AggroCast — The Universal Horrors Are Unleashed [Episode Nineteen]

TRANSCRIPTION

Raymond Bruels: Hi. Thanks for tuning in to the AggroCast. This is Ray.

David Hades Becker: This is David.

RB: And today, we are talking about the Universal Horror Unleashed here in Las Vegas.

DHB: Yep. Uh, the brand new year-round Halloween Horror Nights that Universal is bringing here.

RB: And we have been talking about this thing for months now as they have been working on it, building it. It’s over by Area…

DHB: Ar- Area 15.

RB: …15.

DHB: I had to drive by it almost four or five times every week. So I got to watch it being a dirt lot, which use- used to be one of the best, uh, mini golf courses we had here when I was growing up.

RB: But it’s right over there by the Omega Mart.

DHB: Yes.

RB: So if you’re coming into town, hit the Omega Mart, and then you can get to Horror Unleashed.

DHB: Not as easily as you think. Well, yes and no. So it’s close, but they had to build a tram.

RB: Oh.

DHB: So there’s a tram system that, it’s free to go between the two buildings, but-

RB: Is it themed?

DHB: No, well-

RB: (gasps)

DHB: …it’s themed more for Area 15 than it is Horror Nights-

RB: Okay.

DHB: …because they have the new Area 15 District. So they have three different buildings that are the same size as Area 15, one of them just happens to be Universal Horror, and then there’s the one that has the giant airplane that they pulled from Burning Man, and that’s gonna have a bunch of bars and other things in there. Then they have another one that’s gonna have, like, two different escape rooms, a Nacho Daddy.

RB: Oh.

DHB: Like, a whole bunch of stuff there. But they also built a parking garage specifically for this.

RB: I’m gonna have to go back, because it’s been a while since I’ve been to Omega Mart and I didn’t have a chance to go to the Horror Unleashed.

DHB: Yeah. So, so when you see Horror Unleashed, ’cause you can see that from the freeway-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …the building to the left of it, that’s one of the other buildings, and then there’s a building hidden behind it that’s a whole other building that’s the same size as the Omega Mart, and then behind that is a, like, seven, eight-story, uh, parking garage they had to build just for all this.

RB: So it’s just a complex? Wow.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: All right.

DHB: Well, they’re calling it the Area 15 District.

RB: Oh. Neat. Okay. Well, hopefully they’re gonna build some other things in there to really just-

DHB: Well, uh, they’re supposed to have a soft launch for everything the day that Horror Unleashed opens to the public, which will be August 14th.

RB: Oh, shit. Okay.

DHB: Yeah, it’s, it’s coming up fast.

RB: Yeah. All right. So I’m gonna walk through this with you ’cause I want your experience.

DHB: Okay. My experience.

RB: So you get there-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: So we have done a lot of these kind of themed activation, like, things, ’cause we did one for Stranger Things, we did one for Beetlejuice.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: And usually there’s some kind of outside experience or there’s some kind of, like, teaser on the outside. Is there anything like that?

DHB: Um, there’s a couple of things outside, but I don’t know if it’s specifically for Horror Unleashed. They have a couple, like, uh, there’s, like, an ice cream truck that I think they’re gonna open up and actually sell frozen lemonades and all that stuff out of that. And it feels, w- looks similar to the truck from Jeepers Creepers-

RB: Okay.

DHB: …but it’s not specifically. It’s like maybe there’s some IP issues.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: But picture that, but selling, like, ice cream and stuff.

RB: Okay.

DHB: That’s out front. There’s a couple other weird, like, photo ops to do out there, but that feels like it’s more for the district area, not for Horror Unleashed. ’Cause as you walk up there, the, the premise behind it is this warehouse is containing all of these horror things that are crossing over into our dimension. So it’s like, that’s why it looks like there’s blast doors when you’re walking in where it says Horror Unleashed, and that’s where you first walk in is you go into these blast doors. And that’s just to get you in line, go through security, and all that stuff, and if you haven’t bought tickets, buy tickets and all that.

RB: That’s probably generally sanitized, the-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …the security area? So you walk through the security area, and then you get into maybe a main area?

DHB: So, so you walk through security and they put you in a, into another kind of line queue, ’cause when you buy your tickets you’re supposed to go at a certain time. And, like, I wanna say it’s, like, every 20 minutes to kind of help keep the flow going. I mean, th- they do the same thing at Omega Mart, but what I found is that’s just your time to show up. It’s not, you don’t have, like, an hour before you have to leave. And I’ll get into that in a, uh, later on. But, so there’s a little line queue, that’s where they go, “Okay, get…how many people in your party?” That’s where you recollect everybody from security. They scan all your tickets, and then they let you guys in in waves on that. ’Cause as you walk in, you run into one of the pers- quote unquote “personnel” from the warehouse and they start telling you this meta story, which is how you find out these horror worlds are, like, bleeding into the real world and they’re trying to keep it contained. And that builds in and then there’s a couple of jump scares as you’re walking down the hallway. And as you get down to the end of the hallway, that’s when you’re brought into the area where Universal Monsters, uh, wher- where that haunt is, but that’s the first themed area where it opens up. And you have to walk by a vampire queen and her vampire court. And while you’re in there, like, you have vampires flying around, like actors actually on strings flying around above you.

RB: Oh, wow.

DHB: Uh, people interacting with you and, like, trying to tell you stories and all that stuff. And then you can go through a whole ceremony where you meet the vampire queen, and i- it’s just a photo op, but they, th- the actors lean into it.

RB: So in that area, how many act you say were in that area?

DHB: So in that first little area, I’d count maybe 12 to 15.

RB: Holy cow.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: And I mean, that- that’s also including scare actors-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …’cause there’s a couple people who are just kinda, like, off in the wings or standing there like statues j- just to jump out at people. The- there is one that’s kind of tucked in, like, that’s designed to get you as you w- walk in to kind of set the tone. But, and that’s just that one little area right there.

RB: Okay. So you get through that area, and then, ’cause I know that they’ve talked about food and, like beverages-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …as well as the mini haunts.

DHB: So on- once you get through there, like, it kind of just opens up into a giant warehouse at that point. And you can kinda see all the other areas, and they’re each a little themed. Like, I wanna say, like, the Universal Monsters is kinda like a paranormal kind of theming. So even though they leaned further into, like, the ancient kind of paranormal stuff, that’s kind of the theme there. And then you have the, the Boiler, which is kind of the technology-

RB: Whoa.

DHB: …that’s making the, the rips happen. And that’s kind of like the main central bar. So, and that’s kind of where the first little food option happens. Then there’s the Slasher area, which is over where Texas Chainsaw is at. And in these areas they have different themed characters walking around as scare actors or to interact, tell this further story, like, which, like, I learned most of the story when I got to the Slasher area ’cause there was s- a warehouse worker that had just claw marks all over her face like she just got knifed up, and she’s, like, whispering me to come over to her corner and she’s trying to tell me things and as soon as one of the scare actors, like, clocks it, she goes and runs away type of thing.

RB: So we had Universal Horror Monsters-

DHB: Yes.

RB: …Texas Chainsaw.

DHB: Yes. And then right after that you continue further down. Like, in, in Texas Chainsaw they had a, like a barbecue, like, kinda quick grab food and drink thing. And then there’s The Exorcist: Believer kind of in a, like, little, I w- I wanna say a hallway, but at the same time it’s kind of too open to be a hallway. And that’s where that is, and that’s kind of set up similar to kinda, like, one of those, like, uh, Mexican, like, shopping center type things.And they have actors and all that, jumping out and j- uh, scaring people as well. And that’s where Exorcist is. And then you le- lean around the corner, and that’s kind of where the, the big show, the Jack and Chance show is at. And they have that set up as, like, a carnival theme, where they have the actual bar for the Jack and Chance thing and then the sit-down restaurant, the Premiere, which is kind of, like, Blumhouse-related. And then the last haunt over there is Scarecrow, The Reaping.

RB: Okay. So a pretty good opening volley of horror.

DHB: Yeah. Like, it, I mean, it’s, it’s not massive. Like, it, um, as the, uh, the video I, I have, I took of it, you can get from the front and kind of walk the entire area, in a, in a general pace, in about five minutes. But you’re getting bombarded by things left and right. The actors lean into their stuff.

RB: So lots of engagement.

DHB: Yes.

RB: All right, so let’s talk about the, the haunts themselves.

DHB: Okay, so the haunts themselves, there’s, there’s a couple of things. The first one I’m going to mention is they have some issues with timing. And it’s more of a management thing. When I showed up there, the only haunt that was open was Texas Chainsaw.

RB: Oh, wow.

DHB: And I was like, “Okay, maybe, like, they had issues or something like that.” But as I was standing in line, overhearing security, they had put all the actors on break, except for Texas Chainsaw. So of course, massive line to go into Texas Chainsaw. And then when you were done, obviously the, the haunt only took, like, four or five minutes, and then the actors were back. So everything was kind of shut down.

RB: That’s a staging and timing issue, like you said.

DHB: Yeah, exactly. They, like, it was a management thing. And, like, I literally sat around, which is how I got some of the video and all that stuff, just kind of wandering around. Like, I got time. But then, at the same time at the haunts, the actors were told not to break character at all. So I would ask, “Hey, how long is it until it’s gonna be open?” And I’d get this vague thing of like, “Oh, when we recollect the monsters,” or something like that, or-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …“once we clean up all the butchery.” So I’m like, “Okay, but what time should I be back?”

RB: (laughs)

DHB: And they, and they couldn’t tell. And part of, you know, they don’t want to give me a definite time to come back. I’d be like, “You told me five minutes.”

RB: Did they have general workers moving about?

DHB: So they had a couple general workers, a couple general, like, uh, bartenders as well. Because it was a soft open, they also had, it looked like some of the management team running around everywhere. But even then, like, no, very little communication on things. ’Cause like, there was one time I was talking to, like, a bartender, and she’s like, “Oh, why are you just sitting here? Why aren’t you going to do anything?” I’m like, “Everything’s closed.” And she’s like, “Really?” I’m like, “Yeah.” She’s like, “You just got here.” And I’m like, “Yeah, everything’s closed.” And I’m like, “I’m waiting.” And I’m, like, sitting in a place where I could see both Texas ch- I could see Texas Chainsaw at Universal and Exorcist, going, “Okay, which one’s gonna open the line?” And then out of nowhere, I’m like, “(gasps) Universal!” And I rush over there. So that was my bigger gripe on that. There’s a couple others I’ll mention once we’re going through, though.

RB: All right, so you know that I love the Universal horror. Every time we go to Horror Nights-

DHB: Yes.

RB: …that’s like my jam.

DHB: That is.

RB: So what was that like?

DHB: So wa- walking in, and this is where I’ll say Uni- you could definitely see the highlights of Universal Studios. Walking into, like, the general line to get in, the entire pathway’s themed until you actually go into the haunt. So i- it’s themed like you’re walking into, uh, Van Helsing’s crypt, and you’re seeing his trophies on the wall as you’re going, getting in line to go into the actual haunt itself.

RB: Oh, nice. All right, so if you’re listening, we’re gonna start treading into some spoiler area.

DHB: Yes.

RB: So if you’re really not into spoilers, I would recommend, you know, cutting to the end of the, the podcast or go-

DHB: Just randomly skipping ahead.

RB: Yeah. Because I, we’re gonna, we’re gonna dig into some of the, the haunts themselves and those experiences.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: So you get through Van Helsing’s trophy room.

DHB: Yes, and then, and that’s just the line. So you, like, walk by his little crypt, and there’s, like, trophies and all that stuff, and, like, uh, busts of all the s- of the Universal monsters. Which, fun, and cool. It’s kind of engaging. There’s no, no actors working the line. And I think that’s just another one of those, there’s no room to do it. But you get up there, and then, unlike Universal, they’re letting people in party waves instead of, like, just groups. Like, uh, y- in Halloween Horror Nights, it’s like, “Oh, the next 40 people get to go in.” This one is, “How many in your party?” You tell them, and then they wait 30 seconds and go, “Okay, how many in your party?” So it’s pushing-

RB: (laughs) So they’re keep, they’re keeping the conga lines down.

DHB: Yes.

RB: Or they should be.

DHB: For the most part, it ha- it was. But at the same time, there’s the human element of some people don’t walk too fast, or some people walk too fast.

RB: Was there anybody inside the haunts to help kind of direct people’s movement?

DHB: There was nobody else inside the haunts except for the scare actors-

RB: Wow.

DHB: …and, and the part- participants.

RB: Okay.

DHB: Which brings into one of the gri- gripes of, there was many times where I was walking at a normal pace to go through everything, and I’d have e- people rush up behind me. And then now I’m the asshole going too slow, or I’d have people in front of me who were going way too slow, and now I’m kind of butting into their experience.

RB: That scares me for the actors if there’s not anybody overseeing those rooms ’cause what happens with security issues?

DHB: And, and that’s one of the, one of the things I ran into a few times in there. And I’m not gonna go into too many details on it, but, like, each room, each area has cameras, so there’s security watching. But there’s nobody in there in the instance if somebody’s gonna, like, poke, uh, some of the mannequins, touch some of the props, or touch some of the actors. And I did see some of that happen and caught some of it on video.

RB: Oh, wow.

DHB: So which, which sucks because the actors in there are told not to break character.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: So if somebody’s, like, in one of the haunts, I watched somebody literally go up and touch one somebody who’s kind of standing as a statue. And they couldn’t, they weren’t allowed to move to react until it was the time for them to jump out and do the scare.

RB: One, in haunt etiquette, you’re not supposed to touch the props or the actors.

DHB: Correct. And, like, in one of the instances, I had to, I got verbal with somebody because there was nobody in there to get verbal with any of the patrons. And granted, later on, those patrons now are permanently banned ’cause they caught them on video, and then I had my video to share what they were doing. So there’s, like, a, a few people that can’t come back there now, and it hasn’t even officially opened. So security’s kind of taking it serious, but there’s nobody in there to do that or to help usher people through if they’re going too slow.

RB: Tool bags. This was friends and family, right?

DHB: Correct, yeah.

RB: To be associated with somebody that works in the facility or to have, have a connection through friends to be able to go and see this experience before it opens to the public and be a dickhead about it-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …that’s really sad.

DHB: Correct. I mean, thankfully, it didn’t happen in the Universal Monsters. It happened in one of the other ones. So we can, we’ll get back on topic now.

RB: Yeah. So Universal Monsters, generally they lean into, you know, Dracula or Frankenstein. One of the, the-

DHB: So, so this one was Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Wolf Man, Bride of Frankenstein.

RB: They tossed ’em all in.

DHB: Phantom of the Opera.

RB: Wow.

DHB: Yeah, Igor, everything. They had ’em all in there. It was so cool to see. And as you’re going through, you’re walking, walking through, and you could feel, like, like, in Horror Nights how they had, like, the giant plastic tarps or whatever-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …to separate, this one, each one had theming. So, like, if you walked through a curtain, it felt like you were walking into Dracula’s den, or you’re walking into, like, the Creature from Black, Black Lagoon, you’re walking through a bunch of reeds that are hanging there. So, so it was like they themed all of that so you knew kind of where you were going and then lean into that even more in the actual haunt area.

RB: And how was the set dressing? Did it really, was it great production value?

DHB: Oh, the production, it was the same production value you, you’d see at Universal Studios in, uh, Orlando or in Hollywood.

RB: Okay.

DHB: So, I mean, from what I understand, they grabbed a, a bunch of people from both of those locations to do the set dressing as well as a bunch of the stuff they had left over from some of those places.

RB: Okay.

DHB: So we’ll probably see some reused props and all that stuff.

RB: Yeah. So just looking at the Universal, how long of an experience was it?

DHB: So Universal Monsters was about three minutes and 30 seconds, uh, which, I mean, doesn’t sound too long, but depending on how scared you get.

RB: Mm-hmm.

DHB: I was going at just my normal, normal walk pace, and I don’t get scared. So I’m, like, not jumping back or freezing or anything. But part of that also comes in that each haunt has a specific, uh, vignette they do where they lock you in a room, li- which is why they kind of are staggering people’s entrances, so that you have a s- personalized experience. And then this one, you have Doctor Frankenstein bringing Frankenstein to life. So they have this little scene that plays out where Frankenstein’s doing this pantomime to whatever soundtrack’s going on. And then he goes over and flips the switch, and you see what looks like an animatronic just shaking on the table. That’s an actor in a full thing. And that’s probably the rest of the jump is Frankenstein jumps off and comes right at you.

RB: That’s great.

DHB: And then, uh, Franken- the doctor runs over, opens the door, and then he ushers you through, shuts the door behind you so that the next crowd can come in. And they could reset the whole scene. And that, that’s, like, a good 20-second scene they play out. So it’s one of those you need to kind of-…time everything correctly so you don’t walk in on somebody either ending it or starting a new one.

RB: That’s cool. That’s cool.

DHB: Yeah. And the other big highlight I will say from that is, so you go through all that and then they lean into the black and white era, where you walk in and somehow with the lighting, and even the, the set dressing, it feels like you’re walking through some of the black and white sh- uh, uh, scares. Or f- films.

RB: Yeah. The movie? Yeah, nice.

DHB: Including like, e- like the entire time leading up, like you have Dracula and he’s like the full regalia, blood dripping everywhere. Then you walk into that area and they’ve done it to where it looks like a black and white painting on him s- where you can still be like, “That’s blood,” but it’s black and white. So it’s really cool how they did that for the actors in there.

RB: Yeah. Well, that’s awesome.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: All right. So you, you got through the Universal one?

DHB: Yes. And then from there was Texas Chainsaw.

RB: Okay.

DHB: And that theming was kind of the walkway, uh, so you walk around, um, through the, like the cemetery. They have the, the van that the girl shoots herself in to lead up to the gas station diner.

RB: Okay.

DHB: And that’s kind of the entranceway. And then you go through there, and now you walk into there, the, like the, uh, you walk through there and like the cook comes out and attacks you. You walk in front of the h- the house, then you walk in and you see the iconic scene where Leatherface grabs the girl, and then comes out from under the stairs, all, all that kind of goes to lead into like, this is the first time like…So I kind of went out of order the way I did them. Texas Chainsaw was the first one I, and this is where I learned about the vignettes they do. Because I was walking by myself, I walk into his room, and it just looks like the dining room. And I’m like, “Door’s closed, door’s closed.” And I see if I walked around the table, there’s an open way. So I’m like, “That’s got to be the way I go.” By the time I get to the edge of the table, that’s when Leatherface comes running in from that hallway with a chainsaw and, to do the jump scare and everything, and then goes over to the table, like cuts the body up or whatever, turns to you, and by that point, one of the doors that looks closed pops open and that’s the way you’re supposed to go. So I was like, so confused. I was like, “Okay, that was cool-”

RB: All right.

DHB: “…because I was by myself.”

RB: So the chainsaw?

DHB: Yes.

RB: Was it smoking?

DHB: It was not smoking and none of them…The chainsaw was more of a audio cue from the-

RB: Okay.

DHB: …from the, uh, surround sound. Because they also look like they were the plastic ones you would buy at Spirit Halloween.

RB: Oh, wow. Okay.

DHB: But which, I guarantee, that’s for safety.

RB: Yeah. Well, because having, having the hot background, there are foam as well as, as resin material bar-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …uh, that holds the chain for the, for chainsaws that you can get, and you just install them like you would any other-

DHB: Well, I think this one because it, it’s all enclosed inside the building.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: They, I don’t think they could have any like ga- gas powered stuff in there.

RB: Well, and that’s why I was, I was asking about the smoke because I, I would…Yeah, I wouldn’t think that they’d want to smoke everybody out because that’s the problem with haunted houses-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …that we’ve had, is you go in, they’ve got usually two or three people with chainsaws and then it’s nothing but smoke and gas.

DHB: Yeah. Th- this one, it was all, if there was smoke and gas, it was literally, um, like fog machines.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: And they, and they did that in a few scenes because there was a couple other times where Leatherface would come running out with a chainsaw and then they would blast some fog to make it look like he was, he had something.

RB: Was, was the fog scented?

DHB: No.

RB: Okay.

DHB: Which, which they were supposed to have scents in that one and Exorcist Believer, but I don’t believe the technology was working because I didn’t smell a thing-

RB: Okay.

DHB: …outside of the generic chemical smell of the fog. Because we’ve d- because we’ve done the Texas Chainsaw and Exorcist Believer out at Hollywood and those had some stem- stench.

RB: Yeah. They’ve almost leaned too hard into those.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: I get it, you want something to smell like rotten meat or farts or whatever, but yeah, it gets to be too much when you’re walking through an area and that’s all you smell.

DHB: Well, and from what I’ve been told, it’s supposed…N- not to that level, but they’re supposed to have something.

RB: Okay.

DHB: But I didn’t smell anything in there.

RB: Yeah. But that, again, was that like the five-minute experience kind of thing?

DHB: That, that one was a, like a, that was probably one of the shorter ones, like three minutes, e- as long as I was going at my normal pace.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: I got slowed down a few times because I’d walk into other people’s stuff. And th- there was some weird timing with a bunch of things as well, like it felt like actors were jumping out after I’d walked by. So I don’t know if that was on me or, you know, obviously still a soft launch. They just hadn’t hit their cues correctly yet.

RB: Yeah. So like, o- one of the things that we’ve seen with Universal Studios in Hollywood, they usually have two or three actors dressed as the main villain character. Were there multiple Leatherfaces?

DHB: There was seven Leatherfaces, two cooks, three grandpas, and I want to say four hitchhikers.

RB: Wow. Okay. These things are stacked with actors.

DHB: Yes. Well, m- most of them are. Some of them kind of could use more actors.

RB: So let’s go from Leatherface to-

DHB: And that’s what I’ll…So I’ll jump ahead because the last one I did was Scarecrow and The Reaping.

RB: Yep.

DHB: That one definitely needed more actors and more work on their vignette. Because the actors that did their job, they nailed th- they, they nailed it, but inside the haunt. But…And, and that one’s just like kind of a generic scarecrows are coming and it’s, it’s where I first noticed the, uh, curtain theming because there’s one area you go in and like the story is like, one of the scarecrows went crazy and is like cutting people apart to make new ones. And you walk through and all you hear is ripping, and then when you walk through, all the curtains in there are like heavy, uh, furs. And that’s when you realize, “Oh, I’m walking through human skin.” And you hear ripping and all that stuff and they’ve got a couple actors that jump out. And that’s all to lead into like the big, big scare of the thing in there. And you walk out to a field, there’s like an outhouse, it feels like you’re walking into a cornfield and they’re supposed to simulate a tornado. But there’s so much fog and noise, I didn’t even clock there’s three actors in there with us because I didn’t even, I didn’t even see them and like one of them was literally standing next to me. Or in one of the walkthroughs I did, they didn’t even recognize that I walked in. They were just kind of staying there. I walked up behind them. (laughs)

RB: (laughs) Surprise!

DHB: And, yeah. And, and that, that scene went on a little too long every time I went in there because there was another one like in the Texas Chainsaw, you’d go through and the, a couple people scare you. One of the alleyways that looked like was the right way to go was where the actors are supposed to go behind the scenes and then one of the doors just pops open. I just kind of stood there looking around, even to the actors at one point, kind of like, “Okay, uh…” Because the door that I was standing behin- next to……pops open, but I’m like, standing there for a good 10 seconds before it even pops open and everything’s done. Felt like maybe you needed more to do that, or maybe some better planning there.

RB: Yeah, the timing was off.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: So one, one quick aside. So as you’re going through these different haunts, so we’ve covered Universal, Texas Chainsaw, and the Scarecrow one.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Were there ambient soundtracks or noise tracks for these haunts?

DHB: Uh, there, there were ambient soundtracks and, and a lot of stuff going on. Thankfully not over- overly loud like they usually are.

RB: Yeah. ’Cause in Hollywood, we get blasted.

DHB: Yeah. And I’m pretty sure it’s because th- the acoustics in the, in the building itself, ’cause it’s all inside and contained, probably do a good job of that so they don’t have-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …to blast it too loud. But at the same time, like there was a couple areas I had to walk through. Like s- for- specifically like the Scarecrow, you walk through an area where it feels like you’re walking through a silo and it should be dead silent. And it’s almost dead silent, except that you hear like birds pecking at the wall and you can kind of hear some of the ambient s- sounds from both ends, but they do a good job of muffling all that.

RB: And the scarecrows, how did they look? Did they look like Spirit of Halloween or did they actually look pretty good?

DHB: Some of them looked Spirit of Halloween, but a good chunk of them were actually pretty damn good.

RB: Okay.

DHB: And I would say the reason I bring up, like the needing more actors-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …there was a couple of good spots where I was like, “There should be an actor right there,” but it was an empty area. Or like there was another, another spot where I was like, “There’s two actors here. We don’t need two actors. Maybe spread it out or fill it in however you’d like.”

RB: Huh. Interesting.

DHB: Or, or even like one of the big scares, there’s like a perfect spot, like right near the end where it’s like you would have your main, like your Leatherface, if you had it.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: And they just kinda had a generic character sit- standing there. I’m like, “That’s where you put your fucking star.”

RB: Yeah.

DHB: And that would have scared the shit out of everybody ’cause it was a, uh, it was a mirror maze as well as a corn maze.

RB: Oh.

DHB: And it was a dark corner where there’s a strobe light. So you could just have that actor standing there completely still and no one would be able to clock it until it was too late.

RB: And that would have been a great pop scare. Yeah.

DHB: Yes. A- and right at the end, ’cause it’s at the…’cause right at th- right as you turn that corner, it’s a straight shot out. So that’s how you get that, that people screaming in fear, running out, because they run right out, right into the, the bar to scare everybody there, too. So it’d be a great work up. But again, that’s, that feels like a flow as well as a weird under-staffing of actors in that one.

RB: Huh. All right, and so the last one-

DHB: So-

RB: …was Exorcist.

DHB: So, so Exorcist, this one, this is the one that I’ll say it felt like they could have done more, so much more. Like it, it was probably one of my top ones if they had more actors. ’Cause the entire lead up to it is you’re walking through a me- like a Mexican marketplace, and it felt like there could have been actors hiding in just that area. Like there’s little booths where you could have just had somebody sitting there even just vamping with somebody while waiting in line, or s- other places where people could jump out. And they also leaned into that theming so well, but it’s like I didn’t even recognize. There was one time I was waiting 15 minutes in line, didn’t even clock it. Just felt like I was walking through. And then going through, each one of the areas outside of like the, the big f- like the first little big scare, there was so much, so many places they could have hid like another demon or another Exorcist kid, but they didn’t have it. And I don’t know if that’s just they didn’t have enough actors or what was going on.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: But they could have, they could have packed that. Uh, as well as the big, you know, the big scene they played, I’ll say they’re the ones who probably nailed it the best, ’cause they have one of the nuns standing there right in front of the door. And you can see it in my video, I’m kind of standing there for like a minute, like looking back and forth like, “Where do I go?” Because she just l- looks at me as like, “Not yet.” And she’s like playing with me through the curtain, and had I, had I not been ta- doing the video for the sh- for the, for, for our show, I would have played back with her. But she was pretty much keeping me there, and then all of a sudden, she opens up and brings me into the Exorcist scene, where they’re doing an exorcist and all that stuff. So they have a bunch of actors in there, and they have an area to where it’s like a nice horseshoe. You could probably fit 10, 10 patrons in there to watch this. And I go in there and like one other person who catches up to me, we’re in there, we kind of got a little private show. So she like ushers us over to a corner, we watch this thing, and they do one of my favorite things they do in the haunt where you have the…it looks like a solid wall then they turn the light on and everything. Satan shows up in there, and that’s when the kid actor like turns up and like starts screaming at you, that Possessed. And then, unlike the other places, they go, “Run, run, run,” and kind of usher you out. And that’s part of their soundtrack so they can rush you out before they shut the door again to set up for the next scene.

RB: That’s neat.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Okay. So it sounds like overall with these experiences, it’s really…they need to dial in the timing, the actor placement-

DHB: Oh, and the number of actors, ’cause th- that was the other thing in…So after that scene, I walked by a bunch of areas where it was like they had a little hideout where you could be like, “There should be an actor here.” There is no actor here. Like if…And it’s one of those, uh, even at Universal, uh, in Hollywood or Orlando, you’d be like, “That is where you would normally place an actor. Why is there this empty c- hallway here?”

RB: Yeah. Or even just like an animatronic or something-

DHB: Yeah, something-

RB: …to fill the space.

DHB: …or, or even, uh, a security guard, like one of the guys wearing black going, “Okay, keep moving, keep moving.”

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Like, but it was just a, an empty space. And I saw that more in, um, Exorcist.

RB: So out of the four, which was your favorite?

DHB: So I wa- definitely have to say the Universal Monsters one, ’cause even though, uh, on video it seemed short, that one felt like it was a 10-minute, like a full 10 minute. Like you felt a lot of experiences in there.

RB: Well, and I, I, I want to see this black and white room.

DHB: Oh, the black and wri- white room was…That, that was probably one of the cooler things because it was…I didn’t clock it till my second time going through that everything was black and white. So, and tha- that was fun. And then after that…Exorcist Believer, uh, even though it was understaffed-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …the way, the way they nailed the timing of the, the big vignette moment was so perfect every time. Like, ’cause I did that one four times. Every time I was, like, the same thing where I was like, either, “Hold it here,” or I showed up at the perfect time like, “Come in quick, quick, quick.” And then I got to watch the whole scene play out, and then ushered right out before they set up for the next one.

RB: So these tickets are timed?

DHB: Correct.

RB: And what is your…Do you get an hour?

DHB: So it’s not really you get an hour. So there’s, there’s two ti- two ticket types right now. You have the general…Well, technically three. You have a general tickets, which gets you access to each of the haunts once and access to the building for as long as you wanna be in there.

RB: Okay.

DHB: Then you have the s- same thing, locals price, it’s like $10, $15 off. Then the third ticket option is it’s like $100. You get unlimited time in all the haunts, and you show up at this specific time and then leave whenever you’re done. Uh, it’s kinda like the…They do the same thing at Omega Mart, and I think they do it to do the…They’re just trying to pace it. But if you show up at 4:00, like your ticket’s at 4:00, you can stay until midnight if you want to. Nobody’s kicking you out.

RB: Okay. All right. Covered the haunts.

DHB: Correct.

RB: Covered the, the timing, the lighting, the, the, the ambiance, the setting, the, the actors. One of the other things that they’ve really advertised with this is the food and drink.

DHB: Okay. Yeah, we could talk about the food and drink ’cause I, I have opinions.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: I, I’m not a foodie. I, I’m definitely a drinker, not a foodie. But at the same time, this feels like they’re suffering from they want to have strip prices, but not give you strip-quality food. ’Cause I tried a bunch of stuff and it looks fancy on the plate, but w- I think the best thing that I had was a, a pizza, uh, it was pretty much a pizza pocket in the shape of a skull, which I was like, “Okay, I gotta do that.” But it was, like, 12 bucks and maybe the size of…Like, s- it was smaller than a softball.

RB: All right. If we did the Super Mario World-

DHB: Correct.

RB: …at Universal and we did the caf- We’ve done the cafe a couple of times now.

DHB: And, and that’s what I was expecting, was something at the cafe, because even when we went back after press day for that, the food was still good. It wasn’t, wasn’t general cheap, like, theme park food.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Like, you felt like you were getting close to what you were paying for. This one, I…What was it? The other thing I had was a themed p- like, flatbread pizza based on Texas Chainsaw. Looked great, was done in the shape of a chainsaw. It tasted like something I would have had in high school and was like $18, $19.

RB: Damn, okay.

DHB: Yeah. Like, the, the dough was undercooked. There was, like, no sauce, no flavor. It was just like, “Well, my blood sugar’s going low, I better get some calories in,” and all that stuff.

RB: Wow. So-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …mediocre food.

DHB: Correct.

RB: How big were the menus?

DHB: The menus…So the menus weren’t that g- that large. It was like…So they, they have the Premier, which is their sit-down place and p- pretty much the drink menu is the same outside of there’s one specialty drink at each location. But the only place to get, like, real food at is the Premier, and this one’s themed, like, with all the different Blumhouse movies and all that stuff. There was four different appetizers, a couple salads, three flatbread pizza things, some taco options, and then a couple of desserts. Like, it was maybe tot- total of 20 items between all of that.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Like, I, I have, I have pictures of the menu. I’ll, I’ll post online.

RB: I wonder if you have to have reservations.

DHB: So they said, uh, they asked for reservations when I showed up. But at the same time, I was like, “I don’t have a reservation.” They’re like, “Oh, we can sit you tonight right now.” But when I was in there, there was also definitely a group of people that was like, I think they had a…they had to put tables together to do, like, a party of 12. So I wanna say it was like, i- if you’re doing a large party, I think it’s recommended. But for, like, a party of one, no, it didn’t, I didn’t need a reservation at all. It…This was also during soft open, so it wasn’t as open as it could be, so potentially in the future.

RB: Well, and that’s if you even wanted to engage with the food.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: If the food’s that mid?

DHB: Well, a- a- a- as I’ll recommend, probably eat before you get here, because yeah, the food, y- you’re gonna get charged the same price you would if you went to any of the strip places, so you might as well get decent-

RB: But not the quality.

DHB: Yeah, definitely not the quality.

RB: And then the beverages?

DHB: So the beverages, I will say, like, they, they were kind of the same thing with the strip prices. The only drawback I had with any of them, like, they were all delicious. They were all well done. Like, I had a couple of, uh, adult beverages as well and they definitely were strong. The theming was…There was no theming whatsoever. Like-

RB: What? What a wasted opportunity.

DHB: Yeah. Like, even, even, like, the n- in the menu, things are named. Like, I ordered one that was called the Blood Sucker. I’m expecting to get something that looked like it was a glass of blood. It was, like, some weird…Almost looked like guava lemonade. I was like, “You couldn’t have just done, like, grenadine around the outside to give it-”

RB: Yeah, kind of swirl or something, yeah.

DHB: Yeah, to make it…Or, or even, like, when, when we did Nightmare Cafe, like, they would put, like, vampire fangs and there was, like, a garnish, something like that. Like-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: It literally looked like exactly a drink you would buy off the strip, so-

RB: That’s a shame.

DHB: I…It was worth…I will say it was worth the money, but I was expecting some kind of theming, especially when you look at the restaurant. My pizza came out like a chainsaw. They had the skull, the skull, uh, pizza pocket. And then even, like, the, the chicken lollipops I had came on a shovel. Like, it was like they themed all of that. Why not do it for the drinks outside of the one signature drink at the, the b- main area called the Boiler? You could buy it. It was, uh, pr- pretty much a generic old-fashioned, but then they would do, uh, a smoke level on top and bring you this lantern so you can get a really cool Instagram picture. And then they would take the lantern away and then you’d have just a generic old-fashioned to drink.

RB: Okay. Food and drinks, not that great.

DHB: No.

RB: Merch.

DHB: Merch? Uh, so I didn’t buy anything ’cause I generally don’t buy much, uh, when we go to Universal in the first place. But they had, they had some fun options, leaning heavily into obviously the four main, main properties they have there, with…if rumors are correct, a tease that, of two other ones that they might bring in the future, ’cause they have talked about swapping, swapping them out to help keep it fresh. ’Cause you go and do all four haunts, you’ve kinda done them all. But they had, uh, brand new Chucky merch and brand new Psycho merch.

RB: Interesting, Psycho.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: ’Cause that’s not one that we’ve really seen much for.

DHB: No, even when we do, uh, Hollywood it’s just we could drive by on the, on the tram and that’s it.

RB: Yeah.But Chucky, Chucky’s always a fan favorite.

DHB: (laughs)

RB: So that, and they did a really good one for Horror Nights in, in Hollywood.

DHB: Yeah, which is kind of why I’m hoping that then that rumors are true, because the merch they had out there, I’ve never seen at, uh, Universal, uh, Hollywood before.

RB: Wow, okay.

DHB: So I’m kind of hoping that’s like, we’re gonna move some of that stuff that we did out there to, to revamp or whatever, ’cause I think the rumor I heard was every four months they want to change out some of the haunts.

RB: But custom merch.

DHB: Custom, yeah.

RB: And teasers for potential new haunts.

DHB: Correct. And, and a bunch of like, we had bags, they had note- notebooks, hats, sweaters. Like it’s the, the same stuff you would, uh, normally expect, nothing to write home about.

RB: Do you remember how much the tickets are?

DHB: Uh, f- normally it’s, uh, for if you’re a local, it’s 50 bucks. If you’re not local, it’s 60, 65 bucks.

RB: All right, so with all the experiences that we’ve gone to going to Horror Nights, do you think it’s worth the value?

DHB: In the current state, unless you really want to sit there and watch a bunch of shows while everything’s shut down, not really.

RB: Okay.

DHB: ’Cause I’ve, I watched all the shows, and they happened. Th- the performers did a great job, but it was nothing, you know, that kept my entertainment, uh, going for as long as it should for the price, I would say.

RB: Well, and what’s interesting, I reached out to them about press day, and the person I got a response back from seemed more tied to Area 15-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …than Universal. So I wonder how much of this Universal really is involved.

DHB: How much they ex- actually get to say over.

RB: Yeah. ’Cause from what you’re describing, some of it sounds like a Universal Experience, but not all of it.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Which is really, uh, disappointing.

DHB: It, it really is, ’cause I was expecting a lot more, or technically I was kind of expecting the haunts to be as long as we’d get out in, in Hollywood. Because at that point I’d be like, okay, I could see justifying, like, if you do it correctly, like 10 bucks a haunt.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: I could see that justification for a, for a local who only wants to do each one once.

RB: But you’re spending $50 to go in, go through five minutes, five-minute experiences. You’re going to be standing in line longer than the experience itself.

DHB: Sometimes.

RB: Sometimes.

DHB: Tho- though sometimes it took me, like, 30 seconds to get through there.

RB: Well, but I f- I figure when it’s live-

DHB: Oh, yeah, you’re probably gonna be spending good 15, 20 minutes in each.

RB: And then for a five-minute experience.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: And then the fact that they have the shows going on in the main area, that’s nice, but that’s not really what you’re there for.

DHB: No, like, and even the ones that like…So the Jack and Chance show, that one’s like a good, like, 15…And tha- that one has a bunch of crowd stuff. Like, it h- starts, starts in the bar where they just have a bunch of random dancers come out, and that’s like a good five-minute thing. And then out of nowhere, uh, the Chance character walks out and they, they bring “victims” like, “Oh, we’re going to sacrifice these people.” But then they actually choose people from the crowd to be like, “You’re going to be judges,” and all that stuff. And that takes a good couple minutes. Then they bring that to the main stage, which is where the main show happens, and then it’s a, more or less it’s a talent show between the two, you know, “victims” they have. And then people voting if that person gets to die or if they get to stay or whatever, or is it stay or slay as th- as they call it.

RB: So crowd participation.

DHB: Yeah, like, like, there’s that, but if you’re one of the four to five people they choose, awesome experience, but you have to be lucky to be one of those four or five people.

RB: Huh, that’s really sad.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Given how much we have been looking forward to this and the fact that they’ve been building this for months.

DHB: Correct, yeah.

RB: To have this kind of experience. I understand that it was a soft launch, and this was friends and family, so this was-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: They’re still probably working out the kinks.

DHB: Oh, e- easily. There, there’s some, but s- at the same time, there’s certain things you’re like, “Okay, there’s no way to fix this.”

RB: Yeah. Well, and when we have driven past it, it’s a big building.

DHB: It is, yes.

RB: So it makes me wonder why they’re not utilizing…

DHB: Lu- there, there’s so much more space they could be utilizing, e- even, like, if you look at some of the walkthrough.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: There’s areas that are just kind of empty, so I don’t know if there’s plans to use it in the future. But there’s oth- like, there was one person I felt bad for because unless you were using the bathroom, you never walked by their little haunt area, ’cause there was no reason to go to there, because it was…You had the, the premier food area. Right next to it was, like, their little area. So if you weren’t going in for food, you could walk there. Then there was the employee entrance and exit, and then bathrooms. Other than that, there was no other reason to go. This is where this one person is standing to do their little scare thing. I’m like, that is, like, the most pointless job for you to have. You could re-utilize this entire area.

RB: Were the restrooms themed?

DHB: Not as much as I was hoping.

RB: Ah.

DHB: They, they were themed more along the lines of, uh, the warehouse.

RB: Okay.

DHB: So it’s like you walked in and, like, you could look at the grout and the grout looked like it was like, there was some, like, weird bleed over between the two, but not much.

RB: Yeah, that’s unfortunate.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: ’Cause that’s the thing, when you’re dealing with something that’s supposed to be as immersive as this was kind of touted, you want that full experience, so you want to…Even the restrooms should have some measure of theming-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …to get you engaged and enthused and promoting that immersion aspect. Wow, man.

DHB: Right?

RB: I know that the last podcast we talked about how excited we, you were and how excited I was to hear your experience, but now I’m just really bummed.

DHB: Yeah, I’m, I’m sorry to be bearer of bad news. Uh, I mean, I will say it’s good to, to experience once.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: I think that’s the bigger issue is, like, I’ll go again to take you and Juliet.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: But outside of that, I’m like, for me to go by myself, never, not gonna happen.

RB: ’Cause from what you’ve described, we’ve been to better, like, escape rooms.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Wow, okay.

DHB: Or even, even, like, the, the Freakling Brothers where it’s the exact same.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: And each one of the haunts is a good 15, 20 minutes.

RB: But they put on a good quality, like, even though it’s the same experience each year-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …it’s still, like, sounds like this is, this is just not…It’s like the Temu version of ugh (laughs).

DHB: It almost feels like the Temu version of Universal Horror Nights, yeah.

RB: Wow.

DHB: I mean, but again, kudos to the actors ’cause-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …they’re doing…They’re giving their all, but at the same time, it’s, it’s like when you watch a…You could see a sh- Tom Hanks with a terrible script. Does not matter how good he is, there’s no saving it.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: And that’s the thing is they have some amazing actors. Like, everyone I interacted with were amazing or trying to sell you on the experience or trying to get you immersed in the experience, try to draw you in, or trying to actively scare you and creep you out. But they only have so much to work with.

RB: Well, and I imagine that, that for some of these actors, it’s, it’s an incredible opportunity-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …to get into something that’s horror related and to be that favorite monster-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …or that favorite IP and-

DHB: Or even just to get in to, to do a haunt year round, ’cause I know some of the people they’ve brought out……or people that would normally do just Horror Nights, ’cause that’s all they, they’d have the opportunity for out there.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: And now they’re like, “Oh, I can do this year-round. Let’s do this.” And it’s not just ha- from Hollywood. They have a f- from what I’ve heard, they’ve had a couple people from Orlando as well move out to Vegas ’cause they’re like, “Oh, we can do this year-round.”

RB: Huh. Well, let’s hope that they work out some of the kinks. Like you said, there’s certain things that they’re not gonna be able to address.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: It’s just inherent in the way that it was constructed.

DHB: Well, I’m, I’m surprised they didn’t use all the verticality of the building.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: ’Cause it’s a three-story warehouse, so I don’t know why they didn’t build, I mean, outside of ADA stuff, building multiple tiers.

RB: Or do you even have, did they have anything hanging from the…

DHB: Uh, I mean, they have a few, a few things. Or like I mentioned, when you first walk in, you have the vampires, like, they’re on riggings and they’re swinging around them. So that’s kinda cool, but outside of that, they have a couple set dressings hanging, but then they’ve painted everything on the ceiling black, so you can’t see. It’s kind of just generic warehouse.

RB: Huh. Okay.

DHB: And it like, it feels like they’re not utilizing the entire space to the best of advantage.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: ’Cause even over at Jack’s area, there’s a, it’s almost completely empty outside of the couple containers they have for the actors for the show d- to move to and from the stage. But there’s so much open space that they could use for something else.

RB: Well, like you said, other than to go with some friends…

DHB: Yeah, if you have, if you have a friend, like for me, friends who wanna go check it out f- from out of town, like I probably have like three people who are gonna show up like, “Yeah, let’s give it a shot.” I’m like, “All right. Let’s do this,” ’cause you’ve got to experience, I’ve experienced it many, many times now.

RB: Well, and what’s funny is I think we said the same thing about the Super Mario Land in Universal Hollywood.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Like, we went there for press day. We took Juliet. But really, once you’ve experienced it, it’s, it’s not…

DHB: It’s not the main draw.

RB: No. Huh. Okay.

DHB: And, and I’m not sure if that’s maybe what they’re leaning in with with the entire District area opening up-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …is, like I said, there’s like, “Oh, you can go to Nacho Daddy,” which I know is a good restaurant.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: That’s gonna be open literally walking, walking distance across the are- the alleyway from Horror Nights. So like, get food there, maybe hit, pre-game there, then do the haunts.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: So that you could do, so you could buy the, the cheaper ticket, do all the haunts once, and be like, “I’m good to go.”

RB: Yeah, ’cause we love Nacho Daddy.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Well, I think going and seeing the, the haunts, but gosh, that, that ticket price. Vegas pricing for that level of experience…

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Wow.

DHB: And that’s, uh, that’s, that might be part of the downfall. Like I would say if it was like a $35 ticket-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …maybe. And like $50 for the unlimited, easily worth it, but…

RB: Yeah, you got…Ticketing is always going to be an issue. If you don’t balance the price with the value-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …then people are just, “Why go, one, if it’s that expensive? Two, why go back?” Yeah, sure, maybe every, every quarter they change something up.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: But if the food is mediocre and the, the experiences are five-minute experiences, but you’re standing in line for 15 to 20 minutes.

DHB: Well, and my original hope on the place was they weren’t gonna charge to enter, which would be the better idea is like, you can walk in for free, but then you have to pay for any of the haunts and then obviously food and drink. Like, if that was the case, I could see myself going, “Well, I don’t wanna go to this normal place I go to. You know, screw it. I’m gonna go down and have a, have a drink at The Boiler.”

RB: Yeah.

DHB: May or may not take in one of the haunts, but there’s no reason for me to go back ’cause I’m like, “I’m not paying 50 bucks to go, go into a themed bar and then a couple of haunts and leave.” Like…

RB: Well, and, and when you look at Area 15, there’s more than just the Omega Mart.

DHB: Oh, yeah, yeah.

RB: There’s a lot of stuff in there to take advantage to.

DHB: Well-

RB: You can spend a fair bit of time.

DHB: Yeah, exactly. But at the same time, I, and it’s one of the things I’m k- hoping to give some benefit of the doubt, when Omega Mart or r- or not Omega, when Area 15 originally opened, they charged for you to go in. It was like a 10, 15 dollars just to enter the building. Then you had to pay for each of the experience. They phased that out. Like, uh, they phased it out to where entry was free as long as you paid for one of the experiences beforeh, and now it’s just show up and then pay for whatever experience you wanna do. So I’m kinda hoping that might be the route they go is the only thing you have to go through is security to get in. And then after that, you’re like, “Okay, wander about all you want. You wanna do the haunts? Gonna cost you money.”

RB: Yeah. Well, you wanna, you want that value. And there’s so much here in Vegas that is try, vying for people’s dollars.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: So you wanna make sure that whatever you’re spending your money on, like, you know, there’s so many shows and there’s the Sphere-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …and there’s all these, the VR experiences, all, the escape rooms, there’s all these great things that you can do in Vegas, uh, wow. They need to really-

DHB: Well-

RB: They need to work on this.

DHB: Well, especially when, uh, I think I was talking, I was talking to somebody else about this. Remember how much it is to go to Universal Horror Nights?

RB: Yeah.

DHB: It’s like $140, 150 bucks, which not bad. You get 10 haunts and the entire amusement park at that price.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: This one, you get $100 and you get the warehouse and four haunts. So it feels like the pricing is way off on this. So I’m kind of hoping it’s just the, “We’re trying to get back our initial investment and then we’ll lower it down later on.”

RB: Well, yeah, ’cause if, if people don’t show up, then you have all of these actors, you’ve got all of this overhead-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …that you’ve set up. You’ve got all the bartenders, waitstaff.

DHB: Well, they, they built the building specifically for Universal, so I guarantee they bought that land and paid for that building to get built.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: So even though they could probably sell it off and put something else in there, I think, uh, in the, the long run, it’d probably behoove them to just correct it and address the issues.

RB: ’Cause if not, that’s gonna be a massive blunder.

DHB: Wow.

RB: All right.

DHB: Maybe it’ll change. Maybe, maybe when h- uh, Halloween in October comes up, things will shift. May- maybe they’ll do something outside of the place as well to, to help build hype to bring people in.

RB: Well, and they, they should ’cause the, the temperature will be coming down.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: And you can have stuff out- outdoors to, to really enter- ’cause like line entertainment and that sort of thing is always big at haunts.

DHB: Yeah. Well, especially ’cause, uh, like even the line to get in through security…They don’t have much space for that. So it’s gonna be a long line outside of the building once they actually open. So, I mean, you would expect when the t- when the temperatures are better, I get that, it’s like maybe put some stuff out there to not only do that, but to help draw people who are just in the area in.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: I mean, right now not the ideal because that area is still under construction. Like I had to technically walk through construction to get there because all the other areas are still being worked on. But by, by October everything there should be up and running fully.

RB: Well, uh, listeners, that has been David’s experience. I definitely recommend checking out our socials because you posted stuff on Instagram.

DHB: If, if you, if you don’t care about spoilers, you can see my walkthrough, my solo walkthrough, of all the haunts as well. Like I tried to capture it where it was literally just me so you don’t see many other people. So you can get all of the individual jumps. We have, uh, I did the entire video for the Jack and Chan show. Uh, each haunt has its own little dance performance or whatever that goes on. So I did videos for all that. We got pictures of all the menus and pictures of the food, pictures of w- uh, scare actors, all that stuff’s out there.

RB: Did you post that on, uh, YouTube as well?

DHB: So that’s on YouTube, um, that’s on Instagram, r- uh, Reels, Facebook. We have it on, uh, we have a gallery on the website.

RB: Okay. Well, yeah, I definitely recommend if you’re, if you’re interested in this experience, go ahead and take a look at the, the footage David’s posted up. And hopefully Juliet and I, or at least I can get in there and kind of take a look as well. And between David’s experience and the delay of time for me to get in there, maybe they’ve, they’ve made some adjustments or things will be a little better, you know, timing wise as they work out some of the kinks. Thank you for breaking down your experience with-

DHB: Not a problem.

RB: …Universal Horror Unleashed. I wish it was, I wish we had better news.

DHB: I wish we didn’t hype ourselves up as much because maybe (laughs)-

RB: (sighs) Yeah, we were so excited because given the fact that we love Universal Horror in, uh, Hollywood and the fact that that every year we go out there to make a big deal ’cause we love that experience, the fact that we were going to have one in our backyard and it was going to be dra- driving those IPs from Hollywood out here, wow, yeah, it’s kind of, kind of a letdown.

DHB: Maybe it’ll change.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: That’s what I hope for.

RB: That’s all we can do is hope for the best. Thank you to all the actors who are putting their time and commitment. H- having been a haunt actor I understand that pain and misery that you’re going through for the enjoyment of others. Thank you for everything that you do. Hopefully they’ll be able to work out the rest so that way you’ll get those great crowds and you’ll be able to, to be wowing individuals with, with, uh, the characters that you’re portraying and the stories that you’re trying to tell.

DHB: Yeah. And, and give people reasons to come back.

RB: Yeah. All right, well, this has been the AggroCast covering Universal Horror Unleashed here in Las Vegas. This has been Ray.

DHB: This is David.

RB: And catch you next time.

Thank you for listening to the AggroCast Resurrected, the official podcast of AggroGamer. For more gaming news and reviews, please check us out at agrogamer.com. If you enjoyed today’s content, follow and subscribe to get notifications of our next episodes.