I went to tonights FN, and had a great night, and surprisingly wasn't as sacred as what I have been in previous years. But I do have a mixture of positive and negatives from tonight.
Didn't arrive at the park until 5:45, and had no issues getting in, and quickly made our way up to the front of Main Street. Thought the opening act for the beginning of the event was pretty good, bit different from previous years with starting with the guitarist. From there we headed through the Apparitions Precinct, which despite being only a small area, was really well done and the two guys were providing plenty of scares. Probably my favourite precinct, shame they didn't use the whole alley way, or spreader into the AA courtyard, that would've really added to it. From there we headed to the Dusk till Dawn Maze.
Dusk till Dawn Maze: The queue was only about 15 minutes, as we were one of the first to get to it, and it did seem for most of the night this queue was relatively short. Having not seen the show, I didn't really know what to expect, and I did think the maze was rather underwhelming. Most of the scare actors were there in view and just walked back and forth. Despite there being a number of good spots that couldn't been used to their advantage. And it did seem relatively short too. Unfortunately this was my least favourite maze of the night. 5/10
We then headed for Friday the 13th. I will make one comment here, that it was great to see MW using more of the park for this FN. Using the WWF space and having two ways to get to the mazes out the back made the flow through the park much better.
Friday the 13th Maze: The queue was about 25 minutes for this maze. This for me was one of the scariest mazes I've been through at FN last year, and was one of my all time favourites. This year however it fell a little flat for me. All of the major scenes were still there, but they all felt too shortened. From remembrance, the cave scene with Jason charging towards you. But this year it just didn't have the same impact. The maze was still well put together, and had some great scenes, but was a little disappointed. 7/10
Conjuring 2: This was the maze I was most nervous about going through, as I expected it to have some big scares in it, and I was right. This was the longest queue, being about 45 minutes, and it just seemed to keep going. I thought as soon as you entered the sound stage you'd start the maze, but nope, you walk to the other side. But that provided a pretty good build up, with the news reporter over the speakers, and the posters. And throughout the whole time queued in there it was non-stop screaming from inside the maze. There were really great scenes in the maze, one of the most memorable wad the kitchen scene, really well done and quite intense. The scare actors were great and hid in some really good spots, such as the one who's above you. The sounds really added to it, making it a great maze. 9/10.
We rode SDSC, and then passed by the Gothic Hall precinct, which never had anyone actually performing on it, except one time, for about 5 minutes. The rest of the time it was just pre-recorded music. I remember last year always seeing performers there. We then went down Main Street, passing the Day of the Dead precinct, which wasn't anything special to be honest. From what I saw there was probably only about a dozen scare actors in the whole of Main Street, which was rather disappointing, as I remember there always being tonnes, and the smoke was really thick, and it was much darker so people got some really good scares, but there wasn't really that this year. The guys with the chainsaws are always great, as well as the ones with the knives. I wish they had the guys that would slide around on the ground again. And passing through the Halloween precinct, which was also fairly disappointing. Last year the Zombieland he precinct went all around the fountain and it was great. But this year it was just on the grassed areas.
We made our way to the final maze, Wyrmwood. I'll also add here that the panic rooms were running tonight. It was a shame that there weren't scare actors in the fenced alley up the back to mazes, as they always used to get some great scares in the 'Zombie Alley' to the sound stages.
Wyrmwood Maze: We queued for about 30 minutes for this maze, and wow what an improvement on last year. This maze was great, and had so many good scares. That strobe lighting flashing at the start really messed with you, but really added to it. All the scenes were really good, and the scare actors did really well and provided some great scares. Especially in that last scene. I think something they could add, as there are a cars in a couple of scenes, is have their horns go off, like the scene in the Wolf Creek 2 maze, to me that would just add that something extra, and provide a good scare. 9/10
There were a few disappointments this year, but as always you can see how much effort the park and designers put into the mazes, but some things fell a little flat. I don't know if its because of the construction throughout the park, or delays with maze/precinct designs. What they did well, was really great, and really added to the night. But those few things, mainly lack of scare actors in some areas, was a shame. But I still highly recommend that anyone who's gone in the past to go, and hopefully some minor things are sorted for the remaining nights. Overall I'd give the night a 7.5/10