downunder

He was in the park, some of the people I was with seem to know everyone at Universal. I just wound up chatting to him for a while, he's a nice guy, he was stoked I'd come from Australia to check out HHN. I only wanted to thank him for putting on such a great event but we had plenty to talk about. It was mad at LA HHN this year, it seems to be selling out every night, I went on 1 & 2 October and even that early in the season it was sold out both nights and chockers - thank heavens for Front Of Line Passes, worth every cent. Couldn't say the same for the Express and RIP tour options at Orlando HHN.

Well, been there rode that, I got there as early as possible (for a non-resort guest) and walked on from the single rider line. Though I found the line had built up considerably by the time I got out, like 30 - 45 minutes. HP is definitely the next step in this type of ride, the robot arm allows for more extreme movement than say a ride like Spiderman. It transitions well from real sets into the projected stuff. The real sets were well done though I didn't think they were very lively, there wasn't a lot of movement, mostly it was like caves but not a lot happened. Riding HP twice was more than enough for me because I'm more a thrill ride fan and I get sick from motion simulators but it's definitely top of the class for what it is. Tried out Butterbeer which was surprisingly good. Duelling Dragons/Dragon's Challenge was running great on both sides. I think the entry has been moved since Duelling Dragons (can't remember for sure) but the open air part gives you a far better view of the coasters in action.

I'm glad this is doing well, it just screams to Movieworld, do more of this. I was at Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights earlier in the month and I was chatting to their creative director John Murdy and even he knew about what Movieworld was doing. He jokingly said - what are you doing here, isn't Movieworld good enough for you. I see even Luna Park Sydney is doing something for Halloween this weekend. Maybe next year for Movieworld, I'm so Halloweened out at the moment after Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando and Hollywood, Knott's Scary Farm, and Busch Tampa Howl O Scream.

I've been on Insane at Gronalund and Kirnu at Linnanmaki, and they are a unique experience. Some people on the tour loved them, I just thought they were interesting but not great. If you are facing outwards when you hit the bend on the drop it really punches you in the guts which is obviously uncomfortable (even moreso after the amount of alcohol I had consumed at Gronalund prior to our ERT session). I'm surprised SFMM got one of these just simply because they don't really have the capacity that I would expect a large park like SFMM would require. Hopefully they will have an entertaining queueline.

I did the Busch/Seaworld 7 day pass for $104 as that worked out very well for me as I'll be 2 days at Busch and 1 day at Sea World plus the Busch Bus to Tampa is free, when it is normally $10 return, so that saves me $20. I'm still mulling over my options for IOA / Uni, originally I had 2 days set down for them but HHN has a 3 hour Behind the Screams tour that I can only do on one those days at 2pm now. I might have to just jam in IOA around that, I've been to IOA before so there isn't a lot I want to do there. If you're a member of Club TPR, it's worth checking out if there's any discounts that work out well. I considered the Flex Ticket but I agree the doing Uni/IOA and Busch/SW separately works out cheaper. Also the flex ticket has to either be mailed or delivered to your hotel which they charge extra for, no e-Ticket for that one.

^I'm staying at a Days Inn much closer, from mapquest it looks like no more than 400 metres walk to the park. What I was worried about is whether I could get across the main road (s Kirkman Road) outside Universal i.e. if the different directions are separated by barriers and I've got to walk for miles to find a place to cross. http://www.daysinn.com/DaysInn/control/Boo...ropertyId=06930 I'll investigate closer to when I go.

I went the opposite of the resorts (which I seriously considered), and did a Days Inn across the road for $30 a night. So the pedestrian access is tricky to Universal (distance is not an issue, I'm a runner)? I'm in Orlando for 4 days and 5 nights, I've only got a day and a half to do USH/IOA and the only things I'm interested in are Rockit and Potter because all the other stuff I've done before and I'm only mildly interested in doing again. Here's my schedule: Arrive Sun arvo (3 Oct): go straight to Horror Nights Monday: Busch Tampa (unlimited 7 day Busch/SW pass was only $100, includes free bus to Tampa) Tuesday: Sea World Wednesday: Behind The Screams (half day) & ???? Thursday: US and/or IOA??? plus Horror Nights Friday: Head to Tampa morning, Busch & Howl O Scream Sat: Fly home from Tampa via LAX

Thanks Ash, I'll probably get the front of line passes too, shame they don't cover Potter or Rockit. I considered staying on-site but it wasn't worth it considering the amount of time I'll be at Universal during the day and the amount of interest I have in the Universal parks given I've been before. Hopefully Rockit will be running during Horror nights.

ash.1111, what were the crowds like at IOA? I'm going primarily for Halloween Horror Nights and Busch Tampa (including Howl-O-Scream) so IOA is a bit of an afterthought. I have no interest in Disney, haven't been to Animal Kingdom though.

I'll be there in less than 4 weeks, I'm not a Potter or motion simulator fan and I've been to IOA before so I'm not frothing at the mouth to check it out. But I'll probably be pleasantly surprised though I only did Spiderman once last time I was there even though it was walk on. The best tip I've heard is cut through Filch's Gift Shop, go past the lockers and you can get to the single rider line without having to wait in the regular line until you get to the single rider entrance.

This sounds interesting, I might have to check it out. Is it sort of Halloween/spooky themed? What kind of rides have they had in the past?

I'm seriously impressed now, October might be time for a visit to the GC Theme Parks, I don't think I've been since 2007.

I agree, my point was more that Knott's shows what you can build an event up to. Though Universal Hollywood kills Knott's as an experience even with less mazes and shows, that was mind blowing, absolutely unbelievable. I probably won't be able to get to MW Halloween this year but it's awful tempting, the additional pain is that I'd have to hire a car because I couldn't see that it was covered by public transport back to surfers at closing time last year.

I guess a part of is that MW isn't normally open at night except for the Halloween event (is that right?), so it's a unique opportunity to ride coasters and other rides at night. Hopefully they'll keep adding more Halloween attractions so that the scary stuff is a visit in it's own right, what was it - 2 mazes last year? In contrast Knott's Scary Farm is crazy, last year they had 13 mazes, 6 shows, and 3 Scare Zones as well as most of the rides running (Xcelerator was closed because of the accident). I'll be interested to see how much MW cranks Halloween up this year.

I was going to go to this last year but I decided instead to do Universal Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights (my favourite theme park experience ever) and Knott's Scary Farm. I'll be interested to see how much they amp it up this year, I'm tempted to go but a bit over six weeks I'm doing HHN in Orlando and Hollywood, Knott's Scary Farm, and Howl'o'Scream at Busch Tampa. I guess my point is that people are fanatical (and so am I now) about these Halloween events in the US and they are a huge draw - so there is a big opportunity for MW to turn this into something massive (it seems to be going extremely well already). I've heard that 15% of Knott's annual attendance comes from Knott's Scary Farm in the 27 nights it's on.

After looking at that video, I feel like I am facing a police line up, going "that's the one officer!" Thanks for the video, I was curious what the rest of the layout was like, I just saw a flash on the news. Looks like a death machine.

Don't they have a portable, looping Eurofighter there this year, I saw it on the news? It looks alright.

^Be thankful we don't have a Volare in this country, they are torture devices.

I'll apply for sure and when I get the job, my first call will be to Intamin and my second call will be to a hitman - to take care of those pesky residents.

Trust me, from my experiences at Six Flags Over Georgia and Gronalund - not awesome for your balls. The one at Gronalund leans you right over, if they had something like that at Giant Drop's height, people would die of fright but I'd be on it for sure.

I went on a Bomb Bay speed slide at Wet and Wild Orlando in 1994, it's quite unnerving waiting for the trap door to go.

That sounds like a really positive start and then you can start building on that. Could I suggest that the topic title be more descriptive.

Top Thrill Dragster: Ready To Go, Republica - I now have such a positive association with that song that I find it impossible to dsilike it, and I always thought of CP whenever I heard it on those ads, I think it subliminally made me keep going back to CP. On Cedar Point, they have DJ operating in some of the queues which is great on a hot summer night. I also like the Millennium Force theme, which is a dedicated piece of music for the ride.

I find a lot of these specials pop up on youtube, for those that don't have cable.

That's what I thought, that they would view functions as more viable. I mainly took POVs because my group was interested, and for TPR.