tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74063718151659426662024-03-13T08:59:14.994-07:00I Am JermsworldJermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-88543888001210706212015-09-28T10:26:00.003-07:002015-09-28T10:26:39.315-07:00Haunt 2015 #1 - Great America's Haunt
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Haunt #1: Great America’s Haunt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alright Haunt fans,
if you are reading this then you must be interested in reading my crazy
thoughts on these great events in late September and October. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I hope to catch a couple more this year,
I doubt I’ll be able to see as many as last year, time and money are disappearing
quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I can’t complain, got two
more planned, and hoping to go catch the USS Hornet too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we’ll see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">CHEAP SO WHY NOT?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to take
Anne to her first theme park haunt last weekend and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
was the original plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when I saw
Great America’s Haunt was just an additional 10 dollars more ($29.99 when you
buy 2 for Friday and Sunday nights through the 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>) I couldn’t
resist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t do the Skeleton Key or
the Fright Lane…and I’m glad I didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You’ll see why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">OPENING SHOW WAS WEAK<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We arrived to the
event to see the pumpkins and the fire launch returning from last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our plan was to hit Gold Striker first, so we
stood next to the rope stop and waited…and waited…and waited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surprisingly, the crowds didn’t really
materialize during that 45 minute wait.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At about 6:55, the
witch (possibly from Wizard of Oz) and some monkey followers took to the top
floor of the carousel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We could clearly
hear the whoops from the monkeys, but what the witch was saying…I have no
clue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think she was giving some
descriptions of the mazes, but I’m not really sure, but I did see her mouth
moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weird that there weren’t any
speakers closer to the rope stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
was definitely disappointing compared to the zombie run that happened last
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The witch stopped talking, then
the rope drop, then the running.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">COASTERS, DROP ZONE, AND GETTING WET<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before I get into
the haunts and the scare zones, let me tell you most of the adult rides were
open for the party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the cool thing
for this first Sunday of the haunt, there was no lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 5 hours, we did the following: went on
Gold Striker 4 times, Flight Deck 3 times, Grizzly 2 times, Drop Zone 2 times,
Psycho Mouse, Vortex, and Psycho Mouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For Gold Striker and Flight Deck, we didn’t even get back in line, just
saw an empty seat and went again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
price of admission was redeemed by rides alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now I know the coming weeks aren’t going to be like this, but Sunday
night, it was awesome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">KIDS AND THE NO BOO NECKLACE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing about Great
America Haunt is the kids, and there are a lot of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though it is not recommended for kids
under 13 and “whoosies”, there seems to be a lot of families at this
event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year, they were selling
pumpkin necklaces for $3 that lit up and kept the monsters away…at least I
think that was the goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my opinion,
I think it was a beacon for the monsters to attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The necklaces were not allowed to be turned
on in the mazes, which makes me wonder how the monsters were able to see
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Out on the main walk ways, we saw
monsters (especially the witch) walking after children with the necklaces
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very strange, and quite humorous for
us watching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonder how many kids didn’t
sleep that night?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">COUNTERCLOCKWISE – MAZE #1: ROADKILL – ROAD HOUSE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the sun was
still going down, we went into Roadkill – Road House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In all honesty, I didn’t see a damn thing in
this haunt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got so lost that we kept
being told to go the other way by the exit keepers, and some of the scareactors
had to show us away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was so dark that
the whole maze was a waste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no
idea what I was looking at, it was terrible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Last year, it was bad, this year…wasn’t worth my time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">MAZE #2: MADAME MARIE’S MASSACRE MANOR<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Massacre Manor was a
fun maze and really well themed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
maze is a walk through of a house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
go through rooms (dining room, bedrooms, living rooms, hallways with pictures,
etc).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the bedroom, I asked the lady
if I could take a nap, and she actually said it was okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then she led me to a chair and had me sit
down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She got angry at Anne when she
kicked a skull out of the sacred circle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The lady flipped over cards and then gave me one….It was death and she
ran a finger over her neck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We left that
room and went through some gardening areas only to find ourselves with a lady
and a body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She asked us which one of us
would be losing their soul first, and Anne so kindly pointed to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She waved a light over me and then gave my
soul to Madame Marie’s…I asked for it back…guess it’s Madame Marie’s now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So not cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">SCARE ZONE #1: EVACUATE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they took the
opening from last year and made it into a scare zone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The RV they used is up front with cars behind
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve been to Great America,
there’s this cave of ivy on the way to Drop Zone, they filled the cave with
smoke, cars and zombies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The atmosphere of
the zone was awesome, but the area needed more people…which was a common issue
with this haunt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">MAZE #3: CORNSTALKERS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a fan of this
maze, last year or this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They did
try to make it more of a corn maze this year by having multiple pathways, they
just didn’t have enough people to man the maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were some good scares, just too many open areas with nobody in
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outhouses from last year were
replaced by these really weird boxes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anne thought we were supposed to look in them,
and I still wonder if we were supposed to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Very strange, smelly maze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">QUICK THOUGHT: At the point, Anne wasn’t impressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said once you go through one, you’ve been
through them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luckily the best ones
were still to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">MAZE #4: TOY FACTORY<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think of all the
mazes, we had the most fun in this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
music is so freaking catchy and we found ourselves dancing our way through the
maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sure what the monsters thought
of these two crazy people dancing, but we didn’t care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to say the Angry Angry Hippo was
pretty cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there was a doll room
that a lady did a really good voice and kind of freaked me out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there was the Shark Man who looked like
a big doll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great haunt, only one we did
twice…sadly, we didn’t get to vote for it to be the best, but it was a close
third.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">MAZE #5: ZOMBIE HIGH<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This maze is pretty
cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My problem with this one: not
enough people working it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They should
have zombies walking around everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I love how each “room” is a classroom and is really decorated well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The walk ways are walled off by stacked desks
or something else you would see in a school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There’s the chemistry room, locker room, prom, library, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one room, a guy jumps down on bungees, I
turned to Anne and said watch this, she was impressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We waited the longest for this haunt, maybe
10 minutes, so it’s very popular.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a sidenote, they
tried to do the “picture” thing in the queue, but the picture booths were away
from the actual line so the workers were begging the people to come over and
take their picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very strange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could have been fixed with some roped
walkways that led you straight into the picture booths and then continued to
the line, instead of off the beaten path…”hey little boy, want to get your
picture taken?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">MAZE #6: WAX MUSUEM CHAMBER OF HORRORS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My favorite haunt of
last year, I was excited to show Anne this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately, the maze was knocked down a couple of steps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, the wax creatures were much smaller
than the humans, so the humans were easy to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus their skin gave them away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another way to tell is when the wax creatures
were missing from their post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where’s
Swamp Thing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, why is here standing
over there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really weird and
disappointing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Got to see Jack the
Ripper, that was cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
mannequins in the back rooms weren’t moving at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sad to see this one pushed aside, it was
really awesome last year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">SCARE ZONE #2: KILLER CLOWN TOWN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one is easy to
miss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have to walk off the beaten
path to see this zone, it’s a loop around the Snoopy kid zone, but there’s
nothing back there to do, just walk through the clown infested area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s definitely worth it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tons of clowns doing creepy things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was one clown just standing off the
path staring at you as he slowly sharpens his knife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another one had a huge hammer and would chase
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One had bubbles and when you said
anything he would make this loud noise that would scare the crap out of
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even watched a couple of the
clowns chase the security people, which was awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That shows you how slow it was, the
scareactors were scaring the security staff!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also a
sideshow stage with a fire dancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
watched for a little bit, then moved on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">SCARE ZONE #3: LOCKDOWN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Lockdown wasn’t
scary or creepy, I thought it was placed nicely right outside the Insanitarium
maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why don’t they do this more?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have scare zones themed to the mazes so it’s
one big environment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scare zones had
lots of huge boxes, fog, and mental patients running around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One patient even recognized my Shining shirt,
which was pretty cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">MAZE #7: INSANITARIUM<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anne voted this one
the most frightening, and I would have to agree with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You enter the Insanitarium by the way of the
doctor’s office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then you walk through a
very clean Mental Hospital with patients walking around looking crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some had needles, others just stared at you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About half way through, the hospital changes
and you start seeing blood and destruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You go through the same exact rooms that you went through the first
time, but everything is destroyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
the mental patients are ready to kill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a haunt with a story, and I thought that was pretty cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anne and I got freaked out when a loud noise
was played a guy jumped out, well played.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think the final scene should have been the hospital burned down with
smoke and dead bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would have
been complete…but the Scare Zone outside wouldn’t have made since.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">MAZE #8: DIA DE LOS MUERTOS – DAY OF THE DEAD 3D<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>YOU HAVE TO BUY THE
$1 3D GLASSES, it’s a must.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you don’t
it’s just another maze with people scaring you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With those glasses, you are transported to a world of beauty and
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there was ever an artistic
maze, this would be it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I first
experienced one of these mazes, I was stopped in my tracks, Anne did just
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The maze is so beautiful you
really just look at the environment and ignore the actors, unless they enhance
the maze, which some did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll never
forget watching Anne try to kick these flowers on the ground because they
looked like they were above the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We turned one corner and there was tons of flowers on the wall and I
heard “oh wow.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the very end, she
went up to the worker to tell him great job, and one of those bungee guys
jumped down and said thanks, lol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
would have done it again, but it hurts the head when there’s so much to look
at.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">IN CONCLUSION…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think Great
America’s Haunt is one of the best in Northern California.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a great way to see the park at night,
some great haunts, and it’s easy to see the rides they have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the park is in transition, and I’m
not sure it’s worth a full day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But for
the haunt party…check it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you get
closer to Halloween, the Fright Pass will be needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For last weekend, it wasn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This weekend…you might start thinking about
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll be interested to hear what the
skeleton key rooms are this year, so if you read this, please let me know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or listen to the Season Pass, I’m sure Doug
will have some information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until next
time…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-84062528370448722262014-12-29T15:58:00.002-08:002014-12-29T15:58:20.779-08:00December 2014 - The Making of a War<br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
Making of a War</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: center;">Most of these write up’s I do for you, the occasional reader.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: center;">This time, I’m writing it for myself to remember in the years to come.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: center;">As a father, I’m proud of what happened during the week of December 14</span><sup style="font-family: Arial; text-align: center;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: center;"> – 21</span><sup style="font-family: Arial; text-align: center;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: center;">, not because of my efforts, but the Christmas Spirit and the imagination that erupted from my boys during those days.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So you’ve seen the pictures, now here’s the rest of the
story…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">PROLOGUE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So why did I do it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why would I cover my bathroom in the dead Mickey bodies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The week after Thanksgiving, Red, our
Christmas Elf, came out to spread Christmas cheer, which my youngest son,
Brodie, was beside himself in anticipation of the chaos that would ensue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Most of the pictures posted on Facebook, Instagram, etc I
had already done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Red pooped on a
toothbrush, Red fished in the toilet, Red tp’d the house, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So this year, I came up with my best some new
ideas, and the boys weren’t impressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As quickly as it started, the excitement was gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way to their mom’s that Sunday, I
asked the boys what their favorite moment with Red was?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After some time, they finally said it was
when Red was in the candy drawer and they couldn’t find him until late that
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">So for me, this was disappointing. I wanted the boys to be telling me immediately what excited them, what they wanted more...and they had to think about it. Failure in my book. The following week, their mom did some cool stuff with books, which got Brodie excited for reading and some other fun stuff, but again, the boys were losing their interest in their little Elf friend. So I needed to make a change, and frankly, the internet lead me to nothing new, just the same old potty jokes that Red is known for.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">DECEMBER 12th, DAY 1</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Day 1, I was at a loss. I had no idea what I was going to do. I was a little nervous that the magic of Red was lost, and we were doomed. Finally, I came up with a quick idea in which I tied Red up and put 12 Vinylmation figurines around him. As if he was captured. Now what exactly is a Vinlymation Figurine? It's a collection the boys and I started together and became very addicting. With the same Mickey mold, artists would paint each Mickey to represent something else. The ones we collected all had a Disney theme, but some of our Urban series are very non-Disney. I think I have over 125 of the figures, and they all are stuck in a box because I don't have room to display them. We bought most of them at Disney Theme Parks.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I wasn't impressed with the scene, but it was the best I could come up with. The scene was set in the boys room, and I went to bed without a second thought. Unfortunately, no picture from that initial scene that would start a week of chaos.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">DAY OF DECEMBER 13th, DAY 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I woke up to a couple of very angry boys. You see, the rules of The Elf on the Shelf is that you can't touch the elf at all, or clean up after him. So when the boys saw that their beloved elf had been captured, they were not happy. No, they were TICKED OFF.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Through the day at school, it fermented inside of them, this rage that their elf had been captured and there was nothing they could do about it. How dare the Vinyls capture their elf and stick it right in their faces.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So without further discussion, the boys went home, went straight to their room and freed their elf. I think they might have pushed a couple over too, and then carried their friend to the front of the house, far away from the evil vinyls. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This act of heroism made them overly happy and kind of full of energy. So it was very festive that night...strange what a little scene would cause.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">EVENING OF DECEMBER 13th, DAY 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">After the excitement of Day 1, what would top it? Normally I would do something different, just to keep it interesting. But why not keep the story going, right? So I moved Red over to my game chair, a throne like chair for Mr. Red to sit in. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Red in the chair, or the note that he created, but it said something like this: Conner and Brodie, Thank you for saving me. I have captured the 12 evil vinyls and wrapped them up and hid them in the apt. If you want to find them, I could care less they are getting coal in their stockings this year, there are 6 for each of you to find. But like I said, I don't care if you find them, let them rot, Red.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">After Red's scene was done, I wrapped the 12 vinyls up in Toilet Paper and hid them all over the apt. Some harder than others, because I knew Conner would leave the easy ones for Brodie and look for the really hard ones. They were hidden in the kitchen, the hallway, both bathrooms and the front room.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">DAY OF DECEMBER 14th, DAY 3</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I awoke to a quiet morning. Got ready, told the boys to get up, and they went on the search for Red. They found him on his throne and Conner read the letter that Red had wrote. Then the search was on, all giggles and laughter as they found the captured Vinyl's wrapped in Toilet Paper. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That morning, they found 8 of the vinyls. They piled the bodies like dead victims on the counter, and no, they did not release them. And there was never any thought of releasing them, it was just a game of hide and seek, or geocaching for Vinyls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">After school and some shopping, the boys went straight in the apt and went on the hunt, recovering the final four. Once again happy...but what was I supposed to do next?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'm not really sure when the thought came to me, but I decided to put both boys in the bath at the same time, something I haven't done in awhile. I put Brodie in the bath, then quickly sent Conner to the shower. With both of them busy, I took two containers into their rooms and filled them with vinyls from the box, as many as I could find. Then I replaced the sleeping bag back on top of the box, so it looked like nothing was changed. I hid the two containers in the closet and in my bedroom, right as Conner was coming out of the shower...now I just had to wait.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">NIGHT OF DECEMBER 14th, DAY 3</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This was going to be a big job, so I made sure the boys were asleep before I started working, so it was like 10:30 before the battle grounds were laid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">First, I put Red in a sock, then tied him up and hung him from the shower of the boys bathroom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Then I unwrapped the captured vinyls and threw the toilet paper in certain locations. I also wrote a note from the Vinyls, with misspellings and all</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">[Picture of DAY3-THE NOTE]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Laying down all the vinyls took the most time. I decided to make it look like stormtroopers in small groups, but I think they kind of look like Nazi's by the time I was done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">After I was done I was in my room getting ready when I saw some Halloween decorations that I didn't use. Hmm...what the heck, I blocked the door with Do Not Enter banners.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">MORNING OF DECEMBER 15th, DAY 4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This morning was pretty funny waking up to. The boys were lined up outside the door to the bathroom, unsure of if they should go in thanks to the banners. I joined them at the door, looked at the banners, looked at the boys, looked at the banners, looked at the boys. They seriously were not going to go past those banners. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"What now?" I ask.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Boys shrugged their shoulders.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Well, this is my house, and I'm not going to take this," and with one flat hand, I broke the barrier and the two boys went cautiously in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Now the pictures really don't show you how freaking crazy the battle scene actually was, but I know it was crazy enough to totally mess the boys up bad. Here's Red, dangling from a rope, with Vinyls all over the place, and a note demanding to see the fat man. I left that scene, and went to get ready. Ten minutes later, the boys hadn't moved. Not sure if they were in shock, or they were just trying to process everything that was going on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">While I was making their lunches, I saw Brodie bolt from the bathroom to his room, and then seconds later come to me with two vinyls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Dad, I think these guys are on Red's team!" says Brodie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Why's that?" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"They were the only ones left in the box, they must have stayed behind because they didn't believe in what they were doing," my youngest says, with a face mixed in shock and happiness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"I guess that makes them loyalists bud, got to be loyalists."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Yeah, loyalists." And Brodie, very gently, carried the Loyalists to some other vinyl toys that were on my counter...and that's how the Loyalists were created.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'm guessing the boys were thinking about that scene all day, because when I picked them up they told me they were cutting Red down. And they did just that. Walked into the bathroom, untied Red, and gave him love for his injuries. Then he was placed, gently, next to the Loyalists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">EVENING OF DECEMBER 15th, DAY 4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Thanks to Brodie's great idea of the Loyalists, I had my next idea already to go. Again, it wasn't til 10:30 before I started work. But this time, it took some hard work on my part. I had to sneak into the boys room and remove all the Pokémon dolls the boys had, which they were curled up with. At one point, Conner woke up and asked me if it was time to wake up. That was stressful. Then there was the fact that they now knew the bathroom was the place of the battle, but the bathroom has a fan that automatically comes on when you turn the light on, and the damn thing is loud!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Plus, I wanted to build a jail so I took a shoe box, cut out slits and then wrote jail. A perfect place to throw some evil vinyls right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">After I had all the pieces together, creating the scene was the tricky part. I closed the bathroom door, turned the light, and the annoying fan on, and got to work. First I put our hero on a dragon...because that's cool. And had him eat, step on, kill a couple of vinyls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Then I took the rope that Red was tied up with, aka my belt, lasso'd some vinyls and put Stark, one of the Loyalists, on top with the snake on top of the vinyls...A side note about the snake, I'm not really sure which side he is on. I think he keeps switching...like a snake.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dYwTqQgnwIs/VKGeNHzr0PI/AAAAAAAAALk/JF8ys8D-BIQ/s1600/Day4-Lassod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dYwTqQgnwIs/VKGeNHzr0PI/AAAAAAAAALk/JF8ys8D-BIQ/s1600/Day4-Lassod.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Another favorite scene is one of the Pokémon with a gun on top of his head. I then made some of the vinyls lay down like a cannonball and flown through, leaving one of the balls at the end of the decimation. I thought that was cool.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zNMg-aLA2vs/VKGeNuURsgI/AAAAAAAAALo/4BQLdWA8gTw/s1600/Day4-War.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zNMg-aLA2vs/VKGeNuURsgI/AAAAAAAAALo/4BQLdWA8gTw/s1600/Day4-War.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">One of the hardest scenes I put together, because I wasn't sure if it was appropriate, was the Firefly Scene. The guy from Firefly, not sure his name, was in front of a line of vinyls. The vinyls were down, as if shot, leaving two vinyls left. It was a pretty dark scene, a firing squad, but the boys weren't bothered by it. Not sure that's a good sign.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">To counter balance the dark scene, I put a scene together of a pokemon and two vinyls playing a card game of War. I thought that was pretty cool, unfortunately, the boys didn't get it.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ChbFLVggzoA/VKGeOe1fGhI/AAAAAAAAALg/uF3eT5JgeX0/s1600/Day4-WarGame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ChbFLVggzoA/VKGeOe1fGhI/AAAAAAAAALg/uF3eT5JgeX0/s1600/Day4-WarGame.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That set up took a lot longer than I thought, about an hour, 90 minutes by the time I went to bed. But it was pretty awesome, something I was proud of.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">On a sidenote, Brodie and Conner both wrote Red a letter saying we are on your side, good luck and we are with you. They also left a chocolate bar for Red, who ate a piece and then went to rage war. I can't seem to find Brodies note (which asked Santa for Max the Tow Truck, which he sadly did not receive for Christmas), but I do have Conner's and Red's reply:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">MORNING OF DECEMBER16th, DAY 5</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Day 5 started with the boys just staring at the battle scene, taking in everything that was happening, and very excited that the Pokémon had come to help the Loyalists. I got up, got ready, got dressed, made their lunches, and then told them they should get ready. I honestly wished I had a microphone in the bathroom to play for you the conversations that were going on in that bathroom. I missed all of it, trying to get the day started, but there was non stop talk going in on what was going on, the Loyalists campaign, this being like a chess game, first the vinyls, then Red, then the vinyls, and now Red again. What would the vinyls do that night? How bad is it going to get? Will they ever get to use their bathroom again?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The conversation continued on the drive to school, on the phone call after school, on the way home from school, and through the night. Was it over? Or was it going to get a lot worse?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">EVENING OF DECEMBER16th, DAY 5</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This setup included all the vinyls that were still standing. Amazingly, during the battle sequences, not a single vinyl came back to life. When they were down, they were down. A little hidden nugget of information.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So the storyline, which was lost on the boys unfortunately, was that the two Vinyl Loyalists were spies. They helped take down the dragon with the help of the snake. The snake bit a wing, and the spies stabbed the dragon. Again...am I getting too dark?</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mJdQ3wtiFXU/VKGePgYOESI/AAAAAAAAALQ/kS9EJNtYMcY/s1600/Day5-Revenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mJdQ3wtiFXU/VKGePgYOESI/AAAAAAAAALQ/kS9EJNtYMcY/s1600/Day5-Revenge.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The vinyl's recapture Red and look to be on their way to hanging Red up again. While at the jail, there's a jail break and all the vinyls are escaping...which if you saw the Jail the night before, one of the bars was already broken and one was trying to sneak out!!</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zGhoQDMPqpk/VKGePKB3aGI/AAAAAAAAALU/u6vL2bwulmM/s1600/Day5-Recaptured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zGhoQDMPqpk/VKGePKB3aGI/AAAAAAAAALU/u6vL2bwulmM/s1600/Day5-Recaptured.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Pokémon pig lost the game of War, and the vinyls attacked</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p5-kA5vBL-8/VKHlbrf9tOI/AAAAAAAAANA/qKTbv6qgbzU/s1600/Day5-WarLost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p5-kA5vBL-8/VKHlbrf9tOI/AAAAAAAAANA/qKTbv6qgbzU/s1600/Day5-WarLost.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The vinyls were able to take the gun down, and the Pokémon with it.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v-Pa_Hk4QFs/VKHloL1T-XI/AAAAAAAAANI/C--mDBQIAB8/s1600/Day5-PokemonCaptured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v-Pa_Hk4QFs/VKHloL1T-XI/AAAAAAAAANI/C--mDBQIAB8/s1600/Day5-PokemonCaptured.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Firefly was captured with a Vinyl on his head, and Stark was surrounded by smiling Vinyls.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GMd0m0qe0uE/VKGeO3rJfKI/AAAAAAAAALc/QQKG4b3NtU4/s1600/Day5-Fightcontinues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GMd0m0qe0uE/VKGeO3rJfKI/AAAAAAAAALc/QQKG4b3NtU4/s1600/Day5-Fightcontinues.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">In all honesty, I knew at this point what the final scene would be. But I still had one night left...what could be done? It was making me nervous, I had no clue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">DAY OF DECEMBER 17th, DAY6</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Shock, pure and undeniable shock. The morning before was filled with conversation, the morning of the 17th, dead silence. When I saw the boys, their shoulders were down, and their mouths were slightly opened. I tried at one point to say that there were traders amongst the Loyalists, but they weren't listening. Their friends were captured, everything had taken a turn for the worst...nothing was to be said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The drive to school was in silence. I worked on spelling with Brodie for one last time, and the letters came out quietly. The boys were defeated, now what?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">When I went to pick the boys up, things had changed. They didn't tell me what they had planned, but things were on the up and up. Brodie had Basketball practice and laughter rejoined our little family. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">When we got home, the boys disappeared. I let them be, figuring they were just screwing around, but they were doing quite the opposite. They were planning a comeback for the Loyalists. From what I can tell after the fact, the boys went in and got all the Loyalists that they could find. They bandaged them, gave them love, and then armored the hell out of them. When I finally came upon them, the bathroom door was closed so the vinyl's couldn't see what was going on, and the Loyalists were lined up outside the door, with guns and ammo, they were ready to fight...and thanks to them, that night was planned out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">EVENING OF DECEMBER 17th, Day 6</span><br />
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When I opened the door to the bathroom, Conner had done a little more than just taken the Loyalists out, he filled the jail with Vinyl victims. The jail was packed.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ypqW715SIGA/VKHlKTrg3HI/AAAAAAAAAMI/JzL-P-GsvbE/s1600/Day6-PackedJaile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ypqW715SIGA/VKHlKTrg3HI/AAAAAAAAAMI/JzL-P-GsvbE/s1600/Day6-PackedJaile.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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So first, I figured a peace sign would be best. I was a little worried that the boys wouldn't know what a peace sign was, but I took the chance. So I formed a huge one with the vinyls, laying some down to represent the symbol:<br />
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Then I added all the Loyalists that helped out. Thanks to the boys, the Autobots from Rescue Bots joined the Loyalists to finally take down the Vinyls.<br />
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With the jail, I stood it up and added little white flags to show the surrender, then added the deck of cards, shuffled and ready to be put away. The war was over, the Loyalists had won.<br />
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In order for the boys to fully understand what was going on, and to give the whole battle some kind of story, I told the boys about how the Vinyls were sick of staying in the box all year long without being played with and not getting any presents from Santa. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tHbiZM3kBb0/VKHlK8YB4DI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/cLigS7_CkEo/s1600/Day6-TheNote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tHbiZM3kBb0/VKHlK8YB4DI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/cLigS7_CkEo/s1600/Day6-TheNote.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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DAY OF DECEMBER 18th, DAY 7<br />
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Conner saw the Peace Sign right off the bat and understood the white flags, so that was pretty cool. Brodie was happy to see the Autobots, but there was one Vinyl that seemed to have escaped the clutches, and it was one that I missed. I could have restarted the story with this one Vinyl, but Christmas was coming, and it was time for the story to come to a close. <br />
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On a side note, the boys did tell me that we needed to play with the vinyls, but playing the villain of this story, I told them no, they would be going back into the box. Brodie actually looked kind of sad and asked if they could take some of the vinyls to mom's house the next week. <br />
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EVENING OF DECEMBER 18th, DAY 7<br />
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The ending to the story was simple, Red would bring two presents for the Vinyls and all would rejoice and be friends. Got to wonder if this is how stories are written: The ending first, then the journey last. <br />
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First I stood the laying down Vinyls, then added some of the others that were scattered around. Then I put Red in the middle with the presents. No words needed, I think the conclusion was simple enough. Also released the vinyls from jail.<br />
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<br />MORNING OF DECEMBER 19th, DAY 8<br />
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The boys woke up and saw the gifts and were pretty excited by the final stage. They both opened up a new vinyl to add to our ever growing collection: Han Solo and the creepy girl from Finding Nemo. <br />
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That night Brodie cleaned up the bathroom all by himself. I think he just wanted time alone with all the characters from the war over the week, instead of just cleaning up. But he did an amazing job. The finale was a bit uneventful compared to prior nights, but all in all, it was a success.<br />
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IN CONCLUSION...<br />
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Like any book, the journey was much more awesome than the conclusion. I was completely shocked by the imagination my boys put into the events, and I'm not a 100% sure if they knew how much of their imagination created each evenings battle. It was truly awesome to see the boys just standing in one place for 10 - 20 minutes, creating their own storyline to what they saw, and then telling each other their thoughts. While I used some words to explain some things, the true magic came from what came out of their minds due to what they saw. It was an absolutely awesome experience, and hopefully I'll be able to come up with some kind of storyline next year that will keep them coming back for more...<br />
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</span>Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-73194236165016723952014-10-30T09:46:00.003-07:002014-10-30T09:46:29.864-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #11 – Callson Manor
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">DISCLAIMER – I’m spoiled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think that’s the basic fact as we come to the ending of the 2014
Halloween Season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started October on
an extremely high note and it was followed with some surprises, but never
reached that high note Knotts placed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Knotts had long mazes, well themed mazes, and you got to go through them
as many times as you want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything
else…well, it’s good, but I just keep comparing things to Knotts and that’s not
fair. </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">Haunt Season 2014 - Event #11 – Callson Manor</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Callson Manor was
one of my favorites in my Sacramento haunt history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would say at the top of my list would be
Gyro’s, and I don’t think anything here in Sac has really gotten to that level
of creativeness and scares that Gyro’s brought me back in the 90’s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, finding the
place is a bit tricky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s in the
Placer County Fairgrounds, and while I had been there just a couple of years
ago, they have moved the entrance and it’s kind of confusing to get there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have to enter the gates, then drive to
the back side of the fairgrounds to park and enter the event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We passed it the first time, as others did,
so beware and make sure you have it on your phone so you have at least a
general idea where you are going.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The event itself is
fantastic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think if they put a
carnival out front like Heartstoppers, maybe an old western carnival, that
would be amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ticket prices are
pretty good, I think we got in for 13 bucks each.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The event is all on dirt, so I think when it
starts raining on Friday, this might turn into a mud pit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So be warned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the dirt adds to the environment, which is an old western town with
wagons, buildings, stores, and a couple of vendors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were told to hang
out in the main area until a cannon would go off which signaled the opening of
the event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I of course was picturing
either a real cannon, or one of those fire launchers that has been popping up
around California.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right before the
cannon blast, the scareactors came out for the clown maze and the psycho
maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t care for this, I don’t
want to know what, or who I will be seeing in the maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what was cool was the four or five
scareactors that waited for us past the rope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If I had a good camera, it would have been an amazing picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for that cannon blast, more like an air
cannon, and I think if you were in front of the group, you were blasted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">MODOC GHOST TOWN – SCARE ZONE</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the rope
dropping, you went through a main street of sorts with old western buildings on
each side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scareactors used more
noise to scare, which I didn’t care for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Don’t mind screaming or jumping out at you, but using electronics with
loud noise is a bit annoying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One guy
slid on his knees on a wooden platform which was pretty cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the scareactors were well dressed and
their makeup was freaking awesome.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, they just
needed to add fog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they did, it would
be like a miniature version of Knott’s Ghost town and I WOULD LOVE IT!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But with no fog, it’s still a pretty cool
place to check out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the scareactors
were fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saw one guy jump out at a girl
who threw herself to the ground with her friend falling to the ground laughing
her ass off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what haunt is all
about my friends.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CALLSON MANOR</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The signature
haunt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, I might get some of these
haunts a bit mixed up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hit them back
to back with no lines, so some scenes might have been in other mazes but in my
memory makes sense that they would be in the maze I’m discussing.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Callson Manor is a
creepy walk through of a house that is filled with doors opening by themselves,
creepy spectors, and like most of the other mazes, bloody individuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe the
gunshot victim was in this maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
probably a good effect but I missed it and only came upon a female that was
bent over a shotgun with blood on the walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were a couple of times during these mazes that I had to stop and
wait to see what the effect was, because I missed it by seconds.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, I don’t
really remember much of this maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
remember leaving for a second then going back in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other than that…hmm</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">PANIC</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Panic was freaking
crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, you were introduced by a
German dominatrix who was kind of hot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You got your card stamped then you entered her waiting room which had
monitors of the maze you could watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
first room was a guy banging on barrels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Loud, annoying, but nothing like what the rest of the maze was like.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, it was like
walking into a Saw movie with each person being tortured in some way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was bloody as hell, but pretty cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And unfortunately pretty short.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was some kind of disco back theme, like
Panic at the Disco, but I didn’t really get that.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">SLASHER CAFÉ</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another one of those
café’s that cook up human meat…and apparently road kill too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The maze was filled with awful smells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first room was one of the clearest
memories I have there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lady said
that she got excrement from the toilet and painted the walls with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s how I keep the flies off the food,
they stay on the walls!!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gross, but
very creative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Around the corner, there’s
the toilet and it’s disgusting.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We heard the sound
of what could be a contraption, so we hung back to see if the toilet was going
to do anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it turned out to be
the pipes on the other side which blew hair at you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides bad smells, dead animal carcasses on
the floor, and characters that seemed to be from the backwoods in some southern
state, was a pretty gross, and unfortunately another short maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it had some cool effects, some gross
theming, and I enjoyed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guess I’m a
sicko.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DARKNESS</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a really
cool demon animatronic in the queue line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tried getting a picture of it but it didn’t come out as cool as the
figure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a simple figure with few
movements, but it’s still awesome to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think it was there the last time I was here, but can’t remember the
haunt that it hovered over.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Darkness is what the
name says it is, it’s dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes
you had to feel your way around, other times you were in a darkly lit
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s well done with some cool
actors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I prefer the quiet creepy
scareactors that filled this maze compared to the screaming loud ones of
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a couple of really
cool caves that you got to walk through that I thought was pretty cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A scantily clad female said welcome to the
meal, and a predator looking guy came out to “eat us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we walked through a tomb like cavern and
we were out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not too scary, but it was
entertaining.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">THE TAVERN</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Tavern reminded
me of the bar scene in Gunslinger’s Grave and the opening room in An American
Werewolf in London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The guy asked what
happened to my hair and heckled me for a little bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guess I had a stupid shit eating grin on my
face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lady on the piano played the
keys with her toes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was pretty
cool.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the brothel room,
the lady on the bed beckoned me closer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I thought my friend Tiffany was watching at the doorway, so I stayed a
little longer than I probably should have, only to realize that it wasn’t
Tiffany, but another actor watching from the doorway, with another actor in the
shadows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a pretty cool scene, and
hey, I love those old western brothel rooms so why not stay a little longer,
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alright, alright, I’m moving on,
jeez.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a small
maze area of fences with a boy that followed us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was kind of creepy, but didn’t do anything
but stare at us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a jail in the
final rooms and some other things that have left my mind then we were out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sorry, a hot lady on a bed beckoning me,
it kind of takes over the memory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">ODDITIES</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t like
sideshow crap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it’s gross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t scare me, but I don’t need to see
mermaid skeletons, Siamese twins, someone who was born with an extra toe, or
leg, or 15 extra legs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just don’t, it’s
not fun for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I kind of walked
through this area quickly, wasn’t my cup of tea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll wait for you in the brothel room, I
think she’s still beckoning me.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">ASYLUM</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Please no food, or
drink allowed in the Asylum, some of our patients are doing without and this
would screw up their treatments.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Asylum’s opening
scene was kind of like TRAPPED at Knotts which was kind of cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We entered as a group of 6 and led into a
room with 6 chairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all were told to
sit down and that some electricity would electrify the chairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the lights went out and the chairs
started vibrating while the animatronic in front of us got fried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then a scareactor came from the right side
and harassed anybody who screamed or looked scared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cool first room.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The following rooms
were filled with patrons of the Asylum in white jackets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a sheet room that reminded me of
the sheet maze at the Psycho Circus in Cemetarium, but was less confusing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually found the way out pretty
quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A room of doors leading to
psycho wards with the patients either hanging on top of the doors, or opening
the doors to get their victims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were
then out, from the screaming girl behind us “oh, is that all?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kind of what I was thinking.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CIRQUE DU FANTASY 3D</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They provided the 3D glasses for us for free,
which was a nice treat…well, I’ll explain later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The maze was full of black lit rooms where
the walls were painted in a way that made them look 3 dimensional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the scareactors would hide in the paintings
and then jump at you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like a swinging
clown, a lady in a colored mask and a black outfit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why the maze started with nutcrackers, I have
no clue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spent a lot of time looking at
the paintings and the strange ways they jumped out at you.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end, we
dropped off our 3D glasses in a box…wait, do they recycle them?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many people used the ones I wore…wait,
what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now wait a minute…best to not
think about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lady on bed, brothel, I’m
good, moving on.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">FIREDANCER SHOW</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we left Cirque
we had about 10 minutes until the firedancer show so we stuck around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The opening scene was the lady eating fire
over and over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept thinking if
this is 15 minutes of a lady eating fire I’m leaving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the show kept getting better and better
and it was very entertaining with 4 fire dancers in all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Definitely worth the wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like that each segment was only a couple of
minutes long, and that the show didn’t go on and on and on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I could see how something like this
could get boring after awhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the
creepy music and the talent really made for a good show, definitely worth checking
out.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CONCLUSION</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoyed Callson
Manor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think Heartstoppers and Callson
Manor are both equally good and worth checking out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They both have something worth checking out,
and both have actors that seemed to care about what they were doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The creators also put some time into the
creation of their mazes and made for a very good time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are on a whole different level than say Fright
Planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And for the price, it’s pretty
good.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, I wouldn’t
recommend spending the money for the front of the line pass, get there early,
it’s dark, and just hit them all in the first hour with little to no
lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think we were there for just
over an hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My biggest
recommendation is go in a large group with different kinds of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, the brave, the screamer, the scared
male who is manly but whimpers in the maze, get that kind of group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or go in a small group and take your time in
the maze, check everything out.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My biggest complaint
is the one time only in these mazes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
want to see them a couple of times, so I can remember all the details, and see
effects that I might have missed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fright
Planet was the only one in Sacramento that you can go through multiple times,
but wasn’t really worth going through multiple times.</span></div>
Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-53314646283372772342014-10-27T12:08:00.002-07:002014-10-27T12:08:32.212-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #10 – HEARTSTOPPERS (MINE SHAFT, RANCHO CORDOVA)
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">Haunt Season 2014 - Event #10 –
HEARTSTOPPERS (MINE SHAFT, RANCHO CORDOVA)</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First event in a
long time that I got to go with some newbies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Forgot how much fun it is to be with people who have no idea what to
expect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put a smile on my face that didn’t
go away until we left, awesome time.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heartstoppers holds
a special place in my heart because of it’s location.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s located in Rancho Cordova where the old
Mine Shaft Mini Golf place use to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
a great location.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the old days, you
started downstairs for the first couple of holes then you went up and out to
finish the course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A great environment
and I’m sad to see it sitting there not being used…well, until the haunt
season.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went two years
ago, and missing this year was the old guy who would walk up and down the line
in his happy, freaky way entertaining the crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year there was a zombie gold minor with
a bullet hole in his forehead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
helpful, but not really the nicest guy of the bunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also a huge puppet like creature
walking around, something I had seen at Dark Harbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, I get so into these events I forget to
take pictures, kicking myself.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before we begin, be
aware that we did get the fancy pants tickets which got us front of the line
access.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There weren’t too many people in
lines so we probably could have done without for most of it, but they were nice
to have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kept Amy and Aunt Nikki on
their toes <evil laugh>.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before entering,
there is this cool window into the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now I’m not sure if it’s a video wall, or just a window that shows
shadows from the other side, which I think it was because I never saw the same
thing twice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a guy with a hook
who starts attacking another figure, then the figure falls on the glass/video
screen smearing blood all over the place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Very cool to watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And sometimes
when people would take a picture in front of it, the people on the other side
would seem to react.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DEADLANDS</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the dead have
risen to exact their revenge on their killer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How cool is that right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
started the maze by walking through a long hallway with candles on both
sides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a lady follow us the whole way without
us realizing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She let us enter and we
walked pass a jail cell with a guy following us making as much noise as
possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walked into a bar where “the shots
were on him” and he shot an air gun at us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The best room, well for me, was the spider room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point Amy was tangled up in my jacket
and either pushing me forward, or pulling me back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As she saw the huge spider on our left, she
pulled me back revealing a switch on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So of course, I stepped on it and the spider
came running forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Amy pushed me
forward, and that’s when we saw another spider up on the shelf running towards
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fun room, for those that aren’t
scared of spiders that is.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The exit to this one
wasn’t as memorable, but there was a guy sitting in a chair waiting to pounce
which sent you out and into the line for the next maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">TOMB OF SHADOWS</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First off, this is
the BEST blackout maze I’ve ever been through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The maze was pitched black with a little bit of light showing
above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You felt the walls for guidance,
but the walls were either just plain wood panels, furry walls, or rubbery
walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes there would be fabric
hanging from the ceiling, so you weren’t sure what was hitting your face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then from above, there would be actors
whispering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, I had no idea
what they were whispering, but it was creepy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At two points, the
strobe light would come on and some kind of devil would come screaming at
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These scenes, while simple, really
added to the creepiness of the maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
the strobe light wasn’t so intense that you left with a headache.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very well done.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BLOOD ON THE BAYOU</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem with
this maze is it’s outside and there’s a lot of space to fill, so it doesn’t
surprise me that it isn’t filled with scare after scare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was kind of a casual walk through the old
golf courses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were some ladies in
white who liked to scream, some lightning bugs hovering over a stream, and some
guy who hung himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My favorite part
of this maze was the witch doctor on the far side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You couldn’t get too close to him, but he
would hit his staff against the ground and a flash of light would come from the
tree above you with the sound of thunder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Very awesome.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last scene of
the walk through was an indoor room which I thought was a cool idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had a small voodoo scene and then you were
out again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not my favorite voodoo maze
of the year, but that witch doctor scene was pretty powerful.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">DR. LASH’S SIDESHOW</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably the worst
maze of the bunch, and not because my Aunt was terrified by clowns either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seriously felt like we entered the
Sideshow, then left shortly after.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
only room I really remember was the last room which two clowns were in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You had to push buttons and pull down levers
to get out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That room depended greatly
on the scareactors to be interesting, and the two we had weren’t very exciting.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of things
do come to mind in that maze like the bearded lady, a lady on a bed of nails,
and a couple of things that could be clowns?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I just remember short…too short.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">ASYLUM</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, the last maze
because I wanted more. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You enter the
Asylum and a lady is at the desk asking for your name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then she yells your name for the whole maze
to hear…but nothing is ever done with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You go from room to room full of patients getting tested on and then the
doctor, or whoever will come at you with whatever device he is holding, either
a saw or an air gun mechanism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one
point I was following a deranged patient crawling telling me not to pass
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he enters a room, lies down
and does nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very strange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Asylum had a lot of
potential, but lacks the theming that Deadlands had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully they will keep adding more money
into it and make this even better.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CONCLUSION</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I must have enjoyed
myself because I didn’t really want it to end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wish there were either more mazes or the shorter ones were
longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hanging out with Aunt Nikki and
the very terrified Ms. Amy was fantastic and a fun experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I don’t think it’s as good as
Cemetarium, which is a labor of love, Heartstoppers is up there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And hopefully with continued work and funds,
it could be another great haunt for the Sacramento area.</span></div>
Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-54189382302818534212014-10-27T10:27:00.001-07:002014-10-27T10:27:39.183-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #9 – Fright Planet (Cal Expo)
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">Haunt Season 2014 - Event #9 – Fright Planet
(Cal Expo)</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second of my local
haunts, and with a low expectation, I was surprised to find a couple of things
that I actually enjoyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it really
does say something when you finish an event like this within 45 minutes, have
the ability to do the haunts again, and don’t really want to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">HOBART’S DOLL FACTORY</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The music is catchy,
annoying, and I kind of like it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not
sure if it’s the same music played at Great America, but it’s definitely
close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem with this maze is
that it’s full of young kids who don’t seem to have any real direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wander the maze, not really scaring,
just walking aimlessly around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was
one really cool hallway where the light would flash and a creepy scareactor
kind of walked slowly down the hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
thought that was really well done.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">THE LITTLE SHOP OF CARNAGE</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I mentioned
in another post that all haunts have to have a maze dedicated to capturing
humans and turning them into food, bbq style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is pretty much it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same
thing as I mentioned earlier, dead bodies hanging, guys with cleavers, and a
freezer walk through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we first
walked in, a scareactor told Tiffany to have a seat, so she did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently yes was the wrong thing to say.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CANNIABLE CABIN</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do love a spooky
cabin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outside of this maze is
actually really well done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first
time we came up to it, it was covered in fog and really had a cool creepy feel
to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inside, more creepy cabin which
was pretty cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scares weren’t
much, and the environment was interesting enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just nothing memorable.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">BLACKOUT LIVE</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not as dark as I
remembered, same people running around in black costumes whispering or yelling
at you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also hit the walls to creep
you out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing much to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m pretty sure I could put one of these
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Funny, I actually lost a
contact in this maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sure if it
rolled up into my eye or fell out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mix
of fake fog and darkness, as well as being tired from the previous haunts, made
me one eyed.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">DISTORTED MAZE</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are more like
headache inducing experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a
maze with fences as walls, characters walking around, and a strobe light and
loud noise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not my favorite of
locals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You wander around until the
character thinks you’ve had enough and opens up the exit and we go the hell
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You end in a dark tunnel with a
scareactor or two.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">JATINGA THE FORBIDDEN TEMPLE</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another voodoo maze,
I’m seeing a pattern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one was
really well themed with some scareactors that really enjoyed working in this
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went through caverns, spooky
rooms filled with voodoo rituals, and even walked by a house with people on the
roof and in the bushes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plenty to look
at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last scene had a witch doctor
stabbing a man, which I stopped to enjoy both times I went through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If nothing else, spend money on spooky candle
lighting and I’ll enjoy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Definitely
my number one maze at Fright Planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
went through this one twice.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">RED (18+ ONLY)</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you follow me on
Facebook, you saw that I vented quite a bit about a dumbass mother who sent her
13 year old daughter to Universal Studios Hollywood Horror Nights and the girl
got called a slut and put up for auction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The mother is looking for an apology, and my guess will be suing
Universal shortly, which I think is ridiculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here’s an idea, research what you are putting your kids into before
sending them off on their own.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That being said,
this maze is 18 and over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They check ID,
it’s legit…well, after going through the maze I would put it at PG13 at best,
come one people, make an R rated maze already.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Before going in, we were behind a mother with a 10 year old boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The guy took the mom’s id, made sure she was
okay that a 10 YEAR OLD BOY WAS GOING THROUGH AN 18 AND OVER MAZE, mommy
dearest said yes, and off they went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Seriously?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t understand
people.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “janitor” took
us into RED and asked if we liked clowns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then said, welcome to my hell f&^ckers and off we went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each room filled with a clown doing something
menacing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one room, I had a feeling I
was back in Trapped at Knotts…I know, I’ll write it up after Halloween.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A clown wanted to put makeup on us to turn us
into clowns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was sad, and
demented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another room had a clown on a
couch watching tv.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another room had a
sexy clown asking if we wanted to join a clown orgy, apparently yes wasn’t the answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Down some strobe filled hallways with blood
dripping clowns and we were out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides
the small amount of language and the orgy suggestion, nothing that would give
it an R rating compared to the other haunts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">SKIPPED AND OUT</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t do the
BURIED ALIVE, or see much of the NIGHTLY ENTERTAINMENT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had some fun with some scareactors, one
who said we smelled nice and a couple that slid around on their knees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the scareactors would weave in and
out of different haunts, which I think is a great idea, as long as their
costume fits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gives that feeling that
you are being followed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We skipped the
movie too, saw that two years ago and it was a huge waste of time.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CONCLUSION</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New to haunts and
want to see if you like them, Fright Planet would be good for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that’s really the only time it would
be good for someone to go there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
lines are short if you go early enough so you don’t have to worry about long
lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in the evening it probably
got busy, but not while we were there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For it’s location, they need to put a lot of
money into it and really make it big…I’m thinking Gyros from the 90’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would be cool.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">NEXT UP: HEARTSTOPPERS</span></div>
Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-59341132046452391202014-10-24T11:03:00.000-07:002014-10-24T11:03:59.946-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #8 – California’s Great America Halloween Haunt<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">Haunt Season 2014 - Event #8 –
California’s Great America Halloween Haunt</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been some time
since I went to Great America’s Halloween Haunt, but it’s better late than
never, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, I guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before I begin, let me tell you at the
beginning of this Haunt, I was starting to see signs of burnout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first maze we went through, I wasn’t
thrilled, thought here we go again, and “yep, same thing as usual.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that being said,
I have to say I was very, very impressed with the haunt at Great America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if I were you and only wanted to go to
one haunt this year, this is the one you need to jump on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not at the same level of So Cal…YET, but
it’s dang close and I was pleasantly surprised by the event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My favorite maze so far this year was at this
event, and one of my favorite moments of this year so far also happened at this
event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus it had the best opening show
ever!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">THE INTERVIEW</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will do some
research to find this gentlemen’s name, but he’s the lead for entertainment for
haunt and he was amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gave us some
history of the haunt and some of the issues of doing haunt every year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He made us drink blood…more on that later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the reason why I
mention this interview, and why I think you need to go straight to The Season
Pass Podcast on Itunes and listen to the episode…when it comes out, is what he
said about running a haunt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Due to laws
within California, it is mandatory that all scareactors get a break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Due to this law, there are times when you go
through a haunt and it may seem empty, well, this is because the scareactors
are on a mandatory break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course my
mind went to then you need to hire more actors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that really doesn’t fix things either because then you would need to
have two actors for every scene and they would swap, and that could get
expensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t really have the
same actor do breaks for other actors, because that would require a different
kind of makeup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I no longer complain
about empty areas in the haunts, and I don’t think any of us should.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just a cause of the system.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">HAUNT OPENING SHOW</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really have no
idea what they call the opening show, but it was amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, please remember that we were behind the
lines that were holding people back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
got to stand above the crowd and look down on them to see their reactions,
which made it even more awesome.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So first, a junky,
creepy RV drives up next to the crowd that is waiting for Haunt to open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The RV stops and then just stays there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crowd turns to see what exactly is going
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people see us and try to pass
the ropes but the few people that hold the ropes tell them to get back behind
the lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the RV starts rocking
from left to right and eerie music is played.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then the rocking stops, the door opens, and the undead climb out of the
RV and line up right in front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
stare at the crowd, make sounds, point, jeer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s all very creepy.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a couple of
minutes of staring back and forth, a siren comes on from the speakers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure if anything is said, like a
warning or the undead have risen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lines
are then dropped, and the undead sprint at the crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This causes the crowd to run straight towards
us like a tidal wave of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
undead are sprinting after them while people scream in terror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a surreal feeling watching pure fear
and laughter erupt from this wave of bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m shocked that nobody is trampled on because people are hauling ass
past us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s an amazing visual, and an
even better way to start this great evening.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CARNEVIL</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even after that
amazing introduction to the event, my burnout of Haunts started here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a 3-d maze, which to my amazement, you
have to pay $1 for the 3-d glasses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now,
we had the Fright Lane pass (aka front of the line pass) and the Skeleton Key,
and there was no booth to buy the 3-d glasses where we lined up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my opinion, those that pay the big bucks
should get the 3-d glasses for free and maybe given to them when they got their
pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just my recommendation.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The maze was
fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crazy colors, crazy clowns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was this weird cotton candy hallway
that was just full of fuzzy pink walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Very strange. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Skeleton Key
room consisted of multiple tv’s that each person stood in front of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You watched a series of images and videos,
then a scary figure would pop out in an attempt to scare you and you moved
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Been victim to these types of jokes
before, so it didn’t scare me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my
opinion, the Skeleton Key room’s are supposed to inform you more of the
storyline of the maze, and this didn’t do anything to enhance the maze.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">DIA DE LOS MUERTOS</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my favorites
of the event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No Skeleton Key in this
room, but the artwork and the environments were simply awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a maze that I knew I had to go
through again, but with the Fright Lane, you only get to go to the front of the
line once, which I thought was ridiculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At Knotts, I would do mazes multiple times to see everything, one time
through?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can see going through the Skeleton Key
rooms once, but the mazes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My first
dislike of the evening, possibly the only one.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dia de los Muertos
is the Mexico celebration that follows Halloween.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tons of cool costumes and neon lighting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug got yelled at for recording audio, but
after a 5 minute detour, we finally finished the maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hard to describe the awesomeness of the
jungle, the town, and the building that you go through.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">MADAME MARIE’S MASSACRE MANOR</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another Voodoo
maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems like this is the thing
this year, even though this is a returning maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now this maze didn’t have any swamp like
scenes like the other ones did, but it did have a creepy house full of weird
voodoo art.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Skeleton Key
room is in the middle of the maze, like CarnEvil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s spooky as hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You walk into the séance room, grab onto a
crystal ball and hold on for dear life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now I was expecting a zap from the ball, but no such thing
happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The table starts moving, the
lights go out, then a strobe comes on and a freaky girl appears in the middle
of the table staring at each person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
pretty awesome and definitely gets you in the mood to finish the maze.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Room after room
after room of craziness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, one I
wish I could have gone through to remember more and seen it all.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">MIRROR, MIRROR</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is considered
an event rather than a maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fun House
Express is the other event, but we didn’t go to that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The guys said it sucked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mirror, Mirror was something that I didn’t
experience last year at Knott’s, and it was disappointing here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You put on plastic gloves so you don’t get
the glass dirty, then you get sent in as a group to find your way out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clowns/masquerade characters haunt the mirror
maze to confuse and frighten you, plus there’s this crazy strobe light that
gives you a headache.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a timed
experience, and it didn’t feel like we were in there for long until we were
escorted out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very disappointing, even
more disappointing if I had to wait in the hour line to get in.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">WAX MUSEUM CHAMBER OF HORROR</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Follow this up with
this best maze I’ve been in this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
LOVED Wax Museum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea is simple,
you walk through a Wax Museum full of wax sculptures, some have a human in it,
some don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a mix of serial
killers and monster movies in the maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My favorite moment was coming face to face with a live Jack the Ripper,
gives me the chills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Loved it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was an African expedition room, a
monster room, a western room, a room filled with kings and beheadings, just
fantastic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Startled a couple of times
because I was admiring some of the great details.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the Wax
Museum, you enter the backstage area where the wax sculptures are made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some animatronic figures move you along from
room to room as the sculptures get less and less decorated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then in the final room you find that some
poor victims have been captured and been waxed for the museum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great storyline,
great idea, I love this!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope Knott’s
gets a version next year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would love to
see how that group can make it even more insane.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">TOY FACTORY</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one thing I
remember about Toy Factory?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
song!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I loved that stupid annoying
song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no idea why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The toy factory had a lot to see in each
room, which again would have been nice to see a couple of times to see
everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had play on names like “Build
A Bear” they called “Kill a Bear”, not sure if that’s right, it’s been
awhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a haunt that didn’t
really need people in it, it was just cool to walk through and see all the
imagination that went into creating it.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Skeleton Key was
very disappointing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You walk through a
long hallway with those weird air bubbles on each side so you feel like you are
going through a birthing canal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then at
the end of the one hallway, you do a u-turn and do it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then back into the maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very disappointing, and not worth your time.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">ZOMBIE HIGH</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Toy Factory,
this one didn’t need actors, just cool to walk through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You went through chemistry class, English class,
history class, and each time you left a room, you walked through a hallway
created by those old school desks which made it really creepy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some good startles, but it was really awesome
just walking through the scenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
did have one guy in the bungee cords who jumped down and startle you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the scene I would have like to have
seen more of an NC-17 rating was the locker room and the shower room at the
end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Felt like I was in a teen movie,
but the fact that everybody was in a swimsuit kind of took you out of the
story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bring on the boobage, lol.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CORNSTALKERS</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>THE WORST MAZE
HERE!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God, I was disappointed in this
maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walking through a corn maze with
people in the corn to jump out at you with some redneck stuff to walk in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were long areas where there was nobody
in the maze, breaks?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sure but it
seemed empty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went by 6 outhouses
that I really thought someone would be in, but there was nobody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weird maze, not very fun.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BUT THE SKELETON KEY
ROCKED THE HOUSE!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Skeleton Key room
was the first thing you went into and it was so awesome that we talked about it
for the first half of the maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
that awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m hoping to get an
unedited copy of it so I can share with everybody, but we laughed so hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We kept the characters going and at one
point, the actor stopped the act and thanked us for being so awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gist: Two red neck boys, the older one follows
his woman around with a cup once a month, then takes the…stuff, and puts it
into pumpkins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To get out, you need a
key, and the key is in one of the pumpkins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After diving through the pumpkins, you are allowed to wash up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything that happens in between, pure
humor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll post a link to the recording
when Doug uploads it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Man that was a
good time.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">ROADKILL ROADHOUSE</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Final maze of the
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also new for this year, but we’ve
seen it all over the place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story is
that you enter a restaurant that serves meat and you find out that the meat is
human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This maze is as common as the clown
mazes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing new if you’ve been
through this: dead bodies hanging, ground meat from bodies, cleaver wielding
people chasing you, all the same.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Skeleton Key
room is a bit different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You enter the
room and the cook tells you that you have two things to choose from, the blood
or the bug pie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I mentioned earlier
that I had the blood back in one of our interviews and it wasn’t as bad as the
urine I had to drink back at Knotts…again, something I haven’t talked about yet
but will after Halloween is over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug thought
it was grosser than the urine, but I had a little bit left in my cup so I drank
a little more (ingredients: water, salt, ground up iron tablets and some kind
of stuff that makes it thick).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we
went for the cricket pie, which tasted like sunflower seeds except for the leg
that got stuck in my teeth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">THE REST OF THE EVENT,</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rides were open
which was cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gold Striker was awesome
at night, great ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Didn’t go on anything
else because we ran out of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also
didn’t get a chance to see any of the shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We got a special dinner in the employee café which was awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great America brings down the prices and
serves decent food behind the scenes for it’s employees, bravo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scare zones were fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Iron Works was just a bunch of guys banging
metal around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Underworld Alley was
apparently awesome the year before, I thought it was fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Gauntlet was a fog filled area like Ghost
Town, but it was just okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Didn’t have
the building of Ghost town.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did a lot of
comparing between Great America and Knotts, because they are run by the same
company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the So Cal parks still have
a leg up on us Northern California parks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But Great America is the best even within a 3 hour drive and I strongly
recommend checking this out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Loved it
and will be returning…with new victims next year.</span></div>
<br />Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-39903553608202318852014-10-13T14:57:00.002-07:002014-10-14T09:28:33.486-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #7 – Opening night of Cemetarium<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">Haunt Season 2014 - Event #7 – Opening
night of Cemetarium</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cemetarium is the
number one event that I’m always looking forward to check out with The Season
Pass gang.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The event is amazing,
entertaining, and really close to my house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Plus everybody that helps run that place is freaking awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went the first
night of the Full Scare events and we were told that some of the special
effects weren’t working yet and they would continue to add things throughout
the month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that being said, you can
bet your ass I’ll be there again later this month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because our trip through Cemetarium this year…WAS
AWESOME!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">PSYCHO CIRCUS</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay friends, what
is up with Clowns and why are they at everybody’s haunt?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The weekend before, we went through a couple
of haunts where clowns were covered in blood killing people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert told me that if they took real clowns
that were funny and then put them in insane situations, that would be scarier
than anything.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we go to
Cemetarium, AND THAT’S WHAT THEY DID!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was this one clown, brought to creation by Mr. Randy, that
honestly made us nervous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first time
we saw him, he stared at us and ran his bat against the fence as he slowly
walked over to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert, being the
protective elder that he is, pushed me forward and told me to go and make a
friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, this is where Mr. Helsel
started messing around with us with crazy laughter, jumping, dragging along
that damn bat of his.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we entered
Psycho Circus, Randy was ready.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
coming after me, until he realized that Robert was the screamer of the group,
and he left me behind to mess with “ROBERT.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In all honesty, I don’t really remember the first part of the maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because the majority of the maze was going through these “white, then
black, then white” sheets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was so
disorienting that I got lost very easily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The clowns kept saying “wrong way”, “white, then black, then white”, “wrong
way I said.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It drove me nuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we finally got through the white, then
the black, then the white, one clown said “wrong way” and the group turned
around and headed back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not realizing
that we were almost at the exit, which I was told later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Around and around we went, how to get out,
nobody knows.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we went from
white to black to white, then white to black to white, then white to black to
white a third time I disconnected from the group in an attempt to find my way
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was truly driving me nuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I finally did, I went to find the group
only to scare another clown, who didn’t see me escape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That maze was so
freaking awesome, full of laughs, frustration, and joy that I would recommend
it for everybody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My face hurt after
words because I was laughing so hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
everything Robert wanted…and we were just beginning.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CEMETARIUM</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cemetarium has the
same front as before, but whatever they did inside was insane. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The maze is SOOOO long, that I’m not sure what
the walk through is, which is why I can’t wait to do it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the clowns decided to follow us through
this maze too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in every room, all we
heard was “Robert…oh Robert”; “Hey, something smells, it really stinks…oh, HI
ROBERT”; “Hmm, Robert smells good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
on , and on it went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug’s sister Callie
is hiding in this maze and we were all looking forward to seeing her in
makeup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She jumped out at us at one
point then ran ahead, then snuck up on Robert to get a scare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The environments are
all incredible: Christmas time, chain link imprisonment, rooms to a house, and
some barrel walk ways to name a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t remember many mechanics going on do to those dang clowns constantly
entertaining us, and I do mean entertaining because my face hurt even worse
with all the laughing we did in that maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I’m looking forward to return to see what else Cemetarium can bring
me. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forgot one thing,
the lady with the screaming doll was freaking awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LOVE that doll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She actually came out with us and we got to
spend some time with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would love to
have that puppet for trick or treating to scare the kiddies with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Randy’s clown also joined us, and he liked to
sniff Robert’s hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LOL, that night was
good times.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CONCLUSION</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is really an
early review of one of the best haunts in Sacramento.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please check them out and show your
support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These guys are great and I’m
sure I’ll be getting more surprises throughout the month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, Randy left the production the night we
were there and went home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are
tons more scareactors who do an amazing job.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">WEBSITE: <a href="http://www.terrorinthenighthalloweenproductions.com/">http://www.terrorinthenighthalloweenproductions.com/</a></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">UP NEXT….GREAT AMERICA’S HAUNT</span></div>
<br />Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-33609230774778492702014-10-13T14:04:00.002-07:002014-10-13T14:04:25.127-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #6 – Six Flags Discovery Kingdom’s Fright Fest
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">Haunt Season 2014 - Event #6 – Six Flags
Discovery Kingdom’s Fright Fest</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holy smokes…6 events
so far and we aren’t even half way done with the month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Got some catching up to do so I’ll have three
posts today or over the next couple of days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>See how I do with the typing, the writing, and keeping my eyes awake.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Discovery Kingdom’s
Fright Fest was probably the weakest of the haunts I’ve done so far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the crazy thing is, I have nothing but
compliments for SFDK for what they accomplished this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can tell they put a lot of money and
heart into this event and I’m sure that it will continue to get better with
each passing year.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fountain in the
center of the park is still absolutely amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The blood water, the skeletons, and now a huge burst of flame from the
center is freaking awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s one of
my favorite things to check out each year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scareactors that
roam the park have doubled, possibly tripled since last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And some of the scare zones have even more
props than last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the first
sign that SFDK has turned a corner from just a simple event, to one they are
putting some love into.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately,
the scare zones are still lacking, and the big spider one we were looking
forward to seeing wasn’t even working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Non-haunt related,
Superman at night is still freaking awesome.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the most
shocking thing of Fright Fest was the lack of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t really need our front of the line
passes, most had no lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even Superman
was a walk on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now this might be because
it’s still early in the month, but it was still surprising.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">NIGHTMARE MANOR</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A very creative
haunted house themed maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before you go
in, they take your picture with a little scare, which of course we had to
take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert ended up buying the picture
which was sold for only 10 dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
too bad.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inside the maze, you
went through rooms and hallways, stuff you would see in a house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course this house is filled with creatures
and blood covered spirits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember a
baby carriage with a skeleton that jumps out of the carriage, some large
animatronic creature…but my memory is unfortunately vague when it comes to this
maze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know it was in my top 3 at SFDK.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">THE BOATHOUSE AT BLOOD LAKE</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is my favorite
haunt at SFDK this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boathouse
is actually a building for the queue line of one of their water rides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They added some rain effects which I thought
was a cool idea, but it stops and goes so there’s a chance you might miss
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inside the maze, you go through the
boathouse with victims and killers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
begging for help to be released, others trying to trap you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s one really cool room with tv’s on
showing static and rain falling down with a guy just outside of the
windows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an awesome effect, if
you know me water scores a lot of points.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point, a head
falls down from above and hit Doug on the head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thought this was pretty cool, but that head was hard!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The maze continues outside with a moss
monster, limbs in a tub, and the family that owns the boathouse selling some
chum in buckets at the exit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nicely
themed maze, we actually went through this maze twice.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CAPTAIN BLOAT’S SHIPWRECK OF HORROR</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This maze is themed
inside of the Shark Experience in the back corner of SFDK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first thing that caught my eye was a
skeleton head that pops out of a chest and talks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was amazing, but I unfortunately missed
most of the introduction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what I saw
of it was really well done.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The maze seemed
familiar from the year before, but the scareactors seemed to stay with us
longer and continue to freak Robert out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Also this year, I felt like even though I was in the back, I still got
to see all of the scares because the scareactors waited for the whole group to
be in the room before attacking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
thought this was really cool, I’m just not sure if they did this because the
clouds were so small.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through the maze we
went, close to the aquariums surrounded by pirate ghouls with blood all over
their bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point, we came upon
two boys that we thought were scareactors but turned out to be just two teenage
boys scared out of their minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You got
to man up if we are going to this”; “No you go to man up, you are being a sissy”;
“sissy, we can’t be doing these if we can’t even walk through them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boys snuck into our group and held on to
me at times just to get through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ahh,
love haunt season.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The finale was
pretty cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A large Squid Man, probably
9 feet tall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was supposed to be scary
and we were supposed to run out of there, but instead we stood and admired the
figure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably confused the poor kid
inside the costume.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">SCRAPYARD OF THE DEAD</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think what amazed
us about this maze this year is that they extended the maze walk without adding
any space to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same junk cars with
crazy mechanics running through the maze, but there’s a point that you go back
and forth in this small area, filled with fog, so you easily get
disoriented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then you get chased by a
guy with a chainsaw and you are out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
fun maze filled with loud noise and music.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">BLOODBATH BAYOU</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A free maze, and we
skipped it this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had some large
crocodiles and maybe zombies and a moss monster, who we ran into while walking
around.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">SLAUGHTER HOUSE PIG FARMS</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you walk up to
this maze it was completely dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AND I
MEAN COMPLETELY DARK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You weren’t really
sure where you were supposed to go, and you haven’t even entered the maze
yet!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the maze, you see some
butchers, have a walk through outside with a car that starts up and the lights
come on, and some creepy walkers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inside
the Slaughter House you come upon rednecks in overalls, knives, and usually
cutting something up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one room there
was a head on top of a grinder that turned the body into ground beef.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside again, more walkers and a chainsaw
guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pretty entertaining, but I thought
it was longer last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug said that
the maze went backwards this year.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">MASSACRE MINE</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The queue for this
one was filled with creepy guys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some running
far faster than we the customers are allowed to walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mine was cool but I think it would be far
more effective inside a building to give it more of a creepy walk through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We met up with a guy and his pet spider,
which was cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bouncing guy from
last year was missing, but we did have a couple of miners that walked with us a
majority of the way, slamming against walls and screaming at us as much as
possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another fun maze.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">NO BOO STICKS</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way out of
Massacre Mine we ran into a bunch of kids caring these light sticks in front of
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked the Six Flags Rep that was
with us and he told us about No Boo Sticks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These sticks can be bought for $5 from any store and kids, as well as
adults, can carry them in front of themselves to prevent any monsters from
attacking.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now normally, I
thought this idea was absolutely stupid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you are going to an event like this, leave the kiddies at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if you really think about it, this park
is open all day for families and doesn’t close for a hard ticket event like
other parks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Families can stay the whole
night and skip the extra fee haunts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With a father of two who are interested but still a little frightened of
these events, it would be cool to bring the boys with me, get them the sticks,
and let them experience the event in a safe and scare free environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So bravo Six Flags.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CONCLUSION</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As mentioned
earlier, this isn’t an event that you are going to walk away with your head
blown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if you only experience this
one event every year, then you are definitely going to see some major
improvements and I’m REALLY looking forward to what the event holds for us next
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">NEXT UP: Opening night of Cematarium</span></div>
Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-47197645982722828802014-10-08T13:15:00.002-07:002014-10-08T13:15:52.877-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #5 – Mickey’s Halloween Party (Disneyland)
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">Haunt Season 2014 - Event #5 – Mickey’s
Halloween Party (Disneyland)</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First off, this is
not event for my fellow haunt friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is definitely a family event full of rides, trick or treating, and
some entertainment that wasn’t worth my time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That being said, I’m doing this review on my full day experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then you can make the decision whether this
is an event for you.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">PRICE</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason why I
signed up for this event is the price.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now Annual Passholders can complain that the price is too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But for a non passholder, the price is great,
especially if you REALLY want to go on two rides that got some attention,
Thunder Mountain and Alice in Wonderland.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The price is
$65.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Included in this price is parking,
which runs about 17 dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take out
the price for parking, you are paying $48 for the event, which I think is a
great deal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus you get into the park 3
hours before the park opens and get some extra’s that I’ll go into in a
second.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Considering the price for a one
day, no park hopping pass is about 100 dollars, paying half that for 8 hours in
the park is a great deal in my book…well, a great deal at Disney that is ;-).</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">BEFORE THE PARTY</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My brother and I
arrived at Disneyland around 1:00 PM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jay got some backlash from his parking attendant regarding him being
there way too early, but I didn’t have an issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parked in the Donald parking lot and met Jay
by the escalators.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then had a great
lunch at Rainforest Café…who has said that, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our waiter was awesome, coming from the fine
state of Florida and he worked at Disney World in the entertainment field.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He kept coming back to us to refill our
drinks and talk about his old days in Florida.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Very nice guy and made for a nice experience.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Afterwards, I took
Jay over to Trader Sam’s for his first experience at the bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jay says it was one of his favorite things to
do that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We both got two drinks,
and they were good stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like how the
special effects moments didn’t go on so much that you couldn’t have a conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could just chill, talk, and get sprinkled
on from time to time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it will be
a place that Jay and I will hang out at for years to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Python drink was UNBELIEVABLE.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like I mentioned
earlier, we got in the park at 3 pm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
rest of the public was already in there so lines were long and the fast passes
were gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We decided to see the
extended preview of Big Hero 6, which looks fantastic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A great way to relax and get air
conditioning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that, we took the
train around to Toon Town.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Toon Town was opened
as a Pre Party location for the party guests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was our first experience with trick or treating, and boy did we get a
lot of candy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was three Trick or
Treat trails located in Toon Town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
around the fountain by Roger Rabbit, one through Mickey’s house and Minnie’s
house, and then one around Goofy’s boat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With just those three trails, we almost filled our bag up with
candy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also went on Roger Rabbit for
a spin through Toon Town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or just to see
Jessica Rabbit, but you didn’t see my write that ;-).</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After Toon Town we
went over to Big Thunder Ranch for their Pre-Party Trick or Treat areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were some art areas, pumpkin carvings
and I believe some snacks could be bought back here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really miss Billy Hill and the Hillbillies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was their home, at least recently.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">PARTY TIME</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The main reason for
me to sign up for this party was to go on Big Thunder Mountain and Alice in
Wonderland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So first up, we went on
Thunder Mountain. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks to only those
with tickets for the party able to ride, we walked right on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boy is it smooth, and that ending was really
awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fun riding a ride while
protecting your candy, lol.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the next 30
minutes, we hit a couple more Trick or Treat trails, tried to ride Splash
Mountain but it was down, walked over to Haunted Mansion but Jay wanted to wait
for it to be dark, and ended up walking over to Space Mountain – Ghost Galaxy
for a ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Took about 20 minutes in
line, then we were on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jay’s first ride
through, fun as always and I didn’t see any real changes from previous years.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Headed back to
Haunted Mansion Halloween layover and rode that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the ginger bread house this year is
my favorite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s an Iron Maiden type
device with balls over the nails, I think?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think there was a Ginger Bread man inside too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other than that, I think the ride was the
same as last year…I think.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Splash Mountain was
on so we went on for a ride so we could get our 2.99 digital picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did a great pose, coming to Instagram
shortly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the scene where brer fox is
pushing Brer Bear and an alligator has Brer fox’s tail, we stopped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the ride went 101.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pretty cool to walk through the last scene of
the ride, then out the back onto backstage, then back in again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They gave us fastpasses, but none of the
rides were really using fastpass and the lines were okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I still have it.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, and that 2.99
digital copy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently they stopped
doing that and it’s now 14.99.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
sucks majorly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BOO DISNEY!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walked Jay to Main
Street and he headed home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went over
to ride Alice but it was closed for the fireworks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did some trick or treat trails, watched the
new Halloween overlay video on Small World, and then headed over and rode
Pirates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After Pirates went back to
Alice, which had a long line, and finally got to see the new scenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ride does look beautiful and there’s tons
more to see thanks to the video projection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the Queen still looks the same, I thought she was being upgraded too?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finished the night
with a ride on Thunder Mountain at night, which looks a lot better than the
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ended up with 3 bags of candy, some
souvenirs for the kiddies, and headed home, arriving in Manteca at 6 AM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An amazing weekend
with friends and family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately I
didn’t get to see everybody I wanted to in So Cal, just not enough time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’ll be back soon, love it down there.</span></div>
Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-91293633447267377362014-10-06T10:14:00.002-07:002014-10-06T10:14:23.654-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #4 - The Haunted Hotel (San Diego)Haunt Season 2014 - Event #4 - The Haunted Hotel (San Diego)<br />
<br />
Another haunt in the books, oh yeah!! First local haunt, which is fantastic. Nice to go to a new city, new haunt, and a new group of victims to hang out with.<br />
First, I was to go alone. Then Emily said she would go, the Steph said she would go, and last but not least, my little bro decided "well, if everybody else is going, I will too." Life is good my friends, life is good.<br />
<br />
BEFORE THE HAUNT<br />
<br />
So all the other haunts I have ever gone to usually has a build up. The outside is decorated with the right theming, creepy music, and scareactors are everywhere. When we came up to the Haunted Hotel, I didn't even realize it until we were right next to the open door with a sign above the entrance. It was bizarre. We did see one scareactor outside and she talked to us for a little bit, apparently Emily smelled good and the lady wanted Em's eyes. Also surprising, no line. It opened at 7, we were there at 8:30 and there was no line. All very bizarre. What was I getting into right?<br />
Then they led us into a room where we lined up in lines. We were given the rules, no touching the characters, no touching the props, blah blah blah, you know the rules. RESPECT THEM!! Then we walked down the stairs and there we lined up again. Very bizarre. Then a scareactor got a small group of us and we were on our way.<br />
<br />
INTO THE HAUNT<br />
<br />
First up, we entered an elevator. Kind of similar to the elevator I experienced in Trapped last year, but without the video monitoring, and I think this elevator actually went down...maybe not?? Who knows? Got a couple of good scares, the doors open, and I find myself in the lead with my little brother right behind me.<br />
The maze for me was really well themed, but kind of disjointed. No real storyline, just different scenes. For me, a name like "Haunted Hotel", I was expecting more of a haunt through a, well, haunted hotel. And that's not what this was. I'm actually having a hard time remembering some of the scenes in order, so I'm just going to talk quickly about the ones I remember, and enjoyed.<br />
There was a voodoo like area where we walked on boardwalks and there were candles. There were butcher rooms full of guys with knives chasing us. There were some corridors that were completely dark. Luckily, I've done enough of these to kind of figure out where to go. I remember hearing Steph or Em asking "How does Jer know where to go?" Lol, because I'm the bomb ladies ;-).<br />
The best scene I remember is the clown subway. First there's a subway car that jumps out at you, kind of like the subway in the Universal Haunt "An American Werewolf in London." Then you round a corner and you find yourself in a subway car with a whole bunch of clowns. Now the subway is actually moving a little bit, which I thought was a great trick that they didn't need to do, but doing it was so much better. As always, there were dummies in there and maybe to scareactors, so which one was real? Then one jumped out at me and said dance boy dance, so I danced. And I danced, and danced, Jay was laughing like crazy, fun time. <br />
Then there was the diner with a girl in one of the booths. I thought she looked human so I tried to point her out to Jay, but she freaked them out anyways. Poor Haunt Virgins, lol. Then the final room there were people with chainsaws that would chase you out of the maze and up the stairs. Then at the top of the stairs, there was the guy from the Saw movies on a little tricycle. People were flying up those stairs and down the street, that part was freakin awesome.<br />
New for me: there was a room with multiple air bag like devices. Now usually, it's a walkway that you have to push between these two large air bubble things. Well this room had 6 different directions you could go through. And I think it was so the group could get mixed up and the person in front could end up the person in the back. I tried left, dead end. I followed a scareactor forward, dead end. Went to the right, and we were on our way again, with me in the lead. It was a cool way to mess things up. <br />
<br />
CONCLUSION<br />
<br />
Jay enjoyed his time at the maze. He says following me made it a lot easier. I thought the haunt was a really good local haunt with tons of great environments. But when you push an award like "named by Haunt World Magazine as one of the top 13 haunted houses in America" you need to be awesome. And I think they were close, but no storyline and no hotel part made it kind of weird. I would have loved to have gone through a hotel, room by room, with interesting and crazy things going on in each room. But damn, that subway was good stuff. While in San Diego, check this maze out, good stuff. Wish I had a chance to go through a second time so my memory was a little better.<br />
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That's it for So Cal for me. Heading up to Disneyland for their Halloween Party tonight then I'll be heading home. Got a couple more haunts on my list so I'll be back shortly. I'll probably do a quick write up of the Disneyland Party, but don't expect too much. <br />
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And I'm pretty sure I'm going to be asked what's the best haunt event down in So Cal? In all honesty, I can't tell you. Knott's is always my favorite, mostly because you can just hang out there and be in the environment. Dark Harbor has real history and real life scares. And Universal Studios has the best environments to explore. So flip a coin, or go to all three :-).Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-49336822175822285742014-10-05T12:56:00.003-07:002014-10-05T12:56:24.201-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #3 - Halloween Horror Nights (Universal Studios)Haunt Season 2014 - Event #3 - Halloween Horror Nights (Universal Studios)<br />
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Before I get into this next installment, can't believe people actually still read blogs, lol. My stats went crazy over the last couple of days, so thank you all for reading them. Makes me want to do them.<br />
Well, today, I'm exhausted. Tough night sleep, another really late night, but good times all around. This morning I finally went to bed around 4:15, not too bad, but still crazy. My haunt family heads home today, and I might have another event or two to do in the coming days.<br />
So Halloween Horror Nights...this one is a tough one to start. The sticker shock on this event stays in your mind while you are at the event. Is the event worth the cash? I'm still undecided. Yes and no will probably be my final answer. And the sad thing is if you want to do EVERYTHING at the event, you have to get the front of the line pass or you are either screwed, or so rushed to do everything you won't get a chance to sit back and enjoy it. But on a side note, if you only go to Universal Studios once a year, and you go during HHN, then you'll be able to do the full park except for the tram ride. So in a couple of years, I might be considering this option in order to get a ride on Harry Potter. Sticker Price for a family of four with front of the line access will run you about 600 dollars...um, yeah.<br />
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FRONT OF THE LINE ACCESS<br />
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Universal Studios does Front of the Line access a little differently than other parks. Other parks you pay the price, then get unlimited access to everything. At Universal, Front of the Line access gives you front of the line access to everything once, including certain attractions. Now there was an exception to the rule which I'll get into later. But for me, this is an issue. I don't see everything in my first walk through, I need a couple of walk through's to really see a maze. So only seeing it once, not okay for me. Thanks to very short lines when we first got there, I was able to see one maze twice, and go on two rides twice, which was cool. But still, only once through with the pass? BOOOO!!!<br />
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CLOWNS 3D WITH MUSIC BY SLASH<br />
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My first introduction to Universal Studios HHN was an interesting one. They first give you the 3D glasses that have shown up at a couple of haunts I've been too. Not really 3D glasses, but they make the colors stand out so it looks 3D. I think it looks cool. Add clowns doing crazy things and you have this maze.<br />
A couple of examples: A clown disemboweling someone with the entrails wrapped around their neck and dancing. A freezer container with some clowns, and it was really cold. A van of clowns that jumps out at you, which seemed to be a running gag in most of the mazes, something being launched at you, and of course clowns with knives, chainsaws, and whatever else they can get their hands on.<br />
It was a fun maze, the colors were cool, but I was expecting more from Universal. So after going through this one, I was a little nervous in regards to the night.<br />
PS There was music?<br />
Walk Thru: 1<br />
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AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON<br />
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My second maze, and one that left me with HOLY CRAP, THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!! Now I'm not sure if I've seen this movie or it's been so long that I don't remember. But this was a pretty sweet maze with some amazing environments. First a bar, then a forest with a guy being eaten by a werewolf, Nazi like beings slitting a guys throat and shooting the room up, a hospital, a subway car flying at you (again, that something inanimate coming at you) and multiple Werewolf's snarling at you with flashing lights. These werewolf's were freaking awesome. A couple of times, I waited back to see it happen again...and again...and again...HELL YEAH.<br />
So at Dark Harbor I mentioned that group of girls that hung on me for a part of the maze because they were frightened. It happened again in this maze...except they were boys, about the same age too. They were hilarious, but kept pushing into me, and I like to take my time, chill, enjoy.<br />
Possibly my favorite maze of the night, but there's another one that is either tied, or a close second.<br />
This maze, we walked through with no wait when we got there. So I was able to go back at the end of the evening to ride this again. It was to my great disappointment to find some of the wolves not working, and a lot of the corridors empty, but the maze was PACKED with people. Glad we walked through at the beginning.<br />
Walk Thru: 2<br />
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SCARE ZONE: WALKING TO TERMINUS <br />
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Apparently, last year this was actually another tram ride. This year, we walked to the mazes down on the lot. The walk included some walkers (aka walking dead) and a walk through a tunnel that resembled the one in Walking Dead. Entering the Back Lot, you come upon this really awesome building with lit up windows of walkers attacking people, I thought this was a really cool scene. <br />
But there were people EVERYWHERE. The Walking Dead maze had a two hour wait...a two hour wait? There better be a buffet at the end of that line! Lol. The AVP maze also had a 100 minute wait. Just tons and tons of people.<br />
To entertain the growing line, there were people asking questions to hand out prizes, very sexy dressed ladies dancing in cages, and videos of said ladies up on the big screen. There were also vendors selling crap like food and merchandise. It was absolutely nuts and at times it looked out of control, which it probably wasn't, but still.<br />
Thanks to the front of line pass, Robert and I didn't get close enough to get our picture taken with those lovely dancers, so sad. But they are saved in the same folder Elvira is.<br />
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THE WALKING DEAD: END OF THE LINE<br />
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Ah, the Walking Dead. The only maze that I've actually seen the show for recently. So for me it was cool to see the tank that had broken through the fence into the jail area, the cell block where the characters lived, the convenient store where they looked for stuff. All very cool. But the problem with picking Walking Dead for this maze is that most of this season happened in the woods following a train track, so all you got were a couple of scenes from the beginning of the season, then you were done. <br />
Way too short of a maze and was a big disappointment to the group, including myself. But damn, it was cool to see some of that stuff from the show. I should have watched the other movies more recently so I could have been more involved in the maze.<br />
On a side note, if I waited 100 minutes for this maze, and then went through it, I would not be a happy camper. I don't think I'd be a happy camper going through any maze after waiting 100 minutes unless one of those dancing girls in the cage gave me a private show, just saying. It's like 200 bucks for a Shania Twain concert? She better be giving me a lap dance too.<br />
Walk Thru: 1<br />
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AVP: ALIEN VS PREDATOR<br />
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OH...MY...GOD!! Now I haven't seen the movie in forever, but man this was an awesome maze. First up you see the down Predator ship with some larger than life predators. YES YES YES YES. There were these windows where the crawling alien things would fly around then SMACK against the window trying to get you. Yeah, I saw the line moving these things, but damn that was cool. The alien eggs, the aliens coming out of chests (um, they looked like penises, sorry kids, but I have to say that), and a couple of scenes you walked through an alien and a predator freaking fighting. I think I've only said this once but YES YES YES YES YES. I stopped to try to take a picture of them fighting but it was too dark and the flashing of lights screwed everything up. Then at the very end, the mother alien freaking huge towering over you, trying to reach for you, oh my god YES!!!<br />
Unfortunately, there were some problems with this maze. I understand that the scareactors need a break. But stop the line in a section and do it without being seen by the paying public. I saw three different instances where the actors were being switched out. Completely took me out of the storyline. <br />
This was also my first experience at how Universal packs the maze with people. Instead of a steady walk through, I was forced to stop and wait for people to go through. I'm paying the big bucks for front of the line, I want to be alone with my group without seeing others. And if I paid the 250 dollar ticket, oh you better give me my space, you know?<br />
Great maze though, sad that I couldn't experience it a couple of more times.<br />
Walk Thru: Sadly...1<br />
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FROM DUSK TIL DAWN<br />
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This is probably number 3 for the night. Great environments, tons of women in bikini's or underwear covered in blood, trying to attack us with knives. Here's my question: the mazes are covered in blood, tons of terror, a rated R type environment. So why no bad language and nudity? It would definitely make it feel more real. I mean we are in a strip joint for goodness sake. And if you are taking a kid through this, you should expect these things. <br />
My biggest problem with this maze is that the scareactors jumped out at you then went immediately back inside their hiding spots. I like it when they jump out at you, then give you a bad time for a little bit, then go back to hiding. One example of this being successfully done is the bikini clad vampire jumping out with a chainsaw, cutting into a body with blood flying all over the place, then hiding again. <br />
It was a fun walk through, with some fun scenes. But I think I would have loved it more if I had seen the movie more recently. Need to remember that for next time.<br />
Walk Thru: Sadly again...1<br />
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TERROR TRAM<br />
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The cool thing about the Terror Tram is it took you to a location on the backlot, after watching a sum up of Season 4 of The Walking Dead, then you get to walk through the sets for Bates Motel and the War of the Worlds, freaking awesome, right? But the scareactors and the theming just didn't work. <br />
So the tram pulls up and there's a line of guards in full armor with what looks to be guns or chainsaws, I think they were chainsaws. First, you don't use guns or chainsaws because it attracts the walkers, duh. Then they have the walkers walking around with the guards. Then there's more walking dead around the motel, and up to the house. There is a cool road section where it looks like people were camping and there was blood all over the windows of the car, very cool. But then you get to the Bates Motel house and you can take a picture with Norman Bates, then into the War of the Worlds section where there's zombies. There's also these really bad zombie mannequins that looks kind of stupid. We are at Universal Studios, we expect more right? <br />
Then we are on the tram and we are heading back. Like I said, disappointing. They could do so much back there, I have faith Universal, amaze us!!<br />
Walk/Ride Thru: 1<br />
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PINK'S BREAK<br />
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Let's take a quick break from the haunts. Now I LOVE my boys, and LOVE taking them to theme parks. But tonight, I was with 7 other adults and it was freaking awesome. We filled up ride cars, filled up a table while we ate hot dogs, it was all freaking awesome. Sure at times we got separated and it took a second to get back, but we all hung out together. There weren't any clicks, just people talking to everybody, it was an amazing time and everybody was excited about something. Deanna was so excited to see An American Werewolf she turned into a 16 year old girl right before our eyes, it was that kind of awesomeness that we had last night. Hanging out with a good group of folks doing something I love...priceless.<br />
When me and the boys go, the boys always want to take the stairs. So when we were going back up, I took the stairs. And to my surprise, Darrell joined me. Then Darrell got tired and Robert joined me. Then the final staircase, the three of us ran up it. It was awesome, even cooler to hear them talking about how their feet didn't hurt anymore. Three men running up stairs like they were kids, how cool is that?<br />
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DRACULA UNTOLD...REIGN OF BLOOD<br />
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This maze we were told SUCKED, so there a lot of jokes being told before we entered this maze. And because our expectations were so extremely low, I think we all enjoyed it. Lots of people jumping out at us, lots of those non animated objects being thrown towards us, and areas where it wasn't really themed to anything. Also quite a bit of bodies or body parts hanging from the roof that we had to get around. But one of my favorite scenes of the night was in this maze. There were these really old buildings on fire and you had to walk around them. It was a really cool, haunted scene. I could have gone through that area a couple of times.<br />
Not one of the best, but definitely cool to see.<br />
Walk Thru: Again, sadly...1<br />
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FACE OFF IN THE FLESH<br />
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Another one of the weaker mazes because I really have no connection with the costumes these people were dressed in. Some of the environments were cool, and I probably would have enjoyed the monster maze that was here year round, which will now be gone forever. It's a long maze, with more strobe lights (getting tired of those folks, I won't lie to you), but some cool and fun stuff. The only real scene that stick out is you walk over the room on a bridge, then you climb down the stairs, and enter this dance party with some cool creatures. That was fun, and that female dancer, very sexy.<br />
Like Knotts, even the bad mazes were better than ones I've seen at say Discovery Kingdom or Fright Planet. So while I am giving these a bad time, they were still pretty awesome and I would be glad to go through any of these again, with no complaints...well, except for the price.<br />
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SCARE ZONES - THE ESCALATOR<br />
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Okay, so this isn't a scare zone, but the audio from the escalator was hilarious. "Please keep an eye on the escalator and ignore that beautiful girl coming up from the other direction, she is way out of your league and you will just embarrass yourself." "Please keep an eye on the escalator or I will eat you up and you will be left as a bloody pulp." "Please turn right for AVP and turn left, which is the opposite of right, for Werewolf. Don't ask me questions, I'm not a freaking GPS, I'm an escalator." Just funny stuff. I was also inappropriate with Tom Hanks...see, I can be myself with these guys, it's awesome!!<br />
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SCARE ZONE - SKULLZ<br />
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Love Skullz. When we were down in the lower lot going on the rides, these guys would come up on us and have some fun. They were standing on stilts with cow skulls, very cool. I have a picture on my camera of Shannon and her sister with one. I'll get that posted shortly. Loud music, some fog, and cool lighting complete this area. Oh and Universal, go to Knotts, they will show you how to do fog correctly. Just saying.<br />
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SCARE ZONE - MASK A RAID<br />
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This one fans of Horror Nights got to vote for three and this was the winner. I chose a different one, can't remember. Not a huge fan of this area, but it was fun.<br />
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SCARE ZONE - THE PURGE: ANARCHY<br />
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Haven't seen the second movie, but I get the idea that the night is filled with chaos and laws are on hold for the night. Lots of characters chasing people in an attempt to kill. One lady I saw take off and the guy chased her a good distance, that is a good scare zone. Don't just jump, but run run run, that's what the Purge is all about. Well done. Got some pictures of this on my Instagram. Also, there was some kind of presentation at the front of this maze, but I didn't stop and listen, too much to do.<br />
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SCARE ZONE - DARK CHRISTMAS<br />
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Loved it, loved it, loved it. This whole area was MESSED UP!! It's for all of us that hate Christmas popping up during our Halloween month. It's like an R rated version of Nightmare Before Christmas. Reindeer as skeletons or hairy monsters, naughty children being tortured, scary Santa Clauses with knives, just fantastic. Oh and crazy Christmas music with people being tortured. Lol, awesome. Love this area.<br />
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THE RIDES<br />
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Surprising, along with our front of the line access to the mazes, we also got front of the line access, once, for the rides. So we rode Mummy, Transformers, Despicable Me, The Simpsons, all with no wait. Got to see the whole park in one night, it was fantastic. We got on Mummy and Transformers before the lines were long so we didn't use our front of the line passes, so I got to ride Mummy twice. And riding Mummy with adults, hilarious. After they left, I think we were all walkers due to the last couple of days, I headed back downstairs and went on Jurassic Park. Love that ride but the boys are scared of it. On the top level, they play Welcome to the Jungle and it looks like the dinosaurs are dancing. Hilarious. After seeing Werewolf again and then heading over to Mummy, I decide to do the single rider line for Jurassic Park, but they saw my badge and told me not to worry about the fact that I had already used my one time, and got to ride it again. I didn't get wet, luckily, but man what a night.<br />
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So this unfortunately ends my so cal weekend trip with my haunt family. It was an unbelievable week and I couldn't thank Doug and Shannon enough for letting me tag along. It's an experience that I hope I can afford every year.<br />
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Tonight, there's a possibility that I might be doing a San Diego Haunt, them tomorrow is the Disneyland Halloween Party, so I'll have write ups for all of those soon too. And if I can, I'll write something up for the Dungeon as well. <br />
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Just like last time, I now need to get ready to hang out with my bro, so no editing on this one either. Thanks for reading, leave a comment, and I'll see you next time. And hey, go see a haunt this year, even if you are scared to death. It might surprise you how much fun you have, and I'll go with you if you need someone's back to hide behind.<br />
<br />
Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-24037208069696780712014-10-04T12:32:00.003-07:002014-10-04T12:32:33.279-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #2 - Dark Harbor (Queen Mary)Haunt Season 2014 - Event #2 - Dark Harbor (Queen Mary)<br />
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Fatigue, late nights, starting to take it's toll. I feel like a zombie from one of those mazes. But I continue on, and having a blast.<br />
Last night met up with even more friends that the night before. That's what haunt is all about: friends and scares. In addition to Doug, Shannon, Robert and Mike, met up with Jeff, Dusty, Norm and Alonzo from work. Alonzo's girlfriend was there, and I feel terrible that I keep forgetting her name. But going through a haunt with her and Robert, awesome fun.<br />
So the biggest bummer of the night was the price of parking. If you are going, please be warned that the parking is a whopping 20 dollars. Compared to Knott's 15, it was kind of shocking. A lot of people were taking taxi's home last night, so I'm guessing the alcohol was quite popular.<br />
For this event, I joined up with the MiceChatter's who got us into the VIP section. Free food and booze, what could go wrong? Not being a huge drinker, I stuck to primarily diet soda, but did have a margarita that was quite potent.<br />
Along with the VIP access, we got front of the line access, just like at Knott's. I've been spoiled by front of the line access, and I don't think I could go to one of these events without it. For Submerged, I'm pretty sure that we went through all the mazes, then came back and did Submerged a second time before people in the back of the line even did the maze once.<br />
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MAZES OUTSIDE THE BOAT<br />
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The layout was awesome. There were three mazes and the Freakshow outside of the boat with a carnival theme. A huge swing ride and tons of carney food filled the area. Shannon told me to film it and send it to the State Fair committee and tell them this is how it should be done, and I couldn't agree more. The smells, the sounds, just awesome.<br />
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CIRCUS<br />
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This was our first maze of the night. The maze had a lot of different ways you could go through it. So there were often times we saw people going the opposite way, or people who were behind us, popped up in front of us. The clowns were spooky, but nothing that really passed the scary mark. There was one clown that looked and moved like a puppet. This guy caught Shannon's attention, and pretty much stopped her in her tracks. The coolest part for me was the very end where you walked on these moving squares. So it felt like you were walking on a slippery floor. After getting use to it, you could learn to slip and slide, and it was pretty cool. <br />
Went through this maze twice.<br />
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DEADRISE<br />
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Probably my least favorite maze of the day. You walked through a sunken boat with people in the dark coming to get you. The environment of this maze was just not interesting. Dark areas, sometimes parts of the boat were kind of cool, and here was this huge fire launch coming from the boat that lit up the night sky.<br />
My favorite part of the maze was watching the guy who roamed on top of the maze. From the VIP section, you can watch walk back and forth, and sometimes reach down and try to grab people. At one point of the night, he got down and was watching people. One poor lady was looking up to see him and he snuck up on her at ground level and said "I'm not up there." Freaked the crap out of her, lol. People would sit on benches and watch his work, very entertaining.<br />
Went through this maze once.<br />
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VOODOO VILLAGE<br />
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This was my second maze of the night and it blew me away. I would say it was at the same level as Knott's, if not a little bit better. It was one of the longest mazes I have ever been through, and each environment was better than the last. The candle's brought a spooky mood, while the bricks and the cement blocks on the walls made it feel like you were in some cavern or tunnel. <br />
The best part of the maze was the bayou scene. A person in the chair would yell at you, while mist covered the floor so you couldn't tell if there was alligator filled watter lurking below. After the boardwalk, it switched to a dirt, mesh type of floor. Swamp thing type figures hid in the bushes. At one point a guy jumped over the rope and ran up the stairs, freaking me out. The last time we walked through this maze, the mist wasn't working.<br />
Another great scene was the Mardi Gras scene. A girl was holding her bra telling us she was working for beads, and no she was not nude. Further on, a character fake vomited on Jeff, not realizing he was there, and gave him beads to apologize. <br />
A very dark and awesome maze. I'm not sure how many times I went through this maze, three or four times.<br />
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FREAKSHOW<br />
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Freakshow caught all of our attention when we first arrived. It also had a huge fire launch from the top of the building. Inside, you got to see many "freaky" items, like the bones of a Siamese twin, bottles full of weird indescribable things, and cages full of items that currently have left my exhausted memory.<br />
Further in, you got to see little scenes of characters: talking skeleton, Siamese twins who want to go to Hollywood, a man with a small head (quite silly), and a woman who pounded a nail into her head. After the characters, you entered a couple of dark hallways that got darker and darker until finally you couldn't see anything. Those dark hallways were my favorite.<br />
I believe this is an upcharge maze, but I wouldn't go through it again. But glad we saw it once.<br />
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STAGE SHOW<br />
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In the middle of the carnival, there's a stage where a DJ plays music, a live band will play, and the scareactors that are wandering around put on a play. I thought putting the scareactors in a performance was a really cool idea, but the story was lacking and I was frankly bored. Some great picture shots of the whole group, which I'm going to guess we'll be able to view on MiceChat.com in the coming days. If it does, I'll post the link here. But for me, I'd skip this and do the mazes, that's where the fun is.<br />
Also, some of the walk around characters were freaking awesome. I didn't get my picture taken with the big hairy guys, but they were amazing puppet figures. And some of the sliders (guys when metal on their knees and feet) would spark up the night as they slid by you. Seen these guys at Knott's too. My knees hurt just watching them.<br />
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INSIDE THE BOAT<br />
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In order to get into the boat, you have to line up outside. When you see the lines trying to get on the boat, you are very thankful for the wristband around your wrist that lets you not wait in line. In the line for Submerged, I heard one poor guy ask "how much extra for one of those wristbands?" Telling you folks, pay the extra price for these bands and skip the lines. Unless you REALLY like the people you are with, lol.<br />
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SOULMATE<br />
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Soulmate was the first maze we went on inside the Queen Mary. All three mazes are long mazes that make you climb and descend spooky staircases. Soulmate has this beautiful woman in white that just stairs at you from a top landing. As you got further into the maze, her dress is less white, and she is covered with more and more blood. In the final scene, she is dancing with a head.<br />
It's a bizarre maze, and fun to walk through. At the end of the evening, I realized I had only done this maze once so I decided to go again. The second time I was alone, and the maze was quite empty compared to earlier in the evening. The couple who was in front of me...well, the guy in the couple freaked out and asked for me to go first. I ended up getting way in front of them and did the whole maze by myself, with no one in front or behind me. That was spooky, especially when I didn't see a single scareactor for a long period of time.<br />
My favorite character was a guy who would measure you, then say you weren't worth it, move on. Skin and appendages hung from the walls. It was quite creepy.<br />
Went through the maze twice, not my favorite on the ship.<br />
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SUBMERGED<br />
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This was probably my favorite maze on the Queen Mary. Unfortunately, I don't really know the history of the boat and Shannon's sister would let us know what she found on Google. It would be cool if the Queen Mary gave some kind of background on the ghosts that we might run into, especially in the VIP section.<br />
You first enter by the boat where Screaming Mary, I think that's the ghost's name, stood on the other side of the swimming pool area. This was a great scene: a deserted pool with a spooky slide that ended in empty space and a creepy child pointing at you. I pointed back and she followed me. I put my pinky to my ear and my index finger to my mouth and mouthed "call me", she sprinted at me, and a scareacter jumped out from another corridor freaking me out, awesome.<br />
The maze was full of loud sounds, creepy hallways, and great actors. On Instagram, there's a picture of a red hallway which I absolutely loved. There was a woman walking around in it which made it even more creepy.<br />
Lots of water effects also filled this maze, which is weird on a boat, right? If you know me, I love water effects, and this was simply awesome.<br />
In one of my walk thrus, there were a group of young ladies behind me that screamed quite a bit. If you've walked through a maze with me, you know that I walk slowly. Well my group got in front of me and the group of girls behind me caught up with me and before I knew it, they were hiding behind me. Then one latched onto my arm "I don't know who you are but I'm staying with you." And I walked the train of girls through a good chunk of the maze. Hilarious.<br />
Went through this maze at least 4 times.<br />
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B340<br />
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If there was a spooky, creepy maze this is it. According to our historian, B340 is a room on the boat that is no longer rented out because of spooky things that happen in that room, like a sheet flying off of you for no reason. <br />
It seemed like we were following the thoughts of a murder as we walked through this maze. B340 is written over and over on the walls, clocks ticking everywhere, a room with a woman screaming for help because "he's here to get me." Then the next room is covered in blood, a body on the bed ripped to shreds, and a knife wielding freak pacing around the room. Great scenes.<br />
SPOILER: I hate ruining things like this for anybody who is planning on going to the maze, but there's a chance you might miss it. Which I did the first time I walked through the maze. Others experienced it, so we went back to check it out again. There's a bridge in this maze that goes over a huge warehouse like section. The first time the lights were on, the second time it was dark and spooky. There's a button on the bridge that needs to be reset, so it doesn't go off every time you go over it. But if you are lucky enough to be on the bridge when it goes off...the bridge drops and it is probably the freakiest thing I've ever been on. Everybody screams that experiences it, a great effect in a very creepy room.<br />
Went on this maze 3 or 4 times.<br />
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That's the mazes. A big downfall of the event is the porto-potties. That kind of sucked. But the mazes were well done and the event was awesome. If I had tons of money, I'd be eating tons of the fried food or maybe a huge sandwich, or a waffle cone, or how about those fried twinkies!! Great event, check this one out if you are in the area. Come early, or get the front of the line pass.<br />
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Well, got home at 3:30 last night, woke up at 11. Now time to get ready to meet the gang again for another fun filled night. Hopefully I'll be able to write up the next event tomorrow morning. <br />
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Again, sorry for no editing...too much to do.<br />
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NEXT UP: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS - HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTSJermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-4221395549218493442014-10-03T12:52:00.000-07:002014-10-09T08:34:43.926-07:00Haunt Season 2014 - Event #1 - Knott's Scary FarmHaunt Season 2014 - Event #1 - Knott's Scary Farm<br />
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UPDATE [10/9/14]: For some video of the mazes I went through, In The Loop posted four, only one was in my top 3 though: <a href="http://inthelooppodcast.com/2014/10/video-walk-through-4-haunted-mazes-at-knotts-scary-farm-2014/">http://inthelooppodcast.com/2014/10/video-walk-through-4-haunted-mazes-at-knotts-scary-farm-2014/</a><br />
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Knott's Scary Farm was my first ever Theme Park haunt, experienced last year in fact. The theme park is filled with haunts, scare zones, and fog. This year, surprisingly, was more awesome than last year. I really didn't think that was possible.<br />
We met up with Jeff Tucker, entertainment director of Knott's Berry Farm, co-Creator of Trapped, podcaster for 91 Reasons, and probably one of the coolest guys I've ever met. Jeff showed us around some of the back areas, including some of the cafeterias and where the monsters go for makeup and costuming. I took no pictures in these areas, mostly because it's cool to see, but not really needed in relation to the haunt. At one point I got to meet Jeff's daughter who plays Maggie in one of the shows. Last year, she freaked me out. She is absolutely adorable and the father/daughter relationship, couldn't do anything but smile at those two.<br />
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TRAPPED - LOCK AND KEY<br />
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The first haunt of the night was at Trapped. Trapped is an upcharge and sends in a group of 6 to figure out puzzles in numerous stressful situations. For an example, last year we were standing in water while electricity popped all around us. Last years maze took less than 10 minutes from start to finish. This years took us a whopping 35 minutes to go through.<br />
Now I'm not going to go into Trapped, it's an experience that everybody who is going to Scary Farm should experience without any knowledge of what they are going in to see. But I will tell you one thing, the last room made my hyperventilate. I never get scared in Haunts, I'm there to enjoy the environments and people jumping out at me no longer makes me jump. But what I had to do in that final room, well, it freaked me out. In November or December, The Season Pass podcast will be posting a show all about this years Trapped, check it out for a full run down of this haunt.<br />
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VOODOO<br />
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The environment of VooDoo blew me away. The outside of the haunt looks like it was straight from New Orleans Square at Disneyland. At any point I was expecting males to show up on the second floor with beads begging to be flashed. The purples and the greens were simply beautiful. <br />
Jeff and company took us through VooDoo earlier in the day during the daylight, and even with the sun up, the maze was jaw dropping. The bayou in that warehouse is so amazingly themed that you believe you are in Louisiana. You walk along a boardwalk with these little shacks that you go through. Then at the end you walk on a dirt path through a graveyard.<br />
We returned late that night and at night, it's even more spookier. But first, a Skeleton Key. Now what's a Skeleton Key? Last year, Knott's started something special for the true fans. With an upcharge, you get to go to a room before going into the haunt and get a performance and some back story to the haunt. Some were amazing, others were okay, but all had a little jumping moment. VooDoo's Skeleton Key messed some of the people up in my group. Why? They locked us in coffins. Yep, LOCKED US IN COFFINS. Now this didn't bother me at all, but for those nervous of close spaces, it messed them up.<br />
At night, the bayou shines. There's humidity, voodoo rituals, candle like lighting, and reptiles all over the place. It was easily my favorite haunt.<br />
BUT, I had a problem with the fact that you only get to go through half of the maze. You have to do this one multiple times in order to see it all. That was a huge bummer, considering we didn't really have much time to hit the mazes. But at Knott's, even the smallest complaint can't take away how freakin awesome these mazes are.<br />
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DARK MAGIC<br />
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Dark Magic was my first maze last year, and I went through it so fast that I really didn't get to see it. While others in my group said this was their favorite maze, I really didn't care for it. But this year, I took my time and it really is a well done maze.<br />
First up, the Skeleton Key. This time it's in a séance room and you are calling Houdini from the other world. What happens next is something you would see in a movie, and experiencing it was pretty cool. My only problem is that we were a group of 6...and there were only 5 chairs. I stood off to the side and when the actor asked us to hold hands, I didn't and she got mad and made a sign with her face that I better hold someone's hand.<br />
The haunt was much the same as last year, I just took my time checking it all out. There's a mirror maze that I don't really remember from last year, which a scare actor got me when she raised her hand in front of me. I also missed the magic show from last year, but was called on stage to demonstrate this year. My group continued on, but it was cool to see the magic act. I finished the last half of the maze by myself. No problem doing that ;-).<br />
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GUNSLINGER'S GRAVE<br />
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One of my favorites from last year. The Skeleton Key was changed a little to add a husband in the room and I felt I was more of a participant. The shooting that takes place in that scene lasted a little longer and then the fist fight inside the cabin was just fantastic. Again, one of my favorite Skeleton Keys.<br />
The maze itself wasn't changed too much. The thing about this maze is that you are following a possibly dead gunslinger who is taking revenge on the gang that killed his wife and child. So there isn't any scary people in this maze. Just the gang that the gunslinger is hunting down. Sometimes you would come upon a killing of the gunslinger, or possibly an animal or two.<br />
If you know me, then you know I really enjoyed walking through the brothel behind the bar. Those ladies were hot and the theming in that room made me feel like I was in an old west town with the ladies of the night. LOVED IT.<br />
Minor problem with this haunt: it seemed empty. Weren't too many people working this one and they weren't really into scaring you. It was more of a maze you just walked through, looked around, and left. Still freaking awesome, just surprising.<br />
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THE TOOTH FAIRY<br />
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For some reason, my boys like to lose their teeth at my place. So I made up this story that I was scared of the Tooth Fairy. It's wrong that a fairy flies into my house, steals money from my wallet, and then steals my kids tooth. IT'S WRONG!! Always gets laughs from my boys. But they laughed even harder when they found out Knott's was putting together a Tooth Fairy maze for me to go through.<br />
We checked out this maze earlier in the day too, but this one needs to be seen at night because IT IS MESSED UP!! Probably the bloodiest, nastiest maze of them all. Just me telling you about this maze will probably give you nightmares.<br />
You enter the maze through a house where you see windows of kids going to bed. Then a black cloud goes over the kids. Inside the house, you walk through a boys and a girls room. In the girls room, you see the Tooth Fairy and a very scared young lady. Then you go through a dark tunnel with fur on the walls...um yeah, fur. Inside the maze, you see kids being torn apart, jaws missing, disemboweled. It's absolutely shocking. <br />
But damn it was good. Some of the props in that maze are absolutely gross and awful. But it's part of the STORY. That's right, these mazes have stories. And this one was in my top 3 for the night.<br />
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FOREVERMORE<br />
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Forevermore returns this year. It has no Skeleton Key, and hasn't been changed too much. You follow a serial killer who bases is killings on Edgar Allen Poe. I think the first half is absolutely awesome, but the last half loses me. Following a serial killer, and the works of Edgar Allen Poe?!?!? Can't go wrong.<br />
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TRICK OR TREAT<br />
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Trick or Treat is another fun maze. You start the maze by ringing the doorbell, then entering a house that has been taken over by the Green Witch. The house is well themed, and it's really a fun maze. But it you've seen it before, nothing really has changed too much. And some of the big scares from last year weren't there this year, or they weren't working, or I missed them in my walk through.<br />
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PINOCCHIO UNSTRUNG<br />
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Last year, I went through Pinocchio three times, the last two times by myself. I loved it. I knew the story, loved the environments, and the scare actors hated me because they would try to scare me and I'd end up standing in the middle of the room just looking. The huge Pinocchio animatronic was awesome at the end, just like last year.<br />
New for this year, they added a Skeleton Key. Not sure this room really added anything to the maze, and the actor in the room was hard to hear. But it was entertaining. The maze itself didn't have too much to add, so it dropped a couple of spots from last year.<br />
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DOMINION OF THE DAMNED<br />
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In all honesty, I walked through this maze to get to The Tooth Fairy. I'm trying to remember what stood out in this maze and it was probably all the sculptures and the paintings. In each room, you are surrounded by vampire actors who jump at you, or just get real close. My buddy Robert got scared by some barrels...he was a bit jumpy. <br />
We skipped the Skeleton Key for this one this year, and the maze itself was okay. The environment is still awesome, but nothing in it had me wanting for another go around.<br />
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THE WITCH'S KEEP<br />
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The Calico Mine train reopened this summer and looks amazing. They did a cool overlay with a lot of green lighting that made for a fun ride. I had issues with the strobe lights, which were used a couple of times on the ride. By the end of the night, my head was starting to hurt a bit. The Green Witch in the cavern was a bit of a disappointment and didn't really fit in with the ride. The animatronics are so awesome, but she kind of just stands there and doesn't move. The huge witch hand was pretty awesome.<br />
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SPECIAL OPS: INFECTED<br />
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Not going through the normal ways of the haunt, the line for this maze had me a bit confused. This maze has taken over Camp Snoopy and we were to start on the Montezuma's Revenge side of the camp. It took some time, and while we waited, I honestly was wondering if it was worth it. There were haunts to be seen!!<br />
First, we got our laser guns. They were pretty cool guns, except they were lime green. Then our group of 13 were split into two groups. Our mission, find the scientist and find a cure for the zombie outbreak. And off we went, shooting zombies with our laser guns. The first part was a bit silly, and shooting a zombie with a light gun didn't really taken them down. They kept coming, then they would shake and fall down. With air guns, the zombie could feel when they got hit and go down accordingly. But this is where my complaining stopped.<br />
At the second check point, our groups were mixed up again. Our new group was told to provide cover for the other group. But we were taken hostage, put our hands on our heads and taken to a cage where zombies and the militants harassed us. Then our leader told us to slowly put our hands down. "GET THOSE HANDS BACK ON YOUR HEAD" "At the count of three, we run." "GET THOSE HANDS BACK IN YOUR HEAD" "Get ready, on three." That was probably the best part of the night and left our group laughing and high on energy. <br />
The whole experience was just amazing. To have a gun, to be put in a storyline, and then watch it unfold all around you is hard to put into words. I can not wait to see what they do next year. The best thing I did all night, awesome.<br />
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SCARE ZONES<br />
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I'm interested in seeing how scare zones are done in different parks. At Knott's, you have themed characters walking around. Some sliding on their knees making sparks. They will interact with the guests. First time this year I saw a male and female who seemed to be a couple harassing the guests, then they would hold onto each other and find their next victims. I actually thought this was kind of cool.<br />
When anybody ever asks about Knott's, I tell them go check out Ghost Town. They fill the town with fog and lighting and it really is amazing. I didn't spend enough time back here than I would have liked, but it was freaking awesome. Not too scary, you feel safe, but the environment is just...well, creepy. And I loved it.<br />
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CELEBRITIES...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?<br />
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Guess it was celebrity night. While I didn't see anybody other than one huge name I'll get to in a second, it was awesome knowing they were in the park. Dr. Reid from Criminal Minds and Luke from Modern Family were there. I didn't seem, but I did see pictures of them, and that was pretty awesome.<br />
But the best part of the night, and the part I am still in denial about, our group got 10 minutes with Elvira. Yes, THE ELVIRA. There's only one, and she's as beautiful as always. She was funny, dirty sense of humor, and gorgeous. We were asked to take no pictures and no video, so all I have is my memories, but dang, did that really happen? Check out The Season Pass in the near future for the interview. Awesome lady, hope to see her again some time real soon.<br />
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THE HANGING<br />
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Knott's puts on a pop culture show that makes fun of everything in the year then hangs the most annoying, crazy person of the year. The first half was amusing, but the last half was filled with this really stupid fighting. The joke of "they are wearing blue and green because they get changed into turtles or transformers on the computer" got old, and they kept doing it over and over again. I actually got bored and wanted to leave, but I had to see who they hanged. And I was disappointed. Not a good show this year, huge bummer.<br />
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NOT SEEN<br />
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I didn't see Elvira's Big Top, but I really hope to in the future. Sounds like an amazing show, with yes the real Elvira. Also didn't see the Gypsy Camp, but saw some people getting their palms read. I thought the Maggie Possession show was going on this year too, but I can't see any mention of it on the website. <br />
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I wish I had spent a little more time in the mazes, especially VooDoo. Going through a couple of times gives you the ability to see everything. Going once, you miss things.<br />
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CONCLUSION<br />
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Helluva way to start the Haunt Season. Love Knott's and I hope to return every year to Scary Farm. Didn't buy a shirt, there just wasn't time. And spending time with Jeff Tucker, king of pop culture, was freaking awesome. In VooDoo, he started singing the dentist song from Little Shop of Horrors. How awesome is that? The guy is just cool, and I hope to hang out with again in the future.<br />
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Please note, I'm not editing this, I really don't have enough time. Getting it up before the next event is more important. Got home at 5:00 AM this morning, up at 11:30. And now I'm preparing for the next event.<br />
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UP NEXT: DARK HARBOR at THE QUEEN MARYJermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-68309807268315286512011-10-14T10:50:00.000-07:002011-10-14T11:04:46.722-07:0010/13/11 My Trip To the Walt Disney Family MuseumThis is one of those posts that I wish I could add tons of pictures and art work so you can see some of the stuff I saw. But this museum has quite a few rules. On the ticket:<br /><br />· No Cell Phone<br />· No Photography<br />· No Strollers<br />· No Backpacks<br />· No Food or Beverages<br /><br />I believe the no Cell Phone rule is no calling or taking pictures or video. I had to check flight information a couple of times while I was there and they didn’t have an issue with it, I did it in a corner away from everybody, but still in the view of the docents. <br /><br />Couple of quick things about me: I’m not a big Museum guy. I heard about the Museum on many podcasts, but Window to the Magic really sold me on going. My love of Disney is really only to the Theme Parks and the man, Walt Disney. Besides the live action musicals of the mid to late 60’s, the cartoons and the movies are only okay to me. I’ve probably only seen all of them once, maybe twice. Disneyland and Disney World, I haven't been enough, but I've been a lot. So that’s my background with Disney.<br /><br />When you arrive to the Museum, it leaves you in awe. It is absolutely beautiful. Looking at the building, you can see the Golden Gate in the background. The day was sunny and absolutely beautiful. I’d love to come back just to explore the grounds of the Presidio.<br /><br />When you enter the building, it’s actually quite empty compared to the exhibits. I needed to use the restroom, and it took me some time to find it, head downstairs. Downstairs, there’s some cool Disneyland Attraction posters, but that’s it. I think this area is used for bag check. The restrooms are very clean and open, I think they need to add music or something to this downstairs area.<br /><br />On the first floor, I glimpsed the store and a tiny refreshment stand. Listening to a WTTM podcast, I had pictured this area a lot larger, the ears tricked me. I bought my ticket at the desk, 20 dollars for my adult size, and got the rundown of rules, which I knew thanks to the podcast. <br /><br />Behind the desk is a large room where you can view all the awards that Walt had received. I think the most interesting part of this large room was the Snow White Oscar awards and the furniture from the apartment above the Firehouse. <br /><br />You give your ticket to the ticket taker, get the rundown of rules again, and enter the first exhibit. This first exhibit was fascinating. It chronicles from Walt’s Grandparents to Walt joining the Red Cross. Pictures on the walls, articles to read, video displayed with Walt telling stories, and memorabilia tell a wonderful and vivid story. You really get the isense of Walt’s youth and the family members that pushed him to be great. Even his father’s Fiddle was there to look at. Some of the things that you could read, you would hear Walt say again in the video. By the time I left the first room, I knew who Walt’s Family were and what they looked like. I found it interesting that Walt and his sister were photographed together a lot. Perhaps due to the closeness of their ages? I read, looked and saw everything. <br /><br />The next room continued the story after Walt returned from the war. He continues with his animation skills and gets a job perfecting those skills. I didn’t realize how much time he also spent behind the video camera. The home videos, the backwards video, and Laugh-O-Gram videos were awesome to see.<br /><br />One thing that definitely impressed me was the High Definition black and white photos. Some of those pictures were simply awesome.<br /><br />You take the elevator up to the second floor. The elevator is a little confusing. Me and the other couple in the elevator actually stood there for 30 seconds until we realized we had to push a button. Yeah, we felt stupid. Then Uncle Walt came over the speakers in the elevator and gave a little introduction.<br /><br />The first room on the second floor had to do with the Alice cartoons. I was a little confused with the different pictures of the little girls, until I read that there were actually 4 girls that played Alice. You were able to read some of the correspondence from the people who released the Alice shorts, and they weren’t kind messages. I was kind of surprised by the harshness of the messages. <br /><br />Prior to the second floor, all the audio came from the ceiling for the videos. On the second floor, some of the videos had audio in the ceiling, others had these cool little speakers you held up to your ear to listen. That was pretty cool. When Walt’s family showed up in video, I was surprised that I knew who everybody was, and didn’t need to read the captions. <br /><br />In the next room, the story of Oswald, the loss of Oswald, and the creation of Mickey. On one wall, there were tons of individual drawings from Steamboat Willie, only 15 actual seconds of footage. In this room, my fascination with Ub Iwerks really started rooting in my brain. He’s in tons of pictures, did tons of the artwork for the Mickey cartoons, and I wanted to know more. Weird how I’m in a museum for Walt Disney, but I was in need to learn more about Iwerks.<br /><br />In the center of this room was a hands on exhibit where you could add sounds to video footage. Being alone, I watched the instructions and then moved on. Now understanding the story of Mickey Mouse, and how Steamboat Willie was actually the 3rd short of Mickey Mouse, I was heading into the next room when I looked at my phone. It was 4:00 PM. I had been there for 2 hours and only had an hour left. I also realized that my brain hurt.<br /><br />In the next room, I found a bench against the window and sat down for a breather. Being a Theme Park fan, I was hoping to spend most of my time in the Disneyland section, and now I only had an hour. Putting myself back together, I quickly went through the Snow White room, the Pinocchio room, watched a little of the Fantasia video, and moved on to the artist strike.<br /><br />I spent some crucial minutes watching this section of Walt’s history. While this exhibit was relatively small, it gave me an idea of what was going on back then. I wish there was more information, but no time to dwell.<br /><br />Went quickly through the Mexico section, and spent very little time in the animation room which looked to have some really cool hands on exhibits.<br /><br />The next room caught me completely by surprise. DISNEYANA. Of course, Disneyana was the collection of Disney memorabilia...Right? Not exactly. There were these little replicas of tables and chairs, books, and tons of other stuff. Walt was interested in having an exhibit tour the United States with these miniatures. It was fascinating. I never knew, and had to move on, unfortunately.<br /><br />Quickly walked by the True Life Adventures, spent a couple of minutes relaxing by the window looking at the Golden Gate (what a view), and finally found myself in the Disneyland room. First up, Walt’s train. The videos, the pictures, it was fantastic. No time to read, I walked around the walk way only to come face to face with the Disneyland model. <br /><br />I spent 10 minutes looking at the model and trying to figure out how to duplicate it for my house, not possible. The model was smaller than I anticipated, and I thought I had heard that all the rides up to today was included. But that wasn’t really true. I think all the attractions that Walt worked on were included. Every time I looked at something I had already seen, I found something new, some extra that I missed early. I looked at it from all directions, and it was breath taking. The worker who watched over the display (bored out of her mind) kept asking me if I had any questions, I just wanted to look.<br /><br />I pulled myself away, literally, and walked by exhibits for Wonderful World of Color, the Mickey Mouse Club, and Mary Poppins. I took a close look at the Abraham Lincoln exhibit, read some of the information on Epcot, and kept moving. In the final exhibit of this room were the last projects that Walt was a part of: Happiest Millionaire (my favorite Disney movie), planned ski resort and Disney World. <br /><br />There was a video montage in this section that showed about 10 seconds of what looked like a huge model of the Disney World property. I have never seen this footage before, and I would love to see more. I watched this montage twice trying to see more of the detail of that model. Does anybody know of its existence and where I might be able to see more? Maybe pictures of the model? One of many things that I wish there was more on.<br /><br />The saddest part was the story of the final 2 months of Walt’s life. How he went from hip issues, to a lump, to getting better, to gone. Left a lump in the throat.<br /><br />And then to really kick you in the gut, when you enter the next room, there was a small video of the broadcast of Walt’s Death. Had to stay there for a second to compose myself. Then it was time to leave. I walked past the cartoons and walked through the white room with video on the wall. I walked through the exit and into the store. Not enough time…<br /><br />CONCLUSION<br /><br />I have heard many people say that you need a full day to go through that Museum. I disagree, I think you need multiple days to go through this museum. In all honesty, I experienced Walt from birth to Steamboat Willie, visited him at Disneyland, then his passing. That was my 3 hour visit at the Museum. My head hurt with all the information that I had sucked in from those couple of rooms. Staying there longer probably would not have been enjoyable. Maybe go from 10 -12, take a 2 hour walk on the ocean and get something to eat, then return for another 3 hours? That might work. Then on the third visit, bring my boys.<br /><br />Between the amazing pictures, amazing videos, the story and the wonderful hands on exhibits, this is a wonderful museum.<br /><br />Questions that I would like to research more on:<br /><br />· Who is Ub Iwerks, definitely check to see if there’s a biography on him<br />· Relationship between Walt and Ruth<br />· Disneyana and the miniatures<br />· Artist Strike<br />· The Disney World model that looked like the size of a football field<br /><br />But the biggest question I have is why is this museum in San Francisco? Is it because of how close the family is? I would think this museum should be in Marcione, Kansas City, Hollywood or Orange. Or am I missing something? Which is definitely possible. I still have 75% of the exhibits still to look through.Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-89013804239448415492011-03-22T13:55:00.000-07:002011-03-22T14:09:53.499-07:00Running Day #21 - Best run this monthUh, yeah, best run this month means it SUCKED!! I decided to run 3 miles, then I decided to see where the flooding was taking place on the bike trail. So I ran to the bike trail, up over the bridge (water was extremely high) back down, to I16, which is where the flooding started. Probably okay for bikes, but I would have gotten wet.<br /><br />Back over the bridge where I took a couple of pictures. Accidentally stopped Run Keeper, which is why my run is cut into two. Ran down from the bridge and was exhausted. I felt relaxed and my muscles were not in the mood to go any further. Walked 30 seconds, then ran the rest of the way back. Running down 19th instead of 16th to get back faster.<br /><br />So why no running? It looks like our Disney World trip in January 2012 isn't in the cards. So getting ready for the marathon isn't on the top of my list. Instead, I've enjoyed reading, movie watching and even some video game playing (I forgot how much I love to play video games). Plus, the boys are playing t-ball, and that's number 1 on my list. Great team, great parents, I'm really having a great time this year, game on.<br /><br />So with nothing to push me forward, my running has kind of been pushed to the side for now. I've cancelled a lot of my television shows, leaving me with reality television, some sitcoms, and a few murder mysteries to watch. I'm usually caught up by the weekend, which means I'm cleaning the house and preparing dinner more. It's actually really nice. SCORE!!<br /><br />Now, if I can just find a way to get my family to Disney, that would be awesome.<br /><br />Disney World Marathon 2012 Countdown: NULL<br />Total Distance Ran (since 12/27/10): 100.8 miles / 2852.79 (miles to WDW from my house)Fastest Mile: 12/30/10 - 9:01 / mi<br />Longest Distance: 2/19/10 - 7.93 miles<br /><br />Just realized I didn't blog about my longest run, probably due to the really bad headache I got from that run. It was kind of cool, ran around downtown on the bike trail. Started at work, went to the almond factory, hopped on the bike trial, ran to Discovery Park, ran to Old Sac, to the Capitol, and back to work. Close to 8 miles, but I was exhausted after that run. Needed a nap. Til next time!!Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-34504287464520834282011-02-14T13:48:00.000-08:002011-02-14T13:58:57.164-08:00Running Day #19 - The Invaders & Valentine's DayI was hoping that the rain would come and I would have to cancel my run. But the rain held off and I went off running. At the looks of my stats, I took off at an 8:50 pace, trying to beat the rain. But I slowed down, especially on the way back when I was running against the wind.<br /><br /><br /><a onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," href="http://runkeeper.com/user/jermsworld/activity/25987203?channel=web.activity.shared.facebook.auto&utm_campaign=SharedActivity&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=RUN&utm_source=iPhone-Basic&utm_term=basic-activity" rel="nofollow">Just completed a 5.56 mi run with RunKeeper</a><br />Duration 0:53:12 Calories Burned 705 Average Pace 9:34 / mi <br />Average Speed 6.27 mph Elevation Climb 272 ft<br /><br />When I entered the Bike Trail, I was shocked to find no homeless anywhere. Saw a couple of walkers, which is normal, but no homeless. It was a strange and empty feeling. When I went over the bridge, I found out why. There was a prison bus with 5 or 6 other cars right outside the tenting grounds. The huge blue tarp tent was completely gone, and only 2 smaller tents were still there. Further along, I found the dumpster by Northridge full of sleeping bags, chairs and other living items. On the far right of the trail was another huge pile of the same kind of stuff.<br /><br />Looks like the homeless were forced out. On my way back, one of the two tents was being taken down by the inhabitant and he was packing his stuff up.<br /><br />At times, the homeless kind of freaked me out on the trail. Especially that one guy who turned around and looked like he was going to fight. But all in all, they are a quiet people who want to be left alone. That big tarp-tent was where most of them were probably living. When I saw them, they were sitting in chairs laughing and enjoying the day. Kind of like the old people sitting on porches back in the day. I have a hard time with them being kicked out, especially when they will probably return in the next week or two. <br /><br />On the Disney World front, we made our reservations for the run in January. We will be staying at the Treehouses. I hope we are able to afford it.<br /><br />Disney World Marathon 2012 Countdown: 328 days<br />Total Distance Ran (since 12/27/10): 96.81 miles / 2852.79 (miles to WDW from my house)Fastest Mile: 12/30/10 - 9:01 / mi<br />Longest Distance: 1/22/10 - 7.26 milesJermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-77224333168705976782011-02-11T14:37:00.001-08:002011-02-11T14:37:46.156-08:00Having fun with the guys on The Hub<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VLoLA3La1QM/TVW6Nt_Q-SI/AAAAAAAAAGk/Ns4xCzZkA1Y/s1600/ariel.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 311px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572564858786871586" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VLoLA3La1QM/TVW6Nt_Q-SI/AAAAAAAAAGk/Ns4xCzZkA1Y/s320/ariel.jpg" /></a><br /><div></div>Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-81102480474429944332011-02-11T08:43:00.001-08:002011-02-11T08:55:40.290-08:00Been Awhile - Update and VinylsMan, it's been awhile. Last Friday was my 4th day that week running and I hit over 20 miles. Then I hit nothing this week. Monday, woke up and just didn't feel right, and it's continued on through the week. My head is stuffed up, got some coughing, and physically I am exhausted.<br /><br />I was going to attempt to run today, but I decided to head out to another comic book store to see if I can pick up some back issues of the Stand. Been using my Birthday money to catch up. I've picked a couple of Comics that I'm going to stick with, mostly because I love reading them just don't have the time or money to read a lot. Those comics are:<br /><br /><ul><br /><li>Stephen King's The Stand</li><li>Walking Dead</li><li>Batman - the Dark Knight</li></ul><p>There's also Jurassic Park, which I can't find, and the continuing story of Jericho, which sounds really intriguing.</p><p>Also, my boys and I received our Vinylmations for the month. This month we got 2 from the Animation Series 1, Villains Series 1, and Holiday Series 2. Out of the six vinyls, we received 5 new ones (both the Holiday 2 vinyls were the same, disappointing). In addition to the Vinyl I got at my birthday party, here's our new additions:</p><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TVVocIT523I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/Xj25pClnhDw/s1600/Quasimodo-Vinylmation.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 175px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572474946417449842" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TVVocIT523I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/Xj25pClnhDw/s320/Quasimodo-Vinylmation.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-evoTnALICZY/TVVoZlKHoyI/AAAAAAAAAFI/BcuDUfy3Zx8/s1600/new-minnie-statue-of-liberty-disney-vinylmation_140475620621.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 238px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572474902621430562" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-evoTnALICZY/TVVoZlKHoyI/AAAAAAAAAFI/BcuDUfy3Zx8/s320/new-minnie-statue-of-liberty-disney-vinylmation_140475620621.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bcluqs1-m1w/TVVoW0F1zEI/AAAAAAAAAFA/S9Fb5jBWktE/s1600/Kaa.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 174px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572474855090408514" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bcluqs1-m1w/TVVoW0F1zEI/AAAAAAAAAFA/S9Fb5jBWktE/s320/Kaa.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3aebEqEO2WA/TVVoUMVt6rI/AAAAAAAAAE4/4gAM_AG63ck/s1600/Banzai.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 175px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572474810059844274" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3aebEqEO2WA/TVVoUMVt6rI/AAAAAAAAAE4/4gAM_AG63ck/s320/Banzai.jpg" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TVVoRT6t5hI/AAAAAAAAAEw/FW2YQbJjMBk/s1600/aladin.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 175px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572474760554472978" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TVVoRT6t5hI/AAAAAAAAAEw/FW2YQbJjMBk/s320/aladin.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NXf_YtLYSlI/TVVoOdqeTeI/AAAAAAAAAEo/o_OKFCjHL6g/s1600/140.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 103px; HEIGHT: 140px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572474711631089122" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NXf_YtLYSlI/TVVoOdqeTeI/AAAAAAAAAEo/o_OKFCjHL6g/s320/140.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Disney Shopping also just released an additional vinyl for the Animation Series 1, which you can buy for 25 bucks:</div><div></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HaF62BCPjGk/TVVo9RZTvUI/AAAAAAAAAFY/Gxhbo2akfmE/s1600/VMBlog_20110209_Animation1_ComboPack.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 190px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572475515791719746" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HaF62BCPjGk/TVVo9RZTvUI/AAAAAAAAAFY/Gxhbo2akfmE/s320/VMBlog_20110209_Animation1_ComboPack.jpg" /></a><br /></div><div>Also went to a new restaurant yesterday called Spin Burger Bar. Could easily have the best burger in Sacramento. Add a Cheese skirt from Squeeze Inn, and it WOULD be the best burger in Sacramento. 1/2 lb burger with tons of fries and a coke for under 10 bucks plus tip, not too bad. Burger juicy, well cooked, and delicious. Check it out on 16th and K.</div><div> </div><div>Also, as for that DPM I over at PSU, yeah, not going to happen. They decided to change that position to a DPM II. Do they have a candidate in mind? No idea. Just another disappointment with the state, was really hoping for that job. Oh well.</div><div> </div><div>Been a weird week. Lots of things not going my way, but I move on. Can't wait for a nice relaxing weekend and then back to my regular routine on Monday. Too bad I don't have a lot of money for Vinyls, comic books and throw in some time to accomplish all the stuff I'd like to do. Don't even think the Lottery could help with time. Have a good weekend everybody, and I'll be running on Monday...I hope.</div>Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-43382895700599809812011-02-04T16:20:00.000-08:002011-02-04T16:23:42.612-08:00Running Day #18 - Disappointment, not the first, not the lastThe run was a good one. Felt like I was going a bit slow, but kept on moving. Couldn't beat that. Another train on my run, more bikers than usual, and a beautiful day. Then I got the results:<br /><br /><a onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," href="http://runkeeper.com/user/jermsworld/activity/25123589?channel=web.activity.shared.facebook.auto&utm_campaign=SharedActivity&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=RUN&utm_source=iPhone-Basic&utm_term=basic-activity" rel="nofollow">Just completed a 5.51 mi run with RunKeeper</a><br />Duration 0:54:55 Calories Burned 701<br />Average Pace 9:58 / mi Average Speed 6.02 mph Elevation Climb 262 ft<br /><br />First, I ran the exact same run as yesterday, yet one was 5.57 and todays was 5.51. What the f*&*? Then the pace, 9:58, are you kidding me? Very disappointed. Got to speed things up, I don't approve.<br /><br />But the good news is, I ran more than 20 miles this week, Hurray!! And my next run should get me over that 100 mile mark. On my way peeps, on my way.<br /><br />Disney World Marathon 2012 Countdown: 338 days<br />Total Distance Ran (since 12/27/10): 96.76 miles / 2852.79 (miles to WDW from my house)Fastest Mile: 12/30/10 - 9:01 / mi<br />Longest Distance: 1/22/10 - 7.26 milesJermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-11054088871170505242011-02-04T08:10:00.000-08:002011-02-04T08:23:55.388-08:00Vinyls, Vinyls, Vinyls, Oh I wish I had more money<div><div><div><div><div>So I was extremely happy to get an email from Disney Shopping letting me know that the new Disney World anniversary vinyls have popped up on their website. I was just about to take my birthday money and go shopping, then I saw the price: 16.95!! Are you kidding me? The normal ones are 9.95, the non-surprise ones are 12.95, and these are 16.95!! YIKES!! Hopefully the price will go down but I doubt it. Would have loved to add these to the collection:</div><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwlygmiyzI/AAAAAAAAADg/dJ3E6dpeVi8/s1600/400001719176.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 245px; HEIGHT: 245px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569868388825746226" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwlygmiyzI/AAAAAAAAADg/dJ3E6dpeVi8/s320/400001719176.jpg" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwl2q3hPYI/AAAAAAAAADo/YgqA_epKdZM/s1600/400001719190.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 245px; HEIGHT: 245px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569868460300778882" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwl2q3hPYI/AAAAAAAAADo/YgqA_epKdZM/s320/400001719190.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwmS_CvHlI/AAAAAAAAAD4/NqMH3IE8lVA/s1600/400001719268.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 245px; HEIGHT: 245px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569868946752872018" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwmS_CvHlI/AAAAAAAAAD4/NqMH3IE8lVA/s320/400001719268.jpg" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwlurt46HI/AAAAAAAAADY/dyKHzfpv69w/s1600/400001718599.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 245px; HEIGHT: 245px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569868323089868914" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwlurt46HI/AAAAAAAAADY/dyKHzfpv69w/s320/400001718599.jpg" /></a><br />So that was a bummer. Then they also put on the website the Ticket Book collection, going for 99.99. Not really too bad, I've seen these types of collections going for 250 dollars.</div><div></div><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwmlyjQ6bI/AAAAAAAAAEA/C_kM4e08_xI/s1600/400000286846-Eticket.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 245px; HEIGHT: 245px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569869269817158066" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwmlyjQ6bI/AAAAAAAAAEA/C_kM4e08_xI/s320/400000286846-Eticket.jpg" /></a></p><div>On Weds, Erin let me buy a couple of Vinyls which they had snuck in like these. They are currently on their way to the house and I can not wait to see what I get, neither can the boys:</div><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwnR3KyUOI/AAAAAAAAAEg/pMNl0F5eoN4/s1600/holiday.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 245px; HEIGHT: 245px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569870026970910946" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwnR3KyUOI/AAAAAAAAAEg/pMNl0F5eoN4/s320/holiday.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwnONy859I/AAAAAAAAAEY/1-IBJ2azCpo/s1600/Animation.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 245px; HEIGHT: 245px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569869964325480402" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwnONy859I/AAAAAAAAAEY/1-IBJ2azCpo/s320/Animation.jpg" /></a><br /><div> <div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwnGPDSkFI/AAAAAAAAAEI/Zwq8XXTq3I4/s1600/201895-Villain.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 245px; HEIGHT: 245px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569869827223490642" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUwnGPDSkFI/AAAAAAAAAEI/Zwq8XXTq3I4/s320/201895-Villain.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div> So the last Vinyl collection to talk about is the Star Wars collection. Unfortunately, these may never be found on the Disney Shopping website, which sucks. The reason seems to be that there's a copyright rule. So you have to buy them at the resort. Thinking about making a call and getting a couple mailed to me. If only the lottery fairy would visit me...SOON!!</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-47784883555680941312011-02-03T14:18:00.000-08:002011-02-03T14:25:24.953-08:00Running Day #17 - Boo or PoopToday was a fight to get out the door. Normally, on a day as hectic and stressful as this morning has been, I welcome a good run away from work. Today, I was just tired. But, with a friend saying "I think you should just go", I headed out the door (thanks Linda!!).<br /><br /><a onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," href="http://runkeeper.com/user/jermsworld/activity/25058349?channel=web.activity.shared.facebook.auto&utm_campaign=SharedActivity&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=RUN&utm_source=iPhone-Basic&utm_term=basic-activity" rel="nofollow">Just completed a 5.57 mi run with RunKeeper</a><br />Duration 0:53:40 Calories Burned 707<br />Average Pace 9:38 / mi Average Speed 6.23 mph Elevation Climb 266 ft<br /><br />First, I lost to a train who got to the bridge first. Then right before mile marker 3, I passed a guy on the right who I scared and turned around ready for a fight. Good thing he turned left and I was on his right side.<br /><br />Then, I passed a guy taking a poop by the pond area. He was squatting for some time, so I think that's what he was doing. Then I ran into the same train that beat me to the bridge, back up over the raised track area (which was pretty cool), going back over the bridge (I won this time) and back through midtown. Very bizzarre.<br /><br />At the end, I had some more energy and completed the run strong. Not too bad for a guy who didn't want to go out. My left foot is still bothering me, but I'm thinking a new pair of shoes are going to be in my future.<br /><br />Disney World Marathon 2012 Countdown: 339 days<br />Total Distance Ran (since 12/27/10): 91.25 miles / 2852.79 (miles to WDW from my house)Fastest Mile: 12/30/10 - 9:01 / mi<br />Longest Distance: 1/22/10 - 7.26 milesJermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-31456536461052383962011-02-01T13:59:00.000-08:002011-02-01T14:07:39.698-08:00Running Day #16 - Man Vs Wind<p>Getting out the door wasn't too hard today. But running, that was a different matter. 3 blocks in, I realized I better keep this one short. My left ankle/foot, the one I sprang yesterday, is still giving me issues. It felt weird just walking from my car to work this morning, not a good sign. But the weird thing was, my body really didn't want to shorten the run. So I kept going.</p><p><br /><a onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," href="http://runkeeper.com/user/jermsworld/activity/24905253?channel=web.activity.shared.facebook.auto&utm_campaign=SharedActivity&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=RUN&utm_source=iPhone-Basic&utm_term=basic-activity" rel="nofollow">Just completed a 5.55 mi run with RunKeeper</a> </p><p>Duration 0:53:56 Calories Burned 711<br />Average Pace 9:43 / mi Average Speed 6.17 mph Elevation Climb 274 ft</p>I was against the wind all the way to the bridge. When I hit the bridge, the wind gave me a "oh hell no" and started blowing extra hard. My hat almost flew off my head. I brought my head down, held my hand, took in air through my mouth, and ran through it. On the way back, I flew over the bridge, and got a good kick in the butt when I turned onto 16th. Was kind of wishing for a full push all the way down, instead, just a kick.<br /><br />Had a minor scare on the bike trail. There were four shady looking people watching people go by. Wasn't sure I really wanted to run by them a second time, but they were gone when I returned. Kind of a relief. I am glad that the section I do run on is usually really populated by people or cars.<br /><br />Disney World Marathon 2012 Countdown: 340 days<br />Total Distance Ran (since 12/27/10): 85.68 miles / 2852.79 (miles to WDW from my house)Fastest Mile: 12/30/10 - 9:01 / mi<br />Longest Distance: 1/22/10 - 7.26 milesJermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-31435116587171966022011-01-31T14:19:00.000-08:002011-01-31T14:26:12.040-08:00Running Day #15 - Running with my first minor injuryI think the hardest part of running is getting out the door. On somedays, it's also hard to keep running. But the feeling you get after finishing a run and cooling off is one of the best feelings in the world. The excitement, the need to do more, run farther and succeed. That is truly the greatest part of running.<br /><br />Runkeeper Stats:<br /><br /><a onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," href="http://runkeeper.com/user/jermsworld/activity/24818336?channel=web.activity.shared.facebook.auto&utm_campaign=SharedActivity&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=RUN&utm_source=iPhone-Basic&utm_term=basic-activity" rel="nofollow">Just completed a 6.28 mi run with RunKeeper</a><br />Duration 1:00:25 Calories Burned 804<br />Average Pace 9:37 / mi Average Speed 6.24 mph Elevation Climb 300 ft<br /><br />I almost ran a VERY long distance today. I stopped myself for two reasons: one, I wasn't sure if I had the time. And Two, I twisted my ankle around 2.5 miles. It didn't hurt, but my left foot didn't feel right. Hopefully it won't be sore.<br /><br />Now this VERY LONG run is something I must do in the next couple of weeks. And I think I have a plan to make it happen. On February 19th, I have to come in at noon to do Saturday Maintenance. If I show up around 10, I can get a long run in and be ready to work by 12. Strongly considering this. We'll see.<br /><br />Disney World Marathon 2012 Countdown: 341 days<br />Total Distance Ran (since 12/27/10): 80.13 miles / 2852.79 (miles to WDW from my house)Fastest Mile: 12/30/10 - 9:01 / mi<br />Longest Distance: 1/22/10 - 7.26 milesJermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-85364796437148234232011-01-26T13:02:00.001-08:002011-01-27T09:17:48.534-08:00January 2011 - Brodie's Field Trip<p>There's something to be said about having a bunch of little kids who don't know you at the beginning of a field trip, and love you by the end. It's a feeling that words simply can't express.<br /><br />All the kids but two took the Discovery Tree van, while Brodie went with me and a little girl went with her dad. We followed the lead van to the Amtrak station ($1 for every 20 minutes, we were there for an hour). After paying for parking, we took a quick tour of the station, which is unbelievable. Unfortunately, we weren't there for long so no pictures. We then went outside to see the trains. A young man, doing nothing, asked if we would like a ride tour. We loaded all the kids and parents on the cart and off we went. He drove us to the tracks for a close up of the trains, and then dropped us off right next to Old Sac. Saved us a lot of walking.<br /><br />We quickly walked past the Railroad Museum and the Discovery Museum, ending at a train car that was standing by itself. The kids explored the car.<br /><br /></p><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566604260106471186" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCNFNjShxI/AAAAAAAAAAM/FiBcHD5fpGs/s320/DSC_0692.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566606960826489714" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCPiahHm3I/AAAAAAAAAAU/lPE-VanozMk/s320/DSC_0695.JPG" /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCP5WB1JxI/AAAAAAAAAAc/BYf9MbTR6kw/s1600/DSC_0698.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566607354758506258" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCP5WB1JxI/AAAAAAAAAAc/BYf9MbTR6kw/s320/DSC_0698.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br />This little guy, Zach, became my friend real fast. At one point, Brodie and I went running after him to catch him before he got too far away. Good kid, but loves to run...away!!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCRbOYbR5I/AAAAAAAAAA8/DZDr29lZ0X0/s1600/DSC_0705.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566609036332976018" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCRbOYbR5I/AAAAAAAAAA8/DZDr29lZ0X0/s320/DSC_0705.JPG" /></a><br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCQdSf5CGI/AAAAAAAAAAk/AbHHuWrFH_I/s1600/DSC_0706.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566607972286138466" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCQdSf5CGI/AAAAAAAAAAk/AbHHuWrFH_I/s320/DSC_0706.JPG" /></a><br /><br />After hanging out on the train car, we headed over to the river. They were amazed by the "big boat, which in my opinion needs some major TLC.<br /><br /><br /></p><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Being kids, their attention on the big boat didn't last very long. Before we knew it, they were flying off the boardwalk. When one starts, the rest follow.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCRG9NnQEI/AAAAAAAAAAs/SRk8W13G1Wk/s1600/DSC_0714.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566608688126836802" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCRG9NnQEI/AAAAAAAAAAs/SRk8W13G1Wk/s320/DSC_0714.JPG" /></a> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCY0vY6xjI/AAAAAAAAABE/crSQ-FglIl0/s1600/DSC_0708.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566617171271534130" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCY0vY6xjI/AAAAAAAAABE/crSQ-FglIl0/s320/DSC_0708.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /></p><p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCZCu6ZVNI/AAAAAAAAABM/IzyXXeZUutA/s1600/DSC_0716.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566617411661681874" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCZCu6ZVNI/AAAAAAAAABM/IzyXXeZUutA/s320/DSC_0716.JPG" /></a> </p><p></p><p><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCaONF8wvI/AAAAAAAAABc/OOKRF1JdjWw/s1600/DSC_0719.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566618708253393650" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCaONF8wvI/AAAAAAAAABc/OOKRF1JdjWw/s320/DSC_0719.JPG" /></a><br /><br /></p><br /><p>After the flying lesson, next up is something the kids were really looking forward to: The elevator (some kids sounded like they were saying alligator)<br /><br />After the elevator ride, we turned right to walk on the boardwalk, which was surrounded by water. With child safety in mind, there was only a chain link fence between child and water. Parents quickly grabbed as many hands as possible, and quickly walked past the danger zone.</p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCa0xdYACI/AAAAAAAAABk/Pyqd6TOOwRc/s1600/DSC_0720.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566619370850353186" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCa0xdYACI/AAAAAAAAABk/Pyqd6TOOwRc/s320/DSC_0720.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><p></p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCa-tfK8hI/AAAAAAAAABs/jWuKbWmdXig/s1600/DSC_0721.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566619541582836242" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCa-tfK8hI/AAAAAAAAABs/jWuKbWmdXig/s320/DSC_0721.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /><br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>After the Danger Zone, time for the stairs and the bridge!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCbbgtBpuI/AAAAAAAAAB0/lhiaBlzrJYM/s1600/DSC_0722.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566620036367492834" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCbbgtBpuI/AAAAAAAAAB0/lhiaBlzrJYM/s320/DSC_0722.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCbpBxhihI/AAAAAAAAAB8/CUNgYapzXss/s1600/DSC_0724.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566620268583029266" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCbpBxhihI/AAAAAAAAAB8/CUNgYapzXss/s320/DSC_0724.JPG" /></a> </p><p><br /><br /></p><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><p></p><p></p><p align="center"></p><p align="center"></p><p align="center"></p><p align="center"></p><p align="center"></p><p align="center"></p><p align="center">After regrouping, it's time for a group picture!! </p><p align="center"><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCcb-up4WI/AAAAAAAAACM/PcFUdVRE4Z8/s1600/DSC_0727.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566621143939015010" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCcb-up4WI/AAAAAAAAACM/PcFUdVRE4Z8/s320/DSC_0727.JPG" /></a> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCcR50FuiI/AAAAAAAAACE/tbbpZXTP4Os/s1600/DSC_0726.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566620970820942370" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCcR50FuiI/AAAAAAAAACE/tbbpZXTP4Os/s320/DSC_0726.JPG" /></a><br /><br /></p><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>After the group shot, we visit the trains that got in trouble. At least, that's what we told the kids. Really, just trains in a cage.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCdvQt_M5I/AAAAAAAAACc/tLvQitnbf2c/s1600/DSC_0730.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566622574697198482" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCdvQt_M5I/AAAAAAAAACc/tLvQitnbf2c/s320/DSC_0730.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCdl3i7hPI/AAAAAAAAACU/QV7TuHe9P8w/s1600/DSC_0728.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566622413321110770" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCdl3i7hPI/AAAAAAAAACU/QV7TuHe9P8w/s320/DSC_0728.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><br /><p>We return to the lone train car. This time the kids play on the other side. One of the dad's yells "Riley is going to start the train" and all the kids hold on for dear life. PUSH RILEY PUSH!!<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCfx8FkhCI/AAAAAAAAADE/-ZNEt9SkxTQ/s1600/DSC_0735.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566624819721831458" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCfx8FkhCI/AAAAAAAAADE/-ZNEt9SkxTQ/s320/DSC_0735.JPG" /></a> </p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCgjyHZZlI/AAAAAAAAADM/UuPZNi1_IWU/s1600/DSC_0733.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566625676038596178" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCgjyHZZlI/AAAAAAAAADM/UuPZNi1_IWU/s320/DSC_0733.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p></p><p>Right after passing the Railroad Museum, we come upon a little cubby hole where there's a bell ringing, is a train coming?<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCevz_wFfI/AAAAAAAAAC0/slCwl1Um17g/s1600/DSC_0737.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566623683678574066" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCevz_wFfI/AAAAAAAAAC0/slCwl1Um17g/s320/DSC_0737.JPG" /></a></p><p><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCfP0w6aZI/AAAAAAAAAC8/2KvZMlnW9J4/s1600/DSC_0738.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566624233640585618" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_go0LNLewzps/TUCfP0w6aZI/AAAAAAAAAC8/2KvZMlnW9J4/s320/DSC_0738.JPG" /></a> </p><br />The day is done. We head to the cars and say good bye. Well, there is one last chase of Zach, but then the day is done. Another fun field trip in the can. Til next time.Jermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406371815165942666.post-977225281149425712011-01-24T14:29:00.000-08:002011-01-24T14:36:19.624-08:00Running Day #14 - Running with GleeFor some reason, since the new update the app is having issues sending the information to the website. Just resent the last two back to RunKeeper, which finally sent my stats to Facebook and Twitter.<br /><br />Runkeeper Stats:<br /><br /><a onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," href="http://runkeeper.com/user/jermsworld/activity/24199107?channel=web.activity.shared.facebook.auto&utm_campaign=SharedActivity&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=RUN&utm_source=iPhone-Basic&utm_term=basic-activity" rel="nofollow">Just completed a 5.56 mi run with RunKeeper</a><br />Duration 0:52:38 Calories Burned 688<br />Average Pace 9:28 / mi Average Speed 6.33 mph Elevation Climb 103 ft<br /><br />Won't lie to you, getting my booty out the door was hard today. I was mentally saying no no no no no no no no no no no no all morning. Then out I went. It was hard heading out, easy coming in. Which was weird, it's usually the other way around. I think the music picked up the last two miles which helped a lot.<br /><br />"My Life Would Suck Without You" came on and sped up my pace. What a great song to run to. When I got back, looked up the song and it was from Glee Volume 2. Score, always great to find a good song to run to.<br /><br />Also did my out, loop, and back. Love that path. When I feel stronger, I hope to push that out a little further. Even passed a jogger today!! It counts, even if he was over 65.<br /><br />Disney World Marathon 2012 Countdown: 348 days<br />Total Distance Ran (since 12/27/10): 73.85 miles / 2852.79 (miles to WDW from my house)Fastest Mile: 12/30/10 - 9:01 / mi<br />Longest Distance: 1/22/10 - 7.26 milesJermsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16615351598880909792noreply@blogger.com0