For me all of this is amazing, and I know its the same for many of you. But some of you very active members seem to be hell bent on being overly negative. Guys, 25 years ago halloween was just for kids. Now, thanks to the haunted house industry, and a huge part of that is Universal, we get to enjoy it as adults in a very real way. We get to jump inside of horror movies and experience them in all of our own personal nightmares yet you guys seem to just want to find the negatives.
But on to the point. This whole business about the terror tram is what has pushed me to my limit with some of you guys. They created an original story, and are attempting to create an icon character for Hollywood in a clown character. I know the guy, I've seen the character, I think its interesting. The story isn't earth shattering gonna change your life but that kind of story happens once every 20 years. What more do you want? Oh we want more of the same. Oh no, we want something different. Oh no we want original ideas, oh they should use established IPs. Oh no why do they keep using the same story. Can't you guys get back to the point where this is all pure enjoyment? Can't you find the great atmosphere we will all be experiencing in just a hand full of weeks? We get to encounter monsters of icon, and monsters of new. We get to travel into the darkest parts of our minds to explore our deepest fears. Let that be the litmus test for what you say next. Would I enjoy this if I was (insert age of your first or favorite scare experience)?
There will always be ways to do things or ideas better. But don't ruin your own experience by going into it with a mindset of hating it before you even walk thru the door. We all want to have fun so lets do that. Keep up the great updates, you guys are awesome. Even you negative nellys.
I think you bring up some very interesting and important questions as to what the fans want and why people even attend the event.
Obviously for you, you go because Halloween as a whole is a passion of yours. And you are so right that Universal has done a great job in making Halloween fun for adults again. It's something that we all kind of take for granted, even though we should be totally excited about it.
That being said, I can tell you that I've been only going to the event for the past three years. In no way would I consider myself a superfan of the event, but I really enjoy going every year. It usually ends up being the highlight of my Halloween season. But the reason I even started going to this event was because of the IP's. Three years ago, I was an avid watcher of the Walking Dead and it being featured at the event really drew me in.
Above all, I would say that I am a fan of movies and television as a whole. The opportunity to be able to walk through and be scared by the worlds of some of my favorite movies and TV is really exciting to me. So, obviously I'm going to be up in arms when an original idea is done instead of doing one of my favorite properties (Terror Tram invaded by Mad Max: Fury Road anyone?).
I used to be an annual Knott's Scary Farm goer, but ultimately I never felt like I was anywhere other than Knott's Scary Farm and so I stopped going, thinking that all of the Haunt events must be the same.
But Universal proved me wrong, with even the original mazes (I'm looking at you El Cucuy) scaring the poop out of me and making me feel like I was in a world other than my own.
My issue with the Terror Tram in general is not really the property itself (which I will admit I was pretty quick to judge) but the attraction itself. Like I mentioned, I have only been going for three years, but I have gone on the Terror Tram every year and found it underwhelming. For me, I feel no sense of immersion in these areas, especially since there are few scareactors on the trail. I feel like I am walking in a Hollywood hill, being scared by actors, not in the world of the Walking Dead or the Purge. I think anything and everything should be done to make it feel immersive if they can (maybe making the route tighter for more claustrophobia or adding more actors), but I don't think there are many themes that can make me feel different about it.
Of course I would love to have a personal favorite property being featured there. And it would maybe even make me like it better. But for the masses, I think something has got to be done to the attraction itself and not the theme.
If nothing can be done, than I am all in favor of shutting it down and using those resources on the other mazes and scare zones.
But then again, I have no memory of the Terror Tram in its glory days. I don't know how great it can be.
So maybe that's just me.