Fright Nights - 2015

[Reanimated35]

It gets busier, more refined and closer to the actual Halloween date

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Yeah people want to visit closer to Halloween - so the price goes up.

[Slick]

Better late then never, here's the Fright Nights review I threw up today:

You can checkout all of my thoughts over at OurWorlds but suffice to say I think if you're reading this forum and you're into parks you absolutely do need to go check it out. It's very polished. Kudos to the team that pulled it together this year.

[FoolishMortal999]

Can someone please message me the details

of what happens in the UTT ( spoilers included?) thanks

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

If you want to know what happens in the UTT,

click

here

[themagician]

So I went to FN tonight and overall I was very impressed. Here is my review of the night, details on mazes (there may be some spoilers), scare zones, etc.

So I go there just after 5 and there were 10 people in my group. We headed to the front of Main Street as we wanted to go on SDSC. We were expecting the rides to open at 5:30, as the website states, but they don't open until 6. After that we did our first maze, Wolf Creek 2 (I'll do my review and queue times on them separately). We then went on SE and thankfully they had 2 trains going, so the wait was only about 20 minutes. We then went and did the Wormwood maze. After that we got a bight to eat and did the Friday the 13th maze. Then finally we did the Evil Within Maze.

Precincts:

Zombieland: I thought the scare actors and references to the film were really good. This was the most effective scare zone and you could hear people screaming.

Freaks: A part from the creepy clowns that chased people, this precinct I found was more of a fun one, which offered good opportunities for photos

Demon's Lair: There was no extra theming to the space for this one. It was just scare actors that had been seen before and some fire dancers. They did give scare some people pretty good though.

Gothic Hall: This was more a space for entertainment from some musicians. Not really a scare precinct.

Mazes (May contain spoilers):

Wolf Creek 2: After experiencing this maze last year it was interesting to see how much of it was the same. I can say it was very similar, despite the layout changing for the space. I remember last year this maze giving me some good scares and it did yet again. Scenes such as the crashed car, bushland and truck were memorable ones and gave good scares. As I am someone who gets scared quite easily, I did jump a lot of the way through and was one of the scarier mazes of the night. There were a couple of scenes which did seem a bit blank, and just included a couple of trees. The scares actors were as good as always in the maze and at times managed to keep very still and you would question if they were actors or not, until they turned and scared you. The queue for the maze was also pretty good. It was only about a 20 minute wait (RED SHOWS WHERE I WAS, WHITE SHOWS WHERE THE QUEUE GOES)

Overall I was pleased with the maze and am actually glad it did make return. 9/10

Wyrmwood: Having not seen the film I didn't really know what to expect with this maze. It was well detailed and did overall provide some good scares, with some that weren't expected at all. The maze used sound effects well, with a lot of gun fires and banging noises being made. The forrest scenes are always ones that I don't look forward to as there is usually someone dressed in tree camouflage and will jump out behind the trees. In one of the scenes were the was some furniture, but you couldn't see any actors. Then a bench top suddenly lifted off and a scare actor jumped out. There scared everyone in my group and then while distracted by him, Ned Kelly came out behind a wall and pumped a gun at us and a loud gun firing sound effect would play. The following scene was an empty hallway with a couple of bangs, so that allowed for us all to recover. There were a few scenes were it felt like a scare actor was needed, but instead would be a wheelchair or a tree. Despite the big scare, this maze was the one which I overall got scared the least in. It just felt a few scare actors short. Maybe it was the time that I went through. The detailing was pretty good for the maze and despite that I hadn't seen the movie I felt like I got a reasonably good idea of what the maze was about, I felt like it could have gone a little deeper into it (Unless the movie doesn't have much of a story line, then it was pretty accurate). The queue line was about 20 minutes as well for this maze.

I think this maze will be better next year within a smaller space so some scenes don't feel like they get repeated or there aren't as many hall ways. I'm giving this maze a 7/10

Friday the 13th: I haven't seen this movie either, but this was the maze I was very anxious of and had good expectations for. And this maze, in my opinion, smashed by expectations. The opening scene was very nerve racking and at many moments was expecting someone to jump out. You start by walking into a forrest over a wooden bridge (which had a good effect as you walked over it, as some of the planks moved a little) and it also had a pretty cool running water effect. There was a lightening effect and plenty of thunder and banging. Then the scare actors began to jump out. As you walk through, the scare actors got very in your face and were quite threatening as at times they charged at you or ran past you into the darkness. At one point there was a scare actor (or it might have been people on the terror tour, not sure) spraying water at you. The maze had plenty of flashing lighting effects and made it very nerve-racking to walk through as you felt like someone was going to suddenly be there. When walking down a couple of the corridors there was also some banging and flashing lightings. As you made your way into the cave scene we were all expecting someone to jump out from somewhere, but instead Jason suddenly started running from a distance at you and it almost wasn't until he was right in your face you would notice him and that was quite frightening. The maze had the longest queue of about 30 minutes, but as a lot of us know, is no where near some of the queue lines in the past.

In my opinion this was probably one of the best mazes I've been in at FN, despite there being a couple of empty corridors, I thought it was great. It was also one of the scariest mazes I've been in before. 10/10

The Evil Within: I really enjoyed this maze last year and thought the detailing of it last year was very good. The detailing was very much the same this year, with all the memorable scenes returning. The chainsaw scene was one that was unexpected (unless you look at the monitors before entering where you can see him scaring people), the spider lady and box headed guys were the stand out scenes in the maze. Most of the maze did have actors in, and all provided good scares. There were a couple of scenes without anyone in, but overall was good. As this was the last maze we did and we entered the queue at about 10, we only had a 5 minute wait.

Was almost as good as last years, with most of the detailing still there. 8/10

OVERALL: This years FN was very good and for me provided some of the best scares. It was a shame that there weren't any scare actors down the alley towards the sound stages. Maybe next year a precinct should be here, instead of the one next the re-used mazes. In a way I'm kind of glad they reused two of the mazes from last year, as it meant that all of the mazes should be of good detail and scares, and they were. It was great that the queues were much shorter than I ever remember FN being, and that may be because there was more entertainment this year. As always they do a great job and was very pleased with this years event. I'm giving it a 8.5/10

 

[kujotess]

Fright nights was scarier prior 2013 when they had the horror icons like leather face roaming Main Street with the chainsaw and Michael Myers. They seem to just reuse the same characters nowadays as well as picking teenagers off the street and slapping blood on them and calling them zombies and clowns.. The streets felt very empty last night. It was very rare to see people running and screaming like they used to. 

there's definitely no denying that the Fright Night team reads this forum as they literally brought back Leatherface and Michael Myers just last night after I posted this ? Hope they keep it this way for the rest of the nights to come! 

[Zanstabar]

I'm at the event tonight and I just had what would have been a great run through Friday the 13th. The one thing that absolutely ruined the experience was the 10 year olds behind me. If you're scared, I kind of expect swearing as a knee-jerk reaction. But just shouting out vulgar comments for the sake of doing so? 

I'm really started to hope they really enforce the age restriction. It was a really unpleasant experience.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I've gone through mazes in previous years, and noted several 'blank' scenes (as mentioned earlier, above) - however I don't see them as detracting from the experience. 

IMO - if mazes were wall-to-wall scares, the effect would be somewhat lost. I find the 'blank' scenes only adds to the anxiety, and anticipation - will there be a scare here or won't there - maybe there wo-OH JEESUS!

i think they're very cleverly used throughout all the mazes like that.

[downunder196]

I'm really started to hope they really enforce the age restriction. It was a really unpleasant experience.

This didn't make my experience unpleasant, but I was surprised to see someone 2  people ahead of me in the conga line pushing a stroller which a 5 year old in it. Bad parenting much?

[Reanimated35]

there's definitely no denying that the Fright Night team reads this forum as they literally brought back Leatherface and Michael Myers just last night after I posted this ? Hope they keep it this way for the rest of the nights to come! 

I also noticed too that the weight lifter guy had some facepaint on tonight. Spent most of the night taking photos rather than doing anything. Did get on scooby once and WC & EW mazes though. Queue for scooby was 50mins. 

Got some good shots of the fire dancers which I'll post soon. Had a quick chat with one of them as she recognised us from last week. Got the UTT next week so I'm really looking forward to that now. 

[Reanimated35]

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^really trying hard to figure out where in the hell this is...

[jcgoldcoast]

In front of the Superman hydraulic room

[Reanimated35]

^really trying hard to figure out where in the hell this is...

Yep, the shack with the "Zombieland" sign on the roof just to the left of SE entry on the grass. 

[Reanimated35]

[Reanimated35]

[FoolishMortal999]

Is it me or is he wearing a Chucky costume?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^Says "Good Guy". Technically it isn't, due to international copyright laws, since Chucky's overalls say "Good Guys" but i think we're close enough to say yes - it's pretending to be a chucky doll clown...

 

(In case you missed that reference.... https://i.chzbgr.com/full/1861344000/h0A0FFAB5/ )

[Zanstabar]

I wouldn't say it's meant to be "Good Guy" Doll (ala Chucky), but rather an existing piece in the MW wardrobe department. 

I always love seeing the re-use of previous props and pieces in the parks. It's like an easter egg hunt, except the answers always lie right in front of you. 

This didn't make my experience unpleasant, but I was surprised to see someone 2  people ahead of me in the conga line pushing a stroller which a 5 year old in it. Bad parenting much?

I have two reasons for saying that statement.

Firstly, I was with a group of immature 10-year-olds during Friday the 13th. There's nothing pleasant about a group of 10-year-olds telling the female scare actors "I wanna f**k yah c**t".  I remember Michael telling us during the tour that they tried to keep you moving in order for you to suspend disbelief. Most times this works, except for when I was with these kids. The obscenities and general bad attitude ruined absolutely everything about that run. They even started to hurl abuse at another guest who was going a bit slower due to the fact he had a prosthetic leg. It was just appalling. 

The second is the children who are too young for the event. These are those kids who are in strollers or in their little "Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz" costume walking through Zombieland, with a facial expression that could only be described as petrified. They are clearly not enjoying any of the events. It just makes my heart break seeing these children live their worst nightmares. 

Some investigation into this would be highly welcomed It doesn't just have to be locking out all underage children, but just investigating some options to make the experience for all guests as good as possible. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt this way...

Edited October 12, 2015 by Zanstabar

[Reanimated35]

[Reanimated35]

[aaronm]

Some investigation into this would be highly welcomed It doesn't just have to be locking out all underage children, but just investigating some options to make the experience for all guests as good as possible. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt this way...

I was mortified to see parents bringing their toddlers in strollers to this event. Fright Nights isn't Mickey's Halloween Party! I don't think there would be anything wrong with Movie World being proactive with a minimum age of 12 or so for this event. No different to cinemas enforcing age restrictions for MA-rated films really - the impact level is about the same.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Whilst I strongly disagree with younger children being part of the event, i think it should be left up to the parent as to whether they bring their children along.

I can't see the park enforcing an age restriction as it's all revenue for them. I don't think anyone can say the park is being irresponsible - they are very clear of the content of the night and any parent who takes a younger child along who is ultimately affected by what they are exposed to only has themselves to blame.

No doubt guest relations would get people whinging about how their poor little poppet was upset, but hopefully they deal with it as they should - by pointing out the warnings they have already posted.

Just last night a friend of mine mentioned on facebook that they were going to take their kids (under 10) to FN. I pointed out the inappropriate content, to which she responded by telling me the kids favourite films including some of the popular mazes featured this year.

She did mention she wouldn't take them into the mazes though.

[Brad2912]

Understand exactly what you are saying Alex as had the same conversation with my sister in law about taking her twin 10yo girls. Loving scary movies on a tv from the comfort of your bed/lounge is very different to having Jason in the flesh jumping out in front of you in a dark corridor.