Blizzrock13

Hi, thanks. No worries on the "treat me like an idiot" answer, as you call it! If I seem ignorant on the matter it's because I've done FFP every year since 2007. I've never needed any other options, so I've never really paid attention to them. However, I moved out of state a few months ago, so FFP isn't nearly as practical. However, in 2006 I remember being able to enter Islands from 3-6 pm for something like $30-40. Around closing, we were able to enter USF through the Suess Landing employee entrance. Got into all of the soundstage houses before it seemed like crowds were coming in. I had always thought that was called Stay and Scream, but perhaps I'm mistaken. EDIT - Yep, mystiquphreeq, that's it!

So...we're expecting Stay and Scream to become available at some point? I gave a quick call to Universal to see if they had this available this year, but the guy I spoke with didn't seem to know anything about it, and suggested I get an HHN Add-on Ticket. Since that requires you purchase full day admission, I'm not as thrilled about it.

Any chance someone could catch me up on where we are right now, speculation wise? Either in a post, or by PM to avoid cluttering this topic would be much appreciated. Or perhaps we could update the first post of this topic with general bullet points of what we know so far, to avoid further questions from people like me who didn't contribute anything to this topic but still want to reap the benefits. XD

Completely updated to include the last two years: Attended every year 2005-2013: 1. A Nightmare on Elm Street: DreamWalkers (2007) 2. Body Collectors (2005) 3. Scary Tales 3: Once Upon a Nightmare (2008) 4. Hades: Gates of Ruin (2010) 5. Body Collectors 2: Collections of the Past (2008) 6. Dead Exposure (2008) 7. Catacombs: Black Death Rising (2010) 8. Psychopath: The Return of Norman Bates (2006) 9. Urban Legends: La Llorona (2013) 10. The In-Between (2011) Honorable mentions (in order): Gothic (2012), An American Werewolf in London (2013), The Thing: Assimilation (2007), Dead End (2012), and Saws'n'Steam: Into the Machine (2011).

Final: 1. La Llorona 2. American Werewolf in London 3. The Walking Dead 4. Cabin in the Woods 5. Evil Dead 6. Afterlife 7. Havoc: Derailed 8. Resident Evil

2005 was my first year at Halloween Horror Nights. Really, I didn't expect much. I usually hated haunted houses, and I just kind of got dragged along. But the event blew me away. I've been back every year since. However, most of those years I've been back multiple times and been through each of the houses more than enough to remember a lot of specifics. That wasn't the case in 2005. I was only able to go the one time, and even then I only did 5 of the 7 houses. So a lot of the event I remember as a blur of excitement, rather than a coherent mix of scarezones and houses. Could anyone point me in the direction of some cool pictures/videos from the event to satisfy my nostalgia? I'm especially interested in Body Collectors, which was really the house that sold me on the event completely. Thanks!

Never thought I'd see these two at the top of my list: (After 2 nights): 1. La Llorona 2. Walking Dead 3. Cabin in the Woods 4. American Werewolf 5. Evil Dead 6. Afterlife 7. Resident Evil 8. Havoc2 Pains me to put AWIL so low, because I really really do like it. But I've liked 6 of the 8 houses a lot this year. In the end, Llorona and Walking Dead have great sets AND provide the scares (and scares have been hard to come by over the last few years for me). AWIL is probably the most impressive house from the last few years in terms of costuming and those awesome puppets, but it's just been too easy for me to see the wolf scares coming. One of the best house lineups in the last few years, I'd say.

Anticipated: 1. Cabin in the Woods 2. American Werewolf 3. La Llorona 4. Resident Evil 5. Afterlife 6. Havoc 7. Evil Dead 8. Walking Dead I've only been once, and only have one walkthrough to go off of for each. Still haven't seen Walking Dead. Will update list next Friday, hopefully. Current: 1. Evil Dead 2. American Werewolf 3. La Llorona 4. Cabin in the Woods 5. Resident Evil 6. Afterlife 7. Havoc 1-4 are all VERY close for me.

I don't know. 62% critics rating on rotten tomatoes. 66% viewer rating there. 6.5/10 on imdb. To an extent, I'm sure I'm letting my personal feelings color my impression of how "successful" it is. But those seem like the reviews of a movie that was just kind of "there" to me. Financially, I think it benefited from the legacy of the earlier movies (which is why these reboots keep being made). The film also provides only a few truly usable environments, scenes, and characters, which makes it hard for me to see it as a truly successful house. But I've certainly been wrong about houses before. Maybe this is just the next in line.

The decision to make this house based all around the 2013 Evil Dead is just baffling to me. I'd never seen any of the series prior to last night, but the originals have a huge cult following. The new one is...relevant (I suppose?) because it just came out. But what else can you really say about it? I gave it a whirl last night, and my expectations for this house went way down. It barely even attempts to scare or create any tension...it's about cramming as much gore as possible into 90 minutes. Considering we already have Cabin in the Woods right next door (or in the same soundstage? I forget.) what exactly will this bring to the table that makes it worth its own house? We will get largely the same sets in both, except Cabin in the Woods can offer a finale in the underground facility and a wider variety of characters. I've never really appreciated Universal's need to take a mediocre movie that's come out in the last year and recreate it in play by play format. If the movie wasn't very well received, what's the draw? If there was at least an even mix, they could please the cult following and the people who had seen the more recent version...so isn't this clearly the better route? Oh well. Guess all we can do is hope for the best.

Any thoughts on how the event will be marketed this year? Universal seems like they're going all in on TWD, giving it one of the best house locations and 100% of the street experience. Its smaller presence last year resulted in it getting top billing on just about everything. Since so much of the 2014 event will be invested in TWD's popularity, it kind of has to headline in all the ad campaigns. But should it? It's probably not a good thing if the first words to pop into a potential guest's head after watching the commercial are "Walking Dead again?" Advertising something that people have already seen just a year prior seems like a bad method of convincing them to come again. Maybe I'm underestimating the popularity of the show, but it does seem like Universal would have to lead with something fresh.

I'm tempted to say 2008, since that was by far the best event I've been to in my eight years of attendance. But...I attended that year more times than I remember. However, 2005 was my first year attending, and it remains the only year where I've ever missed houses (Terror Mines and Cold Blind Terror). Still, I remember the year as one of my favorites and as the year that changed me from someone who could care less about haunt season into a huge fan of it. It's also the only IoA year that I attended, which makes it doubly unique. I'd love to get the chance to go back and experience it with fresh eyes (especially with all the Terra Cruentus knowledge I gained after the fact). Any year ever, I'd probably like to do 2004. The double-park thing just seems like such a cool concept that I would've loved to see it in action.

Thought I'd update my list: The Top 10: 1. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2. Scary Tales: Once Upon a Nightmare 3. Body Collectors 4. Psychopath: The Return of Norman Bates 5. Hades 6. Body Collectors: Collections of the Past 7. Dead Exposure 8. The Thing: Assimilation 9. Catacombs 10. The In-Between ------ Honorable Mentions: 11. Gothic 12. Dead End 13. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 14. Saws'n'Steam: Into the Machine 15. Friday the 13th ------ Bottom Five: 5. Vampyr: Bloodbath 4. Jack's Funhouse in Clown-o-Vision 3. Reflections of Fear 2. People Under the Stairs: Under Construction 1. Dungeon of Terror: Retold

Thank you. I had no idea whether such information would be found in the last 8-10 pages, or the last 57.

I'm sorry, I haven't been on the boards in a while and naturally haven't read through all 57 pages of this topic. But why would Universal make a prison themed house and a Walking Dead house as well, considering that the entire last season of TWD (as in, everything that wasn't in the last house) took place in a prison? Seems pretty redundant to me.