Premium scream night was a MESS last night. A pretty nasty storm can be blamed for some of it, but the event was extremely oversold. We waited an average of 30-40 min/house (contrasted with last year’s 10-20), and 10-20 min for food lines. It was still better than a normal night not paying for express, but nowhere near worth what they were charging. Last year’s PSN was amazing, this year was a letdown. It took us until event close to finish all of the houses and shows. It you have one night to do everything and the money to burn a RIP tour is a better use of your money. If you want to go and absorb atmosphere with less crowds in the scare zones, PSN is better.
That said, the rest of the event is feeling very back to form. The SZ’s were all amazing, Cat Lady is truly inspired and a LOT of fun. Masquerade is creepy and detailed and the scareactors are great. I didn’t spend a lot of time in NY due to time constraints so I don’t have a lot to say about that zone. Conservatory is super neat for a photo zone. Chainsaws are back, not a lot to say about that. Club Horror is lame and needs more energy but might be better on a full night.
Houses! Nothing is as bad as Chucky. I think most of the houses are solid this year with Fallout being the only exception. We got a good run, hit every scare, but it does not work and feels very flat. I liked the show and love the property so it’s very disappointing. WWE, Jason, Dolls, and El Artista were my standouts this year. Jason is terrifying and the best use of that space I have seen. Honorable mention to FNAF which is not scary at all but has some incredible animatronics and puppets if they’re working on your run.
Nightmare Fuel is great, maybe the best iteration, this year as a direct sequel to last year’s story, and the lagoon show is fantastic and worth a watch if you have time.
My overall house ranking based on one night and one run each house at “Premium” Scream Night:
WWE, Jason, El Artista, Dolls, Terrifier, Hatchet and Chains, Galkn, FNAF, Grave, Fallout.
Sorry Brian for the double post
I have an article I’m working on as TP sent someone. They said the rain was a negative and it was “oversold” but no idea what they mean by that as wait times were low.
There were too many people to pulse properly so almost every house ended up as a conga line again in house so you essentially waited 2x as long as last year to have the same house experience as a normal night. Shout out to WWE and Galkn ops for pulsing properly.
All of the food had long lines and a lot ran out by 12-1a as well. I’ll add to my previous post that most of the food this year is notably worse than last year. The twisted tater chips were actually bad, would recommend skipping.
The Dead Coconut having AP night on the PSN day was also kind of a slap in the face, not sure why they lined those up.