Photo TR - Update - Universal Studios HHN - Friday the 20th

Gnome · October 17, 2006

We arrived at the park early to get in some coaster riding before the even started. While we were there we looked at the exterior of some of the mazes. At around 5:20 we left the park to head over to the Soak City picnic area where they were having the prescare dinner at.

Originally, we had wanted to get the nice roastbeef dinner (whether or not that was actually nice, I don't know, but it had shrimp, so it could have been) but unfortunately they were all booked by the time I had called. So we had to go with cheaper $12 buffet.

Upon entry they gave us green stickers which would allow us to get into the park $30 before non-dinner guests, and what appeared to be an hour after the VIP guests (they were walking in just as we were leaving ghost rider to go to the picnic area). Anyways, the food was very dissappointing, imo, and in no way worth the money we paid. They had what tasted like very dry hamburgers, which did not have any cheese, nor did they have any choose for you to put on. They also had some pretty crappy hot dogs. Some jello (thankfully, I don't think you can screw up jellow) and chicken which was subpar to a theme park that was pretty much founded on chicken. Pretty much the only thing it had going for it was pepsi products, which doesn't quite do it imo.

But while the food was dissappointing, sitting around and poking at the food was fun. They brought in a couple of the monsters to walk around and interact with the guests. We then later took pictures with them, and took pictures of them with other park guests and left for our early park entry.

So we went through the entry behind one of knott's buffet areas on the side of ghost rider. So since you pretty much get dumped in the pathway that lead to Fairies from Hell and the Asylum, we decided to do those first. FFH was better then last year, the talent seemed to put more effort in this year, while I felt Asylum left something to be desired. Last year was much better imo. Was a lot more intense, which is what really pulled that maze together. Where as this year, it was just monsters walking around trying to scare you but not really even surprising you.

After that we went and did the Grudge maze. It was cool, it had some cool animatronics, but it didn't have anything really ground breaking. Although the tv's on the outside of the maze were pretty cool.

After that we did 13 Axe Manor which was another one of my favorites from last year, but it wasn't as good this year. There were key things that made last years so great that they got rid of. For example the dining room has no where near as many scare actors. So before where one scare actor would attract your attention, the monster right behind would jump out at you, making a succesful scare. THis year, I think they only had one in the dining room. And while he does blend in as one of the props, I don't think he would deliver as great of a scare as the year before. They also got rid of the bunjee chord dude at the end and replaced it with the slaughter house. That made me sad because the bunjee chord dude was also one of the highlights of the maze last year, imo.

So after that we played around in the cemetary for awhile, and then continued to wonder around ghost town. Eventually we made our way over to Lost Vegas, Nevadead.

This maze particularily excited Connor because he's going to school at UNLV, so I guess it hit home for him? Anywho, the maze was alright, like all of knotts 3D mazes they're kind of cheap and tacky. Along with that they seem to keep adding more every year, which is also dissappointing. The more realistic sets, imo, are far more fun then the 3D mazes. The glasses really don't add much, either, except helps you distinguish yourself as more of a dork.

But like I said, the maze was alright, and pretty much the only maze where I was able to take pictures and have them come out.

After that, we ran through carnevil which has to be the worst scarezone ever. THe enviornment was not even close to being exceptable, so basically what you got was a normal night experience at knotts with a bunch of clowns running around.

To be honest, most of the scarezones left something to be desired. The lighting was not even close to being as good as it was last year, except for the one in Ghost Town.

So after Nevadead, we then made our way to Terror Vision. Same exact thing as last year. The maze is not particularily good, imo, but there was no line so we figured we do it anyways. Once we got to the exit of the maze we then skipped over the Hanging.

The Hanging was the only show we did that night. Last year we saw the Haunt, Hacks, and half of Ed Alanzo. Though this year, we skipped Hacks and decided that American Idol would be a waste of time and so the hanging was the only show for us this year.

I felt that this year was better then last years. It didn't drag on and on and on and on. The actors they had this year were also better then last. The people who portrayed Jay and Silent bob really had thier characters down. Their manorisms were very similar to that in the movies. Jack Sparrow... err Jack Swallows was ok. The person who played him was sort of funny, although he did a poor imitation of the character. Of course everyone cheered for him reguardless. Also, I also think its lame of knotts to ride on Disney butts like that. Grant it, its a parody show, but you don't take the character and turn him into what seemed like the hero of the show. You maybe have 30 seconds with him and finish him off, or just not have him at all.

But besides that, all jokes were very typical. Whats funny is the next day I went to disneyland and watch the aladdin show. A lot of the jokes they used at haunt also appeared in that show in some variant form, of course a lot cleaner. But they had jokes for snakes on a plane, deal or no deal, myspace, ect. So basically what I'm saying is that I think knotts could get a little more creative with thier jokes for next year. Another thing worth noting is that it appeared to me that they ripped a joke off of family guy. OF course thier version was not very funny at all, and FG's was hilarious. So the joke was Superman was running about and then G girl (the super hero from My Super X Girl Friend) comes about and says, "You're faster then a speeding bullet alright.... in bed!" Anywho, I thought the whole line was frased in a completely unfunny way and resembled the original line from FG which was:

Peter: *in hell* "Superman? What are you doing here?"

SM: "I killed a hooker after she made a wise-crack about me being faster then a speeding bullet"

So besides that, show was good. Like I said, except for a couple of unfunny moments, it was entertaining for the most part. They ended up hanging some Austrailian guy in a kilt. But you'll just have to find out who that guy was from some one else.

After the hanging, we finished up the Lazer tag maze which took us awhile to find, but like all challenges, I was determined to win! They really should have accurately marked it off on the map as appose to where they had marked it at. This maze had 1 successful scare, as well as the best animatronics in the park. Other then that it was so so.

So that's the end of the written part. Onto pictures!

Haunt pics will be coming up shortly!

Fuzzy Group Photo!

Smile for the camera!

Oh.. no wait, here they are!

It's a monster! Nope, not there...

Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't like Knott's food?

A goblin lurks about the area!

The monsters were feasting on some poor unsuspecting woman.

It's a happy bat!

Pretty much the only thing they did right was carry pepsi products!

The food was krap.

Anyways, buffet time!

But we still had fun on it, didn't we Mr. Connor?

Though the ride could still use some more retracking (you could do a better job on it, as well)

We be Ghost Ridin!

Everything is great over here as well!

Everything is just peachy over here!

wee!

To be honest, I didn't really remember the ride experience all that much.

After riding Ghost Rider a gazzilion and 1 times, I ran over to Silver Bullet.

Connor seems to be enjoying himslef! So does that guy....

The guy in the background makes me laugh.

AAAaaaaaHHHHHh!

Ohnoes! The drop!

They closed it down for about 10 minutes do to the weather. But I was happy to wait it out.

Anyways, we decided to head over to ghost rider

ohnoes!

Which is a good thing because moments later, it started to rain.

Haunt is a rain or shine event.

While away at college, Connor learned how to manipulate water.

Goodness, Connor is almost as tall as Xcelerator!

Which, in case you didn't know, is running again!

First thing we do is head over to Xcelerator.

Apparantly its still to light out for the vampires to come out! We'll have to visit this later tonight.

So I get my pass out and head towards the entrance of the park

I'm ready to ride some coasters!

PhishyBrewer · October 17, 2006

Did you stay and see the hanging this year? It was freak'n great! Mel Gibson was the obvious shoe in.

Jew · October 17, 2006

1. Wow, first bad review of Asylum I've read all of Haunt.

2. The bungee spot is definitely still there in 13 Axe.

3. All pre-scare people go in at the same time.

4. I highly doubt Family Guy was the first to use that joke, so I wouldn't call it a rip off. Unless you want to say Family Guy ripped it off too.

5. Did you actually have fun?!?!?! All I read is bad stuff...

disneyfan1313 · October 17, 2006

I love seeing all the differences in the Halloween events throughout the country. Is Knotts all about the generic rubber masks or do they do more actual makeup and f/x in other areas?

knottslover77 · October 17, 2006

When I went It was about 50/50, maybe a little more masks.

--Jay

Jew · October 17, 2006

I'd say on the streets it's more make up/prostetics than masks, but in mazes masks still dominate the landscape.

Gnome · October 17, 2006

2. The bungee spot is definitely still there in 13 Axe.

3. All pre-scare people go in at the same time.

4. I highly doubt Family Guy was the first to use that joke, so I wouldn't call it a rip off. Unless you want to say Family Guy ripped it off too.

5. Did you actually have fun?!?!?! All I read is bad stuff...

2. Didn't see it.

3. Don't think I said anything to the contrary.

4. Maybe so, but it was definately a lot funnier then the variation knotts used.

5. Yea, it was fun. Could have been better, but worth the price of entry, though I will say the dinner was not worth it, and was a complete dissappointment.

More pictures

I leave you with one last picture.

Executioner finished off everyone from Lex Luther to America's favorite Anti-Semite.

Flamboyant gay guys are always funny to watch. But mix that with flamboyant pirates? Comic Gold!

These guys gave me such a raging clue!

Its Cap'n Jack Swallows!

Jungle love! Owee Owee oh!

What about the Executioner?

They had fog roll over the stage in the beginning, and I must say it looked pretty freaking sweet.

Some of the monsters in the camp snoopy scarezone were pretty cool.

You've exited.... The Outer Zone!

Ohnoes! Stewie!

Some Montezooma Awsomeness!

Stand back! I know kung fu!

Here he comes back from the dead! Oh holy crap!.....

Looks like they're playing a rousing game of cards.

Whats going on here?

A lively couply being joined together in holy matromony

Cool mural of the vegas strip.

This one was good though.

That was witty.

Ha! A poop joke!

If that shark doesn't eat that man, Connor will!

Next Stop: Viva Lost Vegas. In Nevadead?

Wasn't as good as last years, but I still enjoyed it.

So we went over to 13 Axe Manor which was one of my favorite mazes from last year.

I think we're ready for more mazes!

Don't mess with this guy or he'll rip your face off!

It's just like HL2!!! That's uber cool!

Most park guests don't ever get to see GR from this angle until Haunt rolls around.

The Asylum! *creepy oregan music plays*

Chase · October 17, 2006

Loving the pics, looks like a pretty good place for scares, or course.

PhishyBrewer · October 17, 2006

I freak'n laughed my ass off at Capt Jack Swallows. And when Tom Cruise came out of the Brokeback Mountain tent. Or when Popeye died of ecoli. It was the funniest show I've seen in a long time.

Gnome · October 17, 2006

And when Tom Cruise came out of the Brokeback Mountain tent. Or when Popeye died of ecoli. It was the funniest show I've seen in a long time.

I had completely forgot about those jokes! The Popeye joke was probably the best one of the night! And of course its always fun to bash Tom Cruise!

Gnome · October 23, 2006

Halloween Horror Nights - Universal Studios Hollywood.

I really hope to see this event expand further in the next coming years. While they did not have a ton of things to do, what they did have, for the most part, was pretty good.

So the night started off with 2 hours of traffic. We left my house at around 5:15 and got to Universal Studios at around 7:15. It then took us forever to park (not that it was the parks fault, it just took the person driving about 15 minutes to figure out that there was no space to park on the first level, so they should try the second. )

So after that we waited in about a 30 minute line to get on the tram which brought us to the park. From there we went through security and walked through the arch. Upon entry, they have a statue with a guy in the director’s chair, some chick holding a boom stick, and then a guy with a camera. On the statue they had some one who appeared to have the same coating of color as the statue head. Though unlike the statue, the guy was moving about and sticking his tongue out and making obscene gestures at people. Behind statue man, they also had some pretty hot monsters dancing about in some cages. So I took a moment to watch them, then we proceeded deeper into the park.

The first thing we did was eat. Lucky for us, there was no line for food. I pretty much bought my food in about 2 minutes. It’s got to be the fastest I've ever bought food before. They also seemed to have that USF friendliness going because the staff was a lot friendlier then my last visit to USH.

So after eating, it was about 20 minutes till the Mutaytors started what I believe was their second show of the night at 9:00. So basically we sat in front of the stage for about 20 minutes. Though not that many started standing by the show until they started testing the pyro stuff.

The show was pretty cool. Music was cool and there was plenty of TnA to go around. Though there were some stupid segments of the show such as this Arabic dance that went on forever and a day. Maybe 2 minutes of that would have been nice, but it just kept going on and on and on, and frankly she didn't do anything interesting with her dancing. But once that part was over the show became good again.

After the mutaytors, we ran over to the Terror Tram. I thought the Director was a pretty bad ass dude. Unlike the promotional videos, they actually gave him an accent for the ride (which I really liked) His tone was very dark and sinister, and pretty much just a very cool villain. Though originally I was expecting that they would make the tram ride seem like your average ordinary tram attraction until you were forced to get off at Who Ville or w/e, but they pretty much played it out to what it was. Kind of disappointing because they had the potential to make it a little more interesting. Anyways, you get dropped off at Who Ville where they had barriers to keep you off the set, chainsaw guys running around, and then shaker can people doing what else but shaking cans at you. To be honest, the shaker cans don't bother me. Its alright if they use it along with other props, but if its all bang and shake type scare tactics, well then it gets pretty old fast, but in this case it didn't.

After who Ville, you walk through the Bates motel. This was my favorite part about the terror tram. It was pretty chaotic, though not quite as chaotic as what Robb's video showed. Anyways they did a good job. I really wished that I had gone slower through it so that way I could get a better look at everything, but the group I was with just sped right through so I'd take a second to watch the scare actors do something, then I'd see that my group was already half way up the hill towards the psycho house, so then I’d have to run and catch up with them before all the really cool things happened. I was kind of frustrated with my group to be honest.

After walking by the psycho set, you walk into the War of the Worlds set. It was pretty cool, except your traveling along the tram path, which is very wide so as a result, you don't feel like you're really "in the set." They also had the barriers up there as well, so once again you weren't really on the set, but just next to it. It would have been better, imo, if they just had security around to keep stupid kids running off into the set, and dropped the barriers completely, but what really, I think the barriers might have been the best bet seeing as how most people can't be expected to follow some simple rules such as stay along the path.

But, none the less it was still fun to walk through. They had zombie's eating other people as you wandered on by and of course chainsaw people came running at people waving their saws about, and scraping it against the ground. And the occasional shaker can person would jump out at you. You then would exit the set and get back on the tram.

Now that we were back on the tram, they congratulated us for surviving, and then the tour guide told us some jokes, and about how his ex wife is so fat and they need a fork lift to move her of the tram path... ect. Pretty much just killed time until we reached the point where we came face to face with the director. I have to say that this appearance was not as cool as the TV appearances. He looked kind of dorky and not very menacing at all. I think the actor could have done a better job. So the tour guide makes fun of what a loser the director is, then when you go through the mummy tunnel, the Director gets his revenge and spits water at you as you see a montage of random footage of people exploding, and heads falling off, among other things. Though once you exit the tunnel, the tour is pretty much over and you get kicked off at the exit. Overall pretty fun, though more chaos would serve this attraction well.

Now that we were done with the Terror Tram, we went towards the Asylum since it was not to far from the tram exit. We then proceeded to wait an hour and 10 minutes to get inside the maze. The maze, in case you didn't know, is built under some tent that's up year round back behind Shrek 4D. If you pull up a google maps or earth, you can see where the maze was located at. Though I think they should have done something so that way you couldn't see the tent above you. Maybe a ceiling for the maze or something else? Anyways, the tent wasn't too big of an annoyance as the maze itself was pretty cool. Much better then Knott's Asylum. With the chainsaws, and the guy stuck with needles. I think Universal does a good job with placing you within the environment, and at the same time still delivering jumps through out the maze.

After exiting Asylum we went over to Slaughter World. Slaughter World was for the most part, the same thing as Water World. Except the jokes were dirty, and there were a couple of blood effects through out the show. The ending was also slightly different. You find out that the bad guy is gay and he rips off his pants and dances around in lingerie. But the show ends the same.

We then proceeded to get drinks and funnel cake which we enjoyed for about 15 minutes. From which we then walked over to House of Horrors maze located across the path from us. Though unlike Asylum, this maze was only about a 10 minute wait, though it was advertised as 20. I was glad it wasn’t too long of a wait because it was basically the Van Helsing maze with the occasional appearance by Mike Myers or Pennywise. There wasn’t a large abundance of things added, and to be honest, not really that many scare actors either. The maze was pretty much my only disappointment for the night. Seeing as how they only had 3 to begin with, they could have done a better job, but it wasn’t too bad.

After that we went over to Chucky’s Insult Emporium where he proceeded to insult people. Now they claimed that the show was PG-13, but it was full on R rated comedy. While they didn’t use the F or S word, the jokes got pretty dirty. A lot of the jokes were very sexual in orientation, and pretty much I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under the age of 14. But I still found humor in it, though the jokes were starting to get old towards the end of the show, but that’s why its only 15 minutes long.

After that, the rest of my group had decided it was time to leave since the park closed in 30 minutes. I still wanted to go down to the lower lot to at least check out the scare zones, but they decided they didn’t want to do that. I was pretty disappointed with their decision, but they were my ride back so I didn’t feel like arguing with them about it. So we left the park and passed by all the drunks as we made our way back to the tram to head back towards home.

Overall, it was a really cool event that, like I said earlier, will expand more now that they know people will go to it. Pretty much the only thing that I was disappointed with was actually not really the event itself, but the rather the group of people that I went with. It’s definitely a lot more enjoyable when I go to theme parks with people who enjoy it more then your average person. So next year I think I might go with a different group of people. Great Event, can’t wait till next year!

Onto Pictuers!