6. AVP: Alien vs Predator 

Back in 2014, my second favorite maze was alien vs predator! The sets were awesome and the character designs were unbelievable. And of course, it has one of the best scenes that John Murdy and Chris Williams ever pulled off in HHN; the Alien Queen finale! But unfortunately, this was my least favorite maze in 2015 because it was the SAME...EXACT... THING!!! The only difference in this year's maze was that they added a new scare in the cop car...that's it! Everything else was just so predictable and boring, and I don't want a horror nights house to be either of those two things. The maze itself was awesome, but I would've preferred to see something different here.

Final Grade: D-

5. This Is the End 3D

When I first heard that this was going to be a house for horror nights this year, I thought it was just a sick prank. But no...it was real. I had low expectations for this one, but at the same time I tried to be optimistic about it. And when I finally walked through the maze...I actually had fun. Huh. I know most HHN fans hated this is the end last year but it's not all that bad. The facade did feel kinda cartoony but I thought Michael Cera twitching was a nice touch. When I walked in, it smelled like puke but it wasn't as bad as it was in Clowns 3D. James Franco and Seth Rogan covered in vomit also looked like a cartoon. The sets didn't look exactly like the rooms in the movie but I blame the 3D for that. The scares were so weak in this maze. You could totally see the demons right in front of you and they're not even scaring you, they're just waving their arms reaching out at you. The hallways in the house were just so unnecessary and it made the sets feel very lackluster and sloppy. It just has videos of James Franco and the gang from the movie and weird hipster junkie posters. And what's with all the fucking palm trees?!?! I know it's supposed to make me feel that I'm in Hollywood where James Franco lives but we don't need to see that! We're already actually in fucking Hollywood!! Anyway, the vibe of the house did make me feel like I was in a horror comedy maze. It had all the funny dialogue from the movie despite it being bleeped the f**k out. It also has the exorcism--oh sorry excuse me-- the "POSSESSION" of Jonah Hill which I thought was cool. My favorite scene in the maze was the welcome to heaven, motherf**kers room. Craig Robinson was pretending to giving me a fist pump, but when heaven turned into hell he tried to stab me with his pitchfork. LOL! When I went to hell, it was like a culmination of the all the 3D mazes that were ever in HHN. Demon statues from Black Sabbath. The shitty walls from Clowns. That room really bothered me. Overall, it's not the worst HHN maze IMO *cough "Face Off: In The Flesh" cough cough*. It does have a lot of flaws, but it didn't ruin my experience while going through this house. 

Final Grade: D+

4. Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness 

I like the idea of having a Guillermo del Toro maze in HHN, but I really wasn't looking forward to this one. The facade was really lame and I hate how it said the title of the movie. It was making it obvious that this was a promotional maze and that made me cringe a bit. When I walked into this house, I noticed that there was a shitload of black transition walls with strings all over. Other than that, the sets were beautiful! The detail in this maze was on point and I give Murdy and Del Toro props for that. The scares here were as weak as the ones in This is the End. The character design was creepy, but it didn't have me running through out the maze. The ending was kind of underwhelming. It was just red clay with the smell of mothballs. I went through this before I watched the movie. After I finally watched it, I thought to myself it was just like the maze; beautiful to look at, but very predictable and boring. This didn't disappoint me because I didn't have high expectations but I still thought it was pretty weak. Walking through this maze is like dating a hot girl with an uninteresting personality. 

Final Grade: C+

3. The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far 

It's at this point in time that we were all tired of this damn property. "2012: Very awesome, 2013: This was also kinda cool, 2014: Meh, I don't like it, 2015: Best one since 2012!" The only TWD mazes I've been in were the 2014 and 2015 ones. Oh, and the permanent daytime attraction. The facade for this maze was astounding and it felt really gargantuan! As soon as I walked into Terminus, I smelled barbecue! That scene with the throat slicing was really great and a good distraction for a good scare. The actors who played the cannibals of Terminus were really into it and all the Terminus scenes felt really intense. Of course the walkers are doing their own thing and trying to eat you. But the amount of them is what really sells to me that it was like I was in a real zombie infestation. In 2014, they promised more dead than ever. But last year they had more walkers here than in 2014's maze and scare zone combined! The truck scene at the end really had me in an intense and claustrophobic situation. It was a great room with hanging bodies and real walkers and I didn't know which was which. I do have some complaints about this maze. Not every set was impressive, there were a couple of weak rooms like the front the church and the cardboard box infested solar energy factory hallways. And again, it's the Walking Dead! I would very much appreciate it for John Murdy to get his hands on other television properties. But overall, this was a good maze and I liked the scares, energy, and the sets.

Final Grade: B+

2. Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home 

I was looking forward to this maze. I'm not a big Michael Myers fan but I dig him. The facade was brilliant and I loved seeing little Mikey killing his sister. The beginning scene was very ominous and when I saw little Mikey staring at me, it creeped me out a little. The room with the dead dog was neat and it smelled pretty bad as it should have. The thing that I loved most about this maze was that it captured the spirit of the film very well. Not just the film but the character of Michael Myers himself. I really felt like he was trying to kill us. The sets were amazing and were just like the movie. The only thing that had me bothered were those god damn WALLPAPER LEAF HEDGES!! It took me out of the experience and it annoyed the shit out of me! I fucking hated that shit! I'm sorry for raging about that one scene but it just bothered me so much! I thought I wasn't gonna get any scares because there was a couple in front of us that got all the scares in the first 1/3 of the maze. But after that there were trick-or-treaters and Michael Myers popping out left and right! The scare that got me the most was in a transition black wall scene. I was expecting a scare, but I didn't know when it was going to happen. The ending was really amazing and intense. It was meant to represent that you can't kill the boogeyman. It was handled perfectly and the scares were so good. I couldn't tell which Michael was real or just a dummy. This entire maze was so good and I was terrified while going through Michael Myers Comes Home.

Final Grade: A-

1. Insidious: Return to the Further 

Out of all the years that I've been attending HHN, no maze is more petrifying than Insidious: Return to the Further! I've never been to Back in Business as other people say that it was the scariest maze ever. I can't imagine what that house was like if it was scarier than this! The facade was just like the house in the movie and as soon as I heard that eerie music I ran into this maze just to get it over with. The sets were really great and the feel in every room felt very menacing and dark and well...insidious! There was barely any fog but I thought that was good not having too much of it. The scares were really intense and very unpredictable! That's what I loved most about this maze. This is how every HHN maze is supposed to be! I don't think any house can ever top the scares that Return to the Further had. Every scare made me feel like I was going to die. In a typical HHN maze, there are some rooms that have a curtain that's easy to spot and you know that's there is an actor behind it waiting to scare you. The curtains in the maze either blend in with the environment or are totally acceptable with a good trigger scare. Some of the scares don't come from a curtain, they get you from a wall or from above or pretending to be a dummy. Another redeeming quality from this maze is the transition walls. The black walls work well in this house because the further from the insidious trilogy is just nothing but darkness, fog, and a feeling of dread. The ending was a perfect finale for a trilogy house. You have all the three main antagonists from the films and they're all scaring you in Elise's seance room. I'm seriously trying to think of a flaw that this maze has. Hmmm...Uhhh...the whole maze smelled like wood...I guess. This maze was completely flawless! I absolutely loved this maze because it genuinely frightened me and so far no other maze has done that. I can't wait to see an Insidious 4 maze in the future.This is my favorite HHN maze ever, hands down!

Final Grade: A+

Terror Tram: Survive the Purge 

This was a fairly good tram and it was definitely better than the 2014 one. When you have a bunch of mindless walkers trying to eat you there's not much of a sense of danger and intensity. But with human purgers, you feel like you're a real target and these sadistic Americans want to really slaughter you. The most terrifying thing about that terror tram was the dirt hill, because there's nothing scarier than more unnecessary walking. Despite it having a great cast of killers and freaks, I feel like there's actually no terror in this. And I had the same issue with 2014. It's like "Oh look the purge is happening and now we're going to kill you! Rawr!" Also, even though it's better than 2014, this tram felt so similar to the walking dead one; "There's chainsaw people who want to kill you in Whoville. You go to Bates Motel and see corpses on the floor. You walk up that god forsaken hill. You go to a little mini maze. You're at War of the Worlds. You go in another mini maze. Chainsaws again. End of tram. Have a wonderful night!" Thank god the route changed this year because I want to get scared, not exercise. But all that aside, I had some good scares here and the actors were really having fun with their roles.

Final Grade: C

Scare Zones:

In 2014, the scare zones were a lot of fun but I didn't really much care for them that much because they were all kind of weak. The zones in 2015 were no exception. I'm not really going into full detail about the zones, I'll just be giving these a grade and move on.

Corpz:C-

Dark Christmas: B-

Exterminatorz: A-

The Purge: A-

Jabbawockeez:

Oh boy! People in the HHN community did not react well to this when it was first announced. I didn't rage when it was announced, I just didn't care for it. But I saw the show anyway and I gotta say, the Jabbawockeez are really talented but...why is this here? This show was in Halloween Horror Nights, but I did not see Halloween, I did not see Horror, and I didn't realize I was watching this at Night. With Bill and Ted they called their show an Excellent Halloween Adventure so they at least tried to remind us that we were in HHN. The Jabbawockeez could've at least danced to Halloween music in the show to have a horror nights vibe to it. But they didn't, and I had no idea why! The show itself was pretty good. I thought it was just going to be a random compilation of dancing, but it had an actual story and it's pretty fitting for the kind of dance group they are. They even had some comedy in this and that really surprised me. The Deez Nuts reference had me dying because it was so unexpected and stupid. I know it's idiotic but that's what makes it work for a show like this. I know a lot of people in the HHN community didn't enjoy this show but that's okay, we all have different opinions. I thought it was a great show but I would have preferred to see something else.

Final Grade: B

Right before I left the park, there was the chainsaw chase out happening like always. But this one was a very special chase out. Mr. John Murdy himself was standing in front of a bunch of scare actors that were giving him a special thanks for HHN 2015. They were chanting and yelling and holding up their weapons. It was really touching and sadistic at the same time. That was the first time I saw John Murdy in person and it was so cool!  I like his work and I noticed that he likes to take risks. Not all of them went so well like This is the End or Universal's Monsters Remix, but I appreciate that he wants to tackle on properties so he can do something creative or imaginative with them. He is very passionate about his work and I hope the next future creative director is like this. So overall, the entire event was really good and I would have to say that this was a bit better than HHN 2014. It had stronger mazes, a better terror tram, and an enjoyable show. I had a blast last year and I hope the upcoming years in the future will be even better!

HHN Hollywood 2015 gets an A-!

That concludes my review for the 2015 event! This is my first review for this site so if guys have any suggestions on what else I should do or how I could improve, please let me know as I get ready for my review of HHN Hollywood 2016. Thanks for reading and I hope you guys have a wonderful day!

HHN 2015 review: (cont) Scarezones, Terror Tram and overall thoughts on this year
Scarezones:
Exterminatorz: 9/10 = I loved the vibe, loved the scareactor designs, loved the energy in this scarezone, loved the street decor.. My only gripe was the lack of Icon/barker character.. Yes, I know what happened last year with The Purge Auctioneer.  Still, I loved this scarezone and I wouldn't mind an Exterminatorz maze at some point
Dark Christmas: 10 OUT OF FREAKING 10 = I STILL LOVE THIS SCAREZONE!! I spent quite a bit of time just walking up and down this scarezone, taking in the evil Christmas/Krampus vibe.. This better get a maze at some point! Preferably involving a gothic cathedral decked out with Christmas stainglass windows as the facade .
Corpz: 9/10 = At first, I thought this was a bit of a letdown compared to The Phantom of the Opera-esque Mask-A-Raid scarezone last year which I really, really liked, but the more I walked through Corpz, the more I dug the World War I vibe and I actually wouldn't mind seeing a Corpz maze similar to HHN Orlando's Nightingales: Blood Prey
and this is going to be a double review..
The Purge: Urban Nightmare/Terror Tram: Survive The Purge: 10/10 (counting them both together since they're both Purge themed) = The Purge: Urban Nightmare on the NYC Metro Sets was one of the grittiest and most intense scarezones I ever walked through.. every corner of the backlot sets, there were Purgers on the prowl.. Terror Tram: Survive The Purge was one of the better Terror Trams I've seen at HHN thus far.. I really loved the set-up (going to the Purge party) and especially the video.. It was.. wait for it... FABULOUS-ly done and really set the mood for what we would face on the Terror Tram.. the Tram itself was very good, same route but still, the cast gave it their all and I got some good scares both times I did it.. really good Tram this year.
I did not do the Jabbawockeez dance show.. no offense to them or their fans, I've seen them on YouTube and they are good at what they do, I respect their talent as dancers, but.. I really miss the days of shows like Bill and Ted and Rocky Horror Picture Show and even Chucky's Insult Emporium.. Hopefully someday we'll get a show along those lines again or even one similar to HHN Orlando's The Carnage Returns..
Overall thoughts on this year/wishes for next year: 2015 was a year I went into with slightly lowered expectations based on all the returning content but I knew that the HHN design team would try their best to scare me and put on a good event.. and I have to say this was one of their better years content-wise... I was especially impressed by my last visit on Friday where every maze, scarezone and Tram cast was on their A+ game and out for those final drops of blood before the season ended.. And now.. 2016 is going to be interesting because as we all know, a boy wizard by the name of Harry Potter is setting up shop at Universal and bringing the village of Hogsmeade and his Forbidden Journey to Universal Studios Hollywood.. How this will affect HHN, no one knows for sure.. And as far as wishful thinking for next year, I really want Freddy Vs. Jason, American Horror Story, The Conjuring, Dark Christmas, maybe a fairy tales maze similar to Orlando's Asylum In Wonderland and a proper Universal Classic Monsters maze that celebrates the original Monsters that invented the horror movie.

Okay I thought it's time to do my review as an HHN veteran, I've been going 2006 when I was 16 and honestly believe this is officially a crossroads for HHNH in a lot of ways so here we go.

Grind Goes To James Franco's Party? Or Jabbawokeez Not Far!

First off bizarre thing if anyone went last night let me know if you experienced this too, we somehow did not pay for parking. We left around 1:40 and got off the 101 around 2:20 and with the construction going on they led us straight into the JP structure without going thru a parking booth we were surprised and even checked to see if the other cars had their parking receipt some did and some did not we ask the next person we saw who turned out to be a park employee and he said they might of confused us for employees but others guests were parking so we just left it as is. HEY free parking right?

CityWalk Deals & Merch

So we got to spend a little time around city walk before we had to line up at security so we stopped and ate I used my HHN coupon for buy one get free at subway personally I kinda wish they would extend the deal more to the fast food locations instead of mostly the big restaurant but ehh that's just me. 

I went to the Universal store to pick up whatever merch I was gonna buy first off Merch sucked this year... BIG TIME. The only thing that made up for it was the glow in the dark shirt which is one of the cooler things I saw... If I had the cash I would of gotten the hoodie and the pin as well. The Halloween lanyard was cool as well and I can appreciate it was not Walking Dead again but I more of a Friday the 13th guy. Besides that the merch was some of the worst I've seen, a lot was missing as far as selection (mugs, tumbler, shooters, ect.) and designs were questionable especially the "Three wolf shirt" Insidious shirt... wtf.

Park Employees

First I want  to take the time out and acknowledge how awesome the park employees are not once did I come across someone who seemed to hate their job. Really lovely and fun people to talk to and are always helpful. You guys are the real MVP.

Early Entry

YES! This is how it should be done really helps hardcore fans get everything done I know it had it's bugs at first but last night it work beautifully. Got some rides out of the way for an hour and lined up for TWD all before 6:15.

The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far

The first maze of the day  night and honestly the best one of the night. First off the minute you walk in you could not tell that it was sunny outside, really put you in the mood, Some points were even pitch black (I'm assuming these were the black wall zones) Honestly if the black hallways are pitch black dark and you can't see anything... I don't mind it in fact I welcome it, it really did make me feel uncomfortable and paranoid. The scare actor in this maze were the best! one of the most aggressive group I've seen enough to put in my book with the likes of Into The Further, and Back In Business. Shout out the Walkers in the church scene you guys got me the best I commend you guys on blending in with the static walkers perfectly. The only thing that killed it a bit was the 3rd year in of row of the walker wall which I saw no need for. I will say as far as material I feel like this could of really waited until this year to makes sense of the Wolves and Alexandria instead of feeling a showcase of 3 episodes but regardless this is one of my new favorites and one of my top favorite casts and best Walking Dead maze! Way to knock it out of the park.

Environment: 8/10

Facade: 8/10

Cast:10/10 (I wish I could give you guys 20/10)

Scares: 10/10

Award: Best Cast

Overall Grade: A++

So after another ride on Transformers and The Mummy it was barely 7:00 so since it seemed everyone seen scare patrol at Insidious around 7:15 we decided to hit This Is The End next.

This Is The End: 3D

I honestly feel a lot of you guys went it to this maze not willing to give it a chance. One of the reason I did not believe this was a maze so much was the fact I knew for it to be good they would have to take a lot of liberties which unfortunately they did not. There was a lot of things that could of done better. That being said I don't think it deserve that slack it's been getting (dodge tomatoes) wait wait put down your torches and pitchforks I'm not saying this was one of the best mazes I'm saying it's not at the complete bottom it's floater, I hold it higher regards than Clowns 3D or Saw Is The Law but it not by far a good maze but I had fun and like it for what it was worth. The scare actors were great here even Craig Robinson was scaring people when the room would turn into hell he would grab a pitch fork and put in your face. The demon Jonah was great and really lively he looked at us as if he was asking us when the line "Is it really that compelling" that was a great touch at least made us feeling like we were part of that scene. The Michael Cera was wiggling so that was cool, and the demon puppets seem like they were having fun with it more than just going back and forth. I like the 3D in way better than Clowns or Black Sabbath and is getting more into how it was in HOTC... Trippy. Which I think is how it should be. The Boo Holes why were they such a mess? I also feel they were missing an opportunity with the facade with the winged demon. Also random palm tree in middle of the maze is random. To END this... it just is what is.

PS: I think that whole theory that Murdy only did this is the end to use an effect he wanted to use in an Exorcist Maze was complete bull unless I miss a chunk of the movie where it got all neon colored and Jonah Hill cameoed. 

Environment: 6/10

Facade: 5/10

Cast: 9/10

Scares: 2/10

Award: Cast had more fun with their rolls/Return to Form with 3D

Overall grade: C-/D+

Insidious: Return To The Further

Not gonna lie was looking forward to this the most but it did not live up to my hype. First Tucker and Specs should just be at HHN every year. They complimented my beard and acknowledge my friend's wrestling (don't ask me why she wore a stone cold shirt) and told her that if any ghost show up to call out for John Cena... This was a great bit! now getting into the house had me with some great nostalgia but for the first half it was more or less the same thing with same gags but it picked up in the further, I loved how they pulled off the "He has baby" gag with the spotlight and black wall pretty damn good, and they got me a few times in the fog (Was working btw) with the further ghosts pretending to be static. I love how camouflaged the boo holes were you could not tell what was a door or not then bam... they get you the first Man who can't breathe got me good from above but the rest were kind all out of their boo holes at the same time so it kind threw me off. Over all good maze just not as intense as Into The Further.

Environment:   8/10

Facade: 9/10

Cast: 8/10

Scares: 7/10

Award: Well hidden boo holes/ Tucker and Specs

Overall Grade: A-

Scare Patrol

Specs told us Scare patrol came out normally around 7:30  but we did not see them around so we decided to hit the backlot mazes and return to Insidious later hoping the Scare patrol would be so as we were walking to the the tram. Guess what! The Scare Patrol were setting up in front of the This Is The End facade ask for the invite to the party told them "Housewarming" and got our invites... so we head to the backlot and line up for Crimson Peak and wouldn't you know it... another group of Scare Patrol dancing away to "Backstreet's Back" how appropriate. So in the tune to "Backstreet's Back" we asked "Where is our invite". Told them the password and grabbed our second invite! Luck was on our side that night! BTW Franco Invites great free keepsake I thank Murdy for continuously doing this for us hardcore fans.

The Purge: Suburban Nightmare & Tram To Backlot

Let's rewind 15 minutes So after getting our first Franco Invites we got to bored front on the tram once again the employees are always awesome had a few laugh with the girls directing people on the tram with mic. We got on and our guide Devon asked us what we had and told her invites for James Franco's House Party, when she replied "That's cool I'm sure nothing could go wrong there." and we joked about Michael Cera being there and how much of an asshole he is when he was on coke... great times Devon was awesome! But as we got off into the Purge for some reason seemed empty, the only scare actors out were two of Young Ghoul's gang and they were not moving around much or doing anything for that matter but once we got into the metro sets Big Daddy and his men, and Purge Victims were lively and in your face made up for the first half.

Overall Grade: D+

Crimson Peak: Maze Of Madness

A maze about nothing... (que Seinfeld theme) Baseing a maze entirely on the trailer was a very odd choice especially a Del Toro movie I'm not gonna lie I was lost on what was going on the whole damn time. That being said damn I loved this maze... sets were beautiful despite how lackluster the facade was. The creature design the interior were all just gorgeous and I was targeted a lot in this maze for some reason especially by the black and red ghosts. The entrance to Crimson Peak (the Mansion)  was incredible and the guy who blended into the curtains was awesome, cast was great got a few scares in here besides one awkward scare when the Red Ghost came prematurely and just looked at us like uhhh and ran back into the boo hole. 

Environment: 10/10

Facade: 6/10

Cast: 9/10

Scares: 9/10

Award: Beautifull Sets

Overall Grade: A-

AVP: Alien Vs. Predator 

Meh same everything! I mean still good maze but it did nothing for me to be honest this time around but I appreciate Murdy's honesty about it's reason for coming back so I'll give it a fair assessment. Though I will say the cast were better last they seemed very sluggish this year besides the face hugger scare actors.

Environment: 10/10

Facade: 10/10

Cast: 5/10

Scares: 4/10

Overall: C+

Terror Tram: Survive The Purge

Finally no more Walking Dead... well at least not on the Terror Tram, and let me say this this is one of the better ones in a while not up to par with the old school "Icon" Terror Trams but was still better than the last 3 Invaded Terror Trams not too much to talk about as far as sets same thing just different skins but I will yeah maybe the path can't change but I feel like it needs new life breathed into next year to get rid of this stale stigma it has with us hardcore fans. Cast was great loved the lady at the loading when came back we told her "You lied there were no arts and crafts" and she replied "Whatever do you mean.. did you make friendships bracelets?" One incident that happened is why I have a problem with most guests and they seem to be the same type of people D-bags who try to act like the coolest shit since ice one of the purgers at the fence with the bat did his fake swing gag and the guy hit the bat out of his hand my friend told him he dropped his bat and people just kept walking over it. I tried giving it back to him but he ran and snagged it (staying in character) good on you bro! I just hate guy who are d-bags to scare actors. But back to it, the tram was pretty good but I do feel we need a proper ending to the tram again.

Cast: 10/10

Scares: 7/10

Story/Theme: 7/10

Overall Grade: B+

Springfield USA & Krusty Burger 

I have not been to the park since last year where the whole park was just a maze of "Pardon our Stardust" walls but with Springfield open and Harry Potter World almost done the park looks completely different and bigger! First note though I love how they had the Treehouse of Terror Theme playing was very cool everything was cool and all the workers were lively and funny. I appreciate how the menus monitors were halloweenish. I had my first Krusty Burger guys! woo hoo! anyways everything is looking great and kinda helped me make up my mind on getting an annual pass. But PSA to other please don't be a d-bag and pick up your trash and tray as you leave especially when it as pack as horror nights you wouldn't believed how trashed Moe's was.

Jabbawokeez

Jabba Whaties?

Before I get into first off I acknowledge that they are good at what they do and do have fans. Also I seen the show to be fair before I put the final nail in the coffin hell maybe I would of liked it live... annnnnnd I still f*cken hate them. Look personally I think the notion of professional dance crews are f'en lame not to say I hate dance routine just think this is a product of the 80's that should of stayed there let alone add shitty club music. The only good songs were Boyz in the Hood and California Love but both I had the feeling were pandering to Straight outta Compton being released and to kiss our ass as California (face it so cal is the place that gets excited when that song gets played) so over all music sucked big time. Yeah I'm more of an emo/punk rock type of guy but I do have a wide selection of music taste ranging into electronic, pop, and rap, but I can not stand club music this is not what I come to HHN for and The Nae Nae song does not belong. I've seen everywhere "oh I like the story and it was funny." I'm sorry but realistically a brief clip of one of them falling asleep and waking with segments of nonsensical mime dancing is a plot or storyline. Basicly They are glorified mimes at the end of the day and the cherry on top of the sh*t pile is they did even attempt to at least make it halloween themed yeah you could argue that B&T was not either but at least it was entertaining and was a staple of HHN. Don't get me on the crowd it dragged in because everyone who was acting like an idiot had Jabbawokeez merch these girls decided to stop the flow of traffic outside castle theater by the Jabbawokeez merch stand because the nae nae song came on and did (and I'm not kidding you) the full dance in the middle of the crowd until some great citizen yelled stop dancing I'm losing brain cells at which point they stopped and the crowd applauded the guy. Look no offense if you are a fan but they do not belong at horror nights and if they do decide to do something related please go with at least Villain's Academy who tend to horror related routines. But the fun doesn't end there guys but I'll get to that soon.

Overall Grade: F

Exterminatorz

Great concept truly Murdy at his best. Loved the sets and the added voice of the leader threatening humans perfect. My favorite street actors this year and and in a while. Loved the Insect Spray gag got sprayed by one of them did realize they actually sprayed. The only thing was that my favorite Scare Actor (the Rat Leader with the Dreads) who was not on stilts for some reason was obviously supposed to be the barker this year this was just a sad afterthought.

Overall Grade: A

Dark Christmas

Second year and I have to say was better the first year... I feel like there were more characters last year and again no stilts? I will say Yeti was a nice touch. Also Perverted Evil Santa was funny.

Overall Grade: B

So we walked into Minion Mayhem (Always great) talked to my friend who worked there and took a small break in fron of Gru's cafe. My brother decided to go play the carnival games so I walked to the bathroom in front of the globe theater real quick I returned in shcok to see my brother holding the biggest Unicorn you can win, he won the fricken thing first try. So needless the whole damn night we heard "IT'S So FLUFFY" a million times and a million girls stopped to take pictures with him (That rat bastard lol) but what made up for this was the fact that it made him a target for scare actors and it was stabbed a lot the rest of the night haha.

Corpz

The Loser from last year finally got it's due and I'm gonna say not bad. I do feel it's time to stop relying too much on making that scare zone french every year but the characters were well designed and the background noises added to the experience. Scare actors were great too each and everyone of them stabbed my brother's unicorn and I watched a soldier chase around a girl for 10 in a circle. Good Stuff

B+

So An incident happen and wanted to know if anyone knew what happened around 11ish we were by the lard lad donuts waiting for my friends to get a donut so me and my brother were hanging out by wigam when some dude slams into me knocking my monster can out of my hand into another guy, the guy was running away from security and police. I yelled some pretty insulting things at him and asked the guy who got hit by my can if he was okay all I know is the guy was in a white shirt and was carrying a (I sh*t you not) a jabbawokeez merch bag which dropped by shrek 4D someone in the crowd said he hit a scare actor but IDK because he ran from where the simpsons ride was. But at least they were giving out free coke zero at the Jack FM tent so yeah! although someone did get mad that they were not alcohol shots and guess what he was wearing... go on you know.

Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home

My gut feeling was right about this it was more or less the same maze as 2009 with a few questionable choices but first it's story time and my title for this thread was not just to be cute.

The whole night me and my group kept making jokes about Jabawokeez and while in line for Halloween  there was this tall guy talking to my brother about his unicorn (the more I say it the more ridiculous it sounds) well after a while a they got awkwardly quite as the jokes went on until my friend's lady friend who has seen them live and for some reason knows what they look like without their masks whispers to us "That's The Jabbawokeez" honestly I felt so bad but in my head I was laughing non stop.

Now back to the maze I did dig the first room with Michael on top of the stair but to be honest the facade seemed super small compared to the last Halloween maze all the actors were great though I watched a trick r treater point out my brother's Unicorn (weird seriously) to Michael. One thing I do not get is why they used the pardon our star dust walls for the hedge scene I mean I seen those exact same bush walls all over the damn park I could not get over that. Honestly if they can only get the rights to the first and third one why do it again?

Environment: 5/10

Facade 6/10

Cast: 8/10

Scares: 7/10

Award: Michael Myers Stabbing a Unicorn...wait did Rob Zombie write this?

Overall C+

Chainsaw Chaseout

Chainsaw Chase out or as it was called this year the mass castration! seriously they all aim there chainsaws at everyone's dicks it was pretty damn funny. I had not got a chance to see this in year so with the crowds being low this year and finishing up everything pretty much early hit JP on last time and went and chilled in front of the Potter store and watched the chaos epic as always funny how many girls collapse on the floor during this. The guys were awesome and super energetic I got some great video I'll try to share with you guys soon.

Okay now I'm gonna share something with you guys that really did offend me as a paying customer, a guests of horror nights since it resurrected in 2006 and a hardcore and loyal fan of Halloween Horror Nights I was looking for the rest of my group after the chase out and ran in to survey people who asked a guy next to me if he wanted to do the survey and win which he said no then I said I'll do to which the girl said how old are you "25" I said and just as she wrote it down and was about to ask me if I had any family who worked for Universal the guy stops and say "Sorry you're too old our target audience is 17 to 24 or else you'd be perfect" I was like okay left found my friends and headed when another girl asked us to take the survey in which I told her what the other guy said. she says she always does the surveys and the target age group is normally 18-30 (which I have heard before) and that guy came back and said that now it's 17 to 24 in which case my brother said he was 20 so they took him after he gave his input in the VIP lounge as we were walking out (we were very verbal about our distaste of Jabbawokeez. Despite overhearing the phrase "Now find someone with Jabbawokeez merch and ask them to do the survey" What pissed me off is that they say this is an adult event an alienate adults then wonder why they get sued so much. I don't know that ticked me off.

Over all I think this has been the weakest year content wise and felt very devoid of Murdy's personal touch and I feel like the event is at a crossroads tickets are not selling like years before and a lot of the park just felt like it was just Universal at night I'll post some improvements and stuff I think should be made but as for now I typed myself into a coma. But overall Still had fun.

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

So far I have been through every house at least twice except for Halloween which I have not been through yet, nor the Terror Tram, which I have no desire to see at all (unless someone tells me I HAVE to see it this year because...)

Early Entry impressions:

On opening night, the early entry was a total mess.  I had no idea which houses were open for early entry, so I had no idea where to go.  Few employees know what was going on, either.  Finally figured out that I needed to go to lower lot.  I chose to queue up for Insidious over Walking Dead, because, well....Walking Dead.  They opened up the house a bit earlier than planned so I got through Insidious quickly.  Bot now the line for Walking Dead was 75 minutes.  This was still BEFORE the event officially opened.  So I decided to sit through the WD line because Insidious was also a 75 min wait.  What I SHOULD have done was queued up for one of the other houses that would open in 15 min time, but that was anything but intuitive.  

The second visit for Early Entry was much smoother.  I queued up for Walking Dead this time and instead of queuing for Insidious afterward, I went to This is the End and then the Backlot tram.  Doing this I was able to see AVP and then Crimson Peak (each twice).  All within 30 minutes of park opening.  By then all the houses were slammed.

So, Early entry does work and is a great idea.  You just need to figure out how to do it to maximize benefit.  Again, here's the procedure I recommend:

• Arrive super early and queue up for EITHER WD or Insidious.
• After you exit, queue up for TITE.
• After you exit, queue up for Backlot Tram
• Backlot lines should be 10 min max for the next 30 min, so do AVP and Crimson Peak till you're sick of them  (once each should do it).
• After coming back to lower lot, Insidious and WD will still be slammed.  TITE may have a small wait.  Halloween will be extra-slammed.  Terror Tram is probably best bet.
• This will leave you still needing to do missing lower lot house (WD or Insidious) and Halloween.  The latter will definitely clear up toward the end of the evening.

[EDIT: On third visit early entry continued to be working very good.  They now open the entire lower lot, allowing you to go on JP, Mummy and Transformers while you wait.  They also open up TWD and Insidious much earlier, I still recommend my same strategy: Hit one of the two houses, then take the tram to the backlot unless the other house has a very small wait.]

The Houses:

Crimson Peak (0/5):  We are sadly relegated to 100% IP houses this year.  Which means we experienced pretty much everything long before we set foot inside the park.  The exception being Crimson Peak, which none of us had seen.  One of the MAJOR gripes I have with IP houses is that there is a complete lack of actual creativity due to the fact that all A&D is doing is copying as best they can specific scenes from a movie.  It's like calling a computer scanned and printed version of Mona Lisa "art" because it's the Mona Lisa.  Crimson Peak is the perfect example of what is wrong with IP houses.  Since none of us saw the movie before going in, I want you to answer these questions:

• After having been through Crimson Peak, did you learn anything new about the plot?  Do you even know the plot?
• Do you want to see the movie more than ever now?
• Aside from having nice sets, did the house really convey a story, or did it just seem to present snapshots of random things?
• On the tram ride over, we were told that the central star of the film was the house itself.  Did the house DO anything to make you feel like it was alive?

For me, the answer to all of these are a resounding NO.  I have no idea what the movie is about NOR do I want to see it more.  In fact, because it was so disjointed yet evidently blessed by Guillermo, I have LESS of a desire now to see it.  If he thinks this is an accurate representation of the movie, it's a movie I have no interest in.  But what about IP houses based on IP we have all seen?  To that I have the following question: Do you REALLY stand in the queue line saying to yourself "Gee, I hope they have that scene were <this happens>"?  If so, I am slowly shaking my head and doing a facepalm.  Is it not much scarier to walk into a dark building having NO IDEA what you are going to experience other than a vague theme?  That is the problem of IP in a nutshell.  

To me, the Crimson Peak house is pretty much Dracula Untold with a better facade. I had no idea what either one was supposed to be about.

[EDIT: Still no idea what the hell this house is supposed to be, or the theme of Crimson Peak.  Even as a generic "haunted house" this thing sucks.]

Insidious (3.5/5): I know this was a fan favorite, but I was always neutral on the idea of Insidious as a house.  It was just OK to me.  The first year had too many dark hallways with nothing going on.  The Red Faced Demon lair was nice.  The second year was more of the same.  The third was even more of the same.    So, it sounds like I really didn't like the house, yet I give it 3.5 stars.  I do this for two reasons:  First, the Wheezing Demon in the middle of the house was really a well done creepy character.  I have not seen Insidious 3, so I have no idea who he is.  But he was sufficiently creepy.  [edit] Second, in comparison to Hollywood's take, the Orlando version of the house nowhere near as good.  Orlando's came across as a series of three tiny houses, each representing the three chapters of Insidious.  The rooms they had were highly disjointed, and any one was no where near as well done than Hollywood's.  The demon lair was just plain bad compared to Hollywood's.  This is really rare, as I almost always give the nod to Orlando when both coasts present the same IP.  Case in point - AWIL was great in Orlando and terrible in Hollywood.  So understand I'm not giving this a 3.5 because I thought it was great.  I'm trying to pull generosity out of my butt for the Hollywood event this year because it was on a whole dreadfully bad.

[EDIT: I finally saw Inisidious 3 since going last, and realized I got all of the scenes messed up as to which was chapter 1, 2, or 3.  The guy I called the Wheezing Demon in the middle of the maze, is the "He's got your baby" guy who we see for a total of 5 seconds in Chapter 1.  Still the best part of the house.  So clearly I also didn't realize that Hollywood was also doing all three chapters this year. Even so, Hollywood's was more well done than Orlando's.]

Walking Dead (3.5/5):  Surprise!  This house didn't suck!  I am amazed I am saying this. I guess it proves that if you try the same carnival game enough times, you'll eventually win.  Who would have thought that such a slow season would result in a not-awful house?  This is another example of how much better the Hollywood version of something was than the Orlando version.  In Orlando the revolving door scene was static and you walked through it.  In Hollywood, one scareactor controls a swarm of walkers - I really thought that was ingenious.  Also in Orlando they "pulled off" the flooded food bank by having walkers in Jacuzzis.  It was terribly cheesy and awful.  Hollywood gets points for not trying something so stupid.  I normally applaud when events push the envelope and the Jacuzzi idea sounded good on paper but they should have realized their mistake and pulled it. 

This is the End (3/5): I went through the house opening night having not seen the movie.  I had no idea what the *&^@ I was looking at.  It was a terrible mess.  I then saw the movie on Vudu, and liked the movie.  Still thought the house was woefully bad.  WWE-Undertaker-from-2000 bad.  Then I gave it some thought and tried to cut it some slack.  There were slightly humorous parts.  And it was the first attempt at a comedy house.  Except that it wasn't.  Clowns 3D was the first humor house.  And it was MUCH better, so I took away the slack I cut it, and we're back in Undertaker territory.  I really don't know what to say about this thing.  It tells a story - unlike Crimson Peak.  It doesn't really try to be faithful to the movie, so it's hard to call this hardcore IP.  But the 3D is really really bad, and there is a lot of dead space going on.  it's pretty edgy at the end for an HHN house, so I give it that - plus it deviates wildly from the movie at the end, so I give it that.  It's IP with very loose handcuffs.  I guess this is what we would get if they ever did Killer Clowns from Outer Space (please don't, John).  I'm at such opposite extremes on this one that I'll just place the score in the middle and give it a nudge upward, because it confused me so much.

[EDIT: I ended up going through this house about 10 times this year - ONLY so I could get the damned James Franco party flyer.  The Scare Patrol was never there.  Fortunately the wait was never more than 5 min.  If you have not gotten your flyer yet, here's a good strategy to find the Scare Patrol:  They do not show up in the lower lot until about 7:15.  Once there, they rotate among TITE, TWD and Insidious.  I do not think they go to the backlot.  They stay at one site for about 15 min, and then 10 min to get to the next site.  They also have a "lunch break".  ALWAYS feel free to ask an employee at the line entrance if they know if the Scare Squad is currently at that house.  It is most difficult to find them at TITE, because they are hidden in the back, and the line has to have a long enough wait to reach their station.  Also, since they enter TITE queue from the exit, employees at the front have no idea if they are there.  Better to go around the back (near JP) and ask the employee there if they are in the queue.  For Insidious, go to the exit and ask an employee if they are there (they enter Insidious queue through the exit).  This is also the Gate A entrance for Insidious.  It is very easy to see them at TWD.  You can see them from the entrance to Transformers.   If they are there, ask the employee at the "do not enter" area if you can just go back to see the Scare Patrol.  They will no doubt let you go.]

Halloween [(2/5) EDIT: Finally went one time.  To me, it didn't seem much different than the last time they did Halloween.  Couple of new scenes, but more of a retread than anything new. I just don't get what people see in this property.  It's clearly had the best reviews.  It's as if no one went through it years ago, because it ain't much different...]

Terror Tram:  [(1/5) EDIT: Finally went one time.  The promise of a "Purge Party" was clever, and I give them huge props for the nice queue videos.  I wish they could do this for other houses.  However, it was still the same experience as every other year except 2006.  But at least there were no zombies.  This thing has become such a repeat every year - just re-skin the thing with a new title.  Still chainsaws at the beginning and a chainsaw chaseout at the end.  Still the exact same growls along the big hill.  Just no variation, other than slight modifications to the path along WOTW. ]

The scarezones

Honestly, with the exception of Dark Christmas, Hollywood scarezones hold no interest for me.  So I passed through without really looking.

The show

I know we'll never get back Bill and Ted, so I'll say it: I miss Heckles and Twitch.  Jabbawockeez is singularly the worst show HHN has ever put on.  It insults our intelligence.  They shut down Bill & Ted because of a "gender-identity" joke, and what do they replace it with?  A bunch of gender neutral dancers.  Don't you see that HHN is laughing at you?  This is the checkmate of Political Correctness.  Game over.  If you find this form of entertainment pleasing, I worry for our future.  Our grandchildren are destined to line up for the 8pm showing of "Ass" at Equinox Discomfort Evenings 2047 - the event where customers walk through museums depicting long forgotten frightening images: a gun, a pointed stick, a cigarette, and a Bible.

Overall event

0.5/5: Worst. Year. Ever.  And I've been to every single Hollywood HHN.   [EDIT: Unfortunately, Halloween and Terror Tram did not lift this year out of the sewer.]

5 out of 7 themes have been done in the past.  Most done multiple times before.  Only new houses are a stab at comedy and rolling the dice on a movie no one has seen, but could flop.  

[EDIT: John Murdy, in the overuse-department, is it necessary to have NEARLY EVERY house and Terror Tram feature a hallway of "hanging crap"?  Heads/bodies/animals/clothes/etc.  Surely there must be something NEW you can do, eh?]

All but one scarezone is a repeat.  

Bill & Ted replaced with complete capitulation to Political Correctness.

When Walking Dead is one of the best houses in the event, the event has a big problem.

[EDIT: Strange that very few people are bothered by the huge number of repeat/reuse this year.  If you take a truly critical look at this year, the ONLY things that are new are:

• A show that no one asked for, as many wanted Bill & Ted
• Exterminatorz
• Crimson Peak
• This is the End - which seems to be a dud in most people's mind

Is this really not a problem for you as a customer?  4 new offerings out of 12 things to do?  And if Bill & Ted had returned (ironic I'm asking for a repeat) then the new offerings would be 3 out of 12.

I did want to give high praise to Universal guest relations.  A LONG time ago, when HHN was young, they called their multi-night pass a "Killer Deals pass".  Nowadays, they call the multi night pass a "Frequent Fear pass".  But to make things extra-confusing, they now refer to "Killer Deals Nights", which are off-peak nights that offer discount admissions.  Add to this the compounded confusion that Universal has promised "2 additional Frequent Fear dates (TBD)".  Well, I went to the event on Thursday 10/8 because the website called it a Killer Deals night and I assumed it was part of the pass I purchased.  Of course, my pass did not scan at the gate...  They sent me to Guest Relations, who claimed that there was in fact a "Killer Deals Pass" (there was not).  Essentially, everyone (including me) had no idea what nights were good for my pass.  They were nice enough to comp me a pass for the evening, so thanks to them!  Of course, we JUST learned today that HHN has been extended by a full week!  Still no word as to which bonus nights I get on my FFP.   Given that the communication has been a complete clusterf*$k, I am guessing I will end up getting two nights, plus one of the two nights that were just added for a total of 3 bonus nights.  Because that would completely max out the confusion meter.]

I have been doing Knott's Scary Farm off and on for years, and grew up in a time and place where as a kid, the neighbors would convert the barn and corn field into a homemade haunt and I love the whole thing. This year however, was my first time do do Universal's Hollywood Horror Night (Thursday Oct 15, 2015)

From security check to early entry access and all the way to our first maze, I was immediately impressed with 2 things:

1) Crowd control. The park and staff seemed prepared and knew what they were doing.

2) Something was missing.......oh yeah, the bratty "tweener" kids running in packs thinking they're all bad and sh*t, HHN seems a little more mature and civilized.

Anytime we had questions, staff was easily identifiable, nearby and were helpful.

I especially liked the fact that the lines of people waiting to enter the mazes were not allowed to merely crowd into the maze like some cattle slaughter, but were brought into the maze in small groups at a time, this made it possible for us to walk through every maze at a pace that allowed us to take in all the awesome movie quality sets and effects and get targeted by the scare actors (as opposed to standing there watching the 30 people ahead of you get hit by the same guy over and over again and then when it's your turn its like "yeah I know, I saw you jump out 10 times already")

Another thing that stood out, at various random points in line at a few of the mazes, we were handed what looked like a raffle ticket.....we later found out apparently, this is how they check for line jumpers (?)....but hey, cool at least they are aware and looking out (you wont see that at Knott's)

Since we took advantage of Early entry and went in with a game plan, we were able to knockout all the mazes and the Terror Tram and the scare zones by 920PM! We even went back and doubled some of the mazes.

WALKING DEAD

Facade and overall set was impressive and the scare actors were in full effect, they really seemed to be into it, not a ton of scares popping at you like crazy, but what you got was very well done and we liked it, would have repeated it later in the night when it was really dark except line was 2 hours.

4 out of 5

INSIDEOUS

Facade was simple but effective, creepy good! I really liked the use of special effects, false walls, and other effects were used quite well and much like the first movie....it gets under your skin a bit. We both jumped and screamed more than a few times.

4.5 out of 5

THIS IS THE END

Am I the only one that thought this was an odd choice?

The movie was not what I would call scary, and neither is this maze, a chuckle or two and for what it's worth it seems put together well and maybe scary if you're a kid.  The scare actors did a fine job, I just think the theme is odd. On one hand, I was glad I did it just so I can say that I did it, on the other....can be skipped if you're pressed for time.

2 out of 5

Tram to the lower level.......hahaha Awesome! Was not expecting that, won't spoil it just in case,

CRIMSON PEAK

Overall well put together and once again scare actors were into it and getting us good and it was fun, I think the telling of a story and expecting the guest to get what is going on is difficult when it's based on a movie that hadn't been seen yet, and this one felt a bit short to me. But once again, well put together, good effects and some good spooks, could be better but not sure how much of it was just me.

3.5 out of 5

ALIEN VS PREDATOR

Great sets! Very good job putting you right into the action of the movies!

Loved the mix of live actors, puppetry and mechanical effects, plenty of creeps and some good scares, we liked everything about this one from the music of the movies, to the sets, the actors enthusiasm, only thing that felt "off" was the long blank walkway to exit. We did this one twice, and even when knowing what was coming....they still got me!

4.5 out of 5  (my girlfriend says 4.9 lol )

HALLOWEEN

OMFG!! This is what you come to a haunt for! We were lucky to have done this one twice (50 min and 35 min wait times), this one was worth waiting for.

Facade right out of the movie, great shadow effect outside while in line, fantastic sets, holy crap well done! I won't spoil anything but man, I think I crapped my pants, plenty of scares, some very talented scare actors in this one.  

5 out of 5

TERROR TRAM

This was fun, we had no idea what to expect so we were blown away. Lots of walking, but it was worth it to us, plenty of scare actors out to get you, no spoiler but let's just say we got Purged. Bonus: great photo op with a certain knife wielding psycho!  Maybe it's the newness of "first visit" or maybe it's that were used to subpar haunts....but we found this to be fun, exhilarating, scary, well put together inspite of all the walking involved.

5 out of 5

Let me summarize our experience this way..... Knott's may have been the first, but they better get their crap together because they are getting their butts kicked.

Scare actors are into it, active and engaging. Mazes are well thought out and designed and of high quality, scares abound aplenty, scare zones are done well enough without being annoying. Crowd control, line set up and supervision is well in place and working good, wait times posted are clear and helpful.

 No worries about running out of time if you plan accordingly.

This is our Haunt from now on!

I must do the opening scaramony, my trip won't feel complete without it. About 10 minutes before it started, John Murdy walks out and stands off to the side and stays there through the whole thing. The scaramony was really good, up in your face and creepy, I loved it. I ran straight to John once the fire went off for my usual picture and I also got him to sign my map. Every time I wear my 2013 shirt I meet John. I'm not thinking its a coincidence...

My ratings will be on a scale of 5. I'm not gonna average all the ratings together and get a weird number, I'll give them the rating I feel they deserve.  

Accomplished: (in no particular order)
Halloween x2
Terror Tram x2
This Is The End
The Walking Dead
Insidious (only once story later)
Crimson Peak x2
Alien Vs. Predator x2
Jabbawockeez

Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home
I love this maze. This is my favorite maze of all time that I've seen at HHN, tied with La Llarona and El Cucuy. It was so creepy and well done and intense. I insisted on going up front, by insisted I mean I was the human shield, and I got every single scare! My first run through was better because I was the first person sent into the house after a huge group went further in. Since we did it the second time around 1:15 apparently John was in the mirror room and if he was in the position I think he was in then he got me good! All of the scaractors were on fire in this maze. 
Favorite Scene: Sheets, the guy in there got me not once, twice, but three times in one run. 
Sets: 4.5/5
Scaractors: 5/5
Scares: 5/5
Overall: 5/5 My favorite maze!

Terror Tram: Survive the Purge
It was not terrible, it was not fantastic, it was decent. I enjoyed it. The bates motel massless scaractors were the best ones because they just blend in. But my favorite scaractor was working the second time. He would walk with the crowd, with his mask off and behind his back along with his weapon, then in one swift movement, put it on and run up into someone's face. 
Favorite Scene: Bates Motel
Sets: 3/5, what they had was good and cool, but nothing amazing. 
Scaractors: 5/5
Scares: 3/5, too many people in one large area they don't know who to focus on and I missed all the scares. 
Overall: 3/5, definitely better than The Walking Dead again. 

This Is The End: 3D
This maze was honestly not horrible, but it was not anywhere near great, I'd say a step below decent. The sets, while minimalistic, certain ones looked very cool and very well done. The demons looked cool, and the bull creature puppets were awesome. I had fun in this maze, that was the whole point of it, just have fun. However it could've been done way better, John kinda failed on this one. 
Favorite Scene: The Exorcism of Jonah Hill
Sets: 2.5/5 for what they had that wasn't hallways it was good, but it was mostly hallways. 
Scaractors: 3/5 they didn't really seem into it. Probably because they're in the worst maze of the event. 
Scares: 2/5 none to be had. However, Fun: 3/5 just because it was a fun maze. Not funny though. 
Overall: 2.5/5 could've been done better, or even not at all!

Insidious: Return to The Further
Tied for my second favorite maze for sure. The sets were really really good, felt like I was right in the movie! Only gripe, a lot of black hallways. The scaractors were absolutely on fire in this maze. The scene that got me the most was the closet, with the three dummy's. I figured out they were fake but the light flashed and I saw him and I almost crapped myself! The further was cool, but no low sitting fog. They haven't quite gotten it yet have they? 
Favorite Scene: Finale with all 3 of the entities from all 3 of the movies. 
Sets: 4/5 would be a five but the black hallways. They kill it. 
Scaractors: 5/5 absolutely phenomenal, they were into it, they were aggressive and right up in your face it was awesome. 
Scares: 5/5 was once again in the front, voluntarily and I got quite a lot of the scares, some were fairly obvious to me but they could still get me!
Overall: 5/5 one of the scariest mazes and best mazes I've seen at HHN. Wish I could've done it twice. 

Why I didn't do it twice: well we hit the 12:30 Jabbawockeez, people in my group wanted to do terror tram one last time. So that sent us to around 1am with all of the mazes left to repeat. We did Halloween, went to the backlot for Crimson Peak and AvP. The tram was slow picking us up so by the time we got back it was like 1:55 so I was hauling and I lost my group. I found them and they were all making fun of me for going fast and right when we get to the scanner for Insidious she tells us it just closed. Then they blamed me for taking them to the backlot. I can't win. Then we saw that waiting in line was still open so I ran over there but they closed it right when I got there. Too much time spent eating and at the Jabbawockeez. 

The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far
For the longest maze in HHN history it felt awfully short. And being a fan of the show, I only recognized a few scenes from the show, the others I was kind of lost during. The actors were really good in this one, especially the living, they killed it. My only gripe about it, as I have for a lot of the mazes. Black hallways. That makes the maze feel shorter!
Favorite Scene: Noah in the revolving door. 
Sets: 4/5
Scaractors: 5/5
Scares: 3/5
Overall: 3/5 definitely wasn't the best TWD maze for me, 2013, but it was good. I'm still sick of it at HHN. 

Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. These were some of the best sets I've seen since La Llarona 2012. The scaractors looked decent, I was expecting more just because of Del Toro. There were a couple black hallways again. We'll never get rid of them will we? However despite them the maze was still beautiful and tied with Insidious for my second favorite maze this year. 
Favorite Scene: Clay Mines
Sets: 5/5 they're so freaking beautiful
Scaractors: 3/5 they didn't seem into it really, except the black dress ghost people they seemed into it. 
Scares: 4/5 this maze got me good! Especially the last one on the stand by the exit that got me both times. 
Overall: 5/5 tied for second favorite.

AvP: Alien Vs. Predator:
It's cool. Saw it 4 times last year, 2 this year. When you see a maze six times it gets boring. 
Favorite Scene: Queen
Sets: 4/5 still really cool
Scaractors: 2/5 there aren't many to begin with but the ones in there were just meh. 
Scares: 2/5 I always jump at the face huggers but that's as close as it gets.
Overall: 2/5 they could've done a new AvP and still incorporated the expensive stuff from last year. 

Maze Total: 22.5/30 my ratings for some things may be low however I loved the event this year! 
Onto scarezones

Externinatorz:
Loved this scarezone. My favorite one this year. The masks looked so creepy (I have a fear of rats) and this definitely freaked me out a bit. The actors were on point, always scaring or being funny and mocking the scaredy cats. I'll post a link to the vlog when I make it but I got footage of them playing patty cake and being surrounded by several chainsaws. Then I got a conversation between a chainsaw and a rat with a machete making fun of the girls hiding in a store. Another funny thing, one rat had his machete in his orange vest and one of the stilt walkers walked by and grabbed it and dangled it above his head. The scarezone was scary and fun all together!
Favorite Scaractor: the CEO, the big rat on stilts. 
Scaractors: 5/5
Scares: 4/5
Overall: 5/5 great scarezone, great concept. 

Dark Christmas:
Even though it was a repeat I loved it. It's still an amazing scarezone and all of the scaractors are so into it it's great. 
Favorite Scaractor: Blue Krampus
Scaractors: 4/5 there weren't as many people in this zone when I went in as I remember. 
Scares: 4/5 none to be had but the ones I saw happen were awesome so I give them credits for that!
Overall: 4/5 

Corpz:
This zone is both of these but at different times, energetic and intense, or lacking. I've seen it as both. The actors looked really cool, the sets were cool, and I liked how the construction walls were trenches. Loved seeing a bunch of people getting chased all through Exterminatorz by a couple of these guys after the park closed. Like full sprint from Corpz all the way to the front it was awesome!
Favorite Scaractor: Gas Masks
Scaractors: 3/5 some were good and into it, others not really. 
Scares: 3/5 None to me however the people they were scaring looked like they got them good. 
Overall: 3/5 not a terrible zone at all!

The Purge: Urban Nightmare
I like this. I like this a lot. I wanted Purge on the backlot, we got it! The fog was so thick I couldn't see anything and by the time I did they were right up in my face. They got me a few times in this zone. When I went through the second time there was a guy who looked very similar to John on Big Daddy's gun but it wasn't him because he was in Halloween. 
Favorite Scaractor: Tongue mask guy. He was up in my face once he scared me. 
Scaractors: 5/5 they were so in to it and on point
Scares: 5/5 not all got me but the ones that did were really really good ones. 
Overall: 5/5 a very good zone but Exterminatorz reigns supreme to me. 

Scarezone Total: 17/20 they were on fire this year!

Missed the chainsaw chase out unfortunately :/ 
I hope VIP will be back next year. With the unlimited FOL and the buffet you can just stop at any time was my favorite way to do the event. Didn't need to bother and eat at a restaraunt which takes quite a long time. Hopefully next year. 

Cool experiences: Meeting John Murdy, getting the James Franco party invitation, getting scared by John himself. 

2015 Total Score (out of 100)
90/100 the best year I've seen! Definitely beat my previous favorite 2013. With such a solid lineup for the majority of it, it would've been hard to screw it up and I'm happy they didn't. 
Favorite Maze: Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home
Favorite Scarezone: Exterminatorz

Overall, I was extremely happy with the event this year, coming from the perspective of someone who has been going to the Orlando event since moving there in 2012 and having only been the the Hollywood event once in 2013 (which I loved, btw).

While I'll admit that I prefer the Orlando event as a whole more, I prefer the houses in Hollywood, mainly for the aggressiveness of the scares. 

We got to the park around 5:10 and immediately went down towards the lower lot to take advantage of a Early Entry for Walking Dead and Insidious, and I have to say that they got the Early Entry thing down to a well oiled machine at this point (or we got extremely lucky). We watched the Raptor meet and greet thing for a few minutes and then jumped in line for TWD, which went by very quickly once the house opened at 5:45. I never thought I'd say this, but what an incredible Walking Dead house! Of the 6 different TWD incarnations I've seen over the last 4 years, I've usually met them with a resounding "Meh!" but this house got me so damn good! We immediately jumped right back in line and did it again because it was empty and we loved it. Another thing I wanted to mention that I loved about the Holywood event so much more than Orlandos is the pulsing of the lines. This gives us the chance to actually get the scares instead of watching the people 4 spaces ahead of us get it. Standout scares were the very first Terminus guy who pops out at the beginning, and the dual scare in front of the church.

Once we got our second helpings of TWD we jumped in line for Insidious, which was posting a 30 min wait around 6:10, but got us in there in about 20. Having loved the previous Insidus houses in 2013 and Orlandos this year, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this one, but wow, I was extremely impressed with this house. The Man Who Can't Breathe scars from above were fantastic, as well as the projection of the wall leading to one of the first Demon scares. The candle hallway was beautiful, and the Further was so unsettling. 

After that we went to check out This Is The End, which I was cautiously optimistic and extremely excited sbout all at once. I love the movie and the idea of a haunt house based on it is both stupid and wonderful, though the reviews were starting to worry me. Well, maybe the reviews lowered my expectations, or the house got better since those reviews, because I had a blast throughout this entire house. Loved the facade with dead Michael Cera, as well as all of the possessed Jonah Hill stuff. The thing I loved the most about this house was how it used the wide open spaces and still utilized scares well in those spaces. Also, one of the more fun 3D houses I've been in a while (though for my money, 2015 is a good 3D year on both coasts, with Asylum in Wonderland 3D being a ton of fun as well, with some of the best scares I've had in a 3D maze. 

Now that the sun has officially gone down, we head down to the backlot for AvP and Crimson Peak. First up was AvP, which had big shoes to fill for us because of how great Orlandos maze was last year, but I can absolutely see why this was brought back as the fan favorite this year. I loved the different setting than Orlandos (which was set mostly in a Weyland Yutani facility), seeing both of these creatures wreaking havoc on a residential area was great. Special shoutout to the scareactors in the first fight scene, where they both attack from each side. I saw my life flash before my eyes because of how close the Alien claw came to my face. Also can't say enough good things about the Queen, what a sight to see. 

Crimson Peak was up next, and while I was excited about it based on my love of Guillermo Del Toro, I really didn't know what to expect, but boy was I not ready for what happens here. I had heard all the complaints about the all black transitional rooms, but I didn't mind them so much as they helped set up one of my favorite scares of the event. I believe it's the 3rd blackout hallway we were in when is happened, but we were just expecting it to be another "safe" transitional room, maybe just filled with the little strings hanging from the ceiling. That's when something else touched my buddies face he raced out of that room like a bat out of hell. I was laughing way too hard to believe him, swearing that it was just one of the those strings and he's flipping out for no reason. but he's still on edge for the rest of the house, which was absolutely incredible and beautiful. As we leave the house we eventually get his calmed down and believing that it was just one of the strings. More on that later. 

On our back to the upper lot, we decided to hit This Is The End again since it was only 5 minutes. Still a lot of fun the second go round. 

We finally head up to the upper lot, grab some pizza from Luigis and then jump on the Terror Tram. It was enjoyable, but was definitely the least scary part of the event, as all 6 houses legitimately got all three of us in our group scared on multiple counts. 

After Terror Tram it was time for Halloween, which I was very excited for as Halloween from last years Orlando event is one of my all time favorite mazes, next to American Werewolf In London in 2013, and Paranormal Inc from this years Knotts (this maze was seriously worth the price of admission alone). It was great to step back into the Myers house, and while it was familiar, I liked the different touches than last years version  The dog room was disgusting in the best sense of the word, and this maze also made great use of the scares from above. My one nitpick about this version of the house is the strobe room at the end isn't nearly as effective with the mirrors and how well lit the room is. Orlandos version last year was a pure black room with nothing but strobes, and it as smaller. Made the effect a bit more intense, in my opinion.

At this point it was about 10:30 once we got everything done the first time around, so we decided to head back down to the backlot and begin using the Front of Line pass. All 6 houses held up on their second (and some third) runs. I was very impressed by that. When we finished the lower lot again, we hit Jurassic Park In The Dark and The Mummy before making our back up to do Halloween once more and then call it night. 

Going back to Crimson Peak and my friends freak out early, we discovered on the second run through that maze that there actually was somebody in that blackout hallway, whom we think is hiding in the wall with a feather or furry stick of sorts. The timing of this discovery was perfect, as it occurred just as my friend officially resigned to the fact that it was the strings and he overreacted. 

Scare zones were great, for what little time we spent in them. Dark Christmas is thicker winner here, and I very much (hopefully) look forward to a full maze based on this one day. 

All in all, I was so damn happy and impressed with Hollywoods event this year. I honestly don't understand the hate that any of the houses are getting, and I'm very much looking forward to coming back for next years event. I even saw Murdy as we were leaving AvP. I wanted to say hi and thank him for all he's done for the event, but there were too many people to maneuver through. 

Final House counts:

Walking Dead - 3

This Is The End - 3

Insidious - 2

Crimson Peak - 2

AvP - 2

Halloween - 2

Terror Tram - 1

As I (partially) joked about it in my title, Universal may have lost a step with the overall quality of the event which I think is symbolized by the loss of Stage 28, the beloved House of Horrors, and bizarre abandonment of VIP.  It is unforgiveable to toss aside the brand of classic horror that put the studio on the map.  A House of Horrors maze (or even scarezone) would have definitely made up for the loss of the venue.  Of course, the business decision to build retail and restaurants make sense, but losing Stage 28 and VIP is so bizarre, it actually DOES make sense that a large company would do it.  I have been in those types of meetings where executives, on a whim, lack of information, or ego, thinks something is a good idea without much realization of the impact it will have.   It is easier to get rid of something than improve or maintain it.  For example, Stage 28:  Historically important building for Universal, built specifically for the filming of the Phantom of the Opera and home to so many other feature films.  The (partial) original set for Phantom was housed and used for modern films.  Let's tear it down for a much better venue…a big black tent!  Wait, the tent is only temporary?  Even better….blacktop!  D'oh!

VIP is even a more bizarre decision; there is nothing better for a business model then to drive away a sector of your paying customer.  I know people who did not think twice about staying away and honestly believe that many people skipped the event this year because of this faux pau, as indicated on other forums and social media.  I did FOL this year and took advantage of early entry, but the overall ambience and uniqueness of the event was taken down a notch.  So did the death of Stage 28, HOH, and VIP admission drive the stake through the heart of the event?  Bad pun intended…Hee Hee! 

Aside from my rant, simply put, Halloween Horror Nights 2015 edition gave us the usual tricks and treats this Halloween season.  This is not to say the event has completely lost its way, just that it does not feel as fresh as 2009 nor as energetic as last years Bill and Ted-less haunt.  While we enjoyed our visit and found many positive things about the event, there just seemed to be less "electricity" in the air and the overall excitement usually found at HHN seemed to be missing.

We did have Front of the Line passes but decided on a whim to head directly to the park instead of our usual pre-event Citywalk stroll.  It was very surprising that we walked quickly through security right to the turn-styles at 515pm, were given our FOL lanyard, early entry band, and were told to have fun!  No lines and we able to complete (in order) Jurassic Park, Insidious, Walking Dead, Transformers, Aliens vs Predator , and  the Mummy by 7pm.  And that was without having to use FOL!  This was a great way to start off the evening and had plenty of time to meet some friends for a few of the attractions (who also traveled from Arizona).

So, you wanted the best, you got the best....the hottest awards in the world...AsylumSB!  (With my apologies to KISS)

The "Turn Your Head and Cough" Award:

…Goes to John Murdy!  That's right, our chief of scares literally turned his head and coughed on me as we were walking by!  Murdy and Chris Williams were talking with a few girls by the queue line entrance to This is the End 3D  and I told my wife who they were.  Not one to bother folks, I decided to keep walking when he turned and did the deed.  Maybe I will become more creative through osmosis of his germs.

The "Other Than a Scareactor" Award:

….Is awarded to Universal Customer Service!  Not only was early entry effective, but customer service refunded my FOL overcharge by giving me Universal bucks to use throughout the park.  I appreciated their willingness to work with me and they seemed happy to assist.

Scarezone of the Year:

CORPZ had some decent sets and the cast had a lot of energy, I was "gored" by Krampus in Dark Christmas, and the Purge zone had some heavy fog with scareactors making most of the theme.  However, I give the Scarezone of the Year to Exterminatorz because many of the reactions from guests indicated their enjoyment for the zone.  This includes several folks who were observed screaming like a banshee when the "bugz" went after them with the chainsaws.  Since there were so few go-go's this year, it was good to see they were still at the front gate.  Although, I think they would be more effective and entertaining if moved back to the heart of the scarezone similar to "Welcome to Hell". 

Maze/Attraction of the Year:

From what I experienced, most of the mazes had the same level of energy, scares, and set-piece quality.  I thought there was something unique and unforgettable with each property.  Numerically ranked in order for attractions rated as "good" to "great".

#7.  Aliens vs Predator is still a well designed maze, but I felt the scares and energy level was a bit subdued when compared to the other mazes.  Wait times went down to 10 minutes or so during peak times.  I had to do a double take because one of the predators looked like he was wearing the mask but had on a regular light colored tank top.  No costume.  Hee Hee.

#6.  The scenic design in Crimson Peak was brilliant and the effects were a very nice touch.  Although, some of the characters seemed similar; reminded me of Insidious.

#5.  Terror Tram (The Purge):  The cast worked hard throughout this Hollywood tradition, but the characters in the film act like a bunch of angry people….not that scary.  We stopped by the Norman Bates Photo Op and I was killed by the Psycho man himself while my wife applauded my demise.   Great picture.

#4. Yes… I liked This is the End!  The 3D was pretty good, the cast was full of energy, and who could forget the greatest scareactor ever…..Channing Tate-Yum!  Just joshing.  Sure the sets had very little likeness to those in the film but the cast performed well.  The Exorcism of Jonah Hill was surprisingly effective and the demons were always on their game throughout the maze.

#3.  The Walking Dead did a great job of re-enacting scenes from Season 5 and there were just as many (if not more) scares from the human characters.  Would have been better if there were more walkers.  The horde broke down during a repeat run and techs were trying to repair it.

#2.  Halloween felt similar to 2009 and those Halloween III trick-or-treaters scared the life out of me.  Very high energy throughout the maze.   Did I miss the Silver Shamrock theme?  Or was it not used?  There were a few scenes from the original film mimicked by the scareactors…nice touch.

#1.  Insidious.  A great effort to combine all three chapters in one maze.  There was some decent effects, which were impressively countered by minimalistic sets as seen in the films.  The villain from the latest installment, "The Man Who Could Not Breathe", was well represented.  The level of scares were a hair short of those produced by the cast in 2013.

The "Attraction That I Had Absolutely No Desire to Experience" Award:

Jabbawonkers, Jabbawookies, JabbaJabbaDingDong…..whoever they were, I had no desire to see this show, and the giant, generic Michael Myers mask in the entrance to the show did not help with changing my mind.

The "What the H-E Double Hockey Sticks Happened to this Ride" Award:

Jurassic Park deserves this award for having very little effects working including the falling vehicle, lack of lighting and sound in the final scene, and the final T-REX looked like he was on a school yard swing.  The welcome to the jungle song was suspiciously absent.  Most of the animatronics looked shabby and in need of desperate refurbishment.

STAGE 28

RIP 2014

(I think I see "Erik the Phantom" swinging from the rafters)

no particular order..

Mazes:

1. The Walking Dead- I know many of you are going to hate on me for this but this maze had the best scares of the night! Maybe it was the time I hit the maze but it was just jam packed with walkers. Also, the facade was beautiful. Honestly, it didn't feel that long as it was advertised , but all in all it was a great maze and to me probably the best walking dead maze that has been at the event. Grade: 4/5

2. This is the End- This maze I was most curious about due to the fact it was a comedy movie from two years back so it was kind of odd that it would be featured at this years event. First things off, I thought the facade was very well done with Micheal Cera impaled on the light post which had me laughing. Unfortunately the inside of the house wasn't so good.. every scare was predictable because of the obvious not hidden boo holes... The Jonah Hill scene, Emma Watson, and The welcome to heaven scene were all funny nods to the movie if you are a fan of the movie like myself. Other than that the maze wasn't very good but that being said it was the best 3D house ive seen at the event other than HOTC.  2.5/5

Insidious- oh boy... this wins best maze of the year for me... even though TWD had best scares for me this maze was all around amazing! the scares were on point, the sets were incredible and the actually scare actors looked amazing in particularly the Man who Can't Breathe! There's not much more to say about this maze because it is just WOW! 5/5

Crimson Peak- The facade was honestly disappointing but once you step foot into the actual maze it is detailed to the max and quite possiblely the most detailed maze I've ever seen at horror nights... this is the best promotional movie maze there has been at the event.. I mean come on this maze kicks Draculas sorry ass... The scare actor designs were kind of repetitious but other than that it was a great maze. 4/5

AVP- not much to say on this maze since it was a pure repeat from last year other than a few more actors... Still amazingly detailed but not scary at all... 3/5

Halloween- most anticipated maze and it didn't disappoint! Scares were amazing.. and this maze is definitely the best maze in the Parisian court... The only disapponting thing in this maze was all of the black walls and the cheap looking leave construction walls... kind of took me out of feeling like I was in the movie. Other than that, very good of staying true to the movie. 4/5

Terror Tram- also not much to say about this... it's the same terror tram as always but instead of walkers it was purgers.. probably the best terror tram that I've seen but the either need to severely change it or just drop it all together.. 2/5

Jabbawockez- I went in not expecting much, but honestly it was a very entertaining, they sure know how to work the crowd. At my showtime the got a standing ovation. Better than expected

Overall this year is very solid with many strong mazes (TWD, Insidious, Crimson Peak and Halloween) a couple ones that needed improvement, a very much improved terror tram, and a surprisingly entertaining show. To me personally it was my favorite year content wise for the event! 

OVERALL GRADE: 4/5 

We arrived at the park around 6:30 and went right in to watch the scareamonies which while fun, was very underwhelming

First maze we did,

Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home

This was my most anticipated maze since I started coming to HHN in 2011, and never got to see the original maze in '09.  And Halloween is one of if not my number one favorite horror movie of all time.  I hate to say it but this was slightly disappointing, maybe that is just me since my expectations were so high.

Scare Factor: 8.5/10

The scares were pretty good and aggressive although we missed a few, and that mirror maze, my god.

Set Design: 7/10 

The sets for the most part were AMAZING and very true to the movie, I loved the dilapidated Myer's house but that fucking part with the construction walls.  It looked so fake and cheap and really took me out of the immersion.

Overall Experience: 8/10

Was still an amazing experience despite the minor disappointments, overall still a great maze.

Total: 8/10

Next we did the terror tram.

Terror Tram: Survive the Purge

This was my first non-TWD terror tram, so needless to say I was pretty excited.

Scare Factor: 7/10

Scariest Terror Tram I've done but still, it's the terror tram and isn't that scary.

Set Design: 8/10

The mini-mazes were better and still fun, and I get there just isn't that much you can do with terror tram.

Overall Experience: 8/10

Very fun, but it was still terror tram.

Total: 8/10

Next we went down the escalators to do TITE.

This Is The End 3D

Scare Factor: 3/10

I mean I guess it wasn't supposed to be scary.

Set Design: 7/10 

I liked how it wasn't 100% neon and bright I liked it but the design felt a little.

Overall Experience: 8/10

A lot of fun, but just meh, I still liked it though.

Total: 6.5/10

Next we took the tram down to the backlot.

AVP: Alien vs. Predator

Scares: 7.5/10

Felt like the actors were better this year, and even though it was a complete repeat, I liked some of the extra added scares.

Set Design: 8.5/10

Still great.

Overall Experience: 7/10

Better than last year, just idk it was still a repear.

Total: 7.5/10

Next we did Crimson Peak.

Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness

Scare Factor: 8.5/10

Wow, whatever the red entity was, the costumes were creepy, and the actors were really aggressive, a very scary maze.

Set Design: 10/10

Amazing other than the black walls, but I can look past that because everything else was great.

Overall Experience: 9/10

A FANTASTIC maze, one of the best I've done.

Total: 9.5/10

After repeating both Backlot mazes and having an amazing experience in the Purge scare zone (I'll get to that a little later) we headed back to the lower lot.

The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far

Scare Factor: 9/10

Wow scariest Walking Dead maze, I loved the balance of living people and walkers, it felt less repetitive the church scene was very scary.

Set Design: 10/10

Felt long, and the sets were INCREDIBLE.

Overall Experience: 10/10

By far the best TWD maze they have ever done, including 2012.  Very well done.

Total: 9.5/10

Next we did Insidious.

Insidious: Return to the Further

Scare Factor: 10/10

Horrifying.  The further scene and last room were TERRIFYING.  Maybe the scariest maze I've ever been in at HHNH.

Set Design: 10/10

Even better than in 2013, the scenes from Insidious: Chapter 3 were very true to the movie and very cool.

Overall Experience: 10/10

Amazing.

Total: 10/10

Scarezones

Exterminatorz: 7/10

Fun, with good actors, but still I feel they could have done more.

Dark Christmas: 8/10

Still amazing, just almost exactly the same.

Corpz: 8.5/10

Actors and costumes were awesome, liked the decorations.

The Purge: Urban Nightmare: 10/10

Ok, we had an AMAZING experience in here, so we tried to enter the scare zone from the back, and a blackout worker said we could still walkthrough the scare zone again, but we had to enter from the front.  So we waited till the people from the tram that went there cleared out and we were COMPLETELY ALONE in here with about 20 Actors and they were ganging up on us, probably one of the best experiences I've ever had at HHN.

We didn't watch Jabbawockeez, because no lol.

Overall a very good year, I think one of the best if not the best, oh and the chainsaw chase-out was better than ever and it was awesome.

Event Rating: 9/10

Mazes:

The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far

Much more impressive than the last few years. Only complaint is that it was way too dark in some parts, I couldn't tell what I was looking at.

Standout Scene: Noah

Biggest Scare: Church Walker

7/10

Insidious: Return to the Further

Fantastic maze. Insanely detailed sets. The cast could have been more energetic and I missed a few scares but it was still great.

Standout Scene: The Further Hallway

Biggest Scare: Wall Crawling Demon

9/10

Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness

Amazing. Beautiful set design, even with the black hallways. The cast was great too.

Standout Scene: The Clay Pits

Biggest Scare: The last Mother Ghost

10/10

Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home

Terrifying. I missed a lot of the scares but the ones that got me hit me hard. Nice set design.

Standout Scene: You Can't Kill the Boogeyman

Biggest Scare: From above the hedges

9/10

I was not able to make it to Terror Tram, This is the End, or Alien vs Predator.

Scarezones:

Exterminatorz

So much fun. Wasn't a huge fan of the theme but I ended up spending a lot of time in this zone. The cast was great.

8/10

Dark Christmas

Incredible scenery. Why isn't this a maze already? Cast was energetic but not going after my group. Still fun to watch.

10/10

Corpz

I seem to like this zone a lot more than the rest of you. The cast got some great scares in, and the scenery isn't terrible.

7/10

The Purge: Urban Nightmare

This zone was fun. The cast wasn't too exciting, but the lights and sounds got my heart racing still.

6/10

Show:

Jabbawockeez

Great show. I had a lot of fun, they're fantastic dancers. My only complaint is how out of place it is with the rest of the event.

7/10

Food:

Phineas Q Butterfat's Ice Cream Parlor

Highlight of the event.

11/10

Terror tram:Survive the purge

I liked it. It honestly was not scary but It was one of the most fun mazes this year. You could just tell the actors were having fun, every one was enjoying themselves, and it was a great way to start the night. The Person I went with this year liked it a lot and we both agreed it wasn't scary but fun. I also liked how there was an actual reason for you leaving the tram unlike the other years where they were like "wehh ders zomebehs der bahd wer gunna drahp u off anyway doh." And the reason actually made sense. There was another effect that was also pretty cool, but it could be a spoiler and I don't know how to do them so I cant say it.4/5

Insidious 

Probably my favorite and most terrifying maze this year in my opinion. I loved this version of insidious. The sets in it were absolutely incredible, the scare actors also did an amazing job, and the fog just made it more scary, and we both felt like the demons were actually out to get me which is what a maze should do. Make you feel like they are out to get you. I absolutely loved this maze and it is one of the best mazes I've been in at hhn for the few years I've been going to this event. 5/5

The waking dead: Wolves not far

Not as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Definitely better than 2013's Walking dead maze. Just thinking about it makes me wanna jump off a bridge. This years Walking dead was better than 2013 and 2014's but ehh 2012 was still better. It was really cool how they had humans in it instead of just walkers, since yeah walkers can get pretty old, and I felt there was a good balance between the human and walkers. That scene with the trees was outstanding and I loved it. For some reason, something felt just lacking in the maze. I don't why something just something felt lacking. The performances were honestly hit and miss. Some times you'd get tv quality acting, and other times you'd get made for dvd quality acting. Also that fucking prop of the hoard coming in has been overused to shit, and they need to take a break from it, or have a different variation of it. This time it kinda got me since the maze was so gigantic, I couldn't exactly tell when it was gonna end.The maze was still amazing though, and I'd give it a 4.3/5

This is the end 3D

Like we all expected, this was the worst maze at the event. After hearing negative things about it by people who went to EPN, I then heard it was uncompleted so I still gave it a chance. It was bad. The sets were absolutely horrible and the graffiti on the walls which looked nothing like the movie at all, the costumes on the demons looked horrible, and while the 3D looked good, there was no reason for it to be 3D at all. It could have easily not been in 3D and nothing would have been lost. None of the scares really got me at all, and them reusing the same demons over and over that wasn't even in the movie was absolutely terrible. However, there is a saving grace. The scare actors were amazing. You could tell that they were trying to pull a good performance despite the terrible material given to them. The demons, despite their costumes being crap, they all did a good job. Same with the people who were recreating the characters from the movie looked nearly identical to the actual actors, You could tell they gave a shit. However, they weren't able to save the maze, since other than that, the maze was a mediocre pile of crap, for a movie that was a mediocre pile of crap. 2/5

Alien vs Predator

Same as last year, good sets, not scary. 4/5

Crimson Peak

After experiencing the let down that was This Is The End, we needed to go in a good maze, and thankfully, Crimson Peak was one of the best mazes of the night. First off the sets. If your gonna make a movie by Guillermo Del Toro a living thing, you need good sets, or your maze will fail. This maze has some of the best sets I have ever seen at HHN. You can definitely tell that the art team tried their hardest and they succeeded at that. And with Guillermo Del Toro approving of it, that means that its amazing. The look of the maze is one of the most important things of making a Guillermo Del Toro movie come to life and they achieved at that. Mixed with the scare actors doing an outstanding job, this was one of the best mazes of the evening, and I have no problem giving it a 5/5

Halloween

This was the final maze of the evening and I knew to go in it last because its Halloween, one of the most terrifying movies ever made. I heard great things about the original Halloween maze from 2009 which made me excited to see what they were gonna do. I was at the scare la reveal of the maze and that made me even more excited for the maze,and it lived up to all the hype since it was one of my favorite mazes of the evening. The sets looks almost exactly like the movie and even though its not hard to do that, it still helps that they did that. All the actors did a good job and it was cool that they had the original mask as something to help them with. Also that room with the mirrors was terrifying and everyone gave it their all. My only complaint about the maze was that it was too short, not much of one but I do wish it was longer, not really something that John Murdy could fix, but still, I wish it was longer. I absolutely loved this maze, and I'll give it a 4.9/5

So there is my review for this years HHN. It took me 2 hours to write, but it was worth it.

Terror Tram: Survive the Purge: Since it had been years since I've done the Terror Tram with daylight and there was no wait, we decided to hit it up. Might as well get the biggest turd out of the way first. I know some people that work it so that was fun to see their familiar bloody faces. Now I appreciated the fact that the tram finally had a story to go along with it instead of it just being an advertisement for TWD for once. The video did its job developing the story, but it wasn't very interesting. What happened to that super-gory video that Murdy was supposedly filming? Did management force him to cut it because it was too gruesome or something stupid? Did Gloria Alvarid supervise the video and demand that it get canceled? Well, disappointments aside, they did make some effort to add things and change things up. I appreciated that. On top of that, the talent was on FIRE and at our throats. I didn't really get scared because of the setting, but I have to give them props just for their energy and making things more fun. There's no denying that I loathed Terror Tram ever since 2010, but this year, it was actually tolerable. Not great, but worthwhile for me to stop by again. I'm going to leave the flamethrower at home....or maybe I'll need it later on. I say the Tram is okay, but not great. The talent was FANTASTIC, but there's not much else you can do with the tram. It's still feels like Terror Tram. I'm still hungry for something completely different.

Overall: C

The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far: It was almost eight and the wait was about 25 minutes. Not bad. I really liked the facade. The sets looked really cool, but I haven't gotten a great run through. I did manage to get a couple of really good scares in there. The one things that REALLY bothered me mainly was how there were a few black walls with no theming on them in a few areas. I mean, c'mon. Would it kill them to at least put some mesh netting on there? Despite that, I thought this was a solid maze. I'm torn on whether or not I like this better than 2013's maze. That crashed helicopter scene back then was pretty epic. I thought the revolving door scene was really cool.

Overall: B

Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness: I personally think this was one of the most beautifully-designed houses HHN has ever done. I also got some great scares in here. Again, I was bothered by a few of the black walls in this house as they serve as terrible transitions. Everything looked beautiful but those few black walls threw off the flow. *sigh* I'm really tired of complaining about this. Why is it that HHN is so freaking lazy with transitions? Florida has that downpat. For a movie-quality event, this needs to change. We haven't had that problem pre-2011, so what happened? At least there weren't that many. Anyway, very well-done. Anyway, this is probably my favorite house this year. Best promotional maze USH has done.

Overall: A

AVP: Alien Vs. Predator: Still a great house. Only giving it a B- 'cause it's a repeat. Nothing new to see here, moving along. Thought it was funny this had the shortest of wait times throughout the night. I said it's a repeat.....what else do you want me to say? Moving on.....

Overall: B-

Insidious: Return to the Further: As a lot of you know, I really didn't like 2013's rendition. There were WAY too many black wallways and the set design was just not that impressive. This house fixed those criticisms I had. I REALLY liked this house and got some great scares in here. While they did use some black walls for the further, they were used appropriately and in a way that worked. Plus, a lot of the rooms actually had ceilings in them so I really felt like I was there. The sets were great in here and they actually put a lot of effort to make them immersive. Also the "He's got your baby guy" was CREEPY! All he did was mouth his line while standing still and it was a tad unnerving for me; just him standing there, staring into my eyes uttering those lines. That was a great touch. That hallway effects was also REALLY cool! I also really liked the new scare tactics they had of the Man who Can't Breathe scaring you from above. The only thing I would fix is have more fog in the further rooms to make it more ominous. Also, the talent was on FIRE so I got some great scares in there! Murdy and Chris did a great job making this a new experience without making it feel like a repeat. Great sets, great scares, greatly improved from 2013. Tied with favorite house with Crimson. I will say this though: I don't want to set your expectations too high on Knott's maze, but after seeing Paranormal Inc, I don't think I liked this as much as I wanted to. Still great though.

Overall: A 

This is the End 3D: Oooooh boy. Here's the one I'm sure you guys are interested in hearing what I thought about this one. Look, I know it's a horror comedy house. I know its chief purpose wasn't to be completely scary. I did chuckle a few times so it kinda did its job. But yikes, this was worse than Black Sabbath. It just was not good. There were a couple of good effects I liked which I'll get to shortly, but there were some GLARING issues that ruined it for me. First off, the maze looks NOTHING LIKE IT DID IN THE MOVIE. NOTHING. I haven't watched a whole lot of it, but I know enough that it's nowhere close to it. I don't know what Murdy was saying when he would go for a darker tone, but this the most cartoonish house I have seen this year. Even Clowns at least looked somewhat more realistic, and that's saying a LOT. The HoTC approach was where I was hoping it would go. Make it realistic, but make things colorful and pop when appropriate. Also, this has got to be the most repetitive and boring maze HHN has done design-wise. Half of it is pretty much the same thing. Demon pops out of a wall. Go to hallway with TV. Go to creature pop out. Go to hallway. Half of it was the same thing over and over with little change in it. I did enjoy the Emma Watson scare. It was a good mix of funny and startling. Plus, THEY DIDN'T EVEN DO MOST OF THE HORROR-RELATED SCENES FROM THE MOVIE. No grocery store? No guy losing his head? You'll include repetitive hallways of the creature but you couldn't include THAT? Also, the "outside" portion was REALLY cartoony. Make the bricks looks realistic. Make it feel like I'm THERE. I felt like I walked through a 3D Knott's maze from 2009. I did like the rapture lighting effect and the transitioning scene. That was interesting. The ending was a complete copy and paste of a scene Black Sabbath and Clowns. It didn't loom great. Overall, I felt this was super-lazy and poorly designed. I thought hardly any effort went into making this descent. If it were up to me, I would stop these stupid 3D houses. We haven't had a solid 3D house since Alice Cooper. THIS here was the bottom of the barrel of the 3D houses. If HHN insists that we must have a 3D house every year, go back to HoTC. That was the best 3D house HHN has ever done. GO BACK TO YOUR ROOTS. Like I said earlier, Murdy is going to extreme with the neon cartoony look. Go back to the dark look with color put in where appropriate. Having everything bright and neon isn't scary. I'm giving it a grade above an F only because of the few things I sorta liked in here.

Overall: D

Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home: I'll start this off by saying that this is the best house Parisian has ever had. Very detailed, very stinky, and VERY scary. Michael gave me some really good scares in this house. The one thing that really bothered me though was the long hallway of hedge wallpaper. I'll say that again. Hedge. Wallpaper. Remember the old construction walls they used to build Harry Potter? They had no better place to put them, so they used 'em for Halloween. For the last time Murdy, PUT SOME FREAKING GREEN MESH NETTING OR SOMETHING TO COVER IT UP! Why the love for blank, unthemed/lazily themed walls!? Step. It. Up. You've done this for ten years. Come on now. Also, I was disappointed to see the closet scene have no clothes....just....black...walls. Aside from that, I really liked this house and liked the detail. The ending was unnerving and the scares were fantastic. Still doesn't hold a candle to 2009's. That was legendary. Ah, memories.

Overall: B+

Jabawockeez: Well, I will say this show did a great job taking people off the street. They REALLY packed people in which was refreshing to see. I thought the show a little cool and fun, but it's....not my style. The GP was EATING it up. They REALLY liked it. I guess that puts the last nail in the coffin for Bill and Ted. I did hear that they're completely booked up in Vegas throughout October 2016, so maybe there's hope? I probably won't see this again until towards the end of the run. Oh, my buddy got a video of some guy getting up during the quiet/volunteer portion of the show and yelled, "F&%$ THE JABAWOCKEEZ! LONG LIVE BILL AND TED!!!" After his outburst, he was escorted out and the talent shrugged him off. I'm trying to get him to upload it. When he does, I'll post it. I did like this better than the Hanging, which says a lot. It's fun, it's okay, but I miss Bill and Ted! At least I'll see them this Friday.

Overall: C

Overall thoughts: Well, I really enjoyed this year. I enjoyed it a bit more than last year. Of course there were some flaws, but whatever. I had fun. Scarezones were cool. Just wish they would do more with them. The content was pretty solid, but for the love of all that is good and right, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE BLANK WALLS! My word. I do hope we see seven houses again as that would even the crowd out pretty good. I noticed that for a sold-out night, crowds were somewhat tolerable. Just do early entry, and you should be fine. The lines didn't start to get bad until after Terror Tram closed. Again, I had a swell time and look forward to going back Sunday, and then ORLANDO BOUND THURSDAY!!!!!!! YEEEEAAAAA!!!

So go. Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Beware of Crimson Peak.

In association with DTH316

HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS

DTH’s Return Home to Crimson Peak Not Far From the Further to Purge in Triple D

A Trip Review - September 19th, 2015

7 PM - 2 AM

[Prologue]
Last year, I opted to do SECOND NIGHT instead of opening night and thought it was better overall: I get to game plan based on opening night’s lines, I can leave as early as I want since Fridays sometimes keep me home until 3 or 4 PM, and the event gets to work out its groove a tiny bit better for quality assurance. Luckily, I saw opening night’s new early entry system and was thanking God I wasn’t caught in that mess trying to think on my feet as to what to do next. Basically, the moment the mazes open at 6:30 PM, since people are already in the park, they’re already at the lines, meaning TWD and Insidious jump up to an hour by 6:45 PM. Knowing this, I had a new plan in mind that would help. As for what’s in store this year for me to get excited about… well, not a whole lot. 4/6 of the maze themes we’ve seen before and another one of the six I thought was completely stupid (*coughsThisIsTheEndcoughs*). So, I figured, “eh, just go because you always go and have fun anyway, then judge it later. So judge it I did… 

(Note: Per usual, I have the 10 categories I rate 1-10 to come up with a total of 100 points. The rating system no longer has the category of “immersion,” since I feel that’s more subjective, in replacement for the new category of “cast performance!” Also nixed Sound Design, since that's usually on point anyway)

[Getting There]

Hit some traffic, didn’t get to the park until about 4:35, which was about 35 minutes off schedule. We decided to eat before we got into the park, so we looked around City Walk. Checked out the merch and meh, it’s okay. At about 5:20, we decided it was time to head over to Early Entry. Got in the shortest security check and the ladies operating it were being very rude. They forced us to take our belts off, and I noticed none of the other security checks were doing that, they just let people go, let it beep, then scanned them. 
 

[Early Entry]

The main point I want to make is to 1) be there by 5 and 2) just head straight for the Walking Dead line because people start lining up anyway. Basically Early Entry is just an hour and a half line that you get to avoid waiting an hour and a half in between 7-2. Anyway, the process is very similar to Early Entry of ages passed. Go to the far right near Waterworld, enter through there, get wrist banded, and head into the park. This time, the park is mostly still open as people funnel out. But as I said, just head straight for the lower lot since that’s where most people are going. Personally, I got in at 5:40 and felt that was a bit too late.

We arrived to TWD at 6:00 PM and the Transformers Extended Queue was already full of people, even though they said lines open at 6. It was advertised as 30 minutes, with the mazes opening at 6:30, that seemed like a decent trade off. Wrong. It’s 30 minutes from once it hits 6:30, because we didn’t get into TWD until 6:55. I checked the wait times before we walked in the maze and it said TWD was already at a 2 hour wait, and from being in front of the facade and looking at the extended queue, it definitely seemed accurate, with Insidious being an hour and a half. I’ll just tell ya now, this totally ruins any plans you may have of doing Insidious right after.

Even if you were very first in line for TWD, then ran over to Insidious at 6:35, you wouldn’t be out of that line until 8 PM, which by that time, This Is the End will be an hour while the backlot will be 45ish. My suggestion is to do what I did, which is very tiring but it worked to see all the mazes… hit either Insidious or TWD, then hit TITE, then head to the backlot for one of those mazes, head back up to Terror Tram and Halloween, go all the way back to the backlot to finish the other maze, and save Insidious for very last. I’m almost positive you’re not gonna have time to see Jabbawockeez due to this early entry system (forewarning: I didn’t) and you may only get a ride or two in (I got in 3). Anyway, onto the review…

[The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far]

Advertised Wait: 30 minutes

In Line At: 6:00 (Early Entry)/Line Opened at: 6:30

Actual Wait: 55 mins (including EE)/25 after maze opened

In Maze At: 6:55 PM

I think it’s fair to say I definitely underestimated this maze — because I was surprisingly scared shitless throughout the entire thing! Mostly because this maze is beyond dark. Which is even more surprising because there are details littered throughout these dark scenes, you just can’t see them, but the scare actors can see you! The major thing I loved here is the human element for the first 1/4 of the maze, as it really amps up the scariness. The first scene reminded me of something out of Hostel and it was great, being splattered by a throat gash! I then was trying to survive the horror with every turn being more horrifying then the last. Even during the most mundane, transitional scenes, there is a scare. The cast was huge and they really put them in places that you usually feel safe. I watched the ThemeParkHD video and you can really tell, there is a scareactor in almost every damn corner of this maze and it’s amazing. For example, “oh, just a platform to get me to the next scene, NOPE! Baseball bat in my face.”

It is apparent that some new blood or new energy was apart of this creation, having a somewhat Knotts-esque approach with the usual set scares and randomly placed/semi-roaming scareactors, keeping the maze at a constant “go-go-go!” In my opinion, this is a maze done RIGHT. This is what I’ve been hoping for when things started to feel repetitive by 2010. Unfortunately, this is the only maze that really does that, so hopefully the praises this maze gets this year, they take it as a cue and keep doing it. By far my favorite part is the Noah scene, infamous on the show, and definitely still pretty gruesome here. I swear, there are some scenes where there must be at least a dozen walkers in one room, or so it feels like because of the use of dummies/mannequins, which is I feel the proper way to use them as oppose to prior years and trying to use them AS the scare, but what makes them good here is they help create the atmosphere WITH the scare (this is also done in Halloween and Insidious, and it shows they’ve taken our concerns seriously with the dummy situation).

I really loved the church pop out scare, as this section had a lot of double, triple, quadruple teaming in this maze that shows an amazing amount of team work to get these scares right. Then the last half with all the hanging half bodies was a lot of fun! To end this review, I must say, it is in your best interest NOT to skip this maze. It is truly awesome and the best TWD maze since 2012, and one of the best mazes of this year. If not, it is at least worth it to check out for the enormous cast who are all kicking major ass.

Facade - 10. Great design, walkers scaring, and the smell of human meat cooking!

Set Design - 10. Even in the dark, I could still make out details of things on the ground or in the distance. That’s how you do dark scenes!

Scareactor Design - 8. Usual TWD make up, but I noticed there were some masks or facial things that fit oddly over the head.

Special Props & Design - 8. Throat slit gag was pretty nice, lots of hanging chopped up bodies, usual hoard scare. Concrete walker was missing when I went through though.

Cast Performance - 9. These guys were rocking it very hard and I was super impressed! It can only get better from here which is all the more exciting. There were a few spots where things could be on quicker intervals, so just keep it up!

Length - 10. This definitely felt like HHN’s longest maze, aside from the HOH iterations of the past, but only by about 30 seconds or so. It also hit all the major points of the season, as where I felt last year missed a lot of good sequences from season 4, or portrayed them kind of poorly, but this was definitely long and well portrayed.

Scare Level - 9. They got me good so many times because I had no freakin’ idea where I was half the time! Trying to feel my way out of rooms. I also felt like the dummies were well used, because it amped up the intensity factor, feeling like there was zombies constantly around you.

Fun Level - 10. For the first maze of the night, this really set the mood right and got my heart pumping!

Story Comprehension - 8. Unless you watch the show, it’s not exactly clear. Especially if you look at the mazes of the past, you’d be kinda confused how hospital, a prison twice, then this would make any sense.

Personal Bias Points - 8. Although I am a bit fatigued of TWD, Murdy and team show no signs of slowing on making great mazes based off it. Very well done, I was impressed!

91 out of 100. ‘A’-

[This Is The End: 3D]

Advertised Wait: 30 minutes

In Line At: 7:02

Actual Wait: 7 minutes

In Maze At: 7:09

The line for Insidious was too long so at this point we decided to skip it and hit it last after hitting everything else that didn’t have that bad of a line at this point. Luckily, the entrance for This is The End is next to the exit of TWD and Transformers, so we just walked right across! It was at this point I started to become suspicious of the wait times as they were advertised because the line was practically a walk on, so how anyone operating it could think it was 30 minutes is beyond me. I also loved being back in this old location because it gave me memories of this maze venue from 2011 and prior.

Now, honestly, I don’t even know what to say about this maze. It is a horrible representation of the movie, as it looks nothing like the sets seen in the movie and there’s really only one scene that I could say was decently portrayed and that’s The Exorcism of Jonah Hill. Everything else was like some weird maze that had sound bytes from the movie. Which is disappointing, as I already had low expectations for this, because my main thing was, if they were gonna do this maze, at least do it right. And in my opinion, they didn’t.

Even the scareactors didn’t look like they wanted to be there except for a few standouts, such as the Emma Watson and the possessed Jonah Hill on the bed. But all the demons (who are not even in the freakin movie but are overly represented here) up in their holes slowly reached out or didn’t even try at oncoming guests. Best part is the end… I guess. *shrugs* I have no real notes because this maze, as far as I’m concerned, is a lost cause and there aren’t many ways to fix it.

Facade - 7. Michael Cera is fun and the smoldering house is great, but they could’ve done a bit more. If Michael Cera swung back and forth or down and up, that’d be even better.

Set Design - 1. Ew. Just ew. What the hell is this? This is not the movie and it is a poorly designed maze in almost every way, even as a 3D maze.

Scareactor Design - 6. The celebrity stand ins were pretty decent. Some of the scareactors I guess looked okay.

Special Props & Design - 5. The few things that pop out and I loved the room changing based on the lighting at the end. That is a very neat effect, which is something they’ve done a few times over the last year or two though.

Cast Performance - 4. Like I said, slow, sluggish and like they didn’t care or were embarrassed to be apart of this maze. I think if the cast at least rocked it, this would’ve been a lot better of an experience, but it was just so “oh hi, I work here.”

Length - 7. I almost wanted it to be over faster, but in theory, I suppose it hit all the right points.

Scare Level - 2. I might’ve got a jolt, but no screams or jumps to be had in here.

Fun Level - 5. I mean, I laughed at points.

Story Comprehension - 6. They at least tried, so I give them points. The random TVs on display actually don’t make much sense though. Like, why would there be a TV just showing people? However, the story is all over the place. You have possessed Jonah in the first scene, but then have Emma Watson show up which is way before that, and have Danny McBride in the tub even later in the maze, which is way before even that! Like, WHAT?!

Personal Bias Points - 3. I really disliked this maze. Is it the worst in HHN history? One of them for sure. I felt Clowns at least seemed like a maze, albeit a terrible one, but this didn’t seem like an actual attraction at points. More like a “WTF am I doing here and who’s dumb idea was this?” And why were Danny McBride’s dummy legs in the tub so skinny?! Augh. Sorry, random memory that made me hate this maze even more.

46 out of 100. ‘F’

[Jurassic Park in the Dark]

Advertised Wait: 10 minutes

Actual Wait: Walk-On

On Ride At: 7:29 PM

At this point, we were waiting for a friend and decided to kill some time, so we hit this beauty. We snuck on some ICEEs (I’m sorry, Universal) but one of my friends didn’t successfully keep his. Falling car still doesn’t work. And weird note, the dilophosaurus eating people in the boat wasn’t there. “Welcome to the Jungle” was blasting, but not ear shattering loud like before (which is a good thing). Oh and is it just me or is the drop faster? Gave me the biggest rush of my life.

[The Purge scarezone]

Waited for a friend to get out of The Walking Dead for about 5 minutes only to realize later he was actually at Crimson Peak the whole time -_-. Anyway, the ride over to the backlot was annoying, had to wait for two whole trams to go by before we got one and even then we were still separated.  Anyway, the tram drivers totally didn’t hype up the scare zone at all, and Guilleremo Del Toro’s introduction really took me out of the mood and reminded me, “oh yeah, I’m at a theme park.” When dropped off, they were like, “oh yeah, and the Purge is happening, bye.” Meh. As for the zone itself, I really dug the way the containers were positioned as it was optimal for hiding places and scaring. These guys were well on their game and my friend nearly got an axe directly to the face. Standing behind him, it looked like he was just murdered haha. We went through this zone twice and both times they kept up the energy. They need to figure out a way to do the Big Daddy effect because a simple light bulb is totally not effective.

‘A’-

[AVP: Alien vs. Predator]

Advertised Wait: 55 minutes

In Line At: 8:06 PM

Actual Wait: 40 minutes

In Maze At: 8:46 PM

Annoyingly, when we first went to the trams to the backlot, it said the mazes were only a 30 minute wait. When we finally got there, they doubled. Ugh. So we decided to do AVP because it was the longer line and feared it would get longer when the exact opposite happened. Crimson was still in the 40ish zone and figured we could do it right after, but that jumped up to 70 by the time we were out of AVP. Long story short and slightly skipping ahead, after AVP we decided to also come back to Crimson later in the night when we try to finish Insidious. Because I knew if we put off Terror Tram until later in the night, it would also make the Halloween line longer (again, skipping ahead, I was right about that). However, it was at this the point where I got kinda concerned, “holy crap, are we not gonna finish all the mazes?” As for the maze, it’s the same old thing. I still love it and think it’s great. The energy wasn’t as popping though. But if you wanna hear my thoughts on it, go ahead and read my old review from last year.  Also, in no way did I notice any of the new music that was spoken of. I also wanna note, Scare Patrol is just at it’s worst here. I know last year I complained about there being go-go dancers for a sci-fi horror maze, but this time it was a Scare Patrol guy dancing and it ruined the line ten times more. He was entertaining, but if you’re gonna have a male dancer, at least objectify him like you do the girl dancers, not have a guy in a bright orange shirt just being silly. As for the trivia, all the questions were related to Crimson Peak… but we were in line for AVP!!! Like wha?! And not only that, the phrase was always fully uttered as “Crimson Peak in IMAX” and it made me cringe every time. Like, I get it, you want me to see the movie, but shoving the IMAX notion down our throats just made the advertising aspect all the more excruciating.  And also, how the hell are we supposed to have answers for a movie that’s not even out yet?! The entire line was confused and people guessed, but constantly got the answers wrong.

‘B’+ (This A+ maze was a grade lower tonight, sadly).

[Terror Tram: Survive the Purge]

Advertised Wait: 55, 45, 50

In Line At: 9:20 PM

Actual Wait: 37 minutes

In Maze At: 9:57

Ugh, on the lower lot, wait board said TEN MINUTES. Got there and it said 55. Kept walking to the escalator, it then said 45. Get to the bottom, it now said 50. Get your crap straight! We went to the right line as I heard it was quicker but that line was GINORMOUS in comparison to the one on the left. Just saying. As for TT video this year, I just wanna say I hate the beginning of it. The “fabulous” thing was so overdone. The second half with the guy was much better, but at that point, the bad taste was already in my mouth.

Being dropped off, chainsaw squad wasn’t really in a formation. The Whoville section was lacking after that. Bates Motel section was rocking pretty good though and didn’t see much of a show other than a guy spouting off auction-stuff. This is where the tram came to a halt in momentum and IMO, ruined the entire tram. The entire hill was one giant line. I remember first taking this hill in 2008 and getting the scare of a lifetime from a bushman and the days of going up a quiet hill, practically by yourself as you start to hear growling sounds are gone. It is now a giant line just to see one tiny room that quite honestly wasn’t that good. Although the guy in there did stalk me a bit, so I guess that was nice, but the damn near 10 minute wait just to get there was not worth it. Universal needs to fix this traffic jam and immediately because this type of lull in the middle of an attraction is the worst flow in keeping things scary.

The second half picked up and I loved how the Purgers blended in with regular people. But that aspect gave me flashbacks of TWD being here for the last 3 years and suddenly I didn’t like it. Major kudos to the guys in the fence scene before WOTW, they were really out for blood! My friend said something to one of them and he got a weapon in the face as he shouted back out, “I was just giving you a compliment!” The guy then kept attacking him and even popped out behind a door at some point. Also, the Big Daddy scene in here (ugh, the repetition) was even worse than the one in the scarezone. Then there was a long line just to get back on the tram. Decent attraction for half of it, but a horrible one on the other half because of operations.

‘C’+

[Exterminatorz]

This zone just wasn’t doing it for me. Probably the worst entry zone they’ve done. Cool masks, but energy and concept just wasn’t selling it to be absolutely scary.

‘C’-

[Halloween: Michael Myers Returns Home]

Advertised Wait: 55 minutes

In Line At: 10:40 PM

Actual Wait: 40 minutes

In Maze At: 11:20 PM

As I said before, we did this maze at the right time, because after we got out of it, the line jumped up to 100 and stayed in that zone for the rest of the night, so I knew I made a good call not holding it off until later. It means we had to do double the amount of walking, but we also got to slash our waiting in half. [And is that really Murdy doing Loomis’ voice? Because he did a SPOT ON job if he did.] Anyway, I was hoping for a scare in the first room and didn’t receive one. Love the scare in the hallway right after that. Which is one of the best parts about this maze, is Michael pops out of places that you wouldn’t figure a scareactor to pop out of, which is what made the maze in 09 really well done also, and “Kill, Jason, Kill” effective in 2010. So good news is we have that kind of innovation back.

However, it was by the “hedge portion” that I knew this maze just wasn’t going to live up to the 09 maze. I mean, design wise, because the scareactors were all awesome and doing their damn best to get you, but something about this maze doesn’t FEEL like the movie like the 09 maze did, even though that maze deterred from the story quite a bit. The Halloween 3 homage was fine until it interfered with the Bob impaled onto the wall. It does not belong in that scene and felt very off. Plus, perspective wise, it didn’t look the way it looked in the movie and should’ve been on the other side of the room. There was a point in this maze where I started to notice a new effect this year, which is projections/mapping on walls to really sell effects like shadows (also done in Insidious and Crimson Peak). The silhouette of Michael on the wall was pretty creepy and had a “did I just really see that” element to it. I think they could’ve done more with the supernatural aspect to this maze as well.

And ya know the phone strangulation scene was honestly perfect the way they did it in 09 by lending a scare to it but this time you just watch her get strangled over and over again and it’s pretty boring. She also doesn’t get lift into the air like before, which is what made that scene so impressive. A fun section was the curtains, as I just ran out of there because I was genuinely scared haha. SCARE OF THE NIGHT goes to RIGHT AFTER that though in some bushes where Myers came UNEXPECTEDLY from behind a corner (such a perfect boo-hole position) and scared the crap out of my friend in front of me to the point he turned around and grabbed onto my chest. Michael got so scary close on that scare and its stuff like that that is why I loved HHN in 07-09, because they always broke your comfort level in a pop-out fashion. The ending Loomis looked pretty good, but the shooting scene could’ve used a little something extra to it. Now the “you can’t kill the Boogeyman” scene is pretty great and a great use of the dummies/mannequins as I mentioned before. It was pretty terrifying not knowing what was real in here.

So some great scares are to be had in here, as my heart stopped at least twice from pure fright, which is FANTASTIC work and is a hard feat to accomplish. I mean, I hate to say it and compare, but this maze is a good mile off from being as good as the 09 one. This one is missing a certain feel to make it as scary. I think this one has the lighting perfect as it LOOKS like the movie from a cinematic lens stand point, and maybe even the sets are more true to the movie but they’re positioned in a way that the camera in the movie didn’t see it, so it feels askew and doesn’t sell the “I’m in the movie” feel. This wouldn’t be such a problem, as no maze particularly does that, but this maze specifically makes you navigate through scenes almost completely backwards from the way the film portrays them. Either way, definitely one of the best of this year, just not one of the best ever.

Facade - 9. I kinda just hate the way the projection has that 3D feel. And the house doesn’t seem as ominous, sorry again, as it did in 09.

Set Design - 7. Something just constantly seemed off in each scene. The hedge sequence was completely flat and bad though, from a design stand point.

Scareactor Design - 10. They got the mask and others characters right, so that’s a major bonus.

Special Props & Design - 10. There’s a lot of ghostly type of effects, although I think they could’ve pushed it a bit more, but for all intents and purposes, they did what they had well.

Cast Performance - 10. Really aggressive cast and I loved it!

Length - 9. I wouldn’t say it’s too short, I’d just say it’s poorly designed to not feel like enough scenes. The hedge scene and the mirrors scene are just too long for their own good considering they’re not in the movie, as oppose to the 09 maze, which had extended sequences not in the movie but they FELT in place and more in spirit of the movie.

Scare Level - 10. Like I said, my heart stopped one or two times because of how good the scares were. Great scares in here.

Fun Level - 10. Loved it and I love Halloween, so this was a lot of fun.

Story Comprehension - 7. Ya know, here’s my gripe: why are we doing supernatural Myers in the first place? If this is a memory or a haunted flashback of sorts, I felt like the supernatural element could’ve been pushed harder. Instead, it’s like “ghost Myers and now some scenes from the movie, oh look, ghost Myers again.” Some of this works in a teleportation way, but that wasn’t much of the idea. So I dock it a few points for not making complete sense, like how This Is The End was just oddly out of order, this one’s concept isn’t well defined.

Personal Bias Points - 10. I love Halloween, I love they brought it back, I love that it was actually pretty scary and I loved this maze. Was it as good as before? Not by a long shot, but it was still a worthy effort and addition to this year.

92 out of 100. ‘A’-

[Corpz]

Meh, whatever. Felt like the absolute most basic scare zone they’ve ever done. Design of the actors look cool, but I think more could’ve been done with the location.

C-

[Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness]

Advertised Wait: 40 minutes

In Line At: 12:08 AM

Actual Wait: 34 minutes

In Maze At: 12:42 AM

I wanted to see Jabbawockeez at 11:15 but I just missed it and at this point, it didn’t seem like that was gonna happen anyway. Grabbed some tacos in Springfield along with my souvenir sipper and made our way back down the escalators. Unfortunately, these tacos were very dry and aren’t as spicy. If you want tacos, I recommend just going to one of those taco trucks on the backlot. This time walked right onto the trams with no delay and headed back through the Purge zone (still rocking it!).

Entering this maze, something about it already seemed soft. There was no hype or energy around it. The music outside just seemed very moody and less scary. Ghostly, but not creepy. Entering, I was already reminded of the Haunted Mansion. There’s a few rooms where there’s just no scares and that’s kind of sad. Although there are a lot of effects and stuff to look at, there’s not enough of a cast to really make this maze bring it. This is the type of maze that would be scary if you were absolutely alone and walked super slow through it. But since this is HHN, for mazes to work, they have to feel like super charged horror climaxes to really be any scary. What made La Llorona work with a more “slow” feel is when the scares hit, they hit hard. There are points where this maze’s agenda just doesn’t seem like it wants to be scary, but more or less just be showy of it’s gothic/romance roots. It’s funny because if you watch the ThemeParkHD walkthrough, they’re just casually walking through it, too. Wow, I almost thought it was just me.

Nice try, but um… I think with more effort, HHN & Del Toro can pull it off some other year, but this year, sadly Crimson Peak is almost a dud. Although it is worth seeing since it’s the only brand new theme that’s not stupid and 3D. Fortunately, the maze’s line won’t be too long and you can experience it… casually. SURVEY PEOPLE hang out at the tram back to the lower lot, if you want to find them this year!

Facade - 6. This facade was super underwhelming and there isn’t much special about it. Boo.

Set Design - 9. Yes, it’s a gorgeous maze, but for some reason, I expected better from Guillermo Del Toro. Like Pan’s Labyrinth style sets, just almost out of this world. Felt like a very upscaled basic haunted/supernatural house maze. I also don’t think it’s anywhere as well designed as La Llorona either, like some people have been saying.

Scareactor Design - 8. Again, I expected more. Maybe the movie will be a bit underwhelming too in this department as well.

Special Props & Design - 10. There was a lot of cool effects in this maze, at least.

Cast Performance - 6. I mean, they tried, they just weren’t aggressive.

Length - 9. I felt like this had a pretty decent length. I kinda wanted to understand more of the story and wanted an extra scene, and it ends prematurely.

Scare Level - 5. The softest scares in here. The trigger audio was super low and none of the scares landed. It didn’t help I was getting the tail-end of scares, but the people in front of me and behind me weren’t screaming, so not much was going right in this department.

Fun Level - 6. Half way through, it felt like I was going through it out of purpose to finish all the mazes rather than wanting to. I was way more excited before going in, and before I was even half way through, I just felt pretty let down.

Story Comprehension - 8. It’s a basic haunted house, for the most part, so it makes sense, but I wanted to fully understand things a bit more. I guess that’s where the movie comes in.

Personal Bias Points - 7. I wanted to love this maze, it was my most anticipated, but it didn’t live up to any of the standards. A lot of good Knotts mazes are even better than this (Trick or Treat, for example). Del Toro just didn’t deliver and I think it’s because they were restrained to a movie that isn’t completely horror (from what Del Toro has said himself). Hopefully next year he comes back and blows us away with something original.

74 out of 100. ‘C’

[Transformers]

Advertised Wait: 20 minutes

In Line At: 1:02 AM

Actual Wait: 8 minutes

On Ride At: 1:10 AM

After that very… mellow experience, we all agreed we needed an adrenaline booster. Plus, with an hour left, we decided to hit Insidious RIGHT before closing and do some rides first. We hit Transformers, a blast as always. And then we did JP one more time. THIS TIME the Dilophosaurus was back and eating people on the boat. Like, what? At some point during the night, someone just put back in an antimatronic dinosaur? haha

[Insidious: Return to the Further]

Advertised Wait: 80 minutes

In Line At: 1:46 AM

Actual Wait: 22 minutes

In Maze At: 2:08 AM

After JP, we headed towards The Mummy, but didn’t want to risk missing Insidious since it was a 35 minute wait. And then funny enough, we ran into Jennette McCurdy along the way (Sam from iCarly and Sam & Cat). She was also with Michael Eric Reid (Sinjin on Victorious) and I didn’t recognize him at the time, but apparently Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Maze Runner, Love Actually, Ferb from Phineas & Ferb) was also in their squad. We headed back around so I could get a refill on my sipper and again, Jennette McCurdy was right in front of me in line to get a churro while her squad sat down and waited for her. I tried to be low-key in telling my friends, but ya know how that goes. After getting my refill, we headed in line, which honestly looked pretty short. I think they may just be overselling how long these waits are just to redirect you somewhere else because I don’t think I ever saw the line for this maze go down the stairs like I have seen it in the past.

Anyhow, we entered into the house and I love the gust of fog that hits. As soon as you turn the corner, the maze is already different from it’s 2013 version. It’s now like a mash-up “best of” moments from all three movies, much like the mazes of old (Saw, Friday 07, Nightmare 08, etc) and I think it was really effective. You even get a room with all of the main monsters from the movies at once in the finale and that made me super giddy as a fan of the franchise.  The very first picture scare got me really good for some reason, I just wasn’t expecting it.  No fog in the Further though, but that was still a very scary scene. I love the lady in black choking the woman, which was effective without a major scare in that scene. And they finally did the main scare i wanted from Insidious 2 where you have to walk through the covered boddies sitting and standing. Very unsettling! And as silly as it was in the movie, the “he’s got your baby” guy was in here and it was pretty damn freaky. Stupid on screen, scary in real life. Go figure.

Now there’s one part that really scared the hell out of me and it was The Man Who Couldn’t Breath hanging upside down in the middle of some clothes that you have to walk through. It’s a dummy, but in the moment, I was terrified and didn’t wanna be anywhere near that thing. After that, there’s a great hallway of just constant scares and then you’re thrusted into the Further, again which is my favorite part. Much like Halloween, the scares really got me here, and had that “my heart just stopped” feeling, but at least 3 - 4 times this time. I was jumping and screaming “oh shit” at nearly every turn. MY ONE MAJOR GRIPE that needs to be immediately fixed though, is the sound was glitching/skipping on ALL the audio triggers. I think this is better than the 2013 Insidious maze and is easily THE MAZE OF THE YEAR.

Facade - 9. Basic ass house, whatever, haha but I do love the music.

Set Design - 10. Yes, absolutely recreated the movie and each set got increasingly more scary to walk through.

Scareactor Design - 10. Spot on recreations of the monsters and other characters.

Special Props & Design - 10. A lot of great effects in here! 

Cast Performance - 10. They were absolutely on fire and bringing it all night!

Length - 10. Takes you through all three movies and it’s awesome! Hits all the right points.

Scare Level - 10. Terrifying!

Fun Level - 10. A blast as everyone just ran through running for their lives.

Story Comprehension - 8. Technically, shouldn’t Insidious 3 have been shown first? Either way, other than that, it made sense. But concrete CONCEPT and STORY drive is SEVERELY lacking this year.

Personal Bias Points - 10. Loved having this back and out doing it’s original maze! That’s the way to do it!

97 out of 100 ‘A’+

[Dark Christmas]

As we left and after closing, I realized we never went through here and decided to walk through and take pictures. Tell me how even without scareactors, this is still an amazing zone?! Keep bringing it back and get it to maze level already!!!

‘A’

[Outro]

So, my consensus is this year is pretty… basic. With 3 stand out mazes, everything else is pretty lacking. It just didn’t seem like they gave it their all on this go around, but it’s still a good year and worth checking out. Just go on a cheap night and you’ll be satisfied. The new Early Entry system is completely fucked and I highly urge they change it back to it’s old way or alter it so people literally cannot get in line for the mazes until 6:30, otherwise, the whole thing is pointless. It’s also insanely unfair to those arriving relatively on time at 7 who will and can not in anyway whatsoever see all the mazes because 2 of them are already 2 hours long and stay that length all night. FOL is not a solution because not everyone can get FOL, and Early Entry is no longer a solution either because as you can see, I BARELY made it and completely missed Jabbawockeez.

If 4 out of 6 mazes are 100 minute waits at all times through out the night, Universal has to ask themselves, “uh, WTF did we do wrong?” More and more people are going to leave complaining and they’ll be the victim of their own success that leads to their destruction. Just managing a way to find when each of those mazes to hit aren’t 100 minute waits is the trick. Halloween is 30-60 minutes between 9:30-11 and that is the ONLY window to get that maze that short of a line. Crimson and AVP just randomly fluctuate, so that one is kind of just luck, but even the longest line there is 70 at the most, so even that isn’t that bad. TWD or Insidious has to be split up, one of them has to be first and the other has to be last. That’s just what I think. As you can see, I got a great wait time on Insidious. Keep in mind, like Disneyland’s Fastpass, FOL stops entering the maze when park closes, so once the park closes, the regular line just filters through super fast without interference. So keep in mind, the game plan this year is VERY tricky, but as always, have fun screaming in the fog! I’ll see Universal again sometime toward the end of October! Kick it up a notch!

‘B’+

RANKINGS —

Mazes:

AMAZING - Insidious: Return to the Further

GREAT - Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home

GOOD - The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far

AVERAGE - AVP: Alien vs. Predator

OKAY - Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness

WTF - This Is The End: 3D

Scarezones:

GREAT - The Purge, Dark Christmas

OKAY - Exterminatorz

BAD - Corpz

TT (through the years):

AMAZING - 08, 09, 13, 12

GOOD - 14

OKAY - 07, 15

BAD - 11

WTF - 10

Overall Years:

AMAZING - 14, 08, 12, 10, 13, 09

GREAT - 15

GOOD - 11

OKAY - 07

This is when I entered every attraction (to help with your game planning and for scareactors/Universal to know when I went through):

Early Entry - 5:40 PM

TWD - 6:55 PM

TITE - 7:09 PM

JP - 7:29 PM

AVP - 8:46 PM

TT - 9:57 PM

HWEEN - 11:20 PM

CP - 12:42 AM

TRANS - 1:10 AM

JP2 - 1:30 AM

INSID - 2:08 AM

Friday September 18, 2015

HHN 2015 opening night finally dawned upon us and I was more than ready to rock and roll! I left home around 4:30pm and got to Universal at around 5, being that traffic wasn't that bad this year. I started off the night by looking around the Universal Store at Citywalk and picking up my awesome Halloween lanyard. Next, I meet up with the group I was going with which ended up being around 20 people, some I had met and hung out with several times and others I was meeting for the first time. We waited at the front gate for about an hour till the event gates opened up around 6:45 when the masses begun to flood in to the gates of Halloween Horror Nights 2015. 

Exterminatorz

We ended up watching the opening scaremony and by this time Walking Dead already had a 70 minute wait. I did not watch the opening scaremony the previous year and was cool to finally see it again. I think it tied in really well with the Exterminatorz. The event kicked off and we hung out here for a while. The costumes looked really cool and the scare actors as always were very aggressive and on their game. There was one really cool effect they did were one of the scare actors sprayed you with "bug spray" which was really cool. The go-go dancers looked meh. I've seen better, they were really nothing special this year. When we returned later on in the night the scare actors were still rocking it but overall I would have liked to see a bigger variety of costumes. I liked the giant roach and the chainsaws but they all looked very similar I didn't see much of any other types of scareactors and it did feel a little less chaotic than the previous scarezones that have been here have been. This zone needed a few more actors on here and have them spread out because the middle part of the zone by the cafe in the entrance was pretty dead. Most were towards the back near the Universal Plaza or in the front by the Go-Go dancers. It is a step down from the chaos of the previous scarezones but its really not bad.

Grade: B-

After we walked around a bit my friend went to go get a guest assistance pass for his injured knee over at guest relations. For those of you who don't know its a pass were you present it at Gate A and they write a time which you have to return on or any time later for Front of the Line access. Anyway it was already around 7:30 and we headed over to the Terror Tram.

Terror Tram: Survive the Purge

This had No wait but we still used the guest assistance pass and were allowed in right away. We boarded the tram were we were presented with the story which I really dug and drove over to Whoville. Once we were dropped off we heard the sirens and boom chainsaws came after us to what I thought was a really weak opening that again needed more scare actors. These guys were on their game though, they were jumping around and getting in your face and just overall being a really good group f scare actors. There were some incredible effects they did here that I've always wanted to see like pulling a "guest" out of the crowd and bagging him and throwing him in a cage. There was a good variety of actors and this time around weren't afraid to let them use guns. To me it did feel to get a bit repetitive after awhile since its the same tram but rather than walkers there's purgers. The very last room in the building we enter after WoW was incredible though. This was defiantly a better tram than the previous two years of Walking Dead and Chucky and Scream but it still cant help but feel repetitive. The only thing I feel will make the Terror Tram truly feel fresh again would be to change it up, alter the route a bit but as mentioned it is the better tram in the last couple years.

Grade: C+

We had just seen a scarezone and the Terror Tram and it began to feel like a very meh year. Anyway we headed to Halloween to get a return time and the to the Lower Lot were we got a wait time for This is the End, Insidious, and The Walking Dead. After, we decided to catch a ride on Jurassic Park in the Dark which was the same as always but its a fun little addition to HHN. After we got off, we were allowed to return to This is the End and Halloween so we chose This is the End since we were already in the Lower Lot. 

This is the End 3D

I honestly had zero expectations for this maze when I walked into it the first time. The facade looked okay, it wasn't anything special or did it look as grand as Franco's house looks in the film, but I did like to see Michael Cera impaled up there and playing the line "Who took my f*cking cellphone, after all the coke I've wasted on you people" LOL. We enter the maze and right away it is very 3D heavy, nothing like House of 1000 Corpses, but it is way darker than the previous 3D mazes. The scares here are very very predictable though it was cool seeing my friend who plays one of the demons actually use a very good distraction tactic to get me and my group pretty good. It is a really hilarious maze though I'll give them that, they pulled off the spirit of the film pretty well though it looks nothing like the film. There were some very cool scenes and effects here, especially the rapture effect which turned out pretty effective. This maze is also very heavy on reusing walls and stuff and does get repetitive at times, feels very short, looks cheesy, and by all means isn't a great maze but its not terrible or the worst maze ever! Have you guys forgotten about the laughable HoH overlays or the fucking horrible Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper 3D mazes? This maze is better than any of those and achieves what it was going for with the crude humor but again the main issue is the scares which seems to be a big problem in most mazes this year. I'll give you that the 3D is not necessary and turns really annoying sometimes albeit why I took the glasses off during the second walktrough but isn't the worst thing ever and has enjoyment to be found in it.

Grade: D+

We then headed to the backlot to get return times for AVP and Crimson Peak but honestly thank god for those trams, we were tired!

The Purge: Urban Nightmare

We got of the tram and were giving our rights as Americans to cleanse our souls. I just have to say wow! They really amped up their game here! This  scare zone was aggressive creative, dark, gritty, just plainly and simply beautiful chaos. This was better than the Terror Tram!

Grade: A

We got our return times for AVP and Crimson Peak and we slit up as some off us got grub at the taco truck in the backlot and the rest headed back to the lower lot for Jurassic Cafe. I ended up getting a Jello Shot and a bottled water and just sat around the backlot having a good time. We went back up to the lower lot met up with the rest of our part and did This is the End one more time. We then proceed to hit the rest of the mazes which we now had FOL for. We started off with the one with the biggest wait.

The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far

I had mixed feelings before heading in but my god was the terminus facade just beautiful! The first half of the maze was very human heavy and I really enjoyed that but once we got to the forest scenes it began to fall apart for me. For the longest maze ever there was a lot more transitions than actual scenes and the parts were there were scenes felt very similar to the ones from previous Walking Dead mazes (i.e. walker in the floor, hanging bodies, walkers pretending their static,) I didn't hate maze but I did feel a bit disappointed. Moreover, the scare actors inhere also need to step up their game pronto! Some of them were just there and growled seeming very bored. Anyway, the level of detail in here was the best out of all TWD mazes but the scares, transitions, and overall the been there done that feeling dragged it down for me. This maze was way better than last years maze and maybe 2013, I haven't decided which is better yet, I need to experience this a couple more times. I feel that if I do this maze a couple more times I will really get to like it but for now I just wanted more walkers and for the scare actors to put more enthusiasm into it.

Grade: B-

We exited the maze all with different opinions some dubbing it the best Walking Dead maze and other plainly and simply hating it. We proceed to finish the lower lot trio and hit Insidious. 

Insidious: Return to the Further

Let me start off by saying I wasn't a fan of the 2013 maze nor of the franchise. The facade is the same which is cool but once inside the maze is a very different one from the one in 2013. The set design and effects were top notch. The Further scenes were pulled off better. The costumes wee great but the scares are the star of the maze. Their not your usual HHN scares and are very hard at times to see were they are coming from. I was terrified in this maze, it is one if not the scariest maze I have ever been trough in my years of going to HHN which is since 2009.  I cant wait to see this again!
 

Grade: A+

We took a tram back to the backlot to finish the other half of the mazes. We started off with our least anticipated AVP.

AVP: Alien vs Predator

 This maze is the exact same thing as last year. As stated before a very visually appealing maze but lacks greatly in scares. There were no real tweaks to thinks that had to be adjusted like the xenomorph puppets. They could have reskined the werewolf puppets from AWIL like Orlando did but they didn't. I overall felt very bored in this maze and don't think I will do it again when i go back.

Grade: D-

Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness

This was my most anticipated maze this year and it was what I was expecting to a point. Murdy captured the essence of a Del Toro film perfectly into the maze. It looks beautiful, I got the tail end of the scare but from what I saw they were decent. The costumes also looked really good, as well as some of the effects and lighting and the score...OMG it was beautiful. On the downside the blank hallway transitions turned me off as you went from an awe inspiring scene to fucking black walls.

Grade: A 

We took a tram back...again, did Insidious....again and head up to the upper lot to finish in Haddonfiled, Illinois.

Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home

The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers was the first maze I experienced at HHN and it was perfect! This maze took a somewhat different approach and felt different in some scenes. The most I felt repeated from 2009 was the phone cord kill and the tombstone on the bed. I feel that part of this is because of the layout and the different sorts of scares they had some which did get me pretty darn good! The last room though was scary as hell and very disorienting and worked really, really effectively. It is not the 2009 maze but it is one of the best this year!

Grade: A

Corpz

This scarezone looks really cool sounds very creepy and has awesome set design. The scare actors were just kinda strolling and not trying to hard but I'm sure that with full potential this zone would be awesome!

Grade: B+

Dark Christmas

It was very similar to last years zone but the scares and aggressiveness of the scare actors felt very toned down. I kinda liked it more last year!

Grade: B

We didn't watch the Jabbawockez because fuck the Jabbawockez.

Anyway we all expected this to be a crappy year but it is actually a very decent year. It has its ups and downs and needs to work on improving the scares in some of the mazes but it wasn't a bad year like I was expecting it to be. 

HHN 2015

Grade: B+

ScareZone Rankings

1. The Purge: Urban Nightmare

2. Exterminatorz

3. Corpz

4. Dark Christmas

Maze Rankings

1. Insidious: Return to the Further

2. Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home

3. Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness

4. The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far

5. Terror Tram: Survive the Purge

6. This is the End 3D

7. AVP: Alien vs Predator

Check out my vlog on my trip while you're at it!

https://youtu.be/msJESCNS5jQ

Merch: They have a lot of better merch inside the park and not in the USH Store on city walk. We were not impressed with the shirts this year so we bought shirts inside Things From Another World. (i got a Psycho shirt and gf got Bride of Frankenstein if you care) Then i saw a sick Halloween shirt that i had to get and it wasn't inside the city walk store (atleast i didn't see it). I also noticed a lot more Walking Dead shirts. inside the park. So yeah just wait till you're inside the park to make a final purchase on HHN merch. 

Early Entry: This is a must do and it was a much more enjoyable experience than last year. Just arrive between 5pm and 6:15 and they will do the whole security check and head to early entry and they give you a wrist band so you can roam the park. ALSO some days they have early showings of Jabawockees at 6:15 and if you attend the early show you will get a front of the line pass to either Crimson Peak or AVP They have the rides open for the people with wrist bands. We checked out some of the Springfield stuff (we ate at Krusty Burger and it was decent) since it was brand new and took a peak at the Harry Potter construction. After we browsed briefly we headed down the lower lot where Walking Dead and Insidious are the only mazes open during early arrival starting at 630. 

Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far: I don't get the title (probably because i don't watch the show) BUT i have to say that i was impressed by this maze. I would go on to say it is the second best Walking Dead maze (after the 1st one in 2012). The Queue was somewhat similar to what we had the previous years but not as gigantic, if that makes any sense. A lot of scares here and of course there was redundant (this years theme) things that we've seen in the previous mazes. But honestly i crapped on this IP but it impressed me this year. One of the better mazes this year. Only complaint i have is that there was some bad lighting in this maze.

Insidious-Return to the Further: No question, this was the BEST maze of the event. There was a bit of stuff from the 2013 maze and some new stuff that goes along with the new movie in here. TONS of scares, AMAZING environment........this was just so good you can't miss it. I will go as far as to say this is probably in my top 5 hen mazes of all time list.

This is the End 3D: The facade was kinda neat, there were maybe two scenes that were kinda cool......thats as much as i can say about the maze. WORST 3D MAZE EVER AND WORST MAZE OF THE NIGHT!!!! I really don't want to see 3D anymore. This "outside the box" IP should've stayed outside the box. 

The Purge Scarezone: Its pretty much the same ol stuff from walking dead but replaced with the (WHO THINKS THIS IS SCARY) purge. Meh

Alien vs Predator: If you been on this maze last year don't expect anything new except a slight tweak in the final scene. The design of the maze is still fantastic and all and the scare actors got me a  bit more this time around though...not much at all but more than last year. This really doesn't do much for me. The Aliens still look silly but the Predators look cool.

Crimson Peak: This was the 2nd longest wait of the night at 45 mins. This movie hasn't came out yet, seen trailers on it (which I'm on the fence about seeing) and this was the first maze announced for the event. First of all i want say that the facade is terrible. This maze is where Walking Dead was for 2 years and you guys decided to make a wack facade.......ISNT THIS BASED IN A BIG MANSION?!?!?!?! and this has the smallest facade??? Now on to the actual maze.....the maze design was good BUT WHY THE BLANK HALLWAYS!!! The characters reminded me too much of Insidious characters for some reason but they were in a gothic style house. There were some cool moments in the maze i don't remember seeing in mazes before but for the most part i wasn't feeling it. I would say it was the 2nd worst but nowhere as bad as This is the End.

..................so the backlot was a but of a let down

Jabawockees: Caught the 10:15 show. They have multiple shows throughout the night...i think even more than Bill and Ted. Its a nice break.....they are good dancers.....i still want Beetlejuice.....

Terror Tram- The Purge: Once again, pretty much replaced the walking dead with The Purge. Same ol Same ol nothings ever gonna change with this blah blah blah don't bother if you been on it before. You can repeat some mazes instead. 

Halloween- Michael Myers Comes Home: Im glad we had this return. This property popped my HHN cherry so it was good to see it back again. They did a lot of stuff in this maze that i expected to be in there but there was a few unexpected things they did that were actually really cool. Got some really good scares in here. I must warn you though this maze was the longest wait time which was about an hour. Second favorite maze of the night. 

Corpz Scarezone: Its WW1 themed i guess with zombie soldiers? Move along folks theres nothing to see

Dark Christmas: Its still cool, probably the best scare zone ever

Exterminatorz: This is at the front of the park, they did an awesome job at the costume designs and it sure its crazy. really liked it.

Overall Thoughts on the event- WHAT A BORING YEAR!!!!!!! i know it was hard to top last year but honestly 3 of the attractions(Walking Dead, Insidious, Halloween) were REALLY enjoyable. Theres nothing new really, a lot of beat to death things we've seen before. Not much soul to this event it just seems like a "its that time of year lets just get it over with" feeling to it. Im really hoping next year is a lot better.