Cupcakes

At this point, I wouldn't mind if they stopped doing B&T altogether. This year's show was just horrendous - worst I've ever seen (and as someone that's been going since '98, that's saying a lot). If they don't want to hire writers that actually know the basic elements of comedy for the show, then I think the budget for it is better off going into the houses and scarezones instead.

Don't know if it's worth putting up on the list, but the London Waterfront area now plays some of the creepier/more dramatic Harry Potter music during the event.

It'd be a spin-off house, not having anything to do with the past Scary Tales. Just think twisted versions of Aladdin, Sinbad, Ali Baba, and the like.

In addition to what everyone else is saying: * Giving the black-and-white characters their own scarezone for the first time in quite a while. * Having Freddy, Jason, and Chucky together in the same zone. Awesome sauce! * Great music choices throughout the event. * Expanding on Chance's character a bit more. While she's still lacking a backstory, she at least feels more than just a Harley Quinn-knockoff now. * Allowing Jack and Chance to improvise certain scenes. * Icon stage-kills. Great concept that was executed just as well. * Crypt Keeper! * A lot of the unique non-zombie-related merchandise. * One of the best commercials done for the event in years. * Blowing away the past three years of the event easily. * The nostalgic compilation of the event's past years that was playing in the houses' queues. * The HHN store! A fantastic idea that I hope is brought back for future years. (Not all of this was A&D's doing, so this shout-out goes to Universal as a whole)

The only things I could imagine is either he went in at a time of the day when no one was around, or he simply just got really lucky. I've heard of plenty of other stories of people trying to go in there and getting caught. I'm not completely sure of the exact time the offices came in, but it wasn't any time recently as far as I know.

It's all still there (left up for nostalgia's sake I presume). They've been using that space for offices since BMG first opened.

It certainly made up for the absolutely god-awful Fear Factor house from that same year, lol. As you said, it was definitely a house that relied more on setting the scene and creating build-up. Extremely gruesome imagery, really creative forms of misdirection (that mirror scare...*shudders*), a fantastic and immersive facade, super-intense finale...it was one of the few houses that had me feeling genuinely terrified. Even today there's still a lot of aspects of it that have stuck with me. Not exactly. Blood Thunder Alley was basically just themed as a town ruled by criminals with no opposition; whereas Island Under Siege was a full-out war zone, as the idea of it was that all of the superheroes were killed and the police along with the surviving fragments of SHIELD were all that was left to oppose the villains. IUS essentially put you right in the middle of a battle that was obviously being lost. Between the crashed police cars, mutilated policemen, flamethrowers, sounds of laser battles in the sky and of the police failing to control the situation, it was pretty dang intense and really gave off a sense of hopelessness that I don't think any other zone has given me in quite the same way. Plus, the scareactors were REALLY on the mark. Really really on the mark. Carnage I felt was actually pretty well implemented; his kinda cheap-looking costume aside, he gave off an intimidating presence and drove home the idea that good has fallen. They also made the great decision of using extremely obscure villains in the zone, as otherwise it would've been a big photo-op area which would've ruined the mood. IUS was altogether an excellent example of taking something that in the wrong hands would've come off as cheesy, and instead making it into a super in-your-face kind of experience that at the same time gave off a chillingly bleak mood. It took the concept of a comic book gone horribly wrong and really ran with it. 2002 overall was probably one of the best years for scarezones, along with 2004, 2005, and 2008. It got really innovative with the idea of doing flipping each of the islands to the exact opposite "evil" versions of themselves; heck, even without using any scareactors they managed to make Seuss unsettling. Plus, it offered a lot of variety in each of its zones, not a single one feeling the same. It's just sad that the houses weren't as well-done that year (Screamhouse and Scary Tales II aside).

Soundstage 19 is also still being used for filming smaller-scale productions; and yeah, I really don't see Viacom signing off on Nickelodeon being used in such a way. They probably feel the same way as Audrey Geisel does when it comes to HHN. Won't lie though, a twisted cartoon (not just Nick) house done in the same vein as Scary Tales is something I'd be interested in seeing if done right...even if it has a close to zero chance of happening.

* Scary Tales: Arabian Nights * Urban Legends: Chupacabra * S.S. Frightanic: Resurfaced * Horror In Wax: Back in Business * Project Evilution (technically this was an IP house, but it had a lot of original elements to it. Basically, I'd love to see them take another shot at this concept, but this time have it be located inside the Discovery Center and give it a laboratory setting) * Hellgate Prison (give it a REAL sequel, possibly as the theme of an "Extreme House")

How did I not notice this post until right now? whoopsie... It's kinda hard to narrow it down to just one; but when I think of my favorites, the first things that come to mind are the original versions of Screamhouse, Body Collectors, PsychoScareapy, Castle Vampyr, RUN, as well as Frightanic, Scary Tales III, Dead Exposure, AWIL, the 1999 Psycho house, and The Thing: Assimilation. As for scarezones, probably Fright Yard, Cemetery Mines, Island Under Siege, War of the Living Dead, Asylum in Wonderland, and Midway of the Bizarre (any version of it) - all scarezones that took an already neat concept and executed it flawlessly.

I definitely thought it was weak. In some respects, I think it was actually worse than 23. 23 at least had some ambition with the whole "What Evil Has Taken Root?" thing that got stomped on by Marketing at the last minute. 24 basically gave me the feeling that A&D just gave up and bowed before the higher-ups. Plus, I would say that overall 23 had slightly better houses. AWIL, Cabin, and Evil Dead I thought were all great, and La Llorona was good as well. In 24, Halloween was the only house that really "wow'd" me, with AVP and Dollhouse also being enjoyable. Everything else was either mediocre or terrible. Sure 24 gave us real scare zones again, but how good were they really? Maskerade had good atmosphere, but not really any scares or guest interactions, and I'd say the same thing for Bayou. The Purge, while good, was certainly no Island Under Siege. And I've seen episodes of Dora the Explorer that were scarier than Face/Off. I was pretty much ready to jump ship after 24, but thankfully 25 reignited my interest. While not a complete return-to-form, it was a step in the right direction that I hope they'll keep walking in for next year, as it blew away the past three years easily.

Bush man has now become one of my biggest mortal enemies after this zone. *looks up at the sky and angrily shakes fist*

You know in hindsight, they made a really huge mistake in not including The Usher on any of the merchandise; as it seems he was far and away the most popular character in this zone. His stage pretty much always had a crowd around it, and he got the biggest cheers when he made his final departure.

The final show was a lot fun, everyone in the audience was really enthusiastic and there were some pretty hilarious line-deviations (the highlight was when Chance did a big deviation from her "What's funny about a knife?" joke, which got a lot of cheers from the crowd). And as many people were expecting, Jack did indeed remark that he "killed Twister". Going to miss this show.

Not gonna lie, I got a little choked up seeing the icons do their kills for the last time and seeing all of the characters make their final exit from the zone. It was so wonderful seeing them all again after the themeless IP maelstrom we were put through in the last three years. Those years made me really take into account as to how much they truly make the event. Only downside was that Eddie and Lady Luck weren't in the final cast, but oh well.

That's basically the reason. The GP goes really nuts for modern horror characters like Freddy, Jason, and Chucky; whereas the likes of the Universal Monsters and Norman Bates are a lot less appealing to them. The B&W cast is something that appeals more to classic film fans (who usually tend to be a bit more civil).

Seeing the color cast in the last few days of the event was really depressing to be honest. Not only were Carrie and the camp counselor gone, but The Thing, both of the male Purgers, and the male vampire were all absent as well, so either they quit too or Universal just cut their characters from the zone. If it's the former reason, then man, it must have been absolutely BRUTAL to work here. I would say there is zero doubt at this point that this will be the last time we ever see a zone in this area, and not just because of F&F construction. Kudos to the remaining scare actors that were able to make the best of the situation given the circumstances, especially Regan and the Strangers; you guys were great.

(Ranked in no particular order) Top Houses: Psycho: Through The Mind of Norman Bates (99) S.S. Frightanic (98) Universal's Museum of Horrors (98) Body Collectors (05) Screamhouse (02) Dead Exposure (08) Scary Tales 3 (08) The Thing: Assimilation (07) A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dreamwalkers (07) PsychoScareapy (03) All Nite Die-In (03) An American Werewolf in London (13) Halloween (14) RUN (01) The In-Between (11) Nevermore: The Madness of Poe (11) Hellgate Prison (04) Castle Vampyr (04) Ghost Town (04) Universal Classic Monster Mania (00) Dark Torment (00) Bottom Houses: Everything from 2012 except Gothic and Dead End The Spawning (09) Disorientorium (04) Fear Factor (02) Jungle of Doom (03) Vampyr: Blood Bath (07) Reflections of Fear (08) Cold Blind Terror (05) People Under the Stairs: Under Construction (06) Dungeon of Terror: Retold (06) The Walking Dead: The Living and the Dead (15) Dracula Untold (14) Pitch Black (01) Top Scare Zones: Island Under Siege (02) JP Extinction (02) Treaks and Foons (02) Asylum in Wonderland (08) American Gothic (08) Immortal Island (03) Night Prey (03) Cemetery Mines (05) Blood Thunder Alley (05) Terra Guard Run (05) War of the Living Dead (09) 7 (11) Acid Assault (11) Fright Yard (04) Midway of the Bizarre (04) Deadtropolis: Zombie Siege (06) Bottom Scare Zones: Basically everything from 2012 and 2013 Your Luck Has Run Out (11) Face/Off (14) Apocalypse: City of Cannibals (09) Containment (09)

While I did enjoy it a bit more than you did, the main thing that bothers me about Insidious is that it feels completely out of place this year. Every other house and scare zone at the event is a call back to something from past years, making this just feel like something that came out of nowhere. They should've saved it for next year. I definitely agree that the carnival theme was very poorly conveyed outside of the Carnage Returns show and the Icons zone. Not sure what they could've done with PsychoScareapy, but it would've been easy to incorporate Die-In, Roots, and Scary Tales into the carnival theme with a few minor alterations. The least they could've done is add more carnival decorations to the rest of the park, such as that ferris wheel they had by MIB in 2007.

So glad that Eddie and Crypt Keeper were added in, though I find it kinda baffling as to how long it took. If there's any issue I have with zone, it's that almost all of the non-icon characters seem to be from the 2010-2014 years. It would've nice to see some more old favorites, such as Knightmare and the Treaks and Foons as someone said, and I'd be overjoyed if they had brought Dilopho-Man back. One omission that I'm particularly surprised and let-down by is the Ice Queen from Immortal Island (as they did bring her back in 2006 and 2010). Not only was she a fun character, but just imagine the amount of Frozen jokes that could've been made...

I agree with a lot of people here in that a lot of potential was missed here, and what I find especially disappointing is that not a single house from the 90's made it in (unless you count the Universal Monsters). Still a really fun house overall (and plus it has a really awesome queue video).

From what I've seen, there's also some people that have been mistaking Cinderella for Elsa.

Got two more from Die-In the other night (this zone is freaking LOADED with music holy shamoly): "Main Title" (from JAWS) - John Williams "Main Title/Finale" (from the 1958 Dracula) - The Philharmonia

After going yet again last night, I realized I actually made a couple of mistakes - "Convoy Destruct" and the "Main Title" from End of Days, are NOT played Parkwide, just in the HHN - Icons zone along with the Transformers area. Additionally, over at the Die-In zone, the "Main Title Theme" from The Fog is the version done by Gareth Williams, not John Carpenter. And finally, scratch everything I said about the Psycho music. The music from the movie that's played in the zone is actually just one track that combines all of the music bits I mentioned earlier. It's titled "Psycho (Suite for String Orchestra)" - and it's done by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. I can also confirm that these are all played in All Nite Die-In, though just to give more information: "It Was Always You, Helen" (from Candyman) - Philip Glass "Twisted Nerve" (from Twisted Nerve, also used in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and American Horror Story) - Bernard Herrmann "The Thing" - Gareth Williams (also in the Icons zone) "Patience" - Gavin Rochford (from album Watermark - Single) "Main Theme Vocal" (from Rosemary's Baby) - Krzysztof Komeda, sung by Mia Farrow "Vampire Hunters" (from Brian Stoker's Dracula) - Anton Coppola "The Serpent and the Rainbow" (from the movie of the same name) - The London Theatre Orchestra

Although this is a pretty minor thing to give praise to, I have to say that one thing I REALLY love about this zone is how they made The Director's "You Oughta Be In Pictures" song echo. The effect it creates is incredibly creepy.