mitchelljd

to be honest 1- if you lowered the price to say $25 each year to start membership, then it could be more appealing 2- have to provide value in terms of real discounts against memberships at theme parks. ie, in SOCAL, i'd like to get discounts below normal season pass costs at a) 6 Flags Magic Mountain b) Knotts Berry Farm (including discounted ticket to Knotts Scary Farm) c) Disneyland and California Adventure. If TPR can work out a way to save real money from these park operators... then i believe it would be worth it. but not really for any real reason like $15 in buying things at the TPR store. Nor to get a first chance at a slot on a TPR trip. honestly, I am married with 2 lil ones. so unless the trip would be a local one to the amusement parks in socal. i wouldn't be joining. and i don't think i'd want to have to buy a membership just to do that. also, if maybe being a member added extra Fast Passes, line passes and discounts at the theme parks. ie, 20% food, concessions, Merchandise and toys at the parks.... could help also. access to joining Robbie at Press Only events. like the Media Preview of Universal Halloween Nights in Cali. or stuff like new rides opening at Disneyland or such. my big thing. Save us money = i'll get a theme park review membership. but you need to help save more money than the price of the membership. just giving you my 2 cents.

your right, but that is why i bought the vip front of line pass. makes a huge difference. but... of course the media promotion opening must have been fun.

any tips on how to know if A crew is on? other than that Robb, Thanks for the website and all the tips!

I agree obviously, just wish Universal Studios Hollywood recognizes that after last year and this year's great crowds. It is time to Bring more nights and a bigger Halloween Horror Event for 2009. They need to really do 7 mazes, not just 4. and to make good efforts at planning them ahead of time so they are not the same, they actually change sets more than putting people in a certain movie's theme in there. I love what Universal Halloween should be, not what it is. regarding Florida's Mummy Ride, had no idea it was bigger and longer, worth a peek when i am over there sometime. Loved the Simpsons ride though. did it 2x PS BEST ROUTE DIRECTIONS and PARKING: Arrive early to avoid traffic. try going and arriving by 6pm (Really!) Have dinner somewhere at Citywalk. Also... If you arrive off of the 101 and the side road, the universal traffic people will direct you around to the lower parking near the theme park. Line is long and not fun. best to arrive early and go over from Ventura Blvd area Take Cahuenga Blvd, then cross the bridge over towards Universal citywalk. park at valet for citywalk or their parking structure, say you are having dinner somewhere like Hard Rock Cafe. it is fast, easy, but does Cost $25 by end of night. Well worth it for your sanity though.

I went tonight with a friend to Universal Halloween Hollywood. had a blast. One thing i will say is the Bill & Ted show is amazing!!! My review: The park needs more mazes!! the ones we have are fun, but at least 2 of them are rehashed from last year. they need to open up more mazes in the lower backlot area and take advantage of more room! as is the Terror Tram, but it was greatly expanded so it was fun also. but still... not so much changed in some areas from last year. love alot of it, but hard to say it isn't too changed from last time. Bill & Ted show = A+++ just great production quality. fun humor. sexy raunchy, witty. go see it. Slaughter World? mildly entertaining, only so much they can rehash this set from year to year. the actors did the best they could with the set and material. nice explosions though. Universal really needs to come up with a new stunt attraction, and do it in a way that allows for creative new halloween shows each year. Simpsons Ride - A+ new attraction Chainsaw Massacre Maze - it is actually a fun one, but it is essentially a redress of a maze from last year. so its nice, good actors, fun pretty neat, but again, NOT really entirely new. nor was it chock full of actors. Nightmare on Elm Street Maze - tons of fun. great maze. nice production. but doesn't feel new. kinda like deja vue from last year, aside from all the Nightmare on Elm stuff added. Universal Horrors Maze ( aka the Gathering) (in van helsing building) its essentially a refresh on what was in here last year. its ok, would be nice if Universal did a little more to make it new. but it is entertaining, one more year of it for halloween without a real refresh will not be acceptable. Mummy Ride - fun, entertaining, short Jurrassic Park Ride- fun, entertaining, and not too wet. nice music, they added a lil guns'n'roses to the near end. Scare Zones? they are pretty good. though last year the zombies at the ambulence after the national guard troopers was scarier and more fun, now they just had some soldiers and zombies. last year they had actual "violence and gore" it was more fun in this area last year. pretty happy with this, though i would love them to come up with some more narratives and such for this Entertainment zone by the escalators going down and simpsons courtyard? last year they had a performance troup, Mutaytor, doing some cool DJ work with post modern performances. dancing, acrobatics and more. This year, they downgraded to a lame dj tent with the dj's and a couple of their "friends" trying to dance. sorry universal, this one is a F, last year you had better environment with this ----------------------------------- basically, i remember the old days of Universal Hollywood, it was better a lil before, but the Bill & Ted show is pretty amazing. Universal needs to add Wednesdays and Thursdays nights. Maybe this will allow them the extra money/budget to add more mazes overall and expand the halloween event into what it ought to be. Hell, Knotts Scary Farm is fun, but with Universal's production quality and design quality, Universal could easily take the lead and be THE place to go. This event is very crowded, parking isn't fun, you need to know where to drive and which route to skip being routed the long way around. happily i used valet, and knew the route to get there. I am honestly happy Universal is continuing to do this event, after 9/11 they stopped, last year was good, this year is similarly good. I really believe that this event could be even bigger and cooler in the future. so, thats why i give this constructive criticism. just want everyone to enjoy it. a line pass is 100% recommendable. helps a huge amount!!! worth the money and you can do virtually everything, just get there early to beat traffic. try dinner at citywalk. relax then go. my over-all review grade: B (maybe B- if you correct for all the old and reused stuff if you have been before) but it is very enjoyable.

sounds like fun. i may want to join in. Just got email about it and I live in Los Angeles. Mitch

yeah, well i kinda think the park for halloween was planned from florida. so.... I hope they have someone reading these boards and take notes.

i forgot to mention my favorite scene in the mazes. Believe the best one was a torture scene, where a real person was being tortured with needles being shot into him all over his tortured body. excellent effects they used to make it look real.

Robb. Ill post more in here. hell ill even review knotts scary farm, which i went to on weds also. I didn't mean to be nitpicky, except that I want universal to be all the success it can be. to be honest the parking kinda stunk and made me grumpy on that part. i can admit that. it woulda stunk if i didnt have a line pass though. One thing is i can admit i was a bit thorough. but i just hope they augment the staff which plan the event for next year, to have the attention to detail i see from the florida event's website. which i wish i could goto. but ... don't have the plans to. well not this year. i do love universal florida. so maybe i ll try next year. THis was a VERY fun event at universal, People should go if they can, get there early! line pass also When are you heading to a theme park again soon in socal? heading to 6 flags?

Hey there, My name is Mitch. I am from Los Angeles, but originally from Manhattan. from an early age i have loved rollercoasters and theme parks. Also especially Halloween time. So. love to hear about the good stuff. and to fit it in on trips i make.

Robb, i can appreciate your thoughts. And i was being nice to them. Hell i am very happy that they finally did it again in Los Angeles, after never giving a reason why they stopped. Well, only 3 mazes is a bit lame to me. I goto Knotts Scary each year. So yes the production quality was higher at Universal, but not compared to the last time they did it at Universal. which was amazing. the only reason i am tough on them is that I really want them to succeed and set the gold standard. THE EVENT WAS FUN, EVERYONE SHOULD GO TO UNIVERSAL'S HALLOWEEN EVENT. Like rob says go more than early. if you can get line pass version of ticket. it really helps. it was fun. but leaves room for improvement for next year. ie 7+ all new mazes, and new also, i am not like you. getting the full media day attention.(SORRY ignore that please) hell that would be nice. but i did in fact try to get there as close to opening as possible. It just was not possible with their parking situation. but point noted. I am a theme park afficianado. so ... hell, where do you like in socal? been to queen mary? enjoy that? i heard magic mountain added mazes this year.

Thanks Rob, we went last night, here is my review. I agree they need MORE! Lets start with the good news: Universal Halloween Horror Nights is BACK!! My Wife and i last went around 2001 when they last held this event. It was Amazing back then. Tons of fun! So happy Universal finally realized Halloween was an important event for millions of theme park goers. Now... The Bad News: Universal Badly estimated the public interest in such an event. Not only were lines to park about an hour. With line to pay for parking being terrible. and parking very hard to find. but that wasnt the worst of our sat night experience. We found massive lines for everything, running 75-40 minutes. Glad we splurged for the Front of Line pass, but what about those who didnt? So those who were stuck in line to park then got to park and then got in line for virtually everything it wasnt fun. Simply stated, Universal needed more staffing and to run the event more nights. The event for 2006 was scheduled only for SEVEN nights in total. It is like they didn't know how many people would be interested in the event. Park was crowded and not enough attractions for the sized crowd. As a comparison, for 2006, Knotts Scary Farm had 26, i repeat 26 nights. Not enough mazes and attractions: What fans of theme parks love, and fans of the old Universal Halloween events, IS MAZES. How universal of old set itself above Knotts Scary Farm was cutting edge mazes with production quality and design which was amazing. How Universal did it this year? well, there was one amazing walk, TERROR TRAM Ride, was simply a fun experience. Without ruining it, you are able to take a tram to an amazing experience be chased by zombies on the backlot and more. Great sets from movies. wow! fun. Where it fails? no story at all. just zombies and monstors to have them. All set but no story, except the existential "Director" who haunts the backlot. Makes me wonder what "marketing" person came up with that idea. In years past they would have had a CLIVE BARKER or ROB ZOMBIE created maze. Those mazes were amazing and fun. with high end production values. Not enough mazes. Just one official maze, The Asylum, the other one (Sort of) is Terror Tram. While other theme parks do 6+ mazes, Universal dared to be different. I have some words to Universal, DONT BE. please for 2007 make at least 6 mazes. honestly, you would do alot better to do 8 of them. Hell it was the best part of your event before you shipped most of the old ones off to Florida to start Halloween there and shut it down in Los Angeles. Last night i would say the vast majority of monstors wore low quality masks that werent even worn properly. the folds of them were placed over the clothing. at Knots and universal of old, they would were costumnes properly. Don't get me wrong some of the costumes were amazing. but quality control is obviously an issue in costuming. Also, what they did have was alot of shows: Fear Factor Halloween, Carnival of Carnage, Chucky's insult Imporium, Slaughter World and Mutaytor (a burning man performance troup). The shows were fun, but to be honest they are just a side of what they ought to have offered. All in all we had a decent time, there was a little fun to be had. we caught Jurassic Park ride, The Mummy Ride. but aside from that and food, there was nothing else to do on the lower park area. The escalators didnt have the lights turned down and no monstors to keep guests occupied on the way down. There is plenty of room for universal to add at least two mazes down there. Why not do one outside and one in a sound stage or two? ok... so i layed out how they can improve some... well I would also say on food. Universal is a park known for excellent food, yet last night they shut down all of the franchise brands to be able to sell cheaper food. Yes that means no Ben & Jerry's, Panda Express, Pizza Hut, El Pollo Loco. Leave one of the higher end restaurants open. And sell the nicer ice cream. its fun. Another thing, after all the traffic and lines. the park needs to be open longer. Hours are 7pm-midnight. A really poor schedule. yes i know later in season they are open longer, but why short change those who come weeks before halloween? Knotts Scary Farm is open from 7pm-1am weeknights, then on weekends till 2am. This would be a great cue to follow. My last notes: Thanks for opening up the Halloween event again, Yes it feels like Coke underwrote the whole thing by having Full Throttle Energy drink banners everywhere, but hell at least it's back. Now that it is back and bringing the crowds successfully. My hope is that Universal upps the ante. For 2007 you need more mazes, more creativity, more wardrobe help, add an additional creative person to oversee it and add more details needed, have more wideranging food, and oh yeah more staffing, ie parking / traffic. One last note, it was sadly disappointing that even on a full park night, while the Halloween Horror NIghts map listed BACK TO THE FUTURE RIDE. it was closed. really bad scheduling. that was insulting that you didnt think enough people would show for the event that they penny pinched and kept the ride closed. With enough of a sales data, Universal should have known to keep the attraction open, like they are doing on later HHN evenings. note everyone. go, go EARLY! if you can, get a line pass. it is essential. Have a fun time, it was fun. but left me wanting more. My sincere hope is that they do it larger, better and stronger than ever next year. Support it because if they dont get the support, my bet is it won't be back.