So, to share my experiences (and also get some points for this years LOG), I decided to try making a trip report for my crazy tour this October/November.
First, some backstory.
I originally planned to finally head over the pond to visit the US East-Coast. After postponing this trip since 2020 for variying reasons, I was dedicated to finally get it working this year. Until my company launched a new project, which had me in a pivotal role and a deadline right when my Giga-Trip was planned to end.
So, what should I do? I decided that the only worthy replacement for my dream vacation, would be a trip so stupid, that I wouldn't care about the States anymore. Australia was an obvious choice, with the weather towards the latter half of the year being comfortable and it also being quite literally on the other side of the world.
Over the course of planning, some additional stopovers came and went. Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan where just a few of my considerations. I finally settled for an itenerary starting in Dubai (where I went last year, but my friend accompanying me has never been there), heading to Brisbane, followed by Sydney and then going for Shanghai Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland + DisneySea. It actually escalated a bit more, but the other parks are not worth a compelete individual report.
So, let's start with the very first leg of the trip, Dubai. I would like to note that due to the sheer amount of parks, I may not recall everything correctly, or simply do some reviews instead.
After arriving the evening before and having another ride on Storm Coaster, the first day was planned to include Motiongate and Real Madrid World - a park that I missed last year due to its transition from Bollywood park.
Motiongate was signifantly more crowded then last year. We actually had up to 15 minutes worth of queue at maximum - but this was more of an outlier and most of the outdoor attractions were still walk-on.
After having to wait until 11 o'clock to get our tickets (we used the GoCity Unlimited pass for most park admissions), we decided to get the outdoor credits first.
Capitol Bullet Train is a launched Mack Megacoaster with a switchtrack and pendulum launch. And the ride is... there. It really doesn't do much at all. It isn't bad by any means, but it also has little going for it. It is there, and was a decent +1
Now You See Me: High Roller, a Maurer spinning coaster and remnant of Six Flags Dubai is actually a decent spinning coaster. Thanks to it unusual start, it is actually a fairly fun experience. Nothing special, but for sure one of the better Maurer spinning coasters.
John Wick: Open Contract was one of the creds that I missed out on last year. I was actually looking forward to it as it is was my first S&S free spin. Well, my conclusion: It is better than the Intamin Zac-Spins. That's all that I can really say about it. It wasn't really fun, it wasn't really pleasant, but it was better than a Zac-Spin, so at least a +1 that doesn't cause me to question all my descisions in live that brought me to this point.
Green Hornet is also one of those rides, that are just there and don't really stay in memory for long. I recall getting into the car, I recall getting out of it, but I have little to no recollection about the ride itself. I think this tells you quite a lot, and fits into the theme of this park.
Smurf Village Express is a Gerstlauer Family coaster. NEXT.
We then headed for the Smurfs Studio Tour. This dark ride is certainly not the best, but I still do enjoy it. This ride is one of 3 trackless darkrides in the park, all of the very same type. I guess they got a decent deal on them, so they decided to get the same ride 3 times. I like the idea of the smurfs making a movie, and the storytelling is actually fine.
Another ride I missed out on last year was their rafting, themed to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I got warned that this would be the dryest rafting out there, but it was actually alright. I did dislike that it often times went very slow in places, but the quicker parts were decent fun and I got a decent sprinkle over the course of the right. The thing that was really messing with me was the water temperature. I am used to the water being cold and kind of unpleasant, but with the temperatures in Dubai, it was actually really warm. Just an unsual sensation, but it certainly isn't a bad one.
Motiongate is also home to a Hotel Transilvania Darkride. I do like the idea of it, with it being centered arround a large room with some smaller rooms at the sides, but it just feels so bare in many places. It is ok, but certainly not a ride I would wait 30 minutes to go on.
Ghostbusters hits a similar note. I do like my shooters, and it does feel better executed than the one at Heide Park, but it is still not a darkride to write home about.
We then headed for the longest queue of the day: Madagascar Mad Pursuit, an indoor Gerstlauer Infinity coaster and the star of the park. But before that, we actually had to wait in a line for 15 minutes. Apparently, we got there at the worst timing, as all of our repeat rides were pretty much walk-ons, but this first ride did require some patience. The S-Bends after the launch can actually be a bit painful as you don't expect this kind of sudden movement, but the ride itself is actually pretty good. It has a few nice airtime moments and tells a nice story throughout its layout. It looses a bit of speed after the MCBR, but it is still easily the best coaster in the park. Having known nothing about it in 2023, I was suprised that this one is airtime and turn focussed and feautres no inversions.
Dragon Gliders is a nice use of the Mack inverted powered coaster and for me superior to the original at Europa-Park. It features a nice story and it's coaster part feels more natural than the one on Arthur.
We also did the KungFu Panda Simulator ride, which could actually be a fun experience. But with us sitting in the last row, several of the movements were just too jolty and we didn't get thee feel of riding a boat at any moment.
Overall Motiongate isn't a bad park, but you really see that they are struggling with low attendance. I guess they expected Dubai to grow a bit more towards their park, which would make them easily accessible from the city, but as of now it requires at least 30 minutes via car to get there. Luckily for us, the taxis in Dubai aren't that expensive, but I feel like the location is the biggest issue for all of the parks at the resort.
I will skip ofer Real Madrid World and Legoland; We basicly just got there for the creds, and left quickly for that reason. Legolands kiddy coaster a one notable issue, as it's seats are black and exposed to the sun, so the ride was actually closed until 4pm due to the seats being to hot for anyone to sit on - talking of design fails.
Real Madrid world is actually not included in the pass, and cost about 80$ with the cheapest offer I could find. And this park is nothing but a ripoff. You pay that much money just to be bombarded with cheap ads for Real Madrid, in a park that utilises half it's area and clearly shows that it used to be a different park. Hala Madrid, their GCI wooden coaster was my only beakon of hope, and it managed to beat Joris en de Draak as the weakest GCI for me. Yes, it has a great start, but after 2 elements it is just doing nothing. Well not quite, it *tries* to do something, but never really achieves it. Maybe it wasn't a great idea to build an airtime focussed coaster with trains that are not suited for negative Gs.
We got 2 creds, and that is the best I can tell about this park. If you're not a hardcore counter, just ignore this one. It is empty for a reason, even Motiongate felt like Magic Kingdom on Memorial day compared to this.
Next Part: Ferrari World, Warner Bros and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi on one day - running from ride to ride.
First, some backstory.
I originally planned to finally head over the pond to visit the US East-Coast. After postponing this trip since 2020 for variying reasons, I was dedicated to finally get it working this year. Until my company launched a new project, which had me in a pivotal role and a deadline right when my Giga-Trip was planned to end.
So, what should I do? I decided that the only worthy replacement for my dream vacation, would be a trip so stupid, that I wouldn't care about the States anymore. Australia was an obvious choice, with the weather towards the latter half of the year being comfortable and it also being quite literally on the other side of the world.
Over the course of planning, some additional stopovers came and went. Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan where just a few of my considerations. I finally settled for an itenerary starting in Dubai (where I went last year, but my friend accompanying me has never been there), heading to Brisbane, followed by Sydney and then going for Shanghai Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland + DisneySea. It actually escalated a bit more, but the other parks are not worth a compelete individual report.
So, let's start with the very first leg of the trip, Dubai. I would like to note that due to the sheer amount of parks, I may not recall everything correctly, or simply do some reviews instead.
After arriving the evening before and having another ride on Storm Coaster, the first day was planned to include Motiongate and Real Madrid World - a park that I missed last year due to its transition from Bollywood park.
Motiongate was signifantly more crowded then last year. We actually had up to 15 minutes worth of queue at maximum - but this was more of an outlier and most of the outdoor attractions were still walk-on.
After having to wait until 11 o'clock to get our tickets (we used the GoCity Unlimited pass for most park admissions), we decided to get the outdoor credits first.
Capitol Bullet Train is a launched Mack Megacoaster with a switchtrack and pendulum launch. And the ride is... there. It really doesn't do much at all. It isn't bad by any means, but it also has little going for it. It is there, and was a decent +1
Now You See Me: High Roller, a Maurer spinning coaster and remnant of Six Flags Dubai is actually a decent spinning coaster. Thanks to it unusual start, it is actually a fairly fun experience. Nothing special, but for sure one of the better Maurer spinning coasters.
John Wick: Open Contract was one of the creds that I missed out on last year. I was actually looking forward to it as it is was my first S&S free spin. Well, my conclusion: It is better than the Intamin Zac-Spins. That's all that I can really say about it. It wasn't really fun, it wasn't really pleasant, but it was better than a Zac-Spin, so at least a +1 that doesn't cause me to question all my descisions in live that brought me to this point.
Green Hornet is also one of those rides, that are just there and don't really stay in memory for long. I recall getting into the car, I recall getting out of it, but I have little to no recollection about the ride itself. I think this tells you quite a lot, and fits into the theme of this park.
Smurf Village Express is a Gerstlauer Family coaster. NEXT.
We then headed for the Smurfs Studio Tour. This dark ride is certainly not the best, but I still do enjoy it. This ride is one of 3 trackless darkrides in the park, all of the very same type. I guess they got a decent deal on them, so they decided to get the same ride 3 times. I like the idea of the smurfs making a movie, and the storytelling is actually fine.
Another ride I missed out on last year was their rafting, themed to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I got warned that this would be the dryest rafting out there, but it was actually alright. I did dislike that it often times went very slow in places, but the quicker parts were decent fun and I got a decent sprinkle over the course of the right. The thing that was really messing with me was the water temperature. I am used to the water being cold and kind of unpleasant, but with the temperatures in Dubai, it was actually really warm. Just an unsual sensation, but it certainly isn't a bad one.
Motiongate is also home to a Hotel Transilvania Darkride. I do like the idea of it, with it being centered arround a large room with some smaller rooms at the sides, but it just feels so bare in many places. It is ok, but certainly not a ride I would wait 30 minutes to go on.
Ghostbusters hits a similar note. I do like my shooters, and it does feel better executed than the one at Heide Park, but it is still not a darkride to write home about.
We then headed for the longest queue of the day: Madagascar Mad Pursuit, an indoor Gerstlauer Infinity coaster and the star of the park. But before that, we actually had to wait in a line for 15 minutes. Apparently, we got there at the worst timing, as all of our repeat rides were pretty much walk-ons, but this first ride did require some patience. The S-Bends after the launch can actually be a bit painful as you don't expect this kind of sudden movement, but the ride itself is actually pretty good. It has a few nice airtime moments and tells a nice story throughout its layout. It looses a bit of speed after the MCBR, but it is still easily the best coaster in the park. Having known nothing about it in 2023, I was suprised that this one is airtime and turn focussed and feautres no inversions.
Dragon Gliders is a nice use of the Mack inverted powered coaster and for me superior to the original at Europa-Park. It features a nice story and it's coaster part feels more natural than the one on Arthur.
We also did the KungFu Panda Simulator ride, which could actually be a fun experience. But with us sitting in the last row, several of the movements were just too jolty and we didn't get thee feel of riding a boat at any moment.
Overall Motiongate isn't a bad park, but you really see that they are struggling with low attendance. I guess they expected Dubai to grow a bit more towards their park, which would make them easily accessible from the city, but as of now it requires at least 30 minutes via car to get there. Luckily for us, the taxis in Dubai aren't that expensive, but I feel like the location is the biggest issue for all of the parks at the resort.
I will skip ofer Real Madrid World and Legoland; We basicly just got there for the creds, and left quickly for that reason. Legolands kiddy coaster a one notable issue, as it's seats are black and exposed to the sun, so the ride was actually closed until 4pm due to the seats being to hot for anyone to sit on - talking of design fails.
Real Madrid world is actually not included in the pass, and cost about 80$ with the cheapest offer I could find. And this park is nothing but a ripoff. You pay that much money just to be bombarded with cheap ads for Real Madrid, in a park that utilises half it's area and clearly shows that it used to be a different park. Hala Madrid, their GCI wooden coaster was my only beakon of hope, and it managed to beat Joris en de Draak as the weakest GCI for me. Yes, it has a great start, but after 2 elements it is just doing nothing. Well not quite, it *tries* to do something, but never really achieves it. Maybe it wasn't a great idea to build an airtime focussed coaster with trains that are not suited for negative Gs.
We got 2 creds, and that is the best I can tell about this park. If you're not a hardcore counter, just ignore this one. It is empty for a reason, even Motiongate felt like Magic Kingdom on Memorial day compared to this.
Next Part: Ferrari World, Warner Bros and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi on one day - running from ride to ride.