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Grizzly River Run wins the award for my favorite river rafting ride to date. Though the ride is not incredibly long, enough action is packed into its ride time to make it seem much longer. The lift hill (located appropriately at the beginning, rather than anticlimactically at the end like most river raft rides) has some neat little touches to get you wet. There are three or four great rapids sections, plus a couple of cool caves. But the two drops are what really set this ride apart from the rest. The first simply lets the raft slide down, so whoever ends up going backwards down this drop will get quite a soaking. The second, even larger drop spins the raft at a dizzying rate. This way, everyone goes down forward, backward, and every which way in between. Awesome! The final stretch back to the station (still spinning by the momentum from the drop, by the way) passes over some geysers, and if they happen to spray when your raft passes over them, several riders are guaranteed a drenching. Grizzly Peak is the centerpiece of the Golden State area of the park, and there is some very nice scenery and theming throughout. It appears that this theming is the only component that will be touched up during the renovation of California Adventure. Instead of the more extreme-sports whitewater rafting theme that it has now, it sounds like the ride will be shifting to a more naturalistic, national-park type of theme. No word yet on if Animatronics will be added or not. Either way, this all sounds good to me.
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