Christmas Town 2012
- Thread starter Glissade
- Start date
JordanFord said:
They tape all the connections up with electrical tape in hopes that it is a waterproof seal. Sadly, this isn't the best idea. However all the lights are outdoor lights anyways so they are fine.
As far as the power source goes, they use outdoor portable generators to power most of all the Christmas lights, and the cords they run from there to where they need the power are pretty watertight.
Their electric bill is not too much higher than what you would think because of the generators which happen to run on disel fuel. So their gas bill is rising. Not sure what would be better to pay gas v. electric?
I hope someone gets a video of the final performance of Gloria. That cast is amazing and I would love to see the last show.
This last night of the season was awesome! Very light crowds, weather not too horrible, got to do everything I wanted to do including seeing the CUTE little penguins without waiting more than 15 minutes. And when I finally decided to go get that piece of mint fudge I have been eyeballing for the last few visits, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were holding a BOGO on fudge!! A piece = 1/4 lb. (approximate) at $2.99. It was another CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!! (or maybe they were just dumping the stuff to get rid of it before throwing it away on account of the season ending and all). 
I had a pretty great season this year.
- Gloria (5/5) Great show, great music! Still think the moving stages are used a little weird and the projections aren't as good as actual stage props, but overall a fantastic show.
- Miracles (5/5) Another wonderful show with great music and dancing. This show felt a bit short though.
- Deck the Halls (5/5) The park's Christmas carol show, being in the only indoor eatery in the park has its drawbacks (larger crowds than normal), but still a good show that actually uses mascots better than Entwined
- O Tannenbaum (3/5) Nice Christmas tree lighting show, but not so nice location. It definitely creates a bottleneck on busy days. Maybe if they used a bit of Trans-Siberian Orchestra
- Penguins (3/5) Could use a few more penguins. I feel bad for anyone who has to wait in long lines for this on a busy day. Otherwise an okay exhibit. Hopefully the park expands on this in the coming years.
- Holiday Hills (5/5) Why can't Festa be decorated like this during Howl O Scream?
The park definitely needs to open another major ride/attraction to balance the crowds out. Oktoberfest was terrible during busy days since all the rides there were open.
- Gloria (5/5) Great show, great music! Still think the moving stages are used a little weird and the projections aren't as good as actual stage props, but overall a fantastic show.
- Miracles (5/5) Another wonderful show with great music and dancing. This show felt a bit short though.
- Deck the Halls (5/5) The park's Christmas carol show, being in the only indoor eatery in the park has its drawbacks (larger crowds than normal), but still a good show that actually uses mascots better than Entwined
- O Tannenbaum (3/5) Nice Christmas tree lighting show, but not so nice location. It definitely creates a bottleneck on busy days. Maybe if they used a bit of Trans-Siberian Orchestra
- Penguins (3/5) Could use a few more penguins. I feel bad for anyone who has to wait in long lines for this on a busy day. Otherwise an okay exhibit. Hopefully the park expands on this in the coming years.
- Holiday Hills (5/5) Why can't Festa be decorated like this during Howl O Scream?
The park definitely needs to open another major ride/attraction to balance the crowds out. Oktoberfest was terrible during busy days since all the rides there were open.
Before we bid this thread farewell, here are two more (long overdue) videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In_QdxmzpiQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEKdx52bYMk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In_QdxmzpiQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEKdx52bYMk
A little blue bird told me about seeing Christmas decorations up in the park on Saturday. Train still covered in lights, big Christmas tree & light decorations around the Festhaus were still there. When do these things start coming down? I'm sure they have started in other areas of the park. PR?
Actually, they have every reason to rush to get CT striked. From what I've heard they extended 10 seasonal employees to work to get the stuff packed up. This means they would start the next season a few days late or be considered part-time.
Honestly, I expected most of the work to be done already. I am positive they have things up though. I know they still had Howl-o-Scream stuff up almost the day before Christmas Town opened.
I want to estimate a team of no more than 40 theater techs, 10 extra hands, and maybe 8 Oak Island employees work to get everything set up and then striked.
Honestly, I expected most of the work to be done already. I am positive they have things up though. I know they still had Howl-o-Scream stuff up almost the day before Christmas Town opened.
I want to estimate a team of no more than 40 theater techs, 10 extra hands, and maybe 8 Oak Island employees work to get everything set up and then striked.
Last year they were changing the maps at 9:10 as the park was opening. So it comes down to the wire
Party Rocker said:
It takes longer to take everything down then it does to put it up. And like it was said before, there isn't a massive rush to do it anyway.
When I went on the Verbolten HHT last year they still had CT stuff up and that was the beginning of March. Also back when I was being trained in the park in 2008 around March they still had HOS stuff up. So the last event of the season has never been something the park rushes to take down right after the doors are closed for the year.
I am not saying they are trying to get every last thing down immediately, but the idea is to get most of the larger things taken care of as soon as possible. They don't have a lot of people to take things down or put them up, so they have to try and do the larger things quickly and then for the few people that are there with Oak Island, they work on taking down all the other small things.
My point is they are in a rush to get as much as possible put away (mainly the larger things) but they usually still have stuff up much later because of various reasons.
My point is they are in a rush to get as much as possible put away (mainly the larger things) but they usually still have stuff up much later because of various reasons.
For tear down they had 9 theater/maintenance techs, and 22 "Material Specialists" in other words Tree Crew! They also had 8-12 Oak Island contractors that come in. (If there were 10 extra hands added I haven't heard anything, and I would be pretty surprised if they did add 10 more people) The material Specialists only worked 3 weeks (unless they extended it) and concentrated on removing lights from trees and from around the park. EVERYTHING else is handled by the theater techs and Oak Island crew, including any theaters that did not get struck after their final performance. And the theater crews are only working till Jan 31st (again unless they extend the contracts). Anything not finished by then will be finished by Oak Island contractors and full time staff.
FYI the Hall-O-Scream strike was finished in 8 days (a new record) though there were A LOT more people to handle the strike. The only things left the final few weeks were items that were either being used for Christmas Town (the lighted signs throughout the park) or were behind the scenes where it was out of the way.
FYI the Hall-O-Scream strike was finished in 8 days (a new record) though there were A LOT more people to handle the strike. The only things left the final few weeks were items that were either being used for Christmas Town (the lighted signs throughout the park) or were behind the scenes where it was out of the way.
I can strongly say they left the "Freakenstien" sign up by the bridge to Killarney just 3 days before Christmas Town started, as well as the sign for Fiends. Root of All Evil took 3 days to strike, which I thought was good however that was actually required to be taken down quick because they used the "green house" room structures to build the billboards in Holiday Hills.
There was actually only supposed to be 10 Material Specialists with 2 working into February, the rest working until mid January. But my whole point which is constantly missed throughout this thread is that, they have limited people take things down and the number only gets smaller, so while they do rush to get things down, they don't have the labor to get everything down as quickly as they may or may not like.
There was actually only supposed to be 10 Material Specialists with 2 working into February, the rest working until mid January. But my whole point which is constantly missed throughout this thread is that, they have limited people take things down and the number only gets smaller, so while they do rush to get things down, they don't have the labor to get everything down as quickly as they may or may not like.
I'll give you the signs, they were taken down late, mostly because the sign shop was replacing signs throughout the park for Christmas Town. But yes I agree that there are just not enough people to do the strike as fast as needed. I thought that exact thing when I found out they were only keeping 9 techs for strike!