On Tuesday 24th I went in the main 4 "scare experiences" and here are my thoughts.
(I'm currently enjoying my annual post scarefest cold so sorry if this is badly written)
The Attic
I actually got my first ever good run of this maze (or normal/non bad run, I guess) and it was a huge improvement!
Every time I have been in this maze I always run into the group in front, followed quickly by the group behind so the entire maze is a boring 5 min trek past a series of confused looking ghosts before walking past a giant goat as it awkwardly hugs the wall to let us pass while going
to people's faces at random with eyes like its romeo, and Juliet's corpse just jumped up and burst into a five minute rant about US politics...
But that didn't happen this time...
The baroness actually did something beyond sitting in bed telling me to go away and the fireplace was actually tense and climactic...and it was okay...
Everything past the toy room was good but the first half was just boring. The Preshow sets up demons and possessed toys but all i get is peekaboo with Casper the friendly ghost (as in the friendly ghost children kept jumping out from cover and shouting "I found you" in the exact same way every single time) and then the one token, almost begrudgeing toy room with a marionette that does nothing and a doll that (on my run) did the exact same jump scare that the kids had been repeating for the entire maze...its such a waste.
I really hope this maze doesn't return next year, but if it does, they need to do something with the first half, maybe scrap the toy room have a variety of different possessed toys throughout?.
(aswell as the ghost kids obviously)
Darkest Depths
This time I was blessed with an exceptionally good run on this maze...don't really have much more to say about this maze, its really good and exactly the same as the last several years...
I would prefer this one get replaced next year but if not, at least this one is consistently good
Altonville
I actually went in this one twice, the first time was cool, I enjoyed the preshow and the first room with the fake tunnel was fun...then I bumped into the group in front and thus began my jazz hand trek through Romeo and Juliets midterm debates (now with authentic accents)
Not wanting a repeat of The Attic, I decided to go in again the following day.
The next time I went in, that didn't happen and I quite enjoyed it, the actors were good (even the cheerleader managed to scare me) and it was funny watching the people in front fall for the fake tunnel and the chainsaw was a huge improvement over that weird gift shop thing from previous years. The only real issue with it was the story...its just sh*t!
So out of ALL the skin snatchers, they chose the fat one, the ONLY one that is completely unworkable!
In case you didn't catch it, all the random, average build guys in gas masks, they are ALL meant to be Tiny, the morbidly obese one that the pre show makes a point of stating is morbidly obese...its stupid!
If this returns for next year, then they should definitely make some changes to the story.
Maybe in the preshow, the officer could say that his colleagues have just entered the mine and then radios in to inform them of your intrusion, once he gets through, they describe what they are seeing over the radio, they say that they can see lots of gym equipment and that they can see someone using it, upon trying to arrest the person, a fight is heard before one of them shouts, "Its Tiny, he's...we...ack up now..." maybe then have the officer run into the mine to assist, and once the officer is gone, Tiny emerges from the mine and sends everyone in.
Then replace the lift scene(since its not being used) with a gym and 2 dead police officers.
I really think they should do this because it establishes that Tiny has lost weight, therefore fixing the issue of none of the actors being "a big fat giant of a man" and establishing Tiny as more of a credible threat rather than just that one joke character from skin snatchers. Hell, why not replace the sewing room with a makeshift factory where he has some stolen industrial equipment to make flawless skin suits/masks, then they can get rid of the gas mask thing and have Tiny use those as disguises, he is a Skin Snatcher after all!
The Invitation
Terrible as last year, now with an out of place shuffel past a cartoon vampire.
You know that moment when your in a scare maze and an actor scares the person in front of you, makes eye contact with you for a split second and then jumps out and scares the person behind you... thats this entire attraction, just sitting in a dark room on the worlds most uncomfortable chair with nothing to look at while listening to a vampire interact with other people...
And the script is shockingly bad!
Why is the haunted burial chamber attraction about vampires instead of evil spirits?
Why do those vampires talk like Count Dracula but look like common yobs? Why are they humiliatingly stuck in a cage?
Why do they panickedly lock themselves back up as soon as the lights come back on?
And why is there an entire full minute of someone stomping around on gravel with zero dialogue?!
If this was opposite day, I would say its finger-licking good...
Obviously this needs to go away next year, the fact that it even returned this year is unforgivable, its not scary, the chairs are actually painful and its just plain BORING!
I also did Daz Games on the 25th...
Daz Games
It was the most fun I have ever had in a scare maze!
I actually went in a 2nd time because I enjoyed it so much, and I was shocked at how much bigger the maze felt the 2nd time around!
I liked how the actors changed into clowns, I don't know how they did it but it was really cool, I personally prefer the standard mode as its more chaotic and scary but I get why the clown mode exists, (its to tone it down slightly and use brighter lighting to help people navigate and find the symbols), I can't talk about what happens after clown mode as I escaped around the 5 min mark both times.
If this returns next year AS IT SHOULD!!! I think it desperately needs one change, after you escape, there needs to be two doors in the exit hallway, one to exit the maze, and one labeled "Spectator Mode" which leads back into the maze so you can still enjoy the maze until time runs out.
Another change I would make is to have the maze be further back into the building and have the three doors in the preshow lead to a linear path (like the exit hallway) and end in a hole to crawl through (preferably with "hold ctrl to crouch" written above it) then after everyone has gone through, seal the holes with a black panel, (so as to be invisible in the darkness) this would mean they don't have to have the staff awkwardly standing there preventing people from wandering back into the preshow.
Lastly, I'm not sure what happens when time runs out but I assume its just that the AI says you are dead/been deleted or something then all the actors leave and the staff kick you out, I hope that's not the case but if it is, then I think its unacceptable!
Just because you failed to escape (especially since the attraction was designed to make it hard) thats no excuse for an unsatisfying ending, what I think should happen instead is that Daz, comes on the loud speaker saying that he found a way to manually override the game, prompting the AI to say "there can be no escape" or something to that effect, then have the lights start flashing green in a sequence that makes a trail to the exit while the actors go on a rampage, maybe even bring out a few chainsaws, while making sure to only position themselves behind guests so as to only chase them TOWARDS the exit.
Bad run on Altonville aside, the actual mazes seemed better in general this year.
Also, can someone tell me what happens when you run out of time in Daz Games?