FRIGHT on cue...
With Halloween just around the corner, RICHARD WILLIAMSON heads to Universal Studios in Orlando for a truly terrifying trip
CHARLES GRAY displays all the enthusiasm and excitement of a child unwrapping presents on Christmas morning.
He is your worst nightmare. He may look like he could be serving you a piece of his mom’s homemade apple pie, but his aim in life is simple... to scare the living daylights out of you.
As one of the lead team behind Universal’s Halloween Nights, Charles will be delighted to send you home shaken, rattled and rolled.
I can remember ghost trains as a youngster – an era of such innocence that the Daleks had us hiding behind the sofa – when the biggest fright you got was from a piece of cotton dangling down from the ceiling, masquerading as a spider’s web.
But Charles and his creative team conjure up an in-your-face real-life roller-coaster that makes British trick or treating look like a visit from the Salvation Army... and that’s despite knowing what’s coming.
But try saying boo to the person sitting next to you. Right now. Works every time. Now turn out the lights... add the most wonderfully eerie and claustrophobic sets full of zig-zagging narrow passageways that scramble your senses, lashings of scares and a cast of hundreds of zombies, vampires, serial killers and as many monsters as you can imagine, then you are in for a ride that makes the highest attraction at the theme park seem like a Sunday afternoon drive with gran.
Now in its 27th year, Halloween Nights run on selected dates from September to November at Universal Studios.
With trepidation, I tackled the nine Orlando mazes – the description “haunted houses” doesn’t do the devilish twists inside justice. Some of them are based on the themes of films or TV programmes. So this year you can step into the hotel where The Shining takes place, try to avoid falling victim to The Purge, or plot your way through the horribly inventive traps of Saw. But the originals give Charles and his team free rein to their imagination – some might say warped minds – which this time round includes a stunning listing paddle steamer laced with voodoo, a homage to the vampires of Nostradamus and a battle between good and evil in a post-apocalyptic world where you face danger from every angle.
And yes, you are going to be jumped by characters disguised with such evil cunning their own mothers would disown them.
Expecting it you might be, avoiding a scream you won’t!
“We put a lot of strategy into how we go about scaring people,” admits Charles. “What works on one person may not work on another, so we are always learning. We mix up the mazes, some are just scary, others kitsch and tongue-in-cheek, or some are darker.
“There is such a wide range – different things scare different people. Sometimes it can just be the bark of a dog, or even the appearance of a clown. “We make a lot of use of audio and smells – sometimes we have rooms with no scare-actors in, but the thought of what might be there is enough. We make sure there is something for everybody.”
So even though the house in front of you may offer only the threat of a straw-filled scarecrow, when Charles’ team has finished you will never again pass a farmer’s field without doing a double take.
This was the scariest house of the night – complete with being chased through a ‘corn field’ as you try to make your escape. “We do not want to offend people so we make sure our stories are not in bad taste,” adds Charles. “But, yes I love the way we challenge people.
“We go to a lot of trouble to get the details right – though often they may not all be noticed until the third or fourth time through the maze, so there is something for our repeat visitors, too.
“These events are like the birth of a baby to me. It is like
having nine kids and I like to look after them all, see them grow!”
Even getting around the park when the sun goes down and the ghouls come out to play can be a test of your nerve. Scare zones do just that – again with an assortment of themes – as a day of family fun at Universal is replaced by fangs and chainsaw-wielding clowns.
With the parks reverting to form in daylight hours, there is still chance to enjoy Universal’s regular offering – whether that be riding the revamped Hulk roller-coaster, delving into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter with its remarkable recreation of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley or taking on the new generation of pulsing simulators such as Kong and Transformers.
And that offering continues to grow – with new hotels like the stylish Caribbean-themed Sapphire Falls, which is so handily placed for the parks you can hear the roar of Hulk. Followed by the screams.
Water park Volcano Bay is the latest arrival. The clue is in the name with its biggest thrill ride plunging down the 145ft-tall volcano which dominates the park. The Tapu Tapu system means that even at the busiest times you can book your place on a ride through your special wristband so there is no standing in long queues.
But at this time of the year it is Halloween that deservedly takes centre stage. And if you do go home still tingling from your night of thrills, then Charles Gray will be a happy man.
But be warned – the team is already at work on how they can ramp up the scares for 2018.
Sleep well...