SeventyOne

Too few actors covering too big a space, and lack of set pieces would seem to be the big ones. The reason people are saying they prefer a set scare zone, I think, is because those work better. They focus your attention on the actors, and they "put you in the mood" to be scared. The best example I can give is the vampires. Milling about in front of Twister, they looked too much like goth kids who were just bending the no-costume rule. They didn't register as "scary" until after they had moved in, snarled, and moved on. In, say, a properly themed Shrek Alley with coffins and Victorian facades, I think this troop would have done wonders. But bunched up in the middle of a crowded street they don't stand out enough. I agree nothing ever measures up to "the golden years." But on FB this morning I saw Universal Entertainment vets with 4 to 10 employee previews under their belt saying basically the same thing. Seems to be a common theme across the various theme park boards, too. I'm not saying this ruins the event, I'm saying as of last night the roaming scare zone experiment isn't really working.

I agree it's not fair to judge the event solely by EP night. Without rides and restaurants to absorb people, the crowds and dynmics are different. And of course not all effects may be fine-tued just yet. That said, there were solid indications last night that the roaming scare-zone concept is fundamentally flawed. It's on the various boards, it's also all over my Facebook feed this morning. Glitches that kept houses closed I expect can and will be fixed fairly easily--I'm not sure the roaming troops vs. set SZs issue can be as easily corrected.

In the complex, Cigarz is easily the cheapest. The TGI Fridays across Kirkman has good deals if you sit at the bar between 4 - 7 (or from 10 - 2).

I agree Halloween is not all that busy--usually a weeknight, people with kids have to take them trick or treating--with one exception: the final Bill & Ted show of the night gets packed early (the cast generally throws the script out the window for that show, making it a fan favorite). Make sure you see an earlier B&T show. As to your other point, Sundays are packed as of late. I think word about the Frequent Fear passes has gotten out, because that day has become much, much busier, right from opening. I expect the place to be a madhouse that final Sunday.

No, having gone for the past 11 years, 2006 stands out as the best by far, and I don't think I've seen it since Halloween night that year. I'd probably give 2009 the nod for #2, but it's not even all that close. Can you spoil some of the songs used? I figure "Call Me Maybe" and "Pay Phone" are locks, but curious what else they chose.

Probably reading too much into it, but the "must band together" in TWD description--some sort of pulsing through the house?

She's defnitely back, tho I have no idea where.

Wouldn't count on TWD, probably don't want to step on any toes given the business relationship. (Why Harry Potter references disappeared from the show a few years ago, and allegedly why Avatar wasn't included--negotiations were ongoing between Universal and Cameron at the time, although they obviously broke down eventually.) Re: The Hunger Games. I think the only two locks this year are Obama/Romney and a "District 69" reference.

Completely different topic ... are we making anything of the fact the ad from the back of Fangoria says "live shows" (plural)? If Death Drums was returning, or if there was a new show with live entertainers, shouldn't we have heard of auditions by now? Could this be confirmation of some sort of lagoon show?

I don't know, I think I'm with Black Mask here--HHN draws a different crowd. The scarezones are very much a part of HHN, just like the blinky cups and scantily-clad Jello-shot girls and the CDT. You ask a "layperson" (someone not on the HHN boards) what the event is all about, they'll mention the houses first, but two or three sentences in, it will be all about the chainsaws and the monsters in the street who walk right up to you. The GP has expectations of what HHN is. I see a lot of the GP being disappointed if there isn't some form of a scare zone close to the entrance (ironically, despite all the gnashing of teeth online, I think most hard-core fans would ultimately grow to love something new and different). Look what happened last year when there was no photo-op with the icon--itself a new development of what, the last 4 or 5 years? Complaints flowed in, and a last-minute roulette wheel was added beside "7." Or the lack of chainsaws--one week in, Lady Luck's lackies made an emergency trip to Home Depot. Just fog and scareactors is probably enough, but I think the cast needs to be fairly well anchored in that area, which effectively makes it a "scare zone."

She was there last year, off to the side of the NY scare zone--fairly certain this will the the current Rat Lady's 5th straight year.

Buried in the intro, Dr Jimmy stands behind his original 7 statements? The parade building just became my most anticipated house.

Echoing Dr Jimmy and others, IFF is best skipped. Food not much better at Monsters Cafe...but the atmosphere is amazing. Best food is Finns, if you have the time to kill, or Richters.

So bored on vacation--it's raining--decided to do some number-crunching. I tried to limit myself to the actual top 10 lists, no guarantees in my judgment or my math. 75 houses got votes, so clearly there is a wide range3 of opinion. That said, this is what I came up with: Top 10 Receiving Top 10 Votes 1) Winters Night/Catacombs (17) 2) Scary Tales III/Nightmare on Elm Street/HHN: The Hallow’d Past/Dead Exposure (14) 3) The In-Between (13) 4) Silver Screams/Psychoscarapy: Maximum Madness (11) 5) Body Collectors (10) Runners-Up (each with 8): Screamhouse/Nightingales/Nevermore: The Madness of Poe/H.R. Bloodengutz/All Nite DIE-In Top 5 Receiving Bottom 5 Votes 1) Reflections of Fear (17) 2) The Spawning (13—and no top 10 votes) 3) Zombigeddon/Vampyr: Blood Bath (7) [Zombiegeddon also had 5 Top 10 votes, probably the most divisive vote, along with the Orfanage, at 5/4] 4) Doomsday/Creature (6) Clearly there's a bias toward later HHNs, but a couple classic houses are still fondly remembered (as are some older duds). For all the debate over IP houses, Nightmare is well-regarded, as are All-Nite Die-In and SIlver Screams, both essentially IP houses.

Not for nothing, but didn't they drop one or two floats from this year's Mardi Gras parade? Just a reminder that things change as circumstances change. On a more general note, I have faith the 6 houses we get will be incredible. The problem is just 6 houses--and also losing Jaws--will make everything more crowded. Not just increased wait times, even trying to walk the streets. That's just how theme park capacity works. Opening more attractions or new shows would help compensate for this, and I'm still hoping that's on the table, but I think this is a legitamate concern.

But they thought they owned American Werewolf free and clear, being it's a Universal property, at least based on Dr. Jimmy's hypothetical. I can't believe they'd spend the time and money to negotiate with Silent Hill with no intent to actually use the IP. That's money down the tubes, and sets a bad precedent in future years if they want to negotiate with that same company in the future. In other words, if there is a Silent Hill house, that must have been the plan all along; if it is not, I don't think an official Silent Hill house is happening. Either way. given the resurgence of the Transformers rumor around the web, I am starting to believe Universal has been deliberately putting out false info this year, for whatever reasons.

Off the topic of SZs for a moment, I'm really beginning to question the rumored Silent Hill house. IP houses have to be arranged months in advance--it's the nature of contract law. Not saying the house agreements are as long as the Uni/Marvel contract, but I'm sure they are more than a handshake. That's how The Thing was announced so early last year, and why TWD was rumored so early this year. If I understand the timeline, the original plan was an American Werewolf in London house and a Mayan house in SS 44. Those were scrapped, but then within days we had a rumor of a Silent Hill house. I just can't believe Uni reached out to the parent company and signed a deal like this in less than a week. A Silent Hill "inspired" house (cough, "rip off", cough)? Sure. But I'm just not buying creative would go to the trouble of buying rights when they are scrambling to come up with a concept--it would be so much easier to stick with an original concept..

Even the casual fans are going to be in an uproar if there isn't some sort of scarezone as you enter the park. At this point, they probably expect one along Rodeo Drive as well.

Just saw this on Chud ... "Universal Classic Monsters--The Essential Collection" is being released on blu-ray October 2. http://www.chud.com/98840/the-universal-monsters-on-blu/ Looking at the cover, with the monsters in black and white, hints dropped as to "Photograph"/the Dead Exposure like house suddenly make a lot of sense. This is now my most anticipated house.

Not sure where the hate for IP houses comes from. Nightmare on Elm Street and The Thing:Assimilation were generally regarded as very good to great. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was certainly not a disaster (no pun intended), and Saw seemed to have its fans. Friday the 13th was a bit of a letdown, but that was because of the location, not the IP. Granted those are A-list properties, but that almost makes me feel better about Alice Cooper and P&T. Unlike, say, Stephen King, I don't think people were beating down their doors begging them to lend their names to a house in return for a check. I suspect they are doing it as much for the art as the money. I get the sense from Cooper's Hollywood house he had a JK Rowling-like level of input and control. An old-school horror icon giving us a glimpse into his psyche? That's interesting to me. I'm far more upset about the apparent cut from 8 houses to 7, especially if B&T and Death Drums end up being the only shows. Lack of capacity, not creativity, threatens to be the major problem this Fall.

Agreed--especially if, as rumored, they can't use the main characters. The zombies aren't the star of the show--they are the cliched, slow and lumbering undead of the 1960s. I don't see them being all that scary if they stay in character, and if they don't, why not just use an original concept? Agreed P&T might end up surprising people. Here's hoping. Hoping gargoyles proves to include the Hunchback, as well, and hoping the Victorian house ends up holding up a fun house mirror to the Haunted Mansion. Still disappointed we lost the American Werewolf in London and Mayan houses, those two sounded the most promising. Although if the hints as to "photograph" are pointing to what I think they are, I could be very excited about that.

Interesting law school hypothetical there, Dr. Jimmy. Out of curiosity, if you found yourself in that situation, would you scramble to obtain the rights to a movie and/or video game quickly, rather than just creating a new theme? Or would you have just been sitting on those rights all along as a contingency plan or something? Considering I heard rumors earlier this year (from WoD employees) that BG was contemplating dropping the event due to lack of revenue, not sure where they'd get the money. Then again, maybe this is a "go big or go home" play--but I just find that hard to believe.

In the HHN team's defense, they've been very good about "shifting on the fly" in the past. Just last year, chainsaws were added when they were initially sparse (chainsaws having become the trademark of HHN to the masses). Death Drums was moved to a new location to better accommodate crowds. A "photo op" was created for Lady Luck when guests couldn't snap a picture with her in her scare zone. This year does seem to have some curveballs--the lack of an 8th house, the grouping of the houses (if Alice Cooper and P&T prove to be disappointments, there will be almost nothing to draw people across the park), potential issues with scare zones. But HHN seems to adjust to guests needs/wants much better than a certain rat up the street. If these prove to be issues, I trust them to come up with new, innovative solutions.

I don't know how old anybody else on the board is, but I'm wondering if there is a generational disconnect when it comes to P&T (just like I imagine there are college students who think of Ice Cube as a comedic actor rather than the guy who rapped about jumping cops). P&T have always been a comedy act, but in the 80s there humor was dark, and often gory. The first trick I remember seeing is Penn stabbing Teller's hand to reveal a card. Their first movie was called Penn & Teller Get Killed, and the plot is basically them trying to murder one another for 90 minutes. If they drop the politics and The Apprentice and get back to their roots, this could be a house right in line with "Home for the Holidays" or "Leave it to Cleaver".

Based on #1 and #4, it seems less likely to me we will get a traditional icon.