UTH Review + Trip Review [Spoilers.. Duh]

[MissBA]

I managed to do the dual UTH tour thanks to Cooger and Dark. I have't been in any of the houses at night at the time I did the UTH tour but I have since gone back and done 3 of them. This review was originally posted in the UTH picture thread w/pictures but I have decided to remove it because I want to add onto it. I want to add more to the tour review and put the review for the houses I've gone through. The 3 houses I did are Purge, Insidious, and Body Collectors.

We saw FVJ, Body Collectors, and Jack Presents in the AM. Then did Asylum, TWD, and Insidious in the PM. I kind of wish they were reversed. The later 3 houses were really stuffy and hot and the first 3 were ice cold in the morning. 

Freddy Vs. Jason Tour: FVJ's set  blew my mind. The boiler room mirror effect part of the maze blew my mind. Just walking around it with lights on was enough for me to question if I was going in the right direction. Apparently our tour guide had once gotten lost in that part of the maze during training. They reached a dead end which I think was explained to be a "boo hole" and confused him but yeah. The boiler room was my favorite part of the house. The details are stunning though. I love walking through the house facade midway through the maze. It felt like an appropriate balance between both IP's though to me I think Freddy had more detail and "screen time" than Jason. There's an underwater scene and I loved it. There's a canoe above which a lot of people in my tour missed so in the underwater scene; look up.

Body Collectors: Recollections Tour: The Facade was such a great photo op. It's so beautiful, the inside decorations are beautiful. Everything was just so gorgeous and very detailed. I really don't have much to say besides that unfortunately as far as tour goes.  

Body Collectors House Review: The snow effect wasn't running. I was told there was snow and I didn't get to see it, not on the tour or during my run through the house which actually really made me disappointed. The house was still beautiful. Not very much on scares but one good thing is I only remember seeing one house op through the whole run for some reason so they were really out of the way and didn't take from the house. The rotunda-like room got me good. I did not like the idea of an actor above me, not at all. The headless actor to the left I already knew about; they slowly stood up and sat down so it was ineffective. Also the padded room; I knew the effect from the tour and saw the room coming but thankfully it still got me regardless so that was good.

Jack Presents- 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem Tour: Though I'm not fluent in HHN history, just the variety was still cool. My favorite was probably the ship room. I loved the concept of the slanted leveled pathway. I loved the puppet bear in grandmas house. I loved Cindy's coffin. I pretty much loved everything in this house. Most of all I have a huge crush on Jack so being surrounded by him is like a girls dream. I really wish there are a few effects I could see in this house in action. I likely will not be going back before the end of the run though. It's getting really busy I hear.

 Asylum in Wonderland 3D tour: Complete with 3D glasses. I managed to find one of the little HHN coins on a table inside of Asylum. If you find a coin in the houses someone is intentionally leaving them behind, you can take them they aren't glued or nailed down. Just don't intentionally go ripping off set pieces. lol. I really wanted to see the light room in action. Apparently there's 2 triggers you can get. Either A the colorful lights turn off and you get strobed or B the lights turn off and you get blacked out. I'd love to experience a blackout after being disoriented, standing in total darkness. This house is heavily themed after Alice: Madness Returns. You cannot and will not convince me otherwise. I'm a huge fan of the game and I can tell from a mile away whoever designed this house has played that game. For that; the "new" concept isn't that original. It's a great concept and I love the spin on the traditional alice but to me it felt too much like McGee's alice. We got a rundown on why our version of 3D houses is different than Hollywoods. Honestly I kind of like the color on black approach but to each their own. 

The Walking Dead Tour: The only house I was disappointed in. I don't have much of a hate for TWD. Never been in any of the previous houses, never watched the show. I don't care about it and never will most likely. I understand the hate towards it because of the re-use through the years but I'm personally indifferent to it. However I loved every house except this one so that says something. I think at that point I would've rather seen purge and look at all of the rushed changes of added blackness and graffiti than to look at pretty much nothing but shipping crates. The set just was unappealing to me. The water scene could have been better. It was hard to see the second pool in the back, I imagine it be almost unnoticeable going through normally while getting scared because it's behind you and not in the direction you're going,  Looking around the pools were poorly done. They build a waist high wall of props to divide you from the pool, and then there's just a couple feet of nothing in-between the pool and the prop wall divider. Some people I hear didn't even notice there was water there. It could've been better executed maybe via more props surrounding the tub or level it more so you can see it better. The prop wall was waist high, the tub is waist high, at that point you could've probably had an actor stand in darkness and do the laser effect that mimics water waves. 

Purge House Review: I know purge isn't on the tour but it's in the same area location wise. Plus it's smart to do Purge and then do Insidious which is what we did. I do not like the emergency sirens in that deep tone. I can't stand it they terrify me so already before we even got to the front of the house getting that emergency broadcasting system suspended alert raised hairs. That siren creeps me out. There was no actor out front in my memory but I also was really focused on the bus so I'm taking my memory with a grain of salt. This house was the first house I went in for the entire HHN25 run. It's probably my favorite in terms of "did you get scared?" Answer: "yes". The other two houses didn't come close to the amount of times this house made me jump. I really actually want to see a real purge house. I know the sets were "meh" But the actors killed it. I was with a group and it seemed like every gun blast hit me. Every. One. I felt alone in this house like I was the only one who was being targeted despite holding onto the person in front of and behind me. I jumped enough to be embarrassed. Sudden movements and air blasts scare me. This house got me good so for that I'm thankful. 

Insidious legit creeped me out a few times during the day. First being the elevator room/hall. Before the tour went down that hall just looking down it into darkness was eerie. Then the tour guide shined a light into a scrim to expose a demon unexpectedly and being next to it made me jump a little.  Of course the room where they just had dummies sitting with drapes over them was spooky too. You probably could not pay me to go through this house in darkness with effects running. 

Insidious House Review: This house was not as strong as it was on the tour unfortunately. I really got creeped out by looking down the empty elevator room into darkness. (I know the house ops would probably have a heart attack if 10 feet of space was uninhibited by the congo line) But that hallway was really super creepy without anyone in it; knowing that you had to go down it without knowing what to expect at the end or on either sides. The line of people ruined how scared I was of the hallway during my tour. There were also effects the guide pointed out on the tour that I couldn't see during the night and completely missed despite me knowing that they were there. I really wasn't all that interested in the black strobed rooms with the drawings. Neither in the daytime or at night. The room with the dummies with drapes was ineffective at night as well and I thought it'd be more creepy because one or two would be real and I wouldn't know which. My actor/actress just quietly & slowly stood up and sat right back down. The movements weren't sudden or anything to make me jump and I jump easily.

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Scarezones:

My two favorites are Psychoscareapy and Evils Roots. Evils roots with the darkness, fog, traditional halloween decor as well as the tightness of the space really brings the zone to a new level. I've gotten a couple good scares through that zone. Psychoscareapy is a really fun zone. Don't rush through this zone. There's a lot going on and it takes going at a different pace to really appreciate the diversity of this zone. I also walked through clowns once. It wasn't scary; I love clowns. But this zone was sooooo funny I about pee'd myself watching a clown just terrify the tarnation out of someone else. I really wish I could explain what went down but it was just nonsensical madness and it worked. It was hilarious not scary but the girl ran anyways.

[criticalanalysis]

Apparently there's 2 triggers you can get. Either A the colorful lights turn off and you get strobed or B the lights turn off and you get blacked out. 

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Didn't know that. Thanks for the info!