Sorry for bumping yet another old Orlando poll... actually no, scrap that, I'm not sorry at all. I might be about half a decade late with this one but as I've now experienced both rides I've got sumat to say, so Imma say it.
Forbidden Journey for me, by miles.
For the last 20 years, if you'd asked me what the best dark ride in the world was, I would always reply with The Amazing Spiderman at IOA, without hesitation. I first rode it in 2003 and was blown away by how well the combination of screens, practical effects and motion all worked together to create a dynamic, exciting and action packed ride. In all those years, nothing else has come close really.
But yep, you guessed it, I think Forbidden Journey is
better than Spiderman! Me and Mrs Howie were both floored by it.
Seems kinda fitting actually that 20 years later, almost to the day in fact, that my new favourite dark ride* would be found at exactly the same park.
*For the purposes of this poll, let's assume for a moment that Rise of the Resistance doesn't exist. Calling RotR a 'dark ride' simply doesn't do it justice, that attraction goes way beyond mere 'dark ride' and becomes this whole other.... thing. Forbidden Journey on the other hand is just a dark ride. Good job then that it's a bloody brilliant one.
I find it interesting that Forbidden Journey is winning the poll, but most of the comments are from people who voted Gringotts. It's almost as if they know, deep down, that Gringotts is the inferior attraction and feel the need to justify themselves. I'm reading comments like 'Gringotts has a simpler, more cohesive storyline' and 'Forbidden Journey is more of a clip show featuring all the big, loud, scary Potter moments'. Well, that's kinda true I suppose, but as someone who isn't really a Potterphile and couldn't give a rat's ass about the characters, I don't really
want an intimate cohesive storyline, what I want is to get smashed in the face with all the best bits for 2 minutes. Bam, fire-breathing dragon, bam, giant 4' spider, bam, chase Harry on a broomstick, bam, quidditch, bam, whomping willow, bam, dementors.. etc etc...
Screens, sets, animatronics, illusions, pyrotechnics, projections, g-forces, loud music, all coming at you thick and fast - love it!
Much like Spiderman two decades ago to be fair, only with better ride vehicles.
Keep in mind that we went into this completely blind, not knowing a thing about it. 'Harry Potter dark ride', that's literally all we knew. Coulda been a Huss Breakdance with VR for all we knew. I had no idea that this robot-arm technology had even been deployed anywhere yet, the last time I even read about that system was when everyone here was convinced that Derren Brown's Ghost Train was gonna be one! Ha ha, remember that? How outrageously optimistic were we??
![Rolling on the floor laughing :rofl: 🤣](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f923.png)
Anyways, imagine my surprise then when Hermione shouted 3.. 2.. 1.. and the bloody thing took off! Genuine 'Wtf is happeninggg?' moment right there.
It wasn't until our 3rd or 4th go that I started to look around onboard and caught a glimpse of the car in front that I realised what it actually was: 'Ohhhh it's one of
those', I thought.
![Light bulb :bulb: 💡](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f4a1.png)
And for the record, it didn't make either of us feel the slightest bit nauseous or queasy, despite multiple rerides in quick succession thanks to that rather lovely single rider line (which we abused relentlessly and most of the time got seated together anyway).
Compare that to Gringotts, which we only rode once and, to be honest, can't remember a great deal about. It was fine, I guess, but compared to FJ, it just didn't offer anything new, just more of the same really, but with the added burden of 3D glasses, something which the other ride manages just fine without. Of course, it goes without saying that the presentation is fantastic. The theming and the queueline are all as lavish as you would expect but... it's a
bank! Where's the enjoyment in that? Compared to the fun, charm and warmth of Hogwarts Castle, Gringotts just felt a bit cold, clinical and lifeless to me.
One and done.
Sorry, I seem to have rambled on a bit here but like I said, I had sumat to say, so Imma now said it.
![Smiling face with smiling eyes :blush: 😊](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60a.png)