Finishing up my minimal California coastering trip, I headed back to Anaheim. Let me immediately say that if you are in this area, make a short stop at Adventure City. Their hospitality and cleanliness is like none other I know of, even Holiday World could learn from these people!
After the paltry sum of a $5 ACEr admission, me and my partner Joe rode the Freeway custom junior coaster. Very interesting design. The 2nd hill, which hops over a huge pepper tree branch, is about as tall a hill as an empty train can make. A foot taller and I don't think it would ever make it. After that it does a quick helix around a rock formation, drops into a well of cement, and twists back up into the station. Hmm, neat.
Treetop Racers opened at 11, so keep that in mind if you visit. This ride is the oldest steel coaster I've ridden, being built in Australia in 1955. Tubular steel track wasn't used until 1959 I think on Matterhorn Bobsleds, so that was neat to know. The cars are very, VERY padded, and seat one person, or two for a snug ride. They look like they were built out of scrap wood, but in a good way. Gives them that tree-top look! After some somewhat weak tight turns off the lift, the car runs through many drops, turns over the station through a tunnel, and then drops into what is among the best headchoppers I've seen. The first drop on the ride is vertically parallel to the one below it, so when this drop begins, the bottom of the first drop is immediately above. (Got it?) When you start to drop, the supports for the first drop are only about a foot from the top of the car! Every body I've seen ride this, including me, ride in a relaxed, laying down position. I do believe that if you sat up you would smack your head! A few more drops and an upward helix close the ride.
The same day we went to California Adventure, from 12 PM to 10 PM. The lines were at times ferociously long, so we only got to ride what we had to. Soarin' over California has got to be among the best ride experiences in the world. Don't let anyone tell you too much about this ride! It's so otherwordly and unique, the experience is orchastrated so that everyone has the same wonderful ride, and nobody is left unimpressed. It's impossible to explain, and the first ride is very special. The sun wheel caught me off gaurd as it swung around the tracks built in the structure, I recommend this. Grizzly Rapids Run is far and away my favorite water ride. The spinning drop has sensations you wouldn't expect off a coaster. So much theming!
Mulholland Madness had a line of about 2 hours, which surprisingly lacked theming to entertain us. The ride is a basic Mack mouse, but not overly braked as some reports led me to believe. Still nothing like a Reverchron though..
California Screamin' is a very fun, smooth, forceless ride. You could eat a meal on this ride without spilling a thing, and other than the loop, it's hard to detect ANY g-force. I imagine this will soon become the GP's favorite coaster, and I encourage anybody who's uncertain about these machines to give CS a try. This was always the shortest line of the day, with several trains always on the track, and the 2 stations loading and unloading at a very good pace. There was assigned seating, but I managed to get a ride in the front and back, and I prefer the back. Some gentle pops of airtime, and some nice g's coming out of the loop.
To suddenly change pace, what was Intamin thinking with the seats on this? The trains have hard plastic seats, with no padding anywhere. Now this is ok if you sit cross-legged and since the ride doesn't push you much anywhere, but I can't imagine this being comfortable on say, Monte Makaya or Atlantis. How about some padding for the ol' keester, eh guys?
Well, thats all. I encourage anybody in So Cal to try both of these parks, as Adventure City is very small and special, and California Adventure is epic and spectacular.
I'm off to Lagoon again!
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Musician, snowboarder, member of ACE and the ECC
