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The Walking Dead Street Experience


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I think they've done a good job spreading out walking dead set pieces throughout the park, and the scareactors I've seen have all been really doing a good job. it's really cool that there are times when you're walking through the park and you don't know if it's another guest or zombie in front of you.

hopefully next year there will be more variety in the scarezones as opposed to one over arching theme, but they have done well with the walking dead this year.

yeah I have liked what the actors are doing a lot. the walkers feel more scary than last years (walking dead street zone) too.

Edited by LV-426
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I just noticed that you are missing a street from your list.

Please add the San Fransisco street as a Scare Zone. I realize it isn't on the website or site map, but there is a scare zone there. I don't know what you would call it, but it is a legitimate zone.

Thanks!!!

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**Be ready for negativity**

For the record, my exposure to The Walking Dead series doesn't go past episode one. With that in mind, I have to say I'm very very disappointed with TWD street experiences. And, really, the concept of street experiences as a whole.

I didn't feel like the monsters were everywhere and there was no escape. It wasn't one giant conglomerate of zombies. In fact, I feel safer walking from one house to another with these "street experiences" than I do when I inevitably cross a Scarezone from previous years. Why? Because the atmosphere wasn't as immersive as a scarezone.

The zombies were forgettable. None of them really stood out to me or contained that "woah" factor, unlike the evil cowardly lion for example. They were just that, zombies. Perhaps the zombie virus could've mutated them, spawning zombies with horrible yellow pus growing from their eyes, extra limbs, razor fingertips... oh wait, silly me, that's not The Walking Dead, so their creativity is constrained by the general zombie model the show uses. Maybe it's attractive to the TWD fan, but to the HHN fan who doesn't follow the show it's easily forgettable.

I feel that's the biggest weakness in the street experience. It targets an audience that already cares about the concept, but it doesn't cater to the audience that cares about the quality of the monster itself rather than where the monster is from.

As for Street Experiences vs Scarezones, I'm just gonna say that letting the horror be anywhere dilutes the horror everywhere.

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Was there a reason they couldn't put a zone on the sides of Transformers? Could a scarezone go in there in the future? I mean, I know there cannot be any zones in front of rides...... but what about on the sides of the building? those two streets,

How come they never do anything in that road that goes from the bettlejuice stage to where the Entrance of Transformers is? that's another street that is always empty....

Just wondering.

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The actors are fantastic, but the actual streets are just total garbage imo. Don't get me wrong, the sets are quite awesome, but it feels like we've been getting more and more dead space every year, and this year it increased exponentially. And to add on to that.....they got rid of the fun interactive scareactors. I used to LOVE interacting with scareactors on the streets....the Morphans last year are a prime example. Before that, Acid Assault.....before that, pretty much every scarezone, especially 20 years of fear (that zone was outstanding). Now it's just freaking zombies. Not a whole lot of interaction there. None can even talk. Some scareactors may try, but there is very little that they can actually do.

The only exception to this would be the guards for the bomb truck, and while they're awesome, they still aren't really as fun as other street scareactors have been in the past.

Maybe I can be proven wrong.....I certainly hope so. I will give the bomb truck scareactors another chance, but I still find it an issue that they're the only scareactors that can really interact regularly throughout the entire night.

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The actors are fantastic, but the actual streets are just total garbage imo. Don't get me wrong, the sets are quite awesome, but it feels like we've been getting more and more dead space every year, and this year it increased exponentially. And to add on to that.....they got rid of the fun interactive scareactors. I used to LOVE interacting with scareactors on the streets....the Morphans last year are a prime example. Before that, Acid Assault.....before that, pretty much every scarezone, especially 20 years of fear (that zone was outstanding). Now it's just freaking zombies. Not a whole lot of interaction there. None can even talk. Some scareactors may try, but there is very little that they can actually do.

The only exception to this would be the guards for the bomb truck, and while they're awesome, they still aren't really as fun as other street scareactors have been in the past.

Maybe I can be proven wrong.....I certainly hope so. I will give the bomb truck scareactors another chance, but I still find it an issue that they're the only scareactors that can really interact regularly throughout the entire night.

that's true. the park does feel with more dead space this year. I know we have the tank and the barn, and we have scarezones now,

But it felt less "dead" last year ironically.

I don't know, I know last year people had problems with the park feeling empty but it felt better for some reason. I don't know, there was better ambience (the lights, the music etc) the music this year, sometimes I can't even tell what's playing.

I think the actors are doing a really good job and they are getting really scary.

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The event just has a completely different atmosphere this year. A lot of crowding/standing around because people aren't moving as much (there aren't scarezones to run in fear of or walk through continuously). We sat and watched people like we do every year and it just wasnt as gratifying

Edited by LostAlice
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The event just has a completely different atmosphere this year. A lot of crowding/standing around because people aren't moving as much (there aren't scarezones to run in fear of or walk through continuously). We sat and watched people like we do every year and it just wasnt as gratifying

it's really crowded. The woodlands zone and the survivor's camp are a clusterfck sometimes...... Everyone wants to take a pic of the deer eater (And I don't blame them)

but sometimes it feels like there was no zones in this two areas because of the amount of people in here.

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I thought last year's street experience was awful, and just hoped to see more set pieces this year. They delivered and did just that. I really enjoyed the streets this time around, I thought that all of the zones were great! I am a fan of the Walking Dead, so maybe that has alot more to do with it, but I thought the sets were A+ quality all around and the actors were very good. I never get any attention in the streets, but this year I don't know what it was, but I was getting alot of action last night. I still didnt get a scare, but just the fact that they were actually stepping up to me and trying was much appreciated.

My favorite was definitely the Clear. There were barely any crowds at all walking down Hollywood, and there were alot of actors and more of Morgan's traps than I expected. Very very cool.

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I thought last year's street experience was awful, and just hoped to see more set pieces this year. They delivered and did just that. I really enjoyed the streets this time around, I thought that all of the zones were great! I am a fan of the Walking Dead, so maybe that has alot more to do with it, but I thought the sets were A+ quality all around and the actors were very good. I never get any attention in the streets, but this year I don't know what it was, but I was getting alot of action last night. I still didnt get a scare, but just the fact that they were actually stepping up to me and trying was much appreciated.

My favorite was definitely the Clear. There were barely any crowds at all walking down Hollywood, and there were alot of actors and more of Morgan's traps than I expected. Very very cool.

Glad you like the clear coast. We're having a blast there.

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The "scarezones" this year are dull, lack atmosphere, have poor set pieces, aren't "involving", are even (and I would NEVER list this as a criticism if it wasn't so bad) barely a photo op, have generic zombies with pitiful makeup, and I never feel threatened, more annoyed, walking.

There needs a notable bump in the atmosphere (a la HHN 14/15) and in the creativity (a la HHN 18's scare zones) departments. We also need more conversational scare actors, no chainsaws (seriously, no chainsaws, they are done), etc.

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I don't think stealth is the goal for chainsaws in scarezones/street experiences. You know, different tools used for different scares. But you can easily sneak up on somebody with a chainsaw, since they do have an off mode. It happens pretty often.

My point was that with most people, chainsaws are popular, effective, and welcome. Therefore, parks are likely to keep them.

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Lights, Camera, Hacktion (or whatever it was called) are chainsaws done well. The chainsaw drill team is dumb and at this point pathetic. Staple of the event or not, sometimes they have to progress and holding onto old things that aren't great is a bad idea.

Chainsaws are generic, they are audible from a mile away, and because of that they don't startle you (since it isn't a real threat and it doesnt' startle you what's the point?), the actors using them are terrible, it's a scapegoat for a lack of creativity.

I'm still wondering why there were no fights against the fake looking, boring zombies this year.

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Chainsaws, while off, do not make a sound. When they go from on to off, they make a sound. That's how you make a sudden sound that isn't audible from a mile away, because it wasn't made before it was near you.

Chainsaws can be turned off and then on to become a sudden sound that startles.

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I would like to share my impressions:

1) Caught the eating/transformation scene on 10/5 and thought the actress did a great job.

2) Caught the zombie bomb on 10/4 and was impressed with how swiftly the actors moved out of the truck and ran at people.

3) Never saw bike girl after three nights and four or five passes.

4) Wore the HNN shirts on 10/6 and had a scareactor follow my wife and I through the Atlanta zone (Cast C).

5) Both my wife and I loved the wound makeup work done on the tall, shirtless actor in the Atlanta zone who was also at the opening scaremonies.

6) As we were exiting the park on 10/6 we saw an actor in the Clear zone who kept walking into a wall. Funniest thing I saw all night.

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I made a comment before about the music in the streets, Wondering if they were just going to loop the theme song over and over....

And while they didn't do that, the music this year is pretty disappointing. They do loop the theme but they play other songs, And I still can't really remember any of them.
That was something I was wondering about and something I kind of worried about.

I thought they were going to use more songs from the show, not the same 3 songs over and over, I am starting to get sick of the Walking Dead theme.....

Edited by LV-426
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Honestly this street "experience" felt more like a bunch of photo op areas with some zombies walking around. The Clear and the Barn were the only parts I thought were good about the streets but everything else just seems lame and created crowds that were annoying to travel though. I don't really think the streets were very successful this year. Kinda took away from he HHN vibe.

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Honestly this street "experience" felt more like a bunch of photo op areas with some zombies walking around. The Clear and the Barn were the only parts I thought were good about the streets but everything else just seems lame and created crowds that were annoying to travel though. I don't really think the streets were very successful this year. Kinda took away from he HHN vibe.

Yeah but Imagine the money this brought to the Park. those same annoying crowds you are talking about mean more cash flow for the park. As a business move the streets Totally worked, Another successful year for HHN.

plus we got scarezones again, so big win.

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army - it isn't an opinion, it's very accurate.

....well, no it's not. Virtually every single chainsaw-wielding actor over the course of HHN's history has used the chainsaw as a sudden scare by keeping it off and then revving it up as they approached a guest. It's an extremely old technique dating back to the 90s and is the premier method of using it at a haunted event. Not to mention that the actors learn very quickly not to leave their saws on 24/7 (unlike some Howl-O-Scream users), as they rapidly run out of gas and sputter to a halt mid-set.

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  • Mark M. changed the title to The Walking Dead Street Experience
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