dave

They still can, there's plenty of room in the house for her despite there only being 8 rooms. Maybe they're getting that feedback in exit surveys.

Leon is in the very beginning as well as the paused room, but no Claire

lines were again 45 minutes on average in the soundstage area (the exception seemed to be resident evil which had a lower wait time whenever I passed by), an hour long at havoc when I went over there. didn't see what the wait times were over by the parade building & tent houses since I knocked those out during the AP preview.

every house at the front/soundstages had an hour wait at some point, I believe, but I think the average posted wait time overall was 45 minutes. I got into line for american werewolf for a 20 minute wait, and it was at least 30. havoc was an hour wait when I got to it, and I waited 30 minutes in express for it. I think I only had one really fast entrance with express the whole night. it was at least 15 minutes every other time. cabin in the woods seemed to have the longest line of the soundstage houses to me in how the queue was laid out, havoc was very packed, the tents & parade building didn't seem too bad (of course I was using express on those after the AP preview).

yes, you missed something. must have had a shift change going on or tech malfunction, or a combination of both. my first trip through the house it worked perfectly, the second time nothing happened there either. hopefully they get that ironed out because it's a great part of the house.

nemesis reminded me and my friend of the toxic avenger, lol

agreed, my favorite house this year. spoiler mark what you think is wrong with the beginning, maybe I can explain.

man, I am dog tired right now. I walked through the arches at about 4pm and made it over to kid zone the long way by 4:30. there was already a huge line of annual passholders waiting to get the preview going, way more than I remember there being last year. I met a lovely woman from HNN while in line to get my wristband, but I unfortunately can't remember her name. I then met JDW in line for afterlife. I also met a couple more later in the evening, I think justman and his girl, and then a couple of guys (one wearing this year's shirt) who were in a RIP tour. Anyway, nice meeting all of you! I did like 7 hours non-stop. I'm morphan 4 lyf, but that was like a baccanoid level marathon. 13 houses in all since a friend showed up at 7 and I repeated more than I normally would. the cue lines are horrendously laid out. very poorly designed in the soundstages area. waaaay too much walking back and forth. I understand it's to try and control guest flow, but the way they have it done is downright abusive. also, not very smart implementation of express lines in that area. the worst is by beetlejuice though, what a bottleneck for express there. speaking of express, you're gonna want it. now if you go on an off peak night, you might be ok. but friday & saturday it is absolutely necessary. it seemed like there were twice as many people tonight than last year's opening night, and I don't blame that on the rain last year either (milli vanilli reference, showing my age). scarezones were pretty good this year, well populated. I didn't get a chance to run into the chainsaw drill team, but the scareactors I did see put on a good show. uni scattered a good amount of props around the park, and the barn was great (the well "walker" is behind it!) here is how I rank the houses: American Werewolf in London - I was in heaven with this house. a damn impressive job. this one delivers on the hype. bravo to creative, a&d, everybody. it is the best film to house translation ever at HHN. before this year we've had many "inspired" by houses, and there have been some anthology houses that do a good job recreating one or maybe two scenes, but few "you're in the movie" houses. but this house really is like stepping into the movie. there's a little bit of artistic license taken with the set design (understandably), but overall it is damn close to the movie. music & dialogue are put in straight from the film. I don't even want to spoil anything. if you're a fan of this classic, you cannot be disappointed (unless you go through the house during a shift change and you miss stuff). my first trip through the house it was like a perfect show. I caught every single cue right on time. my second trip, not so much, so it does make a difference (you gotta see dinosaurs on the dinosaur tour to get the full effect, know what I mean?) make this house a priority, do not skip it. Cabin in the Woods - another impressive representation of a movie. fans of this one will be very pleased. it's a blast, and it really feels like you're there during the chaos of the film. only thing missing was a scene of the sacrifice chamber, but you won't mind. no unicorn that I saw, but you get to see some other standout monsters from the cubes. I highly recommend anyone that goes to HHN with you watch the movie, but it isn't necessary to enjoy it. I went with a friend of mine who still hasn't seen CitW and he really dug this house. Evil Dead - here's yet another decent movie-come-to-life house. pretty respectable job. very creative entrance displaying blown up pages out of the necronomicon. loved that, very aesthetically pleasing. they even give a nod to the original trilogy by having professor knowby's recording playing when you walk in the soundstage. the ending is freaking great. I loved what they did there with some fire effects, and they bookend this house with you exiting past more necronomicon pages. good stuff. La Llorona - the best of the original houses this year in my opinion. really atmospheric, and great set design. there's audio and some video playing outside of the house that tries to concisely explain the theme of the house/urban legend, which is nice. pepper's ghost effect makes a welcome return, but I didn't really get the scare factor I was expecting after seeing vids of the hollywood version. no big puppet eating a woman, and not very scary make-up/masks on la llorona. still a good ghost story house though. and, yes, the drowned kids are in the river (for now). The Walking Dead - I'd say this one is improved over last year. the governor's room with the trophy bookcase of zombie heads in fish tanks is awesome, but I would say that overall the woodbury section is just ok. the prison section is great though. loved the cellblock part toward the end. only character from the show that I saw represented was merle. this is more of an "inspired by" house than an actual "you're in the show" house. still worth checking out though. Afterlife - this is the most "artsy" of the houses. best use of 3D effects in a haunted house that universal has done yet. might not be some people's favorite if they're big jack or chucky fans (my favorite was last year's classic monsters house), but a fine 3D house none-the-less. some trippy stuff going on with the lights. probably the coolest of the original houses this year. it was so nice, I went through it twice. it may creep up my list as the event goes on. Resident Evil - well, I applaud the effort, but it falls short of my expectations. good to see leon and jill, but I wasn't overly impressed. I liked the little nods to the game with hidden herbs in pots, the typewriter, some of the building facades, but for me I was hoping for a bit more with the monsters and set design. nemesis seemed a little too small, maybe because you only see him standing on top of a building above you, and he never says "STARS" like in the game! there was only one hunter I saw, and it didn't look right from the quick glance I got at it. the zombies didn't seem like RE zombies either, maybe I'm just not remembering a chef zombie from RE 2 & 3. the lickers were ok, the dogs could have been used more effectively. I think universal would have been better served setting this house after the original game in the mansion. I will of course go back through this house throughout the event to try and see if I missed anything. maybe I'm being too rough on it, but I had really high hopes. it was my second most anticipated house. at this point I'd say last year's silent hill was a better video game house. Havoc 2 - I like the concept. I like the effect of riding on a train. even the sets in their simplicity of recreating train cars is done well. but they wait too long for the crash to happen, and I didn't even hear an audio cue of a train crashing/derailing. the room with the train car turned on it's side is neat, but there aren't really any scares in this one. unless you get scared by the prisoners who are in cages in the beginning of the maze. just kind of a boring house for me. didn't help that I waited like 30 minutes for it in the express line, what a joke. and, yes, I will go through this house again at least a couple more times to give it the benefit of the doubt as I have FFP+express. overall a solid event this year. I am pleased. I almost feel like I already got my monies worth just from American Werewolf alone. oh, and a side note for frequent fear/legendary truth people. I saw that there were posts with toppers of the LT emblem at the end of each maze. because I did not enter the event through the front of the park, I don't know if they had tables set up and new RFID cards to activate. I don't know where mine from last year's is, so I didn't have anything to swipe to test them out. I also didn't see anything on the site before I left for universal, nor have I received an email about this. not sure what's up with all that. so there you have it. he's chainsaw, and I'm dave, and we'll see you . . . at the movies.

got my HNN shirt, so I'm confirming that I will be wearing it tomorrow. saturday I think I'll be wearing my arkhamvania t-shirt. not sure if I will be there with friends or alone at this point, so if I'm by myself maybe I will join up with some of you (if you don't mind of course). I have express, btw.

just finished rewatching the movie to get ready for HHN. man, so great. not a dull moment. still holds up. I was surprised at how good the DVD looked on a 1080p TV, but I also haven't joined the blu-ray revolution yet. but I kinda like a little bit of grain, in a nostalgic way. plus this DVD had a couple good extras about the FX with rick baker. now on to the evil dead

supposedly this week with 3 day shipping going to be cutting it pretty close. if I don't have it by thursday then I most likely will not be wearing it on friday as I may just go to the parks early that day.

it would be cool if it was an iconic scene from one of the games, like jill valentine squared up with a hunter or something

I will definitely be there 9/20 and 9/21 for opening weekend. Will wear my HNN shirt on night one if I've received it. I'm an annual passholder, so I may see some of you guys before the event starts.

maybe a special facade for legendary truth?

do AP holders get a discount on the online store as well?

Lickers are known for climbing walls & ceilings, hunters for jumping, and nemesis is just huge.

I'm looking forward to all of them this year, but here's how I have them ranked so far: 1. American Werewolf in London - long time fan of the movie, can't wait to see it recreated and be both nostalgic and scared as hell 2. Resident Evil - love the game series. RE3 may be my favorite of them, so this maze being based on RE2 & 3 is awesome news. Raccoon City! 3. Cabin in the Woods - was hoping for a CitW house since I saw the movie. should be very fun, can't wait to see all the different monsters & facility 4. La Llorona - heard good things about the Hollywood houses, and it's a good old fashioned ghost story/urban legend which I can appreciate 5. Afterlife - this house seems like the most original, really interested to see how it turns out 6. Havoc 2 - cool concept for a house, sounds intense 7. Evil Dead - feel like I won't get too much nostalgia itch scratched, but still interested. I didn't mind the new movie, but missed the campiness of old. 8. The Walking Dead - must admit that I was a tad bit underwhelmed by TWD last year, and the line for this house was insane. still a fan though.

I know a lot of people hate on using known properties, but I am so excited for this house! The movie scared the crap out of me as a kid. I begged to go see it (think I was around 6) and when zombie jack picked up the mickey mouse figure and looked at the screen and said "hello, david!" I freaked out and my mom had to take me out of the theater, lol. I was more afraid of zombies than werewolves at that age. This film ended up on one of my weekend VHS marathon tapes, watched it so many damn times growing up.

site is up for me, but had the same issue accessing the mansion. there are no links to visit while logged in for me either.

I always go opening night with one of my good friends, and this year I got an annual pass, so I'm guessing we will be taking advantage of either stay & scream, or annual pass early entry . . . so I probably can't make it to a HNN meetup. But I will try depending on the timing.

damn, I was hoping my AP would kick in on this . . . not sure if I can afford to do this. I've never gone to an unmasking the horror tour all these years, but I already splurged on the cadillac of HHN passes and got a FFP w/express. with family coming to visit meaning possible other theme park destinations, and the launch of new video game consoles, my limited funds will be tested. also doesn't help that the houses I'm most interested in going behind the scenes on are resident evil and cabin in the woods, separate tours.

Are there any discount prices for unmasking the horror?

It would be awesome if you go into a room, the lights cut out and you hear " STAAAAARS . . ." then some loud footsteps, the lights come back on and the nemesis is there. But there's no way they'd purposely stop the conga line from moving, lol.

Same here. When I was a kid I had a VHS tape with a bunch of movies on it, including AWIL, that I would watch like every weekend.