Went last night! Was worried it'd be a nightmare since it was sold out but it was actually one of the easiest nights I've been to in a long time.
- Covid verification was a breeze. Was just checked one time after the security check. I had my digital verification on my phone.
- I arrived even later than I did my first time and went straight to Exorcist like I did last time, but this time was one of the first groups in. Was out by 6:12pm, while I was out at 6:48pm on opening weekend. I guess all the hardcore fans knew to hit this first on weekend one (and probably had their APs to be there even earlier) while this would be a more casual GP weekend, so people were more dispersed and probably going to Terror Tram or something. Can not emphasize enough how much this helped with the overall plan.
- Exorcist has improved GREATLY. This was the most scares I got the entire night and felt more like how it felt when I first went through in 2016. Scareactors were on it and were relentless.
- I was planning on hitting TCM last at the end of the night but it wasn't necessary, hit TCM right after with only a 16 minute wait (advertised as 45). My opinion stays the same about this maze -- good, just not great, and I felt previous iterations of the TCM property were done better and more movie accurate. Something about this maze's design doesn't FEEL like the movie like the other mazes did, even Blood Brothers, and even the section in Titans. I will say, I got a HUGE scare in here tonight and it was the SAME EXACT ONE that got me on opening weekend. It's just literally someone banging on a window in a hallway, but it also has the LOUDEST trigger. I swear, this will make you jump out of your bones.
- Got to the top and hit Haunting at 7:15ish. My opinion stays the same on this, but I got some different scares this time.
- Was at Pandora by 7:40 -- said 45 minute wait, was only 17. Yeah, my hate for this maze has actually grown bigger. This was one of the laziest run throughs I have ever seen at Horror Nights. Usually the scareactors are on fire in here to make this terribly designed maze at least worthy of some merit, but they just weren't trying that hard on us.
- FINALLY GOT TO DO THE TERROR TRAM. Man, I sure missed it. 30 minute wait but it was more like a 10 minute walk on just going through zig zags. I loved the opening. I miss Whoville though. I thought the Bates Motel section was GREAT, a lot of cool design stuff. The hill up was boring -- there definitely needs to be some stuff here. After Bates, the little maze portion was decent, but I think where this falls apart is the War of the Worlds set. There's just not a lot of life here and you oddly walk through this portion quickly, while in the past, it took a lot longer. I appreciated the new route at first, but now its the thing really holding this Terror Tram from being one of the top tier ones. It just doesn't feel like it has a sufficient finale. I love all the purgers in the distance in the houses and stuff, makes you really feel surrounded, but this zone is just missing some energy. Scareactors were all great though, but I feel like design-wise, they just leaned super heavy into the existing set. It needed some FLAME TOWERS or something to really emphasize the chaos. A few more set pieces like they had by the motel. Anything really. Just a dull ending to an otherwise great first 1/3rd to the tram. I give it a C+.
- Halloween 4 said 45 minutes and it was only 29. At this point of the night it was only 9pm and I finally felt like the crowds were coming in, but I guess just to other parts of the park that we weren't in. All the lines had crazy waits, except for everything we were going to. Again, having lower lot done before 7pm is a lifesaver. I don't like marathoning mazes, as I like to break things apart a bit, but I wanted to just one more before I settled a bit. Halloween 4 is still very strong! A huge component is the build up of anticipation while in line -- it works so well. And all the Michaels are so ferocious with some great hiding spots. Def one of the best of the year.
- After, we decided we can now do dinner. Went to the chicken shack which has changed it's recipe and is now TERRIBLE -- avoid at all costs.
- Also now time to do some rides. Harry Potter said 65 minutes but then I looked at the app as we were waiting, and it said 85. But there's no way -- it had to be at least 3 hours because we were at the very beginning of the queue. We got to below the greenhouse and I could tell every zigzag was being utilized with the line moving SLOW. We decided to hit single rider instead and BOOM, walk on and we only got split into two groups anyway. Again, HUGE timesaver.
- It was now 11:25 and we decided to hit Jurassic World before it closed. 55 minute wait, and it was pretty close -- 50 minutes. And the freakin ending wasn't working! I have avoided returning to the normal park all year just so I could wait and see this during HHN, and just my luck! The Indominous is frozen like a popsicle. Such a disappointing ending. Hopefully when I come back at the end of the run (anyone hear rumblings if Nov is happening yet?), it'll be working.
- Went back up and Bride of Frankenstein was sporting a 25 minute wait. I wasn't sure, because the line zig zagged all the way through the Despicable Me queue, but sure enough, it was only 25. I got a GREAT scare in the beginning, there were literally 4 scares in one room (I think 3 were Dracula's brides) just all coming out one after another in quick succession pinballing us out of the forest. It was AWESOME. Still easily my favorite of the year.
- Next, decided to hit Jabbawockeez. I have to say, this is probably one of my favorite shows they've done. It was all 90s-early 00s hip hop, which is exactly my cup of tea. In previous years, they would pander to what's current, and I thought maybe at the end they'd do a finale of current hits, but nope, they stuck to the theme. On the plus side, the show was only 20 minutes, so there was 10 minutes left to spare with it being 1:50. Now we easily could've done TWD, or a repeat of Bride (which said NO WAIT) or H4, maybe even could've rushed down and made it to The Mummy, but we were all tired.
TONIGHT'S MAZE RANK:
- Bride of Frankenstein
- The Exorcist
- Haunting of Hill House
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- Halloween 4
- Terror Tram
- Pandora's Box
OVERALL 2021 MODIFIED MAZE RANK
- Bride of Frankenstein (same rank)
- Halloween 4 (same rank)
- Haunting of Hill House (+1)
- The Exorcist (+2)
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre (-2)
- Terror Tram (NEW!)
- Pandora's Box (-1)