SeventyOne
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Posts posted by SeventyOne
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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.
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5 hours ago, blueoktober said:
Sometimes the truth is the truth. Hell, even Howl O Scream in Tampa is better at creating atmosphere and scares with a hell of a lot less budget. I went to a "house" here in Orlando called Catharsis and the whole thing was unique and entertaining. HHN has become a corporate sell out event, and there's nothing that can change that now. After going fro 19 of the 26 years, I can honestly say this was probably my last time of buying the most expensive passes, hundreds of dollars in merch and food. I think it's time to support local and more creative events.
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.
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1 hour ago, Pandry said:
What about HHN 18's houses? They had some great originals, I thought. Loved Body Collectors that year, Scary Tales and Dead Exposure.
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.
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14 hours ago, foREVer56 said:
However, 2011 followed a smaller but still big anniversary and a sort of "return to form" with all originals and some big concepts returning (Scareapy, Cindy, etc), and it's still widely considered one of the best house lineups ever. So I do not agree with that argument. This year feels like it's missing something that makes it special and unique for me.
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.
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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.
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4 hours ago, Pandry said:
I wonder if they'll do it this year just to try and recoup money? Two full days of closure will definitely show on their P&L.
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.
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On 10/10/2016 at 10:18 PM, Oysterhead00 said:
I'd expect the picture option to be back next year with some new signed contract with IPs along the lines of "Your houses are the property of HHN while the event runs and we reserve the rights to generate revenue based on the houses...any photos, depictions, whatever of the houses are the responsibility of the photographers/videographers/etc and Universal bears no liability for the context in which they are used" or whatever legal bullshit mumbojumbo they need to include.
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.
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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.
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18 hours ago, Cody said:
Police were called to Tomb of the Ancients about midway through Saturday night. According to a scareactor, a man was caught dragging his unconscious girlfriend's body through the house.
Setting the bar high this year, huh?
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.
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9 hours ago, weylandcorp said:
Academy of Villains IS one heck of a show. I was a sceptic and I walked away completely amazed by everything I saw. Absolutely incredible.
Roughly how long is each performance?
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17 hours ago, JDW said:
Yeah who are those people? I hadn't heard of anything but I guess it's not a huge shocker anymore.
He is not media. And he should be more careful about what he puts out in public. Let's leave it at that.
12 hours ago, Badge said:Honestly the number of people in Express is the issue. Last year, there was still a decent wait sometimes with express and I'm sure some of the people that bought the 1 night only express for $100+ were complaining to guest services that they still had to wait a decent amount. Think they are trying to price out some people which based on this forum and people I follow on Twitter seems to have worked for a TON of local regulars. They see a much larger profit when the people with regular RoF and FFP are in the normal lines almost nightly and the people that are from out of town or can only attend a single see the waits at 60+ minutes for everything so they break down and spend the money on a single night of express.
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.
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9 hours ago, JDW said:
Unrelated, I decided not to do the express. No matter how nice it is I just can't justify the exorbitant price. Went with the ROF and will probably attempt two nights. So that may cut down on my stress levels a bit. Well, that and my recent zen approach of indifference to the event. Bottom line is attempt to have fun and not have it suck. Unlike my experience at MNSS last night which I (overall) found to be not worth the money or effort for a AP holder (even with kids).
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.
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40 minutes ago, Oysterhead00 said:
EVERY night is a madhouse now. Been going since 2004 and have been going in late Sept / early Oct since 06 or so after learning our lesson of how nuts it is closer to Halloween. Used to be really dead on Thursdays with nothing over 30min, but now it's really as busy as Friday. The only saving grace is that with people having to work and/or go to school on Friday, it seems to really clear out after 11ish. If you're staying until 2am, you can do some serious houses from Midnight on.
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.
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2 hours ago, Mrevio said:
Hell Week typically coincides with public school closures
https://www.ocps.net/Pages/Detailed-Calendar.aspx
Orange county hasn't listed a closure for the month of October.
http://ems.volusia.k12.fl.us/MasterCalendar/MasterCalendar.aspx
Volusia County has October 21 scheduled for closure.
So I'd assume from October 20-31 will be swamped
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.
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Been every year since 2001 (tho the early years starting to fade).
2012 was worst by far. One truly great house--Gothic--two that were ok--Dead End, House of Horror--but probably overrated given the low quality elsewhere. And even HoH wasn't fully ready until two weeks in. Given that 2011 didn't have a single weak house, line-up looked even worse in comparison. No scare-zones just hordes that never really worked (not a dig at the actors, who tried their best, but lack of decor and getting to "learn" their area hurt scares). An alright, not classic, Bill & Ted show that was neutered halfway through its run. And yeah, worse weather than usual, felt more crowded than usual with so much closed, people just seemed worse than usual (recall Cooper house incident).
I remember 2007 being disappointing as well--again, had the misfortune to follow a stellar 2006 and the best B&T ever. Soundstage houses solid, rest of event was meh. The Enigma remains a low point for me.
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1 hour ago, ThNdIzNiR said:
I don't know why I'm having so much trouble believing that AHS is the megahouse. It just seems wrong to me that an ip that has been dipping in popularity is going to have the largest house in HHN history.
I'm not a fan of the show (watched most of two seasons), or using the IP as a megahouse, but the fact that Creative kept trying for 3 years to get AHS shows they must be big fans. I think it does potentially pull--or at least cater to--nontraditional HHN fans. It's fanbase may be declining but it's still rabid and not necessarily, say, Conjuring fans who were going to show up anyway. Also, a lot of the iconography and creature design on the show could make for a great house. Jack never bothered me, but the clown in Season 4 is the scariest clown I've ever seen.
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What really sucks is it's hard to tell if YES the event is this crowded now or if it was merely just due to being a celebration year and it'll die down next year.
Went to the last bill and ted myself and barely made it despite being 30mins early. I was in the outside standby line of "you are not guaranteed entry if you're in this line" spiel. However everyone in the show it seemed has seen it 5000 times as they knew all the lines.
There was a significant crowd in the holding area that simply didn't go into the second-to-last show.
And the sing-along aspect is one of the hallmarks of the final Bill & Ted every year.
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Did anyone go for the final night? I guess it was foolish to think, but I was really taken back with how crowded it was. Coming in, I saw more people at the will call Windows,than any other night I've been. And the express lines were some of the longest out of all my nights. FvJ's EP line at one point was literally backed up to the entrance. Same with Insidious. Not how I envisioned the final night going but at the same time, I had my fill.
I expected a crowd--every Sunday has been crowded--but I was surprised how many people were clearly "amateurs," clearly not FFP holders. That's unusual for a post-Halloween night.
As for the Express, a lot of people suddenly seemed to need a GAC to skip the line for the final Bill & Ted (about the only way to guarantee a good seat). To the point a woman in a motorized wheelchair was turned away from the GAC holding area 30 minutes before showtime because it was full. I suspect many of those who suddenly felt the need for a GAC decided to make one last run through a favorite house, as well.
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First suit of armor in Gothic went missing Thursday night. Assumed it was just a victim of vandalism, but then Friday night ...
<Spoiler>the space had turned into a new Jack boo hole.</Spoiler>
Not necessarily a bad thing, just odd.
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Also noticed that one of the Freddie's has a camp crystal lake t shirt on now. Sure it wasn't there earlier in the week.
He's been there, or supposed to be there--A "Jason-Freddy," in contrast with the big, hulking "Freddy-Jason" kitty-corner to him.
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I think shows are a total waste of money, except for B&T.
Always odd to me that in 20 years, lightning has never struck twice. Love it or hate it, B&T is iconic, and fills a theater 5 times a night. Nothing--not RHPS, various magic shows, Robosaurus--has come close to it. This show may be closest, but even then, I hear it receives mixed reviews from general public. What Universal wouldn't give to finally have a "second B&T."
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Not to kill the mystery, but coins being left by a random fan. "Inherited" a box of them after the parade was discontinued, has apparently been doing this for a couple years, not sure why it blew up this year.
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Something I just noticed: this house is set during the Great Blizzard of 1888. So, why is Perry Faith's "Theme From A Summer Place" playing on a record player? The song didn't come out until 1959.
It's been used in other Psychoscrapy houses, sort of the house's "theme." So including a scratchy phonograph recording of it is an in-joke/Easter egg, but yeah, it's a deliberate anachronism.
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so it's my understanding that Diagon Alley did very little to help with house wait times. In fact, it seems like the exact opposite happened. All the rides are nearly walk-ons, save for Rip Ride Rock-It.
So far, largely yes. Tho keep in mind Gringotts has far better capacity than a house, a 10-minute line there is a lot more people than a 10-minute line at Insidious.
I suspect Diagon will absorb more as the event becomes less about the die-hards with RoF/FFP, and more about the general public who only comes one night a year.
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HHN 27 Speculation
in Halloween Horror Nights 27
Posted
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.