Coast

I'm on to you, Doc. I'm on to you. Nice try. Can go ahead and cross this cryptic clue off the list.

No, that's not what I was referring to. What I was talking about comes after this and was the very last scare of the house: It's an actor controlled puppet and I imagine it was pretty terrifying if you caught it at the right time. If you look at 0:26 of this video, this is what it looks like in action: In this one you can see how the prop is actor controlled: The company that makes these "puppets" is Gore Galore, really incredible stuff if you want to check them out.

Good for you. I don't mean this in a nasty way, either. Seriously, thank you for being an actor that brings intensity every night.

I never said that those effects were innovative in the years that I gave examples of (those were the years I visited, so I used my personal experiences). You just further supported my point that Universal is the innovator behind those tactics. Also, I am 100% all for e-prompts. It's used for a reason. By having the sound triggered with speakers, it allows the actor to save their voice from screaming over and over and over throughout the course of a night. The automation will also allow for the scare to always be consistent. Just picture yourself standing in your spot in the house without a trigger. not only are you exhausted, but your throat is incredibly sore or you have lost your voice. As an actor, you know that you are expected to deliver consistent scares four or five nights in a row and you can't do that if your voicebox is fried. I plan on running my own haunt someday, and I will make sure that I have as many automated theatrical scares as possible. Also, the smaller haunts are able to do the more physical scares that you mentioned because the event is nowhere near the size of HHN. Different ballgame.

TJ was at the show on Wednesday teaching a seminar, but he obviously didn't stay for when the floor opened on Thursday if he was at the entertainers' forum. From seeing pictures and POVs, from what I can tell, it looks like Hollywood deals with alot of outside vendors for some of their static props. I'm also pretty sure that the cost of a prop featured at Transworld wouldn't blow Universal's budget. Now, for those of you that are saying you want more "in your face", intense, innovative scares: I have to ask, what more do you want? I don't know how many of you follow the industry outside of Horror Nights, but Universal has been pushing the envelope in terms of scare tactics for a few years now. "In your face" scares cannot happen simply because of safety for the actors. The scares are always going to be quick and fast. There are haunts I've been to where the actors will stay in the room and interact more with guests, but those haunts use a grouper out front, so problems are much easier to handle. You can't have an actor hanging out in a room with guests packed in the "conga line". As for intense and innovative, Universal has both. They have the latest innovation of flying actors, scares that use your perspective (think distant cemetery), vortex tunnels (an old gag, but is still being improved every year), bungee actors, the most elaborate distractions (Gothic cathedral balcony, tilted walkway in Forsaken, "waterfall" in Saws n Steam), brilliant use of mirrors, and "theatrical scares", something you will rarely find outside of Horror Nights. A theatrical scare is when you will see an actor pop out with triggered lights and audio. Your local haunted attraction and theme park don't use this scare because of how expensive it can be and because they don't know how to use it. They also use your haunted house standard drop panels and boo doors, which I still find very startling. So in terms of innovation, Universal is still the leader. I agree that they should continue to always push the envelope, but to give the idea that they are behind is just silly.

I personally don't understand all of the negativity IP houses get. Universal is actually the only Halloween event where not only do I not mind IPs, but encourage them. This is Universal, after all. The theme park is all about "riding the movies", so why should the houses at their Halloween event be any different? I agree with the idea of not having all 7 or 8 houses be IPs, but a mix is good. Last year was a bit IP heavy for me, had there been an original 8th house, it would have been perfect.