Thunder Canyon At Night

Just curious. How is this ride at night? Is it lit up going through those woods?

There are a few lights, but not anything major. Some parts are in complete darkness. I think it is a ton more fun at night.

At night there's no water in it. ;)

You'll have to wait until next year if you want to try it out. She's all empty and being set up to become Werewolf Canyon.

Did they really already close it??

Yup. They're moving pretty quickly in getting ready for Halloweekends. Dodgem is already completely enclosed, there are already the special effect lighting fixtures up along the Frontier Trail, the UR Dade entrance is up, Disaster Transport's entrance has already been relocated to accomodate Pharoah's Secret, and as I stated Thunder Canyon has been closed. Seems like they're moving a lot quicker than in past years since they're starting Halloweekends earlier.

Wow, this is really early.

i went in the beginning of august and they had things up completely,just blocked off.

They only have two weeks to get Halloweekends ready. Gotta start sometime.

Question: Why do they start Halloweekends so early? I mean why not start the first weekend in October? Does it make sense to start in September? It's still summer!

Jeff,

While thunder canyon may be closed at night nowadays, it didn't used to be. My first ride on thunder canyon was at night.

It makes perfect sense financially. Why spend all the money to set-up these halloween attractions for just 3 or 4 weeks when you can extend it to 7 weeks, i think that is getting there monies worth. And halloweekends brings in much more crowds than the old bonus weekends did plus they can charge full admission on halloweekends, something they couldn't do during bonus weekends.

I like the idea also because we know how unpedictable the weather becomes in october i rather have a better chance at going to halloweekends when it is still nice out.

Not to mention Halloweekends is a HUGE draw for the park. Why not get the most out of it that they possibly can? I agree that as far as the Halloween season goes, it may make more sense to start in late September or October and go to the first few weekends of November, but November weather is way too unpredictable. Plus I think it's easier to hype a holiday before it has happened rather than keeping things going after it has passed. It's better to just start Halloweekends earlier.

Now in 2008, Halloween (October 31) is on a Friday. I would love to see Halloweekends go to an 8 weekend format and have the park be open that weekend.

I apologize for sidetracking from the Thunder Canyon discussion.

Also, remember that the later they push closing back, the less time they have to get ready for next season.

I would be surprised if they weren't, with Halloween being on a Friday. It would make sense to extend it to that last weekend.

Ok, stupid, stupid question- but is warewolf canyon a walk though? I can't imagine anyone wanting to get drenched in late Sept and Oct. Is it a water ride without the waterfalls running or something? I've never been on it during Halloweekends.

It is just a walkthrough.

It's a walkthrough. They fill the reservoir with fog and there are werewolves walking around in it. It's really cool and pretty scary.

The official blog has some interesting "behind the scenes" entries in 2005 about the HalloWeekends. Thunder/Werewolf Canyon was shortly discussed in this one.

CPboy77 said:
Question: Why do they start Halloweekends so early? I mean why not start the first weekend in October? Does it make sense to start in September? It's still summer!

They start so early because there is alot to set up. And Halloweekends is the busiest time of the year in the park. I mean you can't transform the park into the Halloweekends theme overnight so they start now while most kids are back in school so the park doesn't have that many people in it so the themeing change isn't that much of a big deal.

Thunder Canyon closes with the park every night even on saturdays. Its kind of stupid because no one rides it after eight o clock. I know because I worked that ride and it gets boring after that time.