Ding dong, the wicked Murdy is dead!... What, too soon?.. I will admit that Murdy DID do some pretty great things for the event over the years, BUT it is time for some new blood pumping through HHN Hollywood's veins. Unfortunately, USH needs a bigger team (like Orlando) for the event to truly shine & spread the amount of planning/designing a little more evenly. Also a bigger budget as well. That is a discussion for another time (like AFTER this weekend).
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Now as promised, here is my mini-review recap from Sunday night.... WITH PICS!!!
I arrived around 3:30pm-ish for Early Entry, so I wasn't too far back in the already existing line of people waiting to be ushered into the security gauntlet. Only waited about an hour for security to open, which went by pretty quick. Once I was let into the park I had to go to the bathroom (DAMN YOU BLADDER!), so I took the opportunity to take a quick look at the additions to
Dark Xmas/Corpz that weren't there the last time I was at the park before heading down to the Lower Lot. Noticed this was missing...
Once on the Lower Lot, I went straight to
TWD (waittime said 20mins), ended up waiting roughly 30-35mins, but I didn't mind since I had "Front of the Line" to use later on. Besides, I was standing where SS28 used to be (SAD NERDGASM!). I'm sure I missed a few scares, but I felt that last year's maze was A LOT scarier. It is only the
"Longest Maze Ever" because it has
"More Hallways Than Ever"! Also, the hanging torsos in the finale really killed the scare potential. There wasn't enough scareactors either. That disappointed me.
Hit up
Insidious next, only waited roughly 25mins. For all of the hype that surrounded this maze because of 2013, I wasn't very impressed. I did get a few scares, but missed most of them. I was disappointed that they didn't take advantage of the videoscreens in the JP queue because I felt a queue video montage of clips from the films would've been nice (especially for those who have never seen the films). No music, no queue video... totally missed opportunity.
This is the End... only waited 15mins, which I appreciated since this was definitely a poorly executed maze. It was slightly better than Clowns 3D, but that isn't saying much. The videoscreen vlogs were kinda pointless because you don't have time to stop and watch them... well I mean you could.. :unsure: If this maze actually got a decent waittime, the vlogs would've been a good queue video. The 3D was okay, but there really needed to be more scareactors. The cast is too small. I got quite a few scares from the demons, plus they reminded me of the demons in Orlando's 2011 house "The In-Between"! I liked seeing the Marty McFly "hoverboard" skateboard in the first scene.
The Purge: Urban Nightmare... I don't think it was as good of a scarezone as last year on the Upper Lot, but I will say the cast definitely had great energy. I hung back a bit so everyone else was more or less gone resulting in all of the scareactors surrounding me as I went through. I loved the strobes & fog. If they had a bigger cast, I think it would be a lot better. Didn't have enough feeling of "organized" chaos.
Crimson Peak was only a 15min waittime... The façade is nice, but it wasn't right for this maze at all. Just like the façade, the maze itself was a little underwhelming for such a big IP (especially when the first "hallway" was blank black walls instead of themed like a crypt). Praise the sets all you want, but the blank black wall hallways killed the rest of the maze's set details. I don't mind "large" scenes, but only when they are done well & don't feel empty. Too many scenes were devoid of scares because of "oh hey look scenic detail". While I did get one or two scares, I found this maze to be rather boring & repetitive (especially with scareactor variety). Basically what I'm trying to say is.....
WE SHOULD'VE HAD "KRAMPUS" INSTEAD!!! <_<
It was going on 7:40pm and
AVP was already a 40min waittime, so I whipped out my FOTL pass because I wasn't about to wait that long for a maze that is the exact same as last year. While I enjoyed it last year, I found it to be less scary this year. The few scares that I did get were from the same scenes as last year (go figure). Considering there is a giant screen next to the queue, it would've been nice to have had clips from the AVP films (maybe some from the Alien & Predator films as well, even if they're just the kills) along with some rock music (or in Murdy's case... sci-fi dubstep).
Once back on the Lower Lot I decided to take advantage of the "No Wait" for
Transformers... and rode it 5 times! 
h34r: Then up the evil Starway of doom I went so I could knock out Terror Tram and Halloween.... but first, here is a laser puppy.
Terror Tram: Survive the Purge... It said 10mins, but I pretty much walked right on. I really enjoyed the onride video, however it lacked the "bloody brutal gore" that Murdy had hyped up before the event started. Wonder if that got cut. Did anyone else get a Kimberly Duncan from T2:3D vibe from Jill St Stevens? Instead of saying "Super", it was "Fabulous" which made me laugh more than it probably should have. As for the Terror Tram itself, well as expected, it was a little underwhelming. I went through as quickly as I could because it was just so boring (which is not the scareactors fault). Like last year, I felt it needed more lighting, audio & scareactors. I think it is time to either drastically overhaul the Terror Tram or just retire it for good.
Halloween was at a 50min waittime, so I whipped out my FOTL pass again since it was the last maze I had to do. Having not done the maze in 2009, nor Orlando's version last year, I was looking forward to this. I got a few scares (Damn trick-or-treaters!), but it didn't "feel" like Halloween to me. There was something off about the whole thing. Also the hedge construction walls for the outdoor section was just lazy/cheap. I enjoyed the finale scene, but I've experienced it better executed in Orlando a few times. I loved hearing the Silver Shamrock theme song while waiting in the queue though.
By this time it was already 9:30pm, so I decided to give in & get something to eat (yay overpriced theme park food). I had The Clogger (with BBQ) from Krusty Burger! Nomnomnom...
After eating, I took a quick look at
Exterminatorz since I didn't see it earlier due to doing Early Entry, then passed through
Dark Xmas/Corpz again. Still say the cast is too small for these scarezones, but they were doing a great job. The Corpz soldiers really liked me for some reason so they kept circling me. I then put my FOTL pass to use and rode
Simpsons, Despicable Me, JPRA, Mummy, &
Transformers since the maze lines were too long to do without FOTL.
Decided to hit up
Insidious, TWD, &
This is the End a second time with FOTL.. Got a few scares. Jumped on the tram back to the Metro sets to do
Crimson Peak again. It was only 25mins so I didn't use my FOTL. Then did
AVP a second time since it was only 20mins. Ended up doing Crimson Peak again with FOTL, then did it a 4th time since they had taken away most of the queue barricades so I was able to walk right in.
Once I was back on the Lower Lot, I did
This is the End a 3rd time due to it being a walk-on. Would've done it a 4th time, but it was temporary closed due to the lights being on inside the maze and they didn't know how to turn them off :wacko:
Since it was already 1:45am, I made my way back up the Starway so I could jump in line for
Halloween before it closed. Only waited about maybe 20mins, it was a good way to end the night, even if I didn't get as many scares as the first time.
Overall, I had a pretty good night. I was pretty tired from working the previous 4 nights, so I'm sure that affected my enjoyment a little. I could've easily done each maze at least 3 times (or more) had I made the effort, but I was taking it easy Sunday night. I skipped
Jabbawockeez because I just didn't feel like seeing it. As for the event itself, while I enjoyed myself... it didn't "feel" like HHN to me. There was something off about it. It felt lazy & half-assed. It seemed to lack the "fun" factor. The mazes weren't as good or scary as last year. The scarezones were kinda forgettable. I don't know, I just feel like last year was better. They really need to hire MORE scareactors. The casts are too small, especially for the scarezones & Terror Tram. I know I come across a little harsh in my review, but just like previous years in Orlando, I'm not going to hump Universal's leg praising them when they don't deserve it. Nothing will improve if we don't provide constructive criticism or make suggestions (as I've said before, they DO read the forums). I'll be going again both Friday & Saturday (without FOTL ....for now), so we'll see what I think after this weekend.