Someotherguyuser

I'm liking this year's line-up. Very glad that for the theme they're returning (La Llorona), they're changing it up a bit so it won't be the exact same maze as last year. Getting really excited for this year now.

From what I can infer from what Raffi has been saying during WCB's Q&A session, I doubt that PP's location will be "just another coaster" like all of the Cedar Fair parks have been doing; when I say "just another coaster", I'm talking about putting a Giga in that spot to eat up the entire park or an off-the-shelf compact Vekoma. I think the new management realizes that Knott's shouldn't be just another amusement park like Valleyfair or even Cedar Point, but focus more on the roots of their rich history and nostalgia. You can see that just by seeing how Haunt is shaping up for their 40th anniversary and how they are amping up the "streetmosphere". With that said, I don't think the location will be used for a dark ride. I think they would rather save one for the KoD building and, if they want to build another one, where Screamin' Swing is. They're also not going to waste it on several flats since "new attraction" is singular. What I personally think is going there will be some sort of semi-compact family roller coaster that would be highly themed and that everyone would enjoy. I'm thinking more along the lines of either a Soap Box Derby Racers 2.0 or an indoor coaster of some sort.

I could see them go for a 2014 date. I doubt they want add something new when Universal opens their new Wizzarding World and Disneyland opens a new E-Ticket.

Wishful thinking here: Soapbox Racers 2.0. Only thing going against this would be that the GP would call this a copycat of Radiator Springs Racers. I don't think it's a new roller coaster since Raffi has wanting the park to revolve more around theme now. I'm going to guess a new dark ride or maybe even some indoor roller coaster.

It'll be even more agonizing waiting in line for the house at the event.

Just got back from Disneyland and DCA yesterday. I got there around eleven and bought a park hopper just so I could get on RSR while spending the rest of the day at DL. I decided to wait until next week when I go to DCA with my family to ride everything else there. Cars Land was amazing. It has exceeded all of my expectations and loved all of the little details put into this land. RSR was a really great ride. Rode it once during the day and a second time at night (Best time to ride it). I loved the massive feel of the show scenes, but loved the animatronics shown in the ride even moreso. Definitely some of the best Disney has done. The line for the ride was two hours, but single rider was forty-five minutes. I spent pretty much the entire day at Disneyland. I hit all of the E-Tickets in addition to Mr. Toad and Buzz. The crowds at Disney were pretty moderate. There were about thirty minute to hour waits on all of the rides. Finally, after riding Indy three times, I'm just going to say that it needs a refurb really badly. I hope they have a major one planned for it soon because the ride looks like it's in bad shape. The rat room wasn't working, one of the skeletons was turned off, and the boulder room wasn't functioning the way it should have.

When Despicable Me was first announced, I thought it would just be just another overlay for Neutron. While it was an overlay nonetheless, I'm surprised at how much they've changed it up. Also that screen....wow, it's huge! Well done Universal. Looks like a very nice ride.

Just told one of my friends that I'm going to visit California Adventure in a week or two to see Carsland. He asked me what DCA was and then asked if Carsland was a roller coaster. I talked to another friend about going to Universal and he replied by saying, "CityWalk?" Me: No, Universal Studios. The theme park. Him: Wait, Universal has rides? I never knew that... Clearly my friends know nothing about the parks.

The ride looks amazing! Dare I say that it's so good that BTMR at either DL or MK should be flattened to make way for this?

I've gotten word that Indy will be closing at DL around early to mid-August for the major refurb that will last until Spring. I used the word "the" because it should be the one we've all been waiting for.

To be honest, I'm not really thrilled with the idea of a Marvel theme. Imagineering will only be creatively exclusive to build Marvel attractions. They should have the theme of the third gate be a tad more broad so they can also fit in any original concept or other property attraction as they please.

Believe me, I would LOVE a Tron ride, but an Avengers ride will most likely win out....which I would still love.

Knott's has announced a new V.I.P. maze called "Trapped". It sounds like it will be similar in nature to Busch Garden's "Alone". From what I've heard, it should be located in the laser tag arena below Kingdom of the Dinosaurs (KoD) So here's the official line-up for Haunt 2012: -Slaughterhouse -Trick-Or-Treat -Endgames -Dominion of the Dead -Delirium -Fallout Shelter -Virus Z -Uncle Bobo's Big Top of the Bizarre -Trapped -Dia de los Muertos -Terror of London -Pinnochio Unstrung This year is lookin' great.

It all depends on the crowd levels. There's supposed to be the Phantom of the Opera, Nosferatu, the Mummy, Chucky, Mother from Psycho, the Wolfman, Igor, Frankenstein, and the butcher. Sounds like you went in there when several monsters were on their breaks. I go to USH quite often, and rarely have I seen the full cast. There has always been at least one or two actors missing. As amazing it would be for Orlando to put in a year-round haunt, I'm leaning more towards Transformers replacing the SS.

Here's the official list so far for Knott's Haunt: Returning: -Slaughterhouse -Endgames (New location) -Delirium (With new "Pillar of Souls" room) -Virus Z -Fallout Shelter -Uncle Bobo's -Dia de los Muertos -Terror of London New mazes: -Dominion of the Dead (Replacing Lockdown) -TBA (Replacing Doll Factory; rumored to be an interactive maze) I'm going to guess that CornStalkers will be the next one on the chopping block. Knott's is supposed to be having twelve mazes this year, so maybe there will be an extra one other than that of what might or might not replace CornStalkers. We'll have to see.

Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem has soft-opened last weekend. Here is a video of the preshow, the queue, and the exit. No video of the ride though. Has anybody on here ridden this yet? If so, what did you think of it?

I'm actually more of a dark ride person than I am of coasters. I love the the speed and thrill that coasters provide, but I enjoy being immersed in a themed environment even more. If you are able to put those two together, like on the Mummy for example, then that's a huge plus for me! While I love the high-end dark rides like Spidey, Radiator Springs Racers, Indy, Transformers, and Potter, I also have a love for the really old-school dark rides. I love the cheap scare tricks they have and the "unknown" feeling you get when your vehicle goes through those doors.

Knot's said that they would release all of their info for Haunt's 40th this year if they reached 10,040 likes. They are now well over that so it's only a matter of time now before they release the info.

Some wild idea, but what if they also keep the Curious George play area and just Potter-ize it? Now that will for sure fix the lack of kid's attractions problem right there.

Shrek and Curious George are one of the only few attractions USH have intended for kids. No way will they give up their child demographic just because we ourselves are too old to play. Like I said earlier in my post, why spend the more money demolishing existing popular attractions when you can add on and expand the park itself. They have space. If this rumor about Despicable Me replacing T2 is true, then that attraction will make up for the loss of Shrek. Shrek Bore-D just isn't very popular anymore. To demo Shrek and replace T2, a very expensive show to run that's also not a big draw anymore, would kill two birds with one stone. Because of this, I see this being the most-likely scenario. Also, if they put Flight of the Hippogriff in Wizzarding World, then they will have more kid's attractions.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm not professional photographer by any means so I'm glad my amateur "Just shoot" style wasn't too much of an issue here. And yes, I had a great time. The on Manta really made it fun.

Manta at SWSD. REALLY amazing coaster for such a limited height.

Get rid of Shrek and the Gibson. In addition to Curious George, that should open up enough space for FJ and Hogwarts. I think Uni would like to avoid having to move stuff around as much as possible which is why I don't think it is going to go where the current tram loading is..

Since I just got out of school (Until my Summer class on Monday) and I had Thursday of May 30th off of work, I decided to take the opportunity to drive down to San Diego to ride Manta at SWSD with just me. Since San Diego was over a two-hour drive from where I lived, this was my first real road trip that I took on my own. After getting a few of my CDs together and stopping by McDonald's for breakfast, I fueled up and headed down to SD. *DISCLAIMER: I have taken all of these photos with my iPod, so you'll have to excuse the sub-par quality from the photos. On the open road to SD. Before I went to Sea World, I stopped by and saw someone I know. I had McDonalds for lunch with him (Won't be long before I'm a fatty) This is the Saw trap costume he made for ComicCon last year. Well, enough of the nonsense. It was time to get to SeaWorld and ride the ray. I arrived at the park around 11:45 or noonish. When I saw a lot of cars in the parking lot, I grew concerned hat the park would be crowded and that there would be a long line for Manta. Turned out that for a Thursday, the lines were pretty sort. Hello SeaWorld. The reward for my long drive to San Diego. For some reason, the splash effect was turned off here. I LOVE the theming in the queue line. More queue theming. So I finally had the privilege of riding Manta. When the ride was first announced, my expectations were low. After seeing progress on the ride, however, my hopes began to build for this ride. Once I finally rode the experience, ALL of my expectations were exceeded. For a family coaster, it's pretty wild with all of the "ejector" airtime and wild twists and turns. Even though the ride tops off at around 40 or 42mph, it still feels like it's MUCH faster than it actually is with the tight turns. Overall, Manta is an amazing addition to Sea World and is definitely the surprise hit of the Summer. Manta is so good, I would even put it in my "Top 5" coasters list in SoCal among Xcellerator at Knott's and X2, Tatsu, and Goliath at SFMM. It's really that good. I don't care how far away you live from SW, but make an effort to drive down to SW to ride this thing. Got to ride the coaster five times and every ride was totally great! It was totally worth it for me and will be worth it for a lot of you for sure. So go ride Manta...now. Anyway, moving on... After the ride, I decided to check out the "chicken" entrance aquarium. It's REALLY nice! Manta ray above my head. Decided to ride Journey to Atlantis two times. Fun ride, but it always bothered me how they never put any sort of dark ride scenes in there. Disregarding that, it's still a unique ride for SoCal and still fun. I love the theming in the ride. (Why I never took any pictures in front of Atlantis is BEYOND me. I could've sworn I took a couple of shots but...oh well.) Inside the Atlantis aquarium Went on Wild Arctic. Just look at the atrocious line! It's more popular than Manta! *Laughs at how incredibly dated this ride is* I think it's time for a replacement. How about a new dark ride? Inside the ride we go. During the ride, right before the snow canyon scene, I yelled out, "Lightspeed to Endor!" Only one person got it and laughed. Despite the outdatedness of the ride, I love the theming in the exit. This looks like something out of John Carpenter's the Thing. In fact, When I was looking at this, I started listening to the main title music from that movie. Sea World put on a wonderful tuxedo party that i wasn't invited to. Turtle Reef! Haven't seen this yet since my last visit to Sea World was 2008...before Transformers was even announced! Really great flat ride! Nerd shot. Next up: Bayside Skyride Great view of Mission Bay View of the park. More Manta goodness Yes, I have no shame. I really did go see this. Wish they would've kept Haunted Lighthouse. Warning sign fail. It's Sesame Street and children will be scared? SO WHAT'S THE POINT!?!?!!? After that show and another ride on Manta, I decided to hit the Sky Tower. Main star of this update: Manta San Diego is such a beautiful place! Time to swim with the sharks! After that, I decided to leave the park to go to Belmont. I just couldn't leave without having a cup o' joe and a Shamu cookie. Goodbye SeaWorld... Hello Belmont. Took a ride on the giant Dipper twice as well as Control Freak and Beach Blaster. I only have two words to describe Giant Dipper: Pain and Pleasure...okay that's three words. Took a walk on the beach before the rides. Serious pose. In ten years from now, that list of regulations will be twice as long. You watch. Beethoven? Shots of the mini Big Dipper museum. Played some laser tag. "Whatever you do...DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS!!!" Belmont at night. Had some really good pizza right across the street from the park. After a big day at Sea World and some good pizza it was time for me to head back. Definitely a day off VERY well spent. The trek home was part of the fun for my trip as I drove through the rest of SD and past Disneyland with my Faith No More and Aerosmith blasting. Got home around midnight. Felt it at work the next day, but oh so worth it. That concludes my Trip Report. Please gather all of your personal belongings and exit to your right.

I drove down to SWSD to ride Manta yesterday, and the ride was AMAZING. Blew away expectations. That ride alone was worth the two-hour drive. It was an especially fun adventure considering that it was the first real "trip" I have gone on by myself despite the fact that it was only a day. Also spent time at Belmount after SW closed. BTW, I have a trip report of my trip I want to share with some photos. Do you guys (mods) prefer I put it here or maker it's own thread for it?