August 1Aug 1 Author It’s been a while!On 12/2/2024 at 3:19 AM, JB said:Okay, so, you know I'm gonna say these screenshots are beautiful, right? Golden Hour photos are the best! That time of day when the sun is dropping below the horizon, but it's still light enough to see the details of things, and the lights are all coming on for the evening. That applies here, and in real-life parks. Love the Shangri-la architecture; a mix of Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern.Thank you, JB! And yep, golden hour is so beautifully done in Planet Coaster 1, wonderful vibes.On 12/2/2024 at 3:29 PM, Wabigbear said:Definite bullseye on the Tibetan vibes! I love that Lotus structure...very inventive and fits the theme perfectly. You're another of my kind of players - loads of details and not afraid to use color. JB already beat me to commenting about the screens...all I can say is 'ditto!'.Thanks, Wagi! The first ideas for The Lotus were quite different to the „real“ thing, the final version somehow evolved while playing around, and I’m very happy that it did! Probably my favourite structure in the whole park. :)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Re: ExploricaPost #9 - 28-05-2008Around sunset, our guided tour ahead of tomorrow’s soft opening came to one of its highlights: The Exclusive Ride Time on Karma - followed by our dinner in Everest Inn.We from the press were among the first people ever to ride this gem of a coaster.Right behind the entrance gate, the queue path takes us to the heights of the Himalaya:Eventually, we reached the very atmospheric station of the coaster.The interiors are inspired by monasteries of the region.Unfortunately, it’s forbidden to film on the coaster, but the park provided us with three shots taken on Karma.The launch…Himalaya realness..…and oh, another launch!There’s the enclosed second launch section with the spinning prayer wheels - this is a truly surprising and memorable part of the ride.Karma is such a fun launched coaster, runs super smooth and the views from it are spectacular.Back to my own photos now!Leaving the station building:Some of us couldn’t get enough of Karma.Meanwhile, I decided to walk around the empty Shangri-La area a bit, and enjoyed the calm atmosphere here.Approaching the Everest Inn, the location for our group dinner. Everest Inn is a two-story restaurant and a sight on its own.Shortly before six o clock, all the event attendants gathered in this truly magic corner of Explorica and waited to be let into the restaurant for the much anticipated dinner.The most curious ones (like me) were getting a sneak peek through the windows……and finally, the doors were opened to this most beautiful restaurant of Explorica.The weather was so good that we could sit in the outside areas of the upper floor, enjoying our dinner with wonderful views upon Shangri-La.Karma did some more test runs before tomorrow’s big day.Almost an hour later, the park showed its nighttime magic.It was time to head back to the central hub of Explorica.That’s all of Explorica’s themed areas covered, but Discoverytown by night was a special treat. But that’s something for another time!
August 1Aug 1 What a cool idea those prayer wheels are! That's very inventive. I love the interior of the restaurant, I love how it was a very real Tibetan feel to it with the heavy columns and the use of the plain wood accents to differentiate it from a more typical 'Chinese' look...that's really well done I think. Glad to see you back!
August 2Aug 2 Great park. I love the different themes of each land. And being a big fan of interiors, you nailed the interior of the Everest Inn. Looking forward to more pics. "Do you think it's just sunshine and singing and pretty colors when you grow up? Well I should say not." --Hattie Dorsett (Sybil)
August 2Aug 2 It was well worth the wait! As always, beautiful structures and beautiful screenshots. I love the ceilings of these Tibetan buildings; the ornately carved thick timbers. The warm red and yellow lighting really adds to the mood.
Friday at 08:59 PM3 days Author On 8/2/2025 at 12:10 AM, Wabigbear said:What a cool idea those prayer wheels are! That's very inventive. I love the interior of the restaurant, I love how it was a very real Tibetan feel to it with the heavy columns and the use of the plain wood accents to differentiate it from a more typical 'Chinese' look...that's really well done I think.Glad to see you back!Thanks Wagi :) I’m so glad you’re highlighting the wheels. Originally I’ve had this idea for an RCT3 park that I had on my mind about ten years ago, but which never turned into „reality“. But some ideas for that park made it to Explorica, the spiritual successor so to say.On 8/2/2025 at 3:47 AM, shyguy said:Great park. I love the different themes of each land. And being a big fan of interiors, you nailed the interior of the Everest Inn. Looking forward to more pics.Thank you shyguy, this means a lot to me :) The Everest Inn is actually my own favourite thing in the whole park.On 8/2/2025 at 4:24 AM, JB said:It was well worth the wait! As always, beautiful structures and beautiful screenshots. I love the ceilings of these Tibetan buildings; the ornately carved thick timbers. The warm red and yellow lighting really adds to the mood.Thanks JB, I’m glad to hear you liked it :)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Re: ExploricaPost #10 - 04-06-2008We’ve now covered all areas of the park, but still we haven’t seen everything yet!Time for a nighttime walk through Discoverytown.The crowd was gathering near Balloon Plaza, but a few people were still in Everest Inn, so we had to wait for them.In the meantime, I’ve approached that building to the left, which houses „The Plaza“, the most expensive restaurant in the park. This is also when I found out that they made a mistake on the park map, which says that „11“ is „Captain’s Happy Place“, but Captain’s Happy Place is actually the more affordable self service restaurant in the orange building.So, I took a look through the window, inside The Plaza:Not a capacity monster, but certainly a class on its own.A few moments later, the group was complete again, so we walked back in the direction of the park entrance.These hanseatic / scandinavian inspired buildings are home to Captain Clutter’s Tavern and the Harbor Bakery.Behind the railroad bridge, we’ve moved over to the other side of the canal, looking over to the side we came from:That side of the canal is a really weird mix of all kinds of styles, but personally I like the white Explorica Store building to the right.But where do we go?Somehow we ended up on the railroad bridge again (see my 3rd post in this thread), which is part of the „Scenic Walkway“.You don’t only get a look over Discoverytown, but after a short walk, you can also get a view on Shangri-La:Eventually, we’ve ended up in front of the „Expo“ structure, which is basically the gate towards the Explorica Theater.It was already quite late, but apparently the media event wasn’t over yet... What next? I’ll tell you some other time. :)
Friday at 10:12 PM3 days I love the nighttime views along the canal, probably my favorite section of the park. "Do you think it's just sunshine and singing and pretty colors when you grow up? Well I should say not." --Hattie Dorsett (Sybil)
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