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Anyone who is actually scared at an event like HHN probably shouldn't be attending. I'm not talking about a startle or jump reflex but rather being actually scared. Of course those chain-less chainsaws and pennies in a tin can being vigorously shaken, well, they are indeed pretty terrifying. Not so much as those amazing movie projections in Jason Vs. Freddy or those zombies in the hot tubs, but, none the less. Seriously? It's fucking fake and if you're truly scared or terrified then you must have a hard time making it through life. I think a large part of the problem lies with the company who's bottom line is dollars. The event is flat out over sold and the alcohol is a bit excessive. And, trust me, I enjoy a drink or two at HHN, but do we really need alcohol carts *in* every line?

See one of the things I actually do not understand is why is acting out on reflex actually ok? The entire event is people in your face, in your face, jumping out, screaming, loud noises. That is what you paid to experience. If your reaction is anything more than a jump scream and restrained moderate chicken arm flail then you really shouldn't be at the event. If you react punch one person; who's to say you don't serial react punch 15? Do they keep tabs all across the park on who punches and how many? I doubt they have that good of a communication system. To know if that one guy who punched someone at Run, also punched someone at Insidious and again in say Icons. Who knows. It's the nature of the event. It's literally what you paid to experience, I'm just going to go out on a whim and assume if you're able throw a punch that is strong enough to do any harm to the recipient then you've lived in your body plenty long enough to know and understand how you react in these situations by this point in your life, you shouldn't be just now figuring out that oh you throw punches when "scared" at the age of 30 while attending a completely fake halloween event that isn't actually real... I saw a guy once shoulder bumped into another guys girlfriend in a crowded zone and kept walking purely accidental no big deal. The girls guy turned around and got all huffy and started walking after the guy until the girl pulled him back to keep walking in the other direction. I just couldn't help but imagine what the rest of the night was like for him.

I don't think it'll be fixed. Mostly due to money loss and shockingly peoples attitudes towards the problem is the problem. There's a lot of "if you don't like it don't do it; being sexually harassed, consistently harassed, hit, punched, kicked, so forth is part of the job" Honestly these people who have that approach are a huge chunk of the problem in my eyes. Yes there's risk to the job as any haunt. But it's kind of silly to compare UniOrl to any old haunt. How many people do they let into the gate? I don't know but whatever the number is it seems too much sometimes. Just reading actors just say "if you can't take it don't do it" bothers me on the sidelines. The environment should be as safe as possible to keep up with the times of more and more people having less manners and respect towards others. Changing something to make it even slightly more safer should be a good thing. Refusing to accept that things are looking grime and saying "it's always like this, deal with it" Does nothing for anyone. It reduces morale and honestly hypothetically if I was a scare actor and I had been harassed or something and told a fellow actor and all they had to say was "Don't like it? Leave." I would probably quit because of the actors attitude about the issue rather than the issue itself. I wouldn't want to work with someone with such an outlook about a problem I had just experienced. Any type of harassment violent, sexual or not is all bad. As such the mentality to just deal with it or leave should go out the door. Be more sympathetic towards your fellow actors if you are an actor reading this with that very mindset. Help them, console them if they are having a hard time and no one can do anything about it. GIVE THEM A REASON TO STAY. Offer to scare with them or whatever you think will help them out. Don't be a jerk about it because you've been an actor longer or whatever. 1 year or 5 years it's really irrelevant in the end. People want to do the best they can and be as safe as they can. If they are new, be the bigger person and step up to help. If they aren't new but are experiencing problems they haven't faced before just remind them what they have been doing all these years and to not give up. My very personal thoughts about that. (I'm experienced in customer service but I also am very stickler on workplace morale and how we treat our fellow co-workers. Respecting and helping co-workers is a big thing with me.) As for what Universal can do. Not much. They get too much money on alcohol sales. The only reasonable thing to do is to train the actors more and possibly put more warning signs up about the rules in more prominent locations to where you'll have to be oblivious or blind to miss at that point.. I don't know what kind of training they get and if it includes how to spot a drunk, angry, or up to no good facial expression. I'm around a lot of people at work dealing with customer service, people have distinct facial expressions and body language you can train to pick up on to kind of gauge if there'll be a problem with them or not. 18+ is a no go as well. I've seen less than a year old babies at the event which is mind boggling because of the noise levels and the smokers but that's not my parenting call. 18+ would just open doors for people who normally keep their composure due to there still being kids around to kind of let loose more because there is no kids. I fear for an "oh this is an adult only even I'm an adult and can do what I want" mindset. Plus even though there are scared kids at the event I'm sure; there's also still might be kids/teens who actually like horror and halloween or who are on vacation and their parents aren't going to leave them alone in a hotel room for the night (I sure wouldn't). No point to ruin it for them and their families. There isn't an immediate fix though. But gee it's the last week! I was really looking forward to having some fun on Sunday night so hopefully things will still be rolling as normal.