Fright Night 2014

[themagician]

Just to give people an idea of queue times at the times I went at, and where I saw the queue at its longest (White is queue at its longest and blue is where I was):

Cannibal Clowns:

I joined the queue at 6:15 and it was only around 10 minutes.

Wolf Creek:

I joined the queue at 6:50 and was queued for 85 minutes.

Evil Within:

I joined the queue at 9:30 and was queued for 25 minutes.

Ripper:

I joined the queue at 10:15 was queued for 3 minutes.

I would recommend (if you can) doing the cannibal clowns straight away and then leave the Ripper until the last 30 minutes. That was the queues are really quick. The other two mazes I was willing to wait longer for because they were the bigger mazes.

[Reanimated35]

What size groups were they sending in?

[lfrit4]

Ok so I didn't get down there tonight as I still feel like shit.

Scooby - you queue around the side, then into a non-aircon corridor before going into the main switchback again. In saying that, I meant to ask this the other week, what's the Scooby Training Room? Is that just a generic training room for staff, training specifically for Scooby, or kind of how DW has that education room beside the fairy shop?

This is the staff training room, it's an old gremlins theatre room still too

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

What size groups were they sending in?

They were sending 10 people at a time for Cannibal Clowns and they were sending around 15 people for the other three.

[Brad2912]

Interesting that you would recommend that approach to the mazes.

My regular has always been to skip the 'pre-show/opening' and be as close to the front of the lane way to the studios for when the gates open, that way you are in your first maze within 1-2 groups, then straight into the other studio maze, where the line usually hasn't blown out yet as people are still entering the park and tend to loiter or be drawn to Main Street first due to the scare actors and smoke.

I've always found I've had the 2 studio mazes done within 30-45mins, then head for the sound stage maze where you're looking at a 45-60min wait, then have dinner, superman, Arkham, last maze, green lantern.

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

Off Topic: I got a custom Fright Nights shirt which I will wear on the 25th to the event, I got the shirt printed off at Target! Here's a picture of the shirt

[Slick]

I went Friday night and folks, if you haven't gone yet - be sure to go all out on the $150 terror tour or by the fast track passes. Friday was sold out completely and you could definitely tell. But enough talk, here's some cool bits for you guys to enjoy.

So many zombies. Much wow.

Plenty of street performers to be had.

These guys were awesome.

IV top up anyone?

Plenty of park atmosphere all round.

And fire. Lots of fire.

Familiar?

Or is this more up your alley?

As per always, if you want to be subjected to my rants and thoughts, there's a link for that: http://ourworlds.com.au/fright-night-2014-review/

[Reanimated35]

^ This video is private

[themagician]

Went on Scooby-Doo last night and the lasers are really good now. Plenty of different colours and add that extra something to the area. Wasn't to much smoke, but I thought it was just the right amount.

[Slick]

^ This video is private

My bad. Fixed now.

Went on Scooby-Doo last night and the lasers are really good now. Plenty of different colours and add that extra something to the area. Wasn't to much smoke, but I thought it was just the right amount.

I noticed that too. Definitely ups the atmosphere of that room. Good work to whoever made that happen.

[Zanstabar]

The queue times seem to really flip-flop this year. Some people say they are terribly long, others get in within 30 - 45 minutes.

Also, what mazes are the best to hit up first? Anyone who has been multiple times this yea,r could they perhaps say when the lines for each maze are at their minimum?

[Reanimated35]

lines for each maze are at their minimum?

10 - 10:30

[pin142]

Noticed last night that around 10pm the sound stage queues had died right down.

[themagician]

Went through the ripper maze at 10:15 and only waited a couple of minutes.

[xRazzBerryx]

Does anyone know why tickets are now $50?

[Reanimated35]

Because they were always stated to get more expensive as the event progressed.

[pin142]

Been the same every other year, first weekends are cheap, other weekends more expensive especially as you get towards Oct 31.

[xRazzBerryx]

Ah okay, didn't know that! Thanks

[Zanstabar]

Just read a pretty good Fright Nights review. Looks like the team have fixed most of the opening weekend problems, which is good to see.

http://www.rhiannonirons.com/live-the-terror.html

[Linus1995]

Hey guys, sorry that I haven't posted my thoughts on Fright Nights yet I've been super busy. I went on Friday the 11th and the event was sold out that night, luckily I had the Fast Track pass which allowed me to go into every maze almost immediately. The reviews are:

The Ripper Maze: This was first up for the night and I wasn't expecting much at all because of the previous reviews, but like most others on the night I was pleasantly surprised! I can see why initially others may have thought there weren't any scares, but when I went through there were a decent amount of actors popping out and slashing at us from dark spaces. Although I think in comparison to Hillbilly Slasher last year this maze pales in comparison.

+ Excellent ambience and mood setting, I especially enjoyed the speakers playing quiet street chatter with the dim lanterns hanging down from the wall

+ Some actors were really well hidden which provided for great scares

- Lack of diversity in actors, it's either prostitutes or Jack the Ripper

- A lack of scares and 'set' pieces in comparison to Hillbilly Slasher last year

Overall 6.5/10

Cannibal Clowns: Obviously expectations weren't very high as this was the usual thrown together maze with little to no effort. I enjoyed the maze for what it is but I don't understand why MW don't simply invest a little more money and make a 4th decent maze. I would honestly rather they keep Hillybilly around for a 3rd year with the Ripper maze than waste it on some dark walls with paint and people dressed up...

+ Scare actors were great in this maze and really made an effort to scare people, making up for a lack of theming

- Lack of theming

- No real 'story' or 'theme'

- The usual cheap maze

Overall 4.5/10

Wolf Creek 2: Next up was Wolf Creek and boy was I surprised! This was my favorite maze of the night and also I thought the scariest (maybe this was due to the fact that I was at the front). Initially I didn't think the Wolf Creek theme itself would scare me, but the scenes in this maze were set up incredibly well, I thought the pacing was great with a little lull in the middle.

+ Excellent theming and had some of the darkest rooms Fright Nights has ever had (the bush room) making it really seem like you are lost

+ I thought the scares were very well thought out and set up, and while normally you can tell where/when the scare is coming they did a really good job at tricking you

+ A nice touch was pressure activated car horns and headlights, this was a neat trick

+ The music when you enter the cabin is really creepy

- A lack of scares in the middle of the maze

Overall 9/10

The Evil Within: My most anticipated maze of the night, but I was left a little disappointed, maybe because I had hyped it up too much? Don't get me wrong, the theming in the maze was absolutely top notch, but I was a bit disappointed by some of the scares in the maze. I didn't really like that the guys with the boxes on their head were stuck behind bars and that they couldn't make any real noise like banging on something and that some of the others were stuck behind a glass screen. Although this maze was the most elaborate, I think they overlooked the fact that if someone is sitting behind a glass screen it's a little hard to REALLY freak out.

+ Top notch theming

+ Really long

+ Excellent scenes, I particularly loved the person behind the screen at the start with the flashing lights, the girl with many arms and the spinning blade corrider

+ Good pacing and the scares were well spread out

- I think they could have done better towards the end with some of the scares because someoene standing behind a metal fence not making any noise isn't that freaky

Overall 8.5/10

You might think I'm being quite critical of the event, and I am. I absolutely loved it, just like I do every year. All in all it was a great night, but I think my slight disappointment of this year comes from the fact that Fright Nights has been improving year on year, and this year it feels on par with last. Which by no means is a bad thing, but I guess I was just expecting them to step it up a notch again. I would have liked to see official scare zones implemented and the generic scooby maze replaced with something substantial. There was definitely less smoke around the park this year, which I didn't like, although there was more scare actors. I felt like there could have been a little more diversity in the actors though. It was either a devil looking guy on the rollerblades, or a devil looking guy with a mask. One thing I loved this year was the metal cage that went up and down mainstreet, so creepy!! Also I wasn't a big fan of the dubstep music.

Overall, it was a great night again, but I think they could have stepped it up from last year, but they just didn't. Can't wait for next year! There are some photos below:

(I'm having some trouble with adding photos they'll be up soon)

[jjuttp]

So did they incorporate this scene?

[Reanimated35]

Yes. Half way through the maze everyone has to lie down for effect.

[jjuttp]

So there's a slide?

[downunder196]

No Reanimated was being an idiot, you don't lie down. I can't honestly recall going through a scene like that but I could be wrong.

[Reanimated35]

After playing EW tonight, I must say, the maze makes quite a bit more sense and they've done really well with the maze in general.