Transcript
Speaker: Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of thrills, chills and spills, where we spill the tea on all things theme parks, special events, and of course, the spooky season. I'm Rafa. I'm Tyler.
Speaker: I'm Joey. And I'm Kelly. And I feel like this week we do have a little bit of everything. i mean, we don't know how short this is going to be, but it seems like we have a little bit of thrills, a little bit of chills um as far as like news go. But of course, we have our our spills. um Kelly, what's what's what's the spill this week?
Speaker: So we talked about having a six flags day and I had for sure a six flags half marathon this past weekend. um So I think I've talked about this on the podcast before, but I was trying to run half marathon or I am running a half marathon every month this year.
Speaker: Um, I had my May race was the run and ride at King's Dominion. And I can talk about the park separately next um episode, but specifically the race, um, there were just, and, and full disclosure here, maybe I'm being biased because I had a terrible time. Like it was my worst race of the year by many minutes. Like I did not do well,
Speaker: um But the race itself was, as you'd expect um the colloquial term, six flags time or six flags day to go. So starting it off, um the communication about packet pickup was that you could pack pick your packet up on the day of, but you could also pick it up the day before, 530 730 in the parking lot of the park.
Speaker: And it just happened that I was like going down that night and I was going to try to like get in that window. So I didn't have to worry about that in the morning. And so I did that, but I pulled in the parking lot at like 712. So I was like cutting it close to the end and the direction said to go to the main parking, like attendant window that you go to tell them you're there for packet pickup and then you can go in. You don't have to pay. They'll tell you what part of the parking lot it's in.
Speaker: Nobody's there because the park is closing at 8 p.m. So like the parking attendants are gone. There's only all of them are blocked off with cones except one. So I drive right in and I'm like driving the perimeter of the parking lot, like trying to figure out, like, don't you think there would be signage, like literally anything to tell me where this packet pickup is? So I i pull over, i go back to the email to see if there's any information and it just says the event parking spaces. I'm like, what the heck does that mean? So I'm like driving around. I'm like looking in all the corners. I finally was getting too close to the time cutoff. I called Tyler and I was like, where do I go? What does this even mean? And he he kind of like guided me in the right direction. I don't know if you actually knew what that what they were referring to, but I i found it. It was like a teeny little table in the corner back left corner of the parking lot, like behind the charter buses. I was like, what the hell? So I get there and I go up to the desk and I'm like, just FYI, I've been in the parking lot for like 10 minutes trying to find this. So I don't know if other people are doing the same, but it's not clear where to go.
Speaker: Then I get my bib. And a lot of times at races, the bibs are numbered like in order of registration or whatever. And I did sign up pretty early, but I was a little concerned when my bib number was 11. was like, okay, I wonder how many people are going to be in this race.
Speaker: So next morning i get there One positive is there were no porta potties because there was access to an actual King's Dominion bathroom, which was solid. Nice. um So that was nice. um I am not a fan of the start time being 830 in a pretty much summer weather race because it is awesome. already too hot. I was sweating just standing there before the race even started at 830. I knew for me, I am a bad heat runner. I prefer it to be freezing cold. Like i i cannot run in the heat. Like I have to go much slower. So i was like, all right, maybe I should lower my expectations.
Speaker: Um, Yeah, just the race itself. There weren't very many people. They only had pace groups for every 15 minutes. So I was like, well, what the heck? All of my runs this year have been just over like the two minute or two hour mark. So I like lined up with the two hour pacer because I was like, well, I don't want to go two hours and 15 minutes.
Speaker: Anyways, um the race starts and there's a half marathon and a quarter marathon. The half marathon is two of the quarter marathon loops. So it was like a part of the parking lot. Then you like weave through the park and then you go out and do like an out and back kind of like lollipop shaped thing in the campground of King's Dominion. And you get back to where you started and do the whole thing again.
Speaker: There were no mile markers on this course, which drove me effing insane. OK, if there is a race, i need to know, is my GPS on track with the actual distance of the course? Had no clue, had no clue where where anything was. There was no signage.
Speaker: There were just orange cones lining the course and you're just supposed to follow these cones. And I saw the lead pack of male runners were completely off course at one point, like not knowing where they were going, which they were complaining about, rightly so rightfully so. It messed up their time and, you know.
Speaker: There was zero spectator support anywhere on the course. I thought Dollywood was bad for that. there was There was nothing anywhere. Like in the park, there were people setting up for their shift, like just like doing their thing while you're running by them. There's just like zero encouragement from a single soul, you know? like It's like you're interrupting. It's like, oh, we're just here for a little jog. Like there's not a race happening. There were maybe 200 people total in the quarter and a half marathon. I don't know. It was very small. um They did have aid stations, but the aid or drinks were in bathroom size paper cups and they were about half full of warm water.
Speaker: So that was unfortunate for me when I was literally dying of heat exhaustion. It felt like I had like the cold chills and like I was so dizzy. I was like actually concerned I would have to stop the race because I just haven't trained in the heat.
Speaker: um And it wasn't even that bad. It was like high seventy s the whole time of my race. 80 when I finished, I looked what what it was when I finished, but it was full blaring sun. Like had wear sunscreen, the whole thing.
Speaker: Um, I was taking like literal handfuls of the cups of water. I was like, sorry, like I would just pick up a bunch from the table. Cause it was like, I need this, um, get done with the race. And I'm walking around and I'm like, wait a second. I didn't get a medal. So then I'm thinking like, oh, I was just so out of it when I finished that. Like, I didn't find the person with the medal. No, there weren't medals. I go in the FAQ and it says that every participant gets a medal.
Speaker: This sounds like a, like pissy bitchy thing to be complaining about but like I like to keep my medals for my races like I pay a lot of money for these so I go up to the table of like stuff that they have at the end there was also like very minimal post race anything there was like not it was like a table of like water bottles and granola bars that was like basically it I go up to the table they're like oh we didn't get the medals in time but we'll mail it to you okay
Speaker: That's so awkward. Sounds good. Yeah. yeah So it was just, it was just like, I've run a lot of races and for something that's been going on at a park for so many years, i expected it to just be a little bit better run and managed. It was nothing like Dollywood, not even close.
Speaker: So will not likely return. So wait, was this like the first time that they were doing it there? Like yeah it sounds like it was like, It felt like it was. They've done it for years there.
Speaker: That's wild. It just seems like it's so bare bones. Like, I don't know. It just seems like there's not much going on. That's awkward. But um yeah. But anyways, but Joey, what about you? I just saw that you have something to talk about.
Speaker: This is going to be very short. More to come. Miss Mother Nature got to calm down. she's She's been too much. Every time we want to go to a park, like it's raining. We got to stop. That's all. Yeah. If that weather would have swapped with the weather I had during this race, I would have been so psyched. Yeah. Yeah. And it's been hilarious because in Georgia, we've been in like a drought.
Speaker: And then I feel like when it actually is raining, it's at the most inopportune moments. I'm like, can we can we schedule this a little little bit better? She she's a mess right now. Yeah. Yeah, we've been dealing with some rain now ourselves, but I'm not complaining. It's too hot. i mean, especially with the humidity. But yeah, I mean, that is what it is.
Speaker: but um But yeah, I mean, what I'm going to complain about, and funny enough, I mean, look at us not talking about our age with these spills. um Like this time, I'm going to complain about movies once again. as you guys know, I go to the movies a lot, and I watch a lot of TV. So I'm going to have a lot of these kinds of spills when it comes to these um this little section of ours. But yeah, so basically all I got to say is fuck sequels. I'm sorry. I know I'm cursing so early on.
Speaker: um I know that Kelly already said F, but I'm just going to say fuck sequels. I am so proud of myself for doing that. But um but yeah, no, I'm just like, i'm it's just a general thing. I think it's just because, i don't know if you guys watch Euphoria on HBO. Have you guys, or have you guys heard of it? I'm sure.
Speaker: I heard of it Yeah, I'm just aware of it. Yeah, so we watched, we used to watch, well, we watched season one and season two, and then it took like, like a five or six year hiatus.
Speaker: um And then it came back to the third and final season, which was just a complete mess. And I just feel like that's the most disappointing thing when, I mean, granted, I mean, it's been so long that I i didn't really care about where this season was going to go, but, It's crazy that they have you wait for so long and then when you finally get that new season, it's like the most like jumbled up, chaotic you know mess that there is. But yeah, we just we didn't enjoy that, but that kind of had me thinking, like why do we have so many sequels sometimes? like and My mind went to Toy Story.
Speaker: like Why do we have a fifth Toy Story now? like I know that it's for the kids and I understand that, but make some something new at this point. you know like we i feel like toy story one two and three were like the perfect trilogy and then we had four which four was it was fine like it wasn't a bad movie but i was just like was it necessary like i just feel like so many sequels or even prequels are being thrown at us and sometimes like prequels are necessary i guess but sometimes i don't really need them um
Speaker: But yeah, I don't know. that's my That's my little vent. I just feel like we could stop the sequels and the prequels and just enjoy a movie for the story that it's going to tell and just leave it at that. Yeah, I don't really agree.
Speaker: Sometimes they just stretch out too long just hoping to be a box office success based only on brand recognition and they don't actually care about making the movies good anymore.
Speaker: is it for the children or is it for the shareholders? Yeah. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And that's why I mean my buy went to that. Like, it was just like, why are we doing this? Like, especially with Euphoria, like we had us wait six years for a new season. And it was very clear that you guys had no idea what to do with it. So why did did we even get it?
Speaker: Like, it just seems like a waste of money. Or like Toy Story 5, they put Taylor Swift in it. She's like making an original song. So that's going to bring people out to the theater. But is it actually going to be a good movie? Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, like I'm sure it's gonna be great for the kids. I'm sure they're gonna enjoy it. But I just I again, I just feel like it's so unnecessary. But yeah, that's that's my little spill. um But moving on to thrills.
Speaker: um Flying Fox opened. Was it this last weekend? Or was it Memorial Day weekend? It was this because this past weekend, right? This past weekend, right? Did any of you guys go and ride it? or No.
Speaker: I think of us are potentially waiting until birthday bash around there. when we're already going to in Hollywood. Yeah. This is, what do we have? I pulled it up. It is 1380 feet of track, 37 miles per hour, 65 feet tall, and the height requirement is 38 inches. So it's very family friendly, just like We love the Vakomas in my household.
Speaker: Yes. They're really fun. Yeah, so fun. And it looks really, I don't know, it seems like a like the right fit for that park. Yeah, I mean, with Storm Chaser and Lightning Run, they have very high thrill, like super strong. so having a family coaster, I think, is is another good add there.
Speaker: Apparently they spent $14 million dollars on it. So, yeah. It's green. It's very pretty. It is. it is is. 14 million sounds very expensive for that ride.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, the ride hardware is probably about nine to ten million dollars. And then the theming everything else in the construction. Yeah. Where in the park is it?
Speaker: Right next to Lightning Run in the front section. OK. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know it was so close. I don't know why i was expecting for it to be like towards the back of the park. I didn't think it was going to be. Yeah, they removed one of their flat rides that was near Lightning Run, and then they kind of took over. And there was some creativity in the layout. Like, it goes underneath the pathway and everything, so it's got some good interactions.
Speaker: Pretty neat. Guys, imagine your young Thuse self 10 years ago preferring Vekoma to a B&M of the same model. That is wild. is wild.
Speaker: That is very wild. but Things change. yeah Yeah. for sure. but Speaking of Vekoma. Yeah, speaking, was just about to say, a speaking of Vekoma, we also have, um we got the announcement of Werewolf Gorge over in Six Flags, Fiesta, Texas, which is also Vekoma.
Speaker: Very, um what's the name of the, the Big Bear Mountain? Yeah. Yeah. Very much that same style. um you have these stas there Did you guys have the stats there? it looks It's huge. like Yeah, so it's 4,120 feet long, which is um over 100 feet longer than Big Bear.
Speaker: And they're they're branding it the longest family coaster in the world, which is a little... off because guardians of the galaxy is longer haggard's is longer but i'm guessing they're basing it on the height requirement um because i'm pretty sure yeah it's 39 inch height so it's like again very very family friendly like so many kids will be able to ride this as well um it says yeah four launches 45 miles an hour 32 airtime moments it has a swing launch which is very very curse of the werewolf Very. Including the shed that we built over the swing launch, which looks exactly the same as Curse of the Werewolf. It's got a little dip, though, which which I kind of like. That's going to be a cool little surprise in there. But I was surprised to see like how much that looked like Curse of the Werewolf.
Speaker: Yeah. It looked a lot like that. I'm a fan. Love Big Bear Mountain. Think this is a great fit for that park where they don't have much for that demographic.
Speaker: Yeah. Is this replacing anything? h is this is this replacing anything Not that we know of so far. um There's been some speculation that the mine train Roadrunner Express is going. But I watched a construction tour that Jeffrey did of of the dirt site. And he mentioned how the site was going right up to the fence of Roadrunner, but not um taking it over. So unless they announced that nobody like there hasn't been any clarification on whether that's being removed, but it doesn't seem like it would be.
Speaker: I love the 32 floater airtime moments. Like that kind of, um ones that was a funny, ridiculous number. So you better believe I'm going to be like trying to count all 32 when I write it. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Definitely, I think it just has to hit zero G for that. And it can be hard to like tell sometimes. Yeah. But those like the the restraints that they put on these trains to get them for the like the height requirement that they are, they're not allowed to do like ejector for like the the regulations and stuff around these things. So like floater is sort of like the most negative the Gs can get. You can't do like an ejector. Yeah.
Speaker: It'll be fun. It should be fun. Yeah, I think so. I think it's going to be It looks really fun. It looks really cool. And I love we love a spooky theme here. So I think that's going to be a good time. Yeah. Everybody's been trying to get a night ride. I mean, like the videos at night, the vibes look so good. Like, yeah, I'm just very curious to see it because honestly, when I saw this video, I was kind of shocked.
Speaker: um ah This is there's like rock work. pine trees, water towers, like there's so much theming in this rendering. And I like, I trust Siebert because like, he's the kind of person that would want that fully immersive environment, but I don't trust Six Flags to actually execute on this. So I'm so curious and I'm like worried that they built the expectations up with these renderings a little bit too much for how immersive this environment could be because it truly looks like Hagrid's level like universal level immersion and if they actually execute that I will be like blown away by Six Flags yeah and I'm over here thinking that we're gonna get like sound effects like outside like the werewolf and all that I'm like I really hope we get that and it's not like yeah not there you know well obviously this was all planned while Siebert was there and now that he's gone see how much they actually follow it through on
Speaker: Yeah, you have to imagine that the project planning is pretty much done. um But the question is, during construction, when your budget overruns, how much do you cut? right so We'll see.
Speaker: We can cut that rock work or we can cut those pine trees, whatever. We'll see. Yeah, but it looks really cool, though. i'm I'm excited for it. Definitely want to see how that turns out. And I hope it like lives up to the rendering because it looks incredible.
Speaker: But um next thrill topic, is that Loop Guru? like You guys got to tell me about that because no idea what that is So it's a Vekoma Woody that is at Wallaby Belgium.
Speaker: I actually don't have this cred because it was half of the park was like without power when I was at Wallaby Belgium. But I am going back to Wallaby Belgium in like three weeks. So I will get. got to get it. Get it now. Get it.
Speaker: And you know what the hilarious thing is? Loop Guru is a French werewolf. It's another werewolf. Is it? It's themed to werewolves. Look at that. Okay, you guys, in this rendering of this RMC Loop Guru that has been rumored for like literally ever, it's finally here. RMC, poor RMC, they can't keep secrets everywhere.
Speaker: you know, like I feel like everyone knows about RMC, whatever, before it happens by like two years. But anyways, I got so excited because it looked in the picture like the track was pink, but then when they zoom in, it is not. Yeah. it is wearable It's called Festival World, this new section of the park, and it's giving um New Orleans.
Speaker: It is. The track is like purple and yellow. and yellow Yeah. yeah So unfortunately we're losing a spooky theme um because you have werewolf and then right next to werewolf loop guru is vampire, the SLC. And that did actually have some, like, it's not good, but it did have some like vampire theming and like, it was dark and spooky over there. I think the SLC is going to die. They haven't confirmed that yet.
Speaker: I don't have that cred either. Here I come. Yeah. Like ideally just take that down and put up a new Vekoma suspended thrill coaster in its place. That would be so much better. Have it interact with the um RMC.
Speaker: Yeah. That'd be cool. Yeah. I was just looking at it. It looks really cool. It looks like they're, it looks like a similar type thing to Wildcats Revenge where they're using the existing structure but building a lot of new as well. 100%. Yeah. It's very much in like the RE Force Wildcat range because it's like 164, I think, feet tall, they said. And that's sort of like that middle range, which honestly, those are really good. So that's exciting.
Speaker: I think it'll be good. Lib Guru is only 91 feet tall. So they're definitely adding lot of hold on to that. Yeah. Yeah. How tall is is it going to be now? 160 something.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. It looks like the first element, like the first giant hill is completely new. And then there's going to be some sort of turn or invert. I didn't look too super close at it because I've been trying not to spoil rides as much as I used to for myself. But it looks like maybe the third hill is like the actual existing hill of the current ride or something like that. Yeah, they're like building this lift truss, not even in the direction of the original lift. And it just kind of goes off and then it turns around and comes back into the actual layout of the original. So some of the original rides course will be there, but not all of it. And then the other thing is like the rendering itself is not accurate um because the park announced that there will be three like world first elements on it for RMC, I'm assuming. um But the rendering doesn't show like inversions or things. So we don't really know exactly what it's going to do yet, which is kind of wait and see. That's fun.
Speaker: It was funny, I watched the announcement video and on it they have like these, i don't know, like colored smoke bombs, I guess you would say that they shot off on the track, but I thought they were demolishing the track in the video. Oh my God, I thought I was riding this in like three weeks, it's already gone.
Speaker: i could see Tyler having like a mini meltdown, like he's like what is happening? My plus one, no. oh man, that park is full of some some plus ones.
Speaker: Yeah, this is this RMC is like so needed. so needed. It's going to be split with Konda. God. None of us have ridden the Mechalodon, but that looks really good um yeah as well. And then you have like Pulsar and Turbine, which are like fine. But yeah, it'll help a lot.
Speaker: This and Konda, that's a hell of a one, too, though. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's going to awesome. But back on the topic of weather, tell us about Stumble it will wet It was Yeah, it looked as I was looking at all these pictures and videos and everybody's stories, I was like, what is happening over there? yeah had even more time in the rain than I did because I got there earlier on Friday. That was the only day it it wasn't like cloudy, misty, raining. You got to like enjoy that day. like Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Did you go to Reinhard? No. Reinhard? Okay. No. So I was there. gregory We didn't go to it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't really know. i heard it was good. It seems like people had a good time there. um But I was with Craig and he hadn't been to the park before.
Speaker: and so we were like, okay, I guess we got to spend Friday there now because the the forecast for Saturday is literally rain all day. And it's a good thing that we did because, you know, were trying to get him on rides that where we weren't going to really have that much time to get on otherwise. um yeah And Fastlane Plus is like super helpful at this park because it's normally incredibly busy. That being said there's a lot of attractions that don't have it, including coasters. um So you kind of have to like game out your strategy and try to get some of those rides without Fastlane Plus at the right times and and and do all of that. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah We've both been, we've been there before on another trip. So both Kelly and I, so this was like a return to Canada. Which thank God, honestly, because if yeah i had to run that park, it it just wouldn't have happened. I mean, it could have probably happened.
Speaker: um But we all um you didn't, Joey, but a lot of buzz bars stayed as a group at the nearby Spring Hill Suites. and that hotel was rowdy. There was like an Indian wedding going on there. There was all kinds of shenanigans, like a hockey team. and it was just so busy. And there was only one elevator because the other one was broken. So no no and a lot of time in the stairwell up and down. um my gosh.
Speaker: But i love Spring Hill Sweets. They had delicious breakfast. um Saturday was our like park day. And that was the worst of the weather days. It just all day went between like a heavy mist to like straight up.
Speaker: Rating. Dumping rain. Yeah. It was also super windy. Yeah. so windy and it was like cold. It was like 40 degrees. Like i had two sweatshirts and a raincoat on and I was still cold. My poor children were like shivering and I'm like, we're going to the park. Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah. It was just, it was just bad weather. Like it didn't look like it was ever going to get better. and we got to the park for open and they actually ended up closing the park that day at 4 PM because the weather was so bad. um oh
Speaker: We did have Fastlane Plus, um which thank God it was actually honored the following day as well for those of us who tried to get it again. They honored it since the day Saturday was we didn't even need it Saturday. There was literally us in the park. There was nobody there. The only thing with the line was Alpenfury. Yeah. I guess we can talk about Alpenfury because that was new for both of us. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: What do we think? Hmm. I've seen such ah varied um responses to it coming out of our weekend there, which is so interesting. But I like I understand why I think um it's a specific kind of ride and not everybody's going to like that. Also, just in general.
Speaker: Premiere train is going to premiere train and like they're going to be uncomfortable for certain body sizes and heights and all of that. um So I usually don't hate them. um But the shin guard thing is like, I guess the worst part to me. um So, I mean, going into it, it's, you know, barrel roll the ride is what we keep hearing. Like, and you look at the layout and you're like, it looks cool, but that's a lot of inversions and not a lot of airtime moments potentially. So I was kind of like maybe under hyped on it or like not sold on some of the Canadians who were like, it's my number one or whatever. um
Speaker: So I went into it with that kind of mindset. And initially I was like, I think it kind of met my expectation, I guess, like that it was fun and good and but it wasn't elite.
Speaker: um And it took a little bit more time for me to on Sunday when like the weather was better. or actually, um it might have even been on Saturday on on a during a rain ride.
Speaker: I used the like leg restraint thing to like get myself a little bit more space under the lap bar. And then I got an unhinged ride where I was just out of my seat. um And then I was doing that more on Sunday and that kind of like heightened my impression of it. I still don't think it's completely elite, um but it moved up a little bit for me. I don't know. It's probably like top, I don't know, 40%.
Speaker: 40s, 30s, somewhere in there for me. um But I have to say I was impressed by how varied Premiere managed to make the inversions. Like they weren't all just the same barrel roll feeling. Like some of them fully eject you out of it. There's a one super surprising one that's just like...
Speaker: most of the source role on steroids. I mean, you're not over the water, so that's whatever, but like it dumps you out. It's, it's kind of wild. Um, and it's very fast. Like the pacing is pretty relentless, which is good. I think, um, it's obviously as terrible capacity. Um, even with fast lane plus, you know, you're still waiting like 10, 15 minutes on the day with the, we were there and I can imagine like on a regular Saturday with no weather, like it would have been potentially longer.
Speaker: um so that was kind of a weird decision to make at such a busy park all the time, but, Yeah, I mean, I was impressed with premiere. It's probably my favorite premiere now. um i thought they did a good job with the layout and it was a little better than I expected. Just not 100% elite.
Speaker: Yeah, I would say I tend to agree kind of with where you placed it. my first ride was in the front row with Meg and it was raining and like I didn't see a single thing that happened because I was just shielding my face. It hurts so much. um I will say like the approach of the ride. Obviously, we've all seen videos of it, but it looked more sprawling and Yeah.
Speaker: track like i can't even think of other rides that look like that like against the rockwork of the mountain it just looked like so pretty and fun like i was like oh this looks like really cool um My first ride, I was just like laughing because it was just so ridiculous in the rain. And I really enjoyed it. Like it was fun, but I just like wasn't sure about it. I think the most surprising moment for me is it's like a little launch and then you go into a second launch like inside of the cave. And that launch was so punchy. I was like shook by it. I was like, whoa, like I know Premiere can do a launch, but it was just like crazy.
Speaker: really intense launch. And um then the elements after that, yeah, it does feel like a ton of inversions, but I agree. They all feel a little bit different. There's one really good airtime moment coming out of one that I was getting. um i got a couple of front row rides just by chance. I got one in the back. I didn't really get very many like middle of the train rides. um i I really liked it. I enjoyed it. There are people in our club that have it number one.
Speaker: I saw that. Wasn't it was Jake? and Yeah, Jake has it number one. There are people that are like definitely top 10, top five. I definitely have ridden so many coasters that are that much better than Alpenfury, but I agree. It is great. It's really fun. Definitely my favorite ride in the park, I would say. um Yeah. I probably have it in like the high 20s to 30s if I were to rank it right now, which I haven't officially or anything, but... um Yeah, I thought it was really good. um
Speaker: i agree with the train thing. Obviously, it's great. It doesn't have anything on the like upper restraint. It's just the lap bar and the shin guards. But I do still have like bruises on my shins from the shin guards. I always get them from those trains. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, they're just like awkwardly restrictive. um But I will give the park credit for like trying to do something about it because like they removed the tow boards and they took the like flappy wing things off the side. So it is easier to get into the trains. Totally easier to get in. And the other ones.
Speaker: Yeah. um And that did help. So shout out to them for like trying. Yeah. A little bit. um I think at the end of the day, Premier at some point just has to redesign their trains and provide a little more space in between the rows and like come up with a better...
Speaker: um shin restraint um that would be awesome because their trains track amazingly it's so smooth like very smooth yeah not a single vibration we had literally yeah um which is impressive on its own considering some other manufacturers these days but um yeah anything else that was new i'm trying to think Snoopy.
Speaker: Oh, yes. You were were. Mm hmm. After last time getting den denied over and over. it was it was cute. It was like what you would expect.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was cute. um A little bit more forceful than I expected, that I guess. Like it had some, a little bit of float to it in some places and yeah, yeah but it was, it was cute for kids.
Speaker: I think that was the only other new thing. Oh, I rode Taxi Jam too, yeah which is a miler and the miler milered. Yep. Notable that day is um everyone knows this by now. I'm sure Leviathan and Behemoth both valid. Yeah.
Speaker: while we were there 20 minutes of each other crazy yeah yeah so that happened and kudos to Canada's Wonderland those rides were open on Sunday yeah Sunday morning like I'm shook I expected fully to see those trains sitting in those valleys the next day Yeah, literally. I mean, we were like behemoth valleyed over the water. We were like, oh, that's not great. Luckily, there were no guests on it. um
Speaker: But we I started talking but about it with Craig more because he does ride maintenance stuff. And I was like, how are they going to do this? like And we figured they're probably just going to winch that up. So we were like, all right, behemoth is probably okay.
Speaker: But Leviathan valleyed in a place that you have to like crane off the pieces individually, like car by car, you have to crane it all off. We were like, there's no way they're going to get that done with because when we left the park at like two thirty or whatever it was, the wind was still raging and the the rain is still coming down. Like this is not even a safe environment to like operate a crane and like all of that stuff. But somehow they got it done and those rides were running the next day. And like, wow, their maintenance department shout out. That is it pretty incredible.
Speaker: And you could see all of the pieces of Leviathan's train sitting on the ground next to the ghost train. And later that day, it was back up in the in the transfer, in the shed, in the maintenance bay. I was like, what? How are they doing this so quickly? Yeah, good for them.
Speaker: Yeah. And Leviathan had people on it too, right? Yeah, there were about five. Yeah. yeah I was wondering if anybody from the club was on there. no Everybody wanted to know. Yeah.
Speaker: I guess notable rewrites. Leviathan is as is good. It's as good as I remember. i think you know it's a little bit short, but I personally like it better than Orion. I think the little S-Bendy bunny hill after the first drop is so good and like not utilized enough on the gigas.
Speaker: Yeah, I actually think I agree. i i think maybe last time my take was I liked Orion better, but I rode Orion pretty recently and and then Leviathan. I think it is Levi's better. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. It does the speed thing better as a giga. You what? It manages its speed better as a giga than Orion. Yeah. Yeah. Except until it didn't, but... Until it rallied. Yeah, yeah. um People were saying Behemoth was, like, great, and... Last time we were there, I was not hyped on it as, like, one of my lower-ranked hypers, and it the same for me this time. It was so...
Speaker: vibrate-y like it was just so shaky i don't i don't know also people raving about that more than leviathan no like i don't get that at all i don't get that take at all i had an inside seat about three quarters of the way back um a nasty teenager was like spitting their loogies out and they were like floating in midair by my head it was just gross the whole experience of behemoth like made me angry And then later all your experience that would' have pissed me off too okay later, James Larson, sorry to shout you out, James, filed a police report after some teenager did the same thing on Leviathan and the the spit went into some other woman's mouth. Yeah. no, no. I was sitting in the row with him and I just didn't know what happened. Like, it was me and Larson and then two other guests sitting next to us. And it was a man and his wife. And the man just starts going off on this kid. And I was like, oh my gosh, what just happened? And and then, yeah, she just started yelling. He's like, she spit in my, or he spit in my mouth. This kid had like turned around on the brake run and just...
Speaker: That is disgusting. So they got him. They got him. Like they were not letting him get away. So um yeah, the the kids at Canada's Wonderland should be a spill because they're a mess. They were rough.
Speaker: That shows our age, but yeah. yeah yeah Yukon striker. it's good. Very good dive. Yeah. Yeah. probably a little better than i remembered i don't i don't know if torment is going to compete with that just because i think the layout of yukon is better like it's more unique very good amelia wrote it she just scraped by 52 inches it was her 100th cred so she's at a poor girl the first time we were we wrote it for her like 100th the rain had really picked up oh no and she was screaming the whole time my face
Speaker: And like the picture is me with my hand on top of her face, like from the shielder. Poor girl. oh like Then she wrote it again the next day, and not in the rain and loved it.
Speaker: Yeah. What else is good there? Vortex. And that's about it. Yeah. That's great. We love Vortex. we love Yeah. That's about it. It was a good time. I mean, their, their operations were pretty good. Like guest services was nice to us, letting us use those fast lanes again after their closure and their maintenance. Awesome. um They were running well on Saturday, they're running full units on pretty much everything, which is kind of unusual sometimes. So clearly, yeah, clearly their maintenance has it together.
Speaker: Honestly, I thought it was a really enjoyable park visit and I enjoyed it last time too. Like yeah think yeah park gets a little bit like hated on and I i really enjoyed it Yeah, I think having Alpenfury definitely kind of helps boost it up a little bit. It's no Cedar Point, like in terms of its top tier coasters, but it is a really solid, like well-rounded park. The kids section is incredible. Like it's huge. yeah So much to do there. So many different flat rides, which we didn't get to do some because of the wind, unfortunately. But um yeah, it's it's a really interesting park.
Speaker: Yeah. What else did we do? We had like a group um impromptu Mexican dinner. When the park closed. and We hum humiliated Kelly. oh Sorry.
Speaker: Oh, she got a sombrero put on her for her birthday. Oh, no. and ah Man sang to me live in Spanish in Spanish. um Oh, that's amazing.
Speaker: but She got a nice big piece of cake. I did get it. It was delicious. And I also had a giant pina colada and it was so good. Yeah, this was this was our um inclement weather plan, impromptu plan. Let's go to take over a Mexican restaurant.
Speaker: Well, that sounds better than like the way like Texas Roadhouse does their, i don't know if you've gone there and seen all these celebrations. boy. And they had you sit on, yeah, like it's, I had my mom do it and she's like, I'm never going out to dinner with you guys for my birthday ever again. She's we will do anything but dinner. We're not doing that again. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah guys it was you know how i am about my germs and besides the fact that i was humiliated in front of everyone and hating my life the minute that sombrero came off my head bethany came over to me and she goes i can see that you're freaking out and i was like check my head for life oh okay yeah that's understandable i was unwell i was like i can't with the things on my head like i don't i don't like that at all Gosh, yeah.
Speaker: Shout out Bethany for checking my scalp. Always shout out Bethany. Wild. And then after that, some of us went to a barcade. That was fun. Yeah. I did not go.
Speaker: we There was some dance dance revolution happening. There was skee-ball. There was air hockey. a There was a lot of shooting games. I dance revolution in my house. What? Like the matte version? I had like the like soft pad version in my house when I was like 12 and I was so good at it.
Speaker: We saw Mark and Meg do it on easy mode. So it was kind of like left, right. left you know ah oh that's so fun though yeah it was it was a good it was a good way to pivot and just try to do something indoors because it was still actively raining at that while we were doing all this stuff it also kind of ruined the planned scarborough bluffs hike the next morning my family the four of us went to it nobody else did it's fine and understandable it was disgusting out we attempted to do the hike it was like flooded we like saw some parts of the bluffs it was
Speaker: oh Yeah, yeah, just the weather really. I mean, yeah, even like so it it wasn't supposed to rain as much on Sunday, but even the morning it was still like misty and foggy out. um Craig and I and then I think it was Zach, MZ. um Who else? came I think that was pretty much it um came up to or drove up from Toronto to Muskoka, which is where a park called Santa's Village is. There are many of them, but there is one in Muskoka in Canada.
Speaker: Um, and the primary reason we went is because they built a new custom, um, Vekoma family coaster there. Um, so we wanted to just kind of check it out and get the creds. And it was actually really cute.
Speaker: Um, they had like nice little theming around. We rode the train and Santa drove the train around. ah Um, the ride itself was like really well done. It was also bigger than we expected. i want to say it was like,
Speaker: I don't know, it looks like it was like 80, 90 feet tall for a family coaster. It didn't like drop all the way at the beginning, but like it kind of goes through. There's like a station fly through, um had so lots of little floater moments to it, just like Big Bear Mountain does like Vekoma does. So yeah, it was it was a really cute time. We rode it like eight times or something. We got a bear claw. We rode the Visa spinner and we left. So yeah. Oh, and we saw the reindeer as well. Those parks are so cute. Yeah, it was it was a good little time. i would It was like a 90 minute drive, I think. And if you happen to have enough days that you're hanging out at Canada's Wonderland and have like a half day to go do that, I would recommend it. It was it was a cute little park.
Speaker: Some of us went to the Blue Jays game, which was cool and fun. Obviously the like retractable ceiling was closed for weather. Apparently it opened up the next day, which is unfortunate for the first time this season. um But it was fun. It was cool to see. um Didn't get the view of the skyline, obviously. And the game was a little bit boring. not not much exciting happened, but it was fun to check out a new park and, yeah,
Speaker: park and And we went back to Canada's Wonderland after that. Pretty much everybody did. And thank God the weather cooperated because we got a few solid hours of rides. We did. then it It did clear up in the second half of the day and we i got some good rides. Although some of them, you were going up the lift hill and like vanished into a cloud. Yeah. That was kind of fun. Like you couldn't see the top of Leviathan when you were at the bottom. It was cool.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. Did you go to Niagara Falls? ah Sadly, we wanted to. We went, it was cool. They still look the same as they did the last couple of times I've been, but we did ride Franken coaster.
Speaker: Oh yeah. Tell us about Franken coaster. Uh, yeah, that was something. It, you know how like on the hurricanes at the fun spots, you like are a little concerned you might come off the track. Oh yeah. That's the whole entire ride. But also it hurts.
Speaker: Oh no. I need to do this coaster some point. Also you like go through this house of Frankenstein to get up to it on the roof and you're just like walking and i was like oh is this going to be kind of like a little bit of a haunted house situation? no it's just dark hallways that you can't see in.
Speaker: Oh, definition of tourist traffic.
Speaker: this is this is it It was. yeah it hurt. It's definitely making the bottom of my coaster ranking list below all of the kiddie creds down there with like Energylandia Viking and the like. Oh, Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Oh, gosh. What a meme, that coaster. That was really it. Yeah. Pretty chill event, honestly, because of the weather. Yeah. Yeah. It seems like people made the most of it though. We had, we still had a good time. Yeah. but most of us were able to make like a We had like a send off ride on Leviathan at the end of Sunday and everybody was riding it together, which was fun.
Speaker: Yeah. Going back to Leviathan Vallying, I think it's funny when news picks up like random stoppages on like a mid-course break run or something, and then it makes national news.
Speaker: And then something like this happens that's actually kind of serious and definitely not supposed to happen. And all you hear is just like a couple of Thusies on Twitter. It's true. It's
Speaker: Looked like a good time though. It was honestly so funny. This, like when it happened, we had just, my family had just left the park to go back and like get warm and shower and stuff because kids were so cold. And Matt, um Coasters and Brews, Matt was calling Tom and like asking like, where are you guys? Cause they like just got to the park and we were like, oh, we're not there. And while we were on the phone with him, he goes, oh my God, Leviathan just rallied. I gotta go by. so he said film it.
Speaker: I think he was one of the first on the scene. yeah matt's Matt's video footage is the kind of one what blew up on Twitter because he was right there. ah Yeah. That is so funny. There were multiple members that blew up on Twitter. They were very happy to share that breaking news. And then when somebody in Discord was like Behemoth Valley 2, I was like, oh, funny joke.
Speaker: And then I saw the picture. real. I was like, oh. Yeah, I think it was it was me because we had left the the Lazy Bear Lodge that everybody was still eating and we started walking to try to go ride Behemoth. And then we just see it come back, like not make it to the mid-course and start falling backwards. We were like, no. Oh my gosh.
Speaker: Not 20 minutes later Like that is so crazy. oh It would happen during a Buzzbars event. That's hilarious. Gosh,
Speaker: That's awesome. our weather. Yeah. But on to chills, we finally have our second, right? Second house announcement for HHN. We have sinners officially um which how do we feel about that? mean, we all saw it We all saw it coming. We all knew it coming. We knew this was going to happen. I mean, we had hoped and knew. We reviewed this movie in an earlier episode and everything. So we were ready, I think.
Speaker: Yeah. I'm so excited for it. Yeah. I feel like we don't have that much to say because we kind of spent the whole episode covering this. Like we already talked about what we'd like to see in the house and what we think will be there. So...
Speaker: I'm excited for it, though. Yeah, same. And we'll talk about this next time because hopefully we'll have some more news. But in the newest spec map version, they still have it in the same location, which is one of the newer tents in the back.
Speaker: um I do see that being a good location for this. house. um The thing that's kind of weird is they have another IP in the other tent right now on on the most current version of the spec map. And that seems weird to have two IPs back there. Not that they wouldn't, but it's just a little bit strange. So I wonder if if the location is accurate or true. But I see that working well for sinners.
Speaker: Yeah. think it's meant for that location. I don't really, so i didn't really see it being in one of the sound stages. yeah It's out there where you can have like an outdoor facade. yeah Yeah, that would be nice if they actually do that. I know like they've been kind of sporadic on the new tents, whether or not they actually build like a cool facade in the outside or they just put that banner thing up. Right. They better not slap a banner on. No. I can see them doing it. Was it goblins that built that house?
Speaker: thing yes that's what we need like we need something like that like the outside of the juke joint needs to be like where it enters but did you guys see on all of the um like the artwork it's like not actually michael b jordan like they don't have the rights to his face What? It's shadowed over, right? It's shadowed over like a generic black man's face. Oh my gosh. so Michael B. Jordan, which is a shame. But what did you guys think of the um video? Like how they revealed it
Speaker: I'm excited about it. and it was like though they did the card thing, right? like Yeah, they like zoomed in on like a a carnival tent. Yeah. Like it's cool that they're tying it into Oddfell and Jack because sometimes I feel like the IPs and the originals are really like segregated, but it looks like they're making an effort to kind of tie things together.
Speaker: Did guys think, so it was like those tarot cards. There were three of them, which I don't know if that has any significance. The voice, did you guys think that was Oddfellow talking? Yeah. I thought so.
Speaker: That's what I thought. I could see that. And then maybe Jack will like. and one Yeah. know. Yeah. I could see them doing that whole like sinister surreal thing where like each icon has like their own kind of houses that are yeah related to them.
Speaker: And if that's the case. we're hard to do So it was like, it could be like three. Yeah. It could be like three, four odd fellow three for Jack, like IP wise. Maybe. Maybe. maybe yeah i don't know it's it's interesting and i think definitely like odd fellow fits the sinners vibe a little bit more than yeah yeah but so um yeah they had merch it was just fine fine people were lined up for it i'm just i don't i don't get it i mean i mean cool i i get it you're excited but like
Speaker: I didn't really like any of the merch. Yeah. i It's always hit or miss for me, especially, i don't know why, like the the merch that comes out first with these house reveals are never great to me. Like I've never thought they looked great, but people go crazy for it. Yeah.
Speaker: Because like, this is something that I would actually potentially buy merch for. Cause I really love this movie. And it was like the same thing with terrifier. It's like, can you guys just like, come on.
Speaker: Make something normal. They do too much. are they just The placement of the logo or whatever, the artwork is always like in the front, and I feel like it should be in the back and just add something else that's a little more minimal like in the front.
Speaker: h Yeah. They did not listen to me when they asked for my opinion. Yeah, what the heck? Oh, that's right. The
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, the merch was whatever. I mean, people are going to crazy for it. But but yeah, i'm I'm really excited for it. I think it's going to be a very good house, I hope. But yeah, I do, when it comes to that whole like card announcement thing, I do feel like we're going to get three IPs for each icon. um So like I can see like what are like, I could see like Stranger Things being announced by Jack.
Speaker: Yeah. And like Hellraiser as well. And what are the other IPs and then Evil Dead maybe is with um with Oddfellow because that's kind of like not voodoo, but like it's like that, I guess, paranormal stuff or not paranormal, but it's like very like devilish, I guess. Yeah.
Speaker: so I see that. It'll be interesting to see. Yeah. Unless like there's always three cards and just one of them as a reveal. We don't, you know, we don't know what what it means, but yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I feel like they have to do another one somewhat soon. Like we had all of them by mid July last year.
Speaker: So. Yeah, we probably will. I mean, last year they did that right when they were starting to sell the frequent fear passes. So maybe they're waiting for the same. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: And I also wanted to ask you, because you you were you like really paid attention to the detail in the announcements. did date Was there anything showing like the code name? or the Because this year was like cars. It was like vehicles, right? like Yeah, you know what? I didn't think about that when I looked. But in the current location, the code name, I believe, is Hearst, which i don't know. i have to go back and look. But i I don't know that I saw that in the video at all.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, I didn't look out for that. i just came to my mind right now. I'm like, I wonder if Kelly caught that. Well, we'll we'll report back next episode. We'll all take a closer look. But I did write down like what the description of the house was on HHN's website.
Speaker: um It says, in 1930s Mississippi, libations flow. Freely and guitar screams fill the air at the Smokestack Twins juke joint. But the blues become red when Remick's troop of bloodthirsty vampires crash the party. and test blood's true bonds as you brave this terrifying haunted house based on the award-winning original horror film sinners.
Speaker: Bravo to whoever came up with the blues become red. That's great. That's great. That actually is great. um I think we kind of talked about this when we talked about the movie and how we would see this as a house. Like it sounds like most of the setting is going to be at the juke joint, which is where most of the movie is. But I wonder if they incorporate anything else or if that's just it.
Speaker: you know? Yeah, that'll be interesting. Because all the stuff leading up to the juke joint is really not horror. Like, it's important to the movie, but I don't know if it'll be important to the house. Right, right.
Speaker: We'll have to see. Hmm. It'll be interesting. um Ramon Peridoa, who we love, is the um show director and writer for this house.
Speaker: He did Artista and WWE w e last year. and he is working with Manuel Cordero, who did... um Not this most recent Spanish one. the the one monstrous, which we didn't love. um There is no Dylan Colath on this house. Cordero did the set.
Speaker: um So I don't know what that means for anything, but if... You are following who does what we we love Ramon Perido. He seems to be pretty good at his job and love what he does. I put in our like little show notes here, a tweet that he wrote and we don't have to read the whole thing, but I think some parts of it that are interesting, he kind of just praises the film and what it means for.
Speaker: um like culture and, and the music, but he does say that the music will be in, in the house a bunch. And the scene with um preacher boy, the, I lied to you with like all of the different genres of music, basic basically the pivotal scene in the, in the movie before all the vampires come in will be featured in the house, which I thought was a cool giveaway. um It'll be interesting to see how they accomplish that scene.
Speaker: I think. um And there was some other tweet somewhere that said that named like rattled off all the characters and it sounds like they're representing most of the characters in the house. So yeah.
Speaker: Should be cool to see what they come up with. Should be cool. Yeah. They're going to like, I feel like they're going to like heavily rely on like the actual scenes and not so much the settings because like you said, I mean, it might be, we might just be entering the juke joint, which kind of just like,
Speaker: dismisses what happens earlier which is nothing crazy but it's still another setting that we could have had yeah um but it's nothing that i mean it's it's just one extra setting the majority was going to be at the juke anyway so yeah they do i feel like it would do a disservice to the movie if they don't have some of those outdoor scenes from the juke joint though oh for sure like they they have to have like when they're all like dancing outside they have to have those or like the lake like i don't know some of that stuff has to be in Yeah, it's going to be interesting how they they go about it from like a storytelling point, you know, like how they're going to do that in a haunted house.
Speaker: but But yeah, I'm excited. It's going to be I think going to be a good one. It's just going be interesting how they go about it. But considering that Ramon was like involved in these other houses, i I don't think we're going to have any issues as far as like the theming goes like itself. It's going to look great. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. but um But yeah, that's pretty exciting. So hopefully we get another announcement by the next episode or two. but um But back to what we were talking about last week, what I was talking about, I had just watched Obsession and now you guys have finally watched Obsession.
Speaker: So I need to know your thoughts about this movie because I thought it was just an insane movie. And it's one of those movies that I feel like it it brings a lot of conversation. So I think it's going to be something fun to talk about. It was so good.
Speaker: i knew i knew I knew you guys would like it. It's it's just a very... like The only thing is because Joey did mention it that it is fucked up. um It's a very... It's really messed up like as a story, but I mean, I guess... Are we doing spoilers or no? That's what I was just about to ask. Are we going to spoil...
Speaker: Um, I mean, I think to answer C-Pred's question later, we will have to spoil. So maybe we just give like a, and you did this last time a little bit, but maybe we just give a general overview and then we can give people a spoiler warning and talk more about the spoilers.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. So basically like, Okay, so yeah, so the story basically is about this guy. His name is Bear. um He is, he's kind of crushing on his coworker and he just doesn't have like the courage to like approach her, to like ask her out or anything like that.
Speaker: um So one day he goes to like this, what is it like a crystal shop kind of thing? Yeah. um He goes into like this crystal shop and he finds this little like,
Speaker: like little toy looking thing that says it's called the one wish willow. Basically it's, it's like little twig that basically when you snap it and you wish for something, it comes true.
Speaker: um So one day he gives that coworker, what's her name again? Nikki. Yeah. He gives Nikki a ride home and, you know, he has an awkward situation with her where, You know, he kind of wants to tell her something, but nothing happens. You know, he doesn't like, you know, he doesn't really have the balls to say anything. um But then he, you know, snaps that little that little one wish willow, you know, and his wish is for Nikki to like fall madly in love with him. And he said obsessive. Did he like I don't remember.
Speaker: Did he say obsessive in the wish? No. no he said like love more than anything else in the world i think was the phrase love me more than anything else in the world right and so basically lord is spoilers oh yeah so that's the wish but i mean that's in the trailer the wish part like that's yeah but yeah at that point if you don't want anything spoiled skip like it goes bad actually didn't come back yeah Yeah, but um but yeah, so basically that happens and then everything just goes, it gets very weird.
Speaker: um So spoilers are starting now. Last warning. But yeah, so basically he snaps it and as she's walking to her door, like you kind of see that she turns around and she comes back to to the car, which by the way, that that scene alone was so creepy where you see her just standing there like after he just made the wish and she's just standing like looking over at the car.
Speaker: um so yeah, so she she comes back and she like all of a sudden changes and she's just like, oh my God, like come inside. Like let's hang out. Like all of a sudden the like the mood has shifted. entirely um and but like while this is happening it seems as if this curse or whatever you know she's dealing with now like she's fighting it like the real nikki is fighting this this new nikki um based on the wish she's kind of fighting it and she has moments where she's like what the hell is going on and then she goes back to like being obsessive and like
Speaker: I guess like in love with bear. And then she's kind of like fighting it back and forth. And then eventually like the possessed version of Nikki takes over and goes home with him and stuff. But I don't know. Like ah it's just all the things that happened in this movie are just wild.
Speaker: Like, what did you guys think? Like from that point, like once she was like, when you see that there's clearly something going on and she's kind of fighting it, like, internally like what were we guys thinking about that because I thought that was like the creepiest thing I was like okay this poor girl's like fighting for her life right now but I don't know it it was just very bizarre to watch I think yeah the best part of this movie, what made it so creepy was the cinematography and the lighting especially. Yeah. Just the way he was able to um to use the light to just like show her creepy side because she was so good at doing like that creepy smile. oh my gosh. She was like so good. Put her in the shadow or in the half light. But she was an incredible actress. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah I think since I've ever watched a movie where I've felt so much just existent existential dread for the entire movie. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree that the lighting was super. It was the sound as well. Like, yeah yeah, because it um wasn't, um it wasn't a hundred percent horror the whole way. Like it had moments of levity. Like there were uncomfortable laughs. There was like a couple laughs through it.
Speaker: Like people in my showing were laughing, like, especially kind of when it first happens, like just some of her behavior is just so like socially awkward that you're kind of like laughing at what she's doing. Cause you're just like, this is so ridiculous. yeah But then it, you know, it keeps escalating from there. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. I mean, obviously it's I'm really curious as to why it's blowing up with like Gen z I guess that's what I'm hearing. Is it like they're obsessed with it, which is kind of hilarious because the name of it. Yeah. But I'm like curious what it is about it that is, is like appealing to them specifically. Like, is it just the cine cinematography or is it like the aspects of,
Speaker: Because there's sort of been like this, I don't know, recent comedy or commentary about like involuntary celibacy and like this this trend of like guys who are quote unquote nice guys, but who can't land a girlfriend or whatever. And that's kind of, you know, the film is kind of making a comment on that because like he yeah isn't able to actually like speak up for himself and try to ask her out. And the only way he is able to do it is essentially by...
Speaker: like coercing her like forcibly basically to be in this relationship, which isn't even real basically. um And then like, yeah. So I don't know. It's interesting.
Speaker: Yeah, I feel like it's been a lot of like word of mouth right now. Just like a lot of people not expecting this movie to be as good as it was. I think that's what it is. Yeah, um I think that's what it is. I don't know. Like and considering that like the movie was apparently like I don't have the exact numbers, but like the numbers that this movie has made in the box office has like it's so far like past whatever the budget was for the movie. Like it has made so much money.
Speaker: um I don't know why. i think I do think it's a word of mouth thing. I think it's a popularity thing. And just the fact that it it truly is a good movie. um But it's just such a twisted movie. like i just There's so many things about it that just...
Speaker: when you think about it afterwards, like it's just so uncomfortable to think about, like, especially, especially when you realize like halfway through the movie that the true villain truly is bear, you know, like he is the villain, like he's the villain here. Like eventually there is a scene where, you know, she's laying in bed,
Speaker: and she kind of, like the real Nikki comes back for a second and she's like begging for him to kill her because she's going through it. Like it's it's a lot, you know, like it's she's going through this whole thing of whatever this curse is. And she's begging for him to kill her. And then he just responds with like, what's so wrong with being with somebody like me?
Speaker: And then just like walks off clearly doesn't care about what she's actually going through. Just about like, that was the most important scene of the entire movie because up until that point, it's kind of toying with like how much of the real Nikki is present in this scenario. Like, he doesn't know the audience, the viewers don't really know. Like you see glimpses of it. It's kind of confusing, but that like solidifies like, okay, she's still in there. And that's where it really turns from like feeling bad for bear. Initially. I'm like, Oh my God, he has to deal with her. She's being so crazy now. He didn't mean for this to happen. Like he didn't know the wish would come true. And then I'm like, okay, he's like continuing to be selfish through his
Speaker: like coward like through being a coward like he yeah you know even even to the end how the movie ends is the same thing like he can't he knows that the only way to end it is by killing himself at the end and he try he tries multiple ways to to do it and tries to even reverse it um Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Her acting was incredible. Like, I don't, like, the stuff that she pulled off with just, like, the subtleties and the facial expressions and, like, it was just wild. It was so uncomfortable, like, how long they kept certain scenes. Like, when she was just, like, standing there peeing herself, like, that was wild. When she's, like, standing there with the frown on her face, I'm like, this is so uncomfortable, like.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. they did so They did a really good job with with those moments and the way she moves. like how it Standing in the corner in the bedroom too. Oh my gosh. wild Yeah, that was crazy.
Speaker: Which all over, like online, like all over TikTok, they've been releasing, like, I guess, I guess the director, um because I don't remember, I think we mentioned it last time briefly. um The director actually was like a YouTuber. Like he was just releasing like short films on there. So I think that's also another reason why it's blown up just because people aren't expecting for this quality um to come from somebody as amateur as somebody that's on YouTube. Like they wouldn't expect that.
Speaker: He's also 26. He's so young. I think that's why it's popular with with Gen Z because he is Gen Z himself. yeah Both of the actors are Gen Z. It has some Gen Z related themes. A lot of the marketing was done online. I mean, yeah i think it makes sense why it's growing up with Gen Z.
Speaker: Yeah, that mean but like they've been showing like um behind the scenes of like how I guess if they did some makeup on the main actresses like face like for that scene where she's standing in the corner of the bedroom and where she's like frowning and like crying and all that. And now everybody's trying to recreate it and like there's like girls doing it and like hiding in the corner to scare their boyfriends. It's like the funniest thing.
Speaker: But it's like the easiest thing. But like that girl, like she, that actress is incredible. Like what, like you said, like what she does with her face and the emotion and everything. It's insane. Like it truly was even her voice. Yeah. like a Range in her voice was just wild.
Speaker: Yeah, she has some like very deep and dark moments. And then she had like really high pitch, like when she's in the restaurant, she's like, I thought we were having a good time. Like, she was like, really like, she would get it to that octave. And it's just like, it's just crazy. She was all over the place. it was awesome.
Speaker: Or reading like the poems or the monologues also. Oh, yeah. Accents and everything. Just so talented. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's just, a very interesting movie. And it's very messed up just because, like, she was going through that the entire time. And even though Bear was going through what he was going through, like, you wished for this and then you were still kind of toying with the idea of, like, then going over to the other co-worker or the other friend which we all saw how that went, but which was wild. Wild scene. I was just waiting for that to happen. It's like, she's coming. When's it going to happen? They kept showing her like, and then you see the window behind. like, nope. was like, she's going to run right up They set it up with like the foggy windows and her like smoking in the car. It's like, oh, F. Yeah.
Speaker: I definitely felt bad for her. She did not deserve that. I did not feel bad for the other guy friend though. Oh my gosh.
Speaker: He was. yeah he was pushing for this the whole time just to find out that he was already hooking up with her apparently. yeah it's like, what? What a douche. That guy apparently is pretty good friends with the creator. Yeah. yes yeah The budget for this was only So...
Speaker: so For them to be able to do that much with that amount of money with that box office. Interesting. um Let's talk about the ending a little bit, though, because I thought it was really I did see a little bit of behind the scenes. They did a lot of practical.
Speaker: For which part? What was that? The ending. Yeah, so the ending... um but what I'm just going to explain what happens in it so people know. but um Basically, Bear realizes that he cannot handle this anymore.
Speaker: And he takes a whole bunch of oxy to try to kill himself. After he takes the oxy, he's like... Yeah, he had the gun in his mouth, but he didn't pull the trigger. He realized he was too much of a bitch to do that. but um So then he takes all the oxy, and from outside he's like starting to die. But from outside the room, you hear like the twigs snap.
Speaker: And then suddenly, he just like switches up. And you realize that, I guess, Wish Nikki... made the wish that bear then would love her.
Speaker: So he comes out like completely changed. And it's, that's actually kind of a comical moment. I don't know if it's one hundred percent supposed to be, but just the abrupt change, I was chuckling a little bit, but um they're obviously just like,
Speaker: giggling at each other. She's looks all freaky and he's like dying, but they're just giggling and smiling at each other. um but then he still took the oxy. So after 10 seconds of that, he like collapses and starts to die and she's like holding him, um and like crying about it. But then he finally does die. And as soon as he dies, that's when the wish is over.
Speaker: She's got a gun in her mouth at the moment. Yeah, yeah. she's She's about to kill herself. I forgot about that part. She's ready to kill herself. he was about to stop himself from taking – well, he took the pills, but he wanted to throw it up.
Speaker: Yeah, but he couldn't, though. He couldn't because of the good good and made the wish. Yeah. So, like, as soon as the light leaves his eyes, she snaps out of it because the wish is, like, done for it because they said that's only way it's you can reverse it is if he dies.
Speaker: um So then she's kind of just, like, she's back to regular Nikki, but she's just, like, looking around holding this dead bear in her arms, and he, like, drops to the floor, and she realizes she's, like,
Speaker: And she just killed the friend. Killed two people and ate a cat. Yeah. The cat was crazy. cat situation was wild. That was too much for me.
Speaker: Yeah. But crazy enough, I was looking into it, and apparently um there was an interview with the with the main actress, and she was saying that the original ending was actually, they had filmed it, and it was she was she snaps out of it And she realizes what happened and then she kills herself with the gun anyway.
Speaker: That's apparently how the ending was. And then they decided to just say, like, forget it. Like, it's a little more haunting knowing that she has to see that she's going to live through that. So that they ended up going that route. But I did see that the director has another movie in the works already, which I don't know if you guys have looked into that. um It's called, I think it's called Nothing But Ghosts or Anything But Ghosts or something like that. And it's basically following two con artists that basically do like paranormal, like hunting type things, but like they're con artists, so it's not real, but they run into like a real like entity during one of their little fake filmings or whatever. Apparently in that film,
Speaker: there's going to be an Easter egg somewhere where they're going to reveal where Nikki's character went. So whether it's like a news report or something, apparently we're going to get some sort of hint at like what happened after that.
Speaker: So where do you guys think she went or how do you think to jail? The obvious would be jail. The obvious would be jail. but so So I mean like when he makes that wish and then where it's kind of ambiguous whether she, whether real Nikki is still in there or to what extent, like, do you think she's still in there? Do you think she went somewhere else?
Speaker: What do you think exactly happened? I think it's like, just like a possession of her body. Yeah. Yeah. See, I don't know. It sounded like she went to the one wish willow factory because he got on the phone and she was there.
Speaker: yeah well we forgot to mention that part. There was that scene where he calls the customer service, which I thought was, that was a really funny scene too, though, because like the guy was like, like, did you want like, Oh, you, what did he say that he couldn't do? But then he made like a suggestion that he couldn't do. like You want to reverse it. And then he's like, okay, yeah, I want to reverse it. And he's like, we can't really do that. Yeah. Why would you suggest it then? Yeah.
Speaker: But that kind of made me think that like she's in... like I'm thinking of it as like the sunken place from Get Out, if you guys have seen that. Yeah, something like similar to that. I don't know.
Speaker: Or was this you know the the One Willow company just like trying to screw with him and she wasn't actually there? Somebody's theory was that the One Willow customer service guy is actually the devil and that was just like...
Speaker: him trying to make the situation worse, basically, which I can see it. but But you know, I saw another interview with the director and he pointed out that your your wish doesn't have to end like this. Because he he he mentions how, like, you know, you it doesn't have to be like a selfish one necessarily and cause like terrible things to happen. So I think that's kind of his commentary on like consent and about how like he violated her consent by making this wish and look at what happened. Whereas we don't know exactly what he wished for. But the the shop guy, when he goes back to buy another one, says he used his wish and he's still fine.
Speaker: Like, we don't know what he did, but like, you know. Yeah. And then the friend wished for a million dollars or a billion dollars and he got it. like yeah like I don't think there was going to be any more ties to that. like I think he just he got what he literally wished for. But I think yeah his wish, i think that Bear's wish was just, it was it wasn't a wish for himself. It was a wish to like control somebody else. like It was not going affect yeah him like physically or mentally. like It was just going to be Nikki. He just said, like I wish that I had enough confidence to tell Nikki how I really feel.
Speaker: that probably would have been fine. just gonna say that Yeah. yeah she still decided to instead Instead of like empowering himself, he decided to be selfish and just take the autonomy of somebody else. And that's where it went.
Speaker: So I don't think the one, the one wish willow is inherently evil, but if you make an evil wish, evil things will happen to you. Right. Yeah. Exactly. And also, I mean, like to really think about it because obviously we know what what happens like after the wish, you know, we saw like everything that that goes down. But um at the end of the day, like he probably didn't think that anything was going to come from it, like snapping that twig. He probably just saw this little toy and he was like all right, well, why not? he just wishes that and then like snaps it. But then it's like it's crazy how it all.
Speaker: it all goes and then what's so crazy i don't know if you guys had noticed there were little moments where you start to see that um crazy nikki or freaky e nikki or whatever the nickname was um she starts to do things like that the other girls would do like i think somebody pointed out that towards the end like she started like she had like drawings of like the girl's tattoos the one that was oh yeah yeah yeah Yeah. So there was that. And then she also had her hair similar to hers. And then I don't know if this was true because I can't remember, but somebody said that there was like a similarity with, there was a scene where Bear and Nikki are watching a movie and she's wearing something very similar to the girl that he was practicing, you know, talking to at the beginning of the movie, which I don't know if that was the case. Cause I don't remember how the first girl looked, but apparently.
Speaker: Yeah. I don't know. Like apparently like, there was like a lot of similarities in like the way that she dressed and that girl from the beginning, just like to show like how much she was willing to go like this possessed Nikki was willing to go to like, make sure that like Bear was like in love with her.
Speaker: Well, when he had the tattoos and her hair, he thought, or I mean, she thought that he was into Sarah. That's why she did that. Yeah. had I don't know if it was her actual dead body in the back or a mannequin made to look like her. I think it was the actual body, but know if you guys saw that in the background. Oh, yeah. She stole her clothes, threw the tattoos on, and made the hair look like it because that's what she thought Bear wanted. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Yikes. so Crazy concept. and It's so funny because like, I feel like this alone, like on paper looks like a story that anybody can come up with. But it's just like how far they go into it, especially in this like, like horror, like, you know, perspective. they They just went so far in on that. It was crazy.
Speaker: You guys, I hate to do this, but also I don't. I won't do this about every horror movie we watch, but do you could you see this coming to HHN in the future? Because I fully could.
Speaker: So, it's Blumhouse. Which was going to say, this is a great Blumhouse movie. I have not seen a Blumhouse movie this good in a while. Like, This was very solid. And considering like how successful it was, i can definitely see it being a house. at some There are some really creepy scenes.
Speaker: I don't think I would. i don't think I would be here for it, though. I think I'd rather just say a good movie because I feel like one of the only ways to execute the house is just having Nikki everywhere. And we've seen houses like that and they're just not as fun. yeah That's the only. Terrifier because Terrifier is such a character. like and that was mostly about the kills too. like I feel like Nikki didn't have like that much of a kill count to like to like make a whole house for it. But I don't know. I could see them maybe doing it I mean, they might merge it. They might do another Blumhouse kind of house and just like, you know, like they've done before and just like merge. Maybe, yeah. Somebody would have to be able to act like her, though. Multiple people would, and that is challenging. Yeah. That would be fun, though. I wouldn't be mad at that. And I can see it happening just because how popular it's been this year. it's...
Speaker: not impossible it's definitely i think i'd rather see just like a roaming horde of nicky's kind of like they did before rather than a whole house nicky hiding around the park yeah because like any little corner that you can find they're gonna put a nicky there man but yeah it's definitely a very interesting movie and it's a conversation starter for sure there's a lot going on there but yeah glad you guys enjoyed it i i really enjoyed it thought it was a I think it's probably top five horror movie for me. It was really good. So good. Just the the way it was able to make me feel. I don't feel that way in many movies at all.
Speaker: And the the jump scares were not cheap at all. No. I think a lot of horror movies just throw in a cheap jump scare. like it You hear the music like there's supposed to be a scare and then there's nothing there just to make you jump. There wasn't any of that. Every jump scare actually furthered the plot and had meaning to it, which I appreciate.
Speaker: The score was great and the lighting was great. Yeah. It had some deeper, darker themes, which I enjoyed also, so. 100%. yeah, jump scare wise. Yeah. got me good for sure. It made Shay drop some, some popcorn. So that was good. The, the car scene specifically, which we knew it was coming. I think i think it was just, yeah, I think the fact that it happened, it still got her and popcorn was up, but yeah it was, it was a good time. it was, it was a fun movie, but, um but about obsession, see Fred gave us our one question this week. Yeah. Which is each of you has one wish willow. What are you wishing for?
Speaker: Not that. Throwing that thing in the river. you know what? Give me the billion dollars. Like seems to have worked out perfectly. He could have just stayed home. He wouldn't have been shot at the end. could have just stayed home with this million dollars. went And yeah. but I don't know.
Speaker: yeah It'd have to be a very simple lesson. You put yourself in the context of having spent $7 on this thing at a goofy store and it has a box like that. and you're making a wish. Like what? I don't even know.
Speaker: it would have to be something simple and innocent for sure. Yeah. Like just asking for money I think would be fine. Yeah, probably. My like first reaction as like a mom is like for my kids to stay healthy.
Speaker: yeah but like i'm trying to think of like what the implications of that could be if it like went wrong went wrong i don't know but that's like what i would wish for if i had one wish yeah i guess it depends on whether we get the one wish will after we've seen this movie or not or do we are we unaware of the implications are we just finding it in a store kind of like he did Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. No, definitely would have to be something very simple. Like I feel like material things would be the easiest way because like Kelly said, I mean like you can wish something like for your kids to be healthy. You don't know what can come from that just because we don't know what the one wish Willow is going to do.
Speaker: Yeah. They're like 120 years old, still healthy. they were like, I want to die. This has been a long time. Yeah. yeah But yeah, no, definitely something simple, but But yeah, that's all we've got for this week. um Do you guys have anything else to add? Stay tuned. Stay tuned. We have more to talk about, but we're definitely going to have another episode um that to go over everything else. It's just we're already almost at an hour and a half, so it makes sense to break it up. and So we will have more, you know, a lot of fun stuff to talk about the next time.
Speaker: But of course, follow us on socials, on Instagram Instagram. and And yeah, we will see you guys next time. stay spooky.
Speaker: Bye. That's tea, actually.
