A Western View - Southern California's New Big Hitters

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Lately I’ve been focused on photo updates and lost sight ofwriting articles that are more than just captions.  Today we’re going to switch it up and I’mgoing to review the 2 major dark rides that recently opened in SouthernCalifornia, Disney California Adventure’s Radiator Springs Racers and UniversalStudios Hollywood’s Transformers: The Ride – 3D.
Radiator SpringsRacers
First up is Radiator Springs Racers, which opened lastFriday at Disney California Adventure (DCA). Cars Land is the final puzzle pieceto the DCA billion dollar overhaul, and Radiator Springs Racers is the starattraction of the all-new land. 
Upon arrival to the park around 7:20am I noticed the usuallybusy Disneyland looked like a ghost town with almost no one trying to enter thepark.  Across the esplanade, DCA hadhundreds, if not thousands, awaiting their chance to enter.  It was very clear that Disneyland’s littlebrother has finally been noticed by guests to the resort.   The majority of the crowd opted to getfastpasses before waiting in line, making it easy for me to sneak into a short15 minute wait thanks to the single rider line.
The ride begins with a slow, but breathtaking, drive alongthe land’s amazing rockwork and past a waterfall.  Disney uses spectacular music to emphasis thesites you see.  It’s hard not to getchills as you emerge from a small tunnel and the waterfall comes into viewwhile the great music reaches a crescendo.

Not only does the ride have great theming, but so does that queue.

Next you head into the building getting into a few nearmisses with Mack, Van and Minny, and even a train.  You’re greeted by the Sherriff, who warns youto slow down, and then hands you off to Mater. The Mater animatronics are some of the most impressive I’ve seen.   Not only is the face motion spot on, but hisentire body movement as he drives looks just as it does in the films.   After some cow tipping shenanigans you findyourself in Radiator Springs where we meet most of the town folk.
Here is where Lightning and Sally separate the cars so theycan race along side of each other.  Youare sent into either Ramon’s paint shop or Luigi’s tire store.  Both rides I ended up in Luigi’s where youstop and view your car.   Guido quicklydrops under the floor and moments later your car’s reflection is shown with newwhitewall tires.
Moving from the shops you have a brief encounter with DocHudson who gives you some advice and sends you to the starting line.  Again, Disney works their magic as theanimatronic looks amazing and syncs perfect with the car audio.  Just as you pass Doc you hear him on the“radio” finishing his instructions before the race.  The switch from the animatronic audio to theonboard audio is seamless as if he never stopped talking. And then the moment for the big race is here.   Going into the ride knowing it only went ata relatively slow 40mph, I was expecting to only be mildly thrilled.   Surprisingly though, the ride has greatpositive forces in the banks and even gives you some decent airtime over thehills.
After the race is over you drive into a cavern with taillightsjutting from the roof and floor.   Thisscene was the only one I didn’t care for as the props looked like they weremade of plastic and didn’t blend well with the amazing rockwork.  Here you get a final word from Mater andLightning and then you head into the station to exit.
Overall the ride is amazingly solid and a lot of fun.  The dark ride portion is one of the bestDisney has ever done and the race is up there on the thrill scale for a Disneyride.  Radiator Springs Racers gets astrong A grade from me. The ride is sure to be a must for all visitors for many,many years to come, just expect to have to wait.
Transformers: TheRide – 3D
Next up, Universal Studios Hollywood has put in its bid fordark ride dominance in Southern California with the new Transformers: The Ride– 3D.   The ride, which was announcednearly 3 years ago, opened officially on May 25^th and has beengetting some outstanding reviews.  I setout on a mission the ride and judge for myself.

The entrance is not easy to miss. 

Like Radiator Springs Racers, I was able to utilize theride’s single rider line and bypass the large 65 minute wait in a mere 10minutes.  I can’t say enough about singlerider lines, as they work sometimes better than a fastpass system for waittimes as long as you are ok separating from your group.
Once aboard I had a vague idea of what to expect.  Prior to my visit, I made it a point to avoidany POVs on YouTube and be fully surprised with the experience.  I have ridden Curse of DarKastle at BuschGardens Williamsburg; so I thought I knew what the ride would be like, at leastfrom a movement standpoint going from screen to screen, but boy was Iwrong. 
The ride is incredibly fast paced.  It gets going from the first scene and neverlets up.  Drawing from my memory of DarKastleI recall always noticing when we got to a new movie screen, with Transformersthe surroundings and videos blended seamlessly. There was a few times where I felt speechless at the quality of themingand sheer size of the sets, only to realize that huge scene I was looking atwas all CGI projections on a screen.  I’mnot sure I’ve ever experienced such visual quality from a projected film on anamusement park attraction.

Like the park's Simpsons ride, Transformers has humorous and fun videos playing in the queue.

The ride’s story is easy to follow and exciting to watchunfold, and just like Indiana Jones Adventure, the ride never forgets you aresimply tourist thrown into an extraordinary story.   Your transforming ride vehicle, EVAC, eventalks you and tries to keep everyone calm as he tries to get everyone out ofharms way.  I feel like this addssomething to the ride, making it easier on the riders to suspenddisbelief. 
By the end of the ride, the cars return with laughingcheering guests who are still riding the adrenaline rush.  And this ride succeeds in getting youradrenaline pumping, in fact I’m not sure a non-coaster has ever got my bloodpumping quite like this thing.
After my ride I thought about how I would describe thisattractions.  It’s not an ok ride; shoot,I can’t even describe it as a great ride. The only two words I can really say are game changer.  What this ridesays is that Universal will no longer back down in submission to Disney’s irongrip on the Southern California market. This ride doesn’t just say Universal can also build big themed darkrides, it says they can build them better. I will make one of the boldest statements I’ve probably ever said abouta ride; Transformers is the best amusement park attraction I have everexperienced.  My grade for it is an A++.
That will wrap us up this time.  Check back later this week for a brief lookat Buena Vista Street before we bring you full coverage of the openings of LEXLUTHOR: Drop of Doom and SUPERMAN Ultimate Flight.

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