Diseased Murk-Eye

During Children's week I had to take my orphan to the lighthouse in Westfall. I didn't realize I hadn't done the lighthouse keeper's quests with this character yet . So I went back the other day to finish them. But to my surprise, when I fought Murk-Eye he whipped up this weird disease which I swear he did not have before.
Luckily I do my questing solo so I didn't really have anyone to shoo me away in my diseased form.

LFG: Ogre

As you get in line for the Shrek 4D experience you see WANTED posters for many creatures from the forest in the queue area. They made me think of those quests you find from wanted posters within World of Warcraft. One of my favorites is featured here, Hogger. It's side by side with a wanted photo from the ride:
And here I've pasted it together with the wanted poster for Shrek himself:


Based on the size of the line he looked to be only a 100-person raid group (it was a light day at the park).

For more information on the attraction visit thestudiotour.com or the Universalstudios.com website.

Boatopia

The Sailing Ship Columbia is an attraction in Disneyland that is simply that. A big ol' boat that you take in a small circle around an area of the park (it's more of an "experience" than a "ride"). The collage of pictures below are some of those from the boat rides at both Disney and in Azeroth. The good news about the ride at Disney is that the boat doesn't disappear suddenly in the middle of the lake and leave everyone to suddenly drop into the waters like it does in WoW.



More information on this attraction can be found at the Disneyland website.

Rotating Tunnel

My favorite attraction at Universal was the Studio Tour. At one point on the tour the tram drives through a very disorienting tunnel which has been used in several films and it seems, has also been used as the entrance to the Deeprun Tram. Here's a shot from the Bionic Man episode when it was an "ice tunnel," side by side with the entrance to the Deeprun tram:

I couldn't resist putting Steve Austin into Azeroth, heheh.

More information about the Tunnel/Studio Tour at thestudiotour and universalstudios.

Booty Bay vs. Water World

While we were at Universal Studios we saw the Water World show (which I recommend by the way; it was fun). Here's my comparison of that set (as seen from the stands waiting for the show to begin) to Booty Bay:

They both even have that same tallest tower to the right of the center and extended area to the right of that. Find out more about the WaterWorld attraction at these websites: thestudiotour.com and UniversalStudios.com.

p.s. It was great fun to try out the "Photomerge" feature of Photoshop which is how I got so much in one picture.

WoW is a Theme Park

The week I was away, I was at a conference for my job but I also took a few days to visit some theme parks in California. Previously you may have seen the Universal Studios' Jaws or the Disney's Animal Kingdom comparisons I made in this blog. Well get set for a few more as in the next few days I will compare:

• Booty Bay to Water World (Universal)
• The Tram Entrance to the Spinning Tunnel (Universal)
• The boat ride to ... uh... the boat ride (Disney)
• Quest Info
• Plus whatever other nonsensical things I come up with.

CD Cover Contest Winners

Blizzard announced the winners of the CD Cover contest.

These were so well done I have to give some commentary to point out some of the best stuff I saw:

Best Photoshopping:

• James Bind gets kudos for all those typical spy activities (like the sub and the shark and the tux) in the cover.


• Feastie Boys. In a tough, tough decision, I had to pick this as the best in photoshopping. Just look at that detail with the watches and the hand's gripping the radio.

Favorite Song Titles

• Great Paladin Love Songs cracked me up for "You Still Crit Me."


• DeadZeppelin for "Hot for Trainer."


• James Bind for "Goldtooth."


• The Who for "Gnomeragan Woman" and "Magic Griffon Ride."

Cover Emulations:
WoWVana and Meet the Horde! get credit in my book for the comparisons to the titles they emulated.

Server Refugee Chaos

Last night a number of servers crashed. So their refugee players started alts on new servers. The newbie zones were so crowded that players who were actually trying to do the quests couldn't find enough of the wolves, etc.. to kill for their quests.

But this post isn't about the players who were trying to level up their alt. It's about the Chaos. And it was chaos. These are some screen shots the a few moments where I remembered to take them:

Nudist Parade:

Pirate/Ninja Bar:

Rams

I found each of these three different colored Rams on the long trek between Menethil Harbor and Ironforge and photoshopped them together into one shot. There's something about that little nook of Azeroth that I like (apart from the whole "can I make it through without being killed" thing when you're running a low level character through just to get the flight path).

You're Playing Right Now

I love the last panel of this WoW Penny Arcade comic.