Hilltopper39

I spent Saturday at the Universal Orlando Resort and took in HHN21. Here are some of my thoughts on the event. We bought the Scream Early ticket option which allows entry into the Studios at 2pm and allows you to stay in the park after the 5pm closing time while they change over for HHN. This ticket is a great deal, we got 2 rides on Rockit, and one ride on Mummy, Simpsons, MIB, and Jaws before the park closed for the day. After the park closes at 5pm we were allowed to wait inside of the Irish pub restaurant near the Blues Brother stage where we grabbed a sandwich and a few beers. Just after 6:00 they let everyone waiting in the park out to start hitting the houses. Here are my reviews in somewhat of an order from best to worst. The In-Between- Really fun house, not super scary but the 3-D visuals were amazing! A lot of fun, my favorite this year. Winter's Night- Amazing sets and great atmosphere, had a few really good scares as well The Thing- Another solid house with great sets. Some of the costumes in here were fantastic H.R. BloodNGutz Holidays of Horror- We went through this house early in the night while it was still light outside so that ruined some of the scares, but it was kind of fun walking through a house while it was light and you could see all of the detail. I thought this was by far the most creative house of the event and was a lot of fun. Saws N Steam- This house was cool, but just okay. Not a lot of scares, some cool sets and all but nothing to amazing. Nightingales- Another superb house as far as sets, costumes and visual effects go but not a lot scares. Also the group of people in front of us were ridiculous and kind of ruined the house for our group. Nevermore- I liked the sets and costumes in this house but it really didn't have any great scares. The big 2-story room with Poe standing on the balcony was one of the best rooms at the event but the house was just kind meh Forsaken- This was one of the houses that I was most looking forward to but it turned out to probably be the wort at the event. It was a long house but seemed like there wasn't enough actors to keep it interesting. The large 2 story room again like Poe was really impressive and probably the best room at the whole event but the house as a whole again was kinda meh. The last room was a really cool effect but didn't really have an scares. The scare zones this year were pathetic in my opinion, the Grown Evil and 7 zones were the only ones that even halfway resembled a decent scare zone. The dark maze thing was just kinda awkward, people in all black robes just moving around swinging gates and not even attempting to scare people. The Canyon of Souls was just a couple of stilts guys in a narrow walkway with fog. The acid assault zone was too spread out and the whore alley, I mean Your Luck has run out was just okay. Not nearly as much interaction in the scare zones this year compared to years past. The Death Drums show was kind of cool, but they put it in a HORRIBLE location. It was too dark to see the dancers and while the show was going on and it completly congested traffic to a complete stand still in that section while the show was going on. Trying to watch dancers at street level in a standing room only audience is practically impossible if your not in the first couple rows of people. The show seemed cool but could have been executed a little better. The Bill and ted Show was just okay again. Better than last year but not nearly as good as any other year that I have seen. I don't know why they have gotten away from using a real villain from a movie or pop culture as the villain for the show, but this years villain was just kinda weird and not really that funny. The show did have some good jokes but it seemed like the crowd as a whole just wasn't as into it as years past. Did anyone else notice a lot of water used houses this year? It felt like there was a water effect in just about every house. Also it seemed like the streets were really missing the atmosphere that the event has had in the past. Still a great overall event even though this year wasn't their best. Looking forward to Halloscreams in a few weeks.

You have to use protection, especially these days.

I wonder how much of a difference (if any) there is between the mini star flyer and the full sized version. To me it looks like the same seats and restraints are used so you wouldn't think the height requirements are any different. Regardless this looks to be another great addition to a great park.

There were some videos on Screamscape last year, shortly after the opening, that showed some portions of the ride with the lights on.

I'm at 28 people ahead of me right now and it still seems to be updating.

This rant is directed to 2/9th's of the membership at my gym. When working out at the at the gym, do you really need to carry around an entire gallon sized jug of water? Can you really consume and entire gallon of water in your 45min-1.5 hour long workout? Wouldn't a normal sized bottle do the trick just fine or would that not draw enough attention to yourself? Also you shouldn't be allowed to wear shirts without sleeves unless you have arms that are too big to fit in regular sized shirts. Also didn't your mother/kindergarten teacher/boss ever tell you that it is disrespectful to wear a hat inside a building? The gym is no different, it is inside just like a school, or a church, or an office. Would you wear a hat in church? Then don't wear a hat at the gym. Also, tattoo's in America are getting out of control. end rant.

I feel like there are a lot of good jokes available here but I won't make them. Arrow Dynamics built some amazing coasters during his life and that is something to be proud of.

I'm gonna try to post a trip report from my recent visit to the World of Pepsi sometime next week, I fully expect it to immediately become front page material and one of the top 10 threads on TPR within a few hours...

How were the crowds this past weekend? I'm going this Saturday and am hoping for the best, I know it's a Saturday but I'm hoping it will be bearable since it's still fairly early in the season. With the Scream Early ticket adder I'm hoping to get the rides in during the day the though most of the houses when the event opens.

Just bought my ticket, check is in the mail, looking forward to seeing everyone and enjoying this amazing event!

I lived in Kentucky for 24 years and still drove to Holiday World and Kings Island every year, which is part of the reason I was never very optimistic for Kentucky Kingdom reopening. It's a decent park but no where near the level of quality of Holiday World (+/-1 hour away) or the ride selection of Kings Island (+/-1.5 hours away). If that place is going to succeed if they ever do reopen it they are going to have to put in some unique new attractions (dry and wet) and improve the overall level of quality customer service/operations, just my opinion.

Great report, pictures of Octoberfest always make me jealous, I'm trying to plan a trip there next year so hopefully they don't decommission Olympia Looping before then.

Disappointing but really not that surprising, I never had that much faith in the park ever opening again.

Glad to hear that the early reviews are mostly positive and the Bill and Ted doesn't suck this year. Can't wait to see some more pictures ad get down there next weekend for my self.

^Texas?

^ yeah I get all that, Disney's loose article policy always amazes me but that's another conversation. All I'm saying is that I think they could build a better coaster than they have in the past. Something like Cheetah Hunt which is a lot of fun, no seat belts, lower height restriction (as far as I can remember), and is really not that intense or has that much air time I think could could work. Or Dare Devil Dive style coaster without a vertical lift and no inversions. It has no seat belts, a lower height restriction, capacity would be an issue but they could have side by side tracks with some extra blocks and operate a ton of trains like Space Mountain. The Indy coaster in Paris, California Screamin, Everest, RnR are all decent ride systems that are capable of putting together a good coaster but i think all of those coasters are just very average because of the ride layouts. I realize that a Wingrider is probably just wishful thinking at this point and probably has no chance of ever being built but I still think that concept would be perfect regardless of weather Disney would actually do it. I still think Disney could build a great top 20 caliber coaster that still meets the realistic needs of their parks that you listed. Again I'm not talking about a 300ft 100mph extreme looping coaster, but something like Powder keg, or Wooden Warrior, or Thirteen, or Verbolten with a little better layout and a ton of Disney themeing. I think Everest was originally going to be a lot better than it is now but from what I understand some budget cuts significantly changed the layout. I'm interested to see how Grizzly Mountain in Hong Kong turns out because that looks like it might be Disney's best coaster yet.

If you enter her name as the name of one of the guests it automatically builds a McDonald's and a Frog Hopper right next to any Intamin ride that currently exists in your park.

For a park that seemed like a pretty decent place to pick up a bunch of credits all the reports from the NE Trip make me really not want to visit, which is a shame.

I think Phantoms Revenge is easily one of the most underrated coasters in the World, that thing kicks ass but never seems to make any top 10s except maybe mine. Great park and great report!

I'm hoping that with the more "mature" IP comes some more "mature" ride systems with which to execute those new ideas like a B&M wingrider or a extensively themed launch coaster or a Spiderman or Potter style dark ride, or whatever Vekoma is developing. 'Ive never quite understood why Disney has never built what is in my opinion a really good fun thrilling coaster that more or less the whole family can still enjoy. They have always marketed their coasters as these big thrilling rides but Everest, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, are all really fairly tame boring coaster experiences with incredible themeing and story. A coaster doesn't have to be 300ft tall or go 100 mph to be good., I just wish Disney would build a really good coaster ride then add that same level of quality in themeing and story. I don't see why something like Cheetah Hunt, Dare Devil Dive, a B&M Wingrider (which all reviews I've read have said they are fairly tame ride experience)or even something along the lines of a bigger version of Wooden Warrior wouldn't work at a Disney park but hopefully the IP that comes with Avatar will allow them to explore those ride systems as a possible option. Could ya build a decent coaster all ready Disney? I promise I'll buy a season pass.

More or less yes it is just a major attraction. The term E-Ticket originates from the opening of Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom when a actual ticket was required for each attraction. The smallest least popular attractions were A Tickets, then the next sized set of attractions were B tickets so forth and so on up to the biggest attractions at each park being the E-Tickets. Basically just a term for a really big, expensive, signature attraction these days. Everest and Tower of Terror are an E-Ticket attractions, Toy Story Mania and Little Mermaid are probably considered D Tickets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_ticket

I think Avatar could be better as a theme park land/attraction than it ever was as a movie (see Mummy, Men in Black, Jurassic Park)

Star Tours in my opinion is one of the worst attractions at Disney, I think it's a terrible ride experience that if not for being somewhat of a Star Wars fan I would completely avoid every trip (I still do for the most part). I'm hoping this Avatar section is far better than Star Tours. On a side note I never understood why everyone assumes that the Dragon Tower attraction for Animal Kingdom was supposed to be exactly like Dueling Dragons. I know the concepts were very similar, but all of the artwork I've ever seen for Dragon Tower was of a sit down or suspended style coaster, not a dueling inverted. Also I've read about the imagineeers working on the attraction being let go and left to go develop IOA, but I think they went to IOA and built a bigger better version of Dragon Tower using the Inverted B&M ride system that Disney wouldn't use. Disney has never built a B&M ride and I was under the impression that there was a very specific reason why they haven't, and because of this I don't think the Dragon Tower was never designed as a B&M inert. (If I'm wrong, sorry). But back on track here the fact that this is being announced as a whole land and not a single attraction already makes me think this will be much better and more elaborate, than Star Tours ever could be. I know I just said that Disney has never built a B&M, but I sure hope that they can find a way to make a wingrider work., or I hope Vekoma has one in development as we speak!

Maybe they can reuse the train tracks to somehow incorporate some type of transportation system to "take" you to Pandora, similar to the movie. The area around Rafiki's Planet watch is fairly isolated so I could see this working.

It could be awesome at night, but Animal Kingdom is barley open past dusk most evenings, maybe that will change. I know there was some kind of night time light parade in the works, maybe this section will give them an excuse to keep the park open later every night. I agree that it doesn't desperately need something, but I still think it could use another major ride, and like my post above says if they are ever going to stay open past 5pm it really needs something. Animal Kingdom is never a full day park for me, usually it's a ride Everest, Safaris, Dinosaur, see the Lion King first thing in the morning then leave and go to Epcot park for me. This might change that.