MiceChat - Other Theme Parks and Destinations

News Universal Studios Singapore tickets start from S$32 for seniors

josh_kslow — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:09:59 GMT

Quote:

Ticket Price for Universal Studios Singapore announced
Universal Studios Singapore� offers up family fun at incredible value
Tickets to the region�s first and only Universal Studios� theme park start from S$32 for seniors

Singapore, 18 November 2009 � Come early next year, Singaporeans and visitors will get to visit Southeast Asia�s first and only Universal Studios theme park opening in Resorts World� Sentosa.

Resorts World Sentosa today announced the ticket prices for passes to Universal Studios Singapore, which begins as attractively as S$32 for a senior-citizen day pass to S$118 for a two-day adult pass. Starting from a weekday rate of S$66 for an adult and S$48 for a child, a family of four could enjoy a full-day outing at Universal Studios Singapore for the equivalent of a buffet brunch at an upscale hotel (see Annex A for rates)...

The full article can be read from That's Malaysia

Cool... the price is almost like HKDL.

IAAPA 2009 Las Vegas

MJHammer1 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:02:37 GMT

The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions 2009 Expo has started in sunny Las Vegas, the first time the industry trade show has been held there.

Scott and Carol have been reporting from the floor, where tons of industry suppliers and organizations have booths promoting their products. There's also a lot of informational classes and presentations.

Lots of news and cool photos usually come out from the IAAPA Expo, as the suppliers are trying to "show off" their latest and greatest. Here's some update links (I'll add more as they are published):

Opening day presentations and general info

Special look at the Gravity Group's new Timberliner coaster trains

Lots of varied photos and news from the trade show floor, including snow in Vegas!

Mike

News Ferrari World Abu Dhabi

josh_kslow — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:09:00 GMT

Quote:

Taken from the website of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
�Ferrari World Abu Dhabi�, you only need to say the name and the possibilities start racing through your head. This is a world first from a brand that thrives on being first.

�Opening in 2010, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is set to be the world�s largest indoor theme park, sitting under a roof designed in the style of a classic double-curve body shell of a Ferrari GT car. There is energy, excitement and passion for the entire family at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. With over 20 rides and attractions, including the world�s fastest rollercoaster, Ferrari World is more than a theme park � it is where Ferrari�s legendary story is unveiled.�

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will captivate the whole family with its array of engaging activities. Couple this with its extremely innovative architecture, a dash of Italian spirit, and you will surely live an experience like nothing else you have before.

Download a *FREE TPR DVD** - November 27th, 2009

robbalvey — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:52:08 GMT

Hey everyone!

Friday November 27th, 2009 is Black Friday!

Once again Theme Park Review will be giving away a free downloadable DVD for **ONE DAY ONLY**

For more details - LINK!

Happy Black Friday to everyone!

--Robb

News Michel Den Dulk leaves Europa Park for WDI !!!

DLRP_bopazot — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:31:41 GMT

Michel Den Dulk one of the Europa Park creatives leaves Rust in Germany for WDI in California .

I wish him a great future in WDI !!!!!!!!!!!

Trip Report Knott's 11/15/09 (first time in 10 years!)

goldenstate5 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:14:04 GMT

WARNING: There be an extremely long post ahead!

When I moved to LA earlier this year, the first thing I did was purchase a Disneyland AP. I've been a Disney guy for years, and rarely wandered off their properties. The obvious exception is Universal, which does it better in places than Disney, but I'm not that much in love with it. The other chains? Y'know, the Six Flags, Sea Worlds, Cedar Fairs and Busch Gardens? It's either been not since the 90's or just never. The one I most wanted to visit again was definitely Knott's Berry Farm, which I had not visited since early 2000, at age 11, nearly out of elementary school, but not quite yet. Knott's had been a staple of my 90's childhood, even more common than Disneyland. Vague memories always reminded me of the Derby Soap Box Racers, the constant honking of the trucks in Camp Snoopy, the "scary" Calico Mine Ride and dinners at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Restaraunt. But it all came to an end in the 1996, when I moved to Las Vegas. After one more last visit in 2000, my Knott's days were over, only to be glimpsed at on the way to Disneyland.

Well, I finally decided to head down there with a friend today as the deal was too good to pass up ($30 day pass ticket online). Even though I was there in 2000, I hadn't been there since Cedar Fair really took the park into its clutches. I knew about the changes and the various rides that have been added (not surprisingly, mostly roller coasters), but I was curious about what kind of experience I would be getting in comparison to Disney and Universal. The answer is much less of a crowded, absorbing headache, but nowhere near near the level of perfection the theme park giants put into their layout. Let me explain. (get a snack, maybe a glass of water, you may need it)

Before paying the cheaper-than-Disney, but still outrageously priced $12.00 for parking, we admired how Beach Blvd and much of the rest of Buena Park is nicer than Harbor Blvd and Katella. Less cheap-o restaraunts, less tacky hotels, better landscaping. (yes, GardenWalk is a recent plus) Though considering that Disney will make parents look for the nearest thing that's cheaper, it isn't a surprising. And they have a Fuddrucker's, which I've always wished would come to Anaheim. If I had a Knott's AP, I'd make it a must to exit the park and just stroll along the street for lunch, there's plenty of great selections. Back onto parking, it's nice to park directly across from the park/marketplace in a quaint lot like how DL used to be, although this one's small enough that there's no tram necessary. (a parking lot in the back, as well as an additional park entrance helps things out) I was shocked how easy it was to walk right up to the whole thing, not to mention how well it's laid out. Everything, aside from Soak City, is arranged spectacularly, unlike the somewhat confusing Disney layout. The "official" hotel and marketplace merely sit in front of the park in a row. Brillantly simple. Even parking was easy to find, just follow the sign that says Knott's and it takes you right to it. I think we can all see the comparison here and how Knott's is arguably better.

At about 9:45 we arrive at the front gate (after walking alongside the still cute marketplace, a Downtown Knott's, if you will) to hear snazzy orchestral version of folk songs such as "Oh Susanna!" blasting over the loudspeakers as we waited to enter. I was tickled by the fact that I never thought what Cedar Fair, who's only owned property was the Peanuts gang (and IIRC, they don't have the rights to use Vince Guaraldi's music), would use as entrance "mood setting" music. Disney and Universal have plenty of things to choose from, but I guess dipping into the public domain will have to do. Anyways, the whiff of nostalgia that overcame me with the familiar sights is immediately gone the second the Silver Bullet makes its test run, soaring through the cobra roll that faces the gate. The fact that this place is different now made its imprint on me even before I could step into the park. Needless to say, I was ready to start exploring.

So, rather than contuning on with a play-by-play of my trip, I'm going to basically state where Knott's goes right, and where Knott's goes wrong, and a few other anecdotes. A comparison, if you will, of the Disney experience to the Cedar Fair/Knott's experience.

Let me start off with a huge praise, if you can even call it one. (i.e. this is something that park isn't exactly in control of) The crowds were as light as a feather for the bulk of the day, which is impossible to find at Disneyland, even on an off-season weekday. I couldn't believe that still, three hours in, I could walk into huge pathways with barely a person in sight. Unlike sometimes at DL, I always felt like I had breathing room and many intimate moments could be had. Thanks to Princess and the Frog, even a relatively unknown area such as the Court of Angels in New Orleans Square is now crowd hungry. Tom Sawyer's Island has just recovered from a case of crowd-itis, but you know it will be swamped again with the release of Pirates 4. Former "treasures" wanting to be discovered such as the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough suffer from crowd clogging its once quaint chambers. (and not just because it's "new") At Knott's, one can explore the entirety of Ghost Town with its animated characters and authentic buildings throughout the day without waiting for anyone do be done seeing it to, creating a nice, calming and ultimately charming experience. And lines? The longest one I sat through was Perlious Plunge for 30 minutes, due to technical difficulties (we'll get to that later), and that was nearly double the times I usually waited. Walk-ons were extremely common throughout the day, which was pleasantly surprsing considering the complex strategy one has to put in for DL in order to avoid a line surpassing 30 minutes. A definite plus for Knott's.

Now, crowds aren't within Cedar Fair's control. They come at their own will. However, Knott's is lucky to have an enormous array of attractions and things to do and only keeps expanding, which Disney is somewhat lacking in. Even with California Adventure, all there seems to be are just the "biggies", while the smaller, less noticed ones are few and far in-between and usual many in refurbishment. Knott's has an incredible amount of little things to do, from Ghost Town, to the very unique shops (whereas Disney is pretty one-note aside from a couple here and there), to the games to the arcades. Even the food options spark a variety, from outside vendors (Panda Express, Johnny Rockets) to Knott's own kitchens. Yes, this screams typical theme park, but themeing is one thing and having stuff to keep you busy is another. Especially since it soaks up crowds, which DL needs sorely. (let's hope that DCA remodel reels them in)

By now, it may seem like Knott's is winning the fight over Disneyland, which is far from the truth. There are quite a few faults in Cedar Fair's model. The first of which is something that absolutely baffled me. Unlike Disney and Universal, there are zero, I repeat, ZERO posted wait times at ride entrances. Now, this makes sense at some Camp Snoopy attractions and some of the flat rides, but many of the biggies have lines that you can't quite make out. No wait time board, no nothing. In other words, going to stand in a ride's line at Knott's is like pressing your luck. You better hope you don't land in an hour-long wait, because by the time you find out, you're stuck. Of course, it did not matter since I only waited 15 minutes at the most everytime, but is it really that hard to install an LED pattern at some ride entrances? Not so much to ask for, and I guarantee it'll make guests much happier knowing what choices they have. I hated having to risk my time when riding every single ride. I know it seems insignificant, but it's not.

Another incredible fault of Knott's is the loading of many rides, especially the ones that use the cubby system. Every theme park has them, the ride that's so fast and intense with a unique type of vehicle that pretty much no loose articles can be brought one. Knott's has a plethora of them. As a way to help guests out, cubbies are located on the other side of the station where they can store all loose items that a guest might have. (may I say that I did not know this upon purchasing my $8 locker rental, lucky I wanted to remove my jacket or else it would have been a giant ripoff) Well, this system's good and all, but it horribly slows down the loading time. Not because people are first storing their items away before taking their seat, but more due to the rather incompent (but friendly) staff. For some reason, they just are not able to notice some foolish tourist (usually a kid or someone foreign) has buckled in already with loose articles, meaning they have to undo ALL of the restraints, let that guy off, have him put stuff in a cubby and let him back on, instead of just taking his stuff. The worst part? This usually happened around three times in a single load cycle! Not only did it feel like an eternity from stepping in to the actual ride time, but waiting after the ride to get off (because of a train in the station) felt twice as long as the ride itself. Just absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention half the time the waiting was exacerbated by the staff goofing off. This is far from Disney's lightning quick load cycles. The line may be long on Splash Mountain, but those CMs know exactly what to do once you get there and you're on way in a log before you know it. (ironically, the log ride at Knott's had easily the best and fastest loading cycle and team of employees running it)

Okay, those are my two big praises and my two big complaints. Let's move onto the actual attractions now (didn't I say this would be long? ;)). I'll talk about this more with theming below, but much of Knott's is slightly schizophrenic in many departments. One half of it is remnants of a Disneyland wanna-be from Knott's pre-Cedar Fair days that puts an earnest effort forward, and the other is a roller coaster-obsessed wonderland that Cedar Fair is trying to push. To Cedar Fair's credit, the coasters are well-placed and are dressed in a mild coat of themeing unlike another certain coaster-crazy company. The result is a strange, but rather unique assortment of attractions. Let's start with the Disney-inspired, Knott's purchased items first.

The obvious firsts are the Timber Mountain Log Ride and the Calico Mine Ride. Timber Mountain pre-dates Splash Mountain, and even though Splash is neat to look out during the show scenes, Timber Mountain is more fun to ride. The log sloshes through the trough at a rapid pace, truly creating the illusion of being stuck in a streaming flume. Splash makes its way through the show scenes quickly, but not in such a fun way. Let's just say that the drops were not the best part of Timber Mountain. The Calico Mine Ride, may be a classic, but it's also lame, lame, lame. The ride is an outdated Jungle Cruise ripoff which made me thankful that Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland was replaced by Big Thunder, though that might have been better executed. The terrible western accents of the guides, the horribly pathetic attempt at jokes and fading sets and lighting make this entire attraction an embarrasment in need of a serious tune-up. But unless it's going to go over 60 MPH, I doubt Cedar Fair could care much.

Fiesta Village offers Montezuma's Revenge, a fun Schwarzkopf flywheel attraction which is now truly one-of-its-kind. I remember wanting to ride this as a kid, but never could reach the height limit. For such an old ride, it's surprisingly intense. Also there is Jaguar!, which one assumes is Knott's answer to Indy considering the theming, which is a fun family coaster that sweeps its way through the right side of the park. Guests of all ages seem to enjoy it, as far as being the "cool, big and bad roller coasters only" teenager's guilty pleasure. There's some pre-Cedar Fair flat rides, but I could care less. The same goes with most of Camp Snoopy, which I'll address later.

The Wilderness section has Bigfoot Rapids. While Disney's Grizzly River Run may be more dynamic with lots of cool tricks, Bigfoot's simplicity somehow allows for more opportunities for drenching. I got much more wet on this ride than I ever did on GRR. There's also the Mystery Lodge theatre attraction, which combines a live actor with holographic effects. A myriad of unused switchbacks suggest that the show used to show continously back in the 90's, but has since relegated to a show every now and then. (there were about six showings in the 9-hour operating day) Considering the age, it must not be as popular to demand it. The show itself is a good reason why. It's a long wait for a mere eight minutes of a Native American blathering on somewhat nonsensically with a shoestring script accompanied by some neat effects that Universal has more greatly utilized since. Having never seen the show, I was always intrigued on what it might be, and I was greatly disappointed. With a stronger script and more characters, this show would be ten times as popular.

I'm extremely tired right now, so tomorrow (PART TWO), we'll examine the Knott's attractions built after Cedar Fair's acquisition, and how the theming holds up...

Question Knott's busy tomorrow? (11/15/09)

goldenstate5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:20:28 GMT

I was thinking of going to Knott's tomorrow for the first time in nearly a decade. Is this a good idea, or will it be super busy?...

News Let Vegas Put You "In" Cloud Nine. The New Balloon Will Be Love At First Flight!

Ride Warrior — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:06:05 GMT

Las Vegas' new Cloud Nine Balloon is touted as "the world's largest, land-tethered helium balloon ride." One can reach heights of around 500 feet in a gondola that built to hold 25 to 30 people. Sounds like a feast for the senses to take in the variety of sights below, including all of that high stakes gambling. On board, meals and party food are served ..don't loose your lunch! There is also a bar. Cheers everyone!

Check out the site info: Cloud Nine Balloon

Scarywood 09

Jspider — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:21:21 GMT

I wrote a trip report from my recent trip to Scarywood for my own blog/facebook and I guess I'll paste a basic version of it here. Not many photos sadly though and I'm not sure I'll post mine here. Coaster Alley did take a few earlier in October though...

Despite being a theme park fanatic, I've never been to a real haunt event. So when I heard that Silverwood (closest park to home) was hosting its own haunt I jumped at the opportunity to see the beginnings of their new event.

Tickets were a great deal at only $27 and rumours were that some nights were being oversold, so my group ordered online and showed up on Halloween itself. Silverwood doesn't normally operate in the fall so Halloween would also be their last day of operation. The Park offered two special Halloween attractions. One was a Halloween layover of their traditional train ride across the property (Silverwood actually has a rather large acreage to it so the train travels through a bit of forest and other areas outside the traditional park grounds). The other attraction was a walk-through called "Terror Canyon Trail", which was placed in the drained flume of their "Thunder Creak Rapids" ride.

When I showed up on the 31st though I found that the park was fairly uncrowded and it seemed to remain so for the rest of the day. Most rides had no wait time and crowds seemed to materialise only around 6:00 (start time for the special events). There were daytime events for the kids like a Halloween trick or treat trail and a costume contest of sorts featuring Garfield and Odie. It all looked cute enough but since there weren't any kids in my party we just enjoyed the awesome custom wooden coasters until nightfall (Silverwood has four coasters but only the two wooden ones are truly one of a kind).

When 6:00 rolled around the music to the park switched over to more Halloween styled songs (including the theme to "Halloween" the movie). Guests were instructed to briefly all return to the main street area of the park while the rest of the park switched into Halloween mode. My group took this time to get in line for the train before the wait became too long.

The train took a while to bring around the track and get loaded so the ride didn't start until after 6:30. The overlay was interesting, basically they setup a few setpieces and areas around the track for a bit more show then is featured normally. Most of the scares were prop based with a few instances were live actors interacted with the people on the train. The three main events on the train ride were a ghoul who destroys the bridge, a hold-up by two ghouls who eat one of the guests on the train, and an extra stop that has zombies hop aboard the train and scare guests for a while before the train starts moving again. Overall I didn't actually care for the ride though. It felt much too childish then the signage implied. I really felt that if children were to have the daytime events then the nightime events should be more (especially when there are only two real attractions).

After we got off the train we decided to immediately go to the next special attraction. The train ride loaded on the mainstreet plaza so to get to the walkthrough we had to travel through the bulk of the house. The pathway from mainstreet into the park now had fog machines set all over it and a few actors posing as dolls and scarecrows to move subtly as you walked past them. The overall effect was great. The whole night-time atmosphere for the park was top notch and far above what I had experienced on the train ride.

The walkthrough continued this trend. There were several great scares and small areas to move through. They had even organised a few areas of the park as scenes with different themes and the actors were all very energetic and did their jobs well. If the train ride was based on props then the walkthrough was carried very well by its actors. The only complaint I can think of for the walkthrough is that there was only one (rumour has it there will be more in the coming years since this event has been considered a success by management).

After we were done with the attraction my group was tired so we headed back home. There was a magic show but the rest of my group didn't want to wait for it since we had a long drive ahead of us (which in retrospect is too bad as I hear the show is good).

Overall it was a great experience that I highly recommend, especially to those who can't make it to the big park events over in California or Florida. Theme parks are a great venue for this since their facilities much more capable then most spaces (comparing to your average haunted house in a rental space).

My Suggestions
Moving back to my original comments on the train ride. There were signs in-front of the ride that warned those getting aboard that the ride was not recommended for children under the age of 12. I however found that in its current condition this isn't the case. The ride wasn't really scary at all and had many childish moments that if anything discouraged the older rider. There were many areas were it was obviously trying to be more but couldn't quite reach it.

The language was one element that reflected a kind of confusion about were the age group would be for this ride. Instead of mentioning the ghouls feasting on our oragons they often spoke of how they would consume our souls (a very PG way of phrasing things) and the fact that they were callled ghouls rather then demons or anything that might convey a greater danger.

Though the bigger issue wasn't language but the audio in general. There was a character called scary jerry who was obvioulsy included simply for injecting humor into the narrarators lines but he often annoyed more then anything. The audio track often ran long and rambled alot more then it really should have. I was reminded of how Disney actually took a step out in recent years and cut back some of the dialog from the Ghost Host in the Haunted Mansion. Sure some extra dialoge can give riders a few cleaver puns and more backstory but often a scary ride really needs to have a moment or to were the atmosphere reaches out to you. If the narrarator can't shutup then eventually riders start talking above the narrarator and the scary atmosphere will completly vanish.

The other issue was mainly in repetative props and not enough motion in most scenes. It could have been that because we were there for their last night they did not have full actors out but it did feel like more could be done to automate the attraction. If they could just get a few small motors working to make a couple of the bodies twitch in a few places that'd be a great effect. The Spiders likewise could be more bountiful and perhaps have more webbing placed along the leadup to the spiders themselves.

My basic suggestions in order of importance would be:

Muzzle the narrarator - have him only give backstory and only during dead spaces in the ride (such as traveling past the water park). Most of the backstory would be better given in the audio tracks for the queue (which were a bit too repetitive).
Add atmospheric tracks - basically in place of the narrator try getting a few subtle recording tracks of scratching and creatures walking through the bushes, and a good creepy whispering tracks. Discovery used to have a show called "A Haunting" that made great use of this kind of audio work, really set people on edge while they go through the forest.
Lighting - most of the lighting was alright, but study what works and what hasn't. My main suggestion would be to temporarily shut off the lighting to the bridge when it is supposedly blown up. It will add much more to the explosion effect that way.
Improve animation - get a few simple motors to create a twitching effect for the corpses or a since of life to the spiders. There are some great Internet guides for how to make ghosts swoop by using things like garage door openers, use those suggestions along with basic projection effects on the trees.

I hope that Silverwood can really evaluate how this years event went and make it even greater next year for everyone. I like the rumours of added attractions but I'm not sure what other rides they could really overlay. One candidate would be their log flume, however that ride isn't operable in the cold temperatures and had already closed ahead of the park due to the risk of freezing.

I think that I'd be fairly happy with even one more maze. If finding sufficient actors becomes an issue for them then I'd suggest doing one based more on funhouse style dissorientation. Such a maze could use motion sensor activated sounds for most of its effects along with only a few set actors and one roming one.

Of course with a park like Silverwood its probably better to expect a fairly slow improvement grade as their market isn't as great as that found in California (the park is based out of Idaho after all).

Pictures Photo TR: Luna Park, Sydney, Australia (10/15/09)

sarki7 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:04:53 GMT

I managed to sneak in a few hours of amusement park time during my honeymoon in Australia. Good thing my wife likes parks too!

Nestled snugly across the harbour from the CBD, Luna Park is located in one of the most scenic places in the world.

This place nostalgic to a whole new level.

See what I mean??

The similarities to Coney Island are quite noticeable, for better or worse

On the plus side, plenty of old school amusement attractions

Vivid murals point the way to their only remaining coaster, a Wild Mouse

Placed on the rooftop of other attractions, space is understandably at a premium here.

There are other signs that real estate is encroaching. Long gone is the aging Arrow coaster that used to loop on the hillside above the park.

But what's left is a quirky little park in one of the most picturesque places you'll ever see.

Favorite Countries

TDRFAN25 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:27:45 GMT

I am just curious who loves to travel and what countries they have been to and what was their favorite country. Any future travels

I have been to Germany, Spain, Morocco, and Japan.
Favorite: Japan
Future:
2010: England, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Vatican City, Switzerland, France.
2010: New York City
2011: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea. 2012: Egypt, Greece, Turkey, 2012 Olympics, Ireland.
2013: Kenya, Tanzania, African Safari, South Africa.
2014: South America.
2015: Austrailia

Hi, intro and requests....

Ex CalicoMiner — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:55:46 GMT

Hi there everyone, I've been lurking this forum for the past week on several occasions thanks to Google...I've been searching for several things related to the Calico Mine Ride, Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland, and the Locomotive that is used @ Castle Park in Riverside. I've also noticed that a few old threads that Google directed me to brought up conversations of people who have been/(still may be?) working on layouts from Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland/Disneyland Railroad, so I may be in good company here since I've been toying with doing some On30 layouts of Mine Ride and Ghost Town Calico Railroad, and Nature's Wonderland has started to interest me as well.

I'm an ex Miner from Calico Mine Ride, worked 06-07 and loved it @ Mine Ride, left for other reasons. Anyways, I've been in contact with a couple of my shift leaders/coworkers I worked with and have been talking about trying to find some more pictures of Mine Ride. I have a very large archive already, but recently I heard Train 6 has been repainted from yellow to red, and I've yet to see any photos surface. Also, though I've met Bud myself, I never got to ask him about his park he had in Riverside. I heard Castle Park houses a locomotive that is either 1) similar to the Calico Mine Ride locos (steel cabbed side tank porter, Train 4 5 & 6 style), but painted black. Or 2) a locomotive that has some importance to me as it was used in Jungle Island @ Knott's. If anyone here has any information or photos they're willing to share I'd be very greatful.

Also, Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland is starting to interest me. I have seen *some* pictures, but not a whole lot. My old shift lead for Mine Ride had also worked Mine Train @ DLR, and I was very interested in seeing pictures and differences between Mine Ride and Mine Train. I'm sort of playing with the idea of doing a layout of that, just to have it since it seems very interesting and exciting, knowing that there was another Mine Ride out there, even though I never got to experience it.

I am really sorry if this is in the wrong place, or is a lot of stuff to put into one thread, but since Google has been redirecting me here more than anywhere in my searches, I figure that some folks here may be able to help me out. And if it is in the wrong thread, feel free to move it, I figured that this has more to do with other themeparks than being "off topic" but I could be way off base here.

Thanks to anyone who can help!

New Huanted Castle ride coming in 2010

AtomicBear — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:10:02 GMT

News Plus Notes theme park blog has a time lapse video of construction of the new Haunted Castle at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

NewsPlusNotes: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Time Lapse Video

YouTube - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk NEW Haunted...

Quote:

The new Haunted Castle will be a massive dark ride featuring state of the art effects and will be three times larger than the previous ride.

Here is a animatic of the ride featuring concept art. Note that you go underground backward in the ride which explains the new super basement they are building.

YouTube - NEW HAUNTED CASTLE RIDE 2010

Trip Report Halloween Attractions 2009

dani_tink — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:18:40 GMT

So I have had a chance to compare some of the different haunted houses this year from Arizona to Knott's and overall Knott's won. Knott's Halloween Haunt was by far the best one out there. As far as intensity goes Knott's Haunt wins because the one's in Arizona rely too much on people being afraid of chainsaws which is good for people like my brother however Knott's is just intense because of how many actors/actresses they have playing the monsters. They don't really rely on chainsaws. I however, did not get to do the Nest yet and plan to do it next year. The Nest takes place in Avondale, AZ and is supposed to be amongst the 13 most scariest haunted attractions in the US. It's just Knott's was cheaper than the Nest this year. I did do Fear Farm which is also in Avondale, AZ and it was way better then AZ Scream Park and Festival of Fear. I rate Fear Farm a 7 overall. They had 4 mazes that took place in an actual corn field. I thought it was great, all except their Carnevil maze. That was their clown maze and it was just kind of lame. My brother ran through a lot of the maze called Chainsaw Mayham. Their best mazes were Chainsaw Mayham and The Asylum. Festival of Fear (Phoenix, AZ- Wet N Wild Waterparks attraction) I would say had one of the best 3-D mazes I have been to all Halloween season. Their lamest attraction was the Tunnel that they called a maze but really was just a tunnel. AZ Scream Park (Scottsdale, AZ) I felt actually a bit ripped off about paying $23 to get in and their mazes weren't really that scary. My brother didn't even scream once in any of their mazes. However, they did manage to improve from a Sunday to a Wednesday. I managed to go there on a Sunday and a Wednesday because the dust on the ground and in the mazes makes it really hard to breathe even for those who don't have asthma (I don't but I knew people who went who just couldn't do the mazes due to that). But still this season nothing compares to Knott's Haunt. Fear Farm with a few years practice may get to be as good as Knott's as far as intensity goes, however I think Knott's should learn how to do corn mazes from Fear Farm because this year the lamest maze at Knott's I would have to say was Cornstalkers. Well overall I think they all did good, loved Knott's Haunt and will definately return next year. Also will check out more Halloween events next year too. To all the Haunt monsters, you guys were great and keep it coming next year. You guys all rock. Loved it all. To everyone who either went with me and my brother or met up with us, I thank you for making it even more fun, the more people I can get to go next year the more fun it will be for all.

News Roller Coasters in the RAW Volume 4!

robbalvey — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:30:10 GMT

PRE-ORDER THIS DVD NOW! SHIPS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9th!

Theme Park Review Store - Roller Coaster & Theme Park Stuff!

The next installment of Roller Coasters in the RAW includes more than 30 coasters including: Fireball, Millennium Force, Prowler, Xcelerator, Tonnerre De Zeus, After Burn (Top Gun), Rampage, Mindbender (West Edmonton Mall), Expedition GeForce, Goliath (Walibi World), Leap The Dips, Silver Bullet, Legend (Holiday World), Georgia Scorcher, Ozark Wildcat, Jetline, and many MORE!

--Robb Alvey
Theme Park Review