California through the eyes of Cole

[Cole]

Hey sexy people I'm back from my trip to Cali. It's been an insane week but my god it changed my life forever. Now some of you have been following me through Instagram and saw everything I was doing as it was happening (looking at you Jon and Unird), but if you want to look at the pictures and videos I took from the trip, you can see them @coleycow on Instagram. Ok so with that plug out of the way time to move on. I'd like to make my thoughts on attractions short and condensed and I'll go through one park every day or so. I went to California Adventure, Disneyland and Universal studios hollywood. So without further ado let's start with....

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE
This was a very weird park for me and the more I think about it, the less I like it. Granted Soarin and grizzly river run were closed but then again I don't think they'd affect my opinion of the park very much. I just wasn't a fan of its theme, strange layout and over abundance of flat rides. That and we finished the entire park in the span of 4 hours then spent the other 4 just looking for things to do (one day one park pass). Oh and I didn't stay for world of color thanks to my shuttle bus picking us up at 7, grumble grumble. But anyways here's some ride reviews

Monsters inc- first ride in California and a great one at that. Monsters inc has always been one of my favorite Pixar movies and the fact there's a ride based on it just made me happy on its own. It was really well done too, the sets, layout and audio was shot for shot the movie. My only gripe is that the animatronics were barely animatronics but whatever compared to the stuff in fantasyland they were passable. Overall a great time and worth the 30 minute wait

Radiator springs racers- hands down the best attraction in the park. I am by no means a cars fan period, not just the movie but cars in general. This however was absolutely fantastic. Those animatronics were beyond amazing, the towering sets, alternate paths and a ridiculously amazing racing section just took it to the top. This is what test track should be, what the ride system was meant for and what a dark ride in the modern age should strive to be. Phenomenal

California screamin- boring, besides the music this was just a white rollercoaster in a bland area of the park. It wasn't even a good coaster to begin with. I'll just get all my digression out here, California adventure loves carnival rides. They are in almost every area of the park and some take up entire lands (bugs land, paradise pier). They are cute and occasionally well themed but that's about it. There shouldn't be this many and it really bummed me out to fly all the way there to go to a well themed carnival when I was expecting Disney quality attractions. Now there were some fun ones but crap like the golden zephyr needs to go. Whatever if they keep the lines as low as they were then they're doing something right

Little mermaid- same ride with a blacklight. I think I prefer our version more because it's just brighter and more colorful but it's definitely not bad. Still the cute ride we all know and love

Tower of terror- LOL just LOL. I mean wow what a bummer, when I heard parkscope bashing this and talking about how horrible the boiler room lighting is I didn't really believe them. But when you are there and in that moment it's laughable. Our version is better in almost every way possible. The bell hops weren't into their roles as much either witch was incredibly disappointing too. The one positive thing I have to say about it is that the mirror effect was very cool, just makes me appreciate some things in Florida more.

Hemmlichs train- absolutely hilarious, I went on this as a joke and boy did I get one. The funny thing is that it's not bad, it's actually pretty damn adorable and charming. It's just so weird, definitely one of the highlights in the park for me.

Maters junkyard jamboree- this was fun too, the ride system alone was incredibly interesting to me and I really loved the queue (heavy metal mater got me). Just another cute flat ride with Larry the cable guy singing terrible songs, very charming.

Aladdins musical spectacular- Awesome!!!! Seriously one of the best theme park shows I've ever seen. Let me start out by saying the theater for this place was gigantic and it was usually filled to the brim every show. What can't I say about this? Amazing costumes, sets, surprisingly great acting and the musical numbers were so much fun. Props to the genie for just killing it. The flamboyant take on the character was really unique, fresh and worked ridiculously well. The crowd ate him up too witch is always a blast. What else to say but amazing.

So that's about it, I've been pretty negative towards this park but it's not bad. What's good is phenomenal but what else is left is pretty disappointing. If your gonna go, don't expect to spend the entire day there. I see it as a fun little distraction next to the best theme park in the world where I'll get into whenever I feel like it. Oh and I should touch on this too

DOWNTOWN DISNEY
Disneylands layout is incredibly strange but ridiculously convenient and amazing. I wouldn't have gone out of my way to see downtown Disney if it wasn't so close to the parks. Anyways this place is awesome, takes pretty much the best parts of the DTD in orlando and puts them all down a strip with entrances to the hotels along the way. They had a really nice selection of shops and my mother and I just spent a good couple hours just shopping and eating. A very enjoyable extra that made the resort seem fuller.

Anyways that's all I got for now, tune in later when I cover the rest of the Cali parks. Hugs and kisses -Cole

 

[Disneyhead]

DCA irreparably damaged my perception of Disney. But I was at DCA 1.0. Just think less quality, more carnival. At least you got the fixed version of the park.

 

[Cole]

DCA irreparably damaged my perception of Disney. But I was at DCA 1.0. Just think less quality, more carnival. At least you got the fixed version of the park.

I mean but how fixed is it really? They just added a land where there was farmland, a better entrance, WOC, more carnival rides and little mermaid in place of golden dreams. It's not very different from 1.0 really, I think people are just comparing 1.0 to 2.0 and that's why people claim it's an amazing park now

 

[Cole]

DISNEYLAND
Ever since I've heard of this place I've wanted to go, the exclusive rides, calls to it's past and layout just made me insanely curious and sparked a ton of imagination as a kid. Now I finally went and let me tell you, the ridiculous amount of hype I had for this place was beyond paid off. This is the best theme park I've ever been to period. I spent 14 hours inside and I just didn't want to leave. Also just to add to it, 4 major rides (Matterhorn, pooh, splash and pan) were closed, if a park has that many rides closed and still manages to be the best theme park ever you know it's good. Time to go more in depth

Indiana jones adventure- oh my god guys just oh my god. What can't you say about this ride? It's 10/10 perfection in almost every department. Rode it 3 times and wanted to ride it 10 more. This needs to come to Florida by any means possible I mean....wow I'm still speechless

Star tours- same ride, that's a great thing though if it ain't broke don't fix it and star tours 2.0 is far from broke

Astro blasters- a BILLION times better than space ranger spin. For one thing it was actually challenging and required skill to get a high score along with way better sets and game system (multiple targets). Also the guns actually felt great to use, very awesome ride.

Space mountain- WDW < DL, in almost every department. More comfortable ride veichles, better look and that music is beyond sick. A really fantastic coaster

Pirates of the carribean- imagine our pirates but on steroids with a ton of added scenes and a restaurant inside. Seriously in my top 5 favorite rides of all time and now that I've seen the way this ride was meant to be pretty much every other version is now obsolete to me

Haunted mansion- my favorite ride of all time back home is....the same but different over here. It has a way better queue and the graveyard scene is better but overall I prefer ours. The fact alone I went on the original version was amazing enough though

Finding nemo- fantastic, I've always wanted to ride the original 20,000 leagues and if this was the closest thing I can get to that I'll take it. The sets here were incredibly impressive, the ride was full of charm and just the feeling of being in that submarine is beyond special. My only gripe is that there are a few to many call backs to the movie for my liking but still incredibly awesome

Big thunder mountain- WAY better than the one in WDW. This was great, what separates this ride from its counterpart is all in the bigger focus on animals. Every corner you'd be able to see a new kind of desert or western animal to the point where it was like the jungle cruise on a roller coaster track. That TNT explosion effect is also amazing too.

Jungle cruise- I like our version more but some things I just adore here. Love that they actually use prop guns, phiranas were a welcome addition and that gorilla with a pistol made me die laughing. Just needed a temple scene and it would've been perfect. OH and that bird in the queue, way better than the tarantula

Tiki room- same show, better seats and WAY better pre show. I could spend hours in that tiki garden it was beyond gorgeous, also didn't help there was a dole whip stand in the middle of it. Really loved this version

Casey jr- adorable little ride with a ton of charm, closest I got to the storybook land boats (line was beyond ridiculous) but very fun

Roger rabbit- incredible queue, amazing scenes and great animatronics. Problem is the ride system wasn't as tight as I would like it to be and nothing sucks more than to be facing in the wrong direction as something really cool was happening behind you. Whatever still a blast

Small world- like our version better but the grand sets in here are something to be admired. I also didn't mind the Disney characters either as long as they didn't interfere with the soundtrack COUGH Ariel and Cinderella COUGH

Snow White- terrifying and awkwardly paced. Strangest ending I've ever seen in a theme park ride just period. Made me miss our old version way more

Pinnochio- again friggin terrifying, Stromboli, pleasure island and monstro would've seriously given me nightmares as a kid. Amazing ride though, incredibly faithful to the movie and had a really heartwarming ending

Alice in wonderland- fantastic, the new additions stood out but in the best way possible. A really great ride with a really great outlook. By the way I'm not saying this to be funny since I think drug jokes are the the lowest of the low when it comes to humor but I swear to god the flower room smelled like pot.

Mr toads wild ride- I made a long post about this on my Instagram so I'll make a condensed version here. Toad has always been my white whale, never rode the original witch broke my heart as a kid because it's based off my favorite cartoon....period. I've waited to go on this ride my entire life and the second I saw toad hall I got emotional, the second I got in line I got teary eyed, when I got the loading platform I cried like a baby. A literal dream come true and the kind of feeling I got was the reason disney parks are so special. They take you to places you could only dream of going as a child and turned them into reality. Disneyland is truly without a doubt the best theme park of all time, not an opinion but a fact. I don't think I can ever go to WDW again without being disappointed it's not Disneyland. Dying to return as soon as I can. Tune in later for when I go over universal studios hollywood!!!!

 

[Mad Dog]

Nice report thus far...(Note: You're going to be disappointed when you go back to the Magic Kingdom & ride the Little Mermaid. They just refurbed it with same black light as DCA)

 

[Cole]

Nice report thus far...(Note: You're going to be disappointed when you go back to the Magic Kingdom & ride the Little Mermaid. They just refurbed it with same black light as DCA)

You serious?!?! Aww that's a giant bummer, well I guess they're both equal now lol, thanks for the heads up

 

[UNIrd]

Awesome report, Cole. Love love love Disneyland and agree that basically every attraction there trumps its FL counterpart by a mile. As for DCA, I too first visited in version 1.0. It's a lot more tolerable now. Trust me.

 

[Mad Dog]

Cole: Waiting for the Hollywood Orlando report. Get to work...LOL,,,Just kidding

 

[Cole]

Cole: Waiting for the Hollywood Orlando report. Get to work...LOL,,,Just kidding

I'll post it tomorrow, such a weird park isn't it?

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Awesome report, Cole. Love love love Disneyland and agree that basically every attraction there trumps its FL counterpart by a mile. As for DCA, I too first visited in version 1.0. It's a lot more tolerable now. Trust me.

I bet, after looking up more about 1.0 a tractor was considered an attraction....stop disney no

 

[kingcooger]

I'll post it tomorrow, such a weird park isn't it?

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I bet, after looking up more about 1.0 a tractor was considered an attraction....stop disney no

DCA is a much better park than it used to be, but it still needs some love to be a truly stellar park. One of my favorite things at DCA is the Carthay Circle restaurant and that is not even a ride or attraction.

Out of curiosity, where did you eat at the parks?

 

[Cole]

DCA is a much better park than it used to be, but it still needs some love to be a truly stellar park. One of my favorite things at DCA is the Carthay Circle restaurant and that is not even a ride or attraction.

Out of curiosity, where did you eat at the parks?

Actually nowhere special, ate at the cosy cone for lunch with a macaroni and cheese cone, went to downtown Disney and ate at this Mexican restaurant I forgot the name of but it was delicious. At Disneyland I checked out red rockets and pinnochios (since I'm a fan of the one back home). Then at universal Jurassic cafe. Everything I had was great, wish I checked out Carthay circle it looked amazing when I saw it

 

[Cole]

Alright everybody time for my final post
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD

Woof what a park. I really enjoyed myself but if you are expecting it to be anything like the Orlando counterpart (layout wise) you'd be dead wrong. It's the weirdest theme park I've ever been to but in a very good way. For those who are unfamiliar it is built like a mall, two stories of things to do with a giant ass escalator connecting them. No real lands, no specific theme, just rides upon rides next to each other. It's like if the layout of kidzone took up an entire park. The park is also ridiculously loud, bands everywhere, giant speakers, it was incredibly obnoxious. Spring break technically started when I went and good lord the crowds were unbearable, 40 minutes for shrek 4D bad. it didn't help that construction was everywhere for potter and other things. I bought the front of the line passes, they were like the express passes at home but you only get one go around and at some shows throughout the day you can stay afterwards for a behind the scenes look. I highly recommend getting these because they were awesome and since I have no idea when I'd return, very stress free. I did everything there was to do (besides JP it was closed :'() including the behind the scenes stuff so without further ado...

TF/simpsons/DM/shrek- I'll get these out of the way now, one word, clones. These rides are exactly the same as their orlando counterparts besides obvious different queues and surrounding areas. They are still awesome just the same. However the projection and sound quality is much better, the DM here looked absolutely gorgeous with an insanely HD projector. That's it though

Waterworld- Bold claim but this is the best show I've seen in any theme park period. I've never seen the movie, don't like stunt shows, hate cheesiness but good god it all worked here. From the non stop action to crazy effects to hilarious pre show to everything about it, absolutely phenomenal. I would go back to see it again

Mummy- so everybody bashed the hell out of this version online, it makes no sense, bad ending, no fake outs.....I liked it better than the orlando version. Maybe it was the fact it never broke theme, more AA's, better rollercoaster segment but I loved it. A great ride made better

Silly swirly- adorable along with the land around it

Special effects stages- This was a fun show, imagine horror make up but with no horror and no make up. All screen tests with a lot of funny gags, I was crying with laughter at the finale. Very great time with this one, highly recommend

Tram- I'm a movie nut, watch one everyday and love history behind it. This wasn't a ride it was an experience, the geek in me geeked out every turn and it was incredibly interesting to boot. The side attractions like Kong and jaws only added to it. A really awesome experience overall and worth the trip to go.

thats all I got but...

CITYWALK
If you thought our citywalk was good...good lord you never been here. This wasn't a strip of shops it was a full on mall, from comics to many restaurants to flashy signs it was all here. If I were a local would visit this place by itself then go to universal if I felt like it, absolutely incredible.

SO THATS CALI Y'ALL!!!! Thanks for reading what I put out and if any of you have any questions I'd love to answer. Peace out guys and until next trip eace:

 

[Mad Dog]

I really enjoyed your reports. Wish more posters would do the same. How did you like the Kong section of the Tram Tour? It appears that park will be a big change for the locals once HP & Simpsons are finished and all the stuff is added to the Tram Tour (F&F,plus more areas open for the night time tour). I would imagine there will be a huge attendance increase for 2016...Probably one of the reasons there's no new stuff for Orlando in 2015 is that most of the capital budget for this year is being spent to finish up all of these west coast projects.

 

[Cole]

I really enjoyed your reports. Wish more posters would do the same. How did you like the Kong section of the Tram Tour? It appears that park will be a big change for the locals once HP & Simpsons are finished and all the stuff is added to the Tram Tour (F&F,plus more areas open for the night time tour). I would imagine there will be a huge attendance increase for 2016...Probably one of the reasons there's no new stuff for Orlando in 2015 is that most of the capital budget for this year is being spent to finish up all of these west coast projects.

Thank you so much for the kind response man!!! Yeah absolutely I went at a transitional period so absolutely it's only going to grow and get better at this point witch is always good to hear. Kong was pretty much the coolest tech demo you could get. Crystal clear HD, non stop action and overall a ton of fun. It really matters where you sit because you can get a completely different perspective everytime you ride it, something I never experienced in an attraction before. An awesome addition to the tram tour