KBrylczyk

Quick question. How suicidal is it to do Scary Farm on Halloween night? It's a Thursday so I'm thinking it won't be too bad. It's my only chance to get to the event this year but if I'm gonna be in a sea of people all night I think I'll just wait until next year.

Ah, the inner wackadoo awakens.

^^ Dude, this is JERSEY we're talking about. Malls are part of the culture. I grew up in Monmouth County and had 5 malls within 10 minutes of my front door. The shopping portion doesn't exist out of a necessity for shopping options but simply to fit in.

By some strange twist of fate my wife and I found ourselves in Logan, Utah today. We were in town for a potential new job for myself (final interview), but since we were only a few miles away from the S&S headquarters my coaster nerd came out in full force and we took a quick drive over there late in the day. I was expecting to see some equipment, maybe the Raptor test track, etc. Instead we were met with something that had me scratching my head. It's a small prototype with one car on the track that looks extremely wicked. The car was covered, so no clues there, but the track was definitely Maxx Force style. I'll let the photos speak for themselves, but can someone explain to me just what in the heck is going on with this layout?! This looks like something RMC would design if they were on PCP.

I just came across the ToT promo on Youtube. Am I alone in wishing Disney would make a Tower Of Terror musical now?! That song is funky as hell!

Can't wait to get back to Dark Harbor in a few weeks. Looking at the walkthrough videos it seems at least two of the shipboard haunts were reversed (meaning you begin the haunt at last year's exit, exit at last year's entrance) which will make for some interesting new routes. Rogue also looks excellent. Deadrise was pretty terrible last year, easily the worst of the event, so it looks like the repurposed sets for Rogue are getting some new life!

Might want to look at a map before making the decision to use Uber, bud.

^ Get in as early as possible, skip everything up top and get to the backlot, bang out those haunts, hit anything that's in the lower lot (skip rides for now), then head to the upper lot and hit those haunts. If you somehow manage to not wait 2+ hours for any haunts, then you can do the rides since they never have any lines during HHN.

That's HHN's modus operandi. Either you spend $250+ for admission plus Universal Express, or you buy your admission and pray like hell you can get through all the haunts before 7:30pm when the lines are filled. It's the main reason I've avoided HHN in recent years. I can't justify spending the amounts they charge for one night when the haunts just aren't that good. Compared to Orlando, Hollywood is just a middle of the road haunt. Knott's Scary Farm is on the same level, if not better in many ways, and costs about half of what Universal charges. Knott's also gives unlimited Fright Lane access while Universal is one and done (unless you go for the even higher priced option). SoCal has enough Halloween events that skipping HHN isn't a loss. Dark Harbor, Knott's, The Mist, Zombie Joe's, Reign Of Terror, and even Magic Mountain's Fright Fest are better, more economical options.

^ Huh, interesting. I worked for RWS back in 2011 but they were only working with low to mid-tier American properties. When my contract was up with them they began to break into the cruise ship entertainment industry. To see they're now working with world-class level properties is great! I wonder if I can schmooze my way back in.

^ Because Iron Rattler, New Texas Giant, etc are strokes of brilliance, right?

Holy crap, those are NICE! I'm appreciating the stadium seating style!

Excuse you?

That's funny, so did I! [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

^ What this guy said. It's a suicide mission. Then again, if you're doing Disney that Friday or Saturday, Sunday at Magic Mountain will seem like a ghost town. Edit - Also, god help you at Disney.

Surely you're mistaken. The Jurassic Jungle Boat is much better than any day at Dollywood. This looks awesome, even if they're on the Six Flags level of "world's first" with that short cable section, haha. I'm gonna be in Gatlinburg in a couple of weeks and will probably stop by to give it a shot!

No. Nothing is as horrifically terrible as Dudley Do-Right's logs. If you're taller than 5'6" it's damn near impossible to even get seated, let alone actually getting the lap bar from hell into place. There are certain places the human body is not meant to go, and Dudley's logs are one of them.

That has to be the weirdest way I have seen someone refer to fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo.

If you'll have a car, take a morning or afternoon to drive the Bonneville Salt Flats to the west of the city. Truly one of the most otherworldly things I've ever done. Nearly two hours of driving in a perfectly straight line, nothing but white to the left and right, pure blue sky, and the black outline of the mountains in Nevada in front. Make sure you turn off to the raceway on the western end. If the weather's been dry you can drive your car onto the salt and have a little fun.

The two new haunts look like they're going to be a lot of fun. Origins is taking over The Red Barn, I believe. Wax Works must be going into Trick Or Treat's building. I love that they're adding an elevator to The Depths so you'll "actually" go into a deep mine rather than just sauntering into a random mine in a parking lot like last year, haha. It'll also act a a nice way to separate the groups, hopefully that will translate to no backups halfway through. I recall being stuck in the laser fog room nearly every time and then moving super slow through the rest. Super excited to see Paranormal Inc, Dark Entities, and Dark Ride are back again! Dark Entities suffered last year due to location, I would say. For some stupid reason Knott's decided to put the start of the queue, as well as the main friggin sign, back and around the corner from The Depths and Paranormal's entrances, so I know a ton of people just weren't aware it existed. Damn shame, because it was my second favorite haunt last year. It's very long and has some great effects, the only complaint I had was that it needed more actors in it as there were a few long hallways with nothing. Dark Ride is always great, can't wait to see the new scenes! Paranormal was rumored to get the Lights Out treatment this year, looks like that never happened. No worries, though, because Paranormal has been the top haunt for the event since it premiered! Pumpkin Eater's return was expected, but I really don't care about this haunt. Yes, it's long and mostly outdoors. Yes, I'll go through it a few times. Yes, it has good atmosphere in a few scenes. However, there is a woeful lack of actors for how massive a haunt it is and it is very easy to get turned around or end up backstage in certain scenes. Knott's, please, let this one die next season. Shadowlands' exit is kinda sad. It was a very unique haunt and I enjoy it a lot. The building that houses it usually has some of the best gags of the event, so I'm very excited to see how they theme it next year. Special Ops should have been cancelled after the second year. The first year when they used the entirety of Camp Snoopy was MIND BLOWING! I know the reservation system was absolute crap and led to countless headaches, I get it, I know why they had to make the severe changes. However, in doing so they neutered the experience in the second year. It went from being a fully immersive, high-energy experience to being kinda-sorta immersive, slow and boring. Then they really jumped the shark when it morphed into the current version behind Mystery Lodge. Ugh, it's awful. TAER IT DOWN and burn what's left. Puppet Up! could be a good time. I'm glad that it's improv because if they're relying on the writers from last year's abysmal "The Hanging" then we'd be in serious trouble. Speaking of which, I hope so so so so much they got all new writers for this year's The Hanging. What the hell happened last year, Knott's?! Overall, I'm very excited for this event, like I always am, and I can't wait to visit a few times!

Six Flags in a nutshell.

Knott's announced some events for their 100th anniversary next year. Don't get your hopes up for a huge coaster, haha.

Some great (Jersey Devil, Power Splash), some good (nearly everything else), and then there's Magic Mountain, who doesn't even get a 2020 announcement, but a Fright Fest and Holiday In The Park press release. Poor baby.

Pulsar was a huge surprise hit in Walibi Beligum, I'm glad Six Flags finally caught on three years later. Hopefully they order more because these rides can replace every Shoot The Chutes style attraction and nobody would ever complain. Well, nobody except the weirdos, but whatever. When you're on the ride you get an appropriate amount of wetness, maybe the side seats are a bit worse. If you're in the splash zone outside the ride, though, you might as well be standing in the middle of a hurricane.

^ Sounds like they're going to be incorporating the screens like on Guardians to have a better storytelling angle, but each shaft will focus on a different ghost. Also I find it friggin hilarious that they used a photo of the Orlando version's elevator, not the craptacular exit hallways the others have.