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From memory 1997 was a chilli year for Hellpigs

I went last night. In short - I was disappointed. They rushed everyone through the gates so fast (turnstiles were folded away, and they weren't scanning tickets), but then blocked us off around the fountain - so we were just one crush of thousands of people. They had an 'opening ceremony' of sorts with the high-wire performer and a bunch of stuff up main street, but to be honest, apart from the highwire performer, I couldn't see anything. I did notice Michael Croaker standing on top of stars cafe taking photos of the high wire, but this sea of people was crazy. I didn't ride anything. I didn't see any of the performances or parades because of the crush. The closure of chinatown meant that to get from front to back, you had to walk past the two stages (the carollers or the main stage). It was a terrible pinch point and left a bad taste in my mouth. Although main street was covered in lights, snow makers and fog coming out of the drains, the lights struck me as 'less of an effort' than last year. It looked like they'd been put up by maintenance guys rather than technicians who have an eye for detail. The park soundtrack was confusing as well - Scooby still had the 'xylophone' music playing outside, whilst wild west had the western themed music and superman had his theme song. Some of the christmas soundtrack was great, and others didn't even sound 'christmassy' - just a lot of synth and bells in a messy arrangement. On a good note - the wild west burger joint is now the wild west road house (or something of that nature) with an entirely new menu. Don't know if this has been mentioned anywhere, but it was a first for me - new menu includes chicken tenders, fish pieces, southern style (tasteless) chicken wings that come with two different dipping sauces, and half a kilo of baby back ribs for $30 odd dollars, which were dry, but so so tender. I've been to normal operating days in the middle of christmas holidays that had less people than last nights event... and this was an event without wild west falls, stunt driver, and show stage to absorb some of the masses. I got my ticket with my gold pass, like westical... however i'm not as blase about it as he is. I didn't have to 'pay' for my ticket, but I did by virtue of my gold pass, which has it as an inclusion. I also agree with Joz - move the ice rink out near wild west, or the old blazing saddles, somewhere out of the way. I also scream for them to reopen the chinatown scooby cut through. If you're not going to open the main-street front part of chinatown, at least open the scooby-arkham cut through - thats less than half the space, and would REALLY ease the traffic trying to get through mainstreet. If you're concerned about losing revenue from all the shops people bypass, put one in the Arkham courtyard... god knows theres room! I'm normally all praise for VRTP, even when they are being critiqued I can usually see the upside. Last night I could not. Also - I don't normally engage in conversation with vendors about park operations, but this from the 'dippin dots' rumor mill (ok not quite, but a street vendor) - apparently the 'regular' entertainment cast refused to work on the christmas events, so the majority of performers were all brought in from external, or from other park general staff.