Author: Chris

Taking the reigns from Peaches the Clown, this year, Theme Park Adventure’s own Rick West got to host the Six Flags Magic Mountain Fright Fest panel this year at Midsummer Scream. The first new scare zone is Witches Lair. While witches have had a presence at the park for a number of years, this is a scare zone all for themselves and it’ll be right in the middle of Metropolis. And for the first time, there’ll be a scare zone at the back end of the park, near Roaring Rapids, called The Shadows and it’ll be a gory theme. They’re…

By now, there’s a familiar pattern to these panels at Halloween events. Each company has their own twist, but it’s generally started with introductions of the people, banter about the previous years and then a good amount of the remaining time spent on revealing new information. This year, the Halloween Horror Nights panel was anything but traditional. In a literal first, John Murdy, Chris Williams and Micahel Aiello all appeared together on a stage. Murdy, a frequent presence on Twitter, had been collecting questions, and saving up the responses for this panel. He made sure to pick questions that could…

For sheer entertainment factor alone, the Queen Mary Dark Harbor panel at Midsummer Scream has become a must-do, for the great banter between the Captain and the Ringmaster riffing on the seriousness of the rest of the panelists. That kind of aloofness is what has really elevated Dark Harbor in the last few years as their talent during the event is given far more freedom than other competitors, allowing for more intense and personal experiences. Right out of the gate, there was a new member of the Dark Harbor family introduced, but it wasn’t a monster, rather a bigger name,…

Taking a cue from their studio across town, the Warner Bros. Studio has been making strides lately in the theme park side of entertainment, heavily upgrading and promoting their studio tour and running a successful Halloween event for the last two years. From their panel, it was clear the Warner folks were proud of their event. They strongly stressed how they wanted to avoid the conga lines by keeping crowds small, bringing this point up many times throughout the panel. It also takes place entirely on the backlot, a transformed backlot, feeling like a party, or a festival of frights,…

Kicking off Midsummer Scream in 2018 was the Knott’s Scary Farm panel. Midsummer Scream is the premier Halloween-themed convention that takes place at the Long Beach Convention Center and has quickly become the tipping point for when Halloween announcements are made regarding theme parks, home haunts, and everything in between. Last year, Knott’s was a bit short in their presentation for Knott’s Scary Farm at Midsummer Scream, which is understandable, given how they have their own big gala at the end of August. But this year, they found a way to have a substantial amount of news while still keeping…

While the technical beginning of summer hasn’t started yet, we are definitely past Memorial Day – the traditional start of theme park summer events. For Knott’s, this means a whole host of shows and traditions, with the headliner being Ghost Town Alive. What started two years ago as an ambitious injection of life into Ghost Town is now a staple of the park. We gushed about how much fun Ghost Town Alive is last year, and this year is just the same. To be as concise as possible, Ghost Town Alive is western-themed role-playing in the theme park. In a…

If you had a chance to visit Universal Studios Hollywood during Lunar New Year, you probably saw the new addition that got all the attention was Mr. Ping’s Noodle Shop. Setup in Universal Plaza, guests could wait in line to speak to an impressive Mr. Ping puppet, straight out of Kung Fu Panda, and get their photo taken. Due to the popularity of his shop during the Lunar Year, it has been revealed that he’ll be returning for the summer, alongside the opening of the new DreamWorks Theatre featuring Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor’s Quest. If the draw of the…

If you’ve been following along on our photo updates, you may have noticed that Shrek 4D had closed down in August last year to make way for a new attraction. On June 15th, the former Shrektacular spot will now be home to the DreamWorks Theatre featuring “Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor’s Quest”. We were able to get a special behind-the-scenes tour of the new attraction before it officially opened, which allowed us to get a real in-depth look at the final touches being put on the newly-transformed location. While it ultimately is still a theater-type attraction playing a 3D film,…

It’s time for April’s photo update around Universal Studios Hollywood! Let’s get started! Park Update Index » CityWalk Hollywood » Baker Street » Animation Studio Store » DreamWorks Theater » Studio Tour » StarWay Refurbishment » Lower Lot » Jurassic Park: The Ride » The Mummy Greets » A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That CityWalk Hollywood The guitar outside the Hard Rock Cafe is looking a little worse for the wear. They’re claiming it’s being refurbished, which seems likely, but we’ll continue to keep an eye on it. No shrimp outside today, but there’s lots…

Knott’s Boysenberry Festival has returned for 2018. What started five years ago as Knott’s Berry Bloom has become a bigger event each year. While it’s always hard to avoid boysenberries year-round at Knott’s, during the festival, it’s the focal point of the park.