Written by Robert Niles
Published: June 6, 2004 at 4:31 PM
I didn't get the chance to ride Journey to Atlantis until a couple years after it opened in Orlando. By the time I visited, the original queue video had been replaced with a mind-numbing loop featuring a mime getting drenched. (Gotta warn the clueless who haven't figured out that people get wet in a park called SeaWorld.) As a result, I never completely understood the ride's backstory, which I have heard was explained in the original queue video.
The attraction's arrival in Southern California raised my hope that SeaWorld would take this opportunity to clarify the ride's narrative elements, improve the audio in the dark ride portion give passengers a better sense of the story along the ride.
Well, SeaWorld's certainly addressed the Orlando version's narrative problems in San Diego. But not in the way I would have liked. SeaWorld's taken the cheap way out and chopped the dark ride portion from the attraction entirely.
Most of San Diego's Journey takes place outside, from the loading platform through almost all of the flume and roller coaster segments of the ride. Only one, very notable section of this ride occurs inside. Despite the loss of the dark ride, this Journey does contain two unique technical elements that make the ride worth a visit.
The first won't strike most riders as particularly remarkable. You might not notice it at all. But as a former ride operator, I found this feature brilliant. SeaWorld's installed a track switch at the loading platform that allows operators to take a boat off the main circuit so passengers with disabilities can board and debark taking as much time as they need. When I worked Thunder Mountain at Disney World, we had to hustle "wheelchair guests" on and off the ride in a hurry, for if we took more than 45 seconds, we couldn't get the train out of the station in rime for the next to arrive, causing the ride to shut down with trains backed up all around the track. With this track switch, delays are no longer a problem, as other boats can continue to circulate while a passenger with disabilities can take his or her time boarding. This feature needs to become standard on all theme park circuit rides.
Okay, enough with the ride op geekiness. Hop aboard and discover that Journey to Atlantis doesn't waste time getting to the action. A quick jaunt up a lift track and you're immediately dumped into the ride's 60-foot main flume drop. As with other SeaWorld attractions, on Journey riders aren't supposed to get just a little bit wet. They are supposed to wallow in torrents of water until utterly soaked. To that end, SeaWorld provides plenty of water cannons, spouts and fountains to drench anyone fortunate enough to be sitting in a seat that missed the splashback on the flume drops. Still, I didn't get drenched on this version as I did in Orlando, where our boat returned to the loading station with a good two inches of standing water in the bottom. Just a good showering here.
After a turnaround, passengers enter the show building for the defining element of San Diego's Journey to Atlantis. Audio narration explains that the people of Atlantis lost their connection to the sea, taking it for granted. (Brutal payback there, guys.) And that *we* must prove our ability to face the forces of the sea, and learn to communicate with the dolphins, lest we face the Atlanteans' fate.
Nice set-up, but might I suggest a lesson from journalism school? "Show, don't tell." Some animation would help reinforce the plot and heighten the suspense throughout the ride.
But before I can stew too long about SeaWorld's gutting the dark ride, my attention is drawn to the car ahead flying straight up in the air. Hello? That's right, instead of a traditional lift hill or launch start, Journey to Atlantis takes its ride vehicles up to the coaster's crest with an elevator.
What this ride misses in drama, it delivers in breathtaking technology. Our boat floats forward into a small chamber with video of Commerson's dolphins projected on one wall. A moment later, it's our turn to fly up the darkened tower, emerging into sunlight as our boat drops smoothly into a sweeping roller coaster curve. One quick hop up and we sweep through another long curve into our splashdown behind the loading station. A few more water spouts spray the remaining dry sports on our shirts and it's time to call it a ride.
Don't rush too quickly through the exit and miss the 130,000-gallon Commerson's dolphin exhibit. These protected mammals sport distinctive markings that evoke SeaWorld's famous Shamu and the park reports this display is the only one of this species in the Western Hemisphere.
It's never a great sign for a ride when its best thrills result from marveling at its technology. But, hey, it's a flume ride and roller coaster with an elevator in the middle. Not to mention a unique animal display at the end. That ought to be enough to get encourage any curious theme park fan to queue up for a look.
No, Journey to Atlantis won't satisfy the most extreme thrill junkies. But if it does entice a few more theme park fans to visit, those who do will not be disappointed by the entertaining mix of rides, shows and exhibits that they'll find at SeaWorld San Diego.
Next week: A Legoland tour with one of the park's master builders.
Donna Frye wanted the permit revoked for Journey to Atlantis, because she, not the voters, felt that Sea World should not have any entertainment value. And definitely NO rides. All of this despite the approval of a height limit exemption by the voters of San Diego.
Sorry, Donna, you lost.
If people want to live in a place unspoiled by entertainment attractions, might I suggest someplace like Omaha? But let the rest of us enjoy a San Diego that develops its full entertainment potential. No one's proposing to close off or pave over a beach here. Let us have a few well-themed thrill rides for goodness sakes.
Not that I necessarily miss the lame dark ride portion of the original, but isn't this too much of a step down? When I first read about it, I thought you would be able to see the dolphins during the ride. That would have been cool. The rumors of this made me want to visit SeaWorld for the first time in over a decade. No longer...
Seeing the dolphins swimming alongside while your boat floats through an underwater "tunnel" would have been a showstopper. But I'd have settled for positioning the dolphin pool alongside the flume, a la Turtle Island on Shipwreck Falls. Granted, that would have required setting up a wave control system, as to not disturb the dolphins. But any such step would have improved the skimpy theme on this attraction.
It's not an aversion to attractions in the case of the ballpark. Also, as a former employee of the downtown San Diego area, I can assure you that the LAST thing we needed was to take a parking deficient area like downtown and then put in a ballpark that requires parking for about 60,000 people. Great plan there. Just f***ing brilliant.
Sea World? Yeah, that's like the previous post said. That's a separate issue and one related to tree-hugging environmentalists who are never happy until the world marhces in lockstep with their views. ( ...and since their kind is never truly "happy", lets just call it "less miserable." )
The smart money is on a more zen approach. You want people to learn your lessons? Slip them in quietly and with a degree of "influence". People enjoying a park may pick up a message here and there. If the hard-core ( like certain city council members ) have their way, people will be beaten with THEIR point of view over their heads until everyone marches in lockstep. No one responds to that, but SLIGHT influence often works better. ( "...more flies with honey.", et al )
Thanks for posting this Robert. I'm so sorry this ride fell short of the Orlando version. I'm going here in August and still look forward to riding it.
By the way, San Diego, whatever you do, please do not force us in L.A. to take the wretched Chargers!
;-)
On the notion that people are upset that you can't see the dolphins on the ride give it up. Do you really think that the dolphins would swim anywhere near the ride track? Think how many Guests many of us included that would get upset and make their way tro guest relations because they stood in line for a long time and did not see dolphins on the ride? This is the very same reason Disney changed the name Tiger Rapids Ruyn to Kali River Rapids before the attraction opened.
But I'd still love to go on a water coaster that took me "underwater" to see real sea life. Hint, hint, hint....
On the flip side, they've done riskier things. Every time I go to Sea World I see the ( expensive ) attraction when you can pay to have your kids suit up in a wetsuuit and get into a dolphin tank with a trainer for a one-on-one experience. Does anyone else here remember hearing how dolphins are known for being rapists? Not just amongst their own kind but anyone? ( Not making that up ) Is they can get people to pay $200 a pop for an attraction called "Humped by a whale" then anything goes.
...and you thought your KIDS were happy to see the dolphins!
The Chargers? That was a low blow. But since we're on the topic, if anyone out there is in the market for a mediocre footbal team who has let down it's fans every year despite growing attendance, let us know.
Anyhow, I'm not talking about someone zooming through a tunnel. Just a slow portion that moves with the flow of the water. No machinery. No sound.
Well, I for one was confused about the storyline in Orlando...the elevator sounds neat.