Denver Hotel Specials for Fall

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Leaves are changing and fall is upon us bringing cooler weather, leaving the busy summer season behind. But just because summer vacation is over, doesn't mean you're trapped at home. Now more than ever, is the best time to travel, as hotels are offering great deals to entice would-be travellers to take an escape - a quick getaway to rejuvinate. No where is this more apparent than in the Denver area.

Hotels like the Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood offers great nightly rates, but also terrific packages celebrating the Fall season.

Have you ever been to the 'Great American Beer Fest?' It's in Denver this year and the Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood is joining in the celebration with their 'Denver Beer Fest Package ' including beautiful accommodations for 2 as well as Dinner for 2 at the Sporting News Grill and they are even throwing in 2 draft beers of choice (from a selection of 16) to join in the spirit of Beer Fest. Rates start at just $124 and Denver's Beer Fest begins tomorrow, September 24th.

Elitch Gardens FrightFest - Elitch Gardens is soon to close it's season, and with it goes our very popular Elitch Gardens Package. One last chance to get to this very popular Denver amusement park and join in the FrightFest - Families by Day, Fright by Night.

Getting ready for the biggest shopping season of the year -- the Holiday Inn Lakewood's got a deal for you with the Shopping Package that includes a $100 Visa Gift Card free, with package purchase. The Shopping Package is based on a 2 night minimum stay and is only $129/night. The visa card can be used for shopping at the nearby Belmar shopping center, for travel expenses, hotel expenses or a nice new pretty gift for yourself~

With Denver hotel eals like these, it really does pay to travel!

Take a look at the new video tour of the Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood and visit our website for more information.

Denver New Year's Eve Package

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Join the Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood to celebrate New Year's Eve 2009!

Exclusive package is only $99 and includes:

• Accommodations for 2 in a beautifully renovated guest room
• Bottle of Champagne to share
• Breakfast and Mimosas in the Sporting News Grill Restaurant in the morning
• 1pm Late Check-out on New Year's Day... or
• Extend your stay for only $59 (our Friends and Family Rate)

Denver New Year's Eve Hotel Package

www.hilakewood.com

Denver Broncos' Fans Unite!

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Are you ready for some football??

We sure are at the Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood.  We are celebrating football season and our favorite team, The Denver Broncos, with our Denver Broncos' Fan Special! 

This $94 deal includes:

• Accommodations for 2
• 2 Drinks at the Sporting News Grill
• 1 Appetizer to share

Come take advantage of our 16 flatscreen TV's in the Sporting News Grill, enjoy an evening out... and if you're lucky enough to have Denver Bronco's tix, it's an easy Lightrail ride into Downtown Denver!

Book your Denver Broncos Fans Special Now!

Kings Island Begins Demo of Son of Beast

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© Kings Island

Fans of Kings Island's Son of Beast may cringe a little when looking at these photos.  I have a feeling many of us will breath a sigh of relief instead, knowing that the end is truly near for the troublesome coaster.

The photos were tweeted by the park's Vice President and General Manager, Greg Scheid, noting that the demolition of the massive ride has begun.

© Kings Island

For more on the story of Son of Beast, check out this post from Scott & Carol from earlier this Summer.

Rest In Pieces, Son of Beast!

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From The Vault: Knott's Berry Farm 1994 Brochure

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Here's a Vault entry from not so long ago, but long enough that the featured park was quite a different place.  The time? 1994.  The place?  America's First Theme Park, aka, Knott's Berry Farm.


Snoopy and a Boomerang - quite the combination!  In 1994 Knott's was still family owned, and was working to stay relevant in the crowded Southern California theme park market.


The brochure makes it quite clear that the latest attraction to open at Knott's was Mystery Lodge, a special effects filled theater show settled into the Wild Water Wilderness area of the park.  Guests enter a recreation of a Native American longhouse and watch as smoke from a fire magically turns into characters that accompany the story.


Knott's has never been shy about showing off the world's most famous beagle, and here he is featured quite prominently.  The park also advertises itself as America's most beloved independent amusement park - something that's no longer true.


How about some rides!  By detailing the different themed areas of the park, they're able to show off all they have to offer.  From the wonderfully classic log flume to a trip to the jurassic era on the Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, there was quite a mix of rides to check out.
 

Here's that beagle again.  Even if the Peanuts characters are dressed in their western finest, there's still other areas to check out.  Indian Trails, Wild Water Wilderness, and of course Camp Snoopy had a little of something for everyone.  At the time Knott's had three major coasters, and one kiddie version.  Today they offer a total of nine - a bit of a testament to how the park has progressed over the years.

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Scott and Carol Present Worlds of Fun's Haunt Part 2

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Last Thursday our story on Worlds of Fun’s Haunt highlighted the parks newest haunt Zombie High. Part two tells the rest of the story.

While the haunts and mazes looks great, Worlds of Fun relies on Dawna to provide appropriately decorated bodies. She oversees a squad of nearly 30 artists for every night of the Haunt. Every artist has to pass both a portfolio and time test, because quality production is the name of the game. Usually 80% of the artists return each year, and some of them enjoy Haunt so much they decorate others, and then join them in entertaining the guests.

Preparing the cast is a long process, and they are going to be on their feet all night, so plenty of places to sit are provided for the early arrivals to pass the time. With nearly 400 characters to prep, an orderly flow of characters to the artist is essential.


Every member of the group is asked what they would like to be, and if it fits into the plan, their requests are honored. Once they are fitted for a costume, they are that character for the entire season. The park cleans the costume daily and reissues it to them so they don’t have to maintain it themselves.


After everybody is ready to go, the individual groups gather for a short meeting before the rally. During the rally, safety rules are reiterated, and announcements made concerning what group turned in the best performance on the night before.

Any special guests are introduced, imagine the nearly 400 screaming monsters of all types shaking their fists and weapons at you, and they form up for the Rise of the Overlord.

Back in the park, guests have been staking out their spots for the show for hours, because Worlds of Fun really pulls out the stops for the Haunt. A few scaractors ride, but most march down to the show. As the Overlord rises, the music crescendos, and the screams begin as some of the monsters work the crowd.

The atmosphere builds every night, a stark contrast to the daylight hours when not so scary activities for the little monsters guests give them something special during the day. But they need to watch out after dark, because Haunt is recommended for ages 12 and over. Nobody is passing out candy after being summoned by the Overlord. Here is a video from over a year ago.
After the shows conclude, the parade starts, with the monsters traveling en masse through the park, splitting off at their respective mazes and scream zones. They all have their pennants and marching orders, but sometimes they pause to give a guest some unwanted attention


The Overlord is the final part of the parade, to better ascertain whether his serfs are at their duly appointed tasks.

Here is a link to a past parade video.


London Terror is based on werewolves terrorizing London, with Big Ben, everybody using English accents, and some great stunts. Our favorites were the wolf eating the body and being startled by the wolf leaping out of the building at us.
Bloodshed is based on a slaughter house, and it starts off where the chickens met their end, and you need to listen to the guy who tells you to “Watch out for the pig.” It will be uncomfortably close to you.


Asylum Island features our favorite character, the needle lady.

Filled with lots of strobes and smoke, they lull you into a false sense of security while you walk a very long way, and then the scare you from all sides. They even have some real time cameras hooked to monitors to shows guests in the queue the people ahead of them being scared.

With one of the best Cornstalkers we have experienced, the narrow paths force you to constantly create your own rustling noise, and when the anticipation reaches its height, they not only scare you, then they laugh at you while the next guy scares you too. One of the creepiest decorations is the dead dog in the middle of the path. The boundaries force you to step right next to him, ugh.


Master McCarthy’s Doll Factory features lots of doll hanging from hooks through their heads, a wall of “barbies,” and a wall of “Kens.” But the best part is when you must weave through the corridor of peeing dolls.

And, here is a photo of Scott hanging around with one of the other out of towners visiting the Haunt!


Lore of The Vampire leads into Club Blood. The attacking spider and the option of buying shots of “AB” blood in the bar add a grotesque touch, along with a large pile of coffins. Our favorite prop was the sparkle ball coffin; she really partied till she died.


There is also Blood Drums, a percussion show encompassing barrels, a muffler, and even an air conditioner cover as instruments. The highlight is when there is dueling grinders.

So that is just a taste of Haunt at Worlds of Fun, it would be so much better for us if it wasn’t clear across Missouri and Illinois both. Wishing you the scariest Halloween ever, thanks for reading!

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We're Back, and We're Stuffed

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Well, after a Holiday Hiatus, we're back! First thing I want to do before getting to some editorials is to catch up on some of the bigger news.

So, the Transformers ride is opening. This is considered big news, so here's a recap. It's basically a new version of the Spiderman ride in my viewpoint, but I suppose this is a good backup plan for Universal if and when they ever lose their Marvel license to Disney. Slashfilm reported recently that the attraction vehicle is an actual transformer. Your car is a character. My good friends over at Topless Robot had this to say:

Transformers: The Movie: the Ride is just about ready to open in Universal Studios Singapore, and one of the local news stations did this report on what getting to the ride will be like. I feel like it's notable for two reasons:
1) That it could take up to 1.5 hours of waiting in line to actually get on Transformers: The Ride. The idea that anyone would wait up to 90 minutes for a ride based on Bayformers -- unless they were some sort of war criminal, and this was their court-mandated punishment -- depresses me to no end.
2) On the other hand, as the newslady is happy to point out, the walls surrounding the queue will be full of buttons to press and switches to flip, so that people can "entertain" themselves while waiting. By pressing buttons and hitting switches. Like developing infants do with toys.

As harsh as that sounds, I can't disagree. However, I'm sure I'll be amazed with the technology once it opens. You can make up your own mind by viewing this video.


In other news:

-I should point out that we have seen a new type of ticketing system put into use that could possibly eliminate turnstiles.

-Coney Island is celebrating its roots with some new construction work.

-Kennywood sold Pitfall, so could a new ride be on the way?

-TDS celebrates its 10 birthday just in time for the holidays.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! And if you didn't, it could be worse. The Pilgrims had to catch their own turkey. I'll leave you with a look at what that might have looked like, courtesy of Sally Dark Rides.