Nrthwnd

After I consumed a single beverage, I headed out to the first three Haunts I was doing. Before another Bar Rest. CarnEvil, Haunted Mansion, and Asylum are all regular haunts of Fright Nights. As are the rest of all the Haunts. 8 of them, to be exact. The Blood Shed is the only newbie in the bunch, and it just opened during last year's FN. CarnEvil is pure 3D glasses and bright neon black lights colours, thrown up all over the tent! But it has one really cool surprise BOO in it, and I always forget where it happens and then. BOO! Worth it for that. Haunted Hansion is the one true in-Playland haunt that is open when Playland is open. It is an upcharge during the Season. But here I got to use the Pass and bypass a good hour of waiting for the gp. And since it's the most "permanent" one in the park, they really go out of their way to theme up every area really good. And the scare actors are nicely placed for those unexpected places to scare people, lol. Still good after all these years. Asylum became a hit and miss for me, this visit. There's stuff going on, but mostly tarp walls to go thru, and near the end, nothing for a good few hundred feet, until the exit. wtf? Maybe it's short-staffed, but wow, that was a limp surprise. I may skip it next year. Or not, heh. After these three, it was time to hit the Sanitarium again, raise a can to the spirits that eventually show up here, and then move along... Got a ride on the old little Carousel of ours. In bright - white - liiiiiight! Ah, here we are. Home for the Evening. Myself, a can of Stella, and FIRE! Life is good, and smokin' here. . I thought Bug Whirled was testing or something. Turns out it, and a couple of other flats, are running, but without all the glittery lighting on them. Whatever. Cool! Took two rides on it. The West Coast Wheel actually has a really great lighting package on it. Out of the way, Pirate! Quit pulling focus here! Idiot. Well well. Hell's Gate FINALLY got up itself and running, at least for Fright Nights. It was down during the entire season and the PNE, too. Glad to see it running, at least now. Beast doing it's thing. Noted. This was next up, after the first three Haunts. Line was long. Long enough to make the RapidPASS so worth it. (o: "This is Your Brain." "This is Your Brain On Drugs." (not really) This thing needs to go through some kind of identity change. I mean, Gladiator + SwampBoats = ....I got nothing. POOF! Hellevator's all too real version of King Kong. She's dead, right? I wish these bumpers did rock along, instead of plod along. Never found out what that was for. Something.....evil....perhaps? Second large "animated" character here. This also ends with it's sitting back down. It's like these guys are all in some wierd Halloween bathroom, somewhere. Cobalt Blue! Q-Tip White! I thought the power had gone out, here. Truth! Looked abandoned, my Ice Ball game looked. )o: The very un-themed, but very well lit single arcade games that were open. POOF #2! Scary Priced Pizza. Interesting character. I'll come back to him, in a while for more photos....

(I was there last night.) "I had a great time, for most of the evening. But then...." (Explained later on.) They didn't open the early gate for us until nearly opening time. But that was okay. Once I got my Rapid PASS, it was over to Coaster and wait it out with everybody else, at 7. And then - everything was moving at once. All the rides and all the lights! Don't know who thought that idea up, but everybody around me loved it, and reacted surprised in happy ways. Got my first ride on Coaster (solo, and I expected to be paired up too!) which barnstormed through the layout and the dark in frenzied bliss. I love Coaster at night. After that, I headed right through to my first Bar Rest, at the named Sanitarium Bar. A Stella Artois seemed right for the evening. Not too fancy. And I like the taste of it. Sat at the front and started watching everything happen around me. Including very wierd, static "smoke". In puffs it came. And it didn't really blanket any area, from where I sat. Like last year. Hmmm. Oh well. More to do, later on. Taking photos on the one street I walk, to my bus stop. This is the new bunch of apartments going up across the street from us. Lots of these are being built along this section of Victoria Dr. Nice Fall colours coming in. There is also a local civic election going on. David and I did the early vote. Sooo much easier. BY THE WAY U.S.A - do not forget to use your right to vote in November! It's important for everybody. I love what some people have done to create front yard gardens. Not everybody gets door to door postal delivery any more. AND NOTE: there "might" be a Postal STRIKE in Canada, starting Monday. Old house looked like this new one does. Only new townhouses behind it, where yard used to be. I love a Culture Lab! So - blue - that - is - so - blue..... Nice upright garden. Another mini-set of townhouses going up. This bench has been "along the way" for a long time now. Thanks to whoever built it. (o: New Italian based food and deli store. Bosa Foods. Really delicious EVERYWHERE in there! Yum. Closes every day at 6pm, though. I was hoping to pick up a deli sandwich along the way, but not to be. Bus POV. Clever, huh? Yeah, I didn't think so, either. Off the bus.... ....and cross the street to the main (and only) Playland gate! Looking through the gates towards where fun stuff happens immediately..... Frisking! (o; Where I was The First one to line up here. Others had lined up at the ticket booths, not knowing they could already bypass that. Or..... I had no idea where I was going. Anyway... ....space.... P-L-A-Y.... L-A-N-D! First ride of the evening. I was clean. Where I gots my Rapids Passe-ss, P-p-precious! First one who greets us. He's a long time shouting regular. Pumpkin Guy in his usual position. Sitting. Doing. Nothing. First Train Out! I got the second train of the night. Solo, which surprised even myself! Getting up or sitting back down, I didn't stay to find out. Display Only. Sadly. A rather "slimmed down' Arcade. The Quarters Arcade was open, and a couple of the regular single games. But not much more than that. The tiny Explorer Balloons ride was operating. Will ride it later. Enterprise Up. Ooooooo a spirit just entered Hellevator at it's top! Wonder what will happen next/soon?... (TO be BOO be continued...)

Tonight's the night! I head to Fright Night with my Rapid Pass (VIP) ticket safely pocketed away. As well ... "Today's The Day" if you're aware of what Canada's been up to, lately. I am a bit curious as to what "smoke" might waft from the (cigarette/pipe) Designated Smoking Area, the one spot in all of Playland. It's between Darkness(7), and The Blood Shed(8) haunts. And to also note...the "second hand smoke" could affect four of the Haunts (8 total), too. This will be interesting to check out. TR will be posted tomorrow. This DS Area (now) needs one of those electric fans that takes in (inhales?) the total smoke and filters it clean, etc. (o;

Not a death. But a well deserved Retirement.... Caroll Spinney, who voiced both Big Bird and Oscar The Grouch in "Sesame Street", is retiring after tomorrow. Great voice actor. Hope he has an awesome retirement! And eternal Free Passes to Sesame Street Place(s).

^ & ^^ I think, that the next female cat we get, in keeping with our "S" names policy, we're going to name her Sam ~ for Samantha, obviously.

^ Congrats! She looks like a real keeper. And Happy C-W Day To Canada!

Hand

Two photos I found, of construction on the Beauty/Beast attraction. And one photo on how SOARING's show building is coming along. Posted on a site called The Oriental Land Company. Do not know if it's official, or not. But thanks to "Yu and others" who took them. Also, it looks like the new hotel is being built first in TDS. Then it will block seeing any/most of the construction for the rest of Magic Springs. The Beauty & The Beast attraction show building, rising behind Toontown. The start of The Beast's Castle. A recent construction shot of SOARING in Disney Sea.

Avatars I could use today. But I won't. Yay for Canada, bytheway! I used this one, instead. (o;

^ How the heck do you say "Gose"? I thought it said "Goose" on first sight, but obviously wrong on that. (Later that evening...) Never mind...

I missed it! Thanks for (re)posting it! What a wild wild little coaster! Definitely a hit, for families. And for those of us, who need......milder "just-as-wilder" thrills?

Face

^ No, you just jinxed it......again. (See page 1699)

The themed carnival games look wonderful! Kudos to them for really thinking "beyond the walkways and haunts", etc. I wish Playland (Take Note, Playland!) did this with some of our Arcade games during Fright Nights.

Knott's Scary Farm looks amazing! So much going on. Thanks for covering it all......and then some. Oh, did Brittney buy that cute pink glowy spider thingy? Just curious. The Knott's themed food and drink all looked awesome, too!

Couldn't resist the new/old(?) DCA Halloween Carsland soda sipper. I'm hoping it will be available next Sept. when we're there for WCB weekend and beyond.

Eeeeeeeeeeep. I've been reading not-so-great reviews of the Philharmagic attraction, now running there, through the season. SPOILER ALERT! It appears that it is not like Hong Kong or Tokyo's version, structurally. The screen is a normal sized movie screen, and not like the ones that "stretch" (a la' Cinerama used to do). And there is no Donald, "in the back," so to speak. I don't know how they dealt with all that, but there was no AA as part of this version. And the film doesn't quite match up with all those other parts...cut off of it, onscreen? Hmmm. If it's still running in 4 years (our next visit 2022), we may check it out, since I've been to the others in Asia.

Relishing More Candy

^6 I think I found Waldo.

First Impression: I am so in LOVVVVE with that t-shirt design for Knott's WCB Day! That's all I got for now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And now after reading through the whole TR.... WOW! Awesome report on your day at Knott's for WCB! So many wonderful shots. I am so looking forward to all (most/any) of this, when I return next year. I hope. Great TR, awesome photos and group shots, an engaging TR to read through, for sure. Thanks! And definitely looking forward to your take on the Magic Mountain, on the Sunday. FYI, when I attended WCB in 2016, it was the reverse.... MM on Sat. Knotts on Sunday. And it was a heatwave (90+F) up at MM, for myself.

This is all NOT what I was thinking of, when they first announced..."thirty hours in a coffin." These people all got it too easy. I say ~~~ CLOSE - THOSE - LIDS! EDIT: Maybe in the last three hours, and besides closing the lids, cut off all their social media connections/power. That'll get some real screams I betcha. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And now that everybody knows what they meant, Six Flags Anywhere will get THOUSANDS of applicants, if they run this contest again, next year.... "Open Casket".

^^ What's the deal with all the signs and stuff below those 2 contestants' names? The first two (closest) coffins?

All Hallows Eve wine, anyone?

Reviewing My Convictions.

Reading My Compass