IllumiNights 2013

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iliketurtles said:
I have a challenge for everybody:

There is a song that is played in Oktoberfest after 5:00, but before the fireworks, that I cannot for the life of me find anywhere. It's the one where a female singer (at least it sounds feminine) basically just says, "Ooooh." I will not have the opportunity to visit the park again until after IllumiNights ends, and I didn't think to even try to Shazam it. It's been driving me insane. Thanks everyone! :D
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Next time I'm in the Oktoberfest area, I'll make sure to try and identify more songs. Right now, the only artist I know that they play in Oktoberfest is Belsy. These are the songs that I know they play: the songs are separated by parentheses and commas (), (Sterne, Die's Gar Nicht Gibt),(Suma - Das Lied Der Weißen Taube),(Lust Auf Sommer),und (Klopf Drei Mal). Again, it is possible that none of these are the song you're looking for. However, I will continue to look around. And since I speak German, sometimes I don't need to use SoundHound or Shazam. I just type in the lyrics(songtexte).
 
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I know some of you have been waiting for it, so after two weeks of IllumiNights with about eight visits, I am finally ready to give my in-depth review. So here it is!!

This special event started off with a bang on the first day as it was discovered that “Europe in the Air” was closed down indefinitely. There was no announcement, and whether you like the ride or not, it would have been nice to know about it so you could ride it one more time if you wanted to. Oh well. Back to the topic at hand...

England:

Banbury Cross has minimal decorations for the special event. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though, because as the entrance to BGW it is nice to have a plain “ye olde” hamlet to walk through at the beginning and end of our visit. The newest addition is a giant frog sitting on the fountain that greets you as you enter the turnstiles. It looks cute enough, especially lit up at night (+1), and it is an easy LEAP from a fountain to a frog pond. However, as you are leaving the park, you get to view a “full moon” from Mr. Toad (-1). This is a theme that continues throughout the different areas of the park. Big Ben is lit up nicely with multi-colored lights as usual for this event (+2). Don’t change it if it ain’t broke.



Scotland:

Heatherdowns doesn’t have much of anything going on for IllumiNights. As you walk down the hills towards Ireland, you will see yet another giant critter. Enter Mr. Turtle. He appears rather interesting; especially since he has a bunch of faux fireworks sitting next to him ready to blast off, along with a sign explaining the backstory (+1). He even lights up at night with a “disco” pattern on his shell (+1). You should see it from the sky buckets! Then you realize, like Mr. Toad, he has his backside to the guests (-1). As a matter of fact, the way he is propped up on a log, he looks like he is either fixing to get a whooping or getting ready to mate (-1). Upon closer inspection, this turtle is also missing two back legs (-1). What gives? A fence was added around his backside to keep people from getting on top of him (I suppose).



Ireland:

As you head towards Killarney, you cross the Rainbow Bridge. The colored streamers creating the rainbow effect look kind of cheap during the day (-1). But as it gets dark, they look very nice all lit up (+1), especially from the sky buckets (+1).

Once inside the main area of Killarney, you see rainbows on the lamp posts and large scaffolding around the Abbeystone. This is where a new show, called “Killarney Komotion”, takes place. It is an overblown, big production which has no place in Ireland, much less BGW (-2). It is almost ten minutes of lip-synching with pretty much everything being pre-recorded and mixed with top 40 radio hits. It ruins the atmosphere of this quaint little hamlet (-1) and takes me out of the BGW escape that I come here for. It is very hard to just sit and relax at one of the benches without seeing this monstrosity. The only alternatives are to stay inside Grogan’s Pub or keep moving to the next hamlet. There doesn’t seem to be any story or flow of any kind to this mess. Even with the whole “construction theme”, nothing is built. They even snuck in a BELL prop after almost two weeks in and fail to utilize it. I thought at least they would pretend to mount it somewhere and give it a few rings, even if they are only simulated (-1).

There are some positive aspects to this show, though. One is that there doesn’t seem to be the horrible bottlenecks of traffic (+1) during the show that have been experienced in previous years with “Legends of Killarney” or other shows like “Jack is Back.” I don’t know if this is because the show is off to the side and elevated on the scaffolding, or that there doesn’t seem to be that much of a crowd for it (which has been the case with almost all of my viewings with the exception of the premiere), or if the employees are just really good at keeping the crowds moving and/or off of the designated walkway. Another is..."Don't Stop Believing..." (+1); I love this song!! My daughter seemed indifferent about KK. She wanted to see a giant fairy.



France:

As you approach the railroad crossing into Aquitaine, you can see that everything is lit up. There is the remaining Crepes & Coffee F&WF booth, twinkling vines streamed everywhere, and special lighting in the windows. Then you step across the tracks and see…the enormous hind end of a giant pink snail! You would think it should be facing the other way to GREET the guests, not moon them (-1). It has a cute mustache and a silly little chef’s hat on, and lights up brightly at night (+1). My daughter couldn’t stop giggling when she saw it. I guess that is good (+1).
The Griffon tracks are lit up nicely with rotating colors (+1). There is a new up-charge extra in the Bistro; a Dessert Buffet that starts at 8:30, and you get to stay and sit on the patio to enjoy the fireworks (+1). However, the buffet is only available Thursday through Sunday nights, so you can still sit on the patio for no charge on Monday through Wednesday. There is no show in France this year. The can-can dancers & stunt guy are gone with no replacement (-2).



New France & Germany:

I’m going to lump these two together because there isn’t really anything special going on in the hamlets themselves. However, the covered bridge between Canada and Rhinefield is lit up nicely, though (+1), and if you go down “heart-attack hill” towards Scotland, there is the Rhine River Cruise. You can pay an additional fee to ride the boats to get an exclusive view of the fireworks from the water. Plus, the three boats are each covered in lights…red, blue and green (+2).



OktoberFest:

First of all, Wunderbarn is gone (+2), but there is no replacement show (-2). What we get instead is “GLOW Island.” This erection is hideous! It is a blue ring surrounding a wall and countertops covered in green lights and GLOW merchandise. In the center of the ring is a tall, Silver Tree Thing covered in crystal-etched leaves and giant ants. WTF (-2)?!? I did find out the other night, though, that there are a couple of bins of open GLOW toys and bubble guns for the kids to try out and play with (+1). There are lights in the surrounding trees and spotlights to draw your attention here. Buy our GLOW!! For this we gave up the Maypole (-2)!?! That’s really all there is in this hamlet. The bridge to San Marco is decorated in wonderful lights and signage (+2).



Italy – San Marco:

San Marco! The saving grace for IllumiNights!! Here you will find “Giardino Magico.” It is a wonderful, small production in the Magic Gardens. The show is simple and beautiful (+2). The area is decorated with pretty butterflies and lighting on the columns (+2). I could spend my whole evening here. It is magical.
*Will skip the “Pompeii” section of Italy until after Festa*



Festa:

There is nothing special going on in Festa, unless you consider shrapnel possibly raining down on you from the fireworks as such.



Italy - Pompeii:

As you head towards Pompeii, you can see lights in the trees. As you go around EFP, it becomes clear. There are giant fireflies everywhere!! I guess they look cute; they are lit up and flashing their hind ends (+1). It’s just weird, though (-1). I’ve always thought that fireflies flash their lights to attract a mate. Party up in Pompeii (+1)!?!





So that is IllumiNights 2013. It’s a couple of weeks shorter than last year. There are only two special shows; one of which made Ireland unbearable. There are GIANT critters everywhere. GLOW Island…’nuff said. San Marco is THE place to be. And oh yeah, FIREWORKS!!


Overall Rating:

**I'll figure up my little scores later. Still working out the system. :)
 
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It's a strange set up, this year. I mean, while none of the elements are, in my view, unquestionably awful, the sum of the parts is a confusing mess.

What do bugs have to do with Illuminights? Where do the snails and turtles come in? A construction-workers'/folk band/punk rock clarinet karaoke jam? I just don't really understand it.

The fireworks were killer, though. I wish your typical 4th of July fireworks show was that big.

...then again...why do you have fireworks 7 days a week?

[/confusion]
 
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After going for the first time this year on saturday, I thought it looked O.K. Not great, but not horrific.
I thought the glow island was cool. The lights of the trees and such made that area very colorful. Yes, the tree is drop dead ugly, but I can live with it since it brings color. :)
I thought the fireflies were cute with the flashing lights.
The turtle was cute with the lights, thought it was weird to see a turtle's butt.
The frog was cute on the fountain and the lights.
Gardino Magico was good. I wasn't a big fan of the pole, I liked the acrobatic stuff better. I was not a fan of the farmer outfit.
France was very pretty lit up in purple. It was an amazing sight from the top of Alpengeist. The snail looked cool with the lights, but they should have had it facing the other way! We watched the Aquatine band at night. They sounded FANTASTIC and it was really cool with the lit up vines behind them!
Wild reserve looked really creepy. It felt more like Howl-o-scream to me. It was really dark and they had green lights shining through the trees. I could see a bush person shaking a can and running from behind a bush. :p
Ireland's bridge looked cool and it was crowded with Killarney Kommotion.
Big Ben looked cool with the lights. The buildings looked cool with the orange lights shining on them.
We then proceeded to go to our car and watched the fireworks. I was in the mood to watch fireworks and eat ice cream, but sadly they were out of ice cream. So we went to a McDonalds in the middle of nowhere to get a sundae.

Overall, I thought it was good. Not comparable to years past, but it wasn't as horrific as some described it! :p
 
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Pulled this out of the Giardino Magico thread:
Hoopla said:
If they had shows like [Giardino Magico] everywhere in the park, it would get a little boring to watch acrobatic show after acrobatic show. I like acrobats, and I can't do anything that they can, but too much is boring.
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I don't think anyone wants 4 or 5 acrobatics shows but I think a very good case could be made for more shows of Giardino Magico's size and scale. Minstrels? Bards? Jesters? Magicians? One-man bands? Puppeteers? Mimes? The list of possibilities that don't break the park's theme, are easy to pull off on a very small budget, and require nearly zero setup are quite literally endless.
 
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Zachary said:
Pulled this out of the Giardino Magico thread:
Hoopla said:
If they had shows like [Giardino Magico] everywhere in the park, it would get a little boring to watch acrobatic show after acrobatic show. I like acrobats, and I can't do anything that they can, but too much is boring.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone wants 4 or 5 acrobatics shows but I think a very good case could be made for more shows of Giardino Magico's size and scale. Minstrels? Bards? Jesters? Magicians? One-man bands? Puppeteers? Mimes? The list of possibilities that don't break the park's theme, are easy to pull off on a very small budget, and require nearly zero setup are quite literally endless.
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That is exactly what I want. No large scale shows like KK or entwined. I loved watching the magician in Germany. They could have mimes roaming around france and jesters in Festa. Stuff that doesn't have a set time.
 
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Splitting KK into three different shows will really help with their budgeting issues and diversify their show line up. Folk band in Ireland, stomp at night, Jack ripoff somewhere else.
 
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^ I hope you did because I needed it today. I had to witness the worst BGW production I've ever seen in Killarney Kommotion and those ugly bugs.

I'm going to bed. I'll post more on my day tomorrow.
 
Zachary said:
but I think a very good case could be made for more shows of Giardino Magico's size and scale. Minstrels? Bards? Jesters? Magicians? One-man bands? Puppeteers? Mimes? The list of possibilities that don't break the park's theme, are easy to pull off on a very small budget, and require nearly zero setup are quite literally endless.
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I love this idea, if they split KK up they could have literally 4 or 5 other shows around the park. From what I heard in the GM thread Scott had practically nothing to do with GM, and of course it's probably the best show I've ever seen in Illuminights history. And Scott probably gave the guy who made this show a very small budget, but see what he did with that Budget! Unlike Scott who can have the biggest budget, and most performers, but still can't make a show that's best review refers to it as a "trainwreck." How many signs does BGW need before they make a change. UGGHH, they drive me nuts sometimes!:dodgy:
 
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