some of those others are terribly bad. Scream! has become horribly rough and uncomfortable in the years since our last visit despite its lovely fresh coat of paint. It was not a fun experience to be honest and had a serious case of what I call ‘square-wheel-itis’, because that’s what it felt like it was running on.

Also on my hit list of coasters I have no desire to ride again is Apocalypse: The Ride. Don’t get me wrong, I am fully versed in how a wooden coaster runs and how they can be on the rough side. For the most part, that is exactly what you expect from a ‘woodie’ and what makes them enjoyable. It should feel fast and out of control but this was something else. It certainly was fast but it was also horrifically rough, leaving me with nasty headache to boot.

Green Lantern: First Flight can also be given a dishonourable mention. We had ridden a similar coaster type over in Gröna Lund (also in Sweden) which we did not enjoy very much but thought we would give this a go and see if it was any better. It wasn’t. I am going to go so far as to say that Intamin Ball Coasters or Zac Spins are among the most pointless and unenjoyable coasters I have ever had the misfortune of riding. Aesthetically, they look interesting and different but to ride them is a far from pleasant experience. If you ever give one a go I strongly advise you are careful with your neck because of the possibility of whiplash. On both versions, I have gotten off feeling like I might have actually done some damage to my neck.

While I am not adding this to my list of undesirables, I should mention New Revolution. I was a massive fan of the coaster back in 2008, because of its heritage as the world’s first modern rollercoaster to feature a vertical loop opening back in 1976. It was a very enjoyable but dated attraction. In 2016, theyintroduced the latest trend making its way through the theme park industry; Virtual Reality. Instead of riding normally, you wear a VR headset so that they can present a new scene to you. Prior to this, I had only ridden Galactica at Alton Towers and wasn’t entirely enthralled with the VR experience. I don’t hate it but I don’t think it really adds anything to the ride. It leaves me feeling ‘meh’. I would much prefer to see the real scenery around me instead of a fake CGI world. New Revolution had about the same impact for me. For Marc, it was worse and he had to remove his headset part of the way round as it was making him feel sick. I know some people really enjoy the VR element on rollercoasters but it just doesn’t do it for me. It feels too forced and reeks of the notion that they have run out of ways to make rollercoasters interesting. That or the park just doesn’t want to pay out to theme the coaster for real.

We also got to experience the parks newest attraction, Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. The ride itself is another of those shoot-em-up rides where the rider has to fire a laser gun at targets as part of the story. Being a big Batman fan I was very excited to ride this and be immersed in the DC universe. Unfortunately, within a few minutes of entering the attraction building everything came to a grinding halt as the ride broke down. We were told by the staff member to stay in the first room with the introduction video playing on a loop which in itself wasn’t really an issue, apart from the fact that the main doors then opened up and allowed the next batch of people to cram into the already busy first room. When the staff member eventually came back he started to shout some instructions except nobody could hear a word he was saying over the booming sound of the video that was playing. When he was asked to repeat what he said we were simply told to ‘forget it, just wait in here’. You have to love a member of staff who really cares…

The ride itself was fun enough. I’ve done better and I’ve done worse. For an overall theme park experience it has its merits, especially within a Six Flags park as they have a reputation for a lack of dark rides and generic rollercoasters on concrete floors.

All in all, we had a great time at Six Flags Magic Mountain but once we had ridden everything we wanted to, we had no real desire to stay and re-ride anything. I’d have happily ridden X2 again but the queue was huge and you can only use the Flash Pass once for this particular attraction. You'll notice that there were no pictures through this part of the article. We were both quite lazy and didn't actually take any. We had planned to do riding and then go round taking photos but by the time we had ridden what we wanted to we decided to call it a day and fight our way back through the traffic back down to Anaheim.

The traffic was certainly no better on the way back and we were both relieved to get into the Paradise Pier Hotel car park. After all the hassle of getting the car in the morning and the long travel times we wanted to have a relaxing evening so we made our way over to Disney’s California Adventure with the sole intention of enjoying the atmosphere of the park at night and taking photographs. We didn’t ride a single attraction and just enjoyed wandering calmly around the park, especially as night fell and all the lights came on around the park. For us, that is the beauty of the Disney parks. They are perfectly enjoyable even if you don’t ride a single thing or see a single show. We get a great deal of enjoyment from just walking around and soaking up that magical atmosphere. I actually find it very relaxing and that pretty much sums up how the end of our day panned out, so I will leave you with some dusk and night time photos:

The Entrance to Paradise Pier as the sun begins to fall

GO! GO! GO!

California Neon Lights!

Paradise Pier

Paradise Pier store fronts

I love a light motion blur at night.

Everyone getting ready for World of Color.

I am still in love with Radiator Springs at night.

Flo's V8 Cafe

Radiator Springs Racers

Those incredible 'mountains' again

BREAKOUT!

The Carthay Circle at night.

I woke up with a bittersweet feeling now that the Adventures by Disney part of our trip was over. This morning we would be having a farewell breakfast which meant saying goodbye to our Adventure Guides and many of our fellow adventurers. I don't like goodbyes! Of course, these were holiday friendships, but like no other I have ever experienced in my life. My view remains that friendships are truly born in shared experiences and this whole experience had been incredible. For all those times, I find it difficult to convey what something was like, I know there are 30 other people, who know exactly what I mean and how it felt in the moment. That creates a special bond and a different kind of friendship.

Still, it wasn't over quite yet and we were determined to enjoy our last breakfast with the group. This one would be taking place in Steakhouse 55. Once we arrived I realised this was the perfect place to close our trip. Many of the photographs on the walls featured Walt with a whole host of other famous people Walt met or entertained throughout his life. From what I understand of it, if the American Dream was personified, Walt really was it.

I went for the traditional breakfast again this morning, with copious amounts of coffee. I truly didn't want to be saying goodbye to any of these wonderful people and it was making me a little down. Coffee was my coping mechanism, hoping it would give me an extra boost. As everyone else arrived it seemed that I wasn't the only one feeling this way.

The breakfast itself was great food and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Throughout the breakfast we were sat alongside Michael and Summer-Rose, our incredible Adventure guides. They were both amazing, knowledgeable, helpful, friendly and had great senses of humour. I think both of them were the epitome of brilliant Disney Cast members, I only hope that one day our paths of adventure will cross again. I insisted that we had to get a picture with them once we had finished eating.

Once we sat back down, Michael surprised me once again. All week long he had been carrying the collectible pins that they give out in a cool little Stitch character pouch. I had joked earlier in the week that he better keep an eye on it because Stitch is my favourite. He handed me the pouch and said, "it's yours".

Already feeling a little emotional, I was on the verge of tears and gobsmacked; he had remembered my favourite character. It was such a small thing but it was so kind and thoughtful. It summed up how I felt about the whole experience with Adventures by Disney.

Now feeling a whole whirlwind of emotions, it was time to say goodbye, particularly to those who would not be attending D23. For some, their whole adventure had come to an end and they would be heading home. I was grateful that we still had another whole week of excitement to enjoy. Many of those people are on my Facebook so we have been able to stay in touch. I hope that one day we can meet some of them again, which is quite likely, considering we were all such fans of Disney.

Holding back the waterworks we made our way out of the hotel and bumped into Goofy who I hadn't had the chance to get a picture with the day before. There is nothing like a picture with a Disney Character to put a spring in your step. Especially considering our next task was to check out of the Disneyland Hotel and move all our baggage over to Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel.

It was definitely a challenge manoeuvring three full size cases, two cabin cases and our other bags that was for sure. Thankfully, it wasn't a ridiculously long walk between the two hotels. Upon arrival, we were not able to check-in quite yet but were able to deposit our cases into the holding room so that we could go and get going on the next stage of our trip. D23.

Now I will add here, that I am not going to break down the three days into separate parts and will keep it all in one. This is mainly because a lot of the events blur into one and also, because we opted not to queue for hours attending panels so it would be easier to summarise various elements of the convention.

For those of you who do not know. D23 is the Official Disney fan club and every two years they hold their own convention at the Anaheim Convention Centre. The convention is a hugely attended event with a reported 100,000 people attending this year. Throughout the event there would be specific panels which came with surprises and announcements. Whether your Disney love is the Parks & Resorts, Animation or Live Action, there was a panel for it with many of the announcements made being completely new news confirmation of an internet rumour. Each of the panels was effectively a presentation on a particular subject featuring hosts and special guests involved in that project. This weekend was probably the most exciting time to be a Disney Fan.

Queuing

The rumours about queues were certainly not unfounded. The first day we arrived around 10am and queued for around 90 minutes. Each subsequent day the overall queue time was shorter. When we first arrived it actually looked horrific and took us a good ten minutes to even find where to join the queue.

It was nice to see the Cast Member Doug, who we met on the Disneyland day of our ABD. He recognised us too and gave us a high five as we passed him in the queue on all three days. Moments like this helped the queue pass by quickly.

All of the panels and major stores as well as the various exhibitions had very long lines involved. For instance, the Live Action panel actually saw people sleep out overnight in line to guarantee their seat!

As much as we are enthralled by Disney, we couldn’t face extreme queuing like that so we had opted before we even arrived that we would just play it by ear and not spend hours and hours queueing.

Announcements

The major announcements that really appealed to me were from Parks and Resorts. As I have mentioned, we had opted not to attend any of the panels, because of the queues. We were happy to hear the announcements just like everyone else who couldn’t get a seat, usually via twitter. There was a palpable buzz around the convention floor when it was announced that there were a whole raft of changes coming to Walt Disney World, including the addition of the Tron Rollercoaster to the Magic Kingdom, which can currently be found in Shanghai, and the Ratatouille attraction from Disney’s Hollywood Studios park in Paris coming to Disney’s Epcot. I don’t need to list out all of the announcements of course, the internet is awash with them but I am personally most excited about the Tron Coaster.

Communication

Me playing a Fix-It-Felix Arcade Machine

One of the things that irked me a little throughout the weekend was the communication from the people working there. It seems there was possibly three different groups of people involved, Disney Cast Members, Convention Centre Staff and Security. The answer to your question would very much depend on which person you spoke to. It made trying to plan anything a little difficult because it was never clear what the procedures were and so on. One of the key examples of this I will cover in e shops section. Further to that, each day seemed a little different in terms of procedure. It was like they were immediately acting upon the previous days learns and while it is good to try and fix the issues right away, it was a little confusing when you think you finally understand how it works and then it is different the following day.

This became particularly relevant when it came to finding smoking areas. All throughout the Friday we had gone to a particular location outside. Come the Saturday this had changed and the security guard at the door was very rude about it and didn't tell us that we couldn't go out there until we were trying to come back in. He then accused us of ignoring him as he claimed he tried to call us back before we went out. If he did try calling us back, the fact that we were out there for 15 minutes and he didn't think to stick his head out and continue trying to get our attention was by-the-by it would seem. Of the three us, none of us heard or saw anyone calling us back.

That's not to say that all the staff and cast members were terrible. Some of them were absolutely wonderful Disney Cast Members.

Shops

Within the convention there were three major shops; The Disney Store, much like the mall and high street stores, The Dream Store, consisting of products relating to the Parks and Resorts and Mickey’s Of Glendale. Unfortunately, we did not get to visit The Disney Store but we did visit the other two. Each of the stores had very long lines to get in to the point that you could get fast passes, or store passes to visit the shops! To begin with, we thought that the fast pass was the only way you could get into the shops, partly because of the lack of communication and mis-communication. At times the line for the store-pass was reportedly 3 hours long!

In the queue for the Disney Dream Store

Ironically, we found out from another cast member at the Dream Store that there was actually a stand-by line too. We were quite lucky because at the time there was a major panel taking place and the standby line had dropped down to about 20 minutes so we decided to wait. Why would anyone queue up for the store pass if the stand-by line was only 20 minutes? This conveniently shorter cue was probably not a good thing as it meant we spent a fair chunk of cash and for the first time ever known to humankind. IT WASN’T ME!!!! There was an incredible ornamental figurine based on the Fantasmic! show with Mickey pulling the sword from the stone to defeat Maleficent in dragon form. The fire surrounding the battling duo lights up and everything! As it is our favourite show in the parks and because it featured Marc’s favourite character, he decided he had to have it. A side note here, the box was so big that we had to put it in its own suitcase!

Mickeys of Glendale is actually a store that can be found at the Imagineering Campus for the cast members. Members of the public do not usually get to go in here unless you are on a tour or the like. We would have been able to visit the store when we were at Imagineering ourselves but the whole store had been relocated to D23. Thankfully, because of that, they had given us all a fast pass entry so that we didn’t have to queue up to get in the shop. I managed to buy a whole host of Imagineering goodies, including t-shirts and stationery for work. I could probably have spent a whole lot more too.

Stalls

Along with the three major stores there were also countless Disney partner vendors like Funko and Sphero in attendance. These were more often than not, selling the products that they had created. A particular favourite of mine was Sphero. To explain what they are I have lifted a little bio from their website:

‘Sphero began the connected play revolution in 2010 by creating something unlike anything - and we never stopped. We fuse robotic and digital technology into immersive entertainment experiences that ignite imagination and defy expectation. Optimized by data and powered by fun, these ever-evolving experiences are changing the way the world thinks about play.’

Lightning and Me! (NOT the toy!)

They created the incredible BB-8 toy that was launched for the release of Star Wars The Force Awakens. More recently, they had released the ‘Ultimate Lightning McQueen’. Now I am the first to admit that I am not the biggest Cars fan or even a massive fan of the character either, but the remote control car that they have developed is insanely good. It is like playing with your very own animatronic version of the character. He interacts with you and when he does talk his mouth actually moves. His eyes move around his windscreen (via a digital screen) whilst this is going on. Like in the movie, he lifts and drops on his axles, giving him a full range of movement as well as being a very snappy RC toy. Finally, he will also sit and watch the films with you and react to scenes in the movie. Of course, technology of this kind does come with a price tag but I genuinely believe it is worth every penny. This may actually be the coolest toy ever created! It was probably way out of my price range, especially for a toy, so I was incredibly touched and surprised when Marc disappeared off to the bathroom and came back with one as a gift for me. He said he could tell how much I loved it and I really, really do. I have always liked remote control cars and this is just next level awesome!

Along with the major vendors, there were also lots of smaller companies, each of them selling various Disney related collectibles, apparel, gifts, toys and souvenirs. If you are attending D23 you probably love Disney and if you love to shop, I strongly advise that you save up accordingly.

Food

Incredible Deadpool costume!

We had heard terrible rumours about the standard of food available and also the queues to get said food but to be honest we did not experience either. The food was typical of a convention centre or arena in that it was fairly expensive but it was nice enough. We didn’t actually eat very much whilst we were there and besides, with the odd sandwich or so we couldn’t really pass judgement. It seemed that there were plenty of options available.

The Dis

One of the fun things we also got to do was hang out with the Dis team a little more as they had a stall for the weekend. They were going to be reporting on all of the weekend’s events and announcements from the various panels. They put on several shows throughout the weekend which went out live on YouTube. We were actually able to sit in and watch a couple of the shows going out live which was fascinating to watch. It was also amusing seeing the number of people passing the booth and rubbernecking to see what was going on and who was on camera. Sitting there felt like we were somehow a part of it. It was great to meet another member of the team, Cory, who is just awesome and so down to earth as well as Michael who is the incredibly knowledgeable Disney historian on the Connecting with Walt series of shows. All of these people were so friendly and welcoming!

Marty Sklar

This deserves its own little section because it was probably the biggest moment of the weekend for me. I’ll start out by telling you who Marty is as I know many people do not know! Marty was the International Ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering. He had formerly been the Vice President of Concepts and Planning for the company before being promoted to President then Vice Chairman and Principle Creative Executive.

Marty was hired by Disney in 1955 to create a 1950’s themed newspaper titled, The Disneyland news. After graduating, he held responsibility for a lot of the parks publicity and marketing and then in 1961 he was transferred to WED Enterprises (as it was known then) where he worked on attractions for the 1964 New York World’s Fair including Its A Small World. Marty went on to supervise the design and construction of Disney’s EPCOT, Tokyo Disneyland, the Disney-MGM Studios, Disneyland Paris, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney California Adventure Park, Tokyo DisneySea, the Walt Disney Studios Park and Hong Kong Disneyland. He was also the only man to have attended the opening of every single Disney Park opening!

He was honoured as a Disney Legend in 2001 and also served as president of Ryman Arts, a non-profit organisation providing art classes in painting and drawing for those who want to find their way in the arts. His importance in the Disney heritage is summed up perfectly by a former Disneyland International Chairman, Jim Cora when he said, "He understands the Disney way, because he learned it at Walt's knee. He is the keeper of the keys, the conscience, the Jiminy Cricket for the organization."

To say that Marty was a hero of mine is an understatement. Along with Tony Baxter and Joe Rohde, he was one of the main reasons I wanted to pursue a career in storytelling and theme park attractions. I had read countless books and watched countless documentaries that featured Marty talking about his work.

Anyway, while I was visiting the Ryman Arts stall, and looking at some of the incredible artwork, one of the attendants there mentioned that Marty was also doing signing of his books. He was away having a break at that moment but he would be back in a short while. My excitement level went stratospheric as we wandered around for what felt like hours, passing by the stall every so often until he had returned.

When he returned I was first in line to meet him clutching hold of two of his books: ‘One Little Spark! Mickeys Ten Commandments and The Road To Imagineering’ and ‘Dream It! Do It! My Half-Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms’.

I am struggling to put into words how incredible it was (and not cry remembering) meeting Marty and being able to talk to him. I thanked him for his contributions to the Disney Parks and Resorts and how much joy I had gained from visiting the attractions that he had been instrumental in. It took every ounce of my being to not come across as a crazy stalker or to cry all over him. Both of which had a distinct possibility of happening. I was also able to tell him about my dreams for being a storyteller like him and one day working with Imagineering. He had probably heard this thousands of times over the years and yet, he was still encouraging and kind and even left a message in one of the books saying “Dear Mark, make NEW sparks!”. I left that stall in an incredibly elated and emotional state and I am not ashamed to admit that I was crying with absolute joy. I had hoped for many years that I might get to meet Marty and this was certainly not one of the examples of the saying that you shouldn’t meet your heroes.

Sadly, just two weeks later, on July 27th it was announced that Marty had passed away. I look at those two books and the pictures from that day with a whole wave of emotion and pride that I was able to share my story with him and talk to him. Of course, I am one of thousands that had been able to thank him for everything he did but I am honoured that I am one of those thousands.

So that is my summary of D23 and with the weekend coming to an end, it also meant that there were going to be some more goodbyes. Many of the Dis team were going to be heading back to Florida on the Monday morning so we made a point of wishing them well for their journey home. Again, thank heavens for Facebook and Twitter so that we can stay in touch with them!

As it was his final night there, Pete had also invited us for a dinner at the Storytellers Café in the Grand Californian hotel along with Steve. It is a beautiful setting for a restaurant and the food was divine. I am quite fond of a buffet dinner because it means I can try a whole host of different foods from different cultures and this certainly did not disappoint.

After food, we headed into Downtown Disney for a spot of last minute shopping (for them) and then rounded off the evening with a few other people from the ABD trip that we had bumped into. Unfortunately, Trader Sam’s was ridiculously busy so we headed over to the bar at Steakhouse 55. It was a particularly poignant drink and with everyone feeling very tired it was particularly bittersweet when it came to saying goodbye with Pete, Steve and Sean getting into their Uber. All I could hope, as that Uber taxi pulled away, was that I will get to see them again someday soon.

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