ILoveRides

I'm thinking Prince Desmond can dress up as Mujabubukins, and Mujabubukins can dress up as Prince Desmond!

^ Ghost Galaxy is pretty good. It's much better than Rock-It Mountain, but nowhere near on par with Haunted Mansion Holiday.

Here's a DCA Construction Update (with a brief look at Disneyland too): Before we check out DCA, here's a brief look at Disneyland with HalloweenTime in full swing. All your favorite halloween favorites are back: Ghost Galaxy, Haunted Mansion Holiday, and the giant Mickey Jack-O-Lantern. Construction is coming along on the People Movers. (Note: no construction is actually taking place on the People Movers... it's a joke) But the Tron coaster is almost finished. I kid, I kid. They brought back the Rocket Rods. Moving on to reality, and over to DCA, I present: Construction walls! This is the temporary entrance path while construction is taking place on Buena Vista Street. Good riddance! This exit to the trams and Downtown Disney is convenient when leaving. Here's the Carthay Circle Theater. If you look closely, you can see all that remains of the Golden Gate Bridge. Looking towards the Hollywood Backlot. Out with the old, in with the new. New bridge goes here. It's Spears! Since the Monorail and California Screamin' were down, and Mickey's Fun Wheel had too long of a wait, it was tough to get great construction photos. So to make up for it, we'll play "Spot The Spears!" How do you play Spot The Spears? Well, you Spot The Spears! She's in this photo... you have to spot her! That was fun! Now, moving on to Cars Land... The rock work looks amazing now that it's mostly completed. Spot The Spears! A look at Cars Land from the Wharf. Heading over to Paradise Pier we passed this duck. Hello Paradise Pier. Screamin' got a new coat of blue paint and is looking fancy schmancy. Spot The Spears! A look at Cars Land from Paradise Pier. I especially like the theming work they did on the moon above Cars Land. It's very realistic. mmmm.... blue. It would be very easy to make this picture patriotic... See? USA! USA! From over by the Screamin' station you can see some trees that have gone up in Cars Land. A closer look at the trees. Ooooh! Ahhhh! One last Spot The Spears! This one is tricky because there's a decoy (someone with similar hair)... but expert Spears Spotters will be able to find the real Spears! Hey, it's Gertrude! Thanks for checking out the construction update everyone!

^^ Amazing. I have a feeling I'm going to break my hand trying this the next time I'm on a ring-dispensing carousel.

I had no idea it was possible to grab two at a time. It's hard enough grabbing one, I'm trying to figure out how it's even feasible to grab two. Two hands? Multiple fingers? Magnets? Laser beams? Miniature elves hidden in your sleeves that jump out and grab the rings then toss them to you? UGH... how!?!?

Great TR!

If you haven't talked to him yet, try getting in touch with Prince Desmond. He probably has all the info you need. This thread has the potential to be epic.

Knoebels was AMAZING! One of the top parks in the country for sure. Of all the parks on the trip, the one I keep finding myself talking about and wanting to return to is Knoebels. If you haven't been, this park is a "must visit" park. And going with TPR only made it better. Obviously the tours, ert, etc. were amazing... but the "TPR Bling Challenge" (I don't know what to call it... Bling Challenge sounds good to me) was epic beyond words. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had at an amusement park. I felt like I was 5 years old that whole night. Thanks so much Knoebels and TPR for making that possible!

Gertrude lives in So Cal most of the year, but she travels all over the place to attend amusement parks. TPR memebers have posted pictures of her at parks around the US and in other countries!

Last night was the VIP night for Knott's Halloween Haunt and TPR was there with David, Spears, and some special guests! We tried to give you a feeling of the event as a whole, including some of the best shows, newest mazes, and scare zones - while also having some fun along the way. Haunt this year is great as always. It delivers the awesome mix of unique shows, terrifying mazes, and scare zones that have made Knott's famous as one of the leading Halloween theme park destinations. We definitely recommend checking it out! Now, on with the pics: TPR is at Knott's Berry Farm for the Halloween Haunt VIP Event! All the stores are decked out for Halloween. TPR = VIP at Knott's Haunt! Spears will be here soon... until then TPR's official happy pumpkin named Humpkin will entertain you! It isn't even dark yet and things are already getting spooky. AHHH! Humpkin got scared! They pulled out all the stops for Haunt VIPs with an awesome boo-ffet spread! FOOD! I think Humpkin ate too much! Oh no! Humpkin is cracking because he's so full! Wait a minute! That's not Humpkin, it's Gertrude in disguise!!! She snuck into Haunt!!! Now we venture into Ghost Town. It's terrifying walking through the foggy darkness of the Ghost Town! Aahhh!! Clowns!!! Spears will be terrified when she sees this! There is lots of clowning around going on. Ed Alonzo's Psycho Circus is up next! Gertrude performed on stage before Ed Alonzo. The crowd loved it. Then came the star, Ed Alonzo! It's a great magic show with some neat variety acts. There is dancing... Audience participation... Lots of hilarious parts... FIRE!!! ... And surprising parts. This show is great! Ed Alonzo even worked his magic... ... And made Spears appear! Hi Spears! Spears attracts all sorts of creeps! Even Gertrude got in on scaring spears. Oh no! The clowns got Spears! Spears is terrified of clowns! Time for the Knott's Log Ride... Halloween Haunt style! This ride is amazing any time of the year, but at Haunt it's even better! Who wants to ride with Spears? They even have scare actors on the exit stairs. Time for Invasion Beneath! Awesome mine ride Haunt overlay. Gertrude loves this ride! We're going in! They're shooting at us!!! Get down!!! Take the tunnel! Spears has been taken captive. Gertrude wants glow merch but they don't take goosebucks or Goosecard. Forget Haunt, Spears wants candy! Mmmmmm... candy. Noooooooo! We can't escape! Not even in a candy store. Before the hanging show Spears found a dance partner and started dancing. It's dancey dance time! The hanging is a classic part of Haunt that's not to be missed. There's action... Effects... And tons of hilarious celebrities! Here's Congressman Weiner. Trump and Obama. Bin Laden Jack Sparrow The poor guy from 127 hours was stuck behind the rock the whole show. Piers would like this part! Action, action, and more action! Who gets hung? We're not saying! But it's spectacular! Gertrude is obsessed with the merch. Here she is trying on a Haunt 2007 shirt. We caught a few minutes of cursed on the way to Lockdown and Delirium. The sign for Lockdown. Here we go! Wish us luck! Spears... stop squeezing my hand so tight... you're cutting off circulation! Lockdown was great! Next up... Delirium! Spears says Delirium has some twisted stuff! David says it's awesome scary fun. Gertrude pooped herself. There's this creepy thing... And these creepy things. After Delirium we headed over to watch the show Putz. It's a great comedy show. It's hard to describe exactly what this show is... ... but we enjoyed it! Then it was off to more mazes. We hit up Endgames. And then continued on to Fallout Shelter with our stylish 3d glasses. Did we mention they have rides here? We took a spin on Silver Bullet to round out the night. Our phones had a "killer" time... One died and one is almost dead. So we'll call it a night. Thanks Knott's for an amazing night of scares and fun!

Hey... It's wayyyyy more fun to crash the boat than drive it well! And I had to take advantage of the fact that there wasn't a track, because there normally is at most American parks. I agree with you about Phoenix ERT, it really may have been the most fun I've had at an amusement park. A+ to Knoebels for being so awesome. It was my favorite park of the trip.

I love your photos! Can't wait to see more.

^ One time a guy in front of me in line got in holding a tripod with a giant SLR camera attached. He set the tripod up between the seats, sat down, and they dispatched the train with no questions asked. The signs and verbal pre-recorded instructions may say to stow your articles in the pouch, but it is well known that you are allowed to keep stuff out of the pouch if it doesn't fit or you just prefer to.

I was just referring to California Screamin' when I said 10+ years. But yeah, I suppose they've probably allowed loose articles on rides since 1955. (Note to Disney: So don't over react here... the current system works really, really well! As I said before, best in the business.) One change I've noticed a lot lately that I can't stand is that on many rides they now say "no photography of any kind" rather than "no flash photography." It's probably because digital cameras now have bright screens that ruin the ride for everyone else, which probably wasn't an issue before digital. But it's annoying for photographers to not be able to take photos anymore. I always turn my screen off so that it doesn't impact the ride for others - I just wish they'd allow photos when that's the case.

^

^ I agree. It's too bad though. The current system is super guest friendly. Whether you won a stuffed animal, have a purse, are a photographer, or need to bring items on the ride for any other reason - they let you. For 10+ years the policy worked flawlessly (as far as we know), and even when someone messed up really badly no one was injured. Seems like a pretty good system to me.

I'm really concerned this accident and video is going to make Disney change their loose articles policy. They have the best policy in the business currently - hopefully stupid people didn't just ruin it.

^^^ Loved it. A+ to these people for getting a POV. I ride this coaster a lot and rarely see anyone filming, so that was some luck.

Awesome TR!!!

^

Great story! That's truly impressive, and I'm glad you were so successful. Hopefully there are many more coasters in your future, and I'll be looking forward to TR's from your journeys. Thanks for posting! Gertrude congratulates you!

Heads up TPR... This Friday, July 15, set your DVRs to record "Man Caves" on the DIY Network. They're creating a man cave for Bert Kreischer of "Bert The Conqueror" fame. Part of the episode was shot on Xcelerator at Knott's Berry Farm in conjunction with a Bert The Conqueror shoot - and many people from TPR were there filling seats. So it should be an interesting episode, and you may see some familiar faces. I believe the episode airs at 8pm, but the time may vary depending on where you live.

Nice house!

After hearing the press conference, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it sounds like the ride ops should have known better.

Great job on episode #2 Big Mike! Brittney and I were going to send you mail for the mail bag segment, but things have been hectic and it kept getting put off, and now there's no more mail bag segment. Hopefully we're able to send in a picture or something before episode #3 though!