Roller Coasters, Rides and Theme Parks!

[Asura]

Some great picks here. My personal favourites are probably...

Nemesis, Alton Towers. So many roller-coasters have gimmicks, which can be fun, but I like Nemesis because other than the inversion idea (the track is above the car, not below), it's just a pretty straightforward rollercoaster - but a very good one. It also made great use of the surroundings because it's in a quarry due to the restrictions placed on the park, and the walls come quite close in parts which improves the sensation of speed.

The Big One, Metro-Centre. Hardly the best roller-coaster and not even there anymore (it was moved to a zoo in Devon) but I have many fond memories of riding this as a teen. For those who never went there, Metroland in the Metro-Centre was a theme park inside a shopping mall, which makes this unusual as it's one of the few rollercoasters I've ever ridden which was entirely indoors. Parts of the ride veer into the superstructure of the building, and that made it feel very fast when in reality I bet it's actually quite tame. The noise it made when passing was like thunder (again, probably due to being indoors). On a quiet day, sometimes you'd get back to the start and no-one was waiting, and the operator would just ask if you wanted to go on again; on one day I'm sure we rode it about 20 times in a row.

Indiana Jones, Tokyo Disney-Sea. Basically just an Indiana Jones minecart sequence with you in the middle. Air blasts for darts, great pacing... You even get chased by a boulder, all to the bombastic Indiana Jones score. Wonderful.

[Neon Ignition]

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/theme-park-london-resort-new-uk-disney-land-itv-shows-deal/

After the proposed Paramount Studios Theme Park in the UK lost its agreement with the film studio it has now signed on to host properties and theming for a replacement company... ITV

They have also signed on with Aardman Animation and the BBC making this effectively a UKTV Theme Park which is fairly depressing. It's now targeting a 2024 opening but that has previously slipped several times.

[Dogg Thang]

Eastenders themed rollercoaster. Up Ian Beal... and down again through Dot Cotten. Woooo!

[wakka]

Rides based on Doctor Who, Top Gear and Sherlock. Hmm. Not sure about that.

[Neon Ignition]

Images from the new Star Wars Galaxy's Edge section of the Disneyland theme park:

[Asura]

Okay, that looks good.

[QualityChimp]

I've been to Drayton Manor twice since I last posted in here!

That's because we have an annual pass and the kids had their birthdays.

Yeah, still love it and it's a great park.
First time was for my 3 y/o daughter, so we mainly did the Thomas stuff, but squeezed in a couple of Accelerator rides with my son.

Second trip was for his birthday with 3 other friends so went on some bigger rides.
They had a real contrast in thresholds with one girl a real thrillseeker and another crying after she went on Apocalypse, which is understandable as that was one of the first rides she went on!

One thing that stands out is how friendly the staff are. I spoke to loads of people from the yoof in the shops the customer care to the security guys and all were friendly and helpful.

[Zaki]

Images from the new Star Wars Galaxy's Edge section of the Disneyland theme park:

That looks amazing.

[Dogg Thang]

It looks INCREDIBLE. But I have never been to a Disneyland before and, in my mind, the reality is that you can pretty much block out most of what's in those photos by putting a thousand queuing people in each one. Am I right?

[wakka]

You've never been to Disneyland [MENTION=3144]Dogg Thang[/MENTION]

Disneyland is great.

There will of course be other people when there when the park opens! But the Disney park Fastpass system is actually very good at managing how much time you spend in queues for the actual attractions, and just generally wandering around soaking up the vibe and the theming doesn't require queueing.

Of course if you go on a super peak day it can be very busy like any park, but it's no reason not to visit them.

Just pick your day(s) with due caution (use online crowd calendars), make use of Fast Pass, consider staying in an on-site hotel so you get extra hours when the great unwashed aren't allowed in, and have a banging time.

</themeparknerd>

And yes, Galaxy's Edge looks incredible!

[Neon Ignition]

I've been several times and I find 2 days is enough to see and ride everything, never needed FastPass either. The very longest queues usually go for new rides or stuff like Space Mountain but if they're done early in the day there's barely a line. Very easy park to experience.

[wakka]

Yeah you’re right SF, although I would say that’s not the case for Shanghai SF - 4+ hour queues are the norm on a weekday. Complete madness but it’s unlike any other Disney park. The crowds are insane.

Paris is dead easy though in particular. I used Fast Pass when I last went, but it was a case of cutting 45 min or 20 min queues to 5 mins rather than actually needing it badly.

[Asura]

ust pick your day(s) with due caution (use online crowd calendars), make use of Fast Pass, consider staying in an on-site hotel so you get extra hours when the great unwashed aren't allowed in, and have a banging time.

We were thinking of doing the Disney Florida trip, but this was a stumbling block for us as the Disney hotels seemed vastly more expensive than those nearby outside the park. Is it worth the expense?

[wakka]

We were thinking of doing the Disney Florida trip, but this was a stumbling block for us as the Disney hotels seemed vastly more expensive than those nearby outside the park. Is it worth the expense?

It's a very long time since I've been to Disney Florida, I was a kid at the time, but I'm nerd enough to have been to almost all of the resorts since and read news about them regularly.

If you're asking if it's worth it just for the 'Extra Magic Hours' (extra time in the park when non hotel staying guests aren't there), then I would say no. You only get 1 or 2 hours per day, and if you're staying in a Disney hotel for ONLY that reason, I don't think you'll find it worth your money.

I would say it's only worth staying in an onsite hotel if you are really going to get a kick out of all the Disney theming embedded throughout. Like how if you stay at the Animal Kingdom hotel, it's styled like an Africa lodge and has views of the animals in the safari park section from the rooms. Or how if you stay at the Contemporary, you can zip into the Magic Kingdom in a few minutes from the monorail that runs right through the hotel.

Those are the higher end hotels though, and they are super expensive.

If you're just going to stay in the cheapest possible onsite property, which tend to have pretty gaudy theming that I would personally find annoying, I wouldn't say it's worth it. You might as well just stay elsewhere. For the same money you'll be able to get a better hotel. You'll lose out on the Extra Magic Hours and you'll likely have to drive yourself to the parks (rather than walk/take a free monorail/water taxi/shuttle bus) but if you don't have kids and you you don't want to drop big bucks on the deluxe hotels, you'll probably be better off.

I've been scoping a Florida trip for a while too, but I think I'd be staying at Universal. My girlfriend is keener to do Harry Potter than anything else, so it makes sense to be more local to that, and then take an Uber over to Disney for a couple of days to do a couple of the parks there too.

The new Aventura hotel at Universal looks great - and much better value than anything at Disney (Universal hotels tend to be cheaper in general). So if you really want to be 'on resort' somewhere (and don't mind if it's Universal, rather than Disney), that could be a good option. It's got pretty mild theming though - it's mostly just a nice modern hotel. Could be a plus or a bonus depending on your tastes.

[Neon Ignition]

At Disneyland there's a Best Western literally facing the road side entrance gates we stayed at, cost something like £20 a night and from the small pool at night (which was empty) you could see the fireworks show. We spend no time at hotels bar sleeping so that worked absolutely amazingly for us as it was a short walk on the first night to spend time in the Disney Village too. I fully imagine Florida is like Disneyland Paris where non-on site hotels are miles away. Disneyland Paris was... one to tick off the list but no-one should feel compelled to visit it over the other parks.