Early in the Halloween season a group of people complained about a newspaper write-up promoting Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and the use of a picture that showed some of the Halloween props being use at the event. The picture featured several severed heads in a pirate themed maze. After the complaints started coming in claiming that Busch Gardens was insensitive to the family’s of people who were being decapitated by a radical group in the middle east, the heads were removed from the park. We asked the In the Loop staff there feelings about these actions.
Topic: Blog
Best Virginia Haunt Experience: Busch Gardens vs Kings Dominion
Over the last two weeks I have had the pleasure of experiencing both Howl-O-Scream and Halloween Haunt on back to back days. The first weekend I did Kings Dominion on a Saturday and Busch Gardens on a Sunday, and the following weekends Busch Gardens on a Saturday and Kings Dominion on a Sunday. Each night was a different experience. I am going to break down each event by what they have to offer and rate those offerings. WARNING: There will be spoilers in this story!
Boo, or NO BOO! That is the Question
This season we have seen more and more parks start offering the NO BOO pass for there Halloween events. The NO BOO pass is a light up glow stick that hangs around your neck. When you are going in to a scare zone or house, the monsters are suppose to not scare you. We asked the In the Loop team there thoughts on the NO BOO pass.
Theme Park Visit Report: California’s Great America
Hello Loopies. Well last weekend I made the trek up to Northern California to visit a few parks. I spent my Saturday over at the beautiful California’s Great America. My plan for the day for to attack the coasters and get some more coaster credits but as well as take a look around the park and see what they have to offer. The evening was spent doing the Halloween Haunt event and you will see a review for this event at the end of the month with my Halloween Theme Park mega review.
Maelstrom Closing Day Memories
The decision making process behind closing an attraction is probably way more involved than most people on the internet realize. I for one hope it is a complicated long process so I can feel certain the parks make the right Decision. Maelstrom last week received the ax, shut its doors, turned off its control panels, and said goodbye to the awkward tree troll thing. The reason behind this, Maelstrom will be transformed into a Frozen attraction filled with all the songs from the movies as well as everyone’s favorite snowman Olaf.
A Unique Trip to Dollywood: Filming All American Amusement Parks
When Clint was first approached to be a part of a new amusement park show centered around enthusiasts; I was super excited for him. It seemed like the perfect fit for him. Not only is Clint knowledgeable about rides and parks, he also is outgoing and charismatic. This was going to be great! My feelings on this matter quickly changed once I was asked to join him on this show.
TRAFFIC DISASTER AT LAST YEARS HALLOWEEKENDS
A year ago from this upcoming weekend was one of the busiest days of the year for Cedar Point. Columbus day weekend saw thousands of people all trying to make there way across the causeway in a line that lasted hours, only to find that there were no parking spots available. Not only did they fill all the parking lots on the point, but people were being bused in from locations of the point to accommodate the large crowds. Then at the end of the night people waited up to 4 hours to exit the parking lot and start there journey home.
This year Cedar Point’s Bryan Edwards says they are ready if the crowds come back in large amounts this upcoming weekend. According to Edwards the park has made several changes to the parking lot and causeway to help with the flow of traffic.
Don’t forget Mantis is now open Fridays, and its last day is the 19th!
Sea World San Antonio Howl-O-Scream Trip Report
Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Sea World San Antonio and Six Flags Fiesta Texas to check out both of their Halloween events. Below is my overview and review of Howl-O-Scream. Today I’ll start with Sea World and next post will be Fiesta Texas
How-O-Scream
Trip Report: Kings Dominion
Greetings Loopies, Braedon here with a park report. I made my first trip over to the east coast this past weekend to join Clint at a few parks. We visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg, as well as Kings Dominion. We did visit while haunt/hall o scream was going on but I will just focus on the parks their self.
Kings Dominion Reveals More Water Works Details
2015 is going to be a great year for Water Works as they continue to grow and expand the water park at Kings Dominion. We will see new bathrooms, bath houses, cabanas, food options, sand volleyball court, kids play area, and a 65-foot tall slide complex called Paradise Plunge. An overview of the area was recently posted showing us where all the changes will be taking place.
Let’s start with New Splash Island, the entrance to the water park. From the overview we can see the Shoot the Curl slides are missing. These three slides are fairly old, and were rumored to be on the chopping block. This clears the way for a path that would take you around the back side of the lazy river. This is a great idea, because on really busy days the bridges going to the now called Splash Island created a bottle neck and made it hard to maneuver the front part of the water park. The biggest addition to this area of the park is the new kids play area. It looks like from the over view the area will include a cover, but from the artwork, it does not include one. With the addition of Splash Island, these will double the amount of options the kids currently have at Water Works. Before we move on to the back side, it also appears the bath house will be expanded at the entrance of the water park.
As we move to the other side of Rebel Yell we see more additions to the water park, including 2 new bathrooms, and a new bath house. I never thought there was a shortage of bathrooms in this area of the park, but I guess you can never have too many when it comes to a water park. More is better than the alternative. Biggest surprise is the sand volleyball court going in. I am now super excited about this as I love to play volleyball. 
As we look at the over view by the Tidal Wave Bay we can see they are going to expand the Cabanas. With the expansion it looks like there may be another area that I hope is being used for adult beverages. There is nothing better than laying around the wave pool and sipping a frozen girly drink. Best part of the whole expansion is the new water slide complex. 3 drop slides, and 3 crazy tube rides. Dorney park received something similar to this last year and it was simply amazing.
The biggest surprise of all is if you look closely at the upper right hand corner you can see what looks to be a theater. I have heard some rumors that KD would be getting another theater in the Safari area of the park in the location where there used to be a stage. This would be an outdoor stage that would replace a groove of picnic tables in front of Backlot Stunt Coaster. I have mixed feelings about this. I am all for more options of entertainment at the park, but I really feel the park should work on the options they have. They currently have 6 stages that produce around 11 shows in the summer season. I think most people would agree with me that half of those shows are not worth keeping. I am a tech guy, but I am not a theater guy so I don’t know if what they are missing is a good producer, talent, or both. All I know is All Wheel Sports plays to packed crowds and it’s hard to keep me away from that show, and when sitting in the back of KD40 you can watch crowds of people leave before the Signing Mushrooms leave the show to perform their own show. I know Cedar Fair has the tools to produce great shows, and I really have high hopes that we will get high quality entertainment back to Kings Dominion. I just wish we could work on that before building another stage.
Overall I am truly excited about this expansion. I don’t spend enough time in the water park, but I really enjoy the time I do.
