wrs28330

Theme Park Review was invited to attend a sneak peak at the new Transformers: The Ride 3-D. "Technical Rehearsals" for the attraction started this past week, and the reviews have been positive. The ride will officially open to the public on May 25th, so chances are good that soft openings will take place almost daily to put the ride through its paces and to train the new crew. Personally, I think Universal Studios Hollywood did a great job with this ride! I was most impressed with the use of the space of the show building. The ride layout consists of a lower and an upper track area, maximizing the space and allowing for a 3.5 minute ride cycle. Echoing others, the interior queue is very well themed and most importantly a way to beat the So. Cal. heat. Because most of us already know the plot points and other specifics of the ride, we will just get right to the photos! Thank you to Universal Studios Hollywood for allowing Theme Park Review to attend the sneak peak for Tranformers: The Ride 3-D. We wish you a great summer season! (Don't forget to purchase a "Gate A" pass on weekends and most of the summer days, as it will cut down a HUGE part of the wait for the more popular attractions. They are worth the extra money!) Welcome to Universal Studios Hollywood! The home of the soon to open Transformers: The Ride 3-D! Today's report is brought to you by "The Serious Face"; a subsidiary of "The Manly Pose". As of 10:15am. We see you...! Getting closer! Ta-daaaaa! "My name is David, and I claim this land in the name of the Autobots, and The Serious Face!" "Welcome recruits. Check out my super-cereal Serious Face!" Which way do you go? The regular entrance.... ...or Gate-A, or Single Rider? The options are limitless! Or, well, there are three options so choose wisely. Let's try the regular entrance first. Plenty of interior queue space with buttons! Lots and lots of buttons!!!! PUSH THE BUTTONS!!! You can even push the globe! But nothing will happen...or will it?!? (Serious face) Poll time! Which is cooler: The itty-bitty AllSpark or Frank's Gate A Pass! The queue videos even tell you to wolf down your churros. You ain't cool unless you wear 3-D glasses. This dude looks familiar. This ride is so technologically advanced, that it features invisible 3-D glasses! An industry first! The loading station accomidates two cars at a time. 3 rows per car, 4 riders per row. Door open. Door closed. In the ride, guests ride in Evac, an Autobot. I wonder if the crew gets confused if they are told to "Evac the ride". You can tell this sign has a Serious Face too. The return to civilization. ...otherwise known as a gift shop. Although, it doesn't dump RIGHT into the gift shop so we won't use the Serious Face for this! "My name is Jenny, and I am still working on my Serious Face. But I will totally strike a Serious Pose for you! Now lets try the Gate A path! More buttons, but you won't get to push them because there won't be a line! With only a few long corridors, the Gate A line is about 1/3 the size of the regular line. No buttons to push here, because there is no time! Station view from the Gate A path. And finally, Frank gives the Single Rider Line a try...with the Serious Face! Noted. Only one video monitor? Why is that? Oh, becuase we are already at the load area! No Serious Face necessary! Station view from the Single Rider path. So many options! Let's take a look, why not, right? Much classier than a Karnival kruise ship! They even included a window so they can see the rest of their party as the finish their ride. It's the Serious Face AND push the button! Almost too much coolness for one photo. The shop even has a really Hi-def video screen behind the counter. "I am a way better Vanna White than Vanna White." The area to the right of the Transformers entrance that is used as queue for a Horror Night maze has been prepared for what looks like extended queue space. (Or stroller parking.) And just a few more pictures for the uber-nerds and fanboys. This is one detail I was SO happy to see! One of my biggest disappoinments in the Wonderful World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando was the regular nametags worn by the employees in that land. I would have preferred to see a nametag that better fits in with the area theming, like THIS! I am thrilled they found an alternative to the normal nametag for this attraction, and I truly hope they can find an alternative solution for WWoHP when it arrives at USH in a few years! Be sure to check out Transformers: The Ride 3-D when it officially opens on May 25th!

From AR's photo of the gate by Jokest'ers Hideout, it looks like the new fence was built so the "park facing" side points east.

I can't be your friends with you anymore after the jumping picutre.

Here are some higher-res photos than the ones we tweeted during the event. See the captions on the tweeted photos if needed. Photos by Derek Vos.

It is sad that this is what the event has turned into, but it is almost impossible to see everything the event has to offer without having the Front of Line pass.

Theme Park Review was once again invited to the opening night of Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights. This years event featured 6 mazes, 5 scare zones, the Terror Tram on the USH Backlot, and Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure. USH always puts on a great event, and this year is no different. The crowds were just as big as last year's opening night, though the maze wait times seemed to be a bit shorter than last year. This is most likely due to the change in the Gate A policy. Instead of being allowed an unlimited amount of entrances into each maze like previous years, you are allowed to experience each maze only once with the Gate A privilege. It is believed that the unlimited trips by all guests with the Gate A passes through the mazes had a large impact on the wait of the normal line. That being said, if this is the compromise that USH has determined to be the most effective way to satisfy guests in both categories, it is fine by me! With the Gate A pass, you are guaranteed to see all the mazes, scare zones, Terror Tram, and have time to see Bill & Ted's at least twice. You are paying for the insurance of seeing everything the event has to offer. It is still worth every penny if you can splurge for it. My personal maze ranking is as follows: 1. Eli Roth's Hostel - Hunting Season 2. Wolfman - The Curse of Talbot Hall 3. La Llorona - Villa de Almas Perdidias 4. The Thing - Assimilation 5. Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses 6. Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare Hostel took the place of Saw from the last few years. This was an easy way to adapt the similarities of the torture scenes from previous years. Based on the guest reaction to this maze, I believe it was certainly the guest favorite. Although Wolfman resides in the year-round House of Horrors attraction, I was shocked at how well the HHN overlay has helped to breath fresh air into this seemingly dull maze. The difference was clearly the costumes. The Wolfman and a few other creature costumes were so detailed that it made several guests do double-takes at the creatures. La Llorona, situated by Shrek 3-D, is arguably the most beautifully detailed maze at USH HNN yet. The theming is so well done and rooms have seamless transitions. The talent uses the space very effectively, mainly because the maze was designed for different types of scares than you would normally expect to see at HHN. The Thing was nice; not anything special. Not much to say other than at least it was another maze to have in their arsenal. House of 1000 Corpses seemed to be an exact copy of last year. This 3-D maze is unique, however, the sheer randomness of the scenes and theming leaves you asking "Why was....never mind...". But again, at least it is a maze. The Alice Cooper maze was the disappointment of the night. As I right this, I can't remember much other than the interesting facade that the many stilt walkers in the maze. That being said, (and a bit more critical than in year's past), the range of mazes is great for this event. There is something for everyone! The Terror Tram takes you through the same sets as years past with the exception of the outdoor sheet maze being outside the Bates Motel instead of by the Psyco house on the hill. This year's theme was having the guests be part of 4 different horror films currently filming on the Backlot. I personally enjoyed last years theme with Chuck a bit more. Lastly, Bill and Ted's is still trying to find it's identity on the west coast. When "We will rock you" starts to play the audience just sits there, compared to Florida's crowds who go crazy. It is something that I thought would eventually sink-in for the CA crowds, but after 4 years I have almost lost all hope for the audience. The show was well written with all the usual T&A and colorful language. And with all that said, thank you again to USH for inviting us to their wonderful event! Again, if you can afford it, GET THE 'GATE A' pass! You won't regret it at the end of the night! And now for the pictures! Photos by Joseph Tagnipes It wouldn't be HHN without half-clothed gogo dancing girls! The Klownz scare zone is still a great area, welcoming you into the event. The Ringmaster House of 1000 Corpses entrance. The scalped man was one of the characters we saw at the HHN make-up demo a few weeks ago at USH. Zombieville scare zone. La Llorona maze, behind Shrek 3D. Again, one of the most beautiful mazes. Wolfman resides in the year-round House of Horrors attraction. What big teeth you have! The Thing is located in the old Wild West Stunt Show arena. Wishing you had a Gate A pass right about now? Are you my mother? Yay! A full house! Wild Stallions! A very colorful cast of characters as always. The Terror Tram is still...terrifying. Be prepared to see 50+ of the character. Many at the same time. Norman was in a pleasantly neutral mood, allowing guests to take photos with him! This maze is located next to the Jurrasic Park queue. No quite sure what this is, but I'll go with it. The fan favorite maze! 75 min line? Good thing we have our... Oh you get the point. "Come to Halloween Horror Nights, and I will chop off your legs too! See you soon!"

Universal Studios Hollywood invited Theme Park Review to a Halloween Horror Nights preview event! In addition to the normal media event held on the first day of HHN, today's event was a preview of the special effects make-up and costumes! All photos by Joseph Tagnipes. Welcome to todays event! John Murdy! He is the Producer and Creative Director of USH's HHN. After a warm welcome from John, we were brought into the Globe Theater for a close-up look at this years Costumes and Make-up. Maze costumes. Ringmaster costume from the Klownz walk-around area at the front of New York Street. A Costumer was working on Zombie costumes that will be used for the Terror Tram experience on the Backlot. In addition to masks, foam latex prosthetics are used for some of the lead characters in the mazes and walk-around areas. The progression of teeth for masks. From left to right: The hard plastic mold, mold with primer, add gum coloration, add teeth coloration, distressed teeth. This performer is being made into the La Llorona character. (See the concept art behind the performer.) The make up artist uses a glue to coat the body side of the prosthetic. The artist centers the nose first, then works his way out toward the ends of the prosthetic. The eyes are not fully connected in order to make the prosthetic generic, so it can fit many different performers. Once the prosthetic is most attached, the artist adds extra glue to the edges to make a seamless transition from prothetic to skin. Paint is airbrushed onto the prothetic first to match the performers skin tone. The artist then goes back with other colors to give the character more life. Here, the artist uses a stencil to add texture. The finished product. Add a wig... ...and VIOLA! You have yourself La Llorona! Concept art for a character in the House of 1000 Corpses maze. Before... Instead of a face prosthetic, this character starts with a wig. A copious amount of blood is added to bring the character to life. And Viola! Another monster is born! Boo! They were also allowing some of the guests to jump into the make up chair. Yours truly in the chair, as the make-up artists thinks of a horror to inflict on me. The start of a head wound. She starts by spreading liquid latex onto the skin. Color is added. Your final product! Another creepy creation from Universal Studios Hollywood! A big thank you to USH for inviting us to this great event! Halloween Horror Nights begins on September 23 and continues on select nights through October 31. Larry Bones (Head Make-up Artist) and John Murdy personally invite you to step into their world of horror! See you at HHN 2011!

Not to worry, the muesum is fine. Many different displays have come and gone since the museum opened. It just so happens that this is a more visible "between displays" period.

Theme Park Review was once again invited to the Media day for the ever-growing Grinchmas event at Universal Studios Hollywood. The event runs December 11th, 12th, and daily from December 18th thru January 2nd. Grinchmas will feature nightly tree-lighting ceremonies, celebrity readings of "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" and encounters with Whoville characters and fresh snow. In addition to visiting the Whoville set on the Studio Tram tour, Guests will also pay a special visit to the Grinch's Lair, where they will find themselves on a quest to help the Grinch and Max the Dog return the stolen gifts to Whoville. Many people will be surprised to learn that the expanded Grinchmas area now resides in the entire blue print of the old western stunt show arena. Welcome to Grinchmas 2010 at Universal Studios Hollywood! The entire western stunt show facade is gone! As is one of the sides of the old west street. The Grinch and Max the Dog say "chchcchcheeeelllooooooo". One half the the arena. This is where the western facade once stood. Look it's Dan's future wife, Molly! Even the reporter dude digs Molly! Back off, Dan saw her first! The kick-off of the Grinchmas event. "Come see us staring this weekend!" The Whoville set will host a 2-3 minute tram show stop during Grinchmas. Work is almost complete on the "Grinch Lair" overlay of the Mummy spinning tunnel. One last look. Thank you again to USH, for inviting us to join in the festivities!

William and friend Cassi for the evening event!

TPR's Media Day coverage can be found at this thread: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=56876

^^We tried video, but it was indeed too dark.

Once again, Universal Studios Hollywood rolled out the red carpet, as they celebrated both the Eyegore Awards and the opening of their yearly Halloween event, Halloween Horror Nights. The Eyegore Awards celebrate accomplishments in horror films. The event starts with a red carpet interview session with celebrities receiving awards, followed by the formal presentation. Halloween Horror Nights features 5 haunted mazes themed to various horror films, 6 scare zones, Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure, and a few more goodies. The event overall is similar to past years. Many people were sad to see that the Rocky Horror Picture Show tribute did not return this year. Though I personally am not a fan of the movie, seeing the tribute live was fantastic! Especially with a great crowd. The returning mazes were almost identical from years past. The new 3-D Rob Zombie maze was a great addition to the event, as the maze theming is much different from the other mazes. (This maze had the longest line of the event, with other guests reporting actual wait times of 1.5 hours.) The Terror Tram: Chucky's Revenge was both a hit, and a flop. The video segment does a great job tying in Chucky's Insult Imporium from a few years back, as well as other happenings at Universal Studios, to explain why Chucky had a fall out with the media. The scare actors do a decent job on the backlot, but many of them are given the same costumes. Half of them are dressed as military/security guards, and guests become immune to their scare factor rather quickly. The same route is used to take guests through Whoville/Bates Motel/War of the Worlds. We did not, however, go through the outdoor sheet mazes before war of the worlds. Not sure if it is part of the event this year. Most of the scare zones were fine at best. We only saw 2 scare actors in the Pigz area on the lower lot, and they did not have much energy. La Llorona left people simply confused. Based on guest reaction, people were not familiar with the legend. Lunaticz, Nightmarez, and Freakz were a notch above the others, with Klownz being the clear crowd favorite. Klownz is located at the start of New York Street, and features a large flame column arch way, and a Ringmaster. This high traffic area is alive and kicking all night long. Be prepared for a more vulgar event than in past years. Obviously, if you are reading TPR, you will be fine for what the event has in store. Harsher language is used in Bill & Ted's, and on the Starway. The Terror Tram and mazes also use colorful language. Not a issue for most who will be attending the event, but nonetheless, very noticible. Opening day was packed! We highly recommend going for the "Gate A" Pass if it is within your price range, as it may be the only way to experience all the event has to offer in one night. Thank you to Universal Studios Hollywood, for once again putting together a great Halloween Event! Welcome to Halloween Horror Nights and the Eyegore Awards! On one hand, we were important enought to have a spot on the red carpet! On the other hand, look who we are next too..... Just kidding! We LOVE Westcoaster! Frank is happy with having our spot just behind a wall for one of the mazes! Event map, if you were layind down! William tries to eat his event lanyard for the 2nd year in a row! "But it gets tastier each year!" That man is going to eat those vampires! It's time to start the "OMG! It's...." section: "OMG! It's Christopher Lloyd!" "OMG! It's Derek Myers!" (The bald guy in the background. He is the new dude who played Jason.) "OMG! It's Michael Jackson! Or is it Corey Feldman?" "OMG! It's Molly Orr! TPR's favorite USH employee of all time! (Even moreso than Joey!) She was one of the best Backlot Tour Guides, and now she is one of the official spokespeople for USH. We love you Molly! Would you like to meet our friend Dan?! Scare Zone - Klowns Let's head down to the Terror Tram on the Backlot! This year, Chucky gets his revenge! Trams drop the guests off at the Whoville set, and are met by a militia gang. And then.... ....they attack! "You complained about my Insult Imporium, but now I'm back, suckers!!!!!!!" Yay.... another 50th anniversay celebration..... Ride the Terror Tram, and you get to walk through the Psyco set! Play nice! Ahhhh! It's Chucky! Momma? So that's why Heroes was cancelled... The video sequences on the trams while traveling to and from the loading areas are quite entertaining this year. Frank recommends the "Gate A" Pass, because the park is PACKED!!!!! Nightmare on Elm Street is the first maze up! Think of the children! The new La Llorona walkaround area. Just look at the freakishly scary....barrels! Barrels = what???? Theming!!!! Time to see the first Bill & Ted show of the season! This year, the show is in 3-D! Lady Gaga likes her meat! Justin Bieber, Snookie, and The Situation are just some of the many wonderful people who took time out of their busy schedules to be in the show this year. No thank you! "I found some 'fairy dust' in Paris Hilton's purse!" The best moment in the show inspired from the following youtube sensation: Jacob from Twilight at his finest. The show features several high-energy dance numbers to popular music... ...and some great lighting and pyro too! The audience loved the show. But Robb pointed out last year that California has not fully embrassed the show as Florida has. The show is still in its first few years, so the crowd has to learn to appreciat this show. In Florida, "We Will Rock You" starts playing, and the crowd goes crazy! Here, the song plays and the audience sits quietly, not realizing that they can make noise. Give it few more years. This years show was much better compared to last year. Not sure if it is a better overall theme to the show or a better year for pop culture. Maze #2: Friday the 13th! Ahh! It's Jason! Scare zone: Freakz Oh no! They got Frank surrounded! Why are they wasting their time on him? Scare the 13-year-old girls instead! They are more entertaining! A new maze this year! The 3-D effcts make this my favorite maze this time around. Get the "Gate A" Pass, and get free 3-D glasses for the maze! Oh, the colors! The coolest room seperators ever! Octopusssssss tentacles! The normal House of Horrors attraction received a vampire overlay for HHN. 'Nuff said. Saw seemed like a step backwards from last year. Some of the rooms douse guests with water to the point that you should wear a poncho. Want to play a game? Don't forget to see the new King Kong (almost) 360 3-D! There is a separate tram that departs from Jurrasic Park. The tram from this stop, only travels to the King Kong attraction. The Terror Tram still loads from its normal location. On crowded nights, it is likely that a 4th Bill & Ted show could be added, as was the case on this first night. Last year, there were 4 showings with a possible 5th if needed. This year, the show is about 45 minutes in length, so there is not as much turn around for the cast this year. Great cast this year! The show utilizes several video sequences this year. Again, we HIGHLY recommend the "Gate A" Pass. Just look at these wait times on a Friday! Thank you USH, for another great time at Halloween Horror Nights! We love you Molly!

Theme Park review will be covering this evening's Eyegore Awards Red Carpet event as well as the official start of Universal Studio Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights 2010! Pictures will be posted in a new thread during the wee hours of tomorrow morning. So expect to wake up to awesome HHN pictures, or keep clicking the refresh button starting at 2am! We know you do it!

Media Event pictures can be found here: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55859

Ladies and Gentlemen... I give you.... Peter Jackson! (Thundrous Applause) Hello everyone, I am Peter Jackson. You may recognize me from other films like Heavenly Creatures, Forgotten Silver, and The Lovely Bones. Today, however, I am here to talk to you about Primate/Dinosaur issues; a current hot topic in society. Universal Studios Hollywood asked me to create an attraction using King Kong as our staring primate. I strive to include my audience by placing them *inside* the story, instead of watching the story come to life frontally. Yes, I did indeed say frontally. Two years after a tragic fire on the Universal Studios Backlot destroyed the former King Kong attraction, we invited celebrities who you may not recognize and members of the local media to be the first people to experience King Kong 360 3-D. By “first people”, I mean after myself, the attraction creators, Park Management, Employee previews, and close to 20,000 guests who were lucky enough to experience the soft opening. But I digress… To further explore the relationship between Primates and Dinosaurs, the Wildlife WayStation provided the tools necessary for us to understand animal behavior. Here we have…some sort of mammal. And here, we have…another mammal. And here we have the star of almost every film on the SyFy channel, surrounded by mammals. Here, we studied the relationship between famous mammals, and non-famous mammals. Wayne Brady seen here, is classified as a famous mammal. It was then time for me to address the world, as we conducted the first ever press conference in 3-D. 9 out of 10 people agree that I look better in 3-D than in person. After declaring King Kong 360 3-D officially open, someone looked into my eyes, and I informed them that their path now leads beyond the Curtain of Doom! But first, I treated them to drums and dancers from Skull Island. Here, we see the first tram making the hair-pin Turn of Death into the bowels of Skull Island. Apparently the members of the media find themselves too important to hold onto their 3-D glasses during the first portion of the tour. Just look at the talent of this tram driver! A successful turn is achieved! Here, we show a POV of the Turn of Death. Success! Are you ready to screen my creation? Excellent, for those of you talented enough to retain your 3-D glasses up until this part of the tour, you may now put on your 3-D glasses. Welcome to…. Jurassic Park! Bloody hell! Who put the wrong slide into the projector! You’re fired! Welcome to… Skull Island! Please come see my fantastic creation, at Universal Studios Hollywood: The Entertainment Capital of L.A.!

Theme Park Review attended the Media Event for the King Kong 360 3-D Attraction opening. A report will be posted in a new thread tomorrow afternoon.

Excuse me... One word: Barrels The end.

Totally awesome!

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the scavenger hunt! Attached below are the Score Sheet for all teams. In addition, the answers for the "Seeing Stars" challenge are available for your viewing pleasure. I know, the pictures don't show the entire area, but just enough to point you in the right direction so you can try to find it on your next visit. We will not be releasing the answers, solutions, or clarification for any other challenges, as well may use aspects of the other challenges for other park guests in the future. It was very clear from the feedback we received that this years scavenger hunt proved to be difficult for teams. The best comment we received from a few teams was that they would have liked to walked the park a bit more for answers, than focusing on historical questions. We also learned that hyphenated-words are evil, and that "The Less Evil Paragraph" was indeed more evil than "The Evil Paragraph". And lastly, we learned that DEJA VU + NINJA = JET STREAM! Score Sheet - Teams.pdf Seeing Stars.pdf

One of my favorite parts of the evening!

Now that I have almost recovered from an amazing weekend, I would like to thank Theme Park Review, Ride World, and Knott's Berry Farm for putting on a wonderful weekend! As a Guest for the day at Knott's, I appreciate all the work they did to make our day a memorable one! The morning ERT was a wonderful start to a long day of rides. I was blown away by the Calico Mine Train's maintenance crews' pride in their ride! The games during the picnic were wonderful, as they appealed to all ages. (I have never seen water balloons that big!) The presentation was amazing, and I look forward to both the maze "concept" coming to life as well as the possible TPR Haunt event! The night ERT was a wonderul end to a great day on a great mix of rides. Thank you Knott's Berry Farm!

Six Flags Magic Mountain will be using a similar incarnation of the West Coast Bash Scavenger Hunt later on this year, so we won't be able to post many of the answers. I will post some of the answers and possibly the final scores within the next few days. We appreciate the feedback we received on the scavenger hunt, as we now know that teams would like to find more clues around the park, than solving exclusively puzzle-based challenges. Thank you to all who participated!

^ Beat me to it!

Honestly, $54.99 for a Play Pass and $125 for the Xtreme Pass is an incredible value by itself. Anything extra is a huge bonus.