Although Cedar Fair didn’t add any new headliner coasters during their time as owners, the single greatest improvement in the park’s history did come out of their ownership.  The annual Halloween Haunt at California’s Great America has dramatically increased in popularity every year since it’s introduction in October 2008, growing to its present 3 scare zones, 6 mazes, single ride overlay, and 4 shows.  I finally got a chance to check out Haunt during its second week of operation and I was once again impressed.

After immediately entering the park, the soundtrack of creepy, mood-setting, horror classics blasts through the speakers as a small collection of actors “surprise” guests.  A lot of work is obviously poured into the entry plaza’s decor with a huge collection of skeletons scattered through the area lit by theatrical lighting.  This trip, like every other, was conducted in the standard loop, from Flight Deck and around.  Time for a terror-ific tour of California Great America’s Halloween Haunt.

The closest, and in my opinion best, scare zone is The Gauntlet. Located in the Orleans Place section of the park, The Gauntlet is a carnival gone wrong with boardwalk barkers, bearded ladies, and of-course the strangely frightening clowns.  When entering this area from the side nearest to the Grand Carousel, immediately the strident screeches of guests echoe against the walls.  The Gauntlet entrance is heavy on scare actors spooking plenty of guests.  However, as the scare zone continues towards Flight Deck, there progressively becomes less and less actors.

But overall this scare zone was solid.  The talent was mediocre, I recall better in previous years but the scenery, soundtrack and elaborate costuming all worked.  Bonus points to the Gauntlet for being the only scare zone that did not rely solely on screaming, and surprises but  also utilized the creepiness of stalking with actors following guests for long periods of time. .

Inside The Gauntlet is one of the most popular mazes, CarnEVIL.  This heavily blacklit, clown-centric haunted house is also among the strongest mazes of the night.  Unlike the outdoor mazes, CarnEVIL benefits from its space limitations forcing a flurry of corners and small rooms providing for a intimate walk through. In addition, this house has the best pacing with non-stop actors from beginning to end..

An absolute must when experiencing CarnEVIL is to purchase the 3D glasses. At just $1.00 each, these simple, cheap glasses greatly enhance the experience creating a far more disorienting experience.  CarnEVIL‘s utilization of black lights is emphasized with the use of 3D glasses.  While this house isn’t the best, its a strong second and a great start to the night.

Just after exiting The Gauntlet, the subtle campfire country music sounds in the distance.  An abandoned car’s engine roars and the dilapidated sign add to the woodsy atmosphere.  WereWolf Canyon is a natural fit for its location of  the heavily forested queue of Rip Roaring Rapids.  And the beginning section of this maze is fantastic on the loading dock for the rapids in a camp cabin setting.  However, once the maze gives way to the long drawn out queue section, the quality goes down the tubes.  The open, minimally themed areas do nothing to accomplish the sense of fear, and the single actor with a chain saw is in no way convincing or frightening.

Having the longest wait of the night, many guests were hopeful of a top-notch experience, especially with the entrance and soundtrack building suspense.  But in the end, Werewolf Canyon is undoubtedly the worse maze of the night.  More attention needs to be spent on the long expanses of minimally themed path.

The surprise hit of the night was BANG! PrimEvil Percussion, a simple atmosphere drum show which wandered the park. As pictured in the photo above, the musicians chose some dramatic locations to perform, such as right in front of Firefall and a spotlight in front of Drop Tower.  These guys brought kinetic energy to areas that were otherwise lacking.  Plus, the beats and rhythms were nicely composed and easy on the ears (unlike a certain Blood Drums).  I caught BANG!‘s performance twice during my visit and was throughly impressed each time.

Continuing towards the back end of the park, guests pass through the newly revamped Dead Man’s Cove: Forseaken Souls scare zone.  Swallowing the former Witch Doctor’s Trail scare zone and expanding to a larger location, the scare zone’s quality improved.  Vocally, the talent here was the most impressive of the three scare zones with the voices being spot on to their pirate roles.  The highlight here was the number of sliders present; these guys came out of nowhere! Sliders were hiding behind trash cans, in planters, and in other dimly lit areas awaiting victims.

Unfortunately the routing of this scare zone killed most of its momentum.  Missing was a mood-setting soundtrack and huge elaborate props.  Instead, a long drawn out section from the Bridge to Kidzville through Planet Snoopy to Black Widow Cavern contained a small collection of good, but not great, talent.  I understand that the sliders would be unable to do their job on the wood flooring just on the otherside of the buildings, but the waterfront property seems like such a stronger location for the Pirate themed area.  In short, the “new” Dead Man’s Cove was too long for it’s own good.

Pasisng through Camp Snoopy, adjacent to Psycho Mouse is Cornstalkers.  Although not heavily advertised, Cornstalkers to receive noticeable changes.  New Dementor-like scarecrow costumes were institued, completely different from the one pictured above at the mazes entrance.  In fact, this maze came with a slew of other improvements.  The concept of walking through a corn field at night infested with animated scarecrows immediately generates high expectations. And while high, Cornstalkers is able to live up to its expecations

This maze has much better pacing than the earlier WereWolf Canyon, its sister outdoor maze. The designers re-arranged the former endless outhouse labyrinth to become a much more intense, zig-zag course walled off by corn stalks along the way.  Also, manequin scarecrows, indistinguishable from the live scarecrows were scattered throughout the maze.  Cornstalkers is also one of the longer mazes winding all the way from the back of Tiki Twirl, under Grizzly and exiting across from the food court. Ultimately, Cornstalkers isn’t the best maze, but is certainly in the top half.

Upon exiting Cornstalkers, the pulse-pounding base of a familiar tune can be felt not to far away.  It can only mean one thing: time for the beloved Toy Factory! Toy Factory is the only maze that was not apart of the inaugural 2008 Haunt, and it shows.  And it is a step-up from the gore-fests of Club Blood and Slaughterhouse. Instead, Toy Factory plays with the childhood dreams and re-imagines favorite toys.

Toy Factory is uniquely imaginative and features the best rooms in the all of Haunt.  The strobe heavy doll play room is terribly creepy, sections like “Kill-A-Bear” and a giant man eating “Hungry Hungry Hippo” skew impressions of toys that are a cultural staple.  But the highlight of this maze is the completely uncommon ending where you are “packaged” after being squeezed through two enormous inflatable walls; the only comparable experience would be trying to work your way through the bottom of two inflatable bounce houses being pressed together.

This house is a devilish play on the child-like side of one’s imagination.  If you can only visit one haunted house at Great America, make it Toy Factory.

The trip around the park continues through Underworld Alley, Great America’s third and final scare zone.  Much like Dead Man’s Cove,  this scare zone also suffers from awkward routing.  In previous years, guests could only enter through the hedge canopy, however with some new scenery that was unable to be placed under the canopy, the scare zone now consists of two thorough-ways of beneath the canopy and the area just adjacent to it.  Unfortunately, this scatters the talent and leaves some monsters stranded with no visitors to scare, and others submerged in a sea of people.

However, the costumes here are detailed, the new scenery including the entrance and tombstones are welcomed additions.  Underworld Alley with it’s hell-like theming is in many ways, the most frightening scare zone.  But these things can’t save the scare zone entirely, preventing it from matching the quality of The Gauntlet.

The big “New for 2011” headlienr was the revamped Slaughterhouse Annihilation.  This maze had some of the best scares. While I tried to follow any sort of story, there appeared to be none.  It’s just a lot of blood.  In many ways it is improved over the cheese-fest that was last year’s Slaughterhouse with a McDonald’s ending and blabbering meat salesman, but I can’t say I’m in love with the latest incarnation.

It is one thing to be gory, but to rely on pure blood and guts is lame.  Yes there are certainly some good scares, but this maze is nothing more than blood, monster pops out from around the corner, blood, pop up around the corner, and so on.  I do wish they would try something different.  Perhaps I visited during a period of weak talent, but Slaughterhouse certainly did not Annihilate me.

Club Blood is the second worse maze in the park, second only to the the uneventful WereWolf Canyon.

While Haunt was dramatically better than previous years, its obvious how well it does for the park.  All mazes had at least a 10 minute wait, and the parking lot was filled with cars.  I have never seen Great America so crowded.  But could this be the last year?  With the park recently sold to JMA Ventures, Great America’s fate is completely in question, however if the park were to return for another year, I believe it is safe to assume that Haunt will return in some form.

For Halloween fans in the Bay Area, Halloween Haunt is the place to go. It is really the most spectacular time of year for Great America with a fantastic collection of rides, haunted houses, and shows.  Furthermore, this might be the last year.  Only 9 days are left in Halloween Haunt, so be sure to go and check it out before it may be gone forever!

Firstly, Takabisha is an impressive looking coaster. Compared to the loopy colours of Dodonpa and Eejanaika, it’s a study in formal black, grey, white and red. And it works!

After bolting through the park and waiting in line, and completely forgetting one had to redeem your entry tickets to get actual ride tickets, I had to bolt all the way back to the front of the park and get this sorted. Silly me. The ride ops were kind enough to realise we were dumb tourists and let us come back in through the VIP entrance. Bear in mind I had happily lectured my partner about how Fuji-Q Highland works previously, and then completely forgot when we got there in the excitement of needing to get on the ride NOW NOW NOW!

Anyway, onto the ride. After being strapped in with a seatbelt and pulldown harness (seems the same as other Gerstlauers in this oeuvre), you’re off into the dark. The ride ops shout excitedly and wave at every train – a nice change from the ‘Have a stroke and fall out for all I care’ Six Flags attendees. You enter the dark – and it’s pitch black, then do a sudden drop and half circle. Then into a tiny brake run, down a fun little dip and you can see the light again as well as the vertical track in front as you zoom over the very powerful first launch. Into the first three inversions – all of which are really high and provide some great hang time – then an overbanked hill and back into the back end of the station and brakes. This station is really stark and empty, bar a fire extinguisher…maybe a chance for some more themeing in here? A poster? An adorable Japanese cartoon animal with big eyes screaming about what’s to come next?

We take a slow turn round to the right and the impressive lift hill is in front of us. Slowly…slowly we approach (whether it’s to scare us silly or the system just getting everything secured…or both) then we’re on the chain lift and pointing towards the sky. It always feels on these rides (I’ve been on Mystery Mine and Saw) that this is the bit that if you so much as wiggle the wrong way the whole thing’s going to come crashing down. Again…part of the theatrics I suppose. The lift stops just before the top and you edge over excruciatingly gently… quietly…deliberately…there’s a magnificent view of (the usually hidden) Mt Fuji to your right…as long as you don’t have your eyes closed of course…the train starts to drop and is pulled up by the magnetic brakes (eliciting a yelp from everyone) then slowly…ever so slowly…leads you to the edge…keeps holding till you’re facing straight down, then keeps holding some more till you’re literally hanging out of your seat…then you’re off again! It’s a relief to make it back to the ground (albeit briefly) before another three very similar and impressive inversions to the first one, then up a hill and into the final brake run.

[yframe url=’http://youtu.be/vPnwBPFfiO8′]

My mouth was dry – I was very impressed. It’s a great coaster and well worth their investment. There was some surprising headbanging going on at times – I might have done better to jam my head against the seat more but wasn’t really thinking. I like the way the super scary part is halfway through – seems to extend the ride quite nicely.

Overall, 9/10. Well done Japan!

PS We accidentally took the long way to the park, through the Five Lakes district – it was a beautiful bus trip but fairly agonising when we knew time was short and you could see hints of the park in the distance. What doesn’t seem to be often mentioned is that there is a train station OUT THE FRONT OF THE PARK! No kidding. Use it! Get to Otsuki station (from Shinjuku station inTokyo which is accessible from anywhere on the Yamanote line), then transfer to the Fujikyu Line (get it? Fuji-Q?? Nice!) to Fuji-Q Highland.

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a west coast amusement park icon.  The crowd midway with the rickle and rattle of the multi-story attractions on one side and the crashing waves and whispers of the wind to the other.  And what has kept the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk alive for more than 100 years is the park’s famous wooden coaster, the Giant Dipper.  Constructed by Arthur Loof in 1924, the coaster is now the 5th oldest in the country.  But don’t let it’s age fool you, the coaster continues to pack a punch. Reaching speeds of 55 mph, heights of 70 feet, all over half a mile of track.

The Giant Dipper is really one of the best wooden coasters in the West.  The ride’s a non-stop thrill ride that is jam packed with plenty of turns and twists that idealize the turn of the century coaster.  The smell of deep fried cheese cakes, the shoulder to shoulder crowd, and the often long journey to the boardwalk is all worth while after riding the Giant Dipper.

Upon entering the boardwalk I was immediately intrigued by locating the station.  Due to the limited space the Boardwalk occupies, the station to the coaster is nicely tucked away in the middle of the coaster’s massive support structure.  Guests enter under a large marquee above the midway that can be seen from essentially either end of the boardwalk.  First there is a small hall of switch backs before a gentle semi-circle incline that hugs the station.  Unlike most modern coasters, the Giant Dipper’s station is curve to the confines of the above turn around.  Crews quickly assign guests seating as guests are loaded like machine gun fire shooting out each of the two trains long before the other one rushes back into the station.

Once the ride begins, the coaster immediately dips into total darkness and winds in a few directions completely disorienting guests before they reach the light as well as the chain lift.  On the way to the top of the 65′ there is a great view of the Pacific Ocean and the thousands of happy park goers who come to explore the delightful sands.  As the train slowly crests the top of the hill, the train whips over the top of the hill and the real fun begins.

Perhaps this is only my own personal belief but I think that a wooden coaster is intedned to be rough.  I am a huge fan ofGhostrider with this mentality and the same can be applied here.  Giant Dipper shows no mercy on it’s riders at the bottom of the first hill (especially in the back row) by thrusting riders into the seat.  The coaster pulls up and around in a 180 before 2 bunny hops into the mid course break run.  The coaster once again reverses directions heading back towards the lift and follows it’s original layout once more.  Towards the end the coaster bounces over numerous bunny hills directly providing some added fear.  Giant Dipper flies into the station seeming not to slow down until it reaches the loading dock.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s Giant Dipper is a great classic wooden coaster.  A true mark of it’s early design is the lack of banked turns.  The coaster for the most part does not seem to bank in any which direction more than 45 degrees, providing for some great lateral G-Forces.  While short, the coaster’s layout weaves over and under itself in a fashion that maximizes it’s length in the available space.  Fortunately, the Giant Dipper maintains it’s speed along it’s course providing for some nice airtime and butt to seat action.

Yes, the coaster does get a lot of praise, however there are still some flaws.  The old fashion train design is not tall person friendly with minimal leg room.  In addition the coaster is quite pricey for one time riders (listed at $4.50 per a ride as of January 2011).  So if you going to hit up the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, even for just a couple of hours, it is worth getting a day-long wrist band.

Overall, the Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a really solid coaster.  It’s a shining star in the Pacific Coast park and is far better than it’s sister at Belmont Park in San Diego.  Although, other wooden coasters including Roar!, Termina…er…. Apocalypse, and Ghostrider are all better, the Giant Dipper is unique for it’s classical design.  I would give the coaster a 6 out of 10 being above average, but still not great.

Designed by Steve Davison, whose other works include the 50th Anniversary’s Remember…Dreams Come True Fireworks Spectacular, Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams both at Disneyland Park, and the mesmerizing World of Color at Disney California adventure, the overlay was designe to bring a new dimension to the ride and bring the popular Nightmare Before Christmas characters to the park.  By using Tim Burton’s successful franchise, The Nightmare Before Christmas the Imagineers were able to create an overlay that works for both the Halloween and Christmas season.

The ride itself, is drastically different.  While no layouts are made to the ride itself, the Mansion is decked out with creepy, spooky and eerie, Holiday decor that you won’t find at your local neighborhood holiday display.  The stretching room has been given some clever paintings that reveal a scene you may not at first expect.  Then move on to explore what treasures lie in this Mansion decked out by  the jolly old skellington, Sandy Claws himself!

Below is a video tour of the entire preshow, and ride itself.  I hope you enjoy the ride just as much as I do!

Nothing beats the feeling of driving up to an amusement park and seeing all the rides you’ve been looking forward to riding from the parking lot. Well, things are a bit different for Universal, but the feeling is just as great – if not better. Walking down Universal’s CityWalk, you can see the green curls of the Incredible Hulk Coaster, the tower of Hollywood Rip, Ride, and Rockit, and … something new. There’s a castle rising from next to the Jurassic Park Discovery Center – it’s Hogwarts Castle.

Hogwarts Castle looks amazing from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I decided to save The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for last on my first go-round of Islands of Adventure during my week-long vacation. I’m a fan of the books of movies – not a diehard fan, but I enjoy them very much. Let me just say – walking through the gates of Hogsmeade was like entering a whole new world. Videos and pictures don’t do the area justice – I’d even say it looks awkward in pictures. When you actually walk in, it looks incredible. When you compare it to shots in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Universal was really spot-on in constructing the area. All of the stores from the movies are there – and the area is filled with hidden details that I really had to notice during the whole week I was at Universal. But this isn’t the reason people were lining up an hour before the park opened at the Islands of Adventure gates. They were here to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

The Hogwarts Express greets visitors as they enter the area.

There’s good news and bad news when it comes to the queue line – the line. The bad news is that you spend roughly the first 75% of your waiting either outside or in the green house, and it’s boiling hot in there. The theming is minimal (since the greenhouse in the movie doesn’t really have that much, and this serves as the main turnstile area), but the line moves very quickly.

Then comes the good news – the last 25% of the ride is the new “best queue line ever”, now that Dueling Dragons, that is – Dragon Challenge, has removed most of the theming that made its original line amazing. First, you see a statue featured in the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, then you see the house jewels (guess which house is winning), and of course you see the entrance to Dumbledore’s office. Next, you walk past several talking portraits (one of some sort of alchemist, and some wizards watching Quidditch), before entering the main Portrait room with the changing stairs, where the founders of Hogwarts quarrel above your heads, and talk about the Muggles entering the school. Finally, you enter Dumbledore’s office, where Dumbledore talks to you about your approaching 3 hour lecture on the History of Hogwarts by Professor Binns. However, you enter the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom where Binns hasn’t arrived yet, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione warn you about the boringness of the lecture and decide to whisk you away using Flying Benches.

A statue featured in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Next, you enter the Gryfindoor commonroom where some other portraits explain the dynamics of the ride, and you also pass the Fat Lady who sings and says unimportant stuff to you. The last portion of the ride’s queue line brings you to an excellent Sorting Hat animatronic who tells you some more technical information about the ride, before a ride attendant (dressed in Hogwarts robes, of course) helps you and your family into one of the rapidly moving vehicles … wait.

This is an Omnimover?? Yes. Of course, it’s the robot arm technology – but tons of cars are rapidly coming in and out of the station. There’s a constant flow of these arms, which means the ride never stops moving, granted of course it’s not broken down. So, that means if you waited 90 minutes – there must be a TON of people in front of you waiting to get on. Think about it, if there was no pre-show, Haunted Mansion would never have a wait. That’s a comparison. I thought the ride stopped, you boarded, and then it started again, like Spiderman. No wonder the line moves quickly. The thing is, you just don’t get anywhere.

So, when you board, you get your shoulder harness pulled down, and you’re off. The Harry Potter theme plays as Hermione uses floo powder to whisk you off on an amazing adventure. The ride uses a creative combination of animatronics and video screens. When you’re in front of the video screens, fans blow wind in front of you as if you’re really flying. Suddenly, you’re in a live set and stuff is happening right in your face – and I mean it. The ride vehicles, the robot arms, are capable of getting you closer to the sets than in Haunted Mansion or other dark rides. I won’t give anything away – but a bunch of “characters” from the Harry Potter books and films are flung in your face in a manner that’s really amazing.

You’re sad the ride is over, and you realize the 90 minute wait was COMPLETELY worth it. I’d give this ride 10.0 rides out of 10, without a doubt. I can’t decide whether I like this ride or The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman better, so for now I’ll give them both the double-thumbs-up. Universal’s constant use of cutting-edge technology is really creative and amazing, unlike some of the other amusement parks in the area. Visiting this area, trying pumpkin juice and butterbeer, and riding these rides is all worth the day-trip to Islands of Adventure, and a full week can be easily spent at Universal.

Here’s a tip – the single riders line for this ride moves a lot quicker than the normal line, and you even get a quick glimpse in the castle – but make sure you walk through the real line at least once during your vacation. This ride has a whole new kind of magic – and it must be experienced. It’s a shoe-in for Best New Attraction and Best Dark Ride in this year’s Golden Ticket Awards.

THE REVIEW

After years of design and construction, earlier this year, Disney finally unveiled World of Color, Disney’s latest spectacular performing nightly at Disney California Adventure.  Featuring fountains, fire, lasers, and lights, Disney characters come to life in ways never before imagined.  Accompanied by a terrific sound track, the show is the complete package.  It is something that we have not seen from Disney in a very long time.  It both is innovative and creative and brings together all elements of a good show.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZmjVewRXGg[/youtube]

Based on the original television series, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, the show begins with a throw back to the original opening using Mickey’s face on the Fun Wheel and just a handful of fountains.  “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color!” is announced in the original voice followed by total darkness.

The waters of Paradise Pier is home to a water spectacular known as World of Color.

Fountains spirt up tiny droplets of water, as a rendition of a modern version of “The Wonderful World of Color” begins.  The world is a carousel of color; a single fountain rises with the first line, followed by a full rainbow of fountains.  The following segments are filled with Disney characters.  Then my favorite moment of the show is when all hundred upon hundred of shoot up into the night sky in a terrific spectrum of color.

Hundreds upon hundreds of fountains were installed over the past 2 years to support the show.

While I do not want to give to much away, let me just say that this show is awesome, and not the overtly used meaning, but truly aw-inspiring.  What the designers are able to do with water is simply breath taking.  Going into the show I do not know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it.

The show’s creators discovered that you could project on just about any kind of fountain.  This made for an incredible experience with terrific effects.  Another great aspect of the show is the use of lasers.  The lasers are not just used as in Fantasmic! Or Remember…Dreams Come True, where they are straight single beams.  No.  In World of Color they are incorporated into the show, such as rolling water, transformations, and even landscaping.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzyQlSO04-s[/youtube]

Perhaps the most fun part of the show is the Buzz Lightyear scene.  Beginning with an argument between the now house-hold names of Buzz and Woody, Buzz prove he can fly and then goes into full out space ranger mode with a battle against the evil emperor Zerg.  Watch the video above to get an idea of the scene.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2zUNPIUZ7I&feature=channel[/youtube]

Here is the both emotional and fun Aladdin portion of the show. It features two songs, ‘A Whole New World’ where Prince Ali and Jasmine take a spectacular trip over our colorful world, and ‘A Friend Like Me’ where Genie takes over Paradise Lagoon in this fun filled number.

The show concludes with a spectacular finale filled with lasers, lights, fire, and color.  Over all this show is a must see.  Is it a perfect show?  No, there are somethings that could be changed and re arranged, but it is certainly something that Disney fans love to see, creativity and innovation.  After years of relatively no new technologies, this show is on such a massive scale that it gives me goose bumps.  I highly recommend seeing this show as it is worth your time.  Overall I give this show a 8.5 out of 10.  An excellent midway point in Disney California Adventure’s growth.

World of Color in its current form is a solid 8.5 out of 10. Nice job Disney!

The Kentucky Derby is an American classic: the thrill of horses racing through down the mighty dirt track, jockeys straddling the great steeds as the speed inches away from disaster.  However, the Kentucky Derby is a joy that only a lucky few get to experience first hand.  However, at Knott’s Berry Farm, park goers can get an idea of how it feels to race a mustang on Pony Express, a Zamplera Moto-Coaster with horse themed trains.

Opened in the spring of 2008, Pony Express was targeted towards a younger audience.  With a relatively gentle 38 mph launch, this thorough breed coaster is quite tame.  The slower speeds and lower heights certainly don’t make it the holy grail for thrill seekers but at just a 48-inch height limit, Pony Express is something the entire family can enjoy.

Another tradition of the Kentucky Derby is to place bets.  In the coaster world, it would be similar to guests saying, “I bet you will love/hate this roller coaster”.  And usually these bets are not too far off.  But Pony Express is not a coaster I am not willing to bet on.  The coaster receives very mixed reviews, some being that it is the best family ride in the park, but others calling it one of the worst.  I have found the responses to be unpredictable

Personally, I enjoy Pony Express.  Not exactly a ride worth dying over if you miss it, but still a solid, enjoyable ride.

Once aboard the train, the unique and controversial harness goes into action.  A metal bar locks rider’s legs into place.  While that happens, a cushioned harness rises from beneath the horse shaped train to push against the rider’s back locking them in place.  Between the two restraints, riders are forced into a straddling position.  Depending on guests’ body type and shape, the position can be extremely comfortable or uncomfortable – I find it to be manageable.  Usually, this is the threshold which pushes guests to either side of the fence: enjoying or loathing the experience.

After leaving, the train makes a long pause at the launch track before accelerating from 0 to 38 mph in 3 seconds.  Horses climb up and over the 44 foot high turn-around before gliding back down just over the railroad track.  Once again, riders find them selves cresting a small hill before diving past the station where the on-ride photo point is located.

The rests of the journey consists of banked turns over Big Foot Rapids, an enclosed turn around and one more bunny hop.  Finally, riders come to a very slow and long stop on the break run.  At this point, at least every child has a smile on their face.

So what can we learn about Pony Express from this review?  Ride it yourself and make your own decision.  Pony Express gets mixed reviews and this is just one opinion among a thousand others.  I give Pony Express a 6.5/10 – a coaster worth testing out yourself.  But then again, those are just my Park Thoughts.