SeventyOne

Very immersive sets, convincing make-up on the scare-actors. Plus I think most HHN fans appreciate what feels like a new, original franchise (like Jack, HR Bloodengutz, Body Collectors). Don't recall it being my #1 house that year, but it was solid, definitely wouldn't mind seeing it return with another era.

SPECULATION AHS - a lock, for missing seasons Amityville Horror - Easter egg in Krampus/new movie coming out next year. Watch it go in the back tent, follow Halloween model (again) Trick r Treat - director played ball with Krampus and that turned out alright, would let them sell Sam merch Vamp 55 house - zone has been well-received, could re-use a lot TWD - unless new attraction under construction by then, this seems a lock WISHFUL THINKING Dark comedy Beetlejuice or Ghostbusters (house, but I'd take show) Creature from the Black Lagoon I highly doubt we ever see Purge again.

Funny, I went to Catharsis and found it such a pile of dog squeeze I actually softened my criticism of this year's HHN a bit. Even at it's worst I find HHN miles ahead of that in terms of design, effects and scares. Ditto that raved about haunt in Winter Haven I went to 3 years ago. I do think HHN Creative seems to max out at about 4 or 5 houses. Usually easy to pick them out (this year, every soundstage but TWD, Krampus, Tomb). You can tell a lot of work and thought went into them, even if an individual house doesn't work for you, like AHS for me this year. The rest are pretty much thrown together rehashes of existing elements, tho a strong cast like in Havoc 1 or Halloween 2 can still make one a crowd-pleaser. The problem is as crowds increase, the natural inclination seems to be up the number of houses with long queues to keep people off the streets. I know the fanbois would love a 12-house event across two parks, but I fear we'd get 4 good houses, 8 mediocre at best. You can already see it in the scare-zones; all the effort went into Vamp and Dead Man's Wharf, leaving 3 or 4 cheerleaders and geishas to walk around a completely undecorated street. (The roaming hordes that don't roam and aren't very populous.) Ultimately it means Universal needs to find a better way to handle crowds, the #1 complaint about the event for decades. Need to jack up the criminally low prices of their multi-day tickets, maybe phase those out all together. Raise the 1-day price, too, and cap attendance like MNSSHP. More outside shows, too. I think they've stretched content as far as they can. But ultimately I'd rather pay more for 6 good houses that I can actually see in a night than the cluster the event has been allowed to devolve into.

Also a great year. And three houses right there that blow away anything this year. I'd throw the underrated Hallow onto that list as well.

If you put a gun to my head and made me pick, I'd probably choose 2011 as my favorite HHN ever. But I also thought HHN XX underwhelmed--not bad, just not as good as it should've been. A better example might be 2012--I think everyone agrees a bad year, but seemingly worse for having to follow up 2011. I guess what I'm saying is had we had this line-up in 2013, it may have been slightly better received. But maybe not.

Not a cop-out, but I think it's an "all of the above" type thing. Yes, discussion boards are dying as the more accessible Facebook and Theme Park Twitter takeover (OU and WDWTragic, the last of the big boys, have been slow too). Yes, the community as a whole seems to get more hyped up these days about speculation games than the event itself. Which may tie into the third point, yes, HHN 26 is mediocre at best, and probably works even less having to follow up a strong contender for best ever event. Theory I've heard from a couple fans--the reason there's no clear consensus on best house (or any order to the houses other than Chance being dead last) is that they're all close to average. A good run or your personal preference as to what a house "should be" is the only difference between ranking Ghost Town #1 and TCM #7 or vice versa.

Pre-2012, even pre-2014, I'd say it was a lock. Too many other things going on around town. Given crowds past couple years tho, impossible to say.

Grain of salt, but heard a clause permitting photography was accidentally dropped from IP contracts 2 years ago. Not that IP holders wouldn't still have been pissed, but would've taken away Universal's fig leaf, why they instantly pulled the nuclear option. In any case, now that the genie is out of the bottle so to speak, I don't see any IP holder agreeing to that clause. Holders are fiercely protective of their product. No one wants suggestive/questionable photos with their horror icon. (Doubly true when that icon is a recognizable actor with a publicist.) I hate to say it, but like scare-zones, i think the backstage tour will end up being another casualty of the cell phone camera era.

Heard a ton of refunds have gone out. If they didn't stop that bloodletting immediately, don't see them changing their minds in a week. Probably it for UTH.

Saw a guy get hauled off in cuffs, driven off in a cruiser. Wonder if the same guy. Later that night, near the end, guy in Monsters Cafe mens room was openly bragging about how he punched a scare-actor but the cops let him go. My fear is that hot, humid weather and ridiculously long lines breed stupidity.

Roughly how long is each performance?

He is not media. And he should be more careful about what he puts out in public. Let's leave it at that. Agreed, most locals I know who had Express last year will not be paying for it this year. That said, I think Universal will discover, just as Disney did, the real problem is, shall we say, questionable use of GACs.

Anecdotal, but seemingly everyone I know who bought Express last year--not an insignificant number of people--is skipping this year. $275 is a LOT of money, which is what it would cost to add on to FF+. Doesn't help that my optimistic outlook is 4 of the 9 houses will be worth more than a handful of visits. Curious on your thoughts on MNSSHP (not necessarily in this thread). I reached same conclusion last year when the park was packed, but it didn't seem so bad as of 6:30 last night. I'm still a fan of the parade, fireworks and people-watching, but last year it was overcrowded and seemed to bring out the worst MK demographics I've seen, just rude and nasty people.

Thursdays have definitely picked up the past few years, tho not to the level of Sundays yet. Key to Wednesday/Thursday/Friday is to arrive early--ideally Stay & Scream if you can. Free parking for FL residents doesn't kick in until 8:00, and a surprising number of guests wait for that. You'll often find Fridays are (relatively) dead until around 8:30 when the streets are slammed suddenly. Does not good on Sunday (and I'm guessing Saturday), always seems busy from the jump. I assume APs who just spend the afternoon. Also, important to know local school schedules. Barring hurricane days--seem unlikely as I type this--10/13 and 10/14 look to be the worst for local schoolkids, with 10/16 not a lot better.

Orange, Osceola and Seminole (the 3 closest counties) all out Friday 10/14. I think I'll either skip 10/13 else stay holed up in Finns. Osceola out again along with Polk on Monday 10/17, meaning Sunday 10/16--already bad--will probably be wall-to-wall as well. Orange also out Friday 10/28, but I figure that Thursday/Friday to be packed already.