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Orlando 2011 Trip Report
Nov. 22, 2011

The other mazes, in a nutshell:

The Forsaken: AWESOME. Not the scariest, but exquisitely art-directed.

The In-Between: Easily the best 3-D maze I've ever been through, and very sci-fi, so I really got into this one.

Saws 'N' Steam: Dark, gross, with a kind of steampunk-ish edge. Not bad at all.

Winter's Night: Very, very scary, wonderful detail, and SO COLD! A favorite for sure.

Nightingales: Also very, very scary, among the best of the season.

Finally saw a Bill and Ted show. I've seen worse things at theme parks.

As for the scare zones, Acid Assault blew my mind, just for its eye-popping "crumbling buildings" effect, and the morphing NightMaze was small but notably unsettling.

I think this bone collection was in the "Canyon of Dark Souls?" Anyway, skeletons and fire, so, winning!

A denizen of the "Grown Evil" scare zone, I'm pretty sure.

Same for this Bat-Girl. Loved the dreamy atmosphere in this area.

Seven was my favorite scare zone, though. The "Seven Deadly Sins" were "acted out" by winsome females, some more winsome than others. "Gluttony" was particularly stomach-turning. I think that is "Wrath" above.

And this would be "Lust."

Little known fact: the park has a restaurant called "Mel's Drive-In," but for Halloween Horror Nights, they turn off the R and the V, so it says "Mel's Die-In."

By Monday morning, we were pretty shot. But we did manage to find the energy to ride Hulk and a few other things back at IOA. Maybe we got lucky, but the Hulkster ran as gracefully as ever. No unpleasantness or sluggishness after the mid-course brakes at all. Yay!

And before I forget: Spidey's new high-def, digitally projected video looks sharp as a tack. They had not yet completed the swap everywhere, and the difference is night and day. By the time it's all finished, the attraction will look better than ever.

After a really yummy lunch back at the hotel's Emiril's Tchoup Chop restaurant, it was off to the airport and a happy, semi-comatose plane ride home.

I think once The Magic Kingdom's latest Fantasyland makeover is complete, and SeaWorld opens "The Penguining World of Harry Penguin," another trip will be in the offing. And if they can just get the Yeti working properly again...

 

 

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