hunnylvr

I'm thrilled to read that everyone agrees on who is a pain in the ass on the show. That smug, know-it-all, "I'm better than you" look that Shane always had made me want to smack him. I did the Snoopy happy dance when he finally went down. I think this house will be pretty good - with or without the actual characters. Although, you guys are cracking me up with your ideas for Carl. Brilliant!

Let me rephrase one more time. Orlando HHN is better FOR ME. I have my reasons, and they are my reasons. Would I turn down an offer to go to Hollywood's event? Nope. If I was given a choice of one over the other - Orlando, every time. Was Hollywood enjoyable? Hell yes.

To Wesker69: Again, I'll reiterate that my thoughts on what the Alice Cooper house was in Hollywood last year is based solely on my experience and, therefore, my opinion. You may love it. And good for you! Hell, I may love it, and good for me! I'm just saying.. I wasn't thriled with this particular announcement. When I say "gimmick", I'm not using the term like you seem to think I am. Please note my comments after my use of the word "gimmick" in which I stated I hope every attention whore with an album doesn't come around trying to cash in. That was more my concern. I fully agree that an open mind is the way to be on this because you just never know what may turn out to be really good. For example at last year's event, based on the premise of it, I thought "The Forsaken" was going to be a stupid house.. (that was the one with the pirate kind of thing, right? Sorry, I'm old.. brain farts). Anyway, I really, really liked that house. When I got to HHN, I was thrilled to be there as I always am.. and my mind is more than open. I go with the INTENTION of enjoying every single minute, and I usually do. So, please, don't try to lecture me about keeping an open mind and please don't put meaning to my words to fit your defensive filter. Do I think Orlando is "high and mighty"? No, I don't. When I say "worthy" I do mean a high standard for Universal.. I go to other haunts here at home. We usually hit a few of the bigger haunted houses in the Chicago area. Some of them do a decent job (Statesville Haunted Prison, for one, is pretty consistent). However, NONE of them compare to what Universal does.. be it Orlando OR Hollywood. I friggin LOVE Universal... I should be getting paid for how much I promote them. Also, another poster here made the exact point I make when I talk about Orlando vs. Hollywood.. Orlando IS more creative. I love the more original ideas they come up with for the exact reason mentioned above.. I can walk into one of these houses and have NO IDEA what I'm in for. THAT is scary. If the house is based on all well-known media - it's true, we already have an idea of what we're getting. It's better when it's not. Although Wolfman and Dracula were two of my fave houses a few years ago.. so, I guess it depends. Anyway, I think you get my point. Take a breath, man. We're all here because we love it.. at least, that's how I see it.

Bonovox: I hope you're right. I hope Orlando does something with it that makes it worthy. I'm 45 years old, and I understand your thoughts very well (and agree with you as well). Personally, I don't think Universal needs to rely on such gimmicks like "horror rock". Their creativity is usually just fine on its own. I hope this doesn't start a precedent for every attention whore with an album to show up pitching a house. Hollywood had a Rob Zombie house too.. and guess what? We felt that sucked too.. That was our whole discussion on the ride back to our hotel - how we wouldn't have expected the two most hyped houses (Rob Zombie and Ailce Cooper) to be the houses we liked the least (hated). But that was true

Thanks Corey.. I don't mean to offend anyone. This is ONLY my opinion. I'm just saying.. both my partner and I are total geeks for HHN, and we go thru the houses multiple times trying to take it all in. We so appreciate the work and creativity that goes into them. That's one of the reasons we love it so much. However, sometimes things don't always work for us.. and the AC house in Hollywood was one of those things. I realize people may disagree, and that's fine. Like someone said earlier.. some things can scare some people while others might find the same thing boring. I get it. I'm just passing along my own observations and feelings on it. As for Hollywood overall - the best thing about it was the Terror Tram, I think. That was worth going all by itself. I live in Chicago, so really, I could go to either coast - it's a plane ticket for me no matter what. I just choose Orlando every time.

We happened to be in LA a week before Halloween last year, so we went to the Hollywood HHN. Our overall opinion is that Orlando is, WITHOUT A DOUBT, soooooo much better than Hollywood. We feel way more immersed in the whole thing in Orlando, whereas, in Hollywood, it all seems too small and too broken up (partly because half of the park is split from the other by virtue of an upper level and lower level). Anyway, we went to the Alice Cooper house, and, frankly, I thought it SUCKED. It wasn't just "marginal".. it SUCKED. It wasn't scary at all, and it seemed so.. well Hollywood.. It felt overdone and like they were trying too hard to make it "cool". I was extremely disappointed. So, it shocks me to learn that it was supposedly the biggest draw for them last year. It also annoys me that they are doing an AC house in Orlando. All I can say is.. shit.

I enjoy reading all of your posts, but I'm still new here, so I hope it's ok if I throw in my two cents. I like the debate over whether a "theme" or "icon" is necessary. Coming from a person who does NOT live in Florida, and only has one weekend to enjoy this event, I LIKE the theme/icon idea. I agree with the post that stated a theme promotes creativity. It not only promotes creativity with A&D, but it promotes creativity in our own imaginations. THAT is the paydirt here. Stephen King has said that most often the fear you conjure in your own mind is always worse than something you actually see or are given great detail about. That's why his books always work better than so many of the crap movies they've made from his books. In my opinion, Universal's A&D people are masterminds with this. The whole month-long tease, the games, the building clues, etc - these plant the seeds. Then, when they launch the official reveal, all hell breaks loose in our minds. It's why sites like this one exist! I live in Chicago, but I"m a walking billboard for Universal. I post about it on my FB page. I send Tweets about it. I convince friends to join me year after year (and keep in mind, we pay for airfare and other travel expenses on top of our tickets). This is the time of year I most look forward to because HHN never lets me down. It's great fun, and I hope they continue on for years.