Earlier this year, I was ecstatic to find out that Universal Studios Hollywood was going to have an Alien vs. Predator maze for Halloween Horror Nights. Since I had already planned to go to Mickey's Halloween Party with friends, I couldn't go to HHN on the 26th of September (which was one of the cheapest days). And since I already had my work schedule all planned out for the entire month of October, I couldn't go any other day during that month either (plus most of the October event days were crazy expensive). So I at last opted to go on November 2nd, the very last day of HHN. I figured not a lot of people would be there since it was in November and not October. In addition, my younger sister NightAccio said that she and her friends were able to do all the mazes and some of the rides within the event time when they last went to HHN. So I thought I was set to have an easygoing night.
Boy, was I wrong.
The event was supposed to go on from 7PM - 2AM. Since USH was about a 45-minute drive from my house, I planned to leave around 5PM so I could have a bit of dinner in Universal City Walk before the event. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my event ticket at home about halfway through the drive and had to turn back and get it. >_< So I lost time to have dinner and ended up going to the event with an empty stomach.
No worries. Just means I won't throw up on anyone.
Anyhow, I exited off the freeway to find myself in a rather LONG line of cars to the parking booths. O_O I thought it was possibly just people going to Universal City Walk to have dinner and shop so I didn't think too much of it. Took me a while to get to one of the parking structures and even longer to get to Universal City Walk. Rushed through the City Walk and managed to get through USH security and the theme park gates by 7:44PM. (I got lost in the City Walk since I'm not used to going there on a regular basis, plus it was dark.) As I hurried through USH, I noticed a wait time board which said that the wait time for the Alien vs. Predator maze was already at 60 minutes! D8
Didn't have time to be bothered by actors in the scare zones so I booked it for the escalators to the lower lot (of course, the maze HAD to be in the lower lot of all places). Once there, I saw the signs pointing to the right of Transformers the ride. I thought I was getting close, until I turned the corner and saw a long line of people stretching far into the darkness. GOOD LORD.
Sped up my power-walking to try to get there as quick as I can. I did not expect to have to walk so far into USH to get to the maze, this was ridiculous. I couldn't go as fast as I wanted as the large volume of people going in the same direction slowed to a leisurely walk. In the meantime, I passed by another wait time board.
After about an hour of walking and power-walking, I finally made it to the line for the AVP maze at around 8:35PM! oTL Then began the long, agonizing wait to get to the actual maze. (People were being let into the maze a few at a time to have a proper experience of the maze so it took a while to get people through.) In the meantime, I was forced to watch trailers and stuff being projected on screens around the waiting area to pass the time. (They kept airing Chucky content, which I hate so I had to keep averting my eyes whenever it came on.)
FINALLY, at long last, I entered the AVP Maze!
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| SPOILER |
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| I liked the initial buildup where you enter a forest and discover a Predator ship has crash-landed. Going through the ship, I started getting a little excited when I saw the Predator body because it made me think there was going to be a Predalien somewhere in the maze. I was soon outside the ship, which made me sad because I thought the entire maze was going to take place in the ship. The next thing I know, I was in the forest again and heading for a random house in the middle of the forest. This scenario didn't appear in either AVP movies so I don't know what USH dragged this out of, but it certainly felt like a recycled set from another past maze.
Walking through the house, you start to see the beginning of an Alien nest with the inhabitants already having chestbursters coming out of their imprisoned bodies. Then you turn the corner and you're in a girl's room that somehow managed to escape becoming part of an Alien nest. O_o Not only that, the victim was in bed screaming with about 80% of her body gone, having supposedly been nibbled away by an Alien poking through her window. This scene alone just ruined the experience for me. (If your body is 80% gone, you should be long dead, not screaming for help. In addition, Aliens don't frickin' nibble on their victims' bodies like that, they jump right on top of you and rip your face off.) So at that point, I thought the maze was a lost cause for me. That was until I entered the backyard area where a HUGE Alien Queen was towering over us screeching for blood. Although she didn't lunge at us, which would've been pretty neat and a great finale to the maze, I still was impressed that they managed to fit a hulking Alien Queen into this maze somehow. So I give them props for that, I guess. At the end of it all, I felt that there was too much Alien presence and not enough Predators presence. There were supposed to be 4 Predators scattered throughout the maze, but I only saw 3 of them in my walkthrough. I don't know if it's because the last one wasn't there or because he skipped scaring me, but it was pretty disappointing for a Predator fan like me to not see enough of them. After watching the Universal Studios Orlando version of the AVP maze, I felt even more disappointed because their maze had you walk through a military base under siege from the Aliens and the Predators. Plus, the Predators there were much more in character than the ones I encountered. Although our maze did have an Alien Queen whereas the Orlando maze didn't. Still, there was no Predalien to be found so that Predator body at the beginning made me feel gypped. Overall, the maze could've and should've been much better. |
I got out of the maze around 10PM and had to rush back to the entrance to leave since I had planned to leave around 10 because I had work in the morning the next day. As such, I couldn't afford time to check out the American Werewolf in London maze nor the Terror Tram, which I wanted to do. Sucks, 'cause a lot of people said the American Werewolf in London maze was pretty well-done. Mimicked scenes from the movie and everything. I wish I had time to go in there. :<
A video walkthrough by someone else (not for the squeamish).
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