Teach

This is the 1st year that I have followed this forum. I feel that a review is in order because I want to share my view as a new junkie versus the general public view that I had for so many years. I will start off with the bad things about this year since there were so few: Bill and Ted: This was painful to watch. I actually felt bad for the actors because their material is so bad. I would rather Universal cancel the show and come up with something new than continue to put on such a sad show. The jokes were dry/lame, and the story line was incoherent. There were many movies from the past summer that could have been parodied. Death Drums: No too much hate here, I just feel like this show is in its infancy. This is a great concept but the actual show was a disappointment. The drummers were off timing horribly and that ruined it for me. The dancers were good and interesting to watch. I would like to see this show morph into a hybrid of Blue Man group. Lady Luck scare zone: THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE WHOLE EVENT!!! When we went with friends on several nights, I actually felt embarrassed to explain why there was not a house for Lady Luck. Since coming over to the dark side…I held hope that Universal would make this the best scare zone. I honestly felt that this zone was thrown together. I wish it was held in the large street next to the zone. The best part of the zone was Lady Luck’s minions and I hope we see them again very soon! I want a house with the minions!!!! I felt for Lady Luck being the face of the event, she at least deserved the best zone. HR Bloodenguts: I felt that this house has such great potential with the theme but fell flat due to the lack of scare actors and poor set design. The detail was awesome but the layout was poor. For example, in 3 times going through the house (the firework room and the valentine room) you saw the scare actors’ boo hole. This house could have been the best but fell flat due to the execution of the house. Ok now that the bad is out of the way, I will rank the rest of the event by House/Zone from best to not my favorite. Houses 1. Nightingales- best scares, most immersive 2. Forsaken- Glad to see that the glowing eyes had an on/off switch. Slow house but ends with a good amount of sequential scares. 3. Winter’s Night- 1st time I was disappointed. 2-3 times through I got all the scares. Gotta love the up-scare and the last room. 4. In Between- Hated this the 1st time through. 2nd time through I was able to see all the detail and the really scary winged demon. Too short and not enough scares. 5. The Thing- Really good use of effects. Best effect house. Repetitive use of the same mask though. Can’t wait to see the movie. 6. Nevermore- This house had to grow on me. I was not looking forward to this house but I was won over by the detail and the actors of the house. Poe really goes mad. 7. Saws and Steam- Good effects but I feel this house was always empty. This house would have been more intense had there been more actors. I felt there were too many rooms that had no scares in it. Now I must say that 4-7 houses are interchangeable. I felt that the houses were all awesome and it was very hard to rank them. I also noticed that there were a lot more of sound queues in most houses. Sometimes the sounds made me jump more than the scare. Scare Zones 1. Canyon of Dark Souls- Well done. The actors always had high energy. Got a good scare from a stilt walker. 2. Night Maze-Only go through when it is dark. I got many, many scares in this zone. Several times I had a gate close me in and several actors rushed me. Has the most room for improvement. 3. Grown Evil- Just wow… The masks and fog made for some of the best scares. 4. 7- really loved the idea of a changing zone. The actors had a lot of energy! 5. Acid Assault- Projections were amazing. Needed to be a smaller zone to get more scares. Now that I followed this forum, there is so much that I was able to notice and enjoy. For the past 7 years I have wandered aimlessly around the event as a zombie (general public). My friends joked that they had a free personal tour guide to the event. I still really feel strong about the Icon house debate. Either have an icon and house or don’t have one at all. All of my zombie friends really felt that the event sucked because they based it on the Lady Luck scare zone and lack of an icon house. I tried to explain how Lady Luck shaped each house but everyone tuned me out because it was too hard to follow or too lame. I absolutely loved this year! I am sad that my time at HHN has come to close this year. Please feel free to politely bash my opinion or agree with me. Also ask any questions you may have! Happy HHN(ing) this year!!!!

I am really sorry to say that this show was probably the worst show in my 7 years of attending HHN. Even my husband said that it was disappointing (this is rare). The jokes were dry and the story line was weak. I thought some of the characters were too obscure too. The advertisements were the funniest thing about the show. Also I did really like the joke about the crying Red Sox nation. I really feel that this year's BnT was a let down. Thankfully the rest of the park made up for the show.

Thanks for all the scares!

Wow these are great! Thanks for posting!!!

Thanks for taking the time to write a great review!

I am holding out hope for this house. I have said it in chats before but I think this house sounds really cool. It just has stiff competition with the other awesome houses. The idea about holidays gone wrong is very exciting! There has to be a house that is at the bottom of your list and this year it probably will be this house. Maybe in an off year Bloodenguts would be a stellar house at the top of people's list. I will post after September 29th!

This looks AWESOME!!!!!! My husband is going to love this show! I am really glad that Universal came up with this show... it is a cool way to celebrate Halloween! It shows that Universal is willing to think outside the box! I can't wait until Thursday the 28th to see this in person! P.S. Dr. Scareapy thanks for the link.

First, I would like to point out that service members are not a "minority". Secondly, like Hush has mentioned, war theme is not something that really should be used as a haunted house. Third, like Legacy has mentioned, we are talking about a disorder that goes undiagnosed frequently. IMO, I think it is wrong to be concerned about a house being scaled back because you don't want the house to be lame. We are talking about images that service members have seen in REAL LIFE represented in a scenario that could trigger those memories again. A&D mentioned in the tweetup that there are trenches which would make this PSTD discussion relevant. If the trenches portray an actual firefight/casulties, then poor taste Uni... but if the trench scene is Nightingales devouring fallen soldiers then that is a step away from the "war scene". WothLD was not a confined space like a house. We see gruesome scenes is houses that are NOT war related. We could have had a disaster themed house with Nightingales instead of a war themed house. War hospitals are just as sad as the battlefield. I agree with the posts that Uni hopefully has used better judgement and I am sure their legal team has been all over this issue. Signs are not enough... Pumpkin is right...more needs to be done about the warnings. I would not want to even wade into the waters about having a war house... More people die from war than murders, fires, or other themes that are portrayed in haunted houses. The sz last year did not depict casualties, I hope the only casualties are Nightingale victims. Sorry to rant..but I feel that maybe we have lost sight of the horrors that war bring and I would not want to cause a veteran any more trauma or pain than they have already endured. Yes Veterans can avoid the house but is that really right? I spend my money to attend the event but I can not fully participate in it? Universal should not want to alienate any part of their audience no matter the size.

Good point! This would be a cool scenario for a house and most likely on target for the back story. People forget (or do not know) that Columbus was somewhat ruthless... His conquest of the Carribean led to the annihilation of the Tainos natives. His "captain logs" so to speak showed how he mocked the natives for not understanding the importantance of gold and other tradeable items. I believe on the 1st day of his encounter with natives, he enslaved 6. Remember, Columbus needed proof for the Spanish Crown and after a 3 month or more voyage home, plants died ect... Therefore a native would be the best sort of proof. Just pure fantasy but it would be cool to see a scareactor play the role of a native seeking revenge on the crew of the Columbus Voyage just from a historical standpoint.

1st time poster...Love following this forum. In response to your post, I do see a face too. Waited a little bit to see if anyone else would comment but no one has. Maybe we are just seeing what we want to see. Very excited about the event. I used to be what you call "general public" but now I have started to become a fan like many on this forum. With that said, I am still interested to have an icon and very intrigued at the thought of "2 faced" icon. I hope I can be helpful to the forum!