The spooky month has just started. I’ve already done the two major spooky events I am this year – Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood, and Dark Harbor at the Queen Mary. One, I do every year, and the other, I may never go back and do again.
The Dark Harbor event was just poorly organized and very overcrowded. It took two attempts just to go to the event because the parking got moved to a public lot with a free shuttle, except they hadn’t said where the shuttle pick-up was. The event would have been over in a couple hours by the time we found it. They gave us free tickets after we said something about how any sign or notification of where the shuttle was would have been nice to have. And that went better. We got on the shuttle after searching for it since it moved and were able to enter the event. We only did two mazes, the lines were insanely long for the other four. The mazes were very long, with some nice detail. But there weren’t enough scare-actors per maze, and each maze had points that were definitely not handicap friendly. I did have a good time, especially since I remembered to bring my noise-canceling headphones. My friend got an amusing amount of BBQ pork on a very nice stick. And I accidentally got a free funnel cake.
Horror Nights, as an event, was excellent. I did several of the mazes – at least I did all the ones I cared about doing. I was most impressed with the Insidious and The Quiet Place mazes. The attention to detail, jump scares, props, and sets were excellent. I had been very doubtful about how a scare maze for A Quiet Place could work, but I was really pleasantly surprised. I do like that Universal seems to have given up on scare zones, outside of the gauntlet you have to go through entering and exiting the park. They make great use of the atmosphere of the park at night, with lights and fog to keep fear dancing down our spines.
My biggest complaint about Universal had nothing to do with Horror Nights, but rather a policy the theme park has enacted. I don’t hide that I have both physical and mental disabilities. I can’t walk long distances before both of my hips are fighting to dislocate themselves. Too much noise or too many people can overstimulate me. I do what I can to compensate for this. The park used to give me a pass that I would get a return time written down on, and then once the time was there, I’d go through the express lane. It lets me spend time resting and helps me avoid being in a noisy crowd of people in a cramped space. That is no longer an option for my physical disability. To avoid the physical pain walking does, I had to rent a wheelchair. It was the only option given to me. That was their idea of accessibility since they made all the mazes wheelchair-accessible. It’s not accessibility though. It feels more like a way for the park to drain more money out of its guests.
I don’t have a lot of plans for Spooky Month. A trip to Disneyland, at least once. A party with my friends. Several outings for food. A few game nights. The two games I either already love, or are a part of something I love, come out this month. Silent Hill 2 and Dragon Age Veilguard. Dragon Age even comes out on Halloween. I have a lot to look forward to.
Isn’t that something?
Shpunkey 