Monster Midway Invasion Celebration!

^^Some sort of problem with my camera.

Not only were Tony and Mr. H in there, but so was Woz! To bad Oz wasn't in there dressed up like a wizard, it would have fit right in. ;) Doug, if you're going to be there next weekend I want to know if you're talking about the same thing that I'm thinking about... :)

We saw it today and it was short but sweet. Floats were very nicely done, but I agree on spacing them a little further apart. Lots of people were along the route. TTD was still running during the parade. They went from Gemini to the front today and parked stuff near the parking lot south of DT. I wondered how they would handle float storage. They must go in two different directions, front to back on Saturday and back to front on Sunday. There were a lot of people involved, so I hope this proves to be somthing they will stick with and not go down like "Xmas in the park" and more recently, those cute cotton candy carts. I give it a thumbs up and hope for more!!!:)

The parade is such a huge production, and it was great to see it go over so well this weekend. Everyone along the route seemed to be loving it, especially the kids. There are so many people involved with putting it together, and I'm glad to see it already feels like a huge success (in my opinion anyway). The high school band at the start of the parade is different every day. Their main job is to help clear the route before the floats come through.

It is a very tight squeeze at Corkscrew, and some floats almost touch the track, so I'm not surprised they shut that down. Dragster ran both days during the parade.

ejh1701 said:
They had some floats, a couple mechanical things, lots of people dressed up in halloween attire, and a quite catchy song. "The monster midway invasion celebration", wish I could remember the rest of the lyrics.

The song was created entirely in house, which I thought was pretty awesome. I've only heard it about 100 times already, so the lyrics are easy. :)

Monster Midway Invasion Celebration
we're so glad you're here
Monster Midway Invasion Celebration
it's that time of year

Halloweekend fun for everyone
only at Cedar Point
Right here
Right before your very eyes
Right now
We've got ghouls of every shape and size
We've got Snoopy in disguise
and other surprises too

Right here
The Great Pumpkin is in plain veiw
Right now
He's rolling right in front of you
Wave to Sally and Linus too
in the Halloweekends Revue.

Monster.... Invasion
Midway.... Celebration

Instrumental, then repeat.

For anyone interested, here are a couple shots from Saturday...
http://www.gallery.pointpixels.com/categories.php?cat_id=474
I'm hoping to re-shoot the whole thing in a week or two... I think I was slightly in awe... ;)

Were those the motorized wheel chairs the park rents out that were turned into pumpkins?

Not bad Jason. A little shaky at first, but you got it smoothed out quickly (I was worried we were going to be watching a seizure video).

Yes, those are motorized wheel chairs. :)

The spinning pumpkins reminded me of the spinning things in the Main Street Electrical Parade and also Spectromagic. I'm not sure what the form is they used for the pumpkin part, but it would be nice smoothed out so it was actually a pumpkin shape. But, for the first parade, I thought everything looked great.

After looking at Doug's pictures, there's a TON of management in the parade. If they were to do something like this daily during the regular season, they'd have to hire a lot of people. Hopefully it gets good reviews so they'll continue with something all season.

Also, they may want to consider placing those removable ropes along the parade route like Disney does. They have caps cored into the midway that accept a metal vertical post. Then they have rope slung between the posts. If you've ever watched them set up and take down for a parade, it's awe inspiring. They have these spools for the rope and holders for the posts. It all works like clockwork and takes mere minutes to clean up after the parade. That would be one way not to need so many "orange coats" and/or police escorts along the route.

JuggaLotus said:
Not bad Jason. A little shaky at first, but you got it smoothed out quickly (I was worried we were going to be watching a seizure video).

That was mostly due to me walking around. People kept walking in front of me. I usualy have a pretty steady hand. :)

The pumpkins are actually those Rascal scooters, slightly different (faster and more agile) than the motorized chairs the park rents out. Those pictures came out really well. I'll look forward to seeing the next batch.

PS- the parade route has been reversed. Saturdays will be from Gemini to Demon Drop, then Demon Drop to Gemini on Sundays.

*** Edited 9/17/2007 11:25:02 PM UTC by Ralph Wiggum***

Ralph Wiggum said:

PS- the parade route has been reversed. Saturdays will be from Gemini to Demon Drop, then Demon Drop to Gemini on Sundays.

*** Edited 9/17/2007 11:25:02 PM UTC by Ralph Wiggum***

Thanks Chris! We had so much fun last Sunday that we planned another trip with the kids this Sunday and this will help us plan on where we stop to see the parade again. Happy Halloweekends!

Here's a video of TTD launching past the end of the Parade. Up until then they held the trains with riders on them. I think it's a good idea so riders don't get whiplash watching the parade and ride hosts and ride ops don't get distracted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThsHHhbZVH4

Here's the full parade on a Sunday going front to back sans a marching band:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77wPS3cHdDM

I can't recall ever passing TTD during the parade and having them not continue to launch trains. Unless there is downtime or something, TTD does not pause for the parade. But once again, that's some really great video. Thanks for contributing those.

^ You're welcome. I knew someone like you would appreciate it having been reading the PB for a while. I finally had something unique to contribute with my HalloWeekends appreciation videos.

I had read that TTD stopped launching as people reported after the first parade. But you're right you can't tell if it's on purpose or not. Honestly that was only the second time I've been able to see the parade. The first time was on a Sunday when it went back-to-front. I sat with my Mom by the ID lagoon. This time I followed the whole route with the camcorder. Honestly I could take better video now that I've seen the whole thing in person but this will suffice and there's a bunch of others online. I'm glad the parade is a success.

Which one are you in the parade? I thought I read that some Screamsters were in it. But not as their characters. *** Edited 10/11/2007 3:04:38 AM UTC by HalloWeekends!***

I am the first pumpkin head guy on the boy pumpkin side of the float. There are about 10 other screamsters involved in the parade in various roles.

If you end up in Fear Faire, look for the same mask as my profile picture but with really large horns. I'm usually by the large foam dragon, but not always.

That's cool.

I thought that was you in FF. Your character has a laugh that you do. The mask looked familiar even in the dark because of the tusks.

Come to think of it the Edward Scissorhands-looking performer in the parade next to the giant inflatable spider looks like the ghost groom midway guy. *** Edited 10/11/2007 3:31:52 AM UTC by HalloWeekends!***

For those who have seen the parade so far this season, I was wondering how it compared to that of 2008 and if there are any changes to this years parade. Thanks!

I've only got to see it once so far this year, and it's basically the same as last year's. I did see it on the web cam last Sunday though (because I am a nerd like that lol) and it seemed like a lot of the floats were missing - Slimer & the Rock Man to name a couple. I am guessing something to do with the weather or staffing. Maybe I just missed them because it was on the cam, but I have seen the full parade/all of the floats via web cam before so I don't know.

Good to know. I'll be there on sunday and I will keep and eye out for all the floats. I'll try and get some video too.

I know it's not from this year. But, here is video of the parade from 9-15-2007.