Wednesday : MK/DHS
In a change for my usual trips to parks, today I left all cameras behind and just did
the park(s). (I'll come back in a few days with the camera though)
First up, got a resort bus to the Magic Kingdom - a place I have never particularily
got on with to be honest, but had a decent enough time.
The construction work going on is somewhat of a mess though, and not just at the
Fantasyland bit, but there were several other areas with walls up, which was kinda
really ugly.
Anyhoo, did the usual trek around the park, Space Mountain(s) are fun, got the
Barnstormer credit (+1!), Big Thunder is good enough, Pirates is a bit short, Its
A Small World still rather ethnically stereotyped (although for some reason the tune
didn't annoy me too much that time!), Haunted Mansion is OK (and the "interactive"
graveyard was new to me).
So after a (long) lap of the park, it was back on the monorail/bus to Hollywood Studios.
Grabbed a FP for RockNRoller (which I didn't need; forgot about the SRQ, muppet) and
did a couple of tours of the Tower, which was its usual excellent experience!
Think I then repeat rode StarWars a few times - even having done the new version last
year in Ca a few times, I did get some new sections this time too - it really adds
to the re-rideability of the thing this was (and having also been to Paris earlier
this year, the upgrade is definately needed there too).
I was hanging around until Fantasmic was on, since I had never seen this before (here
or in CA) and thoiught that I must be missing out on something (since they have also
replaced the nightime show at DisneySea (which I liked) with this show recently). So
with some air of anticipation I sat down in a packed auditorium to watch this...
...well I thought it was awful. A few fireworks, far too much water-screen projections,
some characters dancing around on a few boats and a pathetic dragon at the end. Just
can't see any attraction in the show at all? Is that just me?
Despite the lame-ness of Fantasmic then, still a good full day (but no pictures!)
Thursday : Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios
And with the sucess of my picture-free day at Disney, I did the same at Universal
the following day (almost - I did have a compact camera on me for later in the
day).
Started off at Islands of Adventure with a few rides on Hulk (I think I like this
ride more, the more I ride it since I really enjoyed it today after having been a bit
"meh" in the past!) and a couple of goes on the new-improved Spiderman.
Top be honest, if I had not known that Spidey had been "improved" I probably would
not have noticed - the 3d glasses were different, I'd have noticed that, but the
rest of the ride was just the same (and I KNOW that it is better now, I've seen
side-by-side comparisons etc). Still its a great rideand if the new system keeps
the ride running for another dozen years or so then its a good thing!
Had a few goes on the non-dualling dragons... its really a BAD thing that they
don't dual anymore, really takes away from the experience - not that either coaster
is bad, just that seeing the other train really added to the ride... so instead
of dualling you now just get a view of the start of the construction work going
on around the side of the Sinbad theatre for the Potter-expansion.
Speaking of Potter, managed a couple of quick rides on the Forbidden Journey, both
walk-on bercause of the SRQ, but the normal Q was only a few minutes too. Another
really good ride then - but it does seem a shame that they appear to just be cloning
this one in the other places they are putting Potter in - shame that they could not
come up with some sort of variation in these anchor-rides (maybe they are? I doubt it
though!)
After a thorough soaking on the rapids ride I made my way over to the Studios for a bit.
New to me was -1xJaws and +1xDespicableMe - I know nothing about the latter's IP at
all, so it was all a bit of a revelation to me - however the ride is great fun and
certainly one of the best "4D" type things I've been on (far far superior to the aging
Shrek opposite it in the park).
Did RipRideRockit a few times and the Mummy, before steeling myself for a wander
past the construction site that was Jaws :-(
Its a bit grim, a long walk between the lake edge and a grey construction wall that
runs from the edge of the Disaster ride to the FearFactor theatre. And by all accounts
its going to be there for quite a while - hmm ugly.
You can't see much construction of course, but from the queue to the Simpsons ride
you get an idea of the state of play...
There is another big construction project bang in the middle of the park - the as yet
unannounced but rumoured Transformers. All in all, the place is a bit of a state at
the moment!
Quick go on the usually excellent T2 - "usually" since this time Arnie's motorbike
was not working, so the actors were just walking around, however the soundtrack
still played all the motorbike noises - was all a bit odd. The film was still good
though and is still (IMHO) the best 3D effect I've seen (a lot of the other 3Ds just
don't work for me?).
Epic dusk was happening across the park, but only the compact camera which is a bit
of a shame, nevermind.
Have a quick re-ride on Despicable Me before they shut the park for the evening and
head off to Citywalk for some eats...
...the park being shut early because of;
Thursday (Night): Halloween Horror Nights
Now I've never really done of these scare things - I did Terror of the Towers the
first year it was open (I think) and Lofty's Ghost Train last year but thats about
it. So I was not quite sure of what I was going to make of all this malarky...
...well I really liked it!
I'll do a bit of a run-down of the event then (not much photos though - very dark
and you obviously can't be taking pics in the houses) - so if you don't want any
spoilers, stop reading for a bit you fool - although I will not intentionally spoil
any scares I think.
Having wandered the park earlier, I was suprised at how little of HHN was visible
(Busch ealier in the week had been much more obvious about where their Howl-o-Scream
stuff was going on, but I didn't go back to Tampa for that). The only real signs
(during the day) were a few covered up signs and stalls and the odd bit of spooky
street furniture - and a lot of adverts for the event of course.
Come the night though, wandering back into the park a bit before the advertised opening
time (advertised at 6:30 but they let everyone in at 6 it seems) the place was not
really dark yet, but there were plenty of ghoulish creatures a wandering around.
Not really sure of how it all worked, I joined the Q for the "
Gothic" house, which
was in the entrance to Twister. The Q snaked out the back of Twister though and out
into the soundstages well outside the normal park boundary (hence why not a lot of
it is visible in the day!).
After a fair wait (the Q was pretty long, maybe 30mins) we snake into a door at the
back of a soundstage and it starts to get interesting. There is a huge facade of a
gothic cathedral sort of thing which you enter through, only to be set upon by hoards
of come-to-life gargoyles and stuff - all very well done and effective. Quite a
big house and quite a lot of monsters, some flying on wires were especially cool.
The Q for Gothic runs alongside the one for the next house round "Dead End" (in fact
they are both housed in the same soundstage and empty into the same exit), so I had
seen the Q for Dead End build up while waiting for Gothic... so I skipped that for
the moment and carried on around the park to the next house...
"
The Walking Dead
ead Inside" is housed behind the "Disaster" attraction and
you enter the Q behind the Beetlejuice theatre (which is being used for a magic show
"20 Penny Circus" during HHN (more on that later). Q was not bad - 10 minutes say.
I'm a big fan of the TV show (looking forward to seson 3 very soon!
) so I had a
lot of references as to what was going to be going on in this house (apart from the
rather obvious zombie/walker overload). The house was again really good, with a lot
of set-ups from the TV show in there (even if they ran into each other a bit incongruously
- wandering straight from the opening set hospital into the back of a department store
for example). Full of zombies then, and you end up in the barn from season 2 which was
cool. Exiting onto the street through the "Disaster" entrance there are a few zombies
milling aroung with the crowds outside, which is nice too!
Wandering past the ex-Jaws area at night was not so bad as in the day and I headed onwards
to the next house...
"
Penn&Teller:Newkd Vegas" - again I'm P&T fan (seen their real Vegas show a while
back which was great) so was interested in this house too. This is located in a big
tent like structure out back of the Animal Actors stage and you enter up near MiB - theres
a video featuring P&T being projected on the side of MiB while you Q, which is a nice
way of keeping the Q boredom down (although I only Q'd 10-15 mins here and it was still
a bit too light).
Upon approaching the tent (its more than a tent really, just looks like a tent, quite big)
you are given a rather flimsly set of 3D glasses (not your usual theme park 3D spex) and
you make your way past someone puking nuclear contamination into an oil-drum and into
the house.
Well its all a bit weird - played for laughs as well as shocks, and the 3D is fairly odd
(come on, you are walking through a maze, you are already in 3D aren't you?) - lots of
3D patterns on the walls were quite disorientating though. The Total-Recall-like triple
breasted blackjack dealer was a particular highlight of this maze though. Not sure I
really got the story though.
Right then, I think I've got the hang of this haunted house/maze thing by now, so trek
on around to the next one, which is housed in the Woody Woodpecker area, very odd walking
though a darkened Barney-land to approach the next maze;
"
Alice Cooper,Welcome to my Nightmare" - housed in another tent, in fact right
next door to the P&T tent even though you approach it from a completely different angle.
I have been known to be partial to a bit of Alice in my time (seen him live a couple of
times) so I was aware of thr refernences in this house too. Wasn't as impressed with
this one to be honest, lots of noise, fair few scares and stuff but just a bit "meh" I
think?
Annoyingly, the exit for Alice Cooper dumps you out back at MiB and so you have to trek
all the way back to Woody-ville for the other maze entered from there (and I've been on
my feet all day by now and was not appreciating the long walks involved in getting to
the mazes!).
So also accessed via darkened kiddy-attractions is "
Universal's House of Horrors"
which was housed somewhere out the back near some storage facilities. This was an odd
one - all the monsters were Universal classic monsters (which was quite cool) and the
whole maze was kinda in black&white with lots of strobes - so I thought it worked well
stylistically, if not terribly scarily?
Getting really tired by now, I had 2 mazes left, comparing the Q times posted for the
2 I opted for "
Dead End" first and despite the advertised 30min Q this was probably
an hour (which was rather annoying - just when we think we have got to the soundstage
we turn a corner and find a huge full switchback.... grrrr.
Anyway, the house makes up for it - the entrance is in fact a house-front inside the
soundstage and you trek thorugh this proper haunted house, all rather well designed and
full of ghoulish things. Really good then!
Ok only 1 maze left so I enter the Q for "
Welcome to Silent Hill" - the Q is
advertised as 60mins but only takes 30, which is nice. Amusingly (to me) I'm in the
Q ahead of a British family (2 older teens and parents) and they appear a bit confused
by everything... so after a little while in the Q Dad asks me "excuse me, what is this?",
"its Silent Hill" I reply, "No, what IS this" he says. "Umm, its a horror maze" says I,
"oh, not a ride then?" - I establish that they have only just entered the park, don't
really know what they are doing and just went into the first Q they saw. Mum was rather
put off by the concept of people jumping out at you and the like, but they goaded her
into it anyway.
I've seen the Silent Hill movie, don't think I've played any of the games though - but
whern you enter you are greeted by the street leading up to the town and some ash-rain
which is all very cool. Then you start being attacked by monsters and stuff, all very
well done and fun.
OK all mazes done, no shows yet though - but I can hardly walk anymore and it seems
like I'd quite like to do them all again so plan to come back fit and fighting another
night and I leave it there.
Forgot to mention the wandering hoards earlier - most of the park is in darkness
and there are several roaming bands of warriors, monstrers, chainsaw wielding (female)
prison inmates and the like that you encounter wandering arounf the park - these were
cool too - although I've read people moaning that they were not as good as previous
"scare zones" I thought they were cool enough!
(more bad pics of HHN when I come back)
BOO!
