Electerik

I did.

I'll make sure to head out there on whatever their projected opening date ends up being, and take picture of dirt fields and chainlink fences for y'all.

Instead of lapbars??

Agreed. Even though I don't personally have children, parks with nothing but thrill rides and toddler rides quickly bore me. I want variety. Which is why I think it's great that Busch Gardens are going with Intamin rather than another B&M. And the lapbar thing positively has me elated. I wonder if the new owners want more easily pronounced/understood names? Isn't BGW's new drop tower called, like Drop_Tower_1 or something?

Yeah, I was thinking more: You're an old-timey English adventurer in the wilds of Africa, hunting cheetahs (from your rocket car, I guess). Your way is nicer, but fits the area less well. Incidentally, where is the "lapbar" info located? If true, I just became one million times more interested in this ride.

First thought: Cheetah Hunt is a terrible name. Second thought: Actually, it's not. It fits into Crown Colony quite well, and makes Cheetah Chase seem like the kiddie version of this ride. (You know, like The Beast and Beastie.)

Bananas, yes. My understanding is that they were supposed to be handed out this year--and may yet be--but there was some delivery-related problem that prevented it that first weekend. Oh, and there were two different peanut butter options: regular, and dark chocolate! Big Bird's Blood Bath? Elmo Loves You...To Death?

^ Yes, you can come and go as you like, enter, exit, backtrack, come back later, do any or all of it again, whatever. One pesky thing: Abby's maze is on the stage of Bayside Stadium, but the "main path" is at the mid-level. Which means, if you're pushing a stroller or wheelchair, you have to backtrack a ways to get from the maze back to the main path. (Of course, on foot, you can just walk up the stadium stairs.) Sadly, I didn't think to get a photo illustrating this point. Then again, I can't think of any way they could have avoided this, short of not having the maze in that location.

^ Kids are encouraged to come in costume, or as they are. We did see *some* parents in full costume, and lots in semi-costume (ears, hats, wings, that sort of thing), so it's clearly allowed--but I honestly don't know if it's "encouraged" for adults or not. The Sea Garden (labeled as "Underwater Fantasea" on the event map) is definitely where you should start, and then work backwards. (If you're unfamiliar with the Sea Garden, it's basically what replaced the Clydesdale barn--or, more accurately, the fenced-in grassy area next to the barn--after the horses moved out.) How's that?

SeaWorld's Halloween Spooktacular is included with park admission, and decidely kid-friendly. Luckily for Erik & Smisty, though, you don't actually have to be a kid, or have one, to participate! [Note: Instead of the normal two people responsible for the photos you are about to see, in this update, there are three: Erik, Misty, and Erik's mom. But, as usual, I'm too lazy to give individual credit. So, yeah, some of these were taken by my mom, and are being used with permission, I suppose. (Hey, mom's fault for not watermarking, you know?)] Entering the park, Dolly the Dolphin was posing for photos. Sadly, this is the last you'll see of Smisty for a little while in this update, as she had to leave to go to work. The event doesn't start until noon. Unfortunately, this contributes to some crowd control issues once it actually does begin. Ta-da! Bayside Pathway gets hit especially hard once the event begins, and I recommend starting at Sea Garden, on the other end, if you go. The first candy station you encounter sports a whopping line for most of the day. Splitting these two employees and their candy anemones would no doubt help--but really, the event just needs to start when the park opens. Having said that, the line does move very quickly, and there are plenty of candy stations further in with much, much shorter lines. Trick or treat smart, kids! I brought my mom, in case anyone questioned my trick or treating worthiness. Besides candy, there are kid-oriented games... ...and lots and lots of characters! Did I mention characters? This dogfish guy was really cool. First he asked me if my Shamu bowl was my lantern, then he recited the entire Green Lantern oath. (Yes, that is my idea of "cool.") There were special food tents set up in Bayside, since there was so much going on there. But who needs food when there's candy?! Candy madness! On the stage of Bayside Stadium, Abby Cadabby has a maze set up. Well, she calls it a maze. There are no options or dead ends though, so really it's just a path with walls. Anyway, it seems that Abby has lost her magic wand, and you must help her find it, or the vengeful spirits of Halloween will eat all these cute children! (Good thing there's a smart adult like me around to save the day!) Grover, you're an idiot. It's not in the wall. Seriously, you're embarrassing yourself. I totally knew it was in the pumpkin. Good old Oscar, the voice of reason on Sesame Street. See, look, she has her wand back. An overview of the "maze." Because *you* demanded it! What's this? Cookie decorating?! Yes, please! For $5.50, you get everything in the lunchbox, and an apple juice or milk. Allow me to show you how it is done. Are you not entertained?? Oh, noooooo!!! By the Wild Arctic gift shop is an event information counter. (Because that's where I would put it. Right in the middle. I'm sure people will save their questions about the event until they make it here.) And also, there's this guy with a thing. They call this the Frozen Fun Zone. I call polar bears dressed as superheros and Pirate Shamu totally awesome. "All these old pumpkins are just going to rot after Halloween. Let's feed 'em to the bears!" Speaking of pumpkins, these "pumpkin fish" are everywhere. *Human* Pumpkin Fish! Damn.It. Time for more candy! Okay, so the entire day, I never saw one guest, besides me, with one of these Shamu candy bowls. Perhaps they are a tad overpriced at $10? "Costumed characters? Yeah, I think there's some over that way." Mom opted for the free candy bag. And the dude with four arms. "I think I'm a grasshopper or something. I play the saw." "Form of...a tree!" (Wait, that was the Wonder Twins, not Green Lantern. Speaking of which, I wonder how Misty is doing at work....) Oh, hi Misty! How's it going? Lots of cool stuff at the Sea Garden. Like this mermaid! Starfish! Jellyfish! And employees who hand out bags of candy! Erik finds some candy absurdly unguarded. Good thing anemones have no natural defenses! You gotta have people on stilts. The Water Front area, being kind of involved in Spooktacular, but not really, is decorated for Fall. The Mediterranean Stooges (as I call them) have a special Halloween-themed street show. And the mums are out. But this is how it's really connected to Spooktacular: a special Sesame Street show in the SeaPort Theater. (Can you spot the sign's missing letter, kids?) Yes, it's "Countdown T Halloween!" The plot involves the Count being sad because he was alone on Halloween or something. But don't worry, it can be fixed by singing and dancing! I'm not sure it's appropriate to describe the person who has the most stage time as having 'stole the show,' but this human chick was awesome. Like, if she were The President, the USA would have no problems. Go see the show just for her. Dancing skeletons help cheer up the Count, which is totally normal. Big finish! Cool show. Honestly, I'm not sure why, but SeaWorld seems to be the only park with shows I actually like. Dude, they handed out peanut butter. SeaWorld's Halloween Spooktacular: It should open with the rest of the park, but it's still really cool.

I believe in what can be proven. Or, barring that, whichever is closest to provable. To believe that some higher power put evolution into motion is defendable, but to willfully disbelieve in evolution is the equivalent of disbelieving in gravity, motion, or bones.

What gift shop are you referring to? Tell me more about shark aquariums!

^ Actually, I do know a guy named Fred Minotaur. And, as it happens, he does own a storage facility. Perhaps you've heard of it? "Fred's Storage." Bonus Howl-O-Scream photo! What's more terrifying than a statue of a cow? How about a statue of a cow lying down!

Even without his physical presence, it would be awesome. I propose the following houses: Dream Evil Stand Up And Shout Heaven & Hell Night People Don't Talk To Strangers All The Fools Sailed Away Yes, I got the connection. I just think "Minotaur Storage" sounds like a place where you store minotaurs. Which is to say, it sounds retarded.

^ Yeah. We wanted to see all the houses, and I was afraid the shows would suck (since shows usually do). I do regret not having any photos of them, though.

Easy: Toft's ice cream at Cedar Point. The Erik & Smisty mobile.

I think this one's gonna be all about the trains for me. Maverick's trains are pure evil in blister packaging, Millennium's are heaven.

It can't really be said that I am a Halloween-event enthusiast. I'm not into horror movies at all, I'm the exact opposite of jumpy, I'm not in my mid-twenties, and I don't particularly like being drunk. So when I do attend these things, I'm more interested in the scenic and architectural aspects of it--the theming, if you will--and the way the park puts it together, than in being scared or grossed-out. Over the years, I've been to Knott's Scary Farm, and both USH's and UO's Halloween Horror Nights, but this was my first visit to Busch Gardens Tampa's Howl-O-Scream. Comparing one event to another seems rather pointless to me, though, as they're all (at least, in my view) far more similar than different. Having said that, I will be reviewing each of the houses and scare zones, pointing out what I liked and what I thought could have been better. The Nairobi Gate is used, for a few hours, to let in Howl-O-Scream guests while the regular day guests exit out. Once all the day guests are out, Howl-O-Scream attendees then enter in through the main gate. Or at least I think that's what was going on. If you're visiting Busch Gardens during the day and attending Howl-O-Scream, you are given a wrist band so that you won't be swept out with the other day guests at 5:00pm. This year's event theme is some band I've never heard of called My X (or, possibly, Sylvie My X). Honestly, I'm still only about 90% sure that this *is* a real band outside of Howl-O-Scream, but whatever. The point is that references to this not-particularly-evil-seeming rock band are everywhere. Which is good, really, as it did give the event a bit more cohesion than I was expecting. VIP Check-In The main gate. I'm guessing they just use the same Howl-O-Scream sign every year, so no reiteration of the theme here. Smisty shows off the park/event map. I guess that's Sylvie on there, leader of the possibly-real rock band, My X. The old label store, which I think was selling stuffed animals and the like of late, has been transformed into a Howl-O-Scream store, which is open all day. Seems like a good idea to me; Event goers get their own store, and it's basically advertising for the event during the day. This store may be too intense for some shoppers. No nurse is present. Shop at your own risk! The inside. You know what would have been a better band to theme this event around? Dio. (Actually, I'm sure there are lots of better choices, but Dio is clearly the best one.) "Buy some crap left over from last year, or this guy will bite his own arm!" Teddy Scares. Yeah.... Now which way? These guys sat up on the second floor landing of the Katonga building and told bad jokes and insulted people. Which might have been cool if it were live. But it was, instead, obviously just a recording. "Hey, check out that guy in the red shirt. He's so ugly, he got robbed, and the robbers made him wear the mask!" While I can't say I was terribly impressed with any of the scare zones, this was the stupidest one I've ever seen. "Light of Doom." It consisted of white and blue statues of non-scary things, light, a bit of fog, and slow-moving, non-verbal scare-actors in easy-to-see white robes. Hey, BGT, you know what's scarier than statues of cows and non-threatening humans that I can see? ANYTHING. This house was called "Death Row Vengeance No Escape." Honestly, it was pretty standard. The best part was a short trip through the cell block near the end, which had me wondering why we didn't do a lot more of that, instead of traipsing around through the prison kitchen and such. There was also a nice electric chair scene, which I expected to be a dummy, but instead was a live actor who mimed being electrocuted, and then jumped out of the chair and chased people. This scare zone is called "Crazed Love," and was also very odd thematically. Yes, marriage can be terrifying. Especially if you're still young. See, it's scary because his head's come off. And then some droogs slide at you. Actually, these guys were pretty cool. They've gotta be sore as hell by the end of the night, though. Oh-we-oh, Oooo-oh. Hey look, a Schwarzkopf! Games of (s)Kill, get it? Same games as during the day, but harder because of fog. I think this is my favorite photo in this update, as Sesame Street is transformed into "Trapped In The Walls: Ghostchasers" via the changing of a sign. In this house, you're chased by a wild mouse. (Actually, that would be really cool.) An interesting thing that seemed to occur at multiple houses, was that if there was a cool-looking facade, it was probably the exit. As for the house itself, it was okay, but I think they really missed an opportunity here. It's supposed to be like one of those ghost hunter shows (which are retarded, by the way), and it starts out very clean and scientific. But then, instead of being something modern and unsettling, it quickly degenerates into darkness, scream masks, and funhouse mirrors. Note to self: Must return here later. [*Spoiler* We never do. Still kicking myself.] "DEDer: Extreme Rush" is located back behind Tanganyika Tidal Wave, in what my friend Robert informs me was once Orchid Canyon. This house was themed to evil sorority girls, yet was somehow not that good. I guess they had kidnapped some frat boys and were torturing them or something? I don't know, they sort of lost me when one of the actors shouted, "Help me, they're twisting my nipples!" This was the best scare zone of a rather weak foursome: "Road Trip." This one was interesting because there were actual victims asking for our help. Which is a cool idea, although there was nothing you could really do except feel bad for walking away. This also quickly became tiresome as it then started popping up everywhere. "Help me, don't leave me here!" Well, okay, what would you like me to do? It honestly just became annoying after a while. But it was kind of cool the first time. Decor near the Bengal Bistro. I have spliced two photos together here in order to save Robb & Elissa some bandwidth. The top shows the (mostly) re-themed Bengal Bistro menu; The bottom shows the "cups of worms." "Taste of Blood: A Different Vein" was about vampires in the subway. The first two-thirds were fairly standard, but the last third or so was really good! I think the key to a good "scare" is misdirection. People know there are going to be scary things, so they expect them. So what you need to do is to get them focused on the wrong thing, and then come in from the side. For example, in this house they had a really cool floating 'master of ceremonies' type vampire. And while you were staring at him, trying to figure out how they were making him float, some of his previous victims, who were strewn around on the ground, under his feet, popped up at you. Our last scare zone is "Spiders & Snakes," and boy is it lame. This guy's big line was, "I'm a web designer." Really. There's not much more terrifying than obviously-rubber snakes. "Hey honey. You wanna get freaky with me and my snake? Five dollars." Okay, she didn't really say that. Instead, the actors here said things like, "Help, there's a snake on me!" Though the midways often seemed very crowded, we were able to do all the houses, with time to spare, and never waited more than about 20 minutes or so. The one house we didn't do was "Alone," as it was a $35 upcharge. Why? Well, because you go through it alone. Which sounds okay, I guess. Although, aren't these things really more about the shared experience? Or is that just me? (Also, 'Minotaur Storage' is, like, the stupidest name for anything ever.) I suppose this was the marquee house, "My X: Revenge Rocks." Along the queue, there were fuddy-duddy actors protesting the band, giving this house a themed queue! Of course, I assumed the band itself would be playing here in Gwazi field, but instead they were set up on a little stage in the midway. So maybe they're not that big, after all. As for the house itself, it had some different sort of sets and some interesting ideas. My favorite was a make-up mirror that revealed a scare-actor behind it. But it was too far away to really be scary. Still, a ghost trapped in a mirror would have been awesome for "Trapped in the Walls." There was also an actor that swung a sandbag over our heads. But, again, that probably would have been more effective if you couldn't see the actor, and the sandbag just came out of nowhere. This house also had a soundtrack, which was the music of My X. Thankfully, it was audible, but not earsplitting. Lots to admire about this one, just not very scary. Club X was basically just a nightclub. No charge, but you do have to be 21 or older to get in. Inside, there's a bar, a dance floor, and a stage with some goth types dancing on it. "Nightshade Toys: Son of Nightshade" was our favorite house of the night. It's a creepy toy factory! Little dolls pee on you, walls are lined with teddy bears, scare-actors say effed-up things like, "Don't tell daddy," and it ends with a spinning tunnel. Awesomeness. Nearby--and, really, in the wrong area--is this photo op with girls from the DEDer house. Amusingly enough, the extremely drunk dudes in this photo were reluctant to get their picture taken with the sorority girls because they were afraid it would make them look gay. Well, there's drunk logic for you. "Deconstruction" was probably my least favorite house, and due to all the construction in the area, the hardest to get to. I guess the theme is, like, a doctor who does horrific surgery or something? It seemed to be mostly a gore house. Which brings me to this: Most of the "monsters" in all of these houses said really stupid things. (With the exception of Nightshade Toys, where it was kind of cool.) "Where's your ticket?" is not scary. The mad doctor wandering around confused saying, "Where are my tools?" is not scary. Just yell and make incoherent noises! The worst was monsters in almost every house saying, "Keep moving." I mean, isn't that the opposite of what a monster should want me to do? Anyway.... I did like this advertisement in the queue. (Which was really just Akbar's queue.) Yes, it's the terror of not being able to get back in once you leave. (And Robert finally makes his first Oddventure appearance.) Goodbye, Howl-O-Scream. Despite the lameness of your scare zones, and the drunken idiots that naturally go along with these types of things, we had fun. Lines were manageable, and the houses were pretty good. Plus, the band thing was actually a nice idea. (Except, you know, it should have been more Gwar and less Avril Lavigne.) We look forward to seeing what you come up with next year!

Quite a trip! Really enjoying reading this one.

Great report. Did you happen to check out Foamhenge while you were in Natural Bridge?

I just want to say that I'm pretty excited about this. It's actually something I "complained" about in one of my HW trip reports. It seemed odd to me that such a large, new (at the time) food establishment didn't have indoor seating--especially since that left just one place that did, and it was way at the front of the park. So this sounds like an excellent addition/improvement to me. And while I'm sure it was prompted more by the hot summer we just had, I'm going to pretend it was all due to my feedback!

Yeah, possibly. I was hoping that at least some of the exhibits would be different, but they weren't. And then there were fewer of them, and they were (mostly) less good. So, yes, someone else who had never been to the other one might certainly like it. But while I made the choice early on to provide my own biased opinions along with the photos, I'd like to think that people could still use the photos to come to a different conclusion. Actually, if you look back at some of the earlier updates in the other thread, you'll see more of an effort on my part to be neutral and "unbiased." But that got boring pretty quickly. In any case, I feel honored that you signed up to TPR just to comment in our little thread!

Okay. But doesn't it sort of seem that the two things are connected? They "spent" all that real estate on benches that they could have used to make the shops bigger. Not disagreeing with either of your points, Just saying that, together, they just make Universal's choices here seem that much odder. Heard lots of people say that. Still don't get it. It's television sets with picture frames around them. In fact, it's become a running joke with me to excitedly exclaim, "It uses the same technology as Harry Potter!" every time I see a TV in a ride queue. I do like the hat. But come on, they had to dumb down Dueling Dragons' queue just to make this one seem better. On an unrelated note: How is it that no one has any trouble spelling a name like 'Smisty,' but 'Erik' is somehow difficult?? /Spider-Man is a better ride and a better queue!

Great photos. In fact, many of them made me quite angry, as I've taken much worse versions of them.

Actually, we liked Dinosaur World. I would say that the *worst* thing we've done, so far, is from the other thread: Gatlinburg's World of Illusions. The following is partial list of things we will most definitely not be covering in this--or any other--thread: Screaming-Baby Contests Pounding Nails Into Your Scrotum Courses Broccoli Farming Tea-Bagger Rallies Timeshare Tours Thank you.