In my 4 years in US, I went to some of the best campus Halloween parties around, because in US, everyone throws a party; there must therefore be a party out there somewhere for you! As a science/engineering major, my personal favorite was the Techhouse party, practically a mini Comic Con, with everyone dressed in their best sci-fi/anime attire, lots of cookies and baked goods to go around, and strictly NO ALCOHOL. Alcohol is seriously overrated. I like remembering my outings with perfect lucidity thank you very much.
Anyway, this is about the Universal Studios Singapore's Halloween Horror Nights 2! I missed all the previous Horror Nights because I was never in the country, but my mum dragged me along to this year's to partake in the festivities :). This was the first year I'd really celebrated Halloween in the presence of real scarily-decked zombies / evil dolls / mummies etc. instead of the cheesy stuff you find at party shops, so the professionalism was refreshing.
The entrance to Universal was filled with blinky light accessories being sold at pushcarts around every corner, and a creepy bell-like tune blasted over the PA system to half of Resort World Sentosa. There was even a face-painting booth under this arch, but because I got there pretty late, they weren't taking anymore customers :(.
For safety reasons USS doesn't allow guests to attend in costume, so it was really weird for me going to a Halloween function not dressed up. It took away some of the fun, but the awesome actors and decoration in the park more than made up for it.
The entrance to USS is turned into a House of Dolls! (x_x)"
The whole street leading into the park was turned into a "House of Dolls" alley. For anyone who had watched "Chucky (Child's Play)" as a kid, you'll know that this is creepy as hell. Even though this was a 1980s movie, a sequel called the "Curse of Chucky" is slated to be released next year (2013). BEWARE.
Sadly I'm not quite the right stature to pose as a doll. And sitting doesn't have the same effect.
Creepy guy covered in blood strapped to a chair. He was great fun to pose with, and kind of cute when he decided to go out of character and grin during shift-change. Yes, they all change shift pretty often because I imagine being an actor for this event will leave you with heat stroke, even at night.
The next section was called "Total Lockdown", simulating something of a cross between a holocaust and a zombie apocalypse. ZOMBIES. BRAAAAAIIIIIINSSSSS. I would offer up photos of aforementioned awesome zombies and holocaust soldiers, but I have serious issues with taking photos in low light conditions because I insist on a point-and-shoot. No chunky DSLRs for me. If anyone has great low-light point-and-shoot cameras to recommend, please let me know! I use a Panasonic Lumix, which is superior in every way in daylight but doesn't do well at night.
A city in smoke, aptly set in the "New York" section of Universal. Because we all know that the aliens and zombies only ever strike in Manhattan.
Death, destruction and smoke. Sometimes I was a bit wary that the apparent dummies would come to life and jump at me, but thankfully that didn't happen all night.
Eerie fog emerges from a NYC subway station. Nothing compared to what hurricane Sandy is doing to the real subway stations right now though.
Hey kids, who wants to get a picture of being hanged by a creepy clown? You get to wait in a half-hour line for it!
Moving on to Egypt-land (I have no clue what the actual name of this section of the theme park is, but it's my second favorite after Dino-land), we have the Bizarre Bazaar! Mummies, snakes, the Undead, and crows on stilts galore! The street running through Egypt-land was lined with what look like gypsy stalls, which included fortune tellers, leopard people, sarcophagi, snakes etc.
Sorry for the paucity of pictures, it was one of the most crowded bits of the park so it was hard to get any good non-blur ones.
Sarcophagi!
This stall was later occupied by leopard-people, but when I first passed by it, it was empty. One should never pass up an opportunity to sit as though one is on a throne. Just sayin'. Even more so when one is surrounded by skulls.
Crow guy on stilts! Despite being so large, he was incredibly fast. Every time I tried to take a picture with him he'd stalk away :(.
These were the only 3 areas of walk-through decoration - the rest of the scares were confined to 3 haunted houses: Dungeon of Damnation, Insanitarium and Death Alley. I didn't go for any of them because the lines were 75 minutes long each, and because it's a temporarily thrill, the queues were not designed with any sort of queuing psychology in mind (read: hot, humid, tiring). My younger brother and cousin were game enough to stand in line for more than a total of 2 hours though, and they enjoyed the haunted houses well enough, but I think Universal needs to rethink their crowd control.
VERDICT: The decorations and atmosphere of USS Halloween Horror Nights are certainly superior, and the walk-through areas are entertaining enough without having to go into any of the haunted houses. I'm not sure if you think it's worth the $68, but I didn't really think so. If you do go, and want to see the haunted houses, you should definitely pay for the Express ticket at $40. Not because I think it's particularly worth it, but because you don't want your night to be spoiled by waiting in infuriating and stuffy lines for hours on end. It can really detract from your enjoyment of the rest of the park by making you tired and irritable. If you were already going to pay $68 to go for the thing, you might as well just top it up to guarantee a fuss-free evening.
I'm sure this will continue running for more years to come, so I'm willing to give it another shot next year. I will, however, be more prepared for the heat and lines by purchasing an Express ticket, and bringing a large water bottle and electric fan.
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Budget!
Early Bird Admission - $60
Basic Admission - $68
Express Ticket - $40 (on top of admission price)
Extras
Face-paint (because it really helps to get in the mood!) - $10 (1/4 face), $20 (1/2 face)
Express Ticket - $40 (on top of admission price)
Extras
Face-paint (because it really helps to get in the mood!) - $10 (1/4 face), $20 (1/2 face)
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