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Post by wolfblood on Jun 20, 2018 12:25:57 GMT -8
Well this is a new one, I'm making the thread for this year's Scarywood and it's only June. But this isn't a case of getting it out of the way early, as there's actual confirmed info on what's to come this year!
My parents just got back from a trip to Silverwood, and at the park they have a nice little newsletter about the 30th, some backstory and tidbits of the park's history, improvements to the park etc...and a page with the article of "Scarywood Has Big Plans". An' it includes this excerpt.
"For 2018, some crowd favorites will return, like the maze of Blood Bayou, the panic-inducing Total Darkness and 3Dementia. But one new treat will be Pharaoh's Curse, a Egyptian-themed adventure, which will replace Caved-In."
So Blood Bayou, Total Darkness and 3Dementia are returning, and the terrifying Caved-In is being replaced by the brand new Pharaoh's Curse. A little more info about this new haunt.
"Some details are under wraps, but visitors will experience state-of-the-art scary special effects, including a haunted temple and other fast-moving elements.
"There will be action scenes that guests will be in the middle of, lots of suspense, a fast pace, and some claustrophobia thrown in," he said (Chris Russell, FX Director.) "People will feel like they're in a movie - but a scary movie. We're trying to bring back the crowd focus."
Adding to the experience will be an original musical score and accurate Egyptian designs. "We've been pulling Egyptian reference material for months, including studying lots of National Geographic's," Russell said. "We started work on this one even before last year's show opened."
While it's a bummer losing Caved-In since that gave me some of the hardest hitting scares I've gotten in a haunt, I'm -very- excited for Pharaoh's Curse since I love Egyptian themes. There's a lot of fun potential there and if done well, it can come off as a demented Indiana Jones-esque adventure.
That's it for now, I'll post more info whenever it may pop up. (Also, while it wasn't announced, Planet Zombie is most likely returning as my Parents relayed they saw the sets for it still up.)
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Post by jspider on Sept 11, 2018 13:33:49 GMT -8
I'm angling to finally make another return Scarywood visit. I still haven't seen Planet Zombie so it'll be two new things for me.
I loved Caved In but I felt that while its scares were hard hitting it lacked a strong sense of location or identity. It's a really fun monster rush mode but if Pharaoh's curse can have the scares of Caved In with a higher sense of location I'll be really happy. I missed the Anceint Ruins haunt so I can't really cross compare them but I've long missed Terror Canyon which I thought was a great outdoor haunt (though it did start to get old as the years ticked on).
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Post by wolfblood on Sept 12, 2018 16:19:09 GMT -8
I'm angling to finally make another return Scarywood visit. I still haven't seen Planet Zombie so it'll be two new things for me. I loved Caved In but I felt that while its scares were hard hitting it lacked a strong sense of location or identity. It's a really fun monster rush mode but if Pharaoh's curse can have the scares of Caved In with a higher sense of location I'll be really happy. I missed the Anceint Ruins haunt so I can't really cross compare them but I've long missed Terror Canyon which I thought was a great outdoor haunt (though it did start to get old as the years ticked on). Welcome back, jspider! An glad to hear it! I'm intrigued on hearing about Pharaoh's Curse since there's a good amount of potential for that kind of theme. Also, the event did reveal one more new addition to Scarywood. The Log Flume will be open this year! Here's the desc. "NEW for 2018 - Travel down Roaring Creek through the eerie night. This time of year, the drop might not be the only thing to be scared of. (Weather Pending)"I'm definitely curious how much the log flume will be plussed/haunted, so do ride that if you can to report on it. (I'd gladly go on it, though for this year I've already made plans to visit Orlando...)
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Post by jspider on Oct 15, 2018 12:59:57 GMT -8
I'm back from my trip this year. Very happy with the event overall. I didn't do a single ride though, I forgot that you have to prioritize Timber Terror early on or give up all hope of riding it. Kinda amazed that Spincycle and even the flatrides were also getting some substantial waittimes. I even saw a good queue going for Corkscrew.
I can't actually point to any major standouts in quality this year but I'm actually going to say it's a good thing. Scarezone improvements over the years have really lead to the entire park really feeling like a solid Halloween experience all the way through.
Blood Bayou is roughly the same but it didn't look as rough as I remembered it looking back in 2014 when I visited last. I'll always miss some of its lost features but I had alot of fun with it just operating like normal. I noticed they've decommissioned the elevator sequence which is also fine as I never completely understood the purpose of it in the overall pacing of the attraction. (When I went to the PnE two years ago they had a cool simulator type elevator sequence that was much more impressive and the sort of thing Scarywood could look to incorporate if they ever decide to bring an elevator sequence back).
Pharoh's Curse was exactly what I wanted it to be and its prop work and execution makes it both unique and yet also something of a technical equal to even attractions like Blood Bayou in my opinion. They've got a great animatronic Pharaoh statue that reminds me a bit of Omeck from Legends of the Hidden Temple at the start. The walls are all very well decorated the actors are well hidden and the scares were setup great. Sure it' isn't just the monster gauntlet that Caved In was but I think the overall experience is much more memoriable and repeatable than Caved In and is much more in line with the very memorable Terror Canyon.
I'm sure most people here have already done Planet Zombie but this was my first year. I really like the video setup and story while waiting in the queue and the sets were great. I can kinda see werhe some people on facebook were noting that the attraction felt short though I didn't really feel there were length issues. The center portion of the attraciton where Buzz is firing at Zombies is great in scale and design and is probably the most impressive part of the attraction. I really like the destroyed area and set design though if I could suggest an improvement it'd probably be to create some sort of finale sequence to the attraction and perhaps consider augmenting the audio for some of the Zombies at least in the shootout sequence as the gun is so load it can overpower the effect of any other element of the scene.
Total Darkness was great. Not sure what I can say on it it is what it is and I got completely lost and seperated from my group with one member gtting stuck in there for quite a while and we all loved it. 3Dementia also had no real big changes but it's certainly great fun. I'd still like small things like bubbles added back to it if possible or some other visual gags but I'm not going to fault it.
Finally I saw the magic show which was also great fun and really kept it feeling like I was immersed in the event even when taking a break and just having some Pizza.
I was just overall impressed that nothing really felt amiturish or as though it were in beta. Every elemeent of the event shines with a high level of polish and execution and each attraction does well with its unique eleements so nothing feels redundant. I'd contrast it with the PnE's haunt experience I went to a few years ago where they certainly had more set pieces and haunted houses but there were too many animatronics or other elements that ended up diluting the quality of the event and effectiveness of scares. Scarywood has added more in terms of animatronics and robots but they all work exactly where and how they should.
Oh yeah I didn't do the Log Flume mostly cause it got so cold the very idea of getting even a tiny big of water on me kinda scared me from it. I still like that it is open and an option. I really think the park could benefit from some of those giant dryer type things some parks have added to their raft/river cruises. In an event like Scarywood I'd risk it more if there were an easy dry off center I knew I could hop into.
Really the only things the park could benefit from are just other capacity angles to get more throughput for the rides so that maybe I could speckle in at least a coaster ride or two for the event but we all know that's a lot bigger and more intensive investment and also not really a Scarywood deal.
I'm just very happy with the event overall and as long as the rotation of themes or ideas keeps things fresh I'll always be coming back when I can make it.
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Post by skinnyguy on Oct 23, 2018 5:04:50 GMT -8
Wow sounds like a great visit, jspider! Glad to hear that everything is running well. Curious - how was the line for the log flume - was it busy all night or was it usually pretty empty? I have always wanted to see that turned into a haunt of some sort (the log flume at Knott's has always been a favorite of mine from Knott's Scary Farm), so I'm curious as to whether people seemed interested. I assume the water cannon was disabled???
Glad to hear the Magic Show was good too. Was it similar to the summer show or was it really different this time? Back in Scarywood's first year, I remember he did a magic show and it was basically the exact same show as the summertime one, but with one "jumpy" scare moment.
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Post by jspider on Oct 26, 2018 23:29:05 GMT -8
Wow sounds like a great visit, jspider! Glad to hear that everything is running well. Curious - how was the line for the log flume - was it busy all night or was it usually pretty empty? I have always wanted to see that turned into a haunt of some sort (the log flume at Knott's has always been a favorite of mine from Knott's Scary Farm), so I'm curious as to whether people seemed interested. I assume the water cannon was disabled??? Glad to hear the Magic Show was good too. Was it similar to the summer show or was it really different this time? Back in Scarywood's first year, I remember he did a magic show and it was basically the exact same show as the summertime one, but with one "jumpy" scare moment. There seemed to always be people riding it but there also never seemed to be much of a line and I definitly saw empty logs going by as the night went on. I really wanted to try it out but the idea of riding it became less and less appealing as the night went on. I think if the park could get one of those dryer type contraptions I've seen at the exits of some raft rides it'd probably get more interest in the flume ride but I REALLY appreciate that it was included. I'm a bad persont o ask about a comparison of the magic show. I hadn't actually sat through the show in years so alot of things were new to me in general, like all the gears and computer screens, I haven't really sat through the Magic Show since I was much younger. It seemed short but perfectly paced for my meal. It felt like a great way to keep me engaged in the event at every moment even if I was getting a slight respite from walking around or being in various lines.
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