(I have cross-posted this post on my Kyndra Hatch blog as well.)
We went to Fright Dome last night and, wow, what an
experience! We showed up early. Right before they opened the doors, clowns and
ghouls ran by the crowd with chainsaws. It reminded me of childhood Halloween
at home, waiting for John Snook's Haunted Hotel to open its doors and my oldest
brother running through the street with his chainsaw. I do believe the
difference is that my brother kept the chain on it, lol. That nostalgic moment
aside, it was pretty electrifying with a thousand people cheering and
getting more and more excited to be admitted to a night of terror fun.
Fright Dome is housed in Circus Circus's Adventuredome.
I've seen advertisements for Adventuredome around town, but I may be the only
one who didn't actually realize it was a full-on amusement park, with actual
roller coasters. Not dinky little town-fair twirlers and merry-go-rounds, but
no kidding Six Flags quality stuff. Because, honestly, even with the
advertisements, I thought it was of the dinky town-fair variety.
So, as we go inside, I'm blown away by the roller
coasters. And, well, my husband was too. We're totally going to go back when it
is simply the Adventuredome, just for that.
Of course, the difference with it being turned into
Fright Dome is that you get to ride the roller coasters in the dark. So, it's
like Space Mountain... on steroids, which is glorious.
But, we weren't exactly there for roller coasters. We
were there for the six haunted houses. Finding ourselves in an entire theme
park transformed into a giant Halloween horror zone where the roller coasters
are still running throughout the night was more than we thought. There aren't
many videos or pictures to truly get a feel of what this is. I think that's
done on purpose, because the unexpected was so much more fun and a better overall
experience.
Anyway, they warn on the Fright Dome website that it's
dark and smoky. Well, that's entirely true. Our eyes adjusted to the darkness,
but it was still hard to figure out where the lines started for each
attraction, especially the difference between the general admission lines and
the fast pass lines. And sometimes the smoke was so thick, we simply just had
to keep walking forward and hope not to bump into a wall or a table or
something. Bumping into people was a constant. But, the smoky atmosphere led
one janitor to wear a surgical mask while he went around cleaning up bottles
and such and even though he wasn't an actor, he was probably the most creepy
person there.
At any rate, there were helpful employees at haunted
house to let us know where to go, as well as scary clowns, chainsaw killers,
and creepy dolls ready to jump out and scare everyone at every turn. There was
even a lady, who had no legs, chasing people on her hands. She was so fast! And
her creepy zombie makeup and dress were very well done.
The haunted house I was looking forward to the most was
Krampus. I haven't actually seen Krampus, but I know the story and mixing
Christmas with Halloween horror is one of my favorite things. So, we went to
that haunted house first. It did not disappoint! Christmas music along with
killer grandmas, chained children, corpses wrapped with wrapping paper were the
kind of Halloween/Christmas horror fun I was looking for.
A life-size doll standing in a corner that turned out to
be a real person totally got me! I wasn't expecting it to be anything other
than a prop, so it was perfect. I laughed and clapped and told him/her
"That was good." The only thing I was disappointed with in this one
was that I wanted to see someone all dressed up as the creepy devil-looking
horned Krampus seen on the advertisements. Instead, it was some animatronic
thing in the end that you couldn't see because of too much smoke shielding it.
We made our way to Clownz next, where they gave us
glasses that distort light, so every blacklight glowing dot, spatter, or line
in the place looked like it was 3D, especially the orange coloring. Even the
floor had glowing paint that seemed to move as you walked over it. The clowns
were, or course, wonderfully creepy and there were corpses wrapped in cotton
candy and it was all craziness. It reminded me of "Killer Klowns from
Outer Space," with all its creepy hilarity.
At the end, there was a large spinning tunnel to walk
down that messed with the senses and made you feel like you were going to fall.
I tried running through it, laughing the whole time, of course. At the end,
there was someone with a survey that asked what my favorite part was and I said
it was the spinning tunnel. But then I wished I had said that it was the people
dressed in all black with glowing dots on them that made the walls look like
they were closing in. Really, that was a good special effect.
Then we went to Five Nights at Freddy's. Neither one of
us knew what this was. A couple of years ago, my great nephew wanted me to play
the game with him while I was visiting, but we never got around to it. Even
then, I thought it was some kind of Nightmare on Elm Street thing. Wrong. And,
boy, were we super delighted by what we found!
When we walked into the haunted house, it was a pizza
joint. It had everything from a hostess table to menus to kids play areas to a
ball pit and prize tables, games...
So, here is the mid-age person analysis.
Remember Showbiz Pizza, with that ape and his animatronic animal band, the
Rockafire Explosion? This was before Chucky Cheese Pizza, but Chucky Cheese is
another great analogy to this. Oh gosh, here we go:
I imagine that the creator(s) of Five Nights at Freddy's
used to go to Showbiz as a kid and that animatronic band scared the piss out of
him. I mean, look at that these photos, LOL!
The manifestation of his childhood terror must have
turned into the creation of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, where the animatronics come
to life and kill everyone. We were so delighted with it that we laughed all the
way through. I mean, I think many kids of the 80s were traumatized by that band
at Showbiz.
Hellcatraz was next. It was shorter than the others and
my least favorite, but there was a lady on a body of bones and gore in a jail
cell that made me smile. This was getting closer to the cut-'em-up Halloween
gore I expect and look for in a haunted house. I so wish I could have seen the
Insanitarium from a couple of years ago, because that would have been right up
my alley. As it was with Hellcatraz, I was the last in line and someone waiting
until everyone passed to unexpectedly jump out of a corner totally got me. I
laughed. "You actually got me!" I think that person was pleased.
After that, we went to Wasteland 2. Another haunted house
based off of a video game we don't know anything about, but Freddy's was a fun
surprise and we had fast passes, so we wouldn't have missed it. I still don't
know much about Wasteland, but this was exactly the gory, cut-'em-up, body
parts everywhere kind of haunted house I love to see during Halloween. And in
the extreme. There were body parts, bloody gore, even lifesize foamy pigs
hanging from the ceiling that you had to walk through. I was last again and
this guy with a chainsaw was really trying, putting it very close to my back
and neck, close enough where I could feel the heat and got choked by the
exhaust. Sorry, dude, chainsaws aren't scary, but I do love them in a haunted
house and you really tried, so kudos.
With the fast pass, we had exclusive access to the Ouija
haunted house, but there was a giant airline quality strobe light blinking
blinking blinking, blinding blinding blinding right on the crowd standing in
line for that one. Even with fast pass, the wait was 90 minutes and we
physically were not able to stand there with that strobe intensity. We were
either going to A: go blind, or B: have a head explosion, so it wasn't worth
that to us, which is regrettable.
With the fast pass, it only took an hour and a half to
get through the 5 haunted houses, so we walked around and watched the performers
scare anyone that could be. Then we looked for access to the roller coasters,
which it did take us some time to figure out in the dark. We made it to El Loco
first and the confusion of which line was the fast pass for that, but figured
it out after asking someone.
There was a wait, but not too bad and we jumped right in
the front of one of the cars. It speeds up an incline and immediately drops us
into a negative G drop that is, of course, thrilling, but then we go up another
turn...and the whole thing stops.
So, we're sitting there on top and the view of the rest
of the dome is pretty good. We could see the Canyon Blaster fairly well and the
Circus Circus sign through the dome glass, the lighted lettering on the hotel.
And all the smoke and strobe lights, etc., etc. For the most part, it was just
dark. That's when I say, "I'm keeping my head against the seat, because
it's getting ready to blast us over."
My husband says, "This isn't right."
We sit there a little while longer and I'm still talking
about how it's getting ready to shoot us through there. There are some
electronic sounds and clicking. A few minutes go by.
The husband. "I don't think so. Everything is all
wrong."
Ten minutes go by.
Next thing we know, lights come on on the catwalk next to
us. Then two safety people climb up and ask, "Is everyone okay?"
We're good, "As long as we're not going
to be here for an hour." Because, now it's clear we're stuck.
The guy explains what they are going to do with our car
and how we're getting off of there. After about 10 or so minutes talking on a
walkie talkie, he asks if we're ready and the car slowly starts moving,
gradually corkscrewing around the next loop. Let me just say that a slow-motion
corkscrew leaves a lot to be desired. Once it stops at the next flat
scaffolding, just a little ways closer to the ground, another person comes up
and gives us a safety speech on how we're getting off the ride. That's when I
realize, "Oh, you mean, we're getting off from way up here."
The restraints come up and we slowly climb off the car as
we're being coached how to do it, preferably not to our deaths straight down.
There was a railing they made us hold onto and once everyone was off and
standing there single file, they led us down the scaffolding and off the ride.
What an experience that was!
We weren't deterred from the ride in the least. We told
them we still wanted to ride when they got it fixed, so we were led to the exit
area where we were allowed to get back into a car right away. We're sitting in
the car and nothing is happening and this is about the time I was thinking
maybe it wasn't a good idea. The restraints come up again and they say we have
to get out. Lots of people moved on after that, but we decided to give it
another 10 or so minutes. They sent the cars through a couple of times without
anyone on them and then we were allowed back on.
The funny thing was how short the ride turned out to be,
but it was a good one. After that, we were pretty hungry and it was 10pm and we
had had no dinner. That's when we found out that food is where the Fright Dome
is lacking. They could really do a good hot dog and hamburger business if
they'd just had them. So, we left the dome to go see what we could eat in
Circus Circus.
Fright Dome was an awesome
experience! Once we move away from Vegas, I would fly back just to go to the
Fright Dome. One thing I would highly recommend for anyone wanting to go would
be to pay the money for the fast pass. With fast pass, we were able to get
through 5 haunted houses and 1 roller coaster in 2 hours. With general
admission, the line for each thing was no less than 90 minutes, which means
general admission folks can't get through everything in the 5 hours that Fright
Dome is open each night.
People often ask why haunted
houses and horror experiences don't scare me. As an archaeologist, I have
excavated entire cemeteries in my career. People dressing up like zombies, fake
body parts, and general dead are simply not scary. But, I'm always fascinated
by the creativity of Halloween horror and Fright Dome was a step up. Bravo!
