Coast

To start, I imagine it is very very difficult to hide the massive, terrifying wolf puppets any better. I also love how close they put them to you and how far out of the holes they came. As for the Slaughtered Lamb, the bar scene was setup to look like just after the moment they realized they should go save David and Jack, which is why it is empty. When was the porn theater ever full in the movie? Pretty sure anyone who was there in that scene in the movie was accounted for in the house. Sure it was obvious that Jack was going to be an actor because he is a major character, but the second scare in there was a decent surprise if you hadn't seen it before you came in the room. As for the actors not being enough in your face, the bus scare actor lunges incredibly far from her window, the David in the hospital scene got so in my face Sunday that I could feel his breath, and the Nazi with the knife in the living room manages to get within inches of you. Maybe you just didn't have such luck with scare timing? The ending was sort of anticlamatic in the movie and they ended the house the same way, with the wolf in the alleyway. They even had Blue Moon playing as you exited as if it were the title credits. As for the facade that came off as a nitpick.

Question: Had they done an "original" house based on a prison developing a flesh-eating virus and then the dead zombies break out and invade a nearby town, would it have made you laugh? No, of course not, because apparently anything original they do is golden. I enjoy the original stuff as much as the next guy, but the worst house of the event was Havoc, and that's not IP based. Just because it's not the Usher, Director, or the Body Collectors (GUESS WHAT!? BASED OFF OF A PROPERTY!) doesn't mean it's bad. Once again, I invite you to email or contact the person who made the big time business decision to bring Walking Dead into the event to tell them you think they should be fired. They'll probably just send you an email back with the numbers the event this year and last year have brought in as a response. The overall bitterness that came out of this post was crazy, especially when it started with "I will be going this weekend". I always respect and invite the opinions of others, because to each their own, but when you call things you haven't even experienced yet "garbage" and then start calling for people to be fired because YOU think that their work is BS, it's ridiculous. Like I said, you can not like the event and you can voice that opinion, but to start calling for people's jobs isn't fair. I agree with everything JDW posted above, that was a great post and should probably be stickied somehow somewhere. Overall, I thought this year was really, really good. I enjoyed the streets very much and American Werewolf just might be my all time favorite house. Walking Dead, Cabin, La Llorona were all very very good and even the houses that I found to be bad (Havoc and RE) were better than the houses that I found to be bad last year (Cooper and HoH). I had a blast this past weekend and was very glad to see that they really stepped up their game for HHN 23. The whole HHN team really did a great job. Looking forward to seeing what they do next year.

Let me start this off by saying that I watched the movie before flying down to Orlando, and while I thought it was pretty good, I didn't understand the cult following it had and my excitement for this house just wasn't there. This house was flawless from start to finish. There was seriously not one damn thing wrong in here. We were told on the Unmasking tour that A&D has tried numerous times to bring the movie to life and how it was shot down each time by John Landis. You could tell that they really perfected it this time. From the Slaughtered Lamb beginning, complete with the audio from that actual scene in the movie ("Hey! What's that star on the wall for?!" "You... made me MISS!"), to the Blue Moon ending, phenomenal the whole way through. It was legit stepping into the film, as the rooms were very well done in sequence with no awkward transitioning whatsoever.Those wolves were terrifying and it impressed me how quickly they were able to reset.. maybe 2, 3 seconds and they were roaring again. The sets were incredibly detailed, the scares were there and they were very well done (the trick door that opens backwards in the living room was pretty brilliant and major props to the girls working the bus scare.. I screamed because I could not believe how far they lunged out of that window. They have to have some really ugly bruises at this point). This just might be my favorite house that I have been through.. I just can't remember enough of Winter's Night to knock it off of that top spot so we'll just call it a tie I guess.

Because An American Werewolf in London was a flawless house from start to finish? Seriously, does it matter if its an IP or original when it comes to how it's executed? Everyone is complaining they want something new and they are tired of The Walking Dead, which would return for its 3rd year, yet they want an old icon in Jack, who would also make a return for a 3rd year? Doesnt make sense to me.

I was on the afternoon tour this past Sunday and a huge thank you to our guide Mallory for a great time. Lots of fun. If you happen to see anyone at an Orlando-area Publix wearing HHN 3D glasses, chances are it's her. I actually stopped to do the Universal guest survey afterwards because of the rain, and made sure to mention her great service. I had Jesse for my tour last year, and he was awesome as well. Seriously, if you're debating one of these tours, it is worth it. You not only get an insight to how these houses are created, operated, and executed, but you get to see alot of stuff that you don't even realize are there during the event.

I thought last year's street experience was awful, and just hoped to see more set pieces this year. They delivered and did just that. I really enjoyed the streets this time around, I thought that all of the zones were great! I am a fan of the Walking Dead, so maybe that has alot more to do with it, but I thought the sets were A+ quality all around and the actors were very good. I never get any attention in the streets, but this year I don't know what it was, but I was getting alot of action last night. I still didnt get a scare, but just the fact that they were actually stepping up to me and trying was much appreciated. My favorite was definitely the Clear. There were barely any crowds at all walking down Hollywood, and there were alot of actors and more of Morgan's traps than I expected. Very very cool.

via @MagicCityMayhem

The barn is up and details/inside work is happening. The streets this year are already a massive improvement over last year and that barn is all kinds of awesome! Photos via s8film40 of Orlando United

That facade is absolutely incredible. I can't believe that is a tent.

To be fair, is any IP house going to ever appeal to you much at all in terms of familiarity and recognition if you haven't seen the show/movie or played the video games? Also, they call it a "preview" for a reason. The house wasn't completely populated with actors and there are I'm sure some effects and trigger scares that weren't used. Also, about the way the makeup and masks looked, keep in mind also that you aren't meant to see them in nightvision/black and white. Hold off on hating on them until you see them in the correct show lighting.

I like it. I like it alot. I almost had to really crawl because of my height, so I welcome it back.

There's a rumor on OU that the duck and crawl tunnel from House of Horrors is returning and it will be in this house. Has anyone heard similar?

If this is true, I called it back in July.

Cabin in the Woods, could it really be!? Doubt it but I got nothing else.

Your Luck Has Run Out scarezone

The facade for Walking Dead is looking all kinds of badass. It looks huge.

Heres a vlog from The Tim Tracker showing off all of the scarezone pieces that are out in the streets so far: Darryl's truck and the Sophia station wagon are pretty much right when you walk in the park, so I think you can count out any sort of evil takes root scarezone at the entrance. At 3:40, you can see some irrigation tubing rigged from one of the coolers and into the fire pit. Thats more than likely going to be a fog chiller, so some sort of flame/fog effect will definitely be happening there. Also at 5:05, they point out some sort of bar/handle on top of the RV for an actor to use to support themselves when they stand on top of it. Pretty cool stuff.

If you're going to be in the parks during regular daytime hours, I highly suggest the crossover from Islands. You can find it next to the Seuss bathrooms, and you enter the Studios right under Rockit. It'll let in at the same time as the Stay and Scream holding areas, but the advantage is that you can pretty much be riding things at Islands instead of sitting around in a holding area.. unless of course you would prefer to grab a bite and have a drink. To each their own. Never use express the first few hours if you have one. I've seen plenty of people walking into the express entrance for houses at 6:45 when its pretty much a walk in. You have the express for a reason: to have things to do when it gets crowded. If you use it when you dont need it, what do you do later?

Not sure if this should go here or construction, so apologize in advance if its the wrong place. This looks familiar! So do these: Photos via MagicCityMayhem on Twitter A bike was added to the elevated grass set in Central Park. Bike Walker? Daryl's truck and crossbow is out somewhere in the streets.. Both photos from TheTimTracker and TheJennTracker on Instagram.

You can work wonders with foam. Ive seen many things carved by haunters, sticks/stakes included.

Does that look like it could be the tilted/crooked ramp from Forsaken in that last picture? If it is, we're talking about two ramps/elevation changes in the house.