Pandry

Because the marketing team in general is....piss poor?

THIS! Never thought of it like that, but it has merit. They could be worried about the general feedback thus far of what's been leaked and announced and look to capitalize on as many blind presales as possible. Of course, going by Twitter which is heavy GP, you could announce an empty no name house and people would be excited.

I'll be livid if they get Crimson Peak and we don't. Worse, I'll be jealous.

Opening weekend, both Fri and Sat, will be open to 1am, at least according to the HHN site. You can easily do everything on opening night, especially with Express. It's generally one of the least busiest nights of the season. I'd recommend doing a few houses early which won't be a long wait even without Express. Then you can use it later in the night as lines pick up and also repeat some houses you did earlier without Express.

Legacy can speak from experience. But from listening to my friend's experiences the past 9 years, yes, they use the code names and they have no idea at auditions what the line-up is. And they won't know for a couple weeks what their roles will even be. Again, I take what my friend says with a grain of salt.

Okay, so those with the good sources: I'm wondering if there's anything new. My friend who's been a scareactor the past 9 years is at auditions right now. He texted me saying FvJ is the only legit house from the leaked list. I asked if he was messing with me and he said he's serious. However, I wouldn't consider him as someone in the know, even though he's worked the event for so long. Now he texted back saying a couple other houses from the list are likely but the rest are unknown. I asked how he knows this and said the stage managers informed him. Who knows. I know most of us are disappointed with this anniversary line-up. But I don't want to keep getting my hopes up for changes. Nor do I think Uni could do such a coup.

I truly believe TWD house will mainly be based on FTWD. As we've discussed, where do you go next from "The Largest House in HHN History?" And being the 4th year in a row we've had this IP, it's old and tired, even to diehard TWD fans. As TWD is the most popular TV show, FTWD will get huge ratings. And it does sound very interesting to finally see the genesis of the virus. So what better way to reinvigorate this IP than to base it on the new show. Some marketing nitwit would probably try to pawn it off as a totally new IP. (Sigh) I really hope they don't and they therefore want to save it for the last announcement. And also, as everyone has commented, last season of TWD really didn't have many iconic scenes compared to past seasons so FTWD would be a very logical choice for them to use, I think. Though it's only a few episodes (6 from what I initially read), I believe each episode takes place in a different area/state, maybe even with different characters each episode. It's been a while since I read the synopsis about it. But this format could present a better selection of scenes. With pilots and especially spinoffs, and then factor in it's a spinoff of the highest rated TV show, the bar is set high so they're going to need to go all out - more so if there're just a few episodes in this pilot season. But who knows, maybe they'll combine the best/few scenes from this season's TWD with FTWD scenes.

I also wondered if the Crowe backstory made for the pumpkins in the Central Park trees. I really miss those damn pumpkins...

What does everyone think of the "more scare actors in the scare zones than ever before?" Might've paraphrased that some. So we had 4 last year and now 5 this year, that alone doesn't seem much. But if they're truly saying more actors in zones then ever before, we have to assume that means more than years back when they had 7 or more zones. So maybe the zones will finally expand out more? Thoughts on this as I haven't seen anyone comment to it yet?

I had been thinking about this exact thought since the early leaked line-up. Could Uni have actually contrived such a complex disinformation campaign? It would be pretty cool if they did and would make for quite an anniversary year. But IPs would already have the rights negotiated and all the other houses have to be close if not already set in stone. And I find it hard to believe they could engage in this level of deception with long time staff and reliable sources. There are too many people involved to keep a all of this a secret. It's plausible, but I still think unlikely. Who knows, though.

Kelise - you read my thoughts 100%. That movie is burned in my mind now and anytime Scream is mentioned, I get images of that movie and not the franchise ones. That specific scene, too.

Fall River, MA. is where Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks.

JDW - I've been a member on here for 3 years or so, but I have like 7 posts or something low like that. You've made me post something! I truly hope you'll be back after a cool-down period. I can understand your disillusionment.

Negatory my friend. I'm afraid to say that without an announcement at this point, though possible, it's highly unlikely they'll open up to FFP's. As some have commented, there's really no reason for them this year. Unless they wanted to do a thank you to lthe locals (insert laughter).

Does anyone think they'll open up Saturday for FFP's? I recall when they did it last year the announcement was last minute. I'm sure they want to gauge ticket sales before deciding whether to open up or not.

This being my 10th year attending, I'm sad to say I caved in to buying an express this year after years of swearing against it. But, I'm happy to say it's been a Godsend. Done every house every night of FFP. I just hate that Universal is pushing everyone - and has been - to buy express. But...when in Rome.

The 19th was crazy busy with it being UCF night. But I felt Thursday the 23rd was even worse. I wondered why there seemed to be more than the usual amount of teenagers that night. Found out Orange County schools were off on that Friday. The streets were extremely congested. We left around 10pm and the lines waiting to get through security at that time were the longest I've seen. Just insane for a Thursday night.

Crowds were very manageable last night. Least crowded I've seen it this season - at least on FFP nights. TWD was at 90 minutes at 6:30p then said 60 every other time I walked by. Roanoke and DOTD stayed around 5-10 minutes most of the night. DOTD increased slightly around 9:30p. No changes made, yet, to the end of TWD.

It was quite busy last night, indeed. When Roanoke and DoTD are 70+ minutes at 9pm, something is up...at least for a non-peak night. I had yet to see them more than 20 minutes this season.

That's ROF w/Express, isn't it? FFP w/Express is Sun-Thu throughout the event.

Absolutely agree. I was always hesitant going opening night due to crowds. But I've been going the past 3 years no problem. As homemade said; it is neat to see the event grow throughout the weeks and everything come together.

I like many, have found everyone to be amazing this year and each week keeps improving. All of Havoc were amazing on my one and only run through on 10/6. Shout out to the Scareactor that was hidden in between one of the "doors" leading to a different scene. Completely caught me off guard and I never would have expected someone in there or that could have squeezed in such a small area. You waited until I was almost passed you and then got right in my ear and said "you're next!!". Classic. To the walker bomb member of the Governor's crew with the big arms: you commanded 4 walkers to chase down my girlfriend last night! I also have enjoyed watching the little girl walker in the pink robe. She looks to be the same scareactor that was out front of last year's TWD entrance. Every night I've been this year she's been killing it (no pun intended). She gets right in people's faces when they think she's walked by and she let's out the most viscious growl!

Excuse me, Dr. Jimmy..? I've got POTUS on the line and he'd like to know which houses he, Michelle and the kids should hit first. He also wants to know if they should purchase fast passes. I told him you were busy chattin' it up with Aiello and you'd have to get back with him. I ended the call by saying that if he really wants to be a president of the people, he can damn well wait in line with all the people. I'm quite sure he swore under his breath before hanging up on me and iterating something that sounded like renditioning my ass. What ev.

Because they have some extremely credible sources!

I didn't say it had anything to do with the wait time. I just said I didn't like the route. But considering it was sheer madness this year with the lines, those longer queue routes were deliberately setup to handle the mass oversell this season.