Jump to content

DTH Returns in The Boogeyman 2: End of the Run review (10/24)

DTH316

By DTH316
in HHN 2013: Reviews

 Share

Recommended Posts

DTH316 Newbie

DTH316

Posted
Posted (edited)
Universal Studios Hollywood presents
in association with DTH316
Halloween Horror Nights 2013 Review
Thursday, October 24th - End of the Run
7 PM to 2 AM
INTRO
I'll start this review off by saying last night was a BLAST. The group trips are always more fun compared to the small group trips. Everything worked out extremely well and in our favor. Unlike my last trip though, I didn't record wait times or the time I went through the maze, so for you scareactors out there wondering if you were working that shift when I went through, I can't help ya much. Let's get to it...
GETTING THERE
We left at the time we planned to but there was some traffic. We did a stop at Popeyes for 15 minutes since I hadn't had lunch yet and figured we were making good time. On the 134 there was some more traffic and then traffic on Barham and other side streets. It was 5:40 at this point, so we thought for sure we'd make it to early access on time, but nope!
ARRIVAL
We parked at about 6:20 and did a bathroom stop. It was 6:35 when we went through security and the early access area was already cleared. But no fear... as we entered through the gates, we could already hear the chainsaws and see the flames. The park was already OPEN. What? Pretty early, but no complaints. My friend went through Early Access and said he would meet up with us at TWD. (I just re-read my second trip review of last year, and this is literally the identical situation from getting there to the arrival, with my friend in early access and the rest of us getting stuck behind but the park being open early anyway LMFAO).
THE PURGE: SURVIVE THE NIGHT
Purgers were attacking pretty hard, but my problem is the design on these guys just ain't scary. They've improved greatly since opening night, and have way more tactics, but it's hard to feel threatened by them.
SCARECROWZ
These guys have improved IMMENSELY I was so impressed. They were kicking, jumping, attacking, and running like crazy. It's still the most bare bones and least scary zone ever, but at least it's kinda worthy. Some more fog, other than the one machine by the Evil Dead entrance, would've done some wonders. I love the costumes and I love the energy these guys have; I actually feel like this zone needs a repeat but in a different area and with some non-stilts (keep the stilt guys though). I really love the idea, just gotta give it a location that'll make it work.
THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD ON ARRIVAL
Unfortunately, not as good as my first run through. There was one walker waiting, and I figured they'd do some attack where as we think we're passing by one walker, then a dozen walkers emerge out from behind the containers for a hoard attack or something. But nope -- more walkers did come, just not as ferocious as that opening night when I went. Nobody was really banging on the containers either, which is what gets the scares. I think I only heard one bang and that was on the tank near the end. Why was the RV covered up? Still my favorite zone despite all that and I LOVED that I got to see it at night this time. The projections in the windows of people being killed was freakin' awesome and is unnoticable during the day. I think this is why two trips are needed to fully experience HHN -- some things are great the first night and the things that lacked at first are great on the second. More on that later.
THE WALKING DEAD: NO SAFE HAVEN
We finally met up with our friend and he already gone through the maze but wanted to go through again with us. There was maybe a 3 minute wait, advertised as 20, and we went through. The walkers in the facade were attacking pretty hard, but without the use of the trigger scares or loud noises plus being able to see them from a mile away makes their scares kinda meh, in comparison to the van scare of last year which I thought was great. Entering, the first half of the maze was a bit bare. C-Block was empty except for one guy somewhere in the cells. Luckily, we went through that section quick, unlike my first run through where we were stuck in it for awhile. The whole maze had a good flow actually. The second half of the maze, I got many more scares. The final moments got me screaming "oh shit!" a few times.
Repeatability: 8. [Very enjoyable and although very memorable from the first time, it still garners a lot of intensity. My main complaint is no variety in locations, so it's a bit tedious, for me at least.]
Improvement: 5. [i already thought the maze was done pretty dang well, but since the first half wasn't rocking it as hard and since the second half was doing great, we'll meet in the middle with this score.]
Downfalls: -3. [i got the tail end of some scares, including my favorite hoard scare, but that's just how the cookie crumbles at HHN. Luckily my friends got the scares I didn't get, so at least it was fun to watch them get scared.]
BLACK SABBATH: 13 3D
I don't wanna talk about this maze much. It was a walk on though. There's three giant screens for in queue entertainment now, but of generic Universal horror stuff. Anyway, on to the scores lol
Repeatability: 2 [This maze is very accessible, like the HoH, because it's an easy going experience. But since this maze SUCKS so much, I have no desire to do it more than once, as oppose to the HoH which I have a soft spot for.]
Improvement: 2 [Okay, okay... the scareactors were very much on their game, so I give them credit for that. Much more aggressive than my first trip. But the maze design itself hurts them SO much from landing ANY scares. Literally, the best scare I had was some stilt dude after I EXITED the maze in regular light. My girlfriend was even fine with walking on her own without me holding her, which says a lot for how non-scary it is. I did see the "video" in the nuke room though -- the video is so washed out, it might as well be non-existant.
Downfalls: 0. [Luckily, since there was some scareactor improvements, there were no downfalls. But my opinion on this maze sucking hard still remains the same.]
TRANSFORMERS
Advertised as a 20 minute wait, but it was a walk on. Woo woo!
INSIDIOUS: INTO THE FURTHER
Advertised as a 20 minute wait, but it was more like 10. It was about 8 and they were still giving out Spectral Sightings cards! Snagged one with the codeword "Rocking Horses." I screamed it out maybe 4 times and the bearded guy was like "you have a nice way of being subtle." I got excited, couldn't help it lol. I find this to be the creepiest maze and the creepy didn't let up on this second trip! Some scares didn't land, but luckily I saw it on the first run through when I got every scare. Was it my favorite maze of this particular night? No, but it's still a great maze overall
Repeatability: 9. [i could go through this maze a few more times, but if it comes back, hopefully they change it up. Also some subtle scare changes, so that helps.]
Improvement: 5. [Like I said, some subtle scare changes. Like the two guys with their arms out in the Further, that didn't happen on my first run through, and that was a very creepy moment. And was one of the dummies in the seance room squriming around and making noises before? I don't remember that, but it helped the annoyance of them all being static.]
Downfalls: 0. [None that would take away from the initial score I gave it or change my mind in thinking its the best maze at the event this year.]
JURASSIC PARK IN THE DARK
Walk on. Falling car still isn't working. And we stopped for a good minute RIGHT BEFORE the drop. Kinda made the whole "we're going to evacuate your boat" bit seem like a "wait, really?" haha.
THE REVENGE OF THE MUMMY
Said 20 minutes but it was less than a 10 minute wait. There was no sound. WTF? Weirdest ride I've ever had. Very silent. No intensity. I made up my own music for the riders though.
EVIL DEAD: BOOK OF THE DEAD
I was so disappointed by this maze the first time. This time, I LOVED IT. Major kudos to EVERYONE in the maze. You guys were rocking HARD. From beginning (first Mia in the woods) to end (guy outside the maze), everyone was on FIRE. I really cannot praise them enough. However, there are still some problems with this maze that I can't boogie with, and that's the dummies. Dear lord, even when the cast is great, they really throw me out. Like the figure with the thing coming out of her mouth by the tree rape Mia... how hard would that have been to make a real scareactor? I mean, c'mon. And as great as the cast was, and forgetting about the dummies, there's something about this maze that keeps it from being one of the greats, and I think it's the design or lighting, or SOMETHING. It just doesn't capture the feel of the movie for me. Why does the maze look better in still pictures in regular light? I also loved the KANDA part in the cabin -- I don't think I saw that the first time. Although some scareactors could pop out from the windows or something instead of banging on the walls and being behind scrims. That scare just needs to be more in your face to work to be a truly WHOA moment, but I guess the sound and lighting change is effective to a degree.
QUICK NOTE: Why the hell is there random songs playing in the queue? First time it was "California Love" and the second time it was that one song by LMFAO and they say "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah!" However, on my second run through of the maze, I was dancing out of boredom and the scare patrol gave me a glow necklace! WOO WOO! Gave it to my lady, she loves glowy things.
Repeatability: 10. [Easily the best and most improved repeat of the night. We went through it again in the same night (more on that later) and I won't let that experience take away from this one experience, because I think repeating twice in the same night is something for me that personally doesn't work. But it was a night and day change from my first trip -- way more intense and aggressive. I just think the design of the maze needs some work, which is funny considering I praised the hell out of the construction pix -- I don't know what it is (other than the dummies, I can pinpoint that easily) but there's something not working here.]
Improvement: 8. [scareactors, literally ALL of you, you're great. What needed to be improved was some of the moments with the dummies and sets, as I've listed already.]
Downfalls: 0. [None!]
TERROR TRAM: INVADED "BUY THE WALKING DEAD"
See what I did there? ;) There was some MAJOR hold up on the bridge to the escalators. Took at least 10 - 15 minutes. The queue itself moved fine though. Maybe a 20 minute wait. Our tour guide wasn't a complete cheese ball. A very great walk through, all the walkers were on their game tonight. Loved everyone at the Bates Motel scene. One of Michonne's pets got me pretty good -- he just looked so fake for a moment, then lunged at me. I knew he was real, but somehow, it still made me jump. There was a laying down charred up walker by the pits that got us GOOD. Our entire group jumped UP and to the side once he came to life, it was awesome. We stopped for the Psycho photo-op since we had so much time. The only part that was kind of dead was WOTW -- kinda empty. Something kinda funny -- we didn't fit on the tram at the exit but as we were waiting for the next one, we could hear everything the tour guide was saying. He said THREE major things that bugged the hell out of me. 1) "We have ANOTHER Walking Dead MAZE..." 2)"... called Walking Dead: No FAITH Haven." 3) "Take a look at the UPCOMING season of the show." Luckily our tour guide knew her shit: "If you guys liked the Walking Dead Terror Tram, be sure to check out our Walking Dead maze, The Walking Dead: No Safe Haven. Now take a look behind the scenes at the current season airing Sundays on AMC." Sorry, things like that bug me.
Repeatability: 8. [i love the Terror Tram, it's always a bash, and I love being on the lot.]
Improvement: 5. [New scare tactics, such as the charred walker, and Michonne's pets staying still as oppose to before they'd kinda rock back and forth.]
Downfalls: -1. [Empty WOTW set. Although the baby eating lady was still there!]
DINNER
After, had a bathroom break, and we all split up to get different food. I recommend, if you want coffee, don't go to the Cinnabon. Our friend was in that line for what I want to say was near 30 minutes lol, while another friend went to the Ben and Jerry's and was back in about 10 minutes. I got the tacos and some nachos from the cart across from the pizza place -- the taco meat got cold fast due to the night air, but they were still delicious. Used my sipper cup to get a $.99 refill so for 4 tacos, nachos, and a drink between my girlfriend and I was $20.25. Also, sipper cups are now buy one, get one half off. Spent a lot of time sitting here and the cold was starting to get to me (I don't like wearing a jacket or sweater at Horror Nights, the mazes get hot inside). After about maybe an hour break, we decided to continue our night of horror!
EL CUCUY: THE BOOGEYMAN
The line was advertised as 15 minutes when we were eating, then when we got there, an entire pack of people entered the line and it jumped up to 30 minutes. Luckily, the line was moving very fast and we waited maybe only 20 minutes. Like Evil Dead, I was disappointed in this maze. It had all the potential in the world but fell flat. This time, WOW. Scariest maze of the night, easily. There was a Cucuy in the projector room off to the right that scared me so good, my leg went up. And the Cucuy in the backyard scared me from a room away, and then scared me again when in that room. He was AWESOME. The Usher scare got my group pretty good, too. I got to pay attention to some of the details in Cucuy's lair -- didn't notice there were dead kids off to the side. Makes it all the more disturbing. And the final guy right before the squirt scare came out when I least expected it -- I don't know if I remember that being there. Had me running out of the maze. God I love some of the designs in this maze, BUT there are a few stretches of nothing that I can't ignore. Also, the lack of a major BIG SHAPE SHIFTING scare almost ruins this from being a CLASSIC.
Repeatability: 10. [Wow, wow, wow. So glad I got to go through this again while it was kicking ASS. Wouldn't mind to see it get the La Llorona repeat treatment with 50% new stuff.]
Improvement: 10. [Again, DAMN. From having some soft scares on opening night to having the HARDEST scares of the night makes this extremely improved. Also, the maze seemed way more populated.]
Downfalls: 0. [None, almsot a perfect maze. But the facade scare was missing? Weird.]
CIRQUE DE KLOWNZ
Clown outside the maze was doing great getting people. The clowns here have definitely improved since opening night. Unfortunately, the fog wasn't very thick in this section or Chucky's, but the scareactors have improved so much better, it's hard to even complain. There is one clown I want to highlight though -- as we were waiting for some friends to get out of Cucuy, this one clown stared down our group and looked at us each as if he was deciding which one to pick off first. He had an axe in hand, I don't really know how to describe his mask and attire though. I then pretended to be scared and he singled me out -- for fun, I offered him my girlfriend to kill first. He then chased me in a tiny circle and stared me down for about 5 minutes. Finally, he asked "what are you waiting for?" I wasn't sure what he meant, so I just babbled and offered to let him chop off my leg, until I realized he was talking about why were we just standing outside the maze. I told him we were waiting for some friends to get out and that we were then gonna hit UMR. With nothing left to say, I asked if he was having fun killing people, and he said "yes" slyly and walked away. 5 minutes later, he returned and watched me from across the street, standing still. Our friends finally came out and he ran off to terrorize some more people. Bravo to this guy!!!! I love how Chucky scooters by sometimes, and one of the clowns will chase after him.
CURSE OF CHUCKY
Charles Lee Ray was pretty awesome. Chuckys were more intimidating than they were before. I still love this zone. All of the scareactors attacked our group at some point while going down the street. Again, I didn't see Insult Emporium. Oh well.
UNIVERSAL MONSTERS REMIX: RESURRECTION
Small wait. This maze sucks, but I did get a few great scares. Nosferatu got me in the beginning and he was teaming with someone else in a double scare across the way. The Chucky room was great. The Strangers were fucking AWESOME. First with the axe, we thought it was over, then 2 or 3 others came out of random corners pinballing us down the hall. I didn't get any Wolfman scares like I usually do, but that was made up with some great scares in the meat room at the end -- it's the usual scares they have there, but I guess I just expected to get the tail end instead of being targeted.
Repeatability: 8. [it's the HoH, it's just naturally repeatable.]
Improvement: 6. [Great job from the scareactors I noted.]
Downfalls: -4. [The very fact that UMR is still around bugs me and I would love a better overlay, but for now, it's okay -- I just hope for something more ambitious next time with design.]
THE SIMPSONS
35 minutes advertised wait. More like... 5 minutes. Well, with all the pre-shows, it was probably 15 minutes, but it went by super quick since hardly anybody was in line.
BACK TO THE LOWER LOT!!!!
And then we did something I've never done in the 7 years and 10 trips I've had to HHN... return to the lower lot! It was 1 AM and Scarecrowz was still doing pretty good with their limited space. And then we did Evil Dead again since we loved it so much the first time. I have come to realize that I am NOT a repeat maze person -- at least not in the same night. I did this once back for La Llorona in '11 and the intensity is just stripped away completely. Gotta cleanse the pallette with a day in between maze repeats or something. I still dig the maze a lot more though. Also did one more trip on Transformers to end the night - and I gotta do this for my buddy trying to make a love connection lmao, but the guy collecting 3D glasses at the end of the night, if you know who he was and know if he's interested in a fun, gay time, tell him to hit me up so he can hook up with my friend who has a crush on you, apparently LMFAO.
CHAINSAW CHASE OUT
Got some good scares from Purgers near the radio area, since we weren't expecting them. Then we did the walk down the middle of the chainsaws... a very slow walk too... and they never started up. We sat down to watch the action... maybe for a whole 2 minutes, and they finally revved away. Kinda disappointing, I wanted to be in that mess. Tighter intervals with the chainsaw action, boys.
OVERALL
For a sold out night, the park seemed practically empty in comparison to how I've seen it before. I loved this trip. This was in my top 5 trips, if not my most favorite. I was personally targeted quite a lot of times when usually I'm ignored. But NO BILL AND TED makes me so furious. That show would've made the night even better. Damn you, Universal. Anyway, can't wait for next year. I mean, I do want to make sure this is said, but like some of us are saying here -- the mazes need to get more innovative with their scares instead of the usual distraction, trigger scare. I can forgive repeat sets and props, but some new scare tactics are desperately needed to keep things fresh.
With ED and Cucuy's improvements, that makes this year have FOUR high quality mazes, good scarezones for the ones we did have, and a great TT. Lack of more Scarezones, a sucky B&T even when we had one, BS:13-3D, still no new scare tactics are the only things pushing this year back. All of these can be easily fixed though, which is the good news.
With that said, this is no longer my least favorite year. In fact, this is now among the AMAZING years, in my opinion. The only thing pushing it down from overthrowing '10 or '08 or '12 is the themes aren't my all time favorite, no B&T or show of any kind, and SLIGHT reduction in quality in SOME of the mazes. So yay, this is no longer the worst year in my mind! That dishonor goes to '11 (only 2 good mazes for me) and '07 (great back than, but the event is so much better now). But even those years I would consider "okay" and not "bad." So with '13 out of the "bad" category, this still makes HHN the top dog and blowing away competition. I don't even need to attend Knotts this year to know that -- there is literally nothing they can do to match HHN quality in sets or scares until they actually get better sets and figure the scares into them. As for other Haunts, it almost feels like a "why bother?" I love going to them, even the small indie ones or home haunts, but at the end of the day if I'm going to spend money, I want it to be on the premium experience that is HHN. Nothing beats it. Can HHN do better? Yes. But are any of the other haunts doing better than HHN anyway? Not really. Don't get me wrong, I desperately WANT improvement and steps forward for HHN just to keep the game moving, but when HHN is on its game, even as is, its kinda hard to argue that they NEED improvement. Until the other Haunts catch up, which could be freakin years from now - if ever, I think we have a damn amazing quality event on our hands that we can enjoy for years to come.
Here's how I ranked it before and then I'll show my revised ranking:
-------OLD RANKINGS ------
Mazes --
AMAZING - Insidious, TWD
GOOD - Cucuy
OKAY - None.
BAD - ED, BS:13-3D.
WTF - UMR.
SCAREZONES --
AMAZING - TWD
GOOD - Chucky
OKAY - None.
BAD - Purge, Klownz
WTF - Scarecrowz
TT (through the years) -- [THIS RANKING HAS STAYED THE SAME]
AMAZING - 08, 09, 13, 12
GOOD - None.
OKAY - 07
BAD - 11
WTF - 10
YEARS (best to least) --
AMAZING - 08, 12, 10, 09
GOOD - None.
OKAY - 11, 07
BAD - 13
WTF - None.
---------- NEW RANKINGS -----------
MAZES --
AMAZING - Insidious, TWD, Cucuy, ED.
GOOD - None.
BAD - BS:13-3D.
WTF - UMR.
SCAREZONES --
AMAZING - TWD
GOOD - Chucky, Klownz
OKAY - Purge
BAD - Scarecrowz
WTF - None.
YEARS (best to least) -- [Have done some thinking since my last trip and have changed the order some]
AMAZING - 09, 12, 08, 10, 13
GOOD - None.
OKAY - 11, 07
BAD - None.
WTF - None.
Edited by DTH316
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kurseddragon Newbie

Kurseddragon

Posted
Posted

Cucuy removed, added, and changed a lot of scares. Including the one in front of the Theatre. It's gone.

Ironically, we were 'told' that Thursday was our worst night by far, but I think the management just chose the WORST time to go through, 'cause it wasn't that bad.

I was going fucking crazy as shit tonight, though.

Glad you like Cucuy. :D It's extremely underrated and ignored.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...