USH Mummy Preview, Van Helsing Maze, Waterworld

OK, so let me just preface this trip report by saying I was tired, hungover, in a lousy mood, and wanted to be back in the bed I woke up from two hours earlier. That may have affected my views of the three attractions I experienced.

--VAN HELSING MAZE--
Holy crap what a POS. The worst thing Knotts ever did for Scary Farm was 100x better than this. The long maze was staffed by two -- count 'em: two! -- people scaring guests. The rest of it was empty corridor after empty corridor and an occasional prop from the movie.

--WATERWORLD--
Awful movie, great stunt show. Heck, even the preshow antics were fantastic! I never miss this show when at USH. Tip: the bleachers are in three sections. The best spot to sit is at the right corner of the middle section [right corner when facing the bleachers] a row or two behind the green splash zone.

--REVENGE OF THE MUMMY--
Best thing about the attraction: excellent queue with interactive elements. Worst thing about the attraction: everything after that. The ride itself was neither scary nor thrilling, although I admit there were a few nice mild pops of air. The coaster section reminded me a lot of Rock-n-Roller Coaster except with cheaper black-lit cardboard cutouts.

Granted, the ride was said to be "in technical rehearsal" and I realize not all props may have been working so I'm willing to give this another try after it officially opens but there's no way I'd be willing to wait more than 30 mins to ride.

mOOSH

Yeah, um, a little anticipointment with the Ol' Mummy. I was expecting a great, themed-to-the-nines entry in the indoor coaster wars, but was pretty underwhelmed instead. The ride had a nice launch, some decent air in spots, and a fun backwards part, but it also answered the question I had the first time I saw the building it's in: "How much coaster are they going to be able to cram in to that tiny building?". I disliked how light it was inside the building and hope it will be darker once the ride opens for good; it was so light in there it was starting to remind me of the old, enclosed Lightning Bolt at MGM Grand Adventures in Vegas, NOT a good thing. The effects and interactivity were also well below what I was expecting. They look great, but don't add much to the ride. And it's a real finale killer to enter the big "show" scene at the end and to be able to look over your shoulder and see the loading dock waiting for you.

Give me Space Mountain any day!

But the real question Mike....Was it better then E.T.? LOL

I will be riding the west coast version today so I will add my thoughts and compare east vs. west. I don't think I will have anticipointment...I had that in Florida already....lol.

Florida, anticipointment!?! I thought the USF version lived up to my expecations, but I guess I kept my expectation to reasonable levels. I expected a great combination of haunted house and roller coaster (abit a rather short mild coaster). I guess that those of you who thought the ride was going to be a full fleged dark ride followed by the Rockin Roller Coaster then you were bound to be disapointed.

My problem with the Hollywood version is that the dark ride scenes [four, IIRC] were not scary at all, nor could you understand any of the audio...which really doesn't matter because you also can't understand the message in the preshow either.

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Coasterbuf said:
But the real question Mike....Was it better then E.T.? LOL!

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I dunno, I never got to ride E.T. I went from about 1981 to 2004 without visiting USH once!

I'll be going back a bit more now that they have a good ride...yeah, Jurassic Park is FUN!

;-)

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Beats me too, LOL....I thought USF's version was ALL of RnRC and then some....sure the "coaster elements" may have been somewhat limited, but I thought the dark ride part was actually a pretty good match for Spidey...I won't be able to compare USH's version til January though.

Of course, I've been TOLD (mOOSH, bASS) that I'm easily impressed...;)

gator, easy to please, hard to satisfy...:)

Let's see:
Disliked Van Helsing (no offense, Mr. Jackman)
Disliked Revenge of the Mummy
Loved Waterworld.
Hmmm....No doubt due to a propensity for aquasports ;)

The hot stunt men didn't hurt either...even tho I asked them to ;)

mOOSH

Guess I should explain my Florida Mummy comments. The anticipointment part came from the coaster part itself. It was just shorter that I expected in a building that large. And I am not sure I am keen on the dark ride/coaster concept. It's like is has an identity crisis and can't make up it's mind so both ideas turn out shorter that they would have been if they were alone and not combined.

That being said, I thought the dark ride portion was very good. I only wish it were longer. Interesting I have a different take on USH's version. But I'll save that for a seperate TR that I am doing.

As for USH's Van Helsing maze, while I agree that it needs more actors, the fact that a major theme park has such an attraction in it at all is saying a lot. Most parks wouldn't bother. And the maze itself is impressive looking, especially the Frankenstein section and the Dracula figure.

(oh and yes...the stuntmen ARE hot in Waterworld)