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AWESOME-tober-fest 2008!!! I survive Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights!!

Posted in AWESOME-tober-fest, Florida, Halloween, Halloween Horror Nights, holiday, Orlando, reviews, roadtrip, Universal Studios with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2008, Florida, Halloween, Halloween Horror Nights, holiday, Orlando, travel, Universal Studios on October 15, 2008 by Paxton

Welcome to Week 3 of AWESOME-tober-fest!!! Hope you’ve enjoyed the first two weeks so far. I started off week 1 talking about creepy Halloween sodas. Then, on week 2, I discussed a few of my favorite scary movies. What’s on deck for this week? Well, as teased to you at the end of last week’s article, Steph and I took the plunge and went to our first Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights this past weekend. Universal Studios theme parks hold this event annually and this year marked the 18th year they have done it. I’ve been wanting to go since we moved down to Jacksonville but we never did and thanks to some cheap, discounted tickets at work, we were able to do it this year. In case you didn’t know, ever since around 1990, during the Halloween season, Universal Studios closes its doors (along with Islands of Adventure) around 5:30 – 6pm and clears out all the people. Universal then sets up the scare zones and haunted houses and opens the doors again for people who bought Halloween Horror Nights tickets (yes, it’s a separate ticket). There are as many as 8 haunted houses that are setup in various parts of the park as well as what are called scare zones. In these scare zones are park employees who dress up in scary costumes and follow around patrons trying to creep them out or scare them. Like the haunted houses, each scare zone has a different theme, usually based around what haunted house is near it. Halloween Horror Nights usually has an overall theme each year, too. Last year, with Freddy, Jason and Leatherface it was called the Carnival of Carnage. The year before that they did a “best of” theme with all the best haunted houses and scare zones from the years prior. This year, the overall theme was Bloody Mary; which included famous myths, legends and fairy tales. Bloody Mary is the spririt that would appear to you in a mirror if you said her name 3 times. She’s in the picture below on the right.

It’s a pretty cool theme if you ask me and I was very excited to see what Universal did with it. So, after work on Friday, the wife and I took off for Orlando and our scary Halloween adventure. Continue reading →

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Ye Olde Impetigo + Hill Valley Courthouse burns to the ground!!

Posted in Back to the Future, personal, sickness, Universal Studios with tags Back to the Future, personal, Universal Studios on June 2, 2008 by Paxton

Ambulance Well, as many of you may have noticed I missed a blog entry last week. It’s rare when I don’t come up with something to post. However, I had some medical issues the last few weeks that culminated in me being laid up on the couch pretty much all last week. You may not care, but let me give you the Cliff’s Notes (or Pax’s Notes, if you will) of my last few weeks. Don’t worry, I’ll leave out the grosser details.

In case you didn’t know, I run for fun and exercise. I guess I got a cut one week and it became infected and I had to go on anti-biotics for 10 days. The infection came back and I guess it kept getting worse. I finally couldn’t take the pain anymore so I went to the doctor and they thought it was a fungus. So I go on an anti-fungus medicine for 5 days or so and my face turns purplish-red and swells up to gigantic proportions. One of my eyes almost swells shut. I looked like Violet Beauregard from Willy Wonka after eating the blueberry gum…except I was purple and red. It was ridiculous. So I go back to the doctor to have him look at my new deformities and apparently, I’m now allergic to anti-fungal medication. Nice. So the doctor refers me to a dermatologist before he does anything else, just to be sure. Great idea in order to avoid any more allergic mishaps, but now I have to go to another doctor.

Continue reading →

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In Memorium: Back to the Future The Ride

Posted in Back to the Future, movies, reviews, Universal Studios with tags Back to the Future, movies, Simpsons, TV shows, Universal Studios on August 11, 2006 by Paxton

It makes me very sad that I have to write this article. I’ve heard rumors for a while, but it was officially announced that Universal Studios Orlando was going to “phase out” the 15 year old ride for something newer, presumably a Simpsons ride.

I have a long history with Back to the Future. I saw it at the theater in 1985 when it was released. I remember my dad checking me out of school to go see an earlier showing (it was still packed). Then when the original was released on VHS, I had my dad (god love him for it) show up at Blockbuster the day it was released to rent it (we copied it). I remember losing my f’n mind when, at the end of the movie on VHS, there appeared the words TO BE CONTINUED… which didn’t appear in the theatrical release. I then eagerly waited the four years it took to release Parts 2 and 3. I bought all the magazines and books I could find. Click here to see my review of the Back to the Future novels. I also had the Back to the Future official movie magazine but it fell apart I read it so much. So, in 1999, when I was assigned to a project in Tampa, FL, I was beside myself thinking that I would be an easy 1 hour drive from Universal Studios Orlando and Back to the Future The Ride. I made several trips to Orlando to visit Universal studios and have ridden The Ride many times since then. I even got to ride it at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Everytime it takes me back to the feeling of watching the movie when I was a kid.

Now it seems that the studio brass feel it’s time to retire the ride. I hate to say it, but I agree. The ride was pretty shabby the last time I rode it. I love going to the ride and seeing the props and enviroments and the atmosphere, but the ride mechanism and IMAX dome screening always makes me motion sick. I would love to see it updated, but with the DVDs released a few years ago and no new movies or TV shows on the horizon, the prospects for the property have pretty much played out. It’s sad to see it go and I’m glad I got to ride it just a few weeks ago as the ride looks to be phased out by October.

Here I am outside the main entrance to The Ride at Universal Studios in Orlando in 1999.

Here I am outside the ride with a Doc Brown impersonator. We are posing in front of an actual Delorean model used in the movie. This is also from 1999 in Orlando.

Fun Back to the Future links:

1. Here is the video footage of Back to the Future The Ride. It’s the video you’d see if you were sitting in the ride, not the video while waiting in line. Very cool.

2. Bloopers from the filming of Back to the Future.

3. Did you know that Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly? Roughly 30% of the movie was shot with Stoltz as the lead but the director thought he looked too old and played Marty too straight. Here are some pics of the legendary “Eric Stoltz” footage.