Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Just my 2 cents:
Interactive queue - somewhere between neutral and minus. Having more things to look at is nice, but it plays its hand too early that you shouldn't be scared.
Updated stretching rooms with 3D sound - plus.
New portrait gallery - minus. The old practical effect was more convincing, and having eleven different sets of eyes staring at you was ominous. The new effect just screams "look, there's UV paint hidden on these portraits!" (not sure if that's actually how it's done).
Escher staircase - definite plus, especially over the giant neon spider webs that were there before.
Glowing eye wallpaper - plus, this was more "dead space" (pun not intended) before.
Hatbox ghost - minus, entirely because of placement.
Altered corridor of doors - neutral - I'm not entirely sure on all that was changed, but the removal of some cartoony things like a snarling monster behind a door is a positive as it didn't fit with the tone of the attraction.
Floating Leota - neutral, it makes the effect more impressive, but there's also no real reason for it to be floating.
New attic - minus. The bright LED glowing bride with the projected face isn't creepy. The old floating bride that was silent except for her heartbeat was not only significantly creepier, the entire scene wasn't all dedicated to her.
Removal of (most) popup ghosts and their scream sound effect - plus. It's a tacky effect, there were too many of them, and the screams every few seconds were annoying.
Updated vocal tracks in graveyard - plus. Hated the cartoonish "snobby woman" voice (for lack of a better term).
Updated hitchhiking ghost animatronics - plus, they look really good.
Updated mirror effect - minus - probably the most baffling change for me and reeks of someone higher up trying to justify their job. The old effect was super fun and creepy because it looked real. The ghosts not actually reacting to you just added to the creepy factor. The new effect is just, well, yep, that sure is a projection of a CGI animation. It also usually doesn't even interact with your image correctly.
Recent (unannounced) updated lighting and audio enhancements - plus, the attraction looks and feels new and everything in the graveyard is more vibrant and easy to see while still looking ghostly.
Interactive queue - somewhere between neutral and minus. Having more things to look at is nice, but it plays its hand too early that you shouldn't be scared.
Updated stretching rooms with 3D sound - plus.
New portrait gallery - minus. The old practical effect was more convincing, and having eleven different sets of eyes staring at you was ominous. The new effect just screams "look, there's UV paint hidden on these portraits!" (not sure if that's actually how it's done).
Escher staircase - definite plus, especially over the giant neon spider webs that were there before.
Glowing eye wallpaper - plus, this was more "dead space" (pun not intended) before.
Hatbox ghost - minus, entirely because of placement.
Altered corridor of doors - neutral - I'm not entirely sure on all that was changed, but the removal of some cartoony things like a snarling monster behind a door is a positive as it didn't fit with the tone of the attraction.
Floating Leota - neutral, it makes the effect more impressive, but there's also no real reason for it to be floating.
New attic - minus. The bright LED glowing bride with the projected face isn't creepy. The old floating bride that was silent except for her heartbeat was not only significantly creepier, the entire scene wasn't all dedicated to her.
Removal of (most) popup ghosts and their scream sound effect - plus. It's a tacky effect, there were too many of them, and the screams every few seconds were annoying.
Updated vocal tracks in graveyard - plus. Hated the cartoonish "snobby woman" voice (for lack of a better term).
Updated hitchhiking ghost animatronics - plus, they look really good.
Updated mirror effect - minus - probably the most baffling change for me and reeks of someone higher up trying to justify their job. The old effect was super fun and creepy because it looked real. The ghosts not actually reacting to you just added to the creepy factor. The new effect is just, well, yep, that sure is a projection of a CGI animation. It also usually doesn't even interact with your image correctly.
Recent (unannounced) updated lighting and audio enhancements - plus, the attraction looks and feels new and everything in the graveyard is more vibrant and easy to see while still looking ghostly.
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