Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, everyone. Welcome to episode 323 of the TDR now podcast. We're the first english speaking podcasts about asian theme parks like Tokyo Disneyland and Spooky places like Halloween horror nights at various universal studios like USJ and Universal Studios Singapore.
You can find all kinds of information by typing out TDR Explorer on all the platforms, and you will find so much great stuff.
I'm one of your hosts, Trish. I help out with tourism in the city. I'm part of a group who's working on an Instagram project called Discover Urayasu. So please check us out there, and you can find me on dreamsweets. Love on Instagram and threads.
Oh, my God. I'm living for Spooky season. With me is Chris, who is also a very spooky, spooky guy. Hi, Chris.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Hello.
Man, I feel like Halloween's been going on forever.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: For me, it's every day.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Fair enough. Yeah, just, you know, with Halloween horror nights starting earlier every year, just seems like it's just. It's really kind of drawn out with the events and. Yeah, I I don't want to say I'm over it at this point. It's more just like, okay, there's a lot more space before Christmas starts, so I'm kind of like, what do I do now? Kind of thing.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: You bask in the glory of Halloween, Chris.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm Chris. I'm the one that has seemingly started to make this a tradition where I go to all of, or most of the Halloween horror nights events in the world. This is my second year doing this.
I didn't do Hollywood this year. I had to skip it just for timing reasons. It just didn't work out. But I did all the other ones, and we added universal Studios Beijing to that list, which is also nice. Did. We talked about that, didn't we? Or do we not? I don't remember now.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: I feel like we didn't.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: No, we didn't. Well, we can maybe tack it on to the end here of this.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: Halloween is still going on. Okay. No, yeah, we can. We can. Okay.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: Good idea.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
Because both, I guess, like, both of these events are not as big as the us ones or University of Japan. So I feel like, you know, we could probably put them both in both in one episode. But, um, yeah, it's Halloween horror nights. Um, I I just love seeing how different they work at all the different resorts around the world. It's just, it's really interesting to see how they interpret horror and how they cater it to the local audience and I can understand how that would be a challenge.
And University of Singapore is doing their 12th Halloween Horror nights this year.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: So they've done, they've done a lot.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: That's incredible. Yeah.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Twelve is a lot, actually. How many have University of Japan done? I never looked that up because University of Japan doesn't number them.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: No, but they've been doing it for a while because I remember before we really went, you know, before we did Halloween, I was always afraid to take the. Now the adult, but, like, afraid to take, you know, when he was a child, the child to universal Studios for Halloween. Despite how much I love Halloween and I really wanted to do it because we're like, oh, man, it's really scary and he's gonna be terrified. We cannot break him. And I, but I didn't know. I didn't know. And maybe at that time it was different. Like, I don't know if it was like, if they had these same events during the daytime for, like, kids and, like, more family friendly things, but, like, we didn't know about that. And so if not, we would have definitely brought him and then maybe, you know, like, not taking him into the scary part at night, you know? But, but it's definitely been going on for a long time. Like, he's 18 now, and I, we had, we had thought about it, like, when he was like, in like, elementary school, you know. So.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: They'Ve done it for probably, I would say, like, 15 years.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: It has to be around there, at least that.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Like, it. It definitely wasn't right after the, when the park opened, because the park opened 2001. It wasn't around then. No, it was later than that. I, um. But I guess, well, I get, we kind of talked about this already, but University of Japan is kind of like they've found their footing with how they want to run things, and, well, this year, they kind of changed it up a little bit. But, you know, kind of goes back to what I was talking about, how these other different universal parks are figuring out or have figured out how it works for them, and it's just, like, really interesting to see. So I guess going right into universal Studio Singapore, they kind of, they kind of have a hybrid model. It's kind of, it's similar to the US in terms of how the ticketing works, but also it kind of works sort of like universal Studios Japan, because they also have a daytime portion that's Halloween that is included with your ticket. So, like, more family friendly stuff. Right? Like, you know, minions and Sesame street characters and Halloween outfits.
And then you know, Halloween food and things of that nature. But then on select nights, they have the ticketed event, the Halloween horror nights at in Singapore. So that, which works just like the US parks in terms of that. So it's kind of an interesting mix that they do in terms of how it works.
So how many horror nights in Singapore is on from suck nights from September 27 to November 2? So I think the US parks also run into, into November. I think they all do right at the beginning of November. So tickets are pretty easy to buy. You can buy them through klook or you can buy them right through Universal Studios Japan or Japan University, Singapore's website. And I went a few weeks ago, I went for their media event. So everything for me was provided. So just full disclosure for all of that. And I had a great time. And one of the houses was, I ranked it second for the most terrifying house out of all the ones I did this year. It scared. It got me good. It got me real good.
But so really quickly. So horror nights there, they have four haunted houses, three scare zones, and three live shows. So they brought a show back. So before they only had a. They had a couple smaller shows the last few years, but they finally brought back like the gigantic stage show, which is nice. They do have one less house this year compared to last year. But the fact that they added a stage show, I think that's fine with me.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: I think so too. Yeah.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: A stage show is always good. I always love a good stage show.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: It's always fun. It gives balance, you know?
[00:07:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And then they have three scare zones.
I think their scare zones are probably the weakest out of everything, but they kind of make up for it in other places.
And there's also merchandise and then also food. Food as well, available during. During the event.
So I don't know. Should we talk about the shows first?
[00:08:21] Speaker A: Let's do it. Yes.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: So the first show. So the show that they brought back that's on the stage show is called Dark Dreams. It's in one of the theaters. It's kind of a high camp kind of show. So there's this like the MC or whatever comes, comes on. He's kind of like a. Almost like a beetlejuice kind of character, like very charismatic, making jokes and things of that nature.
He's called the dream Reaper, and he feeds off the nightmares of innocent people to steal their souls.
So throughout the performance, he basically tortures three people in their dreams. So this is kind of like a nightmare on Elm street kind of thing going on.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: Interesting vibe.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: And he does end up killing them all to take.
But it's a very high camp kind of show. There's a lot of production value with it. They use a lot of music, like sweet dreams. You know, that's kind of a.
I don't want to say it's a cliche. I think it was used very appropriately.
Yeah, it was. It was. It was a fun show. There's a lot of interaction from the Audi, like, from the audience. They do this part where they will take this big sheet and, like, glide it over everyone sitting closest to the stage to kind of represent. I'm not even. I think it was a bed sheet to represent a bed sheet or something.
And they even had, like, people performing stunts. Like, they had someone who looks like they were falling very slowly in their dream, but they were falling from the ceiling.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Oh, cool.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: It was. It was. It was. It was really neat. It was definitely a really fun show. I really. I really liked that.
And then the other show they had was called Oc. It's kind of a weird word. Ocular's rave, and it's spelled o c u dot l a r apostrophe s. Rave.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: This spelling would drive me crazy. I can imagine, like, them doing the copy for this and making sure it's.
[00:10:35] Speaker B: All because, you know, autocorrect will try and correct it.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: So this is a show that's in one of the scare zones. And the scare zone. What is it called? The scare zone is called Netherland, and it's like a rave, but for, like, creatures and dead people.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: So, yeah, they have this big, like, outdoor stage. It's under the canopy in the New York area, and there's these two dj's that come out, and, you know, they're the play a lot of, like, electronic.
Electronic music and stuff. And there's, like. There's dancers and stuff. So it's kind of a, like a performance that happens a couple times a night. It's not as elaborate as the stage show, which makes sense, but it's fun.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: It's, like, atmosphere.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: You know, it adds a lot. It's very loud. This year's theme was kind of like a party vibe is kind of what they were going for.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: And then new this year, they tried something different, which I applaud them for. And I think it worked really well. I can't wait to see how they improve on it is a projection show called Night Terrors, and it's described as. Watch as the dream reaper emerges from an abandoned fortress and commands evil specters. In this projection mapping spectacle, they used Shrek's castle.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: So in University of Singapore, for those that don't know, there's the far, far away land, which is Shrek. It's a Shrekland, for lack of a better term. And they're the. The 4D show is housed inside Shrek's castle, or Fiona's castle, I guess. And it's actually quite a gorgeous building.
And they use this to do the projection show. And I, for their first go, I think it's actually pretty decent.
It's. I can't remember how long. It was, like 1015 minutes. It wasn't very long. It's just a lot of, like, spooky projections and stuff. And what I like about it is it kind of gets people to that side of the park because everything was kind of like. Stuff is kind of spread out for the horror nights. And there was. During horror nights, there was no reason to go too far, far away because everything was closed. But during horror nights now they have this projection show.
There's a reason to go back there. I'm not sure if anything else is open over there. I kind of forgot to check, to be honest. I was just too excited to see this stage show or the production show.
So, yeah, those are like the three shows that you get to see.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: Okay. So there's a lot of entertainment, which is great.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: And for the scare zones, like I mentioned, there's the. The Netherland, which is kind of. It's a big rave, is effectively what it is. And there's different creatures and stuff. Like, there's a couple, like gigantic puppets on wheels that scare actors will, like, maneuver and stuff, which I think is pretty cool.
Another scare zone, it's more like an outdoor.
Like an outdoor house, I would say, because you don't.
Because the US. And even in Japan, the scare zones, you kind of have to walk through them to get somewhere. Right?
[00:13:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: Whereas this one, it's called the lost kampung, and I think it's Indonesia.
I might be wrong about that, but it's, you know, it's based off of something from in Southeast Asia and it's in the Jurassic park area, but it's. You just kind of walk through it and then you kind of come out where you walked in. So it's kind of like an outdoor house is what it is. And it's just, you know, a lot of scare actors and things of that nature.
It was just very dark. It was hard to see anything. There was. There was a lot of good scares.
It's kind of hard to. Hard to describe, I suppose. It's just a lot of, like, it wasn't. It. Like, it wasn't voodoo, but it kind of felt like that a little bit. I don't think that's what it was exactly, but it was kind of that, like, kind of that aesthetic, I guess.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: That's kind of how I would explain it, then. Oh, my goodness. This is probably my favorite scare zone ever.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: Like, and I feel like everything that you've told me about the vampire stuff has sounded so, so good.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: Like, it sounds like the highlight of the event. You know what I mean?
[00:15:24] Speaker B: This was the standout hit. Like, I had no idea that this is what they were doing. So the third scare zone is called Vampire Alley, but, so it's a scare zone, and you're walking through an alleyway, and, you know, there's vampires and stuff, and it's very, if you watch any kind of, I'm trying to think, were there any vampire films set in New York? Blade was blade in New York?
[00:15:49] Speaker A: There's been a few. What is it, like, vampires in the bronx or something? It was really cute.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Yeah, there's that one.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Right?
[00:15:56] Speaker B: Like, well, buffing the vampire slayer definitely wasn't.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: There has to be more there. I feel like there's so many vampire, like, very.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: It was very, like, city vampire feeling. Right, because it's the. The alleyway is in the New York area, so that's kind of what the canvas they had to play with. Yeah, there's vampire like. You. You walk through it. It's all outdoors, but then you find a vampire speakeasy, and this is new this year. This is the first time I've done this.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: I'm obsessed with this idea.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: There's a vampire bouncer, and she is probably the sassiest person I've ever met in my life.
You go up to her, and she asks you why you want to come in, and you have to give her an answer. And I just said, my blood tastes sweet. And so she kind of looks at me, looks at me up and down, and then comes up, comes up beside my head and gives me, like, the biggest, longest sniff I've ever heard in my life.
And she's like, you smell good. Come in.
I was like, oh, my goodness. Yeah. So then you, so then you go in, and it's. It's in one of the restaurants, but it's on the second floor, so I think it's like a, I think this area must be used for like, private events or something. Okay.
But, yeah, it's, it's on the second floor. So you go up these set of staircases, and then it's a speakeasy. So they have food and drink, like, alcohol and all this kind of stuff. So, like, you can actually eat and drink. But there are vampires everywhere, and they're all different vampires, and they're all just kind of mingling with you or talking amongst themselves or there's like, there's parts where they're chanting about Lilith.
[00:17:42] Speaker A: Oh, my God, I love it.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: There's parts where they're talking about, like, the book of the sun and, like, just, like, all, like, just very heavy vampire lore stuff.
And at one point, I kid you not, they were playing the Blade rave song.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: Which as soon as I heard that, I'm like, yes, this is like, this is perfect. Like, this is so campy. I love it. It's so over. It was so over the top.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: And it was very sexual, let's put it that way. Like, it was borderline. Like, they're doing this in a theme park.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: Like, it was, I mean, it's vampires. It's got to have a little seductiveness, you know?
[00:18:25] Speaker B: Yeah, vampires are very seductive. Very sexy. Inappropriate, you know, not to say, like, anything, like, overtly inappropriate happens. It's just, it's very suggestive. That's probably the best way to put it. Right.
Some of the vampires, like, the, the female presenting vampires, very low cut outfits, you know, very, just very revealing outfits and stuff.
And then there's, like, then there's a couple vampires who are just, like, overly macho kind of vampires. Like, they're like, just, like, big hair, ponytail, you know, feathers on their outfit, and just muscular. And it was just, like, just a whole lot going on. And even at one point, they all started fighting with each other.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: It was just, it was just a lot of fun.
And the vampires would come around and they would interact with you and, like, they would smell you and tell you if you smelled good and what and whatnot. I think at 1.1 of them came up to me.
I can't remember what I said exactly, but then they said they're like, oh, you smell real good.
And just, like, looked me up and down. I was, like, staring at my neck. I was like, oh, that's so good. That is really good.
It was like, the whole thing was just so well done.
Like, I want more of that. Like, I love, I love the houses. I love the scare zones. I love the shows. But, like, like, to me, that's, like, peak atmosphere right there. Like, that's what I want.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: I love being scared and all that, but just, like, being able to live in this world, even for half an hour.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Yeah. And play around and just have fun and just soak up the atmosphere and interact, it sounds like a blast, you know?
[00:20:28] Speaker B: 100%. I think out of all the Halloween horror nights stuff I got to do this year, I think that's my number one. Absolute number one.
It also helps, too. Like, I'm a big vampire person.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. For real? Yeah.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: I've watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the tv series, multiple times, front to back. I've read all the comics. You know, I watched the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer film from the early nineties. You know, I've seen blade. I've seen almost every vampire movie you can think of. Like, I've seen so many. I just. I just love the lore of it all.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: Oh, for sure. Yeah, true blood.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: I love true blood.
That was on HBO. Like, just all that stuff. I just. Yeah, that, like, that is my jam. So I think just going for that is worth it alone. Like, I would pay just to go to that.
[00:21:27] Speaker A: For real.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: 100%. It was just so well done. And I made sure to tell them, like, I told the pr people, I said, this is so good. I would stay here all night if I could. Like, if there wasn't anything else to do, I would stay here the entire time.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: Wow. I love it.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: And I'm not just saying, you know what?
[00:21:48] Speaker A: It kind of, like. It makes me wonder, like, I feel like, because I know they're building, like, a vampire, like, land. Not land, but, like, area, like, with, like. And they're gonna have the restaurant with, like, the familiars. And I wonder if it's gonna have, like, obviously from a different side, because it's, like, the familiars, not the vampires, but, like, something kind of, like, a really similar, like, playful dynamic, you know?
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Where's this?
[00:22:12] Speaker A: I think it's at the new Orlando.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Oh, you're talking about the universal monsters.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: Oh, God. I haven't read too much about that, but I need to.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: But, like, some of what you're saying, like, it's from a different angle, but, like, it reminds me of, like, the description, and it sounds like a total blast.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, it was. I really enjoyed it. Again. I would do it. Do it again in a heartbeat.
But that's not all. There's still. There's still more stuff to do.
They have four. Four houses this year, so they.
It seems like, so this is their third time doing a Netflix house, or, like, a house based off a Netflix tv show. So the first one they did three years ago or four years ago was stranger things, which, you know, pretty standard. I think both the parks in the US did it as well, you know, because stranger things was such a big show at the time, so it made sense. And then last year, they did.
Oh, goodness, what was it called? It was the.
Oh, why am I forgetting the name of it?
Hold on.
[00:23:32] Speaker A: Wait, the korean one, right? The zombies. And they're at the school.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: Why am I forgetting the name?
[00:23:40] Speaker A: And I cannot remember the name either, but I know exactly what you're talking about.
[00:23:43] Speaker B: I'm going to look it up right now.
[00:23:44] Speaker A: Okay. Because it's gonna bug me.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: Yeah, it's gonna bug me. And I watch. Oh, all of us are dead. There we go.
[00:23:52] Speaker A: Yes. Yes.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: So they did that. That. That korean zombie show last year, and this year, they did another korean Netflix show called Sweet Home.
Unfortunately, I never got to watch sweet home.
I. I wanted to try watching it, but it was. It's three seasons, and I just didn't have time to watch another Netflix show. But.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: For real. But I've heard only good things about it. I haven't. I haven't gotten the chance to see it either. But whenever I hear somebody talking about it, it's always, like, really positive.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: Yeah. So the premise is it's like a post apocalyptic kind of show. It's korean, and people turn into, like, their worst desires when they die or something. Something like that.
And it's based off of seasons one and two is what it was.
You can tell that that house had budget. There was budget put into that house. You can tell with a Netflix house, it makes sense Netflix would give the money to be able to do that. And I thought it was very, well popular as well.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: Right. Like, for them to put so much effort into it.
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I've read that it's quite popular.
It's always just, again, this kind of goes back to how. It's just so fascinating how some things are so popular in different parts of the world. Like, you know, there's things from, like, North America that are so popular that we know about, but then we hear about these things that are popular on the other side of the world that I've never heard of before. Right.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: Or, you know, I heard of recently, but it's like, no, people have been watching it for a couple years now, and it's super popular. You know, it's always just very interesting how all of that, how all that works. Um, the house is very similar to last year's in terms of just like, the flow and the feel of it.
Um, the, you know, I'm talking about the all of us are dead house. Uh, yeah, it's very. It's quite long. Um, it's. It's quite bright in a lot of places. And the actors get in your face, like, they get real close to you, um, and, like, run past you and stuff. Stuff they would never do in the US because I think it would be a safety hazard because, you know, people. People don't keep their hands to themselves.
So.
Yeah, some of the scares they did in that house, I don't see would ever fly in, like, the Us parks.
I don't think they would ever do them in Japan either, because I don't think people would like that too much. Um, but for me, like, give it to me. I want that. Like, I want to be scared senseless.
That's what I want.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: They did this really neat effect that actually I, like, I had to stop and I looked. I was like, oh, that was very convincing. There was a part where there's this, like, a character was kind of standing high on something. Like, high in terms of height, they're up quite high and then they're saying something. But a lot of the characters, if they were speaking, they were speaking in Korean, which I think is really cool.
So I don't speak any Korean, so I obviously don't understand what's being said. But she's screaming something and then she jumps off the ledge and it looks like she hung herself just the way everything was set up. And she. And she was like, swinging back and forth looking like she was like she hung herself.
[00:27:34] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: Obviously she didn't like, obviously it's.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: No, no, of course, no, they're not real.
[00:27:39] Speaker B: But it just, like, it just caught me off guard.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: Must be very, like, impactful, you know.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: It just caught me off guard because I was not expecting that. I'm like, oh, my goodness. Oh, she's hanging. Oh, my goodness. Wow.
Yeah, that was quite shocking to see, honestly. And then, you know, of course, you kind of go through all the infamous scenes from the show, and then there's the climax with one of the main villains who has, like, this big black wing for an arm that that character's in there as well.
It was a very well down house. I thought it was very well done.
Another one they did was called Cursed Scrolls Dynasty of darkness.
And what they did with this one was they gave you 3d glasses. So similar to what Chucky is in Japan.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: They did the same thing with the cursed scroll. So a lot of, like, neon paint was through this. And, um, the. The story behind this house is.
I'm just going to read this verbatim. From Jiangxi running rampant to Huli stalking new victims. I don't know what that means. Um, come face to face with the evil entities that have been unleashed by the scroll master in this immersive, three dimensional experience.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: So the scroll master, I guess, releases a bunch of demons and stuff. Um, it was quite the elaborate house. And they did this really neat effect that, um, caught me off guard because it was also quite dark.
They had, like, a swamp room.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Oh, cool.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: When you walked in, it was so dark, and it made it look like you're walking on plank or. No, you're kind of, like, walking. It made it look like you were walking in water.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:29:35] Speaker B: My brain for a second took a couple seconds to realize, like, what was going on, because what they did was that, well, there was water sounds happening and, like, splashing sounds.
[00:29:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: But they've had lasers kind of at, like, waist height, shooting across the fog to make it look like it was water.
So it looked like you were, like, walking in, like, in waist high water.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: Which I thought was a really cool effect. I've never seen that before in one of the houses at universal.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Uh huh.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: So I thought that was actually quite neat. It just. Yeah, it took me. It took me a hot second to figure out what was going on.
And then scare actors would pop up from underneath the lasers, like these water swamp things.
It was, uh, scared me. Got it. Got me. Because you could, like, there's no lights waist down, so you can't really see anything. Yeah, it was quite scary with that.
And then they did this one. They did a room that was all, like, lined with white fur.
It was all white fur, but then the white, like, I'm talking top to bottom, ceiling, floor, all white fur. So it was very bright. Again, very jarring for the eyes because you're going from darkness to, like, a white, like a bright white room. And of course, there's blood covered everywhere. And then there was, like, this deranged kind of rabbit. Rabbit demon thing. Oh, no, that was there. Yeah, that was. That was pretty cool. I really like that.
[00:31:15] Speaker A: Was it kind of cute?
[00:31:18] Speaker B: Not in the slightest.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: Oh, no, no.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: Not even close.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: Oh, no.
[00:31:23] Speaker B: And then they did, at the end, you kind of meet the scroll master and you, the final room, you kind of walk through. It's like everything is kind of burning. It's. I think it's. I think it's trying to represent you're in the, you're in an urn or something and burnt, but the floor was all uneven, but it was all spongy and bouncy.
So, like, when you stepped on it, you kind of sunk in a little bit and you had to kind of like, you know how you have to walk funny when you're on that kind of, like, terrain?
[00:31:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: That's kind of how you had to walk for the rest of the, like, room. It was, it was very strange, but it was quite, it was quite neat. So they tried a lot of different things with the house, and I think it worked very, very well.
[00:32:11] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:32:13] Speaker B: The other house was under the castle, and this was a house designed by a company called Team Wang Design. I'll be honest, I've never heard of them before.
Apparently they're quite popular, but I I've never heard of them. Um, the description is from the minds of Jackson Wang and team Wang design. This cursed castle welcomes you. But be warned, the last time its doors open, dozens of villagers went in, but none came out. Do you dare to uncover the truth? So it's kind of, um, uh, medieval house or. Yeah, medieval house. So everything is, you know, like brick, stone, and there's, you know, scare actors in armor and there's torture chambers and things of that nature.
And it's very, it was very green because I guess, like, that was the color aesthetic they're going for. It was very green. Yeah, I mean, it was, it was, it was fine. I didn't find it very scary, to be honest. It was just very, like, pretty to look at.
[00:33:21] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: I guess because this design firm designed it, I suppose. Um, it wasn't my favorite. I'm like, okay, that was pretty cool. It looked, it looked like there was some pretty cool effects and stuff, but it really wasn't all that scary. Um, and then the last house, which was the scariest for me, um, was Singapore's most haunted, the killings. Oh, and it's described as walking past the eerie stone lines and enter one of Singapore's most haunted houses to relive its horrors. Will it be the restless spirits of the countless victims that you. That get you first or the sinister ghosts that killed them?
[00:34:01] Speaker A: Uh, oh.
[00:34:02] Speaker B: So it's loosely based off of, I guess, either folklore or, like, urban legends of, quote unquote, actual murders that happened at some point in history.
So it's all like, you know, this is their, their, like, Singapore always has like, a local house. A house that's based off of, like, like, local folklore or stories or something. Um, so this. This was their house this year.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: And let me tell you. Oh, man. That house got me. It got me together. It was. It was a lot.
A lot of screaming from the actors and just a lot of, uh. I don't even know how to put it. It's just the scares they did were just so good.
[00:34:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:58] Speaker B: It'S hard to describe.
[00:35:00] Speaker A: And I feel like local folklore and urban legends is always really interesting and really fun and really creepy because it's.
[00:35:08] Speaker B: One of those things where it's, like, you feel like this could actually happen.
[00:35:12] Speaker A: Yeah. It's like, to the people living there, you know?
[00:35:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, you know, stuff like Netflix, sweet home. That's high fantasy. Like, we know it's this made up story, you know, and same with, like, the cursed scrolls. It's just, like, a very, like, colorful, over the top kind of experience. And then under the castle was just very aesthetic. Right. Whereas this. This felt, like, gritty and grungy and real. It felt like it could be real, like something that could actually happen. I think that's what gets you the most.
Like, there was just. There was just so many scares. It was just like, the scares just kept happening. Like, there was almost no break. It was just, like, scare after scare after scare after scare. Just like, oh, my goodness. Like, I need room to breathe. Like, it was almost suffocating in a way, but, yeah, in a good way, I guess.
Yeah.
They had, like, just, like, a lot. A lot. A lot of tricks. Like, they had a closet that you walked through, and I don't like. Because it's, like, a tight space, and I don't like that. Like, little tight spaces. Like, oh, do not like that.
Or, like, there's a lot of, like, fake scares. So, like, you think it's coming from one spot, but it's actually another one.
[00:36:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:30] Speaker B: And, like, the classic, like, scare actor looks like the wall, but no, that's not. That's scary. There's someone there, you know? Pardon me. Yeah, things like that. It was just. It was just such a well done house. And I ranked it as number two is the most terrifying house this year. Number one was insidious.
The one in Orlando. That one was probably the most terrifying.
[00:37:00] Speaker A: Oh, cool.
[00:37:01] Speaker B: This one is a very close second.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: Very well done. I really enjoyed it.
It's so good.
As for, like, the food and stuff, there was a lot of food I didn't get to try a lot of it. There just wasn't time.
They had, like, the one thing I did get to try was, like, a pizza.
It was like a type of pizza. Like, it was, wasn't a traditional pizza. It was like a pizza on like, this, like, thicker type of bread. And it had like a, like a tangy kind of sauce on it, like tomato sauce. And it was spicy. So it was, it was actually quite good. I quite enjoyed that.
Then they have a whole bunch of other, like, food. There's, they have a bunch of the restaurants are open. They have, like, Halloween specific, like, Halloween horror night specific food.
A lot of it is very gruesome. Like, some of it. There was one dish, I don't remember what it was. I think it might have been pasta. It looked, oh, no, it wasn't pasta. It was a chicken leg, I think, or something like that. And it looked like it had maggots on it.
I looked at that and because, like, the food we got to see was like, the actual food. It wasn't plastic or anything. I was like, they prepared it and I looked at, like, that looks like maggots. Oh, no.
Like, that's, that, that's almost too real, you know?
Yeah. And for, like, merchandise and stuff, they didn't actually have a lot this year. They had more last year, so I'm not too sure what happened, why there was less this year.
[00:38:34] Speaker A: No wonder.
[00:38:35] Speaker B: Unless they release more after the fact that that's also a possibility. But when I was there, they just had a couple of, like, they had a mug that looked like a cauldron, that blood looked like it appeared when you put hot liquid in it. You know, those kind of classic mugs.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:55] Speaker B: Then they had a hell of a horror nights drink or cup, like a plastic cup with a straw that had, like, it said Halloween horror nights, universal Singapore on it, and it had, like, red blood on it and then came with, like, a little holster that you could fill it up and then put in a holster to take it into the house with you.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: And then they had a cup, like, they had like a, uh, past case as well.
And that's pretty much it.
[00:39:22] Speaker A: All right.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: Yeah. They didn't really have much else.
But, uh, overall, though, I really like Singapore's Halloween horror nights. Like, I feel it's like that.
I know this is a really overused word, but it's like, it's a, it's a hidden gem.
It's one that people often overlook in.
[00:39:43] Speaker A: Terms of super fun.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: Yeah, it's one of those, if you're a horror nights fan, you need to make the effort to go to horror nights at Universal Studio Singapore. Like, I just, I think it's really well done. This is my second year doing it, and I've enjoyed both, both years.
And, yeah, it's just, it's just one of the things you just need to do, I think, and say, you know, the city of Singapore is a good place to visit, too, so you can easily make going to Singapore. You can easily spend more time in Singapore doing other stuff there as well.
[00:40:19] Speaker A: Do they have other spooky events happening in the area at the same time?
[00:40:26] Speaker B: Not on Sentosa island, but in Singapore themselves? I think there's a couple spook events happening as well.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: Cool.
Yeah, it seems like they get really into Halloween, which is really interesting. I did not know that there was such a love of horror because, like, their Halloween horror night sounds really scary.
[00:40:46] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, it's borderline, I would say probably the scare, like, one of the scariest.
[00:40:51] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: Like, it feels like it's true horror. Not that the us ones aren't. Like, I'm not saying that. It's just, oh, there's just something about the way the horror is done here that just kind of. Kind of gets you.
[00:41:06] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[00:41:07] Speaker B: I guess, like, the US parks, I'm not sure how to put this.
[00:41:14] Speaker A: I guess because the US parks is more like horror cinema, right?
[00:41:19] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true.
And with, like. And they do do their own houses, like, original houses.
[00:41:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:30] Speaker B: But I feel like for, I guess for, like, western culture, at least for me personally, I don't find our ghost stories as scary or disturbing as, like, stuff from other parts of the world.
[00:41:48] Speaker A: Because you're familiar with it. It depends on, like, what you're reading or what you're, like, what media you're, you know, enjoying. Right. And I think, you know, when you probably go or you're experiencing horror from other countries, you're experiencing the cream of the crop because that's what's available, translated or subtitled. Right. So it's kind of like, it's hard to say.
I think. I don't know. I think all the horror is good, but, yeah, I think that's probably, like, kind of the situation that when you're enjoying overseas horror, it's like the best of the best, right?
[00:42:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, don't get me wrong. I love slasher stuff. That's probably my top tier. I love slasher stuff. So give me anything with scream or Halloween, nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, or some of the Blumhouse films. I love that stuff. That's peak for me, but, yeah, I think I, I think you're right. It's like, I'm so used to it, so it doesn't scare me. I just really enjoy it.
[00:42:59] Speaker A: You're really familiar with it, right?
[00:43:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Whereas, like, this other stuff, like, specifically the Singapore's most haunted. Like, I not familiar with it. So it's like, it scares me. Like, it terrifies me because I don't know. I don't know what it is. Right.
[00:43:12] Speaker A: It's like novel, you know?
[00:43:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. That's a really good way to put it. Yeah.
Well, why don't we start talking about Beijing?
[00:43:23] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. That's right. Wait, I forgot. Okay. Okay. Yeah. What happened to Beijing?
[00:43:29] Speaker B: So Beijing, they don't have. It's not called Halloween horror nights. It's actually called scares it universal. So that's the name that it's going by.
[00:43:38] Speaker A: So this is really interesting, and I don't know if you get, like, a similar vibe. I was recently reading a short story collection called Sinophagia, and it was like a collection of various horror authors from modern horror authors from mainland China. And the person who was gathering the authors was talking about how there's kind of, like, this vibrant horror community. However, nobody wanted to be a part of the collection because it was, because the collection has horror in it. And so there's kind of like, this aversion to being part of the horror community because a lot of the horror that's happening now that's classified as horror in quotation marks is very slasher esque and grotesque, and people don't want to be associated with it. But there's also a lot of really interesting horror that, like, they don't want to be classified as horror, which is kind of interesting. And I wonder if that's why they didn't incorporate the horror title in horror nights.
[00:44:52] Speaker B: Yeah, that would make sense because, you know.
Yeah, things are.
China does things very differently. We don't need to get into that. But, you know, just the way, you know how China. China does things. So that would make sense why I. The name wasn't used. Yeah, I guess horror has a different connotation, I suppose.
[00:45:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Especially right now. And a lot of the horror authors were identifying more as, like, Sci-Fi or thriller or kind of like, genres skirting the horror genre. Even though they're really great horror stories, they didn't want to be identified with that genre.
[00:45:35] Speaker B: Oh, interesting.
[00:45:36] Speaker A: I didn't read that now it's so interesting. It's a really good book.
Sinophagia it just came out, I think.
[00:45:43] Speaker B: Okay, I'll have to read. I'll have to look that up and read it.
So, yeah, it's called scares at universal, and it works similarly to Japan, where it is part of your day ticket. It's not a separate ticketed event. So it happens every day during the, this period.
This is only their second time doing it. They've only done it twice. So the first was last year, and this is the second year. This year is they have three houses instead of one, which is interesting. And they also have two little scare zones with this. So the fact that it's included with your day ticket, like, I can. I'm a little more lenient because you're not paying anything extra. It's already part of your day tickets. So I'm like, okay, that's cool. Like, this is extra stuff you get to do.
Same thing with Japan. It's like, oh, this is all included. Like, I'm not paying extra for this, which is cool.
They've. They've decided to incorporate Jack the clown and chance, who are originally from horror nights in Orlando. That's where they originated from.
So they're using them as, like, the icons for scares at Universal.
So that's actually quite cool. So they do, like, they have this gigantic stage near the front of the park. Like, I'm talking. It's huge. And every night before, like, once, like, the two scare zones activate, chance and Jack the clown come out and do, like, this show with this little stage show. And, like, all the different clowns and stuff start coming out, and it's all in Mandarin, so I don't have a clue what they're saying, but they're all, you know, performing and whatnot. And then once the show is done, all the clowns go out to their respected platforms that are in the, like, the front of the park. That's kind of like, it's kind of set up like the world bazaar, where the main, quote, unquote Main street is covered at the front of the park. So all the performers are. Well, almost all the performers are on these little stages, and they're doing, like, contortion type of stuff, and they're posing for photos and whatnot. And then there's other clown scare actors are just kind of wandering around the area, and, like, they're not really scaring you, per se. They're just kind of walking around acting kind of strange. Okay, so it's not violent in any, in any way.
[00:48:24] Speaker A: It's more, like, eerie.
[00:48:27] Speaker B: Like, these clowns that are kind of like, not, you know, you can tell they're not quite all there, you know?
And then there's another scare zone that's just off, and it's more like.
Just kind of random. Almost like movie character. No, not movie characters. More like.
Oh, just like, spooky characters. Like, there's not really a theme to them.
They're just kind of at random. It seems like. Like there's a. There's a woman in a dress, and there's, like, a little, like, a little person, like, legitimately a little person running around in, like, a little top hat, and then there's people on stilts. Like, it's just almost like a. It's almost like it was kind of like a circus, but not really.
It was kind of. It was a little like the theming I didn't quite understand, but that's what it was.
So those are the only two scare zones they have.
[00:49:23] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:49:24] Speaker B: Which is just at the front of the park.
But what they did was they're trying to. So I guess, kind of like how Japan, I guess now, over the last few years, Hamikuma has become, like, the thing for horror nights in Japan. Right? It's Hamekuma. Hamekuma is, like, the face of it now. Yeah, we're trying to do that in Beijing.
There's this rabbit called Emo two, and the name Emo two is, like, a play on words. So emo, I guess it kind of means, like, sadness, something like sad, deranged, something like that. And then two is the word for rabbit in Mandarin. So the name Emo two, and it's this little rabbit that originated in their first haunted house from last year. This rabbit that is, like, he's. His right ear is ripped off, and it's kind of like. It's like a little nub, but it's bloody. And then he has his other full ear, and, like, part of his face is a little ripped off, and his eyes are bulging, but he's kind of cute, which is strange.
But Emo two comes out, and you can get your photo with him or them. I'm not too sure if it's what their pronouns are, but them, you get a photo with them.
But then the scare zones, every so often do this thing similar to Japan where all the characters just start dancing. Like, a song comes on. They all just start dancing.
[00:51:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:08] Speaker B: So this is where the similarities with Japan kind of comes in, and emo two does the same thing. The emo two is kind of, like, the center of attention in that particular scare zone. And then chase and jack the clown are over in their scare zone. So it's kind of like this scare zone slash dance party kind of, kind of thing going on.
[00:51:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:31] Speaker B: And then they have their three houses, which are spread across the park. So the first one is kind of near the front. It's called freaky farm, and it's a. It's an outdoor thing, so it's all, like, all entirely outdoors. You're just kind of going through this farm where just, like, freaky things happen. It's not overly, it's not overly grotesque.
[00:51:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:55] Speaker B: And it's like there's someone in a burlap sack that's hanging from chains above you, and there's people that look like farmers, but they're dead and things like that.
It wasn't overly scary. It was fun.
[00:52:12] Speaker A: It's like a haunted farm, pretty much.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what it was.
[00:52:16] Speaker A: That's kind of a cool concept.
[00:52:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So it was exactly the same as last year's, I was told. Um, it was fine. Like, it was. It wasn't one. I felt like I need to do it again. Um, but I did see emo two in there as well. Emo two did show up.
[00:52:32] Speaker A: Well, it is a rabbit, and rabbits live on farms, so I can see.
[00:52:36] Speaker B: That it makes sense. Um, and then over in the minions area, um, there's like, you know, there's a building behind the minions area, so you kind of have to walk. But the entrance is in the minions area and I. The entrances for these places, these houses are elaborate. Like, they built these facades, archways to go into the queue. And then obviously then there's a facade for the actual house itself as well. So they spent a lot of money on this. Like, there was budget put into this.
So you go. It's called Jack Circus. So it's like a circus. Right, with clowns. Very kind of what you would expect from like a quote unquote like, I guess what you call freak show.
You know, kind of like. Like kind of that era of.
[00:53:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:26] Speaker B: Stuff.
It was. It's quite long. It's not overly scary.
It's not grotesque in any way. It's just, you know, there's people doing trapeze in it, but they're wearing, like, you know, freaky clown makeup.
A lot of optical illusions they had, like the bearded lady, which I thought was hilarious. Like, you walk into this, like, it looks like a dressing room. You walk in and then, you know, those, like, paint those dividers that people would use, like, in a room. So you can, like, go behind and change.
[00:54:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:54:03] Speaker B: Like, you walk into the room and there's, like, the silhouette of, like, a tall, thin woman who is, like, undressing. Right. And then as you walk by it, you can look behind, like, look behind it, and you look. And there's this gigantic bearded guy dressed as a drag queen, basically, behind it, which I thought was hilarious. It was actually quite funny.
Yeah. Just like, a lot, like, a lot of circus stuff.
There's, like, you know, the conjoined twins that both have knives that are chasing you at one point and jack in the boxes. Like, there's a room full of, like, you know, the wind up jack in the boxes, but they're gigantic. Some of them have scare actors in them that pop out and scare the living hell out of you.
And Jack the clown is in there and everything, you know, again, there was budget put into this thing.
[00:54:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:54:59] Speaker B: So it was. It was very. It was fun. Let's. I don't. It wasn't scary. It was fun. I would put. Say that. I would say that, um, the other one, which I would. I would put in. I'll put this house as my third most scary house out of, like, all of them. Out of all of them this year.
[00:55:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:55:18] Speaker B: They. They did things in this house that I sat, like, as, when we were done. I thought, there's absolutely no way they would do this anywhere else like that.
No, they would not do that. Um, there was three. Three things that stood out to me. The most one was, you're in this. Okay, well, I should explain what the house is. It's called Stu House 81. And it's. It's a movie. It's based. It's a movie set, but it's haunted.
And I guess it's based off of different, like, ghost stories from China.
So it kind of has, like, that. That local. Again, that local lore folklore, I guess, kind of vibe to it.
So there's, like, you know, it's all kind of, like, pieced together because it's like, oh, you're on different movie sets and stuff.
There was one scene where it was kind of, like. It was very akin to. Did you ever see american horror story the first season?
[00:56:20] Speaker A: I think I saw part of it.
[00:56:22] Speaker B: Do you, like. Do you remember, like, the imagery of, like, the person in the. In the. The leather. The black leather suit, like, skin tight suit?
[00:56:31] Speaker A: Oh, I do not. I'm sorry.
[00:56:34] Speaker B: Well, you know, like, you've seen people with, like, the skin tight, like, leather suits. That's indicative of, like, almost, like, torture horror.
[00:56:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:56:44] Speaker B: So, like, there were scare actors dressed up like that.
[00:56:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:56:48] Speaker B: And there was one scene where in the bat in a bathroom, and you're walking towards.
There's this big mirror right in front of you because you have to take a hard left. There's a big mirror in front of you, and there's a bathtub full of water. You're walking up towards it. Flash of light happens, and you see this person in one of those, like, one.
One piece leather outfits. They're right up against the mirror on the other side. You know, they, like, they hit the window, and they look at you, and you're like, oh, Jesus. Then the lights turn off.
They come out from the freaking bathtub that is full of water and splash water everywhere at you. I was not expecting that. That scared me.
[00:57:31] Speaker A: Oh, no. That would be so surprising.
[00:57:34] Speaker B: I was not expecting that. I was like, what the hell?
[00:57:37] Speaker A: You would never expect that.
[00:57:39] Speaker B: No. And then right afterwards, there was a toilet, like, a raised up toilet, and the toilet that flew open, and someone else, like, jumped out of it. No.
[00:57:47] Speaker A: Lunged at me, not the toilet.
[00:57:49] Speaker B: Like, oh, my God, can we please stop this?
And then in another room, it was kind of like a.
A creepy doll room with, like, there's like, a baby crib and, like. Like a. It was almost like a victorian era kind of room. And, you know, like those beds with the bed posts that have, like, the curtains over the bed.
[00:58:13] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:58:14] Speaker B: There was, like, someone, like, kind of levitating on the bed, but then I can see something on the ceiling, and I look up, and somebody crawls across the freaking ceiling.
[00:58:27] Speaker A: How'd they do that?
[00:58:28] Speaker B: I stopped and I looked. I'm like, oh, my God. That person is rigged up to, like, something that slides them across the ceiling.
[00:58:35] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:58:38] Speaker B: Like, they were crawling across the ceiling.
[00:58:40] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
What?
[00:58:43] Speaker B: What is going on with this house?
[00:58:46] Speaker A: That's amazing.
[00:58:48] Speaker B: Then there was another room.
Oh. So they did this interesting thing in this house in particular.
I think it's a crowd control thing, which I think is very smart. Some of the rooms would split. There'd be two paths for you to go.
[00:59:03] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:59:04] Speaker B: And they both, like, it was in the same room, so they kind of had the same. Similar experiences, but different things happened.
[00:59:10] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:59:11] Speaker B: And in this one room, it split. I didn't know where to go, and I was like, oh, I'm just gonna. Okay, there's no one going this way. I'm gonna go this way. And you're kind of like. It's. It looks. It looks like an insane asylum.
[00:59:24] Speaker A: Okay, cool.
[00:59:25] Speaker B: And there's this, like, hallway that you start walking down. But in the hallway were, like, these plastic walls that kind of pushed out, and you had to, like, squeeze through. These plastic walls that were all see through.
[00:59:41] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[00:59:41] Speaker B: So you're kind of squeezing through, and it's kind of hard to, like, move through. So it's all, like, single file. But then when you look to your left, you see a padded room, like a brightly lit pad padded room. And there's somebody in there is a scare actor that looks like they're in a straitjacket or whatever, blood on their face, and they're staring at you. But then what they do is they have the same type of wall on their side. They push the wall, and the air pushes the wall that you're up against. Cause it's like a big balloon, and it pushes. It throws you back into the other side of the wall.
[01:00:25] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[01:00:26] Speaker B: But there's two rooms on either side, so there's two different scare actors doing the same thing. So you're kind of being, like, bounced.
[01:00:33] Speaker A: Around, toasted on both sides. Yeah.
[01:00:35] Speaker B: It was, like, the weirdest thing. It took me a second to figure out what was going on. What is happening right now.
[01:00:43] Speaker A: Like, this house sounds so dynamic, you know?
[01:00:46] Speaker B: It was wild.
[01:00:48] Speaker A: Wow.
[01:00:49] Speaker B: Then, okay, this. This is probably, like, the worst scare, I guess, for me. For me personally, this was the worst scare. We're walking, and we're in this, like, again, old timey kind of room, victorian era kind of thing.
Someone looked like freaking wallpaper and scared the crap out of me because they popped out of the wall. Was not expecting that. And then another person looked like the curtains, so they popped out. I'm like, oh, my God. Everything in this room is alive. Like, there's somebody everywhere. And then.
And then as you're walking, you see this big boudoir is open, and I'm like, wait, we have to walk through that, and it look like it's a clock. You walk into the boudoir, and it's very tight, and you have to part the clothes. As soon as you part the clothes, you just see this long hallway, and there's just clothes on either side.
[01:01:53] Speaker A: That's so cool.
[01:01:54] Speaker B: Like, you're brushing against the clothes.
[01:01:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:01:56] Speaker B: And you're walking through. I'm like, I hate this. I hate this, I hate this. And then things start coming out of the walls and start touching you.
[01:02:06] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[01:02:08] Speaker B: On your leg, on your face. It's like the scare actors themselves aren't touching you, but, like, they have, like, feathers and stuff.
[01:02:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:02:16] Speaker B: On a stick. Or whatever, and they're, like, brushing you.
[01:02:19] Speaker A: That's so creepy.
[01:02:21] Speaker B: That is, like, my worst fear. Like, I. Oh, I hated it so much.
[01:02:27] Speaker A: It sounds amazing.
[01:02:28] Speaker B: Oh, I. Like, I got that on camera, too. Like, I have this on camera. You see the exact moment where I was just. I was like, no, no, we're not doing this anymore. Like, we're done.
But that house was so good. It really was.
[01:02:46] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[01:02:48] Speaker B: Definitely. I would say it was three. Number three on my list.
[01:02:52] Speaker A: Wow. That's pretty good.
[01:02:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
And what else did they. They didn't really have merchandise at all, actually, for scares of universe, they had a couple of things with Jack's face on it, but really, there was really wasn't much. It was more. They more focused on, like, the cute Halloween stuff because I think that seems to be resonating with people more.
[01:03:14] Speaker A: Well, that's merch, though.
[01:03:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
Like, they had a really cute, like, ghost minion shoulder, buddy.
[01:03:22] Speaker A: Oh.
[01:03:23] Speaker B: Which is really cute. It was very popular. It was flying off the shelves when I was there.
[01:03:27] Speaker A: People just. For sure. Yeah.
[01:03:31] Speaker B: And as for food, the food was kind of, like, the food was fine. There's burgers and stuff. Like, there wasn't anything, like, super creative, I thought, like, compared to, like, Japan or even Singapore, it's kind of. Yeah, it's there. It's fine. I mean, like I said, they need to find their footing, and I think they're. They're slowly doing that.
[01:03:51] Speaker A: Yeah. You can't beat the vampire speakeasy.
[01:03:54] Speaker B: No. That was 100% the best thing about all of them.
[01:03:58] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[01:03:59] Speaker B: I think. Yeah. It was just so good.
[01:04:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:04:04] Speaker B: For, um.
[01:04:05] Speaker A: It'll be kind of cool to see how it evolves, though, in time.
[01:04:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, are they gonna add more houses or more scare zones? What are they gonna do?
[01:04:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:04:15] Speaker B: Yeah. That's definitely. It's definitely worth checking out because, you know, I. I know everyone wants to see Japan, which is great. Like, you should go to University of Japan. There's. Halloween horror nights is unique, and it's fun, but if you have the, like, the ability, I think going to Singapore and also Beijing should be on your list, because those. Those are so good, and I think people need to experience them.
[01:04:42] Speaker A: Sounds good.
I definitely want to check out Singapore one day.
[01:04:47] Speaker B: Oh, you have to? I think you really have to.
[01:04:49] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[01:04:51] Speaker B: I hope they keep the spooky easy.
[01:04:54] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Like, who knows? Maybe. Maybe they'll do, like, I don't know. If this Orlando thing works out, maybe they'll do a permanent spooky area or something, because, like, it seems like Singapore really loves horror.
[01:05:07] Speaker B: Mmm.
That would be. That would be really good.
[01:05:11] Speaker A: That would be amazing.
[01:05:12] Speaker B: Oh, I love it. I love it, I love it. I love it.
[01:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:05:16] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. Um, yeah, a spooky season. We're coming. It's coming to a close soon, sadly.
[01:05:24] Speaker A: I mean, or if you celebrate all year like me, one season is ending, another begins.
[01:05:30] Speaker B: Yeah, there's also that. Yeah.
But, yeah, I have videos on. Both of these events are up on our YouTube channel, so you can go and check that out. It's under TDR explorer. I show the houses because we're allowed to film in them.
Yeah, definitely go and check them all out. You can see what we were talking about for the last hour.
[01:05:52] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:05:55] Speaker B: Before we go, though, we want to thank some wonderful explorers are supporting us over on Patreon. If you want to support the show, you can head on over to patreon.com tdr now. And a big thank you to acro disney girl. Adam, amanda. C. Amy B Amy C. Mama explorer. Benjamin, Brent m. Carrie, Crispy, Claire, Claudia, Dave, David, Baker, Kevin, Harry, Marina, Beth, Eli, Abby, Robinson, and Taylor and Jamie.
[01:06:18] Speaker A: Jose, Kathy, Lee, Marie, Michelle, Murray, Sophie, Spoopy, Thomas K. Alexandra, Lizzie, Amy and Andy, Dana, Cassandra, Annie, Sonia, WW, Paige, and Tara.
[01:06:30] Speaker B: And if you haven't already, make sure you hit that subscribe or follow button on your podcast app of choice so you do not miss any of our newest episodes. So you can stay up to date with everything. Theme parks on this side of the world, our explorers. I'm one of your hosts, Chris. I am the one that, I don't want to say I'm done with the horror for the year. I never am. Like, Halloween horror nights, I love it so much.
I want to try and get at least one more go in Japan or University of Japan. I want to try that. I want to go there at least one more time before it's over in November.
[01:07:06] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
[01:07:08] Speaker B: And joining, as always, is the wonderful Patricia.
[01:07:11] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. I'm looking for. It's still not Halloween yet. We still have a few more weeks. I'm looking forward to trick or treating in the neighborhood and volunteering this year. Plus, if you're in the area, I don't know when this podcast comes out, but if you're in the area and you hear this before the 19th, we have the fireworks festival as well. So check that out. You know, that happens in October here in autumn, so check that. Yeah. And we're gonna carve Jack O'lanterns. It's super fun. I love. I love this season.
[01:07:42] Speaker B: Always nice.
[01:07:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Let us know how you guys celebrate. Like, what do you do? What's your favorite spooky local hotspot? You know?
And, yeah, keep exploring. You guys our explorers?
[01:07:56] Speaker B: We'll see you in the next one.
Bye.
