WebmasterBarry
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 20, 1999
If you want to know what goes on at Halloween Horror Nights, here's a trip report from last year's festivities...
Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights: This is Halloween, This is Halloween
October 6, 2000
The cast:
Me (the 28 year old)
At Universal Studios, I bought my Halloween Horror Nights ticket. I had an annual pass, so my ticket cost was $19.95 ($21.15 with tax). The ticket seller was nice, but she had some trouble processing my annual pass discount. I can overlook that since it is the first night.
I sat down for a while and rested. I was looking for some fellow DISers who were visiting Halloween Horror Nights. I didnt have my lime green ribbon, but I had my DIS moderator pin. It did me no good since it fell off while I was walking through the Dueling Dragons queue (I had retrieved it). I was kind of scared of Halloween Horror Nights, based on what I read. I thought it would be a non-stop terror night. I hoped I would not be cowering in fear in a corner. The scary music played over the speakers didnt help much.
I was reading a sign outside the front gates. The sign said, among other things, bags will be searched. One part said that anyone who had illegal items would be at the mercy of the Orlando police. I imagined that the police would take you into the back room and beat you senseless. Dont ask me why I thought that!
I walked around the lines a bit. I saw some people wearing Halloween Horror Nights t-shirts and I wondered if I could find the person with the earliest Halloween Horror Night t-shirt. I saw a lot from 1998 and 1999. I saw one from 1997, but it was a staff t-shirt.
About 15 minutes before the gates opened, about a dozen clowns walked up to the gates. A small crowd gathered and the clowns were trying to scare the crowd. One clown made a breaking sign with his hands and pointed at a kid. The kid turned his head around and was smiling. Another clown stuck his hands up to scare another kid. The kid tried to put his sister in between him and the clown. The kid, the sister, and the mom were all smiling, yet they seemed to be pulling themselves back. A group of teenagers were yelling, Whazzup? at the clowns, but the clowns seemed to be ignoring them. The clowns were pretty funny and they help to calm me down. I didnt feel scared and I was ready to go into the park.
Every front gate line was now back to the ticket booths. I decided not to stand in line. I wanted a good spot to watch the Were not going to take it truck. I liked the truck last year, but I was in a bad spot to see it. I was looking for the plant in the audience and I think I found him. The truck came out. It was a beaten-up truck that was missing the doors and hubcaps. The hostess asked for a volunteer and picked the guy who I thought was a plant. When he was picked, I was right!
The plant was Hank, who was very annoying. That was good, since he got his hand and legs chopped off. His head also got crushed. The hostess on the truck was explaining the rules of Halloween Horror Nights. Hank was strapped into a chair on top of the truck. If we violated the rules, she showed us what would happen. The mutilations would happen if we violated the rules. At the end, the hostess announced a bloodbath. Everyone started backing up, but the bloodbath was just squirts of water.
After the truck show, the gates opened and we were let in. I found the shortest line and I it took me about 15 minutes to get in. The ticket-taker ran my ticket through the machine and kept it. Last time I was here, they ran the ticket through and gave it back. It was a nice souvenir. Oh well, the ticket didnt look any different from a normal Universal Orlando ticket. The security guards also searched my fanny bag. They only looked in the main compartment for alcohol. I had nothing to hide, so I freely let them go through it. The security guard just shined his flashlight into my bag and waved me on.
I was checking the map for showtimes. The Bill and Ted show was set to start at 7:30. I wasnt planning on going through the haunted houses, so there wasnt a need for me to see a later Bill and Ted show. I decided to go to the 7:30 show. The Bill and Ted show was at the Wild Wild West Stunt Show theater. I stopped by the desk to get a drinking wristband. You had to show your ID and if you were of legal age, they wrapped a blue band around your wrist. That way, you didnt have to flash your ID all the time. I wasnt planning on drinking, but I may get in the mood for a beer. I grabbed a map from the table. I had already gotten one at the front gates, but I figured I might as well get an extra.
Scareactors were on Hollywood Blvd., so I walked on the sidewalk to avoid them. I noticed that no scareactor had rocks-in-cans. Last year, nearly every scareactor had them. The rocks-in-cans were what made an average scare into an exceptional scare. When you walked past a scareactor, he shook his rocks-in-can. The rattling noise spooked you because you didnt see it coming.
I was walking past Mels Die-In and I was set to walk across Woody Woodpeckers Kidzone as I normally do to get to the Wild Wild West Stunt Show. The whole area was blocked off. The only way to get to the other side was through Apocalypse Island, a scare zone. I was trying to find a way to squeeze through the fence, but they had the area blocked off pretty good. I had to walk through Apocalypse Island. Apocalypse Island was on the path that ran by the lagoon.
There was a good-sized crowd going through Apocalypse Island, so I decided to be one footstep behind the people in front of me. I could avoid being scared and laugh at others who were scared. The scare zone wasnt that scary. I could see the Scareactors from a while away. Some Scareactors were well hidden. They shook planters and trashcans, but I could avoid them when I saw someone else reacting to the scare.
One Scareactor in the area just stood around and had his finger on his chin all night. I wonder what he was thinking about. I guess he was thinking, This is the easiest $6/hour Ive ever made! All I need to do is stand around with my finger on my chin! A neat Scareactor had a long beard and was darting this way and that. Another Scareactor was dressed as a zombie. He walked in a zombie-like Cab Calloway kind of walk and following a young girl as neared the exit of the scare zone. She was screaming and laughing at the same time. The zombie must have thought, Yum, fresh young brains! I wondered if the scare zone would be scarier in the dark. When I walked through it, the sun was going down and seemed too bright for a good scare. No scareactor here had rocks-in-cans either.
I finally made it through the scare zone and headed to the Bill and Ted show. The show was in the Wild Wild West Stunt Show theater. I heard there were no safe zones (zones without scareactors), but the area between Animal Actors and Jaws had no scareactors. I walked by Men in Black as I headed to the theater. Men in Black looks beautiful at night, which was a pleasant surprise. The whole front is lit up and looks like a huge starfield. Red and green shooting stars fly along the front of the building.
The Bill and Ted show theater was about half full. I was at the first show and the show gets more crowded as the night goes on. The show is the reason why I visit Halloween Horror Nights. The announcements before the show said, among other things, you will get wet if you sit in the splash zone. Only one guy was sitting in the splash zone and he seemed pretty excited to be in the zone!
The show was great as usual. Who appeared? Among others, Mr. Burns, Smithers, Scooby-Doo, the Rock, the X-Men, Tom Cruise from Mission: Impossible 2, the crocodile hunter guy from Animal Planet (he covered himself with alligator poop, iguana poop, and mutant poop), Jack from Will and Grace, Britney Spears, Lil Kim, and others. Even Janet Reno and Elian appeared! Lots of butt kicking happened. One lady performer I couldnt recognize, but she had lost her wig during the show and had to put it on quickly. Storm appeared and was supposed to slide down a rope, but there were technical difficulties and she didnt do the stunt. In previous years, the DeLorean thats displayed at the Back to the Future ride entrance gets a chance to move. This time, the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo appeared. I wonder if the van will be part of character meet and greets. Ive never seen it before. I was going to try to see a later show, but I never had the time to do so.
I went to Jaws after the show. Jaws was one of the haunted attractions. During Halloween Horror Nights, it was renamed Jaws: Bloody Waters. I wondered how they would make the ride haunted. I kept on thinking scareactors would jump out of the water, but that would be hard on the scareactor. If that happened, I imagined that a boat would break down. The scareactor would be sitting in the water for five minutes, thinking, Wheres the boat? Wheres the boat? A few minutes later, the boat would pass by him and hed be doing a dead mans float!
The haunted elements of Jaws werent very scary. The first haunted element was a man fishing. As the boat passed the lighthouse and you heard the screams from the other captain over the radio, a man catches something with his fishing pole and he pulls out a severed head. He looks at it in shock and plops it back into the water. The second haunted element was in the boathouse. When you hear the noise of Jaws and the metal barrels tip over, a fisherman appears from the darkness on the dock and waves around two scythes. It wasnt very scary. My mom would probably tell him, Put those things down! Youre not scaring anyone! The last element was at the end of the ride, when Jaws meets his end. On the dock, the fisherman bangs around a bunch of boxes. Most people just ignored him and watched Jaws end. I wanted to yell, Cut that out! It isnt scary!
I was disappointed with the haunted Jaws. The haunted elements werent incorporated into the storyline and werent even scary. Still, I ride Jaws at Halloween Horror Nights because its really my only chance to ride it in the dark. The gas explosion is quite lovely at night. The haunted elements were more of a distraction than anything. I think our skipper wasnt used to the haunted things because the skipper turned around and looked at the guy with the fishing pole before we passed him.
Next on my list was Kongfrontation. I had read that you could escape by tram or escape on the ground. If you escaped on the ground, you had to walk through the haunted maze. If you escaped by tram, you could ride in the tram and see people being scared. I decided to do the tram. The Kongfrontation maze was named Nightmare Creatures II on the map.
I headed to Jaws to Kongfrontation. To get to Kongfrontation from Jaws, I had to walk through the Midway of Dr. Morose (the Amity Games area). The whole area was fogged up and scareactors were hiding in the fog to get you. I did not hear any rocks-in-cans from the fog. I avoided the foggy area and walked on the sidewalk by the games. I ended up getting haggled by the games operators to play a game. I think that is a fair exchange to avoiding the scareactors.
As I was going to Kongfrontation, I was looking for two entrances one for the tram and one for the ground. All I saw was one entrance. I kept on looking and I did not see one. I figured the entrance would break off in two as I entered the line.
Before I entered, I stopped to watch the chainsaw gang. They lined up about face and turned on their chainsaws. As the dispersed, they chased after people. After watching them, I decided to enter Kongfrontation. The queue was kind of dark and the queue videos showed scenes from horror movies. The moldy-oldy Kongfrontation queue video wasnt playing tonight. I bet those WWOR reports arent even working at the station anymore. The New Adam 12 and the New Dragnet never made it past one season. Why are they still on the air?
Anyway, I was looking for the line to the tram, but the line seemed to move in one direction. I looked up at the tram and it wasnt moving. I realized that there was only one way to escape on the ground. I was a bit nervous in walking through the maze and I almost ran to the nearest exit. While standing in line, I realized that this may be my only chance to walk through Kongfrontation on the ground. Id never get this chance again. I figured I would keep on footstep behind the person in front of me (like I did in Apocalypse Island) and watch other people get scared.
The wait was about 20 minutes. I was one of the last people in the group to be let in before they stopped the next group. The maze began with a bunch of fog and they played the theme to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. I was one footstep behind the guy in front of me. He held onto his girlfriends shoulder and the girlfriend held onto his friends shoulder. I borrowed one of the guys shoulders. I wasnt worried about the scareactors. I was more worried about the wet floor. The floor in the first half of the maze was wet. I was more afraid of slipping than being scared! From the ground, I could see Kong in his two appearances: when he is hanging from the bridge and when he is bursting out of the tunnel. I was more amazed by Kong here than I ever was while riding the tram.
The maze wasnt very scary, though. The walkways were too wide. Usually, when the walkways are narrow, a scareactor can hide behind a blind corner and spook you. The wide walkways allowed you to see a scareactor from a short distance away. You could take action to avoid him. None of the scareactors here had rocks-in-cans either. Rocks-in-Cans, Inc. must have went out of business!
After Nightmare Creatures II, I headed to Men in Black. The line was pretty short the wait looked like it was 10 minutes. I hit the single riders line and I was to the front of the line in a few minutes. Another guy was behind me in the single riders line and he wore a Haunted Mansion t-shirt. I thought that he may be a DISer, but I did not see a lime green ribbon. The ride had technical difficulties and it took about 10 minutes for the ride to work again. While I waited, I looked at my map and the next Jacked Up show was at 9:15. I had some time before the show was set to begin.
The ride ops sent in several unoccupied vehicles into the ride. One vehicle was a handicapped vehicle. The gun in that vehicle was pretty neat. One gun had a big plastic bar on it. It seemed like it was for a guest to lie across the wheelchair. We finally got on. The single rider and I were in the back seat. Three guys (who looked like fraternity buddies) were in the front. I was feeling a little tired and I didnt score very well this time around. I scored 271,000. Our car still made Galaxy Defenders. At the end, when the Fraternity Buddies saw that they had made Galaxy Defenders, the cheered and high-fived the other single rider. The single rider just shrugged. I thought that they had one too many beers.
I headed to the Jacked Up show, but the show time was marked as 10:00 on the sign. I looked at my map again and it said 9:15. I wondered if this was a last-minute change until I looked on the front of my map. The map dates were for October 13, 22, 29, and 31! I wonder how this map ever got to the show floor. I found the map that I picked up at the front gates and it said the right date. The Festival of the Dead was going to begin at 10:00 and I had about 50 minutes until parade time. I decided to ride Back to the Future.
Back to the Future had a 10-minute wait. I rode it and only the first row was open. As a group was entering the queue line and as they headed to the open door, they noticed that a rope was up and no attendant was there. They looked angry and went to a ride op to complain. I know better. A ride op would come and direct them to the correct row. The ride up that got the complaint explained to them how it all works and I heard a collective Oh
I was in the same car as five Latino girls. They kept on teasing me about being the only guy in the group. I should be so lucky to be in the same room as five girls! As the queue video ran, the girls kept on saying that none of them wanted to be in the front seat. I dont think they all could fit in the back! I dutifully volunteered for the front seat. I knew better anyway I didnt feel like getting my head banged in the back seat!
As we loaded up, I was in the drivers seat in the front. Two girls were in the front and the rest sat in the back. As we flew around in time, one of the girls in the front seat kept on flinging her headed back and forth. Her head tapped the lap bar, the front panel, and the seat. The ride wasnt as rough as some other cars in the first row. At the end of the ride, the girl that flung her head around said that she had a headache. Gee, I wonder why!
I went through Apocalypse Island again so I can find a good space for the Festival of the Dead parade. I also needed a rest. Apocalypse Island was now very dark, but you could still see the scareactors from a short distance away. The scareactor with a beard was still darting around and the scareactor who had a finger on his chin still had the finger on his chin. Some guests were posing with one scareactor and another kept on yelling Whazzup? at them.
I staked out a spot for the Festival of the Dead parade. I found a spot by Mels Die-In. The parade would start here and I would be in a good position to catch beads without fighting a crowd. Like Mardi Gras, the best place for beads is to be at the start of the parade. People generally dont crowd around at the beginning and fewer people are jumping for beads.
I bought a Coke and rested at a table outside Mels Die-In. I watched people get scared by scareactors on Hollywood Blvd. Then I walked around the block to check out more Halloween events. I saw the Gauntlet scare zone, but I didnt go through it. The line for the Fearhouse looked like a 45-minute wait. The queue snaked all the way around the front of the Blues Brothers show. A DJ was entertaining the queue line guests with music. I worked my way around the block back to Mels Die-In.
The parade started and it was like Mardi Gras, only the floats had a Halloween theme. I was able to get three beads. Two I caught. The last bead hit me in the face! The parade was short. It only lasted about 5 minutes. I think the Mardi Gras parade is much longer. I went back through Apocalypse Island to ride Men in Black again.
Men in Black was a walk-on into the preshow area. The single riders line was open, but I decided to go into the preshow. I thought I would be able to walk through the queue with no wait, but the queue line stopped before we got to the big screen control area. I decided to jump the queue and go through the single riders line. I was on the ride in a few minutes and I only scored 181,000 (without the bonus). My shooting was off tonight. I might want to rest up and duel with aliens tomorrow.
After Men in Black, I went back to Jaws for one more ride. The wait was about 10 minutes. As I waited in the queue, a staff member escorted a fisherman through the queue to his location in the ride. This time, the skipper asked the guy with the fishing pole if he caught something big. When he pulled the head out, he screamed. That was the only time the skipper referred to a haunted element. In the boathouse, the fisherman came close to the boat and waved his scythes around. One kid looked scared. I just rode it again to see the gas explosion in the dark.
The last Jacked Up show was at 11:00, so I went to that. The show was at the Animal Actors stage. The show was set up with a trampoline, a few boxes, and four boxes that spelled Jack. The show was strangely familiar. It reminded me of the same show that was held two years ago (I cant recall the name). Performers danced at that show and at Jacked Up. Performers climbed up and twisted around on long pieces of cloth at that show and this one. Jack waved around his swords during the show and lost his wig. This must be a wig-losing night.
The performers (male and female) were quite athletic. The men were pretty muscular, a fact not overlooked by a few women who sat behind me. When the men had their tops off and were wearing tights, the women behind me said, Aw, yeah! They also said some other things, none of which can be repeated here. They applauded loudly after each half-naked man performed. I was expecting these women to start waving dollar bills! They need a cold shower! The performers were Jacks clan. Like a card deck, they were named one to ten. The eleventh one was Snake Eyes. Even though the show reminded me of the one two years ago, I found Jacked Up more entertaining that the other show. Perhaps its because Jack had a better persona. An evil persona, but a persona nonetheless. I saw the Cold Shower Girls outside the theater as we were exiting and they were making a lot of comments on how hot the men here!
It was around 11:30, so I headed through Apocalypse Island one more time to the exit. I went back to my hotel, took a much-needed shower, and relaxed in the recliner. Ive got to get a chair like this for myself! I then fell asleep at around 2:00. Id set the alarm for 6:00 tomorrow for Universal Express.
Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights: This is Halloween, This is Halloween
October 6, 2000
The cast:
Me (the 28 year old)
At Universal Studios, I bought my Halloween Horror Nights ticket. I had an annual pass, so my ticket cost was $19.95 ($21.15 with tax). The ticket seller was nice, but she had some trouble processing my annual pass discount. I can overlook that since it is the first night.
I sat down for a while and rested. I was looking for some fellow DISers who were visiting Halloween Horror Nights. I didnt have my lime green ribbon, but I had my DIS moderator pin. It did me no good since it fell off while I was walking through the Dueling Dragons queue (I had retrieved it). I was kind of scared of Halloween Horror Nights, based on what I read. I thought it would be a non-stop terror night. I hoped I would not be cowering in fear in a corner. The scary music played over the speakers didnt help much.
I was reading a sign outside the front gates. The sign said, among other things, bags will be searched. One part said that anyone who had illegal items would be at the mercy of the Orlando police. I imagined that the police would take you into the back room and beat you senseless. Dont ask me why I thought that!
I walked around the lines a bit. I saw some people wearing Halloween Horror Nights t-shirts and I wondered if I could find the person with the earliest Halloween Horror Night t-shirt. I saw a lot from 1998 and 1999. I saw one from 1997, but it was a staff t-shirt.
About 15 minutes before the gates opened, about a dozen clowns walked up to the gates. A small crowd gathered and the clowns were trying to scare the crowd. One clown made a breaking sign with his hands and pointed at a kid. The kid turned his head around and was smiling. Another clown stuck his hands up to scare another kid. The kid tried to put his sister in between him and the clown. The kid, the sister, and the mom were all smiling, yet they seemed to be pulling themselves back. A group of teenagers were yelling, Whazzup? at the clowns, but the clowns seemed to be ignoring them. The clowns were pretty funny and they help to calm me down. I didnt feel scared and I was ready to go into the park.
Every front gate line was now back to the ticket booths. I decided not to stand in line. I wanted a good spot to watch the Were not going to take it truck. I liked the truck last year, but I was in a bad spot to see it. I was looking for the plant in the audience and I think I found him. The truck came out. It was a beaten-up truck that was missing the doors and hubcaps. The hostess asked for a volunteer and picked the guy who I thought was a plant. When he was picked, I was right!
The plant was Hank, who was very annoying. That was good, since he got his hand and legs chopped off. His head also got crushed. The hostess on the truck was explaining the rules of Halloween Horror Nights. Hank was strapped into a chair on top of the truck. If we violated the rules, she showed us what would happen. The mutilations would happen if we violated the rules. At the end, the hostess announced a bloodbath. Everyone started backing up, but the bloodbath was just squirts of water.
After the truck show, the gates opened and we were let in. I found the shortest line and I it took me about 15 minutes to get in. The ticket-taker ran my ticket through the machine and kept it. Last time I was here, they ran the ticket through and gave it back. It was a nice souvenir. Oh well, the ticket didnt look any different from a normal Universal Orlando ticket. The security guards also searched my fanny bag. They only looked in the main compartment for alcohol. I had nothing to hide, so I freely let them go through it. The security guard just shined his flashlight into my bag and waved me on.
I was checking the map for showtimes. The Bill and Ted show was set to start at 7:30. I wasnt planning on going through the haunted houses, so there wasnt a need for me to see a later Bill and Ted show. I decided to go to the 7:30 show. The Bill and Ted show was at the Wild Wild West Stunt Show theater. I stopped by the desk to get a drinking wristband. You had to show your ID and if you were of legal age, they wrapped a blue band around your wrist. That way, you didnt have to flash your ID all the time. I wasnt planning on drinking, but I may get in the mood for a beer. I grabbed a map from the table. I had already gotten one at the front gates, but I figured I might as well get an extra.
Scareactors were on Hollywood Blvd., so I walked on the sidewalk to avoid them. I noticed that no scareactor had rocks-in-cans. Last year, nearly every scareactor had them. The rocks-in-cans were what made an average scare into an exceptional scare. When you walked past a scareactor, he shook his rocks-in-can. The rattling noise spooked you because you didnt see it coming.
I was walking past Mels Die-In and I was set to walk across Woody Woodpeckers Kidzone as I normally do to get to the Wild Wild West Stunt Show. The whole area was blocked off. The only way to get to the other side was through Apocalypse Island, a scare zone. I was trying to find a way to squeeze through the fence, but they had the area blocked off pretty good. I had to walk through Apocalypse Island. Apocalypse Island was on the path that ran by the lagoon.
There was a good-sized crowd going through Apocalypse Island, so I decided to be one footstep behind the people in front of me. I could avoid being scared and laugh at others who were scared. The scare zone wasnt that scary. I could see the Scareactors from a while away. Some Scareactors were well hidden. They shook planters and trashcans, but I could avoid them when I saw someone else reacting to the scare.
One Scareactor in the area just stood around and had his finger on his chin all night. I wonder what he was thinking about. I guess he was thinking, This is the easiest $6/hour Ive ever made! All I need to do is stand around with my finger on my chin! A neat Scareactor had a long beard and was darting this way and that. Another Scareactor was dressed as a zombie. He walked in a zombie-like Cab Calloway kind of walk and following a young girl as neared the exit of the scare zone. She was screaming and laughing at the same time. The zombie must have thought, Yum, fresh young brains! I wondered if the scare zone would be scarier in the dark. When I walked through it, the sun was going down and seemed too bright for a good scare. No scareactor here had rocks-in-cans either.
I finally made it through the scare zone and headed to the Bill and Ted show. The show was in the Wild Wild West Stunt Show theater. I heard there were no safe zones (zones without scareactors), but the area between Animal Actors and Jaws had no scareactors. I walked by Men in Black as I headed to the theater. Men in Black looks beautiful at night, which was a pleasant surprise. The whole front is lit up and looks like a huge starfield. Red and green shooting stars fly along the front of the building.
The Bill and Ted show theater was about half full. I was at the first show and the show gets more crowded as the night goes on. The show is the reason why I visit Halloween Horror Nights. The announcements before the show said, among other things, you will get wet if you sit in the splash zone. Only one guy was sitting in the splash zone and he seemed pretty excited to be in the zone!
The show was great as usual. Who appeared? Among others, Mr. Burns, Smithers, Scooby-Doo, the Rock, the X-Men, Tom Cruise from Mission: Impossible 2, the crocodile hunter guy from Animal Planet (he covered himself with alligator poop, iguana poop, and mutant poop), Jack from Will and Grace, Britney Spears, Lil Kim, and others. Even Janet Reno and Elian appeared! Lots of butt kicking happened. One lady performer I couldnt recognize, but she had lost her wig during the show and had to put it on quickly. Storm appeared and was supposed to slide down a rope, but there were technical difficulties and she didnt do the stunt. In previous years, the DeLorean thats displayed at the Back to the Future ride entrance gets a chance to move. This time, the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo appeared. I wonder if the van will be part of character meet and greets. Ive never seen it before. I was going to try to see a later show, but I never had the time to do so.
I went to Jaws after the show. Jaws was one of the haunted attractions. During Halloween Horror Nights, it was renamed Jaws: Bloody Waters. I wondered how they would make the ride haunted. I kept on thinking scareactors would jump out of the water, but that would be hard on the scareactor. If that happened, I imagined that a boat would break down. The scareactor would be sitting in the water for five minutes, thinking, Wheres the boat? Wheres the boat? A few minutes later, the boat would pass by him and hed be doing a dead mans float!
The haunted elements of Jaws werent very scary. The first haunted element was a man fishing. As the boat passed the lighthouse and you heard the screams from the other captain over the radio, a man catches something with his fishing pole and he pulls out a severed head. He looks at it in shock and plops it back into the water. The second haunted element was in the boathouse. When you hear the noise of Jaws and the metal barrels tip over, a fisherman appears from the darkness on the dock and waves around two scythes. It wasnt very scary. My mom would probably tell him, Put those things down! Youre not scaring anyone! The last element was at the end of the ride, when Jaws meets his end. On the dock, the fisherman bangs around a bunch of boxes. Most people just ignored him and watched Jaws end. I wanted to yell, Cut that out! It isnt scary!
I was disappointed with the haunted Jaws. The haunted elements werent incorporated into the storyline and werent even scary. Still, I ride Jaws at Halloween Horror Nights because its really my only chance to ride it in the dark. The gas explosion is quite lovely at night. The haunted elements were more of a distraction than anything. I think our skipper wasnt used to the haunted things because the skipper turned around and looked at the guy with the fishing pole before we passed him.
Next on my list was Kongfrontation. I had read that you could escape by tram or escape on the ground. If you escaped on the ground, you had to walk through the haunted maze. If you escaped by tram, you could ride in the tram and see people being scared. I decided to do the tram. The Kongfrontation maze was named Nightmare Creatures II on the map.
I headed to Jaws to Kongfrontation. To get to Kongfrontation from Jaws, I had to walk through the Midway of Dr. Morose (the Amity Games area). The whole area was fogged up and scareactors were hiding in the fog to get you. I did not hear any rocks-in-cans from the fog. I avoided the foggy area and walked on the sidewalk by the games. I ended up getting haggled by the games operators to play a game. I think that is a fair exchange to avoiding the scareactors.
As I was going to Kongfrontation, I was looking for two entrances one for the tram and one for the ground. All I saw was one entrance. I kept on looking and I did not see one. I figured the entrance would break off in two as I entered the line.
Before I entered, I stopped to watch the chainsaw gang. They lined up about face and turned on their chainsaws. As the dispersed, they chased after people. After watching them, I decided to enter Kongfrontation. The queue was kind of dark and the queue videos showed scenes from horror movies. The moldy-oldy Kongfrontation queue video wasnt playing tonight. I bet those WWOR reports arent even working at the station anymore. The New Adam 12 and the New Dragnet never made it past one season. Why are they still on the air?
Anyway, I was looking for the line to the tram, but the line seemed to move in one direction. I looked up at the tram and it wasnt moving. I realized that there was only one way to escape on the ground. I was a bit nervous in walking through the maze and I almost ran to the nearest exit. While standing in line, I realized that this may be my only chance to walk through Kongfrontation on the ground. Id never get this chance again. I figured I would keep on footstep behind the person in front of me (like I did in Apocalypse Island) and watch other people get scared.
The wait was about 20 minutes. I was one of the last people in the group to be let in before they stopped the next group. The maze began with a bunch of fog and they played the theme to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. I was one footstep behind the guy in front of me. He held onto his girlfriends shoulder and the girlfriend held onto his friends shoulder. I borrowed one of the guys shoulders. I wasnt worried about the scareactors. I was more worried about the wet floor. The floor in the first half of the maze was wet. I was more afraid of slipping than being scared! From the ground, I could see Kong in his two appearances: when he is hanging from the bridge and when he is bursting out of the tunnel. I was more amazed by Kong here than I ever was while riding the tram.
The maze wasnt very scary, though. The walkways were too wide. Usually, when the walkways are narrow, a scareactor can hide behind a blind corner and spook you. The wide walkways allowed you to see a scareactor from a short distance away. You could take action to avoid him. None of the scareactors here had rocks-in-cans either. Rocks-in-Cans, Inc. must have went out of business!
After Nightmare Creatures II, I headed to Men in Black. The line was pretty short the wait looked like it was 10 minutes. I hit the single riders line and I was to the front of the line in a few minutes. Another guy was behind me in the single riders line and he wore a Haunted Mansion t-shirt. I thought that he may be a DISer, but I did not see a lime green ribbon. The ride had technical difficulties and it took about 10 minutes for the ride to work again. While I waited, I looked at my map and the next Jacked Up show was at 9:15. I had some time before the show was set to begin.
The ride ops sent in several unoccupied vehicles into the ride. One vehicle was a handicapped vehicle. The gun in that vehicle was pretty neat. One gun had a big plastic bar on it. It seemed like it was for a guest to lie across the wheelchair. We finally got on. The single rider and I were in the back seat. Three guys (who looked like fraternity buddies) were in the front. I was feeling a little tired and I didnt score very well this time around. I scored 271,000. Our car still made Galaxy Defenders. At the end, when the Fraternity Buddies saw that they had made Galaxy Defenders, the cheered and high-fived the other single rider. The single rider just shrugged. I thought that they had one too many beers.
I headed to the Jacked Up show, but the show time was marked as 10:00 on the sign. I looked at my map again and it said 9:15. I wondered if this was a last-minute change until I looked on the front of my map. The map dates were for October 13, 22, 29, and 31! I wonder how this map ever got to the show floor. I found the map that I picked up at the front gates and it said the right date. The Festival of the Dead was going to begin at 10:00 and I had about 50 minutes until parade time. I decided to ride Back to the Future.
Back to the Future had a 10-minute wait. I rode it and only the first row was open. As a group was entering the queue line and as they headed to the open door, they noticed that a rope was up and no attendant was there. They looked angry and went to a ride op to complain. I know better. A ride op would come and direct them to the correct row. The ride up that got the complaint explained to them how it all works and I heard a collective Oh
I was in the same car as five Latino girls. They kept on teasing me about being the only guy in the group. I should be so lucky to be in the same room as five girls! As the queue video ran, the girls kept on saying that none of them wanted to be in the front seat. I dont think they all could fit in the back! I dutifully volunteered for the front seat. I knew better anyway I didnt feel like getting my head banged in the back seat!
As we loaded up, I was in the drivers seat in the front. Two girls were in the front and the rest sat in the back. As we flew around in time, one of the girls in the front seat kept on flinging her headed back and forth. Her head tapped the lap bar, the front panel, and the seat. The ride wasnt as rough as some other cars in the first row. At the end of the ride, the girl that flung her head around said that she had a headache. Gee, I wonder why!
I went through Apocalypse Island again so I can find a good space for the Festival of the Dead parade. I also needed a rest. Apocalypse Island was now very dark, but you could still see the scareactors from a short distance away. The scareactor with a beard was still darting around and the scareactor who had a finger on his chin still had the finger on his chin. Some guests were posing with one scareactor and another kept on yelling Whazzup? at them.
I staked out a spot for the Festival of the Dead parade. I found a spot by Mels Die-In. The parade would start here and I would be in a good position to catch beads without fighting a crowd. Like Mardi Gras, the best place for beads is to be at the start of the parade. People generally dont crowd around at the beginning and fewer people are jumping for beads.
I bought a Coke and rested at a table outside Mels Die-In. I watched people get scared by scareactors on Hollywood Blvd. Then I walked around the block to check out more Halloween events. I saw the Gauntlet scare zone, but I didnt go through it. The line for the Fearhouse looked like a 45-minute wait. The queue snaked all the way around the front of the Blues Brothers show. A DJ was entertaining the queue line guests with music. I worked my way around the block back to Mels Die-In.
The parade started and it was like Mardi Gras, only the floats had a Halloween theme. I was able to get three beads. Two I caught. The last bead hit me in the face! The parade was short. It only lasted about 5 minutes. I think the Mardi Gras parade is much longer. I went back through Apocalypse Island to ride Men in Black again.
Men in Black was a walk-on into the preshow area. The single riders line was open, but I decided to go into the preshow. I thought I would be able to walk through the queue with no wait, but the queue line stopped before we got to the big screen control area. I decided to jump the queue and go through the single riders line. I was on the ride in a few minutes and I only scored 181,000 (without the bonus). My shooting was off tonight. I might want to rest up and duel with aliens tomorrow.
After Men in Black, I went back to Jaws for one more ride. The wait was about 10 minutes. As I waited in the queue, a staff member escorted a fisherman through the queue to his location in the ride. This time, the skipper asked the guy with the fishing pole if he caught something big. When he pulled the head out, he screamed. That was the only time the skipper referred to a haunted element. In the boathouse, the fisherman came close to the boat and waved his scythes around. One kid looked scared. I just rode it again to see the gas explosion in the dark.
The last Jacked Up show was at 11:00, so I went to that. The show was at the Animal Actors stage. The show was set up with a trampoline, a few boxes, and four boxes that spelled Jack. The show was strangely familiar. It reminded me of the same show that was held two years ago (I cant recall the name). Performers danced at that show and at Jacked Up. Performers climbed up and twisted around on long pieces of cloth at that show and this one. Jack waved around his swords during the show and lost his wig. This must be a wig-losing night.
The performers (male and female) were quite athletic. The men were pretty muscular, a fact not overlooked by a few women who sat behind me. When the men had their tops off and were wearing tights, the women behind me said, Aw, yeah! They also said some other things, none of which can be repeated here. They applauded loudly after each half-naked man performed. I was expecting these women to start waving dollar bills! They need a cold shower! The performers were Jacks clan. Like a card deck, they were named one to ten. The eleventh one was Snake Eyes. Even though the show reminded me of the one two years ago, I found Jacked Up more entertaining that the other show. Perhaps its because Jack had a better persona. An evil persona, but a persona nonetheless. I saw the Cold Shower Girls outside the theater as we were exiting and they were making a lot of comments on how hot the men here!
It was around 11:30, so I headed through Apocalypse Island one more time to the exit. I went back to my hotel, took a much-needed shower, and relaxed in the recliner. Ive got to get a chair like this for myself! I then fell asleep at around 2:00. Id set the alarm for 6:00 tomorrow for Universal Express.
