SeventyOne

Almost definitely a reference to the "Chupacabra," literally the "goat-sucker." It's a mythical or cryptozoological creature from Mexico that, as I recall, sucks the blood out of goats. Could have tied into a Mayan-themed house, or could have been its own thing, possible reusing costumes from the "Day of the Dead" scare zone two years ago. Re: water spouts. I know conventional wisdom says lagoon show, but assuming all 7 of these were houses... the only thing I can connect to "water spout" is the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Maybe giant spiders or some kind of arachnophobia theme? Or, heh heh, maybe a sequel to "Maximum Carnage" to really rustle Disney's jimmies. [Last one was a joke]

My point on Marvel (or even Potter) is that they will have to start thinking "outside the box" to increase capacity. They relied on Marvel unexpectedly once before, when tickets were oversold (rumor is whomever calculated capacity failed to take into account all the admissions sold in Publix before selling out the park at the gate). It's not ideal--more like a last ditch desperation move--but it is one thing that would draw casual HHN fans off the streets on peak nights. Otherwise I largely agree with your--HMU seems an obvious choice, if they can work around the kid jokes and the drunks. Not sure DM will be open just because it is such a kiddie ride, but it will still be relatively new and shiny. I agree Simpsons would help, but that's just one somewhat tired ride. I think shows in AA and BJ would help as well. But it's largely a case of being creative and finding capacity.

If this proves to be the case, then Universal is going to have to scramble to throw some kind of value-adds into the park. New shows, open up Marvel Island again, maybe beg Rowling to use WWoHP. Down 2 houses and Jaws and however much sidewalk space due to construction, they need to eat up crowds somewhere. I suspect every goth magician on the east coast has their phone ringing today.

A shame, I imagined a chupacabra house/SZ would've re-used the Day of the Dead costumes from a couple years ago. In a better context I imagine they could be frightening. ETA: Dr Jimmy, are the twins gone because of SS 44's demolition? Conventional wisdom was this meant a dual run house, which everyone pegged in one of the side soundstages, not 44.

Five houses up front with only three and Bill & Ted in the back would make for a cluster--over half of the event would be centered near the front entrance, essentially along a single street. They'll need something to distribute the crowd throughout the park more.

Demon Cantina (these are in no particular order, but probably my favorite house of all time) The Hallow (loved the idea of exploring Halloween mythology) Body Collectors H.R. Bloodengutz Winters Night Catacombs Psychoscarapy—Home for the Holidays (any of the three Psychoscarapy houses probably comes close to being on the list for me) Scary Tales II or III (the one with Cinderella and Wizard of Oz) Frankenstein (2009 version) Legendary Truth Bottom 5 Terror Mines (great concept, never worked for me) Interstellar Terror (never felt enough like a spaceship to me) Reflections of Fear (might not be here if it wasn’t meant to be the signature house that year) Cold Blind Terror (was too warm, too well-lit, and too understaffed to be terrifying) Blood Ruins (strange, but The Coven, which had basically the same theme, would be in my top 5 scare zones)

Not sure I'd go so far as to say better than '06 (or '09)...but a great show nonetheless. Still not sure why all the hate this year. Managed to make Twilight jokes fresh for a third year in a row, the "True Grits" and "Black Swan" skits were genius*, the Smurfette bit always killed, and a dead-on Charlie Sheen impersonator for the finale. Event the weaker bits (cough, Sucker Punch) were still vintage Bill & Ted. Funny script, amazing cast that did everything they could to sell it. Can't wait for next year's show. * Seriously, "America's Best Dance Crew: Black Swan Edition" sends up the pretentiousness of an Oscar bait movie, the faux hip hop style of a popular corporate TV show, a political sex scandal and a couple viral video sensations. All in under 2 minutes. Could be the single greatest B&T skit ever.

Sundays have been very crowded this year. I'm thinking it's a combination of cheaper tickets (half the price of Saturday, IIRC) and the ability of APers to get in early and "make a day out of it." Given that hours are limited, and it seems some houses run at a reduced staff level, I think Sunday is probably the worst night to go. In contrast, Fridays have been good if you get there early, and then if you stay from 12 to 2. I guess the trick is to grab dinner at CityWalk in the middle of the evening, say, around 8:30. You get a good 4 hours with minimal lines, and everything is at full staff.

We'll never know, I suppose, but I'm curious about the reasoning behind not opening Saturday up. Trying to ween FFPers after 3 years so it doesn't become too expected? Just an oversight by management? Surprised to hear about Friday, I deliberately skipped expecting a madhouse. If Friday was dead, can only imagine how empty it was last night.

Yes, have friends who do it all the time.

My sense is yes...every bar in town is doing a costume contest that night, which has got to eat into their single night ticket sales. People like their scares but they like dressing up (or at least seeing the girls dress up) even more.

2010 had the bad luck to follow an amazing 2009 show and, to be honest, was a lot worse earlier in the season. Some of the jokes were tweaked, and a lot of the actor's timing improved (especially "The Situation's") That said, I'm wondering if the relative obscurity of some of the subject matter is starting to hit the show. In 2006--the high water mark for me--EVERYONE knew who Jack Sparrow and Magneto were, and I imagine 90% of the crowd knew the Peanut Butter-Jelly song. This year, Black Swan and Anthony Weiner and Rooster Cogburn might be a little too off the radar for the typical HHN crowd. It makes me feel old, but some of the Gen X references seem to go over the crowd's head, as well (see below). Just spitballing ideas here, because this year the crowd seems really divided. Some friends of mine love it, some say it's the worst ever. BTW, noticed this weekend the show has been tweaked... Overall, it reflects an attempt to answer criticism, which you have to respect. They're trying to improve the show throughout the month.

I noticed the throngs of middle school aged kids last night, assumed school had to be out today. Was the busiest it's been (except for Finnegans). Another topic, a friend of mine says he's working a "new area" at HHN starting tonight. He can't spill details...but maybe someone else here can? Genuinely curious...

I mentioned this in the Death Drums thread, but I'm really starting to question the decision to leave the BJ and Animal Actor theaters (and maybe even Horror and Make Up) empty. It would help to take people off the streets and out of house lines for 45 minutes to an hour at a time, once seating and all is taken into account. Last night seemed unusually crowded for an early Thursday, and Sunday was just crazy. A couple of my non-board-reading friends noticed the increase in chainsaws, BTW, and were very pleased. Roving chainsaws have become the event's trademark.

Had same experience Sunday in Nevermore--said 20, was (easily) 40.

I think I would ultimately rather have a longer show in a theater so it takes bodies off the streets. These shows seem too short to make a real difference, and basically clog up a main pedestrian artery. Last night felt like the first truly packed night, and I couldn't help but think filling up Beetlejuice or Animal Actors four times would have alleviated that a bit.

It's very old school B&T. The "storyline" is basically an excuse to pull out random pop culture skits, and there's even a joke at the end about how they're about to dance for no reason. I'll take clever skits--and I'll defend at least three or four as very clever--over a more coherent plot any year. The show is best when it embraces its cheesiness.

Considering you just throw them into a green trash bin, I assume they are just being recycled like any paper product. They come in boxes by the hundreds, flat, so no real way to re-use them.

Uhm...there's more than one Warlock Assassin? Yes, he's in there.

There's a fairly heavy reliance on real people as opposed to characters this year, supposedly at the behest of Legal. There is a running Osama Bin Laden gag--I won't spoil the crowd-pleaser ending but it worked for me, at least the first time--and two at times rumored GOP Presidential candidates appear, along with a newsworthy Democrat (how's that for cryptic?). A Warlock Assassin puts in an appearance, as well, along with three pop divas, two of whom are new to the show. Also, two viral internet videos are featured prominently. I think most everyone expected the show to get down with the first, but the second, it just doesn't give a ****.

Thanks to some friends and the ADA, managed to see all the houses and B&T during preview night. Here are some first thoughts, roughly in the order I enjoyed the houses. • Winters Night: the cold/snow effects work very well here, great cast, top notch set design with a nice creepy Victorian atmosphere (kind of a “grown-up Haunted Mansion” feel). I’m surprised, but my favorite for house of the year. • Saws & Steam: Best Jaws house ever. Lot of scares from actors clearly enjoying their job, some very cool new effects. • Nevermore: A lot of people seemed to consider this their favorite, hard to disagree. Clever scenes, new design ideas, just an amazing house. The tents have come a long way. Speaking of which… • The In-Between: Biggest surprise of the night. Loved it, and I’m not a fan of 3D houses. The tunnel and the “floorless room” show how you can use 3D to make something unique and truly disorienting. • Nightengales: An intense house. Probably the most scares of the night. Still not entirely sure how the vampire nurses fit in, hoping there’s a queue video to explain a little more back story. • H.R. Bludengutz: Started off a bit slow for me, but by the time you get to the obscure holidays this house becomes inspired. Relies a little too heavily on TVs to set up each room, the sound was too low to really follow the story, but the escalating craziness is a lot of fun. • The Forsaken: I was really impressed with the sets, and the hurricane effect at the end is great. However, most of my group were not fans of this one. Two biggest complaints: lack of a coherent story (queue video may help this) and the glowing green eyes on the pirates give them away before they can scare anyone. Still, I’m anxious to give this one another go-round. • The Thing: Saw Winters Night first, so the cold/snow effect didn’t impress me like it might have otherwise. Ditto the gunfire, had just come from the war zone of Nightengales. Well-done, but nothing I haven’t seen before, I remember better creatures in the last Thing house. Could have used more actors as well, but it was late. Nowhere near the bottom 10 houses ever or anything like that, just not overly impressive in a year with three or four new classics. Bill & Ted was great, possibly the best since 2006. Back to basics, which the show needed. I was with a friend who knows the new writer, word is legal “cut a lot.” Legal is also the reason the show features a lot more real life celebrities rather than characters. Still, a ton of laughs (check out the fake ads in the preshow), and some interesting mash-ups in the dance numbers. Missed Death Drums, but the chatter was very positive. Loved Acid Rain projections, Canyon of Dark Souls worked better than I could've expected, the bat/bird one was quite good as well. Missed 7 because of the rain, didn't make it back in time, but love those stages. Only disappointing scare zone for me was Lady Luck--felt like a photo op where you couldn't actually take photos. Overall, a great year. Looking forward to returning almost every night I can with FFP.

Nothing wrong with that. From what I remember from reading the contract once out of curiosity, Uni has the rights to everyone associated with the Avengers, which would include charter member Thor. But more importantly, it's parody--you can get away with a lot of things that might normally be copyright infringements, especially if you find a way to make it obvious your parody character is not the real thing (say, give Wolverine a lisp, make Superman a flamboyant homosexual).

Hot. Tends to leak light during the daytime. Also, given its placement by B&T, tends to have the longest lines, which I think has a psychological effect (we waited that long just for that?!?). Or maybe it was the misfortune to host Friday the 13 and Blood Mary and the rep just kind of stuck. I thought Saw was true to the movie, and really liked Ashes to Ashes last year...but I still half-expect the Jaws house to be weak every year.

1) HR Bloodengutz. I'm a sucker for the dark humor houses, "Home for the Holidays" in my top 3 ever. High hopes. 2) The Foresaken. Clever and original theme, hoping for some new/interesting effects. 3) Nevermore. Seems such a great idea wonder why no one did it before. Could be the "smart" house, like Catacombs last year. 4) Saws n Steam. Loved the scarezone, hoping that overcomes the location. 5) Nightingales. Intrigued by the idea of a historical "war zone" house--not yet sold on the banshees. 6) Winters Night. Still not sure what to expect of this one, but if it has new effects and a solid cast, could be the sleeper house of the year. 7) The In-Between. Jack's house was just ok, the one at Howl-O-Scream was sort of lame, so not a 3D fan. Always feels like the use of 3D ends up compromising theme. 8) The Thing. I'm the one guy who was meh on the original--afraid it will be another industrial complex house which never really do it for me. As always, I'm curious to see how my final ranking compare to this list.

Given the general lack of recognizable females for the dance number, Smurfette does seem to be a safe bet.