Jew

If you go on a Thursday or Sunday, the front of the line pass probably won't be needed. As David said, hit Mirror Mirror first! We got into the park around 7:45, jumped in that line first, and still had to wait 25-30 minutes with a minimal line.

Since I'm not a diehard Disney geek, I can't really tell the difference. But it's nice to see it look new!

Damn, you beat me to it. Cyclone, as it is known at Dreamworld Australia, was an epic failure at Luna Park Sydney. Residents complaining about noise shut it down and eventually the park followed (it later re-opened as what TPR visited). And the coaster really sucked too. That reminded me of one! The halfpipe coaster on the roof in Japan is a pretty big failure! Never opened, and now stuck there..

Zonga was a terrible ride with the OTSR's. Does saving the Big Dipper count as a ride failure? Depending on what the fate of the Hard Rock Park coasters ultimately becomes, it's fair to say investing so much money in those rides turned out to be a giant failure! I'm having a hard time thinking of any others that haven't already been mentioned here.

World Series or bust for the Dodgers!

^I think he deserved a final chance to prove himself this season. Holding onto play calling duties ultimately did him in, but the recruiting/scouting job he's done under sanctions is impressive. After the ASU game, it was obvious this season was a lost cause so there was no longer any upside to keeping him. Now the problem becomes the uncertainty of recruiting: kids don't know if the assistants currently recruiting them will be around, nor do they know who they will be playing for as their head coach. If they want an existing college guy, they won't be able to get him until January---leaving him just one month to put together a staff and recruit. That's a HUGE problem considering they still have 1 more year of limited scholarships (can take 20 this year I believe with early enrollees), and will have to take another 3-4 years after that to get back to 85 scholarship players...

I'm in the same boat. I LOVE Haunt events, but I don't get the appeal in these "extreme" haunts like Trapped and Blackout where you have to do stuff like eat bugs, performers grab you, they put you in a coffin, etc. That just doesn't seem fun at all.

The deed has been done. Don't think it will help USC much, since they are so shorthanded and now down a defensive coach (Ed Orgeron taking over as HC leaves them with only TWO defensive coaches!). Thanks to the sanctions, no matter who comes in will be playing short handed for his first 3-4 years...

Great photos! That reminded me, I forgot to review witches keep! This one bugs me... Since they did most of the stuff they would have if it was still a full haunt attraction, I wish they would have just gone all out. What they have makes for a fun twist on the ride, but nothing worth actually waiting for.

^I knew why. It's still a stupid idea. Haunt is their premier event, and I HIGHLY doubt that many daytime and Haunt guests complained about fiesta village seating and not being able to ride the bumper cars. I also highly doubt they reduced the number of tickets they sell for Haunt, so now the end result is just going to be an even more crowded park...

Unless the video is only intended to be background stuff (like a high tech matte painting), 3D would make a lot more sense.

The burst mode is just like the burst mode of any other camera. The only difference is Apple put it in the software that it will recommend the ones its algorithm thinks are the best (indicted by a grey dot underneath when you hit favorites to view the whole burst).

^^This is the same park that is adding another kiddie coaster to shamelessly add one more coaster to their count, so nothing is beyond the realm of possibility.

My random Haunt thoughts: -DJ at the entrance: I hate you YOLO crowd. Not exactly the best way to set the tone of a scary atmosphere. -Photo booths in maze queues: terrible, annoying idea. -No maze in Fiesta Plaza and Bumper Cars: wasted space. They are now down to only 10 mazes (I don't count Trapped, since it is an upcharge), which is still a ton, but with how ridiculously crowded the park gets on the weekend... -Knott's rid themselves of shaker cans...now I think it is time to rid themselves of snarls. It works for people whose costumes are skulls/zombies/animals....but not EVERYONE needs to snarl. Especially costumes that are human. -Fiesta Village scare zone: WTF? -Necropolis: best street zone by far. Talent was great, full of energy, in character, and having tons of fun. Now onto the reviews: Winner of the night: Black Magic. This is pretty close to HHN level in quality. Nice sets, a good mix of scares with performance scares, and some innovative stuff that not even HHN does: projection mapping on the facade and a cool scare/scene (I won't spoil it) I haven't seen anywhere else before. Runner up: Forevermore. The narration helps a lot, since I am sure most of the Haunt guests will have no idea what half the stories are. But again, some nice scenes with fun scares. Not sure what the finale was supposed to accomplish, but I love a nice big room with an actual ending, something HHN NEVER does. And the video in the queue to get the backstory going is a nice touch. 2nd runner up: Mirror Mirror. Aside from the super low capacity, what they did was brilliant to get the most out of a tiny maze. You'll eventually figure out what is going on, and think "that's clever!" I wish this maze was a larger, as a mirror maze that really disorients you is a GREAT way to get scares out of talent that was otherwise not really doing much. In the next category, are the "solid, but nothing mind blowing (mainly because they returned from last year) Winner: Trick or Treat. Love the entrance and finale scenes. Talent good throughout the maze too. Just a fun maze. Runner up: Pinocchio Unstrung. Love the original concept and the talent was doing great. 2nd runner up: tie between Slaughterhouse and Endgames. Neither of these mazes were great, but they were not terrible either. The reconfigurations they've done from their original forms help the set design stand out more, but the talent was about 1/2 good and 1/2 bad. And in the last category, the disappointments: -Gunslingers Grave: BEAUTIFUL sets. But it lost me when half the costumes were just guys with bandanas over their face not doing anything. And why do you need a western themed maze when you have Ghost Town? I think with some retooling this maze could be great, but was probably the most disappointing of the new mazes. -Dominion of the Damned: I have never been impressed with the vampire mazes, mainly because I rarely see the talent scaring. You would think that based on the vampire mazes at Haunt, all vampires are lazy people who like to stare and hiss at you. This one also has great sets, but no talent. -Delirium: I think this ones time has passed. That's all I can really say. Still the same maze it has always been, but the talent seems less energetic now. Shows... -Hanging was more hit than miss this year joke wise. The same show you'll love and hate. The Disney and Universal jokes this year were good. Don't buy the scratch and sniff card. You'll thank me later for that tip. -Elvira: Bring Back Ed Alonzo please. You really have to understand Elvira's cheesy humor to be able to enjoy this. The dance crew they have as her dancers are really good, but her jokes are about as cheesy as you can get. Which you will either love or think "WTF is this crap?". You might also be disappointed the aforementioned dancers don't really show skin, something that has always been a staple of shows that go in the Shultz theater. -Possessed: The show probably drags on a bit too much for the payoff, but the concept is great and the use of the Mystery Lodge effects makes for a neat show. The new ending is a perfect way to end the show.

Cats. Simply because Dogs > Cats.

^^You beat me to it! I imagine with the parks in Japan operating in cold weather/snow, the chances of them having a ride valley are much greater.

Try a Costco too, they usually have tickets that save a few dollars off the price at the gate.

Well eventually it will be sold as a part of this projects inevitable bankruptcy. Hopefully it won't be for scrap.

A decent weekend of football ahead... ND/Oklahoma Georgia/LSU Wisconsin/Ohio State And USC gets its first real road test at ASU---offense better show up if they want to stand a chance!

"Major events like the MTV movie awards"---LOL! Curious George and the Studio Souvenirs gift shop are also completely demolished.

Modern NHL arenas are not cheap. You need to have a city that will not just have the fans, but have enough fans/businesses to purchase suites and premium seating, be able to sell the sponsorships, and be able to attract other shows/teams to fill the building the rest of the year. Seattle has the best shot IMO.

^That would be awesome. Seeing a ship that large being built in person must be cool!

My takeaway from that article is that the families with special needs children got so accustomed to Disney going above and beyond to accommodate them that it will be "impossible" for THEM to adjust. It is fair to say that we will never be able to truly understand what they go through, since many of us do not have special needs children, but the reality is that if they want to be treated as a "normal" guest---this is what a normal guest has to experience.

That is correct. The spokesperson wasn't lying when she called it an industry standard.

If you spend the full night at the event, you can easily see everything. Maze wait times are only high in the middle of the night. From opening till around 9pm, they are all under an hour wait. They also die down very quick towards the end of the event, so the last hour of the night the wait times are also 30 minutes or less. Most of the wait times are actually over posted as well---last year Silent Hill would have a 2 hour wait posted and was 60-70 minutes.