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That seems incredibly unfair and short sited based on a PREVIEW meant for employess. The whole point of last night was to find what does and does not work.with the event and fix it before the GP see it. I'm not reading the reviews because I don't want to know till I go. But anything can happen. Bars can be moved, Street experience will be fully staffed in the actual event, and houses can be tweaked. If fact, I don't form a full opinon on the event till I've experienced it twice. So, once I've been Friday and Saturday, I will review it. But Cmon... the event sucks based on a rehersal? That's jumping the gun a bit don't you think?

Now that all of the cons of the event has been posted, what are some pros?

Hi folks, I've got a bunch of photos from last night, but certainly not as many as I'd hoped. Some of the scarezones were REALLY dark, but hopefully that'll change by the Grand Opening. Not to plug another site, but I'll be posting the majority of my photos over at "HHN in Photographs." Here are a few to whet your appetite.

I'm sorry you guys had a bad time and that there were fire drills but would you rather us not have them and then have all the scareactors burn cause they cant get out? It was annoying for us as well but most of the people i saw coming through the house were having a fun time. Theres no need to be so negative its the first night the event is going and its an employee preview because they know that it will be all jumbled up. Its not their fault the lines were so long. if you didnt like it dont go then maybe some people wont have to wait in a 60 minute line. And how can you judge an event when you only did 4 of 7 houses? Get over yourself wesker

This isn't like showing a preview screening, with an unfinished film to find out what fans are responding to. This is more akin to going to the media preview two nights prior to the film coming out so critics can write reviews and so early press can be created. They do have time to fix things, and things will be fixed but know that the actors out on the street last night were hard cast, they doubtfully will be hiring many more actors. It's flawed, end. If you want to ignore the reviews, feel free, that's your god given right. Just know a lot of us have been positive and still are positive about the event, we just found fundamental flaws and are going to point them out.

After reading these reviews and comments, I just have to wonder if you guys really understand how lucky you are to even be able to go to an event of this scale. For the price, the quality and variety you get is so far beyond what people can even hope to get in other parts of the country. Was it a bad EP? Sounds like it. But as others were mentioned, the park was not running at full capacity, and this was a test evening. If 60-75 minute lines is too much for you, then that tells me you have not gone to other haunts. Try paying 20-30 bucks per person for just a single, non-themed, ten minute house with a 60-120 minute wait, combined with little to no other activities, and see how bad this looks after that. Basing the outcome of the entire event from a single night that isn't even fully operational just feels a bit premature to me. I'm by no means saying your opinions aren't valid or worthwhile, I'm just asking you to have a little perspective here. Even if there was nothing on the streets, you're still getting a lot more than a lot of other people.

Media gift (posted by DTF)

I would just like to say that after last night I have a newly formed immense respect for scareactors. They were going hard despite all the challenges they faced!

Easily the worst employee preview of the last 5 years. We waited almost an hour to even get into the park and then were greeted by 60 to 75 minute wait times for houses, the streets were completely underwhelming, while the crowds were completely overwhelming. We were home by 10pm. Didn't see a single house, this "no safe zone" street experience...yeah, about that. Unless a shit ton changes, this year is going to go down as a completely unorganized mess. All I can say is, make paying guests wait almost an hour to even get into the park and see what kind of hell they raise.

My DEAD END house Walkthrough. Mash up of video and photos from the media preview with a fans touch.

One major factor I faced scaring last night in the streets was the cluster of people around the bars. These "dead zones," you mentioned were definitely not being helped out at all by clusters of people blocking scare actors from safely traveling from one side of the area to the other. I hope to see the traffic flow go more smoothly on opening night which will hopefully give you a better street experience.

I expect that the bar issue will be tackled today and tomorrow. I heard production assistants talking about how people were waiting 40 minutes for drinks. That will definitely have to change. My other large complaint is crowd flow. They're going to HAVE to do something. I know it'll be fine the first few nights when it has lighter crowds and more to absorb them, but it'll be bad on peak nights. They're going to have to open up alternatives or deal with complaints.

I believe JWFearman has made such shirts (including the Walkers hoard logo, which is now not being used). They can be purchased here: http://www.zazzle.com/jwfearman/clothing

What are these "fundamental flaws"? I know a lot of the street actors were following a camera crew around last night as well. Plus, the street staff wasn't at full capacity last night from what I gather on the inside. The only complaint I'm seeing is that people prefer the set scare zone concept over the roaming concept. That's not a flaw, but a matter of taste. This.

So I was lucky enough to attend my first EP eventhough this is my 9th HHN. I'll try to leave this as spoiler free as possible, but i'm sure a couple may slip here and there. We were lucky enough to be the few to "test" the express passes and employees working express, so I was able to see all the houses but skipped the shows as I had to be working by 7 AM this morning. Remember, this was an EP and felt that way..things will certainly change. First, we arrived at the gates right at 7 to find the typical clusterf*** trying to go through security. This year seemed even slower than others and I would say it took us a solid 20-30 minutes before we were through the detectors. The outside contracted security staff clearly showed no urgency. I went through and beeped- despite the only piece of metal on me was the clasp on my leather belt. This was causing basically everyone to get "wanded." THE HOUSES: House of Horrors- This house felt unfinished, plain and simple. The scareactors have little to work with and the costumes kind've all ended up looking the same. The dead exposure black and white style just seemed inconsistent. My least favorite house of the night by far. The "hallway" is very uneventful and quite frankly, just kind've annoying if you are over 5'10. Alice Cooper: Welcome to my Nightmare- I had very little expectations of this house coming into it, but I have to say I left with a big smile. The sets are well done, scareactors were on points, and this house seems like it was consistently have the shortest waits throughout the event. The final room is awesome and the strobes set up for some really cool scares. I see it being a sleeper hit of the year. Penn and Teller Nuk(d) Veges- Never been a big fan of 3d houses. So its tough for me to like this one. It was just kind've decent all around the board. My 2nd least favorite house of the night. I can see where they may have a Penn & Teller cameo appearance in the finale... AMCs The Walking Dead- Never really watched the series, but this was really a good house. I imagine for Walking Dead fans, this will be an all time HHN favorite. Probably the best set design and layout I have ever seen in the Earthquake queue. Dead End- I was absolutely blown away by this house. In my opinion, this is the best set design I have seen since Ghost Town in '04 or Screamhouse in '02. Not only are the set designs great, the scares and scareactors are just as good. There was one room where I counted 4 separate scares on my group alone, 4! The house just kept seem to keep going and going.. By far my favorite house of the night and can't wait to see where it will rank in my top 10 by the end of the year. Gothic- Just as I expected, very very good sets in this house. Some also very neat creative ideas. I was unimpressed by the gargoyle costumes and the house just felt empty to me. I can see this house getting better as the event goes on, but I can't ever see it being great for scares. Good, but felt like something was missing. Silent Hill- Probably my most anticipated house of the night and I was let down. The movie is not good, but has some stunning visuals that I pictured for a fantatic house. I barely saw any ash falling and the darkness siren needs to be much more omnipotent (I think I heard it twice for about 5 seconds). I can see it getting better throughout the event, but I just feel like they missed such a great opportunity here. THE STREETS- This was a huge failure. Only the female chainsaw gang felt like a horde. The rest was just like monsters you would see scattered around basically just walking by you. For this idea to be executed properly, they really needed to flood the streets with actors. Seemed like there was only 6 or so guys in each herd. My house rankings for EP night: 1-Dead End 2-The Walking Dead 3-Alice Cooper 4-Gothic 5-Silent Hill 6-Penn and Tell 7-House of Horrors

I had my first EP last night. I didn’t expect to go - I got admission like an hour before the event was scheduled to start. As such, I had no pre-conceived notions. Yes, the crowds and crowding were absolutely horrible. However, as someone rightly reminded me – no rides, only a couple of restaurants, pretty much no stores, and just a handful of bars (which made each individual line a nightmare). There were some absolutely terrifying clusterfudges I ran into. And yet, with nothing else to soak up the crowds, I guess that would be pretty well expected. The aforementioned will be open and operational as of tomorrow. I didn’t really expect a lot from the rehearsal, but as others have said, there was some really good energy from the actors, even given the terrible conditions they had to work in. And I frankly had a huge amount of fun interacting with actors and fans I’ve encountered from previous years. I know several people who have gone many times, and did say the event was much worse than other years; again, I have no basis for comparison, but I would give credence to their concerns. But while I guess I’m being a Pollyanna again, this didn’t significantly impact my high hopes for the event we are to see. Other than the “Single Circle around the Park” (total pain in my bum), I don’t think I ran into anything that couldn’t be tweaked up (or majorly repaired) over the next couple of weeks. And that seems to happen every year anyway. Okay, sometimes they tweak down , but that’s the exception. And yes, I think Gothic is absolutely beautiful.

EMPLOYEE PREVIEW Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 (7pm - 1am) If you attended Employee Preview and want to post a somewhat "spoiler free" review. You can do so here.

Also the lines for the bars were horrible. In KZ there is a bar across from a food tent and the lines were crossing each other, it was difficult to get through it all. The bar line outside P&T/AC exit was across the walk way too. At one point the line in front of Silent HIll/Monsters (bar) was going across the road and there was a fight. They really need to get the lines in control...add ropes or something like the regualr stands have, or it will be a nightmare.

you mean her? lol

So when we got in we went to HOH, didn't know that the houses would open at different times. We stood in line at HoH for an hour and the que line wasn't done and they house was not open yet. We said screw it and hit AC. House was ok to me, not fantastic, but ok. I def did not like the varsity guy banging on the barrell, it was TOO loud! Attempted P&T but the fire alarm was going off...Walked around the park a little trying to catch the zones. Went to attempt Silent Hill but the line was hella long. We were given an Express Pass and used it for TWD, at that point the wait time was 60 minutes. I love the video they have playing. House was great, you could actually see in it, but there is so much to look at you really don't get to see it all. We hit up HoH after this, they girl said 15-20 minutes which was about accurate. I loved this house. The simplicity made it easier for me to focus on the monsters. I loved the last room of this house too! Went over to catch Silent Hill and were given another Express Pass. Pyramid Head's costume was AMAZING!!! But the smell in the house was disgusting, it reminded me of barbeque sauce. After that we went to Gothic. I loved this house too. The camera man in the house actually got a pic of me being scared by a Gargoyle. We didn't get to do Dead End the line was getting longer and longer. As far of zones, I was displeased. We saw the beasts, a brief of the vampires bc they were moving to the next zone (def did not like how they were rushed to move along the path) saw the traditionals 2 times in the same area (not too happy with re-used costumes) and the chainsaws. One girl was awesome! Got a view of the Warriors when they were moving zones, but that was it. The zombies were pretty awesome, they scared the crap out of the same person like 6 times. I did not like all the OPEN area thohey really need to fill it up more. There was nothing between Shrek & Despicable Me. Also got a glimpse of the water show which was nice. I was told every 30 minutes it would go off. All in all I had fun, I will be back out tomorrow night and I am looking forward to the changes. Edited: to add about the bbq sauce and fix spelling

...It's not.

Let me first make one thing perfectly clear to all of those who attended EP & those who will be going this weekend- THIS HOUSE IS NOT DONE YET! Now with that being said, I'll elaborate. Sets aren't done yet, costumes aren't complete (they had NO costumes their first rehearsal), they only just got lighting effects during their 2nd rehearsal (which was also their last rehearsal). This house was thrown together at the last minute thanks to the loss of SS44 & the house that was originally supposed to go in there. On top of being thrown together last minute, it was also shoved in a location that was no longer available. So keep all of this in mind. As for the house itself... there is no facade, which IS disappointing, but its forgivable to an extant. The recycled Silver Screams hallway was actually kind of cool. The next room is basically 2006's "Die-In 2" first scene with all of the film reels stacked up everywhere, while its kinda "meh", the audio is what made it cool. Like I said before, the house isn't completed yet, so there is a lot lacking in each of the scenes in one way or another. Having gotten to do the house 4 times last night, I can honestly say that this house did a fine job with what they had to work with. I don't really get scared in the houses, so it was nice to get quite a few scares in this house. Who says the classics can't be scary? Its not really a big secret, so I will go ahead and say what characters are used in the house to avoid any sort of expectations of seeing certain ones. It truly is the main classic monsters and it is great to see them showcased. - Phantom of the Opera - Dracula/Brides of Dracula - Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein - The Mummy - The Wolfman - Creature From The Black Lagoon Nosferatu is ONLY a silohette on the wall, not an actual scareactor.

Stick to reviews, not personal insults and attacks. Just had to remove a few posts that added nothing whatsoever to this discussion. First and final warning from me before I start handing out warning points.

This house met my expectations. I love the idea of Universal doing a "classic" haunted house and the execution and story were done well. This house had really great detail that will probably get overlooked due to the color scheme of an old dilapidated house and low light. That being said, each room has really nice touches and great focal points, as well as secondary items that deserve a look. I really liked the fact that Universal used the vortex in a very different way this year. The rooms flow really well together with the exception of the transition from the "green house" to the "attic" and then the "cellar". The scares were abundant and there was a nice mix between aggressive and spooky scares. They really have a great audio scheme, and T.J. said that the sound would be different and more intense this year due to use of smaller "plantable speakers" and you can tell. The combination of the decor, detail (mildewy walls and sheets), and smell (mildew or musk pumped in, probably froggys fog or scent box) really immerse you into the environment. The house gives alot more than most will notice... when you go through, take in the whole environment, up, down, side to side and in between, and let the scares find you. The facade is creepy and convincing, my only complaint would be the out of place scareactors outside of the facade, and the lack of a true climax- It was more of a rollercoaster than a crescendo. MAKE Note of-... entryway, vortex hall, greenhouse, library (grab a book lol) and our "Wrong side of the bed" room. I give this house a 7 out of 10- for now -and I am interested to see how this house will evolve throughout the course of the event. Well done!!

This whole "one path" shit is kind of hilarious. Are they really serious about that? Seriously? It's crowded as hell as it is, and the whole having to walk around the whole park to get to things is really annoying. I really hope they get rid of that. The fact they even thought it might work is kind of embarrassing on their side in my opinion. As for doing houses, I usually do them all by 8 like JW said. I start at the parade building and make my way around the park. It hasn't failed me yet,.

I have a feeling this house is going to have the longest lines by a wide margin. Holidays of Horror had some of the longest lines last year and TWD is definitely the biggest draw for the GP. Does anyone remember if the Disaster houses open before 630 when they let people in at 6? My usual game plan is to hit the parade building first and then the two sprung tents. That usually gets three houses done before the 715 show of B&T. Though I figured to get Walking Dead first so I won't be waiting 2 hours which I assume will be the wait even on a FFP night.

Yes, how about some HOUSE reviews? We get that the preview night, which is a dress rehearsal had issues. And the construction, which is out of A&D's control, sucks ass for crowd flow. And I have to laugh at some reviews about people passing on houses because they had 30min lines...those are the houses we don't even bother to use our Express Passes on (we save them for later when the lines get over an hour). I guess being an employee and how preview nights usually are is a bit different. Has me a bit scared for the crowds for regular event nights (really thinking TWD is going to increase the lines like we THOUGHT/FEARED Freddy/Jason/Leatherface were going to) and am feeling much better upgrading our Rush of Fear tickets to Express (Edited to fix quite a few stupid typos)

*sigh* For what my opinion is worth on this. Typically, Employee Previews do not run attractions and limit food/beverage carts. That includes the bars, which is what causes the massive lines for liquor on those particular nights. Yes, that greatly impacts the wait time of the houses themselves. Complaining about lines on EP night is moot, though. Some people saw B&T and 6 of the 7 houses. If you felt 30 minutes was too long to wait, and would rather go through one house 14 times, that's your own deranged prerogative. Now, it's my opinion that it's inexcusable to "allow" Universal until the middle of October to fix an event. The great majority of attendees only attend one night. Sometimes, that one night is opening or the second weekend. If logistical issues are creating a crap event when those people attend at opening, then I think it's totally fair to call the event a crap event. Look at Broadway; they get official reviews on opening night. If a show is bad on opening night, chances are good it won't last long. HHN is a theatrical event, so I think it should be treated the same way. If, in order to have a good event opening night, Universal needs to do multiple Employee Previews, actually train their scareactors on safe, effective ways to scare, and revisit how they organize the park, then THAT'S what they should do. But allowing them to "fix" the event as it goes along only encourages these sorts of disasters. In general, the flaws I'm reading about this year, cannot be fixed quickly (if at all). Not enough people in the streets r house? Well, it's unlikely for them to add more scareactors to each horde. If they do, it would likely only be two-five each because they don't make many extra costumes. They have Firecrew and ABUs, but they are needed to fill the spots of full-timers who aren't there. So, don't expect many people than what's there. Employee Preview night is an official rehearsal for scareactors. They are REQUIRED TO BE THERE. This "half-casts" rumor about last night doesn't fly with me, because (from what I've seen) if you're going to miss a rehearsal they fire you outright. The issue with the Street Experience seems to be lack of originality (obvious), and the hordes being too spread out. The first can't be fixed, the second part "can" if they simply limit the amount of space the hordes have to operate in each location. Or... they can "park" the hordes, assigning them to a fixed location like a traditional zone. But that's unlikely because of how they've been marketing the heck out of this. Blocking off the cut-through is a horrible decision, despite the logical reasons for it. That is something that, because of the pace of construction, can't be fixed though. So, flaws: Lines - None issue. Deal with it. Number of Scareactors - Unlikely, to be fixed Spread-out streets - Maybe, but will they? Navigating the park - Can't be fixed "Ineffective" house designs - Can't be fixed Streets too dark - Can be fixed, but will it? Broken Effects - Hopefully, will be fixed Scareactor Performance - Can improve Typically, an EP, despite its roughness, is fairly close to what the event will ultimately be. Last year was a rough opening, but the only real changes (aside from improved performance, which is a given) were giving the Minions saws and moving the photo-op. The issues we are seeing this year don't seem to be as easily fixed.

Too few actors covering too big a space, and lack of set pieces would seem to be the big ones. The reason people are saying they prefer a set scare zone, I think, is because those work better. They focus your attention on the actors, and they "put you in the mood" to be scared. The best example I can give is the vampires. Milling about in front of Twister, they looked too much like goth kids who were just bending the no-costume rule. They didn't register as "scary" until after they had moved in, snarled, and moved on. In, say, a properly themed Shrek Alley with coffins and Victorian facades, I think this troop would have done wonders. But bunched up in the middle of a crowded street they don't stand out enough. I agree nothing ever measures up to "the golden years." But on FB this morning I saw Universal Entertainment vets with 4 to 10 employee previews under their belt saying basically the same thing. Seems to be a common theme across the various theme park boards, too. I'm not saying this ruins the event, I'm saying as of last night the roaming scare zone experiment isn't really working.

I was wondering if/what they were going to do this year. Looks like I'll have to track one down now, since this is a year I'll be in attendance. Thanks for the share!

I think we are all just being honest with our opinions from last night. I'm not going to sugar coat it and say it was amazing. I've been to a ton of employee previews and this one was by far the worst. Ever. For everyone who is going, I hope they have an amazing time. For me, personally...again, this is MY opinion, there's going to be have to be a LOT of changes made for things to improve. I'm sure improvements can be made, but like I said above, there are going to have to be a LOT of changes made for that to be so. With EP being so close to opening night, I would have figured last night would be a major dress rehearsal...because every other year there is usually a week between EP and opening night. We aren't doubting them, we are just stating our experiences from last night. I hope for the sake of everyone who goes that it does come together and everyone has a great time.

Here we go again, everyone doubting universal, everything will come together

It was fixed by the last set last night chris. Good effect wasn't implemented well at the start of the night.

Well our Alice Cooper house was NOT the same as Hollywood's house. It shared the same name, but the scenes were completely different. As far as out house goes- some scenes worked, others have potential and then you have the... well this is lacking, can we replace this scene? I do know there is one scene in AC that had issues with a specific scare, so it wasn't present last night. Hopefully that will be fixed by tomorrow.

So far, it seems the Streets were awful and the crowds were disgusting. Any complaints with the houses minus crowd control?

I can assure you... there are NOT "more" bars. There is infact LESS. Trust me, if anyone would know, it is me. And their placement is awful. especially the one shoved right next to the photo-thingy next to Disaster across from Lombards. You come through Amity & BAM! There is a wall of people... which is a line for the bar. Genius idea. They really need to take a step back from Transformers & get that new "london" waterfront finished so there is more space for guests by doing away with that construction wall.

It seems the concept was less house, more bars. I try to tell myself, because the rides weren't open that contributed to the crowd but c'mon uni....having a bar right in front of house entrances and exits is not a smart thing to do...talk about a major clusterfuck of people.

I agree it's not fair to judge the event solely by EP night. Without rides and restaurants to absorb people, the crowds and dynmics are different. And of course not all effects may be fine-tued just yet. That said, there were solid indications last night that the roaming scare-zone concept is fundamentally flawed. It's on the various boards, it's also all over my Facebook feed this morning. Glitches that kept houses closed I expect can and will be fixed fairly easily--I'm not sure the roaming troops vs. set SZs issue can be as easily corrected.

and I would refer you to the below post....

What a shame, sounds like our fears about the streets are going to be true. *sigh* ...hopefully they can do something about this quick. I know it was just EP but ....

Being refused entrance to the park and being escorted out all because of a few buttons ranks pretty high up there.

Alright so that was without a doubt, the worst. EP. ever. Yes EP is techically a dress rehearsal, but just from tonight, I would have to say that this year's event sucks "Shia Labouf" (for those who aren't familiar with B&T 2009, that is the substitute for "ass"). Seriously though, I was really regretting buying my FFP earlier tonight. I kinda wanted a refund. Anyway, I'll get to the "suck" in a bit... I'll post the house reviews at the end. So 4 of the houses opened at 7pm, the other 3 at 7:30pm. We headed straight to "Alice Cooper: Welcome To My Nightmare", however when we arrived (3rd in line), we had to wait at the queue entrance.... and wait... and wait... and wait.. they didnt even have the damn queue line set up yet. So we didnt even get to enter the queue & then the house until 7:25pm. So ridiculous. After that house, we planned on hitting "Penn & Teller", however that house had a fire drill, so it wasn't even open yet... and this was at 7:30pm. On top of not being open yet, the line outside the queue entrance was also pretty long already. Went over to attempt "The Walking Dead: Dead Inside"... this line was already 30+ minutes long, so skipped that. By this time, the "Walkers" (zombies) were out infront of Disaster. It was basically "Zombie Gras 2.0".... except too. freaking. dark. Seriously, is lighting too much to ask for? They did have a neat effect in nearby windows that looked to be on fire inside. Plus the telephone pole between the bus & station wagon had a sparking effect. And there were also two fire blasts on the roof of Disaster. (so yes, we actually have a REAL non-roaming sz) After this we walked through NY (surrounded by vampires)... "Dead End" wasn't open yet... and it was well after 7:30pm. There was a long line outside its queue entrance that went all the way down to the Twister giftshop. Didn't even see the line for "Gothic" because trying to cross over there would've been too much effort. "Silent Hill" already had a long line as well... By this time, we headed to "Universal's House of Horrors"... Only waited roughly 20-25minutes. After this, we hit "Alice Cooper" again due to the short line. Unfortunately "Penn & Teller" was already at a 30+ minute wait. So skipped that and hurried over to catch the next showing of "20 Penny Circus". This show was such a waste of time. The show is NOT worth seeing. If you've seen Brian Brushwood or anything like that, you won't find anything new here. They should either cut this show or relocate it to animal actors & have Beetlejuice at night... eitherway, don't waste your time seeing it. After the show, we saw that "TWD" was at a 90minute wait, so skipped that. Attempted to do "Dead End" which we were told at the queue entrance, it had just reopened. We didnt even make it all the way past the NY Library facade before another staff member was telling people to "go back. this house is not open". After that failed attempt, we split up to go do whatever. "Penn & Teller" was now a 75minute wait, so I went to go do "HoH" again, but that was a 45minute wait. Instead of that, I hit up "AC: WTMN" for a 3rd time. They said 30minutes, ended up only waiting about 15-20. I ventured off to meet up with Lizz & our fried Ron at Monsters, then met up with some other friends and we got in line for "Gothic" since it was only a 15minute wait... which ended up being more like 30mins.. After that, I hurried back over to "AC: WTMN" and did that 3 more times due to the zero wait. Then I hit up "HoH" again. I ran into other friends who were heading into "AC: WTMN", so i ended up doing that again with them. They were headed to "TWD", but i figured that would be a long wait still, so I went back to "HoH" two more times before the EP ended. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Alright... now for the reviews of stuff... The "NEW STREET EXPERIENCE" was a complete joke. Seriously, whoever thought this was a good idea needs to be fired. The streets were AWFUL! Now the scareactors themselves were pretty decent, but some seemed rather bored. One of the main issues is the casts are too small for such large areas. It was pretty much how I predicted it would be. There was seriously MORE dead space in the streets this year than there is when they have regular stationary scarezones. I would rate their "NEW STREET EXPERIENCE" as a complete failure (mostly due to lack of scareactors). Oh and lets not forgot how random the cemetery set pieces are with scareactors that AREN'T "Grim Reapers" or "Vampires". Two other issues with the streets. One of them being- its. too. freaking. dark. They really need to splurge for more lighting because there is no point in having cool costumes when you cant even see them. Big fail on the lighting. The other issue... This year, there is ONLY ONE PATHWAY... what do i mean? I mean if you want to go to NY, Hollywood, Kidzone, World Expo... you have to go ALL THE WAY AROUND. The entire center of the park is walled off/barricaded. No Shrek Alley. No South Street along the Production Central side of the lagoon. No more quick bypasses to the soundstages or Disaster. One other fail i forgot to mention, the queue line entrance signs failed to work tonight. So only like two were on, the other 6 were not even on tonight. That was fun always having to ask what the waittime was. __________________________________________________________________________________________ HOUSES: "Alice Cooper: Welcome To My Nightmare" - Went through this house 7 times tonight. It was actually a somewhat decent house and has potential. Some scenes sort've fail to be "scary". One of the coolest effects in the house is the stained glass window that we saw concept art for. There is a pole-dancer stripper scene in the house, BUT the girl seriously needs to learn how to use a pole. "Universal's House of Horrors" - Went through this house 4 times tonight. I have to give the scareactors A LOT of credit. For having a crappy rehearsal due to unfinished sets, lack of costumes, and no lighting effects... They did very well tonight for what they had to work with. The house definitely looks/feels unfinished, which is ashame becuase it is a great concept. Hopefully UNI does more to it, otherwise people are going to rip this house to shreds. As for the costumes, they could use more paint in order to show up better when the light flashes. The Mummy scene is actually the "duck/crouch" scene and it has a decent scare, however, I see guest injuries in the future due to this. Phantom got the shaft once again. Dracula provided a good scare when timed right. CFTBL is nifty. Bride of Frankenstein needs a new "wig" because her hair is not high enough. The house finale is EPIC! "Gothic" - Only went through this house once tonight. I know MANY people loved this house, but i found it to be lackluster and rather dull. Also most of the set details get lost in the darkness & house lighting. So if you're wanting to really see how nice the sets look, go take the UTH tour. Anyway, I really expected more from this house. I just wasn't really impressed. On the upside though, I got attention from a stilt gargoyle which made up for the "meh"-ness of the house. ______________________________________________________________________________ Signature Drink Name: "Dead Walker"

I didn't see the shift change myself and it will be facing some changes due to logistical problems with such a massive crowd of scareactors taking up so much space, but reactions to it were along the lines of "holy Christ."

My worst moment was when it was over and I had to fly back home the next day.

Well there was this one time, No wait that's not it. Ummm oh yeah there was this one night, Crap that's not it either. Come to think of it I have no worse HHN moments...

From DTF

"Universal owns halloween...and Disney does it's kinda p***y thing with Not So Scary Halloween" "You don't think about wearing 3D glasses in the real world, but when you do, it f**ks up your s**t" Ha ha ha, classic.

The spheres were expensive, high maintenance, expensive to upkeep, and actually got really hot

After having seen the show. I would like to take back any negative thought. I quite enjoyed the show and would love to watch it once again.