Halloween Horror Nights - Universal Studios Florida - 2018
2018 Review coming soon
Very scary
I am from England and have previously attended HHN 2005, 2011, 2014, 2015 & last year. Last year was my personal favourite as the Top 3 of AHS (1, 4 & 5), Halloween II and Texas Chainsaw were simply incredible. For 2017, I think Universal Creative "conjured" up the best standard of original houses I have experienced, especially Dead Waters and Scarecrow: The Reaping. AHS (2, 3 & 6) was my personal favourite again. The sets and characters were so well done. The Shining and SAW, although lacking intensity, were very good recreations. House of Blumhouse seemed confused. Sinister & The Purge elements were irrelevant and Insidious was not as intense as 2015. An opportunity missed! However, this year the Scare Zones and actors were several levels better than last year. The Purge zone was equal to the best of houses. I loved the Purify & Purge auction. Trick r Treat was aesthetically stunning with great atmosphere and Festival of the Deadliest had a great vibe, especially walking down Hollywood Boulevard dodging the Scareactors, shrouded in dry ice with Scorpions' Coast to Coast booming out of the speakers. Academy of Villains, whilst not quite as good as last year are still an absolute must for next year and beyond. For the first time I watched Bill & Ted and it is not for me. Overall, the Top 3 houses were not as strong as last year but the full line-up of houses was the strongest I have experienced. The Scare Zones were in a different league and Academy of Villains enrich the event. I attended 30/10, 31/10 and 04/ 11. End of Event rating: 5*
I am from England and have previously attended HHN 2005, 2011, 2014, 2015 & last year. Last year was my personal favourite as the Top 3 of AHS (1, 4 & 5), Halloween II and Texas Chainsaw were simply incredible. For 2017, I think Universal Creative "conjured" up the best standard of original houses I have experienced, especially Dead Waters and Scarecrow: The Reaping. AHS (2, 3 & 6) was my personal favourite again. The sets and characters were so well done. The Shining and SAW, although lacking intensity, were very good recreations. House of Blumhouse seemed confused. Sinister & The Purge elements were irrelevant and Insidious was not as intense as 2015. An opportunity missed! However, this year the Scare Zones and actors were several levels better than last year. The Purge zone was equal to the best of houses. I loved the Purify & Purge auction. Trick r Treat was aesthetically stunning with great atmosphere and Festival of the Deadliest had a great vibe, especially walking down Hollywood Boulevard dodging the Scareactors, shrouded in dry ice with Scorpions' Coast to Coast booming out of the speakers. Academy of Villains, whilst not quite as good as last year are still an absolute must for next year and beyond. For the first time I watched Bill & Ted and it is not for me. Overall, the Top 3 houses were not as strong as last year but the full line-up of houses was the strongest I have experienced. The Scare Zones were in a different league and Academy of Villains enrich the event. I attended 30/10, 31/10 and 04/ 11. End of Event rating: 5*
Halloween Horror Nights - Universal Studios Florida - 2017
Every year Universal Studios puts on a Halloween event ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ across their parks that has now become world renown and for good reason. They combine the best in the movie making business to create mazes and scare zones based off of their movie IP’s as well as original concepts. This year they celebrated HHN 27.
Ash vs Evil Dead:
This being the first maze experienced for the evening we had high hopes for this maze to pave the way for the quality of experiences for the event, my goodness it did not disappoint. Based off of the TV show, series now on it’s third series on ‘STARZ’, the maze followed scenes from the TV show, with some impressive sets. The maze combined moments of comedy and high intensity scares, creating a perfect mix of funny and frightening. You didn’t know if you should allow yourself to laugh before being attacked by the never-ending amount of undead. This served, as great example of mis-direction used in a maze, as soon as a joke landed a scare would never be too far away. This maze was a fantastic kick-starter to the evening.
Hive
‘Hive’ was an original maze from Universal. You were entering an old abandoned house, which was being used by vampires as a living and breeding place, With stripped wall paper meeting you as you first entered and smells of damp and an the extremely dark (if not almost pitch black) environment led for some extreme scares and fantastic use of strobe lighting!
One of the things we found to be most scary were the vampires themselves. They all seemed to have a strong resemblance to the vampire within the 1920’s horror classic ‘Nosferatu’, Which when seen in person are terrifying! The use of very tall puppets within this maze were also extremely well executed, which lead to making you feel incredibly small and intimidated by such a huge vampire about to make you one of his own!
American Horror Story (AHS )
One of the biggest IP’s to this year’s line up was AHS, returning for another year of frights. This maze followed in similar fashion to ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’. Moving through scene by scene, series by series through the maze, which is extremely satisfying to any fan of the horror series, or impressive to anyone who is perhaps less familiar with the show, with highlights from the Asylum series and Roanoke. Never the less, the maze was very impressive with not a detail missed, with the ending finale packing an disorientating and confusing punch.
Dead Waters
Another original maze and this happened to to be our favourite. It really was one of the most stunning mazes we have seen, in terms of set design and dressing. The maze’s narrative is based on a sunken ship which once cruised the Bayoux, taking its crew with it. Now it is overseen by the queen of the river who detests anyone who dares to enter her ship, her dead waters.
This maze has one of the most incredible facades. We genuinely gasped as we entered, as we saw the whole sunken ship in its full detailed glory! The attention to detail continued throughout this maze, with the sets being stunning consistently throughout.
This maze also had an interesting use for the flooring to disorientate us. A portion of the maze was on complete heavily slanted flooring, causing us to completely loose balance and feel uncomfortable within the space.
All in all this was an outstanding maze and one that we wish we could experience over and over, just to fully appreciate its beauty.
The Shining
Probably the most highly anticipated maze this year was ‘The Shining” based off of the Stanley Kubrick interpretation of the Stephen King classic. Reliving the scenes from the movie, we really got immersed into the world, entering through the outlook hotel maze, with a cold and snowy blizzard.
Moving through iconic scenes from the film, including appearances from the twins, the butler and of course Jonny himself. While this maze perhaps was lacking in actual jump scares, the atmosphere and attention to detail made up for this, it also allowed more time to appreciate the sets and environments we were moving through…. and yes the elevator scene did not disappoint.
The Fallen
The fallen was an original maze. The premise being that we were entering hell and we moved through the caves and stony walls of hell, coming face to face with angels of dead and plenty of other horrible creatures. With near misses and scares all over the place this maze really ramped up the intensity levels. There were also some effects used here that we have never scene in any scare attraction. Our favourite being the winged devil attached to a harness and then swinging over us in some crazy strobe lighting. It really simulated the act of flying and made it look as if the devils were flying around us!
Saw
Having been through saw based mazes here in the UK, we did have a slight expectation of what to find within this maze. The scenes were fantastic and unlike Saw Alive at Thorpe Park, it didn’t feel like a passive experience, just walking past people who were in the claws of jigsaw’s traps, in this maze you were their way out, this lead to a lot of guest interaction and the characters asking for your help and solutions to their problems, which in tern made this extremely engaging.
Of course as a plug to the new movie coming out this year, the final scene was a hint to a possible trap in the upcoming film. Although it wasn’t the strongest maze of the event it certainly was a good addition to this years line up!
The Horrors of Blumhouse
This maze was one of the most intriguing, as most of the IP mazes just focus on one singular movie or series. Instead this house, was covering different films including Sinister, The Purge and Insidious and it felt like too much was trying to be squeezed in.
While moving from space to space, it was clearly marked by projections on the walls as to which world you were entering, but this all seemed very rushed, only giving two rooms to Sinister and Purge, with the rest of the maze was used on insidious. You could argue that it is a much bigger franchise then the others, however this was lacking in theming, and they seemed to just pump a large portion full of smoke, leading to not being able to see the character or some of the action.
Scarecrow
Having spoken to a couple of people before attending the event, most of them all said that this was their favorite maze and when in the line, it was not hard to see why! This was the last of the original mazes we experienced on our evening at HHN’s 27. The basic story for this maze, was a farm had been over-run by living scarecrows, who didn’t want you there and would do anything to make you leave!
Greeted by a movie set cornfield entrance, we immediately felt like we were entering a farm. Moving through the decrepit farm, we saw some incredible sets of wasted farm land, including how the scarecrows themselves had taken over. This really built up the tension before coming face to face with some scarecrows themselves. This maze used some very interesting characters, puppets and environments throughout, with scarecrows based on all types of farm animals, not just your typical shape,
When going through maze we didn’t actually experience too many scares themselves, but could have gone through at a strange time, as people where raving about this maze all night. We were certainly impressed to say the least and hope to see this returning for a 2nd year!
Doing Halloween Horror nights in one night can usually described as more of a marathon than a sprint! Its a job to get through all 9 mazes and enjoy the scare zones and atmosphere around the park as well as any shows and/or grabbing something to eat. We just managed it but luckily we had a quieter night and queues were manageable. We're glad we got to see everything, but if you are ever likely to visit, you really need to plan your night to get maximum enjoyment!
Ash vs Evil Dead:
This being the first maze experienced for the evening we had high hopes for this maze to pave the way for the quality of experiences for the event, my goodness it did not disappoint. Based off of the TV show, series now on it’s third series on ‘STARZ’, the maze followed scenes from the TV show, with some impressive sets. The maze combined moments of comedy and high intensity scares, creating a perfect mix of funny and frightening. You didn’t know if you should allow yourself to laugh before being attacked by the never-ending amount of undead. This served, as great example of mis-direction used in a maze, as soon as a joke landed a scare would never be too far away. This maze was a fantastic kick-starter to the evening.
Hive
‘Hive’ was an original maze from Universal. You were entering an old abandoned house, which was being used by vampires as a living and breeding place, With stripped wall paper meeting you as you first entered and smells of damp and an the extremely dark (if not almost pitch black) environment led for some extreme scares and fantastic use of strobe lighting!
One of the things we found to be most scary were the vampires themselves. They all seemed to have a strong resemblance to the vampire within the 1920’s horror classic ‘Nosferatu’, Which when seen in person are terrifying! The use of very tall puppets within this maze were also extremely well executed, which lead to making you feel incredibly small and intimidated by such a huge vampire about to make you one of his own!
American Horror Story (AHS )
One of the biggest IP’s to this year’s line up was AHS, returning for another year of frights. This maze followed in similar fashion to ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’. Moving through scene by scene, series by series through the maze, which is extremely satisfying to any fan of the horror series, or impressive to anyone who is perhaps less familiar with the show, with highlights from the Asylum series and Roanoke. Never the less, the maze was very impressive with not a detail missed, with the ending finale packing an disorientating and confusing punch.
Dead Waters
Another original maze and this happened to to be our favourite. It really was one of the most stunning mazes we have seen, in terms of set design and dressing. The maze’s narrative is based on a sunken ship which once cruised the Bayoux, taking its crew with it. Now it is overseen by the queen of the river who detests anyone who dares to enter her ship, her dead waters.
This maze has one of the most incredible facades. We genuinely gasped as we entered, as we saw the whole sunken ship in its full detailed glory! The attention to detail continued throughout this maze, with the sets being stunning consistently throughout.
This maze also had an interesting use for the flooring to disorientate us. A portion of the maze was on complete heavily slanted flooring, causing us to completely loose balance and feel uncomfortable within the space.
All in all this was an outstanding maze and one that we wish we could experience over and over, just to fully appreciate its beauty.
The Shining
Probably the most highly anticipated maze this year was ‘The Shining” based off of the Stanley Kubrick interpretation of the Stephen King classic. Reliving the scenes from the movie, we really got immersed into the world, entering through the outlook hotel maze, with a cold and snowy blizzard.
Moving through iconic scenes from the film, including appearances from the twins, the butler and of course Jonny himself. While this maze perhaps was lacking in actual jump scares, the atmosphere and attention to detail made up for this, it also allowed more time to appreciate the sets and environments we were moving through…. and yes the elevator scene did not disappoint.
The Fallen
The fallen was an original maze. The premise being that we were entering hell and we moved through the caves and stony walls of hell, coming face to face with angels of dead and plenty of other horrible creatures. With near misses and scares all over the place this maze really ramped up the intensity levels. There were also some effects used here that we have never scene in any scare attraction. Our favourite being the winged devil attached to a harness and then swinging over us in some crazy strobe lighting. It really simulated the act of flying and made it look as if the devils were flying around us!
Saw
Having been through saw based mazes here in the UK, we did have a slight expectation of what to find within this maze. The scenes were fantastic and unlike Saw Alive at Thorpe Park, it didn’t feel like a passive experience, just walking past people who were in the claws of jigsaw’s traps, in this maze you were their way out, this lead to a lot of guest interaction and the characters asking for your help and solutions to their problems, which in tern made this extremely engaging.
Of course as a plug to the new movie coming out this year, the final scene was a hint to a possible trap in the upcoming film. Although it wasn’t the strongest maze of the event it certainly was a good addition to this years line up!
The Horrors of Blumhouse
This maze was one of the most intriguing, as most of the IP mazes just focus on one singular movie or series. Instead this house, was covering different films including Sinister, The Purge and Insidious and it felt like too much was trying to be squeezed in.
While moving from space to space, it was clearly marked by projections on the walls as to which world you were entering, but this all seemed very rushed, only giving two rooms to Sinister and Purge, with the rest of the maze was used on insidious. You could argue that it is a much bigger franchise then the others, however this was lacking in theming, and they seemed to just pump a large portion full of smoke, leading to not being able to see the character or some of the action.
Scarecrow
Having spoken to a couple of people before attending the event, most of them all said that this was their favorite maze and when in the line, it was not hard to see why! This was the last of the original mazes we experienced on our evening at HHN’s 27. The basic story for this maze, was a farm had been over-run by living scarecrows, who didn’t want you there and would do anything to make you leave!
Greeted by a movie set cornfield entrance, we immediately felt like we were entering a farm. Moving through the decrepit farm, we saw some incredible sets of wasted farm land, including how the scarecrows themselves had taken over. This really built up the tension before coming face to face with some scarecrows themselves. This maze used some very interesting characters, puppets and environments throughout, with scarecrows based on all types of farm animals, not just your typical shape,
When going through maze we didn’t actually experience too many scares themselves, but could have gone through at a strange time, as people where raving about this maze all night. We were certainly impressed to say the least and hope to see this returning for a 2nd year!
Doing Halloween Horror nights in one night can usually described as more of a marathon than a sprint! Its a job to get through all 9 mazes and enjoy the scare zones and atmosphere around the park as well as any shows and/or grabbing something to eat. We just managed it but luckily we had a quieter night and queues were manageable. We're glad we got to see everything, but if you are ever likely to visit, you really need to plan your night to get maximum enjoyment!
Halloween Horror Nights - Universal Studios Florida - 2016
in 2014, when the Scaretour crew reviewed the annual event At Universal Studios Orlando, we left feeling a little underwhelmed. The lack of icon proved to be a little disappointing, followed by the regimented scares that seemed a tad lacklustre made us wonder if it's worth returning. Following the return of the in 2015,of Jack the clown, and after discovering that his protégé, Chance, would take on the mantle in his stead for this year, we booked our tickets and were ready to enter once again. We were not disappointed...
While the similar bug bears were still present throughout the event (staff members in plain sight needlessly and reset of Scareactors whilst out of character), this can be forgiven as they were not so visible in every house, so to make point of them this time round would be unnecessary, so let's take a look at the mazes and Scarezones; 9 houses and 4 Scarezones in total:
American Horror Story: The maze itself focused on seasons 1, 3 and 5 of the popular TV franchise, with set and costume all on top form, as were the use of the scares in coalition with the dialogue taken from scenes in the episodes (although the out of character resets proved to be a little irritating). this to us seemed to be where most of the budget had gone towards for use of set design for this year, although, the same could also be argued for the next maze.
The Walking Dead: A VAST IMPROVEMENT ON 2014! With the biggest cliff-hanger in TV history since Dallas (personal opinion, not of Scaretour), Universal knew they had to make this house just as epic, and they certainly stepped up their game. All Scareactors showed true intensity when performing, even after coming through at a later time, the energy was still incredibly high. The motions themselves were the same as last year, but this time, they were working with the set to time the scares right. Certain sets were used again from 2014 (the use of the forest and strobe lighting to emphasise multiple walkers), but was still an effective scare while keeping to the story. Menacingly good fun.
The Exorcist: despite the animatronics unfortunately not working on first review, the actors were on point. A linear story rather than jumping between scenes with eye grabbing costumes. Our second walk through revealed not only additional set design, but also more detail in the costume (on advice of the team leader of the attraction, we visited this house first while there was still daylight and then at the very end of the evening).
Ghost Town- Legend of Lightning Gulch: the first original maze of the evening told the story of the gold rush in the 1800s and how greed corrupted the souls of the gold diggers. Was it scary? No, but it was highly entertaining…although one particular jump scare did make one of the team jump out of their skin. The effects used to make you feel like you were outside and not inside a giant sound studio (to give an example, multiple machines casting rain and wind were all used inside) were amazing, we have not experienced this calibre of effect inside before and were very impressed.
Lunatics Playground 3D: the Icon’s very own house in 3d. the outside of the attraction goes into further depth about Chance (2016 icon) and how she has taken over Jack the Clown’s twisted work, all displayed on Titantron as we were issued with our 3d glasses. While the house itself seemed very chaotic in nature, we didn’t feel much of a need to wear the glasses, in fact, whilst going through a second time, we found there was no difference as we took them off. A bright and colourful concept to match the mind of the Icon.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: sadly, but predictably underwhelming. When entering a house, knowing the main character wields a chainsaw, you would think that the chainsaws would be operational and actually in use rather than having just the sound of a chainsaw running in the background. Unfortunately, this is what the end result was for us when entering this house.
Halloween 2: Hell Comes To Haddonfield: very little in terms of scares have changed since the first Halloween Maze in 2014. The timings were the exact same, the reliance of soundtrack to scare were the exact same, the only difference in this house was the fact that the scenes were set from the second Halloween film, we even questioned at times if we were actually being scared by either an actor or an animatronic We came out wondering how the Scareactors would cope if the soundtrack timings were taken away from the actors? Would they still scare in the same way? We hoped not.
Tomb of the Ancients: another original from Universal. This house required a second visit, as we had arrived in the midst of a cast change, meaning not all of the actors were on set as we arrived. Upon our second visit, they certainly knew where and when to target us. It was clear that they were confident with every twist and turn and managed to get one of the team multiple times in the space of a few seconds! The wonderful guest led scare in this maze was in the form of hanging ropes. If guests pulled them, an air cannon would shoot out at the person either in front or behind them, although caution is advised due to the low hanging fishing wire that caught one of our team around the neck…we needed them to stay with us, not to remain as a permanent fixture to the house!
Krampus: if you haven’t seen the movie, this house would push you to pick up a copy, in fact, one of our team got a copy shortly after returning home because of this maze. Set and costume looked beautifully dangerous, with a dash of humour to throw you off just enough for the major scare to appear just in front of you. We ended all nights at this house because we knew the quality of this house was so good the first time, we were happy to end our experiences back here.
As for the scarezones, there were four listed, although, we did experience multiple areas with teams of chainsaws scattered around the parks that did not get a zone of their own, so we salute those teams who very skilfully herded us into the following areas:
Survive or Die: if you’ve ever wanted to experience the world of the movie “Mad Max” or the video game “Borderlands” this area is for you. Set with a post apocalyptic vibe, the three factions that roamed these areas (Wolves, Mothers, Dominion) each adopted their own scare tactic as you ventured through. If you were brave or stupid enough to join one of the factions, you were subjected to a mildly physical test (i.e. push ups etc), just be careful which hand signal you gave around which faction, they didn’t take too kindly to a wolf signal if you were in dominion town
Dead Man’s Wharf: the modern equivalent of Davey Jone’s Locker. While the set, music and costume were amazing, sadly, the actors scaring and dialogue were embarrassing…especially when said actor approaches one of our team and out of character tells us to move. He was on set in costume with nothing to be provoked by and he tells us to move. It was a hugely embarrassing encounter with this actor and a disgraceful display of shoddy performance. We don’t often say this, but we hope this particular gentleman doesn’t work for Universal again, as clearly, he was just there to pick up a cheque at the end of the day, rather than actually wanting to be there for his team or the event itself.
Lair of the Banshee: though short, this zone was teeming with Scareactors lurking within faux trees. Distressed looking make up as well as dishevelled clothing resulted in the best scare of the evening even though the set was minimal. Proof that you do not need much to achieve something great.
Vamp ’55: set in a 1950s all American college, the students and jocks either run for their lives or have already been taken over by rocker vampires. The Scarezone we were expecting to be the scariest, surprisingly was not, but it was still entertaining with much to see and to interact with. This zone to the team was more of a photo opportunity rather than hurry through to be scared by.
You Won’t Stand a Chance: the first Scarezone (or last depending on which way you were heading), with chance once again taking the lead. Her army of demented miscreants cause havoc in this enclosure while the icon herself takes the stage laughing on at the mayhem that lay before her. Great photo moments as well as some exciting scares in this area.
Universal has clearly taken note of where it faulted in 2014 and has raised the bar this year. They understand the needs of the fan and we in turn understand their methods of execution. While not all mazes were to our taste, it has certainly sparked our enthusiasm to return again for years to come, let’s hope it continues to grow for their 26th year of fear.
While the similar bug bears were still present throughout the event (staff members in plain sight needlessly and reset of Scareactors whilst out of character), this can be forgiven as they were not so visible in every house, so to make point of them this time round would be unnecessary, so let's take a look at the mazes and Scarezones; 9 houses and 4 Scarezones in total:
American Horror Story: The maze itself focused on seasons 1, 3 and 5 of the popular TV franchise, with set and costume all on top form, as were the use of the scares in coalition with the dialogue taken from scenes in the episodes (although the out of character resets proved to be a little irritating). this to us seemed to be where most of the budget had gone towards for use of set design for this year, although, the same could also be argued for the next maze.
The Walking Dead: A VAST IMPROVEMENT ON 2014! With the biggest cliff-hanger in TV history since Dallas (personal opinion, not of Scaretour), Universal knew they had to make this house just as epic, and they certainly stepped up their game. All Scareactors showed true intensity when performing, even after coming through at a later time, the energy was still incredibly high. The motions themselves were the same as last year, but this time, they were working with the set to time the scares right. Certain sets were used again from 2014 (the use of the forest and strobe lighting to emphasise multiple walkers), but was still an effective scare while keeping to the story. Menacingly good fun.
The Exorcist: despite the animatronics unfortunately not working on first review, the actors were on point. A linear story rather than jumping between scenes with eye grabbing costumes. Our second walk through revealed not only additional set design, but also more detail in the costume (on advice of the team leader of the attraction, we visited this house first while there was still daylight and then at the very end of the evening).
Ghost Town- Legend of Lightning Gulch: the first original maze of the evening told the story of the gold rush in the 1800s and how greed corrupted the souls of the gold diggers. Was it scary? No, but it was highly entertaining…although one particular jump scare did make one of the team jump out of their skin. The effects used to make you feel like you were outside and not inside a giant sound studio (to give an example, multiple machines casting rain and wind were all used inside) were amazing, we have not experienced this calibre of effect inside before and were very impressed.
Lunatics Playground 3D: the Icon’s very own house in 3d. the outside of the attraction goes into further depth about Chance (2016 icon) and how she has taken over Jack the Clown’s twisted work, all displayed on Titantron as we were issued with our 3d glasses. While the house itself seemed very chaotic in nature, we didn’t feel much of a need to wear the glasses, in fact, whilst going through a second time, we found there was no difference as we took them off. A bright and colourful concept to match the mind of the Icon.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: sadly, but predictably underwhelming. When entering a house, knowing the main character wields a chainsaw, you would think that the chainsaws would be operational and actually in use rather than having just the sound of a chainsaw running in the background. Unfortunately, this is what the end result was for us when entering this house.
Halloween 2: Hell Comes To Haddonfield: very little in terms of scares have changed since the first Halloween Maze in 2014. The timings were the exact same, the reliance of soundtrack to scare were the exact same, the only difference in this house was the fact that the scenes were set from the second Halloween film, we even questioned at times if we were actually being scared by either an actor or an animatronic We came out wondering how the Scareactors would cope if the soundtrack timings were taken away from the actors? Would they still scare in the same way? We hoped not.
Tomb of the Ancients: another original from Universal. This house required a second visit, as we had arrived in the midst of a cast change, meaning not all of the actors were on set as we arrived. Upon our second visit, they certainly knew where and when to target us. It was clear that they were confident with every twist and turn and managed to get one of the team multiple times in the space of a few seconds! The wonderful guest led scare in this maze was in the form of hanging ropes. If guests pulled them, an air cannon would shoot out at the person either in front or behind them, although caution is advised due to the low hanging fishing wire that caught one of our team around the neck…we needed them to stay with us, not to remain as a permanent fixture to the house!
Krampus: if you haven’t seen the movie, this house would push you to pick up a copy, in fact, one of our team got a copy shortly after returning home because of this maze. Set and costume looked beautifully dangerous, with a dash of humour to throw you off just enough for the major scare to appear just in front of you. We ended all nights at this house because we knew the quality of this house was so good the first time, we were happy to end our experiences back here.
As for the scarezones, there were four listed, although, we did experience multiple areas with teams of chainsaws scattered around the parks that did not get a zone of their own, so we salute those teams who very skilfully herded us into the following areas:
Survive or Die: if you’ve ever wanted to experience the world of the movie “Mad Max” or the video game “Borderlands” this area is for you. Set with a post apocalyptic vibe, the three factions that roamed these areas (Wolves, Mothers, Dominion) each adopted their own scare tactic as you ventured through. If you were brave or stupid enough to join one of the factions, you were subjected to a mildly physical test (i.e. push ups etc), just be careful which hand signal you gave around which faction, they didn’t take too kindly to a wolf signal if you were in dominion town
Dead Man’s Wharf: the modern equivalent of Davey Jone’s Locker. While the set, music and costume were amazing, sadly, the actors scaring and dialogue were embarrassing…especially when said actor approaches one of our team and out of character tells us to move. He was on set in costume with nothing to be provoked by and he tells us to move. It was a hugely embarrassing encounter with this actor and a disgraceful display of shoddy performance. We don’t often say this, but we hope this particular gentleman doesn’t work for Universal again, as clearly, he was just there to pick up a cheque at the end of the day, rather than actually wanting to be there for his team or the event itself.
Lair of the Banshee: though short, this zone was teeming with Scareactors lurking within faux trees. Distressed looking make up as well as dishevelled clothing resulted in the best scare of the evening even though the set was minimal. Proof that you do not need much to achieve something great.
Vamp ’55: set in a 1950s all American college, the students and jocks either run for their lives or have already been taken over by rocker vampires. The Scarezone we were expecting to be the scariest, surprisingly was not, but it was still entertaining with much to see and to interact with. This zone to the team was more of a photo opportunity rather than hurry through to be scared by.
You Won’t Stand a Chance: the first Scarezone (or last depending on which way you were heading), with chance once again taking the lead. Her army of demented miscreants cause havoc in this enclosure while the icon herself takes the stage laughing on at the mayhem that lay before her. Great photo moments as well as some exciting scares in this area.
Universal has clearly taken note of where it faulted in 2014 and has raised the bar this year. They understand the needs of the fan and we in turn understand their methods of execution. While not all mazes were to our taste, it has certainly sparked our enthusiasm to return again for years to come, let’s hope it continues to grow for their 26th year of fear.
Links:
Official Website www.halloweenhorrornights.com
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