Park / Walkman Of My Brain
- 19-March 04
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87.50%(required: none) Spotlight
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cBass Offline
Discovery: this was my favorite area, I think. The path theming creates some great atmosphere. "Digital Love" is a true thrill. "Aerodynamic" is a little hard to follow, but once I take time to figure out where it goes I'm sure it won't disappoint. The "Daft Punk Live" stage is spectacular.
Hotel Yorba: my least favorite, but still well made.
Pavonis Mons: this has a great look to it. the coaster is just nuts -- very creative. I especially like that handsome man sweeping the path near the imressive Skyscraper Cafe.
Rooty: speaking of impressive, this area just goes on and on. So much to look at! The architecture and settings are all similar, but different enough to make every square inch worth exploring. I love both the woody and the water ride, as well as the funky tree sculpture.
Overall, it's stunning, Mantis. Congratulations again.
Coasterking2k Offline
tracidEdge Offline
Coaster Ed Offline
Wow, finally I get a chance to see the most anticipated LL park of the year. Was it worth the wait? Hell yes it was! As many people have pointed out, there are a lot of areas that could be improved. The buildings are too small and repetitive especially in Discovery. The generic awnings are overused I think and the mix of trees in all but the Yoshimi area is schizophrenic. Palm trees, pine trees, jungle trees, cacti, and fruit trees? You're going to put me into seizures. Too late...
Frgghmmtyshnickitwhowmanndu...
Alright, I'm back. The magical thing about this park and the reason mantis has become the #1 parkmaker is that the park is so wonderful not despite it's flaws but because of them. It's sheer enthusiasm and ingenuity, the love for the game that is evident in every square of the park makes it into something far greater than the sum of it's parts. I wouldn't have mantis change one thing because it's perfect, original, and idiosyncratic just the way it is. I don't know if it's my new #1 park yet, lemme think about that for a minute. Alright, yes it is. Here's why - there have been a lot of great parks. Parks which use hacking and landscaping perfectly like Sea World Atlanta. Parks which are simple and beautiful like IOAH. Parks that revolutionize the way we look at the game like UIX, Wisconsin, and Fantastic Wonders. Parks with flawless coasters and themepark atmosphere like Tropico Horizons. Parks which are flat-out perfect like Rivers of Babylon. But none of those are as much fun or as personal as this. Maybe it was the subject matter mantis chose to represent which is a lot more lively than any themepark recreation could be. Maybe he picked up a few ideas from my experiments with theming. (A little self-aggrandizement ) But in the end this is just the perfect balance of skill, ingenuity, creative ideas, and zanyness.
Discovery - Wow, I love Digital Love! What a cool coaster. The first half of the ride is perfect. It sort of falters at the end with half-corkscrew that looks a little out of place, but that's nothing really. I'm usually trying to make my coasters compact since real life coasters generally are but I like how open and free this is. My favorite detail in this area is the spotlights. I can imagine being in the park at night and seeing those huge spotlights pointed at the coaster. What a novel idea. I know I saw three of those big jungle flowers in different colors on the same square somewhere. That's the best kind of hacking there is. Subtle, but a nice touch. I have to mention the station building to Aerodynamic. A nice bit of coaster sculpture there. Very art-deco. I'm not too thrilled by stages in general. There were some nice details there too but I still think it's kind of a waste of space. Of course a music themed park without live music would be kinda silly so at least you put the effort into detailing the stages. Are those mushrooms inside of geometric shapes? Wacky. Ordinarily I would say the yellow trees don't fit and there are too many colors clashing but in this case, it just looks good.
Hotel Yorba - I wish I could make duelers like this. Did you make the coasters first or the hotel? There's one hack here that's got me confused. Along those balconies you've stacked flowers and hedges supported by chess pieces. Why? Why not I guess. My general feeling on hotels is that they're too big and blocky and despite the cool little details you've put in throughout, it still leves me wishing you'd put those details into smaller buildings and made a theme out of it. The coaster is a lot of fun to look at though. I suppose you can only do so much with two colors.
Rooty - I wasn't sure about this area from the screens. I saw the trees I would never use together, the paths used as roofs which I hate, and a lot of brown and orange. Seeing it in the game though is really impressive. Switching to the skycam (zoomed out) it's the most beautiful area in the park! It really looks like a real place and because of your unique mix of textures and colors it's totally unlike anything I've seen before. The waterride is simple but effective. These kinds of rides don't usuaually attract a lot of attention, but I think this is the perfect water ride. Short and sweet. Much better than my poorly paced and spread too thin "River of Death and Decay". (I won't hear any dissenting opinions on this. I don't like it anymore. ) And that wooden coaster is really something else. I don't know how you manage to make such unique coasters. The telescopes are a great touch and help give the section some personality. The paths winding all over the mountains are the final touch that makes it all vcome alive. This is the point where I'm really in love with this park. No one else would have dared to do something like this section and it's wonderful.
Pavonis Mons - Definately my favorite area in the park. It's so beautiful. The mix of yellow buildings, pink track and flowers, black rocks, great tree selection, and little mushrooms is quite charming. First things first: what a coaster! You took a fishhook launch and a thrust air tower and a B&M flyer and melded them together with a layout which reminds me a bit of Nucleophile from Atomkraftwerk. You did some cool things with the go-kart track. I love how it goes to dirt track at the end. And the near miss was great, noone else has done something new with go-karts like that before. I just wish there were more of them. And more cars for that matter but you explained that in the readme. I love the skyscraper cafe. Perfect, beautiful. You did a great job with the Yoshimi sculpture. And then my favorite detail in the whole park - the Qube Arcade. Awesome. Now I can die happy.
The entrance isn't much to comment on. The red path was an interesting choice but the buildings are pretty boring except for that theater building. I do love how a river splits the path though. Oh and how can I forget the fetus lake. Nice. And since you've trapped me and X-Sector in your underground dungeon, there's no one to stop your quest for world domination now.
That is, until I escape and my horrible and demented plans for revenge are fulfilled. Who'll get the last laugh...
Muahahahahah!
Jellybones Offline
You see what I did, there.
---
Hi! So I hear that my dear friend Mantis has finally released WOMB, and as such, I've been inspired to return to New Element! Hurrah!*
After reinstalling RCT...and LL...and downloading the XP Patch...and the Drexler Patch...I opened the WOMB. And cut the umbilical cord. Ha ha. You know, Mantis, if you ever watched a video of a birth in Health class or the Lifetime channel or something, you sure as hell wouldn't name your park WOMB, even if it's a clever QOTSA reference or a horrible acronym. Births are disgusting. Anyway, here is my expert (ha!) critique:
Rooty- Oooh, jungly. I am mostly unfamiliar with Basement Jaxx's work, so I will refrain from any comments regarding the music. But the area was very nice. That there Bingo Bango Bongo (bongos! Thundergod! Legendary conguero! Brian Rosenworcel! Mantis, you need to listen to Guster, dammit!) coaster or whatever...I quite liked that. Very twisted and crashing through stuff and everything like that. Romeo River also looked awesome, but I didn't watch the boat go through the entire span of the ride because river rides go slow and I have a short attention span. However, something about this area made it my least favorite (!). Maybe it's because I'm completely sick of the jungle themed stuff. Luckily, this was the best jungly thing I've ever seen, and it was done in a completely different way that made me like it anyway.
Discovery- Very, very cool. For some reason, your use of track pieces for all your architecture didn't piss me off, like such an act usually does (and why I prefer RCT2). Digital Love was my favorite ride in the park. Very nice, Hulk-esque blastoff tunnel to begin. The pacing was excellent, as was the interaction with the earth below. The staging area was also I think the better of the two. A very nice design. And the two spinning, pulsing "dancedecks"...while I have no idea what the fuck a dancedeck is, it fit the music nicely, and looked pretty. The only problem with this area was that while the architecture was very cool, it was all a bit too Daft Punkish, and that's even with my limited Daft Punk knowledge. Actually, that reminds me. Since this area was themed to that horrible abomination of anime disco revival collision-of-everything-I-hate music¤ group called Daft Punk, that automatically counts as 3 problems. That makes 4 problems with this area. But, at least it wasn't Madonna, or some crazy shit like that.
Hotel Yorba- The White Stripes! Awesome! Now we're getting somewhere. The hotel was nice. But I don't care about hotels. The roller coaster, here...fucking sweet. That's a dueling coaster that I wish I could build, because that park I was always talking about building±, right, it was supposed to have a dueling wooden coaster, but everytime I build one, it ends up being good with the duels but looking horrible and an ugly mess of wood everywhere. But enough about that. The duels here were awesome. Even when one train nearly stalls and goes off in some other direction and you're all like "Hey come back...", it manages to end up in another perfect dueling pass. Freaking sweet, dude. The thing with this area is just that it didn't quite have enough. A few more Stripes-themed rides would have nicely rounded things off. But that's okay. You've done them good justice.
Wayne-Coyne-is-a-mentally-unstable-bastard-land- Sorry, I forgot the name there. This...this was my favorite area in the park, by far. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is my second favorite non-Radiohead-or-Guster album everÙ, and this captures it perfectly. Probably why I like it. I mean, that coaster...well first, I should address the go-karts. They confused me. I got lost. Couldn't find them anymore. But from what I could see, they were wicked cool. With all the little hacks and things. But then I got lost and just looked at the coaster. Again, I was lost, but eventually I got it, because it like went forward, then back, then forward again and up and over and it was all cool like that and stuff. The layout was the most ridiculous flyer ever (and nicely done putting the BMW track on there, too!), and I loved every bit of it. It was exquisite. Then I took a look at the other stage. Not quite as good as the Daft Punk stage, but it captured the Lips well. It also reminded me of how I didn't see Beck when he toured and brought along the Lips as the opening act and the backing band, and this caused me to cry. But that's okay. As others have said, the Skyscraper could have been put in a better location, but that's okay. It looked spot on with the big things in the Yoshimi liner notes. And that reminds me. While the architecture in this area seemed to be a little more understated and simpler than the rest of the stuff, it looked just as Yoshimi City or whatever it might be looked in said liner notes. Fucking job well done, man!
So, that's my two (dollars &) cents (we're gonna CRACK your little souls)Â¥. Way to go Mantis. You have built the bestest park ever. And it's in LL, even! Congratulations, dude.
MoonSpoon
* = For a couple minutes, anyway.
¤ = Calling Daft Punk music is bending the definition, I think.
± = I think it's safe to say I lied about all that.
Ù = First being Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon of course.
Â¥ = This line is a hint at what kind of park I'd like to see you tackle next. If you're not too tired, anyway.
P.S.
How awesome is my avatar? It's all about the Just video. And how we still don't know what the guy says.
natelox Offline
15. Walkman of My Brain by Mantis
This was definetly the most anticipated park ever made. So popular in fact that when it was released as a spotlight the topic pushed three pages alone just on RCT2 players saying they wished they still had LL installed. Walkman of My Brain is pretty good. It showcases some amazing, Mala-esq roller coasters such as "Bingo Bango", "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots", the unorthadox racers: "The White Stripes", a really cool, hidden ride, "Aerodynamic", and the big, loud, funky, speed-demon, "Digital Love". Add to that a great go-kart ride, "Fight Test", amazing water ride, "Romeo River", some good custom rides, two stadiums and a hotel and you've got yourself one impressive attractions list. And we can't forget the park's great landscaping. With all that going for it, why is it at this position? The architecture borders unbarable with it's extreme overuse of track peices and oddly shaped buildings. Tree-selection and themeing are very questionable and a few of the themed areas aren't too hot, such as the entrance which looks like it's there because it has to be. The only other thing that really bothers me are the colours. They are really loud, to an almost exsesive extent. Sorry Mantis, I guess I just don't see what everyone else does.
Anyone catch that first sentance or two? "This was definetly the most anticipated park ever made. So popular in fact that when it was released as a spotlight the topic pushed three pages alone just on RCT2 players saying they wished they still had LL installed"
I find it incredible that so many of you were pushed to reinstall LL just because of WOMB, but none of you bothered when Audrix Towers or anyother LL park was released. Must tell you something about Mantis as a person, and the leadership qualities he holds.
Kumba Offline
the good - I like the Lips live stage alot, it shows how creative you are with tracks. Digital Love's theme was my fav, i really like that custom taxi thing, the tiny details in the rooty section were awsome, i liked that Hotel Yorba, very nice stuff.
the bad....(ok their is no bad but that i think could have been better ) the entrance area seemed a bit dated to me, and old, kind dull next to crazyness that awaits. the racers did not finish up to well, the time was off by 3 secs, thats 3 to many in my book. and the rooty section got a bit repetive, thats all.
i will be looking at this thing for a long time, i have never seen a full park this good, congrats this is AMAZEING
rctfreak2000 Offline
I haven't seen the park yet mantis, but when you sent me the version H2 with some of the white stripes area done, I remember looking at it in utter shock. I'm sure that when I get my RCT working and I view this, that there will be even more for me to be going head over heels for.
Panoramical Offline
KaiBueno Offline
I'm trying mantis...I have upgraded to XP (after dealing with ME for too long), and now have even more issues (non-RCT), but alas I will try again and again. I've been waiting for this baby to be delivered (punny ), and I really want LL to work in general anyway.
Alas, the baby photos look very nice...I can't wait!
Congrats.
Kai
posix Offline
KaiBueno Offline
Sorry to bog the topic down, but all of this is on top of the LL issues.
(wonders how long cBass is keeping LL installed, but will PM about that)
Perhaps I'll try installing LL here at work tomorrow, should the XP at home remain cooperative as ever...
Kai
mantis Offline
[quote]Nic-You missed me out [/quote]
I'm sorry - I did put something in the readme about that. I've missed just as many people as I included, so really, it's nothing personal
[quote]Ed-Are those mushrooms inside of geometric shapes? Wacky.[/quote]
You've got RRP to thank for those - remember Katcun? He had them in there, so I learnt from him!
[quote]Ed-Did you make the coasters first or the hotel? There's one hack here that's got me confused. Along those balconies you've stacked flowers and hedges supported by chess pieces. Why? Why not I guess.[/quote]
I made the main wings of the hotel first, but didn't know what to do with the bit behind it. So I made a big hill. And built coasters going up it. There didnt't seem to be any other choice! And about the balconies - well...At first I was going to have walls stacked around the paths, to look like proper balconies (like Posix did in Atlas Infinitum), but then it looked crap, so I stacked flowers up to fit. Then, once i'd finished the rows in front, I realised it looked like it was floating, and I couldn't move the land because i'd stacked flowers on it (bah) so I tried to find something to support everything - and chess pieces were the right height to do it. I'm glad you noticed lol A lot of things I make happen that way - I dig myself into bad situations, and have to kind of scrounge to find a way out.
[quote]Ed-No one else would have dared to do something like this section and it's wonderful.
[/quote]
That makes it sound like a conscious decision Heh, i'm going to ramble on again because I feel like it. I wanted to try landscaping that hadn't been tried before - i'd been doing the 'high land around the perimeter' for too long, so I thought hmmmm what if I were to build a really big fuck-off cliff going round the inside of the area, enclosing the rest from view. So I did. And then I put the oasis in the middle (where me and my sister are roaming around), and built the coaster around the general landscape. Originally it started with a launch into a loop further down where those helixes are, but that was too intense and out of place, so that got ditched. And then I just went crazy and lumped all of that on top of the coaster, which is kind of why it looks so heavily themed. Because it is. In a kind of swamped way. And the river rapids just materialised because I realised I couldn't have a section based around just one ride. And then I extended it the other way to include the river rapids, and left it at that. None of the paths connect, none of the buildings have anything in them - i'm relying on peoples' imaginations as to what it would be like lol. My favourite bit is the dancing tree, or the main drop of the coaster and the nearby helix - that view is my favourite in the park I think, because you can only find it if you rotate behind the cliffs.
[quote]Ed-And then my favorite detail in the whole park - the Qube Arcade.[/quote]
Hehe, that turned out nothing like i'd imagined it in my head, but it worked somehow. I was stupid for hiding it behind the mountains and skyscraper - but hey you can delete the scraper pretty easily. I always hope that if people can't see something properly, they don't hesitate to delete stuff and move stuff around - you can always reload of it messes things up lol. I do it all the time.
[quote]Ed-Oh and how can I forget the fetus lake. [/quote]
Thankyou thankyou thankyou! I was so proud of that!
[quote]Ed-That is, until I escape and my horrible and demented plans for revenge are fulfilled. Who'll get the last laugh...[/quote]
You, duh I can't believe you don't like your River Of Death - have you seen my rides list?
[quote]Moonboy-Since this area was themed to that horrible abomination of anime disco revival collision-of-everything-I-hate music¤ group called Daft Punk, that automatically counts as 3 problems.[/quote]
Aww, Moonspoon, you didn't have to come back just for me! BASTARD! I will make you listen to Daft Punk on your deathbed!
[quote]Moonboy-Â¥ = This line is a hint at what kind of park I'd like to see you tackle next. If you're not too tired, anyway.[/quote]
Well, one day
[quote]natelox-I find it incredible that so many of you were pushed to reinstall LL just because of WOMB, but none of you bothered when Audrix Towers or anyother LL park was released. Must tell you something about Mantis as a person, and the leadership qualities he holds.[/quote]
Heh, I understand what your saying - but I hope you don't hold it against me. The same with the hype thing. I'm not to blame for that, because to be honest the way I made this park was horrendous, advertising wise. Maybe it's because I post a lot or something. Anyway, I hope that's not the reason, or at least that it's a very small one, because otherwise i'd feel bad about it. And leadership is something i'm not cut out for - not here, nor in real life. Thanks for the write-up - i'm really trying to clear up some of the faults, and I hope it's working.
[quote]Kai-(wonders how long cBass is keeping LL installed, but will PM about that)[/quote]
Hopefully until the PT is released, because then we can trade conversation about parks again!
Well, this is a lot of fun - i'm getting to talk about my own stuff, which is my favourite occupation
Thanks again for the feedback - it's really really helpful.
Mala Offline
Love the giant fetus lake sculpture. It really lured me in instantly as I zoomed out to get a view of the land. Kurt Cobain would be proud. A funny thing happened as I began my journey into your mind. I was checking out the entrance area and decided to work my way over to that wicked looking coaster I had spotted to the right when a handyman walked under the cursor and mala was his name. I guess I was saying hello to myself. Anyway, that put a smile on my face as I went for a ride on Digital Love. Great coaster. Looks cool, rides cool and has great stats...is cool. I agree that those spotlights really get a person to imagine what it all would look like at night. I spent a good amount of time in your park, which I feel was time well spent. In particular, Aerodynamic caught my attention. I was unable to calculate the amount of time you must have put in to that one alone. Usually I lose interest when checking out rides of this type but I found myself wanting to know exactly where this coaster was going to go next. It felt like a game in itself. Fun. Great stage areas too, very elaborate, they worked well in this park and really helped sell the concept for me. I liked the concept of the pre-launch area on Bingo Bango before the lift hill and your choice of coaster train for this concept woody. I enjoyed my experience at Walkman of My Brain and look forward to hearing more about what plays inside the brain of Mantis.
Mala
x-sector Offline
Toon Offline
Corkscrewed Offline
iris Offline
Arriving in Birmingham, UK two nights before the park officially opened to the public (we would be special guests for WOMB's media day coverage), I brought along a few friends with me. These friends being the newest recruits for my H2H3 plan of world domination, aboard the repeat Champion Icons (now named the "Eyekons"...double meaning with eye/iris/icons/etc.). Alec, and ride6. Waking up the next morning and being greeted by the official H2H bitch...I mean limo driver, Gymkid, we arrived at the park a mere 10 minutes before it opened, due to Gymkid's terrible driving and lack of direction. Budging our way to the front of the line we finally met up with park owner and CEO "Joe the Mantis", a mob boss from the rough streets of the UK. Exchanging some kind words, he let us in the park and we began our adventure.
Starting by walking through the "Portal Gates", loud music by The Flaming Lips could be heard through the speaker system, with a computerized voice proclaiming "This Is The Womb" every few seconds over the trancing beat. Once inside we were greeted with a blood red floor, beautifully contrasting the green of the trees surrounding us and the purplish-blue flowers at our feet. Since it was "New Element Media Day" at the park, most of our favorite members from around the site where at the park with us, and it was great actually meeting them in person. The first to see us was Ty, who tried to hide the fact that he was actually working at the park, unwilling to admit that his early retirement from parkmaking had sent him into a world of poverty and forcing him into being a lowly handyman. Fatha' was standing right behind him, seeming rather upset...most likely due to the fact that WOMB had been ranked higher then his previous #2 park "Tropico Horizons". We stopped at the Portal Cafe for some quick breakfast before we started our day of thrills....but we didn't stay long due to the sounds of some familar screams coming from the basement...We bumped into Foozycoaster (didn't say much...hasn't really said much in a long time actually), my pufferfish resembling buddy Adix, and Posix...who was inspecting the park...seemingly overly disgusted at how little this park resembled Jack Schuessler. As we passed through the secondary Portal Gates...mantis appeared on the stage, making a grand speech that we all quickly ignored. ride6 jotted some things down in his notepad...Alec seemed to agree adding in an occasional "Fo Shizzle" every once in a while. We forgoed the Portal Cinema and headed for the first of our themed areas....
Discovery
Speakers blasting Daft Punk rocked us from both sides as we passed through the Discovery gates. Barely recovering from the momentary deafness, we stumbled our way to our first ride of the day, the Crescendolls Dodgems. After a few minutes of bumping and turning, we got out...fully recovered, our ears operational once again. Good thing too cause we ran into philosophical genius and fellow parkmaker Adam Malawista. We talked to "Mala" for quite a long time, unable to find out what plans he may have had in the works still, but somehow branching off into a deep conversation about separate galaxies...Next up we rode Short Circuit, definitely the highlight of the day so far. Not only was the ride tons of fun, but the car names were clever as hell: 3000 Ferrari (referring to Streets of New York), Goblin Glider (from Islands of Adventure Hollywood), SandStorm Rally (from Egyptopia), and Hyperdimensional Taxi (from Cydonia City). I wonder if Joe the Mantis really got the trademarks for those, or if his mafia connections just took care of it..Anyways, after getting off we were bombarded by more Daft Punk. The very cleverly hidden speakers throughout the entire area ensured that Daft Punk was to be heard at all times. Next up me and ride6 proceeded to ride Veridis Quo, a pretty common Chance Enterprise, but Alec wasn't down with that shizzle, and holla'd out "Late." before wandering aimlessly away.
Next the two of us ran into H2H3 rival Twisted...we threw some trash talking his way, but instead of responding he just prophecized some dark satanic message about the words "twisted" being scrawled across our mirrors when we woke up or something. ride6 was still jotting things down, undoubabtly for his "Criticising" column, and I noticed he mentioned something about the plants...so I'm going to rip his idea and mention how beautiful the contrasting plants were. While some people may not like the uniqueness of them, I've never been so entranced by some of the plantlife I saw in Discovery. Different doesn't mean bad...even in plants. We then mosied on over to the Hourly Satellite Tour, where sacoasterfreak was standing there...high as shit. Walking the walkway up to the lifesized realistic satellite, we were checking it out when some coaster train flew in and spiraled around us, startling us and scaring ride6 so bad that he lost his balance and fell into the waters below. Luckily, he left his notepad behind. I picked it up and read a few notes: "The architecture borders unbarable with it's extreme overuse of track peices and oddly shaped buildings", "Tree-selection and themeing are very questionable", and "the entrance which looks like it's there because it has to be.". "Bleh" I thought to myself as I threw the notepad down to the watery grave that ride6 now inhabits.
Now on a mission to find this homicidal roller coaster, I walked lonely until I found the gigantic steel logo stretched across the path...proclaiming proudly: "Digital Love (9.1), a B&M Floorless Multi-Element Coaster. I proceeded through the covered queue line until getting to the station, completely empty (minus the 3 others that sat next to me in the floorless seats...kiddo, harakiri, and pyropenguin. We left the station slowly raising as a metal wired tunnel engulfed the lift hill, with large spotlights staring at us from the right (I'm assuming they light up the track at night). Before we made it 3/4 of the way through the tunnel, we were launched into oblivion into a quick Barrel Roll before spiraling down the first drop into a large vertical loop. We then flew through another metal tunnel, this one blue over a very smooth, tiny camelback and into a gigantic Half Loop type inversion. We then dropped down, twisting into a 'water tunnel' (very cool effect) and raising back up just to hit a twisting Dive Loop sending us screaming underground, until "erupting" at the other end (OK, lame use of words) from a man-made volcano before hitting a psychotic headchopping Dive Loop (I coulda sworn I saw a sign that said "face forwards...retards"...but maybe I was going to fast and saw things??) We then emerged from underground once again in a long gradual twisting hill, making an overextended turn through the opening loop before dropping again, twisting around and hitting another, smaller vertical loop. Briefly going sub-surface once again, we quickly came back up before being 100% surprised by the on-ride photo (which helped me later realize that harakiri is, in actuality... black) and into a corkscrew. Some casual carooning through Discovery was next until we hit that tight helix that surrounded the Satellite. I thought I might have seen a dead body floating face down in the water, but I kept my mouth shut. We came back to the station exhilirated and totally satisfied.
Getting off, it took some time to really regain my balance. I parted with my 3 new friends, but got reunited with my buddy Alec in the line for "Superheroes!", a critically aclaimed super-hero themed (pardon my redundancy) 3D show. Unfortunately, the two of us didn't even speak to one another, and parted ways once again after the (terrific I might add) show ended. I decided to skip the "Nightvision" house of mirrors just to save myself from bruises from walking into mirrors. Instead, I wandered into the sub-section of Discovery...the "Discovery Aeronautics Facility for Training"...or D.A.F.T for short. Clever stuff. In the backround I heard the noise of Daft Punk performing live on stage for the media day coverage, but never being a big fan (and seeing as their music was blasted through the various speakers anyway), I passed. To my right was the "G-Force Accelerator" which I also passed, only because I went left instead to hop aboard the "D.A.F.T. Anti-Gravity Test", a pair of S&S towers situated along the DAFT bank. Quickly after I hit my second coaster of the day, if you wanna call it that...The D.A.F.T Test Launch (6.5). It was a short but cool ride where we 'blast' out of the station at almost 40 mph on a trackless, shiny, almost mirror-like road, before hitting the brakes and moving slightly up a space shuttle tower, before returning back to the station. Quick, but neat nonetheless.
Anyways after that, I saw stargazer...who tried his best to persuade me into buying a "Spacesuit Fitter", but ultimately I passed. I noticed some awesome looking purple track, so I scrambled to find the entrance, when I ran into someone I hadn't heard from in a long time...Pawn, who was just taking notes and thinking to himself "Mantis must be the emperor of the forgotten realms". I figured it'd be best not to interrupt his deep, insightful thinking, so I continued on until finally finding the entrance to Aerodynamic (9.1), a carefully hidden flying dutchman coaster that seemed to make its home in the ventilation system and pipelines of the D.A.F.T. I'd also like to point out the awesome "Daft Craft", a large docked fighter jet plane that was parked right atop the Aerodynamic station. Once boarding the train and getting in flying position, we quickly launched out of the station into the pitch black ventilation system, making a hard right inside the pitch black pipes, making for one scary feeling. We got a glimpse of light through a nice glass tunnel we passed through before going back into the underground pipes and dropping down to the ride's top speed of 57 mph. Finally remerging above ground and somehow in a blanket of trees (I hadn't seen trees since entering the D.A.F.T area), we hit a half flying Batwing inversion which sent us momentarily underground again until hitting a nice half corkscrew that sent us back in the awkward flying position. We came out somewhere under the fighter jet I previously aluded to, before gliding through some nice straight track through the trees, letting us catch our breath and experience the flying feeling in a more 'normal' way before collapsing back underground in a half loop element. We eventually raised up into another glass tunnel, where a set of boosters propelled us once again through the ventilation system where we hit a bunch of turns in pitch dark, sending us flying in all directions. We flew around in various directions, dizzying me up for a while until barrel rolling inside one of the ventilation pipes and dropping into one of the coolest inversions I've ever been on, a half enclosed, path surrounding loop. A few more twists and turns and we were done. Two classic coasters in the books. That all but concluded by stay at the Discovery portion of the park, a great area. I didn't mind the small architecture, and I actually appreciated the coaster track pieces everywhere. Maybe I'm weird though. I walked across the dirt bridge into the next area of the park...
The Hotel Yorba
While there were no more speakers out blaring music, the colors of the area itself just screamed out "White Stripes" enough. A very clever themed area that serves as both amusement park section and actual functional hotel, you could see some insane wooden track painted red and white the instant you entered the area. Walking along I noticed at how beautifully grass was used to make the area look clean and natural, a beautiful contrast to the golds, reds, and whites of the Hotel Yorba. Anyways, I bumped into fellow H2H3 Captain Micool here. I was actually thinking about stopping and talking to my one-time friend, but his sister wouldn't let him. So anyways, I hung a right and crossed the entrance bridge to the hotel. At the other end of the bridge was a gigantic steel "HY", a beautiful red and white logo obviously standing for Hotel Yorba. It was now up to me to choose track 1 or 2 of the park's racing wooden coasters..."The White Stripes (9.4) a pair of racing/dueling wooden coasters that terrorized the Hotel Yorba. I chose track two and hung to my right. Before going onto the ride analysis, I just wanted to point out that this may be the most beautiful and well designed queue line I've ever been on, so props go there to whoever.
Anyways, the train turned out of the station and into a blanket of trees, a mere foot or two from the other track. Along the lift hill I looked down at the absolutely gorgeous hotel, and noticed some of the beautiful rooms, the penthouse suite and the most expensive suite in the entire hotel, the Star Suite. We finally hit the top of the lift hill, which was covered by the rooved apex of the hotel. We turned left, dipped down and then left the hotel, hitting the first drop as the other train roared ahead of us. The second hill was just a straightaway camelback providing for some great airtime, but we were still losing the race. Racing up another hill the trains separated as their train spiral downwards as ours went straight down in a headchopper, flying only inches away from the actual White Stripes waving hello (man I'd love to strangle that Meg White...) We passed each other on the turnaround before racing around to separated but parallel camelbacks on either side of the first hill we already hit. We went underground for a while before reappearing into another side by side hill, only this time we'd finally taken the lead. We wrapped around each other in a tangle of track before we escaped first....a terrifying cross-track experience came next as literally crossed over their track while staying on ours. Some dizzying turning under the welcome bridge sent us into simultaneous hills before twisting up around each other and into the final brakes. An amazing ride, and track two won. Funny, track two reminds me of the Eyekons in this way....Well seeing as there isn't much to do in the Hotel Yorba other then enjoy "The White Stripes", marvel at the gorgeous architecture and theming, or stay at the beautiful hotel, I took some snapshots and headed back on my way to the next area of the park. Before leaving though, I was stopped by natelox who instead of saying hello shouted at me: "It's about damn time you posted this thing.......now hurry up and post the next one". Terrifyed, I didn't know what to do until my buddy Alec came from outta nowhere, tackling natelox and explaining: "No worries yo, I got your bizzle fo shizzle". The two of us then walked to the next area...
Pavonis Mons
Immediately upon walking through the Pavonis Mons entrance we were greeted by Turtle, who seemed higher then sacoasterfreak, and was holding one of Pavonis Mons' storied shrooms in his hand. Avoiding him we continued under the entrance building and peering out the other side, saying hi to Frosty The Snowman below. Next we saw Meretrix who quickly retired before I could even say hi. We waved at Butterfinger who was staring into a sign proclaiming "You're Robot Fodder!". Anyways, it was time for the fight. Me and AK went on separate routs...hopping aboard each set of the "Fight Test", an insane go-kart all-out war with shooter guns to spin the other car around, shortcuts, and everything else you could want in a go-kart track. We also realized that you must win the race and prove yourself to be allowed to hop aboard the area's coaster, so this meant business. You could also shoot at targets, and hitting a target would automatically slam the other car into its brakes..a very cool added element. I slammed on the gas to go as did Alec, and the race was on. We passed each other a few times quickly shooting at each other until we were distant from one another to focus on driving. I drove up a long winding hill knocking down a target on the way as I could hear a crystal clear "God dammit" from somewhere else on the course. I then hit a bridge where there were like non-stop targets to shoot at, so I did. Alec was now visible somewhere else on the track and seeming him at a completely standstill cracked me up. The tracks then merged into one as we barely escaped a head on collision due to some extreme swerving! This was psychotic! Getting my breath back I turned around, and eventually inside the hairdryer factory before speeding through some more of the course, knocking down several more targets on the jagged course. Then...the track disappeared as Alec flew by me romping onto the dirt track that would make for the ending of our ride. Luckily for me though I saw one more target and nailed it as I flew by him crossing the checkered path and earning my ride on the coaster.
From there I boarded the prize....if you wanna call it that. The most terrifying coaster in the park, "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (9.2). I had proven myself as a worthy sidekick to Yoshimi, and it was up to us to battle these unusual pink robots. Hopping aboard the flying trains once again (two flyers in one park? Sick!), we launched outta the station at about 55 mph. We went 90 degrees straight up into a TA2K hill...before stalling out and sending me back screaming terrifyed in reverse. We flew back through the station backwards, back through some boosters in the opposite direction and into a completely insane, unexpected Fish Hook stopping my heart. One of the gigantic pink robots seemed about to attack us, but we stalled out just in the nick of time, hit the secondary boosters and flew back through the station at over 60 miles per hour. Here we go again, back to the vertical hill...this time clearing it and tumbling down the other side before gradually flying back upwards, and shifting into flying position. We dropped down a terrain hugging drop before entering a complete mass of track that I couldn't even begin to explain...so I won't. All I can say is that it was one of the craziest experiences of my life.
Getting off I noticed that Alec didn't wait for me to finish my ride, but had taken off. That's OK though cause I ran into cBass and spiderman, and exchanged some kind words with them before walking away. Starving at this point, I decided that the park's most standout restaraunt would be good for lunch, and so I took the elevator on up to the Skyscraper Cafe, the coolest cafe I've ever seen. Everyone I knew was eating at the Cafe...I saw Raven there who yelled at me for calling him Raven, RWAdams, and Corkscrewed who seemed to be writing a walkthrough of his own. Idea stealer! Anyways, after a great lunch I decided to check out the Qube Arcade, an awesome arcade thing and something I really wanted to point out as incredible (as if Ed hadn't done that already). Beginning to leave Pavonis Mons I could hear the Flaming Lips playing from their live stage, but once again I decided to pass. I was here for the thrills, and so I took a ride on "Sympathy 3000-21" along with my alcoholic buddy Scarface. We both threw up after that nauseating ride...me throwing up the scallops I had just eaten, and Scarface throwing up his Rasperry Smirnoff Twist. That did it for the The Flaming Lips themed Pavonis Mons...time to move on to the last, but biggest area of the park...
Rooty
The Basement Jaxx themed jungle wonderland is really one of the most bewildering sights ever seen in a theme park. The assortful array of colors, from browns, golds, greens, oranges, blues, maroons, and tans really makes you feel like your walking through a Picasso picture, and not a theme park. I entered through the gates and was welcomed by Meshell Ndegeocello, a "Rooty lady". Walking through the gigantic building that was ahead of me. Once on the other side I just stood in awe for about an hour...staring at the suicidal landscape I'd have to navigate through, mixed with the plethora of colors...and I was just out on my feet. It took Kylie Minogue, who was touring the park too to come by and bring me to my senses. So then me and Kylie decided to spend some time with one another, as we hopped aboard the last coaster of the park, and the biggest...Bingo Bango (9.7), a wooden terrain sprawler that really wound its way through the unique Basement Jaxx themed area. We sat in the front seat, and before we could really even get situated, the wooden coaster launched (yes, this wooden coaster launches) us swiftly and immediately into a gigantic tilted helix. We then dropped down into yet another tilted helix, this one in the opposite direction until headchopping under a tunnel and carooning underground for a little while. We were stopped by the brakes under a woven roof...and for a split second I thought the ride was over...that was until we made a quick U-Turn and headed up the imposing lift hill, held up by these awkward green steel beams. Quite a long lift hill as we went all the way to the top of the Rooty mountain before flying into a spiraling tunneled drop, barely missing JC Chasez (just go with me on this one...don't worry, don't panic). We came out the other end somewhere and quickly dropped down the biggest drop of the ride, a 55 mph straightaway drop straight into a large helix at the base of the watery cliff. We raised up into another tilted helix as a view of a rapids ride could be seen below. The train casually nestled it's way through some more of the junglish theming before banking hard to the right and hitting another spiraling drop. A large underground dropped followed as we racketed our way into a very nice helix next to the Crazy Girl Cafe. We flew back underground before reappearing (I'd completely lost my sense of direction by this point). Once again we flew underground, just to burst through a waterfall and reappear to hit a gradual lift, before dropping again and spiraling back up, circling around the trippy as hell Dancing Tree, ending our ride. A completely out of body experience, it was definitely my favorite ride in the park.
I then tried to navigate myself as I parted ways with Kylie, and walked down the jagged path until finding the entrance to Romeo River. Great, lose track of one of the hottest females on the planet, and THEN find the water ride. Anyways it was a pretty no-nonsense ride, although it looked beautiful with the jungle-wonderland theming all around it. The splashdown was great and I got completely doused. Anyways, after that I waited for about 10 minutes to dry off, skipped the Supersonic and the Jump N Shout. I climbed back up, and across a very lonely, wobbly bridge (no idea if it was even part of the park or not) before finally finding my way to the other half of Rooty. I walked by the Crazy Girl Cafe I had seen earlier from Bingo Bango, passed Mojo Jojo, and somehow finally made my way to the final ride of the day, the aforementioned rapids ride, "Broken Dreams". It was definitely an outstanding rapids ride, although I can't remember a whole lot about it, other then getting to watch the park owner Joe the mantis strangle Rooty the Albino Ape....or maybe I was just high by this point. Either way, I decided to call it a day. I'd just walked through one of the greatest parks in all of existance, offended by H2H3 teammate Alec, and somehow managed to kill ride6. So all in all I'd say it was a good day eh? Moving onto the official park ratings.
Themed Area Ratings:
-Portal: 7.8
-Discovery/D.A.F.T: 8.9
-The Hotel Yorba: 9.5
-Pavonis Mons: 9.4
-Rooty: 9.9
Coaster Rating Re-Cap:
1.Bingo Bango (9.7)
2.The White Stripes (9.4)
3.Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (9.2)
4.Aerodynamic (9.1)
4.Digital Love (9.1)
6.D.A.F.T Test Launch (6.5)
List Position - #2
Panoramical Offline
mantis Offline