azza29

For what it's worth, I rode Lightning Rod about a dozen times in the past couple of days, and nothing about it seemed slow or forceless. Still hauling ass from the main drop right through to the brake run.

^Thanks for the heads up.

I have a similar scenario, planning to Uber from O'Hare to the park and back. So getting out there is no problem, but is anyone able to comment on whether it's a reasonable option to get back again? Am I likely to have trouble getting an Uber pickup around park closing time (10pm)?

B&M wing coaster? Go Toverland! Totally agree. And given that wing coasters generally aren't too wild, they can be a great "first big coaster" that maybe looks intimidating but don't cause anyone to freak out.

Couldn't agree more, Chuck. Every trip I've done with Robb and Elissa has been awesome, but I guess some people just prefer to find things to whine about rather than enjoy themselves.

^I would say it's about half as busy compared to the same time last year.

^They have a fast track option, I think it's around the $30 mark for a "once per ride" option and a bit more again for unlimited. It covers most rides but not Arkham Asylum. I've never used it myself but all of the fast track entrances go straight into the station, there's no "merge point" in the queues. All that said, you probably won't need it. Due to the Dreamworld incident attendance is very much down at the moment - on Saturday everything was a walk on.

Always great to see a new park announced, but I am starting to wonder if the UAE is going to become the "land of the half-day park". It seems like there is a lot opening and planned but most of these parks seem light on attractions, particularly re-rideable ones. Even Ferrari World is only a 4-6 hour proposition, and that's with the new dark ride and coaster.

(post moved to other thread)

1, Expedition GeForce . . . . . . . the rest

It's not been open long. I think they have the same "build it and worry about attendance later" mentality that goes with a lot of these UAE developments.

Second gate announced as IMG Worlds of Legends, pretty big expansion by the looks of it: Source: gulfbusiness.com/dubais-img-unveils-plans-second-theme-park/ Concept art Based on this it looks like the new park will be three times as large as what's there presently, and include a hotel.

The park will reopen (sort of) on Saturday, December 10th. Some rides will remain closed a little longer pending further "safety reviews". Source: www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20161130/pdf/43dbnnh79xgcvk.pdf

Given its popularity in the other parks, I'm surprised they haven't announced a Midway Mania clone as part of this expansion. Seems strange that the two parks with dedicated Toy Story lands miss out on this ride, and have a collection of mediocre flats instead.

Ocean Park Halloween Fest Of all the haunt events I've tried in the last few weeks, Ocean Park had by far the most variety on offer. At one end you have the family-friendly trick-or-treat maze and Ghostbusters "shooting dark walkthrough." At the other is 16+, which was basically themed to a sex dungeon. So, something for everyone! Ocean Park's Halloween event is included in regular park admission, and it's incredibly popular. During the day it wasn't too crowded but the park was heaving once it got dark, with two-hour plus waits the norm for most of the mazes. Only having the one night there, we'd purchased the front-of-line ticket, and it was well worth it! The general quality of the mazes was pretty good, with plenty of entertainment around the park to add to the party. It's a ten minute cable car ride from the front of the park to the top. Ocean Park is massive, and one of the most picturesque parks anywhere! Let's start with Sugary Spook Village, one of the more kid-friendly attractions. Set in one of the gardeny parts of the park, it's a walkthrough where you are rewarded with snacks and stickers. Hooray! It's quite a hike to get your free sugar hit. Most of the mazes were original concepts, aside from the Ghostbusters area. The Ghostbusters Academy was essentially a shooting darkride, except without the ride part. You had two minutes to shoot as many ghosts as possible. The best part of this was the preshow rooms, which featured a lot of props and fan service from the films. They were even pushing Ghostbusters in the restaurant. This is eight dollars of "themed drink". Legendary Palace is an interesting one - it changed from a family-type maze in the day, to something more sinister at night. The premise was a castle filled with spooky stuff, the main difference at night being less lighting and more scare actors. I remember there being a lot of obstacles in this one, notably an extended "crouching under" section. The daytime version of this featured augmented reality using a smartphone app - you downloaded the app, and when you found these symbols in the maze, you'd see animations on your phone. A little gimmicky for my taste but the punters seemed to enjoy it. Project Deathway (get it?) is the headline show. We decided to catch an early performance. VIP pass had us in some great seats! Then the fire alarm was pulled and the show was cancelled. Crap. So there are two ways to get from the front of Ocean Park to the top. A funicular through the mountain, or the cable car. If the funicular breaks, it's a Saturday during Halloween, and most of your mazes are up the top, the cable car gets some pretty insane waits. Another tick for the VIP pass! Club Blood was the first proper haunt of the night, a nightclub with a vampire problem. Very gory, but apart from a few interesting projection effects this one was definitely middle-of-the-road. Stay Puft = great photo op! Ghostbusters Live! sounds like it would be a show. It is, in fact, a haunt maze. It was clear that a lot of money had been spent on this one, which was mostly a retelling of this year's Ghostbusters film. It was more funny than scary, but I liked it. On the whole Ocean Park's haunt didn't take itself too seriously, which was quite appealing. Cheesy but fun! Ocean Park is huge! Some of the mazes were about a twenty minute (themed) walk from each other. I believe Mortuary Lane was supposed to be a scare zone There weren't any scare actors here, so it was mostly just fog and things to trip over in the fog. School of Shadows was your typical "school gone wrong" maze. It was decent, though not particularly memorable. The next maze, however, was very, very memorable. It was quite popular, fortunately there were some roving, uh, "characters" to keep us amused. You won't see this at Disney! In 16+ the first thing you do is put on a mask and enter what is essentially a sex dungeon. From there it just kept getting weirder and featured every S&M trope known to man. I certainly can't see this kind of haunt ever appearing in the US or Australia (and certainly not in Singapore!), but it was definitely fun! A fire performer kept the waiting masses entertained. More fire! At the end of the night we headed back to Project Deathway. It was all in Cantonese, from what I could tell the plot was something to do with the fashion king (dude in the middle) and his two assistants putting on a show. There were a lot of big production numbers in this, I can't speak to how it measures up on the fashion front but the rest was generally excellent. Oh my. So lots of dancing... Some silks... The bendy poles from Mad Max... Ending with fireworks and a trapeze artist! Ocean Park's Halloween Fest is definitely one of the more unique offerings out there, we had a great time!