Freak Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 (edited) After a fun twenty minute drive (including not-too bad traffic a couple of miles before we got off Lankershim) with Slayer and As I Lay Dying blasting with the windows down towards Universal, we went through security and arrived at the front gates. We waited outside for about fifteen minutes before they finally opened the turnstiles and let us in. We passed the Freddy Fly Girls (Which I didn't pay too much attention to ) and towards the front. Although we couldn't see a ton during the opening scareamonies with the endless sea of humanity in front of us, we did see some of the major aspects and hear all of it. This was a great touch to the event and really got us pumped for the event. After dodging the chainsaw welding maniacs that those Klownz were, we made our way to House of 1,000 Corpses and went through Freakz and shouted "Zoolander!" as loud as we could. Literally half of the talent there gained up on us! I even got to see Trevler! Awesome job as Lizard Boy! The scarezone itself was awesome too! Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses: In 3D ZombieVision: Although it was a tad annoying having to walk for miles to get around the Terminator building to get to this maze, at least we got a great view of Universal City and a part of the park that I never get to see in the daytime...even though it was fairly insignificant. Anyway onto the maze itself. I think this is one of the best facades HHNH has done, period. Although I haven't seen the movie (Only the trailers), John did a darn good job on convincing me that I was entering Capt. Spaulding's Museum. I also love the fact that the 3D didn't start in the first room but the facade! Mad props to you Murdy and the team! Also, I don't think I ever smelled that fried chicken that everyone was talking about. I guess I was so freaked and tripped out by the 3D I didn't even notice! The 3D really added to the discomfort of the experience since it looked like I was walking through a nightmare. It definitely made up for the tail-end of the scares I was getting toward the first part of the maze. As soon as we came upon the Firefly Mansion, that's when I got all the scares. I even got scared by Baby! LOL! She pointed and laughed at me after i jumped back and screamed. I was very interested in the environmental effect outside of the mansion where I felt cool air and some drops of moisture as if I were outside in the cold (Technically I was, but under an open-air roof haha.) that was great. I'm not going to spoil anything about this maze, but overall, I think this is probably the best maze this year. Sets were awesome, 3D was trippy, and the scares were great! I also liked the fact that a lot of the rooms in here had ceilings in them unlike a certain event I went to about a week ago (Hint: It's the nation's premiere Halloween event.) The only thing I would have done is: SPOILER ALERT: Put some stalks of corn by the scarecrows in front of the mansion to cover up the black walls. Other than that, it fantastic. Also, what in the world was Freddy with a gray mask on stilts doing in the main foyer room for the mansion? I could have sworn it looked like Freddy! I also liked the fact that they played the Rob Zombie song in Dr. Satan's lair. Scares: A Environment/Detail: A Overall: A Friday the 13th: Kill, Jason, Kill!: Really? Was that the best subtitle Murdy could come up with? No offense Murdy if you're reading this, but the subtitle is just so cheesy. I could've come up with a better subtitle easy. Despite the cheesiness of the subtitle, I loved the facade for this maze. It seemed very fitting having a bunch of trees and vines surrounding the Camp Crystal Lake sign and transitioning into the forest (Which was AWESOME.) The only thing is why they didn't use the cold and humid environmental effect like they used in front of the Firefly Mansion in HoTC with the cool air and mist. The forest setting felt realistic and the beartrap kill looked creepy and disturbing! For some reason, I found the couch kill to be the most creepy and disturbing in this maze. I just wish they didn't keep his face freaked out the whole time haha. The ending of the maze got me really good where Jason gave me the scare of my life! He popped out in a strobe and got literally within six inches of my face! I literally cowered back and squealed like a little girl (or gay person LOL.) This comes very close to tying HoTC just for that scare alone and the incredible detail put into Jason's house and the forest. Lots of unexpected scares in here! Scares: A Details/Environment: A Overall: A We getting hungry so we decided to head down to the lower lot to have some Panda Express...of course then we were drawn by the five-minute wait for the Simpsons Ride and decided to take a ride on that before eating. Oh man. Orange chicken, beef and broccoli, and chow mien for the win! I just wished they sold the mushroom chicken. That's my favorite entree there. Saw: Game On!: Thankfully, the line wasn't very long for this maze. I was even able to snap a few construction photos for Transformers! (Which I may post in the Transformers thread in the near future.) I wasn't very pumped about this maze like I was last year since I knew it was going to be a very similar experience. The first thing I said as soon as I entered was, "This feels like 2009 all over again." Keep in mind that I am a fairly easy person to scare. My friends that went with me can testify to that. However, I was not even scared once in the maze! I totally knew what was coming! I may have gotten a few startles at the very most (Biggest one from the guy with the baseball bat of all the actors.) and the environments seemed like they were toned down from last year! The rooms with the new traps looked kind of "meh" environment-wise. Not to mention, walking through the barbed wire trap there was a section of water that literally pouring that I had to walk through and I ended up very wet! So much to the point where I was mad they didn't put a warning sign up. Although the twisting crucifix trap looked impressive, this was probably the worst maze of the event. Even worse than House of Horrors! Shame, shame on you Murdy for thinking about bringing this back. I used to think was was one of the coolest mazes up with Halloween and Friday 2.0, but after this, I'll never look at it the same. Last year was better for sure since it felt more fresh and new. Scares: D- Details/Environment: B- Overall: D We didn't ride Revenge of the Mummy since my friend had vertigo. Neither did we ride Jurassic because my group was too afraid to get wet. Whimps. We were able to ride King Kong though which was great. Anyway, we made our way to the upper lot so we could meet John Murdy at ten (Like he said on Twitter.) While we were waiting for him, we watched the Klownz scare people and even go into the candy shop! John was a great down-to-earth guy to talk to. I basically wanted to thank him for how awesome the event was and noticed my Orlando shirt. I basically told him how a lot the place felt too open and just dead around the park while Hollywood felt more "alive" since it was tighter spaced and had the surprise scareactors roaming. Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure: This was more of a sit-down and relax kind of show. There were a few chuckles from me but I didn't find it "absolutely hilarious" like everybody was saying. I liked the fact they cracked some jokes at the whole 3D fad. I kinda wished they had something like remake Bill and Ted or something like that in there. I kinda wish I saw the Orlando version despite horrible reviews there. Oh well. Overall, this show was alright for me. A lot better than last year's garbage. Pyrotechnics were cool, though. Overall: C Terror Tram: Chucky's Revenge!: We decided to hit this immediately since it was supposed to close in about an hour after we got out. The queue area presentation was cool and helped set the mood for what was about to come. I liked the fact that the line for this was not long at all; we were literally moving right along. The plot for the TT itself was pretty clever since the whole gist was that we were headed for the fiftieth anniversary party for Psycho and that Chucky wanted revenge for having his show canceled by burning down the backlot and running amok. I thought the La Llorana sets were cool, but I was really disappointed that we had to skip the sheet maze. Big bummer there. If it hadn't have been for the pyro that has just been added this year, the WotW sets would have felt so mundane now. Overall, I felt like the Terror tram this year was weak and lacking quite a bit. The sheet maze was canned, the Bates Motel felt shorter as well as the WotW sets. I hope next year they step it up like crazy by having something else than a sheet maze and possibly extending the pathway next year. Another factor of why it was considerably weaker than last year, though the storyline was a bit clever, was that the TT was supposed to tie-in with the overall theme of the event, not be its own separate attraction. Scares: C+ Details/Environment: C Overall: C A Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again!: After one member of our party got sick from drinking two Red Bulls and two Cokes (He was vomiting towards the end of the Terror Tram), his dad picked him up to take him home while me and my friend went off to wait in the hour-long line to get into this maze. The time felt like it went by fairly fast since I got a jello shot and got to socialize with my friend at that time. Now neither of us had seen the original 07 or 08 mazes so this was a 100% brand-new experience for us. Once we got inside, I was very interested in the detail of the maze and the cool blacklite effect that showed up on the walls. I was very intrigued by the environments and just loved how convincing it all was. The scrim effect in there was pretty obvious, but gave me a good startle. I feel, however, that it could've been used in the stretching walls hallway and it wouldn't not have been quite as obvious. Overall, I loved how uncomfortable they try to make you feel in there and how quite unexpected a lot of the scares were (Especially the end.) Scares: B Details/Environment: A Overall: B+ Vampyre: Castle of the Undead: We did this maze last since we had some time to kill. It was about after one in the morning and we still had one haunted attraction left. The wait was lass than ten minutes and was out of there in ten minutes. Although it kind of sucked that nothing environment-wise has changed in this maze at all. Just House of Horrors with vampires thrown in. I loved the cast! They were on top of their game! One vampire in the Wolfman forest gave me a really big scare! Although they certainly could have done more with this maze environment-wise to make it look at least a bit more new like last year and still keep the maze open during the daytime, the maze was good since he actors were great. I mean, that's what counts, right? Scares: B+ Environment/Detail: C Overall: C+ So there you have it. I wanted to hang around for twenty more minutes so we could experience the chainsaw chase-out, my friend really wanted to leave so it wouldn't be too crowded. Maybe next year. After we left, we had to look for our car for like half a freaking hour because we had forgotten where we parked. Always helps to remember where you parked. Overall, I thought this was a great event this year. Although Terror Tram and the HoH overlay wasn't quite as strong this year, at least there was some more stuff to do with the added maze and King Kong. Last year was fresh and new for me since it was my first time to ever go and everything was new. I felt this year, while still descent, did feel very recycled and rehashed from last year especially with Saw returning. I actually hope that they change it up a lot and I mean ALOT next year. I want no returning characters, all-new mazes, and all-new scarezones. I did like the fact that this year took one step closer towards originality with La Llorona and Vampyre. As for the flame tower, I really don't want to see it in the NY streets next year. If anything, I think it would be awesome to see it in the lower lot. Especially if Hellraiser takes the lower lot next year. This year was pretty good, but it does not compare with the awesomeness as last year since everything was brand-new and fresh. Murdy, I'm counting on you to step it up crazy next year. All-new I beg you please! Edited October 17, 2010 by Freakazoid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Glad to see you got to do basically everything in one night! Great review and I like your grading system (I'll be doing something a bit more advanced in mine, actually). As for Freddy in HOTC (I responded to this in that thread btw) I think I realize what you're talking about. I believe whom you're referring to is TINY. He is apart of the family. A giant who was badly burned. Hope that clears some things up. How long did you get to talk to Murdy for? Was there a line to meet him or anything? What else you guys talk about? Post any more pictures if you have any! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freak Posted October 17, 2010 Author Share Posted October 17, 2010 Glad to see you got to do basically everything in one night! Great review and I like your grading system (I'll be doing something a bit more advanced in mine, actually). As for Freddy in HOTC (I responded to this in that thread btw) I think I realize what you're talking about. I believe whom you're referring to is TINY. He is apart of the family. A giant who was badly burned. Hope that clears some things up. How long did you get to talk to Murdy for? Was there a line to meet him or anything? What else you guys talk about? Post any more pictures if you have any! So that would explain the Freddy mix-up. I haven't seen the movie so I got confused there. lol I thought at first casting did a HUGE mix-up for the mazes. I talked to Murdy about a good five minutes. I just, for some reason, couldn't find myself having conversation with him so I started off by thanking him for creating an awesome event and such cool mazes. Since Murdy saw my Orlando shirt, I also told him how much of an advantage Hollywood has over Orlando since the park has much less dead space in Orlando hence it is tighter spaced. Before I departed I told I would love to see a Scream maze. He said, "A lot of people have been requesting that. We'll see how it turns out." Also, I've taken plenty of pics! I'll post them when I can but not now since I need to leave soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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