SoCalCoasters

Gee, there wouldn't happen to be a brand new Assassin's Creed game out now is there. IGN definitely hasn't promoted it enough. 5 different freaking ads

If the quality ends up looking as terrible as Forbidden Journey, I'd be all for no 3D. The quality issues with FJ came from the movement (minuscule vibrations) of the projector screens they were mounted on. It didn't have anything to do with the quality in which the media was rendered.

I disagree about this. They are crappy bumper cars to begin with, so the space is MUCH better utilized as a Haunt maze in October IMO. I was just SO SHOCKED to see that it wasn't a maze this year...first time I've seen that since I can remember. That space and the Virus Z (Fiesta de Los Muertos) caused some areas of the park to be abandoned while making others over crowded. Unless Elvira was about the start or was ending, the back of the park was a ghost town this year.

Prepare yourself for the Christmas Puns.

^ That's the biggest loss of all. seriously Crown Colony was the best meal I have ever had in a theme park! and in one of the nicest settings. It's truly a shame they decided to axe it from the year round operation.

I was more interested in the fact that they were going to be recycling the body wars simulators than the budget.

There's an interesting rumor going around that the reason the budget for the ride is only 100 million is because the ride vehicles for the attraction are actually the ATLAS motion bases that were used for Body Wars in the Wonders of Life Pavilion at Epcot. This actually makes a lot of sense, as they've had those motion bases sitting there for quite a while without any usage. With a quick rehab done by Intamin or some other company, I'm sure they could have them put into the Iron Man Experience to save on ride system costs so they could focus on developing the ride's story and theming.

I was at the park last night for haunt had a great time. Forevermore and Black Magic were the maze highlights, although I had some really amazing interaction in Gunslinger's Grave as well. I also did Trapped and really enjoyed it for what it was. It may not have quite the impact it did lat year, but I think the Knott's crew did a great job with it nonetheless, and will definitely have their footing for Trapped's third year. Also got to give a shoutout to the guy in the first room on the third track down, you were awesome. I thought Elvira was great, and the dancing was waaaaaaaay better this year. I know people were griping about the dancers not being as..."attractive" this year, but personally I thought the Academy of Villains did a way better job than past dance crews. I hadn't seen Elvira's show before, but I'll definitely be back for another helping next year. Overall a great event this year. I really hope they can find their footing again for Trapped next year and combine everything they've learned into an even better experience!

^ Maybe it's just me but they look more like Chitauri war machines than anything else. It definitely seems like they're going with more of a comic book styling.

The survey randomly choses two of the concepts they have, so it could be that we're all talking about different things.

KumbaK made Hollander, not Mack. Some of the ride's issues came from the odd ways in which Efteling requested it be installed in the lake.

Wow.... That's an incredible set of photos.

Last year in Trapped my friend was chosen to eat a well seasoned cricket in one of the scenes (we later found out she apparently spit the cricket out! so this year if they have another eating scene, our entire group is going to force her to redeem herself ) . Ever if you are made to eat something, rest assured the build up is a lot worse than the actual edible thing. One of the other edible things was something along the lines of watery sour cream, just to sort of creep you out. I'm very excited for Haunt this year! 12 days till I go!

^From what I understand the lack of mazes in Fiesta Plaza and Bumper Cars not happening had to do with them violating the GM's "nothing from haunt should be noticeable during daily park operations, and since they distrubed two different things (the plaza for eating and the bumper cars) that are visible during their haunt runs, I see why they were discontinued from that perspective. I think the bumper cars area not being used is a shame though, as they had a huge pre-existing queue they could thread people through and not have to worry as much about crowd control. I'm very excited for Mirror Mirror because it seems like one of the more interesting concepts, and I've heard very good reviews of it.

If anyone was wondering where the Helix Car went, it was taken to EAS 2013 to be shown off by Mack, with it's full lighting package running!

A water park expansion makes a lot more sense. Something like Polar X-plorer could theoretically be threaded around existing attractions, but the water park doesn't have that luxury as much with its limited land. I'll be at the park for a TEA event next week so hopefully I'll learn more about what this expansion holds.

Legoland CA announced a huge water park expansion today! Very excited for this! http://california.legoland.com/documents/press/Press_Conference_2013.docx

^I believe they quoted it around 8 million, but one has to remember that the building was reused so that significantly lowered the cost.

If I'm reading that correctly that means the ride would be around 475 ft tall which would be insane!

Yeah, sorry. Not buying that one for a second. It would have been totally obvious that the track was all new, it definitely is not. There most certainly was track replacement on Matterhorn, but it was similar to the rehab that Big Thunder is currently going through. They didn't re-track the whole layout, be certain parts were definitely replaced.

Based on the game plan of the new GM, I would not expect a Giga Coaster unless the market wants one. At this point the Knott's plan appears to be catering to the locals and those visiting the Disney parks, hence the Boardwalk and its family friendly rides.

Very sad day for the park. Windseeker had become an icon for the park that many people had come to know, and considering all the headaches they had to go through to put it in, it's very sad that it lasted such a sort time. I really enjoyed Windseeker, it was honestly one of my favorite rides in the park because of the unique experience it gave. I guess I'm one of the few who got to ride it. :/

Love the announcement! Looks like to will really be something unique, especially considering its location. Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't "The Guardian of Wonder Mountain" roll off the tongue a bit better than "Wonder Mountain's Guardian".

Not sure if it was ever mentioned on here but during a backstage tour of Full Throttle with several media outlets it was hinted that the old arcade building would be something to watch in the future. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

After riding Grizzly a few weeks ago, I can honestly say that Grizzly was pretty dang fun! I actually enjoyed it. Giant Dipper in San Diego is far rougher.