robbalvey

If you've been reading the TPR forums for any length of time, you probably know by now that Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is by far my favorite "Halloween Event" of the season! As much as I do like the traditional scary "haunt" type of events also, there is just something fun, whimsical and very "Disney" about this event that I cannot miss every year! (In fact, this year I'll end up going four times!) The event for many years has included some of my favorite moments of any hard-ticket park event such as: - Boo To You Parade - There aren't many parades I stop and watch anymore, but I will always ALWAYS watch Boo To You! It's fantastic! - HalloWishes - "Fireworks in the Round" is what this show is famous for, and there's a clip of it down below so be sure to watch! - FREE CANDY!!! The "treat stops" are by far my favorite part of the event! How many candy can you collect throughout the night? Well, that's up to you! - Haunted Mansion - The way they "dress up" both the Mansion and the cast members are fantastic! There are even some great PhotoPass photo opportunities and additional entertainment in front of the Mansion. This year though, some new traditions have been introduced and for the first time they've added some new Not-So-Scary fun to the following attractions: Deep Space Mountain - This is AWESOME!!! It's Space Mountain completely in the dark (and I mean REALLY REALLY DARK) with a rockin' sound track. This was so much fun! Pirates of the Caribbean - They've added characters to interact with while you're in the queue and a live actor in the ride! Mad Tea Party - The teacups got a little "madder" this year with a fun soundtrack and some awesome lighting! And all of that doesn't even include the new food & merchandise offerings that are always amazing! (Got my MSSHP 2018 Magic Band!) Ok, now on to some photos & videos.... Hello from Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! This is one of my favorite "Mickey's" and someday I hope they make one of these so I can take it home with me! The opening night is always a bit crazy! We recommend doing on the mid-week nights for the best possible chance at getting in lots of rides, candy, and as many character meet & greets as you can! If you happen to see the “Nerds & Taco” in the park please stop us and say hello! (We'll be going many times this season!) One of my favorite views! Pumpkin Mickey with the Castle in the background! I love the costumes you see at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary! These two are dressed up as the Contemporary Resort! At select salons around the resort, adults can get a Halloween themed makeover and get all decked out for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! Want to hear about the new additions to the attractions this year? Watch the video below! VOLUME UP!!! [twitter] [/twitter] Mickey & Minnie looked GREAT during the media event! What? A Halloween themed Orange Bird pin??? And one for Hocus Pocus fans, too! These are fantastic! Here's a quick look at some of the new event merchandise: [twitter] [/twitter] And because I love event Magic Bands, I had to pick this one up! I love this art style! This "Doom Buggy Creme Puff" is to die for! This “Poison Apple” cupcake is CRAZY GOOD! Loads of frosting and an amazing apple cake at the bottom! Do not miss this new item! Look at how cute we are sharing one! OMG! “Deep Space Mountain” in the pure darkness with a rockin’ soundtrack was AMAZING!!! LOVED IT!!! This is so far my favorite new addition of the event! “Please do not eat tacos while on Deep Space Mountain. Thank you.” And what is far and away the BEST part of this event? THE CANDY!!! As much candy as you want!!! Yum!!! I will take it all, please! OMG! It’s Robyn! TPR’s favorite “candy girl!” She was our awesome candy girl from our visit in 2015! (And then later become one of our favorite Kilimanjaro Safari Guides!) Awesome to see her back at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! When we talked about "Fireworks in the Round" above, this is what we mean... it's fireworks all around you! [twitter] [/twitter] And check out what they did to the Mad Tea Party for Halloween! [twitter] [/twitter] Here's a look at one of the "Pirates" in the queue at Pirates of the Caribbean: [twitter] [/twitter] And we found "Gunpowder Pete" while riding the attraction! [twitter] [/twitter] Cassy & Travis are in town and they looked GREAT at Rapunzel and Flynn Rider! I love that she also got Rapunzel to sign her cast iron skillet! lol Boo To You is starting! My favorite parade at any of the US Disney parks! The Grave Diggers have always been my favorite part! [twitter] [/twitter] I absolutely LOVE how they dress up the Haunted Mansion... ...and the cast members for the Halloween parties! The Hocus Pocus show is back again this year and it always ends with a bang! Are these the Sanderson sisters from the show, or just fans that have dressed up? We saw some AMAZING costumes this year! Main Street always looks amazing during the Halloween Parties! [twitter] [/twitter] Everyone gets so into the parties. This Photopass cast member just kept suggesting and taking all these amazing photos! We loved her! Here's one of her photos... And another... Don’t forget to pick up your free Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card! It’s Orange Bird this year! Woah, hey there... maybe we can arrange to get you a Taco Bell 10-pack or something! This guy may have had a little bit too much candy floss! And to close out the report, let's give you a few photos taken by Jack Crouse below... While these Haunted Mansion ballroom dancers during Boo To You may be "not so scary" they sure are creepy! I absolutely LOVE the lighting all around the park during this event. Even the entrance to Tomorrowland has a "Halloween" feel to it. Hello, Minnie! Hello, Tink! Goodnight from MIckey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! We will be back several more times before the season is over! Now, POST YOUR COMMENTS!!!! After all, we took the time to write this report, the least you can do is post something nice about it!

More importantly, which show? Spongebob closes on the 16th, you know!

Thanks! I really miss doing the old "Coaster Expedition" style videos, but every time I try to post one on our socials not it goes over like a spoiled fart in a milk factory. I get it. The "masses" don't want that type of video. And not being able to use licensed music as freely as we used to also makes it more difficult. Thankfully the last couple of videos have lent themselves to doing a fun little music intro. Not too long, but long enough to get some people into the video. I don't really like using royalty free "needledrop" music as I feel it all sucks, but with the videos I did use it in, it does serve a purpose so I'll live with it. Glad you like the last couple of videos!

Literally!

That's great to hear!

West Coast Bash is getting closer to being sold out! If you haven't gotten your tickets yet, I would not delay picking them up! There are always people who email me after the event has sold out asking for tickets and I have to tell them "sorry..." So don't be that person! Get your tickets: http://www.westcoastbash.com West Coast Bash is: September 8th - Knott's Berry Farm September 9th - Six Flags Magic Mountain See you there! --Robb

So we rode a Panda... roller coaster.

yeah, people here suck at parks. I'd say that speaks to the culture of California not the rest of the nation. No, I say it speaks volumes for the entire country because it sucks everywhere... it just happens to suck a bit more in California!

Intimidator and Fury 325 at Carowinds give you side eye IMO I always thought it was a bit weird that Carowinds and Canada's Wonderland basically built two similar rides just 100 feet different in size from each other. Magnum and Millennium Force IMO *feel* like totally different rides. Different manufacturers, totally different style of layout, and I never feel like going on one after the other that it just seems like the same ride but 100 feet taller. With the B&M pairs at those two parks, those rides feel almost exactly the same to me. And yes I get that the track layout is different and the vehicle configuration is different, but not different enough to make it not immediately noticeable. At least with Skyrush vs. a B&M Hyper, while I don't agree with it, those rides will obviously feel VERY different. Even if they were the exact same height and layout. One of them will feel like it is trying to murder you. The other will feel like it wants to have a cup of tea with you.

Thankfully though there is enough around that area to do if you leave and come back. Basically what us and some of our people would do is check in at SV and if it was 30 minutes or over, we'd leave and come back about an hour to an hour and a half later. We'd go get in a few other rides and then if it was 15-20 minutes on SV, grab 2-3 rides in. I think some of our people were doing multiple rides towards the end of the night because even though it was posted at 15 minutes, I think the FL+ line was more like 10. But it does sound like the delay with the power outage may have broken that good luck streak a bit.

Was that all day long or just at certain times of the day? When we were at Cedar Point a few weeks ago on a Wed, Thurs, Fri, there were times when the line was that long, but we chose to do other rides, but we ended up taking several rides on SV when the wait was only about 20ish minutes. That's always been my rule of thumb for FL+. If you see a line that's 45 minutes, don't wait it in and go do something else. Chances are you can come back later and find the line much shorter. I found that the SV line was longest the first 2-3 hours of the morning, but then after about 1pm, it seemed like it was around 20-25 minutes the rest of the day. Even saw it down to ten minutes a couple of times at night.

No worries. Thanks for understanding.

I'm going to laugh my ass off this ends up being racing DoDonpa's or something like that!

First of all, this isn't an "announcement" of any kind. Secondly, why don't you let us moderate the forum? That's not your job. Thanks.

You're welcome!

Glad you guys got on the coaster. It most certainly does things it doesn't look like it should do!

Here's a cool shot of Griffon from the top of Alpengeist's lift hill...

What an absoultely awful video. Any guest who goes around "bothering" employees asking about a new ride should be removed from the park and have their annual pass taken away. Those employees are there to DO THEIR JOB not answer your stupid questions because you want to get more hits on a poorly produced YouTube video 5 days before the official announcement. And holy shit, is this the kind of theme park video people want these days??? A totally uninformed person yammering about on a subject they clearly know NOTHING about while looking at shaky cam pictures of dirt and trash cans???? I mean, I can go do that in my neighborhood since we still have several houses under construction here and I can go film their concrete pads and construction dumpsters while I just sit and make up "facts" about theme parks or new rides that I know nothing about. Wow, that was 4 minutes I'll never get back and I can't believe I made it that far into the video!

Prayers actually work for when you've fallen into a toilet. Isn't that ironic?

It totally... TOTALLY is! And what people don't seem to understand is... going back to my car analogy... If you buy a Ferrari, that's going to require a LOT more maintenance and work done on it to keep it running than let's say if you buy a Toyota Camry that you pretty much just have to do oil changes for the first 100,000 miles. Every time we are at a park and a B&M goes down (like the fact that Gatekeeper was down more than it was up during our last Cedar Point visit, and also how both Raptor and Valravn kept going down also) I always quote the uneducated idiots that make these false claims about how much more reliable B&Ms are then Intamins. I think people just enjoy giving Intamin more crap for some reason, and it's completely stupid.

And you wonder why we have such a low tolerance for humanity these days...

I fixed this for you...

Was at Disneyland a few weeks ago with my whole family and seen kids scribe their names into the rock work on Indiana Jones. I let my mother handle that because she is a B*&^%. and let me tell you. Those kids felt like crap after her verbal beat down. One kid try to talk back but my 6'4 260 pound brother got in his face. If I had been in line with my wife and kids (or honestly, even by myself) and saw this encounter it would have made me deeply uncomfortable. I would probably report everybody involved to security. I would agree with this 100%. There is never a time when you're at a theme park where it is acceptable to start a domestic disturbance with a complete stranger. I don't care who is in the right or wrong in the scenario, you both are in the wrong. If you see something that someone else is doing that you don't like, it is not your place to step in and police that situation. I don't care if it's line jumping, vandalization, someone else being obnoxious, whatever, that is what the park security and staff are there for. The moment you step in you become part of that problem and are open to the same consequences as the party who is breaking a rule of the park. In short, if you see something that doesn't seem right that another guest is doing, alert the park staff. Any other action is not appropriate.

Yes! Why don't you aim to have slightly higher standards for humanity and not want ANYTHING carved/written on property that isn't theirs!!!!?? We most certainly have higher standards on our forum and would rather not have someone posting here who is "okay" with someone else vandalizing a part of a theme park. There is simply no excuse for that at all. It's a shame to see someone write the things you did because you now have become part of the reason why we cannot have nice things anymore, and I'm not ok with that. EDIT: I see that you have been banned from the TPR forums before and we gave you a second chance. That was probably a mistake on our part for being too trusting. There will not be a "third chance."

It's basically just taking the shots out of the 360 camera and in software telling the camera to act as a gimbal in a fixed position and have the world rotate around it.