tacoking

"Deify" - Disturbed

I thought Demon Cantina was a decent house, actually. I loved the final room, right before the exit.

Holy crap, I love that. Awesome idea.

The NASCAR race is about to start!

Creative Zen Vision M. Much better than any iPod.

My last concert was a long while ago, on April 30th - but it was a good one: Faktion Evans Blue Theory of a Deadman Hinder Lacuna Coil Nonpoint Trapt Shinedown Staind Rob Zombie Mudvayne Back in May I was supposed to see Skindred, but family problems came in the way of that one. On July 1st I was supposed to see Blue October, but our ride ditched us for a party (he never went to it anyways) and I was going to see Nonpoint this Wednesday, but I have to work (I think I may be sick that day ).

THAT was Jack? Laaaame. But still cool at the same time.

So did anyone see Jack in Pshyco Scarepy? Did I just happen to be looking the wrong way when I walked by?

For now I say FIGHT! Although if that time actually comes I may be freakin' out too much to do anything.

"Original Fire" - Audioslave

Who cares, the song is awesome.

Gaah....South Park lost it's touch a few seasons ago.

1. Saving Private Ryan 2. Schindler's List 3. Gladiator The rest don't matter after the three I just mentioned, but here they are: 4. Return of the King 5. Munich 6. Forrest Gump 7. Revenge of the Sith 8. The Goblet of Fire 9. We Were Soldiers 10. War of the Worlds (2005) Yep, I am a huge Speilberg fan.

Whew, that's a lot of Knex. Pretty cool stuff.

Pretty much the greatest song ever is Hero of the Day by Metallica. Other favorites - One: Metallica, Enter Sandman: Metallica, Into the Ocean: Blue October, Hate Me: Blue October, Clayman: In Flames, People = Sh*t: Slipknot, Demoniod Phenomenon: Rob Zombie, I Dare You: Shinedown. So many to name, but I will cut myself off there.

Copied from my myspace. Took a few out to shorten the list... 3 Doors Down ACDC Adema Aerosmith Alice in Chains Anthrax Atreyu Audioslave Avenged Sevenfold Beach Boys Beastie Boys The Beatles Billy Idol Black Sabbath Bloodhound Gang Blue October Blue Oyster Cult Bob Marley Bob Segar Bon Jovi Boston Bush The Cars Children of Bodom The Clash Clutch Coheed and Cambria Creedence Clearwater Revival The Darkness Dave Matthews Band Deep Purple Disturbed The Doors Drowning Pool The Eagles Eric Clapton Eve 6 Fatboy Slim Foo Fighters Foreigner God Forbid Godsmack Green Day Guns N' Roses Hinder Hoobastank Hootie and the Blowfish Iced Earth In Flames Incubus Iron Maiden Jimi Hendrix Journey Judas Priest Korn Led Zeppelin Lynyrd Skynyrd Marilyn Manson Megadeth Metallica Mindless Self Indulgence Mudvayne Muse Nine Inch Nails Nirvana Nonpoint The Offspring Ozzy Osbourne Pantera Papa Roach Pearl Jam Pink Floyd Powerman 5000 Puddle of Mudd Queen Rage Against the Machine Rammstein Red Hot Chili Peppers Rob Zombie Rolling Stones Scorpions Scum of the Earth Sevendust Shinedown Skindred Slayer Slipknot Smashing Pumpkins Soundgarden Static-X Steve Miller Band Stone Sour Stone Temple Pilots Styx Sublime System of a Down Theory of a Deadman Three Days Grace Tom Petty Tool Twisted Sister U2 Union Underground Van Halen White Zombie The Who ZZ Top The best of the best though are Rob Zombie, Blue October, Metallica, In Flames, and Static-X.

"Perry Mason" - Ozzy

Ohhh man Halloween Horror Nights was awesome.

AHhh time for Taco's famous TR... ***!!! SPOILERS !!!*** As the Caretaker says, my time has come. And came it did. Well, sort of. I turned up at the park about an hour and a half, I was unable to get the GAP passes that I usually get, and the park was a lot busier this opening night than it has been in years past. Even with that, I managed to conquer 5 haunted houses, see Bill and Ted, and catch some of The Arrival. First off, from what I experienced tonight, I wasn't "blown away" by any single thing like I have been in years past, however, the houses seem to be of much better quality overall compared to years past. I was expecting a lot, and didn't come away disappointed. I don't think I have been more excited for a HHN than I was for this year. Bringing back all the Icons (though some were missing) and past houses was great. Yes, three of the seven houses I have been through (the original ones at least), but the other four seemed like intense houses that would definatly give a great experience. The night didn't start off well. Got held up doing stuff back at home, so my group arrived about an hour and a half late. After the others picked up their tickets ($25 a piece - I chose something different and got the Frequent Fear pass) I realized I couldn't find my ticket, which I had printed at home. I started freaking out. I thought I had it in my wallet, so after going through the metal detectors I just picked up my wallet and cell phone and just left. I ran back to the entrance and (thank god) it turns out they kept the pass in the pile of crap that people leave. I was worried that they would have just thrown it away since it was a folded paper. Anyways, finally we get in the park and I practically start running towards the Mummy (it's been some three months or something since my last ride I think). Let me say that the atmosphere is much better in Universal than it is in Islands of Adventure during Halloween Horror Nights, but that is just me. It turns out the Mummy was closed because of technical difficulties, which is the first time I had seen that in quite a while. Opened up later in the evening, but had close to an hour wait the rest of the night. So we doubled back and hit up Screamhouse Resurrection. I had insanely high hopes for this one. The orginal Screamhouse is one of my favorite houses of all time, and The Caretaker is a damn fine mascot. They said the line was 30 minutes, but we went through it all and left the house in about 20. The detail is as good as ever, with the wallpaper on the walls peeling away, the occasional bloody spots, etc etc. Seemed like your typical house, except for the fact that there was some 8 total Caretakers in the house. Normally I would be upset with something like that, but there was one room in there that was pretty sweet. It was a hallway of sorts, but everything was like a wooden door nailed together, and all the doors opened up. Four of those Caretakers where in here alone, and you had absolutly NO idea which way they would be coming from. Doesn't sound like much, but it was pretty sweet. The greenhouse at the end wasn't bad at all, either. The smell of dirt was so powerful, as if someone was jamming it up your nose and making you snort it. Voices everywhere, rotten bodies on the floor, just typical awesome Horror Nights stuff. Nice little touch worth mentioning is that at the beginning right before you enter the house there is a huge pile of mulch. Looks normal at first, but it turns out there is some dead bodies in it. There is also a shed that is in the corner of the room, and there is a person trapped in it slamming the door trying to get out. Overall I'd give the house a solid 8.25/10. After that it was time for Pshyco Scarepy: Maximum Madness. This is another house that I had insanely high hopes for, it seemed like. The original was quite an attraction, and the music still haunts me to this day. Well, the music is back, and so is the crap in the bathroom. The sign out front said 30 minutes, but as with Screamhouse we went through it all in about 20. I could have sworn Jack was supposed to be in here, wasn't he? Well, there was no sign of him at all. I liked how the house seemed to get more intense as you progressed through. In the beginning you see people (insane people) with dolls and horns, then torwards the middle they are jumping around on invisible horses, then we have the infamous bathroom scene which is just incredible (complete with an actual "person" taking a crap), then at the end you have the insane people in the straight jackets that are throwing themselves around in a cell yelling madly - complete with blood all over themeselves. Nothing new, nothing improved upon from the original house, but still great entertainment. Best of the night. Overall it gets a 8.5/10 from me. Then it was time to walk through the first scarezone, which was Blood Masquerade where you can find the vampires. There were some neat props, but they definatly could have used a few more and also the scarezone was extremely short. Vampires don't do much for me either, so it gets a lame 5.5/10 from me. We kept walking and saw The Arrival was going on, so we saw maybe the last half or so of it. Seemed pretty cool, got to see The Director electrocute some chick in a bathtub, that's always neat. After that was another scarezone, Havest of the Souls. Definatly the best of the night, although most of the props were used last year in Field of Screams (which is their best scare zone ever). I know they reuse props, but it just seemed like EVERYTHING was a reuse. Unlike Blood it was long, almost triple the length, there were plenty more props that had a lot more detail, but there just weren't enough scareactors in the zone. Gets a decent 7/10. If there was one thing I wish Universal would improve upon it's the scarezones, just seems like every year they take more and more out of them - with the exception being Field of Screams last year. Next up for us was People Under the Stairs: Under Construction. The video playing in the queue was really lame, and didn't show much. Just people running around in a basement, for the most part. Sign in the front said 25 minutes, and that was about right. If you went through Terror Mines last year, you know about the light hat technique then. Well they brought that back this year, but the house wasn't nearly dark enough for it to be of good use. Terror Mines was almost pitch black at parts last year - so the hat was really useful and added tons to the house. Not the same this year. Most of the house was full of wooden 2x4s with bloody tarps along the wall. Nothing special. The occasional scareactor, maybe a dead body, but it just felt boring compared to the others. Nothing stuck out. If the house had been darker, it would have been much better. Also, the house seemed way too empty in terms of scareactors. A few more obviously would have helped. Worst house of the night, but still gets a 7.25/10 from me. Right next door to PUTS is Pshyco Path: The Return of Norman Bates. Went into this one not expecting anything too great, but was still expecting a good time with a few scares thrown in there. The sign said 45 minutes, and it was around that - maybe a little less. I think this was the only house with a real facade in the front (excluding the soundstage houses Screamhouse, Psycho Scarepy, and All Night Die In) and it was looking pretty cool. I'd definatly stay at the Bates Motel. The house was a mix of motel styling and "crazy" stuff (think Disorientorium and Cold Blind Terror) like strange use of lighting, paint, strange objects, etc etc. The detail was nice, especially in the motel sections. The house was full of scareactors, that did manage to get a few scares in. These people seemed to take pride in their work, which is always good to see. Deserves a nice 8/10. We kept walking around the park, saw that the line for Dungeon of Terror was 55 minutes. We skipped and walked to RUN, which was 60 itself. So I grabbed myself a turkey leg (which was NOT dry for once and absolutly amazing) and a coke and started waiting it out. After about 20 minutes we realized that if we waited to go through the house we would miss the last showing of Bill and Ted which was at 11:15. We left the line, hit Earthquake up on the way (no preshows thank god), and went to see Bill and Ted. One word: Laaaaaaame. I really don't want to spoil it, but the story was so lame. Come on now. I know it's not known for it's script really, but it's just sad compared to years past. Seems to be getting worse and worse each year. Still some good laughs, and they played some Metallica so it's not THAT bad. After that we rushed to Dungeon of Terror which was about a 15 minute wait, and at this point there was only 3 minutes until the park closed so we just made it. Definatly better than I expected. This seemed to go all "Disorientorium" on us in some parts as well, which I hate. Doesn't scare me, it's just lame. The Storyteller they had sitting in her rocking chair in the beginning was way too fat also, so that doesn't help it. Other than that I enjoyed it quite a bit. The detail was awesome, loved the whole sideshow attraction thing it had going. Plus some lady gets stabbed and you get loaded with "blood"...so that's cool. Nice house to finish the night off with, and gets a solid 8/10 from me. Had to walk through Deadtropolis Zombie Seige to get to the exit of the park. Actually I did earlier, but didn't pay attention since I was starting on my turkey led. Nice use of lights and fog, the props set up were plentiful and full of detail and there were enough scareactors for the size of the zone. Gets a good 7/10 on Taco's scale. I then got my Sweet 16 shirt and a cool light up skull cup, and I was done. I am upset that I missed two houses, but I won't throw too much of a fit since I know I am going 2 or 3 more times. I had a blast at the park. Great atmosphere, nice houses, decent scarezones...what a great time. ***!!! END SPOILERS !!!*** In Review: 1. Psyhco Scarepy - 8.5 2. Screamhouse - 8.25 3. Dungeon of Terror - 8 4. Psyco Path - 8 5. People Under the Stairs - 7.25 6. All Night Die In - N/A 7. RUN - N/A As a side note, the photos will have to wait. The digital camera has gone missing, but I hope to find it before my next visits.

Yeah, but it's not like I am going to those parks any time soon. I wanted it to stay open here. So I am a little selfish....

Im pissed I won't get any last rides on it (that is if it's closed during HHN which I think it is). I think an update of it would have been better than a new simulator, especially the Simpsons.

5 hours til Halloween Horror Nights!

Not going to show the whole coaster in any of my photos. For me, the coaster layouts and the landscaping around them is one of the best parts in a new park, so I want them to be somewhat of a surprise, but I will show a couple more detailed shots of the tracks sometime in the near future. I'll see what kind of names I can dig up...

Living about 50 miles east of Orlando, I don't get bored. Universal and Islands of Adventure are the two parks I visit most, and occasionally I do find myself getting bored - but when that happens I will just go spend a couple days at one of the other parks. Then the time will come around that I crave some Mummy or Incredible Hulk, and I find myself back at the Universal parks. There was about a 6-8 month span where I lost interest a little bit in coasters. Still participated in the online talk, but didn't really venture out to any parks. That interest was sparked back up with SheiKra last year, and here I am today.

They may very well do more shows on official nights, which they should.