upstop

Halloween Haunt needs a mascot/icon that gets its own house as well....I like the Caretaker at the gate. He's fun but I don't hang out at the gate for long. But maybe the "King's" Island Creative team can whip up an overseer and a house that changes every couple of seasons to accommodate a series of phobias....Maybe a mad doctor....I'll call him Dr. Phear...who has the cure for all of your fears. First year spiders...next year snakes....etc. Or maybe each year an icon from one pf the houses....like Sam the Butcher one year or (maybe a clown from Carnevil)...heck this year Banshee should have popped up all over the park in houses and zones.

I did both and they seemed to be "well lighted".... Almost too much light. So much so that I could easily see all scare actors in their hiding places and I could easily tell that one of the characters was caged behind red bungee cords. Plus I dont understand the criss-crossing of the entrance and exit lines to both attractions. Over all both are improvements but still not quite "there" for me. Plus...did anyone else notice the shout out to Phantom Theater in Slaughterhouse?

Le Growl.....le howl....

Nice....now if only the other facades would be upgraded to this level.

Have any pictures of that? I'm sure I do...somewhere. I rarely recorded the events myself, so I'll have to do searching and scanning...LOL... I use to "do it up" here. My house was built in the 1700's and it sits on a hill. (it's been remodeled since so it doesn't have the colonial look to it anymore.) I used to put green party lights in every room and on the porch. Turn on the fog machine in my "graveyard"(rose garden... ), aim a lightning machine with strobe lights from a tree downward towards the walking path (it had a cassette device that timed it to thunder.) and I would dress in character with the HM soundtrack playing in a loop....all the while passing out candy to the kiddies. My house has been themed to Poltergeist, Psycho, Phantom Theater, The Haunting of Hill House, and many more. Here is how I recreated the busts. 1. get a cheap latex mask, preferably one with out hair or attachments. 2. Cover the eyes and mouth hole with duct tape from the inside of the mask. 3. fold the back of the mask inwards towards the facial area, to form a pocket that can be stuffed. 4. stuff the pocket with something solid. I used newspaper, but as I remember, it wanted to float....so I would suggest something more solid.... perhaps clay. 5. turn the mask upside down with the face upwards in a small, deep tray. I used a hospital wash tray that I got from the local hospital. You can use anything that is non-stick. 6. spray down the mask and the tray with Pam or some non-stick cooking spray. Be sure to cover all crevices. 7. Mix Plaster of Paris and pour over the entire mask. It took two boxes of plaster for one bust. 8. let the plaster cure for 48 hours. 9. carefully turn the mold over onto a stable surface and carefully peel out the mask. You should have an inverted image of the mask. 10. To enhance the effect, use black paint to paint the outer edges of the mold. 11. I built a box frame and pedestal to display the bust with a candle in front of the mold. I placed them on either side of my sidewalk leading to my house. As I remember, I crossed the street to test them and as you walked down the street the images did appear to follow you. Probably cost about 30 dollars to create way back when.

Hmm... I stand corrected...LOl...it won't be sit down conversion. I figure that most of the money will be spent in converting the station for the floor, along with the electronics. Now I suppose we still have CENTRURION to look out for... Wonder what that could be and where it could go???

Practice makes perfect.... Um...I'm obsessed with DHM.... I recreated the moving busts using plaster casts of a Halloween mask and enhanced them by candle light and I used to play the soundtrack while passing out Halloween candy....LOL

Most horror is conceived from real situations/dreams/ideas but enhanced with imagination...believe it or not even the Nightmare on Elm street has it's basis in reality. My understanding is that Wes Craven read an article about immigrants who were having nightmares and refused to sleep because of it. Eventually several of them died in their sleep. This combined with a Wes Craven nightmare of a strange man, gave birth to Freddie Krueger. Originally Freddie was supposed to be a child molester. But during the time of his writing the script, there were many molestations occurring, so Wes changed the plot (due to sensitivity of the issue) to Freddie being a child murderer. All horror is based on basic human fears....right now reality is scarier than make believe for certain. My thoughts on the sensitivity issue...If I knew someone who was murdered, I probably wouldn't be going to a Halloween event anyway.....

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=889326&ocid=ansent11 Wow. I wonder what kind of subliminal marketing went into that movie...LOL

I'm sure it's been a year or more in the planning. They probably have several features ready to install for the ride at the right moment. In a post movie interview, it was stated that they were planning a Broadway musical and "it wasn't a matter of if, but when"; therefore, I'm sure the Imagineering design cogs were turning prior to the movies initial release last November. ....I wonder if they will have a "final ride" on Maelstrom?

This is kind of the way Disney does it now....pump out a movie...call it a classic, then post-advertise it with a ride to extend the money grab while it's still fresh in the kiddies minds. There are so many movies and character stuff now that it's kind of frightening. Ask a kid about Mickey Mouse and they know that character....Roger Rabbit, maybe they will recognize the character....Bernard and Miss Bianca...probably not. At the time the Rescuers was a very popular movie, but even Disney (at the time) didn't see it as "endearing". Now if a character can be slapped on a lunch box or stuffed into a toy animal it gets its own attraction or themed area (no matter how bad the attraction turns out to be.....Stitch's Escape anyone?)

....uh oh.....here comes the mothership.....

The last few times I've been to WDW, I've spent the day at Disney's Hollywood and towards closing, I've walked the path through to the Boardwalk Resort and on to the EPCOT entrance just to see IllumNations....then it was off to my hotel. Spectacular show and well worth seeing over and over. (and also Fantasmic on a hot night, it is a blessing in disguise.)

I'm guessing that it will still be the water ride only themed to Frozen. I can see the part where you drop down the hill backwards as where Elsa confronts Anna and tells her to leave the ice castle... and woosh, you go down the hill backwards, then the final splashdown is into the village with all the happy little people, dancing to a happy song and living happily ever after....lol

Let it go....let it go....

^^ How cool is that? I remember that last day, and saw my signature on the card. Thanks for posting!

^^ Tell you what....you can have the Eagles and we'll take Fury 325....Deal?

The first ride anticipation was intense. I kind of figured by the layout in the construction area, the concrete structure that could be viewed from the train the year before opening and some of the promotion pictures after announcement that it might have been a Top Spin....but the ride really exceeded all my expectations. I never rode the ride after the Kinzel makeover...just didn't seem worth my time.

Magic Wrist band......Apple IWatch with IPay.....didn't see that coming.

It's nothing new, but it wasn't like EPCOT/Six Flags-in your face back then either. Usually it was a advertisement in a brochure, or map or in small print on the entry sign. Basically, I think we are joking about how far the advertising could be taken.

Kayak Pools sponsored Kenton Cove Keelboat Canal. ( they even had a full sized above ground pool at the ride exit for a while)

It all sounds so EPCOTish.

^^ More like a microwave instead of a scrambler?

At one time Busch Gardens Williamsburg had their Catapult ride (Scrambler) indoors. It was interesting since the walls were painted to look like a village and there was textured lighting that made it appear that you were scrambling through a midnight forest. Every once in a while lightning would strike and thunder would roar. Great ride!

The Mantis is getting squashed.....the train portion was the "Mantis" of the ride, not the track...So maybe the train is getting "squashed" into a sit down version...the floorless idea is nice but think of the modifications to the electronics and the station. Going with this route of conversion would allow more money to go elsewhere in the park. I think the train is getting converted and the track is getting painted, maybe toss in a couple of tunnels and then voila!.... "new" coaster.