Halloweekends 2003 Reviews

Thought I'd post a new topic for everyone to post their thoughts on Halloweekends for this year, perhaps as a useful guide for those who are planning on attending...any tips or suggestions would be great also!

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Werewolf Canyon: it's a lot like shopping for a christmas tree. Only, with werewolves.

Not enough fog. Seriously... that has to be what got axed from the budget this year. There used to be a fog machine every ten feet, now they're pretty much limited to the fright zone.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - My Blog
Blogs, photo albums - CampusFish
What time does the water show start?

Yeah, I also picked up on that...seems like there were a few things missing this year....I think they took out one or two shows this year, and the displays and pumpkins along each midway...well, something's just not there...anyone else notice this??
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Werewolf Canyon: it's a lot like shopping for a christmas tree. Only, with werewolves.

Yep - and I noticed it last year too. I'm not quite sure what it is (probably the fog and other things as well), but the atmosphere just isn't like it was back in 2000 and 2001.

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Walt Schmidt
Virtual Midway
*** This post was edited by Gemini 9/23/2003 9:31:22 AM ***

Well Knotts started halloweekends, those that have been to knotts tell me what are the differences? More fog, yup that would be nice.
It seemed as if there maybe was not enough decorations along the midway. I don't know maybe there was.

But I really liked the werewolf lady and werewolf man in werewolf canyon. ;)

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"This second hill is my favorite part of the ride. It is so Cool!"
TTD Status: "Contaminates in the system" S.K. Per my conversation
"Hey Werewolf lady"

Oh yes! How can we forget the Werewolf lady!

What's up with the Dragster wing on top of the Hurst?

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MF Circuts=487(03=171)
TTD Launches=29
TTD Rollbacks=5

I went to Haunt last year; my trip report is still around.

Halloween Haunt is a completely different beast, philosophically. It is a separate, hard-ticketed event; the park is open in "normal mode" during the day, closes for a few hours, and re-opens in Haunt mode at night. Knott's is very explicit that the Haunt is *not* for kids. They have a different set of events during the day in their Camp Spooky for the kiddos during the Fall season.

This has several implications for how Haunt differs from Halloweekends. One example: the entire park has fright zones throughout, and they are nearly impossible to miss. At Halloweekends, it's a simple matter to skip the Frontier Trail if you prefer not to be spooked. At Haunt, you're getting spooked whether you like it or not. Another example: the "Hanging" (the big outdoor stage show in Calico Square) has plenty of lewd jokes and simulated blood splattering about.

In contrast, CP's philosophy of an all-day smorgasbord that you can sample as you go means that the really scary stuff needs to be confined to indoor or avoidable places. As a parent with small kids, I much prefer CP's philosophy, but I did enjoy Haunt quite a bit.

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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.
*** This post was edited by Brian Noble 9/23/2003 12:21:54 PM ***

I also noticed that while the fog machines were nowhere near as abundant, their concentration in the Fright Zone and Werewolf Canyon was impressive! The two "overhead" images I got of that part of the park from both Millennium and Dragster are something I'll remember for a long time. The incredible amounts of fog (it looked like Werewolf was just one big cloud) and strobes and colored lights was just simply amazing - almost made me forget I was on coasters at the times I saw it!

I think they may have expended the budget big time on Fright Zone and Werewolf and just didn't have the bucks left for the rest of the park (and you can probably thank the weather for the lack of "throwaway" money).

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Resident Launch Whore
--Brett

I was there on Satuday, and I do have to say as compared to last year, the Fright Zone definetly had more fog. It almost had TOO much fog, as there were sections that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. It was fun, though.

How are the crowds compared to previous years?

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AKA Cobraroller on Cbuzz

On both Friday night and all day Sunday, their was almost no wait on everything. Most rides with multiple trains were running with reduced capacity. Mantis ran 1 train for a great portion of the days, as did Raptor. Dragster and MF were still up to full capacity.

Saturday was relatively busy though. It was a beautiful day and lots of people showed up. It'll probably be about the same the rest of the season.

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MANTIS ROCKS 2002 & 2003

I only made it out on opening night, so it was pretty windy and hard to gage the density of the fog. I will say that some areas of the Fright Zone were down to zero visibility despite the wind, so without it I'd imagine most of it to be pretty dense. Did anybody else notice that Undertaker U. or U.R. Dade, whatever you want to call it, was a lot brighter than last year? You used to find yourself running into walls in the narrow corridors at times, but now the whole thing is decently lit.

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HW 2K3: 1

I am staying from the topic a little. Does anyone know what that haunting, creepy symphony/opera music is that plays throut the park?

O' Fortuna from Carmina Burana also known as Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi: O Fortuna . Composed by Carl Orff and performed by the Russian Red Army Choir.

Hope that helps.. ;)

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82

I spent my first hallowweekend at CP. I thought it was great. I'm comparing with my home park of SFDL. I actually participated in the event, which I never did at SFDL. Werewolf Canyon was cool there was so much fog that you couldn't even see your hand infront of your face. The fun house that they had set up in the front of the park was cool also. That spinning silinder really got me dizzy. We stayed at the Breakeers wich got us in the park free on Fri. and Sat. The only gripe was that they only ran 1 train on Raptor and Mantis on Fri. Sat. was crouded, but the longest wate was for MF 45 min. I finally got on TTD and all I can say is sheer power. CP allways comes through in my book. CP is the greatest park in the world.

Well. . .I went to opening weekend of HalloWeekends, it was my first time going to HalloWeekends ever. I am also going this Saturday (Tomorrow.)

I have to say. . .I definately enjoyed it. Not knowing anything about HWs going in, I was very pleased with the overall atmosphere. It was genuinely spooky.

However. . .I was disappointed with Werewolf Canyon. Saying this, though. . .I have a feeling we just got a bad 'walk-through.' Apparently what we experienced wasn't what was supposed to happen normally. But I loved the sign, and I like the idea. But fo real. . .have something that DOES scare people! And just say "this is seriously scary. Fo real." Because although the "haunted house" things were fun. . .they really weren't scary. Plus a lot of the people working in them really didn't seem too excited to be there.

FINALLY. . . . The show at umm . . . Red Garter Saloon, MONSTERS ROCK LIVE, is amazing!! They are so good. I am in love with the catty sax player and Frankenstein. ;) Hehe. . .but it's definately worth watching!!!

I think there should be more places to get cider and donuts. :)

Overall I am pleased with HalloWeekends. It was fun!

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SCRUBS Season Premier next THURSDAY!!!

I had the feeling that something was missing. But I did like the statue guy by the coliseum! He freaked my sister out! :) Anyway I can't wait to go back on a Saturday. I went on a Sunday so I missed the Fright zone and Werewolf canyon. I did enjoy a repeat of the Tale of Terror! Those guys get better every year! And Chris Linn was funny as well. I'll never look at baloon animals the same way again.
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"God is the Lord, of angels, and of men and of elves"-J.R.R. Tolkein

I went for my first Halloweekend on Friday, the 26th. I had a great time while it lasted, and the crowds were generally low. They weren't as low as past years, but I can't complain waiting 35 min. for Dragster. Other rides like Magnum and Power Tower were walk-on's.

I got a chance to walk through 2 of the haunted houses, TToT and Pharaoh's Secret. Maybe it was just a good night, but I found way more creatures in the haunted houses this year, with 2 or 3 per area. Neither of the haunted houses were overly frightening, and most of the potential scares could be easily predicted, but I thought they were still fun. Some of the monsters made these really fake growls, and they just cracked me up. I was surprised when one monster stood directly in front of a walk-through curtain, and I kinda ran into him; it was an excellent idea.

I hyped up Fright Zone as the best attraction to the people I was with. But when ever you do something like that, it always seems to backfire. When I walked through, there seemed to be about 1/4 the amount of fog as last year. It was fairly windy, so maybe that's the cause. Still, you could see things crystal clear at times (except for the MF tunnel part), so it wasn't nearly as fun as other times I've gone through. It was disappointing, but still neat.

After about 3 hours at CP, it started raining. I was near the front of the line for Werewolf Canyon, but they immediately closed it, as rain could make it slippery. When it started raining, CP seemed to shut down, as severe weather was on its way. The oddest thing I saw was Magnum running full force when it was clearly lightning and thundering all around; I thought the park had a policy against running rides in lightning or thunderstorms.

Lastly, I just wanted to comment on the overall atmosphere of the park. CP really seemed to be lacking the transformed Halloweekend atmosphere I've grown accustomed to in years past. It just felt like CP at night or something. I've thought about what created the problem, and I came to some possible conclusions. The lighting all around the park seemed too bright and monotone. I remember dim lighting, and when there was a scene set up, it'd have stobes or a burst of red light on the attraction. Or there'd be a mock cemetery set up with a flood of green light and thick fog. That brings us to another problem that has already been stated: fog machines were lacking. Additionally, the music around the park seemed too quiet; I heard it at times, but then it seemed to disappear in many locations.

It just seemed that the decorations and scenes set up throughout the park weren't showcased properly. I walked through CP without noticing much, as lighting and heavy fog drew my attention in past years. But, when I made an effort to look for scenes, they were there. They were just placed under bright, standard park lights, behind a food stand or something. Oh, and what's up with the scenes like happy blow-up ghosts on a bus. Wasn't that a bus full of realistic skeletons, strobes, and heavy fog in previous years? lol

Of course, this review was after about 3 hours of experience, even less with darkness. Maybe it's still too early...
*** This post was edited by Ffej 9/28/2003 5:56:32 PM ***

The lightning was too far away to affect the ride. I was on Wicked Twister during that time. While the lightning was clearly visible in the distance, it wasn't a problem at CP.

I heard that the park has a ThorGuard lightning prediction system. If so, the park will know when lightning is too close.

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I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

I went through the Fright Zone on Saturday and I thought it was okay. There seemed to be a lot of fog when we went in, sometimes we couldn't see what was in front of us. We would just stand there and wait for the fog to pass, and then continue on. Towards the end of it (we started by Warewolf Canyon) I thought it was humerous to see people standing by the portrait stand just watching people get scared.

We went thru the TToT and that was frightening enough. The tunnel room is cool. I just don't like when people jump out of the wall or the windows at you. Towards the end, there were like 5 "monsters" standing in the way of the path, my friend was like "So, do we just go around you or what?" and then they started to move. Yesterday I went to the Pharroh's Tomb one. That was neat, I really liked the rooms with the dots on the walls. I like to talk to the creatures in there while I'm going through. This one guy was standing perfectly still and didn't move until half the group had gone by and finally jumped out at us. I just looked at him and was like "hey, good job!" ;)

I do have to say the one thing I really don't care for and I think is rather stupid are all of the cars with creatures from the movies in them. They're between Iron Dragon and Wildcat. I think that's just very random and very cheesy.

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Hotel Breakers Desk staff - 2002
Only a few more weekends left at the Breakers - 2003 :(
Finally a shoeless Raptor rider! :)
*** This post was edited by stardoors 9/29/2003 1:35:17 PM ***