WB Studios - A Festival of Frights

[upsidown]

I attended Friday night. Got there shortly before 6 (expect a jam in you are taking a left onto Forrest Lawn Drive from Olive Mill). Parking was pretty organized. They let us in around 6:30 (while noting the mazes didn't open until 7), but they did a showing of Exorcist at 6:45, so I jumped into that since they weren't even letting people line up elsewhere yet. It was....meh.... Overall, the event is different from HHN and Knott's , less scare-based, more on the theatrical side. IT was the closest to a regular walk-though maze, but lacked talent. Sets were good, but large stretches with nothing happening and what scares that did exist focused on the person in front of the group. Conjuring was decent, again no major scares, just various scenes (set-ups followed by something happening in each room). If I had one major complaint by this point, it was the waits (especially that the wait times were way off). Each maze they were sending people in groups of 4-6, then waiting a good 60-90 seconds (on IT and Arkham) and several minutes. When I went to Conjuring it said 30 minutes, ended up taking 90. And there weren't that many people in line (conga line would have been done in 10 or so minutes, but due to the guided nature of this maze, (along with the issue that if a front-of-the-line guest showed up, they were sent in and the clock would start over for the GP line. If another FOL showed up before the time ended, they would get send in and GP would wait. GP wouldn't move unless there was no one in FOL line) there were large portions of time spent standing still in line. Hopefully they work out pacing better as the event goes on. Conjuring is way shorter than the other mazes it seemed, so the long wait had me frustrated and ready to call the event a failure. Luckily I did the tram next, and it was pretty good. Not too many scares (see a pattern), but some nicely timed theatrics. Plus there was an actual (smaller) maze set in a cabin near the end. Tour guides were pretty funny. Arkham was also theatrical, no real scares, but the actors looked and acted the part. Scenic was not as good here for some reason. I enjoyed the event for what it was, WB trying something different to set them apart from Knott's and HHN, but agree it was overpriced and not enough to do (not really sure where they expand to though). And needs to work out some technical issues with crowd pacing, wait times, increasing scare actors, etc. I went in with minimal expectations and had some fun, some strong frustration (mainly in the Conjuring line), some disappointment, but also some hopefulness that WB can use what they learned this year to improve. They have a lot to work on over the next year if they want to bring crowds back and make this a long-term thing. Not terrible, possibly worth doing (with a discounted ticket) if you know what you are getting into and it sounds interesting (theatrical scenes over scares) or you want to check out a haunt with a slightly different bent, but not a first choice if you are a big fan of HHN or Knott's.

 

[SOCAL110]

Thanks for the review!

I read somewhere online to hit up the Conjuring maze first due to the nature of the experience. I might have to do that.

What would you say is the highlight of the event?

Also, what kind of food and drinks do they have?

I could see how the long lines would be a buzzkill. Definitely appreciate that they're avoiding the conga line, but maybe they should shorten the wait time between groups a bit.

Honestly, this event seems like a perfect add-on as a secondary event to either HHN or KBF. This year, I'm doing Fright Fest at SFMM for the cool coasters and atmosphere at night and doing this as a secondary event. Kind of like how PS4 or X-BOX is a good primary console, and Switch a good secondary console.

HHN/KBF/FF=PS4/X-BOX
HMH=Switch

 

[upsidown]

Absolutely do Conjuring first (unless they offer Exorcist earlier than 7 like they did for me, in that case get Exorcist out of the way, then get in line for Conjuring). I don't think they could shorten the wait time between groups for Conjuring (unless they increased the amount of people sent it at once) as it's really just a series of short shows in each of the rooms, so it's more timed to the show scenes. Same for Arkham. But they could easily shorten the wait time for IT.
The Tram was a highlight for me (also had one truly great scare, someone mentioned it in an earlier post, but it caught me completely off guard, unexpected and as far as I know, has not been done at HHN or Knotts). Arkham was my favorite maze. It was unique and I like the characters (who were mostly spot-on). Both IT and Conjuring had their moments (and things they could improve). Getting to walk into the backlot buildings for mazes was a nice change from the tents at other events. I didn't eat or drink anything while there but there was a cafe, a bar, and lots of drink stations. One lowlight I forgot to mention was the lack of trash cans available in wait lines. I sadly saw random beer bottles and other trash left in planters, on window sills on the outsides of backlot buildings, or on the ground. It was disrespectful, but also an operation thing as the main trash can in a line was right before entry into the maze. I absolutely did not mind supporting a new (possible) annual haunt, as I like to hit several during October (I actually did HHN the day before WB). I love haunts and would welcome more variety if WB can make it through the growing pains.

 

[DTH]

upside, did you see any of the videos, and did you see any improvements from that night? More actors, soundtrack or lighting in missing places, etc..?

 

[upsidown]

DTH, I have not watched the videos yet, but based on previous descriptions, I don't think they made many changes since the preview. They did e-mail me a survey, but oddly when I click the link it says the survey is not active, lol. Would love to give them some feedback.

 

[Rideguy70]

I went last night, with the "Loser's Club" FoL pass. Overall, I liked it, and see a lot of potential, but they do have significant organizational problems (as can be expected for a burgeoning event). Also, it is not about jump scares. They are there, but few and far between (I think some by design, and some by just not enough scareactors to go around).

The Pluses (mostly) first:

• Shock of all shocks after seeing all the negative reviews, but I actually enjoyed The Conjuring. My husband remarked it has a similarity to a (low-budget) Delusion, and he's basically right. Again, emphasis on "low budget". But there were a few unexpected scares (a guest breaking the rules comes into play)
  Spoiler

  After being told at the beginning of the maze no photos, about 1/3 of the way through, a guest takes a pic of a scareactor... only to be grabbed and abducted by that scareactor
  , the actors were great, and for us, nearly all the scares were on point. Perhaps my low expectations maybe helped me to be pleasantly surprised, as well as my Loser's Club pass... we only waited about 10 minutes when the posted line was 2 hours (and remained that way the rest of the night... they even ended up closing that maze down by about 11:30 due to it being so long--another reason to get it done early). If I had waited 2 hours for the same experience, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have liked it as much. It is also a bit on the short side.
  
• IT was probably my favorite house of the night. It's the most traditional maze, and feels much like "What would KSF do if they got the IT property?" It's also one of their longer mazes. We ended up going through this maze 3 times. As it turns out, our first experience was the best one. Later walk throughs, we noticed many missing scareactors that had been their earlier (especially in the last half). I suspect it may be a casting problem on the end of WB. On the plus side, it was nearly the only maze that turned out to be a walk on as of about midnight on.
• I also liked Arkham Asylum. Feels about the same level as the best Six Flags mazes (which are now pretty decent) in terms of set design. Actors were great. Not a lot of scares necessarily, but fun to go through. Biggest surprise... we did this maze twice, once at the beginning of the night (standing in the GP line) and later again using our Loser's Club FoL... and one room ends up having a completely different scene with a completely different actor!
  Spoiler

  A room about half way through may either feature Poison Ivy or Penguin, with a completely different set that gets turned around at some point during the night to fit that character.
  That also said, we noticed the entire last two rooms, which had two scareactors on our first go through, had absolutely no one in it on the second go ground. Again, casting issues?
  
• Exorcist screening has a lot of potential, and as long as you go in expecting only a mild low key experience, you'll be fine. I agree with another review I read that says their biggest problem is they just didn't pick the best scenes from the movie for an experience like this. But given the scenes they did pick, I did enjoy the sets, the subtle effects (they are very subtle), and the actors. But at the end of the day, while mildly amusing, it feels mostly like a missed opportunity.
• Camp Crystal Lake is also enjoyable, although Jason really wasn't needed... I feel the maze would have been much better had it just been Jason the entire time. A long cabin section was great on mood, but (at least on our run though) not all rooms had scareactors in them... maybe half at best. I did know this maze began with a cart ride, but didn't realize it would be a mini tour through their sets. A nice plus, though not super Halloween themed (the guide tried their best to incorporate horror movies and shows, but we were also told a set was used in the movie Annie... which was interesting to know, but I was also a bit like, "That's not Halloween related at all.") The best part of this is that since those carts are so small, carrying only about 12-14 people, you really feel very isolated on the wooded trail when they finally drop you off. Loved seeing running, screaming, bloodied victims running down the path at random times. Not super scary, but great in mood and character.
• The museum, which the tram drops you off at as you exit Camp Crystal Lake, is definitely a highlight. We probably spent a good 45-60 minutes in there.

The minuses:

• Biggest issue: they closed Camp Crystal Lake maze early! Now, we were warned that maze would close early... we were told repeatedly, get there by 10:15. Fine. Well, we got there at 10:01, and they closed the line off right in front of us and another group of about 4, and we were told to leave. We all complained and said we were told 10:15, but she wouldn't budge. To her credit, she looked a bit upset and was apologetic, like it wasn't her decision (I'm sure it wasn't). At the time, we were upset, but decided to just head to another maze. However, later on we looked at the park map, and it has 10:15 printed right on it. Had we thought of it at the time, we would've shown that to her. Not sure it would've made a difference, but it does make a stronger case. At the end of the night, we did complain about this to guest relations, but it was just a matter of record, there was obviously nothing they could really do at that point. So maybe get there well before 10 just in case...
  
• I agree with upsidedown above, there needs to be more trash cans.
• Food is very meh... mostly standard stuff: hamburgers, pizza, hot dogs... and most of that did not look great (think high school football game food booth quality). Food trucks would be a welcome addition here. There was a food booth a bit hidden behind the exit to Exorcist that is selling "Regan split pea and ham soup" in a bread bowl if you like. That was a nice touch. I didn't try it, but I was tempted. The Fangtasia bar was pretty nice (and has go-go girl dancers outside it, in case you miss those at HHN), and if you are too young to go in, you can sneak a look through the exit door by the photo pick up location.
  
• Lines move ridiculously slow. Even though we had the Loser's Club pass, we figured we wanted to experience mazes more than once (and the pass technically allows only one use for each maze), so we did stand in the GP lines for Camp Crystal Lake and Arkham. Crystal Lake moved okay, but Arkham c r a w l e d (maybe 10 feet every 2-4 minutes), and from appearances, Conjuring moved even slower. Exorcist didn't look very quick either. I understand they don't want "conga lines", but there has to be some sort of balance. Lines that look like they'd be only 10-15 minutes long at HHN would take 30-45 minutes or longer here.
  
• As noted above, line for Conjuring closed early unannounced due to its line being so long, so be aware.
• My other big complaint was the Joan/Bette show. It's mentioned on the website, but when you get the park map, there's absolutely no mention of it at all, and no signage anywhere telling you when and even where it performs. It turns out to be on the main stage as you enter, where the DJ and Ringmaster are, but aside from a replica poster that's pretty well hidden among the rest of the stage decor, you wouldn't know it. We asked guest relations, and they said, "I have no idea when it performs. It kinda depends on the actors. You have to ask the DJ." Really? Having a set show schedule is too much? Or even promoting the show? I guess maybe WB views it more as a character experience (which is sort of is), but even Disney and USH both given general times of when their character meets happen.

Overall: After experiencing it, I did generally enjoy it, but do agree it's overpriced, and they really need to work out some major operational kinks. It's not for the jump scares... put those largely out of your mind, and go for more of an atmospheric and character based experience, and expect many rooms to not have any scareactors at all--but they will mostly have good set design and lighting (very few black walls, though there are a dash here and there). It's a good start, and if you're a mega IT or Conjuring fan--or, like us, just like to have a new haunt experience--it may be worthwhile. Also, some were earlier claiming for media night mazes didn't have any soundtrack, but we didn't find that to be the case (except for Conjuring, which I figure is intentional).

Tips: arrive around 6. They let people in at 6:30, telling them mazes won't open until 7. Get in line for Conjuring right away anyway and wait, followed by either Crystal Lake, Exorcist, or Arkham. Save IT for last. Plan on possible early maze closures for both Crystal Lake and Conjuring. Lines for Arkham and Exorcist (and Conjuring, when it was open) remained pretty lengthy all night, while by midnight, IT was literally a walk on. They do not allow photography inside any of the mazes. There is also a make up demo show if you want a short sit break that isn't Exorcist (and that show, unlike Joan/Bette, does have a sign outside giving showtimes). Drop ride essentially had no line all night, and it was a bit fun to see a view of USH from WB for once, instead of the other way around.

 

[SOCAL110]

I went last night, with the "Loser's Club" FoL pass. Overall, I liked it, and see a lot of potential, but they do have significant organizational problems (as can be expected for a burgeoning event). Also, it is not about jump scares. They are there, but few and far between (I think some by design, and some by just not enough scareactors to go around).

The Pluses (mostly) first:

• Shock of all shocks after seeing all the negative reviews, but I actually enjoyed The Conjuring. My husband remarked it has a similarity to a (low-budget) Delusion, and he's basically right. Again, emphasis on "low budget". But there were a few unexpected scares (a guest breaking the rules comes into play
  Spoiler

  After being told at the beginning of the maze no photos, about 1/3 of the way through, a guest takes a pic of a scareactor... only to be grabbed and abducted by that scareactor
  ), the actors were great, and for us, nearly all the scares were on point. Perhaps my a low expectations maybe helped me to be pleasantly surprised, as well as my Loser's Club pass... we only waited about 10 minutes when the posted line was 2 hours (and remained that way the rest of the night... they even ended up closing that maze down by about 11:30 due to it being so long--another reason to get it done early). If I had waited 2 hours for the same experience, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have liked it as much. It is also a bit on the short side.
  
• IT was probably my favorite house of the night. It's the most traditional maze, and feels much like "What would KSF do if they got the IT property?" It's also one of their longer mazes. We ended up going through this maze 3 times. As it turns out, our first experience was the best one. Later walk throughs, we noticed many missing scareactors that had been their earlier (especially in the last half). I suspect it may be a casting problem on the end of WB. On the plus side, it was nearly the only maze that turned out to be a walk on as of about midnight on.
• I also liked Arkham Asylum. Feels about the same level as the best Six Flags mazes (which are now pretty decent) in terms of set design. Actors were great. Not a lot of scares necessarily, but fun to go through. Biggest surprise... we did this maze twice, once at the beginning of the night (standing in the GP line) and later again using our Loser's Club VIP... and one room ends up having a completely different scene with a completely different actor!
  Spoiler

  A room about half way through may either feature Poison Ivy or Penguin, with a completely different set that gets turned around at some point during the night to fit that character.
  That also said, we noticed the entire last two rooms, which had two scareactors on our first go through, had absolutely no one in it on the second go ground. Again, casting issues?
  
• Exorsist screening has a lot of potential, and as long as you go in expecting only a mild low key experience, you'll be fine. I agree with another review I read that says their biggest problem is they just didn't pick the best scenes from the movie for an experience like this. But given the scenes they did pick, I did enjoy the sets, the subtle effects (they are very subtle), and the actors. But at the end of the day, while mildly amusing, it feels mostly like a missed opportunity.
• Camp Crystal Lake is also enjoyable, although Jason really wasn't needed... I feel the maze would have been much better had it just been Jason the entire time. A long cabin section was great on mood, but (at least on our run though) not all rooms had scareactors in them... maybe half. I did know we begin this maze with a cart ride, but didn't realize the cart would be a mini tour through their sets. A nice plus, though not super Halloween themed (though the guide tried their best to incorporate horror movies and shows, but we were also told a set was used in the movie Annie... which was interesting to know, but I was also a bit like, "That's not Halloween related at all." The best part of this is that since those carts are so small, carrying only about 12-14 people, you really feel very isolated on the wooded trail when they finally drop you off. Loved seeing running, screaming, bloodied victims running down the path at random times. Not super scary, but great mood and character.
• The museum, which the tram drops you off at as you exit Camp Crystal Lake, is definitely a highlight. We probably spent a good 45-60 minutes in there.

The minuses:

• Biggest issue: they closed Camp Crystal Lake maze early! Now, we were warned that maze would close early... we were told repeatedly, get there by 10:15. Fine. Well, we got there at 10:01, and they closed the line off right in front of us and another group of about 4, and we were told to leave. We all complained and said we were told 10:15, but she wouldn't budge. To her credit, she looked a bit upset and was apologetic, like it wasn't her decision (I'm sure it wasn't). At the time, we were upset, but decided to channel it and just head to another maze. However, later on we looked at the park map, and it has 10:15 printed right on it. Had we thought of it at the time, we would've shown that to her. Not sure it would've made a difference, but it does make a stronger case. At the end of the night, we did complain about this to guest relations, but it was just a matter of record, there was obviously nothing they could really do at that point. So maybe get there early to that one just in case...
  
• I agree with upsidedown above, there needs to be more trash cans.
• Food is very meh... mostly standard stuff: hamburgers, pizza, hot dogs... and most of that did not look great (think high school football game food booth quality). Food trucks would be a welcome addition here. There was a food booth a bit hidden behind the exit to Exorcist that is selling "Regan split pea and ham soup" in a bread bowl if you like. That was a nice touch. I didn't try it, but I was tempted. The Fangtasia bar was pretty nice (and has go-go girl dancers outside it, in case you miss those at HHN), and if you are too young to go in, you can sneak a look through the exit door by the photo pick up location.
  
• Lines move ridiculously slow. Even though we had the Loser's Club pass, we figured we wanted to experience mazes more than once (and the pass technically allows only one use for each maze), so we did stand in the GP lines for Camp Crystal Lake and Arkham. Crystal Lake moved okay, but Arkham c r a w l e d (maybe 10 feet every 2-4 minutes), and from appearances, Conjuring moved even slower. Exorcist didn't look very quick either. I understand they don't want "conga lines", but there has to be some sort of balance. Lines that look like they'd be only 10-15 minutes long at HHN would take 30-45 minutes or longer here.
  
• As noted above, line for Conjuring closed early unannounced due to its line being so long, so be aware.
• My other big complaint was the Joan/Bette show. It's mentioned on the website, but when you get the park map, there's absolutely no mention of it at all, and no signage anywhere telling you when and even where it performs. It turns out to be on the main stage as you enter, where the DJ and Ringmaster are, but aside from a replica poster that's pretty well hidden among the rest of the stage decor, you wouldn't know it. We asked guest relations, and they said, "I have no idea when it performs. It kinda depends on the actors. You have to ask the DJ." Really? Having a set show schedule for two performers is too much? Or even promoting the show? I guess maybe WB views it more as a character experience (which is sort of is), but even Disney and USH both given general times of when their character meets happen.

Overall: After experiencing it, I did generally enjoy it, but do agree it's overpriced, and they really need to work out some major operational kinks. It's not for the jump scares... put those largely out of your mind, and go for more of an atmospheric and character based experience, and expect many rooms to not have any scareactors at all--but they will mostly have good set design and lighting (very few black walls, though there are a dash here and there). It's a good start, and if you're a mega IT or Conjuring fan--or, like us, just like to have a new haunt experience--it may be worthwhile. Also, some were earlier claiming for media night mazes didn't have any soundtrack, but we didn't find that to be the case (except for Conjuring, which I figure is intentional).

Tips: arrive around 6. They let people in at 6:30, telling them mazes won't open until 7. Get in line for Conjuring right away anyway and wait, followed by either Crystal Lake, Exorcist, or Arkham. Save IT for last. Plan on possible early maze closures for both Crystal Lake and Conjuring. Lines for Arkham and Exorcist (and Conjuring, when it was open) remained pretty lengthy all night, while by midnight, IT was literally a walk on. They do not allow photography inside any of the mazes. There is also a make up demo show if you want a short sit break that isn't Exorcist. Drop ride essentially had no line all night, and it was a bit fun to see a view of UHS from WB for once, instead of the other way around.

Great review!

Just waiting for your review @Freak

 

[DTH]

Also, some were earlier claiming for media night mazes didn't have any soundtrack, but we didn't find that to be the case (except for Conjuring, which I figure is intentional).

Did Crystal Lake have a soundtrack out on the trails? I think that may have been my biggest gripe. That and zero lighting on most of the Freddys. Great review, glad you had a good time!

 

[Freak]

Great review!

Just waiting for your review @Freak

It’s coming. I just have a lot of stuff to do right now...but trust me I want to talk about it.

 

[Rideguy70]

Did Crystal Lake have a soundtrack out on the trails? I think that may have been my biggest gripe. That and zero lighting on most of the Freddys. Great review, glad you had a good time!

There wasn't on the outdoor portion. I honestly can't recall about the cabin portion, but I don't think there was. Didn't really notice any specific lighting on the Freddys, there's just sort of a general subdued lighting throughout.

But I did only get one run through of that maze, and it was the very beginning of the night, so I don't remember the details as well. Intended to do a second run through, but you saw how that went in my review. :/

 

[Rideguy70]

Another small point that speaks to the communication/management (or lack thereof) of the event... I asked three different staff members what time the museum gift shop closed, to see if I'd get the same answer to confirm. Instead, I got: "10:30", "12:30 or 1" (from two different staff in the same store) and "11:00" from Guest Relations. We never did get a chance to return to the museum to see for ourselves, but I kinda rolled my eyes at the wild variety in answers.

 

[DTH]

They sure have a lot of stuff close early considering there isn't a whole lot to do and they're only open until 1 anyway...

 

[SOCAL110]

Hopefully they iron out some of the kinks by the time I go on the 18th.

Problems they are having so far seem to be fixable.

 

[Clive]

By the way - finally watched a video of the IT maze.

Easily the strongest in the lineup almost entirely due to the lack of "guide" or arbitrary starting and stopping. Reminded me of a solid Knotts maze. With a little more structure, it could be genuinely great - lots of clever design choices and creepy moments. Casting was also on point.

 

[DTH]

With double the scareactors, I'd even say it's a very low tier HHN maze.

 

[Freak]

I went Saturday night. Time for a review! It was cool to check out a new haunt, but ended up leaving frustrated due to some poor line management.

Got there slightly after six and lined up outside. Now it's 6:40. Had no idea where to go so I just went to IT first as they kept pushing people away from Conjuring.

It Knows What Scares You: Aight, there was some nice set design in here. It's on-par with HHN, at least most of it is. They pulled off the sewer scene far better than HHN would've with black walls. It's just that, the scares weren't there. There were a couple of good ones, but there was so much awkward space of nothing happening. In fact, it looked like they were missing some scareactors; it was heavily reliant on random audio jumpscares. Overall....it was okay; it's the strongest of the two mazes I experienced.. Pennywise looked really good though.

Overall: C+

Arkham Asylum: Went to quickly get a pizza at Crave Inn because I was starving (It was good. Not Costco good, but just good). Waited in line for Arkham, which was advertised for 30 min, but it was more like 40. Anyway, this was totally more of a theatrical walk-thru of the game as opposed to a haunted house. The actors were great for their roles, but it just wasn't scary...like, at all. Nobody had any boo-holes, they were just....there. Eh....I feel like this was a missed opportunity.

Overall: C-

Nightmare on Camp Crystal Lake: This was the highlight of the night for me. Hit this one next as I knew this closed early. Advertised wait was 90, but only waited 60. This was probably the highlight of the night for me, despite some idiots behind me trying to be comedians. It felt a lot like a more fresh Terror Tram with an actual maze toward the end. The cabin part was pretty cool. The part DTH mentioned that he always wanted to see pulled off at a haunt.....that got me GOOD. Didn't expect that.

Overall: B

Now here's where the night goes downhill for me. I decided to hit up Conjuring over Exorcist next as that had a LONG wait (Advertised two hours). After seeing that Crystal Lake's waiting was exaggerated, I decided to give it a shot. The line moved SLOW. I mean, if there was a horrible accident on I-5 during rush hour, that would move faster than this line. I stood would stand around for a solid fifteen minutes before the line would move at all. I waited an hour and a half at this point. I just got halfway there and I could see at the door they weren't letting anyone in (Not even express) for twenty minutes. It was certainly going to be longer than two hours. I just got frustrated and left because I had to work at 7AM the next day. I knew it wouldn't be worth it at that point. I was hoping to knock out everything by this time by getting there early, but the line management sucked enough to where I couldn't do everything.

From what I could see on the video, it just looks okay. I would've been pretty mad if I had waited more than three hours for that. The ending looked cool with Valak. But yeah, this IT maze was probably better. Making this a guided tour was a BIG mistake. Ugh. Also missed the Exorcist show (Which I can't find videos of ANYWHERE) because the lines became ungodly. Anybody want to spoil it for me?

Overall, from what I saw, it was just okay. Definitely NOT worth $80. HHN was better and so was Fright Fest! Review on the former later. Here's what I suggest:

1) They need to be more like HHN without the black walls. Do more audio triggers, more boo holes, more scares that Knott's does. Oh, and put music in your houses. That makes it more atmospheric.

2) Stop the tour-guided mazes. They are from the depths of sheol. It's not scary and the lines become terrible.

3) Biggest complaint: LINE MANAGEMENT WAS TERRIBLE. Probably the worst I've seen at any haunt. They would let in a few people and when some Express people showed up, they would halt the GA line and "start over" with the crowd flow, making us wait longer than we should. They pulled this with Arkham and Crystal Lake. The Conjuring was a poor design from the start, so that was even worse. As a result of this, I couldn't see everything. I get that it's a Saturday night, but in theory, if you get there way early, you should be able to see everything. Ugh.

4) Drop Tower was good. Hope they bring it back. It was a nice in-between thrill.

They better step up their quality and line management especially, or I won't be back.

 

[Rideguy70]

I don't believe they allowed recording inside Exorcist, so unless someone goes rogue, you probably won't see one. Besides, even if there were a video, you'd be pretty much just seeing a video that's 8 minutes of clips from the Exorcist (and not even the one's you'd be likely to pick). It would be kinda hard to capture the full experience, as it occurs all over the room. I'll try to describe what I remember, although I may not be 100% accurate... but you'll get the idea:

Spoiler

You enter what appears to be a pretty cool looking church with pews, statues, a podium, and a large stained glass effect that is the movie screen in disguise. There are various priests and nuns around, as well as a "church lady" hostess. You sit in pews, and she welcomes you at the podium, sneering about why you'd want to watch such an evil movie (she was actually quite funny, intentionally). The lights dim, and clips of the movie play. When there's wind in the film, the real life exit doors blow open by themselves (the church lady hurriedly closes them). At some point in the movie, Regan makes a picture fall off a frame, and at the exact same time in the theater, a crucifix falls off the wall. During the possession scenes, the eyes of the statues in the church glow, cracks appear in the walls (projection mapping, pretty cool--although it so subtly lit, it'd be easy to miss), and the overheard lights begin to swing. You feel something beating on the bottom of the pews. At one point, the film drops out and a real life scareactor Regan stands up and roams around the theater. The priests eventually grab her and drag her out. The movie ends, and the church lady urges everyone to leave. End of attraction. No scares as you exit, which I thought was a missed opportunity.

 

[Rideguy70]

I got a survey asking for feedback about the event from WB (it did not ask to remain confidential, so I feel okay revealing this), and one of their questions was: "What properties would you like to see next?" Options were: I am Legend, Westworld, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Castle Rock.

Aside from maybe Westworld--which isn't exactly horror, but I admit it would be an interesting universe to see realized--I'm not too crazy about any of those. There was a spot for "Other", and we suggested Lost Boys, Beetlejuice, and Gremlins (trying to stick to Warner Brothers properties).

They also asked if there'd be any interest in Horror Made Here outside the Halloween season. Interesting.

 

[horrornights789]

Went... it’s pretty meh from me.

I liked the Conjuring from a design point but felt they COMPLETELY missed the mark on encompassing the Universe. Also a huge missed opportunity of using more from the first film, including the awesome house facade. Also felt that there should’ve been more from Annabelle Creation, but I did get scared by the Valak at the end and the Annabelle Demon. Crooked Man was cool. Probably my least favorite of the night, but I loved the acting from the cast; which was ironic considering I thought I wouldn’t like guided tours. Still don’t, but I thought the actors were solid; it’s just the scares weren’t there. Just give this to HHN please

IT was pretty ok. I liked it more than The First Purge, but I would rank it below Horrors of Blumhouse 2 and the other HHN mazes. Set design was great here but the scares were hit or miss.

Arkham was more of an “experience” than a maze, felt like there should’ve been more villains from the entire series in here. Absolutely 0 scares here, but I was fine with it since the games themselves weren’t TOO scary. Reminded me of Stranger Things at HHN in a way. Overall was my favorite of the night because of how much I love the video games.

Nightmare on Camp Crystal Lake was my favorite attraction of the night. Liked it as much as Terror Tram and thought it was pretty fun

Overall I had a lot of fun, but I probably won’t come back because of the price and I STILL want to see The Conjuring Universe get the proper maze treatment it deserves.

 

[DTH]

Went... it’s pretty meh from me.

I liked the Conjuring from a design point but felt they COMPLETELY missed the mark on encompassing the Universe. Also a huge missed opportunity of using more from the first film, including the awesome house facade. Also felt that there should’ve been more from Annabelle Creation, but I did get scared by the Valak at the end and the Annabelle Demon. Crooked Man was cool. Probably my least favorite of the night, but I loved the acting from the cast; which was ironic considering I thought I wouldn’t like guided tours. Still don’t, but I thought the actors were solid; it’s just the scares weren’t there. Just give this to HHN please

IT was pretty ok. I liked it more than The First Purge, but I would rank it below Horrors of Blumhouse 2 and the other HHN mazes. Set design was great here but the scares were hit or miss.

Arkham was more of an “experience” than a maze, felt like there should’ve been more villains from the entire series in here. Absolutely 0 scares here, but I was fine with it since the games themselves weren’t TOO scary. Reminded me of Stranger Things at HHN in a way. Overall was my favorite of the night because of how much I love the video games.

Nightmare on Camp Crystal Lake was my favorite attraction of the night. Liked it as much as Terror Tram and thought it was pretty fun

Overall I had a lot of fun, but I probably won’t come back because of the price and I STILL want to see The Conjuring Universe get the proper maze treatment it deserves.

Did you run into any problems/issues with operations? Also, did you get to Exorcist or Demon Drop?