Fright Nights - 2015

[lifeofsamage]

What I don't understand is people that take babies and toddler is prams. It honestly pisses me of

[Zanstabar]

I just think if it negatively impacts the event for most guests, then I should be taken into consideration for the next. I'm not petition to ban those who are under the recommended age, but rather try to stop those who ruin the event by having a bad attitude.

Maybe this could be solved by having a children's Unlimited pass that does not include Fright Nights, but rather an extra trip to White Christmas or Carnivale. This could alleviate some of the problems with younger guests, while also gaining some revenue by those who, while under the recommended age, actually want to attend.

[Brad2912]

And then who takes the kids on these extra visits to white xmas? The parents pay $40 each extra to take them? 

[themagician]

I've had a couple of family friends that their young kids in the past, and didn't realise that it was so scary and/or wasn't aimed at kids. I didn't question them about it, but surely people would read that its recommended for people over 14yrs old. Still this year when I went I saw quite a few parents with kids and babies in the park and I still get surprised when I see that. And a couple of times in the past I have seen security escorting them out of the park, as the kids were so scared.

[Zanstabar]

And then who takes the kids on these extra visits to white xmas? The parents pay $40 each extra to take them? 

My idea was just that; an idea. It wasn't fully fleshed out. In fact, it came to me when I was reading this thread on the train. I'm sure there're better options out there, but this is just what I thought of on a whim.

[FoolishMortal999]

Okay so I haven't been to fright nights yet but I need to ask those who have been what's their favourite and scariest moment in each four of the mazes? What's their favourite panic room and what's their favourite scare precinct? What's the 4D show like? A few years ago they had Michael Myers or someone from the Saw Franchise jump out after the show. Anything similar?  Last year we got to go backstage and see a hillbilly slasher revival in the western town area ( for The UTT). What do they do this year? 

Edited October 13, 2015 by FoolishMortal999

[Reanimated35]

Do not waste your time with the 4D show. Just. Don't.

[themagician]

Be sure to do all 4 mazes as I thought they were all good, but I thought Friday the 13th was great, so if anything be sure to do that one. I did have favourite scenes in each maze, but don't won't to spoil them in this post (I did mention them in my review of the night). My favourite precinct was Zombieland, but there weren't too many scare actors about.

[Reanimated35]

The Zombieland area had the 2nd highest amount of actors, only surpassed by the clowns/freaks area.

 

[pushbutton]

It's brilliant to see this event evolving and getting better each year!

[Reanimated35]

One from last week I forgot to edit before.

[Zanstabar]

I have to say, after going to the event a few times a lot of things have grown on me.

Last night I saw the Friday the 13th 4D show, and it was great to see it before rope drop. It was nice to finally have some context for some of the scenes in the maze, as I've never seen the film previously. However, I would not bother with it during the event. The time spent could easily get you almost to the front of a maze.

I will also admit that the Freaks zone is also starting to become a favourite. The performances are quite unique and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I just think that if this zone returned in some form, try and ramp up the scares. 

One last thing that is kind of irking me is the detail in some of the mazes.

I just feel that it is a little inconsistent. You go through some of the cabins in Friday the 13th and an underpass in Wyrmwood and they look great. It's clear during those scenes, and quite a few more for that matter, that the designers really love these films. The passion is evident. But then the next few scenes in quite a few mazes a just blank walls. Some are excusable as the try to portray bushland at night, but others just aren't. Maybe the average guest doesn't care all too much for it, but for me it's a little bit disappointing seeing some amazing set design before being thrust into a room of black-painted plywood.

Am I valid in my thoughts on this? Or is it just me wanting top-tier experiences on a lower level budget?

Edited October 17, 2015 by Zanstabar

[Reanimated35]

The terror tour was amazing!

More on that later today (Sunday).

 

[Reanimated35]

This post will have some spoilers from the Ultimate Terror Tour.

 

You have been warned. 

 

 

Ok so the terror tour has been done for another year and I must say it was excellent!

Last year's was great, but they've one-upped it this year. 

A few things both positive and negative from this year's event

Firstly the direct comparison of what I can remember from last year between the two tours:

 

The negative: 

> The alley between the show stages and SE was lacking actors almost every time I went up there (this is across all 3 nights I've been this year). On top of that, the smoke is too dangerous. You can't see anything or anyone in front of you. (Overheard quite a few people commenting on that). While that's great and a nice atmosphere, I feel as though this could easily be fixed with something as simple as a dividing fence so at least everyone's going in the same direction. Throw in a couple of actors on both sides and it's great. 

> The area around SE could use something on the kerbs to make them a bit more visible. Yellow or even glowing paint so you don't trip in the thick smoke would be nice. 

> In the EW maze, the strobe is positioned in the wrong spot behind Laura thus limiting the ability to actually see anything other than a blinding white light. 

> Inside F13, some parts are so dark you can't tell where you're supposed to be going which in some way takes away from the experience as you spend more time looking for the path than to take in the impressive works they've done on the sets. 

> Dubstep, again, just like it wasn't in 2014, still isn't relevant to the horror/halloween theme in 2015. 

 

The positive:

> Firstly the tour - again it's a great experience and certainly worth the money spent. Having the secret room with multiple ways of interacting with the guests was great and having them available whenever you please was outstanding. Sadly some idiot broke one of them throughout the night, but I was told they should have it fixed for next week. 

> The finale of the tour was great and all the performers on the 'tour' section were excellent. I know last year the popcorn they gave out on the tour seemed kind of stale but that didn't matter this year as mine was stolen pretty quickly  

> The tour had much more interaction this year which I think is great and the merry-go-round ride was a nice touch. If you've ever played Left4Dead2, I'm sure you'll agree when I say this tour gave me flashbacks to the "Dark Carnival" level.

> The quality of the mazes this year in the show stages were excellent. This, I learned on the tour, was due to the set builders also being the set builders from the latest POTC movie. A lot of thought and detail has been added and it shows with the quality of the maze.

> Having multiple 'precincts' at the start seemed odd when I first heard about it as I was wondering how they would pull it off but having seen it, I think they did it well for the most part. The only slight downside I noticed to it (not enough to consider it a negative) was that in areas outside of the precincts there wasn't many actors (showstage/dodgem maze areas and path to soundstages).

> The quality of the performers this year was also excellent, having only witnessed characters twice break their roles (once to check the time, the other to tell someone not to touch them - different chars each time). The clowns did a great job of scaring people, the psychic did a great job of confusing people, and the zombieland characters did great work with their characters.

> The makeup department have done an awesome job again this year. 

 

Overall:

This year in some cases felt a little 'cheaper' with the recycled mazes, however the tour does give some insight into that. For those not able to do the tour - they felt in previous years having 4 new mazes each year meant you'd get two really well done mazes in the soundstages which would chew up most of the maze budget, then you'd get two 'half-assed but not really half-assed' mazes in the SDSC queue/dodgems and showstage. Going forward, they'll be following overseas' parks trend of keeping old mazes and adding new mazes at the same time, meaning they can afford to spend more on 2 new mazes, then use them the next year while adding another 2 mazes.

They also mentioned they're looking at trying to secure rights to one of the biggest, if not the biggest horror franchise possibly as soon as next year. In my mind I'm thinking that's Scream, Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, Nightmare on Elm street or Blair Witch. In saying that I may be completely wrong as I'm not really into horror movies much. 

Panic rooms I never tried so I can't judge those, but their location seemed a bit odd for me. IMO they would have been better placed down the back near WWF in that largely unused area. 

Overall I'd give this year's Fright Nights an 8.5/10 - with some points lost for difficulty seeing in mazes, the continued use of dance music instead of more horror/metal music (this may be a licencing cost issue though) and the dangers of the path to the soundstages.

Given that that's the only stuff I'm taking points off for, you can be sure it was once again an overall amazing experience. 

 

Side note as well - during the cast briefing it was mentioned there was an 'incident' involving some guests and cast members which has resulted in a heightened security presence for the remainder of the event. Sadly this will push costs up potentially at the expense of improvements. 

Anyway, I've got one more night there next saturday, I'll try to get some better shots of the performers this time and hopefully it's not too weird given that I'm fairly certain that they easily recognise me and my mate each time. 

 

Left4Dead2 video for those who don't know the reference (the guys in this video has the brightness up way too much though:

https://youtu.be/-VGFVenmOVI?t=864

Edited October 18, 2015 by reanimated35

[Zanstabar]

Great review Reanimated. Good to see your thoughts... 

This year in some cases felt a little 'cheaper' with the recycled mazes, however the tour does give some insight into that. For those not able to do the tour - they felt in previous years having 4 new mazes each year meant you'd get two really well done mazes in the soundstages which would chew up most of the maze budget, then you'd get two 'half-assed but not really half-assed' mazes in the SDSC queue/dodgems and showstage. Going forward, they'll be following overseas' parks trend of keeping old mazes and adding new mazes at the same time, meaning they can afford to spend more on 2 new mazes, then use them the next year while adding another 2 mazes.

I wouldn't say that I'm completely devasted by this news, but I can't say I'm ecstatic. While the maze that was in SDSC always felt cheap, I never felt that the Show stage was all that bad. 

Does this confirm Friday the 13th and Wyrmwood for next year?

They also mentioned they're looking at trying to secure rights to one of the biggest, if not the biggest horror franchise possibly as soon as next year. In my mind I'm thinking that's Scream, Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, Nightmare on Elm street or Blair Witch. In saying that I may be completely wrong as I'm not really into horror movies much. 

This really intrigues me. I have a gut feeling it might be John Carpenter's Halloween. I think we can rule out NOES as they've done it previously, and Exorcist just because there's not much content for a full maze. I wish we could get Psycho, though...

Side note as well - during the cast briefing it was mentioned there was an 'incident' involving some guests and cast members which has resulted in a heightened security presence for the remainder of the event. Sadly this will push costs up potentially at the expense of improvements. 

Rumour has it that a more immature guest took one of the branches of one of the trees in Wyrmwood and hit someone in the head with it. Can't confirm whether it's true or not, but just something I had heard from some staff.

 

Edited October 18, 2015 by Zanstabar

[Reanimated35]

Does this confirm Friday the 13th and Wyrmwood for next year? 

Yes, well, in their words, I believe it was "most likely".

Rumour has it that a more immature guest took one of the branches of one of the trees in Wyrmwood and hit someone in the head with it. Can't confirm whether it's true or not, but just something I had heard from some staff.

Ah, my first thought was that someone grabbed/touched one of the dark angels or whip girls. I'm also more inclined to think that may still be the case given the extra security on main street rather than in the mazes. 

Oh yeah, also in the mazes.... why does some of the mannequins have realistic nipples? As we were walking through, someone had pulled the shirt over and exposed one of them and it had realistic nipples. Can't remember which maze it was, but I want to say either W or WC.

 

[Zanstabar]

 

Oh yeah, also in the mazes.... why does some of the mannequins have realistic nipples? As we were walking through, someone had pulled the shirt over and exposed one of them and it had realistic nipples. Can't remember which maze it was, but I want to say either W or WC.

I only remember a mannequin in Friday the 13th, and I would be lying if I didn't say it was larger than life... 

The trip through Friday the 13th which I had complained about earlier, the kids behind me couldn't stop shouting "Boobies!" once they saw the mannequin. Not sure why it was the way it was. Maybe it was something they found in the warehouse?

[westical]

I was also on the UTT last night, first timer so can't compare to prior years. Can see they've cut a few corners with merchandise this year (let's be honest, I'll probably never wear the cap again), wasn't aware of the free lockers though. Not that I needed one.

My own thoughts -

• Tour was totally not what I was expecting. And it was amazing. I'll never look at the WB Kids area the same again.
• Agree about the fog, great for atmosphere, but I did collide with a few people in the walk to the showstages. And they weren't always teenagers being absolute dicks.
• The reference to the franchise they've been working on for the last 18 months was worded a little weird. He said it was one of the biggest brands in the world but it hadn't blown up yet? (paraphrasing)
• Superman closed about 8:15pm. Queue wasn't big enough to justify 45 minutes early, unless they only had one train running (wasn't paying much attention)
• Someone mentioned the first scare actor in Wyrmwood doesn't turn around. Yes, yes he does.
• Agree about not being able to tell which way to turn in some of the mazes, although I didn't have as much trouble in Friday when I was at the front. I also found being at the front in that maze was a bit underwhelming, as you could generally see the actors up ahead as they were about to run past the group.
• Being able to scare people in the mazes was awesome. Happened to be in Wyrmwood's after the last group went through, all the actors then proceed to dance through the maze in celebration. Managed to scare the scare actors in the process...
• Dubstep isn't horror, but the finale certainly got the crowd going.

Edited October 18, 2015 by westical

[kujotess]

They also mentioned they're looking at trying to secure rights to one of the biggest, if not the biggest horror franchise possibly as soon as next year. In my mind I'm thinking that's Scream, Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, Nightmare on Elm street or Blair Witch. In saying that I may be completely wrong as I'm not really into horror movies much. 

American horror story perhaps? I believe that would be a pretty hard franchise to gain the rights to as it's very popular nowadays.. Also probably the most requested maze by the GP

Edited October 18, 2015 by kujotess

[Zanstabar]

American horror story perhaps? I believe that would be a pretty hard franchise to gain the rights to as it's very popular nowadays.. Also probably the most requested maze by the GP

Ryan Murphy is allegedly very protective of this show. Rumour has it that the team from Universal Orlando has pitched an AHS maze to him for the last few years, and he's turned them away. If what is arguably the biggest Halloween haunt in the world can't get the rights to it, then I doubt Movie World would be able to.

[Levithian]

Out of the big franchises, keeping with the well loved zombie theme, what about resident evil?

If they wanted to really go after the mature crowd and kick the kiddies to the side by ratcheting up the horror quite a bit, id flip my lid if they did something with the Hellraiser series. Brings with it a host of gore and sadism though, so maybe a little too much for movieworld to handle. Everyone loves pinhead until you actually meet pinhead. A squad of cenobites roaming the park with a puzzle box maze would be horrific (and delicious!).

Edit: heres a bit of a run down on the cast of characters you could pick from, for those not so familiar with the series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NT1_VlKEqA

Edited October 18, 2015 by Levithian

[joz]

Out of interest to anyone who went last night on UTT, how are the queues for the rides with Fast-track?  Can you go multiple times or are you restricted to just one go?

[Reanimated35]

We did 2xSE and about 4xSDSC after SE closed. Could have done a lot more if we wanted to. Both queues take you to the very front. 

SE you walk in, then take an immediate left up the stairs to the platform.

SDSC it's the standard fast track queue to the grouper. 

[westical]

I believe only UTT participants get fast track on the rides too, not included with the maze fast track you can buy separately. The one time I went on SDSC there was no queue.

[Reanimated35]

Correct, UTT is the only way to fast track rides this year.