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The best Horror Maze ever

coasterC

Roller Poster
I love horror mazes and have recently tried the new SAW:Alive and thought about creating a horror maze poll. Tell me your best. Mine is SAW: Alive or maybe Halloween horror nights at Universal Orlando.
 

Ian

From CoasterForce
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You're going to get on really well with Ollie!

Horror mazes aren't really my cup of tea, but I did enjoy Seven at Thorpe Park a few seasons ago.

They could do with cutting down on the smoke machines though. Although they do sound great.

PSTFFFF! COUGH! COUGH!
 

Ollie

CF Legend
Hard question to answer. Experiences in Horror Mazes change all the time depending on the time of day, what actors are working, how tired they are, what sort or reactions they're getting.
Also on top of that different people are scared of different things. Thorpe does well by catering for all fears mainly. Asylum is action packed full of sudden scares and loud noises, Hellgate is dark and creepy and uses shadows to build up tension and make scares that way. Se7en relies on trying to dis-gust (<had to do it like that or it turned into a silly smiley) and confuse guests. It's a very visual orientated maze and tries to use horrible sights and smells to scare you. And after all that The Curse is just a bit of everything mixed together.

I really enjoyed Saw Alive but more from a technical standpoint. I admire all the work that's gone into it and the sets and because people don't see it with the lights on and without the rooms full of smoke there's tonnes of fine detail that people don't pick up on. The scares were pretty good and were getting good reactions and the queues were moving super quick.
The reviews to begin with were saying it wasn't that great and what they thought could be improved and Thorpe have done well to take all that on board and adjust the maze to improve it. Before it was quite a passive visual experience where you mainly just watched actors in each room as you passed through. Now the actors are much more lively and there's some genuine tension and an unnerving feeling as you walk through.

That's just talking about the Thorpe Park mazes. :p
Of course you have attractions outside of Thorpe all over the UK. If you want to talk about just ones that are open year round then you don't even have to go out of London to find them. London Dungeons, London Tombs, Pasaje del Terror and Death Trap etc.

Special mention has to go to Pasaje though. :)
Some of the scares they've got in there are fantastic although it is quite pricey for how short it is. The first time I went through I caught it on a bad run and wasn't that impressed. But spending a few days with the attraction behind the scenes and seeing all the effects and actors I've grown to really love the place.

Of course there's loads more outside of London. And then after that you've got the whole world. Although I wont start talking about it as I'll go on forever and bore you all.

The weird thing was a few years back I was terrified to even go in scary things. I had a fascination with them but always used to wait outside. Then I decided to go in one and have loved them ever since. :)

I should be going to Port Aventura's Halloween event this year with a few friends as that event is meant to be amazing. We'll hopefully get to stay in Hotel Burn (I think it's called that) as well where you have scares going on throughout the whole night. It sounds annoying having people burst into your room through secret doors and stuff but that's the experience you pay for. Alton did scare rooms a couple of years ago and they got really good reviews although they had to stop at 1am for legal stuff.
Out in Europe there's barely any rules or health and safety telling you what you can and cant do so haunts out there are tonnes more extreme than anything you'll find in the UK or America.
 

gavin

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Easily Haunted Hospital at Fuji-Q.

I've only done it once, and they change things up every season, so I'm not sure what it's like right now, but it scared the crap out of me. Nothing else has ever really come close.

Honorable mentions go to Kruger Hotel at Tibidabo (really good considering it's such a small, low-budget park) and the Haunted Hotel that was set up at Halloween at Hong Kong Disneyland; considering it was at a Disney park, it was actually quite full-on frightening.
 

Lucy

Hyper Poster
So far my favourite horror maze was Asylum Hill, Tom Spindler's walk through that I went to last year. it was a fantastic setting in the basement of Shoreditch town hall and different to others I've done because the actors did more than just jump out at you.
 

Ollie

CF Legend
^I'm doing Masks next Thursday which Tom Spindler is doing. Looks really good. Hoping that will be quite intense. :)
 

Absimilliard

Roller Poster
My favorite haunted house was the "All Night DrIvE In" at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights in 2003. It was set up in one of the soundstage and had those amazing sets from Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Actors were great and the whole thing worked perfectly.

Honorable mention to La Ronde "Clinique du Dr. Von Terreur" in 2005 or 2006. Great imaginative sets, like collapsing walls, the hospital staples and the most extreme part: you had to CRAWL under a metal grate, while an inmate jumped and rattled over you! The house had an inmate jumping over a glass wall and it ended with an actor joining you, but getting captured at the end and screaming for help!
 

Lucy

Hyper Poster
^I'm doing Masks next Thursday which Tom Spindler is doing. Looks really good. Hoping that will be quite intense

I'm also doing Masks but on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to it too :D
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
My fave was the one at parque de attractiones madrid - lots of poking their heads out of hatches!

Asylum at thorpe is very good too!
 

ECG

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For us (Aidan, the wife & I) it has to be the Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce. It took over a hour to go through & was amazing. It has over a dozen differently themed sections & the actors are really into what they are doing. We went last year for the first time & we'll be going back every year from now on.
I've also heard amazing things about Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. They have the biggest budget & do different themes every year. My friends that have been to both say that the one in Orlando is better than the one in Hollywood, but both are excellent.
 

Lucy

Hyper Poster
I think I might have to re-think my opinion as I did Masks this evening and it was fantastic - better than Asylum Hill :D
 

mewantcandy2

Mega Poster
Haunted Forest in Poolesville, MD. You walk around the woods alone through scenes. It's a lot of fun. Also, that Hospital thing outside of Philly is pretty good
 
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