CaptainUnknown

So yesterday was my night to visit HHN through school. We planned to leave by 4, so naturally we left at 4:20. Seeing the event opened at 6:30, I was thinking we had plenty of time, even on I-4. HAHAHA. Didn't step foot in the park until 7:30. By this time, the sun had pretty much set. Sweet screams are made of this. Who am I to disagree? My primary goal for the evening was to wander around the scare zones and get as many pictures of/with the actors as possible to go along with a ride or two on Mummy and Gringotts. But my phone's camera is absolute crap and worse in selfie mode. With plan A bent over a table, I rushed through Altars of Horror and Purge to get to Mummy. I paused long enough to catch the bus killing show before seeing Mummy had a 5 minute wait. Thinking this was too good to be true, but also wanting to check out the queue again, I ignored the single rider line and found what indeed was a 5 minute wait. Mummy was definitely better than my ride on it last year and the near walk-on certainly helped kick my night off right. After Mummy, I walked through what was possibly my most anticipated scare zone: Invasion. I thought it was gloriously cheesy and the makeup was stellar. I just wish the area wasn't so bottlenecked as I got stuck around this area a lot throughout the night. Let's get out of here before one of those things kills Guy! Heading into Diagon Alley, I headed straight for Gringotts which was posting a 15 minute wait. Since the single-rider line here was open, I headed that way and bypassed what looked like a longer queue than what was posted. Universal goggles on over my glasses, I boarded the train. Throughout the early part of the ride, there's a waterfall on the screens. Knowing Universal's tendency with water effects I kept thinking don't you do it! Don't you do it! Don't you...Damn it. With the demise of DD next door, I went into Gringotts thinking that its replacement will be similar. When I went through Purge later on in the night, I kept wishing I'd actually get Purged than think about Dragon Challenge's replacement. By the time I got off Gringotts, it was almost time for the next Bill and Ted show. I missed the show last year since I read the times guide wrong, so I had to catch a showing before it closed the next night. It was a funny show and some of the Disney jabs were absolutely hilarious. But overall, it felt like "This is what people are upset about leaving?" I got caught in the crowd leaving the show and turned left to head to Trick 'r Treat. Only to find that that pathway was closed off. Now having to backtrack through crowd and over to Simpsons with the crowd at a standstill, I needed to take my anger out on something. Fortunately Men in Black was showing a short wait, so I hopped into the single-rider line and had my best score on the ride surely out of pure luck. The clown with a "broken chainsaw" en route also helped lift my spirits. I say "broken" because as he was asking people for money to fix it, he cranked it and at least three people fell over. Continuing on through chainsaw clownville, I saw and heard some of the best scares of the night. In hindsight, I should have spent more time here. Trick 'r Treat was packed. It was in this pass through the zone that I got my only true scares of the night. Because the actors blended in too well with the crowd. Good job guys! Happy Halloween Sam! By this time, it was almost time for an Academy of Villains show, so I thought I'd kill time by walking through Festival of the Deadliest. Only to find it absolutely devoid of all actors. Thinking it was the middle of a cast change, I shrugged and decided to circle around through Altars of Horror--only to find it also empty. Fortunately, Festival was repopulated by the time I finished my circle. Crisis averted, but finding two scare zones devoid of actors felt weird to me. Cause I was under the impression that during cast changes, both casts were out at the same (if brief) time. Ah well, time for AoV! I thought AoV was a better show than Bill and Ted and I wouldn't be apposed if they got the Fear Factor stage next year. Especially so they don't have to worry about hurricanes. Though the show got short-sticked by Irma, they didn't let it stop them from putting on an amazing show. Apparently this Academy of Villains member wants to join the Dark Side. My first loop of the park completed with showings of both main shows, it was time to walk around again. Mummy was up to a posted 45 minute wait with no single-rider line, Gringotts was closed, and Invasion was empty enough to walk around in. I spent the remainder of my night just wandering around the scare zones hoping to get scared. But I was barely targeted. Seeing as my night was coming to an end, I went back into Diagon Alley to get some hot Butterbeer for the way out. BTW: is it usually $8 or is the price jacked up for HHN? I also stopped by the Mummy shop to pick up a hat to add to my collection, along with the gift shop at the park entrance to pick up a Slytherin hat and Chocolate Frog (with Rowena Ravenclaw card). As I was making my way to the restrooms before leaving, I heard the distinctive roar of a chainsaw. It seemed to early for chainsaw chase-out and I saw no diesel-powered flesh shredder. I shrugged and left the park to head back to campus. Scare Zone Rankings: 1: Trick 'r Treat--The only time I got scared 1a: Chainsaw Clownville--The best witnessed scares 2: Invasion--Great visuals, poor placement 3: Purge--An idea that works better on film than a scare zone 4: Festival of the Deadliest--Didn't really know what to make of it. 5: Altars of Horror--Felt tacked on, as if they needed a last minute idea and this was it.

I'm curious if Incredicoaster will have all new trains or just repainted and refurbished old vehicles.

Sorry about that. Most American chocolate has added preservatives to increase shelf life--thereby increasing profits by decreasing amount of product thrown away. So now I know what that preservative tastes like to those outside the US.

That gate was added after the Imax theater demolition/addition of the breakers slides. In addition to what ^ said, since that gate was never meant to be there, it's used more as associate entrance/exit and as an emergency exit. Whether or not it will remain this way with all the talk of expansion remains to be seen.

As someone who has worked with the CF metal detectors, it's very hit or miss. There was one guy that came in early in the day, his belt set it off, he left the park, and when he came back in later, silence from the detector. Other times, the detectors have reacted to absolutely nothing at all. So yeah, the metal detectors are more placebolic CYA than anything.

In general, how does the Zamperla Volare compare to the Vekoma Stingray or Flying Dutchmen?

I'm surprised this thread doesn't make the front page more often. Or even a mention on TPR's twitter. BTW: have you ever done stand-up?

Delivery

^While that is strangely and oddly hypnotic, methinks you are a few eggs short of an omelette.

I was half expecting Rick Astley to show up. It'll be interesting to see how many views this gets.

A fly landed on my shoe, so I told it "Shoe fly, don't bother me."

Right click

What I am most interested in is how you figured out the square footage of the coasters. Is this from a source you got somewhere on the internet, or is this something you've been able to figure out on your own? I got closer to 15,000 square feet.

Your bumper car story reminds me of one night when I was working Valleyfair's bumper cars. It was the last ride of the night and the only two people were this older couple in their 80s. He just spent the whole ride chasing her around and ramming her when she got trapped in the sea of unoccupied cars. I can totally see that being you and Brit in a few years. Oh, and Cosmotron DJ probs has a sh!t-eating grin on his face.

^Canobie Lake Park still has their Turkish Twist for now...

I enjoyed my few rides on it back in 2014 (but not when I hit up Bamboozler, Finnish Fling, and Zulu in a row). I'm upset that another Rotor is gone. But at least we know now where Nordic Chaser is going. The park is also auctioning off the last rides for charity. There is also this t-shirt Photo taken from WOF social media

As someone who's spent the last three summers operating an S&S Tower, I don't know what I find more disturbing: that there are panels covering up the interior mechanisms of the tower, or that it is without the air rush sound that's etched itself into my brain.

It was also a Friday the 13th. What better time to visit a haunted attraction?

Another one bites the dust. RIP Logger's Run 1976-October 29, 2018.

GhostRider has two periods of downtime coming up. It's so unreliable now and needs an unbelievable amount of maintenance. I can't wait until they remove it. And don't even get me started on that disappointing waste of space Timberline Twister. /sarcasm

It wouldn't surprise me if part of that reason dealt with parents ignoring the warnings to leave the kids at home, and when they got to the park, they complained that the kids areas were closed, the kids could ride nothing, and were getting traumatized by all the scareactors.

After your review of Hurakan Condor, I can't wait to hear what you think of Falcon's Fury next month.

It's awesome Trip Reports like this that piss me off that I live 20 minutes south of BGT without a car.

Do you know if the girl from the Devil's Wheel video has seen it yet?