Tobias

Simple. If they knew they were going to cancel and make an announcement about it's cancellation in June, they wouldn't extend the BOGO offer to July. They'd probably also put a stop to the ticket and FFP sales in the UK, and wouldn't be doing interviews for management positions for the event. Yet the BOGO offer was extended to July, UK ticket sales haven't been halted and they're doing virtual interviews for management positions. The BOGO tickets are sold directly from Universal/HHN. (It's found right on HHN under tickets.) That's no 3rd party.

Considering HHN recently extended their BOGO sale to July 22nd, that doesn't sound like they're cancelling HHN this year now does it?

You could've also made a great reasoning for them to do a house in 2018 when it came out, but there's a big reason why they did Halloween 4 than 2018. An it's the same reason why there's pretty much none to the slimmest of chances it's the secret IP this year... Disney is part owner of Halloween 2018. So it's an IP that's out of reach.

Beetlejuice is still on the spec map. As for Gremlins, no idea. Word is the house -was- on the table...until it wasn't. Eh, it happens.

Construction at the parks hasn't been disrupted, the CEO did mention construction is still ongoing and everything is still on track. Also, Patrick Braillard has relayed that they're still working on HHN as usual, nothing's been halted.

Recently HoS has been releasing info for this years event, and it's Twenty Years XX of Fear for them. Dates- 22 nights. Sept. 20, 21, 27 and 28 Oct. 4-6, 10-13, 17-20, 24-27, 31 Nov. 1-2 With it being 20 Years of Fear for them, they're bringing back multiple former Icons and here's the bunch they've announced so far. Dr. Livingsdoom (2000) The Death Jockey (2007) The Trickster (2012) Voodoo Queen (2013) The Butcher (2017) They also announced two returning houses Simon's Slaughterhouse (It should be noted there's no warning of it being recommended 17 and up this year.) The Black Spot - Bloodshed There's also rumblings there's going to be one new house this year, and with Gwazi under RMC construction, it's safe to assume Unearthed has been buried. ------ Now that the formalities have been taken care of, I would say it's exciting to see them bringing back various icons for the 20th anniversary. But there's the unfortunate elephant in the room that the event hasn't been firing on all cylinders the past couple years. They've yet to make another slam dunk house along the likes of Death Water Bayou and Motel Hell (as those two houses have remained in the top of most people's rankings the past couple years), and any of the new houses have been split between decent (Demented Dimensions, Insomnia) to crap (Undead Arena, Simon's Slaughterhouse.). It also doesn't help last year had the marketing gimmick of Simon's Slaughterhouse and the Meat Market being recommended 17 and up when they had nothing to justify it. Not to mention, it's never a good idea starting off your house announcements with the return of Simon's Slaughterhouse (The whiff of last year) and The Black Spot, which has been a whiff ever since it debuted.

They wanted to strike while the iron is hot, and since Us looks to be a standalone film, it's now or never to do a house of it. As for why the Tooth Fairy (or whatever house it was supposed to be, sounds like it was similar to last year where we all thought it was a Wizard of Oz house, when it was actually a Scary Tales house) was axed, the only word that's been given is the other three originals were farther ahead in their builds. If you're going to do a replacement later in the season, it's best replacing the house which you don't have to take down as much to do so. Just because a studio has worked with another before, doesn't mean it's going to be so simple in getting the rights for a house today. Since speaking of relationships, what matters more is the relationship of Universal and Steven King...and considering Steven King was PISSED when Uni used the Stanley Kubrick loophole to use the Shining a couple years back, you think he's just gonna' let Uni have the rights for IT? Unfortunately I believe that bridge is torched.

Regarding the rumored scare zones, it's a little underwhelming but there's opportunity for some bright spots. Vikings in Central Park - It's a different theme then what we've seen before, and I can see some nice costumes in here. Especially if they toss some Norse mythology in here. Plastic Surgery in Hollywood - For one, It's a clever touch to have this theme in this area. Secondly, while I'm not sure if this can carry a zone, I do know there can be some killer makeup/looks for this zone. Rob Zombie (Be it music or films) in South Street/San Fran - I feel this one is a wild card. It would certainly have a "colorful" cast of characters, which could lead to some interesting interactions with them. Zombieland in NY - I love the movie, but this would be my least anticipated zone since with the exception of the human cast...it's all generic zombies. I just don't see the point of using the IP when you could just do another Deadtropolis. (Not gonna' touch the plaza zone since it sounds like the sources aren't quite sure what that zone is just yet.) Now while the SZ's aren't too exciting, I will say I downright love the rumored house line-up. While I did enjoy 28, I like this years line-up more. There's a bigger variety of themes, creatures etc, and I think it's very well rounded with the serious, the straight-up gory, and the horror comedy.

I can also predict puppets will be the mouthbrooders, however to keep expectations in check, I'm not expecting a whole lot of them. Legacy has elsewhere mentioned that everything he's heard about the house makes it sound more akin to Interstellar Terror and Havoc with the infected/crazed crew members being the main scare. After all, Man is the most terrifying creature of all, especially in close quarters set to blow. That and the Michael Aiello tweet says the crew are "Hosts" for the creatures.

While nothing is set in stone until the official map comes out, I was a little surprised at first. But then it hit me, SS 25 would be a thoroughly big enough space for a house that's featuring two seasons instead of one.

Nope. It was mentioned that Hysteria was fitting for the general public's reaction last year to a house. Considering GB was nowhere at the event last year...

A thing to note with codenames is Universal's been changing them to combat leaks, but Hysteria was pretty much Stranger Things. As for the Tooth Fairy, over at Knott's they ran with the angle of the Tooth Fairy kidnapping children to her lair if they stayed awake to try and see her. From there the kids had their teeth forcibly extracted (Lot's of kids with ripped out jaws in that house), and if they didn't die, they were turned into her minions. The house was seriously visceral and f'd up, so Uni can work some seriously demented magic here. Wouldn't surprise me this is in SS 24 for some flyer action.

It's a bit of both. I've had that opinion when people were clamoring for it earlier, and your thoughts add to it/back it up.

Regarding US, I know I've said it before, but it must be said again. I don't see this working very well in HHN's environment, as the core element of Us is well, hard to replicate. The core element (and fear) of Us, is doppelgangers. Someone that looks like you is trying to kill you. An since you can't feasibly make the scareactors look like yourself, you as a guest are taken out of that completely. So a house or scarezone would mainly be "victim scares", and that's never been exciting as house. (Now with F13, it makes sense that Jason could look over at you and go "Oh hey, more for the count!") On top of that, there's the issue of casting. So you have to cast multiple people to portray both the regular humans AND their Tethered versions...and that's just one cast. You have to cast another set of all those look alikes for cast B. That alone should kill any chance this is brought to the event, and let's face it, the main cast is African-American, whom isn't in large abundance in the event...let alone one's who can look like Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke. The only way I can see them attempting this is using masks, but that would just cheapen things entirely and it wouldn't be satisfying. I know Us is a good horror film, but there are just some concepts which don't translate well in a haunt environment.

Uh, littlegreenghouls? Who has been acting like the tent houses are trash, and what are they saying which makes you think that? What's being brought up more is Hollywood's overreliance of black walls which comes off as cost-cutting/cheap. Zombieman has been openly against the blackwallapalooza, but that's not a knock on tent houses themselves.

The Thing is not the same as Us, as the Thing is a full-on assimilation of someone where only one exists. (Where as Doppelgangers a la' Us exist at the same time as those they're replicating.) A core fear of the Thing is someone is not who they appear to be, then you have the horrifying creature reveal. Not to mention the Thing will go after anyone to survive. The Thing is a lot easier to translate into a house as any scareactor can be portrayed as the Thing in human form, and of course you have the creature forms as well. Once again Us has the issues of casting a ton of look-alikes, and with Doppelgangers focused on who they're replicating, it would essentially be victim scene the house, and only a few IP's can actually pull that off in a house. (Such as F13, as Jason will go after everyone.)

So regarding "Us", I don't see that being made into a house for a multitude of reasons. While Jordan Peele has said that film is not about race (a hurdle which HHN creative cited as the reason why Get Out won't happen.), there's admittedly bigger reasons why Us probably won't happen. The first hurdle I see is Casting, where you'd have to cast a lot of lookalikes, far more than Stranger Things as you have to cast both the Wilson family and the "Nosliw" family. The other hurdle which I feel is actually the biggest, is the choice of creatures which are Doppelgangers. They can make for good stories and films, but they do not translate well into a haunted house environment. For me a good haunted house makes you a part of the action, where whatever monster, killer etc. inside is going after you. But with Doppelgangers, why would they be going after well...us? They're clearly focused on their other half, which lies a big problem. For me, in order for a Doppelganger house to be effective, you'd need to run into your own Doppelganger which just can't be replicated in a haunted house (No pun intended). If they were to even attempt this as a house, I just see it as victim-scenes galore, which isn't really effective as the focus. I have a feeling the film itself will be a good watch, but that kind of creature just doesn't work for a HHN house.

I could be wrong here, but I think I know what they're referring to...which is odd considering the mirror trick is well, not a mirror! (It did make me do a legit double take when I first saw it.)

Yeah, unfortunately HOS has taken a dive ever since they lost Scott Swenson. It's never a good sign when the two new houses from last year aren't returning this year (I can understand Undead Arena's departure, but scrapping Demented Dimensions is a total WTF.), and the two new ones are themes that have been recently done. (Asylum and Slaughterhouse) Anyways, for HHN this feels like the year you'd wanna' return to. Heck, the lineup has convinced me to finally come in all the way from Seattle!

Fixed a couple of the titles.

Regarding the poster for the streets, it was also mentioned that'll be a shirt as well. Also it looked like the writing on the back of the multi-house/IP shirt was "We Know What Scares You".

I know Dominion of the Dead/Damned was announced during West Coast Bash back in 2012. SK might have been announced back at a Scare LA, but at this point any announcements is during MSS and the AP event.

You can hope, but it'll never happen as they always reveal any remaining new announcements during their main AP presentation later this month. (MSS has become their go-to for announcing a couple things, but I don't recall Knott's revealing anything new during Scare LA the past couple years and I don't see that changing.)

Remember, the Harvest is in the Plaza of the Stars aka the Daytime Parade route. So any kind of indoor structure just ain't happening. This zone is pretty much like Altars of Horror with possibly a couple stages for main characters a la' Chance's zone with other characters on the ground. Legacy has playfully coined this zone as "Haybales of Horror" since that's probably gonna' be more accurate then any kind of barn structure the description is hinting at.

Last year the Meat Market was a scare zone positioned in front of the queue entrance to Undead Arena (2017 - Year of the "One and Done" houses), so I can imagine it'll be the same with SS. They're not integrated, you just have to go through the scare zone to reach the entrance to the queue. An' if the Meat Market is anything like last year, I don't see how that'll suddenly be intense enough for the 17+ recommendation they're doing. (Especially with the carnival games and photo ops in the zone...)