Over the weekend, Universal Studios brought the world of The Walking Dead to life—or is that ‘undead’?—with their newest attraction. After years of crafting limited-run mazes inspired by the zombie series for Halloween, the park has just opened a permanent year-round fright-fest, offering a more intense, immersive experience.
Created in collaboration with the same team that produces the show, USA Today reports that details of props, costumes and sets are authentic, right down to the use of the molds brought from the set to make the peeling fake skin and prosthetics for the live and animatronic performers in the park—so they should pass with even the most hardcore fans of the AMC hit. Even those less familiar with the show will enjoy other strives in theme-park technology developed in the process of creating the attraction—although we’re not sure we’ll quite share the creators’ enthusiasm for adding actual heat to a faux-fire scene when we’re touring the park on a hot summer afternoon.
So what can you expect when visiting the attraction? First of all, this it is not a ride. Building from the popular Halloween mazes that lead to this new fixture, this attraction is one you walk through, sort of like a high-production haunted house. During the seven or so minutes it takes to complete, zombies (‘walkers’ as they are known in the parlance of The Walking Dead) will gnash, snarl and grab toward you as you make your way through various environments, with occasional assistance from zombie-fighting forces.
Maybe if the attraction is a flop, they’ll switch it out for a different maze inspired by AMC’s previous big hit, Mad Men, where instead of fleeing zombies, visitors just sit around swirling old-fashioneds.