30 Days of Halloween Horror Nights: What’s Your Favorite Special Effect?
While not necessarily an ‘effect’ on its own, the “guest-activated trigger”, or GAT, is my choice for “most favorite special effect.”
The idea of a GAT is simple: when pressed, it causes a loud noise and a burst of compressed air further ahead in the line. Basically, it allows you to mess with the people ahead of you in line (and be messed with by those behind you).
I first noticed The Button in the queue line for the “Revenge of The Mummy” coaster in 2004. In one particular scene, a jeweled scarab beetle rests in a wall near a surveillance monitor. The screen shows a feed from a room further ahead in line. When the beetle is pushed, a jet of compressed air blasts the guests in the video feed.
The concept made its Halloween Horror Nights debut in 2010’s “Psychoscareapy: Echoes of Shadybrook” house (seen above), where it activated loud sounds and strobe light effects. GATs appeared the following year in “H. R. Bloodengutz presents Holidays of Horror.” Most recently, there were rumors of GATs in 2013’s “AMC’s The Walking Dead: No Safe Haven” and “An American Werewolf in London” houses, though these are personally unconfirmed
What’s your favorite HHN in-house special effect? Leave us a comment on Facebook!
Photo by HHN Yearbook.