Fright Night 2013

[joz]

Just a bit of a thought; if you're ok with making Fright Nights more expensive so you can do more mazes, why not buy a Fast Track and treat it as the extra cost of entry? I mean let's face it; most of us get free entry with VIP passes, so if you buy a $40 Fast Track wouldn't that be the same as just paying $40 for entry without having to wait? Just throwing it out there.

[Zanstabar]

Just a bit of a thought; if you're ok with making Fright Nights more expensive so you can do more mazes, why not buy a Fast Track and treat it as the extra cost of entry? I mean let's face it; most of us get free entry with VIP passes, so if you buy a $40 Fast Track wouldn't that be the same as just paying $40 for entry without having to wait? Just throwing it out there.

I do remember hearing ages ago that this is how VRTP makes a profit off of VIP passes. When guest can enter the parks for "free" they tend to spend over the normal price of admission in upgrades. So for Fright Nights, I would say about 50% of their income was from people entering for free and paying for Fast Track.

[Gary86]

I went to Dreamworld tonight and I must say it was the exact oppisite when it comes to crowds. Very short lines for all rides except Zombie Evilusion which was very boring for me since I don't like lazer tag. It was also bad that there was no info around for when the lazer light show was on. Also Cyclone should be renamed The BLender since it throws you around too much and it struggles to get up the lift hill.

[Reanimated35]

Just got back from tonights event. This is what the crowds should be like every night!

Got through superman twice, GL once, 3/4 mazes, carnevil and scooby (@10.30) Didn't get around to darkness.

All the mazes were good - bad timing with WD meant we walked through as the supervisor was telling certain zombies to go on break.

Carnevil was great - loved the jokes beforehand.

[Zanstabar]

Now that Fright Nights for 2013 is over, what was everyone's favourite scares from the event? Mine would have the be the finale in the Evil Dead by far.

[gdalby96]

Now that Fright Nights for 2013 is over, what was everyone's favourite scares from the event? Mine would have the be the finale in the Evil Dead by far.

Also, did people think that it was the best one yet or not?

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

Best one so far this year and favourite maze Walking Dead and Evil Dead. Also liked Hillbilly because there was performer camouflaged as a tree..

[Zanstabar]

Also, did people think that it was the best one yet or not?

Definitely the best one yet

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The proof in the pudding for the success of Fright Nights would be if they removed it as being included in the VIP pass. I'm not advocating getting rid of Gold level VIP passes, but maybe having a Gold Pass gives you say 50% discount on fright nights and white xmas, and obviously some other ongoing benefit to make it worthwhile (i.e. 9am entry on weekends). I just dont know how many VIP pass holders would pay to go vs those that just go because it is included in the price.

As I recall, the first round VIP pass didn't include fright nights - it was something they decided to do when fright nights rolled around. Sure - it boosted numbers, but at what cost?

Just a bit of a thought; if you're ok with making Fright Nights more expensive so you can do more mazes, why not buy a Fast Track and treat it as the extra cost of entry? I mean let's face it; most of us get free entry with VIP passes, so if you buy a $40 Fast Track wouldn't that be the same as just paying $40 for entry without having to wait? Just throwing it out there.

When Gold was first released - we upgraded immediately. We paid the extra because we saw the value. They've cheapened that value now by offering the free upgrade. Even with our 'gold' passes (now held by about 90% of the people in the park) we still bought fast track. I went on Friday, and in two and a half hours we got one coaster, all 4 mazes, a sit down dinner, all of carnevil and Space Cowboy... in other words - everything that isn't 'normal' about a day-visit to the park (except the coaster).

We were on the road at 8:30 (and promptly pulled over for a young idiot with too much power under his foot who had lost his car off the verge of the northbound onramp).

So my only experience of fright night was pretty much without queues. We timed our entry to Carnevil perfectly so there was no queue to get in, and we left right on time at the end of the show to walk straight to the front ropes for space cowboy.

We also ate dinner a little later at gotham after the crowds were gone without much of a queue (side note - the burgers have gotten much better - i'm tempted to complain about the really small size of the peri peri burger - but we can't have it big and nice at the same time without upping the price so i'm just really impressed with the quality of the small burger I got).

Given this experience - I still say there were way too many people in the park - and this is coming from someone who did not have to wait in a single queueline for anything except two people ordering food in front of me which took all of 30 seconds.

It's one thing to have that many people in the park, with all 'lands' open, and all rides running at full capacity in peak season, it's another thing to have the overall 'floor area' diminished by the loss of wild west and WB kids (sound stages don't make up for that loss IMO), and still have a peak-season crowd in the park, in the dark, with blinding fog and harsh (or no) lighting in some areas - its just downright dangerous.

Despite the complaints of the fog, I found it to be a little too much only in two places - the alley to the soundstages (I think the plastic blood-sheeting prevents the breeze from dissipating it) and in the middle of mainstreet (I think it's just a little too sheltered) - but even then, it wasn't much, and was only for a moment before it began to clear, so overall not something I would complain about personally... but when you combine it with the number of people in the park, along with the extreme darkness (eg: soundstage alley next to arkham's load station) and the blinding lights down mainstreet, these three issues begin to cause a hazard, and it's only a matter of time before someone does a serious injury.

That said, I am confident I can now repeat my previously stated opinion, and include 2013 in that opinion, when I say that MW has, once again, improved on their fright night experience in leaps and bounds over previous years, and I urge everyone involved to take the experience (and the extra cash from FastTrack) and throw it into their next big event to make it better than ever before.

Edit: I want to restate my opinion on age limits for this thing - we saw families with children barely old enough to be out of a stroller, and witnessed a conversation between a mother and a child under 10 (both of whom had a fast track), with the mother cajoling and encouraging the child to come to the next maze because she had paid for the fast track and wanted to do all four. The boy did not want to, and even said to his mother "you're forcing me to go". I believe they'd just come out of hillbilly slasher (which was probably the best in my opinion for scares - and that lady at the entrance to the house gets better every year), and the mother wanted to do darkness. they hadn't done WD or ED, and the kid was already too scared to do more.

I think the best way to age limit these things is to offer a cheaper VIP for under 14s that does not, and cannot receive a fright night entry. the adult ticket should get FN & WC, and the under 14s only WC. Make it cheaper, and all the parents will lie about their children's ages to get the cheaper ticket - and then they won't have a 'free fright night ticket going to waste' because it isn't included.

Edited November 2, 2013 by AlexB

[j_m-kelly]

Now that Fright Nights for 2013 is over, what was everyone's favourite scares from the event? Mine would have the be the finale in the Evil Dead by far.

I had a few favourite scares this year, of which are: 1. The hospital bed scene in WD; We were walking around the bed and I had little clue that there was a a scare actor behind one of the fake walls, so he flung open the fake wall and full on came running at me! This scared the shh out of me. 2. The car scene just before entering the house in WD; Our group was just walking into the house when a zombie comes running across the bonnets of the cars (with flashing strobes so it looked like he was there then right infront of you) and jumped right next to me! Scared me alot. and last but not least the guy sitting on the couch in ED; I knew he was an actor and all but wasn't expecting him to jump right out infront of me and chase me down the passage way! All in all, these were my favourite scares, I had many others