hauntguy

I'm sorry the TPR group did not have a Tramtastic day. I started Googling to learn more about the screwy Express passes offered at USJ. While I was visiting the site, I came across "Information of temporarily closed attractions". Space Fantasy - The Ride closed 1/9/18-1/17/19 (Japan has a very unusual definition of "temporary") Jaws closed 6/11/18-6/24/19 (just missed it, Robb) They state: "We will sell Express Pass as the regular price during the above maintenance, so screw you silly Americans". I may not be translating that entirely accurately. They also say (and I think I'm understanding this correctly) that if rides on your Express pass are closed due to maintenance, they offer "alternative attraction" EXCEPT for Harry Potter, Hippogriff, Hollywood Dream Backdrop. So if, say, Flying Dinosaur is closed for maintenance, they will offer some alternative, but not one of the three mentioned. I'm really surprised that Flying Dinosaur is not on that list. That implies it might be an alternative attraction? Nowhere does it mention a list of "alternative attraction". What blows me away is that not only does your Express pass let you only do 4 or 7 rides depending on what you buy, you are pre-assigned very strict time windows for the "big rides". So if you purchase this Express pass long in advance, you sure as hell better not be delayed getting there, your you will be SOL. For the non time-window rides, you get a choice of Ride A or Ride B. i.e. Jaws or Spider Man. Google "USJ Express Pass 7" to see how unusable these are. The 7 attraction pass goes for around $77 and the 4 attraction for around $50. I find their helpful information not helpful. And frankly, not Universal-like.

So Robb, you were in a train station and experienced Disaster! ...starring you! Was it better than Orlando's?

Dammit! Why can't California be Japan? I mean, we have a crapload of earthquakes, too. So why can't we be as cool as them? I don't think there is a single person in Japan asking why Japan can't be California...

Dammit, I never thought I'd say it, but I wish I was Robb right now.

Thanks for another amazing trip report, Robb! Japan is on my bucket list. Every time I read about Japanese efficiency and friendliness, I want to retire to there, not just visit someday. Watching those videos is like watching 50's American society, but with super advanced technology. Been a long time since I logged in last, and pardon me if I am wrong, but I recall Elissa being a vegetarian. Is she an omnivore now? I saw her hungrily eyeing that delicious red cow flesh...

That article isn't giving the entire story. I could be wrong (but I'm FAIRLY certain I'm not) that that was the issue that came up years back where they decided it was a good idea to add a gusset plate to strengthen that part was that showing structural problems. All examples of the ride were given that upgrade. That was dealt with, in what seems to have been a competent and responsible manner. That article looks to be trying to make it out to seem like they found issues and just ignored them. They didn't; they fixed that. Unfortunately it looks like a different source of cracking and fatigue was also going on that was never noticed... This particular ride did have the gusset plates installed. Clearly seen in this picture

If Robb and family have survived this long considering all of the Chinese coasters they have been on (including the self-operated ones), I think the accident rate is still very low. Actualy, for Robb - how do you and your family feel about safety following this? Not for the industry, but in terms of everything you've been on. Would you skip anything from here on out, or not do any particular rides/parks again?

I am certainly not an expert on this but I have to disagree on principle. A safety mechanism would not be required to be held in the locked position by hydraulic pressure. Hydraulics fail more often than we realize. Think about the click-click-click we hear when we lock our restraints on a coaster. That is what is keeping our restraints locked, and each tooth we hear clicking is an extra level of safety. The hydraulics are pressurized to RELEASE the restraints - not to keep them locked. Remember, a safety restraint needs to be locked (safe) with no external power or pressurization - think complete power failure. A coaster car would have no on-board hydraulic system to maintain pressure. While this ride could keep hydraulics pressurized during the ride since the gondola is always meant to be attached, I really doubt that is the case here. Or should I say I really HOPE that is not the case here. Finally, the remainder of the people are still locked in their seats in the aftermath video. I really think the restraint failure was due to the restraint mechanism breaking when contacting another vehicle.

Horrific tragedy. From the picture of the arm showing the torn metal, it certainly looks like catastrophic metal fatigue to me. The floor looks intact in all video/pictures available to us. Had the gondola separated after striking an immobile object, I would expect the torn metal to be bent and have frayed edges and not be just a jagged tear. So I think it's more likely that the gondola separated and then hit something. What I still do not understand is that even if the gondola separates from the arm, why would the restraints not stay locked? It appears that two of the seats remained locked; why would any restraint open in the event of separation? I'm wondering if immediately after separation the back of the gondola hit another gondola (causing the sound) which in turn caused the locking mechanism on two of the seats to fail. The video shows the gondola doing a 360 degree flip, which I would think would not happen had it separated and not hit anything. I'm sure investigators are already running physics modeling on this one. If the girls' accounts are correct and the restraints failed, I don't see how that would lead to a catastrophic failure. I suppose the sound could have been due to a restraint mechanism hitting the floor at the base of the downswing, but I don't see how a tear in the arm would follow that. And the notion of an E-stop resulting in such a tear makes little sense. Honestly, I wish we were in the days when we just read about these things, and didn't have the ability to watch it happen over and over at the touch of a button. And sadly I plead guilty to that. We've become so desensitized to tragedy that people see others in distress and whip out a camera rather than run to their aid. Civilization in decline...

So great to hear, Robb! I think that's the first official confirmation. Looking forward to it. Going to tell my kids now!

I only now read abut this because I got a TPR Email asking about an upcoming tour. I'm not totally clear if Robb is going to stop doing WCB as well (hoping not), but, jeez, it's really sad to see how people have taken for granted what TPR has provided over the years. Let me tell a tiny story that happened way back when I attended my first WCB (don't recall the year), but it was back when I used to be able to remember things. There was some sort of prize giveaway at SFMM, and I won a Revolution poster. Somehow I forgot to pick it up at the presentation, so I approached Robb while he was resting at a bench. He offered to get the poster from park management and ship it to me. I did not realize that the time that Robb was personally organizing these events; I thought he worked for some bigger organization and he'd be reimbursed. I came to realize I was totally wrong. He is organizing these events for us. He is owning the hassle of dealing with park management, answering tons of questions, coordinating with airlines, hotels, etc. Arranging food, Q-bots, etc. That stuff doesn't magically happen. I immediately sent Robb some Paypal bucks to thank him for sending me the poster. A stupid little poster. He had NO REASON to care about doing this - we had essentially just met. But he did it because he was a nice guy. Personally, I wouldn't have put up with half as much crap as he has. I'd find some other hobby where I could be around people who are on average more pleasant. I feel like he's getting to that point, and I cannot blame him. If WCB doesn't happen this year my kids and I will miss it, but I'll explain to them that when people do something good and get complaints in return, it makes them not want to make the effort next time. I've always made a point of finding Robb and Elissa at every event we attend and thanking them for putting it on. By the way, everyone remember the recent WCB where Robb showed up with a bum leg and had to get around Magic Freaking MOUNTAIN on a self-powered scooter? You think that was having a "Six Flags Day" then? Me neither. But he did it. Aaaaaaand people later complained about every little thing that was not done for them by the park or by Robb, for the sake of complaining. Apologies for the venting. Hope to see events happen again someday.

I still see VR being in its infancy that will soon give way to Augmented or Mixed Reality - essentially Google Glass that people will accept. When people have their own devices that they use daily, I see a coaster as just another thing to plug them into for an enhanced experience. I don't think that's a far-off thing. I'm still amazed at how quickly self-driving vehicles are being thrust at us. If we're all not driving soon, we are all going to need something to distract us. Having to strap on a huge headset that was (hopefully) just cleaned and charged is definitely not sustainable. But my family always opts for the VR experience when riding coasters. The kids and I love it.

Trying to picture what they removed to make room for this ride. Help me out here. I keep mixing up Gotham with the area where Riddler is. Batman Stunt Theater - demolished Gas station - demolished Climbing wall - demolished I take it the upcharge Flying Burrito ride is still there, as is the BBQ restaurant? And the totally non-DC-themed Tidal Wave which is okay since it's always closed? And I'd still like to think those electrical-looking conduits were really for pyro shells.

A couple of pages ago, I posted what turned out to be a pretty inaccurate plan of attack for HHN Hollywood. This year, a good deal has changed, so please consider the following if you want to do everything in one night: Although the park has more HHN-type attractions this year, the following are closed for HHN: All of Potter (not even a sip of Butterbeer during HHN), Despicable Me, Super Silly Fun Land, Waterworld, Shrek. Some of these have never been open for HHN, but some are new to the list. Bottom line is that these people-eaters being closed make for longer lines. This year was the first ever where Opening Night was sold out. That is a daunting fact. The crowds were so thick, that you need to be prepared to NOT do everything in one night. I am convinced of that. I'm also thinking that Thursdays will end up sold out, too. In past years many Thursdays sold out. My other reason for believing this is that they are STILL selling the 15-night HHN season pass online. In years past, they sold only a couple hundred of these through a special link. Now they are offering them as regular tickets. That means they plan on selling ALOT. It could also mean that few are biting, but I don't buy it for a minute... They are no longer offering FOTL as an add-on to your ticket. FOTL now is exclusively available with built in admission. If you really want to see all of HHN in one night, FOTL is the ONLY WAY. Buy it soon, because they are actually beginning to sell out online. Sep 24 is already sold out. In years past, I would have said that being first in the gate for HHN would allow you to hit everything. Not anymore. Past gameplans no longer work. Here is the way things work: If you have a day/night combo, you have the right kind of ticket. As people are exiting for the day, go to Guest Services or to the tallest building at the central plaza. There they will give you a wristband. Once you have this, Immediately head to lower lot. Get to lower lot no later than 5:30 If you ONLY have an HHN ticket, get through security and into the RIGHT MOST gate line no later than 5:00. They will start letting HHN people into the park early. This will be through a gate even to the right of the right-hand turnstyles. You will essentially be entering next to Waterworld. Remember, do NOT queue up for a turnstyle at the front gate. You are going into a special early entry entrance. Ask for help if you need to. The line will be LONG, so the earlier the better. They will scan you and give you a wristband. Head down to lower lot immediately. If you are in the park for daytime admission (i.e. have a season pass) and you purchased a separate HHN ticket, you are treated like garbage. You are going to need to EXIT the park, go through security AGAIN and re-enter for HHN. God help you if you won a big plush toy, because they won't let you in with it. So, exit the park around 4:45, go through security again, and follow the advice in the previous paragraph. Once you get your wristband, head to the lower lot. So now everyone is in the lower lot and it is about 5:30. Freaking event doesn't officially start for 90 minutes, so you are good to go, right? Pfffft! HHN opens Exorcist at 6:00 on the dot, but they let people in line around 5:45. Halloween maze does not open until 7:00. At the queue entrance for Exorcist, you have the option to skip Exorcist and instead walk to the backlot for AHS, Krampus, and FvJ. One or two of those mazes opens at 6:30. They are all open by 7:00. So here is the reality of the situation - what I experienced Sat 9/17 (which was also a sold-out night). I arrived at Exorcist at 5:30. Queue for Exorcist opened at 5:45 and I was the TENTH person into the maze. Entered the house at 6:03 and exited at 6:07. Walked back to the queue entrance, and saw the Exorcist already had a 45 minute wait built up. And HHN had not even officially opened!! Walked to backlot (15 minute trek) and by the time I got there, Krampus was at 20 min wait, AHS was 30 min, and FvJ was 60 min!! Mind you, it was only 6:25pm. HHN still not open! Went into Krampus and when I got out, FvJ was 120 minutes, Krampus was 40 min and AHS was 70 min. At this point, HHN was opening for real, and it was about to get really bad. So I decided to hit AHS. Wait was indeed about 70 min. By he time I got out, FvJ was up to 140 min. Sadly, they did not have a wait time posting for all houses in the backlot. According to the app, Halloween was 140 min, TWD was 45 min, TCM was 90 min, and Exorcist was 140 min. Good luck with cell reception in backlot or lower lot. T-mobile doesn't work at all, and AT&T has very bad reception. I was able to get something to work by forcing my phone onto 4G, as everyone was sucking up LTE. Terror Tram had 40 min wait posted. Went there and the line moved FAST. You never stop walking - just a long queue. Real wait time was about 20 min. Kind of a shame, since the Terror Tram queue videos are GREAT! For the record, this is the best TT in the past 7 years. While shorter than any other year, it had a feel of 2006, which was best year of all. Because I have an HHN 15-night season pass, I then decided to leave and revisit another day. I went to HHN the first two nights and BETWEEN them was able to see everything except Halloween. I refused to stand in any line that was longer than 70 minutes when I had a pass for 15 nights. I will try on an upcoming Thursday but if it's equally crowded, I will not go again until Nov 2nd and 3rd. Here is what you can honestly expect for house wait time patterns: Exorcist - will have 2hr+ waits all night. Only chance of no wait is to be in the queue at 5:45 TCM - will have enormous waits from 7PM until about 10:30 as people entering event taper off. Because TCM is located at park entrance, most GP will tend to hit it first. So this one will have good wait times at the end of the evening. TWD - People-eater and unchanged from daytime attraction. 10 min waits will happen much of the night. Pulse of people will be seen each time Jabbocrapeez lets out. Terror Tram - 20-40 min most of the night. Just be aware of closing time. Halloween - Will be extremely long all night. Maybe save for last thing to do before heading back up? Remember there are FIVE houses between lower lot and backlot. Backlot houses are a bit different this year. No Soundstage this year. And queues are staggered - exit of one house "leads to" queue of the next. You can choose not to queue for next house, but entrances are far apart. The "flow" is for Krampus to be first, then FvJ, then AHS. Krampus - always shortest of the lines of backlot houses. People don't seem to be into the theme compared to FvJ and AHS. AHS - expect VERY long waits all night. Probably will never be < 90 min. FvJ - expect massive waits all night. Probably will never be < 90 min. The rides: Jurassic Park - 40 min waits most of the time. Single rider will be more like 10 min Mummy - 40-60 min waits most of the time. Single rider will be more like 15 min Transformers - 10-20 min waits most of the time. Single rider will be more like 5 min. Simpsons - 30 min waits all night except then Jabbasuckfest lets out, when it gets slammed to 60 min. It is a good HHN year. While I hate IP houses, they did a very good job for the most part. Even the repeat houses don't feel too repeated. I have not been in Halloween yet, so I cannot fully say for sure on that one. Exorcist was OUTSTANDING. Who woulda thunk it? They really pulled it off nicely. It perfected what they tried at Dead Exposure at HHN Orlando. AHS was quite long and very good. Yes, an actual long maze for HHN Hollywood. FvJ was nothing like Orlando's version (which was better). Was also on the long side. Krampus was....interesting. I had no idea the movie was comedy-horror. As such, what they presented was unexpected and a bit confusing. Check @HorrorNights for the nightly password to give to the delivery man outside the house. Prize is really nice. Bring a 1qt ziplock bag with you to protect it or get small bag from store in upper lot first. WARNING - they run out of prizes by 7:30. Might want to hit Krampus first when you get to backlot! TCM was most like a rehash of what we saw many times before. Only thing really new was appearance of Chop Top and Dayton, because it was based on the original movie. Even so, same old same old. Seriously, this house was totally not necessary, and I will probably feel the same about Halloween. TWD was same as daytime version. Terror Tram - they shook things up this year, with a mini-maze at Bates Motel and just before WOTW. Keep expectations low and you will be pleasantly surprised. And the scarezones this year.... All of them Purge.... While I am a bit over it, make sure to hit the Gauntlet in the central plaza. It is actually a fairly large maze. A shame that you could experience a queue for a scarezone, but that is the reality this year. Seriously, get the FOTL if it is available. If you do not, you will NOT get into everything. The year will only get busier, so I think counting on a "slow Thursday' is wishful thinking. I would definitely make sure to see Exorcist, AHS, Terror Tram, and the Purge Gauntlet. Because this is HHN Hollywood, you will probably get a chance to see Freddy, Jason, Leatherface and Michael Meyers many times again in upcoming years, so don't feel too bad if you miss them.

Well said. The storyline is substantially different at the two parks, and that's probably the one area where USH is better, because the whole Brendan Fraiser thing is just incomprehensible.

Good question! USH does NOT have any Big Boy seats on their version of the ride. Really surprising since they were added by necessity in Florida. Not only is there a test seat outside the ride, they may pull "suspect" people aside just before final part of the queue to be test fitted in a seat in front of everyone else in line. It must be humiliating for them, and it's bad form for Universal. I think the main reason they do this is that Potter is continuously moving and loading must be completed within about 30 seconds. Now here's the crazy part- at most other parks, employees will give restraints a good push to help people fit. At the USH Forbidden Journey, they will NOT push the restraints into place. The rider must pull them to the fully engaged position. So someone who is having trouble with that second "click" may end up stopping the ride. The last few times I visited, I saw from the queue this happening multiple times. Employees yelling at people to "sit back and pull hard". Anyone else witness this? Half the time I rode, there was one or two stops mid ride.

I will be making my first trip to USH for HHN with a after 2pm combo ticket. Do most of these same tips apply? I will be there on a Thursday evening. Thanks! I would first recommend following John Murdy on Twitter (@horrornights). He is the HHN director and offers lots of good advice for HHN newbies and especially for those entering the park early (which you will be doing by default). I cannot really speak as to how weekday crowds would look like on an HHN day. If it is not crowded during the day all advice should be valid. You need to be especially aware of last call for daytime tram and the daytime early closure of WD. If Walking Dead is a short line, I would hit it. We have heard rumors that HHN WD will have additional scareactors, but in my opinion, the attraction is a yawn. I cannot see what additional actors would add. As it stands, the thing seems like half the length of a normal HHN maze. A lot fewer rooms, just bigger ones. Your ticket will let you into HHN early. They will corral you for about 30 minutes somewhere inside the park. I would guess it is at the new plaza. The reality is they will also be letting other HHN guests into the park as well at the same time. So this perk is not exclusive to you, but you should have a slight head start on them. No rides will be open at this time. You will be guided to the lower lot, where 2-3 HHN mazes will be open up to an hour before HHN officially starts. If you do those 2-3 mazes, HHN will be open by then and you COULD do JP, Mummy, and Transformers while you are down there. Of course this will eat into your HHN evening a bit. So in my opinion a good battle plan is: Enter turnstyles AT 2pm (no later) and try to do as much stuff in upper lot as you can (using single rider lines) and the tram. Get these out of the way: Daytime Tram, Potter rides, Simpsons, Shrek, Despicable Me, TWD. Quite possible you will not be able to do one of these in the time allotted. Again, do NOT get stuck on the tram when people are heading to lower lot early. Likewise, do NOT get stuck in a Potter queue. I say this because daytime park will still be bleeding off queues even when HHN people start entering park early. If you decide to do Terror Tram instead of daytime tram, you will miss some tram attractions. But if you do daytime tram it will eat 25% of your 2PM-6PM time. Up to you. Once you are ushered into lower lot, take advantage of the early entry into houses. Hit the three rides down there. And do the backlot mazes. To be perfectly honest, I do not know all of the mazes this year. This is the first year I have purposely avoided finding out so I can be surprised for once. When I heard about Exorcist, I stopped looking at social media for HHN. I assume the majority of mazes will be accessible through the lower lot and backlot, so for HHN you will probably spend a good deal of your time here. Take advantage of the hour or two you will have in this uncrowded part of the park. Check the wait times often to monitor Terror Tram and whatever mazes are in upper lot. Head upstairs when you feel like it and close out your night. HHN crowd patterns are pretty consistent: When general public gets into HHN, TWD will have very long wait time, as will any other mazes in upper lot. Potter will have long wait also. When those lines get too long, people will split with most going to Terror Tram and the rest to lower lot. So lower lot tends to be the last area to fill up. When people stop entering the park, TWD lines will subside. Hard to say if they will ever be small for HHN. Terror Tram will probably never be below 20 min. Whatever maze they have in the Parisian streets will become less crowded as the evening goes on. Lower lot will spike around 9 PM and will remain high for rest of evening. During HHN, the rides are not necessarily less of a wait than daytime. Be aware of the Jabbawockeez showtimes; when those shows let out, there is a rush for Potter, Simpsons, lower Lot, and Terror Tram. If Waterworld has shows, there will be a rush for Potter and TWD when it lets out. Definitely hit Waterworld if you have not seen it before. Jabowackeez is a crappy, crappy show. If you miss it, you miss nothing. However, if you are a member of a violent street gang, did not complete middle school, and/or have diminished mental capacity you may enjoy it.

If you will be there tomorrow, you should not experience much of a crowd at all. Will pretty much be a ghost town till maybe 2:00. Park closes at 6, though, so be aware of when TWD and tram closes. The tram has a new "Night time" version. They are a bit different but not substantially. If you are a park geek, might want to do both. On days when they close the park before night, they usually have last hour of tram be the night time version. So tomorrow they might have last tram depart at 5:45 and the night time tram be 4:45 onward. Check the schedules and ask.

The tram itself is 45 minutes (excluding wait), so it takes a big chunk of your time. If you do it early in the morning, the park will fill up as you ride, and you will exit the tram to big lines everywhere. In my opinion, later in the day is better. Just make sure you pay attention to when the last tram departs, because the last call for trams is long before the park closes. Whatever you do, make sure you do NOT take the front or back cars of the tram. Closer toward the middle car the better. Far right side of tram has best view of Jaws and Fast/Furious. Far left side has best view of Flash Flood and picture cars. I'd choose far right side if possible. You do not need to stay where they stick you. You can ask for the middle tram or you can simply walk to that area and stay there. Watch how people load and you will understand. The reason you want to avoid front/back cars is that in the giant theaters (Kong and Fast/Furious) the screen is really distorted for those cars. Front car misses most effects in Earthquake. Every single tram tour is different. They change on the fly based on what is going on in backlot. You may see different videos, take different routes, and even skip some attractions. All of USH major attractions have single rider lines (Forbidden Journey, Jurassic park, Transformers, Mummy). Those lines can be significantly shorter than standby and sometimes even shorter than VIP... Forbidden Journey eats single rider lines quickly. That also means all of the attractions in the lower lot have single rider options. So assuming you are willing to take advantage of single rider lines, do the lower lot (JP, Mummy, Transformers) whenever you feel like it. Plan for the lower lot to take up to 2 hours. The wait for Walking Dead will fluctuate during the day, but is very often 5-10 minutes. It is a people eater. The attraction is also ridiculously short. Go as slow as you can to take it in. USH wait times include the mandatory pre-show. Attractions with pre-shows are: Shrek, Simpsons, Despicable me (two pre-shows). So they will always have a built in wait time. USH Olivanders has two show rooms. Even so, the line can move pretty slow. Make sure you hit this early. Three Broomsticks has THE best food in the park. Period. Hard to go wrong with any dish. I have tried Bangers & Mash, Fish & chips, Roasted Chicken - all are excellent. Portions are very large. For what you get, they are not charging nearly as much as they could. Food line for this is long between 11:30-2:00. If there is a line out the door, don't bother. Queue in the door can be 0 min to 15 min. Trip planning greatly depends on what shows you want to hit (Waterworld, Special Effects, Animal show) and how important older rides that have duplicates in Orlando are to you (Shrek, Simpsons, JP). USH Mummy is shorter than USO, and by all accounts not as good as Orlando's. USH Potterland is smaller than USO Hogwarts. If you've been to USO, there is really nothing new to see in this variant. The Hipofgriff is a bit better in USH, and Forbidden Journey is 3D. I've been on both and I don't think 3D really adds anything. Must-see if you have been to USO but not USH: Backlot Tram Tour - NOTE: closes up to 90 minutes before park closes Walking Dead - NOTE: always closes long before park closes! Waterworld - based on very old movie, but easily best stunt show at any US theme park. Endangered - may close to become site of Diagon Alley USH exactly identical to Orlando: Despicable Me - SOMETIMES they direct you into Gate A line if you are single rider Transformers (has Single Rider line) - ALWAYS use this Shrek Simpsons - SOMETIMES they direct you into Gate A line if you are single rider Substantially identical to Orlando: Mummy (has Single Rider line) Potterland Hippogriff - SOMETIMES they direct you into Gate A line if you are single rider Forbidden Journey (has Single Rider line) Jurassic Park (has Single Rider line)

Still only went to one actual Bash, how does payment work again? Pretty simple. Keep sending money to Robb until he says you can go.

Looking forward to it, Robb!!

Robb, Aside from the one restaurant, what upcharge items are there on this ship? Are all of the activities (iFly, NorthStar, etc) included free? Does the robot bar do any free non-alcoholic drinks? The last time I was on a cruise, the only free drink was iced tea.

Looks great, Robb! I am theorizing that since this is so close to Haunt, TPR won't be doing a haunt day at KBF this year...

I don't know if this is the right thread for this, but is TPR going to have a Haunt event this year at KBF? MiceChat just put their tickets on sale, but I'd prefer to support TPR if they are doing an event.

Um, if you're planning on ordering food while you're here, you might want to brush up on your Spanish.