What happens when you no longer have a daytime parade (and thus various restrictions on what you can and can't build in the streets), and a fairly strong unifying theme of Halloween? You get one of the more promising scare zone lineups the event has had in a very long time!
1. Graveyard: Deadly Unrest - With Graveyard Games being one of my favorite houses, it's really no surprise that I'm totally down for a graveyard zone. Hollywood provides plenty of space for them to play with, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the two Grim Reaper Brothers look like.
2. Sweet Revenge - I dig the concept of a twisted candy maker turning kids into psychotic killers through poisoned candy, and I love that they're tying this to the Tribute Store in both backstory and during the event itself. If they can bring the mayhem from the kids running amuck and the little kill shows, this could be a lot of fun to hang out in!
3. Scarecrow: Cursed Soil - BARN! BARN! BAAARRRNNN!...Now that I got that out of my system, I'm definitely intrigued to see how the Barn structure turns out. Now I would have this zone much higher, but it's location in Central Park is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand it's a fitting location for this theme, but CP is also rather tight and narrow, which isn't much fun to go through when it's clogged, which can be often.
4. Conjure the Dark - The idea of a "1st Halloween" with a coven of witches summoning monsters? Love it! San Fran as a location once again? Don't love it that much.
5. Horrors of Halloween - While this one is at the bottom of my hype list; this isn't any kind of sleight on the zone. For me, Entry Zones have taken on a different kind of role than the other zones, but one that is no less important. Sometimes it's a first taste of the "theme" of the event, like 2019's Anarch-cade. Meanwhile, last year's 30 Year, 30 Fears was a warm welcome back to the event. After a long hiatus, it was really comforting to look up and see the glowing HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS sign that many haven't seen for a long while, you knew you were back. Helping the matter was seeing the Jack-o-Lantern stilt walker or Bone Daddy himself. And yes, a bit of fire goes a long way.
Either way, it served its purpose of welcoming you to the event. I really do feel HoH is not only gonna' be a warm welcome back, but also give a great taste of the theme since all the other zones will be supporting it with their Halloween themes. As awesome as Anarch-cade was at showing off the 80's vibe, that theme wasn't really carried elsewhere in the other zones.
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I gotta' say this is the most excited I've been for the scare zones, be it the unifying theme or A&D getting to play more in the streets with no parade, there's something to look forward to all over the park!