Fright Nights 2022

[Rivals]

23 minutes ago, New display name said:

Have MW changed the opening hours?

 

6pm-11pm (rides ‘til 10pm)

Originally it was 6-10 but now it’s 6-10 rides and 6-11 everything else. 
Im glad it is open later especially for the price, you’ll also find by like 10:30-11 the maze lines will start to die down which will be good to get all of them down, by 9:50 past years the lines are all empty (mostly atleast)

[Rivals]

A new promotional video has been uploaded to Tik Tok for Fright Nights 

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSRSGfvTP/ - if the link doesn't work, I can upload if needed.

I have no idea by the first of the two new mazes, but the 2nd one is definitely something to do with the Conjuring Universe. The little girl looks almost identical to Annabelle with the final shot showing what looks like the main protagonist of the first movie, Bathsheba. Maybe instead of an Annabelle maze, it’s an entire Conjuring Universe type maze? This advertisement is definitely giving hope this will be a good year for Fright Nights.

[MaxxTheMonster]

Honestly the reuse or rehash of 4 of the 5 precincts (despite them being noted as new) and the returning 3 mazes being among their weakest, plus the price hike and removal of the UTT...  Nothing really enticing this year.  As sad as it is having waited 3 years, seriously considering not attending

Stills from the teaser trailers for Annabelle Returns releasing April 3 2023.  Tagline for the film is What is past, what is present, what is real, what is deception.  Might have a winner.

Edited August 22, 2022 by MaxxTheMonster

[Rivals]

1 hour ago, MaxxTheMonster said:

Stills from the teaser trailers for Annabelle Returns releasing April 3 2023.  Tagline for the film is What is past, what is present, what is real, what is deception.  Might have a winner.

This is a fan made concept, the first image don’t know where it came from but the second is from Annabelle Creation (2017), as far as i know they are still planning out what will be Annabelle 4.

1 hour ago, MaxxTheMonster said:

Honestly the reuse or rehash of 4 of the 5 precincts (despite them being noted as new) and the returning 3 mazes being among their weakest, plus the price hike and removal of the UTT...  Nothing really enticing this year.  As sad as it is having waited 3 years, seriously considering not attending

I will have to disagree with some points here. Cant speak on IT (line too long and never ended up going in it) but Doll Haus and Zombie Land were very strong mazes from what i can remember, i thought the weakest mazes from last fright nights were Leatherface (which i still enjoyed) and HOK.

With the precincts and price costs i do have to agree, in 2019 there was very little theming and some places felt empty, so i hope either this price increase the theming of these areas is enhanced as well as there being more actors roaming around in each precinct. I am very interested for the map to come out, as the AA area has started demolition and i’m not sure if there is a way to get up to the back sheds without it being a dead end.

[MaxxTheMonster]

1 hour ago, Rivals said:

I will have to disagree with some points here. Cant speak on IT (line too long and never ended up going in it) but Doll Haus and Zombie Land were very strong mazes from what i can remember, i thought the weakest mazes from last fright nights were Leatherface (which i still enjoyed) and HOK.

Certainly your opinion and I respect that.  I have done the UTT every year it has been running.  House of Kain is accepted as one of the best in house mazes the park has done.  Zombieland was so lackluster that my son went through it at 7 years old and complained we did not see a single scare actor.  IT relied too heavily on mechanical objects instead of actual interactive scares / scarers.

The precincts being the Kill Eye (the clowns which were in the games area in 2019 and even the Fright Night website advertises starting with "The Murder Clowns are back"), the Pain Street (which looks to involve the generic Purge type setup present almost every year since 2016, especially the Babyface Killers precinct from 2019), the Purgatory Precinct (which looks to be a mash up of the Demon precinct and Nightmares area from 2019), the Viral Precinct (which was the overarching theme in 2018 and had a western version in 2019).  The Reaper County Precinct looks to be the only more original precinct, however brings back the look of the Hillbilly Slasher maze from 2012.

I personally feel they are putting this year on with a limited budget and increased prices in an attempt to recoup losses from the last 2 years since we know the process for each Fright Night starts around 12 months prior so they would have been several months in to planning and prep in January 2020 and the cancellation of 2021 was not done until several months prior to October last year.

If this means a bigger and better event next year, then I am all for it.

1 hour ago, Rivals said:

This is a fan made concept, the first image don’t know where it came from but the second is from Annabelle Creation (2017), as far as i know they are still planning out what will be Annabelle 4.

Will let the ex know since this was her find, however the screen shot still appear relevant (girl, dress, ponytails).  We could still be seeing an Annabelle maze.  Given the movie came out in 2019 and since previous mazes that should have returned in 2020 are back this year, this could have been one of the new mazes for then as well.

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by MaxxTheMonster

[Brad2912]

When it comes to the precincts there is only so many ways to “theme” an area full of zombies, clowns, vampires, demons, bloodied doctors etc - so to expect no repetition I think is setting a standard that just can’t be met. 
 

i don’t think we were ever to expect a massive change in the maze lineup, I honestly wasn’t even expecting we’d get 5. By all accounts the mazes have remained largely set up since 2019 as whilst planning for 2020 would have been well underway, construction wasn’t before covid hit. 
 

given the ridiculous queuing in 19, the first time I’ve ever not got through all the mazes in a night (non-fast pass) since FNs started, I’m  not surprised at the price rises and hope it’s been aligned in a way to strategically drop nightly attendance whilst still hitting their revenue targets - that will only be a positive for everyone. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Brad2912

[MaxxTheMonster]

14 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

When it comes to the precincts there is only so many ways to “theme” an area full of zombies, clowns, vampires, demons, bloodied doctors etc - so to expect no repetition I think is setting a standard that just can’t be met. 

I agree that there are only so many ways to theme so cannot expect no repetition...  But when 4 of 5 precincts they advertise as new were present in an extremely similar form the last time the event was run?

They have had a Day of the Dead precinct, a sci fi horror, a maniacs area, these were just in the last few years it was run.  They have shown they can come up with other ideas, so why the copy paste?

14 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

I’m  not surprised at the price rises and hope it’s been aligned in a way to strategically drop nightly attendance whilst will hitting their revenue targets - that will only be a positive for everyone. 

A price rise was expected.  In the current climate everything else has, and FN increases year on year.  But the amount of the increase is what is shocking.  I do agree that numbers need a better cap as numbers have been getting insane the last few years, however also limiting the number of nights the event is run down to 9 when there were 15 or 16 (from memory) in 2018 / 2019 is in direct opposition to that if that is their plan.

I do understand they might be weary about putting on too many nights without enough interest, but considering this event is the biggest "public" event for them and has not happened for two years, I am sure there will be the numbers.

Edited August 22, 2022 by MaxxTheMonster
Spelling correction

[Rivals]

11 minutes ago, MaxxTheMonster said:

Certainly your opinion and I respect that.  I have done the UTT every year it has been running.  House of Kain is accepted as one of the best in house mazes the park has done.  Zombieland was so lackluster that my son went through it at 7 years old and complained we did not see a single scare actor.  IT relied too heavily on mechanical objects instead of actual interactive scares / scarers.

 

I did hear a lot of complaints about IT having no actors and feeling like they tried to make it more “world class” with the animatronics but i’ve heard it felt “lacking.”

will admit my group of friends including me that went, we all have a fear of Zombies and walked straight into the maze at the end of the night so might be biased as we all quite literally ran out.

HOK imo was amazing in 2018, but they moved it to a smaller shed and we were at the back of the line so it felt boring and all the scares were already done by the time it was our turn.

14 minutes ago, MaxxTheMonster said:

Will let the ex know since this was her find, however the screen shot still appear relevant (girl, dress, ponytails).  We could still be seeing an Annabelle maze.  Given the movie came out in 2019 and since previous mazes that should have returned in 2020 are back this year, this could have been one of the new mazes for then as well.

 

* do agree Annabelle or ‘The Conjuring Universe’ as a whole will be a maze. The character in the end shot which shares the scene with ‘Annabelle’ looks to similar to the demon in the fist conjuring movie, where Annabelle does make a cameo in a scene which also is shared with the saud demon. (side by side shown below - in the movie the demon does have yellow eyes as well) 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

10 hours ago, MaxxTheMonster said:

If this means a bigger and better event next year, then I am all for it.

Nice thought in theory. In practice it might show them that people will willingly pay astronomically inflated pricing for a lacklustre phoned-in event (if that's what it turns out to be) and if that's the case, it won't encourage them to do better next year.

10 hours ago, MaxxTheMonster said:

limiting the number of nights the event is run down to 9 when there were 15 or 16 (from memory) in 2018 / 2019 is in direct opposition to that if that is their plan.

I'm sure they'll release more dates if the current ones sell out.

 

Drifting off topic a little - but I wonder if there's any ability for them to take advantage of WOO once constructed with a 'Twisted Land of Oz' themed precinct or maze. A cornfield \ Haybale maze seems pretty easy to put together and Scarecrow seems like a no brainer.

[MaxxTheMonster]

31 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Drifting off topic a little - but I wonder if there's any ability for them to take advantage of WOO once constructed with a 'Twisted Land of Oz' themed precinct or maze. A cornfield \ Haybale maze seems pretty easy to put together and Scarecrow seems like a no brainer.

Given FN does not flow over to any of the DC or other themed areas that are external IP, I seriously doubt this would happen.  Regardless of how interesting that would be.

[Park Addict 93]

18 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

They can always reduce the price later if they don't get the uptake they wanted, but the very affordable season passes of previous years cheapened the event, IMO.

I feel there’s middle ground between a $499 Season Pass and a $99 one, the planned price for the 2021 event was $239 at the gate.

Personally I wouldn’t hesitate to pay $300 but for $499 if the quality of the mazes/event is the same as 2019 it’s a rip off, and having to attend over 5 nights to break even I think will find few takers.

16 hours ago, aaronm said:

Shame the Ultimate Terror Tour isn't back, that was what made the event for us. Hopefully the maze quality is bumped up to match the increase in prices, 2019 was a fairly lazy effort.

100% agree that the UTT was a large part of the event for so many. I doubt we will see any drastic increase in quality. They simply are betting (and IMHO it’s a fairly safe bet) that the majority of those that would pay for UTT will pay for one time FT instead.

A UTT mid season in 2019 was $175, that’s only $26 more than a single entry to each maze/ride this year. Without an available paid unlimited option they can also sell more FT passes, same reason Fast Track during holidays is now once per ride. 

I would have liked to see a backstage, vip lounge add on even minus fast track personally or perhaps a UTT that simply has one FT entry to each maze. 

“The Conjuring Universe” is indeed the headline maze this year, in addition to another in house creation. 

[rappa]

We’ve nearly all been on here for years saying the parks are undervalued and should be increasing prices. So good to see them finally taking the plunge and doing so. 
 

Also the UTT has progressively gotten worse and worse even since it started. First two years were great, exclusive, edgy and premium. Then it got more and more revenue generating, watered down and oversold. So not surprised it’s been canned. 

[New display name]

56 minutes ago, rappa said:

So good toAlso the UTT has progressively gotten worse and worse even since it started. First two years were great, exclusive, edgy and premium. Then it got more and more revenue generating, watered down and oversold. So not surprised it’s been canned. 

You can it or you can fix.  MW took the easy option.

Edited August 22, 2022 by New display name

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

8 minutes ago, New display name said:

MW took the easy option.

Honestly all our parks seem to do that.

[Guest 239]

1 hour ago, rappa said:

We’ve nearly all been on here for years saying the parks are undervalued and should be increasing prices. So good to see them finally taking the plunge and doing so. 

Proportionally to local and regional competition, it does make sense for VRTP to price their parks and events this way. It's hard going overseas and seeing season passes to far greater parks for much lower prices, but a lot of those parks need to be priced that way to stand a chance in the market. 

1 hour ago, rappa said:

Also the UTT has progressively gotten worse and worse even since it started. First two years were great, exclusive, edgy and premium. Then it got more and more revenue generating, watered down and oversold. So not surprised it’s been canned. 

I think people have good reason to be concerned about the value of the event and you've hit the nail on the head as to why. UTT progressively getting worse isn't a one-off thing, but is part of a wider phenomenon in the Aussie market where somebody creates a good thing and its absolutely bleed dry for as much money as humanly possible before the value just isn't there anymore and it gets thrown in the trash ready for the next thing. 

[aaronm]

Overall it's a disappointing announcement. They've had three years to think about how to make this event better and have come back with these warmed up leftovers. Will wait and see what the new mazes are but if they're as rumoured then that seems very similar to what's come before. I'll still go as it's included in the membership but probably wouldn't be spending $99 on a ticket otherwise.

[Rivals]

I will say i find it a bit insane a Fright Nights pass for 9 nights is $310 more expensive then a yearly pass with 3 other parks.

[Guest 239]

3 minutes ago, Rivals said:

I will say i find it a bit insane a Fright Nights pass for 9 nights is $310 more expensive then a yearly pass with 3 other parks.

I don't believe the price is meant to make sense. I feel it's designed to capture super fans who will happily pay for it with little thought. The business analysts will be watching that pass so freaking closely.

[New display name]

I can't remember if 2 basic takeaway chicken meals are all MW ever offered for fright nights?  (I thought in the past I ordered something that wasn't junk food) I thought MW had inhouse chefs.

[MaxxTheMonster]

2 hours ago, New display name said:

I can't remember if 2 basic takeaway chicken meals are all MW ever offered for fright nights?  (I thought in the past I ordered something that wasn't junk food) I thought MW had inhouse chefs.

A variety of food outlets have been open in the past.  I remember having burgers from the Western Outlet several years ago.  Friends had wraps or rolls from the deli in 2018.

[New display name]

Just now, MaxxTheMonster said:

A variety of food outlets have been open in the past.  I remember having burgers from the Western Outlet several years ago.  Friends had wraps or rolls from the deli in 2018.

I'm talking about what you can pre-order?  Special food made for the event.

[MaxxTheMonster]

25 minutes ago, New display name said:

I'm talking about what you can pre-order?  Special food made for the event.

I never remember seeing the option to pre order food tbh.  Then again doing UTT there was not the need.

[New display name]

Looking at 2019 I found these pictures.

and this

"The prepaid burger/souvenir tumbler meal has also “sold out”. 

 

So I don't know.

 

 

 

[Park Addict 93]

4 hours ago, New display name said:

Looking at 2019 I found these pictures.

and this

"The prepaid burger/souvenir tumbler meal has also “sold out”. 

 

So I don't know.

 

 

 

I honestly don’t recall them Pre purchased meals prior to 2019 but they definitely did then

The top image is the “Survival Stack Nachos” that according to my email receipt was $20

[JaggedJanine]

On 23/08/2022 at 8:28 AM, Park Addict 93 said:

Personally I wouldn’t hesitate to pay $300 but for $499 if the quality of the mazes/event is the same as 2019 it’s a rip off, and having to attend over 5 nights to break even I think will find few takers.

I completely agree with this. Considering the price of the pass in 2019($99), I was expecting an increase as i always thought that it was under priced. I was happy to pay $250-$300ish but $499 is a bit of a laugh. I know of maybe 3 people that might buy this compared to how many i know purchased it back in 2019. I'd be really interested in seeing how many of these they actually manage to sell at the 400% increase.

On 23/08/2022 at 7:53 AM, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I'm sure they'll release more dates if the current ones sell out.

They usually only have maybe 2 dates on standby if needed.