Arthur_Seaton

This just goes to show how everybody experiences roller coasters differently, because I very much disagree with this statement. If I relax on X2, it throws me around like a ragdoll and the ride is much rougher. It is much more tolerable, for me, when I brace for everything, especially the final raven turn. But like I said, that’s just me. You gotta do what works for you. I find that tensing up and attempting to mitigate some of the more violent flips is the best approach too. Right before the last raven turn, I lean way forward out of the restraint so that my head's as far away from the headrest as possible. This method's still hit or miss though. The last time I rode it, it was a good ride (meaning it was jerky and rough, but not overly painful). I rode it once earlier in the year though and I felt something crack in my neck and was in pretty severe pain for the rest of the day. It's a great concept, but it's always been a brutally violent ride, largely due to how much the seats bounce on their axle.

Just visited Dark Harbor for the first time tonight. The mazes were great, but largely as the result of the setting itself rather than any design or decor. Heading down into the belly of the ship is very creepy, and mazes like Intrepid rely primarily on what appears to be pre-built structures. There was some nice detail, but it was closer to Six Flags's haunt than Knotts'.

Went to Scary Farm last night to complete the trio of SoCal’s major park haunts. Scary Farm was the clear winner of the year, trailed by a slightly underwhelming Universal Horror Nights and, of course, Fright Fest. The park was pretty packed, but the crowds were scattered and unpredictable beyond a couple of key draws. Upon rope drop, we legged it to Ghost Rider and were rewarded with a 20-minute wait (about five trains) that, in the 20 minutes it took us to board, transformed into 2 hours. Other commenters have noted that Ghost Rider has broken in more now, but we felt it to be largely the same as when the newly-tracked version first opened. It’ll never be anything other than a fantastic coaster (even when it was rough as hell, it was mostly worth a ride, and it’s still running both fast and smooth today). Unfortunately, that was our only ride of the night (aside from the log ride) as the major rides were seeing significant waits all night long. We did catch the Elvira show — which was largely entertaining. I’m allergic to musical theatre, but Elvira is such a national treasure that it was important to see her one last time. The show ended with a standing ovation from a jam-packed theatre, but it was hard to tell if the ovation was for her or for people trying to make their way to the exits. Consistent with other haunts this year, scare zones were notably dialed back, both in terms of fog and scare actors. The one part of ghost town that’s always fogged out was indeed foggy, but that was really the only heavily-fogged spot. Areas over by Camp Snoopy saw some blasts here and there, but nothing like in the past. It seemed as though the park had invested more in decorated areas than in designated scare zones this around, and it kind of worked (although it wasn’t very scary as the result). The roaming actors were all very good (lots of sparks flying this year), but it did seem like there was an end-of-season lack overall in terms of staff. Despite the crowds, we were able to hit all the mazes. We started with Trick or Treat which, according to the sign outside, was a 30-minute wait. 80 minutes later (!!!), we finally entered the maze. Despite its age, it’s always been a very good maze, and the set design is one of the best in the park. The flashlights added to rather than subtracted from the experience, and although they weren’t as interactive as the flashlights in Fright Fest’s abysmal Dead End, they made certain scenes far more creepy. Shadow Lands (20-minute wait) was much better this year, with a new opening sequence that utilized the original maze’s final head-chopping scene. The sets looked great, and the maze was more meditative than frightening (it was a bit understaffed). There are some great scares, but it's such a stylish maze that the horror becomes secondary. Dark Ride (5-minute wait) was next, and despite the fantastic concept, we found the maze to be a bit of a letdown. We must have caught it on a break as there were significant sections with no scare actors at all. Even though it wasn’t crowded, we still ended up conga-lining through, and so many of the scares were ruined as the result. In fact, one member of our group found it “boring.” I thought it was just a bit too incoherent and overdone — more breaks between the scenes might have helped, like a few more dark corridors or walkways. Too much of it felt overcooked and heavy-handed. Having said that, the concept is really great (the passion is evident in the details) and I hope it sticks around for a few more years to see some tweaks. Log Ride (20-minute wait) had the Halloween overlay, but it was fairly minimal and nowhere near as frightening as in the past. It added to the ride, but was really more funny / cute than scary. It really just consists of some extra props, projections, altered music / dialog, and a few scare actors. It’s the Knotts log ride—possibly the best log ride in the world—so you really can’t go wrong. Pumpkin Eater (5-minute wait) was a real surprise for us, and much more effective than Dark Ride. It’s a combination of other themes and ideas that Knotts has done many times before, but the long and very interactive layout, combined with genuinely creepy and atmospheric scenes, worked very well indeed. Not the most original in terms of concept, but an excellent addition to the event in terms of execution. Voodoo (no wait) holds strong as one of Knotts’ best-designed mazes. Flipping the direction of the maze this year gave it a surprisingly effective boost that, in terms of narrative, made more sense than the original. Like years past, the maze itself isn’t that frightening in that much of it is an open set and immediately visible, but it’s hard to top the level of detail in this one. The new snakey ending scene inside the house sealed the deal. Paranormal Activity (5-minute wait) is as strong as ever. Whereas Dark Ride didn’t quite work for us due to how hectic and overwrought it seemed, Paranormal Activity has become kind of a classic in the few short years that it’s been around. The design of the maze, combined with the various effects inside, are incredibly effective from start to finish. Consistently excellent with good pacing and scares throughout. However, the big animatronic monster at the end wasn’t working. Tooth Fairy (5-minute wait) is as disturbing as ever but is starting to feel quite tired. It’s still a very good maze, trouncing many of the competition’s mazes, but it’s showing its age. There were a few changes this time around, specifically a new ending scene that borrowed from Universal’s loud noise-and-strobe approach. Although it stands out because of how ridiculously gory it is, it’s probably time to retire this one and come up with something new. Red Barn (no wait) was business as usual. Coherent narrative and consistent theming, it’s a solid maze, but overshadowed a little now by Pumpkin Eater which draws on many of the same themes and ideas. It’s an effective maze in that it has a long, complicated layout and several great scenes, but it does feel a tad redundant these days and might benefit from joining Tooth Fairy in an overhaul. Infected (30-minute wait) is still a huge crowd draw, largely due to the interactive nature of the maze. Nothing’s really changed in this one from last year, and you have to motor through it at a fairly quick pace limiting how much of the detail you can take in. Given how fast you’re pushed, though, it’s long enough a course to hold your interest, and the set design is pretty stellar throughout. It’s a bit of a gimmick — one that I’d personally prefer to do without as the gun doesn’t seem to actually do much of anything — but it’s always worth a look as long as the line’s not too hellish. So, as others have already stated, while there are significant differences in approach and intent, Knotts finally caught up (and, I would say, surpassed) Universal in terms of maze quality. Scary Farm was already in the lead in terms of overall ambiance, but Universal had always dominated in terms of general maze design and execution. This year, Universal dropped a bit in our perspective, with mazes showing little variation or innovation, relying too heavily on the same jump-scare effects across the board. Knotts, however, upped their game by taking some of their already-solid mazes (Trick or Treat, Voodoo) and making them even more noteworthy. Add in new mazes like Pumpkin Eater and Dark Ride (willing to assume we just caught the latter at a bad time), and Knotts takes the overall lead. While Knotts has always done a fantastic job of their Halloween event, its clear that they don’t rest on their laurels, demonstrating each year that they’re willing to push the envelope and raise the bar even higher.

Finally got around to visiting Fright Fest last night. Went with the maze “express” line option and was able to hit all mazes three times and ride a few of the lower-traffic rides (lines for rides like Twisted Colossus were hefty all night). It was good to ride Apocalypse again after so much downtime, and I’d say it’s running “well.” It’s still considerably rougher than it really should be, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the state it ended up in earlier this year. It’s the roughest ride in the park, up there with old Colossus and Psyclone, but that roughness is matched by its aggression. Also, for some reason, Superman’s right track was only making it part way up the tower, but the left track was launching the highest I’ve ever seen that ride go. Fright Fest is easy to bag on for valid reasons. It’s extremely low budget, often understaffed, and many of the scare actors seem ironic—as if their “boo” has a question mark attached. Having said that, the park does well with what it has. Calibrating one’s expectations is essential, and I’d align it to a local / home-made haunt, but on a larger scale. Scare zones seem to be on the decline in SoCal, so I wonder if there was a fog-related incident, or some kind of restriction that’s passed? Aside from the area by Twisted Colossus, the scare zones were relatively fog-free and unpopulated. The glowing one beneath Revolution looked good and had some interesting stilt walkers, but it’s more cutesy than anything. A couple of the other areas had been retooled more as creepy performance spaces than scare zones, such as the area over by Batman and the big open space by Riddler’s. The cutesy, glowing scare zone. Twisted Colossus scare zone. The only prop (that we could see) in the new scare zone by Riddler's. In terms of the mazes, it’s the same stuff at the same quality level of the last few years. The new one, Dead End, is alarmingly bad. I’d be surprised if, aside from the flashlights and the labor required to install it, the park spent any money on it at all. It’s quite long, and there’s one room with props at the start and one in the middle, but the rest is just an unfurnished black-walled maze. Having said that, it is quite effective, mixing the right amount of sensory deprivation with moments of visibility. I’m a fan of blackout mazes (although I think they work best when they also feel claustrophobic — like Blackout at Scandia, or even the old Blackout maze that Six Flags used to do) — and this one’s effective at what it does. The line for this was very long all night, presumably due to newness, whereas sad, old Willoughby’s had virtually no line at all. Aftermath was the same as last year — pretty solid with a number of strong scare actors. Very long, and the use of old sets makes it the best-looking maze of the park. If you’re new to Six Flags, you might think they went all-out on this one, but I think most people are aware that they’re just reusing the stuff they moved out of the way from the new dark ride site. Vault 666, Red’s Revenge, and Toys of Terror all remain unchanged, but all three are solid low-budget affairs, so it makes sense why they’d remain. Toys of Terror is still the park’s standout to me as it’s much more compact, and the 3D effects are something else. It's worth noting that on our first two runs through Red's Revenge, the scare actor in the opening room (an older lady who kept screaming at the video screen and people in the room) was excellent. When we returned later, she was gone, replaced by an actor who chewed gum and clearly couldn't wait to go home. Such moments contribute to the event's inconsistency — understandable, to a degree, but also something that the park might address through staffing roles. Relatedly, Chupacabra relies entirely on the scare actors to elevate it above mediocrity (there’s really nothing in the maze aside from a stinky decapitated cow). Much of the fog was removed from the pathways, which, in my opinion, was the only good thing about it in previous years. This year, it was clear that it’s past its sell-by date and there was very little to see in it despite some of the scare actors really getting into their roles. Entrance to Aftermath. Much of Aftermath's queue is inside the maze itself. Inside Aftermath. I can’t imagine that anyone expects Fright Fest to be on the same level as other major haunts in the area; there’s simply no comparison. However, the park knows how to make do with what it has. Unless there’s a significant budget increase in the form of a different pricing model (it’s a very inexpensive event), I wouldn’t blame SFMM for not changing a thing. However, it would be great to see the park build on what they already do by renovating several mazes, perhaps hiring a more dedicated team of designers, and upgrading some of the scares to the kind of strobe/noise effects that Universal overdoes. It wasn’t clear just how packed the park was last night or how long it was taking to get into the mazes as the Express Passes allowed us to skip all lines, but the only maze that didn’t have a significant and slow-moving line all night was Willoughby’s. Dead End staggers entry, and so I’d imagine that the throughput is awful. The last time we walked past it, there was a hefty line for Express as well as the regular line that extended all the way up to Ninja. So, all in all, it’s the same Fright Fest you’ve seen before. Low-ish budget, lacking a coherent identity of its own, and more amateur in general than the other major haunts. But it’s not without its own charm. If you’re looking for a high-quality haunt, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for good value and don’t expect an extravagant production, this one’s right on the money.

Went to the park tonight for Fright Fest with plans of buying Front of Line passes, but we turned around and left once we saw the state of the parking lot. By 6pm, all lots and dirt lots were maxed out and workers were trying to herd cars into a makeshift area I’ve never even seen before. It was at the base of a hill, so I assume there was nowhere else to go after that. We went tonight knowing it’d be packed as that’s part of the fun for Halloween, but this was something else. Hopefully it’s not as bad inside as it looked and people have fun, but we’ll definitely try for another night. Definitely curious to hear on-the-ground reports!

The 3D one is really the only standout IMO because it doesn't rely on scare actors. Red's Revenge was cool a few years ago, but it's really just a Rainforest Cafe with people in wolf masks. The long one by Apocalypse is just that: long, and largely unpopulated. The one next to Ninja makes good use of the space, but the quality is jaw-droppingly low for all the mazes overall. The best thing about the event is that it's priced fairly (with a season pass, at least) for what it is. A few years ago, the scare zones were decent, but for the last few years, they've been severely neglected. The last time we visited (last year), zombie crossing had one solitary zombie, slouched against the wall, texting away on his phone. We thought it was pretty funny to be honest. My guess is that they have an extremely low budget — which is a shame as the park could really do something good.

If the past couple of years are anything to go by, bury your expectations deep in the ground and you'll have a good time! SFMM's haunt has its moments and lots of cheesy charm, but it's a very different world to Knotts and Universal. Having said that, Universal's scare zones were so lacking this year that SFMM's might have the edge. Hope it's a fun day/night!

Great to see all the praise for this year's Scary Farm. Looking forward to getting over there before it gets too busy.

That's great news! I watched a couple of videos of mazes like Dark Ride and it's clear that they went above and beyond this time around. Yeah, HH had some issues when we visited — especially the non-existent scare zones.

That's fantastic! Well done! It must have been a fascinating project to work on. What kind of archival work was involved?

Ah, thanks! I’m not familiar with Murdy, Specs, or Tucker and don’t use Twitter so I definitely missed that one! Do you win something or is the business card / postcard / invitation the prize?

Yeah, the elevators were an issue all night — severe bottlenecking going on. We just used the stairs when we could. What cards were these? We got the sense there was some Disney-style fast-pass system going on where you sign up for return times, but we asked an employee who appeared to be filling them out what they were and she said they were for select guests only and then appeared to hand a ton of them to what we assumed were her friends (they were chatting and taking selfies together while we were eating outside the Evil Dead maze). We've received random FoL tickets before (not last night though), so we figured that's what they must have been and were just reserved for difficult guests (or friends!) or something. They did indeed do this. Up until 11pm, they were "sold out" and "no upgrades would be available at all." At 11pm, they were no longer sold out and upgrades were suddenly available for $50. I think last night was perhaps an anomaly and the park is still ironing out the details and getting the staff up to speed. Considering how insanely packed the place was, I can totally see how info might get misrepresented and whatnot.

The park sold out last night, which I guess is the norm. The whole early access thing didn’t work out so well as, by the time the mazes pre-opened at 5:15pm (the event officially kicks off at 7pm), there was already a 45-minute wait for many of them. So, from 5pm to 7pm, we were able to do Insidious, The Shining, and make a dent in the line for Saw — which was smart because the lines for those three rarely dipped beneath the 150-minute mark all night. The rest of the mazes averaged between 60 and 120-minutes all night. A combination of the sold-out crowd and this year's notable scaling back of the scare zones made for some seriously congested areas, but the park handled it fairly well over all. There was a lot of line jumping going on, and the rope guard rails in the switchbacks were no match for the crowds. Despite this, we were still able to hit every maze except for the Terror Tram (which we were okay with skipping given the reviews and our experience on last year’s tram [it sucked]). The park began selling $50 front-of-line passes at 11pm, but we opted to go without as we’d already dumped a ton of money into the evening. Given how packed the place gets, and how grim the lines are, the front-of-line pass is a must if you can afford it. However, you can still do pretty much everything without it, but you have to be diligent, take zero breaks, and be prepared for a lot of standing around. A sense of the backlot crowds. Spending too long in this area will take its toll on you as its the most congested area of the park. We were surprised that the scare zones were so dialed back this year, with the upper lot’s usual props, fog, and flamethrowers largely absent. Instead, there were a few roaming monsters, but that was it. Given the traffic congestion through that area, it’s no real surprise that they scaled it back, though. The transit tunnel was just strobes, music and a few actors this year (I seem to recall insane fog there before that actually made it kind of dangerous). The result was less of a scare zone and more of an inconvenience. Speaking of lines, the only scare zone that really resembled a scare zone was in the backlot and had a fairly steady wait to go through it all night. It was much more elaborate than previous years, although the lack of fog rendered it far less frightening. Perhaps it’s just because it’s still early in the season, or perhaps Universal hasn’t fully staffed the event yet, but the scare zones were a notably minor feature of this year’s event. In past years, there was some variation to the mazes. Some were kind of cutesy / creative / funny, but this year, there was an unmistakable sameness about them all. They were all strong, but aside from a few moments here and there, they didn’t vary much in terms of design and approach. The Saw maze was more about grisly set pieces, and the Blumhouse maze had a kind of scare zone set up in front of it. Aside from that, they all borrowed heavily from last year’s excellent Exorcist maze by using lots of blackout sections with severe jump scares. Some thoughts on each, from best to worst: Titans of Terror: This was the most coherent, thoughtful, and well-designed maze — a combo of several past mazes put together as an effective tribute. It was paced well, the sets were excellent, and the scares were consistent throughout. Because of the Waterworld location, the line never really went over 90 minutes for this one, yet it was the standout of the night for us. Insidious: We actually did this twice, catching it the second time around 1:30am. Unfortunately, much of the staff had left by then, so large sections were unmanned and several of the effective scares we saw the first time through went un-triggered (the door / wall panel scene, for example). The set design is strong, as are the animatronics. The scares are consistent and well-timed, and the ending was probably the most intense of the night (spoiler: it’s a simple trick of about five or six jump scares in an immediate sequence). Outside the Insidious house. First trip through this maze, the sun was still up, rendering much of the interior as too bright. American Horror Story: We thought this was pretty bad last year, but the whole maze has been overhauled. The sets were excellent, and the scares were consistently strong this time around — even up to the closing minutes of the event. Although none of us watch the show and had any idea what was going on in terms of narrative, it was a freaky maze with lots of well-done pig masks and cabin-in-the-woods type scenes. The entrance to American Horror Story. This years's version seemed to be themed to pigs attacking people. The cultural metaphor was strong with this one. The Shining: Clearly a labor of love, but a difficult film to adapt into a maze. They made it work by featuring iconic scenes, but it did seem a bit fragmented and confused overall. Lots of good dark spaces with jump scares, but there aren’t exactly many characters in The Shining so the production team didn’t have much to work with. We also found the over-reliance on projections to be a be a little questionable (but, then again, how would you construct a bleeding elevator scene otherwise?) You can tell that they were trying to do what they did with last year’s Exorcist maze by telling a story through scenes, but we did give the Exorcist the edge in that regard. Ash vs. Evil Dead: Fairly creative with some good iconic monsters from the original Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 films, but otherwise, same old, same all. There were some good house-inside-the-house sets in here, presumably lifted from past mazes, and the overall set detail was excellent. At this point, though, we really started to notice that there’s little distinction between the mazes beyond superficial cosmetics. Blumhouse: A long maze with a ton of potential, but also the maze that felt the least complete. There’s a scare zone-type sequence out front which appeared to be some version of the tiresome Purge franchise, and the maze itself tries to cover two different films (an upcoming film that appears to be about a masked slasher [not much originality in Hollywood these days!] and a film called Sinister). The last 1/3 was the best, but it was a fairly inarticulate maze overall with lots of empty space, winding corridors, and weird transitions. Both the concept and the maze design would benefit from more focus. The Walking Dead: As the permanent fixture maze of the night, TWD wins in terms of set design and overall detail. Less of a maze and more of a series of open sets, it feels a little out of place at the event in that it sacrifices the claustrophobia of the other mazes. Of course, it makes perfect sense why they’d use it, but the TWD does feel a bit like an afterthought. The fixed sets of TWD were great . . . Giving you a sense of what Universal can do in terms of permanent theming. The animatronics were also very good. Saw: This held the longest line of the night but it really was more about set pieces than scares. It was basically a series of grisly scenes of people being tortured by rusty contraptions. The props themselves were good, but the maze was quite short and the scares were minimal. The entrance to the Saw maze appeared to be a warehouse of some kind. Overall, we did well given the crowds and our budgets, and Universal’s access to sets and props upholds their monopoly on SoCal Halloween events. The lack of scare zones and the sameness of the mazes, however, does suggest that, like many of the movies the company produces, there’s not a lot of thought going on beneath the surface. While the event is always a blast, and the jump scares within the mazes do their job well, we couldn’t help but feel that Universal would benefit from developing and diversifying their tactics to present more ways to scare people than the now-gimmicky loud noise and strobe combo.

That Dark Ride maze looks fantastic. Can't wait to hear what people here think of that one. Hoping to make it to Knotts at least once this Halloween.

I think we're going to eschew front of line passes and take our chances. We've gone on hideously packed HH days before and still covered all the mazes through extra diligence (no farting around, survival strategy, shortcuts etc.) So, I think the goal will be to go HAM on the lower level between 5pm and 7pm and then suffer with the plebs for the remainder of the night in the upper lot. Terror Tram sounds like it's probably worth skipping this year (initial reports suggest it's worse than last year, and last year's TT blew serious goat). Like most reasonable people, I'm allergic to musical theatre, so the Jabberwocky thing will get a pass (unless my group insists on it, in which case I'll disown them). It'll be a fun challenge, I think!

Soliciting strategic advice from Horror Nights veterans: Going to the Halloween event tomorrow night with 4pm early entry. Was planning on hitting up a few rides before the event officially kicks off at 7pm, but don't some of the mazes open prior to the gates? Any suggestions on whether it's wise to be on the upper or lower lot around 6/6:30pm and what mazes might be worth knocking out early? Expecting it to be a madhouse. EDIT: Reading around the internets, it looks like all the lower lot mazes open early, so I guess the best plan is to get down there about 5pm for 5:15pm maze opening and try to knock out all five before 7pm. Happy Halloween!

The multi-door room was still in the haunted house when I visited last year, but it was extremely dark in there (to the point where I had to use my phone's flashlight to see). I'd be surprised if they'd removed that room as it seems like it was a pretty big stunt, but I wonder if perhaps they feed people through it faster now to prevent traffic jams?

Went to the park today for a few hours to process a friend's pass, and Apocalypse was back to closed again Was looking forward to seeing if anything had changed. The park was *dead* — single train ops on several of the rides, but there weren't even enough people in line to fill complete trains. We even rode a number of rides where we were the only riders on the train. Justice League broke down again (same thing happened the first time I rode it), but they seemed to fix it quick. Probably unplugging it and plugging it back in again. Also, had what was perhaps the smoothest ride on X2 I've had in years — totally baffling. It was still rough as hell, but not as bad as usual.

Took a quick trip to the mountain to process my 2018 pass and take advantage of the low attendance. Although I was only there for three hours, I marathoned Goliath and Lex Luthor as well as taking multiple rides on Twisted Colossus, Full Thröttle, and Ninja (basically, the park's best rides). Most rides were a walk-on/stay-on with a three-train wait at most for TC (running three trains). TC ops were as on-the-ball as ever but are still no match for the GP who held up dispatches by trying to stow their carry-ons in the train, by taking a series of selfies before buckling up, and by getting in and out of their seats, repeatedly, inexplicably. Also, got to see how the crew deals with fresh vomit in the train: throw two papers cups of water on it to loosen it up / disperse it a bit, then dispatch the train hoping it's gone by the time the train returns. I felt bad for the people who dueled with that particular train, but I can't say I blame the ops either. Speaking of duels: on my rides today, 3/6 laps dueled perfectly; 2 were slightly off; 1 was totally solo. I also scoped out the site of the new ride. There's plenty of room, but I'm assuming they'll need to excavate the mountain a bit as the monorail station is somewhat elevated. There's also what appears to be an old wooden structure behind one of the games, so I assume it'll take up that whole area. While the east side of the park won't see much of the ride aside from the swings, it's going to look amazing where it's headed. Now they just need another badass flat over where that Schwarzkopf flat used to sit as that's space begging to be filled. I'll take a Skyhawk clone, please. Looks like this will be where the new disc ride swings. The old metro station. Rode Scream too, but rode in the front so I mitigated any potential roughness right away. And speaking of rough, still no signs of life on Apocalypse. Anyone know anything? Best thing is to just power through it. Drop towers are the most anxiety-inducing rides for me — consistently so. But it usually just takes a couple of tries and the anxiety is gone. Even though I've ridden it many times, Lex Luthor gets me panicky to the point where I'm happy to skip it during a visit. Today, I decided I'd ride it multiple times until there was no anxiety at all. Lex Luthor is all intimidation — the height, combined with the openness of the restraint, combined with the wobbly tower. My fears about the ride are totally irrational — like it'll derail, or the track will peel off the tower while I'm at the top, or I'll have to be evacuated from it with a ladder. The drop itself is bizarrely tame. It's very fast, and you certainly feel like you're dropping for some time, but it's so much more bark than bite. Once you learn the sequence (the music stops, there's a little bounce, then a click, then you drop), it becomes a much more enjoyable ride. It looks terrifying, and the first couple of times probably will be, but know that you'll get beyond that fast and then you can enjoy it for the views it provides and the speed that it travels. Oh, and the Halloween decorations are half installed. These were scattered throughout the Screampunk District. [Adopts hyperbolic-forum voice]: God, SFMM is suuuch a duuump. Looks like it's been there for a while. SFMM really should clean the place once in a while There were quite a few organs and things strewn around.

It's where that old monorail station is — kind of buried in the trees right across from Tidal Wave. I'm not sure how it's going to fit in there to be honest as that's a pretty steep slope and they'll have to clear out quite a bit of greenery. That is, of course, unless it's positioned in a way where the struts jut out into the walkway? Either way, it looks like it'll swing very close to Superman's launch. EDIT: Actually, looking at footprints of similar rides at CP and KI, the footprint really isn't that big.

I can't imagine that it'd take that long to assemble the ride, to be honest. And I assume that they'll just funnel people through some makeshift pathway for a while as they renovate. They couldn't close that pathway altogether as it's kind of critical to getting around the mountain.

It's kind of the wrong park for anything non-ride related. I mean, there are others things to do there, but unless you're going to ride the big rides, there's not that much going on. Whereas places like Knotts maintain a good balance for all ages and abilities, SFMM is about 80% extreme rides and doesn't really cater that well to non-extreme stuff. I mean, there's Justice League, and (as opposed to a couple of previous comments), the place is very clean and quite scenic, but getting around is kind of a slog. The restaurants are probably the best option to sit down and cool off, and there are plenty of covered areas in and around the actual mountain itself with plenty of foliage (by Tatsu, Goliath, Swashbuckler, Batman, Goldrusher, Ninja etc.) I think there's some musical theatre-type stuff that happens throughout the day (by Twisted Colossus, Golden Bear Theatre etc.), but you have to have the stomach for musical theatre.

If you liked this one then you'll like the rest as it pretty much does what all RMCs are known for. Out of the three that I've ridden, it's my least favorite, but that's not due to the size; it's because I'm not a fan of the way RMCs designs certain ejector air moments. Awkward / outward banked turns and the kind of severe bunny hops that propel you forward into the lapbar are my least favorite components of an RMC, and that's what this one seems to favor. For me, the first drop and the first hill were the best parts of Storm Chaser, but it's all about taste and preference. The main difference between this and the others I've ridden though is that RMC's non-inverting first drops are usually amazing, but the inverting ones (like this one) are much tamer by comparison). For what it's worth: NTAG's the best RMC I've ridden to date as it's closer to a traditional roller coaster design than a mechanical bull.

That is great news to hear that the area will get a boost. I love the idea of having a traditional carnival setting within large amusement parks, but attempts to do so often come off a bit sloppy. That space at SFMM with the carnival games always looks a bit depressing to me, so linking it to the new Justice League area will make that section of the park less of a thoroughfare and more of a destination. Hopefully, the area over by Apocalypse will be next as that part needs a lot of work.

Will definitely be interested to hear opinions on this one once it opens. Certain spinning rides do me in, but usually the kind that spin on a single axis to the point where your vision is blurred (kind of like spinning on an office chair). This looks like it'll be more about a strange sense of movement than anything too pukey, and I have a suspicion that it'll look far more intense than it actually rides, but we shall see.