Arthur_Seaton

I plan to visit the area at the end of March / beginning of April and so will visit SFoT for the first time. Any tips and tricks about the park would be appreciated (I can spend the full day there I think), and I'll probably grab a room at the hotels across the street. Also, I may take a quick trip up to Sandy Lake to ride the old-school pretzel (I'm a fan of such things), but that's kind of it for the Dallas area, right? I have a Six Flags gold pass, so I'll aim for early entry and head over to Texas Giant first, I guess. Anything that gets hideous lines that I should knock out fast?

Can't help but think that this ride is going to result in sudden, elevated nausea. I guess if someone were to puke while on the ride, by the time it landed the crowd below, it'd be more of a "light misting" than a direct hit.

It seems to be in their best interest to go for a big spectacle-style ride, and a drop machine would certainly check the spectacular visuals box. The concept doesn't hold too much appeal for me personally (although I've yet to ride one), but I could see the GP eating something like that up. The last few installations have done a nice job of merging thrills with fun (Yolo, Twisted Colossus, Apocalypse) rather than simply going for "most mega intense ride in the world everrr" — which is more substance than surface in my opinion. Although for the big 20th, I expect they'll revert back to the "mostest biggest" approach, I'd personally love to see a lengthy terrain hugger like Liseberg's Helix. I doubt it would deliver on visual impact though.

I wasn't that into Skyrush, personally (although I rode it a lot as it was a quiet day and wanted to burn it into memory), but I loved the park — far more than I expected to. Just looking through these great photos reminds me of how fun and well-rounded that place is. Fahrenheit was my personal favorite there, and I loved Lightning Racer as well. I'm all for extreme forces, but I found Skyrush to be too much of an endurance test to be totally enjoyable.

It's inconsistent, seemingly dependent on what train is running. At its best, its a rough ride, but not that much worse than other woodies. At its worst, it's horribly jarring and will give you headache within minutes. I've ridden it quite a lot as of late and haven't really been able to identify a consistent source, but if you look closely at the track on slower spots like the brake run, you can see how buckled some of it is. While I do think it's worth a ride as it's a relentless coaster, it's a crap shoot as to what state you'll be in when you get off it.

From what I can gather, "curve 9" is the turn at the bottom of the mid-course drop, right? The comment "banking is radically different in curve 9" sounds like good news as that's the section of the ride that felt like the structure was tearing apart. I'm assuming it'll be somewhat closer to that manic section of Apocalypse that follows the first tunnel turnaround. This is all very promising as Ghost Rider's layout was always fantastic.

I could be completely wrong, but I swear this is something that's increased over time. I seem to recall it being more aligned when it first opened, but now, if they leave the lift hill together, they don't finish together. Honestly, I could be imagining it. Anyhow, the ops were doing a stellar job of syncing last time we were there, so we got the best of the high five as well as the barrel roles. I'm still not completely enamored by the ride itself (I personally would have preferred something more like Wicked Cyclone), but there's no denying that the fun-factor goes through the roof when the trains are racing.

Ended up going to the park for a few hours this evening after all. Arrived about 5pm waited maybe 15 mins for Goliath. TC had about a 30-minute wait — largely due to the missing train. That, however, was the last line we waited in and everything else was a walk-on for the rest of the night with many rides allowing us to simply change seats and go again. Rode Goliath three times, Batman once, Ninja twice, Scream twice (ouch), Superman twice, Tatsu three times (not fans of that ride, but had to take advantage of an empty station), X2 twice (same as Tatsu) and then back to TC at 7:15 to find the station empty, so four more rides on that. The TC ops did a fantastic job with dueling all night, and they managed to sync us up for all five rides. Yolo was running sporadically for the last couple of hours, but we didn't bother with it this time as there was a short line, and we had already been spoiled by walk-ons by that point. A great night, overall — nice and chilly with a beautiful moon out. Also, something I noted several pages ago: When TC duels, the train on the left needs a good 5-second head start now for the top-gun stall and barrel roll to be synced. When the trains leave the lift at the same time, the hi-five moment is perfectly synced, but they fall out of sync soon after. I've noticed this more and more since the ride first opened, so I wonder if there's something structural in the track / train wheels that causing a disparity as the ride ages? Moon over Six Flags

I was tempted to head up today for a few hours, if for no other reason than to see just how dead it would be. I remember the week after Xmas last year was a total ghost town, too. I was at the park a couple of weeks ago and TC was having some serious technical problems then, too. We got in line for it three times, one time waiting 30 mins, but we never actually got to ride that day at all because it kept breaking down.

I'd say Skyrush as well — and not in a good way. It's more the relentlessness of the the intensity that sets it at the top of my list — you really don't get a chance to catch your breath on it at all. El Toro was certainly intense, but way more enjoyable because it was less disorienting (except for that weird twisty ending bit). If it weren't for the snooze-fest of second lift hill, I might say that Twisted Colossus is pretty intense. It's far less brutalizing than something like Skyrush (or even El Toro), but the elements are snappy and come at you fast. I haven't ridden I305 but I already know that I'd have rough time with it as I do tend to grey out quite easily. Goliath used to do it to me every time, but I've learned how to control and minimize the effect a bit. Even the most innocuous-looking rides with medium-grade positive-Gs (the pre-mid course turns on Nitro, the post-loops turn on Batman clones, the arc up into the tower on Superman) can trigger it. I need thicker blood or something

Generally speaking, they do very little for me at all and I'd rather see a thoughtful, immersive layout that engages landscape, structure, and aspects of the park while staying right-side-up. Inversions tend to be visually and technically impressive from the outside, but there aren't that many stock inversions that I find add anything substantial while on the ride itself. In a number cases, I find that they even detract from the experience. When they're deployed creatively however, I find inversions far more compelling. For example, plain old loops do nothing for me while riding, but the strategic hang-time on Yolo's loop is very clever, as is the reverse hang-time after the second launch.

TC did when it opened, but they stopped using it not too long ago. The line moves fast on that, though. Even if the crowd is spilling out of the station, it's probably still only around 45 mins at most. Apocalypse is absolutely worth a ride as it's a great, intense layout. It's very, very rough now though, and if there's only one train running, the line could be very bad. Ask the employee at the entrance to get a sense of how gnarly the line is and how many trains they're running as it's hard to gauge from the entrance. As Joey mentioned, the week after xmas tends to be insane (far more so at Disneyland though -- which can actually sell out during that week). I was at Disneyland on 27th a few years ago and you could barely even move through the crowd on Main St. However, the place thinned out by mid-afternoon. I'm not convinced that a flash pass is necessary at SFMM — even on crazy days, unless you're with a group or you take regular breaks. If you're intent on hitting everything and are okay going straight from one ride to the next, you could probably survive without the pass. It's always better to be safe than sorry though — especially if this is an isolated visit. As also mentioned, the line for X2 does drop off midway through the day. Yolo, however, tends to stay pretty busy all day long because of where the entrance is located. Tatsu also tends to have a pretty congested line.

Green Lantern at SFMM is the one for me (although I skip several rides there). I've only ridden it once and I have no desire to ever get back on it again. I know experiences vary from ride to ride, but my one ride was so beyond awful that I don't even want to risk it. I'd also back the nominations for Skyrush (as others have mentioned), although I do consider it a must-try. When I was at the park last year, the place was dead, so I rode it a whole bunch of times just so I could get to know it. For me, a good ride needs to balance thrilling elements with some fun and good sequencing, but Skyrush's balance was out of whack. As other have noted, it's really more a test of endurance than anything that thrilling.

We were there a few days ago Apocalypse was still rough, but one train was worse than the other. We also went by Revolution to see if we could see anything new or grab some pics, but the sun had already set and there wasn't much to see anyway. There's a train in the station covered in plastic, but it looks like one of the old trains on the track backwards. The queue line over the bridge was all taped off, but that was about it. And yeah, we saw a good amount of line cutting going on in front of the staff as well. I assume they see it happen all the time and are somewhat limited in what they can do. Often they're young kids stationed alone, so I'm not surprised that they wouldn't confront groups of adults jumping in line. They might want to implement a backup system in which security is alerted prior to confronting line jumpers, but there's an immediacy required as well. In other words, I don't think the solution's quite as easy as what many of us would like it to be. FWIW, we also saw an employee helping people jump the line as well, but that was at the Chupacabra maze over Halloween.

It's veterans day. Will be more crowded than a regular off-season day, but probably not packed. I have a feeling it's going to be packed for veteran's day, but couldn't say for sure. I was there a couple of days ago and the only rides down for the day were Jet Stream and Tidal Wave (and, of course, Revolution).

Took a run up to the park today for a few hours. There was some kind of cheerleader conference taking place, but it didn't have much of an impact as they all seemed to congregate around Golden Bear theater. We tried to give the ride times function on the app a bit of a shake (first time I've seen it), but we really couldn't say if it was accurate or not as the times kept changing quite dramatically. TC's covered area was completely filled with a few people spilling out, and the app reported that to be 70mins and then an hour later, the same length line was around 35mins (I'd guess it's more like 30mins, but I couldn't see how many trains they were running and didn't bother riding). FT showed 55mins, but it only took us around 20mins to get on it. (Noticed a significant rattle I'd never noticed before when cresting the top-hat). X2 showed 10mins, but when we trotted over, the line had filled the elevated walkways up to the station (probably only around a 10-15mins, but 10-15mins too long for us). Rode Apocalypse three times as there was minimal waiting for that, and it seems that one of the trains is much more rough than the other (although both are rough). Still excited to see how these trains work on Ghostrider as, despite the roughness, Apocalypse still hauls butt around that course (it is the same train, right?). Ghostrider's elements are a bit more spread out, but the gnarliest section (after the hidden drop) is really no more hectic than the slalom section of Apocalypse following the fireball tunnel and before the station fly-through. Anyhow, only there for a couple of hours, so I couldn't really say much about the day in general.

Ha!

I tried to balance my expectations as I had already read plenty of criticism of the ride (and a few reports from people who enjoyed it — yours included), but it just didn't do it for us. There were a couple of moments where the videos produced a real sensation of movement, but the illusion was thin in that it was always far too apparent that you were sitting in front of a screen on a track. I found myself looking for the projectors that people complained about when it opened (didn't really see them), but the experience, for me at least, felt more moving through a warehouse with screens in it than anything to do with being underwater. And, as an aside, it was weird seeing Ghostrider partly dismantled. Even though I found it to be just as brutal as everyone else, I've always loved the layout so much that I'm willing to take some of the pain. I rode it when it first opened (before the covered drop and the aggressive braking), and even in its worst states, the layout and overall design have always made it a must-ride. If they re-profile anything, I'd hope that they manipulate a few of the turns. Laterals are fun, but some of them (the turn that leads up toward the mid-course brake section; the helix) feel like they would benefit from additional banking. It's the turn at the bottom of the "hidden" drop that feels the most aggressive to me, though. I'm glad they're not making any dramatic changes to the design as the current layout is so great. Even just looking at the structure last night, it's clear that whoever designed it knew how to pack all the best coaster elements into a small space.

Went to Scary Farm last night, and while there were healthy crowds throughout, they really only congregated around a few attractions. We arrived early to make sure we could get Infected reservations (we did with no problems whatsoever) then jumped on Silver Bullet (one of the better B&Ms I think) before heading to our 7:30 zombie appointment. The whole Infected experience took about 45 minutes from start to finish with about half of that time spent in the various holding rooms at the beginning. Everyone in our group really enjoyed it although it certainly felt hectic and the weapons seemed arbitrary. Next up was the Calico Mine overlay. Not nearly as good as what they used to do to the mine, and probably not worth waiting in a long line for. Several red-lit mannequins popped up on sticks and spazzed out and that was about it. They did have a handful of human scare actors in there, but they weren't very effective due to placement etc. We did the Elvira thing — campy and entertaining, and our group enjoyed it. The music was miserable — like waiting in line for Full Thröttle — but the comedic lyrics helped to elevate it a bit. Clearly a lot of effort goes into this, but it's somewhat lost on me as I don't have the stomach for musical theatre. Elvira, though, is a national treasure. Voyage to the Iron Reef was next and we all thought it was lousy. A fourth-rate Universal style immersion ride crossed with an annoying video game (that, ironically, dumps you out into a room filled with annoying video games). I'm sure it's a crowd-puller, but it's an easy one to criticize. Forevermore was next and was the same as last year as far as we could tell. It has a nice mix of cheap sets and old-school scares with a couple of genuinely unsettling scenes. It shows its age, but its creakiness is what makes it fun. Paranormal Inc. had a long, annoying line all night (about 45 mins), but it's evident as to why once you enter the maze. This was on par with Universal's mazes and it's easily the best maze that Knott's has done in many years. I'm not familiar with the premise, and it was hard to figure out what was going on in the opening sequence, but the way the crowd splits was original and chaotic. (Spoiler: plastic sheets drop down from the ceiling while two empty gurneys seem to push you around.) Everything about this maze was exceptional, from the talent to the sets to the effects. Impressive and terrifying at the same time. Due to the crowd that Paranormal Inc. drew, Voodoo and Tooth Fairy had almost no line. Voodoo was definitely an improvement over last year in that it was longer, and some of the scares were very effective. The various hanging pelts — several of which were dampened by a spitting effect — were a nice touch. Not sure what happened at the end, though. They extended and redirected the maze through some rags, but nothing happened in there. You exited to several monsters sitting around and chatting. We went through twice just to be sure we didn't accidentally enter an employee break area, and sure enough, that's the new ending. Tooth Fairy saw some redesign as well and wasn't quite as effective as last year's maze. It's still one of the best (and most disturbing), but the timing was a little off and the actors weren't quite up to task. (Perhaps it seemed that way because the Paranormal actors were so good?) Timber Mountain was next. Although the old halloween overlays were always a Scary Farm highlight, it would be a shame to turn off the excellent animatronics in this ride — and there are just too many of them now. Still one of the greatest log rides around, and the mix of camp nostalgia and technology is one of the best things Knott's has going. I don't know what kind of investment the revamp required, but it certainly puts Iron Reef to shame in terms of quality and immersive experience. Black Magic was next (very similar to last year, and mid-tier in relation to the park's other mazes). Dead of Winter followed which was underwhelming and probably the least effective maze of the night. We gave them credit for trying something new (brightly lit and very open), but it seemed so thrown together. A few nice effects here and there, but the whole thing seemed like a set of last-minute ideas without much cohesion. By this point, Pinocchio Unstrung had shed almost all of its line. Again, the same as last year (and all the years prior). It's a good concept with decent sets and monsters, but it does feel dated. That's not a bad thing as nostalgia and Knott's go hand in hand, but it's definitely skippable if you've seen it before. Trick or Treat seemed far more elaborate than the previous year, but that could just be mistaken memory. Both the sets and the actors were very good indeed — far better than expected, nudging this one closer to the level of the surrounding Tooth Fairy and Voodoo. We skipped Gunslinger's Grave and most of the rides, but the average wait time for a maze was around 10 minutes with Paranormal being the exception. The scare zone in Ghost Town continues to be one of the best of the LA area parks (insane amount of fog and lots of sliders), and overall, the park had just about the right sized crowd. I do recall a few years ago being able to get more rides and mazes in during a single night, but in the last few years, we've had to sacrifice rides for the various mazes and events. If you're doing Infected or something like Elvira, it'll eat up a chunk of your night, so plan ahead. Overall, Knott's continues to keep the bar set high. While they might only raise said bar incrementally, they rarely disappoint (unlike Six Flags which, in the space of a single year, allowed their Halloween event to nose dive).

Visited Fright Fest again last night in the hopes that our last visit was an anomaly due to lack of crowds and the event still being in "warm-up" mode. Although last night was more crowded, it was still too empty to provide the energy that these events require. Most of the mazes were walk-ons except for Willoughby's (due to atrocious operations — a line of maybe 100 people took almost an hour due to an influx of express pass holders) and the Apocalypse overhaul (still only running one train with staff estimating 1-2hr waits). The same problems were apparent with the actors that we'd experienced on the previous visit: no energy with many of them just hanging out and chatting with each other. I can't say I blame them as much of the crowd was "acting tough" whenever a monster would approach — lots of eye rolling and scowling from guests who, despite being clearly startled, were more invested in demonstrating attitude than having fun. LOTS of strollers last night and lots of very young kids being dragged into mazes by their parents despite obvious hesitation. Also, tons of line jumping going on in the mazes, and in the Chupacabra line, the two kids working the entrance were actually assisting in letting what were obviously friends jump other friends into the lines. The express pass clearly sold more than expected as the express pass lines were sometimes longer than the regular lines. In the case of the garden maze, the express pass line essentially became the regular line, and the regular line was then treated like a singe-rider line with only a couple of guests being sent in alongside 10-12 of the express pass guests. The actors in Willoughby's did a better job this time — there were about three times as many actors in there as there were on our last visit. Asylum was so ridiculously fogged out that it actually made the maze scary (the actors in there hadn't improved, but the fear of being impaled on some rusty debris hidden by the fog was very real). The rest of the mazes were still sub-par, and the scare zones hadn't changed much either. Overall, while there's plenty of fun to be had, we couldn't help but think that Fright Fest has taken a step down from last year's event, but again, much of that is due to the guests. Rode a bunch of rides (most were a walk-on except for the usual suspects), but also had a truly awful experience on X2. The final raven turn delivered a whiplash that was far beyond anything I've ever experienced on that ride before. At this point, it's probably going to have to join Viper, Scream, and Green Lantern on the blacklist. It's a shame the event isn't quite what it could be, but you also get what you pay for, and for pass members, this is probably one of the cheapest events in the country. The quality of the mazes, the talent, and the crowds all reflect that.

Willoughby's is solid. When we went last year, there was a 45 min wait to get in but the talent in the queue was exceptional — a highlight of the night. There was no queue when we went last week, and nobody in the maze either. We got the occasional "boo" from someone in a mask, but that was about it. The space itself is cool, though. The crappiness of Toyz is what we loved about it. It has a real old-school funhouse feel, but the talent ruined it when we were there as well. Shadows of Evil was baffling — two guys in fedoras at the entrance and then one person yelling boo from behind a net. Midway through, the regular ride staff were giving people the choice to walk right back out again because the ride itself was more than an hour wait. No idea what they were thinking with that maze, and they could easily have doctored up another ride's queue line instead. We gave Fright Fest the benefit of doubt and will be going back once the season picks up a bit, but last year's event was considerably stronger. And bad luck on the TC duels. I think I've ridden it more than 30 times, and can only think of a few occasions where it didn't duel — or at least get close.

Last night was my first ever visit to Halloween Horror Nights. Obviously, it raises the bar for other haunts as the mazes are unparalleled. A quick overview: We arrived for early entry to knock out a couple of rides before the mazes opened, hitting The Mummy (pretty fun) and Transformers (our first time on it). Transformers was very impressive, but not having seen any of the films, I had no clue what was going on. I suspect storylines are peripheral to Michael Bay films though, and I was more engrossed with the projections' syncing to movement. Fun ride with great tech, and I spent our second ride on it paying more attention to the ride system itself. After that, we hit the mazes in this order: Walking Dead, Insidious, The Purge, Crimson Peak, AVP, Terror Tram, This is the End, and Halloween. We managed to complete everything in about three hours as the lines were all around 10-30 mins. Later in the night, some of the mazes bumped up to 60 mins, but all in all, the crowd size was just right. Jurassic and Transformers were around 10 mins all night, and The Mummy hovered around 30 mins. Walking Dead: Immersive and gruesome, but also quite funny. I'm not familiar with the TV show, but zombie narratives don't take much explanation. Lots of great jumps, clever designs, and good effects throughout. Very good. Insidious: One of the two best mazes in the park, for us. Again, unfamiliar with the narrative, but the actors in the maze were exceptional and lightning fast. They'd get right in your face but were gone before you could make out what it was. The maze itself was very clever with a number of genuinely unsettling scenes (especially one in which you had to walk through a number of static monsters, not knowing which would animate). Excellent on all levels. The Purge: There were two versions of this — the other being the terror tram. Again, not familiar with the narrative (I'm a major horror fan, but not too familiar with the blockbusters), but it seemed to be a dystopian environment with a ton of fog and light effects. The actors (not monsters here, it seems — just people in masks) were, again, very good. I guess this would be a scare zone, but one that you were forced to naviagte. Crimson Peak: This had the one of the longest lines all night (about 30 mins when we went through). Hard to figure out the story as the film hasn't come out yet, but the set design was fantastic and the creatures looked great. It wasn't very scary though. The jumps were there, but the maze was more open than the others, and you could see where the actors were well in advance. It was all about the set, but as far as scare factors go, it was the weakest maze of the night. AVP: Excellent, and the maze most enjoyed by our group. Amazing sets and costumes with excellent scares throughout. There were a number of tag-team scares in which an Alien would lunge out at you followed by a Predator from another angle. Genuinely terrifying from start to finish. This is the End: A sort of 3D glow maze that looks like a combination of funhouse and office building. Had no idea what was going on, but there were some cool blacklight monsters and spinning effects and whatnot. While it felt elaborate, it seemed that it was designed to feel a bit cheesy as well — more like a low-budget walkthrough. Odd but entertaining. Terror Tram: A little bummed that all the usual tram events were ditched, but this was fun as well. Basically an extended version of The Purge from the other side of the park with a close-up walk through of the sets. More like a guided scare zone than anything. Halloween: The longest line all night and we waited 50 minutes for it. The queue was good due to the familiar soundtrack and the repeat stabbing of the woman in the house's window. The maze itself looked very good, but was a tad short compared to the others. Some strong ideas throughout, but we all found it to be a step-down from the other mazes overall. We skipped the shows (not a fan of shows in general), and the scare zones on the top-level were okay, but nothing fantastic. At the end of the night, many of the monsters congregated around the exit which was fun. Overall, a great night that really sets the bar high. It certainly met all my expectations, although I suspect that having more familiarity with the films would benefit. AVP was the clear winner, closely followed by Insidious. The weakest mazes for us were Halloween and Crimson Peak, but the sets of both were very good. Although I'd hate to be at the event when it gets really busy (I can't imagine you'd be able to get into all the mazes), last night served as the perfect introduction.

I've only ridden GL once when it first opened and it flipped like crazy, but the ride was so unpleasant and violent that I don't have plans to ever get on it again. Utter garbage. Fully agree with your take on Lex Luthor and Apocalypse. Lex still gets my nerves (and I've ridden it a lot), but the drop is nothing. They could raise you up to the top of the tower and lower you down again slowly and the effect produced would be similar. I like it and I'm glad it's there, though. Apocalypse is a misery now. I still love the layout and do ride it often, but it's an absolute mess these days. Full Thröttle, though, is my favorite ride in the park (even better than TC in my opinion). It is short, and if they'd added a few camel backs and a helix before returning to the station, it would have been fantastic, but I think the pacing, concept, elements, and general smoothness of the ride are so well thought out. It's not overly intense and it hits the right balance between thrilling and fun. I get zero rattle from it though — totally smooth and quiet every time I've ridden it.

Oh, it wasn't bad — it was fun to be able to walk through the mazes with no lines and really check them out. And I don't blame the employees at all — the lack of energy was felt park-wide as it was just too quiet. We'll go back in a few weeks once the season has picked up a little more and the actors are more comfortable with their roles.

Went to Fright Fest tonight thinking it would be fairly quiet, and it was. The longest line was for Chupacabra at about 15 mins. Everything else was fairly wide open — except for the Apocalypse overhaul, which was about an hour due to single-train operation. Overall, the night felt like a warm-up — largely reinforcing the point that these kinds of events work best when there's a sizable crowd of guests to scare. While it was nice to breeze through the mazes without having to deal with people, the event felt deflated as the result. Vault 666: Same as last year, only I recall there being a more elaborate opening scene last year. This maze feels the most home-made of them I all, I found. Very basic sets, no effects, unenthused monsters with little makeup. Cheesy fun, but very low-budget. Toyz 3D: I thought this was one of the better mazes last year, and this year was the same. It really is all down to the effect of the 3D glasses though as without them, it's pretty basic. Actors were fairly unenthused, but the disorientation factor is what elevates it. Reds Revenge: Too well-lit inside for it to be creepy. It's well done (like walking through a Rainforest Cafe with the lights off), but mediocre monsters and a botched opening sequence made the whole thing a bit sad. It does get darker later on, but the early scenes were way lighter than I remember from last year. Chupacabra: Best use of lights and fog, but that's kind of it. Tight turns made for some better monster jumps, but it's still a pretty irrational narrative that seems to end prematurely. Aftermath: Same as last year: great set, but not much else. The monsters seemed bored, but there were maybe 15 people in the maze at the time we went through it, so it's understandable. Willoughby's Resurrected: Good set pieces, but because it was so empty, the monsters were just hanging out and chatting. Same as last year but without the 45 minute wait we had to deal with last time. Garden of Darkness: Ironically, this was the maze with the most potential this year. Exact same set up as last time (camouflage nets with people behind them), but we were literally the only group in the maze, so it actually did feel like a maze. That was somewhat scary, but the monsters kept telling us which way to go. Shadows of Evil: We didn't even get through this. It's the Apocalypse line with two fedora wearing guys outside. We noticed there were as many people walking out of the first switchback as there were walking in. Once you enter, there's some black netting with someone yelling "boo" from behind it, and then you hit the regular Apocalypse queue line. About 60 or so people were just standing there, not moving at all. A staff member said the ride was only running one train and so the wait time would be about an hour. From what we could tell, the black netting was the main overlay highlight, so we just bailed on going through rest — which is the point everyone else was leaving. Scare Zones: The one by TC was decent (just lots of fog and lighting), populated by some cool stilt-walkers, but every other scare zone we walked through was very poor. Barely any fog, and maybe one or two monsters snorting at people and texting between snorts. Rides: Rode a few of the "dark rides" but it didn't really make that much of a difference we found. Full Thröttle looked good bathed in lasers, but the ride was down all night. Overall: Disappointing, but largely due to the lack of crowds which really gave the talent very little to work with. It was almost as if SFMM replaced all of their usual monsters with high school kids for the night as many were clearly preoccupied with other stuff. I assume the park anticipated a low turnout as there wasn't much in the way of fog or effects in general. Chances are that much of this will be quite different with a full park (indeed, my experience last year was very different yet they've changed nothing at all about the mazes). We'll probably go back on a weekend to see how things differs when there's a bit more life in the place.