It’s that time of the year when ghost and ghouls come out to play. When all of our fears seem to fade away. Why? because Hallows Eve is approaching; a time when we put forth our vividly and disturbing imaginations to embody what we thought only lurked underneath our beds.
Who doesn’t have a fear, I know I do. Sharks, dolls and the deep ocean blue. Though for this time of the month, our fears present itself for some of the most exhilarating and fascinating moments for us to willingly be scared out of our wits on the Queen Mary.
Tonight was just that. An evening where I and other media outlets, as well as young Hollywood socialites, enjoyed the festivities of unexpected scare tactics while having our hearts pumping at a thousand beats per second. The Queen Mary Dark Harbor offered exactly what any horror lover could want.
Early in the morning, I was asked to fill in as a last minute favor for someone who claimed to be too sick to attend the Queen Mary scare fest themselves, so I figured that if I could get off work in enough time, I would be more than happy to attend. Considering that I blog events, I was asked to write a blog on my site in order to share the fun details of my personal experiences as well as the festivities that was being captured from my perspective. The last haunted event I blogged for, the IT Experience wouldn’t nearly be as exciting as this. It was a last minute request the day of, so there was little to vague information for me to go off of. I didn’t want to attend the event by myself, so as a last minute countdown, I tried asking every single person I could find in both my social circles as well as my friends list. The one time I found a mosh pit of fellow horror fans, no one was able to attend, so I ended up going solely by myself. In most cases with events, there is a crucial time span of when to RSVP, get a confirmation and add any other guest on the list. Unfortunately, I was unable to use my own name as I had asked prior to my attendance considering I would be blogging under my own brand. So instead, I brought my business cards and myself as Amber Social LA.
The event started roughly at 6 p.m and I was able to get off of work in order to make it out to Long Beach where everything was underway. It’s been a few years since I’ve been out that direction, so I had a little bit of a directional challenge in finding my way around that part of town. Trying to find the event was even more frustrating as I felt I was driving around in circles from where I initially checked in. I was directed to drive straight back to where I started towards the freeway, but ended up driving back once again. Luckily, I found one person at a parking garage who knew little of the parking and I ended up parking among the events employees.
For the first couple of hours, medial outlets, young celebrities and lucky guest had the exclusive to die for experience to take on all the activities and haunted mazes before the general public would gain access. During our check-in, were given VIP access writs bands, a drink ticket and a shot glass. The doors didn’t officially open until closer to 7, so media waited near the black carpet as a step and repeat started with arrivals shortly showing up. I always seem to get confused as some sort of photographer as well as a paparazzi, so I don’t find much interest in the actual step and repeat as I do engaging in the actual event, but since I was going to be nice enough to take some extra photos that I wouldn’t necessarily use, I figured I’d ask for a list of who was arriving. I remembered earlier wanting to invite a young artist and had asked if there was an age requirement for the Queen Mary dark harbor horrors. I was told that it was 21 and over, but as soon as I looked over the list of talent and seeing that the majority were clearly all underage, I became disappointed that I was given the wrong information.
It wasn’t long until talent started to arrive. Most of whom I didn’t recognize but oddly enough, some were friends of mine. I was excited to see my friends Shaka Smith and Talon Reid whom I always try to make it a point to celebrate birthdays with or nights out at the club every once in awhile. Once I noticed that they would be arriving, I gave them a shout out on social media informing them that I would be waiting for them as a surprise. I have a weird thing about glamorizing friends, but the minute they showed up, it was all fun and games.
Talent started walking the black carpet and were being interviewed on the things that tend to frighten them, but they were all geared up and ready for this night of terror that awaited our excitement. After Talon and Shaka had given me a shout out while on the black carpet, they had texted me stating that they had made their way towards the gates that would soon open up for the amusement park. I soon joined them after.
A large grass lawn was filled with people while waiters were offering jello shots that lit up. I had made it just in the nick of time while an introduction was being made by a few of the performers. Everyone’s cameras were out and filming as we took selfies and interacted with the performers. Soon enough, the gates had opened for what doom awaited us and we were met with every horror show you could imagine. I tried to stay as close to Shaka and Talon in order to blend in. That didn’t work very well, as the familiar looking character, Captain Spaulding, from the Rob Zombie horror flick House of a 1000 corpses, followed right behind me. Literally. This was a test for what was to come as we all inched our way through the flock of every creature that squirmed, crawled and slithered among the crowd. I wanted to back hand one particular character who stated he was going to scare the weave off of me. If only he knew how good my reflexes were when I get scared too easily, but I ignored his ignorant comment and kept moving.
Considering I was by myself for the most part, I had no one to attach myself to as the monsters slid at the toes of my feet. The smell of my fear brought forth every version of something I would find in one of my favorite horror films. I was bait, and enjoyed every moment of it.
After we walked through the doors, it became an immediate party. Music starting blaring and every social media influencers as well as horror reviewers, took every moment to broadcast to their fans and anyone else who awaited tickets to go on sale. There was so much to do that I didn’t know which way to go. I just simply wandered in amazement as this was actually my very first time attending any Queen Mary Halloween event. There were several mazes that I wanted to walk through, just as long as there were groups of other people I could follow behind. Although I wanted to experience the shock factor first hand, I was still scared and nervous, especially as there weren’t long lines or large crowds quite yet to distract myself from everything that made me frantically jump each split second. These monster were sneaky. They creep up behind you while breathing down your neck. Their devious approach made it far too difficult to know from which way they were prowling, but that gave all the more tingle to my adrenaline rush.
Each maze delivered something frighteningly different. Having clear daylight outside did not take away the utter darkness you became engulfed in when walking through eerie tunnels, dead bodies parts and tight crawl spaces. Not knowing what would be worse, whether to wear bright colors in order to see through the dark yet only to have something jump out of you as a target; or wearing all black to camouflage yourself with the shadows to which a creature was hiding in the corner of a wall. The smoke added even more of an effect getting lost and separated from your pack of friends. Then you had the green neon laser layers as you saw luring fingers just waiting to grab you. Yeah, they all individually had their very own purpose of thrill in order to incite the true fear in you, but heaven forbid you have mild chest pains like I do, it can take the breath out of you.
In the midst of making my way through the park, I decided to head upstairs to the RIP lounge where we were treated with food and a full bar. Majority of media were upstairs ranging from horror critics to horror bloggers and horror fans alike. A full bar allowed us to use the one ticket we were given in order to receive a complimentary drink. A long line to get tacos from the taco bar was what I had noticed from below thinking it was a line for another maze. As soon as I saw the line getting longer, I jumped in meeting other horror fans.
The overall view from our private area was much to be appreciated as it was something to take in on a whole different level. The park was almost completely empty but there was something so serene about the fact that we were the only ones there seeing the overview of haunting lights and monsters from down below. I decided to wait in the long line in order to feast on the taco bar, but it was shortly shut down without any form of notice or communication in telling us not to bother waiting. Once people got wind, media became slightly furious. The gates were about to open for the general public, but for the media, the idea that they were there to have a more premiere experience all felt like a low blow for many. My friend Talon and his group had been waiting in the line a few people behind me, and at one point, one of his friends tried to get what was left over, which was a plate of chips and salsa for his son. When all of media settled down after receiving slight confirmation that we would be able to return, everyone made their way down stairs.
I decided to hang out with Talon’s group; model actress Deserae Rose, original power rangers actor Walter Jones and his son Honor Jones, and power rangers actor, Najee Detiege with his girlfriend, were the best group to hang with for the remainder of the evening and we headed down stairs while we waited for everything else to open up again. We decided to catch a 4D screening that allowed us to see through the eyes of a female character as she walked through the haunted ghost ship of monsters and zombies. We were given 3D glasses that made the effect all the more scarier, but the effects from feeling the creepy crawlies underneath our feet and the slime on our faces increased the anxiety levels as if were were living the same nightmare. At some points, I found myself sitting upright in a fetal position because I just couldn’t take the next “attack”. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one.
We went through a couple more of the Queen Mary mazes before half of our group had to split, and luckily due to our wrist bands, we were able to bypass the long lines from the public that were Just let in. The place filled up fast with the public and the lines went from being just a few groups to hour long lines. They were just those group of people that you can have fun with anywhere. Najee was definitely the personality as he always had jokes. I couldn’t stop laughing at our antics as we tried to dip and dodge every creature jumping out at us from every which corner. Eventually, Talon and Walter had to leave a bit early but I ended up staying with Najee and his girlfriend for the remainder of the night. I felt like I had known them for as long as I’ve known Talon, and they were more than welcoming in letting me stick out around with them. We went through the rest of the mazes as just the three of us. Najee ran through them make each maze hilariously entertaining. Acting like the tough savior when it was really us girls with the balls of furry. At the DJ booths, that’s where it began to turn up. People were dancing just having fun. At one point, even some of the monster characters joined in on the fun dropping it low like they had turned the middle of the park into a club scene.
We were still able to use our wrist bands for the cabana areas that were still strictly designated for media and talent, and that’s where we decided to take a breather to sit down. It was getting closer to the time that the park was closing and we started to wrap everything up just to make sure that we did everything that we had wanted to do. Not before taking a few last minute photos. Being that I had somehow been directed to the garage area, I soon realized that I would be taking a bus back with the public that were in the park. Najee, who had conveniently parked in what was to be media parking lot, had offered me a ride to my car which I gleefully accepted. We all exchanged social media handles in order to keep in touch and he dropped me off where I had parked.
The overall experience was far more than what I had expected. In my mind, I just thought it was going to be a simple event underneath a tent, but this was on a complete different scale from what I had imagined. Being that this was my first time on the Queen Mary and during the haunted season for Halloween, this was by far the best way to have been able to experience it for the first time. I’ve always been a guest of an amusement for these types of seasonal events, but never would I have imagined being able to be in the amusement park that only opened to a certain group of people. Now I can say that for this year, I got one thing out of the way and that was by having the crap scared out of me.
I was not paid, contracted nor legally obligated to represent anyone other than myself as a blogger of my brand Amber Social LA. All written content is based off of my personal experience and perspective and ALL visual content is property of my phone.
xox
