jackskellington101

Nah, that distinction goes to Skull Mountain or the ex-Typhoon Seacoaster. Frankly, I'm not shocked by all this. The same exact media blitz for the same issue happened about 2 years ago, but that one had live coverage by both WJZ and WUSA, two local network affiliates from Baltimore and Washington respectively. So they had the news helicopters focused on Two-Face and it's car stuck on the lift hill. Woopty doo. It's idiotic, but it's not shocking unfortunately.

It is possible that New Line gave Universal the artwork and character rights of their property for creating new content (the mazes) and promotional use (use of the characters for billboards and other promotional media) only, not a full media license. I'm definitely not a lawyer, and all if is coming from the bit I learned from Business Law, but it is possible that Universal is allowed to use the characters, but if the image of the character taken and/or used by another party, for example guests of the event, then Universal can get sued for it under copyright law as a breach of exclusive rights. As I see it, this whole event is a very funky version of brand licensing. New Line is licensing Freddy, Jason and Leatherface to Universal to create a new product, officially licensed mazes. As such, Universal has to play by the rules set by the license holder New Line. If they don't, then New Line will not be happy and Universal is probably feeling a lot of pressure to make this licensee happy. They've upset and lost some licensees in the past during this event, most notably Marvel. I'm sure with this license they don't want it to happen again. If Universal are found negligible in some way by New Line a couple things could happen: at the minimum New Line won't work them again for a while, at the medium to bad New Line can site the breach and take away the rights in the middle of the event which would cause a bit of a fire drill on Universal's part, at pretty darn bad New Line can sue Universal for breach of contract and possibly copyright infringement, and at absolute worse, all three. I again repeat I am not a lawyer, just a loud mouthed business college student with a cockamamie theory. If anything, it's an interesting explanation.

^ The head of Nantini of course!

{Business mind activated} While that is very true, I believe the whole thing was still a bust. One big issue I saw was that most people in the already limited market thought it was fake and dropped out of the whole scheme. Personally, I didn't think it a total fake, though I did have my doubts. I found the whole thing more uninteresting than fake. It feels like a whole lot of work for a little payoff. That statement isn't directed to the quality of the ride, which looks fun in my eyes, just the whole announcement feels very anti-climatic. I think that feeling is one of the issues in why the announcement itself is getting a negative reaction. All the buzz created seems to have backfired, leaving people to want more. The marketing message was lost in the muddled clues. People became more interested in Nantimi itself than what Nantimi was supposed to be working on, which was the message that Hershey was trying to convey. That’s the big flaw with viral marketing. As much as I love it as a marketing tool, the message can get lost very easily in the mind of the consumer. People can get so wrapped up in the marketing that the noise blocking the message is the marketing itself. If a viral marketing campaign is done poorly, it can really cause you to shoot yourself in the foot. I am getting the feeling that the “shooting yourself in the foot” scenario is happing here. Another thing I wonder is, though it is 34,000 page views in the month time frame within a limited audience is impressive, how many of those page views are unique views. If it was 34,000 unique views a in a month of creation, that would be extremely impressive to me and I would consider that a successful wing of a campaign. I also think that statistic would be mentioned in the press release if that was the case. However, if it was just 34,000 views and they were a majority of the same 60 people, then that wouldn't in my eyes be as successful of a seeding for this type of viral marketing. Robb, Elissa or someone else who runs a website if you could correct me if I'm wrong, that'd me much appreciated. Though it did succeed in getting people to talk about Hershey and what was going on, I think it missed the mark for actively promoting an interest in the attraction itself, which I feel was the message they were trying to get across. {Business mind deactivated} Stuart

Not the biggest fan of Vitamin Water, but I do enjoy Glacéau's other major product Smart Water. Similar idea with the electrolytes and stuff, but no flavoring.

That would be behind Back to the Future and MIB. Both of the tented mazes are back there. Thing seems to be more behind BTTF and Jack's Funhouse seems to be more behind MIB. For the tented mazes this year, I think they're trying a little harder on them. With the maze's themes, both Thing and Jack's funhouse, they both logically could be placed in a tent if the situation call for it in real life. The Jack one obviously because it's a carnival fun house and the Thing for being a Biohazard tent. The facility has the tent around it for people's safety. Though I wish they'd do something on the side of it to make it a little more interesting than just white.

A question for Mr. Murdy: As a designer, how do you try to differentiate HHN Hollywood from the other Halloween events in the area, like Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt and Six Flags Magic Mountain's Fright Fest?

Here is Disney's announced 2008 project list off the top of my head: The renaming of Disney-MGM Studios to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Toy Story Mania at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Block Party Bash at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Toy Story Mania at Disney's California Adventure.

Do they do streets during the Employee Preview normally? Since I've never been an employee, I have no idea.

I think it looks cool and might be a fun little ride. I just want them to put a giant working thermometer on the lift/drop. It is right at the beginning of the Boardwalk and it would work with the theme of both the coaster and the land. It'd be functional and look awesome!

Elementary School: Eagles Middle and High School: Didn't have one College: Knight. The Knight goes with our castle.

Though this looks like a fun little coaster, shouldn't the Evel Knievel coaster be a Vekoma Motorbike?

Boring?? did you not see the hot vampire girls dancing in the sheets? The house may not be scary, but I assure you, for me anyway, it will not be boring Sorry, bad choice of words.

Vampyr looks a little boring but, sadly, is what I expected it to be. Thing, from the looks of it, has a great cast. Just with that little video, I must say, I was very impressed with their performance. No matter its location and the limitations that location brings, it looks like that cast is going to make that maze.

Well, at least Hollywood's site looks better.

The video is of Storm Runner with the Maverick launch. I think it's real, just Hershey is messing with the community to create buzz.

Oh jeez, not the chainsaw puzzle again. Wow, for where TCM is located, that's an amazing amount of detail. That's a kind of look that I expect from the sound stage houses. If this an example of the queue houses, the sound stage ones must be out of this world. Of course, it could very easily be the best part of the house too, given that it's such a short clip and, hey, it's marketing. The downside to Jack appearing at all the house pages is that, even though that little bit of video is cool, it makes every page slow as heck to load. Hopefully they'll optimize it somehow. The "Oddfellow" quip was good though. They're still self-referencing, even seven years later.

True, but apparently Disney's giving them the Jungle Cruise! Isn't that nice of them.

Shhh! Don't tell the secrets Wes!

Is it Dueling Dragons or is it the Flying Unicorn? I can't really see anything that even resembles the track layout of DD, but I can see the Flying Unicorn in there. Personally, I can't see DD as a ride that would fit with Harry Potter. I don't mean that thematically, but I mean that demographically. I can't imagine that the demographic they're trying to attract with a ride like DD is the same demo they're trying to attract with Harry Potter.

As might I.

Very true, but if you talk to the cast members, they do have stories to tell. Some of them anyway. At the WDW mansion, we do have a ghost gallery, which are a collection of stories about the people in the mansion. Everyone from Master Gracey all the way down to the Graveyard pop ups. These stories don't necessarily tie together the ride, they are more little biographies of everyone. The stories are also not considered "official storyline" but, from what I know, the true story writers of Disney don't mind us telling them. I guess Constance will have to be added. Because the bride was so pivotal in the interweaving lives of everyone else, she'll be fun to do. If you'd like to see the ghost gallery, there is a version of it online. As for DL, I have no idea.

For all those interested, here is a full ride through video as presented, once again, by Inside the Magic. This was found by my lovely girlfriend Ashley (Love you, my Mansion Maid in Training ). My overall thought, not bad. Not bad at all. I don't know how I feel about Constance, she doesn't look as good as Disneyland's. I also don't know how I feel about stretch. The sound is amazing, but a little over the top. What does everyone else think? As a personal anecdote, I find it hysterical how many people I know in this video! It really felt like a little family reunion or something.

Do you remember the crappy section where you see the giant spiders around 1/4-1/3 of the way through the ride? They removed the spiders and added the cool new effect. Exactly. In technical terms, the Grand Staircase is between the music room (the piano player) and the Endless Hallway.

^^^ Very nice. I must say, intentional or not, it certainly put a lot of buzz on what the heck this announcement could be. Hey! I know! It's a thermometer themed drop tower!