This is where we pay a huge amount of gratitude to one of our staff members who most of you have never heard about or know of. However, over the past two weeks, Steve Bliss single-handedly saved this site from a terrible mess.

Just after the turn of the year, Theme Park Adventure suffered a cataclysmic hardware failure. It was bad; really bad. And for several days, it appeared that we had lost not only many valuable files, but all of the remaining Halloween 2011 content that we had not yet released online. It was disastrous and we were certain that we would be explaining what had happened to our readers and apologizing for the fact that there was nothing left from our 2011 Halloween adventures.

However, over the period of a week and a half, Steve painstakingly figured out how to get into our damaged drives and recover approximately 200 gigabytes of lost information, including all of our Halloween material. To say it was a Herculean effort doesn't even cover what Steve has done for the TPA team and our readers everywhere; he literally delivered an 11th hour Hail Mary that truly saved us from a devastating loss.

We take pause and thank Steve for his hard work behind the scenes and recognize his outstanding assistance in this situation. He really saved our butts, and we owe him so much thanks.

- Rick West

LATEST UPDATE: LOCKDOWN

IT'S SINISTER, AND TO THE POINTE...

Haunted attraction fans in Orange County hail Sinister Pointe as one of Southern California's must-see haunts, and they're correct! For several years, Theme Park Adventure has covered Sinister Pointe and we've seen it grow into an awesome permanent attraction in Brea that not only spooks up our favorite season (that would be Halloween, for the slow kids), they aim to put their own sick twist on other major holidays throughout the year as well (which they just did brilliantly for Christmas). Sinister Pointe is also going to be open for special occasions, private parties and gatherings, making it the only SoCal haunted attraction available to the community on a regular basis here in the Southland. For the first time ever, TPA took its video camera through Sinister Pointe, and we're thrilled to now bring you a brief review, photo gallery and complete flow-through video of one of our all-time favorite haunts!

NEW TPA EDITORIAL - EVERYONE'S WILD ABOUT HARRY

We're excited to announce the return of Theme Park Adventure's editorial page, which has been missing in action for quite some time! In our latest editorial, TPA Founder Rick West discusses the recent Wizarding World of Harry Potter addition coming to Universal Studios Hollywood. While no information has been made public as to where or when the attraction will land here on the West Coast, Rick certainly has his ideas.

In addition, Rick takes a quick look at the bigger story - the expansion of Potter in Orlando.

If one thing's certain, it's that everyone is crazy about Harry Potter - and the sooner it comes to California, the better. The fans want it, the bean counters can't wait to have the flood of cash and locals are bracing for the shocking influx of tourists that are sure to bring the already-cramped theme park to its knees operationally.

We're in for a bumpy, wild ride, folks. Read on, and enjoy!

With Halloween comes one of our favorite home haunts - Rotten Apple 907, in Burbank, California. Each season, this crew takes on a whole new theme and maze, in the name of charity! This year's haunt was "A Space Oddessy" - and odd it certainly was! What a wonderful event and effort - we love these guys and hope you all enjoy the review, image gallery and of course, full flow-through video; keep in mind that this is all done in these peoples' driveway. It's amazing!

EMPTY GRAVE THE LIVELIEST THING AT GARDENWALK!

Merely a block away from The Happiest Place on Earth is perhaps The Most Desolate Place on Earth - the Anaheim GardenWalk. However, this barely-hanging-on shopping mall does have one thing going for it this Halloween season: one of Orange County's premiere haunted attractions, The Empty Grave! Theme Park Adventure returned to this favorite OC haunt yet again to see what Mike Talarico and crew have in store for this year - and came away very impressed!

To help kick off Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood this year (like it needs any help), the annual Eyegore Awards were presented to icons of horror, including rock legend Alice Cooper. Theme Park Adventure's Michael Wada was on hand at the awards on the red carpet, and has a report and great pictures to share with you! So get to it! Go! Sid Haig is in there!

It's the event that many Knott's Halloween Haunt fans have been waiting for! We have started the monstrous task of digitizing our entire Scary Farm archives and for the first time, will be making our entire collection available to the public. It's going to be an on-going labor of love, and one that we will invite you all to participate in down the road with your own images and media.

The task is massive, but the time has come. With spring in full swing here in California and the endless summer right around the corner, there is a faint chill in the air. A draft. A wisp of fog.

It's coming from that dust-covered iron door there in the dark corner of your worst nightmare... the TPA HAUNT VAULT has swung open...

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