Halloween Horror Nights 4

Was there with the wifey last night.

Great fun!

Here's five takeaways:

1) 4 Haunted Houses

Overall, I think RWS and USS did a great job with the place and setup. It was really quite scary and the props and actors were quite well made-up. The 4 haunted houses were the key attractions. For $50, this was quite a good deal. There was a theme for each house, The L.A.B. (aliens), Mati Camp (army ghosts), Jing's Revenge (school ghosts) and Jack's 3-Dementia (clowns). The best was probably Jing's Revenge because they did up the whole place like an old secondary school called 华信中学 with props and decor absolutely reminding me of the old Dunman High premises somewhat. There was also the traumatic scream from one of the ghouls at the wifey, “是你逼我的！”.

2) 4 Scare Zones

These were like free areas where no queuing was required and the ghouls and monsters just roamed about the elaborate props scary whoever. There was Scary Tales (fairy tale scaries), Canyon of the Cursed (cowboy and indians scaries), Demoncracy (ghouls invading city) and Bogeyman (child ghoulies). A few good scares here and there but these weren't all that scary due to the crowds.

3) Beware The Long Queues

Speaking of crowds, the one big drawback is the fact that it wa very, very crowded. For the haunted houses, one of them we even had to queue for an hour just for a five minute walk through. Even the Tranformers ride we had to queue for a good twenty minutes. And because it was so crowded, you sometimes miss the scares because the people in front got the 'pop out' scares already.

4) Good Clean Fun

I like the fact that the actors do not touch you. It actually prevents us and them from suffering any potential injuries or mishaps. Maybe some might feel that it decreases the scare factor, but with so many visitors milling through the haunted houses, here would bound to be a few manly types who would be more than eager to lay hurt on any effective scarers. Similarly the scares could potential cause visitors to fall if it turned physical. Kudos to USS, I noticed staff at many places inside the park and in the rides/houses. Queuing took quite long but were well organized and turnover was quite fast. In the end if it's good, clean and safe fun you want with a few good scares thrown in, then this is probably a good event for you. 

5) Pack Some Alcohol

I have to admit that knocking back a few beers definitely reduces the tension and jitters. I had heard tales of people leaving the theme park after one haunted house visit. But when you're at a good high, either you don't pay that much attention to the scares and sudden boos, or you're more chilled such that they just don't scare you as much. It sure helps when you have a scared wifey beside you. Plus you need buff and strong biceps of steel to withstand the infamous female deathgrip that is bound to cause bruises.

All in all it was a really fun event and I'd encourage everyone to go at least once. Could do with a smaller crowd though.