Universal Studios Hollywood will be a force to be reckoned with this year, with their addition of Wizarding World of Harry Potter this spring and the newly announced The Walking Dead attraction.
This weekend at WonderCon, creative director John Murdy led a panel with art director Chris Williams and producer Don Burgess to give fans an inside look at what they’ll expect when the attraction opens later this year. Unlike Universal’s temporary attractions for Halloween Horror Nights, this The Walking Dead attraction is permanent, giving the creators more freedom to go bigger and badder with sets and special effects.
The permanence also gives them the opportunity to explore using the infrastructure for lighting and intense effects like simulated fire and very, very realistic blood. Murdy mentioned the addition of small details like teeth and hair strewn about in gruesome scenes to give you an idea of the lengths the designers will go to for realism.
Fans of The Walking Dead appreciate this kind of attention to detail, and will be happy to hear that executive producer Greg Nicotero will be personally involved in this attraction, giving his expertise to details like iconic characters and locations. Special walker masks were created to bring to life (death?) to the walkers, giving them the distinctive walker dead-eyes and mouth-biting movement that we all know and love so well.
The attraction will be filled with Easter Eggs alluding to the show with little things like character names references and the like, ensuring that fans will want to go through the attraction again and again. One key element you won’t be able to miss are the iconic Dead Inside Doors. These recognizable pieces won’t just be a sight gag off in the distance, they’ll be a part of queue where fans can get close enough to walk right up and interact with the doors and the moving walker hands.
Answering an audience question about age limitations, Murdy recommends this attraction for people 13 and over but did say he’s seen babies go through similar mazes before, his own child included.
The Walking Dead attraction opens at Universal Studios Hollywood summer 2016.
Are you looking forward to The Walking Dead attraction? Let us know in the comments!
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IMAGES: Universal
