This year they've listened to guests and brought back The Walking Dead for another go around and while I typically would say that doing the same thing two years in a row is dangerous and lazy, it seems they're taking things to a whole new level. How you ask? Good question...
To celebrate Season 4 of the show, they're going back to Season 3 and recreating Woodbury. Yes, you heard that right...the West Georgia Correctional Facility is going to be brought to life. Every detail being painstakingly recreated for guests to experience, the inside now overrun with walkers.
This is ambitious and unlike Top Gear, I hope it doesn't turn out to be rubbish. There's quite a bit they can do with a prison setting and while they've done similar things in the past, including the "walker-infested wilderness that surrounds the prison and into the seemingly utopian town of Woodbury where gruesome secrets are concealed" sounds like it'll be one helluva time.
Here's the official announcement video:
However, that's not all Universal is doing as they're going an extra step (or a few hundred as it were) to theme every single scarezone at Universal Orlando around The Walking Dead as well. Thousands of walkers and even including the perilous city of Atlanta and Hershel’s dismal barn into the mix. This is a gutsy move and it seems like the show is the backbone for everything this year.
“The goal is always to surround guests with authentic and terrifying experiences,” said Michael Aiello, Creative Development Director for Universal Orlando’s Entertainment team. “The combination of ‘The Walking Dead’ themed street experiences and the haunted maze will make it difficult for our guests to escape the hordes of ravenous walkers they’ve seen on their television. The moment you pass through our gate, you become a survivor fighting for your life.”
Sure we've had the Cabin in the Woods and Evil Dead announcements in the past couple of weeks, but this seems to be the central theme. Why else would everything outside all the other houses be based on one property? I can't think of a reason...but every year they do seem to have a central theme to base things around. Sometimes it's not always known what exactly it is to most people, but there's no way that they don't realize it this year!
That said, Universal Hollywood isn't laying down here on this one as their Terror Tram attraction is also going to be themed to The Walking Dead as well. Always a highlight of their HHN event, it should prove to be quite the unique experience and creative director John Murdy seems excited to bring it to the masses:
“What’s great about working with a property like ‘The Walking Dead’ is that each season presents new environments and characters for us to draw inspiration,” said John Murdy, Creative Director for Universal Studios Hollywood. “With the prison as the main setting of Season 3, we seized this opportunity to recreate that very environment, down to the last detail, to be as genuine and authentic to the show as possible. Using movie-quality production value, our goal is to make guests feel as if they are mired in the world of blood-thirsty zombies, which is something you can only do at ‘Halloween Horror Nights.’”UPDATE: A behind the scenes look at The Walking Dead: Dead on Arrival and more at Universal Hollywood!
So, it looks like they're bringing back the houses and amping things up to 11 for The Walking Dead mazes, scarezones and attractions. However, there has been quite a lot of criticism online about the decision as many didn't think that last year's offerings were that great or that there are "better" options out there which should've been done in it's place. Among those is Insidious as well as Dead Space (don't see that one happening to be honest) and while I can see how they'd work...they're just not big enough. The Walking Dead along with the other maze announcements for this year have been and continue to be hugely popular. So, if you're going to go with TV and movies as the basis for your event, why not go with the biggest and most insane?
As always, stay tuned for more announcements as they come for Halloween Horror Nights 2013!
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