Carter Gaddis, Writer & Editor

Why are you afraid?

You know it’s not real. You understand that these realistic city streets and iconic set pieces are the same at night as they are in the light of day.

You know how it was done, with movie-quality makeup and smoke machines and misdirection. Loud noises and flashing lights. Detailed sets on massive sound stages.

You have heard Michael Aiello, Universal Orlando’s director of entertainment/creative development, deliver an enthusiastic description of how he and his creative team worked hand-in-hand with the original developers of the themes and characters depicted in the haunted mazes and scare zones of the 24^th Halloween Horror Nights.

It’s all just one big show. Not real.

So … why are you afraid?

Because … fear is fun.

That’s right. It’s fun to be afraid. Think about it. When do we feel most alive? When we’re lying on a couch binge-watching another TV show on our streaming video service of choice?

No. We feel most alive when our hearts are pumping, when our adrenaline is rushing, when our temples and palms are sweaty.

We feel most alive when we are reminded of the specter of death.

That’s what fear is – a physiological response to stimuli that remind us of our mortality. It is behavior passed down through the ages, a vestige of that long-ago era when what people didn’t know could absolutely hurt them. Fear is our bodies reminding us that the unknown is precarious, and that even if we can’t avoid it, we should be prepared to face it.

Fear makes us powerful.

How? The fight or flight instinct transcends thought, turning each of us into walking, talking (or running, screaming) alert beacons. Fear-inspired adrenaline makes us stronger, faster, more alert.

Fear is a friend.

Fear is an experience all humans share. Fear can unite entire communities, or even just a company of strangers drawn together to explore what it means to face their fears together.

The moms from Two Traveling Moms, Toni Patton and Mellisa Tyler Swigart, along with Universal Orlando, invited a group of bloggers and their friends or spouses to experience a three-day binge of facing fears and exploring Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, the Citywalk entertainment district and Universal’s newest on-site hotel, Cabana Bay Beach Resort.

My invitation originally included my wife, but a work conflict prevented her from attending. She suggested I invite our neighbor, Ken Page, so that’s what I did.

It started with Halloween Horror Nights. Talk about being thrown into the deep end of the fear pool.

Ken and I were, I believe, expected to run interference for most of the rest of our group of about 20 during our treks through the eight haunted mazes and four street experiences. This was fine with us, because we weren’t afraid.

Really, we weren’t.

I mean …

It’s all just one big show.

Not real.

Dolls.

The Dollhouse of the Damned got me.

Oh, the vampire prostitutes of From Dusk Till Dawn were astonishingly realistic. The crazed people eaters of the Roanoke Cannibal Colony creeped me out, even though I loved the historical reinterpretation of the Lost Colony. The clowns of Giggles & Gore, Inc., were like the funny, twisted cousins of a slaughter-house proprietor.

Shuffling through the big themed mazes based on the Walking Dead: End of the Line, Alien vs. Predator, Halloween® and Dracula Untold was like being threatened with eternal damnation on the actual sets of those Hollywood productions.

I’ll admit, too, that more than once I was caught off guard by a scare actor playing a role in one of the street experiences. The people of the Purge were everywhere – and they seemed to come out of nowhere.

Yet, as well-done as all of those were, the Dollhouse of the Damned was the maze that struck a nerve with me. I think it might have something to so with the fact that with a first grader and a third grader under our roof, our home is a haven for hundreds of stuffed animals and doll-like creatures.

Maybe it was all those plastic eyes, staring their unseeing stare into eternity, ripping through my soul. These dolls were not sweet, big-eyed, comforting companions. These creepy little figurines of plastic and cotton and fake blood were minions of evil and never, ever to should be allowed to exist – in real life or in my mind.

Oh, well. Too late. They’re in there now, plucking away at my gray matter while I sleep, filling my subconscious with the stuffing of nightmares.

Ahem. Yes.

As I was saying, fear is a friend. A nasty, smelly, intrusive, manipulative friend who borrows our things without returning them and plays loud music next door into the wee hours of the morning. That kind of friend.

And how do we deal with that friend?

We confront that friend and let them know exactly how we feel. We look that friend in the eye and say, “Do your worst. I’m ready for you.”

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A few quick takeaways from our experience at Halloween Horror Nights 24:

• Aiello told us that the Walking Dead: End of the Line maze is the largest in the history of the event. It’s based on Season 4 of the Walking Dead.
• Located within the Walking Dead maze is one of several cool Easter eggs that caught my eye. I won’t give it away, but here’s a hint – spaghetti sauce.
• Aiello runs the official Halloween Horror Nights Twitter feed (@HorrorNightsORL) and admitted that he sometimes is so excited about something that he can’t wait for the official release. So … yeah. Follow that feed for future info about next year’s event, and check out the hashtag #HHN24 to learn more about this year.
• This event is open to children, but after experiencing it for the first time since 1998, I would highly recommend leaving the kids at home. It’s very, very scary.
• The two big shows – Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure and the Rocky Horror Picture Show tribute – are a lot of fun, but they are definitely for adults only because of strong language and sexually suggestive content.
• If I had to choose one haunted maze as a favorite, I’d have to go with AVP: Alien vs. Predator. Dracula Untold was a very close second. The Walking Dead maze will appeal to fans of the show, especially those who loved the season 4 Terminus story line.
• Creepy quote of the night: “Make you pretty!” – demon child in the Dollhouse of the Damned

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This is the first in a four-part series about my experiences at the Facing Fears Together event hosted by Two Traveling Moms and Universal Orlando. Parts two-four will appear soon. I was invited to Universal Orlando Resort to experience Halloween Horror Nights, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, CityWalk and the Cabana Bay Beach Resort for review purposes. All opinions are mine.