JT3000

MK hasn't gotten anything big since Splash Mountain. :?

I'm guessing you haven't seen Annihilation.

Sliders are returning to HHN this year, so I've heard. Also, hate to correct you, but last year was actually the only year that the majority of the houses have been in the soundstages. Before that, there were only two soundstage houses every year, except for HHN12, when there was only one (Scream House). This year, there's 3 in the soundstages and 4 elsewhere. These are the latest grumblings about this year's houses. The names are just rumored, but the locations are pretty much confirmed: Demon Cantina - The Disorientorium building (behind Fear Fall) The Skool - Thunder Falls Terrace (across from JP river adventure, housed Funhouse of Fear two years ago) The Body Collectors - Jurassic Park Discovery Center (housed Psycho Scarepy two years ago) Mines of Terror - Poseidon's Fury (yes, you read that correctly) Blood Ruins - Soundstage 22 (housed Ghost Town last year) Where Evil Hides - Soundstage 18 (They are supposedly building two copies of this house, right next to each other, to handle long lines on weekends. This has caused rumors that this is the "main house".) Blind Terror - Soundstage 20 (housed Wax and Hellgate last year, also the home of Scream House) As for the topic, I've never been to Haunt, but I think I'd really dislike it due to repeat houses. I hate when HHN has sequels, even if the first house was really good.

He was speculating. It's not being refurbed, as far as we know, even though it needs to be more than any other ride I can think of at the moment. It would be rediculous to redo DL's because it's the park's birthday, and leave the original hanging when it's arguably got even more issues. I don't feel safe on that thing anymore.

You mean... it's still in the lake? Hmmmm....

Yes. I think they're really trying to discourage APH's from going on peak nights. The FFP is even $50, which is $10 less than an undiscounted one night ticket. They probably figure that the more they raise the prices for the general public, the more likely they are to buy AP's.

That oil rig fire is evil. I can't look in that direction without feeling like my eyebrows have been burned off. Even when I'm on the other side of the boat! My favorite fire effect is the brain fire on ROTM. Honorable mention goes to Spider-Man's fire blast, because it looks so cool the first time you ride it when you aren't expecting it. While on the topic of USF, here's a little tip: Don't watch Fear Factor at night. That's what I did. The explosion at the end left me partially blinded for like 5 minutes. "Did he say rocket launcher!?"

BG stands for Busch Gardens. It can also stand for Burn Gwazi. Coincidence?

IMO, the Six Flags level of theming doesn't really cut it. Almost all parks these days have some type of theming. I guess there should be a certain level of detail that sets a true theme park and amusement park apart. And there has to be a certain reliance on that theme. Most coasters at Six Flags, for example, really don't rely on those skin-deep themes, or enforce them during the experience, as much as a real theme park would. The sparse theming is there to add to the appearance, rather than actually being a part of an enveloping experience. I still view Six Flags as amusement parks, along with CP.

Not to be confused with The Holy Land Experience.

The site has been updated. This year's theme is "Tales of Terror". It will take place at IOA. Also, they've put up all the ticket prices, including AP and Florida resident discounts. The Frequent Fear Pass costs exactly the same as a one night admission now. Imagine that. Since I have an AP, I even get it for $10 less.

I think these photos actually make IOA look better than it really does at the moment. It's obvious Universal has been paying a lot more attention to USF lately. That park looks the best that it has in years, while IOA suffers.

It was about $30 last year. Will probably be closer to $40 if the price hike takes affect here as well.

Were the cable cars built specifically for tourist use?

With the sheer number of people who go to this event, regardless of the price, they can afford the discounts for locals. As the attendance continues to rise every year, so does the price tag, because they can get away with it. The discounted prices have probably gone up as well. The main reason for the discounts is the fact that locals are the event's targeted audience. I bet you on any given night, at least 60% of the people in the park are locals. Even higher on weekends. I'm not sure if HHN is even advertised (besides the website) outside of FL and GA. Although it has it's share of dedicated repeat tourists at this point... who are screwed. So, they basically are using the logic that these people should pay more than us. Which personally, is fine by me. We live in a city full of things aimed at tourists. I like the fact that Universal gives us our piece of the pie every year.

Heh, it was only like $54 before. Now I'm starting to wonder how much the FFP costs this year.

They either aren't counting Poseidon as an official house, or it isn't getting used.

7? Whaaaaaaaat? There were supposed to be 8 or 9 houses this year. :? It also doesn't specify a park, so maybe the IOA-only rumor was false as well. Hmmph.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/photo/2005-07/18483987.jpg Where's Waldo? I'm still iffy about yet ANOTHER water park. It has to differentiate itself from the others.

Universal-Excitement used to have videos of the entire event, but he's taken his video section down. In my case, it was the complete absence of air conditioning. It was stuffy as all hell in there. And it was also so dark that you wouldn't even notice half the people attempting to jump out at you. That was just an obnoxious experience overall. What made it worse was that it was the first thing I did at HHN last year, because they had the rest of the park blocked off and told everyone to go to Marvel until it opened. I knew Diso was bad before I even went in (employee reviews). Bad first impression. If the rumors about that building being used for "The Cantina" are true, they better put some kind of AC system in that dumb little shed.

Huh?!?! Wax was FAR from being THAT bad! Hell, it was far from even being the worst last year. Diso was terrible. But the honor of worst house ever definitely goes to Fear Factor.

That's never gonna happen. Too much of a liability, and it's capacity would be horrible, especially if they have to ID everyone and have them sign waivers. It would be a nightmare.

There's a hospital here in Orlando that has a small replica of Cinderella Castle in one of it's lobbies that children play in... it's almost the same size as that thing they call a castle in DL.

What else is new? I've never seen it longer than 15 minutes.

I enjoy myself at UO much more than WDW. It just appeals more to me. So Universal it is. One thing though. I disagree with MGM being a better themed environment than USF. Most people can't even name the different areas of MGM - including me. IMO, that park was very poorly planned (and we know why). When it comes to the areas that actually seem to have some kind of theme there, NY is inferior to USF's NY. It's a very sterile, lifeless feeling backlot, unlike NY at USF, which is much more convincing IMO. And I personally prefer the theming of USF's Hollywood, even though MGM's has Tower. The rest of MGM is basically generic studio theming, which certainly fits the studio theme of the park, but it's very bland compared to the different areas of USF. The only studio themed area of USF is Production Central.