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Wisconsin Dells, Days 3/4
Aug. 6th, 2006 02:37 pmDay 3:
Did the Upper Dells Boat tour -- Saw "Witch's Gulch" and "Stand Rock"
I got to recreate H.H. Bennet's stop motion "Stand Rock Jump" photo.
Then we came back to the hotel, Rachel napped for a bit, and then we attempted to find a place to eat. That was an adventure! It was Saturday, so the traffic was absolutely horrible! We stopped at a place called "Crabby's all you can eat Prime Rib & Crab Legs Buffet." They have a pirate theme, and a Pirate adventure "Show," as part of dinner, however it seems to be very much a "kid" environment. (Okay, all of the Dells is a "kid" environment.) But when we saw that the price of the buffet was $30 per person, Rachel and I turned around and walked out! I mean, this is a tourist buffet.. not Chez Swank.
So we ended up at Ponderosa instead. I haven't had Ponderosa in something like 10 years because all the ones in Rockford closed up. So it was kind of like getting a "special on-vacation" meal. Then we went back to the Downtown area for more shopping. Rachel bought![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sabrinageek a necklace with a reversible butterfly pendant on it that is blue on one side, purple on the other, and has her name on it on both sides. Cute and Kitschy, but it still meant a lot to us. We also went to the two downtown area Haunted Houses; That was a perfect example of the two ends of the Huanted House spectrum! One, The "Dungeon of Horrors," is essentially almost nothing more than pitch black hallways that loop in a vaguely circular way, while a single actor is "inside" the circle and does fairly simple scares -- mostly element of surprise "boo!s" and sudden knocks against the wall, etc. Almost no scenery at all. I jumped a couple of times, but was more amazed at the simplicity of it all. For a Haunted attraction, there's almost no overhead!
The second attraction, the, "Haunted Mansion," was a complete reversal of the former. Instead of simple black hallways and a single actor, this had no actors, but 10+ very elaborate "diorama/scenes," most using fairly elaborate/expensive Animatronics. I figured at least $20k worth minimum. Still, very little overhead to run! And it seems to be owned by the same people who run Tommy Bartlett's emporium, so the difference in cash-outlay is understandable.
( Day 4 under Cut. )
Did the Upper Dells Boat tour -- Saw "Witch's Gulch" and "Stand Rock"
I got to recreate H.H. Bennet's stop motion "Stand Rock Jump" photo.
Then we came back to the hotel, Rachel napped for a bit, and then we attempted to find a place to eat. That was an adventure! It was Saturday, so the traffic was absolutely horrible! We stopped at a place called "Crabby's all you can eat Prime Rib & Crab Legs Buffet." They have a pirate theme, and a Pirate adventure "Show," as part of dinner, however it seems to be very much a "kid" environment. (Okay, all of the Dells is a "kid" environment.) But when we saw that the price of the buffet was $30 per person, Rachel and I turned around and walked out! I mean, this is a tourist buffet.. not Chez Swank.
So we ended up at Ponderosa instead. I haven't had Ponderosa in something like 10 years because all the ones in Rockford closed up. So it was kind of like getting a "special on-vacation" meal. Then we went back to the Downtown area for more shopping. Rachel bought
sabrinageek a necklace with a reversible butterfly pendant on it that is blue on one side, purple on the other, and has her name on it on both sides. Cute and Kitschy, but it still meant a lot to us. We also went to the two downtown area Haunted Houses; That was a perfect example of the two ends of the Huanted House spectrum! One, The "Dungeon of Horrors," is essentially almost nothing more than pitch black hallways that loop in a vaguely circular way, while a single actor is "inside" the circle and does fairly simple scares -- mostly element of surprise "boo!s" and sudden knocks against the wall, etc. Almost no scenery at all. I jumped a couple of times, but was more amazed at the simplicity of it all. For a Haunted attraction, there's almost no overhead!The second attraction, the, "Haunted Mansion," was a complete reversal of the former. Instead of simple black hallways and a single actor, this had no actors, but 10+ very elaborate "diorama/scenes," most using fairly elaborate/expensive Animatronics. I figured at least $20k worth minimum. Still, very little overhead to run! And it seems to be owned by the same people who run Tommy Bartlett's emporium, so the difference in cash-outlay is understandable.
( Day 4 under Cut. )
