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.

Opening Night I'll stop short of forming real opinions at this point, as rain completely crippled Universal's ability to fill the streets. I only saw one horde (Warriors) and they seemed pretty successful in getting scares. Now, I'm not sure if the intense fog in NY was intended or just product of the moist weather forcing it all to hang around the ground, but I LOVE IT. I'm all for cool lighting, but I also love the feeling of walking down a street and feeling as though one of my five senses has been taken away. At one point, I looked ahead and a wall of "warriors" burst out of the fog en masse: the effect is roughly 10x more intimidating BECAUSE the fog is so thick. All I can say is, I hope that doesn't change as the event goes on. HOUSES Universal's House of Horrors -- My first house of the night. I can definitely see how a lot of people described the sets as "looking unfinished". They're unquestionably the least impressive of the event, and at times, truly uncreative. Two scenes were taken DIRECTLY out of previous houses (Wolfman, Dracula). However, I will say that the set design was very good (design here being independent of the appearance of the environment, meaning only the way the set is used to create scares). I did like the tunnel, as well as a lot of the later scenes. The house really puts actors in your space very well. I didn't get a lot of scares, but the potential for them in this one is very high. In a year of long houses, this one is perhaps the longest. Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare -- I had a bad feeling about this house from the moment I stepped through the facade. I mean, we're walking through Alice's mouth, with Alice Cooper songs playing in the background. Right off the bat, I felt rather disengaged. The sets are well themed, but uninteresting. They do allow the actors to get nice and close, so I expect a decent amount of scares to come out of here. But there's no coherence between any of these sets. It's just a jumble of Alice songs that I don't much care about. Any time Alice music comes on, I feel the tension of the moment slip away. This doesn't at all feel like an Orlando house. Silent Hill -- I had really high hopes for this one after playing the second game quite a bit over the past few days. The sets are a good mix of variety and consistency, and the costumes here are very well done. The problem is that the sets don't seem to put the actors in your space as much as I would like. As a result, I never really felt on edge in here, and for a game that prides itself on being unnerving, I expected better. Gothic -- A wonderful house. The sets are beautiful to look at, but it doesn't fall into the typical soundstage trap where the designers focus purely on making the house look pretty, and not scary. The grandiosity of the house never diminishes, but the environment gets a little more claustrophobic and unnerving. There are a number of creative scenes here that I won't spoil, but I can say with certainty that this will be a house to watch in the coming month. Dead End-- My favorite house of the night, surprisingly. I didn't expect much, but this house was everything it needed to be to succeed. Creepy costumes, AMAZING effects, and wonderful length. Legendary Truth was more spooky than scary, and naturally I was afraid that that was what this would turn out to be. Rest assured, this house delivers the scares and the fun. Walking Dead -- I got in this after the park was technically closed, but apparently no one told the actors. They were far and away the best in this house. Their energy was over the top, and with all the eye candy for TWD fans to look at, they're sure to get some easy targets. My second favorite after Dead End. Never saw P&T. Here are my early rankings: 1. Dead End 2. The Walking Dead 3. Gothic 4. House of Horrors 5. Silent Hill 6. Alice Cooper

I know this has probably already been established in other threads, but to what extent do the hordes (with the exception of the walkers) move around the park? Are they tied to the areas we originally thought, or do they migrate, and if so, how far?

Why was it so hard to get into the park? Just crowds and disorganization?

I've said some harsh things about the website and Universal's method of revealing stuff this year, but I have to give credit where it's due. This is a damn good commercial, which I absolutely did not expect. I thought it'd cave to the IPs, but instead it actually stays true to the tagline, highlighting both original content AND IP content. As already stated somewhere above this post, best since '08. Though I find it slightly amusing that the walking dead are in a full blown sprint.

1. Universal's House of Horrors -- Everything I've heard makes me giddy. Old, horror icons in the black and white should yield some very cool environments, and the Dead Exposure twist should allow give the actors a huge advantage over the other houses in the scares department. Dead Exposure was one of the scariest houses I've ever been in. I have hopes this one can top it. 2. Gothic -- I LOVE the environment and the premise, and what we've heard of the scenes and sets. Should be very impressive to look at, but my concern is the house's design. Soundstage haunts with the big grandiose sets tend to be a run into problems in terms of scares (the claustrophobic environments are much better suited for success in this area, IMO.) But it's nothing clever design and an intense cast can't fix. 3. Penn&Teller's Newk'd Las Vegas -- I like this IP a lot more than the others because it won't be forced in any way to stick to "memorable scenes." Between P&T and the design crew, I think we'll see a lot of clever scares in this one, not to mention a lot of interesting costumes. After the In-Between last year, I'm high on 3-D haunts. Should be a very memorable haunt. 4. Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare -- I have no real interest in Cooper, but from what I've heard of the previous haunt @ Hollywood, plus some of the concept art released, I'm starting to think this could be one of the more creative haunts we'll see this year, both in terms of sets and design. I've heard rumors of a spider-room...but I hope this is not the case....I don't think I can deal with that, might freak out a little too much. 5. Dead End -- Not entirely sure what to say. Could be great, but how much do we REALLY know about what's in here? It reminds me a lot of Legendary Truth in 2010. If that's the case, I hope this one keeps the inventiveness of the 2010 haunt but takes a more serious tone. LT was a spooky ghost house. Dead End should feel more menacing. 6. The Walking Dead -- I like the show, but the house will have to prove to me that it (like its source material) can transcend the "typical zombie house" tag. I have a pessimistic feeling that it won't, but you never know. 7. Welcome to Silent Hill -- I get less excited about this house the more I think about it. It may officially be based on the game, but something tells me this is going to be more promotion for the new Silent Hill movie than anything else. And that means a montage house filled with "the most memorable scenes." Yawn. Hopefully we don't see TOO many nurses, though a "crowded room" scene would be fantastic.

Interesting. Anyone feel that this mascot (not to be featured in any advertising) might have some sort of connection to the gargoyles haunt? What with the church bells and all.....

The Walking Dead just seems like it's not enough to be the one and only center of advertising. I realize it's an interesting and popular show, and one that I myself have been getting into recently, but think about it -- in 2007 and 2009 (the two recent years with the most significant IP use) HHN had to pool three BIG horror franchises together in one ad. Is the Walking Dead better known than any of the individual New Line characters, just by themselves? It's a tv show that's only been on for two seasons. Seems like a campaign like we saw in 2004 would've been a better idea, really. On another note, I'm getting really excited for this gargoyles house. Looks similar to Winter's Night set-wise in terms of grandiosity and elaborateness. Hopefully we can get a few more scares than Winter's Night though....

So....is the walking dead the...theme...? It always seemed like just one of the properties to me... "AMC's hit horror series The Walking Dead is coming to this year's event." For all the excitement they put into that, they mind as well have said: "We are out of toilet paper. Please plan accordingly." With only one sentence to convince the public that they have to go this year, Universal really brought out the big guns. No apparent motto, not even an exclamation point. Just a bland statement informing you of The Walking Dead's arrival as if the Marketing itself thought this was relatively unremarkable. Genius.

I understand. I'm not saying that Universal is making a poor business decision in this manner. I was merely stating my personal reasons for preferring the original haunts. "Living a movie" loses a bit of its luster when the actual movie couldn't keep your interest.

I guess I find myself rarely a big fan of the movies that Universal selects. I mean, obviously the New Line deal brought a lot of classics in, but all too often it just seems like they find whatever sub-par movie they're turning out in the general time frame and say "good enough." Doomsday? The Wolfman? The Thing? These had classics as their origins, but the modern movies themselves were pretty awful. Chucky had some degree of prestige at some point, but when was the last time someone left a Saw sequel saying "that was a good use of my two hours"? So, I guess I don't really get the same things out of those houses that, say, a huge fan of the movie would. Now, if there was a house based on The Shining or Halloween or.... *wishful thinking*