downunder

^For sure, we'll be making a bee-line for GR as soon as we're done with the Boo-fet. Damn, that line was so huge for Ghosty last night once Haunt started, 2 hours in my estimation? We walked by on the way to the mazes out back and went "damn".

^No worries, we were happy, and will be back tonight. The silver train looked rather spiffy, didn't get to ride it this time. Xcelerator was really cranking as well.

Rode Ghostrider last night, front row was not bad. Scary Farm Boo-fet faux ERT was a little shorter because they were putting on a second train. Overall Scary Farm was excellent. Got to meet Elvira and get my photo with her. I found her quite chatty and friendly, she comes to Australia a lot. Gunslingers Grave was the standout for me, great energy in the maze, especially early on. I strongly recommend going to the Black Magic skeleton key room early, and also Gunslinger's Grave - they were the 2 standout skeleton key rooms for me. Though the girl who performed in the End Games room when we were there was exceptional. Trapped was an "interesting" experience, I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't done it yet.

Silver Dollar City. Both excellent parks, but Outlaw Run gives SDC the edge and also unusual attractions like the caves. Though SDC could do with Q-Bots though, rather than their existing fastpass system.

I went last night, and it was sad to see silence and darkness where B & T was. At least Chucky was flying the flag for political incorrectness with the re-booted insult emporium and was in good form when I went by. One of the girl's in my VIP group was a prime target. Enough with the issue that has been discussed at length, my take on everything that wasn't cancelled. Walking Dead was even better than last year, with some great set pieces. And running the gauntlet through the WD scare zone when you get off the tram was great. It was also nice to see another part of the lot, well done. 13 was much better than I expected. It was like the best bits of the Alice Cooper mazes, and 1000 Corpses rolled into one maze with some new elements as well, I liked it and thought it came out well. Insidious and Evil Dead really worked, and I enjoyed Monsters Remixed; it was even better than last year. El Cucuy wasn't bad at all. Some of the Scare Zones were a little anonymous at times, but the mazes were all great fun. The VIP lounge food was awesome this year, seafood and a lovely Lobster and Crab risotto among the goodies. The VIP tour was a quantum leap from last year, lots of stuff happening.

^A few of us that are going on the Scandi tour with you next year will be there on Saturday. So hopefully we'll get a chance to say hi when we come over in between the boo-fet and the Haunt rope drop.

As a foreigner, I've always seen HHN and Haunt as bastions of political incorrectness, which I find surprising for the US. Hopefully, this is not the beginning of the end for going un-PC at Halloween. Sucks I'm going on Thursday, good I know, so I can plan accordingly. Thank f*** I went VIP.

Get Ghosty cranking for me around 6pm on Friday and Saturday night, much appreciated LOL.

Awesome! I'll be at ghost for haunt both days. Hopefully Monte will be back up for you. I've been on Monte before, so it's no stress. I won't ride it anyway if there's any kind of line. I'll probably give Ghostrider (front row only) a few rides after I get out of the boo-fet so I might see you there.

^Thanks for the scoop. I was never a fan of Slaughterhouse personally, and the other 2 weren't faves, so cool. I'll be at the farm Friday and Saturday, yay!

Hey Ken, are you doing Sat 26th, I'll be doing the 5pm buffet if you're there. Like they said, early entry is faux Ghostrider ERT & in early up to 30 mins. ^^I've seen on facebook some people have got photos, but it's just her sitting down with whoever standing in front of her signing desk, I've heard you have to be quick. But it does sound ordinary, is she still that big a star?

^ & ^^Thanks guys, that was really helpful. For a while there I was thinking Knott's were going for an ironic theme at Haunt by having a longer wait in the fright lane line than the regular line. Gotta say I'm really looking forward to Haunt. I'm even planning on doing the meet Elvira thing, which I've heard you buy some merch and you get a ticket for the line to meet her if you buy stuff early enough.

I don't hate any particular company, moreso I hate the parks that purchase their demonic death machines, and perpetuate the misery. Main offenders there would be the former Paramount parks, were executives getting kickbacks from Vekoma and Togo? From my travels, it looks like Vekoma has been able flog more misery machines to cheapskate or gullible parks around the world. I also find it rather apt that a park in North Korea has a Volare.

I've heard reports of the Fright Lane lines really backing up for the Skeleton Key mazes (i.e. waiting to get into the skeleton key room), anyone had that experience? Also do you have the option of bypassing the skeleton key room if you have fright lane (which would be handy if you mazes a lot of times)?

I concur Silver Dollar City is well worth a visit and the Branson area in general is interesting. I noticed Southwest were advertising Branson a lot in their in-flight magazine recently, so flying might be a reasonable option.

Wood 1. Outlaw Run 2. El Toro 3. Balder 4. Phoenix 5. Boulder Dash 6. Ravine Flyer II 7. Raven 8. Cornball Express 9. Collossos (Heide) 10. Blue Streak (Cedar Point) Steel 1. Expedition GeForce 2. Bizarro (SFNE) 3. New Texas Giant 4. Maverick 5. Goliath (Walibi Holland) 6. Piraten 7. Nemesis 8. Montu 9. Kumba 10. Top Thrill Dragster

Thanks for the tip on Hotel Argento, sounds like I should hit that first thing before the line builds up when I'm there in a couple of weeks. The way they're going Loco's track might be contructed enough to get a good idea of the layout by the time I'm there.

^How are you going to tweet the sound of you screaming like a little girl Kyle? It will be interesting to know what the line is like for the fast-pass only maze where you have to go through alone.

From the coasters I've ridden: For thrills: I really liked the Flight of Fear coasters. For theming: Orlando Mummy, with an honourable mention to Scooby Doo at Movie World.

The main points on new stuff for 2013 I got to ride: Outlaw Run - suprassed all expectations, amazing coaster. Gatekeeper - tame, I used my fast pass on the Intamins at CP. X-Flight (Great America) - I'm just not a fan of wing coasters, too tame, they seem to do flying coaster elements on a sit down coaster. Iron Rattler - closed, sucks all a$$ by default. Boomerang (SFStL) - you cannot be serious, I pity the fools that had to line up behind the TPR credit whores for this. Hades 360 - Truly hellish, worst experience I've had on a coaster, and this used to be a fantastic wood coaster.

^I think there might be a rear entry that doesn't involve entering the casino LOL. Circus Circus is no Bellagio, but it is cheap. Fright dome was excellent last year, looking forward to returning this year.

Good luck, I hope you know first aid LOL. I'll probably ride it after the buffet and before haunts opens, so if you can turn off the mid-course brake for a bit and hold the front row for me. Seriously, hope you have fun. I presume you get a new Ghostrider western outfit for the new job?

^The worst part is the line is huge during haunt, even on relatively quiet nights. All those misled people who could have been enjoying actual haunt stuff spend a good chunk of their time in the line. What do they get for the wait: all (bar the front row) will be experiencing more pain than the middle person in the human centipede.

^I hope I gave you enough info in the Knott's thread. BTW, hope you have a great time. I'm doing my own trip in 2 weeks, gonna be a blast.

I've had no problems with Ghostrider front row, even when it's been really bad, I won't ride anywhere else. Any other row...well you're probably not going to have a good night.