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Very immersive sets, convincing make-up on the scare-actors. Plus I think most HHN fans appreciate what feels like a new, original franchise (like Jack, HR Bloodengutz, Body Collectors). Don't recall it being my #1 house that year, but it was solid, definitely wouldn't mind seeing it return with another era.

I agree with you more than 100%. Looks like the rose colored glasses are coming off of us fans this year and many are realizing 26 was a mediocre year.

You might not have liked it, I did, but the point is they at least tried something new. I went in by myself and loved what they attempted to do. There was thought behind it and maybe next year the sets and design will be better. Scream A Geddon near Tampa is also new and very good. The point I was making is that there are others out there that are hungry and really want to scare you. I am so tired of walking through houses at HHN and picking out sets from past years more than I am being scared. The recorded audio is simply stupid. More people laughed in the Exorcist than screamed. It was embarrassing. The last room with the "take me! take me!" and that deformed, laughably bad Regan doll with curled up polio legs was just pitiful. I don't even care about crowds because I genuinely look forward to what is in the house. People loved Ghost Town's sets. Why? Why should I get excited about a set when the content of the house sucks? I honestly have no idea why people like this year's house. The original was good and that's where it should have stayed. IPs are great and all, but they limit creativity. We all know what to expect when going into an IP house. It's like a walking museum. Original houses have things we have never seen, and are therefor much better at scaring us. I used to leave HHN full of awesome ideas that I wanted to implement at home. After the Hallow a few years ago, I decorated my entire yard based on that house. This year I left each night wishing I could feel that way again. It's not that hard ya know. They could stop this shoving IP down the throat crap, put some atmosphere into the parks again, make it immersive instead of it being nothing but walkways to soundstages so we can marvel at the Facades. I know people will get shitty about this, but it's the truth. There is nothing about "missing the old days" because we are old timers. What made us fans to begin with? What made me go for so many years and save up for months so I could buy every single piece of merch? It sure as hell wasnt 5 years of the Walking Dead.

Funny, I went to Catharsis and found it such a pile of dog squeeze I actually softened my criticism of this year's HHN a bit. Even at it's worst I find HHN miles ahead of that in terms of design, effects and scares. Ditto that raved about haunt in Winter Haven I went to 3 years ago. I do think HHN Creative seems to max out at about 4 or 5 houses. Usually easy to pick them out (this year, every soundstage but TWD, Krampus, Tomb). You can tell a lot of work and thought went into them, even if an individual house doesn't work for you, like AHS for me this year. The rest are pretty much thrown together rehashes of existing elements, tho a strong cast like in Havoc 1 or Halloween 2 can still make one a crowd-pleaser. The problem is as crowds increase, the natural inclination seems to be up the number of houses with long queues to keep people off the streets. I know the fanbois would love a 12-house event across two parks, but I fear we'd get 4 good houses, 8 mediocre at best. You can already see it in the scare-zones; all the effort went into Vamp and Dead Man's Wharf, leaving 3 or 4 cheerleaders and geishas to walk around a completely undecorated street. (The roaming hordes that don't roam and aren't very populous.) Ultimately it means Universal needs to find a better way to handle crowds, the #1 complaint about the event for decades. Need to jack up the criminally low prices of their multi-day tickets, maybe phase those out all together. Raise the 1-day price, too, and cap attendance like MNSSHP. More outside shows, too. I think they've stretched content as far as they can. But ultimately I'd rather pay more for 6 good houses that I can actually see in a night than the cluster the event has been allowed to devolve into.

Sometimes the truth is the truth. Hell, even Howl O Scream in Tampa is better at creating atmosphere and scares with a hell of a lot less budget. I went to a "house" here in Orlando called Catharsis and the whole thing was unique and entertaining. HHN has become a corporate sell out event, and there's nothing that can change that now. After going fro 19 of the 26 years, I can honestly say this was probably my last time of buying the most expensive passes, hundreds of dollars in merch and food. I think it's time to support local and more creative events.

I went to 13th Gate in Baton Rouge, LA - yeah, HHN's "detail" and "scares" are abysmal compared to that place.

the rooms were kinda lame. the scenes didnt flow too well. it was clunky. the location has never been great either. this year besides Lunatics none of the houses feel like that. none of the houses feel lame or awkward. i dont know, run was just disappointing

I felt RUN took a cool concept ("Around The World Hunger Games") and besides the queue video, was executed very boringly and non scary.