WB Studios - A Festival of Frights

[Rideguy70]

I don't know... if you go back and read my review, I did generally like the event, and--bucking the trends here--I said way back when that I actually liked The Conjuring. Despite a few bad aspects, it was a good time.

Was it a GREAT time? No, not really. I do agree it's overpriced and there is definitely room to improve and grow. But really, I didn't think it was as terrible as some people on this board have said.

 

[ManWhoLaughs]

I say Poppycock

You would. You're the guy that said this before the event even started

Saw the videos too. I don't know why people are raving about the sets, especially in IT. I hate when they go for the tall walls, it looks so choppy and bad. Arkham is nice, but it feels thrown together. Also, it doesn't feel like the games to me.

I'm not gonna pay to go, but I'm glad I'm not. It doesnt look worth it. Unfortunate these properties look like they might've gone to waste.

Which basically proves my point. The ones calling this event a failure are either drunk off Haterade or have a framed picture of John Murdy hanging above their beds. LOL! I'm glad I finally made an account!

 

[chris.g]

You caught me bro. How will I ever recover?

 

[UNIrd]

I'll be here next week and.. as a HHN UOR vet.. I'll keep my expectations low as I trust my IU brethren.

 

[ManWhoLaughs]

I mean this is nothing compared to the time you said IT was going to HHN. You're good homie LOL!

 

[chris.g]

So true.

 

[ManWhoLaughs]

That's odd, I was emailed a different reply.

 

[chris.g]

Got me again dude.

 

[horrornights789]

This event is pretty good but I ended up not liking it as much as I thought I would because my expectations were way off from what they were doing. The scares were more reminiscent of Knott’s than HHN which I’m so used to it throws me off; but I do think Knott’s did it better.

Also with The Conjuring Universe being one of my favorite horror IP’s of all time(aside from the Halloween franchise, Scream, Suspiria, etc.) I was extremely let down with the representation of some the scenes from all of the movies. I also was hoping there’d be more from Annabelle Creation and The Nun but a lot of it seemed to be more original takes on aspects of the movies aside from the Enfield finale

This event is good though, but it’s nowhere near HHN & Knott’s level

 

[Rideguy70]

On some reflection, I think maybe one of the reasons I seem to be in the minority for liking The Conjuring maze may be partially because I'm not particularly fond or knowledgeable about the property in general. I've seen the first two movies a while ago, and not seen any of the spin offs. I think the IP is serviceable, not great. So I really didn't have a lot of background about the IP, nor care very much about the background of the IP. That, oddly, may have made it more enjoyable for me, because I'm just taking it all at a very face value experience... I'm not noting what's there and what isn't there.

 

[DTH]

^ This is why I usually note my experience/bias with the IP and preface it in a review. For example, I LOVED the Roanoke maze but hated the show with a steaming passion. While those who loved the show felt it was tonally off from what the show was like, which imo, was a welcome change, and therefore it catered to my likes.

 

[hishedale]

This thread is so heated. Jeez.

 

[horrornights789]

^ This is why I usually note my experience/bias with the IP and preface it in a review. For example, I LOVED the Roanoke maze but hated the show with a steaming passion. While those who loved the show felt it was tonally off from what the show was like, which imo, was a welcome change, and therefore it catered to my likes.

Roanoke was a great maze it just relied too much on the Pigman and the Butcher. I think it is kind of ironic that IP mazes tend to be loved by people who aren’t the super fans of the IP since they don’t catch what’s off from the show. Last year in AvED I thought it was ok and not awful like fans of the show thought it was.

This thread is so heated. Jeez.

I’d say most of it comes from the fact that WB has probably the biggest horror IP’s at the moment aside from Netflix and Blumhouse

 

[hishedale]

Roanoke was a great maze it just relied too much on the Pigman and the Butcher. I think it is kind of ironic that IP mazes tend to be loved by people who aren’t the super fans of the IP since they don’t catch what’s off from the show. Last year in AvED I thought it was ok and not awful like fans of the show thought it was.



I’d say most of it comes from the fact that WB has probably the biggest horror IP’s at the moment aside from Netflix and Blumhouse

I thought it was from high expectations.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I’d say most of it comes from the fact that WB has probably the biggest horror IP’s at the moment aside from Netflix and Blumhouse

I thought it was from high expectations.

Who's to say..it can't be both?

This year, unlike previous; promised to bring major changes to Conjuring and IT, and promised a dedicated backlot experience with Freddy and Jason headlining; along with the first time Arkham Asylum has been used on a large scale in the US for Themed Entertainment.

Not to mention with the Tim Burton Exhibit, and the possible promise of more; a lot of hope and excitement was placed on this year's event. Perhaps..a bit too much.

I'm not going to side with @Chris Galindo or @ManWhoLaughs, but I do think that for some; they somewhat..over hyped this year's. Does that mean it "automatically sucks"? No. But I don't think they should've hyped it up as much as they did.

 

[hishedale]

Who's to say..it can't be both?

This year, unlike previous; promised to bring major changes to Conjuring and IT, and promised a dedicated backlot experience with Freddy and Jason headlining; along with the first time Arkham Asylum has been used on a large scale in the US for Themed Entertainment.

Not to mention with the Tim Burton Exhibit, and the possible promise of more; a lot of hope and excitement was placed on this year's event. Perhaps..a bit too much.

I'm not going to side with @Chris Galindo or @ManWhoLaughs, but I do think that for some; they somewhat..over hyped this year's. Does that mean it "automatically sucks"? No. But I don't think they should've hyped it up as much as they did.

I think both sides need to remember it is just a theme park event and not anything incredibly important. There is no need to be overly rude to each other.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I think both sides need to remember it is just a theme park event and not anything incredibly important. There is no need to be overly rude to each other.

I would also agree to that.

This is not something that will necessarily stay permanent, and that we should always look at things from both sides of the coin. But in no way should we go to levels of writing posts that are..bitter and idiotic, per say.

It's okay, to have a passionate love for something. Everyone has something like that, but one should also always know their limits. And that, we can celebrate the event as it is now; and then once it's done, discuss of what it's future may be.

But hey, that's only a bit of advice than anything.

 

[deadbydawn]

Great review!

I'm actually heading out there tomorrow. The consensus seems to be to hit up Conjuring first. Are there any tips you would recommend?

Sorry, I wasn't back on time to see your reply. I did The Conjuring first because I heard the line bogs down due to how they feed people in. Hope you had a good time.

Good review, Evil Dead 2: Electric Boogaloo (aka deadbydawn). The sound bleed was an issue even just watching the videos, so I imagine it'd be a tad bit worse being there. What did you think of the Exhbit and did you try any of the food? A cool, cheap dark ride is actually a great idea and could even fit the dead carnival theme they have at the entrance.

Can't wait to read your review SoCal!

Thanks. I liked the exhibit. It's cool that they let you walk through the whole thing, and the Tim Burton stuff was great. I didn't try any food because we ate beforehand not knowing exactly what they would have there. Turned out to be a good call.

Sound bleed (and sound in general) was the worst thing about it, IMO. Not a fan of the DJ thing. Atmosphere music would have been better.

 

[SOCAL110]

WARNER BROS HMH REVIEW FROM A NON-ANGELINO

First off, I just have to say that I love your city. LA is such an incredible place, despite the traffic & other big city issues. One of my highlights included driving all of Mulholland Drive in my convertible with the top down. The city views at sunset were magic.

Anyways, on to the main event. We arrived early at Warner Bros at 5:30 PM. Security let us in early & even waived the $15 parking fee which was nice. We went down to the crosswalk and waited until 6:15 PM until they let us make line. I was hoping they let us in early to the event at 6:45 PM, but alas we waited until 7 PM on the dot.

I'm really happy that we chose to go on a Thursday because the crowds were pretty light and we ended up having a great time! Most of the negative reviews stemmed from the fact that the crowds were heavy, lines were long, and operations were poor due to the demand. We had none of the issues because of the lighter crowds and I think WB had improved their operations due to it being their 3rd week. The event was smooth overall without any major glitches.

Our average wait time was 5 minutes, and our longest wait for the night was for Arkham, which was about 20 mins.

I'm glad I didn't opt for the front of the line pass because it was expensive and it wasn't needed. We literally got to do everything, including taking our time in the Tim Burton exhibition and museum.

We wrapped everything up by 11:30 PM and felt satisfied that we got to do everything we wanted to do.

Let me get the negatives out of the way first:

-Food was bad. Like really bad. Oh and expensive. Though that's to be expected. I tried to order the Linda Blair Soup at Crave Inn, but they didn't have any. I bought a corn dog, cheese fries and lemonade for almost $25. Come one WB, step up your game in the food department. It's CA with the freshest produce, fruits, & veggies in the country. No excuses.

-I hate to say this, but the "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" skit was a bust. I was really looking forward to this because I'm a big fan of the film. It was a huge bore and disappointment. They should have just kept last years representation where they are dancing outside the theater in the studio tour portion.

-DJ/Music was atrocious. IMO, it really took away from the cool atmosphere from the event, instead of enhancing it. The DJ literally played 0 Halloween songs. Live music would have been nice too.

Those were my major gripes.

Here are the positives of the event:

-The people. One of the things I really appreciated about this event is the type of crowd it attracted. It was an older crowd that you can tell were horror fanatics. Not your typical teenager like some other events. It was all by design. WB marketed this more towards older crowds and the results paid off.

-Proximity. I liked how everything was in the backlot and close to each other. No need for major Lord of the Rings-esque type treks to get to all the mazes. WB did a great job with the layout.

-Weather. Obviously this is out of the hands of WB, but we literally got PERFECT weather. No wind or rain, cool at night in the 70's. It was dreamy.

-The Museum Portion. We were pleasantly surprised this was included in the event. The last time my buddy and I did the WB Studio Tour was 12 years ago. Man have they really upped their game! The museum ended up being one of my favorite parts of the night.

-Friendly Staff. Everyone from the security, parking attendants, and event staff were very helpful and friendly. Maybe because the event was smaller in size, but we were treated very well.

-THE MAZES. Here is the bread and butter of the night. We were blown away by the production value of the mazes. The attention to detail was incredible, but most importantly the acting talent was top notch. Never before have I experienced the level of interaction I did with these mazes. Maybe it was because of the lighter crowds. But, we got LONG interactions with Pennywise, The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Freddy.

I had expected The Conjuring maze to be a bust after reading HHNManiacs review and how he gave it an F. With all due respect, but we must have experienced different mazes. It was the very first maze we did and I thank the posters on here for giving us that great advice.

As soon as you enter the queue and approach the front of the maze, you realize this is not your ordinary maze. You enter a very impressive exterior that sets the tone for the rest of the maze. Once you enter after the waiting room, you go into The Warrens Occult Musuem which was fantastic and felt like you were in the movie.

For me, this is why you don't watch videos of mazes on Youtube prior to experiencing it yourself. I refused to watch any footage and I'm glad I didn't. Let's just say the theatrical experience was very enjoyable, but you need to experience it live. Also, we had a very good crowd who were very into the maze and absolutely loved it.I think the fact that you enter fully fleshed houses, instead of small-scale facades really sets the bar.

The highlight of the night for me was Crystal Camp Lake. I've never experienced anything like it. Though I do enjoy the Studio Tour maze in the backlot at HHN, this blows it out of the water. The whole execution of this was sheer perfection.

Overall, I feel like we got our money's worth and the mazes were top notch. All WB has to do is add like 2 more mazes and they have a homerun of an event.

At the end of the night, I asked my buddy, who is as GP as you can get: Do you prefer the mazes at WB or USH? His answer: WB. I can't say I disagree with him.

 

[HHNManics]

I just have to say that I had expected The Conjuring maze to be a bust after reading HHNManiacs review and how he gave it an F. With all due respect, but we must have experienced different mazes. It was the very first maze we did and I thank the posters on here for giving us that great advice.

As soon as you enter the queue and approach the front of the maze, you realize this is not your ordinary maze. You enter a very impressive exterior that sets the tone for the rest of the maze. Once you enter after the waiting room, you go into The Warrens Occult Musuem which was fantastic and felt like you were in the movie.

For me, this is why you don't watch videos of mazes on Youtube prior to experiencing it yourself. I refused to watch any footage and I'm glad I didn't. Let's just say the theatrical experience was very enjoyable, but you need to experience it live. Also, we had a very good crowd who were very into the maze and absolutely loved it.I think the fact that you enter fully fleshed houses, instead of small-scale facades really sets the bar.

I'm glad you enjoyed the maze but yeah we must have gone through different mazes. Because I truly hated the Conjuring. I liked the facade a lot with the various Easter eggs but that's about it.

My main issue is that despite the fact that it is a Tour of the Warren Museum it doesn't stick to that concept. It jumps from different scenes from different films (Conjuring 1 "Look What She Made Me Do", Conjuring 2 Crooked Man, Nun/Old Man, Scarecrow from Annabelle Creation) when none of that has to do with the Warren's tour.

It feels incredibly nonlinear and doesn't feel like it actually wants to tell the story of these films. IT the maze tells the story. Conjuring is just kinda a best of and the execution of those same scenes aren't really all that well designed or are really scary.

For most of the Attraction I was just bored which is bizarre because this is the Conjuring I should be in fear because of walking through it I should feel dread as I do going through Camp Crystal Lake or Queen Mary Ship Mazes. But I don't.

The design in most rooms are pretty bland and don't have much to it. The Scares are weak. And the costumes are okay. It's overall the worst overall attraction at the event but I am glad that you enjoyed it.