WESKER69

~ NEW FOR 2018 ~ Houses: - Sewer of Souls: 3D (Dead End replacement) - Condemned: Forever Damned (Toyz of Terror 3D replacement) Scarezones: - Witches Lair (Metropolis) - City Under Siege (DC Universe) - The Shadows (Roaring Rapids Midway)

Event Dates - September 20 - October 31 - More shows & Party Zone - The Hallow is returning to Camp Snoopy - NEW SCAREZONE - Here is the scarezone promo video.... its currently on facebook, but I'll edit this once Knott's uploads it to youtube... Okay... the live stream was complete shit so this was all I could gather from it. Its not much, but the full event reveal event will be coming soon enough.

Location: Earthquake/Disaster Overflow Queue Theme: Haunted Soundstage One stormy night, lightning struck the prop warehouse of Disaster Studios! This caused the props within the soundstage to take on a life of their own. Enter if you dare to investigate this collection from some of their iconic B-movie films. Beware, there's a reason this soundstage has been abandoned & kept locked up tight! Its not to keep trespassers out, but to keep the horrors inside! Thoughts: So when the former Earthquake attraction became the inferior Disaster attraction, the revamped queue of "movie props" inspired this house concept since this was always a house location anyway, I figured why not have a house that utilizes its location? While this was a fun simple concept, all those years between 2008-2013 that I lived in Orlando, I NEVER once actually took the time to wander through the overflow queue full of Disaster Studios props. I had only ever saw them from a distance Shockingly, there really aren't any pics of the "prop queue" or even video (that I could find) except for footage of these 3 props below & it was during haunt season because a house has taken up residence on the left half of the queue space. I'm pretty sure there was more than just these 3 props within the Disaster Queue, but I could be wrong.... I never had a fully developed concept for this house, although I might've had a better idea for it roughly 5 or so years ago haha. Its hard for me to flesh out the details without knowing if there were any big "prop" pieces within the old queue or not. Obviously there would be many scenes that weren't centered around an existing prop as well. I wanted this to be as cheesy & B-Movie-esque as the attraction itself, only on the horror side of things. Here are a few of the ideas I had in regards to scareactors... Plane Crash - zombies... pilot zombie, flight attendant zombie, passenger zombies. The airplane number is "EQ 1990" in honor of the former Earthquake attraction. So I'd have that tied in somehow. Since the wrecked plane is in two pieces, it'd utilize 2 scenes within the house. One large scene, then one small scene. Crashed Meteor - aliens... This would be your cliche sci-fi section. The meteor unleashed an alien when it crashed into the old barn. This would've been confined to either 1-2 scenes. Rocket Shark - Burned & surfer shark attack victims. lighting effects (yay strobes) would help bring the static shark prop to life. Since it is a shark, there'd have to be water spray effects. This would also only be 1 maybe 2 scenes. Other ideas would be a guard shack outside the "soundstage/prop warehouse" as part of the facade scenic. Obviously the security guard would end up being a victim of this haunted soundstage. There would've been a scene full of cages & big wooden box crates. Think of 2010's "Horror Nights: Hallow'd Past" house... that'll give you a general idea of what I was going for with the Disaster queue.

"Even a man who is pure in heart, and says his prayers by night; May become a wolf when the moon is full and bright.." Location: Central Park Theme: Werewolf Inhabited Woods The full moon is out and The Wolfman is on the prowl... Will you make it out of the fog-filled woods alive, or will you be the next victim..... or worse... Set Design: - Prop Trees - Big rock boulders - Gypsy Wagon - Dead bodies (ripped apart) Scareactors: - The Wolfman (4) - Victims (3) - hunter (1) - Gypsy (2) Thoughts: So I always felt that The Wolfman house in 2009 was a terrible idea, as well as house. It was restricted to only the trailer itself due to the movie being delayed for release. However, it just wasn't the greatest movie to be converted into a house, especially when it can be done with a much more simple & basic approach. The best parts of the house were basically the outdoor scenes anyway. To me, it felt right as a scarezone in Central Park due to all the trees. More trees could be added to make it feel even more like you're strolling through the woods. The facade for the house was just two gypsy wagons anyway, so naturally... it'd make sense to repeat that for the scarezone on both ends. There would also be huge rocks/boulders to add more scenic. There was a scene in the house where you're basically in a rock-like ditch with the Wolfman leaping overhead... I'm sure with the proper execution this could be achieved in the scarezone as well or similar... Blue lighting would give the illusion of moonlight. Fog would fill the area making it hard to see. Atmospheric music would play with the howl/snarl of a wolf every so often.

Never got around to adding a Jester image So with the recent announcement of "Carnival Graveyard", it made me think of my old never fully developed Mardi Gras themed Jester house. Although this would definitely have been more Mardi Gras/Funhouse-esque instead of a rotting "Carnival Midway"... It was a very basic & generic concept. I was inspired by these "evil jester" costumes and couldn't help think about the fun it'd be to let the dark sinister evil spirits of Mardi Gras come out to play. As I said... very very basic/generic. But I liked the idea of skeletal jesters. It would be very simplistic, but affective. I figured the skulls could even glow as well depending on the scene. Of course, since it is also Mardi Gras, you can't forget about the sexy evil harlequins of doom. Obviously, they'd need to be less "clown"-esque to not be confused with Chance who was basically Jack's very own clown version of Harley Quinn. Here's an example: Obviously, I'd prefer something a little more sinister with the makeup, just not "clown"-esque. You get the idea... My other inspiration for the dark side of Mardi Gras were the super creepy as hell Jester statues seen at Universal Orlando's Mardi Gras event year after year. Here are a few pics of what I mean.... The house itself would basically be a "funhouse of doom", but not 3D... It'd definitely rely on the traditional purple, gold (yellow), & green colors for lighting to make it very trippy. It'd also have the designated strobe light room. As well the cliche pattern wall gimmick. There'd be different funhouse gags (buzzing floor, air blasts, water spray, etc). Topsy-turvy upsidedown room. It'd also mimick a parade float midway within a scene or two.. You can't leave out a gluttonous food scene since it is "Fat Tuesday". I also wanted to have a marionette scene, sort've like this image below... I don't remember my exact premise for this house other than a few minor details. The rough idea/story would be the evil Jester is tired of the same old routine, so he summons the darkness lurking beneath all of that bead-catching fun. Terror fills the Mardi Gras guests when an army of skeletal jesters & sinister female harlequins appear to turn the fun upsidedown. As I said, it was just a very basic concept for a funhouse style house. Its been done before at HHN and other haunts, but eh... its a classic concept that is fun to revisit when done right to make it fresh.

I personally just hate "guest scare" footage entirely. Its just lazy & tacky. It really does not belong in house (or event) announcement videos. Save the event footage for a recap when it ends or promo announcing the upcoming event dates. Just leave the flailing in-house guest scare footage a minimum. Show off the scareactors, not the guests. Including footage from the house is totally realistic and not new territory. Hell they did it in 2007 with the Carnirama games, beat the game, unlock a teaser of the house. Granted we don't know exactly how this house is executed so its hard to say if they could've done a cool "glimpse" of the actual house without even realizing it. But yea, in-house footage is something they've played with a few times over the years as well as pics. (not just... hey look at our glowy recycled zombie masks)

Generic? It has a witty playful subtitle "Rust in Pieces". What more do you want? Trust me, this title is the least generic compared to MANY past houses. How is it a weak teaser? It showed an abandoned decrepit rotting amusement park (Don't think its Six Flags New Orleans. Maybe something in Europe? Someone should ask Aiello).. Sure it'd be nice if they had filmed inside the actual house itself, but it served its purpose. The ONLY thing it could've done without was the stupid past HHN footage of a guest screaming in a house. That was unnecessary. Anymore? .....That's subjective. Even IP houses can be "original" (Titans of Terror last year would be an example, even Blumhouse.) To say Hollywood doesn't do them anymore would not be accurate. Hollywood just doesn't have them every year (2015 is a perfect example of no originals) or in multiples. If you want to see a Hollywood event that was mostly original houses, you'd have to go back in time to 1992, 1997-2000 aka "The Pre-Murdy Years".

Just a small Fright Fest update from today.... New scenic pieces arrived for the NEW maze which replaces last year's "Dead End" In other news, they were doing some promo stuff inside the returning mazes today (Vault 666 & Willoughby's Revenge specifically. Not sure if they ventured inside Red's Revenge or not though).

Yea... it usually happens like that.. terrible isn't it?

As expected... there will be some ALL NEW mazes this year.. Here is the rumored/confirmed list: AFTERMATH - GONE (no replacement) 1 - DEAD END - GONE (NEW REPLACEMENT) 2 - TOYZ OF TERROR 3D - GONE (NEW REPLACEMENT) 3 - CHUPACABRA - GONE (NEW REPLACEMENT) 4 - WILLOUGHBY'S REVENGE - RETURNING 5 - RED'S REVENGE - RETURNING 6 - VAULT 666 - RETURNING Again this is just the rumors & all will be revealed this saturday at Midsummer Scream... However, the Dead End replacement is NOT a rumor because here is a pic of the facade

Ooof... you dug this out of the back of the graveyard haha... Sadly a lot of these "logo concepts" for houses/scarezones were centered around Universal Orlando of the past... before the dark times, before the Potter/Supercharged/Fallon... A lot of the concepts were fairly basic and/or simple.. and lulz, that post is so old that some of the image links are broken. While MY version of Silver Screams needs a little tweaking, I still like it for what it was. Killed 2 birds with one stone - showcases Phantom... and catered to 2009's event backstory lol Maybe I'll revisit and/or create some concepts now being on the west coast. I can cater to more than HHN Orlando with ideas

So here in Southern California we have 4 of the biggest haunt events (HHN, Knott's Scary Farm, Queen Mary's Dark Harbor & Six Flags Fright Fest... soon WB Studio this year)... But due to this being the land of tv & film, there are a lot of talented people who have dealt with A LOT of the practical special effects seen in theme parks, movies, & tv... or just really creative people in general. And sure, you'd think they'd be working for those big haunt events, but instead they put together a home haunt, most of the time- FOR FREE!!! All they ask is a small donation to keep doing it each year & sometimes the donation is for a good cause. It all depends on the haunt. And when I say home haunt, I'm not talking about a few sheets hanging in someone's garage with a flashlight yelling "BOO!". We are talking fully themed, multiple scene haunted houses with great set detail & sometimes animatronics. This year, "Rotten Apple 901" has already started gearing up for their haunted house (which is only open for like 4 nights in October). Not sure what the theme will be this year, but here are two recent pics of them working on this year's set pieces. Hopefully I'll be able to get a chance to check out their haunt this year because last year was great. And so was their haunt in 2014 (missed 2015/2016). I'll be sure to at least get pics of their impressive facade when it gets put up. There are at least one or two other home haunts near me as well, one of which I got to check out last year. If you guys would like to see pics from last year or so, let me know & I'll post them here. If anyone else has any local home haunts they check out & want to share pics, post them here. If you don't even live in california & have a crazy neighbor who does a legit haunted house each year... post it here. Share your experiences.

You might find it pointless, but that type of storytelling is old-skool A&D when it comes to HHN. If you're going to revisit a SZ or House & reverse it, it makes sense to tie into what came before it in some way. Look at Saws N Steam, a successful scarezone and then expanded upon via a house the following year. Body Collectors first found within Gorewood Forest's Cemetery Mines of Terra Cruentus, only to be the ones behind London's most famous legendary slashers (jack the ripper, sweeney todd, etc), and then PsychoScarepy.. Speaking of PsychoScareapy, look how that evolved, including tying into the icons (jack in 2006, Mary Agana & Storyteller's cameo, even Lady Luck's backstory), then crashing into a neighborhood during the holidays & being on the loose during the Halloween festival.. Its all about world building. While HHN hasn't exactly been very pro-storytelling for the past few years due to Marketing's control issues, sometimes that creativeness of the old days sneaks its way into the event in the smallest of ways. If it were up to A&D (more so old vs current), every event year would somehow be part of something bigger. That way when they hit the right milestone year, they can revisit certain things without feeling forced/lazy.

@Gambit Don't forget about the "Blood Stained Road" segment from Scary Tales: Once Upon A Nightmare too

Except you wrote nothing factual No, Orlando ruined it for everyone when they made TWD sh*t all over 2013's event by vomiting it all over the park. Hollywood made it worse by replacing a GOOD walk-through 3-level attraction with a underwhelming generic 1 level walk-through attraction. Orlando is all talk when they don't have to see an IP year round, but you'd all change your tune if TWD was permanently in the park.

My first 9 years were Orlando, while last year was a disappointment in quality... my first 3 years attending Hollywood have been much more enjoyable due to the scare-factor. 2016 was just nearly perfect regardles. But as I told my friend who went to Hollywood for the first time last year after being an Orlando attendee since 2009, i told her she was NOT allowed to say sh*t about our event because of her failure to attend in 2016. haha How about no? Like seriously, where in the hell? We've had a permanent Walking Dead attraction in the park since July 4th, 2016. It has been included in the maze (house) line-up ever since. The hate is for having it 6 years in a row. Its not that creative of an IP when it literally offers up nothing "new" after 2 perfect years. The scenes/costumes are actually limited (hence why Hollywood actually had to create NEW Purge costumes/characters). Unfortunately, the new movie was garbage. And the fact that it is going to be a maze based on the new film is just terrible. As someone who has enjoyed The Purge at Hollywood (outside of the Terror Tram in 2015), my expectations are beyond low for this.

we have both in Hollywood... sooo

I actually believe that was the gimmick they were going for haha

What a waste of a perfectly good maze location. But I was amused by the "no actual fireworks" part at the end. Honestly, the promo isn't terrible since its in the style of Stranger Things. I just wish it'd have stated it was going to be a maze because A LOT of people were confused by it.

You do realize that is for Hollywood, NOT Orlando?

Actually, the popularity was directly due to Buffy... the episode aired in 2004 during the 4th season. Body Collectors debuted in 2005, so yea... they were directly capitalizing on the popularity of the show. Even the Scribes (Evil Queen's henchmen) from 2008's Scary Tales were basically the blind monks from "The First" (another big bad from Buffy). At the time, A&D had said that its very possibly we'd see other Buffy monsters appear at the event. Sadly that never happened. Although one of the vampires in 2012 looked an awful lot like The Master from season 1

Actually its not wrong. The pre-Aiello A&D team were huge fans of the Buffy tv series and "The Gentlemen" have always been a fan favorite monster from the show. Unlike Hollywood which had an actual Buffy/Angel house in 2000, "Body Collectors" was the closest we'd ever get to having a Buffy house in Orlando. Considering the episode "HUSH" aired during the show's 4th season in 2004, the house in question debuted the following year. So yes, it was capitalizing off the show You remove The Gentlemen & their straight-jacket wearing henchmen, you're left with a forgettable generic gore-filled house. It is in fact those particular famous tv monsters that made the house have a fan base & the reason why they found a way to bring them back in their own house twice. And you don't believe me that they're copied from the show? In the 2008 scarezone (Streets of Blood), The Gentlemen found in there wore Heelys so they could glide as if they were floating above the ground like they did in the show.

but that's just it... it doesn't need to return multiple times for it to have importance or a legacy. None of it does. If something returns, it needs to serve a purpose for revisiting it. Otherwise it'd just be lazy when the event is known for having "new" houses/sz every year. Besides, in regards to the Terra Queen, it wouldn't make sense to bring back anything from that year until HHN 30 (with the exception of a few things IF they fit the backstory & aren't just being used due to being popular at some point). This event used to be known for building stories with their events and sometimes just with specific houses (or scarezones)... They didn't always have to be elaborate or excessively deep either.

Technically... BC/Skoolhouse was part of Bloody Mary's "mirror realm", so in a way it was still sort of connected to 2005's event.. I'm sure there is/was more connections than that on some level. There is a lot of intertwining backstories that connect everything here/there.. The only reason people remember Body Collectors is due to its ties to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which HHN Hollywood had a maze for back in 2000).. The house was great, but its tv show monster counterparts is what makes it popular. Demon Cantina (aka- From Dusk Till Dawn: The Movie knock-off) was very popular due to its cast of scareactors.

Gee... god forbid they do something that was already set in motion 13 years ago... and wow, original. Love Jack, but yea.. he already had his anniversary year to reign. How about no?... HHN 30... 15 years after 2005, HHN 15... they already have the backstory set up. They should honor the "Season of the Queen". It'd be cool to rework the return of Terra Cruentus to be within the Studios this time around. Unfortunately, the people behind those great years like 2005 (and 2008) have been pushed aside by Aiello. You need TJ, Rick, David, & Ray back in order to get a good themed event year. And marketing to back off (which after the past 3 years, we might see that control shift) They did want to have the Terra Queen present for 2010, and the main actress who portrayed her & made the role iconic was all for it. However, she learned that they had destroyed all the prosthetics for the costume. They didn't want to have to redo it all.