I went last night, with the "Loser's Club" FoL pass. Overall, I liked it, and see a lot of potential, but they do have significant organizational problems (as can be expected for a burgeoning event). Also, it is
not about jump scares. They are there, but few and far between (I think some by design, and some by just not enough scareactors to go around).
The Pluses (mostly) first:
- Shock of all shocks after seeing all the negative reviews, but I actually enjoyed The Conjuring. My husband remarked it has a similarity to a (low-budget) Delusion, and he's basically right. Again, emphasis on "low budget". But there were a few unexpected scares (a guest breaking the rules comes into play
After being told at the beginning of the maze no photos, about 1/3 of the way through, a guest takes a pic of a scareactor... only to be grabbed and abducted by that scareactor
), the actors were great, and for us, nearly all the scares were on point. Perhaps my a low expectations maybe helped me to be pleasantly surprised, as well as my Loser's Club pass... we only waited about 10 minutes when the posted line was 2 hours (and remained that way the rest of the night... they even ended up closing that maze down by about 11:30 due to it being so long--another reason to get it done early). If I had waited 2 hours for the same experience, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have liked it as much. It is also a bit on the short side.
- IT was probably my favorite house of the night. It's the most traditional maze, and feels much like "What would KSF do if they got the IT property?" It's also one of their longer mazes. We ended up going through this maze 3 times. As it turns out, our first experience was the best one. Later walk throughs, we noticed many missing scareactors that had been their earlier (especially in the last half). I suspect it may be a casting problem on the end of WB. On the plus side, it was nearly the only maze that turned out to be a walk on as of about midnight on.
- I also liked Arkham Asylum. Feels about the same level as the best Six Flags mazes (which are now pretty decent) in terms of set design. Actors were great. Not a lot of scares necessarily, but fun to go through. Biggest surprise... we did this maze twice, once at the beginning of the night (standing in the GP line) and later again using our Loser's Club VIP... and one room ends up having a completely different scene with a completely different actor!
A room about half way through may either feature Poison Ivy or Penguin, with a completely different set that gets turned around at some point during the night to fit that character.
That also said, we noticed the entire last two rooms, which had two scareactors on our first go through, had absolutely no one in it on the second go ground. Again, casting issues?
- Exorsist screening has a lot of potential, and as long as you go in expecting only a mild low key experience, you'll be fine. I agree with another review I read that says their biggest problem is they just didn't pick the best scenes from the movie for an experience like this. But given the scenes they did pick, I did enjoy the sets, the subtle effects (they are very subtle), and the actors. But at the end of the day, while mildly amusing, it feels mostly like a missed opportunity.
- Camp Crystal Lake is also enjoyable, although Jason really wasn't needed... I feel the maze would have been much better had it just been Jason the entire time. A long cabin section was great on mood, but (at least on our run though) not all rooms had scareactors in them... maybe half. I did know we begin this maze with a cart ride, but didn't realize the cart would be a mini tour through their sets. A nice plus, though not super Halloween themed (though the guide tried their best to incorporate horror movies and shows, but we were also told a set was used in the movie Annie... which was interesting to know, but I was also a bit like, "That's not Halloween related at all." The best part of this is that since those carts are so small, carrying only about 12-14 people, you really feel very isolated on the wooded trail when they finally drop you off. Loved seeing running, screaming, bloodied victims running down the path at random times. Not super scary, but great mood and character.
- The museum, which the tram drops you off at as you exit Camp Crystal Lake, is definitely a highlight. We probably spent a good 45-60 minutes in there.
The minuses:
- Biggest issue: they closed Camp Crystal Lake maze early! Now, we were warned that maze would close early... we were told repeatedly, get there by 10:15. Fine. Well, we got there at 10:01, and they closed the line off right in front of us and another group of about 4, and we were told to leave. We all complained and said we were told 10:15, but she wouldn't budge. To her credit, she looked a bit upset and was apologetic, like it wasn't her decision (I'm sure it wasn't). At the time, we were upset, but decided to channel it and just head to another maze. However, later on we looked at the park map, and it has 10:15 printed right on it. Had we thought of it at the time, we would've shown that to her. Not sure it would've made a difference, but it does make a stronger case. At the end of the night, we did complain about this to guest relations, but it was just a matter of record, there was obviously nothing they could really do at that point. So maybe get there early to that one just in case...
- I agree with upsidedown above, there needs to be more trash cans.
- Food is very meh... mostly standard stuff: hamburgers, pizza, hot dogs... and most of that did not look great (think high school football game food booth quality). Food trucks would be a welcome addition here. There was a food booth a bit hidden behind the exit to Exorcist that is selling "Regan split pea and ham soup" in a bread bowl if you like. That was a nice touch. I didn't try it, but I was tempted.
The Fangtasia bar was pretty nice (and has go-go girl dancers outside it, in case you miss those at HHN), and if you are too young to go in, you can sneak a look through the exit door by the photo pick up location.
- Lines move ridiculously slow. Even though we had the Loser's Club pass, we figured we wanted to experience mazes more than once (and the pass technically allows only one use for each maze), so we did stand in the GP lines for Camp Crystal Lake and Arkham. Crystal Lake moved okay, but Arkham c r a w l e d (maybe 10 feet every 2-4 minutes), and from appearances, Conjuring moved even slower. Exorcist didn't look very quick either. I understand they don't want "conga lines", but there has to be some sort of balance. Lines that look like they'd be only 10-15 minutes long at HHN would take 30-45 minutes or longer here.
- As noted above, line for Conjuring closed early unannounced due to its line being so long, so be aware.
- My other big complaint was the Joan/Bette show. It's mentioned on the website, but when you get the park map, there's absolutely no mention of it at all, and no signage anywhere telling you when and even where it performs. It turns out to be on the main stage as you enter, where the DJ and Ringmaster are, but aside from a replica poster that's pretty well hidden among the rest of the stage decor, you wouldn't know it. We asked guest relations, and they said, "I have no idea when it performs. It kinda depends on the actors. You have to ask the DJ." Really? Having a set show schedule for two performers is too much? Or even promoting the show? I guess maybe WB views it more as a character experience (which is sort of is), but even Disney and USH both given general times of when their character meets happen.
Overall: After experiencing it, I did generally enjoy it, but do agree it's overpriced, and they really need to work out some major operational kinks. It's
not for the jump scares... put those largely out of your mind, and go for more of an atmospheric and character based experience, and expect many rooms to not have any scareactors at all--but they will mostly have good set design and lighting (very few black walls, though there are a dash here and there). It's a good start, and if you're a mega IT or Conjuring fan--or, like us, just like to have a new haunt experience--it may be worthwhile. Also, some were earlier claiming for media night mazes didn't have any soundtrack, but we didn't find that to be the case (except for Conjuring, which I figure is intentional).
Tips: arrive around 6. They let people in at 6:30, telling them mazes won't open until 7. Get in line for Conjuring right away anyway and wait, followed by either Crystal Lake, Exorcist, or Arkham. Save IT for last. Plan on possible early maze closures for both Crystal Lake and Conjuring. Lines for Arkham and Exorcist (and Conjuring, when it was open) remained pretty lengthy all night, while by midnight, IT was literally a walk on. They do not allow photography inside any of the mazes. There is also a make up demo show if you want a short sit break that isn't Exorcist. Drop ride essentially had no line all night, and it was a bit fun to see a view of UHS from WB for once, instead of the other way around.