As Haunt Season Begins, We Say Goodbye to a Few Old Friends.
Yesterday’s in-park mission was to get a few new pictures of the Carey sign from the All-Nite-Die-In scarezone.
As I walked around I couldn’t help but reminisce about the different mazes and scarezones that have been in this area over the years.
It was truly a bittersweet day at Universal Studios Orlando, as it was the last operating day of Disaster! A Major Motion Picture Ride … Starring You! Us Haunters know that the overflow queue for this ride has been used for many a maze. One of my favorite experiences in this area was during HHN 22, where this was The Walking Dead Scare Zone. The bottleneck it created made it impossible at night to tell who was a zombie and who wasn’t until it was too late to run away!
I was a little bummed when the extended queue wasn’t available for pictures yesterday. The Team Member working outside said it was because of HHN and needing to keep guests away from the entrance of this year’s RUN maze, but I really wish they would have made an exception. When JAWS closed a few years ago, the staff let me have full access to all areas and I took a ton of pictures.
Oh well, I was able to snap some decent photos from the closest vantage point.
I have always had a soft spot for this ride. Yes, it was cheesy but it had a lot of heart. I am sure it will be fun, but I doubt any new Fast & Furious attraction will be able to endear itself to its audience the way Disaster! did. As I moved from the live filming area to the subway train I was able to snap a photo of the team members that were present to give the attraction its final farewell, and you can tell they felt the same way.
Not exactly Haunt news, I know, but many of us were huge fans and will miss it. This also takes away a common HHN maze location, so we’ll have to see how the team at Universal compensates for it in the coming years.
Another fan favorite, Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Revue, is also closing to make room for new attractions. For those of us who are long-time Universal-goers, changes to the park certainly hit you in the feels. But it’s important to remember that the park is merely “moving on” to bigger, newer things FOR us. And for that we should not only be supportive but also excited for the future!
To tie it all together, here is me as the hunky man rocking my Legendary Truth Strengoit Hat:
Until next time – Spook Easy.
Johnny Bronto, HauntScene Team.