Miscellany: Zombie Adventure review
From now until the end of the month, there'll be a series of Halloween-themed posts on Shangrila Towers. Today, we'll talk about an attraction in central Florida that puts you inside a zombie movie.
People jonesing for a live-action zombie fix that's more involved than the traditional haunted house would do well to check out "Zombie Adventure," an attraction run by the folks behind Xtreme Paintball Experience in Kissimmee. Running from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m., the show pits a squad of 20 people against the living dead. You'll star as a "biohazard technician" sent in to clean up an accident when everything goes Horribly Wrong. Making it out alive will involve gunning down zombies, destroying a research lab, and plenty of running and screaming.
The atmosphere starts before you pull into the parking lot. "Zombie Adventure" is held in the middle of the woods (in the day it's a paintball field), and the whole place is dark. Pitch dark - so much so that it's impossible to see anything outside of arm's length. With that kind of environment, it doesn't take much to startle people, and it's definitely something you don't see very often in mainstream haunted attractions.
After you check in, you'll become acquainted with your gear and gun through a military instructor (who cracks wise about how he better get the body bags out now). From there, you're led to the facility by a nervous scientist with a creaky old flashlight. My paintball goggles and glasses kept fogging up in the Florida heat, sometimes making it impossible to even see my hand in front of my face. If you do need to wear glasses, be sure to bring some anti-fogging gear with you.
To be honest, there are a lot of aspects of "Zombie Adventure" that aren't quite there yet. There weren't as many zombies as I had hoped for, and the various locations on the tour are all decidedly low-budget (the "research lab" is just a collection of outdoor paintball field structures, not any kind of separate building). With admission running $50 a person, it's also not the cheapest Halloween experience, either.
As a whole, though, it was a very fun way to spend a couple of hours. The staff was friendly and helpful, and the various actors did a good job of getting into character and keeping the show lighthearted but not schlocky. So, if you're tired of going to HHN for the same old scares, "Zombie Adventure" is a very immersive alternative.
posted by Mulliga @ 1:40 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Let me give a more recent review- we went last night at 9pm and had to wait until 11:20pm to begin our "adventure." It starts out very promising. The doctor with a small flashlight begins to lead you into the woods. You walk through a few scenes and there are about six zombies that scare the group. Then you walk through the dark woods for about 40 minutes with nothing happening. Our guide was about 15 people ahead of us so we couldn't see anything and tripped and stumbled through most of it. You then enter a "safe zone" which is basically a screened enclosure. The doctor leaves to find help and the group is "terrorized" by 1 zombie. Yes...1 zombie. The entire group was laughing and commenting on how sad it all was.
Then we get to the guns. After a brief video, we get suited up and head out to shoot zombies. You get to the first firing range and about 3 zombies pop up over some hills in the distance and everyone starts firing. Since the goggles fog up so quickly you can't see anything. Plus, with 20 people in the group, there isn't room for everyone behind the wall so I just held my gun over my head and randomly shot stuff. You do this one more time over the next 30-40 minutes. Keep in mind, we did not see another zombie until we got to the next shooting range. We basically wandered through the dark, mosquito infested woods for 2 hours. At the end, we opted not to take the path in which the zombies can shoot back. Given we had only one container of ammo left and goggles that made it impossible to see, the zombies would clearly have the advantage!
This attraction has such potential. They need to rethink the concept. Smaller groups(no more than 5-6) and zombies everywhere! Stop along the trails and have zombies invade. I'm sure the concern is safety....and rightfully so. Many of the participants had been drinking in the parking lot and forgot to use their safety. Guns were randomly going off while walking through the trail.
The scariest part of the "Adventure" was the possibility of getting shot by one of my fellow attendees....or contracting malaria from all of the mosquitos. Save the $50 bucks and go to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios.
2 years later (2011) and the experience is still the same and it costs $50!!
The only things I will add:
1. There was cow poop EVERYWHERE; since there is no lighting, you guessed it - all over our shoes!
2. We did the part where they shoot back - you can't see them AT ALL because the light is on you; so you're prime targets (and they have good aim), however you hit nothing
3. I tried to get our money back and was given the run around for 3 weeks. They finally have the "Producers" respond and all they offer me is 25% off another one of their shows
TERRIBLE BUSINESS!
Thanks for the comments. I hoped that they would refine the attraction each year, but it looks like things at Zombie Adventure have regressed...
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