Reign of Terror (Event #11)
My last haunted house of the year, I was hoping it wouldn’t let me down. While not as stellar as the interactive houses, this reminded me of if all the separate Universal houses were strung together in one long walk-thru. I’m so glad we got VIP tickets because I think the wait would’ve killed me otherwise. The main line was outside but there was a shorter line once you get inside. The decor reminded me of either a haunted mini-golf or a Disneyland line, with a lot of animatronic spooks and skeletons, loud creepy noises and lighting effects.
We were split up into small groups for the main attraction. Our group was only four people due to logistics, so it really helped with the idea of us being alone and stranded. What I really liked about RoT is they dressed every 5-6 rooms or so with a different theme. There were themes like mining tunnels, a haunted house, an asylum, military testing/contamination, and a carnival. The beginning of each theme was broken up by an actor correcting any group bottle-necking in character, to maintain the illusion of being in a small group. Consisting of mainly jump-scares, the lighting was pretty low (unfortunate because I’d have like to have seen the props/details a wee bit better) to hide the actors from unsuspecting guests. The biggest scare for me is when they utilized overhead hiding places and grabbed at me from above. I thought that was very clever. They also had one of those tunnel walks, where the room around you spins as you walk across a bridge to the opposite door - very disorienting.
Ultimately, RoT didn’t stick with me like the interactive houses (Tension & 17th Door), but it was a reminder of how creative and fun the macabre Halloween can be.
