Gabe

At Tombstone, the first wait is for the train, and there is no Fright Lane que. Each train has enormous capacity and if you go on a Friday, shouldn't be more than a 1-2 train wait. They run both trains. The second line, which is the line for the actual Haunt, does feature Fright Lane. As noted above, arrive at open on Friday, hit some low capacity stuff like Invertigo, Firehawk and FOF, along with as many of the indoor mazes and you should be able to knock it all out w/o purchasing either pass. Haunt will only get busier as we move into October.

Disney is dipping its toe back into the Fantasia waters with an upcoming Fantasia-based Kinect game for X Box. If that's a hit, perhaps we'll see more.

The coaster cars from KC were stored at one point underneath the track inside the FOF building. I specifically recall sitting in one during a KIC behind the scenes tour a few years ago, though by now they're likely long gone. The actual KC sign is still on display inside the sign shop if you ever get a chance to go through there on a behind the scenes tour.

Most of the park rides are open during Haunt, except SRR, CF and WWC (Haunt locale), and ALL the rides in Planet Snoopy. The park wasn't that busy on opening night last Friday. I arrived at 6:15, did every maze and scare zone and every open ride save for FOF and BLSC without Fright or Fast Lane by the time the park closed. The longest maze lines were for Kill Mart, Madame Fatale and Tombstone, which were all only about 10-15 minutes. Rides were virtual walk ons save for BLSC and FOF (30 minutes). Diamondback was listed at 30 when I got there, but halfway through the line, she went down for about 20 minutes (they closed the que behind me). Once open, I was on in about 10 minutes.

Which is why WDW keeps shifting its ride rehab dates around all the time. On my last visit, Astro Orbiters, COP and JC were all slated to be closed for a short 2 week rehab, but lo and behold just 2 days before my arrival, those rehabs were pushed back to the now less busy fall season.

Once it closes, I'll be glad to take Walt's plane off their hands. I'm sure I can find a place for it. I had heard a re-theme around Castastrophe Canyon was in the works.

I was there Columbus Day weekend last year. Crowds were up, yes, but not unbearably so or at their summer or holiday levels. I'd expect a 6/10 in terms of crowds. Even on slow days at Disney, crowd sizes rarely get below a 4/10. Utilize the Fastpass + early in the day to maximize your ride time and the rest will fall into place.

Don't lose track of the fact that time has nothing to do with whether these princesses are just now getting rides. Ariel, Belle, Jasmine and the rest of the old and older princesses were largely forgtten until sev years ago when Disney came up with the brilliant idea or repackaging them into their hugely successful princess line of everything imaginable (and for those geeks out there--there is an interesting story as to why the princesses on the packaging never look at each other--look it up ). That's what propelled these characters back into the minds and hearts of kids (and wallets of parents) and spurred the park to immortalize them in a ride. As for those harping on about the purpose of World Showcase at Epcot--go back and watch those mid 60s, Wonderful World of Disney shows featuring Walt's discussion of what he dubbed the "Florida Project". His vision for EPCOT and what came to be were two wildy different things.

The intrepid Grantland guys are at it again, with this interesting article tracing the roots of both Wet n' Wild and Schlitterbahn. Enjoy! http://grantland.com/features/the-wet-stuff-verruckt-waterslide-schlitterbahn/

Maelstrom has never been on the higher tier for FP+. As of now, the only rides on that tier are Soarin and Test Track. Some movies stand the test of time. Before the more modern princesses were branded on everything, nobody had really thought much of them once the movies had iniitally run their course. Now, however, Disney has made sure that those movies remain relevant 10, 15, 20 years later. The issue with the Frozen meet and greet in Norway was that it was simply clogging up the area. By moving it back to MK it can give those princesses the room needed to accomodate the throngs of people lined up to see them every day.

Disney does have significant leverage now over Cameron- in the form of Marvel that it didn't have in 2010. If he's going to be a hinderance, Disney could order the crews to stop working and draw up plans to utilize its vast Marvel universe to create something in its place. Or, they could use Lucasfilm as well. Who wouldn't like to see that land be turned into Endor, complete wih a speeder bike attraction. There are options.

Disney is doing lots of things to beef up AK in advance of Avatar. The new dinner show Harambe NIghts is a huge hit, and additional shows were added almost immediately after the initial run sold out. There is also a new show along the lines of World of Color coming to the park next year in the area between the Tree of Life and Everest. A lot of people poo-poohed the MK FL expansion and look what that's become. As to Cameron being a stickler, there were multiple confimed reports that Rowling was no less particular in how the Wizarding World looked. I'd imagine Universal had more than their fair share of change orders as the ride was being built.

If this is a first offense for these women, the Warren County prosecutor may just decide to offer a plea deal whereby the women could agree to repay the money (good luck), serve some community service, probation, agree to a lifetime ban from all Ohio parks and offer a public apology, rather than face jail. Here in Indiana, our criminal code was recently revised to allow judges to issue little or no jail time to such low-level offenses, thus saving the jail space for more serious offenders. While what these women did was reprehensible and wrong, I don't know that I'd offer up 2 jail beds for it.

I've also heard that the ride may simply get rehabbed with a 'Frozen' overlay. Now, anyone who has been on the neighboring Mexico boat ride in the past few years can tell you that the ride went from being an enjoyable ride giving you the cultural and natural highlights of Mexico pre-overlay, to being a horrible ride having nothing to do with Mexico, aside from the addition of the 3 Cabeleros and the innane plot of looking for Donald around Mexico so they can perform a concert. Now, nobody would argue that Malestrom is a serious representation of Norway either, but at least it is an enjoyable ride with some mild thrills thrown in which still sees decent lines, capacity notwithstanding. If they're going to remove it, and Disney is commited to seriously rehabbing Epcot, I would hope that instead of a cheap overlay they just remove the ride, repurpose the boats (they can easily be made to look like Kristoff's boat in the movie) and start over.

The concessionaire for the Midway is North American Midway Entertainment, based here in Indiana. I believe this is their 3rd year at the fair. On past visits, I've found their rides to be in good working condition and their employees dressed profesionally (polos and khakis). They have special wristband days, so check the Indiana State Fair website for more info. For those going on a day other than Tuesday, $3 discount admission tickets can be purchased at Indy-area Wal Marts and CVS locations. Our fair is relatively compact compared to neighboring state fairs, but it does offer quite a bit of free or low cost entertainment for the price of admission.

How long did Kentucky Kindom stand fallow--the entire park was SBNO for nearly 5 years after Mr. Six got back on his spooky bus and departed the scene. If the former park site isn't harboring any industrial waste, I doubt there's really that much of an outcry to clean it up, other than the site being somewhat of an eyesore. Simply put, the coaster continues to stand becasuse nobody knows who the true owner is. Does he have good title? Or is he simply a ghost of some sort? When people buy things, whether it be a can of corn, a house, a car or a coaster, they like to know that the seller has the legal right to sell such goods and has proper ownership of the item he's selling. Anyone buying this coaster fits PT Barnum's quote of a fool who is soon parted from his money.

I recently read a post from our friends at Coaster Crew that pointed out that as of 9/28/14, FP+ is no longer available for the Maelstrom ride in the Norway pavillion at Epcot, leading to speculation that 9/27/14 could be the last day for the ride. There have been on and off rumors since last year that the ride was slated for closure, in order to make way for a new Frozen attraction. It's no secret that Disney has been seeking $ sponorship for the pavillion for some time, esp since the country of Norway flat out refused to give any money towards it. Combined with the recent huge success of the Frozen princesses in Norway, and Frozen's ability to print money for the company, this time the rumor may have some legs. Where's our esteemed Screamscape source when we need him? . Also, whether this is related or not, the Disney Store, in conjunction with the parks, has released a 'limited edition' Maelstrom T shirt featuting the ride's depiction of Odin, whose eye glows in the dark, along with the phrase spoken as your boat goes up the lift hill ("You are not the first to pass this way...nor will you be the last".) for the low low price of $24.95. Maybe Norway itself gets transformed into Arrendelle. Time will tell.

Commish Rail and I agree that the system will be tweaked and improved upon as time goes by. Under the old system, the popular rides had their FP gone by midday--not too much fun for that family wanting to ride said attractions in the evening, esp if the park closed later at night (indeed, most big rides had their FP gone by midday even though the park may have been open till 9, 10 or later). The new system is an improvement in that, even during peak times, FP should theoretically be available much later in the day. On my last trip in May, most rides had FP availabiluty until 1-2 hrs before park closing. It also helps that rides like Soarin and Toy Story Midway are on their own seperate FP tier. Also keep in mind the Magicband is designed to be more than just a FP. It will serve as your purchasing agent for the entire resort--1.5 billion can be recouped in a short amount of time if each guest swipes away like Disney hopes they will. As I experienced, if you get to the park at rope drop, you can still easily get more then just the pre-booked 3 rides. Even arriving later in the day you still most likely will get at least the 3 you pre-booked.

Since KI has given up the Winterfest ghost, the Beach is more than happy to fill the void, even building a new tubing attraction. See below: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2014/08/the-beach-to-create-winter-wonderland.html

I helped those 'clowns' a few years ago. The owner is a mysterious entity that nobody seems to know much of anything about. Much like Howard Hughes before him, he has an agent who handles all of his business transactions. Kat and Harold didn't have nearly the funds or the resources to buy, let alone operate the BD, though they were more than earnest in their intents. My help was limited to a cursory review of the document presented to them by the agent. I did not offer them legal advice, since I am not a licensed Ohio attorney, but merely told them that from my standpoint, the purported document would lock them into a fianancial hellhole which would likely destory their credit and make them personally liable on multiple fronts--which is not a good thing. They wisely walked away and I know of no other suitors who have come forward since.

Keep in mind Terpy that by Spring of 2015, the next huge chunk of I-69 through Indiana will be open, so it will now be a straight shot from Martinsville to Evansville. That will make access to HW MUCH faster (shaves 30 min off the drive), so I'm sure HW perhaps wanted this ride to coincide with improved access next year. Having said that, welcome welcome welcome B & M to the great state of Indiana! I will be making my first visit to HW next season specifically to ride this.

There still exists a single rider line of some variation at Invertigo, but not until you reach the station. I have never seen it being enforced, but then again it is not advertised aside from a sign above the entrance to said gate. I agree with the above posts re Diamondback SRL. If a group of however many goes through the SRL and is told they WILL be seperated and then are placed on seperate trains or at least seperate rows on the same train, then I don't see the harm. It was not a matter of abuse; It was simply about making $.

Indeed, a lot of counties in Indiana are just now starting to put their government info online. Santa Claus, being a small town, is not one that is currently digital to a great extent. I'm sure if the plans were required to be filed by ordinance, an intrepid reporter would have leaked the specs by now.

And I have a similar pad at work that is two sides. The front side (in color) advertises a 4 pack of tickets for $120.00 if bought at the front gate. Good July 4-Aug 24; 30-Sept 1. The back side (in black and white) advertises single tickets for $25 off if bought with the coupon at the front gate. Same dates of use. Good grief Charlie Brown!!