coasterlvr

Theme Park Review was invited to a special sneak preview to Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights new maze, Stranger Things. John Murdy, Creative Director and Producer of HHN, walked us through the entire Stranger Things maze and explained the thought that went into all of the design.  Stranger Things follows Season 1. The maze starts with Will being abducted by the Demogorgon. Then follows season 1 through a number of rooms. Will’s Room, Will’s Backyard, Castle Byers, The Upside Down, Hawkins National Laboratory, The Void, Hawkins Middle School, HMS Science Room. The Demogorgon will be throughout the maze for obvious reasons. All the audio clips are taken directly from Stranger Things. John Murdy spent hours watching and listening to each episode taking notes, then requested all the audio clips from Netflix. The detail in every room, even in an unfinished state, is amazing. The maze, is also in Stage 29 on the backlot, which is a working sound stage. Most recently used for Family Feud. Being in a sound stage gives them a little more freedom. Including a much higher ceiling if needed. I believe some areas of the maze are as high as 30 feet. So not having to distort an area that might have had to in another area. Also, being Universal, there will be some pretty cool effects used throughout. I think fans of Stranger Things will undoubtedly be impressed with the rooms within the maze, if you’re able to focus at all on anything before being frightened throughout. A big thank you to John Murdy, and Heather from NBCUniversal for allowing us behind the scenes! Here are a few photos of a couple of the areas that were mostly finished. John and John John Murdy showing his excitement to take a bunch a nerds through the Stranger Things maze! lol

I feel like this won't do anything to help the problem. It would be one thing if they have to wait to dispatch the train on every cycle, but when I'm there I find that they consistently dispatch with the second train either stacked or at the slow moving part of the brake run. Something that I think would help is to reprogram the final brake run so that it doesn't add around 15-20 seconds to the cycle time when it is running one train. yeah, maybe the fastest i've ever seen them dispatch was when the other train hit the brake run, maybe. but most often, like you said, on that slow af return brake run. so, hopefully, this isn't to actually use it as a trim. the ride is still really smooth, unlike most GCI's after a few years. but maybe it is doing more damage to the track than anticipated.

was looking through some old photos and found a bunch of Desperado. back when it was smooth. or, at least i thought it was. looking back over 20 years, was i just able to take it, or was it smooth? anyway, here's some pics, probably from the first or second year of operation. the second hotel tower wasn't built yet at Buffalo Bills. oh, i also came across a few onride photos as well. too funny, i used to take an SLR camera on ride and no one cared. how times have changed, and for good reason.

hahaha, that was an awesome google search.

damn, i didn't even notice. it's been so nice the past week.

wake up earlier.

you would hope. really, i wouldn't mind if the statement said, at your own risk, and if you lose something, too bad, we're not going to bother looking for it.

i was just at magic mountain the other day and finally sat in a train with one of those. (they're randomly here and there on twisted colossus) i know i'm not putting my phone in there since magic mountain never cleans their trains at all. the pouch was just nasty looking inside. i'm sure if cedar fair ever did something like that, it would be done a better and maintained. then i'm sure people would try to hold them liable if something went wrong.

i thought the new train design, or the lap bar, was much softer or shaped different than the original design. Steel Vengeance and Twisted Timbers didn't bother me at all. But, Twisted Cyclone was hurting me, in a good way, much more. but overall, it just has to do with a number of factors how much pain, or not your get while riding. i sure don't know what it is though. lol

pretty sure you're only locked in for the first year. at least with the old membership which i have, the price has increased a bit. i did start out around $5.25 i think and it's not $6.10. this is the third year going on four or something like that for me.

i have the old regular gold membership, but i always buy the full years dining pass and they add it on to my membership. unless they changed something, you can do that. i'll find out in a few days when i go to redeem it. but it's been fine for two years now.

i grabbed those bars once going up the lift hill trying to adjust myself in the seat and ended up stapling myself. last time i touched those handles. lol also, at least on the new trains, they end up being close to the person next to you, so there's really not a lot of room if both of you are holding on.

Did you know in order to take advantage of the preferred parking you must make a reservation by 5am the day of your visit? I didnt. Well, until I had already bought it. Would it have made a difference? Probably not but would have been nice to know before hand. I live 10 minutes away and I dont really ever make plans to go, most of the time it's a spontaneous decision....maybe it's even been covered in this thread somewhere, idk that's pretty lame. i also thought i read somewhere if you make a reservation, and don't show up, you lose something, or you get a mark against you. i'll have to see if i can find what i read. anyway, my $6.10 a month is fine with me for now. damn inflation, it was like $5 when i started.

even has brakes on the drop at the end like yolo!

can't get a refund for the extra ticket? as long as everything works out as they have planned, Ghostrider should be open on the 21st.

might be hard to say since it's only been, or not even a year, since they introduced all the new memberships. so, the prices could be different for 2019. i don't go enough, so i'm still on the old gold membership and i pay $6 a month. i think there are some people paying less. I think when i first signed up, it was $5.25. anyway, i just purchased the picture pass and dining plan for 2019.

I guess I didn't stick around late enough last night, but, it looks like they took a construction tour. I dunno what they looked at but dirt, but here's some construction photos from earlier in the day... paint on the ground dirt and flags more dirt and flags

SFMM media event for West Coast Racers! Last week Robb asked if I'd like to cover this event. Figured sure, why not, should be fun. First off, it was interesting that they were having an event. What, we usually just sit in front of the computer until they release the video right? Anyway, I was in the park today and saw them setting up a good amount of stuff, stage, seating, monitors. What is going on here. I was kind of expecting we might be in a room, with a monitor and a microphone. haha When Robb posted that West Coast Customs was involved, that was a real WTF moment for me. See, I'm a 30 plus year veteran in the car audio world, so cars have always been a part of my life. I've had a few friends work there in the past as well. Usually, I see Ryan and West Coast Customs at trade shows in Las Vegas. It was really weird to see them here, but the elaborate club type atmosphere for the event started making sense. Walking up to the Metro Park Pub it was cool to see a couple custom cars there on display. Not your usual thing to see in the park. The announcement started with Ryan of West Coast Customs driving up in a classic Lincoln Continental. Couldn't really see since he pulled up behind the stage but they put the car on display later. Anyway, on to some pics! some of the food items. they also had some sliders. 4 t-shirts were available to purchase at the event. Ryan and SFMM park President Neal Thurman SFMM handed out this nice poster as we were leaving. I actually didn't eat anything at the event so stopped by one of my favorites, The Hat, on the way home for a pastrami sandwich! BTW, I'm very excited for this ride. Looks like a ton of fun!

one of my favorites was the star trek experience. i loved the transporter part. really great theming throughout.

don't forget the boat ride around the perimeter of the casino. lol

Desperado was smooth when it was new. the drop tower wasn't built until later. i liked how they took your picture at the very top. also, the light guns weren't part of opening on the flume if i remember correctly. because although i know they had the guns, i've actually never rode it with them, but have ridden the flume a lot.

poor Buffalo Bill's. I used to take the casino bus there a lot with a bunch of seniors. it was a day turn around bus. cost 10 bucks and got a free buffet from Buffalo Bill's. I'd get a day pass and ride all the rides all day. lol the train was cool, and i'd ride sometimes, but i had really no need to go to the other casinos.

i stopped in to knott's to get at least one ghostrider ride in before it goes down for maintenance. it's actually been a while since i've ridden since the line is always long and i have no patience being that i live near by. happy to report that the Brazilian hard wood must be doing it's job. i really can't say it feels any different than when the ride was retracked. the park was a bit more crowded than i thought it would be. maybe because of it being monday. still one train waits for hangtime and xcelerator. ghostrider was a few trains. looking forward to west coast bash! some knott's wildlife near pan for gold...

+1 Backlot Stunt Coaster is seriously one of my favorite rides at KI!! I would GLADLY welcome the addition to SFMM!! Backlot Stunt Coaster is a better ride than a huge portion of coasters at SFMM.

yeah, people here suck at parks.