Universal Studios is hosting its annual Halloween Horror Nights during the weekends of October. With so many people attending the wild event and so little time, which mazes and shows should you check out?

This article will cover the best way to enjoy the event, as well as reviews of the mazes and shows.

Tips:
I was thinking about this when ohlizzard87, commented on my Maze video and gave some great tips.  Thanks for the help!

1) Arrive Early – The park opens at 7:00 pm, so get in line by 6:45. This will save you time because it won’t be as crowded as later on the night, which means shorter lines for rides and mazes for the early birds.

2) Saw Maze – Get your butt down the escalators as fast as possible and go to the Saw maze first. It was definitely my favorite and from what ohlizzard87 said, the line could get up to 2 hours long.

3) Terror Tram – After the Saw maze, go to the Terror Tram ride. This is another must see attraction, passing by the real Psycho house is awesome.

4) Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure – This show cracked me up from beginning to finish, don’t miss it!

5) Other Attractions – Afterwards do whatever you want but I suggest going on the other mazes. You might get distracted and want to experience the regular rides such as Jurassic Park and The Mummy, but that’s not what you’re here for. You’re here to get scared and frightened by psychopaths and monsters.

6) Attire and Accessories – Like I said on my Knott’s Scary Farm article, wear comfy shoes as you’ll be doing a lot of walking.  Also bring a sweater/jacket because it’ll be a little bit cold. Make sure to bring a bottle of water, being dehydrated at a theme park is no fun.

Scarface wants revenge

Maze Reviews

There’s a total of 4 mazes and they range from 5-7 minutes. The production is top notch but it also made it less scary because everything looked staged. One more note: Some rooms smelled really nasty which added a nice effect, I noticed it the most in the Saw.

Saw: Game Over – This was the best maze. You relive scenes from the Saw flicks including the girl in the stack of needles (ouch!) and the last scene from the original. I loved how they used real video feed and you can see yourself on the monitors, no stock footage here. Some parts made me jump but overall, it was more fascinating than scary.
Grade: A

Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers – I was a bit disappointed with this because I’m a big Halloween (the original) fan and it didn’t really capture the mood of the movie. It was too bright and the scares were predictable. The best part was the beginning when you enter Michael Myer’s house and you see a creepy living room. The maze is pretty long and after a while you get fed up seeing Michael Myers every 20 seconds. There was one really cool part where a girl by the bed gets attacked and strangled to death.
Grade: B

My Bloody Valentine: Be Mine 4 Ever – I didn’t care for this maze. You enter a tunnel and the miners try to scare you. It was pretty bland and most of the maze looked and felt the same. It wasn’t scary at all.
Grade: C

Chucky’s Funhouse – This one scared me because I’m afraid of dolls. You actually see Chucky walking around and it freaked me out. I also love the smart ass remarks from the killer doll. There’s a cool part where you go through a room full of mirrors and you get lost. Another cool thing is that the maze is 2 stories. You can see the maze from different point of views. I wish there were other characters though.
Grade: A-

Terror Tram: Live Or Die Review:

You start on the tram and you get dropped off at the Bates Motel after Jigsaw takes over the ride. Then you pass through a small tunnel mine. After that you walk by the Psycho house and end the tour at the War Of The Worlds set.  You get back on the tram and after surviving more of Jigsaw’s challenges, the ride is over.

I’m a movie buff so I enjoyed Terror Tram a lot!  The Bates Motel felt like a cheap motel and the live “victims” was a surprise.  Then you have Norman Bates walking around the area and creeping up on you.  The hike to the tunnel mine was also a blast because it was really dark and there are bushes everywhere. You know what that means: creatures jumping at you at unexpected places.  Walking past the Bates residence was great because it’s one of the most iconic houses in horror.  After that is the War Of The World set, where zombie looking creatures are after you.  The story for the tram tour felt like an afterthought but at least they tried to make it interesting.  The tour is about 30-40 minutes long.
Grade: A

Shows:

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure – This was a really fun show as our heroes, Bill and Ted try to get back to present time after a wild night.  Along the way, they encounter characters from such movies as Twilight, G.I. Joe, Watchmen and Star Trek.  The best part was the dance tribute to Michael Jackson.  I counted 4 songs from the King of Pop, edited nicely to make it short and awesome.  Seeing Edward from Twilight and Silk Spectre doing the “Thriller” moves was epic.  Another highlight was the appearance of John Connor, I’m not going to spoil it but it was really funny.  The show is about 35 minutes long and it flew by pretty quickly.
Grade: A

It’s Thriller time!

Rocky Horror Picture Show – I’ve never seen the movie but I heard that it’s a cult classic and people consider it a “midnight” (people yelling at the screen, dancing to the songs)  movie.  I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.  The show has live actors re enacting scenes from the big screen behind them.  I was underwhelmed by the crowd participation.  Only about 6 people started dancing when the “Time Warp” song played.  Not much craziness happened from the audience besides a few yells and cheers.  I was a little bored with the show but the performance from the actors were good.  Watch this show only if you’re a fan of the movie.
Grade: B-

Conclusion:
Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights was a scary good time. For the most part, the mazes were well designed and the Bill & Ted’s show was excellent.  Definitely recommended for movie fans and to the ones that get spook easily, you know who you are!!

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