Park Review

Disneyland Anaheim, California By Ryan Snooks August 14, 2001 Before I get to the review, it�s important to mention is that I'm not rating Disney against more exciting thrill parks, because it would be blown out of the water. I'm rating it as just a fun place to go, not to have white-knuckle thrills. Anyway, a few weeks ago on a Tuesday, I met up with my church's youth group at around 7:00 and we left the church parking lot at around 7:30. We got to the park around 9:30 and boy, the place sure has changed since I was last there! Well, the complex as a whole, anyways. Disneyland has only lost a ride (Rocket Rods), changed the Autopia, and added the photo section to Space Mt. since then. Disneyland: +4.3 It's a fun park, and good for the family. However, it could use some new rides. Also, it has some historical value, so it got a slightly higher rating then I would normally give it. Remember that I'm not rating it against most other parks; I don't want people thinking that I like it more than Knott�s Berry Farm. We had to wait a pretty long time to get our tickets because the person in front of us was buying 500 (!!!) tickets. In the meantime, I talked to my friends about how Disney is evil and corrupt now and that sort of stuff and how the fast pass isn't good. At that time, no one believed me that it could be bad. Also around this time, I realized it was probably a bad idea to have worn my black X t-shirt because I was getting really hot. We finally got into the park at around 10:30, and my group of five and I headed over to Indiana Jones. I told them the line would be long, but they didn't listen. When we got to it the line was about 45 minutes long, which isn't too bad, but they didn't want to wait. I told them the line wouldn't get any shorter, but they didn't listen, so we went over to Big Thunder Mountain where the wait was about 35 minutes. It was then that they decided Fast Pass was bad, too. Big Thunder Mt. Railroad: +3 While the theming on this is pretty good, it isn't as amazing as a lot of other stuff (mostly at Disney parks). Also, the ride itself is really boring, not to mention it�s not especially safe. I'm pretty sure if you put your hands up all the way you could hit stuff. My friend tried to see if he could on slow parts; I guess they have a reason for the signs saying to keep you hands, arms, and feet inside the car at all times. It's not exciting enough for me to care about putting my hands up, though. Anyways, it probably is a pretty good family ride, but even for younger ones I don't think it is that exciting. After this, one of the people in my group left to go on his own, but I didn't care too much since he was a little annoying. Then we went to the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn: +3.5 This is a little more exciting than Big Thunder Mountain, but is a little bumpy and lacking in that Disney theming. It got another plus for its historical value. Also, I don't care for how you have to sit on it, which is why I only rode it once that day, on the left side. I think I might have ridden the right side before, but I'm not sure, so I'm not going to count it as two yet until I'm sure I rode the right side. The right side is quite a bit different, so I would count it as another. Time to stop blabbering. Anyways, after this we went to the Autopia. I wanted to go to Space Mountain, but for some reason, my group wanted to ride this instead. I'm not going to rate this since it's not a coaster or really exciting. I noticed that this has been updated quite a bit since I was last here. After this we went to Star Tours. That was fun, but motion simulators don't really do anything for me anymore. I used to be a huge fan of them. Then we went to Honey I Shrunk the Audience, but all my companions were disappointed, as they'd never been on it before and were expecting more. After that, the two girls in our group were hungry and wanted to eat, but the rest of us went on Space Mountain. Space Mountain: +4.5 This is one of the rides here that I really enjoy. Our first ride and a half weren't too good since the music didn't work, which is half of the ride. Anyway, the line was about 30 minutes long, and we got seats near the front (you don't get to choose). We were dispatched and instead of going right, we went left. At first I thought that maybe they had two tracks for it, but then I quickly realized it was the maintenance area. A ride op helped us out of the car and boy, it sure was dusty over there! I guess it's since the public usually doesn't have to see it. I was going to take a picture, but we had to leave. We then walked back to the station and started waiting for the next train with seats that weren't as good. We started going, went right (yay!), and the music kept stuttering and finally stopped. Argh! When the music does play, it really adds a lot to the ride. Does anyone know where I could download it? After our first ride, we rode again and the music worked. Yay! Anyway, the ride has very good theming, music and a sort of interesting queue. After a few rides, we started making faces at the on-ride photo camera. That was one thing that has been added recently. Also, they need to repaint the area outside the building because the paint is peeling. Space Mountain was the most unreliable, as it broke down at least three times that day and the music didn't work very often. Throughout the day, we were lucky enough to get the front twice. After this, we went over to the Indiana Jones Adventure and the line was longer. We had lost the girls in our group by now, so I was able to convince our group now to just go on it. Indiana Jones Adventure +4.5 We got in line, but the spike room wasn't working. We had to wait by the entrance to the temple for a bit, and then it was a walk-through to a little past the film room. Then I worked on decoding the hieroglyphics a bit. I should have brought my decoder card that they gave out when it first opened. We got on near the back and had a fun ride. Throughout the day, we got the front three times out of about four or five times. One of the effects on the ride didn't seem to work anymore. After we rode it once, we decided to get a fastpass (we were just figuring out how it worked) and then we got some food at the Bengal BBQ. I got the Banyan Beef Skewer and so did one of my friends, and we both enjoyed them. I felt a little ripped off, as I spent three something for one skewer. At least they are good. I remember they also used to give us a wild onion (the long green ones) to dip in the sauce, but they didn't this time. After this, we went over to the Haunted Mansion and had to wait about fifteen minutes to get on. Haunted Mansion: +4 This is a fun ride for how old it is. I hope they don't change it too much in the Nightmare before Christmas update. Everyone I know isn't happy about that The line for the Haunted Mansion looked like it was about twenty minutes long, but it divided into two lines and everyone was in the left line. We decided to try the right line because we weren't sure if it was a Fast Pass line or not. We were walking down it and someone asked if we had our Fast Pass, so we told them we weren't sure if it was a Fast Pass line, since they didn't have any signs posted. However, the people in the other line insisted that it was the Fast Pass line, so we went back to get in the line they were in. When we got to where the lines divided, the left line was much longer so we were about to ask a ride attendant if the right line was a Fast Pass line or not, but before we asked, he told the people in the left line that they could use the right line. Just as he said that, we bounded down the right line and some people in the left line got mad at us because they saw us before and thought it was a Fast Pass, line but we told them they were wrong! It was then a walk on and we didn't have to wait at all because everyone was in the left line. After that, we walked around a bit and then we got some more skewers from the Bengal BBQ. Then we used our Indiana Jones Fast Pass and got another one. We then rode the Jungle Cruise. Then went over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again (boring), had to wait about 40 minutes, and then all three of us got squished in to one seat. Next, we got some McDonalds fries, and then and rode Star Tours again, followed by a few rides on Space Mountain. We were going to ride again, but it broke down, so one of my friends who had been wanting to go to Tom Sawyers Island all day (and yet he's older than me) decided he would go there and meet us back at the big-rolling-ball-thing-with-the-fountains-that-never-work by Space Mountain. After Space Mountain, we went to Indiana Jones. Then the fireworks started, so the line for Pirates of Caribbean was five minutes long and we hit that. Then we checked out Splash Mountain again but the line was still really long, so we used our Fast Passes on Space Mountain. Once the fireworks were over, we met our group and left around 9:30. One thing I should mention here is that it seems rather likely that they will get an Atlantis-themed ride in place of the sub ride, since it isn't running and since they had the Atlantis characters in front of it. As a final note, I think this is a nice place to go with your family or for a starter park, even though they are noticeably more corrupt now and, in my opinion, it would be better without the Fast Passes. Ryan S. The above park review, and all other reviews contained on this site, are property of Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Geocities and their respective owners. See Yahoo's Copyright Policy for more information.

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