It is media night so I’m pretty sure most bloggers will say positive things to retain their media credentials with the park.
-
Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.
I agree. Also there’s a lot of empty space. I know it’s just a video and hard to tell, but I’d feel pretty “safe” walking through here as opposed to the way HHN did SAW back in the day where everything felt right in your face.
I do commend the team for a good try, but it’s just not quite there yet.
- Dec 29, 2022
- 1,924
- 5,425
Question for anyone who can help: is it possible to buy tickets solely for Fright Fest and the houses without also buying day-time admission?
I can go to the event but because of the drive there I can't make it till 6pm-8pm due to work as well making a regular ticket pointless for me. Also I saw this post where the regular FF ticket price shown is 10 dollars more than the online price so I'm just not completely sure.
I can go to the event but because of the drive there I can't make it till 6pm-8pm due to work as well making a regular ticket pointless for me. Also I saw this post where the regular FF ticket price shown is 10 dollars more than the online price so I'm just not completely sure.
They consider Fright Fest an up charge on a regular admission ticket. So, unfortunately, you’d have to get a daytime ticket to be able to get the Fright Fest add on.
- Nov 7, 2016
- 1,590
- 1,763
It definitely looks better than Conjuring, at least on a visual level, and dare I say the best maze they've done? As noted, the soundtrack is a huge element here that feels very bare and doesn't lend the maze any environment. There's also a lot of amateur things stopping this from being great: the exposed cables, huge "occupancy" signs, the boo-holes are both too obvious and look too much like where you're supposed to go. The piggies need to be more aggressive, that's for sure, a lot of them were just standing around in that video or lumbering forward. Major props to the guy in the bathroom doing the film's dialogue, helps sell it. It's a better bathroom set, at least in scope, than HHN's maze in 2017 which was so oddly small. They definitely should've done the bone marrow trap from Saw X, but maybe it was too gory to pull off. The maze also oddly gets better as it goes, because those first hospital sets are YIKES town garbage, high school level theater department sets. But after the Billy puppet, I think it picks up a notch. I wouldn't have been TOO mad if I waited like 30 minutes for that, but 45 or more I'd be pretty annoyed.
Looking around the angle because media night--but there is actually a bit more positivity for both Conjuring and Saw. There is critiques, primarily in sound mixing and the lack of music for Saw, plus the middle section of The Conjuring--but the consensus is more positive than some people may be realizing.
- Dec 29, 2022
- 1,924
- 5,425
Yeah it's kind of funny seeing so much negative comments from people watching the videos of the houses online compared to all the positive reviews that the people there rn are posting
I did both, and liked them quite a bit. Are they up to HHN or KSF standards? No. But are they good for SF? I think so.
I thought Conjuring had a very strong start. It does suffer from a very bare bones ”meh” middle section to be sure, and there’s some blank spots in the end, but just there’s enough there for me to enjoy.
Saw X is the big winner, and largely thanks to the scareactors in the traps who were really selling it like crazy. It’s not super cohesive, but it didn’t need to be. I didn’t mind the brightness, it highlighted the acting more for me. Lack of sound design does hurt it, there’s one long black hallway, and the pigs haven’t really found their groove and just sort of meander… but that’s something that can improve in time. The line for Saw also moved very, very slowly.
Also had a huge improvement for Truth or Dare. Much more cohesive story, and while not perfect, it’s way, way, way better than last years disaster.
Interestingly, all the maze crowds were all Saw and Conjuring… so much so, that nearly all the other mazes hardly had any lines at all.
Oh, and they added a Haunt Emporium by Apocalypse that is pretty well done.
I thought Conjuring had a very strong start. It does suffer from a very bare bones ”meh” middle section to be sure, and there’s some blank spots in the end, but just there’s enough there for me to enjoy.
Saw X is the big winner, and largely thanks to the scareactors in the traps who were really selling it like crazy. It’s not super cohesive, but it didn’t need to be. I didn’t mind the brightness, it highlighted the acting more for me. Lack of sound design does hurt it, there’s one long black hallway, and the pigs haven’t really found their groove and just sort of meander… but that’s something that can improve in time. The line for Saw also moved very, very slowly.
Also had a huge improvement for Truth or Dare. Much more cohesive story, and while not perfect, it’s way, way, way better than last years disaster.
Interestingly, all the maze crowds were all Saw and Conjuring… so much so, that nearly all the other mazes hardly had any lines at all.
Oh, and they added a Haunt Emporium by Apocalypse that is pretty well done.
- Dec 29, 2022
- 1,924
- 5,425
Very random question but... did the Saw house smell bad at all? Was there any sort of smell in it?
It goes to show you the power of IP. I like both mazes, but I think condemned and Aftermath are still better. Hopefully with a greater lead time, sf can really kill it with these IP houses in the future. The strobe triggers in saw were a welcome suprise that was indicative of a step up in quality
- Nov 7, 2016
- 1,590
- 1,763
The quality from Saw tells me, if they can keep at this bump up in quality, they can possibly... MAYBE...ONE DAY...reach KSF level in about a decade. I know that sounds like a diss, but considering I've always felt like this was the worst haunt ever, I find that kind of a win.
Maybe a dumb question, but what's a Haunt Emporium? haha
It's a store with all their haunt merch. It has witch's hats hanging from the ceiling, and an animatronic witch in the front of the store! Though using "animatronic" loosely... it's a very rudimentary animatronic, akin to the skeletons that talk in the wagons in the scare zones at HHN.
I've been surprised more people haven't mention this more. And I did find out later there is some Saw shirts merch that are sold near the Saw maze. This is probably as all out as SF goes.
On a side note, we asked, and the Oktoberfest food booths are open until 9pm, so that may be a good food alternative in the park. Though one booth had completely run out of food by 7:30, because Six Flags.
I've been surprised more people haven't mention this more. And I did find out later there is some Saw shirts merch that are sold near the Saw maze. This is probably as all out as SF goes.
On a side note, we asked, and the Oktoberfest food booths are open until 9pm, so that may be a good food alternative in the park. Though one booth had completely run out of food by 7:30, because Six Flags.
Attachments
If Six Flags gets more IPs into Fright Fest, I wouldn't be shocked if something DC-related happens with all the DC haunted houses happening across the globe this year.
As for The Conjuring and Saw X, hopefully, they will improve in the future (assuming they repeat). However, it doesn't take much budget to give actors direction and have audio, which, even if one were to excuse Six Flags for a low budget, Six Flags could still improve these houses with those two non-expensive elements that elevate haunted houses beyond the sets.
As for The Conjuring and Saw X, hopefully, they will improve in the future (assuming they repeat). However, it doesn't take much budget to give actors direction and have audio, which, even if one were to excuse Six Flags for a low budget, Six Flags could still improve these houses with those two non-expensive elements that elevate haunted houses beyond the sets.
I always though an Arkham Asylum haunt would be a great fit, but who knows what kind of licensing and rights issues there are.
- Jun 27, 2017
- 8,058
- 5,239
I mean it happened at WB Studio's a few years back,....so if WB is down to sell it for the same as Conjuring then should be good to go
I know with any of the licensed DC characters WB is pretty strict about the appearance of anyone portraying them. That was one of the biggest challenges for the Six Flags parks in trying to have the DC superheroes walking around the parks was trying to find people who WB would approve for the proper look. They also license specific versions of the characters (comic book/cartoon/live action movie) for those, just like Universal with Marvel.
I'm guessing it'd be like HMH where it's based off the arkham game, but with semiorginal designs due to the transfer to live action. Maybe they'd model them after the Animated character style of Justice League, though, with the surrounding ride
- Aug 12, 2018
- 434
- 507
I wouldn't mind a modern Vekoma on the West Coast. |
