NaBloPoMo! Go! Go! Go!
Yes it's National Blog Posting Month, and since Edith rampaged around the house at top volume until I got up to play with her, I may as well post.
The Ghost Train was SO much fun last night! The weather was perfect for being at an amusement park after dark; it was crisp and clear so you could see all the stars, and there was just enough of a nip in the air for hot chocolate to seem a very attractive prospect. When we arrived the car park was only about half full, which boded well, and it turned out that there really weren't that many people there (which I suspect was because of the big football game at the University; which was televised and which we won by a ridiculously huge margin). This meant we could whizz around the park going on all of the rides, and didn't spend most of the evening waiting in queues.
We went on the Ghost Train first, and Jasmin established a pattern for the evening by being so easy to spook and make scream that the costumed staff wouldn't leave her alone. It was hilarious! I do have to admit that, although I am assured I did not actually scream, one of the werewolves did get a definite jump out of me. As I suspected the Ghost Train is about 50% more effective when there is no-one on board with a torch (American translation: Flashlight), shining it out so you can see exactly where you are and what's going on around you. It was just much more atmospheric and spooky.
After surviving the Ghost Train trip through Werewolf country we watched the Main Street Dancers for a while, until they were about to segue from "Thriller" to the "Macarena"; at which point we went to buy funnel cake, and catch the ski lift to the top of the mountain. We went straight onto the Tunnel of Terror, and I have to say I thought the Mad Butcher's heart just wasn't in it last night, maybe it's not so much fun if there aren't crowds of people, but he didn't bother trying to make anyone scream and didn't get on our train so he could menace us with chainsaws in the Tunnel itself. We did still get a great scream from Jasmin, when something animatronic leapt out at her. David and Doc C were almost crying with laughter by the time we got off.
Another good thing about going in a large group was that there was always someone willing to do whatever you felt like next, so David and I rode the Scrambler (one of those really rickety looking funfair rides that throws you around at high speeds), whilst everyone else watched and made rock signs at us whenever we were thrown towards them. That was a great ride, not least for the excellent choice of music "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult! Nice!
We also rode the Tilt-and-Whirl, walked through the 3D maze and the Black Hole, which were all things I hadn't done before. The Black Hole is very odd, it's a walkway through a spinning tunnel of lights, which doesn't sound like much but your body see the movement and tries to compensate by making you lean so you end up throwing yourself against the hand rail, and staggering along. We went through that twice!
I am very proud to say that this time I felt brave enough to finally go into the Haunted House and it was really fun. We were all very nervous (except, obviously, for Doc C who just finds such things hilarious). It was really cleverly done, so when you first arrived it was a hotel reception area, and I did not hear a word of what the man there was telling us, so I don't know if there was any sort of clear narrative to the house or if it was just a series of grand guignol vignettes. From the reception we were ushered into a lift with a mad ghost bell hop, and that just shook us about whilst the bell hop laughed, and then were let out the other side to continue the tour. It's sort of a blur because as a group we just decided to rush through, with ever-one holding hands like a crocodile of small children. I forget what order it all came in but I know there was a girl covered in cobwebs screaming for help; a giggling lunatic; a very grumpy looking girl with a knife, a pram with something nasty in it and bloody eyes; a mad scientist in a bio hazard suit who had the only well lit room so we could fully appreciate the twitching bodies; a mad electrician (I think, there were sparks involved) who threw a switch and set off an electric chair with someone convulsing in it and then finally some sort of enormous demon thingy who followed us right up to the door. It was really really fun!
We then went back to Main Street to take photos posing on the life size plastic horses before we left. We actually left forty minutes earlier than Doc C and I did on our previous visit, but because it was so quiet we actually had packed in a lot more to our visit.
My verdict: Two thumbs up, an excellent way to spend Halloween.
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