I'm sorry for bragging, but we've been to Disneyland for free three years in a row now. It's all thanks to my wife's blog. My little blog has nothing to do with it. Each year there's a Family Media Day. I found it amusing that this year's coincided with Gay Days Anaheim, so there were a bunch of people in red shirts with suggestive phrases on them. Last year we went at night to California Adventure for Mickey's Trick-or-Treat Party. It's nice to switch back and forth. The only added horror comes in the form of some mean-looking Jack O'Lanterns next to the children's petting zoo. They do change the Space Mountain roller coaster to Ghost Galaxy and the Haunted Mansion attraction gets a
Nightmare Before Christmas makeover. Nothing against Tim Burton, but I prefer the traditional Haunted Mansion sights and sounds. They don't assault the eyes with as much neon or assault the ears with the same repetitive kiddie bop. The biggest advantage (and I've mentioned this before in my Legoland post,
4/17/09) that Disney theme parks have over others is density. When you're standing in line, there's always something to look at in any direction and there's room to breathe but not a lot of walking.
When my son was one, he cuddled up to
Aladdin's Genie, but this year he was wary of Disney Villains Jafar, Cruella de Vil and the wicked Queen from
Snow White.
My favorite Jack O'Lantern was this snowman-style Queen of Hearts.
More than the castle, more than Tom Sawyer Island, even more than the Haunted Mansion, my favorite scenic spot is in front of Monstro the whale's mouth at the Storybook Land Canal Boatride.
This has nothing to do with Halloween or horror, but there's a countdown for the new nighttime programming to promote
Tron: Legacy (opening 12/17/10) at the entrance of California Adventure.
Tomorrow marks seven years since my wife and I honeymooned in Orlando, Florida and attended Halloween Horror Nights XIII, the last of such events that was held exclusively at Universal's Islands of Adventure. This year is only the fifth annual at Universal Studios Hollywood, even though they started in 1997 (they went on hiatus from 2001-2005). The one we did on our honeymoon had more varied settings. There was a street covered with "toxic waste," a jungle maze, a tour of a sanitarium and another on a haunted boat. Four out of the five mazes at this year's were named after horror film franchises and three out of those took place mostly inside houses. The fifth maze was a castle featuring a mix of all the classic Universal monsters. Every maze had strobe lighting, threads hanging in the dark to mimic spider webs and narrow halls with body bags to push out of the way. The streets in between each maze featured different masked maniacs with chainsaws. The masks varied from asylum escapees to circus freaks to clowns but the chainsaws were a consistent theme. To sum it up in two words - sensory overload.
I missed this year's backlot tour, Terror Tram: Chucky's Revenge, but I did see a lot of movie props like this knife from
My Soul To Take (opening this coming weekend).
The best and most disturbing maze was named after Rob Zombie's
House of 1000 Corpses. Each room showed a murder scene from a different real-life serial killer. It was gory enough that I don't feel the need to ever go to another haunted tour/corn maze. I mean, you can't top this one, and if you can, I don't wanna know about it.
I have no idea who these kids are but they provided the perfect pose as I was passing by.
This is under the Universal Citywalk outdoor shopping mall. We ate at a Brazilian steakhouse there where actual Carnival dancers put on shows every hour.
I'm sorry for bragging, but we've been to Disneyland for free three years in a row now. It's all thanks to my wife's blog. My little blog has nothing to do with it. Each year there's a Family Media Day. I found it amusing that this year's coincided with Gay Days Anaheim, so there were a bunch of people in red shirts with suggestive phrases on them. Last year we went at night to California Adventure for Mickey's Trick-or-Treat Party. It's nice to switch back and forth. The only added horror comes in the form of some mean-looking Jack O'Lanterns next to the children's petting zoo. They do change the Space Mountain roller coaster to Ghost Galaxy and the Haunted Mansion attraction gets a Nightmare Before Christmas makeover. Nothing against Tim Burton, but I prefer the traditional Haunted Mansion sights and sounds. They don't assault the eyes with as much neon or assault the ears with the same repetitive kiddie bop. The biggest advantage (and I've mentioned this before in my Legoland post, 4/17/09) that Disney theme parks have over others is density. When you're standing in line, there's always something to look at in any direction and there's room to breathe but not a lot of walking.
When my son was one, he cuddled up to Aladdin's Genie, but this year he was wary of Disney Villains Jafar, Cruella de Vil and the wicked Queen from Snow White.
My favorite Jack O'Lantern was this snowman-style Queen of Hearts.
More than the castle, more than Tom Sawyer Island, even more than the Haunted Mansion, my favorite scenic spot is in front of Monstro the whale's mouth at the Storybook Land Canal Boatride.
This has nothing to do with Halloween or horror, but there's a countdown for the new nighttime programming to promote Tron: Legacy (opening 12/17/10) at the entrance of California Adventure.
Tomorrow marks seven years since my wife and I honeymooned in Orlando, Florida and attended Halloween Horror Nights XIII, the last of such events that was held exclusively at Universal's Islands of Adventure. This year is only the fifth annual at Universal Studios Hollywood, even though they started in 1997 (they went on hiatus from 2001-2005). The one we did on our honeymoon had more varied settings. There was a street covered with "toxic waste," a jungle maze, a tour of a sanitarium and another on a haunted boat. Four out of the five mazes at this year's were named after horror film franchises and three out of those took place mostly inside houses. The fifth maze was a castle featuring a mix of all the classic Universal monsters. Every maze had strobe lighting, threads hanging in the dark to mimic spider webs and narrow halls with body bags to push out of the way. The streets in between each maze featured different masked maniacs with chainsaws. The masks varied from asylum escapees to circus freaks to clowns but the chainsaws were a consistent theme. To sum it up in two words - sensory overload.
I missed this year's backlot tour, Terror Tram: Chucky's Revenge, but I did see a lot of movie props like this knife from My Soul To Take (opening this coming weekend).
The best and most disturbing maze was named after Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses. Each room showed a murder scene from a different real-life serial killer. It was gory enough that I don't feel the need to ever go to another haunted tour/corn maze. I mean, you can't top this one, and if you can, I don't wanna know about it.
I have no idea who these kids are but they provided the perfect pose as I was passing by.
This is under the Universal Citywalk outdoor shopping mall. We ate at a Brazilian steakhouse there where actual Carnival dancers put on shows every hour.
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