Park / The Lonely Planet
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25-February 23
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89.50%(required: 80%) Spotlight
bigshootergill 95% yes Magnus 95% yes RWE 95% yes Terry Inferno 95% yes wheres_walto 95% yes CoasterCreator9 90% yes In:Cities 90% yes Liampie 85% yes posix 85% yes Scoop 85% yes Cocoa 80% yes ottersalad 80% yes 89.50% 100.00% -
Description
Travel is in our DNA. At Lonely Planet, we believe travel opens the door to the greatest, most unforgettable experiences life can offer. And we have learned that the best travel is about putting yourself out there, about leaving behind the everyday, about immersing yourself, rather than just seeing the sights.
My journey started in 2011 after booking a round-the-world ticket from London to Australia. With a loose plan, a little bit of money, and one backpack, I travelled through Australasia, South East Asia and some of Africa. Since then, traveling has inspired many more adventures, and this very park!
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• The park was built with Open GL enabled, I highly recommend this as it will increase your viewing experience. -
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Interesting park. Going to sum it up it feels like impressionistic scrapbook photo copied from your head to this game. Everything is pretty recognizable in a way you would describe with words.
This felt kinda too realistic at times with the choices of details (ride supports, insanely well done flat rides, guard rails everywhere, garbage cans) then have like illogical moments that would give me a headache haha. Cant really figure out how this park is presenting itself at times. Things I think could elevate your work is having open forms and interesting transitions between areas(weird diagonal bridges got kind of annoying, the asian india area has your best flow of work).
Favorite area for me probably the tudor /entrance stuff. Felt most rounded and didn't have the weird semi realism stuff it. The gothic arch was done really well too. All ride layouts were really well done enjoyed pretty much all of them in some way so thats pretty important.
One thing id change in this park id make the brown coaster in india yellow like the one next to it looks great like that. Make your coasters pop man haha
Overall 85/yes
This is amazing, I never finished a park because of how great others parks looked! And this one is very different compared to the other parks i seen throughout being here
There's people like me that spend 5 and a half months just planning out a park with little progress here and there and then we have J K out here producing a whole ass spotlight in such a short amount of time haha.
The overview already looked amazing, but it's the details I find when zooming in that take this park to a whole 'nother level. Take for example the globe statues throughout the park (even with red dots indicating what place you're exactly in), the faces on the Aoraki station building, the statues in the Indian area or the drumming peep being used as a wok chef. What all of these have in common is a genius use of various objects. I could write down many other examples but I'm still discovering more and more as I explore through the park so this review would probably never stop then haha. The micro and macro are great, the coaster layouts are great, you are great. And I will surely be checking out this park many times in the future hoping to one day reach this level of parkmaking. Congrats J K!
(Oh and also that hand sculpture (and its placement) in the Indian area is freaking amazing, probably one of my favorite moments in the park!)
With the mm I didn't have the time to congratulate you for this park JK!! I won't do a detailed review, there are too many fabulous things in your park to mention them all. There are so many things to discover, I'm really enjoying exploring it. Thanks to you for sharing this kind of park, I guess it was a lot of work!
Airtime Offline
Wow JK, such an impressive piece of art! The colour of your robe preceeded your reputation for me, and damn you delivered. I am not too familiar with any of your prehistoric releases, just the most recent ones and I thought they were fun and creative, but this one hits the nail right in the butthole.
Let's start off at the entrance and then go clockwise. Loveing the black roofs here. Does feel very Swiss/Czech. The 'World Setpiece' facade is stellar. Loving how the woodie frames the buildings as well. Not too sure about the shoestring right at the entrance gate.
Now lets go left. By the way, these boats are awesome, on such a small footprint and housing such a lot of detail. Really digging the team briefing backstage there. In the Czech area, the opening area of the half diagonal bridge is awful. When I rotate the camera, it looks incredible. I guess we have now covered merits and downsides of half diagonals. Lets agree to not use them anymore.
The way you present your facades and have them share the same roofs nears perfection. Theme parks need intricate architecture, however their buildings dont need to be as detailed at the back. You know what's up. Facades always speak to me more than completed structures, and I dont know why. The star of the evening here is the single rail coaster, the scale, massivenesss, and interaction near the riverside really brings it home. I also really like how you framed the little carroussel .
Moving on, we find ourselves in the Icelandic Area. The black and brown work together in harmony here. I havent got much to say, other than what the rest of the NE members have already mentioned. The colours are very fitting, the Eldgos hack is impressive and the gigantic hot tub is such a clever touch to really immerse us cold-hearted strugglers into that naturally warmed up habitat that is the land of Ice. Very cool. (or not?) . Meltdown is my favourite little coaster here by the way.
Next up, Sawasdee Khap! Never having been to Thailand, it is still recognisable for me as I help dirty old Dutch guys arranging their visa for this country. The floating market is a higlight, as are the two sculptures near that first drop and entrance of that queueline. The path feels really bright here, which might be my only nitpick, because the pathwork, interaction and architecture I really love. The Full Moon party is great, would have loved to be there, although it might have been a bit ... well ... 'darker'.
India... Perfection. What an awesome corner I find myself in. ...Kangra Express is wonderful , with all its different levels, but I keep finding myself going back to Shivas Spin. The yellow and blue, the way it circles above the pathways, the run-down market underneath, it equals perfection in my eyes. That hand sculpture....... Who even cares about the Weenie here?
Finally, I find myself in New Zealand. Been a long trip coming from India , but lets make the most of it. The music here is perfect. Well, the music has been near perfect in every area so far, but NZ and Czech ae the highlights in terms of audio to be honest. Good job to G Goblin by the way for setting that all up. SKIDIVE is great, especially layout and supportworkwise. The pacing is excellent, the colour scheme is good, pathwork around it and station,.. It just all works together really well. Rapids are cool too, although a bit glitchy and out of place sometimes, cant put my finger on why exactly. The RMC is pretty great, wish it would have went under the terrain a bit more , dont know why. Not a fan of the krypton stuff rocks here.
Circling back to the entrance, I think you can be insanely proud of what you produced here. This definitely deserved spotlight, but more importantly, you inspired others to start building on their solos, including me. I started my first 'BIG 'park, because of you. The ease and conceptual creativity in your park sparked some kind of fire inside of me and I hope I can push through. Thank you for this park JK.
I lived in NZ for a while when I was younger. It's always nice to see NZ depicted in video games. Your take reflects something personal about it, I can't really say why it feels that way. Anyway you put your heart in this project and it shows. Congrats!
Wow. Great collection of themes we don't get to see too often. I adore the wide open spaces and the focus on architecture in the Czech area. Bohemia's layout is a little strange, but the integration with the log flume and the layers around the station give so much visual interest.
The way you do steep landscaping is also very interesting. It manages to look like it fits with the game assets, but makes way for these epic mountain structures, like the cliffs in the Czech area, or the mountains in New Zealand. The NZ area may be my favorite - the scale on Aoraki is just crazy. I like the station building being so open as well, and a bit unconventional. I do wish it used the mountain a little more, rather than most of the ride being clustered in one section near the end. The brakes before the brakes are also a little awkward, like maybe the layout used to be quite different and this was a cut compromise. Another little snippet I really love is the ending of the rapids ride, coming in underneath the sky cycles station. That, the restaurant on the lower level, and the path wrapping around to see it all plus a bit of the mechanics of the rapids being exposed, I absolutely can imagine walking around that space in person, and that's the highest praise I can think of for a strictly realistic park like this.
Great colors in the Diwali section. The megastructure is just immense. It manages to suit the scale of Kangra Express. The splash zone for the two rides was really nicely framed on its own, it's just a shame it's on a spike at the outskirts of the park and doesn't really lead anywhere (except the hidden peep tunnel). Everywhere else in the zone is just full of life and activity, and since this area is way off on its own there weren't really any peeps.
On the note of splash zones, can I say I adore the queue for Songkran in the Thai section. It looks like so much fun. I'm not sure how it would actually go down in a real park that isn't a water park, lol... but such a neat ride in its little lagoon there. Some of the building scales in this area throw me a bit. It looks like some things are maybe twice as big as they're supposed to be. That might just be my perception or mis-reading how some buildings are translated, but even the planters seemed kinda out of scale. Not sure what's going on there. Garuda is probably my favorite coaster layout in the park though, and it's such a unique take I just love it. The zones within zones here are so distinct, it's almost like its own little mini park. Just really solid execution.
The Icelandic area is just awesome. The mix of snow, ice, volcanoes, hot springs, the really unique mixes and coloration of the foliage, it's just great. I really like the choice to make the giant swimming pool the focal point rather than relying on a setpiece coaster. The volcano is great too of course, everything about this zone is just so distinct from everywhere else in the park.
Even the English zone, which is maybe the least uncommon of the themes on display, feels like a totally fresh spin. All the black, white, and brick makes it feel so cozy. The White Cross makes for a solid classic woodie and inviting spectacle I can imagine looking at from the parking lot on the way in. And the COTTAGE! I just wanna cuddle up with this area with a warm drink on a cold day. Perfect atmosphere for an entrance area.
Something else that stands out to me is just the spacing of everything is wonderful. The areas are separated enough to feel like they have room to breathe. Rides interact plenty, but nothing feels cluttered. Lots of water, but not too much water. Great mix of a wide variety of coasters, family rides, water rides. Some functional custom flat rides, some bigger spectacle non-functional custom flat rides. It really has everything.
Ok finally got the time to review...
first of congrats on the accolade and your return to large parks...
For me this park was rather confilcting as the overal quality is amazing but the park for me at times lacked some internal consistency when it comes to a few things... The theming and macro of the map was clearly of spotlight quality, but the ride design wasn't in my opinion, a few very wonky moments on a few rides that i feel just looked off and rushed in a sense where i feel had they had a few more iterations they'd have been a lot better... Also i feel like consistent scale was an issue in this park, where if you look at each individual area it works but in the grand view it doesn't for me since in one area a floor is 6units high and in another they're 10-12units high wich threw me off a few times and gave that sense of lacking internal consistency for me.
a few moments i liked and disliked
+ the entrance area was beautifully laid out and the architecture was very clear and recognisable, also the wave swinger in the corner with the surrounding buildings is a really good placement of a ride, part of me wished you did a more custom hacked one but it doesn't detract from the area at all.
+El loco layout and supports, gorgeously done but then again is rather big for it's irl counterpart and this also felt too large in scale for some reason. these are extremely hard to pull off in rct though so still good job on how you managed to make it look.
+enterprise in indian area again great placement with the architectural backdrop
+floating markets is probably the best type of this thing the game has seen to date
+boats in iceland, are great although a bit large for what they're meant to represent
+Junior boomerang, great placement and station
+around the world building was superb
+beach party was a really fun moment
+interaction on the mack launched coaster
-screaming swing is waaay too tall, either make the cars get to 90degrees higher or shrink the tower structure, it looked off to me.
-mack coaster layout, i feel like this caster was one of the weaker coasters in the park and the sequencing wasn't special. the fact that the first 2 sequences are near identical was a missed opportunity i feel like and the area could've been used better, also for the scale again if you're going to use B&M track anyway for the loops, i would've gone for the medium loops with lim track as they would've looked better for this type of ride...
-the white cross, this was also a coaster that from a layout perspective frustrated me a bit, the start is to put it bluntly weird and didn't work for me at all... it's placement is great, theming is top notch but the layout felt so cramped and squished in resulting in the layout being off.
-the large temple in thailand next to the waterfall... i feel this building missed the mark when it comes to placement, this should've been a centerpiece, also it dwarfs the nearby waterfall wich kinda makes both less impressive than they are.
So overall an amazing park that seemed to come out of nowhere given how fast this went, by and far great quality but some things like i mentioned before held this back for me, also sometimes a bit of identity crisis in terms of one ride was done super realistic and the one next to it not at all. I'd say if you're doing a follow up on this The biggest things i'd watch out for is internal consistency and keeping a more rigid scale between areas so it looks more cohesive, as i said before every area on it's own is amazing but bringing them together felt weird at moments.
Still a release to be proud of without a doubt
I just looked at this for the second time. I still haven't absorbed it all. I'll comment on the color palette first. I like how you used the subdued greens and reds but kept some of the other colors more potent. I think that the bright red is somewhat subdued but if I'm wrong, someone please correct me.
For the rides I liked Fagradalfsjall (Did I spell that correctly and how do you pronounce it?) the best. It had a launch and many interesting elements plus the extreme environment that differentiates it from the other coasters in the park.
The Indian area had some neat coasters too. I liked Shivas Spin and the noodley curves outside the building. It seems that the regular waterfalls weren't cool enough looking so you went with more large droplet-like ones.
The New Zealand area has a refreshing natural feel to it with the great landscaping plus the choice of rides that emphasize it. An RMC, a cycling attraction, and a river rapids to round it off. The only thing you could have done to make it more down to nature is add a zipline and an alpine coaster.
Garuda is a great inverted coaster with nice theming. The urban part of the Thailand area has some nice blend of Western influence with traditional Thai architecture.
The Bohemia area has a nice RMC Raptor with Bohemia. I like the look with the browns and brownish reds. Since that's largely based on the real thing I can't credit you as much for that but the overall composition of the area is on point which I'm sure is more related to your skill as a parkmaker.
The England entrance area with the black on the buildings is a nice departure from the classic era semi-realism with the emphasis on the browns. The wooden coaster is pleasant. Well executed if not a showstopper and fits the area well.
Do I have any criticisms? Maybe one. I don't know if it was your choice or my game settings but the the opaque water could have been made clear. Other than that though, it seems like as more of a fantasy fan that I was able to forgive things that other people weren't.
Well, I had a lot of fun viewing this park and I'll be coming back to it at least a couple more times. Congrats on the Spotlight and this is my favorite work of yours that I've seen so far.
Congratulations on this comeback park JK!
I’m a huge fan of Dreamport and Spellbrook shore, so I’m happy to be able to finally dive into this and see how your style has evolved/modernised.
Starting with things I thought could be better:
-some of the “new meta” object use felt a bit forced - for instance why is there half diagonal map edges in some places, but others it’s jagged full tiles. Same with the landscaping objects, I think it sometimes looked jarring when the default RCT landscaping mixed with Fisch + LOTR rocks.
-composition of the map and path layout was a bit strange sometimes - I think having a more open middle (centre-lake style) would have created some better sightline into opposite areas for guests
Things I loved:
-you went for some less well-trodden themes and did so in a way which captures diverse aspects of their culture/character.
-English entrance area was my favourite, I’ve never seen Tudor-style buildings nailed this well before, the amount of stark black and white and fine detailed pattern really sells it. Has a super fresh look, and paired with the ornamental gardens and bowling green (lol) it feels very authentic.
-your work has a bombastic charm and energy that I love: the huge scale of mantra express, the temple in the Thailand area, an enormous hot springs pool, a full moon party.
-amazing dense and layered atmosphere in the Indian area, love how the rides interact with the various towers and walkways. Some super cool support work going on too
In general I’m a huge fan of the park and your attention to storytelling details really shines through as usual.
Holy...
Wow. This is quite a lot to digest! I'll write this up as I go round the park.
To begin, the entrance plaza. This is beautiful. Absolutely stunning. At first I wasn't sure if it was meant to be Dutch or German, or somewhere between the two, but the architecture, the colours, the composition feels quite enchanting and is quite immersive. It took me a minute to realise that it's a whole melting pot of Europe, and I fell in love. It's gorgeous. Parts are quite wide open, which I wouldn't expect to see in a real park, but I'm suspending my disbelief here.
Moving over to Eastern Europe, the double decker carousel is genius considering how simple it is, and at first glance, one would think it's vanilla - at least, until one of them stops. The cart ride is really sweet, the little bay with the bridge over it is cute. One thing I'm not a fan of is the red and beige around the tower weenie. I'm not too sure what you were trying to achieve there, but it feels a little awkward - maybe it's the colours? The texture? I don't know. The tram, while I understand that it's only part of a diorama setting, feels like it spends too much time underground for it to really be believable. We've now come across Bohemia & Vltava - I'll talk about the bigger rides later. For our final stop in Eastern Europe, we come across Pilsener Hop - a boozy spinning flat-ride set amongst the hills. The architecture around here is really well built, and the ride seamlessly blends in. It has crunch, but it's not an overload. It's impressive!
We now hop over to Iceland. Home of an S&S Screamin' Swing, a shot tower and Fagradalsfjall, this area strays away from the common idea that Iceland is cold, desolate and barren. Instead, we're greeted with a volcanic hellscape and some hot springs, a village and a harbour. This area truly feels alive, and I love how the fire chimneys around Eldgos are intentionally masqueraded with rocks. The backstage areas are animated, and not a single area ever feels dull or dead to the eye. I'm particularly a fan of Eldgos and Solfar, and how they're incorporated in their areas - though from a realism standpoint, not sure how the lava would be done, nor how the drive tyres on Solfar would remain dry. In all, a charming, diverse area that keeps you interested.
Moving on to Thailand, Garuda is the first thing that catches your eye. From an aesthetic standpoint, the ride area is vibrant, the water fountains are a nice touch and the spine is an incredible detail. The waterfall adds a beautiful backdrop to the area, though from a realism standpoint, it seems like this area would be a nightmare to manage - inaccessible maintenance areas, tuk tuks roaming around, and minimal backstage areas. Talking of, the backstage areas around here don't feel as alive as in Iceland, which is slightly disappointing. As a transport nerd, I do approve of the inclusion of the BTS on the bridge - a very nice touch - and the wild mouse and the water ride are really well done.
India is next door, and this does not disappoint. Plenty of variation in colour, texture, flavour, with incredible architecture and detail work. The area surrounding the Dumbo ride is adorable, the palace is stunning, and the accoutrement flat-rides feel properly harmonised with the land. My main gripe here, however, is that there's absolutely no backstage areas, and nothing to suggest a back-of-house area either.
I can't say much on Aotearoa, as the area is dominated by rides. The landscaping, however, is incredible, and the detail in the general area is fantastic. It does leave me a little confused in the density of the buildings - what buildings there are are definitely fine examples of how to make a building in RCT, however it's the most sparse land in the park, and it feels quite jarring compared to its neighbours, Europe and India. Skydive feels like it'd be a temporary attraction, and I'm not sure it's the best ride for the area. Once again - limited backstage areas, but what detail there is doesn't disappoint.
Now onto the rides!
The first ride I'd imagine someone would see would be the Skyride. While on a micro level, it's incorporated well into the landscape, on a macro level I'm not sure it integrates well into the park itself. The views from the lake are only available from one side, and in reality, I'd guess that the skyride is a 5-minute replacement for a 15-minute walk.
The White Cross is a charming layout, perhaps inspired by older woodies. I'm conflicted, however, on if it feels like it's quite long, or if it's too short. The trains certainly don't help in that regard. A solid ride, but it could probably do with some block brakes!
Bohemia, while it strays from the standard Raptor layout, definitely still speaks the same design language. It's dense, it's compact, and it doesn't let up. The interaction with the buildings is quite good, however I feel like you could have cut down on its length. Not seeing much in the way of transfer tracks or ancillaries either, unfortunately.
Vltava is easily missed, being tucked away in the corner. This one doesn't spark much joy, unfortunately, being quite square and grid-constrained. It could have been so much more. Not small enough to be a small ride, not big enough to be anything else.
Fsfdlkjajsfhddsalksfjall is a pretty sweet layout. I'm quite partial to the double top-hat arrangement you have there, and it doesn't feel as forced as I was expecting it to. I love the level of care and attention that went into this layout, it's a really solid ride. Bring on those track pieces!
Oh, and the jojo roll's pretty sound too.
Meltdown is cute, and is a pretty good representation of a Fam Boomerang. 'Nuff said.
Garuda... Where do I begin!? The spine is genius, however I'm not sure I'd handle the drop like that, having the 45 degree turn at the top. You've managed to strike a sweet spot between OzIris and Nemesis, however parts of the layout do feel quite drawn out. Maintenance on this one could be an issue.
Kangra Express is an interesting one. Not sure what ride style this one's meant to represent, but it's definitely piqued my curiosity. Another fun layout, perhaps too intense at times, but it certainly doesn't let up. Love the water interaction, too.
Yamuna is a great addition to this part of the park, and is a welcome change to this type of ride - predominantly featuring outdoors sections with open interactions with guests and plazas. I just wish you did a bit more with cutaways.
Shiva's Spin, oh my! A fun looking layout with lots of twists turns and a launch to boot, definitely a fresh take on the Maurer spinner. Could probably get away with this being a Mack, in my opinion!
Rangitikei River Wild - one of the best implementations of a whirlpool I've seen in this game. I appreciate the subtle elevation change throughout the course, and the fact you even tried a river rapids ride is impressive in and of itself. Love the details, the waterfalls, a charming little ride you have there.
Aoraki is a domineering, powerful RMC. From a compo perspective, it's extremely well done, however there's a couple things to note. A lot of your fast turns are taken low to the ground, which seems like quite a taboo thing to do in the realm of coaster design. Higher = slower, which means you're probably not going to launch everyone out sideways. The colours on this one are exceptionally beautiful, however, and I'm a fan of how it integrates into the surroundings. That tunnel mouth, while simple, is definitely impressive.
Cycle New Zealand: Based.
Skydive doesn't feel like a good fit for the area, and personally, I'd have probably foregone it. A cute ride, but not the right place for it. Swap it with the Fam Boomerang, and then we'd be talking money.
Overall, the park is really nice, however there's parts of it that definitely need review. I'm going to echo the sentiment of others and say that it feels like every other area is fighting for attention, and that at times it's not the most coherent in its layout, but it's still fantastic nonetheless. My advice would be to be more consistent with your backstage areas and try to make everywhere feel alive with something or another.
If J K doesn't mind I'll share a snippet of our convo when I saw this for the first time:
"J K — 02/26/2023 5:13 PM
[5:14 PM]
Anyway check out my park and see what you think
[5:14 PM]
nice comments only
xeccah / miri — 02/26/2023 5:14 PM
aight
[5:14 PM]
Like you're so good at two things
[5:15 PM]
setpieces that really anchor everything, and how immersive your worlds are even though they never feel grounded in reality
[5:15 PM]
by that i mean they never not feel like RCT. fanfiction of theme parks and areas if you will.
J K — 02/26/2023 5:16 PM
I get that
xeccah / miri — 02/26/2023 5:16 PM
i think that's where our philosophies differ in rct in general
[5:17 PM]
i want my stuff to be nearly unrecognizable as rct. i want my realism work to appear like a google images streetview map of an actual, existing park or area
[5:17 PM]
and my fantasy for its aesthetics to "hold up" outside of rct as an art medium.
[5:17 PM]
not to question the validity of either approach, and if we're being honest, NE is more for the former than the latter.
[5:20 PM]
some of your proportions feel "off". some of the finer details are left raw, some green spaces unnuanced. your transitions are either bridges or abrupt. but all in all, i think those are good things in a poetic sort of way. it feels heartfelt. i'm sharing a small yet visceral piece of your brain.
[5:21 PM]
i'm seeing your memories of travels and experiences from the lens you saw them, and suspended reality as a way.
[5:22 PM]
this isn't realism. this is fantasy wrapped in a sheen of realism, and while you've portrayed very real things, you're really supposed to get the feelings you felt when seeing these. it's portraying something other than real life
J K — 02/26/2023 5:23 PM
Exactly that
xeccah / miri — 02/26/2023 5:23 PM
i think things that get me to talk about these things, and not just about the park themselves, means almost by default that it's good. really good in fact.
J K — 02/26/2023 5:24 PM
There's a lot of heart in what I do, this park has hit the sweetspot so i'm really happy here
xeccah / miri — 02/26/2023 5:24 PM
i once tried to exude an emotion like these in a park. while it didn't crack spotlight, it is still my baby. but i think the emotions you showed here were genuinely happy and not those of colorful cynicism that i had inadvertently went for.
[5:25 PM]
it's hard to feign what emotion you felt while making a particular work of art, after all
[5:27 PM]
i loved the assorted little scenes throughout. it makes it feel like these areas are experiences that happened at times of a year as opposed to just a setting. it feels lived in; the coasters are somewhat of an afterthought, really mostly offering movement to express things further.
[5:28 PM]
the little guest you have, frustratingly behind bars of a raj temple
[5:28 PM]
frantically looking for a way to leave, absolutely hilarious but god
[5:28 PM]
everything is so personal.
[5:28 PM]
you genuinely enjoyed making this
[5:29 PM]
and there's not anything that i can say about the park or whatever that can criticize past the joy that i felt seeing something so genuine to a creator.
J K — 02/26/2023 5:30 PM
That's the sweetspot right. i can't say anymore than that, it's just hit the potential I had in my head for everything. It's a love letter to all the amazing places I've visited
xeccah / miri — 02/26/2023 5:31 PM
you're rare. so many people miss out on that when they try to get good. you either never lost it or regained it back over the years. a lot of us get lost in execution that we forget the visceral fun of making art that represents how we actually felt
[5:32 PM]
noobs have it in spades and a lot of them get hurt when they're met with the NE cynicism for the first time, the ones that stick often conform, but to keep that intact lets you remain, after a decade of hiatus and so many novel techniques and the like innovated and perfected in your absence, one of the most important parkmakers we have today
J K — 02/26/2023 5:33 PM
Thank you Xe, this time around I'm definitely building for myself. there's a huge sense of freedom there
xeccah / miri — 02/26/2023 5:34 PM
i dont know how to act on this philosophy, nor do i genuinely think this park is a call to action, but it's making me think things. and that matters."
English Entrance (need a cup of tea for this section)
This is so cozy and quaint, just feels like a perfect welcome to this park. Around the World is loaded to the brim so many details, excellent mix of objects to create little iconic moments from the globe. It’s impressive how many little and big rides (White Cross) are packed into this area but if doesn’t feel claustrophobic at all. I love studying all the bits and pieces on the paths (not just here but the entire park). Nailed the details on this little buildings too, so much similarity and diversity!
Czech Replublic (Let’s go clockwise)
Obviously we’ve seen hundreds of mazes, but this shape and placement is so natural and fun, love it! Again, fantastic archy all over the place, I marvel at the patience it takes to make this stuff and to do it with so much detail. Bohemia is such a fantastic coaster, probably the best execution of a single rail coaster I’ve seen since it was released. Side note, would have liked to see the peeps have a little more freedom to walk around as the actual paths they can walk on is very limited (small nitpick). Love the beer ride, as well as the bridge you can take to skip Czech and head right over to Iceland, so let’s go…
Iceland (winter coat or swim trunks?)
Seriously damn cool hot springs! It’s so big and brimming with life and details, the black rock work feels so realistic, amazing objects (shout out to all you object creators out there) and execution. I must say this is one of the loveliest water colors in a palette. I always love a zippy coaster like with this Mack, and the animated sign on the station is really cool. Sweeping along we go from molten lava and hot springs to skating rinks and snowpack. Meltdown is a fresh take on a Boomerang layout. Something always hits home when I see a little fishing village scene, I used to live on the east coast of Canada, so it probably feels a bit like home for me.
Thailand (let’s get crazy)
First thing I noticed was the Twist ride on the water front and how happy it makes that the bases on these rides can be made invisible, long overdue and Lakhon showcases it’s value (and probably many other vanilla rides in the park do too). I adore the crammed little market on the water, just packed with stalls and canoes, busted archy and broken electric wires, haha, great touches to authenticate Thailand. Really the street recreation is top notch, the café’s, vendors and tours… and the cherry on top is the Crazy Tuk Tuk wild mouse!... also a funky little beach party (maybe that’s the sprinkles or whipped cream).
India (there better some killer street meat vendors here)
Holy giant building!!! I’m a little jealous, I fear building stuff like this. It’s beautiful, and so purposeful with an amazing coaster and splash ride all housed in there. Again, the street details are spot on, so drenched in atmosphere! Maybe a nice time to add in how I appreciated all the water features in this park… not just India but everywhere. This section has a variety of water falls, water jets for the splash ride, schools of fish, underwater foliage, some scattered fountains… it’s the little details that make a park special!
New Zealand (and now for the grand finale)
Serious mountain construction skills here JK, this area feels like a refreshing change from the chaos of some of the other sections of the park. It’s very organic with a genuine adventure feel to it, including this delightful coaster in Aoraki and a massive rapids ride, both look like tons of fun. Another example of bringing so much bonus content to a park, the little sculptures and art pieces set off on the lawns and grassy areas. The floor of Glide caught my eye right away, keeping everything thematic. These white cloud lamps are weird but cool, so weird in a good way.
Wrap it up!
Alright, so I could probably write 5 more reviews on this park and not repeat anything, there’s just so much to offer here. Honestly, as most know, I’m not a huge realism fan. That being said, the crunch trend definitely has me more captivated and interested. I won’t be a builder but I can genuinely say I’m enjoying realism more and more. Anyway, I’d say this is, hands down, one of my all time favorite realism parks, mind blowing to see JK step back into the game and seems like he didn’t miss a beat. Stoked you’re back and gracing us with phenomenal content like this. No doubter Spotlight park here! Can’t wait for more!
Seriously touched by all the nice comments so far!